0:00

What's up? I'm John Wall and I'm CJ

0:02

Toledano and we're starting a new podcast presented

0:04

by DraftKings called Point Game Okay,

0:06

you know like at campus and stuff like this you take the ball out

0:08

you ain't getting the ball back Like you the

0:11

last one up the court they already and did a thing so

0:13

I stopped it And I just got into a rhythm and start

0:15

hooping the Lakers should sign Trey Young

0:17

this summer They got to kind of start preparing for

0:19

like the LeBron's last year's this year and next year

0:21

whenever it is And I feel like a pick and

0:23

roll with AD and a guy like Trey Young could

0:26

be dead Check out point game

0:28

with John Wall and CJ Toledano on the I

0:30

heart radio app DraftKings YouTube or wherever

0:32

you get your podcasts There

0:35

are moments in life that are so special

0:38

that you have to capture them and save

0:40

them forever They are one of those once-in-a-lifetime

0:42

Events like your baby's first steps the first

0:44

time you bring your family pet home or

0:46

your daughter's first dance performance With iPhone 15

0:49

Pro most storage means you don't have to

0:51

delete anything that could become a lasting memory

0:53

one day And it's important to be able

0:55

to show these moments with family members who

0:58

weren't there to see them in person store

1:00

more share more connect with iPhone 15 Pro

1:02

on AT&T get iPhone 15 Pro on AT&T

1:04

and get an iPad and Apple watch

1:06

for 99 cents per month each AT&T

1:09

connects and changes everything now the time

1:11

offer requires zero percent APR 36 month

1:14

agreement on each well-quantified customers other

1:16

terms and restrictions apply see AT&T.com/iPhone

1:19

for details I'm

1:24

Katja Adler host of the global story

1:26

over the last 25 years. I've covered

1:28

conflicts in the middle east political

1:31

and economic crises in Europe drug

1:33

cartels in Mexico Now i'm

1:35

covering the stories behind the news all over

1:37

the world in conversation with those who break

1:40

it Join me monday to

1:42

friday to find out what's happening Why

1:44

and what it all means follow

1:46

the global story from the bbc wherever

1:48

you listen to podcasts Hey,

1:54

it's wilfred l and sabrina brian

1:56

and we're the hosts of the new podcast magical

1:58

rewind you may know from some of

2:01

your favorite childhood TV movies like My Date

2:03

with the President's Daughter. And the

2:05

Cheetah Girls movies. Together we're sitting down to watch

2:07

all the movies you grew up with and chat

2:09

with some of your favorite stars So

2:14

kick back, grab your popcorn, and join

2:17

us. Listen to magical rewind on the

2:19

iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

2:21

get your podcasts. Brought to you by

2:23

State Farm. Like a good neighbor, State Farm

2:25

is there. Hey, it's Paris

2:28

Hilton. Check out my new single, I'm

2:30

Free, featuring Rina Sawayama. The

2:37

song can change your life. And that's what

2:39

Free by Ultra Nete did for me. My

2:41

first single for my new album, Infinite Icon,

2:43

is a reimagined version of the iconic song.

2:46

Listen to I'm Free on iHeartRadio, 1111

2:48

Media. Welcome

3:01

back, All the Smoke

3:03

Chicago. Jack,

3:07

we've been waiting on this one for a minute, man. I'm

3:10

going to give you the honors because this is another

3:12

part. We might

3:15

have the biggest, the podcast with the most class of 96 motherfuckers

3:17

on it ever. Yeah, man. And

3:19

this is, yeah, man. And this is the

3:21

biggest, the biggest, the biggest podcast in the world. And

3:23

I'm going to tell you what I'm going to tell

3:25

you. I'm going to tell you what I'm going to

3:27

tell you. Yeah, man. And this is also

3:30

one of the most name-dropped individuals on

3:32

our show. For me, this

3:34

is special, man, because it's somebody, when I always

3:36

talk about COVID, somebody that I admire, just like

3:38

I admire COVID growing up. Growing

3:40

up in Texas, you know, I wasn't seen

3:43

as much as these other guys, but I knew all

3:45

the guys in my class who I was coming up

3:47

with. And I had a chance to meet them growing

3:49

up. And a lot of guys who I idolized as

3:51

a youngster, I still idolize to this day. And

3:54

the guy that's on our show today is somebody who

3:56

I consider my brother. Somebody who

3:58

was a big part of motivating all... I want all of

4:00

us in our class to be great. Somebody

4:02

who led our class, or some of our class,

4:04

or somebody who still deserves his flowers today. And

4:07

that's why I wanted him on the show so we can give him

4:09

his flowers, so we can let the world know and him know how

4:12

much we love and respect him. And I'm honored to have him

4:14

on the show today. Baby Jordan,

4:16

the original Baby Jordan, Ronnie Fields. My

4:18

brother. My brother. Real love. I'm glad

4:20

to be here. You know him. That

4:23

probably was my best introduction to having

4:25

somebody on the show too. That was

4:27

a good one. That's what we needed.

4:29

I got two LaCrosse Bobcats on the

4:31

show. Yeah, I've never heard that before.

4:33

I think it's the next CBA, 1996.

4:40

Bro, fresh out of high school. Fresh out of

4:42

high school. Still trying to, our journeys went a

4:45

little different. You know, if we would have ended

4:48

high school on the right note, we probably would have went

4:50

straight out of high school, but we had to take a

4:52

little route to the CBA, which was good for us though.

4:54

You know what I'm saying? Because for me,

4:57

I didn't know where my career was going, but

4:59

that was a humbling experience. What was it for

5:01

you? I think the same as well for,

5:03

you know, especially looking at all the guys that was in

5:05

our class and

5:07

the opportunity, especially when you're one of

5:09

those players, like for me, it was just like, after

5:12

the accident, that was one of the biggest things.

5:14

Cause you don't know exactly, you know, physically how

5:16

you're going to respond and come back. And I

5:18

think for me, it took a

5:20

while for me just to mentally,

5:22

get that hurdle and just

5:25

be aggressive like I was before. Because, you

5:28

know, you're dealing with some, even in NBA

5:30

pre-draft, and I'll never forget this, and

5:33

I was talking to Timmy that

5:35

year. And when you go, you know how

5:37

it is, you go see all those team doctors. And

5:40

that was fresh right out of like that

5:42

surgery, like trying to get right back into

5:44

it. And they started

5:46

messing with the, you know, my neck. And

5:48

you trying to like be as strong as

5:50

possible. You seen like six NBA team doctors,

5:52

and it was just like grueling. The

5:55

way they was like pulling on

5:57

this national numbers, like, yeah.

6:00

Yeah, it was still

6:03

bothering. And then I didn't even go

6:06

and even work out after that. I had

6:08

to be out for maybe like a

6:10

week and go back and

6:12

see the doctor after. After just checking it out.

6:14

After that, yeah. And so

6:17

it took me some time to get over because

6:19

you know, ideas back then it was physical. You

6:21

go over, you get hit one time across here, you

6:23

know, cause I was close to being paralyzed. So

6:26

that's another thing that was playing on my mind for

6:28

a while, even

6:30

try to continue the career. I want

6:32

to jump, I'm gonna jump ahead and we'll go back to where

6:35

we're at, but let's get, you know, February 26th, 1996, two

6:38

days before your birthday, walk

6:41

us through what happened and how

6:43

that changed. I was there, bro, that shit hurt

6:45

me, bro. Yeah, I think that was one of

6:47

the craziest things that there was, one of

6:50

the players on the team or we just finished

6:53

the regular season. It

6:55

was a huge game too that night. So

6:58

we get ready to go into the playoffs and

7:00

one of the players was like, all right, I'm gonna stay out

7:02

there with you. And I said,

7:05

okay, you got your mom. So by the

7:07

time we got out there, it's like about

7:09

10, 11 o'clock. And now

7:11

where I'm at, he was way south.

7:15

So I'm driving back that way and

7:19

I'm around about 12 to

7:21

drop him off. She's like, no, I'll bring him

7:24

on. So I take him back. So

7:26

then I'm on my way back here. One

7:28

of my friends like, just stay here. I'm

7:30

like, nah, I should be good. I can make it

7:32

started raining. And I never forget coming

7:34

down this ramp. I still ride past

7:36

it to today. And you

7:38

couldn't see a pothole like this big. It's

7:41

filled with water, but like the rain coming down,

7:44

I never forget it was the driver's

7:47

side, tire hit that hole and it was

7:49

a bridge about

7:52

60 miles an hour hit, spit,

7:55

both ran to the wall. Only

7:58

thing I realized is that moment I

8:02

blacked out I end up in the backseat just

8:06

like this so then

8:09

after that war for a little

8:11

bit now it's like 1245 in

8:13

the morning nobody out so

8:16

then I'm like okay still in

8:18

shock not realizing you know

8:20

how bad I was cut and bleeding

8:22

because the rain so you're just thinking

8:24

that's what that is and

8:26

then I go to like see a I see a

8:29

semi truck on the other side of the highway coming

8:32

so I go to try to like

8:34

flag down he seen me at

8:36

the last second and almost hit

8:38

me so I did like move out

8:40

and then like as I start walking away

8:43

from it cause will come and

8:45

then I remember three guys getting

8:47

off work in a white van and then

8:50

I start walking back to the car and

8:54

they was like before they looked up and looked

8:56

in my face they looking around in the car

8:58

and then like hey you know who's in this

9:01

accident I was like me then they looked at

9:03

me like oh wow so they took

9:05

me and just laid me down in the back of the

9:07

band in the state troopers came

9:09

and stuff and um he

9:11

was able to get one of those boards yeah

9:14

and put me on there and then ambulance came

9:17

and I got there and I realized how serious it

9:20

was and then

9:24

it hit the news it was about four

9:26

in the morning so I'm thinking

9:28

we're getting ready for the playoffs and get ready

9:30

to break the record for

9:33

Illinois and

9:35

I'm thinking like okay I'm gonna

9:37

be okay and realize how bad

9:39

it was until like they

9:42

had to get me down to Northwestern from

9:45

L-MURSE and then I

9:47

go in there and like the good part

9:49

about that moment is being young

9:51

and naive as a kid not

9:54

knowing this could be in

9:56

your career you can be done so

9:59

I'm in there and the doctor coming there. It

10:02

so happened to be Kevin first year.

10:06

And the next day they was coming to

10:08

play the Bulls. And

10:11

then, you know, when all it

10:13

hit the news, man, it was just one of those

10:15

things where I still was in a mass

10:18

and even though they cooked me up to all these

10:20

things and I'm like, I

10:23

know I'm gonna be able to go back and play in two days. Doctor

10:26

came and I was like, no,

10:28

he's gonna be out for a while. It's

10:30

gonna take a time for you

10:32

to heal. You should be okay. And

10:35

I think being young at that time, going

10:38

through those things, I think for me, that

10:41

helped me get through it because you were like, when you're

10:43

young, you're like a kid, you go out and you hurt

10:45

yourself. You know, I had things that

10:47

happened. You're like, you'll be all right. But

10:50

not to the magnitude of like being the player

10:52

you are and what you

10:54

was able to do or create. And

10:56

then when they put me in this thing, it's

10:59

almost like a casket thing with this

11:01

weight connected. So I was, it

11:03

makes, you know, I guess for the, you

11:08

know, for my neck to kind of stay

11:10

stabilized. They had me in this thing

11:12

and looked weird. So I'm

11:14

sleeping and I wake up and

11:17

I see Kevin, right? Like leaning over

11:19

me. And at that

11:21

moment, I'm like, man, this must be

11:24

better than then I thought. And

11:27

then like I said, you have Bob Costas, a lot

11:29

of people calling. I'm thinking

11:31

like I'll be able to play in it. And

11:35

the doc's like no time. So

11:39

just see all of the people that reached out

11:43

at that moment, if that would have happened to me,

11:45

probably when I was maybe 27, I

11:49

don't think I would have been able to be strong enough

11:52

to get through that. So what did the

11:54

doctor actually say, what happened? As you mentioned

11:56

earlier, you were close to being paralyzed. Yeah.

