Episode 51: Kevin Ollie

Chris sits down with Nets’ assistant coach Kevin Ollie to discuss being a star in your role, his journey from playing to coaching, and motivating the modern player.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey, what's going on.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
It's Chris Carino. This is the Voice of the Nets
podcast presented by ticket Masters. Thank you so much for
tuning in and subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. This
week on the program, with training camp coming up in
just a few weeks, we're going to be joined by
the man who'll be the new number one assistant next

(00:31):
to Jacques Baughn on the NETS bench. A guy that
is no stranger to coaching, and he's no stranger to
the NBA, but it's going to be his first ever
NBA coaching job. And that's Kevin Ollie. Just like Jacques Baughn,
a native of southern California who came east to play

(00:53):
college ball, Kevin Ollie came a little further east than John.
Came all the way out to stores Connecticut and Yukon
and played on you know, the beginnings of that Yukon
what has become a blue blood, top level NCAA basketball
program at the time. He went to go play for

(01:14):
Jim Calhoun on a team that had a bunch of pros.
He would eventually go on to be an assistant for
Jim Calhoun, would replace the legend and we'll talk about
that in our conversation, and won a national championship as
a head coach, and in between played with a lot
of different NBA players for a lot of different NBA coaches,

(01:36):
Thirteen NBA seasons with eleven different franchises, a couple of
stints at Philadelphia, played with the Sonics, and then with
the Thunder at the end of his career, and always say,
when you're around that long and you play for so
many teams, you maybe aren't a good enough player that

(01:59):
they're going to build around you or wanna have you
a part of the program long term, but you're a
good enough person that they want in that locker room,
that they want on that bench. So many different people
must talk about you and how great you are to
be around and want to be with you, that they'll
put you on their team. His last year in the

(02:22):
league with the Oklahoma City Thunder was with all those
great young players like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden.
And it was Kevin Durant who said that Kevin Ali
was responsible for changing the culture. And we'll talk about that,
and what you'll come away from listening to Kevin Ali
is he's a motivator. He's a motivator. He's gonna get

(02:44):
you pumped up on this Tuesday morning or whenever you're
listening to this. So as training camp approaches, we get
ready for the new NBA season, a deep dive with
the newest NETS assisted coach, his life, his motivation. It's
Kevin Ali on the voice of the Nets. I don't

(03:04):
know if you you or anybody you know plays this.
I play this game all the time on my phone.
I'm obsessed with the crossover grid or a thing called
the Immaculate Grid. Have you heard about it? Have you
heard of this?

Speaker 1 (03:19):
No?

Speaker 2 (03:19):
So what it is? Basically, so the NBA version will have,
uh you a tic tac do kind of grid with
with with teams on one parallel teams on the other,
and where they cross, you have to put in a
player played for both organizations.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Okay, so you are like a go to yeah, because.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, like if you put out the Immaculate Grid right now,
Kevin Ollie is probably an answer to half the grid.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, it's true.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
What eleven franchises.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah, eleven, some say twelve because of Settle, Oklahoma City.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
So that's over period thirteen years, thirteen years.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, it was five teams my first two years because
once you signed a ten day contract and it'll keep
you after the two ten day contracts, it's considered a team. So,
you know, going back down to the CBA Continental Basketball
Association as it was called in it was just you know,
it was a fight, and that became my friend, you know,

(04:25):
and that became the reason why I'm here today. So
I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed when I was going
through it, but when I look back on it, it
really paid my journey and to the man I am today.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
The fact that you could hook up with so many teams,
maybe you weren't a star, you didn't maybe I don't
know whatever they were looking for, but they liked having
you around. Did you get that sense or is that
hard to see early on in your career?

Speaker 1 (04:51):
No, it was kind of evident. I look at it
as being a star in being a star in your
role instead of being a superstar. And always thought about,
you know me, like, am I getting to the Hall
of Fame?

Speaker 2 (05:03):
No?

Speaker 1 (05:03):
But I always use hof as my hall of fame
and it's hope, optimism, and faith. So that kind of
kept me going through my twelve thirteen years through the
ups and downs where people kind of perceive where you
know it was a down time, but you know, at
the end of the day, that made me who I am.
Remember getting cut on Christmas Eve in Dallas and then

(05:27):
coming back playing in Philadelphia and then getting stamped by
Larry Brown. So imagine if I'd have got to January
and then you know Eric slam then both Eric Snowden
bus his thumb open, I wouldn't have been in Philadelphia.
I just think everything happens for a reason, and I
thank God for putting me in those situations where I
was able to just succeed and just fight through and

(05:47):
through that adversity. It just made me shrown because life
would throw you some weights, but it's like up to you,
can you lift them? And I just always had the
mindset I'm gonna lift them. Just coming from my background,
coming from Los Angeles, going all the way across the
country to Connecticut, everybody thought I'd be back in like
two weeks. I just always wanted to do something different,
kind of like a radical mindset. I never wanted to

(06:10):
be comfortable, So I think in that it made me
a viable commodity to a lot of teams, and you know,
just trying to be that type of player that players
can look at, you know, be example on the court,
but then also be example off the court. And I
think I found my niche doing that. But at the
same time, Chris, I want to compete now. I was

(06:33):
gonna make me some minutes somewhere, even my thirteenth d
in the league, I was gonna play some minutes. So
you know, I just never came in and like just
just a guy that was just gonna be on a bench.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
No, and I there's so many things I want to
get into you because you mentioned Larry Brown, and I
know you've played for so many great coaches. You've had
an incredible amount of teammates. I would love to just
look at your phone one day all the contacts, play
with half the league and other coaches. But let's go
back into beginning though, because you brought it up, so
let's get back there. Because to tell uh someone's story,
their journey, you're going to know where their their origin

(07:04):
story was from. You were from Crenshaw in lap but
your dad also your dad had lived in Dallas, so
you would spend your summers in Dallas and you was
growing up in Crenshaw. A dichotomy, a diverse sort of
area there, but TERI Dallas is sort of you know,
you can mow lawns and things like that, and Crenshaw

(07:26):
is a little bit of a difference. How did that
kind of shape the kind of person you were?

Speaker 1 (07:31):
It was everything. I give a lot of credit to
my mom because they got divorced. My mom and dad
got divorced when I was four, and you know, being
in Oakcliff, getting born in Oakcliffe, Dallas, oak Cliffe, Texas,
and and being in in Dallas Fort Worth, ever, you're
moving out to La. My mom could easily been like, Okay,
my relationship with your dad is is this, and I'm

(07:52):
going to put that on you, you know, and you
don't need to see him because whatever was going on,
I don't even want to get in that. But I
don't know. She realized it's important for you to have
your father and your life, and at the end of
the day, I didn't want you to spend a day
in the summer in La. So like right after school
that first week, I was playing with my friends, and

(08:13):
then after that second week out of summers for summer,
I was going to Dallas and It just really helped
me from a working standpoint, getting up cutting lawns in
the morning, beating the sun up, getting up at four o'clock,
being wherever we was at at five, putting the gas
in the linemowers, and cutting big apartments. Working with my dad.

