November 7, 2025 • 35 mins
Former NBA player Maurice Taylor joins The Fumble for a wide-ranging interview that covers his basketball journey from Detroit to the University of Michigan, his NBA career, and the fallout from Michigan’s infamous booster scandal. Taylor reflects on the cultural impact of the Fab Five and his own generation at Michigan, arguing that their contributions helped transform the university’s identity and visibility. He speaks candidly about feeling unprotected during the scandal and calls out the university’s ongoing failure to reinstate player stats and banners. Taylor also weighs in on Victor Wembanyama vs. Yao Ming, the state of youth basketball, Ja Morant’s current struggles, and the blurred lines between gambling and pro sports in today’s social media era.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I think a lot of us was kind of upset
with how it went down and the lack of protection
that we did have from the university. But you know,
here nor there, they would never forget those times that
those teams are at Michigan. They're not going to forget
Robert Traylor being at Michigan. They're not going to forget
Chris Webber, Jayalen. Who cares. I mean, if a banner
is up, if they put our stats back into record books,
(00:22):
who cares. People know when you name Michigan, they're going
to name our names because we were Hoopers.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
We have a very special guest on the show with
us today. He's a ten year NBA veteran, drafted fourteenth
overall to the Los Angeles Clippers back in nineteen ninety seven.
He's a former Big Ten Freshman of the Year out
of the University of Michigan. Please welcome Maurice Taylor to
the fumball.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Yeah, big dog.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Thank you for coming on with that.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Hey, listen, I got to give you one more compliment.
So if anybody back in the day play NBA two K,
you played with the Houston Rockets.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Mo Taylor was a guy that won you games, right.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
You had the dunk icon, you had the block shot icon,
like I played with the Rockets because of y'ah.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
It was a cheat code.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
But then the Molt Taylor athleticism on two K used
to be crazy, the Mo Taylor Stevie franchise, Samario. I
don't think you was there for that, but I this
was this is big for me. This was my guy.
He wont me some money back in the day, or
at least some noilates.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I played with the Rockets too. Y'all was the cheat code, bro, but.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
You were the cheat code too. You.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
It was like, it's just one of those things, like
some guys their skill set just translates incredibly. You were
a phenomenal player, but their skill set transfers or translates
incredibly to the sports video game world, and you were
one of those guys.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Man, you Eddie Griffin.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
There's some people out you were just like in the
video game context, it was phenomenal. But when you first
saw yourself in a video game, did you make any
adjustments to any of your attributes or did you just
rock out with your standard issue Mo Taylor?
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I think The first time I saw myself in a
video game was in college when they came out with
coach k On. The University of Michigan was one of
the teams, and you know, it wasn't like it is
now where they had nil deals and they can use
your actual name and likeness. You know, it was just
it was actually just a guy with number twenty three
(02:20):
on so but I knew it was me because that
was my jersey number. But oh yeah, I tweaked all
my attributes. I was a ninety nine and everything. I'm
not going to short change myself.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I know that you didn't play basketball a lot growing up.
You said that you love football. Like what changed? Like
where where did the change happen?
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I mean, I think as you know, you know, you're
you're a new resident of Michigan and you've you kind
of experienced that that cold weather. I kind of found
out early that I was built for, you know, indoor sport.
But no, I love football. It is my first love.
You know, when I stopped playing. It's a crazy story.
My freshman year, I was like six feet you know,
(03:00):
six foot one. My second year, you know, I was
about my sophomore year here I was about six six
when I came back to school. So being a six
to six target on the football field isn't as fun
as it is it's being somebody that's targeting. So yeah,
I found out early like I wasn't built to play.
Just like people say, the Oklahoma Drill turn more football
(03:21):
players into basketball players, and that's me. Football turned me
into a basketball player.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
You know, that's all my favorite content on the internet
when they have the parents and the kids matched up.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
In the Oklahoma Drill.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Have you seen these videos where them trying to tackle
the kid.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
That's fun, But when it's a two hundred and seventy
pound dude going with you, it's not as fun as
it is with your mom and dad.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
So we've been having this debate for probably well over
a calendar year now then, and I guess you're somebody
that can speak to it.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Which sport is harder to transition into.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Is it a football player transitioning into basketball or basketball
player trying to transition into football?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I mean me personally, I think it's a football player
trying to transition into basketball. But it depends on the position,
like wide receivers, cornerbacks, running backs, safety. The skilled positions.
Those guys can pretty much play any sport. But if
(04:21):
you look at a basketball player like a six a
two hundred and forty two hundred and fifty pound guy,
if you look at a lebron Ja, he could play
any position he wanted to in football and walk on
a football field and be successful right now. See, I
think that's kind of the difference, is that basketball players
are kind of more bread for agility and speed, and
(04:42):
that translates a little more than just sheer power and
mass like football players. That's just my opinion. I'm not
a scientist. I'm not you know, I didn't do any
research on it, but in my experience and what I've seen,
basketball players tend to transition to other sports a lot
quicker than the athletes.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Got you. I'm from Jersey, I'm a big hoop fan.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
I know there's some states out there that can claim
the title the crown, if you will, as the best
basketball state or city. We got Chicago, La. North Carolina
calls themselves the hoop state. Atlanta has been a hotbed recently,
but Detroit is special in and of itself in the
way that they played a game of basketball. What does
it mean to be a Hooper from Detroit, and where
(05:28):
do you rank you guys in the hierarchy of basketball supremacy.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I mean I think that, you know, being from Detroit,
especially when I was coming up, it was special. It
was a special time. I was able to kind of
really grow and grow to love the game and be
mentored by giants in the industry in the city of
Detroit who were from Detroit, who were born and raised there,
who went to the same high schools and walked the
(05:55):
same streets and caught the same public buses as I did.
And I think that's what, really, you know, kind of
focused me to do that, because when I saw Jalen Rose,
and well, first and foremost, when I saw Derick Coleman,
who was like, you know, my big brother from the
time I could dribble a ball. When I saw Derick Coleman,
(06:16):
Chris Weber, Jalen Rose, you know, guys who are from
my hood, you know, waking up on Saturday mornings watching
you know, Michigan playing black shoes and black socks and
black baggy shorts, but more so seeing the representation of
guys that looked like me, that was from my hood.
That let me know that I can do that. That
let me know, like Jalen Rose is from the West
(06:36):
Side of Detroit. You know, we all grew up saying
playing in the same wreck, Howard Osley's West Side of Detroit,
Voseean Lennard, you know, Derick Coleman East Side, you know
Glenn Rice from Michigan. These are guys that I grew
up watching that allowed me to believe in myself because
when you when you're you're a young black male coming
up in the inner city of Detroit, it's not many
(06:58):
opportunities that mirror your circumstances. And I think looking at
those guys come before me, it was a prime example.
Oh no, I don't have an excuse for those guys
are just like me. They look like me, they dress
like me, they have the same vernacular as me, they
have the same swag as I want to have. I
(07:18):
want to be those guys, And I think that was
the first time that I really wanted to like I
thought I could do it because I saw those guys
do it before me. And that's I mean, people don't
know how huge that is. Seeing representation at each level
that you want to be successful in, whether it's college,
whether it's the pros when you can look up and
see people look like you from where you are doing
(07:41):
the things that you dream of doing. I mean, man,
it's tremendous. And I think Detroit gave me that. And
as far as where we rank, I mean we've I
mean Detroit Saint Cecilia, I mean we've been on the
map a long time.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
You know, people just Detroit to Chicago. You're taking Detroit
or Chicago. What you're doing the d or the shay.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Come on, man, come on, that ain't even a question Detroit.
