THE BIG INTERVIEW - Kenny "The Jet" Smith on LeBron Retiring, NBA Finals, Shaquille O'Neal, and Barkley's $200M Deal

THE BIG INTERVIEW - Kenny "The Jet" Smith on LeBron Retiring, NBA Finals, Shaquille O'Neal, and Barkley's $200M Deal

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to another episode of The BigThe Big Interview podcast most people don't even
know like Shock owns forever twenty one, he owns brook Brothers. He owns
the rights to Marylyn Monroe. Likehe is like the most astoop businessman that
I know. But he gives youthat push me in a Christmas tree.

(00:24):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I'm abig guy. I'm a big I'm goofy
and he's taking him to the bankevery day like Brooks Brothers. Yes,
sever twenty one, Yes, sir, the rights of Marylyn Monroe. Come
on, man, reebok, comeon, that's shot. Big boys,
neighborhood, the neighborhood, ladies andgentlemen, pleasure to have this man back
in the neighborhood. Kenny the jetSmith, Welcome back, Bro. I

(00:47):
gotta do slashes and stuff too.Now you know what I'm saying. NBA
uh inside the NBA uh Now authoryou know? Oh yeah, a man,
I can't be mad at you,Bro. I took a page out
of yours, Bok, Man,can you put it back? Because I'm
not successful? Man, that's theone pair like man. Remember I was

(01:10):
looking, I was like, man, where these pagers at question? Man?
That was a lot of fun too. Hey man. We so we
are back now. Man, there'sso many, so many different things to
cover with you. Man, we'reback in the finals, yes, and
now I mean we at the Lakers. I mean the Lakers, all the
Clippers. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, but the finals are here, you
know, the final here. Heyman, did you feel like the Lakers

(01:33):
once we did the trades, likeit became a different team. Yes,
you know, it's definitely a differentteam. They were they weren't as talented
as everyone else, and you know, and then the blame just became Russell
Westbrook. Let's play Russell, Let'splay us. You gotta have a fall
guy like like he he was.The feeling in the movie was even blaming
Russell left me like, man,no, not even anymore. I mean,

(01:53):
if you looked at the second unitguys that he you know, he
was playing with, I was like, man, that's not a you know,
productive team. So then talent,talent came into place, because I
always say, like winning a championship, you got to have the one and
two guys like those are the guysright, get you there? But three,
four or five sixty seven, it'swhat wins a championship got you.

(02:15):
That's a championship team. So let'ssay you know your old school like were
talking Lakers magic and kareem right right, But if there's no worthy Byron Scott,
Yes, Cooper, yes, youknow, Michael Thomps. Yeah,
they don't win with with the Lakersof of Shaquille O'Neill and Cole br you
know, just like they got winninglike they're just they're just talented guys that

(02:38):
would always come up short and youknow, but you put the right guys
around them. That's what you know. This, that's what happened with the
Lakers. But it was just tome, I thought it was too late.
Oh yeah, like you know,it's like coming in the middle of
the season trying to figure it out. God's probably getting lost driving to the
games, right right, Yeah,then be like, yo, don't take

(03:00):
the one on one. Don't takethe one on one at five o'clock.
Get the certain things that it got. You gotta know that it just gotta
turn, you gotta know, andthey didn't have. I don't think you
can get that in twenty games.Really A damn a man. When when
we saw that the Lakers sweep youknow that it's crazy when you start to
think like all we need is one. We we became that team, like,

(03:23):
man, just give us one.And when we when we got Sweet,
Lebron came out sweat. When wegot swep, what did I say
you? We had a Charles whenwe gotta sweet? Damn. I'm so
glad you corrected me right now becauseit would have been in It would have

(03:44):
definitely been in the comments when wegot Sweet. Yea, yeah, man,
I almost wanted three two one,and do the question when we got
swept right, Oh my god,lord ha mercy man, miss Byers from
Cobra High. I apologize. Sowhen we when we got swept right,
and Lebron came out and he's,you know, kind of he don't know
what he's gonna do. He gothe got, he got some thinking.

(04:06):
Do you think that Lebron is reallyconsidering retirement or is this like we need
more work? This is no knowledgethe inside information, zero I have zero.
I'm observing. This is as observantof basketball, right, you you
end with a forty point triple doubles, doesn't mean you're you're not able to

(04:31):
do it. Secondly, you're gonnayou just signed the deal, you're gonna
leave another one hundred and fifty millions. Yes, he has a lot of
money in his pocket, but youjust leave one hundred and fifty million dollars
on something that you're great at,right, You're just gonna leave it because
why right? Because your team cameup short. Not only short, you're
still one of the best four teamsin basketball. Like you know how hard

(04:57):
it is to be one of thebest four and anything, and around the
world. He's one of the bestfour right now. So that means you
just need a piece, an element, some luck, and you gotta play
more games. He just has tostay healthier. If he stays healthier,
then they get a rhythm. Sohe just has to figure out a way
to play more games in a regularseason, so then they have a better

(05:19):
rhythm. Like Denver, like Miami, and like every Boston did they have
a better rhythm. That's it.That to me, they just didn't have
a great rhythm. And I didn'tI don't think that Lebron wanted to leave
he would leave like that, andespecially you're so close. He ain't leaving,
right, That was just like thatalready got sweeped. That was yo.

(05:45):
If I had yo, let mehold your hat because that's cap cap
cap like that is the like theultimate of like right, that's almost like
eye rolling, like eyeball rolling.Come on, I didn't Yeah, he's
not leaving. Come on. Andthen it like, oh, you know,
he was waiting on his son likeright stop like no, like his
son is at usc like and hehas to go through a process to possibly

(06:10):
get into the NBA that you know, it's very hard to get to and
people forget like seventy five years ofbasketball, big, there's only been fifty
one hundred players that touch a floorten day contracts, ten seconds one second,
only fifty one hundred people in seventyfive years. So that he be

(06:30):
waiting on your son to be oneof those fifty one hundred that would that
doesn't even make sense either, Likehe's not waiting on his son. He's
got to get he's hopefully wasting hisson would make it, like I wish
my son makes the him I'm big, You wish your son make very much.
But it's fifty one hundred people inseventy five years. I'm a unicorn.
When I walk in this build.You can't find another person in this

(06:54):
building. That's been in the NBA. Oh no, no, if if
you go right down the hall five, you know a check doesn't should Yeah,
but he's not. He does.It's we're unicorns. So it's like,
no, like you don't take thephrase unicorn as a as a slur
to you know, No, youthought about it, like now we get

(07:19):
a chance to see Miami and youknow what I'm saying. I am,
but but we were watching teams thatI'll watch. But do you think that
this is a great series that's goingdown now with with Denver and Miami.
Yes, and this is gonna thisis what's gonna happen. Denver will become

(07:41):
the San Antonio Spurs of our era. They are that team. And then
you're gonna start learning about Tim Duncan, Bono, Genob, Tony Park right
because they have those nounch I callthem noun sneaker guys, they're not sneaker
commercials. So yoll gets who wontwo MVPs. I've never seen him in

(08:03):
a sneaker commercial. Think about thatguy won two MVPs. They say he's
the best player in the basketball twiceright here, twice and he's not in
a sneaker commercial. Hey man,he was killing me. You know,
with somebody so good you get mad. Yeah, I'm like, man,
I was like, dude, somebodygot to check the ball. Man.
He did some AI technology and orsome kind of thing, and it looked

(08:26):
like he was playing against his littlebrothers. Yeah, you pay against your
little brother no matter how good youare. I'm just a little bigger,
a little more skilled. Mom,Come, what's for dinner? You know
it's like you're not like you're notpaying at he was. He's that good.
So he no sneaker commercial. JamalMurray. He hasn't even made an
All Star team yet. This guy'saveraging thirty close to thirty points in the

(08:50):
playoffs. Haven't made All Star?Gordon Porter, young talent. They're gonna
be the new San Antonio Spurs forevery year in the next four years.
They're either going to be in thefinals or Sniffins. Right, yeah,
damn do you think who do youthink will pull it off? Are?
You're not there yet? I didn'tthink Miami would even be here, honest
really, but they keep proving mewrong and so I'm never gonna down.

