July 5, 2023 • 36 mins
NBA assistant coach and former player Doug Christie joins Ron on the show.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Ron Barr, and this is today's edition of
Ron Barr's Sports Byline USA podcast on the eight Side Network.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Doug Christy joins us on Sports Byline.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
He was a shooting guard who played fifteen years in
the NBA with seven teams, and he made the first
or second NBA All Defensive Team four times. He grew
up in Seattle, and so we have somewhat of a
connection there.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Growing up in Seattle.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
The Sonics was the team up there at that time.
Who are some of the players that you watched and
you really liked seeing how they played?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
You know, Dennis Johnson comes to mind, to be honest
with you, but probably one of the ones that have
a weird connection with was Gus Williams the Wizard in
seventy eight seventy or seventy seven seventy eight, they lost
to the Bullets in game seven at home. Seventy eight
seventy nine. They go to Washington and beat them in
(00:52):
game seven, and he has a Gus Williams has a
contract negotiation problem and ends up leaving inn A. They
have a little going away party for him at the
at the Arboretum or excuse me, the Aquarium down on
Peer fifty seven in Seattle, and I was a kid.
(01:13):
I take the bus downtown from my inner city home
in Seattle, and once I get down there, get to
the front of the line and the guy takes a
picture of me and Gus and lo and behold It's
on the front page of the Seattle Seattle Times the
next day, or it might have been the PI. But
(01:34):
the point is, many times, growing up, the connection with
the Sonics is something that really pulled me through. To
be honest with you, but that's probably one of my
favorites was Gus Downtown. Freddie Brown was another one. Jack
Sigma I got to know really well. X Men. There
were a bunch, but Gus holds a place in my heart.
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I mentioned about you being on the NBA All Defensive Team,
either first or second team, four different and I bring
that up because in talking to Dennis Johnson over the years,
we used to talk about defense, and I said to him,
I said, is defense a talent or is it an attitude?
He told me it was an attitude, which I thought
(02:14):
was very interesting. He said, when we get to the
fourth quarter and I'm guarding a guy, I want to
be inside his Jersey. I want him to know that
I am writing him. I'm not going to give him
an inch. And so when I see you, you know,
being on the All defensive team, you took that from
his play, did you not?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Absolutely? You know dj ex pepperdine Wave as well, got
to meet him before he passed away, and so much
knowledge and information that he was able to pass on.
Derek Harper of the Dallas Mavericks and then teammate of
mine in the New York Knicks. I mean, these are
guys that helped you out. But you could see the attitude.
(02:56):
You could see the ability to, as you say, stay
in the and understand the moment. At the same time,
that was many things that you would set a guy
up all game and as opposed to just trying to
dominate them dominate him. You kind of got to think
you got to play chess out there and so many
different times. That's kind of how I tried to go
(03:17):
about my business, was understanding that, Okay, I kind of
got them where I want him, but I'm going to
use that one for later in the game when we
really needed I kind.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Of smiled a little bit, Doug when I read you
began playing the street game street ball at a very
young age.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Tell me about that, you know, well, growing up in Seattle.
I mean, first of all, it rained a lot as
a kid. They had learned you had to learn to
play outside and right across the street. There when we
moved from one area of Seattle to the South End.
To the South End, we were in the same area,
but a different part. There was a community center that
(03:53):
had burned down, hutcheson community Center, and so I played
outside all the time, and then they built it up
and they built it back. That was when I joined
my first basketball team actually, and and won the city championship.
But playing uh, street ball, I got to learn how
(04:13):
to play with older guys. I had to shave the
ball a lot. You know, you'd be playing against a
guy and he'd have alcohol and cigarettes on his breath,
and you speak the hell out of you. You know,
you couldn't you couldn't cry for fouls and different things
like that. You just had to play through it. So
when I look at myself and Jamal Crawford and Nate
(04:34):
Robinson and all these guys that have come out of
my same high school, they were in your Beach High
school in the south end of Seattle. There's a there's
a toughness that you get when you when you play
that type of basketball and you grow up that way
that I truly appreciate all the battles and and the
scars that I got playing street basketball.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
You acknowledge that your game really took off because of
your high school coach, Dave Denny. And you once said,
once I came there and I put that with the
street side of basketball, I noticed great strides. I was
learning the basics of basketball, the things you don't learn
on the playground. What is it that he did with
your game that took it to another level?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
You know? It's so my dad lived about an hour
and a half south of Seattle, in the little town
called Longview, Washington, and I was getting in a lot
of trouble, so my mom ended up sending me to
live with my dad for a short time. And while
I was there, that's when I met Dave Denny. And
Dave was different because he was all about the fundamentals
(05:38):
of jump stopping and doing little drills of pivoting and
different stuff. He was you know, it was like, oh wow,
you know, you are obviously more athletic than everybody, you
can do these things that I can't necessarily teach these guys,
but you're not going to play if you don't do
these things. So by the time I, you know, kind
of bought in and I wanted to play, and I
(06:01):
took those same attributes to fundamentals and I took him
back home, and the guys that I was struggling against
when I was a little younger before I had left,
all of a sudden, I was beating him. And because
I was using these things jump stops, the pump flakes,
the pivots and different stuff. I did it before, but
(06:21):
now there was meaning to it. And that's really when
I ran into the second coach, Mel Williams at Rainder
Beach High School, who gave me probably the greatest gift
is he was the first person that I ever heard
say that I could make it to the NBA. And
we were having a bad practice and he blows the
(06:42):
whistle and tells everybody to sit down, and at that time,
Rainder Beach was the number one in the state and
he justly reams us and he's using words that I
won't use right now, And like he said, everybody in here,
there's only one person that might make it to the end.
And you know, we're some hood kids, so we're looking
(07:03):
around at each other like who, and the heck is
he about to say right now? And he said my name.
And that's just from from day to mail, from fundamentals
to breathing breath into somebody's dream. They really really helped
me out a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
How does a kid from the Northwest end up in
southern California at Pepperdine.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
That's not a hard one, actually, So I wasn't highly recruited,
didn't really get good grades. It was Washington with Andy
Russo that recruited me, Washington State with Calvin Sampson. They
had a coach down at cal State Fullerton, they can't
recall his name, and then Jim Herrick and ultimately Tom Asbury.
(07:48):
And I knew I needed to get out of Washington
because I was getting in so much trouble, but I
didn't really know, you know, where am I going to go?
So when I went on my recruiting visit, my uncle
Dale went with me, and I was going to visit
cal State Fullerton and Pepperdine at the same time. When
we landed cal State fullertin called and canceled because they
signed somebody. So now it was Pepperdine. And when I
(08:12):
went there, first of all, I fell in love and
I told my uncle immediately, I like, I'm going here,
and he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know, I told you, Mama,
I'd come. You know, let's you know, look and see.
But when I saw Pepperdine, and I met Tom, and
I met Jim, and I met the six million dollar
(08:32):
Manly Majors at the same time. So when I wrapped
all that together, it was Malibu. Man. It's still to
this day it holds a place in my heart. When
I go there, I just feel good about things. And
that's after that. I was a hook line and sinker.
I was ready to go.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
We only have ninety seconds before we have to break.