That's not it's not even close.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Not close. It's crazy, but I hear you that not close.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
It's not close. We had a we had a guy
in the draft. We had a street. We had a
stretch where we had a guy in the NBA draft
from so like eighty six, eighty eight through two thousand
and I think Willie Green came out in two thousand
(08:31):
and five. Every year we had someone that was born
in bred in Detroit in the draft getting drafted to
the NBA. And that's you know, that's an ironer. That's
a representation of you know, our city, our grind. Yeah,
I know, Chicago has a grind. I mean it's it's
it's it's similar, but Detroit is a special place to me.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
You just named a lot of talented people. If you
had to do a Mount Rushmore the top four, let's
just do basketball because you just named.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So could you do it from Detroit?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
From Detroit?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Oh yeah, you could do it. I mean Steve Smith,
Derrick Comban, Jalen Rose, and I would probably have to
put obviously, George Gerbin m Damn George Detroit.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
That's a good one.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Wow. Yeah, Ice Man from Detroit, Eastern Michigan, Martin Luther
King High School. Now, these are guys that are from
from those schools. They're from Detroit, They're not you know,
they didn't go to a private school outside the city.
They didn't transfer out to a prep school. These are
dudes that were in the city.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
So you went to the University of Michigan, and culturally,
very few universities have had the kind of impact that
Michigan has had. I put UNLV in that category. In
Georgetown as well, on the Big John, just legendary programs
that changed the way that we received and understood what
culture looked like on a collegiate basketball court. What was
the experience like going to the University of Michigan and
(09:55):
then in the fall out of everything that happened, all
the scandal and everything, you had already been to the
NBA at that point. Did you feel a loss of
pride or any level of shame about anything that took
placed from that experience.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
I think, well, to answer the first part of your
question is like Michigan influenced me a lot, but I
think to answer correctly from our standpoint, and this is
as it relates to the scandal and everything that kind
of transpired out of that, we were We were transitional
(10:33):
for Michigan. Like Michigan All has always been known as
a football school. It has always been known as you know,
the leaders in best that have always been known as
being one of the top universities in the country. I
think seeing inner city kids and inner city boys come
from Detroit and come to Michigan and transform the culture
(10:55):
of that school put them on the path that they
wouldn't have been on regardless of anything else. Yeah, I
think Michigan had already won a national championship in eighty nine,
didn't nobody care more? People cared about the five fives
two losses in National Championship Games than they cared about
Michigan's win in eighty nine. You know, it was the culture,
It was the it was the sense of pride that
(11:21):
we had from where we came from, and I think
we poured that into the University of Michigan and I
think culturally they benefited from from that tremendously. Like my
freshman year, that was the first year we got a
three sixty Nike deal. People don't realize the five five
didn't have a Nike deal. They were wearing champion uniforms
(11:42):
and ain't went and bought those Nikes. My freshman year
we had a three sixty Nike deal that was one
hundred and ninety million dollars. Like, thank you, five five,
you know, thank you. You know. So when we talk about,
you know, scandal and everything that came about that, I mean,
the the basis was that we had a guy in
the city that took care of every hooper that had
(12:04):
an aspiration to go to college. If you needed to
win a coat, he was gonna make sure you had
a cop. If you're walking out in the snow and
you got holes in your shoes, you know, like I was,
he gonna make sure, you put you to put you
in some TEMs to be able to walk in that
snow and get to school. So I think for what
we did for the university versus kind of the way
(12:29):
the whole situation panned out, I don't think we were
respected in the way that we should have been for
what we did, you know, to the university for the university.
And you know here o there, if you look at
it now, you know everybody's getting paid. You know, they
they were arguing at the fact that we were getting
you know, people were dropping groceries off at our apartments,
(12:50):
you know when we needed and you know, being able to,
you know, go to movies. I remember going to a
foot locker when I was a freshman Briarwood Mall that
I remember the first day the Michigan Fits came out.
They had it on the mannequet, number twenty three, didn't
have my name on it, but I knew it was me.
Eighty six dollars Jersey. I couldn't afford it. Now, when
(13:13):
you for a young kid that's just really being introduced
to the world and being put in this environment at
the University of Michigan that you've never been in before.
And finally really having an idea of capitalism and having
the idea of self self worth and having an idea
of the worth that you put in to your craft.
(13:34):
Once you start opening yourself up to all that, you
start asking questions like why can't I afford a jersey
that y'all are selling with my likeness? Like you said,
we were in the NBA when all this already popped off,
I think a lot of us was kind of upset
with how it went down and the lack of protection
that we did have from the university. But you know,
(13:55):
here nor there, they would never forget, you know, those
times that those teams are at Michigan. They're not going
to forget Robert Traylor being at Michigan. They're not going
to forget Chris Webber, Jalen. Who cares? I mean, if
a banner is up, if they put our stats back
into record books, who cares? People know when you name Michigan,
they're gonna name our names because we were hooping.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
They haven't reinstated just stats and wins yet that that
they haven't.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
They haven't. We haven't had any.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Really that man.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
I find that to be really really surprised for some
reason I thought that that had already been done. I
guess on the heels of like Reggie Bush and you
know other players who have had their their success reinstated
in the in the collegiate record books.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
That's that's unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I think I think the difference, I think the difference is,
and I mean it's I hate to be the dead horse,
but I think that Michigan and how they view how
they view themselves are not going to go back on anything.
You know, They're the type of institution to where, for
you know, hundreds of years, there's been eshton Stone. Who
(14:55):
they are and how they go about their business. I mean,
I love Michigan. I mean it opened me up socially,
coming from the inner city of Detroit. Detroit heart me
for a high school. You know, my first lecture hall class,
there's one hundred and twenty kids in there, and it
was probably thirty that looked like me. So socially, it
(15:19):
helped me in that aspect because I had to grow up,
you know, I had to learn how to interact and
have discussions in a lot of different rooms that I
had never been in before, and it prepared me for
what I ultimately wanted to do, which was be a professional.
But at the same time, I mean, I think it
was disheartening with the way things went down and currently
how things are still being you know, kind of drug out.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
I would be a fool if we ain't talk some hoops.
So right now, we got a freaking nature in Victor
win Binyama.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
He's going insane. No, he took an l last night
to the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
You played with another gargantuan human being, and Yao Ming
if the two were to match up, how do you
think y'all would fare against Winby and his expansive skill set?
And how with Vic match up with y'all and his
just expansiveness and mass.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I mean, I think it's hard to like put those
two together. For one, you know, we we haven't seen
a player like Weinby, you know, come along in the league.
We just he's an anomaly. It's certain guys that's coming
to this league to where you don't have an answers
(16:30):
to the questions that's being asked of them because you
never seen it before. Michael Jordan Lebron, you know, Steph.