(09:15):
But the best team is Denver.Like when you watch like if you watch
a Denver Nugget game, you're gonnabe like, oh, Like, let's
say, before you saw the Lakers, you're like, oh, they are
better than us, Like you know, like when you start like you saw
that record, but I haven't beenreally watching. Hey, man, I
see that a lot. When dudesget into fights, be like, man,

(09:35):
yeah, I couldn't whoop them.Yeah. As a fan, we
even as like as an announcer,we will talk about the Lakers on T
and T even when they're not playingwell. We won't talk about Denver at
times when they're playing well right beforeright, coaches like you guys, you
guys aren't talking about this, butyou're talking about the Lakers, who are

(09:56):
right. We'll talk about the Knicksbefore we talk about them, Oh my
god, and the Knicks has onlywon one playoff series? Some respect on
my name tech this side, wetalk about the Knicks and they've only won
one playoff series in twenty three years, damn. Like when we talk about
them like more than the different Nuggets. A man, when when we're sitting
down watching the game, all right, and for us to go inside,

(10:18):
you know, the NBA on Tand T, are y'all watching the games
together, or do y'all go toseparate quarters to watch, because by the
time y'all come back together are comingby the time they turn that camera on,
I am so entertained. B Yeah, man, yeah, I'll tell
you. So we have our greenroom, and I can't imagine what y'all

(10:39):
say off air. Shock is sittingto my left, I mean, Charles
is sitting to my left. Shockis sitting too my right. Balance for
room, empty seat, and there'san empty seat in the middle. This
has been the seating for seventeen years. And like, no one ever comes
into our green room and sits inthose seats. Now we have multiple TVs
going on. Where's Ernie. Erniedoesn't come in there, Okay, he

(11:01):
just died. He dabbles in,he sticks his head in, he grabs
some food, and he leaves becausehe doesn't want to be partaken to the
things that are going on, theshenanigans that HR would be calling him about.
He's like, no, I wasn'tthere better for him. So Charles
is watching the game halfway, buthe's got like law and order crashing fast

(11:26):
whatever, I mean, whatever,whatever, whatever's on hockey, he's got
his eye on like both, I'mwatching the game like I'm not. I'm
there on Thursdays. I've been abasketball fan before. I was good at
it. So I'm watching basketball.Shock has one like a quarter eye on
a game, about a half aneye. Then he's either djaying no literally

(11:52):
literally djaying. One ear open andhe's djaying and he's watching the game.
Damn man. Then then five minuteslater, Oh yeah, hey, oh
this is um um man up.This is ah, this is the icy
hot. Yeah, how are youdoing? Oh? This is this is
real? Yeah, this is thisis uh papa job. He's doing meltime

(12:18):
million dollars deals. Wow. Inthe middle of the thing, and he's
like, Kenny, hold on,Kenny, should should I get? Should
I do this for three years fortwenty eight million or two years for nineteen
I'm like, du three years yeah, so yeah, I'm doing to do
three years. Stuff is going onfire, like y'all don't miss a beat

(12:43):
because we're talking to each other atthe same time. So the conversations that
go to the thing is pretty muchthe last conversation that was in the green
room. Oh man. So ifwe're talking, y'all walking out on that,
we're walking out, we're still talkingpolitics. If something happened like like
it's serious as George Floyd was coming, we're still talking yo, something as
funny as you know, whatever it'shappening. You know, if we're talking

(13:07):
about you know when when we talkedabout when the guy y'all had the thing
with the when we had to putyour hands in you didn't know what it
was. We did that based offthe conversation that was in on our show,
based on that's just like two weeksago when y'all talking about what we
did, we were talking about theright and the show, and we're talking
about he's like, you remember whenthe guy put it Louis with the bear

(13:31):
animal. A week later we didit. Our producers overheard us talking back
and he's like, Yo, wedon't do the thing. Oh man,
everything makes it from the green roomto the floor. So y'all last two
weeks ago that was all and twoweeks you'd be sued. I mean,

(13:52):
wait a minute, this is whatI can't believe. All this technology around
here, right, and y'all stillgot him really doing the cowbell like he's
saying, you don't even have letme, really one you should have sat
over there. I heard I don'ttell you you're off camera now just you
just popping in talking. No man, People like, oh, I don't
know that the bell was real.I didn't know that somebody wrung the bell.

(14:13):
I could have it here recorded,but man, it's gotta be.
Yeah, it's a real bell.Lady, it's gotta be. Man.
You know what happens to this startplaying ahi basketball is that you know what
was that? But we are wedo. We take every conversation from the
green room right to live man alrightyKenny to Jet Smith in the neighborhood.
Man, yes, and talk tome about this. This man is an

(14:33):
author now, yes, yes,man, talker champions. It's the stories
of the people who made me.And that's the It's a memoir. And
so like I read a lot ofself help books, and um, it's
usually from like one person's point ofview, like, oh, you get
better doing this got you. ButI realized I was around by this time

(14:54):
in my life, like fifteen peoplethat not only changed the basketball or culture,
but changed the world the way theworld thinks. And I didn't realize
I was around them all the time. So I was like, man,
I want to take those stories,and if I knew him at twenty years
old, I mean, like,you know where, No, I don't
know where I'd be like like ifI knew these stories. So it's like

(15:15):
Bill Russell. So each chapter isnamed after a person, So Michael Jordan's
Bill Russell, you know, youknow, Shock, Charles, Magic,
like Kobe, like what I learnedfrom them in the times that I met
him, And I'm like, man, I didn't. I would never have
looked at life that way prior tomeeting them. And so I'm just giving

(15:37):
that information out, you know,talk like Bill Russell. One time were
sitting in the he was my Hedrafted me to the NBA activists obviously know
Bill Rus' is a great activist forthose who don't know at home, and
he you know, his rule wasI had to sit next to him every
plane ride, in bus ride,and so I'm sitting next to him and
he would say yeah, such andsuch a you know, and I was

(15:58):
I was with Martin and he didthis, and I'm like, wow,
like Martin Luther King. But hewould just say things like that and give
me stories about Martin Luther King ina casual moment and then I was in
awe and then we're looking one dayand he's looking at all of these players
to draft overseas. So I'm jokingand I said, Coach, you're telling
me there's not a player in Alabama. You're gonna take it all the way

(16:22):
over and Yugoslavia that just pick it. And he stopped me. He said,
Kenny, as an African American,you could never not won inclusion.
So he's taken a small moment thatI'm joking and teaches me how to live
my life. I'm like, Ilive my life that way. Wow,
I'm like because of that joke.So it's like those are the kind of
lessons that you learn and business wise, I learned a lot from show.

(16:45):
Did you know it? Then?No, I didn't. And so it's
a it's a compilation of all ofthese events that you go. Man,
that's it. Dean Smith. Ihave a tract to my high college coach,
greatest one of ever lived. Godbless him. And you know he's
for those who don't know Dean Smith. He's one of the coach at the
University of North Carolina, greatest incollege basketball history's white. And so I

(17:08):
come into college. My first weekand he brings me in the office and
I'm like, oh, he's gonnatell me how many late jump ropes to
do, how many sprints to runto be a better player. His first
question, he asked me, whatare you gonna do as an African American
student on this campus. I'm like, I'm seventeen, like and and at
that point, big, no onewho wasn't black had ever asked me that

(17:30):
question, So like, take thenyou remember. I was shocked because I
didn't have an answer right, AndI said, I'm not sure a coach,
what do you think I'm asking whiteman what should a black man should
I be? I did? Itwasn't I wasn't prepared for the answer.

