January 17, 2024 • 50 mins
In the first episode of "The Why with Dwyane Wade," Dwyane has a revealing roundtable discussion with his fellow 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and Tony Parker. The legendary group covers a range of topics including Dirk and Dwyane's personal issues dating back to the 2006 NBA Finals, the 2011 "coughing" incident and why they have never spoken about their "beef" before. They also get into... who is the true European GOAT, what motivated them the most during their careers, and Dwyane tells an unbelievable story about the 2013 Finals that shocks Tony Parker.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:16):
What's up, everybody. Welcome to the first episode of the
Why We're Doing any Way Now. I wanted to start
this podcast because I'm retired from basketball and I have
nothing to do. That's the first lie I told I
have so many things going on. It's so many things
to do, but I thought it would be very important
for me. It's someone who's curious and someone who wants
(00:39):
to learn, to have an opportunity to learn from people
that I admire, people that I feel like our goats
of their sports, people that are goats in their field,
but just people who have interesting, inspirational things going on
in life. And so I'm used to being on that side,
but now I'm on this side, and so I kind
of get the control the conversations, and I want it
(01:02):
to be exactly that. I don't want it to be interview.
I wanted to feel like a conversation, some with friends,
some with people that you might see me googly at
over or Meyer, but just really a conversation that goes
back and forth about what it takes to be successful,
about what motivated you, about what your dogs eat, anything
(01:22):
that we want to cover. I want to be able
to talk about it so as you guys see behind me,
I was able to have a lot of successes in life.
And I highlight my three NBA trophies, not because I'm
only a narcissist, but because when you understand what goes
into winning one trophy and then you get to see two,
(01:45):
you get to see three, I think you have a
little bit more respect for the individual that individuals that
are part of the team. And so hopefully some of
these conversations that we have with some greats, some great minds,
can give you a little bit more and a little
bit more background on what it takes to have a trophy,
and not just in sports, in life, how do you
(02:08):
get to that level, that that top level that we
all try to find. So when I first went to
my team and sat down and say, hey, I think
I'm ready to start having conversations. I want to start
my own podcast. I had an idea in my mind
at the time of what the name was going to be.
And my first name that I came up with was Pantheon.
(02:30):
And I came up with Pantheon because I was like,
I want to sit down with great minds. I want
to sit down with goats, and you know, the people
who are at the top of what they do, and
we went with that. In my first episode, I got
a chance to sit down with those individuals that to
me are pantheons. I got a chance to sit down
with Dirk Tony Powell at the Hall of Fame and
(02:54):
talk about being a pantheon. But as I kept going,
I started to think, I was like, a man, I
want this to be more conversation, and so I went
with you know what, how about conversation with Dwyane Wade.
That was my second episode. I mean that was my
second name, A conversation with Dwayne Wade. I was like,
that's easy, that's point blank, that's period. But it didn't
(03:16):
feel like enough. It didn't feel like something that that
I wanted this podcast to represent. And so we end
up going with The Why with Dwyane Wade. And the
reason it's called The Why is because my name is
spelled d w why an E. But for some reason,
no matter if I was in grade school or no
(03:38):
matter if I was at the Hall of Fame, I
still see my name spelled d w A y n E.
And so I want everybody to get the y right.
But also outside of that, I want to talk about
your why. I want to talk about why you get
up every day to do what you do. I want
to get into people's reasoning and their why some and
(04:02):
it goes all over the place. Sometimes my WI is
my family, Sometime my WI is because someone said something
to me, or they yell something to me. Whatever your
why is, I want to get to that. And so
the Why Podcast with Dwayne Wade it fits not only
everything that I've grown up dealing with with the misspelling
of my name and the misplacement of the why, but
also really been intrigued to why we all do the
(04:26):
things we do. Episode one was very special to me.
We recorded it back in August and it was the
day before we were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
As you guys understand and know about that time, it's
an emotional time. You have all your family in town.
It's a lot going on. And to be able to
(04:46):
sit down and have this conversation with Tony Parker, Powe Gasol,
and Dirk Nowinsky about our battles versus each other, about
our family, about what makes us and what and what
made us great, about what we're doing after the game,
about those competitions, those moments, what we were talking about
(05:09):
the Olympics in O eight, what we were talking about
the Old Six Finals, and y'all know, Dirck and I
had to get a little personal on the Old six
Finals or what do we were talking about? Just moments
that we've watched as fans of each other, and also
to share moments about our brotherhoods throughout the NBA, not
just on our team, but throughout the things that connects
(05:30):
us and so conversations that has never been discussed with
athletes was discussed on the White Podcast. I really hope
you guys enjoy listening to this episode as much as
I did making it Episode one of the Why with
Dwayne Wade, and it's Hall of Fame weekend. We are
(05:58):
live at the Mohegan Sign and I'm honored to be
joined by three of the greatest players of all times.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Everybody, thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Four time NBA Champion, NBA Finals MVP, six time NBA
All Star, Tony Parker, welcome to thank you, two time
NBA Champion, six time NBA All Star, Power Gasol Welcome,
fourteen time NBA All Star, sixth on the NBA all
(06:33):
time scoring list, one time NBA Champion. We'll get to
that later.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Welcome you.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
All right, fellas, let's get into this. As we sit here,
we're one day away from getting those Hall of Fame jackets.
How I'll start with you first. What does this means
to you?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I guess it's a culmination, right, It's kind of like
the icing on the cake, which you know it's crazy
to think about. But to me, what's really special it's
I mean, basketball is a team sport. We wouldn't be here,
you know if our teams that we were part of,
our teammates are our people around us didn't help us
(07:26):
and do our job and perform at the highest level.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
So uh, you know, to to to.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Go together in a class with four guys, with three
guys here that I've my my career has been very
parallel to all of yours.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
In in in in a way, it's super special, super special.
I'm ready. I'm ready to put that hopefully it will
fit the jacket.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
You know, to have my my parents here, you know,
I wanted them to.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
To put that jacket on me.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
They they brought me to this world, and uh, you
know that'll be very special. So you know, just try
to take it all in. As I told you, earlier
today on the golf course. So I take it in,
enjoy it, share it with, you know, with amazing people. Uh,
you know, we're gonna we're tied forever at a higher level.
I mean, this doesn't get much much better than this.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Yeah, Tony, kind of the same thing. Going through the
process right now and writing the speech, it has been
a crazy mix of emotion. I feel very nostalgic. I'm
having my whole French mafia. You know, they all came.
You know, I have a lot of people, so sorry
(08:35):
for all the French, but there's gonna be a lot
of them as we can. They all fluent. Just like
to see like all the love, all the people that
supported me through my whole career, and to basically celebrate
alltogether one more time. I feel like it's like like
(08:56):
I feel blessed. We've been watching like all games and
watching finals games, and it's funny to go through those
memories again and uh, and to be all together and
to share that with them, that's very important to me.
I'm like, hupa. I'm very close to to my family,
close to my to my brothers and everybody. Everybody is
(09:17):
here and I have a lot of connection with all
of you guys. Uh Dirk, I went to your Jersey
retirement and power we play together, and the Spain Spain
French rivalry, the way we played twice in the finals,
and I'm going to say it again, I can't believe
you the favorite player of my little brother. But it's okay,
you know what I mean. But it's just been an
(09:39):
unbelievable journey and I feel very lucky to be here.
And I've never thought somebody like me will experience something
like the Hall of Fame. I dream about the NBA.
I dreamt about being the first European point guard to
make it the NBA, But the Hall of Fame is
a whole other level.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, so you've been watching old fam to see how
good you are?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
That No, I was just no. I knew I was good,
but I still get mad when I misshots in chear drops.
I was like, it's funny, like you watch games and
like my dad, you know my dad, when you watch games,
he's like a box. You know, he's like moves like this.
You know, you watch the game and like, you know,
we can't do anything about this happens already. It was
(10:22):
funny though, to go through those feelings.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Definitely dark.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, just super super excited, super anxious now a little
bit the last few weeks we're leading up to it. Now,
you know, I feel lot at night. I wake up,
I got certain things going through my mind. I reflect,
I got parts of my speech. You know, I'm trying
to all of a sudden in the middle of the
night and I can't sleep for an hour. So I'm
ready to get this going, get this weekend going. Everybody's
(10:46):
arriving today. I have a huge crew, huge family coming
from from Germany as well. So yeah, I just just
excited really to get this going and have some fun
with everybody that's here. And it's an honor. It's an
amazing class as all you guys, and I'm so so
humble to be a part of it. So let's get
this started.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
I know, I know it's your show, D but I
have a question, right, I have a question. I'm sorry,
did you realize do you realize that you're all the
fram Her And if not, when do you think you're
going to realize you're all the famer.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I think it's gonna take a while to set in.
I mean, I'm sure we all right, we all had
a dream to play the game of basketball. We wanted
to play in the NBA because it was the it
was the best league, my favorite players in America for
you guys, and here for me, we're playing. And I
was having a conversation with my father, and my father
told me he was like, you know, I always dreamed
(11:37):
of my son going to the NBA, but I never
dreamed of greatness. How do you how do you dream
of greatness? And to be able to sit here and
to be here this weekend, Like this is a level
of greatness that I never imagined that I would be
able to experience. And so yeah, I'm going I'm like
you guys, I've been going through all emotions. I ain't sleeping.
This speech has been the bane of my existence. Like
(12:01):
I can't wait to get this speech out the way
so we can move on and have a good time.
But I never thought I'd be sitting here being called
the Hall of Famer.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
I feel like like when I'm gonna walk the steps
and be in front of you guys, that I'm really
going to realize that's the moment a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, that's the moment.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Like just walking those steps, it puts me back when
I was like just drafted. You know, you walk those
steps and you just got drafted, and you're like, man,
I'm going to the NBA.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I got drafted.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
That's how I hope it will make the same same feeling,
you know, when I walk those steps and become a
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah, that's that's when it gets real. That's when it
gets real. All right, listen, So we started at the
Hall of Fame. I want to take it back to
the beginning. So young Dirk, who the young Dirk want
to be?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Well, first, actually, my first role model was my dad.
He was a sports guy. He's played handball in Europe.
So I started actually playing hambo ever since I can remember.