11:58

He just was like, look, I'll be able

12:00

to fuse. these three bones in the back

12:02

of your neck and you should be able to

12:04

put a plate. So what they

12:07

had to do is at the time

12:09

to get that bone they had to

12:12

basically cut off some

12:14

of my hip to

12:16

fuse my neck and

12:19

from that point it was more like how

12:22

in the world I, you

12:26

know, come back from

12:28

this. The only thing that went through my head, even

12:31

laying in the bed, I think that was the

12:33

first time I think I crapped when

12:36

I seen them put the

12:38

team to get ready to play off so they got

12:40

the TV in the room and

12:43

watching them and then seeing the

12:45

Pavilion was sold out with all these fans

12:47

and people. It was important to

12:50

my little brother at the time, at my jersey

12:52

at the intervention, just one

12:54

of the most emotional times I think that ever happened in

12:56

my life. And

12:59

then like when I was able to

13:01

get out the hospital and they

13:03

made appearance in a while but I had to halo.

13:07

I go up to the school, dunk

13:09

with the halo on. Dunkin' with the halo on. And

13:12

they was like, alright, this dude lost his mind.

13:14

How far removed from the accident were you? Man

13:17

probably about like three weeks. Oh shit. Jesus.

13:20

So I'm gonna back up real quick though. In

13:23

the midst of the accident and getting out of the car,

13:25

were you just kind of still in shock? Did you feel

13:27

the pain yet? Or you were just gonna move around and

13:29

didn't know what was going on? No, didn't know what was

13:31

going on. Really? That was the only thing that probably like,

13:34

cause he was like, this is the thing that probably scared

13:36

me out that the doctor told me. He's like,

13:38

you could have moved the wrong way and

13:40

you've been paralyzed for life. So

13:44

I think the thing for me when I look back

13:46

at that and always say

13:48

today when I speak to young kids and

13:50

I understand the situation, like life after basketball,

13:53

when I was talking to you guys about

13:55

the opportunities, was like, when

13:58

I look back at that accident and I'm And

14:00

I say, everybody journeys can be different. I

14:02

said, I had three choices that could have came out

14:05

of there and looked really bad. I said, as only

14:07

one was good, the other two was awful. I

14:10

could either die in that or be paralyzed, or

14:13

still been able to come back and play

14:15

basketball. So out of the three,

14:17

I end up

14:19

getting the best one. The other

14:21

two was that close as well. I'm

14:25

super emotional, bro, because you know

14:27

our relationship. And this is my

14:29

first time actually hearing the

14:32

story from you. You know what I'm

14:34

saying? And nobody deserved to be drafted

14:37

and to be in the league more than you in our

14:39

class. You know what I'm saying? That's why

14:41

I'm emotional, because I know how much it meant to you. I

14:43

know how much you deserved it. And

14:45

this is my first time hearing you tell this

14:48

story. We talk, you know what I'm saying? But

14:50

as close as we were growing up in the

14:52

same class, it just touched to

14:54

me to hear you talk about it, because I

14:56

know you deserve everything and more about it. Watching

15:00

like even like

15:04

all the guys in that class at the

15:06

time. And you know, not watching out even

15:08

with Bibb and Tim and Shaheem, the

15:11

Kobe, Rip. I mean, the list goes on and

15:13

on with so many guys. And

15:15

then you still watch the game.

15:17

Because I always try to teach

15:20

these young guys watching out for

15:22

us how hard it was

15:25

back then. It was not easy to

15:27

play at the level the way the game

15:29

was. The physicality you

15:32

had to deal with. Just

15:35

all the work and you had to

15:37

actually practice back then. So

15:40

to see all the guys that was able to do

15:43

well in our

15:45

class. And that

15:47

gave me great joy to be a part of that as

15:50

well. To tell

15:52

the guys when I break down who

15:55

had a better class and always break down all

15:57

the guys. And then they realize all

15:59

the guys are now. I say, yeah, all those

16:01

guys was in our class. And he was the

16:03

best player in our class. You

16:05

know, and he was the best player in our

16:08

class. What that say? That was the crazy thing

16:10

about like, even like with Cole, because Cole came

16:12

in like later. And cause

16:14

like we didn't really hear about Cole as

16:16

much. You know, you know, I heard about

16:18

Jack and Divvy and Tim and Shaheem

16:21

and Jermaine. Team,

16:23

it was like crazy. You look back

16:25

and like, damn, all those guys was,

16:28

and then Cole came out

16:30

of nowhere with a vengeance.

16:34

Oh, bro. He just shot up the

16:36

chart. But yeah,

16:38

that's one, that's another prime moment in life. Just

16:41

seeing all those guys that was

16:43

able to still continue, not only just

16:45

play, but what you guys doing with

16:48

bringing so much attention to a lot

16:50

of different stories and stuff like that

16:52

for guys that didn't play or didn't

16:54

play and people tell their

16:57

story. That's, I really appreciate

16:59

it from the two brothers. I mean,

17:02

as happy as you were for everybody else

17:04

and to see what kind of historic class

17:06

you ended up having, what was that mental

17:09

toll on you personally? Well,

17:11

you know, I look at things like

17:13

that, even with playing,

17:16

it's like, it's easy for, it's

17:19

easy to be down and give

17:22

up in life in situations where

17:24

it's like, it didn't go how

17:26

most people thought it should go, because

17:29

you don't know that. We don't know, it's

17:31

just something to go, we reach for, we

17:34

have mistakes and things happen along the way,

17:36

is how you bounce back from. So

17:38

I think doing those

17:40

moments, like still never to

17:43

play. And the number one thing I think

17:45

that gets you through those things is

17:47

when your peers respect you. You

17:49

see those, and that's another level, like when

17:52

you guys speak about me and

17:54

the things that I was able to do and accomplish, that

17:57

gives you more relief knowing that you belong.

17:59

in that two-year situation where it's like

18:02

it didn't go how

18:04

most people thought it should go, because

18:06

you don't know that. We don't know. It's

18:09

just something to go along the way, is

18:11

how you bounce back from. So

18:13

I think doing those

18:16

moments, like, still never to

18:18

play. And the number one thing I think that

18:20

gets you to do those things is when your

18:22

peers respect you. You

18:24

see those, and that's another level. Like, I

18:27

speak about me and the things that

18:29

I was able to do and accomplish. That

18:31

gives you more relief knowing that you belong

18:34

in that two-year guys. So

18:37

it's not as bad to,

18:39

you know, like be

18:42

worried and be down and

18:44

your peers respect you. To

18:47

the highest. Yes, and that's why I was able to

18:49

play. Everybody can't say that. You know

18:51

what I'm saying? A lot of guys can play, but they

18:53

don't have that respect. You know what I'm saying? That was

18:55

the difference for me. Let's

18:57

talk about your relationship with KG Farragut

19:00

Academy. Everybody know about Farragut

19:02

Academy. I don't think they know how

19:04

dangerous it was to have you and KG on the same

19:06

team. But talk about when

19:08

you first met him and your pressures of him. Why

19:11

is he always on the 100? Man,

19:13

let me tell you, dude, the craziest

19:15

thing. So Nike used to have all

19:18

these different times and it bring

19:20

some of the better players around. I'll

19:22

never get this 540 shootout. Because

19:26

we want to pass it. I

19:29

said, look, we take a turn, man. Get

19:31

big boy the ball, man. And

19:34

get him a touch up. Yeah, like, man, you got to

19:36

get these two guys off

19:39

the same team. And we

19:41

look over there, man, KG, they just running

19:43

people out of the gym, destroying

19:45

my coach. I don't know what system he

19:47

gave them, but they were just destroying people

19:49

at camp. So

19:52

then the next, I think maybe

19:55

four months later they had the 540. So

19:58

we go down to Portland. to the Portland

20:01

Oregon to their base. And you

20:03

know, you get there, they don't really tell you your roommate

20:05

is. Yeah. So I didn't

20:08

even know that, you know, Kev and my

20:10

coach was still like talking a little bit in there.

20:13

So I get in there in the room and KG

20:17

land the bed and they would just start talking

20:19

about, you know, Chicago and then about South Carolina.

20:22

And like, I'm tired, I'm sleepy. He

20:25

still talk. Like he is

20:27

still going. Yeah, man. I think I might

20:29

want to come up there and play. So

20:31

you know how it is. You first meet

20:33

guys like that. You like, yeah, okay. I

20:36

kid you not. The summer

20:38

roll around, we

20:40

out not too far from here doing

20:46

a rap video of one of the guys.

20:48

And we was me, Randy Pete Myers, me

20:50

doing dumps. And

20:52

my coach pulled up. My

20:54

coach pulled up and he get out of the car.

20:56

The ticket. I'm like, what

20:59

you doing? He like, oh, I'm here to stay. I'm

21:01

like, oh, we're getting the video. Then you know, did you

21:04

find that video? What

21:06

was it called? We're going to find that shit.

21:09

Booty bounce. Wiggy

21:13

wow. Wiggy wow. Booty

21:16

bounce by Wiggy wow. Yeah,

21:22

that he got out. It

21:24

just was like the

21:26

same way on 10. And like,

21:28

he like, all y'all start dunking. He's like, man,

21:30

I thought y'all just stop playing in

21:33

the background while the girl's dancing. He

21:36

stopped playing like it was a real game, dude. Just

21:39

do some dunks. You know, he

21:41

start not now guys like really

21:43

playing a real game in a

21:46

video. In the video. Game

21:49

speed. They still game speed. They

21:51

roll. And I'm

21:53

like, man, I'm like, oh man.

21:55

And then we end up going to play our

21:58

first game together. And

22:00

that was down in Rental. And

22:04

like being on the court that game, I think

22:06

we combined for maybe about 19 dunks. God

22:09

damn. And we played against

22:12

an all-star team out of Chicago. Yeah. And

22:14

destroyed them. But this is

22:17

one thing that Kevin wasn't doing at the time

22:19

with people to realize. Kevin, when

22:21

we get to the basket and get over you, finger

22:23

roll the ball, he would never dunk it.

22:25

He would never dunk it. My

22:28

guy made recipes, D Woods, told him,

22:32

look, man, I mean, we took him

22:34

to Marcy's Center. And I said, look,

22:36

you know, here, you can't call no files. And

22:39

that Kevin went up for a layup, man. They didn't even

22:42

close the line on the stage. And I was like, no,

22:44

call no file. Just play. After

22:47

that, I kid you not. The first game

22:49

in the conference against Marshall, man,

22:52

he went off. I mean, dunking,

22:54

throwing, people, I was like,

22:56

god, Lee. That was one of the,

22:59

like, that was one of the, I

23:01

ain't gonna say the best game, but that

23:03

was one of the combinations of both of us.