(17:51):
So when I when when all ofsocial injustice, remember I walked off the
set, yes sir, and peoplewere like, why did you walk up
to set Kenny you know and allof you know, George Floyd and all
of these things going on and players. I said, it was the echoes
of all those people, and Ididn't realize it. And that's when I
wrote the book. I was like, because I always thought I had a
good article about my life, goodbook. Oh it'd be a good five

(18:15):
page article. But then I waslike, it's the echoes of all those
people, Dean Smith, Bill Russell, Magic Shock, you know, Chuck,
like everybody echoing in my ears,Michael Jordan's you know, like this
is why I did it. Sonow also I live my parent that way,
I do business, that way Ido sports. The tuition it to

(18:40):
the life is experience. You don'teven know it. You don't even know
it. And then I realized thatI had a superpower to look around corners
like and I think that's what helpsme on TV, Like I'm able to
see greatness before it happens. NowI'm not always able to help you.
Right, oh yo, if youdo this, you're gonna be great.
But I'm like, no, she'sgonna be great. And then and then
that person turns to be great.And I wrote it about in a book

(19:03):
about like Michael B. Jordan's right. I saw him on a plane when
he wasn't Michael B. Jordan.I happened to be sitting next to him
and we're talking and I'm like,what's your name, man, He's like
Michael Jordan, Michael B. Jordan. I'm like, I said, you
get it a lot, don't yeah, yeah, he said, that's why
I put the be He's like,I said, yeah, I play where
He's like, yeah, have nobasketball. I followed basketball blah blah blah.
So that was it. I said, here's my number if you ever

(19:25):
you know in LA. He wasn'treally acting at the time, and he
was like, I'm just starting outand acting calls me up maybe like three
months later. Hey, I'm comingto LA to give this acting thing a
real go at it. He said, if I need a meal, yo,
just look out for a brother.He's joking, and I said to
him on the phone, You'll neverneed a meal for me. Bro said,

(19:47):
why do you said that? Saidyou got it? Like you you
have it. I don't know howit is, but you have it.
Now. Did I help him?No? Right, right, But but
you saw it and then we seewho he is today, because like I
have that with players as well.I'm like, oh, this guy's gonna
win the MVP one day. ButI just have that knack as well as
being having great people. Man,I wish I would have had you sit

(20:10):
with some of these people in theroom to let me know, and Louis
let me know if you know certainpage people in the room had it,
man, But now we were tenyears in if I was talking about you,
yeah, you know, He's like, you know, you know that
furniture that she be right there.You're like, you know, yeah,
I am. I a hoard her. But when I wrote it, I

(20:32):
like the best compliment I got withthe Other day, this lady comes up
to me and say, I readyour book, damn. And I was
like, man, oh, thank, I wish I would have read this
before you came in. And shegoes, I really feel better about myself
now. I said, really,you feel better about yourself? She says,
yeah, because now I understand whystuff works. When I read this

(20:53):
chapter on Michael, when I readthat chapter on Now, when I put
that in my I was like,oh, when I did that, that's
why it was successful. So that'swhat self help books are. We all
have it in us, but wejust don't know why to do it and
when to do it sometimes? Wouldyou call this a self help without question?
Right? And I didn't even attendto it at first because like another

(21:15):
one, my college roommate guy namedDavid Kohler, he was he just ruined
with me in the summers. DavidKohler is the plumbing family. So seven
billion dollars plumbing family. So ifyou look in y'all go to the bathrooms
right now, you're gonna see Cola. Oh my god, is that Ko.
That's the man. Give me anumber on him. That's my That

(21:38):
was my college roommate in the songs. So his family was you know,
they were probably close to three fourhundred million dollar business. But I didn't
know this, So I'm like,first of all, I'm like, why
are you not playing rent? WhenI found this out, I'm like,
you're sleeping on the couch and notpaying rent on. Let's start there.
I'm like, so, why didyour father just make you an executive?

(21:59):
He's like, nah, I gottabe a plumber. First, I'm like,
what, because we know from whereI'm from. Oh yeah, we
we we made it, we madeit, we made it all we are.
And I'm like, what are youtalking about. He's like, because
he's gonna make me be a plumber. And then I go through the steps.
So if I get an invoice asan executive for seven dollars for screws,

(22:19):
I know that they're really three.So I know everything about the company.
I said man, I do thesame thing in sport, Like I
know everything that the center does,the forward does forward, the coach is
thinking. I said, man,it's and so we started. So those
applicable to my life again. Sonow when my kids asked me for things,
I'm like, no, you gottabe a plumber first. Damn,

(22:40):
you gotta be a plumbs. I'mgonna give it to you, but you
gotta go through the steps and yougot it. It's waiting for you.
You know it's waiting for you atthe end. But you gotta be a
plumber. First years ago, Ihad way you know what I'm saying.
I had to wait. Yeah.Man. So it's just it's just a
great like the great people. Man. I was writing it, Man,

(23:03):
I was writing a book and I'msitting in the first four chapters, and
so the editor calls me, He'slike, do you realize, like everybody
is sitting in has a book writtenabout that life. And I took for
granted that everybody had access to MagicJohnson, everybody had access to Bill Russell,
everyone had Attean Smith, David Kohlers. I just took it for granted.

(23:23):
And I'm like these people who arearound my life. You know you
know Guyle Sirry. Oh yeah,I'm sorry, Hollywood, everybody, Hollywood.
We're in La, so everybody knowswho guys managers Madonna staying all the
three grades, seventeen years old.He's sleeping on my couch man for like
two months. Let me tell you, bro, I remember we used to
do club seventeen years old. Guywas there, and now to this day,

(23:45):
I'm like, dude, that that'sGod. Let me tell you how
I meet him. I'm at it. I come to La. I see
when I'm playing with the Houston Rockets, I see a hip hop concert.
I know hip hop line. WhenI see a hip hop line, I'm
first generation. I'm like, I'mgoing None of my Houston Rocket dudes,
they don't. They weren't even hintinghelp out. I go by myself.
I walk in and there's Guy andhe goes somebody say, you play basketball.

(24:07):
I don't follow sports, so I'mlike, yeah, I play basket.
He said, you like Cypress Hill. I was like, I've never
heard Cypress Hill and I'm not reallyinto this, but I'm in the hip
hop and so we talk all night, like, yo, here's tickets to
the game, come through. Wekick it. I'm like, look,
come to my house in Houston ifyou want to hang out. He's like,
I'm gonna come next week. Hecomes instead of staying a week,

(24:27):
and he winds up staying a monthand a half at my house and we
become like close friends and and he'slike, man, you should get in
this music business with me. Ohman, listen, listen. And I
go, I go, man,look all right, let's try it.
I'm trying it with him. Andthen he's like he would knock on my
door like three in the morning.Yo, we gotta go this this guy

(24:48):
named Master P. We gotta go. See He's I'm like, yeah,
I can't. I can't keep thehours and being NBA players that you keep.
Man, again, you're gonna makeit. I just won't be able
to make it with you, damn. And he goes, you know,
you're the first person I ever tellme I can make it. I didn't
help him mcdonnald, but I sawaround. But you know what, though,

(25:11):
Man, I love the way didyou tell the story? And Michael
B. Jordans as well, becauseI would say I did help them.
But that's the difference between the twoof us. You know what I'm saying,
because I would definitely sit here,Master P would say it. Yeah,
my book would be like man like, it would be the night that
I told it Plain ride with MichaelB. Jordan. I'm the one who

(25:36):
told him put the B in hisname. Okay, okay, all right,
well it is better the way didyou tell it? It's I mean
it is ability, you know,the ability to see around the corners.
And then when you read the book, you see why maybe to see around
the corners by my own thought process. So he's like, oh, well
maybe I could see around the cornersnow, yeah, because maybe I could
see what the qualities off for greatness, like I see it, I see

(25:59):
it. Could you see life afterbasketball? Yeah? Right, yeah,
And you gotta think there weren't Therewere examples, but there wasn't a lot
of examples like what you guys aretwo players now, and I mean like
the afterlife of you know, somepeople when they finished the game, they
thought that they just finished the game. They just finished, you know,

(26:19):
they finished that part of their youknow, their lives. And now we
sit and we see Shack doing thesedeals you do in your book, you
acting like did you see that Ihad a delusion to grange of my whole
life. That's good. I alwaysthought that I was bigger and things were
bigger big when I when I startedat T and T, I think,