Then I played tennis. It was a decent tennis player.
So I want to be like Boris Becker, you know,
boom Boombcker. You guys remember him, legend, shout out to
my guy. And so those were some of my first
(13:15):
sports heroes. And then I didn't start really basketball, so
I was about twelve thirteen, a little late. And then
that was just around the nineties when Michael Jordan took over,
and so I was die hard Bulls fan, you know,
back in the days there was no Internet, you couldn't
really catch them any games, so all the the league
was promoting was usually the ball. So we caught like
(13:36):
one or two games live every once a week or
twice a week, and it was usually the ball. So
I was a diehard pip and fan. Loved this versatility
and loved the MJ. I mean, he was the goat
for me of all time, and then those were Yeah.
I was a diehard Chicago Bulls fan and I loved
love Charles Bartley later on too. He's actually the reason
(13:59):
I played with number leves and when I started basketball
because my dad had eleven and handball. And then when
I saw Charles in the ninety two Olympics at number fourteen,
I actually switched my number to fourteen because I loved
I love Charles as well. So so those were some
of my first first idols when I got going.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So I'm thinking about Charles Barkley game, I'm thinking athleticism,
I'm thinking post up, you know, banging.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
People, not thinking about why why Charles, I don't know.
I love this intensity, man. I loved he was undersized,
but what a beast man. He was unbelievable. How he
how he got it down there, and so so explosive.
I mean, I love watching athletic players. Even though that
wasn't really my game, that was definitely something that caught
(14:42):
my eye. And he was just so so explosive. It
was fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Yeah, he was. He was Powe. Who did young Powell
want to be.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
My I think my guy growing up was Tony Kuk.
You know, I was able to call him and he
accepted the honor to be my present center. You know,
growing up in Europe. He was the kind of the
guy that stood out for me. He had he was
very versatile. You know, he was a lefty.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I was.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I played small forward until I was eighteen nineteen years
old because I was so skinny and you know, kind
of I felt more comfortable outside and I didn't fully
grow up to the you know, to the seven to
one frame that I that I turned out to be.
So Tony was, you know, the guy obviously that he
went and joined the Bulls the ninety two Olympics had
a big impact. He was the guy, the European guy
(15:34):
you know that was up and coming, and you know,
so he had and then obviously the Bulls and and
all that also had an effect. But yeah, Tony was
kind of like the guy that I wanted to emulate
and kind of follow the steps. And you know he
inspired me to, you know, to try to be another
we'll get to the NBA and and follow that path.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, Tony, your dad is from Chicago, shout out Cargo Town.
So who did young Tony want to be?
Speaker 4 (16:04):
So me a little bit like you. My favorite player
was Michael Jordans my dad from Chicago, huge Bulls fans,
and so yeah, I had posters of him.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
My room.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
I remember being ten years old and being in Monaco
and I went to the game the Dream Team. They
played the Friends for a friendly game before going to
Barcelona for Olympics, and I was one of those kids
who will go down and go watch it. France lost
by fifty, but you know it was my first routine
(16:40):
and so I was just super excited to see my idol.
And that's why I wear the number nine because of
Michael Jordan. You know, at the time in Europe, you
know you can only have numbers, you know for the fifteen,
so you couldn't get twenty three. So I'll be pissed.
When I was a kid like why you can't get
twenty three. That role only four to fifteen, you know,
Like I understand that when I wanted twenty three, and
(17:01):
so when he played in the Olympics and he had nine,
I was like, oh, I'm going to play with nine.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Oh you were good. You got to pick your number
when you was young. Oh I just got thrown in
jersey here I got lucky. But you're right.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
But that's why some of my jerseys is not nine,
you know, growing up, because then I was the little one,
I was the rookie.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
So you can't choose your number.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
So some of my jerseys are not nine, but most
of the time they were nine.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
So we talk about Michael Jordan obviously, I think all
of us we grew up. We're roughly around the same age.
So we grew up in the era of you know,
who would probably be our goat? Who is the European goat, Tony?
Who would be the European goat for you? What was
that player that you will look at and say, this
is a European goat, either when you were young or
(17:49):
even now. Who is that person?
Speaker 4 (17:51):
My European goat is Derk Novitski. I think, I think
is the European goat.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
You know.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
Then it's very debatable with how because Pow won so much,
you know, at the European level. Yes, it's truely I
wish sometimes Parkasol was not born.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I would have won.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
A lot more gold medals and a lot sooner. But
to me is debatable and and and what you take
in consideration if you take the NBA or or Europeans.
So I will go with one A and one B,
you know, uh. And I said that sincerely because no
disrespect to the to the older guys. But when we
(18:33):
all came, you know, in the league, that was the
first time that with Dirk and Pale you had NBA
franchises started to believe that we can have a European
player as a franchise player. And Dirk was the first
one to to to do that, like to be the
franchise guy. And then Power with Kobe, then me with
Timmy and Manu and then now you have a lot
(18:55):
of European guys or their franchise guys. But Dirk paved
that way for us as Europeans. My thing was to
become the first European point guard. But franchise is that's
Dirk and uh, and I'll see him like in front
of him, like like all the discussions every time we talk,
you know, with Europeans, like any interviews you'll see of me,
I always say.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Dirk, Dirk, you agree with that?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Now that's a tough question, that's but Dirk, my question
to you when I be if you agree with You're
to go. But what are your feelings on I think
I knew Tony was gonna say that, by the way,
I knew he was gonna say he was the he
was the goat, and I knew he was gonna say
he was second. I don't know why. Uh, what do
you guys feel about Yiannis and Jokic and these these
young guys, Because to me, you guys are the first
(19:44):
wave of Europeans superstars, not not good players, not even
great players, but superstar players. So what do you guys
feel about And I'm asking this question because in America
it's a different battle between the next got right, everybody's
always no one wants nobody to surpass them sometimes, how
do you guys feel about this next wave of European
players that are are amazing players.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I'm actually more proud watching them. Honestly, you know, we
all know records are there to be broken, and uh,
stuff always happens. Somebody always comes along it was better
and does better things and does more. It's more athletic.
I mean, it just happens. That's life. So I'm actually
proud watching these guys. I mean, I see Luca every day,
the stuff he does, and he'll be in the conversation
(20:27):
for a long long time. Sorry really, Uh, and then
you'll catch what he's been doing in this league and
dominating and uh and now he wanted his rings. So
(20:48):
I'm proud watching these guys and hopefully they can. They
can have amazing careers from here and out. And the
whole goat debate is always tough. You know, we go
back and forth all the time. It's different era.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
I was a big SHREMP was one of my idolso
had a great career. There was a Drosh and petrovinch
you mentioned all these subonus. Actually, before he got hurt,
was an unbelievable player, and unfortunately he blew his knees
out and we never actually saw the best su Boness,
but he would have been maybe even the goat of Europe.
So it's always tough. It's it's fun for debating, but
(21:22):
we're unfortunately well we'll never know, but it's it's amazing
that I'm obviously we're all in this conversation and that's
that's already a humbling to me.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Yeah, Tony, why is I mean, obviously Lucas very early
in his career, we don't know what the end results
would be. But why today do you say he's no Dirk?
Why that?
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Because for me to be in a conversation, you have
to win a championship. Oh well, so that's just my
personal opinion. Yeah, but I love good debate. I have
good debates with my brothers, with my friends all the time.
It's like both conversations. It's like always like with debating
and debating. And to me, because I want the championship,
(22:01):
I'm like, if you don't understand what it takes to
win a championship, I don't think you should be in
a good debate.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
To me, what I would add to that is also
I think it's so much about the debating or who's
the go or who's you know we have played in
there are different eras we I think what we can
be really proud of is that we raised the level.
And I think that that's what you want to do
with your journey. You raise the bar and then somebody
(22:30):
will say, hey, that's the bar. I want to raise
it higher. Great, keep raising it higher. And then as
as as Derek was saying, we see the European players, now,
Luka Janni's also has done incredibly well.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
You know, they just you know, they just see You're
You're proud to see that. You know, you're proud to
see that. You want them to do well.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
You want them to keep raising the bar, you know,
hopefully you know, obviously has won the championship with the Nuggets,
Uhis has won a championship with the Bars. We'll see
if Luca can do that with you know, a lot
of great players haven't won championships in this In this game,
it's hard to win the championship. As Tony was saying,
a lot of things have to come together. You know,
(23:12):
Derk has played many seasons, We played many seasons. Is
one one, you know, one two, he's one four. It's hard, right,
you have to have great teammates, you know, everything has
to come together that season. So so again it's it's
not so much about it's about have you done you know, extraordinary?
(23:32):
Have you raised the bar? Have you done your best?
Have you inspired others? Have you opened doors? That's why
I always give a little extra for the guys that
came before us, when things were not you know, so
normal for European players to be in this league, to
be respected to you know, to fight through a lot
of biases potentially too that had they probably had to fight,
(23:54):
you know, So we kind of benefited from those guys
that did that work before us, and now hopefully the
guys feel the current guys feel like we have contributed
for them to have the life and the opportunity that
they have.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
That's that's what I like.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
For you is it is it weird, like as an
American perspective to go in the Hall of Fame with
three Europeans, you know, like they like like as you not.
Because I watched the documentary you know, the Redeemed Team,
and congrats to that. It was an unbelievable documentary. I
really enjoyed it, Like you was.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Good with it, I'm great, great with it. I was
so happy I was.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
That was my favorite marketing I was one of the
marketing tools the documentary, I was like, I was the key.
I was, I was right there, reportant bro. I moved up.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Like like in your perspective, you know, and as you
as an American and I know because of my dad
is American. I know how proud the Americans are to
be the best, you know, in basketball and to show
that the best. Like, how do you feel, like like
about European basketball the way it is now and having
a lot of top players there Europeans and what you're thinking,
(25:06):
how you feel about that?
Speaker 1 (25:08):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Can you tell by the way he has a podcast too, yeaheah,
definitely definitely yea.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Three years too, three years of run. He's a bet
at this fact. I actually I've never thought of thought
of it in that way, you know. I think it's
it's just so amazing for the game, you know, to
to look at it and say, you know, obviously it's
twelve of us, you know, going into the Hall of Fame,
but you know the guys in the NBA, the three
of the four are international players. I mean, it just
(25:35):
shows how amazing this game is and for for any
kid in the world, it just, you know, it shows
that what can be accomplished. You know what I mean.