These are guys that's came along, you know, Yannis that's
come along like man I haven't seen this, and I
really don't know how to combat this, but I think
with Winby's skills set, it's so hard for sinners to
guard him, like y'all will have a problem guarding him
(16:52):
on the offensive end on the perimeter, because it's fluent movements.
He moves like a guard. He's graceful, he runs, he's
you know, he has a billy to shoot the ball
from deep. But on another hand, he that boy wouldn't
have a chance against y'all, not in the council Christmas,
not at all. No, Like he's like Wemby's playing seven
(17:14):
to six in the league, full of you know, forwards
playing center and this, that and the other. Y'all is
seven five seven six two and going against y'all is
a redwood tree when he plants down there like nobody's
moving them. And his skill set was tremendous. His you know,
(17:36):
his his will to work, his work ethic was incredible,
His humility was I mean, y'all is probably the best
person that I have ever played with period, just as
a human being. Before we start talking about how talented
he is as a person, I mean he was a one.
(17:57):
I mean I remember when he first got to the
team and really couldn't speak English. Used to sit up
like all the guys. You know, we get on the road,
you know, we get to La, everybody wants to go
out and hang out. You know, I'll call y'all, like, y'all,
what you're doing? Oh, you know, I'm hanging out. He's like,
you know, you want to come hang out with me.
I'm like, yeah, I'll come hang out with y'all. I'm
thinking we're going to go somewhere. It's a funny story.
We get I get to his room and we play
(18:20):
I don't know what type of game we were playing
on the computer. It was a lot going on. It
was Wizards, Wizards and Dragons, and it was one of
those games where it's just a lot going on. And
he ordered the most chicken wings I've ever seen a
single person order, and we set up and ate chicken wings.
And we kind of started doing that on the road
when everybody would go out. I knew y'all wasn't gonna
(18:42):
go out, so like, okay, I want to leave him
by myself. I'm gonna hang out with y'all. And we
became really good friends because of that, and as he
started coming out of his shell. He started, you know,
speaking and speaking the language you know better. He started
coming out of the shell, gaining more confidence. But again
he's probably I mean, he's one of the best people
(19:02):
that I've ever been around and ever met in my life.
And Wennby couldn't do nothing with him guarding him.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
That no, okay, on the help side, though he might
get him. On the help side, No.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
He ain't enough help in the world souse. You saw
how he was doing shack and that was shack. That. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
What do you think about the Houston Rockets right now?
We know they got Katie this offseason, I feel like
they're missing a piece. Who do you feel like they
need to get to really just bring everything together.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
I think when any of point guard I think Fred
getting hurt hurt them tremendously. I think they had everything,
all the cards had a line, you know, with getting
Katie and with the young players that they were able
to retain even after trading Jalen green Away. I think
Fred getting hurt kind of set him back because right
(19:51):
now they look good, but against better teams, they're going
to have to have better point guard play, and I
think that's what they're they're struggling right now. As far
as KD, I love the addition. I mean because KD
is like one of those guys they always he's old,
he's done, Like, how's he done last year? He averaged
more than the average the year before. Like guys like
that are never done. Like KD is a you know,
(20:12):
he's an absolute savage when it comes to this game.
So I think having a guy like that, young Fellah
Sagoon is gonna do well. I'm in is gonna do well.
They have a lot of young talent that they're gonna
be able to play, you know, substantial minutes in some
pretty big games. But I think having a closer like
(20:34):
KD helps anybody because if you if you're a team,
and just like the Rockets have been, they had a
pretty good year last year, they're kind of right there
on the cusp. When you can get a closer like
somebody like KD that can go on to run for five, six,
seven games where he's the absolute best player in the
league and you can ride that, I think that's huge.
So I look for them to be a top four team,
(20:57):
you know in the West. I think they can probably
if you look at you know, Golden State's going to
be pretty good. Cent Antonio is gonna be good. Okayc
is going to be amazing. But I think that four
or five space. I think with the addition to Katie
and what he's going to be able to do this year,
I think they'd be able to slide in somewhere right there.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
I think they looking like six or seven because the
Lakers are playing surprisingly well and you didn't even mention
Denver yet not having a point guard or a setup
man to get Katie the ball in his spots. While
Aiming has done a phenomenal job and pushing pacing tempo,
his decision making is still not what you would want
from an NBA point guard, and Read Shepherd hasn't developed,
you know, the way in which you wish he would
(21:39):
have it by this point. But I'm looking over there
in Portland, man, and I'm seeing this guy who there's
no chance that Drew Holliday is finishing this year out
as a member of the Portland Trailblazers.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
If there is a way, it's crazy. I said that
the same thing. I was actually at the gym work
with some of my guys. I said the same thing.
I was like man Drew Holliday would love to get
out of Portland and go to Houston. But like that's
the type of that's the type of deal they would
need to be able to stay in that upper echelon
because if they don't get any point guard help, it's
gonna really be tough down the stretch because you don't
(22:12):
want one thing about kd. Obviously he's great, but you
don't want to add miles on him when you don't
have to. You don't want him bringing up the ball.
You know, you want them finishing as opposed to initiating,
and you definitely don't want them trying to do both
because that's really putting more miles on them. But if
they could get a point guard, I think that that actually,
(22:34):
you know, supplants them, you know at the at somewhere
near the top of the west And like you said,
different is gonna be good. They still have some kinks
that they got to work out with Oklahoma City right now,
looks like they haven't missed a beat from renning the
championship to Spurs. You have to watch them. But you know,
I like the Rockets chances. I think they're tough. I
(22:54):
think they kind of take on the personality of the
coach a little bit. And you see that happening a
little bit. They're getting a little nastier and a little tougher,
and I think that's going to help.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I do want to get your thoughts before you go
on the Jamarant Memphis situation. We know that he just
got suspended. They asked him this week, do you even
have joy in playing anymore?
Speaker 1 (23:14):
He's like, no, But my reaction to that isn't. And
then before I say this, let me I am a
job Morant fan, Like I've liked job since. You know,
Murray State. You know, one of my good friends, Rashard Phillips,
he reached out to me, was like, man, you got
to watch this kid at Murray State, and you know,
I've kind of been a fan ever since. But at
(23:35):
the same time, I think the over dramatization of situations
is crazy with these players now, Like if you getting
into it with your coach and having a bad game,
if that's what it takes to take your joy away
from the game, then you shouldn't be playing. Like generally,
we having a conversation, you saying, oh I don't have
(23:57):
the joy? Why?
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Oh me?
Speaker 1 (23:58):
And my coach got into it like that. And see,
this is the thing is when you come from certain
places like and I kind of go back to the
to the guys that I was talking about from Detroit.
When you come from certain places and you live a
certain way, that type of adversity is not adversity. My
coach getting on getting on me and cussing me out,
(24:19):
and me having a bad game and the team winning
a couple of games, But I that's not adversity. I
may be pissed, like, man, this ain't gone right, but
that's not taking the joy from me playing. You know,
I went through too much that could have took the
joy away from me playing that I've withstood. And there's
(24:39):
no way I'm gonna get up here making thirty million
dollars saying that I've lost the joy just because things
didn't go my way for a week. I mean, there,
what's their record? They're like, what four and four? Now
four and three? Four?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
I think three and four, I think the fire.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
But there's something like that. It's so if they've if
they've alrea he played seven games left, they have seventy
five remaining, if they've already paid something, so your joy
is lost because this initial week didn't go as planned.
