Club Shay Shay - Chris Bosh

Episode Date: October 12, 2020

Episode 4 of Club Shay Shay features two-time NBA Champion, 11-Time All Star and Olympic Gold Medal winner Chris Bosh.  In an insightful and wide-ranging conversation, Shannon and Chris discuss Chris pursuing a career in music after his retirement from the NBA, producing a track for Gucci Mane, his musical influences, the relationship between hip-hop and the NBA, and much more. Chris also revisits his illustrious basketball career: playing against Kendrick Perkins in high school, attending Georgia Tech under Paul Hewitt, being drafted in the same ’03 class as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade, becoming an All Star in Toronto, forming the Big 3 and winning two Finals in Miami. He also discusses his 2008 Olympics run & defending against the Lakers in Kobe’s infamous 81-point game. No aspect of Chris’s storied basketball career and burgeoning musical career is left untouched in this captivating and compelling interview.#DoSomethinB4TwoSomethin & Follow Club Shay Shay:                                                                 https://www.instagram.com/clubshayshayhttps://twitter.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.facebook.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.youtube.com/c/clubshayshay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. New from Embedded. Who gets to compete as a woman? This question came up in ugly form at the Paris Olympics.

But it's not new. If she runs like a man and talks like a man, is she a man? not new. If she runs like a man and talks like a man, is she a man? Hear about the long history of sex testing women athletes on Tested, a new series from CBC and NPR's Embedded podcast. Listen to all episodes on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, welcome to another edition of Club Che Che. I am your host, Shannon Sharp, also the proprietor of Club Che Che. The guy that stops by the bar today to have a drink with me is two-time NBA champion, 11-time All-Star, and Mr. Basketball in the state of Texas in 2002, Chris Bosh. All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price.

Want a slice, got the roll of dice. That's why all my life I've been grinding all my life. All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price. Want a slice, got the roll of dice. That's why all my life I've been grinding all my life. Chris, how you doing today, bro? I'm good, man. That's a good one. You hit me with a throwback on that one. Well, we're going to take off in a different direction.

Normally, when I talk to athletes, we start talking about their athletic career. But we're going to talk about your music career that you started after you finished with the NBA. You're producing music. What made you go into music after your NBA career well I mean first off like I kind of got it felt like I got thrown out of a car going 200 miles an hour right um I was playing basketball I felt that I was gonna get that second wind in my prime into my twilight years like uh most of your heroes like you see uh time and time again every year um it didn't happen and i just kind of found myself

trying to figure out you know like what am i gonna do i never really thought about that it was always basketball a lot of people say and then it was funny because everybody was like oh Chris you're smart you you you know stuff and you'll be fine and it's like I don't know what I want to do you guys have it mistaken to in order to even do what I'm doing I had to give my whole life to this thing so there was never anything else you know you make the grades so you can play basketball you know so I just kind of, I found myself trying to search for something and man, next thing I knew I had a guitar in my hand. I'm making new friends, talking about different things and, and aspiring to do different things. And, and,

and, you know, it was just all out of passion, all out of love. So that's how I got there. And, you know, it was just all out of passion, all out of love. So that's how I got there. And I'm starting meeting some great people along the way. So you're on the, you're producing, so you're producing music, you're writing music. Are you going to actually do, are you going to actually be in front of the microphone? No, sir. No, sir. You know, I leave that to the pros. I just enjoy the collaborative effort that it takes. Really like, you know, seeing songwriting. I was blessed to see songwriting at the professional level. I was pretty much like the kid going to a pro game and seeing a pro game get played.

And not only did I get to see it, but they're like, hey, yo, kid, have a shot. And not only did I get to see it, but they're like, hey, yo, kid, have a shot. You know, and I ended up getting a placement really quick with Gucci, Gucci Mane and a good friend of mine, Rico Love. And it just happened, you know, and I said, man, if I if I don't continue going down this path, I'm a fool. So that was that was like four years ago. So I've been, you know, steady working, putting that time into something else. You mentioned Gucci Mane, and you did a song with him in 2017, right? You did a collab or something with him. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, so Rico and I wrote a song together.