I used to do television games and I remember USF
playing against Pepperdine, and of course I always had never
been on the camp before, and I noticed that all
the students had this gator on their shirt, and I said, oh,
this must be an IZOD team.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Will said, let me tell you, I was not one
of those students with the IZOD, but I understand exactly
what you're.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Saying in about a minute, when you think about college basketball,
how did that develop your game? I mean, was that
an important part of the game that finally got you
to the NBA.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
It was actually it was coach Tom Asbury. It was
his discipline and how he went about it. He was
a a came along behind John Wooden and Jim Herricks,
so all of those fundamentals kind of funneled into me.
And it was his ability as a prop forty eight student.
I didn't play my first year to allow me to
(09:50):
be able to be fundamental, but give me enough rope
to show my skill set.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Doug Christy is with us here on Sports by and
I we're talking about his life, his career, a career
that saw him play in the NBA with seven teams
for some fifteen years. But you talk about a guy
who could shut you down on the court, it was
Doug Christie. And when we come back, we'll talk about
him being drafted by his hometown Sonics, not quite what
it turned out to be, and we'll talk more about
(10:18):
his career as we continue across the country and around
the world. We've got you on Sports Byline. You're listening
to Ron Barr's Sports Byline USA podcast. Doug Christy is
with us here on Sports Byline USA. I remember watching
him in the NBA. You talk about a guy that
could shoot from the outside. It didn't really come about
until a little bit later on in his career, but
(10:39):
he could always shut you down because he was on
the first or second NBA All Defensive Team four different times.
The NBA Draft comes around, Doug and you get drafted
in the first round by the Sonics. Now you must
have been just tickled pink to do that, but it
didn't work out. What was the situation there?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
You know, it's an odd one, man, because I really
thought that at fifteen, I was going to go to
the Lakers, but I had a problem with my knee
that I probably would have been a top five pick
had it not been for what happened with my knee. Well,
there was some animosity and different things. George Carl was
(11:22):
the coach at the time, and we kind of had
some back and forth and different things. And Bob Witzett
was a general manager. So if you look at my
face when I get drafted that day, I kind of
knew that when they said that. Christy to the Sonics
as happy as growing up as a Sonics fan, and
I wanted to go back, and they had a great
team at that time. I knew things probably weren't going
(11:45):
to go fantastic, and right from the jump they did not.
And the contract, the monetary compensation was the ridiculous that
they offered the guy the year before me got a
fifteen ray, so I should have been making roughly about
a million, million and a half somewhere in there, and
they offered me like two hundred and fifty three hundred
(12:07):
thousand dollars. So there was a whole out went a
long time. I ended up going back to school for
a moment, and then Jerry West came calling and made
a trade and my career started. Fifty eight or sixty
games into my rookie year, I had to sit out
that lot.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Is it true that when you put on the jersey
for the first time with Thekers, that your your last
name was misspelled?
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Yes, it was absolutely cool. I walk into the Forum
in Philadelphia that I have seen Doctor j play on
many many times, and I walk up the ramp and
I'm walking with the likes of you know, Ac Green
and James Worthy, environ Scott, and I walk in and
I see it over there in the corner, and I'm
(12:57):
right beside James Worthy. So I'm thinking to myself, oh
my goodness. And as I walk up, I see it's
a C h R. I s e I, and I'm like, oh, man,
that's but you know, hey, listen, it was my first
NBA game. It was probably not the way that you
really wanted to start out, but nonetheless, I went out anyway.
(13:22):
It was. It was, and that night was a weird one,
to say the least.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
You know, you could have said if you had filed out,
that's not me.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
It's it's you know what a good point, good point,
you know, respell it and send me in with six
more fouls.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Yeah, you got it. Hey.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
The Lakers have always had an aura about them. You
played your college ball down there, you had a chance
to see them, of course, and you end up with
the Lakers when you come into the NBA. Tell me
a little bit about that Laker era.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
You know, it's it's incredible, man. I mean after gust
got traded. That that was right around the time that
Magic came in, and I was a Magic fan. He
was a big guard. I wanted to play like that.
I wanted to be like that. I wanted to pass
like that, to run a team like that, and it
was to then live in Los Angeles or right there
(14:14):
in mouthing the Outskirts during that time was just it
was incredible. I watched so many of those games, even
though they were tape delayed, with the versus the Celtics,
and to get to Los Angeles, it's like, here's the
Clippers and they're the Lakers. But there's not the Clippers.
There's only the Lakers, just like the Knicks and you know,
(14:34):
the Nets or it's a nixed town. That's what it is.
It is a Lakers town. And to play right there,
it was it was mind blowing, to be honest with you, man.
You know, Los Angeles is a different animal and you
gotta be really prepared to play there and play underneath
(14:57):
those lights in the Great Western for him was incredible
to pull up to every day, the likes of Jerry
West and you know, to sit and talk to him.
But that Laker aura is real, and that's why they've
won as many championships. I mean, they've had the best
of the best stars there, but they've delivered the.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
One thing I've always wondered about it. Is we hear
about distractions for a team, for a player and everything,
and Los Angeles there are certainly a lot of distractions,
but they they didn't really affect the team that much.
They won those championships.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Why was it?
Speaker 1 (15:31):
What was it about the Lakers that allowed them not
to be distracted?
Speaker 3 (15:36):
You know, I think you know when it was when
it was magic. And if you think about it, when
they talk about super teams and the Lakers and the
Boston Celtics are probably the first super teams. You know,
he had magic. Kareem Worthy Byron Scott, Kurt rambus Ac Green.
(15:57):
I mean, wow, this it was reddible team and did
that and the way that they played. But I also
taken the consideration coaching and pat Riley is he was.
I played for him with the Knicks and recently wrote
him a letter and just telling him I love him
(16:17):
and appreciated how hard he was. And I think when
you coach the way that he coached with that type
of talent, it kind of brings things together. Meaning, look, look, guys,
I know you're going to probably go out to a party,
but I am going to require of you the absolute
best of the best and then you bring back Phil
Jackson with Kobe and Shaq, and Kobe and Shack were
(16:39):
together before Phil got there, but not until he got
there did they take that next step. And that's the
coaching aspect of it. Is the coach to understand how
to put the pieces together. It's not always for the
players to figure that aspect out of some of them do.
Like a Lebron, he's his player coach on the floor
and Magic was a coach on the floor. You need
(17:00):
someone to manage the personalities and manage all the things
that are on the antler, they're on the outside, and
make sure that the thing that is is going to
deliver the punch. Does that And I would say part
of it. And you don't you look at Jerry West,
you look at ownership. Doctor Buss was probably the best
owner in American sports history in my opinion. So there
(17:23):
were some other things also that really helped make sure
that those guys delivered the goods.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, you have to have a conductor. And in my opinion,
in all the years I got to know him when
he was with the Warriors up here and also over
the years talking to him, he was a man that
knew the game and certainly knew how to push the
buttons in the right way at the right time. Tell
me a little bit about Jerry West. What made him
so unique? He played the game with distinction, he proved
(17:49):
himself there, but he also understood the individuality of athletes
and how to motivate him.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
You know, Jerry is he's a savior for me, man.
I mean, he saw in me things and it was
not just to me. If you look at Jerry Wes's
track record of drafting, it doesn't matter. He usually now
the player might not be a superstar, but most guys
at Jerry West draft, they last ten to fifteen years
(18:16):
in the league and they have really good careers. And
that's just because he has a distinct eye for talent.