I think we all play this game because we love it.
But then at some point the bation got passed to
us to make it bigger than us, right, to make
it bigger than to make the game bigger. And you
guys are making a game bigger. And so for me
to be on this platform together, I'm honored, you know,
(25:58):
because you know how great y'all are to me. It
doesn't matter where where you're from, you know where you play,
We know the journey to be great, and so I
never thought of it in that way. I'm just honored
to be in the same breath as as at the
greatness that's around this table.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
So yeah, amen, Amen Amen.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
So as athletes, you know, we we always are asked
questions about our motivation, right like what's your motivation? And
sometimes we like our family is our motivation and this
is our motivation. Do you guys feel like throughout our
journeys do you feel like your motivation comes from pain?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Like?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Painful losses? What do your motivation come from? Joy? Like?
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Where do you?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Where do you? Where's your motivation source? As an athlete?
Where did it come from? Pow'll go with you first?
Speaker 2 (26:56):
To me, it's really.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Kind of the challenge on the grind that it takes,
you know, trying to be exceptional, trying to do something
special with with our life, kind of take advantage of
an opportunity that you've been kind of given, but then
you had to work for and earn everything about it.
So that's kind of where it comes from. Obviously, you
(27:21):
want to utilize the pain, the struggle, the losses, the defeats,
the shortcomings, the rejection and all that. You know, we
can think of growing up as a kid and you're
the lanky, tall kids skinnay kid that everybody kind of
makes fun of and points out and stuff like that,
and then that turned out into a freaking blessing and
(27:42):
an advantage in my life, you know, and not so
much that you know, who's laughing now, but it's like,
you know.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
It's life is life is good.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
And then you you take advantage of that, and and
then obviously you revert to your family and you want
to pass it a lot. You want to benefit your
families and don't take stuff for granted, you know, because
everything can be gone quickly. So so from that standpoint,
you just trying to embrace your journey and maximize it.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, Tony, I mean you've you've been in the finals
how many times?
Speaker 4 (28:17):
I mean fiftimes?
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Five times and you won four. Did you pull motivation
from the four wins? Or did you pull motivation from
the one loss?
Speaker 4 (28:25):
A lot of people they always ask me what's your
favorite championship, And I always say twenty fourteen, and they're like,
not two thousand and seven when you were m VP.
I'm like, no, twenty fourteen. It's my favorite because the
way we lost against you guys twenty thirteen, the way
we lost when we were up five with twenty eight
seconds and I can see the rope, I can see
(28:48):
the trophy coming, and Poppy is speaking. I don't even
know what Paul was saying. I was already thinking about
what I was going to do with that trophy. I
don't know what you were saying. And the way that
happens so fast, you know, with ray Allen Shad obviously,
and then you won in game seven. Man, that summer,
(29:09):
it was so long. That summer, it was so long.
And it's funny because that summer I play with the
national team every summer and I was still chasing that
go medal. Because of this guy still didn't win a
gold medal. And in twenty thirteen, after losing to you guys,
I was like, really, it was really hard for me
to get motivated and to go play for the national team.
(29:31):
So I told the coach, like, I don't think I'm
going to play this summer, you know, and he was
like you sure, and blah blah, and forty eight hours after,
I was like, you know what, no, I'm going to
be stronger than that mentally, like everything happens for a reason,
you know, Like we can't like I can't like not go,
you know. And so I decided to go. And that
(29:53):
year we win the go medal, and I was that
close to not go, you know, that summer to.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Go going You've been chasing your whole life.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Exactly, and we went that summer we went one. And
then so I arrived at training camp. I was so
happy because I was a metal you know. I was like,
I was happy, you know, And I go back to
the Spurs. They were still thinking about, you know, loss
against you guys, and so we start training camp. Hop
the first first practice we go to film. He puts
(30:21):
the last four minutes of Game six, the last four
minutes of Game seven, So I was like, we're going
through a camera.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
That's cool.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
But me, I had so much energy that I built
from the summer that I carried it the whole season,
you know, because I was like, we can't finish our
career and people is going to remember us like we
lost in thirteen, Like Okay, we can't finish like that,
you know. And I think the character that we showed
in twenty fourteen and the way that we played is
(30:49):
because of that loss that I think we played the
best Spurs basketball in my opinion, in my whole career.
The way we move the ball and beautiful game and
all that kind of stuff. It got created because of that.
And so for me, like motivation, it can come from
(31:10):
big losses or like you said, your family like me
growing up, we grew up with nothing. It definitely creates,
you know, motivation too. When people say, oh, you're too small,
you're too skinny, you will never make it from France,
you know, you have to put it in perspective. No,
back then, it was like not a lot of Europeans,
you know, so people were super negative, you know, And
(31:31):
so I use that as motivation to gain my whole
family a better life and try to make it.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Well, I think at the beginning, it's just a love
for the sport, the love for the game, and you're
excited and working out, and then you come to the
league and you know you want to establish yourself. It's
all fun. We had a fun style. Then you make
it for a loss our game, so that all motivated me.
And then then it was I gotta say the losses,
you know, I had to. Once you establish yourself, you know,
(31:59):
there's really only one goal that was winning the championship once.
Once you have a few All Star games, you've done
all the individual stuff. The goal was every year to
win the championship, and every year, year after year we
fall short. In six where disclose, we fall short. And
so then in seven, which was even more frustrated to me,
(32:20):
my MVP year, we want to win almost seventy games
and we lose in the first round. I was I
was almost so embarrassed that I let my teammates down
the city and I didn't. I didn't really feel like
leaving my house. And but at the end of the day,
after these tough losses, you know, after a few weeks,
you're like Okay, what do I have to do? You know,
you look in the mirror. Okay, it wasn't great and
(32:41):
final stages or whatever. Now I gotta get better. I
gotta work on my game. I gotta add something for
next year. I got to be a better closer. I
gotta do this. So to me, it was but I didn't.
I didn't win four. So I mean I couldn't draw
editing out of our happy times. I had to had
to draw motivation out of the frustratation, out of the
(33:01):
out of the tough times. And so all these losses
every year kind of helped me to always push me
and work hard in the summer, only take a few
weeks off then go back in the gym uh in
Germany and and go back in the lab and play
German national team and and eventually that worked out for
me in twenty eleven.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
You always believe, like yeah, time, like you're not going
to make it.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
The Germans are more than felt.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Bad for you.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
In two thousand and seven, like like usually, like you know,
you look at other teams like everybody's got their own problems. Honestly,
I was watching the games and they were I mean,
it was crazy.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
Baron Davis made a buzzer bereader from half court almost
every game. They were they were. But so in six
we had the tough loss, and in seven we felt
like we had. The Spurs were always our big brother.
You guys always beat us, and like we finally got
to figure out, Okay, we've beaten the Spurs a little bit.
This is fun. I think we went like three and
(34:10):
one against you guys. So I'm like, we're we got
this this year. This is our year. You know, we
learned from six and this is our year. And then
we ran in the hottest team you can imagine, and
they were a matchup nightmare for us. Obviously we were tall,
me damp, We weren't the most you know, the quickest guys,
and they would play Monte Ellis at the five. I mean,
(34:31):
I was like, what is happening here right there?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Around?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
You know. Nelly was their coach, and he knew exactly
how to play. Pushed me one way, one to spot,
and they were already three guys swarming me. I couldn't
even get my shots off and they were I mean,
they knew exactly how to beat us, and they were hot.
And so that was that was one of the most frustrating.
I mean, at the end of the day, you know,
the Germans, that's what I was going to say there,
(34:58):
they're always a little negative. So I think it's normal
to have some doubts, but you know, you work through it.
There's no other option. You're frustrated for a couple of weeks,
and then you you know, after a couple of weeks,
I'm not touching the ball and frustration. You know, you
get the tingling back and excitement and Okay, it's the
time to show that the doubters you can do it.
And I kept I kept working at it.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
And that's why you never know when it's going to come,
because I didn't think you're want to win in twenty eleven,
and that's when you win.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Yeah, exactly. You know, after six I'm like, I did
I took O six hard. At the end of the day,
I'm like, you know what, I'm just entering my prime.
We just made the finals, we had a great shot
to win it all. We're looking good against the Spurs
match of wise, so I'm like, oh, we're going to
be there for years to come. Now we're good, and
then oh seven happens. Then eight already started to go down.
(35:45):
We make the trade for Jake kidlicks. You know, we're
barely making the playoffs. So you can never take it
for granted. When you're on a good team that's winning,
you just want to kind of put your ego to
the side because you never know. I mean, within one
year everything could change. So it's it's uh, I mean,
look at the maps just the last few years. We
(36:06):
went to the Western Arms Finals two years ago, and
last year we didn't even make the playoffs. So it's
it's a it's a wild ride, and you got to
enjoy while while you have a good team, and uh,
but it's uh, it's it's hard at times. For sure.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
I'm gonna I had another question, But let's stay in
two thousand and six.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Oh, you know, here's where I gotta go.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
I feel like it's we own it. Let's let's stay
in two thousand and six. We're going eleven later. Let's
stay in two thousand and six. When did you feel
this series slipping away? Because you guys were up to
your wind control you up thirteen in Game three? When
did you feel the series slipping away?
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Yeah, I mean in that in that moment, honestly, you guys,
have you guys stepped up the pressure there, you know,
everything towards a little harder, you know, the denies that
the defense stepped up, and and I felt like we
just never responded to that. And then when when game
three slipped away, we're like, oh, we're good, We're good. Uh,
(37:15):
and then we come game four and we just completely
get blown out. So that's when obviously the panic button
was pushed. But I don't think we had experience. We had,
you know, that the toughness at the time to really respond, honestly,
and you guys, I mean you played unbelievable and and
you guys had great role players making shots. So that
(37:40):
was that was super tough. But yeah, it was definitely there.
In game three, we had everything under control, and but
you guys stepped it up and and we never found
a way to stop the bleeding and respond, and we
didn't have the experience for it. And uh, that was
that was a tough one. I gotta say, how.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Did you feel about me in two thousand and six?