So my thing is, you know, young fella, man up.
You too good for that. You know he's always been
(25:17):
a g but it's doing that. You gotta be the
alpha all the time when it's good and bad. You can't.
You can't want to jump ship when when stuff ain't
going your way.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
You're stirring up something inside of me.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Man, Because we all know that basketball is no longer
the sport of the low income bracket, right like it
now is an upper middle class sport.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Yeah, so you know, like I see it, bro I
coach out of.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Private school out here in LA and it's different, right
like there is. The dog mentality is not what it
once was. And it's because this has become an upper
middle class, wealthy sport in many regards and show a
lot of that mental toughness that used to be on
display and somebody fully understanding everything that is.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Like really important versus like this game. It's separate. Now.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
The worlds are so different, man, and it's created a
different kind of culture in the sport.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Basketball is the new tenants in any regards.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
No, No, that's that's a fact. I think if you
look at for instance, I keep reverting back to talking
about Detroit. If you look at Detroit, it's the one
thing that's a catastrophe in Detroit is the amount of
Detroit public schools that they're closing. And your neighborhood school
doesn't exist anymore. You know the school that your grandfather
(26:40):
went to, that your uncle went to, that your mom
and dad man went to, and now you're walking to
that same school that doesn't exist anymore. That sense of
pride in your neighborhood doesn't And what happens is you
have a lot of private schools that are well funded,
just offering the best kids out of the city the scholarships.
(27:02):
And we have to look at it both ways, and
I think it's a little societal with with how you
look at it. It's okay, we have this great opportunity
to get a great education paid for and it's also
gonna be off the work of most of these young
inner city kids. And don't get me wrong, I think
you should be able to get perks for your talent
(27:24):
every step of the way. But seeing so many kids
in the city like La Fence, is thereius a cuff?
There's a cuff? Is you know He's family. You know,
I grew up his dad was my point guard in
high school. To see him, you know, win state championships
as a freshman a sophomore and then leave and go
to the big prep schools out of state. You know,
(27:47):
that's a tremendous loss for the kids that are coming
up behind him in the city. It's not so much
for him. You know, Cheek's gonna be good wherever we go,
but it's a loss because that kid behind him is
not gonna get the feeling that I got of watching
Jalen Rolls in the Southwestern High School game. Sitting in
(28:07):
Southwestern High School seeing I believe that's what kind of
hurts the city. And like you said, it's a different mentality.
You know, it's not us against the world mentality where
we're all trying to get out and and we all
have a common goal and we all like minded. It's
different now. You know, you need money to go to
these private schools, you need money to play for these
(28:29):
travel teams. You need money to keep training with the
Joneses and trainers like I never had a trainer, like
I've never had a trainer like I didn't get a trainer,
so I was in the NBA. Like when I was
coming up, it was, you know, I just hooped from
sun up to sundown. I ran on my own. I
always had a ball in my hand, and you know,
I just tried to tried to get better because one people,
(28:50):
one thing my family wasn't doing. Nobody was paying to
have somebody play basketball with me. No, no, we're not
paying you to have a one on one coach. That's
just that wasn't even in in the conversation. But I think,
like you said, it's it is a you know, it
is a upper class kind of game now and you
(29:13):
see it.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
There's a lot of white boys in the league now.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
I mean not to just inject that, but it's I'm
seeing an explosion of for real, Samario, Like it's kind
of it's noticeable, like you know, you could just see
certain thing every now you know, oh okay, like you
know that you know, white brother can hoop. But it's
like we got white cats starting in the NBA. Like
we got some teams rolling out and starting lineups two
and three white boys out there in European.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
If you look at how many European players have come
on over name the five best players in the league.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Oh all of them are foreign, all of them.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Right, the last few MVPs. Yeah, last what five MVPs
have been foreign? We need to just concepts. They have
a concept of development over there. We don't we have
a concept of you know, like I said, could I
mean if Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like we're
in an instant gratification society. We get everything about the
(30:06):
push of a button, get everything delivered by the push
of a button. And our players they behave like that.
They're they're ready to go to the league. Now they
want to be called pros now, you know they you
know social media pages. But and I've played in Europe
and I've seen young players, young players in Europe. The
humility they have is crazy because they don't they're taught
(30:28):
that the elders and the people with seniority, these are
the guys that you need to look up to. And
these are the guys that come first. In our league.
It seems like the youngest are starting to have the
loudest voices.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Oh, well you go in some place. We can't do this, man,
because this you taking us out of fave. We run along.
I know where you're going, bro, I say, it all
the time. The old heads are no longer mentoring the
young bulls.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
The young bulls are imparting their wisdom on the old heads.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
And it's a crazy thing.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
It's like the old heads are trying to fit in
with these young boys. They listening to their music, they
so widlating them on social media. Whereas when I was
a rookie, you know, I shoved my mouth until Rodney
Rogers told me I can talk.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Man. God bless Rodney Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
You know, yeah, yeah, all right, We're gonna wrap this
up before we get out of hit though. You know,
there's been a huge gambling scandal scandal going on in
the NBA right now. Just some some quick thoughts about
the culture of gambling in the NBA and obviously legalized
gambling now being so instrumental in the marketing and promotion
of all sports. Does there does that create a bit
(31:37):
of a an obvious opportunity for somebody to try to
milk the system and you know, do things that are
below board.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
I mean, I think it does, because I honestly think
that legalized gambling and professional sports are are starting to
how and I said, the line is blurred, And I
think that it's starting to transcend each other, and that's
(32:12):
when it's bad. Like, there is no clear boundary between
gambling social media and the athlete. The people that are
gambling on the social media on the players over and
under can actually talk to the player on social media.
(32:33):
They can actually comment on, hey, you know you messed
up my under? Oh you trash because you did this.
So now the player, if he has any kind of
competitiveness in him, is going back at this guy over
a bet. So they're right there. You have the lines
of blurred right then and there you have an NBA
(32:54):
player on social media in the public, arguing with someone
who bet on him. So if that can happen, how
hard is it for somebody saying like, hey, I got
over what you think about this? There's no boundary. And
that's the crazy part about it. I wouldn't when I
(33:15):
was coming up. I could not imagine someone having so
much easy accessibility to me to contact me, to be
able to get a message to me in real time,
right then and there in front of everybody, Like, that's
kind of what we're dealing with here. And now you
start putting in the people, you know, organized crime figures
(33:37):
and this that and the other. But at the same time,
you putting the people faces on the camera while you're
talking about organized crime, like why not put the boy?
Why not put the career criminals on the camera and
show them doing the Purp Walk?
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Can we get Sammy the Bull? Can we get to
Sammy the bullfhoto or something? I said the first thing I.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Said because again, instant gratification, clicks and views, clicks and views.
You know, Chauncey walking out in the hoodie is going
to get more views than a major mob boss walking out.
So although you know what's wrong is wrong, and everybody
is innocent and to prove it guilt guilty is not
(34:22):
for me to pile on anybody or to tell them
what they did or didn't do. But at the same time,
the narratives are always just that, the narratives, and you
just have to sometimes consider the source. And in this
day and age we live now, you got to consider
the source, verify the source, confirm the source, and maybe
even think about after that if you want to repeat
(34:43):
what this source said. So, I mean, I get it,
but I think the set up, it was set up
to fail. Like you just can have gambling and professional
sports that close together got you.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
Hey, listen man, we appreciate you. Thank you, thank you,
thank you. We are so well over our time. I
know Joe was like y'all should, but thank you, bro.