(08:35):
He has a line mower service. He still has it
to this day. And it just taught me the work
ethic about getting up in the morning, beating the sun
up and now waiting for your alarm clock to get
you up, and just the hard work and the dedication.
But I owe it all to my mom. And then,
you know, learning basketball was from my mom. I mean
she drove around the whole LA looking for the best,

(08:59):
you know, lead league, whatever you call it AAU back then.
I don't know what they call it. Back then. We
was just getting started in the AAU. But whatever league
was the best. She wanted me there and that's where
I found a lot of my mentors, my coaches, you know,
starting at the seventh grade, because I played football, you know,
till the seventh grade, and I really just started concentrating

(09:19):
on basketball. But it was for my mom driving around
whole LA. If she wouldn't have did that, I wouldn't
have been in this seed or have the career that
I had. Just that that that, you know, just that
poor of love and like, you're gonna do this, and
you know, I'm gonna put you in a situation and
then you're gonna have to You're gonna you're gonna have
to make a table out of this, out of this

(09:40):
tree that I planted. So and that was just a
great thing that she did. And I just really respect
her h to this day. Rest her soul. She's been
dead for for she's been transitioning to heaven for two
years now. But she is a big part of my life.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
And this is your mom, Dorothy, who was at Was
she a minister?

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, she was a Dame minister system pastor at our church.
So yeah, we was, we was in We was in
church all sunday.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
I can see that in you a little bit. Is
that work kind of because you're you're if people see
you on the internet, there's there's you giving speeches to
your players and things like that. There's a little minister
thing going on there. I guess you got that from
your mom as well.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, I got that from my mom just watching her
in the pool pits and how she changed people lives
from just her words and you know where it came from,
and her encouragement and her faithfulness. You know, seeing her
pray for me and my two sisters when we was
out doing all kinds of other things. Just seeing how
faithful she was to her Christianity. Uh, really played a

(10:43):
big part of my life.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
And then you know when you when you would go
out to Dallas in the summertime. I guess it was
a way she didn't have to worry about you either no,
not having stuff to do, or the pitfalls that could
be in the area of la where you Yes.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, and you know it's pitfalls anyway. But my dad
is like if you see, my daddy's like six seven
about two eighty, so I'm not gonna do too much.
Hell yeah. So I was like, yeah, he kept me.
The only thing he had to do is like look
at me one way and I jump right back in,
right back in.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Positions lesson because you think, you know, listen to a
lot of marriages break up and there's kids and that's
always complicated, right, but you understand the kids need a
mother and a father, yes, and there may be differences
between that the parents but at least they both recognize
that we're not going to put that on you. We're

(11:36):
going to let you grow up with each of us,
right right.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
And that's like a lesson that stays with me today. Sure,
you know, being with my wife for eighteen years and
getting a divorce but still being amicaled and seeing how
my mom and my dad handled that situation. You can
pass that on, you know. So that's like a big
thing for me. Always a look at those lessons and
success always leaves these clues. If you look at success

(12:02):
and things like that, you can pick those up and
add them to your life and present them when it's
time to be presented.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
We don't know we see the clues though when they're
going on hard.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
No, you have to be aware of them, recognize them,
and you know, pick them up and you know, live
your life. To live your life. But at the end
of the days, it's a lot of people around you
that gives you a lot of gold nuggets that you
got to take and consideration and when your time is
you got to do and say, what's what aligns with
your life? And you know, what I say and what
I do is being grateful first and foremost and having

(12:34):
my faith and you know, standing on what I say
I was going to do. I think that's a true
character of a man.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
So how does Kevin Olly, who's a basketball start in
LA and spending his time in the summers in Texas?
How did those two incredible basketball states with colleges that
are competitive, how do they let you get out of
the state and get all the way to Yukon Connecticut.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
And you know, with how we dick them in. I
remember they coming into my living room and how we
dick them in and Coach Lado, they just I mean,
it was something about them, man, It was something about them.
What they what I felt in their spirit. I knew
they was gonna take care of me more, not just
as a basketball player, but as a man. And it

(13:21):
was just it was something that was surreal. I went
down to Connecticut. I think they tricked me. They definitely
tricked them. They brought me on my official visit when
it was like eighty five degrades and all that, so
it's like a perfect spring day. You lot of spring
days in Connecticut is like perfect. Yeah, they ain't bring
me down in November, December, nothing like that. So you know,
they tricked me there. But at the end of the day,

(13:42):
you know, coaches always say, you know it's you don't
need a you know, air conditioner or heater in the gym.
You know, it's not never cold in the gym. It's perfect,
perfect temperature. You stay in there, you work hard, you
play hard, You're gonna get an opportunity here. And that's
the only thing I wanted to do is get an opportunity.
And the biggest thing we seen growing up coming from
Crenshall we see Stevie Thompson go to Syracuse. So back

(14:05):
then it was Big Monday and just you know, every Monday,
you know, you out of school, you make sure you
get your homework done, and you're watching Big Monday. We
got a double hitter, and it's watching the Georgetown's, watching
you know, the Connecticut was on the rise, but watching
the Villanova's and you know Syracuse battle and the Saint
John Seaton Halls and the Saint John's. Just seeing those battles,

(14:26):
that was everything for us. And I was like, if
Stevie can do it, he can go to Syracuse, why
not me?

Speaker 2 (14:31):
And you were seeing that on the West coast.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
Seeing it on the West coast, I'm a New.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
York kid, and I used to love that too. I
looked forward to Big Monday and Mike Gorman and Bill Raftery.
The game the games is probably on it, you know,
four o'clock in the afternoon out now. Yeah, yeah, interesting
because the Big East was was was king there, but
you con wasn't what it was. No at that time
you were sure of the You're one of the guys

(14:57):
that that sort of changed things. You started the ball
motion there with Jim CALHOUNA what was that? What was
the group there with you?

Speaker 1 (15:04):
Me, Ray Allen, Donyelle Marshall came in with me. Donny
Marshall came with me, Ray Allen came in after our
after our sophomore year, and we just had Travis Knight,
Darn Scheffer. I can keep going down to this ship.
What was the furthest rime? We got to the Elite
eight League. They set us up. We played U C.

(15:26):
L A And in Oakland Coliseum, so it was like
a home game for them. But it was good. It
was good. I think the game was like ninety eight
to one O two. That was like, there's no college
games like that. I mean, we had so much talent
on the team, and that was Charles O'Bannon. Yeah, Tyus Adney.
It still hurts me today because they should not have
been there. Tyas Adney did that coast to coast against

(15:48):
the Missouri I think so, so they should not have
been there. I think we'd have won the national championship.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
We would the day that got beat.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Now I still don't think I won. I won the
national championship, so it made and made up for it.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
What are the great players you played against in high
school in LA were you? Did you run into Jock
bonnet All in l A?