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Well, there wasn't a lot of love there. I'd say
there wasn't a lot of love there. I think there
were just things set on both sides that weren't appreciated.
I think you took offense to and I said, we
kind of gave them the championship, which is which I've
would have probably taken offense too, because you worked extremely hard,
(38:26):
you played your butt off and carried them.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
I came back swinging in the media.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
And then then even weeks later, or or maybe I
said something that the training camp the following year, and
I remember in the next year and I'm already moved on, obviously,
some reporter comes up to me and shoot around me like, hey,
did you see what Dwain said? And I was like,
what this is? Like months now later, he's like, yeah,
you weren't the finisher, you weren't the leader. And I'm like,
(38:52):
oh wow, that came out of nowhere. So I didn't
appreciate that, of course, But now twenties, almost twenty years later,
I see where both sides were were just not happy
with with how that whole thing went down. But honestly,
I say this all the time, there can't always be
friendships during the highest level of competition. I mean, that's
(39:14):
just not how it works. Where were I'm old school,
I always wanted to win, but there was there was
no love loss there at the beginning. And I remember
and the old seven the Al Star game was in Vegas.
I think we were the only two All Stars ever
on record that not shake hands pre game. So there
was definitely, Yeah, there was definitely some some cold times.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
And mind you, we've never had a conversation to this point, exactly,
we've never talked. It shows you the power of the
media and how they you know, they came back to
me and they said, well, Dirk said this, Oh really
watch this, and then Dirk said and then said that,
and then now it goes and now you don't even
talk to each other. We're the we have the biggest
stage in our game, right, we're two of the best
(40:00):
is that game, and we don't even know how to
just forget that move on. And you know, because because
we played each other at the highest and that was
a very intense emotion emotional series and then the the
act effect was you know, was a lot.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
So yeah, it's part of part of the competition is
as you guys, you know, you've we've seen rivalries throughout
the history of the game. You know, with the Magic
and Bird, you know, they hated each other and they
you know, and then they became friends later on whatever
it might be.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
You know, Bird presented Magic, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Exactly, exactly. So it's just it's part of the game.
At the end of the end.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
We all want to win, you know, and we hate losing,
and there's tensions in the competition. Here the moment, you know,
it's going to be you, it's going to be me,
you know, and it's it's tough to kind of separate,
you know. Okay, now we're all good, Let's go to
have grab dinner. You know, I'm trying to you know,
chop your head off, you know, on the game and
then the media obviously that's what they do and then
(40:59):
you know, and what it is at the highest stages
even more so. So it's just part of part of
the deal. But you know, that's a beauty also about
this moment. You know, all the competition is behind us, right,
we can just share, you know, there was just for
how do you fellows?
Speaker 2 (41:16):
Just right, and then it's it's home.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
It's good to be able to obviously even talk about
it and like you said, laugh about it and understand it.
That's that's that's a moment and now we sit here
at another moment where we all are we attached forever,
even though we already were. We played each other twice
in the finals, played eel twice, got one, got one,
my brother, cove, et cetera. So it is good to
be able to be in this moment and have these
(41:41):
microphones and be able to tell our own story and
talk about it our own way. So I'm gonna stay on, Dirk, Dirk,
I'm gonna so everybody, I'm gonna I'm passing these iPads around.
Every guy would get one. It would be one picture.
They will look at it themselves, and then I would
ask them to show it to camera and then we
would talk about it. So, Dirk, can you look at this?
And then I swear I'm gonna move on to the
(42:01):
next person at this.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
Yeah, okay, I remember this, I remember this camera?
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Please?
Speaker 3 (42:09):
Yeah. So this is uh, this is Lebron and uh
my guy d Wade fake fake coffin uh in the
twenty eleven finals.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
How child this was that moment?
Speaker 3 (42:25):
Yeah? I mean you know, actually, so I was sick
for that Game four and then I ended up not
seeing this until after Game four. So I saw this
before a Game five. I believe I didn't appreciate it.
(42:52):
I didn't. I didn't like it. It's it's just to me.
It felt a little disrespectful. I felt like I've never
had to fake an injury. I never had to fake
an illness to to show anything, you know, I wanted,
you know, I didn't feel well that day. I had
a little fever, and really that was it. So I
thought it was it was childish, and I think it was.
(43:15):
I think I think I said it, but that one
of the press conference. But at the end of the day,
that didn't add to the motivation. You know, Honestly, I
was at this point, we're game five, We're two games
away of my dream from my reaching my dream which
went six. We were two games away. So I really
didn't want this to be a big distraction from me.
And I think even coach Carlisle addressed it, and I said, listen, there,
(43:38):
this video came out, we're not speaking about it as
a team. We're going to stay into our business and
we were here to win one or two more games.
You know, We're not. This is not going to sidetrack us.
And that's that's real. I felt it. So I went
the press conference, I said, I didn't like it. I
thought it was childish. But other than that, I think
I kind of left it at that. I think some
(44:00):
of the O six things set deeper. Uh that that
bothered me a little more. But now we can laugh
about it.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Yeah, we didn't like, like you said, it was kind
of one of those things that happened. You don't know
what it's going to become. And I remember walking down
the hallway and we were coming out of shoot around,
and I think at this point we're up to one.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
We lost.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
You guys came back that amazing comeback of Miami Game two.
But we came to Dallas and we won Game three.
So now, in my in our minds, we in control
of it. We supposed to be a three to zero.
And so all the talk back to us is what
Dirk is sick, Dirk hand is this? Dirk is this?
So we like, like, you know, I think in a
sense like in the moment of being young and having
(44:43):
one of those moments, he was like, oh he's sick,
and did like a fake cough and boom it went everywhere,
you know what I mean. And then our mind we
were tired of him about Dirk. We like we're up
to old well, y'all give talking about him being sick
and where his hand is this or that, and so
it became I think bigger. But then once you look
at it, like, okay, that was that was a moment,
a childish moment was called on camera that you wish
(45:03):
you could grabbed that moment back, but at the same time,
knowing it didn't have any bearings on the series. It
wasn't going to make you a greater player. You were
already great, you know what I mean. But yeah, so
I just wanted to hear us talk about it, and
then we.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
Got I'm glad this is all out. I'm liking that.
I'm liking it. We probably should have this conversations a
long time ago.
Speaker 4 (45:25):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't know about that.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
You know already.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
I mean no, really no, I was edacation, I did.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
You know, Once you're down with your season, for the
most part, you're trying to disconnect.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
You don't want to watch that stuff.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
You know, you know where you wish you were you were,
but you're not there somewhere else, you know, And especially
for us in eleven, where we just came from winning
back to back and we lost to them and the
conference semis and stuff, or I wasn't going to watch
you guys going at it where I wish my team
was at the time, So I wasn't paying any any
attention to to it at that point. Six.
Speaker 4 (46:06):
You remember how we lost, oh six, remember how we
lost We lost against the Mavericks Game seven at home,
were up three with ten seconds to go. We're supposed
to play you guys in the finals. That's what I
was thinking. Until Dirk goes to the basket, Oh model
(46:28):
fouls and Pop said ten times in the time out,
don't found anybody if he goes laid up.
Speaker 3 (46:35):
We don't care.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
We have we have free throws.
Speaker 4 (46:37):
We were three, doesn't matter, and Man went to, I
don't know why try to block and one and then
we lose it overtime. So yeah, I didn't see that because.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
I was.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Exactly Man.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
Went to black Dirk, we don't care.
Speaker 4 (46:58):
Let Dirk dunk.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
We don't care.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
Wow, crazy, But you're right. We all do get into
our you know, we were about ourselves. But I think
for Dirk and I and I'm thankful that on my podcast,
in my first episode, we were able to have a
conversation that like we didn't. Like I said, me and
Dirk didn't even have a lot of conversations until recently,
like because of what was portrayed through the media with
you know, actions, and so it's good to be able
(47:22):
to have that conversation. Great, nice, Tony, I have a
picture for you, okay, all right. So we played each
other in the finals in twenty thirteen and twenty fourteen.
We both got the best of each other. So when
you look at this photo, tell me what is the
Tell me what was going through your mind at the
(47:43):
moment when all these things was happening, because it happened.
Speaker 4 (47:45):
So fast fast. So in this picture, so.
Speaker 1 (47:49):
That's the Ray Allen shot in Game six in the
corner and Tony Parker closed.
Speaker 3 (47:53):
Out I'm sure closed out.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
Short, okay.
Speaker 4 (47:57):
So, like you said, it happened so fast that I
came so fast to him that I was trying to
not to foil him. Like I was like, Pop is
going to kill me if I fouled him, because we
were up three. So I try to do the best
I can to contest one of the best shooters in
our league. And he made a hell of a shot
(48:19):
going backwards, and every time I look at it, I'm
like make that shot because I came fast on him
and he could have like tried to be scared too,
because I came so fast I almost fouled him. And
it was just one of the best shots in the
NBA history. And when you as you know, you have
to say in the US, they say a good defense,
(48:40):
a better offense.
Speaker 5 (48:41):
But look at you? What are you doing? Please don't
go in? Please don't go in. Yeah, I was hoping
so bad.
Speaker 1 (48:56):
Uh so just Ray Allen? Uh he And if you
guys heard the story, but after practice, ray Allen would
always sit on his butt on the block and he
will backpedal to the three point line. And this was
a drill that he did. And so in this moment,
the reason he was able to backpedal and get there
and not worry about being out of bounds getting his
(49:17):
fee set without looking was because he practiced it after
he did it out the practice every day and so
it was amazing that everything happened and it was ray
Allen because if it was me, that would have been
a whole different shot. I left charge, and so it's
crazy that it was off his butt, get up, go
(49:40):
backwards without and to continue its repetition, right, He did
it every day and I heard he even did it
in Boston, and so this is probably the only time
he got a chance to take that shot.
Speaker 4 (49:49):
That's crazy and everything for a reason, crazy crazy Gray.
Speaker 2 (49:57):
Sorry.