(26:42):
like the salaries, what year didyou start? I started? And let
me tell you what's crazy about thatis that people think that this is like
their show. Yeah, five yearsold. Yeah, because we we we
do keep it fresh. Yeah,like y'all. Yeah, like you got
people people get how big men onthe radio like how they like it's the

(27:04):
same. What year did Ernie goin? Ernie went in and like ninety
four, ninety three, Yeah,ninety three, And so when it's just
like when I started, they Ithink my deal was like one hundred thousand
dollars. It was costing me morecoming out of the NBA. No to

(27:26):
be on TV. But you're comingout of the NBA and you're like one
hundred thousand. I was spending thatone so you like a hunt music at
the time, So I was likewhat So like I lived in Houston at
the time, so I was flyingback then. I bring my family that
it was costing me more to lipto do the job. But I always

(27:47):
like, man there's something bigger thanhere, like and now like between like
I'm not gonna throw my slaly,Yeah, what do you mean? Now?
Though? I though Charles's hes gottwo hundred two hundred million dollars twenty
million dollars deal over at next tenyears. It was in the papers.
I never put on it right,right, right, I ain't trying to
be I ain't trying to be Iain't trying to be followed home. All

(28:08):
I know is like seven figures wasnot heard of in the job that was.
I was making one hundred thousand andit was costing me one hundred and
fifty to be there, right,So, like, if you know you
want to be around your kids,get on the plight, y'all. We're
not You're not traveling coaches right onthe first class. It was cost me
more that. But so I alwayshad a delusion that would be there.

(28:29):
Hey, man, do you evermeet someone Kenny the Jet Smith that didn't
know you played basketball? That happenedlast summer for the first time, because
if like, and the reason whyI ask is because we know and for
you to send up and talk basketballso on and so forth, we just
I just know Kenny the Jet Smith. But you're in so many households.
Yeah, that people gotta look atyou. They probably don't know what teams

(28:53):
you played for. Well they wellthey watched me on T and T.
They assume right, yeah, thathe had to play right, but they
they hadn't seen me. Yeah,like you are people seen it brand?
Yeah, they haven't. You area celebrity. People just they know you.
Over the last seven years, it'schanged. Yeah, And I was

(29:14):
when I when I did the moviewith Adam Sandlot. Du let me tell
you, bro the movies that Adamsandlers and when I saw you did I
hit you like yeah, here now? So I'm on it. So I'm
going in any airport and a littlekid and a mom comes up. We
just saw your movie last night.It was great. I'm like, oh
great, thank you, I appreciateit. So I keep walking. She

(29:34):
excuse me, though, did youplay or you're an actor? And I
was like, oh so, soI called Adam right, I'm like yo,
because I tell her what happened.He's like, yeah, I just
on your whole career. Yeah.One movie. It's like one movie.
He played basketball. But you knowwhat's crazy man with with the hustle as

(29:56):
well. Right, that was whenthat was the other player. But also
but that was a player that thathe kind of is that the movie where
he took the dude under his wing, Well he was an overseas guy.
We go fight, he goes fin. When that movie was over, I
googled the dude. That was astart, And you didn't know he was
a player either, exactly right,because he's a he's a he's a borderline

(30:18):
margin players in and out the league. But you know he has and people
didn't even know ant Man was aman I had like anything at Woods was
the villain and they were like mydaughters, they were like, he plays
in the NBA. I was like, because Minnesota. They're like, you
know, it's like Denver, heplays in the NBA. Like you don't
know, you know. So,but it's been a lot of fun to

(30:41):
be able to transition to a lotof stuff. Man, yeah, man,
yeah, And I'm telling you,man, when you guys sit up,
y'all do it so well. Man, Like it's crazy how people will
the game and go off and weturn it up, you know what I'm
saying, Or we just as becausebecause we talked like we're not on TV.

(31:02):
Yeah. Like even when I wastelling him what I was like,
I told him, I told Shockat Charles, I'm like, yeah,
I'm writing a book. It's calledIt's a memoir. The people made me.
It's like really, everybody, Ijust sitting there. I got the
attention, but I didn't get ityet. So I'm like, yeah,
it's a tell all book. Oh. They're like, oh what wait,
what do you mean, tell abook? Ye tell her a book.

(31:22):
I'm like, yes, to tellour book everything that I learned from y'all.
They're like, oh, okay,yeah, we go. You say
you have quite full of I like, yeah, I'm telling everything I learned
from y'all. Man. And thebiggest thing I learned from Shock, and
I wrote in the book, islike his business acumen people don't take advantage

(31:44):
of. Like so most people thinkthat Shock, you know he's on those
brands. I asked him. I'mlike, man, Shock, you know
you don't feel like you oversaturated.He's like nah, he said, Kenny,
we got a short window because we'renot playing anymore, so we're off
there, so now we got toshow with No, let's take advantage of
it. You should take advantage ofit. Plus, don't think of your

(32:04):
things as endorsements, think of himas partnerships. Like what you mean?
He said, everything is a partnershipwith me. I don't endorse the brand,
I'm part of it. And thenso now most people don't even know
like Shock owns Forever twenty one,he owns brook Brothers. He owns the
rights to Maryland Monroe. Like heis like the most astoope businessman that I

(32:25):
know. But he gives you thatpush me in a Christmas tree. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, I'm a bigguy. I'm a big I'm gig
goofy And he's taking him to thebank every day like Brooks Brothers, Yes
twenty one, yes, sir,the rights of Marylyn Monroe. Come on,
man, reebok, come on.That's Shock. Yeah, amen,

(32:47):
even just like the Papa Johns.And I remember one time I was running
through certain he's one of the principalowners of prop dud this. Yeah,
he's not out of the line.We were we've never sitting down and I
was like, oh my god,episode the copiers. Y, Yeah he's
dude, I got the copier nowbecause of Yeah, I'm like, y'all

(33:09):
have to put on in you knowwhat I like. But he doesn't just
endorse the brand. He comes inand I think that is that? Is
it epsin? I think it's epsinepisode cant somebody check? Can somebody check?
Really? Can't ep? I se? I'm sorry I had to

(33:30):
correct. I'm sorry I didn't getsweep. Can y'all make sure that both
of those go together? Sweep?So you said epsin? Huh? Body
saying yeah, I've been waiting foryou to make him at but that's my
point, hey dude, and you'vebeen using some big words low key.

(33:52):
We were like, yeah, look, I wrote a book. I had
to do it, like the saristthing. But hey man, so when
you when you wrote your book,is it you solo like or did you
know? I had an editor,a great editor, not even just the
editor, but you know, likeI would write the chapter, write damn.
I would write it out, andthen I would send into my andy,
my my editor, and he'd comeback and he go, oh that's

(34:15):
great. But why when this happened? Why because as a reader, I
don't understand it got you and hego, oh you should add that,
and then he would add it.So you were literally writing your book it's
in this phone right here. Ohmy god. Bro. When I did
my book, I had a ladyby the name is Sarah Thomlinson. I
found not mistaken, and I toldher my story right and she but she

(34:35):
got my language, she got everything, and she had come back. But
man, if somebody if I hadto like, yeah, you know why,
because I'm on a lot of planes. You're here a lot, right,
So your job is home, yougo, you go here back to
I'm not gonna say where you live, but back in that area where you
live, don't. I'm not gonnabe like Charles. It's like, yeah
when we stay at the fourth Seasons, like, yo, don't say that

(34:57):
right there anyway. But uh,I just have a lot of time.
And I met a psychologist on theplane once, and so she's up and
I'm tired as hell, and she'slike here, hey, Kenney Smith.
I'm like, yeah, nice tome. She's I love your show.
What do you do? I'm apsychologist? And I'm like, oh,
so, I'm thinking she's gonna tellme about my life. She says,

(35:21):
don't go to sleep on this flight. I'm like, man, I'm am
exhausted. She says, try thisfor me, she said, when you're
in the air, they said thatbecause of the all of the altitude and
all of that, your brain makesyou think better. So she said,
don't watch a movie and don't doemails. Do something creative. Your creative