This is an amazing conversation
I think a lot of us was kind of upset
with how it went down and the lack of protection
that we did have from the university. But you know,
here nor there, they would never forget those times that
those teams are at Michigan. They're not going to forget
Robert Traylor being at Michigan. They're not going to forget
Chris Webber, Jayalen. Who cares. I mean, if a banner
is up, if they put our stats back into record books,
(00:22):
who cares. People know when you name Michigan, they're going
to name our names because we were Hoopers.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
We have a very special guest on the show with
us today. He's a ten year NBA veteran, drafted fourteenth
overall to the Los Angeles Clippers back in nineteen ninety seven.
He's a former Big Ten Freshman of the Year out
of the University of Michigan. Please welcome Maurice Taylor to
the fumball.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Yeah, big dog.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Thank you for coming on with that.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Hey, listen, I got to give you one more compliment.
So if anybody back in the day play NBA two K,
you played with the Houston Rockets.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Mo Taylor was a guy that won you games, right.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
You had the dunk icon, you had the block shot icon,
like I played with the Rockets because of y'ah.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
It was a cheat code.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
But then the Molt Taylor athleticism on two K used
to be crazy, the Mo Taylor Stevie franchise, Samario. I
don't think you was there for that, but I this
was this is big for me. This was my guy.
He wont me some money back in the day, or
at least some noilates.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I played with the Rockets too. Y'all was the cheat code, bro, but.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
You were the cheat code too. You.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
It was like, it's just one of those things, like
some guys their skill set just translates incredibly. You were
a phenomenal player, but their skill set transfers or translates
incredibly to the sports video game world, and you were
one of those guys.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Man, you Eddie Griffin.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
There's some people out you were just like in the
video game context, it was phenomenal. But when you first
saw yourself in a video game, did you make any
adjustments to any of your attributes or did you just
rock out with your standard issue Mo Taylor?
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I think The first time I saw myself in a
video game was in college when they came out with
coach k On. The University of Michigan was one of
the teams, and you know, it wasn't like it is
now where they had nil deals and they can use
your actual name and likeness. You know, it was just
it was actually just a guy with number twenty three
(02:20):
on so but I knew it was me because that
was my jersey number. But oh yeah, I tweaked all
my attributes. I was a ninety nine and everything. I'm
not going to short change myself.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I know that you didn't play basketball a lot growing up.
You said that you love football. Like what changed? Like
where where did the change happen?
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I mean, I think as you know, you know, you're
you're a new resident of Michigan and you've you kind
of experienced that that cold weather. I kind of found
out early that I was built for, you know, indoor sport.
But no, I love football. It is my first love.
You know, when I stopped playing. It's a crazy story.
My freshman year, I was like six feet you know,
(03:00):
six foot one. My second year, you know, I was
about my sophomore year here I was about six six
when I came back to school. So being a six
to six target on the football field isn't as fun
as it is it's being somebody that's targeting. So yeah,
I found out early like I wasn't built to play.
Just like people say, the Oklahoma Drill turn more football
(03:21):
players into basketball players, and that's me. Football turned me
into a basketball player.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
You know, that's all my favorite content on the internet
when they have the parents and the kids matched up.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
In the Oklahoma Drill.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Have you seen these videos where them trying to tackle
the kid.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
That's fun, But when it's a two hundred and seventy
pound dude going with you, it's not as fun as
it is with your mom and dad.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
So we've been having this debate for probably well over
a calendar year now then, and I guess you're somebody
that can speak to it.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Which sport is harder to transition into.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Is it a football player transitioning into basketball or basketball
player trying to transition into football?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I mean me personally, I think it's a football player
trying to transition into basketball. But it depends on the position,
like wide receivers, cornerbacks, running backs, safety. The skilled positions.
Those guys can pretty much play any sport. But if
(04:21):
you look at a basketball player like a six a
two hundred and forty two hundred and fifty pound guy,
if you look at a lebron Ja, he could play
any position he wanted to in football and walk on
a football field and be successful right now. See, I
think that's kind of the difference, is that basketball players
are kind of more bread for agility and speed, and
(04:42):
that translates a little more than just sheer power and
mass like football players. That's just my opinion. I'm not
a scientist. I'm not you know, I didn't do any
research on it, but in my experience and what I've seen,
basketball players tend to transition to other sports a lot
quicker than the athletes.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Got you. I'm from Jersey, I'm a big hoop fan.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
I know there's some states out there that can claim
the title the crown, if you will, as the best
basketball state or city. We got Chicago, La. North Carolina
calls themselves the hoop state. Atlanta has been a hotbed recently,
but Detroit is special in and of itself in the
way that they played a game of basketball. What does
it mean to be a Hooper from Detroit, and where
(05:28):
do you rank you guys in the hierarchy of basketball supremacy.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I mean I think that, you know, being from Detroit,
especially when I was coming up, it was special. It
was a special time. I was able to kind of
really grow and grow to love the game and be
mentored by giants in the industry in the city of
Detroit who were from Detroit, who were born and raised there,
who went to the same high schools and walked the
(05:55):
same streets and caught the same public buses as I did.
And I think that's what, really, you know, kind of
focused me to do that, because when I saw Jalen Rose,
and well, first and foremost, when I saw Derick Coleman,
who was like, you know, my big brother from the
time I could dribble a ball. When I saw Derick Coleman,
(06:16):
Chris Weber, Jalen Rose, you know, guys who are from
my hood, you know, waking up on Saturday mornings watching
you know, Michigan playing black shoes and black socks and
black baggy shorts, but more so seeing the representation of
guys that looked like me, that was from my hood.
That let me know that I can do that. That
let me know, like Jalen Rose is from the West
(06:36):
Side of Detroit. You know, we all grew up saying
playing in the same wreck, Howard Osley's West Side of Detroit,
Voseean Lennard, you know, Derick Coleman East Side, you know
Glenn Rice from Michigan. These are guys that I grew
up watching that allowed me to believe in myself because
when you when you're you're a young black male coming
up in the inner city of Detroit, it's not many
(06:58):
opportunities that mirror your circumstances. And I think looking at
those guys come before me, it was a prime example.
Oh no, I don't have an excuse for those guys
are just like me. They look like me, they dress
like me, they have the same vernacular as me, they
have the same swag as I want to have. I
(07:18):
want to be those guys, And I think that was
the first time that I really wanted to like I
thought I could do it because I saw those guys
do it before me. And that's I mean, people don't
know how huge that is. Seeing representation at each level
that you want to be successful in, whether it's college,
whether it's the pros when you can look up and
see people look like you from where you are doing
(07:41):
the things that you dream of doing. I mean, man,
it's tremendous. And I think Detroit gave me that. And
as far as where we rank, I mean we've I
mean Detroit Saint Cecilia, I mean we've been on the
map a long time.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
You know, people just Detroit to Chicago. You're taking Detroit
or Chicago. What you're doing the d or the shay.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Come on, man, come on, that ain't even a question Detroit.