He understands talent. He sees things that other people don't see.
Because things excuse me, The Lakers didn't draft high in
the draft all the time. Most of the time they
were in the mid to the bottom of the first
round and sometimes second round. But those picks he's able
(18:37):
to find talent. He's able then to develop that talent.
But one thing that I just truly enjoy about Jerry
and I enjoy always talking to Jerry is he is
a straight shooter. He tells it exactly like it is.
Sometimes you don't want to hear it, but that's not
the point. The point is it is what it is.
And I think that when you add those things of
(18:57):
understanding talent, speaking to the talent the right way, putting
the talent in the right position, bringing the talent along properly,
and you look at all of that, that's what makes
Jerry West special. He's a special human being.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
We have about two minutes left before we have to
break Doug and the egos. I mean sports, you've got
to have an ego. You've got to believe in yourself.
It's what have you done for me lately? How did
he handle the egos? And how did the actually the
Lakers as a team handle the egos on those great teams, you.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Know, I think they did a marvelous job because they
let the guys be themselves, but to a point that
I think that it went on to the court, meaning
that Magic Johnson's personality was his personality, but they let
his personality shine on the court. The smile, the charisma,
(19:50):
the enthusiasm, all those different things, and that that was
a special mixture that you don't just, you know, give
buddy that much rope. But they knew that he had.
He had the drive and the wheel and the work
ethic and all of those things, and when you put
all those things together, you get something special. Larry Bird
(20:11):
did it in a different way. He was he was
more reserved and what have you, but the same work ethic,
the same passion. But Magic was more La where Bird
was more Boston. And that comes from your pat Riley's
and you know, Jerry West and those people to lead
you in a way that allows you to be yourself.
(20:34):
But you got to show them that you're going to
do what it's going to take to get the job done.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yeah, forty five seconds, Doug.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
And I'm just wondering, when you look back on your
time with the Lakers, is there any one moment that
just busts you up when you think about.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
It, you know, I mean there's so many of them,
especially with the Vladi debots. It was my teammates then,
But the one that probably strikes me the most is
my second game. We were in Atlanta and I was
with you games of seven. I'm up at you know,
one o'clock in the afternoon. I'm dressed by three, I'm
(21:08):
sitting on the bed. You know, I'm excited. I am
ready to go. I fall asleep and I'm late for
the bus. And I had to walk on the bus
as a rookie with all those names that I said,
and they're just yelling and rookie. But I was up
and I was ready. I fell asleep because I was
so excited. But they were good guys man Ac Green
(21:29):
and Byron Scott and James Worth that they took real
good care of me.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
We're talking basketball with Doug Christie. Of course, he played
fifteen years in the NBA with seven teams. We continue
across the country and around the world on Sports Byline.
You're listening to Ron Bars Sports Byline USA podcast.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Doug Christy with us here on Sports Byline.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
We're talking about his life and his career. An outstanding
career in the NBA fifteen years. Anytime you can play
double digit years in a professional sport, you gotta be
pretty good. But let me ask you about the shooting
of the three point. We mentioned about defense being an attitude.
What is it about the three point? You were outstanding
at it? But the great ones you think about Steph
Curry today, What is the commonality all great three point
(22:13):
shooters have.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
You know, I really think it's a short memory. They
don't they don't really think about the missus. They they're
going to make the next one. It doesn't matter. And
you know, we got a guy here in Sacramento, Buddy
Heal that that shoots the ball. I played with Pages
Soyakovic and the ultimate confidence it comes to a cockiness.
Even that is you got to be around it to
(22:38):
understand it. But the prolific three point shooting that we're
seeing today, I mean, if we had Page or Larry
Bird or Craig Hodges or some of these great Dale
Ellis and all these players that could shoot, the three
pointer wasn't as in vogue as it is today. And
that's why the ruckers are going down the way that
(22:59):
they were downtown. Ferdy Brown, he shot from way outside
the three point line, but it wasn't there was no
line there, so it was only worth two points. But
you know, analytics has said that, you know, there's so
many different reasons why it's more valuable. People have bought
in in a way that now it's shot deeper, it
(23:20):
shot easier. You step across the half court line almost
and guys are pulling up and they're knocking it down
like Damian Lillard. So but when you look at all
of them, the mental side of it is, I'm going
to make the next one give it to me. And
that type of attitude creates that type of incredible shooting.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Early in your career with the Lakers and then after
being traded to the next you really saw only limited action.
But after joining the Raptors, Doug, your career really took off.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Why was that?
Speaker 3 (23:53):
You know? First of all, it was going from the
Lakers to the Knicks. And I can remember Jerry West
calling me up to a suite in Hawaii and telling
me that he was going to trade me. And I
had never experienced outside of business, and I broke down
and he was like, look, you know, the one good
thing is that when you're traded, understand that somebody wants you.
(24:15):
So I go to the Knicks. I get to the Knicks,
I walk into pat Riley's office and he tells me,
I'm not going to play you. I got my team.
I'm rolling with my team. But you find something that
you do in this league good, and you hone it
and you it'll keep you in the league for a
long while. So every day I'd come early, stay late,
(24:36):
go through his incredible practices and that's where I learned
to be a professional. So by the time I got
to Toronto, things that starting to mold for me and
the great Isaiah Thomas Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas sat
me down the very first day and told me, he said,
I know your story, none of that comes with you.
This is a fresh start for you, he said, Between
(24:58):
you and Damon Stottamayer, he said, you guys are going
to be my back court. I'm going to pretty much
play you forty eight minutes. Don't look over at the
bench if you mess up, he said, that's just part
of the game. Try not to make the same mistakes twice.
Go out there and have some fun, and we're going
to build a team. And that type of confidence no
one had really besides Jerry and I had some success
(25:20):
as a rookie and going into my second year because
that type of I needed someone to talk to me
that way and show confidence in me that way. And
when Isaiah did that, things just started going up, up up,
and I started to find my way. And that's why
I credit both of them for it.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Another place that was very important to you. Where you're
doing basketball, you're doing announcing for the king Sacramento Kings.
It really took off for you there. You became the
King's popular shooting guard. You developed into the one in
the league's best defenders, in one of the NBA's best
three point shooters as well. And this is an observation
of my part and Doug, if you think I'm wrong
(25:58):
about it, I really I felt there was a comfort
factor in Sacramento for you that maybe you did not
have early in your career. And when I say comfort factor, Seattle,
Sacramento smaller towns than Los Angeles and New York, am
I correct in that observation.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
You know you are in many ways. This community really
took me in. I mean, there is a relationship between
the Kings and the fans that is it's different. You know.
The only other place I really seen it like this
was Portland, Oregon with the Portland Trailblazers, and oddly enough,
(26:33):
Coach Adleman was the coach of both of those teams.
But getting here, I always say that this is where
I learned how to play basketball, and coach Pete Carill
a longtime coach in Princeton, and he was one of
our assistant coaches. And I credit Coachee so much. That's
what we call him Coachie so much because he was
(26:54):
able to get into my head and all the things
that I wanted to do and wanted to be. I
didn't get them all out, but I started to hone
him in a way that I'd give you a quick
story that how he took the governor off when day
were playing and he blows the whistle and coach he
kind of waddles out onto the floor and I just
came off of a double pick and roll and they
(27:14):
were double teaming me. So the guy in front of
me and the guy on the left, and he goes
and Pager was at the top of the key behind me,
and he goes, how does what's the quickest way to
get him the ball? And so I pivoted away and passed.