(35:42):
juices are higher when you're in ahigh That's what she said. Damn.
And so she said, watch howmuch you get done being in the air.
And I started writing the book.You know what's crazy about that,
man, is I've I've come upwith different ideas in even like the times
when I read a whole book onthe plane right creatively, she says,

(36:05):
you're much sharper because of the cabinpressure or whatever. I don't know if
it's true. She got it work. It worked, and so like four
flights, I had wrote four chapters. My first four chapters are easy.
But do you know who the ladyis? No? I just y'all got
on and I got off the planeand I wrote it. I'm like,
yeah, I said, man,I got a lot done as I did.
So I never now watched a movieon a plane or anything unless I'm

(36:30):
just bored. But if I havesomething to do creatively, I wait till
like, and what year was thiswhen she sat next to This was two
years ago. Okay, so hewas on a commercial plane. Yeah,
I heard that's why you travel.Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna keep my
He was like, Man, Ido travel. I do travel private on
somebody else's note right sometime too.But it's like like if it's just me

(36:52):
traveling, right, Like, andyou got an eight seater and you're paying
fifty thousand, yeah, it doesn'tand you got four or five six people,
the dog get recognized a lot.Like even just walking through the airport
or this time of year year withoutyou can't I can't move in the airport
this time of year, playoffs becausewe're on every freaking day. Yeah,

(37:15):
and you think about it. Sportsis the only thing that you don't take
to watch, right, the onlything. It's the only pro watching that
live. You're watching it. Soyou have to say, I'm tuning in
at eight, I'm gonna stop whatI'm doing to watch. So now I
have a special relationship with the peoplethat charles myself and earning. So you

(37:37):
can literally check out the hotel thenext morning and somebody no no, no,
no no, or that night thatnight. But sometimes man and we
had this conversation off. I waslike, man, I said, sometimes
y'all in that studio, like onein the morning, He's like, yeah,
one, two, three, yeah, three o'clock easily time difference in
the West Coast game. And thenI would literally you come downstairs, you

(37:58):
walk into like and and you like, I'm in Boston when I was in
Boston and you walk the streets ofBoston, It's it's crazy. It's like
I'm good luck to night. I'mlike, no, I'm not playing right,
Like it's like the whole city isjust like they pay attention to everything
you're doing and talking. You saidthis last night, Yeah, and they
think it's gospel. They think everythingyou say. Hey, man, with

(38:20):
the cancel culture being so just Imean hearing in our face, do you
ever like kind of curl your toeswith like what what's coming out of shack
car Barkeley's mouth? Next? No, No, I never, because even
my mouth at times it is crazy, you know, not as much.
But I always also know people alsolook at the source of where it's coming

(38:43):
from. It's got to be aconsistent consistency of thought, right, Okay,
if if, if, if Charlessays something that's consistent with who he
is. He kind of gets awaywith it right, right because of because
of the history. Go, that'sjust Charles, that's Charles. You know,
it's almost like a comedian. There'scertain political comedians. There's certain you
know, social there's cultural same thing. Certain guys can't when they're moving that

(39:07):
other elements and then it's like,oh god, he's canceled. So if
it's not just plus size women inDallas can cancel uh san Antonio Kenny Right,
but it like I would get like, yo, what are you doing
with Charles? Just like we're onthe floor and the like. It's a

(39:27):
different element. But I think theone thing that makes our show grazes we
don't care like like it's a it'sa real authentic feel. Do you ever
trip off of like, dude,this is my job. This is what
I do. Like, I lovethis the I never trip on it because
I don't realize I'm in it,right, kind of like when I wrote

(39:50):
the book, I don't realize I'min it until we have a conversation with
you, you know what I mean, you're outside outside of it, but
when you're in it, like everyonegoes, oh, y'all have such a
great idea. So I'm like,yo, the makeup lady had that idea
and we just brought it to thisshow. Everybody see our show is way
different. I know if I've beenin the ESPNS and no disrespect and no

(40:13):
disrespect, I've been on other thanFox and all. Like what we do
is every idea could make it tothe set. So if you're having a
conversation with the guy, literally theguy he's every day comes in, he's
cleaning up the thing and he's like, man, Jason Tatum with the new
haircut, right, and he's like, man, he ain't played good sea

(40:34):
And then we'll be like, man, yeah, the curls when he came
out. Now he cut his head, and we'll bring it to the set
like we bring every That's the sameway we do radio. People like man
who come with the phone taps,I'm like, man, it could be
me, it could be whatever.Like we can say, man, have
you called such and such? Right? You know? But yeah, and
you gotta be open. But yougotta be open, yes, and you

(40:57):
gotta be open, and that yougotta be a way you could be open.
Big is you have to be achampion and not plugging a book on
this. But really, champions thinkchampions do daily with everybody do occasionally everybody
else? Do you just do itdaily? You're not. Yeah, we
do. You're not. You're notextraordinary. You just do the ordinary extra.
That's it. That's what makes youseparate. You watch my new book.

(41:22):
You'll be laying dude. I toldhim all that. It's so simple,
but it's not for everybody. Everyday you come on, you do
the phone tap every day, butyou just do it a little extra,
right, That's it. I coulddo it. I could do it.
I could do a phone tap,but I'm not gonna do it every day.

(41:42):
Yeah, I'm not gonna be extrawith it. I'm not gonna dig
deeper like when that lady's on thephone and she's saying this, you're gonna
take a one more step? Yeah, that's it. I love that you
said that because and you and I'veknown you for years. I can't play
basketball like you. You know whatI'm saying. I just wanted to tell
you that, and I was gonnasay you couldn't. But I can't do

(42:04):
radio like you. There it is, there, it is, man.
I'm glad. I'm glad we gotwe got that when you when you look
at the NBA today, right,what's the difference between the NBA today in
the NBA of yesteryear? Everyone wouldsay athleticism, but I wouldn't like and
I'll give us like, I don'tknow, Like older old school people are
like here Larry Nazy, Like thisguy was in the dunk contest. He

(42:27):
has a son that's in the NBA. Larry Naz was more athletic than his
son. Okay, so Larry KnatzJr. He actually played for the Lakers
for a second. So like,No, the NBA is not more athletic,
it's not. What it is isthe rules changes. So once once
the rule changes, certain types ofplayers are more visible. It's a much

(42:47):
more visible game now, ye wherethis is faster, it's much faster because
of the rule changes. So itcreates you could see the athleticism more,
right, you could see the ballhandling wizardry more because there's less physicality.
Now there was that, but thephysicality overshadowed the athleticism and the ball handling

(43:09):
wizardry and the shooting. So it'snot really changed. It's just the rules
of change. And then which isgreat. I like to watch this game
much better. It's a much betterappealing game. And it's a threes now.
Yeah, the threes is. Thethrees is like the baseball analytics.
That's all it is. It's likeif I shoot three out of ten from

(43:32):
three, I got, yeah,I got. I gotta make five out
of ten twos to beat you.So they're saying I don't have to make
three, and you gotta make fiveto beat me. So that's all it
is. It's just the logic ofthat. The problem is there's not a
lot of guys that can make threeout of ten, but they think they

(43:52):
can make right. Oh yeah,they think they can see it. Yeah,
I'm like, man, just geta little closet the ball. Because
Shock would make eight out of tenif he played today, So he would
still break the analytic code. Becauseif you gave him ten shots, he
will make eight. So you getsixteen points out of ten out of ten
shots, Well, you'd have tomake seven threes, got you? Hey,

(44:15):
man, I love that you continueto give it Shack because knowing you
and Shack, and I know howy'all beef off air and how y're not
really cord your cool with each other. You know what I'm saying no,
We're like, no, no,we're brothers. I'm trying to get ratings.
No, no, no, no, I'm trying to get out.
But no, dude, you hateyour brother at times? Who has brothers

(44:36):
and sisters? Hey, man,please don't ask him. He ate his
brother all the time. Don't putthe camera on ye like really like something,
you know what you know when Istart okay, like when people say,
all that's family. No, no, man, Look this happened the
other day. Literally, we havebeen around each other for the last two
months on the road. Like,so that's eight hours at the studio.