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yes, yes, you know, I don't be we beat Jock them.
It's tenth grade, tenth right there. Yeah, he was tenth
grade and I was a senior. So back then we
didn't start in the ninth grade. We started in the
tenth grade. So Jock was a superstar, you know, all
the way up. And you know, I think I played Jock.
I think it was tenth grade year we played against

(16:27):
each other. Chrishaw against John.

Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, similar situation. He's getting a call. You know, you're
out there in l A. And I'm sure you could
go to U C. L A. Ye see, and he's
got you going to Kansas. Yeah yeah, you went to Kansas.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah hard. Yeah, it's hard to turn that down. And
once you get to those campuses like Connecticut, we just
all stayed together. It was a family atmosphere, and it
was like, you know, I went to other schools, but
it wasn't just it wasn't a tight group like that,
and it just I just fell in love with and
and then they played the style of play we played like,

(16:58):
you know that was back then. You know, you got
a husky mania, you pressing on makes and missus. That's
the same thing that we did at Crenshaw with Willie
West teams. So it was just perfect with me. And
it's just a line. And then I just wanted to
be free, you know. I wanted to wear red sometimes.
You know, back then we could just wear blue at
Crenshaw because of the area and the gangs and all
that stuff. But I wanted to wear red sometimes. And

(17:20):
like a Connecticut nobody cared about that stuff. The cows
didn't care about it once you came across stores campus.
The coles didn't care about what she wore. So it
was like perfect, man, it was just somewhere to get away.
And I always wanted to bet again better on myself.
So it was it was a beautiful thing.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Which growing up in La though, where when you're a
star basketball player like that is there is there kind
of a sense of hey, let's let's nurture the kid
or let's protect him rather than have you fall into
the dangers that are there. Did you experience that?

Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, I mean walking to school sometimes you know they
you know, I say, you know, they come up to me.
What set you claim? That was like the biggest question,
and we was at, what's set you like? I play ball,
so that was like the biggest thing. I'm not in
a gang. I just play ball. And they always recognized
me playing ball, and you know that was the biggest thing.
But you know, I was protected. But at the end
of the day, you have to have your GPS on

(18:14):
because every block was different, you know, like every block
was different, so you couldn't be walking on a certain blocks.
So I always have my tenans up. That's the point
guarding me. And I always kind of sense when danger
was there, you know, even in house parties or different
things like that. Always found it like a sense of
you know, of danger. And I was able to get
out in certain situations, and I think God had his

(18:35):
hands on me in certain situations that I did get
out where other people got trapped. So you know, I
thank God for that as well.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
So you got you get out, You go all the
way across to ukon the one of the you mentioned
your mom, And one of my favorite stories that I've
heard was when you first get to stores, you're a
little home sick, yes, and you call your mom and
you're kind of like almost to seat out there that
maybe this is a mistake. I want to come home.

(19:04):
And I love the fact that she she just hung
up on you. Is that correct?

Speaker 1 (19:08):
Yes? Yeah. It wasn't like I was putting it out there.
I was telling her I would I would have come.
I want to come on. She didn't want to hear
nothing of it. It was like the first storms. You know,
the school was going. We had this great point guard
called Chris Mill. Coach Calhune put against put put me
against him one on one, and we had this full
court drill that we used to go one on one

(19:30):
and anybody know Chris Chris Smith. He had this low
crossover and he was just crossing me up and I
just I remember that day. I just I don't know.
I never stopped. He was scoring on me, but I
never stopped, and Coach Calhune told me, I'm never going
to get out the drill until you stopped him. So
we was going back and forth and he was scoring,
but I was giving him my all, and I think
that really showed coach what I'm about. But when I

(19:50):
got out of that practice, I was just like, nah,
I think this not for me. Uh. Coach Calhoun has
his boss and accent, so I didn't understand the word
he was saying, but I did understand certain things, and
I was like, man, did he really call me that?
Going back to my dorm and I was kind of
like shedding a tear. I called my mom, was like,
I made a mistake, Ma, I want to come back home.

(20:11):
And first thing she said is like, no, you made
this decision. You're gonna stick through it and you're gonna
live it out and you're gonna be okay. And I'm like, Mom,
I want to come home. Bam. She said what she
had to say, and then I heard a down tone
and then ever since then I didn't call her about
transferring or anything like that. I just stuck it out.
Believe the champion and me and the differ and things

(20:32):
that she is stilled in me and my dad is
still in me. And then it worked us all worked
itself out, and after my sophomore year, I started every game.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
And she knew, she knew what you were about, so
she was she was making that decision for you that
you maybe didn't have the courage to make, yes, because
I don't know. I'm a parent of a college kid,
and you know, my son went to college last year
and it's hall. I don't know if I would have
the you know, you want to help you your kid,
like if they're hurting in there. But she knew, yeah,

(21:01):
that's a hard decision, as appearent. When she knows, she
hears the the fear probably or the you know how
how sad you were at that moment, and she gave
you the tough love that you meet and it turned
out to be the best thing you could have ever.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah. Yeah, And I use the word love tough instead
of tough love. So I like to leave with love.
She was leaving with love, but she was tough behind
it too. And most times, you know, I have kids,
and when they were small, you know, they they crying.
You want to pick them up, and but her job
was to pick me up, but not you know, give
me a pass though pick me up and not give
me a pass to to walk out and do something

(21:33):
and avert my dreams. And she told me, you made
the decision, Like she actually wanted me to go to
U c l A. You know, I kind of chose
U KHN. So she was just like, yeah, yeah, So
hers was between U c l A U KHD, and
I kind of pushed UKN because I didn't want to
stay in the same area, be around the same friends.

(21:55):
I wanted to do something different. So it was kind
of on me. I made that last decision.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
So and you're the it wasn't so much homesick. Then
it sounds like it's like you got in a situation
now that you'd never been in in your basketball life.
Was that you probably were always the best kid, and
you know, you're always one of the best high school pleasure.
Now you're going up against kids and you're like, whoa
wait a minute, Like, am I good enough right to
be here? Was that sort of a crisis of confidence

(22:22):
for you at that moment?