He said no, and I threw it over my shoulder.
He was like no, and he goes, think, and so
I threw it behind my back and he goes, yes.
(27:36):
He said, whenever it's done properly, it is not a
fancy play. And from that day on the behind the
back pass came into the lexicon of our team in
a way that took us two different stratospheres because the
defense could not recover quickly enough when the passes were
used properly. And that's just opened my mind up. I mean,
(27:57):
I did it as a kid, and I did it
all the time. But coach ever allowed me to do
that on the floor and trusted me, but he knew
I would practice it, so I'd go in before practice
and throw it against the wall one hundred each hand,
and I became very adept at it. And those were
the things that I learned here in Sacramento was how
(28:17):
to play the game. So by the time we hit
the court, it was rehearsed in a way that those people,
they relished it when we walked onto the floor, and
it was an environment that was We don't get credit
because we didn't win a championship, but a lot of
the things that you see in Oracle and White Hot
in Miami and all these different things and basketball and
(28:38):
the beautiful game in San Antonio, it wasn't beautiful when
we played San Antonio. Our game was beautiful. And I
learned it here in Sacramento.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
You mentioned about Pete corrill.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I mean, there is a real gentleman, a man that's
been associated with basketball for so many years, and I
always wondered what it was about him and his communication
skills because he wasn't the same age as any of
the players far from him, and there wasn't that breakdown
in the connection between coach and player young player especially.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
What was it that made him so successful.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
And stand out even though he didn't have that natural
connection you'd think he was an older guy. He was
somebody that you wouldn't think young people would connect with.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
You know, it was it was the humanity. It was
bigger than basketball. And you know, I love coach so
much that I talked to him probably once a month
to this day. I just had him on the radio show.
I called him and or I just call and talk
to him and he would he would walk to the
back of the plane and stand at my seat, no
(29:43):
matter how long the flight was. He'd have a glass
of wine, excuse me, and we would talk. And it
was I didn't understand it at the particular time, but
since I trained athletes, a lot of the stuff that
he taught me I passed forward but we would talk
about life, but we were talking about basketball, and that
(30:05):
ability to first of all, gain my trust and my
respect to open up enough as an inner city kid
to him to allow him in. That's part of it.
And his honesty, and he broke the game down in
such simple terms that it was like he would drop
a grenade and pulled a pin and he'd walk away,
(30:26):
and right before it blew up, he would turn around
and look at me and then our eyes would connect
and I go, oh, I got it what you're saying.
And one day he told me, he said, Doug, watch
the guy in front of you. He'll tell you what
to do. And he said, basketball is simple. You make
it hard. He said, if he backs up, shoot it.
If he's on, you go buy him. He said, if
he's on, you're right, you go left. If he's on
your left, to go right. Kid. It's no harder than that.
(30:49):
And I would just go wow. But it was his
love and his commitment to the individual that it crosses
any type of lines of age or ethnicity or religion,
that allowed him to, at least for me, unlock a
lot of the keys that I needed. I wish I
(31:09):
had him for a lot longer because I always thought
I could have been a better player.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Another aspect of your life that was quite interesting came
in twenty fourteen. You were named to a team assembled
by Dennis Rodman as part of his basketball diplomacy effort
in North Korea, with the job of playing an exhibition
match against the North Korean senior national team to celebrate
the birthday of Kim Jong un.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Tell me about that.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
And what you're left with as far as memories of
that experience.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
You know, my memory is getting back to China and
kissing the ground. I was so happy to be back home.
It was you know, it wasn't We didn't know the
birthday thing until we got there, to be honest with you.
But I had traveled with Dennis and travel with Charles
Smith to many places, and we would bring shoes and
(31:58):
do camps, spread the gospel of basketball, if you want
to say. In that particular trip was no different. It
was just it happened to be there, and you know,
we didn't everyone didn't really understand the gravity of it.
But at that particular time and until it was over
or actually in the midst of it, that everything and
(32:21):
you know, we brought all of that team that we
played against the national team, they didn't really have shoes
that were proper to play, so we had brought shoes
and they were very gracious and excited about it. We
did a camp beforehand with them and some of the
youngsters to show them fundamentals and different things that they
(32:43):
could do to help improve their game. And it was
an eye opening experience to say the least, about you know,
where we're at in America and the luxuries and the
things the freedoms that we have that other people do
not have. And from a kid from Seattle, as we
went through this, to say that basketball would have taken
(33:05):
me all around the world is just a humbling, humbling experience.
To be so happy and lucky to be born in America,
to be able to do the things that I've done
in this great country.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
That's interesting what you say, because I had an experience
like that. I was doing a story covering the national
Russian basketball team and we were in San Francisco, and
I'll never forget the fact when they were asked where
they wanted to go, they said they wanted to go
to a shopping center and to go into a store.
I guess it was because and this was many years ago,
(33:46):
they didn't really have a lot on their shelves at
that time, and so being able to go in and
they just walked around with their mouths open, just blown
away by what they saw was on the shelves for
Americans to buy. When you think about that whole experience,
what was the thing that was most impressive to you
and most rememborable to you?
Speaker 3 (34:06):
You know, there was a lot. One is it was
a very very clean country. I mean they were sweeping
the snow when when we were there, which kind of
just kind of threw me back, you know, being in
the hotel and you know, talking to my family from
(34:27):
there and no locks on the doors and things because
you know, they said, don't worry, your stuff is fine.
No one's going to steal your stuff here. It was
just it was humbling all around. I mean when I
look at, like I said, where I came from and
the things that I see and what you know, their
(34:48):
injustices everywhere. But to go to that country and be
able to leave, you know, and come back and hug
my wife and my children and was just it was
an eye opening experience. I mean for somebody that we're
here and we take for granted a lot of the
(35:09):
things that we have. When you, as you say, with
the Russians and you go wow, that's what I did.
I just went wow. I am so very thankful to
be an American and to have the things that we
are able to have that we don't necessarily realize on
a day to day basis.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
We only have thirty seconds left. But Doug, when you
think back over your long career in the NBA and
your life in general, is there any one thing that's
engraved in Doug Christie's mind that I'll never forget?
Speaker 3 (35:39):
You know, just starting where I started a lot of times,
you know, as a kid at that Toucheson Community Center,
I would have never thought I had the dreams and
different things. But that orange leather ball has done so
many wonderful things for me and taking me around the
globe and now here with you on a national syndicated
(36:02):
radio that goes into the Library of Congress. I mean,
come on, this is it's a dream. And it all
happens because somebody has the dedication and the willingness to
sacrifice a piece of their life, and that piece of
their life gets sacrificed, and some good things have happened.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
You deserve it. Doug, thank you for spending so much
time with us. Come back and join us again on
Sports Byline be anytime.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
So appreciate you guys. Be well.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
Doug Christy again, shooting guard who played fifteen years in
the NBA with seven teams, and boy could he shut
you down as well as a defensive player. We continue
with more of you in America's sports talk show Sports
Byline USA. You have been listening to Ron Bars Sports
Byline USA podcast on the eight Side Network
Hi, I'm Ron Barr, and this is today's edition of
Ron Barr's Sports Byline USA podcast on the eight Side Network.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Doug Christy joins us on Sports Byline.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
He was a shooting guard who played fifteen years in
the NBA with seven teams, and he made the first
or second NBA All Defensive Team four times. He grew
up in Seattle, and so we have somewhat of a
connection there.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Growing up in Seattle.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
The Sonics was the team up there at that time.