23:05

It was like, hey, you can go ahead and

23:08

kick Ali. And that's what made

23:10

the combination so easy for us to dominate. Because

23:12

I'm like, I got another player with me.

23:14

It ain't about me. So, like,

23:16

when I was able to do that and he knew,

23:19

like, this your squad. It was comfortable. He was good.

23:23

And then the game when I knew, like, he

23:25

going to league. I got in foul

23:27

trouble. My foul doubt was West House.

23:30

And I ain't never seen a stat like this in my life.

23:33

That game, he took over the whole game. I think he had

23:36

like 40, 15, 15, and 11. Oh,

23:40

geez. That

23:43

game was unreal. I said, yeah,

23:45

he didn't stay leaving. You

23:48

thought about leading too with him? Yeah, I was gonna

23:50

come out right after I set that record. He's one

23:52

year ahead of you, right? Yeah, yeah.

23:55

I was gonna come out right after I

23:57

set that high school record for scoring. Because

23:59

going into the playoffs, as soon as we

24:01

hit, I was averaging 42 a game. You

24:08

hear this, huh? 42 a game. Yeah,

24:11

I was averaging 42 going right into

24:13

the playoffs. My last

24:15

game, when I jumped over this

24:17

guy, Wheel, I think I

24:20

had 49 that game. Casually

24:23

jumped over? Yeah, and then two days later

24:25

is when I had my accident. Two

24:28

days later. Yeah. There

24:30

are moments in life that are so special

24:32

that you have to capture them and save

24:34

them forever. They are one of those once

24:37

in a lifetime events, like your baby's first

24:39

steps, the first time you bring your family

24:41

pet home, or your daughter's first dance performance.

24:43

With iPhone 15 Pro, more storage means you

24:45

don't have to delete anything that can become

24:48

a lasting memory one day. And it's important

24:50

to be able to share these moments with

24:52

family members who weren't there to see them

24:54

in person. Store more, share more. Connect with

24:56

iPhone 15 Pro on AT&T. Get

24:59

iPhone 15 Pro on AT&T and get

25:01

an iPad and Apple Watch for 99

25:03

cents per month each. AT&T

25:05

connecting changes everything. Limited time

25:08

offer requires 0% APR, 36

25:11

month agreement on each. Well-qualified customers,

25:14

other terms and restrictions apply. See

25:16

att.com/iPhone for details. What's

25:21

up, I'm John Wall. And I'm CJ

25:23

Toledona, and we're starting a new podcast

25:25

presented by DraftKings called Point Game. We're

25:27

now joined by three-time NBA Six Man

25:29

of the Year, Elite Bucketgetter.

25:31

Let's please welcome Jamal Crawford to Point Game.

25:33

King of the Court, one-on-one tournament. If they

25:35

had it back in your prime, do you

25:37

think you could have took it all? I'ma

25:39

be honest with you, I don't think I

25:41

could have took it all, but

25:43

I think I would have shocked a lot of people.

25:45

I think Kobe and everybody in their prime, Kobe win

25:48

a one-on-one, I'd say. Yeah, because you gotta think, he's

25:50

gonna guard, he don't care about guarding. He's gonna guard.

25:52

He's gonna guard, like, you see him in the Olympics,

25:54

he's gonna guard, and then on top of that, Ladies

25:58

and gentlemen, please welcome Sam Casodop.

26:00

point game. I remember you came

26:02

out from trying to I mean,

26:04

he's in a culture shock. He's

26:06

going to withdraw us about winning. What I

26:08

told you, I said, Oh, do you

26:10

think I get paid and go back and play in college? Check

26:15

out point game with john wall and CJ

26:18

toledano on the iHeartRadio app, draft Kings YouTube

26:20

or wherever you get your podcast. Amazon

26:23

Pharmacy presents painful

26:25

thoughts. The

26:27

guy in front of me in

26:29

the pharmacy line is halfway through

26:32

an incredibly detailed 17 minute

26:35

story about his gout. A

26:37

story likely more painful than

26:39

the gout itself. Next

26:42

time save yourself the pain and let

26:44

Amazon Pharmacy deliver your meds right to

26:46

your door. Amazon Pharmacy

26:48

healthcare just got less painful.

26:52

Have you ever wondered what it

26:54

would be like to have supervision,

26:57

enhanced hearing, extraordinary reflexes to be

26:59

dare we say superhuman? Well, Roku's

27:02

new pro series TV can't

27:04

do any of that for you. But with

27:06

a 4k screen, side firing speakers and

27:08

a blazing fast refresh rate, it'll sure

27:11

feel like it elevate your entertainment using

27:13

all your favorite apps like iHeart and

27:15

play all your music radio and podcasts

27:18

with the new Roku Pro Series. Your

27:20

senses aren't better. Your TV is unlimited

27:22

fun at sports.com. A one of a

27:24

kind social casino and sports book where

27:27

no deposits are needed to play experience

27:29

the thrill of winning with real prizes that

27:31

can be deposited directly into your bank

27:33

account hundreds of Vegas style casino games

27:36

dozens of sports with in play predictions

27:38

player props and same game parlays register

27:40

for free today at sport zino.com for

27:43

a generous welcome offer visit sport zino.com.

27:45

Sports.ino is a social casino no purchase necessary

27:47

void or prohibited play responsibly conditions apply see

27:50

website for details sports you know everything

27:52

worth a prediction. Sign

27:54

the letter go to the Paul Barrou

27:56

academically ineligible I was I got involved

27:58

in that too just couldn't pass that test.

28:01

Not yet. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? That

28:04

held a lot. Now, they don't have to deal with that now. You

28:06

know that, right? I know it's so different. It's totally

28:08

different now. I think the thing with

28:10

the DePaul thing is one of

28:12

my other favorite coaches, we was

28:14

getting calls from a lot of schools, but I

28:18

like this, they have them as

28:20

well. But then I also wanted to be loyal

28:22

and stay home with DePaul. Hold on. I'm glad

28:24

you said that. This has never been said. They

28:30

had on their drive board, on

28:32

their class, me, you, went

28:34

for Walton. You went for Walton. And

28:36

they was going to say, we all would have

28:38

went to Syracuse. We would have had a number

28:40

of raccoon class. I ended up signing with Arizona,

28:42

and we got the number of raccoon class. But

28:44

if me, you, and went with all of Syracuse,

28:47

that would have been crazy. Because Jebann

28:49

was cool. Because we seen him a lot. He was coming

28:51

around a lot. He was like one of the coaches, just

28:53

like, I don't know, you just round him. Him and Luda,

28:55

we were like, we're We

28:57

seen him everywhere. Yeah, they was everywhere. And

29:00

they was out. You know, he just made

29:02

you like calm being around this present. So

29:04

that was it was like DePaul

29:06

or there. No other school.

29:08

Jim Bahamu Salih. Did you be able to top

29:10

him in 2-3 or bottom? Say the A? Did you

29:12

be able to top him in 2-3 or bottom? It'll be me

29:14

and him at the top. Went for Walton was one of the

29:16

best scorers in our class. Actually, me and him had the most

29:18

points in the McDonald's game. Rest in peace, Went for Walton. Yeah,

29:20

he was one of the best guys. He just passed. But he

29:23

was the truth, bro. How big was he? 6'8". Post

29:25

game, the old man game too. And then we

29:27

both, we played defense. We was two guards. We

29:30

both was guards. And we love to defend. I

29:32

think that's another thing. Like, man, you're a defender's

29:34

will. And like, people understand that. Like, that's a

29:36

will you got to want to do. Yes, sir.

29:39

You can't be taught that. Yeah, that's what people

29:41

don't understand. You know, even back then, when

29:43

growing up, it was like you had to defend. Now

29:45

you get embarrassed, especially where the league was when you

29:48

couldn't zone up and you just had to be on

29:50

the island. Yeah. You're like, man, damn, dude, you go.

29:53

On that island. You over there like, they ain't

29:55

going to get no help. On that island. And

29:57

I think playing basketball like that, you know. was

30:00

pretty much helped us, you know, and helped me

30:02

exactly. Cause you see Jack and Matt, y'all like

30:05

three, four inches tall to me. So I was

30:07

doing a lot of this at just six, three.

30:09

Yeah. Mm. Flying. When

30:12

did you notice, when did you start really jumping around, was

30:14

that out of a young age and come all of a

30:16

sudden? I

30:18

think like going into my seventh grade year, like

30:20

in a gym class. So, you know, all the

30:23

kids playing around and I'm still

30:25

trying to like dunk this ball. So

30:27

class over, everybody leaving. Finally dunk it. So like,

30:29

you know how they, you dunk it. It's over

30:31

now. In that class you like, hey, I did

30:33

it. So they like, no, you didn't. So

30:37

season, get ready to start. We

30:40

was at BBR. I get on

30:42

the fast break. I dunk the ball. In seventh grade?

30:44

In seventh grade. And they call a technical foul. I

30:46

didn't even know what the tech was about. And

30:49

they's like, you can't dunk the ball. So

30:51

my coach was like, what you mean? I think

30:53

it kind of caught them off guard. Wasn't nobody

30:55

else dunking. Wasn't nobody else dunking at the time.

30:57

And when I really knew, this one I really

31:00

knew I can jump my eighth grade year. In

31:02

the championship game, on

31:05

the fast break, I took off

31:07

with a toe in front of the free

31:09

throw line and dunked the

31:11

air one to do. So you look,

31:13

think about eighth grade. As I'm in the air,

31:16

the guy come behind me. I'm still flying. The

31:18

dude that took my shoe off in the air. The

31:22

place was going crazy. I dunked it.

31:24

Air one came down and

31:27

dude had my shoe in his hand. You

31:29

found a fair to it? You know,

31:31

I've been like Miss Williams. I'm like looking for

31:34

that tape. Because

31:36

I'm like, just

31:38

think about that moment. And

31:41

from there, because people are like, okay,

31:43

you dunk off stride a lot. I

31:46

was like, that's how I learned. But then

31:48

as I started playing more, playing

31:50

out there with a lot of the pros. And

31:52

they'll give me a minute of

31:54

game. Kenny blocking my shot.

31:57

And first day I wanted the guys block.

32:00

my shot and

32:02

I start laughing and he looked at me and said,

32:04

what you laugh for? I said, because y'all letting

32:06

me play with y'all. Like I'm a kid. You

32:09

know? So they started

32:11

giving me like two

32:13

more minutes here and there. And- How

32:16

did they say, this summerly, this summertime? Yeah, I was

32:18

at like maybe like 12, 13 years old. Yeah.

32:22

So they was giving me a couple

32:24

minutes here and there. And then I didn't

32:26

look at it as like, yeah, they

32:28

busting my leg up, knocking me down. I was

32:31

just happy to be out there playing. So,

32:34

you know, when I started playing against kids, my,

32:37

I was just destroying them. You

32:39

know, it was just like the mentality

32:41

because they wanted us aggressive. So like

32:43

my ninth grade year, I'm like,

32:46

oh, I'm gonna play the sophomore. And my coach was

32:48

like, what was like, no, I'm

32:50

gonna start your varsity. I'm like, what? And

32:52

he started me on varsity. I think that first

32:54

year I was like 16 again. And

32:57

then every year- So going up. He went up,

32:59

yeah. Were you

33:01

ever measured with your vert? Or I mean, is it

33:03

urban legend that it's 50 or was it 50 plus?