That's not it's not even close.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Not close. It's crazy, but I hear you that not close.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
It's not close. We had a we had a guy
in the draft. We had a street. We had a
stretch where we had a guy in the NBA draft
from so like eighty six, eighty eight through two thousand
and I think Willie Green came out in two thousand
(08:31):
and five. Every year we had someone that was born
in bred in Detroit in the draft getting drafted to
the NBA. And that's you know, that's an ironer. That's
a representation of you know, our city, our grind. Yeah,
I know, Chicago has a grind. I mean it's it's
it's it's similar, but Detroit is a special place to me.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
You just named a lot of talented people. If you
had to do a Mount Rushmore the top four, let's
just do basketball because you just named.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So could you do it from Detroit?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
From Detroit?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Oh yeah, you could do it. I mean Steve Smith,
Derrick Comban, Jalen Rose, and I would probably have to
put obviously, George Gerbin m Damn George Detroit.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
That's a good one.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Wow. Yeah, Ice Man from Detroit, Eastern Michigan, Martin Luther
King High School. Now, these are guys that are from
from those schools. They're from Detroit, They're not you know,
they didn't go to a private school outside the city.
They didn't transfer out to a prep school. These are
dudes that were in the city.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
So you went to the University of Michigan, and culturally,
very few universities have had the kind of impact that
Michigan has had. I put UNLV in that category. In
Georgetown as well, on the Big John, just legendary programs
that changed the way that we received and understood what
culture looked like on a collegiate basketball court. What was
the experience like going to the University of Michigan and
(09:55):
then in the fall out of everything that happened, all
the scandal and everything, you had already been to the
NBA at that point. Did you feel a loss of
pride or any level of shame about anything that took
placed from that experience.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
I think, well, to answer the first part of your
question is like Michigan influenced me a lot, but I
think to answer correctly from our standpoint, and this is
as it relates to the scandal and everything that kind
of transpired out of that, we were We were transitional
(10:33):
for Michigan. Like Michigan All has always been known as
a football school. It has always been known as you know,
the leaders in best that have always been known as
being one of the top universities in the country. I
think seeing inner city kids and inner city boys come
from Detroit and come to Michigan and transform the culture
(10:55):
of that school put them on the path that they
wouldn't have been on regardless of anything else. Yeah, I
think Michigan had already won a national championship in eighty nine,
didn't nobody care more? People cared about the five fives
two losses in National Championship Games than they cared about
Michigan's win in eighty nine. You know, it was the culture,
It was the it was the sense of pride that
(11:21):
we had from where we came from, and I think
we poured that into the University of Michigan and I
think culturally they benefited from from that tremendously. Like my
freshman year, that was the first year we got a
three sixty Nike deal. People don't realize the five five
didn't have a Nike deal. They were wearing champion uniforms
(11:42):
and ain't went and bought those Nikes. My freshman year
we had a three sixty Nike deal that was one
hundred and ninety million dollars. Like, thank you, five five,
you know, thank you. You know. So when we talk about,
you know, scandal and everything that came about that, I mean,
the the basis was that we had a guy in
the city that took care of every hooper that had
(12:04):
an aspiration to go to college. If you needed to
win a coat, he was gonna make sure you had
a cop. If you're walking out in the snow and
you got holes in your shoes, you know, like I was,
he gonna make sure, you put you to put you
in some TEMs to be able to walk in that
snow and get to school. So I think for what
we did for the university versus kind of the way
(12:29):
the whole situation panned out, I don't think we were
respected in the way that we should have been for
what we did, you know, to the university for the university.
And you know here o there, if you look at
it now, you know everybody's getting paid. You know, they
they were arguing at the fact that we were getting
you know, people were dropping groceries off at our apartments,
(12:50):
you know when we needed and you know, being able to,
you know, go to movies. I remember going to a
foot locker when I was a freshman Briarwood Mall that
I remember the first day the Michigan Fits came out.
They had it on the mannequet, number twenty three, didn't
have my name on it, but I knew it was me.
Eighty six dollars Jersey. I couldn't afford it. Now, when
(13:13):
you for a young kid that's just really being introduced
to the world and being put in this environment at
the University of Michigan that you've never been in before.
And finally really having an idea of capitalism and having
the idea of self self worth and having an idea
of the worth that you put in to your craft.
(13:34):
Once you start opening yourself up to all that, you
start asking questions like why can't I afford a jersey
that y'all are selling with my likeness? Like you said,
we were in the NBA when all this already popped off,
I think a lot of us was kind of upset
with how it went down and the lack of protection
that we did have from the university. But you know,
(13:55):
here nor there, they would never forget, you know, those
times that those teams are at Michigan. They're not going
to forget Robert Traylor being at Michigan. They're not going
to forget Chris Webber, Jalen. Who cares? I mean, if
a banner is up, if they put our stats back
into record books, who cares? People know when you name Michigan,
they're gonna name our names because we were hooping.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
They haven't reinstated just stats and wins yet that that
they haven't.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
They haven't. We haven't had any.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Really that man.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
I find that to be really really surprised for some
reason I thought that that had already been done. I
guess on the heels of like Reggie Bush and you
know other players who have had their their success reinstated
in the in the collegiate record books.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
That's that's unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
I think I think the difference, I think the difference is,
and I mean it's I hate to be the dead horse,
but I think that Michigan and how they view how
they view themselves are not going to go back on anything.
You know, They're the type of institution to where, for
you know, hundreds of years, there's been eshton Stone. Who
(14:55):
they are and how they go about their business. I mean,
I love Michigan. I mean it opened me up socially,
coming from the inner city of Detroit. Detroit heart me
for a high school. You know, my first lecture hall class,
there's one hundred and twenty kids in there, and it
was probably thirty that looked like me. So socially, it
(15:19):
helped me in that aspect because I had to grow up,
you know, I had to learn how to interact and
have discussions in a lot of different rooms that I
had never been in before, and it prepared me for
what I ultimately wanted to do, which was be a professional.
But at the same time, I mean, I think it
was disheartening with the way things went down and currently
how things are still being you know, kind of drug out.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
I would be a fool if we ain't talk some hoops.
So right now, we got a freaking nature in Victor
win Binyama.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
He's going insane. No, he took an l last night
to the Lakers.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
You played with another gargantuan human being, and Yao Ming
if the two were to match up, how do you
think y'all would fare against Winby and his expansive skill set?
And how with Vic match up with y'all and his
just expansiveness and mass.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I mean, I think it's hard to like put those
two together. For one, you know, we we haven't seen
a player like Weinby, you know, come along in the league.
We just he's an anomaly. It's certain guys that's coming
to this league to where you don't have an answers
(16:30):
to the questions that's being asked of them because you
never seen it before. Michael Jordan Lebron, you know, Steph.
These are guys that's came along, you know, Yannis that's
come along like man I haven't seen this, and I
really don't know how to combat this, but I think
with Winby's skills set, it's so hard for sinners to
guard him, like y'all will have a problem guarding him
(16:52):
on the offensive end on the perimeter, because it's fluent movements.