Who are some of the players that you watched and
you really liked seeing how they played?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
You know, Dennis Johnson comes to mind, to be honest
with you, but probably one of the ones that have
a weird connection with was Gus Williams the Wizard in
seventy eight seventy or seventy seven seventy eight, they lost
to the Bullets in game seven at home. Seventy eight
seventy nine. They go to Washington and beat them in
(00:52):
game seven, and he has a Gus Williams has a
contract negotiation problem and ends up leaving inn A. They
have a little going away party for him at the
at the Arboretum or excuse me, the Aquarium down on
Peer fifty seven in Seattle, and I was a kid.
(01:13):
I take the bus downtown from my inner city home
in Seattle, and once I get down there, get to
the front of the line and the guy takes a
picture of me and Gus and lo and behold It's
on the front page of the Seattle Seattle Times the
next day, or it might have been the PI. But
(01:34):
the point is, many times, growing up, the connection with
the Sonics is something that really pulled me through. To
be honest with you, but that's probably one of my
favorites was Gus Downtown. Freddie Brown was another one. Jack
Sigma I got to know really well. X Men. There
were a bunch, but Gus holds a place in my heart.
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I mentioned about you being on the NBA All Defensive Team,
either first or second team, four different and I bring
that up because in talking to Dennis Johnson over the years,
we used to talk about defense, and I said to him,
I said, is defense a talent or is it an attitude?
He told me it was an attitude, which I thought
(02:14):
was very interesting. He said, when we get to the
fourth quarter and I'm guarding a guy, I want to
be inside his Jersey. I want him to know that
I am writing him. I'm not going to give him
an inch. And so when I see you, you know,
being on the All defensive team, you took that from
his play, did you not?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Absolutely? You know dj ex pepperdine Wave as well, got
to meet him before he passed away, and so much
knowledge and information that he was able to pass on.
Derek Harper of the Dallas Mavericks and then teammate of
mine in the New York Knicks. I mean, these are
guys that helped you out. But you could see the attitude.
(02:56):
You could see the ability to, as you say, stay
in the and understand the moment. At the same time,
that was many things that you would set a guy
up all game and as opposed to just trying to
dominate them dominate him. You kind of got to think
you got to play chess out there and so many
different times. That's kind of how I tried to go
(03:17):
about my business, was understanding that, Okay, I kind of
got them where I want him, but I'm going to
use that one for later in the game when we
really needed I kind.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Of smiled a little bit, Doug when I read you
began playing the street game street ball at a very
young age.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Tell me about that, you know, well, growing up in Seattle.
I mean, first of all, it rained a lot as
a kid. They had learned you had to learn to
play outside and right across the street. There when we
moved from one area of Seattle to the South End.
To the South End, we were in the same area,
but a different part. There was a community center that
(03:53):
had burned down, hutcheson community Center, and so I played
outside all the time, and then they built it up
and they built it back. That was when I joined
my first basketball team actually, and and won the city championship.
But playing uh, street ball, I got to learn how
(04:13):
to play with older guys. I had to shave the
ball a lot. You know, you'd be playing against a
guy and he'd have alcohol and cigarettes on his breath,
and you speak the hell out of you. You know,
you couldn't you couldn't cry for fouls and different things
like that. You just had to play through it. So
when I look at myself and Jamal Crawford and Nate
(04:34):
Robinson and all these guys that have come out of
my same high school, they were in your Beach High
school in the south end of Seattle. There's a there's
a toughness that you get when you when you play
that type of basketball and you grow up that way
that I truly appreciate all the battles and and the
scars that I got playing street basketball.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
You acknowledge that your game really took off because of
your high school coach, Dave Denny. And you once said,
once I came there and I put that with the
street side of basketball, I noticed great strides. I was
learning the basics of basketball, the things you don't learn
on the playground. What is it that he did with
your game that took it to another level?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
You know? It's so my dad lived about an hour
and a half south of Seattle, in the little town
called Longview, Washington, and I was getting in a lot
of trouble, so my mom ended up sending me to
live with my dad for a short time. And while
I was there, that's when I met Dave Denny. And
Dave was different because he was all about the fundamentals
(05:38):
of jump stopping and doing little drills of pivoting and
different stuff. He was you know, it was like, oh wow,
you know, you are obviously more athletic than everybody, you
can do these things that I can't necessarily teach these guys,
but you're not going to play if you don't do
these things. So by the time I, you know, kind
of bought in and I wanted to play, and I
(06:01):
took those same attributes to fundamentals and I took him
back home, and the guys that I was struggling against
when I was a little younger before I had left,
all of a sudden, I was beating him. And because
I was using these things jump stops, the pump flakes,
the pivots and different stuff. I did it before, but
(06:21):
now there was meaning to it. And that's really when
I ran into the second coach, Mel Williams at Rainder
Beach High School, who gave me probably the greatest gift
is he was the first person that I ever heard
say that I could make it to the NBA. And
we were having a bad practice and he blows the
(06:42):
whistle and tells everybody to sit down, and at that time,
Rainder Beach was the number one in the state and
he justly reams us and he's using words that I
won't use right now, And like he said, everybody in here,
there's only one person that might make it to the end.
And you know, we're some hood kids, so we're looking
(07:03):
around at each other like who, and the heck is
he about to say right now? And he said my name.
And that's just from from day to mail, from fundamentals
to breathing breath into somebody's dream. They really really helped
me out a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
How does a kid from the Northwest end up in
southern California at Pepperdine.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
That's not a hard one, actually, So I wasn't highly recruited,
didn't really get good grades. It was Washington with Andy
Russo that recruited me, Washington State with Calvin Sampson. They
had a coach down at cal State Fullerton, they can't
recall his name, and then Jim Herrick and ultimately Tom Asbury.
(07:48):
And I knew I needed to get out of Washington
because I was getting in so much trouble, but I
didn't really know, you know, where am I going to go?
So when I went on my recruiting visit, my uncle
Dale went with me, and I was going to visit
cal State Fullerton and Pepperdine at the same time. When
we landed cal State fullertin called and canceled because they
signed somebody. So now it was Pepperdine. And when I
(08:12):
went there, first of all, I fell in love and
I told my uncle immediately, I like, I'm going here,
and he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know, I told you, Mama,
I'd come. You know, let's you know, look and see.
But when I saw Pepperdine, and I met Tom, and
I met Jim, and I met the six million dollar
(08:32):
Manly Majors at the same time. So when I wrapped
all that together, it was Malibu. Man. It's still to
this day it holds a place in my heart. When
I go there, I just feel good about things. And
that's after that. I was a hook line and sinker.
I was ready to go.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
We only have ninety seconds before we have to break.