33:05

It was a 50. It was a 50. It

33:07

was 59. I ain't no question about that. You said

33:10

they was shocked people. I think this one they looked

33:12

at. I think this one may be on tape. Leonard

33:15

Miles, about 6'5". We

33:17

was playing down in Danville,

33:20

Illinois. You got on the break and

33:22

he had one of the hardest one-legged

33:24

jumps like broad to get up.

33:26

So this time I'm like doing

33:29

a chase down and

33:32

he laid it

33:35

up. I said, dude, you do that again. I'm

33:37

gonna get down. His whole wrist over

33:39

the square. Like this eye was, I

33:41

said, you do that again. I'm gonna

33:44

get it. Six plays, five plays later.

33:47

He didn't think to dunk it. Now I went up

33:49

there. Now have you watched it when they

33:51

was rewinding it? The

33:54

ball over the block, the square.

33:56

That's why I went up there and grabbed with

33:59

two hands. and just snatched

34:01

it down. I think the game wasn't even open. Everybody

34:03

ran on the court. It was still like the third

34:05

quarter. And

34:07

that's when they was like,

34:09

okay, don't nobody. Cause

34:11

I sit back and watch that block. I

34:14

said, man, why you, I told you to dunk it. He's

34:16

like, man, I ain't expecting

34:18

nobody else to jump up and grab no

34:20

ball like that. That was another

34:23

memory experience. I tell you, my guy Leonard. I

34:26

talk about this all the time since we talking

34:28

about you dunking and jumping to a 50 Nike,

34:32

snap dunk contest. You

34:34

shake cotton, Mateen Cleves,

34:36

Corey Benjamin. Yes. Baron

34:38

Davis was in that too? Yeah,

34:40

Baron Davis as well. Bro, Mateen used to

34:43

have hops like that. What? Mateen

34:45

was like you. He

34:49

was top five quarterback in

34:51

the country and the top five point guard in

34:53

the country. I'm not having a battle still like

34:56

that. No, he could fly. That's crazy. He could

34:58

fly. But you remember that dunk

35:00

contest? I never forget that dunk contest. Cause let

35:04

me tell you something. Like Shay was Dominique

35:06

Wilkins. Listen, man. Look,

35:08

they was calling that man a man trap.

35:10

First of all, built like that in the

35:12

ninth grade. Like, I'm like, dude, come on,

35:14

man. What you eating? Two

35:17

30, six five, six six. This

35:20

wasn't the day of hold

35:22

backs and double holds back. He was really that

35:24

big at that age. Yeah, man. He was

35:27

like when he, look, when

35:30

he was attacking the rim and dunking the

35:32

ball, man, it was just

35:34

like, I'm like, dude, why you mad? Like the

35:36

whole stance and everything just like, so he was

35:40

the one I was worried about in the dunk contest. Corbin

35:43

was more like Clyde Drexel. He

35:46

Clyde. He Clyde through the air.

35:48

So Shay did

35:51

a windmill from the side and

35:53

I was like, I ain't sure the most

35:56

it was just that the one he threw in the air and caught. Yeah,

35:58

yeah. Any footage of this? We gotta find it. I

36:02

think you have to have that dunk contest. That's

36:05

the best good times I've ever done. Somebody

36:08

sent me the dunk that won it

36:10

for me. So he did that

36:12

dunk. And then Corey's

36:15

brother came up to me.

36:17

It was like, look, yeah,

36:20

Corey winning this. And I

36:22

never get one of the guys from Chicago sitting by me. Larry

36:25

Aloy and Bibby was there.

36:29

All of a sudden, he

36:31

backed my mind. I know this boy finna try to jump

36:33

from the free throw line. Corey

36:36

did that. Corey did it. So

36:38

now the place he's rough again. So

36:40

now is my time. What year are y'all at this point? This

36:44

is going into 96. Going to Texas again. This is going

36:47

to Texas again. You're going into senior year? Yeah, going to

36:49

Texas again. Yeah. And then they

36:52

both looked at me like, what you gonna

36:54

do? I ain't say anything. So

36:57

like now, all these guys doing is run and start

36:59

everything. They told me to

37:01

ball. Matter of fact, Ray

37:03

Allen was at the camp too. Yeah. He

37:05

was one of the counselors. All the Nike

37:07

guys. So I got

37:10

it. I walked to the

37:13

free throw line. And

37:15

I was just like, I done

37:17

a windmill. I done two of those. I'm

37:20

finna do something I don't think they see. And

37:22

I didn't even run. I said, look, I

37:25

did a windmill 360. When

37:27

I done it, this is when I knew how high

37:29

I was. When you see

37:31

Vince Carter do that, I

37:33

was to a point where I was so high when I turned,

37:37

I was like, my neck and all this like

37:39

this. Looking down in the

37:41

real. Dead hard. And

37:44

then they even let me get to my second,

37:46

third dunk. They just called the dunk. The whole

37:48

gym was crazy. Yeah,

37:50

they even let me get to it. It was real nonsense. He

37:52

was like, you trying to figure out what he was going to

37:55

do? Yeah. He did

37:57

360 and windmill. Just Robert. Yeah.

38:00

Like one triple. That's when I said it was

38:02

just like, Everybody was over. Everybody was like, it's

38:04

over. I ain't do no running start or anything.

38:06

And I think that's what caught them off guard.

38:08

Cause they like, okay, what are you

38:10

finna do? It was just like free throw line, one

38:13

dribble, boom, boom. And this

38:16

what I'm like, when I turned around in there

38:18

at that moment and I realized where my chest

38:20

and my head was, I

38:23

dug the ball so hard out to that.

38:25

And that was, yeah. It was nothing else

38:27

needed to be seen though. Everybody

38:29

was like the whole gym was over. It

38:32

was chaos. It was chaos. Viable

38:36

before, a viral before. We gotta find a tape

38:38

of that dunk, bro. We gotta find a

38:40

tape of that dunk. And that's probably the first time it's been done.

38:42

It's probably on VHS. In the yep, in 95. In

38:45

95. You know, you can transfer VHS

38:47

to VHS now. We gotta find that shit.

38:49

We gonna find it. I

38:51

mean, the growth of Chicago basketball over the years,

38:54

I mean, obviously a lot of pros you hear,

38:56

you know, legend about the summer league runs. And

38:58

obviously when you're coming through on kind of your style, this

39:00

is the same time Jordan and the Bulls are doing their

39:02

thing. So what was that energy

39:05

like in the city, understanding who you were, or

39:07

who they were, and just the basketball energy in

39:09

the city? So what happened was like, people

39:12

would, this was the craziest thing. So

39:14

people would get the times of both games. This

39:17

is people driving from Iowa, Indiana.

39:20

It's like, okay, so the Bulls, they gonna start at seven. I

39:23

think Fields and Garnett don't start, I think, at four.

39:25

So this how they was doing it. Running

39:28

out of barbershops, fighting in the

39:30

chairs, lying outside like,

39:32

man, look, that's

39:34

what they'll do. They'd go watch us. Then they'd

39:36

go right and watch Mike now. So

39:39

that's how it was. They was like, find out where

39:41

we was at. And then they was matching their time

39:43

with time at the Bulls start. And

39:45

then you see sooner though, they'd go right and

39:47

watch Mike. And remember

39:49

what interactions with Mike or playing with him.

39:52

Oh yeah, when he made his second comeback.

39:54

This was the craziest thing, the second comeback.

39:57

So David Boo, who's now working in league

39:59

office. And Shaheen

40:01

was there too. We was playing

40:04

here with the ABA team. And

40:07

he's like, all right, call Joey. He's like,

40:09

hey, how the guys come down the hoops,

40:11

shut the gym down, we gonna play. And

40:15

he just wanted to get some games in.

40:18

And it's like, I'm thinking Dave Booth

40:21

had to go and like, yeah, you go grab

40:24

Mike. I'm a, you know, grab BJ.

40:26

You know what? He's

40:28

like, no, young fella, you

40:30

come guard me. So like now, this is the

40:32

day. Are they walking like they are? At this

40:34

time, he's a split in images. So where you

40:36

are behind MJ, you would think. How old are

40:38

you at this point? I

40:41

think like I said, that was, I was like, maybe like 20. Okay,

40:44

so this is post-post accident.

40:46

Yeah, post accident. And

40:49

this is the thing, like he said, I

40:51

watched him mirror everything he did. So the

40:53

moment in that, now everybody in the gym

40:56

started like watching this matchup. Like my

40:59

first thing, and this is just understanding

41:02

like his moves.

41:04

I said, okay, he can shoot on me with

41:06

a fade away. So that's the first thing I'm

41:08

biting on, right? Realizing

41:12

he still had a live dribble. So

41:14

he gets you right on that elbow. So you

41:16

should come off my feet. He stepped through, one

41:19

dribble, dunk. So

41:22

now you in there, like

41:24

it's a real game. So

41:26

I got to run back down, like,

41:30

you know, I didn't face

41:33

play come down later. She told me a lot back

41:36

door on it. And then next,

41:38

cause you know, you always, in his pickup games,

41:40

he has Shelly Clark, who said the hardest screens

41:42

like Oakley. Mike always had him

41:44

with him. I was like, look man, Shelly,

41:46

I'm with him. I was like, look man,

41:49

Shelly. They do. Just

41:51

pick up. Yeah, just pick up man. You out

41:54

here just low key dude shoulders. That's

41:57

all he did. set

42:00

screens and rebound, get a ball back to

42:03

Mike. I ended up catching the lob on

42:05

the backside. So now he's like,

42:07

okay, come back down. He

42:10

catch the ball and this day he didn't pass for

42:12

the first like 10 plays.

42:15

Yeah. So now

42:18

you can't get caught in all, you just got

42:20

to play. So Joey's like, Hey,

42:22

defend, go over the stuff. You

42:24

know, and I try to get a switch off with David.

42:26

Like, dude, you like six, five and a half. He

42:29

kept on talking about switch back. Like, so I'm

42:31

like, look, I'm just gonna call it. Like, like,

42:33

like, dude. Yeah. I'm like, look. So

42:36

I mean, that was one of the times

42:38

like, you even heard when the

42:40

AI said like the aura of being around,

42:42

you know, MJ, you had to

42:44

be in that moment. It was just like play,

42:48

you know, you hear, you know, it was

42:50

getting runs for us. It was like practicing. But he

42:52

saw a lot of you in him. Yeah. That was

42:54

the biggest thing when I was- A lot of

42:56

him and you, excuse me. When you like compare guys

42:59

to a guy that great, like

43:01

what, what, what, with Kobe and I,

43:04

it was with Cole, the footwork,

43:06

the fade away, the height, the size, the

43:09

athleticism, the moves, the grace and the

43:11

air and changing and

43:13

being able to do certain things. That part I

43:15

had of Mike, Cole had all the

43:17

other stuff for Mike. So it was like, you

43:20

put my vertical in Kobe, you basically got

43:23

that, that man, Jordan. Yeah.