He moves like a guard. He's graceful, he runs, he's
you know, he has a billy to shoot the ball
from deep. But on another hand, he that boy wouldn't
have a chance against y'all, not in the council Christmas,
not at all. No, Like he's like Wemby's playing seven
(17:14):
to six in the league, full of you know, forwards
playing center and this, that and the other. Y'all is
seven five seven six two and going against y'all is
a redwood tree when he plants down there like nobody's
moving them. And his skill set was tremendous. His you know,
(17:36):
his his will to work, his work ethic was incredible,
His humility was I mean, y'all is probably the best
person that I have ever played with period, just as
a human being. Before we start talking about how talented
he is as a person, I mean he was a one.
(17:57):
I mean I remember when he first got to the
team and really couldn't speak English. Used to sit up
like all the guys. You know, we get on the road,
you know, we get to La, everybody wants to go
out and hang out. You know, I'll call y'all, like, y'all,
what you're doing? Oh, you know, I'm hanging out. He's like,
you know, you want to come hang out with me.
I'm like, yeah, I'll come hang out with y'all. I'm
thinking we're going to go somewhere. It's a funny story.
We get I get to his room and we play
(18:20):
I don't know what type of game we were playing
on the computer. It was a lot going on. It
was Wizards, Wizards and Dragons, and it was one of
those games where it's just a lot going on. And
he ordered the most chicken wings I've ever seen a
single person order, and we set up and ate chicken wings.
And we kind of started doing that on the road
when everybody would go out. I knew y'all wasn't gonna
(18:42):
go out, so like, okay, I want to leave him
by myself. I'm gonna hang out with y'all. And we
became really good friends because of that, and as he
started coming out of his shell. He started, you know,
speaking and speaking the language you know better. He started
coming out of the shell, gaining more confidence. But again
he's probably I mean, he's one of the best people
(19:02):
that I've ever been around and ever met in my life.
And Wennby couldn't do nothing with him guarding him.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
That no, okay, on the help side, though he might
get him. On the help side, No.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
He ain't enough help in the world souse. You saw
how he was doing shack and that was shack. That. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
What do you think about the Houston Rockets right now?
We know they got Katie this offseason, I feel like
they're missing a piece. Who do you feel like they
need to get to really just bring everything together.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
I think when any of point guard I think Fred
getting hurt hurt them tremendously. I think they had everything,
all the cards had a line, you know, with getting
Katie and with the young players that they were able
to retain even after trading Jalen green Away. I think
Fred getting hurt kind of set him back because right
(19:51):
now they look good, but against better teams, they're going
to have to have better point guard play, and I
think that's what they're they're struggling right now. As far
as KD, I love the addition. I mean because KD
is like one of those guys they always he's old,
he's done, Like, how's he done last year? He averaged
more than the average the year before. Like guys like
that are never done. Like KD is a you know,
(20:12):
he's an absolute savage when it comes to this game.
So I think having a guy like that, young Fellah
Sagoon is gonna do well. I'm in is gonna do well.
They have a lot of young talent that they're gonna
be able to play, you know, substantial minutes in some
pretty big games. But I think having a closer like
(20:34):
KD helps anybody because if you if you're a team,
and just like the Rockets have been, they had a
pretty good year last year, they're kind of right there
on the cusp. When you can get a closer like
somebody like KD that can go on to run for five, six,
seven games where he's the absolute best player in the
league and you can ride that, I think that's huge.
So I look for them to be a top four team,
(20:57):
you know in the West. I think they can probably
if you look at you know, Golden State's going to
be pretty good. Cent Antonio is gonna be good. Okayc
is going to be amazing. But I think that four
or five space. I think with the addition to Katie
and what he's going to be able to do this year,
I think they'd be able to slide in somewhere right there.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
I think they looking like six or seven because the
Lakers are playing surprisingly well and you didn't even mention
Denver yet not having a point guard or a setup
man to get Katie the ball in his spots. While
Aiming has done a phenomenal job and pushing pacing tempo,
his decision making is still not what you would want
from an NBA point guard, and Read Shepherd hasn't developed,
you know, the way in which you wish he would
(21:39):
have it by this point. But I'm looking over there
in Portland, man, and I'm seeing this guy who there's
no chance that Drew Holliday is finishing this year out
as a member of the Portland Trailblazers.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
If there is a way, it's crazy. I said that
the same thing. I was actually at the gym work
with some of my guys. I said the same thing.
I was like man Drew Holliday would love to get
out of Portland and go to Houston. But like that's
the type of that's the type of deal they would
need to be able to stay in that upper echelon
because if they don't get any point guard help, it's
gonna really be tough down the stretch because you don't
(22:12):
want one thing about kd. Obviously he's great, but you
don't want to add miles on him when you don't
have to. You don't want him bringing up the ball.
You know, you want them finishing as opposed to initiating,
and you definitely don't want them trying to do both
because that's really putting more miles on them. But if
they could get a point guard, I think that that actually,
(22:34):
you know, supplants them, you know at the at somewhere
near the top of the west And like you said,
different is gonna be good. They still have some kinks
that they got to work out with Oklahoma City right now,
looks like they haven't missed a beat from renning the
championship to Spurs. You have to watch them. But you know,
I like the Rockets chances. I think they're tough. I
(22:54):
think they kind of take on the personality of the
coach a little bit. And you see that happening a
little bit. They're getting a little nastier and a little tougher,
and I think that's going to help.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I do want to get your thoughts before you go
on the Jamarant Memphis situation. We know that he just
got suspended. They asked him this week, do you even
have joy in playing anymore?
Speaker 1 (23:14):
He's like, no, But my reaction to that isn't. And
then before I say this, let me I am a
job Morant fan, Like I've liked job since. You know,
Murray State. You know, one of my good friends, Rashard Phillips,
he reached out to me, was like, man, you got
to watch this kid at Murray State, and you know,
I've kind of been a fan ever since. But at
(23:35):
the same time, I think the over dramatization of situations
is crazy with these players now, Like if you getting
into it with your coach and having a bad game,
if that's what it takes to take your joy away
from the game, then you shouldn't be playing. Like generally,
we having a conversation, you saying, oh I don't have
(23:57):
the joy? Why?
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Oh me?
Speaker 1 (23:58):
And my coach got into it like that. And see,
this is the thing is when you come from certain
places like and I kind of go back to the
to the guys that I was talking about from Detroit.
When you come from certain places and you live a
certain way, that type of adversity is not adversity. My
coach getting on getting on me and cussing me out,
(24:19):
and me having a bad game and the team winning
a couple of games, But I that's not adversity. I
may be pissed, like, man, this ain't gone right, but
that's not taking the joy from me playing. You know,
I went through too much that could have took the
joy away from me playing that I've withstood. And there's
(24:39):
no way I'm gonna get up here making thirty million
dollars saying that I've lost the joy just because things
didn't go my way for a week. I mean, there,
what's their record? They're like, what four and four? Now
four and three? Four?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
I think three and four, I think the fire.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
But there's something like that. It's so if they've if
they've alrea he played seven games left, they have seventy
five remaining, if they've already paid something, so your joy
is lost because this initial week didn't go as planned.
So my thing is, you know, young fella, man up.
You too good for that. You know he's always been
(25:17):
a g but it's doing that. You gotta be the
alpha all the time when it's good and bad. You can't.