(44:57):
We're in the same hotel. Soyou're in the same gym. Oh you
and go eat. You're in thelobby. Oh, you're in the rest
halted. You're around each other toodamn much. Right, so yesterday,
two days ago, Charles is scratchingis like thing he tells us every day,
Like he writes stuff down, hescratches it, all right. And
I'm like this, if this motherdoesn't stop scratching this pen, and I'm

(45:19):
like, I just too much.I hate him right now. I'm like,
I hate the I hate to seeyou scratching your head like I really
wanted to just smack him. Iliterally was like and I was like,
I'm just around him too much.I gotta take a break. We need
a break, We need a breakfrom each other. It's just you're around
your brother all day. Start tosmell him. Yeah, man, you
know it's the cookies, two cookiestoday. He with me every day,

(45:44):
right, there's literally sometimes we're getin the car and we'll arrive for thirty
minutes and don't say nothing. You'retired of each other. Yeah, and
he know me, he like big, want to talk, right, want
to talk? Yeah? Yeah,but but you still want him next to
you. But you hate his gutsat that moment, Like I really sometimes
I look at Chuck and I'm like, I hate this dude, right,

(46:05):
I really do. And then I'mlike, but if he left, I'd
be mad, right, I'd bemad? Right? Yeah, I hate
him. Two days ago, Heyman, I want to come back with
you, Kenny to Jet Smith andI want to do something called inside inside
the NBA. Okay, I'm gonnaask you some questions about inside. Take
us inside. Alright, now,if you look at these right here,
these are faces, alrighty, yousee one face is right Charles Charles Barkley,

(46:30):
and the other face is Shaquille SeaquilleO'Neill. Now, I'm gonna ask
you some questions. And as Iask you the question, that's all you
gotta do and make sure the camerasee it as well. Alrighty, So
here we go. Alrighty, we'reinside inside the NBA. Okay, if
Shack and Charles Barkley were to havea fistfight, Chack wins. Okay,

(46:52):
there it is. You don't wantto do nothing like politically correct. I
always tell Charles this all the time. I'm like, he always threatens me.
I'm like, yo, you're notnineteen ninety six years right right,
like you two hip surgeries. Youknow, I'm not scared of you.
I will smack the living taste outof your mouth and you couldn't catch me.

(47:13):
Got you? Got you? Alrighty? So Shank already inside inside the
NBA. Alrighty. When you comeout of the y'all walk out of a
green room, when you walk outyour dressing room and you look, who
do you feel dresses the worst outof Shaquille O'Neil and Charles Barkley. Damn,
that's tough. Yeah, because Iwill say, Chuck Okay's the worst,

(47:40):
even though he has better suits.Right, he just don't know how
to put it together, right,you know what I mean? Like he
just he somebody, Now, somebodygot to him. In the last month
or so. He's been dressing well, but it ain't him. But when
he's over there, like he'll havea suit on and then have ankle socks
like many ankle sids. You can'twear ankle those of basketball sids with shoes

(48:07):
on. Player alright inside inside theNBA. All right, now, if
you dropped your wallet, who doyou think would keep it? Oh?
Shocker is not and he got allthe money in the world. Yeah,
man, but he's just gonna keepit on principle, right. You know

(48:28):
I'm from Jersey, right, Ohyeah, yeah, so what church?
Everybody Jerseys don't still like what you'retalking about. No, I just you
know, we know where he from. No, Charles would give it back,
and then Charles would line your moneyup because he'd yeah I heard,
I heard, man. No,it was crazy. He'd be crazy.
We was in here now and he'dbe like this this cup here, this

(48:50):
water bottle, he'd be placing it. He's the only one who I knew
who was carrying um wipes before beforeCOVID. Damn, he was carrying wipes
around, piping desk and everything.Really though, you get your wallet bag
and then like, man, lookat it, all the fifties and everything
tied up and everything that happened oneday, it actually happened. I actually

(49:12):
took his wallet joking and I wasgonna take that. He had a bunch
of cash, and I'm like,I'm gonna take it out, and I
heard him coming back and I triedto put it back. Real Kad in
the whole green room is laughing,and he comes back and he just sits
down and he's like, yo,who touched my wallet? I'm like,
what do you mean? Who touchyour wallet? He said, first I
had to point it this way,and all of my fifty was facing this
way. He actually knew that.Damn, that's how crazy he is.

(49:35):
I heard that. You're like,man, I'm glad, that's why.
I just like, I just Ijust dropped stuff on purpose, like like
I'm taking out I'm putting sugar andstuff. I pulled sugar out like I
spilt the sugar on purpose. He'skiss taking the foil you know, he'll
pick it up and and won't evenknow he's doing it. Like if I
was in here and she's doing andshe dropped sugar, he'll still talk to
you and he'd be like yeah andso, and he puts it and in

(50:00):
the whole cream room is just cryingbecause I do it like five times in
a row. Hey, man,who do you get tired of hearing inside
the inside? Oh? I'm noteven really because he never shuts up.
Shot. It's loud, but inmoments he's never it's two in the morning,

(50:22):
it's two in the afternoon, it'stwo in Russia. He's the same
all the time. It's just loudas hell. It's like he has a
hearing disorder. But he's too loudinside inside the NBA. If you had
to room with either shot of CharlesBarkley, why because he's clean there it

(50:43):
is this dude, it's not clean, right, leave it is that?
Okay, not a clean he's nota cleanliness of his environment. Right.
No, Hey, I might notbe I might. I might be called
message like I might leave a bookover here, thing over He will throw

(51:04):
stuff everywhere and he's so I guesshe's so rich that everyone cleans up after
him ran Inside inside the NBA,whose chair do you feel the most sorry
for? He's not on here,Ernie. Really I feel sorry for Arnie.
I'm talking about not like, ohman, you gotta sit here with

(51:27):
I'm talking about the chair is like, oh my god, like Chucks,
because hey man, it's Chuck.It's Chuck. Bark's Charles Barkney. Check
is he losing? We lost alot of Wow. And I still think
his chair is going right because he'sstill like one hundred more right because Shock's
chair is probably heavy, right,Chuck's chair he can't fit it, so

(51:52):
he's water even when he's skinny,he's water. Pause. Yeah, inside
inside the NBA. Who's always late? Shack walking slow getting in there?
My face is in there too?Yeah, oh really, I'm like I'm
always right on time. I'm neverlike I'm right on time, not late.

(52:15):
Yeah, if I'm right on time, but Shock will be there.
I'm not always there. Shock waslate the first day of the season this
year. We're like, wait,you had three months this chaw said.
He's like, yo, it wastraffic. He's like, wait, you
had three months and you didn't knowthe day was the first d eighty.
You're here late. First day.It's the first day of the NBA season.
You're late. He actually, wewere on air and he wasn't there.