43:26

And that's what we both draw from,

43:28

from him. And, and

43:32

you see these like when people like, and

43:34

you all talk about it probably a lot,

43:36

it's like when you comparing a,

43:39

you know, a basketball player to a guy like

43:41

that, it's more than just

43:43

comparing to just the moves. It's the mentality

43:45

be great every night and

43:47

to be able to dominate and, and

43:50

guys, like even I say, well, like the

43:53

game where you guard Kobe or Jack, you

43:56

guard guys. So you guys don't back down

43:58

from the moment of guarding a great player. player

44:00

you see a lot of guys

44:02

already defeated before even garden, right and

44:04

they knew that they

44:06

knew that smell it. Yeah, you love

44:09

you you done. It's

44:12

so it post post accident

44:14

how long did it take you one to

44:17

feel like yourself again that you ever regain

44:19

all your belts. I

44:21

probably like never felt like

44:23

myself again. And

44:26

you know I was still able to play and

44:28

do some things but I never feel like

44:30

I probably like still is that

44:32

may like a 40 3840 and vertical still

44:34

able to do

44:37

certain things but I knew the

44:39

difference. Jack like you

44:41

knew you could tell the difference. Yeah

44:43

of data just getting back

44:46

to just attacking gas was that mentally tough

44:48

to do or understanding like where you were

44:50

now and there's probably still hopes of getting

44:52

there but was that mentally tough understanding that

44:55

it's not there no more. It

44:57

because it's like when you

44:59

you dominate and you

45:01

got to like physically, you know some

45:04

happen in like certain days like that

45:07

may heal. You

45:09

still like I would say right

45:11

when it all start we have like a high school

45:13

all-star game. A little

45:15

bit after that and I never

45:18

get made public fear says in this all-star game

45:20

played out in Indiana. We

45:22

get a break when the guards to it off the back

45:24

board and we both went up and get when

45:27

I came down. Only

45:29

thing I felt was

45:32

like a

45:35

tear in like my whole

45:37

labor, the ball was taken

45:39

out from Monday like if it was bleeding. It

45:42

was just like so like hot

45:44

like really hot stay down my leg

45:46

and I was just like oh my

45:48

goodness. And again going

45:50

back to the doctor I go

45:52

to matter of fact twice. Even

45:55

for with the halo is that

45:57

one time I woke up. And

46:00

I look on the pillow, and

46:03

the whole pillow is blood everywhere from

46:06

those screws. Because you know that it's

46:08

like, they're exactly screws in a screwdriver.

46:10

They screwing these screws to your skull.

46:14

So that end up getting, both of them

46:16

end up getting loose that night. That's what

46:18

that came from. And then I was just

46:20

like, OK, I'm still dealing with that. And

46:22

then he had to go in there and do pull out. Funny

46:25

that I would do pull out a toolbox.

46:27

You're like, what? So he's in there like,

46:30

and you hear it, and you feel it.

46:32

And when they took that off,

46:36

I never forget. I think when the Grand Hill was in

46:38

the league, and they was honoring

46:41

me that game when the Bulls

46:43

was playing the Pistons. And

46:46

it was another emotional night to

46:49

see all

46:51

those people at that game, and they called

46:53

me out last. And

46:55

at the time, I was upgraded to just

46:58

my neck brace. And

47:02

when they called me out and just signs, and the

47:04

people, I think that

47:07

emotional part of it was unreal. Like,

47:09

I didn't even, I was just like,

47:12

just falling on my knees on the court just to

47:14

see the Pistons players,

47:16

the Bulls, the crowd.

47:19

Because they haven't seen me since

47:21

that accident. Nobody did. And

47:23

then that's when they was able to see me like. The

47:27

first time you, after it happened, everybody

47:30

was devastated. Then he just popped up on

47:32

Instagram. I mean, he popped up somewhere dunking

47:35

with the halo on. That's it. Like,

47:37

hold up. Hold up, bro. We sitting there worrying

47:39

about bro. A

47:42

month out of the inch, and he over there dunking with that? Oh, yeah,

47:44

he going to be all right. He going to be all right. But you

47:46

know, the thing, and I kept little

47:48

things, and you start feeling like stiffness. It

47:50

was a lot of little stuff to like,

47:53

oh, stop making you

47:55

feel older than what you really was

47:57

with those injuries back then. medicine

48:01

was good, but not to the point of the stuff that

48:03

they even do now. You

48:05

know, maybe we had this stuff like they have now.

48:08

Yeah, I probably would have came back probably

48:10

like 100%. And for you,

48:12

since you here, we had, it was, like I

48:14

said, it was me, Kobe, Rip

48:16

Hamilton, Jomana O'Neal, all of us at the

48:18

McDonald's game. We had a moment at

48:21

the McDonald's game for him, bro, because like everybody

48:23

felt fucked up that he wasn't there. Like he

48:26

carried our class all the way doing high school,

48:28

bro. And the fact that he couldn't be there,

48:30

even though we had fun at the game, it

48:32

just wasn't right, bro. You know what

48:34

I'm saying? And I say that for everybody, though.

48:36

They sent me like my McDonald's uniform, and the

48:38

guy slammed it and everything. I'm watching the guys

48:40

on there. And I was like,

48:43

man, look at all the guys out there playing. That

48:45

was, that wasn't me. Jack should

48:47

have got everything. Look,

48:50

I don't know how you having that many turnovers.

48:52

That's all I said. I was up to the

48:54

shot. Shot had a number of

48:56

turnovers at an all-star game. The stuff he was

48:58

hitting Mike with, the stuff he

49:00

was hitting Mike with, it was just unbelievable, bro. He

49:03

was hitting Mike with every move you could

49:05

hit a playground off. Mike got cement shoes

49:07

on though. Mike got cement shoes on though.

49:10

Mike can't move. He was killing it, Mike.

49:14

Mike was the like, you got to

49:16

like watching him. He was like the

49:19

quintessential point guard from like, know

49:22

his spots, know what he's great at. Averaging

49:24

40. Whale. He was averaging 42

49:26

and high school. And I tell him a lot of

49:28

people looking so many at gospel. Guys

49:30

would get how great he was in the league.

49:33

Mike was a killer. Ain't nobody

49:35

gonna talk about him. Guys would get how great

49:37

baby was. Jack, with

49:39

you knowing him and the greatness

49:41

in which he played against the scene, barring

49:44

the accident unfortunately, where do

49:46

you think his career could have went? Well,

49:48

I think we'll be talking about him. I

49:53

have to put him in the same

49:55

category with Kobe because I've seen him as

49:58

teenagers. And I- And in

50:00

our class, he was the best player in

50:02

our class. You know what I'm saying? He

50:05

was the most athletic. He was actually, his game was

50:07

actually way, way more seasoned and grown

50:09

than all our games growing up. You know what

50:11

I mean? So if I had this, if in

50:13

barn injury, nothing happened, he one of the best players

50:15

ever played a game. And

50:17

you said, I mean, that, to me, that you say

50:19

that's what you take is the respect from your peers.

50:23

That's why I like, you know, watching a

50:26

lot of the game and even, you know,

50:29

back then and now it's just like, we

50:32

understood growing up as like the

50:34

mental and the physical side of

50:36

it to be able to play. It

50:39

wasn't just the athletic gifts, because it was

50:41

like, guys was aggressive and

50:43

it was a mentality, right? You know, you

50:45

guys, you know, you had to play that

50:47

way. You know, you had seen a lot

50:49

of great guys get been compared to

50:51

a lot of great players, but then they got to

50:53

that level and they like, what happened

50:55

to that guy? Some guys mentally,

50:58

you know, can't handle that, you

51:00

know? And I think for

51:02

us back then, we loved to play

51:04

and we knew what it was, you

51:06

know? So that's what helped me.

51:08

And I'm sure it helped you guys in terms

51:11

of like, with your careers as well, just like

51:13

you said, just being mentally tough and

51:16

can play ball, but also,

51:18

hey, if you want this smoke,

51:21

like you all can give it to them

51:23

as well. A lot of guys don't think

51:25

like that. I always say to run, it's

51:27

different between showing up to the game with

51:29

that attitude and getting that attitude once

51:31

the jump ball is from the start off. That's the

51:33

difference, you know what I'm saying? We on the way

51:35

to the game with that attitude, we're about to kill

51:37

this motherfucker, you know what I'm saying? Some people wait

51:39

to the ball, they're like, okay, let's go, it's go

51:41

time now. We coming to the game like this. If

51:43

I, look, I would actually like to do this. What

51:47

guys in league now remind you of you

51:49

two? Is it Eddie? No,

51:52

I think the, no. Yeah. See

51:57

the thing is, see the only reason I was.

52:00

I would say Draymond because he did it

52:02

and he's winning doing it. Yeah. You know

52:04

what I'm saying? We won doing it. You know

52:06

what I'm saying? I don't really give too

52:08

much pride with guys who just being a

52:11

problem on the court and they're not winning. Yeah.

52:13

That's covering up for the lack of play. You

52:15

know what I'm saying? The lack of play you

52:17

didn't even do on the court. We were different

52:19

because you were more of an offensive threat than

52:21

I was. But I think kind of like the

52:23

3 and D slash enforcer types are gone. Yeah.

52:25

Like that kind of game. You TJ? Yeah.

52:28

I don't know how you know he really bowed that though.

52:30

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. It's just a vibe

52:32

you can make it look like it. A

52:35

lot of people make it look like it's a different time.

52:37

It's just a different time. The game is not played or

52:40

pushed that way. How

52:42

long, I mean obviously your spirits are high and

52:44

you've been through so much and you have great

52:46

energy. But how long personally did it take for

52:48

you to be OK with seeing these

52:51

guys, although there's no jealousy, but just living

52:53

out their dreams and knowing that god damn,

52:55

like I was supposed to

52:57

be there. I should be there. I think for me, like

52:59

I said, for me, it was just like the

53:02

respect. Like it could like one

53:04

thing is like you can see

53:06

in your own mind of

53:09

what you should have. Another thing

53:11

is when you have you guys

53:15

and all the other great players speak

53:17

about you. It's like it ain't just

53:19

in your own mind you thought you

53:21

should have been there. You see what

53:23

I'm saying? Now you sound crazy. But

53:25

for me, it was a lot easier

53:27

to like focus and continue for

53:30

whatever path was drawn out for me to

53:32

still be a part of something I love to

53:35

do and then just get back and teach these

53:37

young guys. That's the biggest thing I took from

53:39

it because I think even with

53:41

my story in life, it's like it's

53:44

so many different avenues that you can use

53:46

this game and your ups and downs to

53:50

help others and show us like,

53:52

OK, guys, you might have a dream to play

53:54

at this level. All right, but what if? Yeah,

53:57

how do you handle it? Because if

53:59

you go. with just their only mindset, what's

54:02

going to happen is you're going to struggle

54:04

to find some other niche to be successful

54:06

in life. And that's what happened more now.

54:09

And even with some of the guys, like you said,

54:11

that have played in the ball to stop bouncing, they

54:13

don't know how to handle it. They

54:15

don't know how to handle it. What's next?

54:17

Yeah. What's

54:20

up? I'm John Wall. And I'm CJ

54:22

Toledona and we're starting a new podcast

54:24

presented by DraftKings called Point Game. We're

54:26

now joined by three time NBA six

54:28

man of the year, Elite Bucketgetter.

54:30

Let's please welcome Jamal Crawford to Point Game, king

54:32

of the court, one on one tournament. If they

54:34

had it back in your prime, do you think

54:36

he could have took it off? I'm gonna be

54:38

honest with you. I don't think I could have

54:41

took it off, but I think I

54:43

would have shocked a lot of people. I think

54:45

Kobe and everybody in their prime, Kobe win a

54:47

one on one. Yeah. Yeah. Because you got to

54:49

think he's going guard. He don't care about guarding.