Speaker 1 (50:07):
So, as you guys will see and also hear, some
of these conversations, they do go a bit long, and
so we have to separate them within parts. Some go
one hours, some go three hours, and so we have
a part one and we also have a part two.
So we're going to cut it off right here and
Part one, but Part two will be out very soon,
(50:28):
so please check your feed. It might already be there.
What's up, everybody. Welcome to the first episode of the
Why We're Doing any Way Now. I wanted to start
this podcast because I'm retired from basketball and I have
nothing to do. That's the first lie I told I
have so many things going on. It's so many things
to do, but I thought it would be very important
for me. It's someone who's curious and someone who wants
(00:39):
to learn, to have an opportunity to learn from people
that I admire, people that I feel like our goats
of their sports, people that are goats in their field,
but just people who have interesting, inspirational things going on
in life. And so I'm used to being on that side,
but now I'm on this side, and so I kind
of get the control the conversations, and I want it
(01:02):
to be exactly that. I don't want it to be interview.
I wanted to feel like a conversation, some with friends,
some with people that you might see me googly at
over or Meyer, but just really a conversation that goes
back and forth about what it takes to be successful,
about what motivated you, about what your dogs eat, anything
(01:22):
that we want to cover. I want to be able
to talk about it so as you guys see behind me,
I was able to have a lot of successes in life.
And I highlight my three NBA trophies, not because I'm
only a narcissist, but because when you understand what goes
into winning one trophy and then you get to see two,
(01:45):
you get to see three, I think you have a
little bit more respect for the individual that individuals that
are part of the team. And so hopefully some of
these conversations that we have with some greats, some great minds,
can give you a little bit more and a little
bit more background on what it takes to have a trophy,
and not just in sports, in life, how do you
(02:08):
get to that level, that that top level that we
all try to find. So when I first went to
my team and sat down and say, hey, I think
I'm ready to start having conversations. I want to start
my own podcast. I had an idea in my mind
at the time of what the name was going to be.
And my first name that I came up with was Pantheon.
(02:30):
And I came up with Pantheon because I was like,
I want to sit down with great minds. I want
to sit down with goats, and you know, the people
who are at the top of what they do, and
we went with that. In my first episode, I got
a chance to sit down with those individuals that to
me are pantheons. I got a chance to sit down
with Dirk Tony Powell at the Hall of Fame and
(02:54):
talk about being a pantheon. But as I kept going,
I started to think, I was like, a man, I
want this to be more conversation, and so I went
with you know what, how about conversation with Dwyane Wade.
That was my second episode. I mean that was my
second name, A conversation with Dwayne Wade. I was like,
that's easy, that's point blank, that's period. But it didn't
(03:16):
feel like enough. It didn't feel like something that that
I wanted this podcast to represent. And so we end
up going with The Why with Dwyane Wade. And the
reason it's called The Why is because my name is
spelled d w why an E. But for some reason,
no matter if I was in grade school or no
(03:38):
matter if I was at the Hall of Fame, I
still see my name spelled d w A y n E.
And so I want everybody to get the y right.
But also outside of that, I want to talk about
your why. I want to talk about why you get
up every day to do what you do. I want
to get into people's reasoning and their why some and
(04:02):
it goes all over the place. Sometimes my WI is
my family, Sometime my WI is because someone said something
to me, or they yell something to me. Whatever your
why is, I want to get to that. And so
the Why Podcast with Dwayne Wade it fits not only
everything that I've grown up dealing with with the misspelling
of my name and the misplacement of the why, but
also really been intrigued to why we all do the
(04:26):
things we do. Episode one was very special to me.
We recorded it back in August and it was the
day before we were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
As you guys understand and know about that time, it's
an emotional time. You have all your family in town.
It's a lot going on. And to be able to
(04:46):
sit down and have this conversation with Tony Parker, Powe Gasol,
and Dirk Nowinsky about our battles versus each other, about
our family, about what makes us and what and what
made us great, about what we're doing after the game,
about those competitions, those moments, what we were talking about
(05:09):
the Olympics in O eight, what we were talking about
the Old Six Finals, and y'all know, Dirck and I
had to get a little personal on the Old six
Finals or what do we were talking about? Just moments
that we've watched as fans of each other, and also
to share moments about our brotherhoods throughout the NBA, not
just on our team, but throughout the things that connects
(05:30):
us and so conversations that has never been discussed with
athletes was discussed on the White Podcast. I really hope
you guys enjoy listening to this episode as much as
I did making it Episode one of the Why with
Dwayne Wade, and it's Hall of Fame weekend. We are
(05:58):
live at the Mohegan Sign and I'm honored to be
joined by three of the greatest players of all times.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Everybody, thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Four time NBA Champion, NBA Finals MVP, six time NBA
All Star, Tony Parker, welcome to thank you, two time
NBA Champion, six time NBA All Star, Power Gasol Welcome,
fourteen time NBA All Star, sixth on the NBA all
(06:33):
time scoring list, one time NBA Champion. We'll get to
that later.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Welcome you.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
All right, fellas, let's get into this. As we sit here,
we're one day away from getting those Hall of Fame jackets.
How I'll start with you first. What does this means
to you?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I guess it's a culmination, right, It's kind of like
the icing on the cake, which you know it's crazy
to think about. But to me, what's really special it's
I mean, basketball is a team sport. We wouldn't be here,
you know if our teams that we were part of,
our teammates are our people around us didn't help us
(07:26):
and do our job and perform at the highest level.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
So uh, you know, to to to.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Go together in a class with four guys, with three
guys here that I've my my career has been very
parallel to all of yours.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
In in in in a way, it's super special, super special.
I'm ready. I'm ready to put that hopefully it will
fit the jacket.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
You know, to have my my parents here, you know,
I wanted them to.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
To put that jacket on me.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
They they brought me to this world, and uh, you
know that'll be very special. So you know, just try
to take it all in. As I told you, earlier
today on the golf course. So I take it in,
enjoy it, share it with, you know, with amazing people. Uh,
you know, we're gonna we're tied forever at a higher level.
I mean, this doesn't get much much better than this.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Yeah, Tony, kind of the same thing. Going through the
process right now and writing the speech, it has been
a crazy mix of emotion. I feel very nostalgic. I'm
having my whole French mafia. You know, they all came.
You know, I have a lot of people, so sorry
(08:35):
for all the French, but there's gonna be a lot
of them as we can. They all fluent. Just like
to see like all the love, all the people that
supported me through my whole career, and to basically celebrate
alltogether one more time. I feel like it's like like
(08:56):
I feel blessed. We've been watching like all games and
watching finals games, and it's funny to go through those
memories again and uh, and to be all together and
to share that with them, that's very important to me.
I'm like, hupa. I'm very close to to my family,
close to my to my brothers and everybody. Everybody is
(09:17):
here and I have a lot of connection with all
of you guys. Uh Dirk, I went to your Jersey
retirement and power we play together, and the Spain Spain
French rivalry, the way we played twice in the finals,
and I'm going to say it again, I can't believe
you the favorite player of my little brother. But it's okay,
you know what I mean. But it's just been an
(09:39):
unbelievable journey and I feel very lucky to be here.
And I've never thought somebody like me will experience something
like the Hall of Fame. I dream about the NBA.
I dreamt about being the first European point guard to
make it the NBA, But the Hall of Fame is
a whole other level.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, so you've been watching old fam to see how
good you are?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
That No, I was just no. I knew I was good,
but I still get mad when I misshots in chear drops.
I was like, it's funny, like you watch games and
like my dad, you know my dad, when you watch games,
he's like a box. You know, he's like moves like this.
You know, you watch the game and like, you know,
we can't do anything about this happens already. It was
(10:22):
funny though, to go through those feelings.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Definitely dark.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, just super super excited, super anxious now a little
bit the last few weeks we're leading up to it. Now,
you know, I feel lot at night. I wake up,
I got certain things going through my mind. I reflect,
I got parts of my speech. You know, I'm trying
to all of a sudden in the middle of the
night and I can't sleep for an hour. So I'm
ready to get this going, get this weekend going. Everybody's
(10:46):
arriving today. I have a huge crew, huge family coming
from from Germany as well. So yeah, I just just
excited really to get this going and have some fun
with everybody that's here. And it's an honor. It's an
amazing class as all you guys, and I'm so so
humble to be a part of it. So let's get
this started.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
I know, I know it's your show, D but I
have a question, right, I have a question. I'm sorry,
did you realize do you realize that you're all the
fram Her And if not, when do you think you're
going to realize you're all the famer.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I think it's gonna take a while to set in.
I mean, I'm sure we all right, we all had
a dream to play the game of basketball. We wanted
to play in the NBA because it was the it
was the best league, my favorite players in America for
you guys, and here for me, we're playing. And I
was having a conversation with my father, and my father
told me he was like, you know, I always dreamed
(11:37):
of my son going to the NBA, but I never
dreamed of greatness. How do you how do you dream
of greatness? And to be able to sit here and
to be here this weekend, Like this is a level
of greatness that I never imagined that I would be
able to experience. And so yeah, I'm going I'm like
you guys, I've been going through all emotions. I ain't sleeping.
This speech has been the bane of my existence. Like
(12:01):
I can't wait to get this speech out the way
so we can move on and have a good time.
But I never thought I'd be sitting here being called
the Hall of Famer.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
I feel like like when I'm gonna walk the steps
and be in front of you guys, that I'm really
going to realize that's the moment a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, that's the moment.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Like just walking those steps, it puts me back when
I was like just drafted. You know, you walk those
steps and you just got drafted, and you're like, man,
I'm going to the NBA.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I got drafted.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
That's how I hope it will make the same same feeling,
you know, when I walk those steps and become a
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah, that's that's when it gets real. That's when it
gets real. All right, listen, So we started at the
Hall of Fame. I want to take it back to
the beginning. So young Dirk, who the young Dirk want
to be?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Well, first, actually, my first role model was my dad.
He was a sports guy. He's played handball in Europe.
So I started actually playing hambo ever since I can remember.
Then I played tennis. It was a decent tennis player.