(52:36):
Oh really, when y'all gotta go, y'all gotta go, we live.
Yeah, damn he was late thefirst day of y'all moved studios or
no, the seventeen years he's beencovering playing like first day, how are
you gonna be late on the firstday? A man, if you looked
at it right now inside inside theNBA Kenny Jest Smith in the neighborhood,

(52:58):
Man, who are you do youthink could play the game today? He
could well not now because they bothhad hip surgery, right, but before
the hip surgery, he could giveyou five ten minutes because he's just he's
a freaking nature man. He reallyis. He's the only like he's still
like break dancing flips and jumping intoChristmas trees. He's such an athlete,

(53:22):
like God blessed him with like aseven foot two body with a five two
dexterity a little bit. He moveslike he's five two and he's but he's
seven two, Like seven two guys, don't they gawky and I call it
fine motor skills or big motor skills. Shock's only is the big guy who

(53:45):
had fine motor skills and big mosLike he's just like Lebron James is choppy
like He'm not saying he's a badplayer, it's just choppy like, so
it's not fine motor skill like KyrieIrving is fine mode. Shock had both.
Yea, he has the ability todo both, which is incredible.
Inside inside the NBA. Who doyou feel has the most hype? M

(54:09):
like real hype or fake hype,fake hype, fake hype? Yeah,
like, oh man, you ain'tknow Charles has the most fake hype.
Like he ain't really that tough,right he want to be a tough guy.
He really like no because he's likehe's really sensitive. So like if

(54:29):
you if he saw somebody, he'sgonna be, oh, are you okay?
And he's gonna rub your back andlittle people and excuse me, miss
you need you drop this? CanI help you across the street, but
I'll smack you in the fact.Tough guy, tough guys, I know
they're not helping no old ladies acrossthe street. Inside inside the NBA,
Kennedy Jess Man, you're on araft in the middle of the ocean,

(54:52):
all right. Do you look inthe ocean, you see two people floating.
By the grace of God, youcan only pull up one. I
can only pull up one. Whodo you pull up? Jack? Our
chat? They're both drowning, bro, really, because I know if I
tried to pull one, he's alittle too heavy. And they pulled me
in it, right, they alwaysand that metaphor is real. They always

(55:12):
pulled me into the Shenanigans, right, So they pulled me in, So
I know they would be like,pull them in and let's ship together.
We're all going. They would belike, we all die together, we
all die together. So the jokewould be pull one of us in,
and they would have already arranged thatwe pull them every we all die together.
I heard that, and so I'mnot I'd be like, n you

(55:32):
know I know this. Yeah,I'm not pulling pull in the Chaco.
It would be a fit of weekof rememberings and everything, because they would
have already have like I said,they would already have plotted to pull me
in. Man, he's signing mea copy of the book right now.
Man, talk champions, ladies andgentlemen, talk of champions, stories of
the people who made me Already,I gotta ask you this, man,

(55:57):
I saw you on vacation. Wereyou on vacation when I've been on vacation
a lot? I don't know,brother, but I've never asked you about
your vacations before. But I'm specificallyasking you about this one vacation. Yeah,
I've been in the NBA playoffs.I've never seen you like like this.
What could you explain that? Man, I don't want to. I'm
not gonna criminate myself. Is somethingthat I don't know what you're talking about.

(56:21):
Let me tell you, man,I wasn't looking at your picture.
I was looking at who you werewith. Oh my lord, Yes,
I ain't mad at you, brother. What I mean like, we don't
we don't see a lot of datingpictures or we don't get that far in.
But I say this, I wasalways I'm always interested this like that.
People find news that because the headlinewas like, he's on the beach

(56:43):
with no shirt. I'm like,is that is that what they say?
Kenny Smith jetting on the beach withno shirt? I'm like, really,
that isn't that what you're supposed todo on the beach, Like, why
is that not see ours? Whatwe put up was Kenny the jet smith
on the beach with a bad one. Yeah, that's that's that's we put
up. No, but see,like I'm a single man, right right,

(57:05):
Praise God, I mean think foryou because we gotta live to you
man, like like I don't.I don't want you to be Listen,
listen, talk to your wife.And she would say that too, she
like he was talking to me.Yeah, I'm saying because he's praising the

(57:28):
fact that I'm not doing anything thatI shouldn't be doing. Right, No,
I'm saying wishing that he I'm talkingmy wife. My wife ain't talking.
You can't go ahead. I knowyour wife talking. I know your
kids son too, right, sowe talking to the family. That was
for me, right So yeah,And the reason why I'm saying that,
man, is because I looked andI was like, man, good,
yeah, you know, well Iwrote a book raise him talking chaps,

(57:51):
Hey, man, listen, yougotta talk. No, honestly, like
I was just on the beach havinga good time in Miami. Did you
marry her? No? Between usabout I rememb when I was on the
beach to my wife when we werejust dating, I was like, when
as soon as I saw I waslike, I'm marrying you. Oh my
god. Yeah, I mean,I'm not gonna say anything. I'm gonna

(58:12):
say. Is this It's the onetime like I'm gonna just say this.
Yeah, I'm gonna just say thislike God is good. God is good.
However, at the time, like, I'm not new to being around
people who are attractive. Yeah,I'm just new to the picture. I'm
new. I know you're not new. Okay, if you see my kids,
you could tell they them look likeme. They look like the beautiful

(58:34):
kids and they look like their moms. Yeah. Man, I'm just gonna
tell you straight up. Man,I was so happy, not for you.
I was happy for us, forus, yeah, man, because
I had a chance to see it. And I'm gonna tell you know who
brought up to my attention, Veronica, my wife stopped many. I was
like, oh my, what doyou mean dry you was out on the

(58:55):
beach. I wasn't. I wasn'tI didn't have a camera. I posted.
Yeah, man, I ain't madat you. Man. Who was
she? A friend? Oh?God? Bro I'm not. I'm not.
I don't. I'm not any anyrelationship that you that you need to
know about. Yeah, when Isend you to him, if I ever
send you animation, I don't wantyou to be in a relationship I need
to know about. I want youto keep doing this, Okay, do

(59:16):
you know what I'm saying? Iwant you to It was like that real
this. Oh man, it's likethat. Oh my god, man,
I gotta taken. I think Ithink, if I'm not mistaken, I
think we went to her Instagram page. Really a mistake. I gotta figure
out. Yeah, it's like that, you didn't go to my Instagram page,
You're on Instagram. I'm yeah,man, Oh my god. Man.

(59:40):
It was funny because a lot ofyeah, did the fellas on this
show? Did they see because didthey say anything about that particular one,
because for some reason I remember thatthey still said. But I'm like and
every time they said, I go, y'all like, I never saw me
on the beach with no I meanin the room with an old shirt on.
I'm in a locker room all thetime. They're like no, yeah,
no, no, but God isgood. Yeah, man, how

(01:00:05):
many thumbs up text messages did youget I don't, like, I don't
even play that game honestly, Likewhen when it was funny because when someone
talked about it, I'm like,when they talk about it, I'm like,
you know, I'm just I wasjust on the beach. Yeah,
you know, I was just onthe beach and that just happened to be
that day on the beach. Ohthat day. I love it. Go

(01:00:27):
here now I know, just like, man, this is what I do.
Man. Anyway, talking championship outthe book. It's pictures in the
book too, No, not thoughall platforms, Yeah, Barns and Nobles,
digital everything you can see it's there. Hey, man, have you

(01:00:49):
walked through the airport and saw yourbook yet? I walked in the Barns
and Noble and so that's crazy.And I was like I walked around and
then they had it up in thearea. Then I started taking it and
put it in other areas. Yeah. I was like, oh, it's
fiction. Definitely should be reality.Yeah. I was like, yeah,
when it comes to the Suns thisseason, with Kevin Durant everybody and Chris

(01:01:10):
Paul the injury and stuff like that, what do the Suns need to do
next? Year. The Sun,well, you know again, that's what
they did, the same as theLakers. They tried to you know,
instant oat mill it like, oh, we're gonna trade for Kevin Durant,
We're gonna win the champions Now thatdoesn't happen like that. Championships are built
like everybody, And this is thisis another message I'm gonna give him.

(01:01:31):
This I'm getting on my soapbox.The world is about baking. It's not
about Michael. It's not a microwavelike and food that's baked tastes better.
Yeah, man, and you butif you check on it every five minutes,
it looks like it ain't done andlike, but it's getting done.