54:51

He's going to guard. He's going guard. Like you

54:54

see him in the limber. She's going guard and

54:56

then on top of that, ladies and gentlemen, please

54:58

welcome Sam Cassel to Point Game. I remember you

55:00

came out from trying to, I

55:02

mean, he was in a culture shock. And

55:04

then he's going to withdraw us about winning.

55:06

Remember what I told you? I

55:08

said, I said, Oh, do you think I can get paid and

55:11

go back and play in college? Check

55:14

out Point Game with John Wall and CJ Toledona

55:16

on the I heart radio app, DraftKings YouTube or

55:19

wherever you get your podcasts. There

55:21

are moments in life that are so special

55:23

that you have to capture them and save

55:25

them forever. They are one of those once

55:27

in a lifetime events. Like your baby's first

55:29

steps, the first time you bring your family

55:31

pet home or your daughter's first dance performance.

55:34

With iPhone 15 pro, most storage means you

55:36

don't have to delete anything that could become

55:38

a lasting memory one day. And it's important

55:40

to be able to share these moments with

55:42

family members who weren't there to see them

55:44

in person. Store more, share more. Connect with

55:46

iPhone 15 pro on AT&T. Get iPhone

55:48

15 pro on AT&T and get an

55:51

iPad and Apple watch for 99 cents

55:53

per month each AT&T Connect

55:55

and changes everything. Let the time offer

55:57

requires 0% APR 36 month agreement. on

56:00

each. Well qualified customers, other terms

56:02

and restrictions apply. See att.com/iPhone for

56:05

details. I'm

56:09

Katja Adler, host of The Global Story.

56:12

Over the last 25 years I've covered

56:14

conflicts in the Middle East, political

56:16

and economic crises in Europe, drug

56:18

cartels in Mexico. Now I'm

56:21

covering the stories behind the news all

56:23

over the world in conversation with those

56:25

who break it. Join me Monday

56:27

to Friday to find out what's happening,

56:29

why and what it all means. Follow

56:32

The Global Story from the BBC wherever

56:34

you listen to podcasts. Unlimited

56:40

fun at sportsxino.com. A one-of-a-kind social casino

56:42

and sports book where no deposits are

56:44

needed to play. Experience the thrill of

56:47

winning with real prizes that can be

56:49

deposited directly into your bank account. Hundreds

56:51

of Vegas style casino games, dozens of

56:54

sports with in-play predictions, player props and

56:56

same game parlays. Register for free today

56:58

at sportzino.com for a generous welcome offer.

57:00

Visit sportzino.com. Sportsxino is

57:02

a social casino. No purchase necessary. Void

57:05

war prohibited. Play responsibly. Condition supplies. See

57:07

website for details. Sportsxino. Everything worth the

57:09

prediction. Hey, it's Paris

57:11

Hilton. Check out my new single, I'm

57:13

Free, featuring Rina Sawayama. The

57:20

song can change your life and that's what

57:22

Free by Ultra Nite did for me. My

57:25

first single from my new album, Infinite Icon,

57:27

is a reimagined version of the iconic song.

57:30

Listen to I'm Free on iHeartRadio

57:32

or wherever you stream music and

57:34

visit infiniteicon.com to pre-save my

57:36

album. Sponsored by 11-11 Media.

57:38

So I'm speaking

57:41

to basketball. You started Ronnie

57:43

Fields Elite. Talk about that. I mean, coaching

57:45

is something that we all want to get

57:47

into. All want to get into. Want to

57:49

play basketball, but everybody can't do it. You

57:51

know what I mean? Talk about your

57:53

program here in Chicago. So when I started,

57:56

as soon as I retired from playing, I

57:58

started like watching it for I was

58:00

just watching. Where did you officially retire? Probably

58:02

I was at like 34. Yeah.

58:06

So as soon as I retired, I started. First

58:09

I watched the difference, because that's when

58:11

you start seeing like, okay, I

58:13

remember going to watch some games and I set up

58:15

there with my head like this and I'm like, lucking

58:19

the coach, trying to coach hard. And I

58:21

watched in that game, I seen like, players take

58:23

their uniform, walk out as soon as they got coached

58:25

hard. So for me, it was like, okay, what

58:28

message you use to get

58:30

through to these kids now? So

58:33

for me, I had to like, when I first started

58:35

doing it, it's just when

58:38

you coaching the kid, letting them know you care about them.

58:40

First. That's the first thing because, you know,

58:42

even listening to you, you think you're just going to be

58:44

on them all the time. I mean, like, you know, like

58:47

what I do, especially if you come from a background

58:49

where you got parents that, you know, I'm in

58:51

a city that's like always yelled always, but you

58:53

know, they're going to think, okay, this is what

58:56

is happening again. Right. So it was like,

58:58

for me, realizing the approach of like,

59:00

getting them to know I care about them,

59:02

trust me. And then they

59:05

know when I get on them, I get them hard, I still care about

59:07

them and I want the best for them. And

59:09

that method helped with a

59:11

lot of the kids I coach. So

59:13

when I started doing it, like for

59:15

like, you know, since then, last year,

59:18

some friends of mine asked me to coach actually

59:20

in high school. So

59:24

for me, the challenge was this,

59:27

with AAU ball, and

59:29

you know how it is, you can

59:31

have some of the best players on

59:33

the team, but some of those

59:36

kids in their schools don't

59:38

play as much. You know, high school, you might

59:40

like four or five good players, the rest might

59:42

be football, baseball, whatever. So

59:45

a lot of kids and parents are like, well, I

59:47

see them, they play for me. I'm like, this kid

59:50

can play, he can help your team, whatever in high

59:52

school. I don't know why they don't play.

59:54

So I was getting that a lot. So I said, look,

59:56

I want to see the challenge. I'm

59:59

going to coach high school. So this year, I coached

1:00:01

high school. This your first year? First year. My

1:00:04

first year, I went and coached at

1:00:06

Hope. That's what attacked right now, and

1:00:08

that Tim Groves, though. So the school bought all

1:00:10

of that. And

1:00:13

I brought my mentality with

1:00:16

the balance, but asking

1:00:18

guys to give me all defensively, be

1:00:20

aggressive, play together, trust one

1:00:22

another. My first year

1:00:25

doing that, I took the team downstate to

1:00:28

the Final Four, the first season. And

1:00:32

the thing is, for a lot of the kids that don't

1:00:35

get a chance to play an opportunity, go

1:00:37

play. I'm not, look, I'm not

1:00:39

gonna pull you out for mistakes you make. I'm

1:00:42

gonna pull you out if you're not gonna be playing defense

1:00:45

and getting out there on the other end, though. You're gonna

1:00:47

miss shots. You know, so that

1:00:49

mentality end up helping

1:00:52

a lot of the young kids and not

1:00:54

going into this to be my second season coach in

1:00:56

high school is pretty

1:00:59

much trying to get a lot of Chicago

1:01:01

kids back to teaching that

1:01:03

mentality. Like, you're not gonna all be

1:01:05

scores at the next level. Patrick Bell,

1:01:07

even though when he was down in

1:01:09

school, he scored a lot of points,

1:01:12

but he found his niche and what he can be

1:01:14

great at at the next level. You

1:01:17

know, a lot of these kids, like, guys, some

1:01:19

of you guys ain't six-five, six, six, six, seven,

1:01:21

especially here in Chicago, no more like it was

1:01:24

before. And

1:01:26

a lot of them, just to get them to be

1:01:28

mentally strong to let them know, like, look, a little

1:01:30

bit of adversity at times in life can help you.

1:01:32

Yeah. You know, so. Came around

1:01:34

for it all the time. That's what they're teaching. Exactly.

1:01:36

A.U. landscape right now. What's your take on it? You

1:01:41

remember Coach spoke about this a long time ago. Yeah,

1:01:43

yeah. And now you're

1:01:45

seeing more people talk about this. Too

1:01:47

much basketball. Too much basketball. We

1:01:50

was talking with them about it. But then

1:01:52

even get a chance to play overseas when

1:01:54

people talk about Yo Kitch and Luca.

1:01:58

When people don't realize. They

1:02:01

never changed their style of play for 70 years of

1:02:04

what they do and how they do it. Practice twice

1:02:06

a day, every day, play one game a

1:02:08

week, right? So they get a chance

1:02:10

to work on a lot of things that fundamentally

1:02:13

sound and out, and

1:02:15

like contact, they still allow contact. So

1:02:18

you all even know, like watching, when people

1:02:20

say, well, why did Dream Team beat those

1:02:23

players so bad back then? Because back in

1:02:25

Iowa, guys getting beat up. So it didn't

1:02:27

matter, like Jordan, those guys go

1:02:29

where they used to that. So you

1:02:31

see as it start changing, where

1:02:34

you see guys had to adjust

1:02:36

to their style. We

1:02:38

has changed our style here. Absolutely. To their

1:02:40

game. To their game. All the rules, everything.

1:02:42

Yeah, so I said, that's why you see

1:02:44

the difference. For me, I think

1:02:47

with AAU, a lot of these kids, they got to

1:02:49

understand like the work ethic, the

1:02:52

focus, and

1:02:54

even this for a couple of hours, I think that's what it

1:02:56

is. Getting these kids to want to work

1:02:58

and trust the

1:03:01

process, because a lot of them want instant

1:03:03

results. A lot of it start with parents.

1:03:06

That's the biggest thing. With being in

1:03:08

AAU and trying to develop kids, obviously,

1:03:10

you know, in Chicago, gang violence, a

1:03:12

lot of killing and stuff like that.

1:03:15

You being from Chicago, you've seen it firsthand. How

1:03:19

tough is it for you to actually be

1:03:21

still here in Chicago, trying

1:03:25

to help these kids, but still see so much

1:03:27

of the nonsense going every day in your neighborhoods

1:03:29

and all around Chicago? Because even though some of

1:03:31

these kids might not be in it, they still

1:03:33

affected by it because they still have to worry

1:03:35

about where they go, how they dictate their lives.

1:03:37

You know what I'm saying? Be home at a

1:03:39

certain place you don't know what you can trust.

1:03:42

And life shouldn't be that way. No. So I

1:03:44

know it's kind of hard for you with trying

1:03:46

to teach these guys, but they still got to

1:03:48

go out and deal with real life. That's

1:03:50

one of the biggest things I said was like, when

1:03:53

guys are coming in and they may do a cap or

1:03:56

a game. basketball

1:04:00

game where guys come in and say, there's

1:04:02

not one thing that people gotta understand, even though

1:04:04

when you do something for that moment in time,

1:04:08

once that's over, those kids gotta go back to

1:04:11

the same environment they already in. Yes, sir. So

1:04:13

it's like, it's like practice.

1:04:16

You only will get better if

1:04:18

you continue to keep doing something. If

1:04:21

kids only see good influencers one time

1:04:23

every year, they

1:04:26

not gonna get better. They gonna get overwhelmed by

1:04:28

the bull. Yeah, so as I think the

1:04:30

problem here, it has a lot to do with

1:04:34

adults and families. It's

1:04:36

like a trigger now,

1:04:38

an effect of your

1:04:40

dad game bang, his

1:04:42

dad game bang. So

1:04:44

it's, and then the

1:04:46

moms get caught up in this situation. So now

1:04:49

you have these kids and these

1:04:52

guys not around to help

1:04:54

guide them. And

1:04:56

then they start forming this like this. If

1:04:59

you're not getting the love and support at home, how

1:05:02

kids see it at a young age, my

1:05:04

boys on the street giving me love. So

1:05:06

they willing to run and do whatever

1:05:09

they doing. Because he said, oh,

1:05:11

that's my dog. Now realizing they

1:05:14

got you hidden right for the

1:05:16

cemetery. Yeah. Lying, leading the blind.