I used to do television games and I remember USF
playing against Pepperdine, and of course I always had never
been on the camp before, and I noticed that all
the students had this gator on their shirt, and I said, oh,
this must be an IZOD team.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Will said, let me tell you, I was not one
of those students with the IZOD, but I understand exactly
what you're.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Saying in about a minute, when you think about college basketball,
how did that develop your game? I mean, was that
an important part of the game that finally got you
to the NBA.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
It was actually it was coach Tom Asbury. It was
his discipline and how he went about it. He was
a a came along behind John Wooden and Jim Herricks,
so all of those fundamentals kind of funneled into me.
And it was his ability as a prop forty eight student.
I didn't play my first year to allow me to
(09:50):
be able to be fundamental, but give me enough rope
to show my skill set.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Doug Christy is with us here on Sports by and
I we're talking about his life, his career, a career
that saw him play in the NBA with seven teams
for some fifteen years. But you talk about a guy
who could shut you down on the court, it was
Doug Christie. And when we come back, we'll talk about
him being drafted by his hometown Sonics, not quite what
it turned out to be, and we'll talk more about
(10:18):
his career as we continue across the country and around
the world. We've got you on Sports Byline. You're listening
to Ron Barr's Sports Byline USA podcast. Doug Christy is
with us here on Sports Byline USA. I remember watching
him in the NBA. You talk about a guy that
could shoot from the outside. It didn't really come about
until a little bit later on in his career, but
(10:39):
he could always shut you down because he was on
the first or second NBA All Defensive Team four different times.
The NBA Draft comes around, Doug and you get drafted
in the first round by the Sonics. Now you must
have been just tickled pink to do that, but it
didn't work out. What was the situation there?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
You know, it's an odd one, man, because I really
thought that at fifteen, I was going to go to
the Lakers, but I had a problem with my knee
that I probably would have been a top five pick
had it not been for what happened with my knee. Well,
there was some animosity and different things. George Carl was
(11:22):
the coach at the time, and we kind of had
some back and forth and different things. And Bob Witzett
was a general manager. So if you look at my
face when I get drafted that day, I kind of
knew that when they said that. Christy to the Sonics
as happy as growing up as a Sonics fan, and
I wanted to go back, and they had a great
team at that time. I knew things probably weren't going
(11:45):
to go fantastic, and right from the jump they did not.
And the contract, the monetary compensation was the ridiculous that
they offered the guy the year before me got a
fifteen ray, so I should have been making roughly about
a million, million and a half somewhere in there, and
they offered me like two hundred and fifty three hundred
(12:07):
thousand dollars. So there was a whole out went a
long time. I ended up going back to school for
a moment, and then Jerry West came calling and made
a trade and my career started. Fifty eight or sixty
games into my rookie year, I had to sit out
that lot.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Is it true that when you put on the jersey
for the first time with Thekers, that your your last
name was misspelled?
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Yes, it was absolutely cool. I walk into the Forum
in Philadelphia that I have seen Doctor j play on
many many times, and I walk up the ramp and
I'm walking with the likes of you know, Ac Green
and James Worthy, environ Scott, and I walk in and
I see it over there in the corner, and I'm
(12:57):
right beside James Worthy. So I'm thinking to myself, oh
my goodness. And as I walk up, I see it's
a C h R. I s e I, and I'm like, oh, man,
that's but you know, hey, listen, it was my first
NBA game. It was probably not the way that you
really wanted to start out, but nonetheless, I went out anyway.
(13:22):
It was. It was, and that night was a weird one,
to say the least.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
You know, you could have said if you had filed out,
that's not me.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
It's it's you know what a good point, good point,
you know, respell it and send me in with six
more fouls.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Yeah, you got it. Hey.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
The Lakers have always had an aura about them. You
played your college ball down there, you had a chance
to see them, of course, and you end up with
the Lakers when you come into the NBA. Tell me
a little bit about that Laker era.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
You know, it's it's incredible, man. I mean after gust
got traded. That that was right around the time that
Magic came in, and I was a Magic fan. He
was a big guard. I wanted to play like that.
I wanted to be like that. I wanted to pass
like that, to run a team like that, and it
was to then live in Los Angeles or right there
(14:14):
in mouthing the Outskirts during that time was just it
was incredible. I watched so many of those games, even
though they were tape delayed, with the versus the Celtics,
and to get to Los Angeles, it's like, here's the
Clippers and they're the Lakers. But there's not the Clippers.
There's only the Lakers, just like the Knicks and you know,
(14:34):
the Nets or it's a nixed town. That's what it is.
It is a Lakers town. And to play right there,
it was it was mind blowing, to be honest with you, man.
You know, Los Angeles is a different animal and you
gotta be really prepared to play there and play underneath
(14:57):
those lights in the Great Western for him was incredible
to pull up to every day, the likes of Jerry
West and you know, to sit and talk to him.
But that Laker aura is real, and that's why they've
won as many championships. I mean, they've had the best
of the best stars there, but they've delivered the.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
One thing I've always wondered about it. Is we hear
about distractions for a team, for a player and everything,
and Los Angeles there are certainly a lot of distractions,
but they they didn't really affect the team that much.
They won those championships.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Why was it?
Speaker 1 (15:31):
What was it about the Lakers that allowed them not
to be distracted?
Speaker 3 (15:36):
You know, I think you know when it was when
it was magic. And if you think about it, when
they talk about super teams and the Lakers and the
Boston Celtics are probably the first super teams. You know,
he had magic. Kareem Worthy Byron Scott, Kurt rambus Ac Green.
(15:57):
I mean, wow, this it was reddible team and did
that and the way that they played. But I also
taken the consideration coaching and pat Riley is he was.
I played for him with the Knicks and recently wrote
him a letter and just telling him I love him
(16:17):
and appreciated how hard he was. And I think when
you coach the way that he coached with that type
of talent, it kind of brings things together. Meaning, look, look, guys,
I know you're going to probably go out to a party,
but I am going to require of you the absolute
best of the best and then you bring back Phil
Jackson with Kobe and Shaq, and Kobe and Shack were
(16:39):
together before Phil got there, but not until he got
there did they take that next step. And that's the
coaching aspect of it. Is the coach to understand how
to put the pieces together. It's not always for the
players to figure that aspect out of some of them do.
Like a Lebron, he's his player coach on the floor
and Magic was a coach on the floor. You need
(17:00):
someone to manage the personalities and manage all the things
that are on the antler, they're on the outside, and
make sure that the thing that is is going to
deliver the punch. Does that And I would say part
of it. And you don't you look at Jerry West,
you look at ownership. Doctor Buss was probably the best
owner in American sports history in my opinion. So there
(17:23):
were some other things also that really helped make sure
that those guys delivered the goods.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, you have to have a conductor. And in my opinion,
in all the years I got to know him when
he was with the Warriors up here and also over
the years talking to him, he was a man that
knew the game and certainly knew how to push the
buttons in the right way at the right time. Tell
me a little bit about Jerry West. What made him
so unique? He played the game with distinction, he proved
(17:49):
himself there, but he also understood the individuality of athletes
and how to motivate him.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
You know, Jerry is he's a savior for me, man.
I mean, he saw in me things and it was
not just to me. If you look at Jerry Wes's
track record of drafting, it doesn't matter. He usually now
the player might not be a superstar, but most guys
at Jerry West draft, they last ten to fifteen years
(18:16):
in the league and they have really good careers. And
that's just because he has a distinct eye for talent.