So I want to be like Boris Becker, you know,
boom Boombcker. You guys remember him, legend, shout out to
my guy. And so those were some of my first
(13:15):
sports heroes. And then I didn't start really basketball, so
I was about twelve thirteen, a little late. And then
that was just around the nineties when Michael Jordan took over,
and so I was die hard Bulls fan, you know,
back in the days there was no Internet, you couldn't
really catch them any games, so all the the league
was promoting was usually the ball. So we caught like
(13:36):
one or two games live every once a week or
twice a week, and it was usually the ball. So
I was a diehard pip and fan. Loved this versatility
and loved the MJ. I mean, he was the goat
for me of all time, and then those were Yeah.
I was a diehard Chicago Bulls fan and I loved
love Charles Bartley later on too. He's actually the reason
(13:59):
I played with number leves and when I started basketball
because my dad had eleven and handball. And then when
I saw Charles in the ninety two Olympics at number fourteen,
I actually switched my number to fourteen because I loved
I love Charles as well. So so those were some
of my first first idols when I got going.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So I'm thinking about Charles Barkley game, I'm thinking athleticism,
I'm thinking post up, you know, banging.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
People, not thinking about why why Charles, I don't know.
I love this intensity, man. I loved he was undersized,
but what a beast man. He was unbelievable. How he
how he got it down there, and so so explosive.
I mean, I love watching athletic players. Even though that
wasn't really my game, that was definitely something that caught
(14:42):
my eye. And he was just so so explosive. It
was fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Yeah, he was. He was Powe. Who did young Powell
want to be.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
My I think my guy growing up was Tony Kuk.
You know, I was able to call him and he
accepted the honor to be my present center. You know,
growing up in Europe. He was the kind of the
guy that stood out for me. He had he was
very versatile. You know, he was a lefty.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I was.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I played small forward until I was eighteen nineteen years
old because I was so skinny and you know, kind
of I felt more comfortable outside and I didn't fully
grow up to the you know, to the seven to
one frame that I that I turned out to be.
So Tony was, you know, the guy obviously that he
went and joined the Bulls the ninety two Olympics had
a big impact. He was the guy, the European guy
(15:34):
you know that was up and coming, and you know,
so he had and then obviously the Bulls and and
all that also had an effect. But yeah, Tony was
kind of like the guy that I wanted to emulate
and kind of follow the steps. And you know he
inspired me to, you know, to try to be another
we'll get to the NBA and and follow that path.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, Tony, your dad is from Chicago, shout out Cargo Town.
So who did young Tony want to be?
Speaker 4 (16:04):
So me a little bit like you. My favorite player
was Michael Jordans my dad from Chicago, huge Bulls fans,
and so yeah, I had posters of him.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
My room.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
I remember being ten years old and being in Monaco
and I went to the game the Dream Team. They
played the Friends for a friendly game before going to
Barcelona for Olympics, and I was one of those kids
who will go down and go watch it. France lost
by fifty, but you know it was my first routine
(16:40):
and so I was just super excited to see my idol.
And that's why I wear the number nine because of
Michael Jordan. You know, at the time in Europe, you
know you can only have numbers, you know for the fifteen,
so you couldn't get twenty three. So I'll be pissed.
When I was a kid like why you can't get
twenty three. That role only four to fifteen, you know,
Like I understand that when I wanted twenty three, and
(17:01):
so when he played in the Olympics and he had nine,
I was like, oh, I'm going to play with nine.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Oh you were good. You got to pick your number
when you was young. Oh I just got thrown in
jersey here I got lucky. But you're right.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
But that's why some of my jerseys is not nine,
you know, growing up, because then I was the little one,
I was the rookie.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
So you can't choose your number.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
So some of my jerseys are not nine, but most
of the time they were nine.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
So we talk about Michael Jordan obviously, I think all
of us we grew up. We're roughly around the same age.
So we grew up in the era of you know,
who would probably be our goat? Who is the European goat, Tony?
Who would be the European goat for you? What was
that player that you will look at and say, this
is a European goat, either when you were young or
(17:49):
even now. Who is that person?
Speaker 4 (17:51):
My European goat is Derk Novitski. I think, I think
is the European goat.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
You know.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
Then it's very debatable with how because Pow won so much,
you know, at the European level. Yes, it's truely I
wish sometimes Parkasol was not born.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I would have won.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
A lot more gold medals and a lot sooner. But
to me is debatable and and and what you take
in consideration if you take the NBA or or Europeans.
So I will go with one A and one B,
you know, uh. And I said that sincerely because no
disrespect to the to the older guys. But when we
(18:33):
all came, you know, in the league, that was the
first time that with Dirk and Pale you had NBA
franchises started to believe that we can have a European
player as a franchise player. And Dirk was the first
one to to to do that, like to be the
franchise guy. And then Power with Kobe, then me with
Timmy and Manu and then now you have a lot
(18:55):
of European guys or their franchise guys. But Dirk paved
that way for us as Europeans. My thing was to
become the first European point guard. But franchise is that's
Dirk and uh, and I'll see him like in front
of him, like like all the discussions every time we talk,
you know, with Europeans, like any interviews you'll see of me,
I always say.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Dirk, Dirk, you agree with that?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Now that's a tough question, that's but Dirk, my question
to you when I be if you agree with You're
to go. But what are your feelings on I think
I knew Tony was gonna say that, by the way,
I knew he was gonna say he was the he
was the goat, and I knew he was gonna say
he was second. I don't know why. Uh, what do
you guys feel about Yiannis and Jokic and these these
young guys, Because to me, you guys are the first
(19:44):
wave of Europeans superstars, not not good players, not even
great players, but superstar players. So what do you guys
feel about And I'm asking this question because in America
it's a different battle between the next got right, everybody's
always no one wants nobody to surpass them sometimes, how
do you guys feel about this next wave of European
players that are are amazing players.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
I'm actually more proud watching them. Honestly, you know, we
all know records are there to be broken, and uh,
stuff always happens. Somebody always comes along it was better
and does better things and does more. It's more athletic.
I mean, it just happens. That's life. So I'm actually
proud watching these guys. I mean, I see Luca every day,
the stuff he does, and he'll be in the conversation
(20:27):
for a long long time. Sorry really, Uh, and then
you'll catch what he's been doing in this league and
dominating and uh and now he wanted his rings. So
(20:48):
I'm proud watching these guys and hopefully they can. They
can have amazing careers from here and out. And the
whole goat debate is always tough. You know, we go
back and forth all the time. It's different era.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
I was a big SHREMP was one of my idolso
had a great career. There was a Drosh and petrovinch
you mentioned all these subonus. Actually, before he got hurt,
was an unbelievable player, and unfortunately he blew his knees
out and we never actually saw the best su Boness,
but he would have been maybe even the goat of Europe.
So it's always tough. It's it's fun for debating, but
(21:22):
we're unfortunately well we'll never know, but it's it's amazing
that I'm obviously we're all in this conversation and that's
that's already a humbling to me.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Yeah, Tony, why is I mean, obviously Lucas very early
in his career, we don't know what the end results
would be. But why today do you say he's no Dirk?
Why that?
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Because for me to be in a conversation, you have
to win a championship. Oh well, so that's just my
personal opinion. Yeah, but I love good debate. I have
good debates with my brothers, with my friends all the time.
It's like both conversations. It's like always like with debating
and debating. And to me, because I want the championship,
(22:01):
I'm like, if you don't understand what it takes to
win a championship, I don't think you should be in
a good debate.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
To me, what I would add to that is also
I think it's so much about the debating or who's
the go or who's you know we have played in
there are different eras we I think what we can
be really proud of is that we raised the level.
And I think that that's what you want to do
with your journey. You raise the bar and then somebody
(22:30):
will say, hey, that's the bar. I want to raise
it higher. Great, keep raising it higher. And then as
as as Derek was saying, we see the European players, now,
Luka Janni's also has done incredibly well.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
You know, they just you know, they just see You're
You're proud to see that. You know, you're proud to
see that. You want them to do well.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
You want them to keep raising the bar, you know,
hopefully you know, obviously has won the championship with the Nuggets,
Uhis has won a championship with the Bars. We'll see
if Luca can do that with you know, a lot
of great players haven't won championships in this In this game,
it's hard to win the championship. As Tony was saying,
a lot of things have to come together. You know,
(23:12):
Derk has played many seasons, We played many seasons. Is
one one, you know, one two, he's one four. It's hard, right,
you have to have great teammates, you know, everything has
to come together that season. So so again it's it's
not so much about it's about have you done you know, extraordinary?
(23:32):
Have you raised the bar? Have you done your best?
Have you inspired others? Have you opened doors? That's why
I always give a little extra for the guys that
came before us, when things were not you know, so
normal for European players to be in this league, to
be respected to you know, to fight through a lot
of biases potentially too that had they probably had to fight,
(23:54):
you know, So we kind of benefited from those guys
that did that work before us, and now hopefully the
guys feel the current guys feel like we have contributed
for them to have the life and the opportunity that
they have.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
That's that's what I like.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
For you is it is it weird, like as an
American perspective to go in the Hall of Fame with
three Europeans, you know, like they like like as you not.
Because I watched the documentary you know, the Redeemed Team,
and congrats to that. It was an unbelievable documentary. I
really enjoyed it, Like you was.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Good with it, I'm great, great with it. I was
so happy I was.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
That was my favorite marketing I was one of the
marketing tools the documentary, I was like, I was the key.
I was, I was right there, reportant bro. I moved up.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Like like in your perspective, you know, and as you
as an American and I know because of my dad
is American. I know how proud the Americans are to
be the best, you know, in basketball and to show
that the best. Like, how do you feel, like like
about European basketball the way it is now and having
a lot of top players there Europeans and what you're thinking,
(25:06):
how you feel about that?
Speaker 1 (25:08):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Can you tell by the way he has a podcast too, yeaheah,
definitely definitely yea.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Three years too, three years of run. He's a bet
at this fact. I actually I've never thought of thought
of it in that way, you know. I think it's
it's just so amazing for the game, you know, to
to look at it and say, you know, obviously it's
twelve of us, you know, going into the Hall of Fame,
but you know the guys in the NBA, the three
of the four are international players. I mean, it just
(25:35):
shows how amazing this game is and for for any
kid in the world, it just, you know, it shows
that what can be accomplished. You know what I mean.
I think we all play this game because we love it.