1:05:19

And that's what's happened the most is like, what

1:05:21

we getting the real love at? Oh,

1:05:23

man. Social media. Yeah, that's one

1:05:26

of the biggest effect. And it

1:05:28

really starts with like parents.

1:05:31

And that's one of the things that they are going

1:05:33

to conference call for today

1:05:35

for Chicago sports

1:05:38

to probably try to put a program together

1:05:41

for a lot of kids, because this will happens. You

1:05:43

know how it is, certain kids that

1:05:46

may want to go another way, but

1:05:48

they're around those guys, they're afraid to

1:05:50

go because how they gonna view them.

1:05:52

Right. You have more of that. So

1:05:54

what they do, oh mom at

1:05:57

home, I'm working. Dad ain't around. So

1:05:59

mom. I'm knowing, okay, I gotta work. I gotta do all

1:06:01

these things. So they hanging out

1:06:03

with their friends, when they friends come

1:06:06

and do whatever they doing, cause he

1:06:08

said, oh, that's my dog. Now realizing

1:06:10

cemetery. Yeah. Lying, leading the blind.

1:06:12

And that's what's happened the most is like, what

1:06:15

we getting the real love at? Oh

1:06:17

man. Social media. Yeah. That's

1:06:19

one of the biggest effect. And

1:06:22

it really starts with like parents.

1:06:24

And that's one of the things that they are going

1:06:26

to conference call for today

1:06:28

for Chicago sports,

1:06:31

to probably try to put a program together

1:06:34

for a lot of kids. Cause this will happen. You

1:06:37

know, it is certain kids that may want

1:06:39

to go another way, but they're around those

1:06:41

guys. They're afraid to go. Cause how are

1:06:44

they going to view them? Right. You

1:06:46

have more of that. So what they do, oh

1:06:50

mom at home, I'm working. Dad ain't

1:06:52

around. So mom knowing, okay, I gotta

1:06:54

work. I gotta do all these things. So

1:06:56

they hanging out with their friends when they friends come over. Right.

1:06:59

So now you start having all

1:07:02

that. And then in Chicago, especially

1:07:05

a lot of project here is that, you

1:07:07

know, like what good times was filmed and

1:07:09

all this, a lot of those places closed

1:07:11

down. So what you start doing is

1:07:14

oppositions. You start pushing them all to

1:07:16

the same area. Yeah. And

1:07:19

that was another problem, you

1:07:22

know? And I think, you know, a lot

1:07:24

of the heads, like I know it so

1:07:26

well, you know, KG can tell

1:07:28

you all this as well. A

1:07:30

lot of those guys, even though they did what they

1:07:32

did, but they kept order and

1:07:35

no disrespect for the older people

1:07:38

and doing the stuff they doing. But

1:07:41

it got worse when

1:07:43

they took a lot of those guys away. And

1:07:46

that's why you see kids 12, 12 years old, trying

1:07:52

to steal cars, car jacket, 13. And

1:07:57

for here it's going to take a lot of people

1:07:59

to be consistently. with a lot of

1:08:01

these kids, even though my little brother right now, he

1:08:03

does a lot of that around the country

1:08:06

where he go and all

1:08:08

these kids living with their grandma, all

1:08:10

these, he put groups together

1:08:12

to help him and he fly all

1:08:14

over to do it for this

1:08:16

big non-for-profit program. So.

1:08:19

Oh, that's fine. Where are

1:08:21

you with the game of life personally right now? I

1:08:25

mean, in a good space, because it's like- I can tell,

1:08:27

I know you two, where I can tell. In

1:08:29

a good space because of what I get to do with

1:08:31

these young guys and take

1:08:34

off the experience, like I say, from learning, growing

1:08:38

up from a

1:08:40

lot of the great players that I

1:08:43

got a chance to, you know, that mentored

1:08:45

me to give back to these young guys.

1:08:47

And then when you watch it and

1:08:49

you teach it and the player

1:08:52

aspect like comes out of you. Like

1:08:54

he'll tell you, and I get on him

1:08:56

all the time, let me let

1:08:59

these two guys tell you when we done. It's

1:09:01

getting him to be ready from the start of the game. You

1:09:04

know, when he get going, when I say, oh, this is what you

1:09:06

want to do today, you want to come out

1:09:08

of style like this, get your buck

1:09:10

going, Danny stop playing. I tell

1:09:13

our kids, I've coached my twins since they were eight,

1:09:15

but the game starts when he's in layup lines. It

1:09:17

starts while you're stretching, watching the game before, but as

1:09:19

soon as you step on the court for layups, the

1:09:21

game starts. Yes. That's the biggest thing.

1:09:24

You come some of these games, like

1:09:26

game started at like seven. They can

1:09:28

walk in at 6.52. You

1:09:30

got to give two hours. We got to be paying two hours.

1:09:33

Can't turn it on. The best players can't turn it on.

1:09:36

But kids don't play, this thing, they

1:09:38

not playing to basketball nowadays,

1:09:41

to play at the college level, the next level. They think

1:09:43

they are. They

1:09:45

playing like it was just like recess and

1:09:47

they go on to play pickleball. They walk

1:09:50

in there. It's not like, okay, how

1:09:52

do I get here to be prepared and be

1:09:55

ready and get some out of it? Or just thinking, I know my

1:09:57

parents ain't got no money to send me to college. So this is

1:09:59

the way to. get there. That's key.

1:10:01

That's different. We give flowers to a lot of

1:10:03

people on our show like

1:10:06

Shay Cotton and all that and on this

1:10:08

platform especially guys like y'all who deserved

1:10:13

and still you know we give you your flowers now

1:10:15

today but you know you deserve to be at the

1:10:17

top and deserve your flowers on the basketball side. It's

1:10:22

a lot of people that go

1:10:24

through different things you know what I'm saying and may

1:10:26

have the same experience as you know

1:10:29

what I mean and they may not ever

1:10:31

get their flowers. What words of

1:10:33

advice would you give them? I tell people

1:10:35

every day you know you wake up you

1:10:37

look at your purpose and it comes in

1:10:39

different ways but the number

1:10:41

one thing like diversity in life for

1:10:44

people is when you hit it.

1:10:46

It's now which direction you want to go with

1:10:48

it. Yeah. As you're going to take it in

1:10:50

a positive way to learn to get better and

1:10:52

then the doors will open once you understand what

1:10:55

it took place or you look at it okay

1:10:58

well I get over it

1:11:00

but still start doing the same thing

1:11:02

you did before and then you're like

1:11:04

all right why things ain't getting better

1:11:06

turn around because when you got the

1:11:08

opportunity to be able to make

1:11:11

a change in the difference moving forward you

1:11:13

chose not to have your mind move that

1:11:15

way. Like it's easy for your mind

1:11:17

to go the other way with all the stuff that's

1:11:19

going on. That's

1:11:21

the easiest thing I still tell people. The easiest thing

1:11:23

is just quit and give up. That take no effort.

1:11:26

Yeah they don't take no effort. You see what I'm

1:11:28

saying and if you're around a lot of people that

1:11:31

don't think like that and

1:11:33

to push you and say look focus and

1:11:36

understand you have a purpose you're

1:11:38

gonna stay in that place and then

1:11:40

you don't wonder why it's like okay

1:11:42

what's going on be thankful for the

1:11:44

opportunity that you get every each and

1:11:46

every day moving forward in life and

1:11:49

embrace it all right because positive

1:11:52

mind caring about

1:11:54

others in life it

1:11:56

shows who you are The

1:12:01

thing about like this, you can like

1:12:04

want to be in another situation, but

1:12:07

that situation might not be for you. You

1:12:10

know, so for me, I always tell people

1:12:12

like, be thankful each and

1:12:14

every day for the people

1:12:18

that comes around in your life that want to help,

1:12:21

encourage, sponsor,

1:12:25

because like that just gives you hope that

1:12:27

you're attracting good people. Right?

1:12:29

You know, everyone had a moment of

1:12:32

where, you know,

1:12:35

you have some letdowns,

1:12:37

right? But you can't let

1:12:39

that dictate you where it's like, always

1:12:41

when I speak a lot to

1:12:44

the kids, I try to relate life to

1:12:46

the game. Yeah. Of like,

1:12:48

you know, ideas first quarter, first half, you

1:12:51

ain't going right. You go on to have

1:12:53

time, you make adjustments, mentally come out, you

1:12:55

see how things change. Right. Every

1:12:58

day in life, you might have a bad day, a

1:13:00

bad week. We call it in

1:13:02

basketball, we call it slumps. Right. And

1:13:04

you got to shoot your way out of it.

1:13:07

All right. And I think it's the same thing

1:13:09

with basketball and

1:13:12

life. You have to be one

1:13:14

of those people like, man, it's been a rough

1:13:16

week. Now, do

1:13:18

I just think the rest of my life going to go that way?

1:13:21

Or do I just think it's a slump that I

1:13:23

just got to get out of? Don't worry, forever. Yeah.

1:13:26

Yeah. So, Aaron, NBA, any players

1:13:28

out there remind you of yourself? You

1:13:31

know, like the mentality, you know,

1:13:33

one of my favorite

1:13:35

players is Westbrook. You

1:13:40

know, Donovan Mitchell a little bit,

1:13:43

you know, like watching him. You

1:13:47

know, for me, not

1:13:50

so much just the athletic ability, it's more

1:13:52

so the mentality. Yeah. You

1:13:54

know, and I think even at times like, you

1:13:57

know, with Russ, with the Lakers, I just

1:13:59

I just didn't like how

1:14:01

they did it. I used him. Because like now,

1:14:04

when you watch Russ on the court, and

1:14:06

I watched him in his last playoff, layups

1:14:09

and drives he don't ever miss, he

1:14:11

didn't look like himself. He done all

1:14:13

the great things, take a back

1:14:15

seat, wanna win. And

1:14:18

it's like, you watch him

1:14:20

mature throughout

1:14:24

being a guy that I have a triple double leading

1:14:26

team to do all these things, but

1:14:28

still being able to play, but

1:14:30

people point out more of what he

1:14:32

can't do. It's other more the things

1:14:34

that he can do and he have

1:14:37

done. And you even watching

1:14:39

now with the role on the Clippers, it's kinda like,

1:14:41

bothers me a little bit because

1:14:43

of how they treat him

1:14:45

like he's not

1:14:47

been one of those guys. Right, like here,

1:14:49

villain. Yeah, so, you know,

1:14:52

watching him always, you know, want

1:14:54

his success to continue and

1:14:57

still be able to hopefully maybe just

1:15:00

get a chance to get to the

1:15:02

finals. Yeah, he deserve it. Just

1:15:05

your answer, you don't have to explain nothing. Best player in

1:15:07

the world right now. Man.