(01:01:51):
And that's what the Suns and everybody'strying to do. Even in like I
talked to kids like they oh,it's didn't happened for my son. Right.
No, there is a process togreatness. And that's why I loved
what uh Jana said. Yeah,he was like, no, I didn't
fail, right, there's a processto greatness. Yeah, Like there's a
process to be a champion. Andhe was saying, like the years that

(01:02:14):
Michael Jordan didn't win, he said, you looked at those right, right,
But he had it so accurate.Yeah, like and because it's so
instant that you wanted this second,He's like, no, I won one
and I'm gonna get another one.But this is the process to get to
it. And that's it and that'show I look at it. Did I
lose, Yeah, but did Ifail to totally different scenario and he got

(01:02:38):
it. And that's what goes onwith the Suns, Like they like,
we failed, so I gotta getsomething quick. So now they got to
keep that together and see if itbakes. You know, a man,
do you get a chance to goto games? Really? Do you enjoy
going to games live? Yes?Do people get nervous when they see y'all

(01:02:58):
know what happens? Like I neverasked very rarely, maybe once or twice,
but I never asked the teams togive me tickets. I go straight
to the ticket masks in his bodyright right. And so I like sitting
with the fans, right, youknow, I like sitting May I'm not
sitting in the right might like tenrolls up like in the mix, like

(01:03:19):
where the real fans are sitting,like I want to feel it, hear
what they're saying get the energy,Like I feel like I'm not an analyst
anymore that I'm a fan. Likewhen Lebron was breaking the record, my
son was coming from practice, wewere in he goes to Moter Day.
My son A Lloyd, goes toMoter Day way out there. We're like
an hour and a half in thegames starting, and he's like, man,

(01:03:40):
that would be great to be.So I go to ticket Master as
I'm driving and he's like, yo, you missed the exit. I'm like,
no, We're going to the game. We gotta see history. Wow.
So we get tickets and we getthat halftime and we're sitting in the
miss missed up it. Man,right, we're like row ten and everybody
like front row, a side seatsthere. You know that, you know
they're doing so ten. They're likeevery second he's got the ball. Yeah,

(01:04:06):
And my son is like he's gotthe but I'm like, he's got
the ball. I get to bethat. So man, we drove there,
caught the second half, and caughtit Like those are the type of
I'm a basketball Can I ask youthis though, why did you buy tenth
row seats when you could have boughtnosebleed and walked down. No, you
couldn't know that night, not thatthe Laker Smith. But I could have

(01:04:27):
got I could have got press passed. Yeah, I could have be did
one of these things. Because I'mtelling you, man, you see how
tacky I am. I'll be like, hey man, man, Kenny,
Kenny need to get down here.You know what I'm saying. I got
I'm always your I got a friendof mine he calls himself crime. I'm
like, why you caught himself crime? Because crime don't pay. Yeah,
exactly, crime man, shoot mecrimes umber. What are you doing that

(01:04:48):
guy? But I'm like, Iwant to feel the energy. Nah,
that totally understand. That's a goodWas that moment with your son, Oh
that was unbelievable. Yeah, becauseI'm like I said, I was the
kid who had every player the Yankees, on the Knicks and all of my
tape favorite teams in New York.I had all the posters on my wall,
had every sport magazine. I wasa fan. Then all of a

(01:05:10):
sudden, like my temper eleventh gradein high school, I got really good,
really and I became one of thebest players in the country. Kenny
how Oh how tall are you?I heard that, man, he played
your ass off. But I wentfrom big. I went from and I
wrote this in the book. Iwent from not being recruited as a junior,
I didn't have one scholarship offer tobe in the top five player in

(01:05:30):
the country my senior year six months. How so work ethic. My high
school coach, he brought me inhis office. Me and him were tight,
and I really and the reason whyI want you to slow down and
take your time in this because myson plays basketball, and there's a lot
of kids that have dreams, andbut let's just stick to hoop dreams.
There's a lot of kids that havehoop dreams. And now we look at

(01:05:53):
social media and we think you needthis, you know, and in hell
right now, yeah, right now, the highlight reel, the so on
and so forth. So you weresaying as a junior, after my after
my junior year in high school,so this is applicable in life and everything
else. I had zero scholarship offers. Zero. I went in. So

(01:06:15):
I went into the office. Youknow, me and I used to hang
out with my high school coach allthe time. He was a straight shooter.
I loved him to death Jack Currant. He goes, hey, Kenny,
what do you want to do inlife? You know, because he
cared about me, I'm like,I want to be an NBA player.
He goes, oh, I didn'tknow that because you don't work hard enough.
But he said it so casually thatI knew he was serious and he

(01:06:36):
wasn't trying to motivate me, andhe was just bringing me in to be
like, oh, if you wantto be a doctor a lawyer, I
have avenues to get you an internship, or like he was really concerned to
like, how I'm gonna help thiskid be whatever he wants to be.
And so that summer I just didthe ordinary things extra So I ran instead

(01:06:57):
of running up I lived on thetwelfth floor. Instead of taking the elevator,
I walked up the stairs or ranup the stairs when I went home.
So you do that four times aday and then you do your work.
I just did extra things that wereordinary, and so I went from
there no scholarships junior year to myAfter the end of my senior year,
I was first team All American McDonald'sAll American, and every school in the

(01:07:20):
country asked me for to go tothe school. There was not one school
I could not go to. That'ssix months after that's May. So this
is a soon to the next toMarch. The end of March with my
high school season, and every schoolin the country offered me a scholarship.

(01:07:44):
That's amazing, bro. But Ididn't grow right. I didn't like gets
crazy, No, No, Ijust did the ordinan extra I grew mentally.
Yeah. Man was wow. Andman, that that's a story that
people got to hear. And likeyou say, that applies to life because

(01:08:04):
it's right there. If you justchanged your direction of how you do it,
we're all reached the same destination.But we got to get there on
a different track. You know.Other tracks are slower, and we got
to figure out how to get howto like speed up our track a little
bit. And for me, itwas him just casually, Oh, I
didn't know that. I thought youyou don't work hard enough. Damn.

(01:08:27):
Because he had been around NBA playersand any coach baseball. He's been around
baseball players that made it to themajor league, and he just thought I
was wanting to be a great Iwas a good student too, so he
was trying to like, oh,I have this internship at this bear Stearns,
which was the thing, which Istill did. He was getting me
an internship as a stockbroker. Didyou have this conversation with him? Oh?

(01:08:48):
Yeah afterward. Yeah, that's crazy, he said, because he asked
me when I came back my senioryear. I came back, so he
saw me then and I went upand someone came back. He's like,
I've never seen anyone get that muchbetter in three months? Said what did
you do? And I told himin conversation, I said, your conversation
changed my direction. And he calledNorth Carolina and that's how I got to

(01:09:12):
North Carolina because he called because hecould have called the stockbroker. He could
have Yeah, he called North Carolinabecause he and Dean Smith were friends,
and Dean Smith used to call himevery year and say, Hey, what
New York players can play at atmy school? And then he said I
have one at my school. Hesaid, hood did he transfer? And
he said no, he was here. I've never seen anyone improved that much
in three months. So I wasthere for three years. He knew and

(01:09:35):
he never called. He never called. He's like, no, I don't
have any there's no kids in NewYork and played at your school, right
and then, Man, that's anamazing story, bro, that's how that's
how it happened. Kenny Jets definitelywant to thank you for coming into the
neighborhood hanging out with it. Thisis fun all the time. Oh my
god. Man. And like Isaid, man, man, y'all continue
to do what y'all do very well. I'm always entertained. Yes, and

(01:09:59):
I still get this the knowledge aswell. Congratulations on your book. Go
ahead now, many if I'm aboutto write my book, I'm about to
write me another one. This isbeautiful, bro. The only thing between
my book and your book is I'mpretty sure yours will sell all right?
Did you you have a copy ofit? You know why everybody got a

(01:10:20):
copy of my book. I hadto give it to him. Really,
watch this, Say you got abook? How did you get it?
Ryan? Do you have a bigboys book? How did you get it?
All right? You have big boys? All right? How did you
get it? Alrighty? Do youhave it yet? Wacko? I'll bring
you on tomorrow. Friend support friends, Yeah, and they did. I'm

(01:10:46):
gonna give you I give you anexample. I saw it when I saw
my book in Bonds and Nobles.You know what else? Book I saw
Bill Bellamy. Oh really, Ididn't realize you had a book. I
picked it up. That's what Ido, man, I just buy the
book Like this, I'm definitely buyingthe book about it. Yeah, man,
I believe that. But thank youfor coming to your neighborhood. Man.
Well see you, Kennedy jet Smithin the neighborhood, big boy in the Love