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Yeah, I mean, you know, you doubt yourself a little
bit you doubt yourself, you being thirty three thousand miles
away from home. I mean it was a lot of
different things. It's cold, I mean it was a lot
of things I wasn't used to. But like all that
adversity in what I thought was problems became my promise

(22:44):
and became my purpose. So now I look back on it, man,
I was like a pebble in the sand, Like I
look back on it, like that really shaped who I
was because I didn't give in. I didn't give up.
I stood on my two feet and I made a
lifetime connections like I have the East Coast, the West Coast,
like you say in my roller decks, I got so

(23:05):
many relationships from being able to jump out of my
comfort zone and be in the midst of everything going around.
And I just always believe in you know, when it's
a whirlwind or storm or something's always the eye of
the hurricane. And how can you get in an eye
the hurricane where it's calm, when it's all kind of
distractions around you. And I really found myself putting myself

(23:27):
in that position throughout. So you know that toughness and
you know that championship in me being.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Comfortable with being uncomfortable. Yeah, it's kind of something. I
think that's a key to happiness in life. Yeah, knowing
that it's not always going to be calm and stormy,
but you know you can get through it.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah. Yeah, And it's just part of it. Though. I
don't think like failure is the opposite of success. I
really don't believe. I just think failure is part of it.
You know. Maybe that day I felt like a failure,
but that's just one moment, and you know, you feel
that way and then you get back up and you
go back at it again, and I just that's how
I lived my life.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
What happened? So you said, like that day you were
getting crushed in practice. Was there something now another time
where it went the other way, where all of a sudden,
now you got your confidence back.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yeah. I just showed up the other the next following day.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
The next day. Yeah, he's like, that's what you said.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
Low board options is not going back home. You gotta
figure this thing out. And then we get back on
the line and we start running and Coach Calon started cussing,
and that's just what it was, you know, But he
was getting the best out of us. You know, and
then the competition every day, it just bred the killing me,
you know. And then I just started going back to
my Crenshaw days. You know, my conditioning was like one

(24:44):
of the best on the team. So you know, sooner
or later, those guys was gonna get tired, and I
just was able to outwheel them, outwheel them. And you know,
coach brought in point guards every year. Every year I
was there, he pointed another point guard. But I was
just like, at the end of the day, they gonna
play beside me. I'm not going nowhere. And I became
one of the anchors and one of the one of

(25:05):
the persons that he relied on throughout my four years,
and we won a lot of games in that that
four year span.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Yeah, and helped launch what would become a long period
of time there where. And then, you know, I don't
want I don't want to jump ahead to what it
was like to to then replace Jim Calvioun and win
a national championship there as a coach, Yeah, because so
much happened in between. It wasn't like you left college
and bounced around for Europe a couple of years and
then went on the staff. I mean you end up,
like we said, the CBA, thirteen years in the NBA,

(25:32):
eleven different franchises before you eventually get back to coaching.
So let's just go through your your NBA journey a
little bit now. You you, I'm sure coming at a
Yukon and you maybe had that dream of being an
NBA star, but you have to go to the CBA first. Yeah, yeah,
So what kept you going with that dream?

Speaker 1 (25:52):
My son being born. That really kept me going and
put my life in perspective. You know, he was born
with a birth defect and I was bed stricken for
the first six weeks of his life, and I just
found myself in a room outside of the outside of
the hospital and just was like, you know, God, if
you give him breath, you know, I'm gonna change my

(26:14):
life and I'm gonna work towards you, and you know
You're gonna give me a strength to get through this.
And you know, to this day, you know, I tell
them all the time, you know, like if it wasn't
for you and what you went through and the strength
you showed me, I wouldn't be here today as well.
So all these little things in my life gave me,
you know, a clear vision on what I need to
do or put my life in perspective. So, you know,

(26:37):
just having him and knowing like this little guy's depending
on you, you know, you got to keep the lights on.
You gotta keep you know, a roof over their heads.
So you know, me, my wife, Stephanie, my ex wife Stephanie,
we just band together and you know, she supported me,
She took care at home. I was out there working,
you know, for the Connecticut Pride. I was drafted in

(26:59):
the first round there, didn't get drafted in the NBA.
What helped me that was still in Connecticut, so we
played our games in the Civic Center, which was called
the Civic Center then, so it was kind of familiar
with me. So just being in Connecticut, having all the
connections and the relationships I had made it kind of
the transition easier than me and playing two years straight

(27:20):
in the CBA and back then a lot of guards
wasn't going overseas. We had Rameil Robertson, Taate George, we
had Chris Childs, we had John We had some guards there.
Like we was playing, you was playing against some elite
guards every day. So that allowed me to play with
the great competition, and you know, I think the biggest
thing for me was was not comparing myself. I think

(27:42):
the first two years I see somebody get called up
and be like, wow, that's not me, you know, I
just I just rent circles around this guy.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
Once I decided not to do that. Chris, I have
my worst game ever. I think I was one for thirteen,
one for thirteen and I was like, man, Kevin, you
ain't never getting called up. And three days later I
got called up. It was like, that's oxymorro. Come on, bro, seriously,

(28:11):
it's just how life changes. Yeah, lessons like it happens,
you know.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
And also you're not judged on your worst day, you know,
Like you got to know that you've built a lot
into this. Don't kill yourself too much for.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
One thirteen, Yes, and have compassion, but just don't compare
yourself to other people. Because some of those guys that
got ten day contracts before me, it got caught up,
didn't make thirteen years in the league. I did, and
it just told me a great lesson that I try
to pass down to everybody. Don't compare yourself to anybody.
Your day will come. You just got to keep planning
the seeds. And it's just the perspective you have on

(28:47):
life because most people say, Okay, you buried or you
plan it. You can choose whichever one you want to.
But I feel like anytime some dirt is thrown on me,
I'm planning to be something greater.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
You got strength from having a family early on there,
Like you said, did they because you were moving around
so much? Were they always with you or did they
go to one place? And kind of did you try
and get them stability? Like what was that like?

Speaker 1 (29:11):
Early on in my career, they was moving with me.
Me and Stephanie at the time decided we were gonna,
you know, be together, be together. But then also my
last seven years, I signed my first big contract. So
my first seven years I signed make good contracts. It

(29:32):
was that January, I remember to day. I think it
was like January tenth. He was able to if you
stay on a con if you're still on the team,
you get signed guaranteed. Fortunately the first seven years I
made the date, but I never had a multi year
deal until you know. I played for Milwaukee with George
call got traded in mid season with Ray Allen to Seattle,

(29:55):
played very very well, and then Paul Silers rest Is
Soul signed me for a five year deal in Cleveland Cavaliers.
Lebron's rookie year played there not only lasted the year,
that lasted the year my first house. I thought I
was set. I mean, yeah, the money was there, and

(30:16):
then I got traded to Philadelphia. I was like, I'm done.
I thought, five year deal, I have some kind of stability.
And then they moved back to Connecticut because they was
getting older. Kind of wanted to keep them in the
same routine, school friends, curriculum. And then here come guy
doing Oxymorrow. This is the first time I stayed with

(30:37):
a team for five straight years, four straight years for
seventy six ers. Yeah, but that was back when the
Southwest had the little thirty nine dollars. You can go
right there. I'd go back and forth, so it worked
out pretty good.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah, that was the end of your career. Is the
first time you actually spent consecutive seasons with one team.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yeah, PHILADELPHIAA and then the next two years, I think
I went to Minnesota for one year deal and then
Oklahoma City for a one year deal, and and that
was it.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
You had a brief stop with the nets I did. Yeah,
that was two thousand and two thousand and one season, yes,
Byron Scott. It was his first year, I believe, right,
but the year before Jason Kidd comes in and everything
gets turned around. But I would imagine now you it's
a much different organization than when I'm still here. We