He understands talent. He sees things that other people don't see.
Because things excuse me, The Lakers didn't draft high in
the draft all the time. Most of the time they
were in the mid to the bottom of the first
round and sometimes second round. But those picks he's able
(18:37):
to find talent. He's able then to develop that talent.
But one thing that I just truly enjoy about Jerry
and I enjoy always talking to Jerry is he is
a straight shooter. He tells it exactly like it is.
Sometimes you don't want to hear it, but that's not
the point. The point is it is what it is.
And I think that when you add those things of
(18:57):
understanding talent, speaking to the talent the right way, putting
the talent in the right position, bringing the talent along properly,
and you look at all of that, that's what makes
Jerry West special. He's a special human being.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
We have about two minutes left before we have to
break Doug and the egos. I mean sports, you've got
to have an ego. You've got to believe in yourself.
It's what have you done for me lately? How did
he handle the egos? And how did the actually the
Lakers as a team handle the egos on those great teams, you.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Know, I think they did a marvelous job because they
let the guys be themselves, but to a point that
I think that it went on to the court, meaning
that Magic Johnson's personality was his personality, but they let
his personality shine on the court. The smile, the charisma,
(19:50):
the enthusiasm, all those different things, and that that was
a special mixture that you don't just, you know, give
buddy that much rope. But they knew that he had.
He had the drive and the wheel and the work
ethic and all of those things, and when you put
all those things together, you get something special. Larry Bird
(20:11):
did it in a different way. He was he was
more reserved and what have you, but the same work ethic,
the same passion. But Magic was more La where Bird
was more Boston. And that comes from your pat Riley's
and you know, Jerry West and those people to lead
you in a way that allows you to be yourself.
(20:34):
But you got to show them that you're going to
do what it's going to take to get the job done.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yeah, forty five seconds, Doug.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
And I'm just wondering, when you look back on your
time with the Lakers, is there any one moment that
just busts you up when you think about.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
It, you know, I mean there's so many of them,
especially with the Vladi debots. It was my teammates then,
But the one that probably strikes me the most is
my second game. We were in Atlanta and I was
with you games of seven. I'm up at you know,
one o'clock in the afternoon. I'm dressed by three, I'm
(21:08):
sitting on the bed. You know, I'm excited. I am
ready to go. I fall asleep and I'm late for
the bus. And I had to walk on the bus
as a rookie with all those names that I said,
and they're just yelling and rookie. But I was up
and I was ready. I fell asleep because I was
so excited. But they were good guys man Ac Green
(21:29):
and Byron Scott and James Worth that they took real
good care of me.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
We're talking basketball with Doug Christie. Of course, he played
fifteen years in the NBA with seven teams. We continue
across the country and around the world on Sports Byline.
You're listening to Ron Bars Sports Byline USA podcast.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Doug Christy with us here on Sports Byline.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
We're talking about his life and his career. An outstanding
career in the NBA fifteen years. Anytime you can play
double digit years in a professional sport, you gotta be
pretty good. But let me ask you about the shooting
of the three point. We mentioned about defense being an attitude.
What is it about the three point? You were outstanding
at it? But the great ones you think about Steph
Curry today, What is the commonality all great three point
(22:13):
shooters have.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
You know, I really think it's a short memory. They
don't they don't really think about the missus. They they're
going to make the next one. It doesn't matter. And
you know, we got a guy here in Sacramento, Buddy
Heal that that shoots the ball. I played with Pages
Soyakovic and the ultimate confidence it comes to a cockiness.
Even that is you got to be around it to
(22:38):
understand it. But the prolific three point shooting that we're
seeing today, I mean, if we had Page or Larry
Bird or Craig Hodges or some of these great Dale
Ellis and all these players that could shoot, the three
pointer wasn't as in vogue as it is today. And
that's why the ruckers are going down the way that
(22:59):
they were downtown. Ferdy Brown, he shot from way outside
the three point line, but it wasn't there was no
line there, so it was only worth two points. But
you know, analytics has said that, you know, there's so
many different reasons why it's more valuable. People have bought
in in a way that now it's shot deeper, it
(23:20):
shot easier. You step across the half court line almost
and guys are pulling up and they're knocking it down
like Damian Lillard. So but when you look at all
of them, the mental side of it is, I'm going
to make the next one give it to me. And
that type of attitude creates that type of incredible shooting.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Early in your career with the Lakers and then after
being traded to the next you really saw only limited action.
But after joining the Raptors, Doug, your career really took off.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Why was that?
Speaker 3 (23:53):
You know? First of all, it was going from the
Lakers to the Knicks. And I can remember Jerry West
calling me up to a suite in Hawaii and telling
me that he was going to trade me. And I
had never experienced outside of business, and I broke down
and he was like, look, you know, the one good
thing is that when you're traded, understand that somebody wants you.
(24:15):
So I go to the Knicks. I get to the Knicks,
I walk into pat Riley's office and he tells me,
I'm not going to play you. I got my team.
I'm rolling with my team. But you find something that
you do in this league good, and you hone it
and you it'll keep you in the league for a
long while. So every day I'd come early, stay late,
(24:36):
go through his incredible practices and that's where I learned
to be a professional. So by the time I got
to Toronto, things that starting to mold for me and
the great Isaiah Thomas Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas sat
me down the very first day and told me, he said,
I know your story, none of that comes with you.
This is a fresh start for you, he said, Between
(24:58):
you and Damon Stottamayer, he said, you guys are going
to be my back court. I'm going to pretty much
play you forty eight minutes. Don't look over at the
bench if you mess up, he said, that's just part
of the game. Try not to make the same mistakes twice.
Go out there and have some fun, and we're going
to build a team. And that type of confidence no
one had really besides Jerry and I had some success
(25:20):
as a rookie and going into my second year because
that type of I needed someone to talk to me
that way and show confidence in me that way. And
when Isaiah did that, things just started going up, up up,
and I started to find my way. And that's why
I credit both of them for it.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Another place that was very important to you. Where you're
doing basketball, you're doing announcing for the king Sacramento Kings.
It really took off for you there. You became the
King's popular shooting guard. You developed into the one in
the league's best defenders, in one of the NBA's best
three point shooters as well. And this is an observation
of my part and Doug, if you think I'm wrong
(25:58):
about it, I really I felt there was a comfort
factor in Sacramento for you that maybe you did not
have early in your career. And when I say comfort factor, Seattle,
Sacramento smaller towns than Los Angeles and New York, am
I correct in that observation.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
You know you are in many ways. This community really
took me in. I mean, there is a relationship between
the Kings and the fans that is it's different. You know.
The only other place I really seen it like this
was Portland, Oregon with the Portland Trailblazers, and oddly enough,
(26:33):
Coach Adleman was the coach of both of those teams.
But getting here, I always say that this is where
I learned how to play basketball, and coach Pete Carill
a longtime coach in Princeton, and he was one of
our assistant coaches. And I credit Coachee so much. That's
what we call him Coachie so much because he was
(26:54):
able to get into my head and all the things
that I wanted to do and wanted to be. I
didn't get them all out, but I started to hone
him in a way that I'd give you a quick
story that how he took the governor off when day
were playing and he blows the whistle and coach he
kind of waddles out onto the floor and I just
came off of a double pick and roll and they
(27:14):
were double teaming me. So the guy in front of
me and the guy on the left, and he goes
and Pager was at the top of the key behind me,
and he goes, how does what's the quickest way to
get him the ball? And so I pivoted away and passed.