1:15:14

I'ma... He

1:15:16

don't kill me. I

1:15:19

know you for the sake too. Man. I

1:15:23

think... I

1:15:29

gotta go with like, Luca. I

1:15:32

was there, you got to man. Because like,

1:15:36

even though Yoke is just done with

1:15:40

a guy like Jamal Murray, people

1:15:43

don't understand Luca Dumbles

1:15:45

was like that. I

1:15:47

was at the first time they played against the Clippers

1:15:50

in the playoff, how he just destroyed

1:15:53

them with two

1:15:56

net. Well, bro, see, this is what I want to say

1:15:58

because like, I like PG. and

1:16:00

I like Hawaii, but I

1:16:02

know that you two wouldn't have never let that

1:16:04

happen. Yeah. Come

1:16:06

on, man. Yeah. Like, you

1:16:09

can't be elite defenders, and

1:16:11

the guy that's not is fast. I

1:16:14

was athletic. And still putting

1:16:16

up 40s and 30 threes

1:16:18

and triple doubles. Nasty. That's

1:16:21

not him. Every Sunday. Every

1:16:23

night. Top three players you

1:16:25

think will be the face of the league in

1:16:27

the next five to 10 years. Three guys. Think

1:16:32

you mentioned one, Luca. Luca, definitely.

1:16:36

And get back in the lab

1:16:38

a little bit. You know, work

1:16:40

on his mid-range moves, his footwork, a little

1:16:42

bit more. I think he can be amazing.

1:16:46

And like,

1:16:49

I like Tatum as well. But

1:16:53

right now, you're going to go with those

1:16:55

two guys could be at a Luca.

1:16:59

You know, you're going

1:17:01

to put him in there because of what he was able

1:17:03

to do. And now this is the game. Look,

1:17:07

I love Shay Gilson. Listen, man. Dad,

1:17:11

Shay is a man. Listen.

1:17:13

He's a bucket. On that young team to do

1:17:16

what he was able to do, had

1:17:18

a number one scene. And then you

1:17:20

got Jarr coming back, man. You

1:17:24

got so many players. And that's why I say the

1:17:26

league is in a good space with

1:17:28

a lot of talent. I

1:17:31

just think they maybe put

1:17:33

a little bit more defense

1:17:35

back into the game. Yes. Hopefully. Hopefully.

1:17:37

It'll help. Yeah. Quick hitters. First thing

1:17:39

to come to mind, let us know.

1:17:42

Rankum, MJ,

1:17:44

Kobe, Bron. Oh,

1:17:47

MJ, Kobe, Bron. Bro, we named it

1:17:49

on 96. That's how we do

1:17:51

it. We got the same shit. That's why we

1:17:53

said it. Never change. Where

1:17:56

we at? OK, top three high school teams ever.

1:18:00

Woof! It's a lot. Man,

1:18:02

listen, that's hard. You got

1:18:04

like, I think it was, she

1:18:07

and them team was good. Simon

1:18:09

Gratz. Simon Gratz. We

1:18:14

was all right. Who

1:18:17

else? Who else was dominant? The

1:18:20

church. Yeah. Riverside Church.

1:18:22

Yeah. You team it? Yeah. Yeah.

1:18:26

Some might say. Yeah, but these all say. Some might

1:18:28

say, but they all play together. Yeah,

1:18:31

you right. That's AU. That's AU. Underrated

1:18:33

food spot. No, Marta Day. Oh

1:18:35

yeah. Marta Day was always big. Day was good too.

1:18:38

Shane L? Shane L. Yeah, Michael's good

1:18:40

too. Yeah, they was good. We'd be going, yeah, it

1:18:42

was a lot of stuff. We'd

1:18:45

say, you killed me back. Shit, they

1:18:47

ain't saying nothing to school you, or the

1:18:49

prep school you went to. Oh, kill. Yeah,

1:18:51

we even go there. Man, they ain't done

1:18:54

this conversation. All the players they had, they

1:18:57

ain't fifth. Shit told. You

1:19:00

gonna kill them. It's just like NBA school.

1:19:02

Yeah, for real. Underrated

1:19:04

food spot in Chicago. Oh

1:19:07

man, we can... No, he like to

1:19:09

eat too. Yeah. He stupid.

1:19:12

You got it. He do, man. Oh, like, let me see.

1:19:15

You got it. We got so many new spots,

1:19:17

man, but how many pieces of

1:19:19

pie y'all can try out here? Y'all try

1:19:21

Luminaides? They don't cut their pizza here? We

1:19:23

ordered a piece, they don't cut it. I

1:19:25

don't know, that one Luminaides. Real Chicago pizza,

1:19:27

where would we get it from? Oh, Luminaides

1:19:29

deep dish. Luminaides deep dish. That's just very

1:19:32

scary. We gotta remember that next time we

1:19:34

come, man. Yes. Luminaides deep dish.

1:19:36

I'm gonna have it for y'all. Okay, yeah, yeah.

1:19:39

One song to play over

1:19:41

your highlights. Got

1:19:44

a highlight tape, somebody give you a highlight tape. This your

1:19:46

highlight tape, but I need a song for it. Man,

1:19:49

look, for a game, you know, I

1:19:51

used to listen to a lot of Whitney Houston,

1:19:53

man. Yeah, still do. A lot of Whitney Houston,

1:19:56

yeah. Still do. The bacon.

1:19:58

Those two. why you fucking people up.

1:20:01

Yeah. Yeah. Take it

1:20:03

out. Take it out. Take it out. Take

1:20:05

it out. Yeah. Yeah.

1:20:08

Yeah. Yeah. Childhood

1:20:10

Crush. Oh,

1:20:13

man. He was bigger than life in high school, so

1:20:15

he probably had him in real life. Holly

1:20:18

big? Ooh. Holly,

1:20:20

yes. And go wrong there. One

1:20:24

album you can listen to on repeat,

1:20:26

no skips. Oh,

1:20:29

man. Probably

1:20:33

Whitney. The

1:20:36

one she did, like

1:20:39

the Bodyguard. Yeah. Yeah.

1:20:41

A special track in that one. Yeah, that

1:20:43

one and the one

1:20:46

We Are The Children of Our Future. Oh, yeah,

1:20:48

yeah. Yeah. I believe the children

1:20:50

of our future. Yeah. They made me sing that

1:20:52

in the Grammar Scoop. Yeah, everybody had to sing

1:20:54

that. That's

1:20:57

when I put you on the spot again. Top

1:20:59

five Hoopers from Chicago. From Chicago.

1:21:01

That's hard. I

1:21:03

mean, you got Zeke, you got Derek,

1:21:05

you got one

1:21:08

of the best players, probably people didn't ever get a chance

1:21:10

to see me. Rest in peace. Ben Wilson. Yeah.

1:21:13

So he was a little bit, maybe a couple years older than you?

1:21:15

Yeah, he was. Yeah. Yeah.

1:21:18

Him, you know, Juwan, you know,

1:21:21

myself, Tim Ottaway, Navy

1:21:25

Rose, Kendall,

1:21:28

Nick Anderson. I mean, so

1:21:30

many guys, man, you know,

1:21:32

you want to leave out. To

1:21:34

me, like probably the

1:21:37

best one to me, you

1:21:41

got to be like Zeke. Zeke, yeah.

1:21:43

Yeah. You know, just what he was able to say.

1:21:45

Wasn't who's dream shot here in Chicago? Who? Who

1:21:47

dreams? Yeah. Were

1:21:49

those two guys actually good? They were solid

1:21:51

players. They were solid players. Yeah, yeah. They

1:21:53

were solid players. They were solid players. Yeah,

1:21:55

they were solid players. Yeah, they were solid

1:21:57

players. They were solid players. That's what they

1:22:00

were doing. They were just. play for Pete

1:22:02

where Isaiah went. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

1:22:04

Yeah. Yeah. I remember

1:22:06

this. Yeah. I remember that. I remember that.

1:22:08

Yeah. I remember that. Yeah. What

1:22:11

the... First thing you do in the morning, last thing you throw to sleep. Oh

1:22:13

man. First thing I get more than I just, I like

1:22:15

more training and then preparing what

1:22:17

I got to do as a, as a

1:22:19

coach for that day. And

1:22:22

then when I go to bed, it's a project

1:22:24

sit there and watch like a movie

1:22:26

and think about what's the plan for

1:22:29

the next day. If

1:22:32

you could see one guest on all our show,

1:22:34

who would it be? But. But

1:22:37

you have to help us get

1:22:39

your answer on the show. Who?

1:22:44

They on the hat. They on the hat.

1:22:46

So everybody man. A lot of people in

1:22:48

Chicago, we hat. Who y'all? You

1:22:51

said some names. Y'all

1:22:54

had Zeke on. Had Zeke. Twon. D-Roles.

1:22:58

Nope. We

1:23:01

ain't had the kid. We haven't had the kid. We haven't

1:23:03

had the kid. We haven't had

1:23:05

the kid. I know you got to connect to his brother or

1:23:07

somebody. They probably seen that.

1:23:10

They're probably here to come home. Yeah.

1:23:12

Yeah. Yeah. He'll hear us every time

1:23:14

I see him and his brother, they super solid. So we can't wait

1:23:16

to get them home. Yeah. Alrighty man. We

1:23:18

appreciate you. I've been waiting for this episode. Yeah, man.

1:23:21

Like I said, you probably the most mentioned, you went

1:23:23

a homeboy term. Probably

1:23:25

the two most mentioned people on

1:23:27

this show, man. So it was an honor to finally sit down

1:23:29

and sit with you. But just feeling

1:23:32

your energy and your spirit, considering all you went

1:23:34

through and the way you pour back into this

1:23:36

next generation, man. We really want to commend you

1:23:38

for that, man. So God bless and keep up

1:23:40

your work, bro. We appreciate you, man. Love a

1:23:42

life, man. Love a life, man. That's a wrap.

1:23:44

That's a wrap. That's a wrap. Nah,

1:23:46

it's good we finally got you, man. That's a

1:23:48

wrap, man. The one and only Ronnie Fields. You

1:23:50

can catch this on All The Smoke Productions YouTube

1:23:52

and the DraftKings Network. See y'all next

1:23:54

week. Hey,

1:23:57

it's Paris Hilton. Check out my new

1:23:59

single, I'm Free. featuring Rina Sawayama. ♪

1:24:01

I'm free to do what I wanna

1:24:03

do ♪ A

1:24:07

song can change your life, and that's what

1:24:09

Free by Ultra Nate did for me. My

1:24:11

first single from my new album, Infinite Icon,

1:24:13

is a re-imagined version of the iconic song.

1:24:16

Listen to I'm Free on iHeartRadio or

1:24:18

wherever you stream music, and

1:24:20

visit infiniteicon.com to pre-save my

1:24:22

album. Sponsored by 11.11 Media. Mo-Do.us

1:24:59

Visit mo-do.us for the best free

1:25:01

play social casino experience wherever you are.

1:25:03

Mo-Do offers a huge selection of Vegas

1:25:06

style games with free spins, exciting promotions,

1:25:08

and always generous jackpots. You can waste

1:25:10

your time with the others or you

1:25:13

can win at Mo-Do. Register today at

1:25:15

mo-do.us for your free welcome bonus. Mo-Do

1:25:17

is a social casino, no purchase necessary void where

1:25:20

prohibited play responsibly conditions apply. See website for details.

1:25:22

Mo-Do.us The

1:25:26

Irish Echo, the only newspaper serving Irish

1:25:28

Americans from coast to coast, is now

1:25:31

at your fingertips. We've been the voice

1:25:33

of Irish America since.