(31:25):
got a chance, yeah, yeah, but uh, but not too
many others. I mean, you know Aaron Harris maybe who
was a.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
Still there.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
But other than that, it's a very different place that
you find.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, that's a funny story in that training camp. I
mean I think you had all guaranteed contracts. And I'm
like Bill Nef that was my agent, Like the hell
you sending me to Jersey because they got everybody's on
the contract, Like, there's no spots for me. He's just
trust me. Just go in there, work hard, do what
you have to do. You know, I'm putting you here
for a reason. And you know, I think Elliott Perry

(32:02):
had a guaranteed contract, I believe, and I think for
like two point three two point five million dollars or
something like that. I think Sherman Douglas was there. We
was loaded with guard Stephan Marrariy was there and they
let someone go. I think they let Elliott Perry go
and kept.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Me and I was just started.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
I started, yeah Brin Scott, and you know, it was
just all guaranteed contracts and I just like, once again,
I just put my head down and I just worked out.
I just worked and brought believed in my work ethic
and some way, somehow I made a made A made
a team. And that's just been kind of my career
after that. You know, I was just making teams just

(32:44):
with the wheel and the and the hard work and
the desire, and I think my name kind of proceded
itself around the league.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
And you see where it was the next word at
that time out in East Rutherford and playing an eyes
out center and and now here you know, to come
in now, I mean it's it's so different.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
You're in Brooklyn.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
You know, everybody's different. Yes, this is the first time
that you're coming into an NBA at organization as a
as a coach. Yesh, So what were your first impressions
when you walked in the door and what made you
choose Brooklyn now to come?

Speaker 1 (33:21):
Yeah, it was beautiful, you know, just walking in talking
to JV. You know, understanding what he really wants for
this program, what he wants for his players, but his
just his relationship with Sean Marks being here for seven years,
I think he's seven.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
Eight years as assistance.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
Already, kind of knowing the people, knowing the organization, knowing
behind the basketball behind, you know, basketball behind, you know,
the scenes and everything. It was just something that I
really wanted to do. Of course, I was up for
the Detroit Pistons job, and going through that was a
great scrimmage for me. You know, that was that was awesome,

(33:58):
being the last couple of guys you know that they
was they was interviewing there and then you know, it
was just an opportunity for me to come back to
the East Coast. Love the situation that they had here,
love the young players that they had, the versatility that
they had, seen what they did at the end of
the season when JV took over. Just the carateerie playing

(34:19):
tough basketball, something that aligns with me. And just knowing
what Jock's all about. You know, he's a stand up guy.
You know, he's not gonna say nothing and not stand
on it. And I just believe at his point guard
pedigree speaks for itself, you know, his basketball acimistics for
himself being their head coach, probably learning from the Orlando

(34:40):
Magic situation now coming in this situation. You know, it's
just somebody that I can really learn from and serve,
and I just want to come serve him, want to
serve the players, want to serve this organization and the
other thing. My kids live both live here. You know.
My son lives in Brooklyn. He's a Ford them graduate. Yeah, yeah,
he lives Brooklyn now he works for JP Morgan. My

(35:02):
daughter just graduated from Wesleyan got a biochemical job in
the World Trade Center. She's in East Village, right across
the bridge from me. So it was like it was
kind of perfect, Like, yeah, I wouldn't in my in
my dreams, I wouldn't have thought of like, Okay, after college,
I'm going to be in the same state, same same

(35:24):
seventeen miles from my kids. I wouldn't even that wasn't
even crossing my mind. And to have that set up,
I mean, that's that's like you got to take that.
I try to live my life without regrets and minimize
my regrets. So when I turned eighty, I look back
on my life, I'd be like, damn, you didn't take
that Brooklyn job and your kids was there. I will
regret that.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, you mentioned your son had health issues early on. Yeah,
that's something that was with him throughout his life.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
Or yeah, he has surgery the disease called you know
gas skeeses where you gotta have a hole in your
stomach and you know, you know, they suitra it up,
put him on a silo. He was bear stricten for
six six weeks and now you couldn't even tell. Yeah,
so it really made made me understand. It really gave

(36:10):
me some life lessons to teach him. He was like
a lot of ebarrass you know sometimes going younger where
he had to go to the pool, he had to
take his shirt off. Like you never be ambarrass of
that car because you made me the man who I
am with that scar. Never be a barrass of that scar,
because them scars are the ones that take you. And
you can look back on these cars and say, man,
I got through that. So you know that that situation

(36:32):
and being around him and being able to have him
around at the games and my daughter around the games,
I just thought it would be be something I needed
to do. I will regret that if I turn eighty,
God gives me the health to stay at eighty, I
will regret this big time. So I took the leap
of faith, decided to come on down, and you know
it's it's been a blessing.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
There's a roomy quote that I love it, the scars
of the place where the light enters you. Yeah, you know,
your your career you talk about serving, you know, coming
here and serving others. That was kind of your career
as a point guard. You know, you're a playmaker. But
also I felt like your whole NBA career was a
little bit like you were working toward coaching. Like when

(37:14):
I think of your time at Oklahoma City late in
your career, your last year, right you you had that
group with Harden and Durant in Westbrook. Kevin Durant said
that you were single handedly the guy who changed the
culture there. I mean you were there for a year,
right Like did you You said, you know, knowing going

(37:34):
into a situation, what I can bring in, what my
role is? Was that sort of what did you see
yourself as a coach? You see yourself as a culture shifter?
I mean, how did you Why would he say something
like that.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
Do you think never? You know, I never. I never
came in there like I'm about to shift the coach.
I just was being my authentic self, me and Kevin Ali,
you know, extending myself, you know, showing compassion to others,
trying to empower others. I just never looked at myself
as you know, I think, how you aspire, how you

(38:08):
great is how do you make the other person besides
you feel And I always wanted to make that person
feel like they're the only one in the room where
they can do anything. So just giving them as a
couraging words, being their form. I mean, we had so
much talent, you know, in practice, but you know, also
you know, how do we you know, not get caught

(38:28):
up in just the talent? How do we outwork the
talent each and every day? You know, That's the one
thing I wanted to bring. How do you outlash your talent?
Because sometimes we're gonna get to a point where talent
is just not good enough. It's like the character that
you have and not your achievements. It's about the character
that you bring each and every day. And I wanted
to teach those guys that how to be a professional.