You can't want to jump ship when when stuff ain't
going your way.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
You're stirring up something inside of me.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Man, Because we all know that basketball is no longer
the sport of the low income bracket, right like it
now is an upper middle class sport.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Yeah, so you know, like I see it, bro I
coach out of.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Private school out here in LA and it's different, right
like there is. The dog mentality is not what it
once was. And it's because this has become an upper
middle class, wealthy sport in many regards and show a
lot of that mental toughness that used to be on
display and somebody fully understanding everything that is.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Like really important versus like this game. It's separate. Now.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
The worlds are so different, man, and it's created a
different kind of culture in the sport.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Basketball is the new tenants in any regards.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
No, No, that's that's a fact. I think if you
look at for instance, I keep reverting back to talking
about Detroit. If you look at Detroit, it's the one
thing that's a catastrophe in Detroit is the amount of
Detroit public schools that they're closing. And your neighborhood school
doesn't exist anymore. You know the school that your grandfather
(26:40):
went to, that your uncle went to, that your mom
and dad man went to, and now you're walking to
that same school that doesn't exist anymore. That sense of
pride in your neighborhood doesn't And what happens is you
have a lot of private schools that are well funded,
just offering the best kids out of the city the scholarships.
(27:02):
And we have to look at it both ways, and
I think it's a little societal with with how you
look at it. It's okay, we have this great opportunity
to get a great education paid for and it's also
gonna be off the work of most of these young
inner city kids. And don't get me wrong, I think
you should be able to get perks for your talent
(27:24):
every step of the way. But seeing so many kids
in the city like La Fence, is thereius a cuff?
There's a cuff? Is you know He's family. You know,
I grew up his dad was my point guard in
high school. To see him, you know, win state championships
as a freshman a sophomore and then leave and go
to the big prep schools out of state. You know,
(27:47):
that's a tremendous loss for the kids that are coming
up behind him in the city. It's not so much
for him. You know, Cheek's gonna be good wherever we go,
but it's a loss because that kid behind him is
not gonna get the feeling that I got of watching
Jalen Rolls in the Southwestern High School game. Sitting in
(28:07):
Southwestern High School seeing I believe that's what kind of
hurts the city. And like you said, it's a different mentality.
You know, it's not us against the world mentality where
we're all trying to get out and and we all
have a common goal and we all like minded. It's
different now. You know, you need money to go to
these private schools, you need money to play for these
(28:29):
travel teams. You need money to keep training with the
Joneses and trainers like I never had a trainer, like
I've never had a trainer like I didn't get a trainer,
so I was in the NBA. Like when I was
coming up, it was, you know, I just hooped from
sun up to sundown. I ran on my own. I
always had a ball in my hand, and you know,
I just tried to tried to get better because one people,
(28:50):
one thing my family wasn't doing. Nobody was paying to
have somebody play basketball with me. No, no, we're not
paying you to have a one on one coach. That's
just that wasn't even in in the conversation. But I think,
like you said, it's it is a you know, it
is a upper class kind of game now and you
(29:13):
see it.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
There's a lot of white boys in the league now.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
I mean not to just inject that, but it's I'm
seeing an explosion of for real, Samario, Like it's kind
of it's noticeable, like you know, you could just see
certain thing every now you know, oh okay, like you
know that you know, white brother can hoop. But it's
like we got white cats starting in the NBA. Like
we got some teams rolling out and starting lineups two
and three white boys out there in European.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
If you look at how many European players have come
on over name the five best players in the league.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Oh all of them are foreign, all of them.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Right, the last few MVPs. Yeah, last what five MVPs
have been foreign? We need to just concepts. They have
a concept of development over there. We don't we have
a concept of you know, like I said, could I
mean if Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like we're
in an instant gratification society. We get everything about the
(30:06):
push of a button, get everything delivered by the push
of a button. And our players they behave like that.
They're they're ready to go to the league. Now they
want to be called pros now, you know they you
know social media pages. But and I've played in Europe
and I've seen young players, young players in Europe. The
humility they have is crazy because they don't they're taught
(30:28):
that the elders and the people with seniority, these are
the guys that you need to look up to. And
these are the guys that come first. In our league.
It seems like the youngest are starting to have the
loudest voices.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Oh, well you go in some place. We can't do this, man,
because this you taking us out of fave. We run along.
I know where you're going, bro, I say, it all
the time. The old heads are no longer mentoring the
young bulls.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
The young bulls are imparting their wisdom on the old heads.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
And it's a crazy thing.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
It's like the old heads are trying to fit in
with these young boys. They listening to their music, they
so widlating them on social media. Whereas when I was
a rookie, you know, I shoved my mouth until Rodney
Rogers told me I can talk.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Man. God bless Rodney Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
You know, yeah, yeah, all right, We're gonna wrap this
up before we get out of hit though. You know,
there's been a huge gambling scandal scandal going on in
the NBA right now. Just some some quick thoughts about
the culture of gambling in the NBA and obviously legalized
gambling now being so instrumental in the marketing and promotion
of all sports. Does there does that create a bit
(31:37):
of a an obvious opportunity for somebody to try to
milk the system and you know, do things that are
below board.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
I mean, I think it does, because I honestly think
that legalized gambling and professional sports are are starting to
how and I said, the line is blurred, And I
think that it's starting to transcend each other, and that's
(32:12):
when it's bad. Like, there is no clear boundary between
gambling social media and the athlete. The people that are
gambling on the social media on the players over and
under can actually talk to the player on social media.
(32:33):
They can actually comment on, hey, you know you messed
up my under? Oh you trash because you did this.
So now the player, if he has any kind of
competitiveness in him, is going back at this guy over
a bet. So they're right there. You have the lines
of blurred right then and there you have an NBA
(32:54):
player on social media in the public, arguing with someone
who bet on him. So if that can happen, how
hard is it for somebody saying like, hey, I got
over what you think about this? There's no boundary. And
that's the crazy part about it. I wouldn't when I
(33:15):
was coming up. I could not imagine someone having so
much easy accessibility to me to contact me, to be
able to get a message to me in real time,
right then and there in front of everybody, Like, that's
kind of what we're dealing with here. And now you
start putting in the people, you know, organized crime figures
(33:37):
and this that and the other. But at the same time,
you putting the people faces on the camera while you're
talking about organized crime, like why not put the boy?
Why not put the career criminals on the camera and
show them doing the Purp Walk?
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Can we get Sammy the Bull? Can we get to
Sammy the bullfhoto or something? I said the first thing I.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Said because again, instant gratification, clicks and views, clicks and views.
You know, Chauncey walking out in the hoodie is going
to get more views than a major mob boss walking out.
So although you know what's wrong is wrong, and everybody
is innocent and to prove it guilt guilty is not
(34:22):
for me to pile on anybody or to tell them
what they did or didn't do. But at the same time,
the narratives are always just that, the narratives, and you
just have to sometimes consider the source. And in this
day and age we live now, you got to consider
the source, verify the source, confirm the source, and maybe
even think about after that if you want to repeat
(34:43):
what this source said. So, I mean, I get it,
but I think the set up, it was set up
to fail. Like you just can have gambling and professional
sports that close together got you.
Speaker 4 (34:59):
Hey, listen man, we appreciate you. Thank you, thank you,
thank you. We are so well over our time. I
know Joe was like y'all should, but thank you, bro.
This is an amazing conversation
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