But then at some point the bation got passed to
us to make it bigger than us, right, to make
it bigger than to make the game bigger. And you
guys are making a game bigger. And so for me
to be on this platform together, I'm honored, you know,
(25:58):
because you know how great y'all are to me. It
doesn't matter where where you're from, you know where you play,
We know the journey to be great, and so I
never thought of it in that way. I'm just honored
to be in the same breath as as at the
greatness that's around this table.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
So yeah, amen, Amen Amen.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
So as athletes, you know, we we always are asked
questions about our motivation, right like what's your motivation? And
sometimes we like our family is our motivation and this
is our motivation. Do you guys feel like throughout our
journeys do you feel like your motivation comes from pain?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Like?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Painful losses? What do your motivation come from? Joy? Like?
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Where do you?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Where do you? Where's your motivation source? As an athlete?
Where did it come from? Pow'll go with you first?
Speaker 2 (26:56):
To me, it's really.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Kind of the challenge on the grind that it takes,
you know, trying to be exceptional, trying to do something
special with with our life, kind of take advantage of
an opportunity that you've been kind of given, but then
you had to work for and earn everything about it.
So that's kind of where it comes from. Obviously, you
(27:21):
want to utilize the pain, the struggle, the losses, the defeats,
the shortcomings, the rejection and all that. You know, we
can think of growing up as a kid and you're
the lanky, tall kids skinnay kid that everybody kind of
makes fun of and points out and stuff like that,
and then that turned out into a freaking blessing and
(27:42):
an advantage in my life, you know, and not so
much that you know, who's laughing now, but it's like,
you know.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
It's life is life is good.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
And then you you take advantage of that, and and
then obviously you revert to your family and you want
to pass it a lot. You want to benefit your
families and don't take stuff for granted, you know, because
everything can be gone quickly. So so from that standpoint,
you just trying to embrace your journey and maximize it.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, Tony, I mean you've you've been in the finals
how many times?
Speaker 4 (28:17):
I mean fiftimes?
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Five times and you won four. Did you pull motivation
from the four wins? Or did you pull motivation from
the one loss?
Speaker 4 (28:25):
A lot of people they always ask me what's your
favorite championship, And I always say twenty fourteen, and they're like,
not two thousand and seven when you were m VP.
I'm like, no, twenty fourteen. It's my favorite because the
way we lost against you guys twenty thirteen, the way
we lost when we were up five with twenty eight
seconds and I can see the rope, I can see
(28:48):
the trophy coming, and Poppy is speaking. I don't even
know what Paul was saying. I was already thinking about
what I was going to do with that trophy. I
don't know what you were saying. And the way that
happens so fast, you know, with ray Allen Shad obviously,
and then you won in game seven. Man, that summer,
(29:09):
it was so long. That summer, it was so long.
And it's funny because that summer I play with the
national team every summer and I was still chasing that
go medal. Because of this guy still didn't win a
gold medal. And in twenty thirteen, after losing to you guys,
I was like, really, it was really hard for me
to get motivated and to go play for the national team.
(29:31):
So I told the coach, like, I don't think I'm
going to play this summer, you know, and he was
like you sure, and blah blah, and forty eight hours after,
I was like, you know what, no, I'm going to
be stronger than that mentally, like everything happens for a reason,
you know, Like we can't like I can't like not go,
you know. And so I decided to go. And that
(29:53):
year we win the go medal, and I was that
close to not go, you know, that summer to.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Go going You've been chasing your whole life.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Exactly, and we went that summer we went one. And
then so I arrived at training camp. I was so
happy because I was a metal you know. I was like,
I was happy, you know, And I go back to
the Spurs. They were still thinking about, you know, loss
against you guys, and so we start training camp. Hop
the first first practice we go to film. He puts
(30:21):
the last four minutes of Game six, the last four
minutes of Game seven, So I was like, we're going
through a camera.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
That's cool.
Speaker 4 (30:28):
But me, I had so much energy that I built
from the summer that I carried it the whole season,
you know, because I was like, we can't finish our
career and people is going to remember us like we
lost in thirteen, Like Okay, we can't finish like that,
you know. And I think the character that we showed
in twenty fourteen and the way that we played is
(30:49):
because of that loss that I think we played the
best Spurs basketball in my opinion, in my whole career.
The way we move the ball and beautiful game and
all that kind of stuff. It got created because of that.
And so for me, like motivation, it can come from
(31:10):
big losses or like you said, your family like me
growing up, we grew up with nothing. It definitely creates,
you know, motivation too. When people say, oh, you're too small,
you're too skinny, you will never make it from France,
you know, you have to put it in perspective. No,
back then, it was like not a lot of Europeans,
you know, so people were super negative, you know, And
(31:31):
so I use that as motivation to gain my whole
family a better life and try to make it.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Well, I think at the beginning, it's just a love
for the sport, the love for the game, and you're
excited and working out, and then you come to the
league and you know you want to establish yourself. It's
all fun. We had a fun style. Then you make
it for a loss our game, so that all motivated me.
And then then it was I gotta say the losses,
you know, I had to. Once you establish yourself, you know,
(31:59):
there's really only one goal that was winning the championship once.
Once you have a few All Star games, you've done
all the individual stuff. The goal was every year to
win the championship, and every year, year after year we
fall short. In six where disclose, we fall short. And
so then in seven, which was even more frustrated to me,
(32:20):
my MVP year, we want to win almost seventy games
and we lose in the first round. I was I
was almost so embarrassed that I let my teammates down
the city and I didn't. I didn't really feel like
leaving my house. And but at the end of the day,
after these tough losses, you know, after a few weeks,
you're like Okay, what do I have to do? You know,
you look in the mirror. Okay, it wasn't great and
(32:41):
final stages or whatever. Now I gotta get better. I
gotta work on my game. I gotta add something for
next year. I got to be a better closer. I
gotta do this. So to me, it was but I didn't.
I didn't win four. So I mean I couldn't draw
editing out of our happy times. I had to had
to draw motivation out of the frustratation, out of the
(33:01):
out of the tough times. And so all these losses
every year kind of helped me to always push me
and work hard in the summer, only take a few
weeks off then go back in the gym uh in
Germany and and go back in the lab and play
German national team and and eventually that worked out for
me in twenty eleven.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
You always believe, like yeah, time, like you're not going
to make it.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
The Germans are more than felt.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Bad for you.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
In two thousand and seven, like like usually, like you know,
you look at other teams like everybody's got their own problems. Honestly,
I was watching the games and they were I mean,
it was crazy.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
Baron Davis made a buzzer bereader from half court almost
every game. They were they were. But so in six
we had the tough loss, and in seven we felt
like we had. The Spurs were always our big brother.
You guys always beat us, and like we finally got
to figure out, Okay, we've beaten the Spurs a little bit.
This is fun. I think we went like three and
(34:10):
one against you guys. So I'm like, we're we got
this this year. This is our year. You know, we
learned from six and this is our year. And then
we ran in the hottest team you can imagine, and
they were a matchup nightmare for us. Obviously we were tall,
me damp, We weren't the most you know, the quickest guys,
and they would play Monte Ellis at the five. I mean,
(34:31):
I was like, what is happening here right there?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Around?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
You know. Nelly was their coach, and he knew exactly
how to play. Pushed me one way, one to spot,
and they were already three guys swarming me. I couldn't
even get my shots off and they were I mean,
they knew exactly how to beat us, and they were hot.
And so that was that was one of the most frustrating.
I mean, at the end of the day, you know,
the Germans, that's what I was going to say there,
(34:58):
they're always a little negative. So I think it's normal
to have some doubts, but you know, you work through it.
There's no other option. You're frustrated for a couple of weeks,
and then you you know, after a couple of weeks,
I'm not touching the ball and frustration. You know, you
get the tingling back and excitement and Okay, it's the
time to show that the doubters you can do it.
And I kept I kept working at it.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
And that's why you never know when it's going to come,
because I didn't think you're want to win in twenty eleven,
and that's when you win.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Yeah, exactly. You know, after six I'm like, I did
I took O six hard. At the end of the day,
I'm like, you know what, I'm just entering my prime.
We just made the finals, we had a great shot
to win it all. We're looking good against the Spurs
match of wise, so I'm like, oh, we're going to
be there for years to come. Now we're good, and
then oh seven happens. Then eight already started to go down.
(35:45):
We make the trade for Jake kidlicks. You know, we're
barely making the playoffs. So you can never take it
for granted. When you're on a good team that's winning,
you just want to kind of put your ego to
the side because you never know. I mean, within one
year everything could change. So it's it's uh, I mean,
look at the maps just the last few years. We
(36:06):
went to the Western Arms Finals two years ago, and
last year we didn't even make the playoffs. So it's
it's a it's a wild ride, and you got to
enjoy while while you have a good team, and uh,
but it's uh, it's it's hard at times. For sure.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
I'm gonna I had another question, But let's stay in
two thousand and six.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Oh, you know, here's where I gotta go.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
I feel like it's we own it. Let's let's stay
in two thousand and six. We're going eleven later. Let's
stay in two thousand and six. When did you feel
this series slipping away? Because you guys were up to
your wind control you up thirteen in Game three? When
did you feel the series slipping away?
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Yeah, I mean in that in that moment, honestly, you guys,
have you guys stepped up the pressure there, you know,
everything towards a little harder, you know, the denies that
the defense stepped up, and and I felt like we
just never responded to that. And then when when game
three slipped away, we're like, oh, we're good, We're good. Uh,
(37:15):
and then we come game four and we just completely
get blown out. So that's when obviously the panic button
was pushed. But I don't think we had experience. We had,
you know, that the toughness at the time to really respond, honestly,
and you guys, I mean you played unbelievable and and
you guys had great role players making shots. So that
(37:40):
was that was super tough. But yeah, it was definitely there.
In game three, we had everything under control, and but
you guys stepped it up and and we never found
a way to stop the bleeding and respond, and we
didn't have the experience for it. And uh, that was
that was a tough one. I gotta say, how.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Did you feel about me in two thousand and six?
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Well, there wasn't a lot of love there. I'd say
there wasn't a lot of love there. I think there
were just things set on both sides that weren't appreciated.