(38:48):
No matter what the ups and downs, winning and losing. No,
it's about how do we show up every day and
protect what's ours.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
And yeah, players all talk to each other and they
You've been around the league for so long at that point,
I'm sure it was your reputation of you know, hey,
pick this guy's brain when he comes to young players
and miniar with Lebron when he started. I mean, that's
got to be something that gets around. Who was your
vat like early on. Who were the guys that you
played with early on that you learned from.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
Yeah, Derek Harper, A C. Green, you know, guys like
that that was just around and just putting their arms
around me, showing me this, this is how you do it.
Charles Oakley in Chicago, playing with him, just seeing his
leadership and his toughness. So guys like that I always
looked at, you know, Sherman Douglas's of the world. You know,

(39:41):
just guys like that, like how Sharan stayed in the
you know he's not jumping dunking on people a lot
like that, but just his craftiness and how he did
every day, what his what his routine was, and just
picking their brain. So I had some great veteran guys
that really showed me leadership, showed me how to do
certain things and you know, understand my role and understand

(40:02):
my path. But you know, even in my seventy six
ers days, you know, like me and Eric Snow are
same age, but just looking at Eric Snow, you know,
and coming in Philadelphia, like, man, he can do this,
Like just looking at guys like that. So it wasn't
like all these old veterans. It was some of my
peers too that I really looked at and saying, man,
I can you know, you know, not beat Eric Snow,

(40:25):
but I can mirror some of the things he'd do
and how he's carving out this this situation, you know,
in the seventy six ers and him being a store
in point guard really helped me as well.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
A great Sherman Douglas store. I remember when he was
with the Nets. Remember how Whistle was here as a coach, right,
So how was telling me a story one time about
Sherman first shows up, like first night, comes to the
Nets and whatever it is, and shoots up and gets
out there and plays. Didn't even know the plays or anything,
and they said he went out and he's coming down
to court and he's just yelling out, you know, thumb
opposite or something like that. And after the game, how

(40:56):
wis Sherman? What were you calling? Well, you don't even
that's not even a play. Why I was just I
was I was making the other team think it was
a play and giving the scouts something to think about.
Like he's already just thinking about that, right right.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
I guess that.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
Keeps in the league too.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
Being smart, Yeah, being smart, being an extension of the coach.
You know, I had one thing with Larry Brown. You know,
I didn't play a lot of minutes, but I play,
you know, twenty twenty five minutes some games. I never
wanted to look at Larry Brown. I wanted to be
so in tune with him that I knew, okay, we
need to give him a time on the basketball. I
need to get a out of basketball. I need to
do certain things and only in time outs. You know,

(41:34):
now he can draw up a play. But I wanted
to be so in tune with him, like I got
this coach, like I'm me and you are so connected
right now. I know exactly what you want, exactly what
you're thinking about.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
He's the guy you bring up a lot. When you
talk about coaching, what does it mean to you?

Speaker 1 (41:48):
He mean everything to me. Yeah, you know the first
time I got there, you know, I was on a
ten day contract. We stretching this around Thanksgiving time, he
invited me over to Thanksgiving. I'm like, no, me, invite
me to thanks You really know me? Like you're not
talking to me? Ellen Iver said, Aaron McKee could go
over to Thanksgiving, you don't know me. But just for
him to have and to recognize that an awareness that

(42:10):
I'm new. I probably don't have anybody in Philly where
you're gonna eat at you know, things like that, I mean,
that's just that's everything to me. That's more than just
being a coach. That's being you know, a person that
you can count on, a person that cares, a person
that's compassionate. And you run through the wall for coaches
like that. And that's where I get that, Like, it
can't just be this basketball. You know, relationship. I got

(42:33):
to know what you stand for as a person. I
gotta know your family. I gotta know you know your
wives and what makes you go and not only what
makes you tick, but what makes you talk. You know,
I think when you start talking to a person they
trust you, I.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
Would share about Larry Brown. They would say, like he
would coach the fifteen sixteenth guy as hard as you
would coach Everson.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yes, that's true story. Yeah, you know, Allen one coming
to all the practices and we you know, back then
you have four games and five nine. We had a
lot of you know, not days off, but you know
it wasn't days off for us. You know, we come
in and play three on three. And I think he
got more satisfaction coaching our three on three than he
you that he did in playoff games, like for real,

(43:14):
like seriously, he had coached our three on threes like
it was a game seven, were playing the Lakers game seven.
And all of us got contracts. I mean, Todd mcculler's
Jermaine Jones is Ira Bowman's Roger Bells like all of
our guys we played three on three Nas Muhamet, like
all of us played three on three. We all got

(43:35):
contracts because of what he instilled at us in those
three on threes. How to play back the right basketball,
how to pass to an open teammate, make cuts, be selfless,
and all those different things. Older Larry Brown HM then you.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
Get called, you know, we finish your playing days and uh,
now again it's Yukon calling. Yeah, you know that. What
was your thought process? Did you? Did you ever think
maybe I don't know if I should do that? Or
is Jim Calhoun called? And again you're going to stores?

Speaker 1 (44:09):
You know, I had some has some big decisions to make. Uh.
Casem Presty was so good to me.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
The organization was so good.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yeah, and I was like, man, should I stay here?
That was definitely an option for me. He gave me
an option to stay in an organization, you know a
coach or you know, pursue front office. He gave me
an option to do to both of them and just
be in an organization some way, somehow wherever you feel fit.
But then again, it just came down to my family.

(44:39):
You know, I've been in Oklahoma City, Minnesota. They wasn't there.
You know, four years in Philadelphia, they wasn't there. And
it's just different, Chris, when you come in after you know,
eight months gone, and then you come in like you
try to do it. You need to do this, you
need to wake up at this time you haven't even
been here, and Pop's like, what you talking about you. Yeah,

(45:01):
I got my routine already. Now you come in here
four months and trying to lay that out of law, Like, nah,
hold up. So I just felt that and you know,
all my whole career, not that I chose my career
over my family. It was just something that I love
to do. And of course I had to go with
a contract. So I mean, and it's definitely made this
you know, decision that we was going to make the sacrifices,

(45:23):
not our kids make the sacrifices. But that was the
first time opportunity. I was just like, I'm gonna come
back home, you know, be with my kids.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
You know, step people from Connecticut.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
She's from Connecticut. Yeah, so she was back at you know,
back you know from Bridgeport, Connecticut. She was back home,
and I just decided to do that. It was a
hard decision, but you know, to come back and coach
for your alma mater, you know, learn from Coach Calhoun,
be there Yukon and be able to represent that, you

(45:53):
know that that great university again was something that I
had to do and like I say, out of wit
A regretted if I didn't do it. And you know,
you're some great times in stores.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Yeah, and you're the guy that replaces a legend. Yes,
and that can be hard sometimes to do. But you
win a national championship.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
Yeah. Yeah. But you know, even before the national championship,
you know, I mean, we took over a program that
was you know, coach Calhoune leaving the Big East was dismantling.
We was on something called APR. It was a progress
of you know, academic Progress Report. We didn't do well
in that, so we was banned for the pro season.