He said no, and I threw it over my shoulder.
He was like no, and he goes, think, and so
I threw it behind my back and he goes, yes.
(27:36):
He said, whenever it's done properly, it is not a
fancy play. And from that day on the behind the
back pass came into the lexicon of our team in
a way that took us two different stratospheres because the
defense could not recover quickly enough when the passes were
used properly. And that's just opened my mind up. I mean,
(27:57):
I did it as a kid, and I did it
all the time. But coach ever allowed me to do
that on the floor and trusted me, but he knew
I would practice it, so I'd go in before practice
and throw it against the wall one hundred each hand,
and I became very adept at it. And those were
the things that I learned here in Sacramento was how
(28:17):
to play the game. So by the time we hit
the court, it was rehearsed in a way that those people,
they relished it when we walked onto the floor, and
it was an environment that was We don't get credit
because we didn't win a championship, but a lot of
the things that you see in Oracle and White Hot
in Miami and all these different things and basketball and
(28:38):
the beautiful game in San Antonio, it wasn't beautiful when
we played San Antonio. Our game was beautiful. And I
learned it here in Sacramento.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
You mentioned about Pete corrill.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I mean, there is a real gentleman, a man that's
been associated with basketball for so many years, and I
always wondered what it was about him and his communication
skills because he wasn't the same age as any of
the players far from him, and there wasn't that breakdown
in the connection between coach and player young player especially.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
What was it that made him so successful.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
And stand out even though he didn't have that natural
connection you'd think he was an older guy. He was
somebody that you wouldn't think young people would connect with.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
You know, it was it was the humanity. It was
bigger than basketball. And you know, I love coach so
much that I talked to him probably once a month
to this day. I just had him on the radio show.
I called him and or I just call and talk
to him and he would he would walk to the
back of the plane and stand at my seat, no
(29:43):
matter how long the flight was. He'd have a glass
of wine, excuse me, and we would talk. And it
was I didn't understand it at the particular time, but
since I trained athletes, a lot of the stuff that
he taught me I passed forward but we would talk
about life, but we were talking about basketball, and that
(30:05):
ability to first of all, gain my trust and my
respect to open up enough as an inner city kid
to him to allow him in. That's part of it.
And his honesty, and he broke the game down in
such simple terms that it was like he would drop
a grenade and pulled a pin and he'd walk away,
(30:26):
and right before it blew up, he would turn around
and look at me and then our eyes would connect
and I go, oh, I got it what you're saying.
And one day he told me, he said, Doug, watch
the guy in front of you. He'll tell you what
to do. And he said, basketball is simple. You make
it hard. He said, if he backs up, shoot it.
If he's on, you go buy him. He said, if
he's on, you're right, you go left. If he's on
your left, to go right. Kid. It's no harder than that.
(30:49):
And I would just go wow. But it was his
love and his commitment to the individual that it crosses
any type of lines of age or ethnicity or religion,
that allowed him to, at least for me, unlock a
lot of the keys that I needed. I wish I
(31:09):
had him for a lot longer because I always thought
I could have been a better player.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Another aspect of your life that was quite interesting came
in twenty fourteen. You were named to a team assembled
by Dennis Rodman as part of his basketball diplomacy effort
in North Korea, with the job of playing an exhibition
match against the North Korean senior national team to celebrate
the birthday of Kim Jong un.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Tell me about that.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
And what you're left with as far as memories of
that experience.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
You know, my memory is getting back to China and
kissing the ground. I was so happy to be back home.
It was you know, it wasn't We didn't know the
birthday thing until we got there, to be honest with you.
But I had traveled with Dennis and travel with Charles
Smith to many places, and we would bring shoes and
(31:58):
do camps, spread the gospel of basketball, if you want
to say. In that particular trip was no different. It
was just it happened to be there, and you know,
we didn't everyone didn't really understand the gravity of it.
But at that particular time and until it was over
or actually in the midst of it, that everything and
(32:21):
you know, we brought all of that team that we
played against the national team, they didn't really have shoes
that were proper to play, so we had brought shoes
and they were very gracious and excited about it. We
did a camp beforehand with them and some of the
youngsters to show them fundamentals and different things that they
(32:43):
could do to help improve their game. And it was
an eye opening experience to say the least, about you know,
where we're at in America and the luxuries and the
things the freedoms that we have that other people do
not have. And from a kid from Seattle, as we
went through this, to say that basketball would have taken
(33:05):
me all around the world is just a humbling, humbling experience.
To be so happy and lucky to be born in America,
to be able to do the things that I've done
in this great country.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
That's interesting what you say, because I had an experience
like that. I was doing a story covering the national
Russian basketball team and we were in San Francisco, and
I'll never forget the fact when they were asked where
they wanted to go, they said they wanted to go
to a shopping center and to go into a store.
I guess it was because and this was many years ago,
(33:46):
they didn't really have a lot on their shelves at
that time, and so being able to go in and
they just walked around with their mouths open, just blown
away by what they saw was on the shelves for
Americans to buy. When you think about that whole experience,
what was the thing that was most impressive to you
and most rememborable to you?
Speaker 3 (34:06):
You know, there was a lot. One is it was
a very very clean country. I mean they were sweeping
the snow when when we were there, which kind of
just kind of threw me back, you know, being in
the hotel and you know, talking to my family from
(34:27):
there and no locks on the doors and things because
you know, they said, don't worry, your stuff is fine.
No one's going to steal your stuff here. It was
just it was humbling all around. I mean when I
look at, like I said, where I came from and
the things that I see and what you know, their
(34:48):
injustices everywhere. But to go to that country and be
able to leave, you know, and come back and hug
my wife and my children and was just it was
an eye opening experience. I mean for somebody that we're
here and we take for granted a lot of the
(35:09):
things that we have. When you, as you say, with
the Russians and you go wow, that's what I did.
I just went wow. I am so very thankful to
be an American and to have the things that we
are able to have that we don't necessarily realize on
a day to day basis.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
We only have thirty seconds left. But Doug, when you
think back over your long career in the NBA and
your life in general, is there any one thing that's
engraved in Doug Christie's mind that I'll never forget?
Speaker 3 (35:39):
You know, just starting where I started a lot of times,
you know, as a kid at that Toucheson Community Center,
I would have never thought I had the dreams and
different things. But that orange leather ball has done so
many wonderful things for me and taking me around the
globe and now here with you on a national syndicated
(36:02):
radio that goes into the Library of Congress. I mean,
come on, this is it's a dream. And it all
happens because somebody has the dedication and the willingness to
sacrifice a piece of their life, and that piece of
their life gets sacrificed, and some good things have happened.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
You deserve it. Doug, thank you for spending so much
time with us. Come back and join us again on
Sports Byline be anytime.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
So appreciate you guys. Be well.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
Doug Christy again, shooting guard who played fifteen years in
the NBA with seven teams, and boy could he shut
you down as well as a defensive player. We continue
with more of you in America's sports talk show Sports
Byline USA. You have been listening to Ron Bars Sports
Byline USA podcast on the eight Side Network
Host
Ron Barr
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