I think you took offense to and I said, we
kind of gave them the championship, which is which I've
would have probably taken offense too, because you worked extremely hard,
(38:26):
you played your butt off and carried them.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
I came back swinging in the media.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
And then then even weeks later, or or maybe I
said something that the training camp the following year, and
I remember in the next year and I'm already moved on, obviously,
some reporter comes up to me and shoot around me like, hey,
did you see what Dwain said? And I was like,
what this is? Like months now later, he's like, yeah,
you weren't the finisher, you weren't the leader. And I'm like,
(38:52):
oh wow, that came out of nowhere. So I didn't
appreciate that, of course, But now twenties, almost twenty years later,
I see where both sides were were just not happy
with with how that whole thing went down. But honestly,
I say this all the time, there can't always be
friendships during the highest level of competition. I mean, that's
(39:14):
just not how it works. Where were I'm old school,
I always wanted to win, but there was there was
no love loss there at the beginning. And I remember
and the old seven the Al Star game was in Vegas.
I think we were the only two All Stars ever
on record that not shake hands pre game. So there
was definitely, Yeah, there was definitely some some cold times.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
And mind you, we've never had a conversation to this point, exactly,
we've never talked. It shows you the power of the
media and how they you know, they came back to
me and they said, well, Dirk said this, Oh really
watch this, and then Dirk said and then said that,
and then now it goes and now you don't even
talk to each other. We're the we have the biggest
stage in our game, right, we're two of the best
(40:00):
is that game, and we don't even know how to
just forget that move on. And you know, because because
we played each other at the highest and that was
a very intense emotion emotional series and then the the
act effect was you know, was a lot.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
So yeah, it's part of part of the competition is
as you guys, you know, you've we've seen rivalries throughout
the history of the game. You know, with the Magic
and Bird, you know, they hated each other and they
you know, and then they became friends later on whatever
it might be.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
You know, Bird presented Magic, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Exactly, exactly. So it's just it's part of the game.
At the end of the end.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
We all want to win, you know, and we hate losing,
and there's tensions in the competition. Here the moment, you know,
it's going to be you, it's going to be me,
you know, and it's it's tough to kind of separate,
you know. Okay, now we're all good, Let's go to
have grab dinner. You know, I'm trying to you know,
chop your head off, you know, on the game and
then the media obviously that's what they do and then
(40:59):
you know, and what it is at the highest stages
even more so. So it's just part of part of
the deal. But you know, that's a beauty also about
this moment. You know, all the competition is behind us, right,
we can just share, you know, there was just for
how do you fellows?
Speaker 2 (41:16):
Just right, and then it's it's home.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
It's good to be able to obviously even talk about
it and like you said, laugh about it and understand it.
That's that's that's a moment and now we sit here
at another moment where we all are we attached forever,
even though we already were. We played each other twice
in the finals, played eel twice, got one, got one,
my brother, cove, et cetera. So it is good to
be able to be in this moment and have these
(41:41):
microphones and be able to tell our own story and
talk about it our own way. So I'm gonna stay on, Dirk, Dirk,
I'm gonna so everybody, I'm gonna I'm passing these iPads around.
Every guy would get one. It would be one picture.
They will look at it themselves, and then I would
ask them to show it to camera and then we
would talk about it. So, Dirk, can you look at this?
And then I swear I'm gonna move on to the
(42:01):
next person at this.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
Yeah, okay, I remember this, I remember this camera?
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Please?
Speaker 3 (42:09):
Yeah. So this is uh, this is Lebron and uh
my guy d Wade fake fake coffin uh in the
twenty eleven finals.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
How child this was that moment?
Speaker 3 (42:25):
Yeah? I mean you know, actually, so I was sick
for that Game four and then I ended up not
seeing this until after Game four. So I saw this
before a Game five. I believe I didn't appreciate it.
(42:52):
I didn't. I didn't like it. It's it's just to me.
It felt a little disrespectful. I felt like I've never
had to fake an injury. I never had to fake
an illness to to show anything, you know, I wanted,
you know, I didn't feel well that day. I had
a little fever, and really that was it. So I
thought it was it was childish, and I think it was.
(43:15):
I think I think I said it, but that one
of the press conference. But at the end of the day,
that didn't add to the motivation. You know, Honestly, I
was at this point, we're game five, We're two games
away of my dream from my reaching my dream which
went six. We were two games away. So I really
didn't want this to be a big distraction from me.
And I think even coach Carlisle addressed it, and I said, listen, there,
(43:38):
this video came out, we're not speaking about it as
a team. We're going to stay into our business and
we were here to win one or two more games.
You know, We're not. This is not going to sidetrack us.
And that's that's real. I felt it. So I went
the press conference, I said, I didn't like it. I
thought it was childish. But other than that, I think
I kind of left it at that. I think some
(44:00):
of the O six things set deeper. Uh that that
bothered me a little more. But now we can laugh
about it.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Yeah, we didn't like, like you said, it was kind
of one of those things that happened. You don't know
what it's going to become. And I remember walking down
the hallway and we were coming out of shoot around,
and I think at this point we're up to one.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
We lost.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
You guys came back that amazing comeback of Miami Game two.
But we came to Dallas and we won Game three.
So now, in my in our minds, we in control
of it. We supposed to be a three to zero.
And so all the talk back to us is what
Dirk is sick, Dirk hand is this? Dirk is this?
So we like, like, you know, I think in a
sense like in the moment of being young and having
(44:43):
one of those moments, he was like, oh he's sick,
and did like a fake cough and boom it went everywhere,
you know what I mean. And then our mind we
were tired of him about Dirk. We like we're up
to old well, y'all give talking about him being sick
and where his hand is this or that, and so
it became I think bigger. But then once you look
at it, like, okay, that was that was a moment,
a childish moment was called on camera that you wish
(45:03):
you could grabbed that moment back, but at the same time,
knowing it didn't have any bearings on the series. It
wasn't going to make you a greater player. You were
already great, you know what I mean. But yeah, so
I just wanted to hear us talk about it, and
then we.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
Got I'm glad this is all out. I'm liking that.
I'm liking it. We probably should have this conversations a
long time ago.
Speaker 4 (45:25):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't know about that.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
You know already.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
I mean no, really no, I was edacation, I did.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
You know, Once you're down with your season, for the
most part, you're trying to disconnect.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
You don't want to watch that stuff.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
You know, you know where you wish you were you were,
but you're not there somewhere else, you know, And especially
for us in eleven, where we just came from winning
back to back and we lost to them and the
conference semis and stuff, or I wasn't going to watch
you guys going at it where I wish my team
was at the time, So I wasn't paying any any
attention to to it at that point. Six.
Speaker 4 (46:06):
You remember how we lost, oh six, remember how we
lost We lost against the Mavericks Game seven at home,
were up three with ten seconds to go. We're supposed
to play you guys in the finals. That's what I
was thinking. Until Dirk goes to the basket, Oh model
(46:28):
fouls and Pop said ten times in the time out,
don't found anybody if he goes laid up.
Speaker 3 (46:35):
We don't care.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
We have we have free throws.
Speaker 4 (46:37):
We were three, doesn't matter, and Man went to, I
don't know why try to block and one and then
we lose it overtime. So yeah, I didn't see that because.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
I was.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Exactly Man.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
Went to black Dirk, we don't care.
Speaker 4 (46:58):
Let Dirk dunk.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
We don't care.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
Wow, crazy, But you're right. We all do get into
our you know, we were about ourselves. But I think
for Dirk and I and I'm thankful that on my podcast,
in my first episode, we were able to have a
conversation that like we didn't. Like I said, me and
Dirk didn't even have a lot of conversations until recently,
like because of what was portrayed through the media with
you know, actions, and so it's good to be able
(47:22):
to have that conversation. Great, nice, Tony, I have a
picture for you, okay, all right. So we played each
other in the finals in twenty thirteen and twenty fourteen.
We both got the best of each other. So when
you look at this photo, tell me what is the
Tell me what was going through your mind at the
(47:43):
moment when all these things was happening, because it happened.
Speaker 4 (47:45):
So fast fast. So in this picture, so.
Speaker 1 (47:49):
That's the Ray Allen shot in Game six in the
corner and Tony Parker closed.
Speaker 3 (47:53):
Out I'm sure closed out.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
Short, okay.
Speaker 4 (47:57):
So, like you said, it happened so fast that I
came so fast to him that I was trying to
not to foil him. Like I was like, Pop is
going to kill me if I fouled him, because we
were up three. So I try to do the best
I can to contest one of the best shooters in
our league. And he made a hell of a shot
(48:19):
going backwards, and every time I look at it, I'm
like make that shot because I came fast on him
and he could have like tried to be scared too,
because I came so fast I almost fouled him. And
it was just one of the best shots in the
NBA history. And when you as you know, you have
to say in the US, they say a good defense,
(48:40):
a better offense.
Speaker 5 (48:41):
But look at you? What are you doing? Please don't
go in? Please don't go in. Yeah, I was hoping
so bad.
Speaker 1 (48:56):
Uh so just Ray Allen? Uh he And if you
guys heard the story, but after practice, ray Allen would
always sit on his butt on the block and he
will backpedal to the three point line. And this was
a drill that he did. And so in this moment,
the reason he was able to backpedal and get there
and not worry about being out of bounds getting his
(49:17):
fee set without looking was because he practiced it after
he did it out the practice every day and so
it was amazing that everything happened and it was ray
Allen because if it was me, that would have been
a whole different shot. I left charge, and so it's
crazy that it was off his butt, get up, go
(49:40):
backwards without and to continue its repetition, right, He did
it every day and I heard he even did it
in Boston, and so this is probably the only time
he got a chance to take that shot.
Speaker 4 (49:49):
That's crazy and everything for a reason, crazy crazy Gray.
Speaker 2 (49:57):
Sorry.
Speaker 1 (50:07):
So, as you guys will see and also hear, some
of these conversations, they do go a bit long, and
so we have to separate them within parts. Some go
one hours, some go three hours, and so we have
a part one and we also have a part two.
So we're going to cut it off right here and
Part one, but Part two will be out very soon,
(50:28):
so please check your feed. It might already be there.
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