(46:32):
You know, Recruiting was not good because they was using
all these different things that go against us not being
able to be in the you know, in the NCAA
tournament and people saying we're not gonna be in an
NCAA tournament for four years, and all kinds of stuff
was going around, so us going to a new league
called the aa SE that nobody heard of. So it
was a lot of different things going around at that time.

(46:55):
And you know, I was just like, okay, let's band together,
and like all these situations, where is the eye of
the hurricane? You know, how do I calm myself down?
How do I understand that this is here for me?
This was put in my life to bring the champion
out of me. And that's what we did. And you know,
I remember the first day standing up and Coach Calhoun
retired and I stand up front of the team and

(47:18):
you know, saying my speeches and you know that what
we're gonna play for, and we're gonna play for the
pride of what's on the front of our jersey, and
Shabbazia stand up and staying up after I said my
little speech and saying I'm gonna stand right here with you, coach,
And after that it was the Yeah, everything else was history.
Then you know, Ryan Boatwright got on board and we
made some runs. And that first year we went twenty

(47:39):
to ten in the Big East, when nobody thought we
didn't have nothing to play for because we wasn't going
to the tournament. We was a tournament team. That was
the last year of the Big East. We could have
easily just folded the tent, but you know, we just
didn't believe in that. We didn't believe in folding the tent.
We didn't believe in giving in. We believed this was
was gonna propel us for something greater, and it did.
Than following year we went a national Championship ironically in

(48:02):
at and T Stadium in front of eighty two thousand people.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
The NBA comes calling at that time. But your family situation,
like wanting to give that stability like they sacrificed for
so long wire part of your wanting to stay in Connecticut.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
Yes, that was a big part of it. And you know,
to be totally transparent, me and my wife was going
through a divorce. So I wanted to be there be
for them, for my kids because I didn't know how
they was going to react. And they was a little older,
which made it a little better because they probably had
friends that went through that situation. They can talk to
their friends about it. But I just wanted to be

(48:40):
there for my family. So, you know, Cleveland, the Lakers,
a lot of teams was knocking at my door, but
I wanted to stay loyal to Yukon, and after I
went a national championship, I just didn't want to leave
those guys like a Ryan Boat, right that was coming
back for a senior year.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
What was the biggest thing you took away from Jim
Calhoun and that might shape you as a coach.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
Yeah, perseverance, you know, just he's just a tough. He
just tough man. He just he got something about him where,
you know, it just brings the best out of you,
and he pushes you and pushes you and pushes you
and gets something out of you that you never thought
you had in you. And that was one thing that
he always, you know, told me, you know, he's just

(49:23):
gonna push me and get me past possible. And every
day I just always wanted to get past possible, and
he pushed me to do that and he gave me opportunities.
He was fair, but at the end of the day,
he was very he was tough, and he was demanding.
I like to use the word challenging because I see
when I hear the word challenging, I feel a championship

(49:44):
opportunity in that. Uh So I always want to feel
I always want to say the word challenging. He was
very challenging. Every day. He didn't let me take any shortcuts.
And I think, you know, that's where I got the
kind of the quote from It's like, we're gonna take
the stairs and not the elevator. Hedn't believe in the elevators.
He was going to take the stairs and he was
going to learn every step and uh and I and

(50:06):
I venture to be successful. So that was one of
the greatest things that I learned from Jim.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
Again, the minister kind of comes out of you at times.
And there's been a lot of great, you know videos
people could see online of you giving speeches to your kids,
you know, the overtime elite kids or the college students,
you know, players that have played for you over the years.
And so you get a little bit of that from
Jim Calhoun, but your approach might be a.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
Little bit a little bit different. Yeah, it's a little different.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
So how do you how do you push the guys?
What's your kind of way of pushing a player who
maybe because I think of you and I think you've
been through everything that one of these players now on
the net roster, let's say, has ever been through. You're
going to face guys who maybe have a little crisis
of confidence. You know, what's that? What's your message? How

(50:54):
do you get through to those guys now the modern
day player?

Speaker 1 (50:57):
Yeah, I mean it goes back as simple. It's just
been a time time with them. You know, you can't
go in and you know, try to push somebody and
you don't know them as a person. So just spending
time with them, I think a great mentor you know,
you tell me what you want to want to accomplish,
and I'm gonna challenge you on that each and every day.
How do I know what you want to accomplish if

(51:17):
I don't spend time with you and I don't ask
you questions to get to know you. I think that's
the biggest thing for me, just getting to know my players, understanding,
you know, what makes them go, what they're committed to,
what they're not committed to, and then just pushing them
every day to to to to that championship level. I
call it level five energy, and I try to bring

(51:39):
that level five energy and everything I do. And I
think it's kind of contagious, like if I'm on the court,
like I'm I'm dripping and sweat, like I'm not this
coach that's gonna sit on the side, like I'm out
here with you, you know, I'm I'm I'm expending energy
with you. And I think that's the biggest thing I've
been able to, you know, have a rapport with my

(51:59):
players is because I'm out there with them, I think
I get some credibility. But being in the league for
thirteen years being a culture. There's definitely some credibility in that.
But at the end of the day, you know, they
don't care about what you say to them, they don't
care about what you do. They care about you do
you really care about them as a person. And I
think that's where I had to report at the best

(52:19):
because I've been there. I've had the doubts, you know,
I had the dissertations where I had the negative thoughts,
I had the discouragement, I had the division, I had
the disappointments. I had all those, you know, I call
them the five d's. But what's on the other side
of those five d's to trust? You know, you know,
speaking life into yourself. No matter what's going on in

(52:40):
your mind, you have a choice. I always said, you know,
between stimulus and response, it's a space in between there
where you have a choice to decide. You know, are
you going to react in a survival mindset? Are you
going to respond in the growth mindset? And in that
little time and that little space. And if you can
expand that space, now you can make decisions with a

(53:00):
clear mind. I think sometimes we just react and we anger,
we disappointed, and those emotions become who we are. I
don't want emotions or just emotions. They come up, they
come and go like a storm, and I always want
to tell our players that it's just a moment in time.
But those emotions out there to help you and push
you to the level, But those emotions are not you.

(53:22):
And you know, I have plenty of times where I
got cut or they said I wasn't good enough, but
that was just emotion, you know. I didn't let that
become the condition around me. I didn't let that be
my conclusion, you know. And that's why I want to
tell all these players, like, whatever condition you, and it's
not your conclusion, you have a choice and the perspective
that you can go and you can you can choose

(53:44):
and not let life choose it for you.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
The level five energy, I'm ready to go.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
Yeah, yeah, let's go.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
You say five d's, I think a dodgeball though, I
think dive so stupid things. You know, it's winning. The
motivation for a player, or I've heard you speak about
this before, it's like you gotta you gotta love. The
process is the process. So winning is short of like

(54:10):
a byproduct? Would it be with that something that you
would aspire to.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
Yes. I mean, like I go back to yukon that
process of winning the national championship. It was I look
back on it now. The confetti dropped, We back working
ten days after that, you know, like, yeah, the coffetti drop,
but we back in the AAU watching from eight am
to ten pm ten days later. But it was just
the process and you know, just going through the ebb

(54:38):
and flows of life. And you didn't give in. You know,
you didn't give in as a team, you didn't give
in as a coach. You sacrifice for the man that
was next to you. I mean, all those different bonds
that we have what makes us and you know, just
going through those situations, going through my NBA careers, being
around some of the greatest players ever to you know,

(54:58):
lace them up, the Allen Ivers of the world and
you know, the Ray Allens of the world. I mean,
I can go down the list, the Reggie Millers of
the world, Kd's of the world. Being around those guys
and see what they do each and every day. But
then also being around you know, the complimentary players, you know,
the Jeff Green's of the world. You know, we talk
about the Big Three, but you had Jeff Green there,

(55:19):
you had Nick Collinson there. You know, just being around
certain teams and having those guys and Aaron mckeyes, the
Tyrone Hills, those guys make the superstars great too, and
what they sacrifice really stuck out with me as well.
So kind of having a lens with both areas or
really allowed me to shape my coaching philosophies and what

(55:41):
I believe in and how I want to still in
the team. And you know, being around the great assistant
coaches that I've been around too, just how they serve
and how they give they all for their head coaches,
something that I always want to engrave into, you know,
my coaching ability here at Brooklyn or wherever. I you know,
find myself in a few or You're.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
Such a wealth of basketball. You're like a sponge that's
taken in so much, absorbed so much. Uh I it's
You're You're a great asset to have here in the organization.
I appreciate you taking so much time, whether there's a
lot of things that I don't want to keep you
so much longer. You're talking about overtime, elite and all
that time, you know, working with young people just quickly

(56:24):
I mean, did that Did that rejuvenate you a little bit?
Working with young people like that, And yeah, I know
you said you're a disruptor and overtime lead was a
little bit.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Yeah. They radicals, They radicals over there, but good radicals.
They wanted to find a different way. It's it's always
been a traditional way going to college. But you know, Dan,
Dan and and Zach over there and overtime and Brandon
Williams was there when I first got there. Uh, they
just came to me with this vision of signing us

(56:53):
an overtime elite, being a disruptor, uh, doing something that's
never been done before, and having and they transformative league.
And we were gonna have thirty players from all different
walks of the world, from Spain, from Serbia, from everywhere,
from Atlanta, from from California, from Oakland, from Florida, and

(57:13):
we're gonna bring these players together, these student athletes together
and give them the tools to be successful not only
in basketball but in life. And that kind of like
gear right in towards me and allowing them to, you know,
profit off of their sweat, you know, they sweat equity,
having them profit off of it and allowing them to
have a pro career. And that was the first year

(57:35):
overtime of lead and then the second year we was
allowed to have have them come in and not only
you know, be pros, but not be pros, but keep
their amateurism. It gave us two different pathways. So you know,
I thank Dan Porter and Zach and all those guys
for giving me that opportunity. It was time for me
to get back in after you know, the different things
I went through Yukon and the arbitration and all that

(57:57):
stuff to get back in and really, you know, give
my life back to basketball, and you know, that's my sanctuary.
And to see you know, all of our players, the
twins a man and the Tsar and all of our
guys get ten days, you know, two way contracts, and
you know the j Gorse of the world, and you
know the Jalen Martin's of the world and Don Barlow's

(58:18):
of the world, and you know, all of our guys
are still in the programs. It means a lot to me.
But at the end of the day, Chris, it's like,
how many times in life do you get to associate
your name with something that's never been done before. Not
too many times. I don't know if I'm gona ever
get another time like that. So I always talk about
minimizing regret. That was another one. So when I turned eighty,

(58:40):
I'd be like, yeah, that was the reason why you
did that one.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
Just like the decision to go all the way across
the country and play Yukon when it hadn't been the
Yukon we know yet Yep, yep, yes, doing that thing
finally before I let you go. So the oculus outside
Barkley Center, this video board that everybody can see, you
know when you come out of the subway, you walk
around the town. If you could put your personal mantra,

(59:03):
something that you're the words you live by, something you
can throw up there. You've given us a lot that
we can choose from here throughout the course of it.
But something that kind of encapsulates you what you think
it might be.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
Joy now? Never Joy now or now? Yeah, joy is
not a destination. Joy lives inside of you. Happiness lives
inside of you. It's not a destination that you can
get to. You can make up and in your mind
and your heart and your spirit every day to work
up with joy.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
So joy now, I never love that. Yeah, so great
to welcome you back. Thank you that thanks for being here. Kevin, thanks,
I appreciate it. Chris, thank you, my thanks to Kevin
Ollie for joining us here on the program. Uh got
a lot of good feedback last week for our conversation

(59:55):
with Iron Eagle, and you know, they took a clip
of it and and put it on the internet. The
clip where he talked about the movie that made him cry,
The Notebook, and I has a funny way of telling
the story of where he was. Check that out. I
got to admit, I've never seen the Notebook. I will

(01:00:15):
check it out when I can, but I know the
kind of the premise of it, lifelong love story. It's
a segue into what I wanted to acknowledge here today,
is that recently we lost someone in the Nets family.
Judy Resnick, aka missus Whammy. She was married to Bruce Resnick,

(01:00:37):
who of course is the Nets super fan. They're both
were Nets superfans, and Bruce is the one who stands
behind the basket and gives the the whammy to the
other team when they're shooting free throws. And when you
go to Barkley Center you would see the two of
them together the turtlenecks with the jersey over them, and

(01:00:57):
Bruce would have the big signs that he always made,
and they would stop by our radio booth before the
game to show us the signs, and they were an
adorable couple. It was always great to see Judy right
there next to Bruce. She was eighty seven years old
and they met when they were in high school. It's
an incredible love story. And as Jimmy b said and

(01:01:20):
has never give up speech, we should all have our
emotions moved to tears sometimes that have those feelings. And
to see them together all those years and now know
that we won't see Judy with Bruce at the games
anymore is sad. But she had a long, remarkable life,
and our condolences go out to Bruce because when I

(01:01:41):
heard this news, my first thought was, when I see Bruce,
I'm going to have those feelings because to think about
what he's going through and how kind he is and
how great it is to see him at the games,
and how much joy he takes and being there and
how much joy people get out of seeing him and
talking to him, and now he won't have Judy around

(01:02:04):
with him anymore is sad. But it's also something to
be incredibly grateful for all the years they had together.
So we will miss Judy Resnik aka missus Whammy. I
want to thank my producer Steve Goldberg, our engineer Chelsea Jenkins.
Will talk again next week, another edition of the Voice
of the Nets. Thank you so much for listening and
subscribing and give us a good rating. Reaching out to

(01:02:26):
us on social media as well. My name is Chris Carrino.

Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
Talk again next week.