And, you know, you write music all the time. You just kind of get into the flow. It's almost like practice. I equate everything to basketball now you know so it's a metaphor for me so it's like all right I'm going to the gym okay I'm gonna hit the weights okay let's go get some shots up all right let's you know just making sure you get the work in if you want to accomplish your goals and um that just came through uh Rico's a good friend of mine. We're just hanging out. I play music for him. He writes to it. And it ended up getting on Gucci's

album, Mr. Davis, back in 2018, early 2018. And so that was kind of the hook for me, you know, just to be like, all right, that's that thing. You know, let's go that way regardless of, you know, it's the feeling. It's knowing the spirit is there and following that, you know. So have you always been musically inclined? I'd like to say so. My family is a very musical family. I have cousins that are classically trained. My father can sing. We always had to like join choir back in the day at church and stuff like that, you know. So it was more so just something you're always around. And I always enjoy music.

I have friends like I continuously was trying to make beats like when i was in high school then i think when i was in the league i started trying to like early early i started trying to learn to play the piano it was these incomplete you know this other world that keeps calling you that you never go to um and yeah because when you're not you're good at basketball so you can sit that down for a month or two pick right back up and be good at it but when you're not good at something you have to fully devote all of your time all of your energy your effort in order to become good at it so if you're trying to learn to play the piano and you're doing it in four or five month increments

that's not gonna work not gonna work and you have to get over yourself being bad. I mean, you know, it's just a part of the process. That's been one of the things that I've really learned because people will, you know, I only know that because I started playing, you know, my music for people and not that it was bad, but they were looking at me like, oh, I thought it was going to I thought it was just gonna be okay you all right and I said okay so usually okay you have to continue to you know just like anything home work on your craft hone your craft just keep going keep doing stuff and and it'll turn man I mean that's just how I believe how hard was it because like you said you you know

you have to get over the fact that you're not good at it but you're always good at basketball so it basically so everything that you've really ever done you've been really good at it and so now here you are starting from the bottom and you know you're not one of these top upper echelon songwriters or producers and you're basically starting from scratch yeah i mean it's it's a crazy thing shannon i mean it's like you know you feel immortal for so long yes you know what i mean yes i mean boy so long you just and then all of a sudden like all right cool you taking the kids to school you you packing lunches you know you you have to pick up new skills i'm in the house like a few years ago when i was first retired i had to learn how to fix everything i didn't know that just goes into being a dad like hey dad fix it

you know and i'm just like you i got brought back into my skin so quickly, you know, so you have to go back to the work that that's the thing. That's the only thing that I remember, regardless of what happened in the gym all the time. So if I want to be good at something or if I want something to happen, you got to put your time in. Yeah, but when I think of athletes, I think of athletes, let's just say a basketball, in your case, a basketball player. Okay, he's going to stay close to the game. He's either one of, he wants to be a scout.

He wants to be a player personnel. He wants to be a general manager. He wants to be a coach. He wants to be a player personnel. He wants to be a general manager. He wants to be a coach. He wants to own the team. You went totally away from basketball. This is as far as you can get from basketball as you possibly can imagine. Yeah, it is. And, you know, I know basketball will be there.

But that kind of the music, that's kind of what drew me towards it because it was so crazy. And like I say, it was just a feel, man. I can't even describe it. It's like, yeah, I should be doing that. And, and, and I told myself I was going to follow my heart. So, you know, to be honest with you, that's kind of what gave it, you know, more allure because the game is there. I still watch every game. I watch the, gave it, you know, more allure because the game is there. I still watch every game. I watch, I know the salary cap, the CBA.

I know the game. I watch the guys, you know. But this is just, it offered me a way to get in touch, you know, more with myself and kind of find out other things that I like. I know we hooped. I mean, whoa, man, we did it. My dad, he took me to every practice practice hours and hours and hours of it, you know? And it will continue one day, but you know, right now,

I just want to really, really pursue this endeavor. And it's, it's quite, it's, it's a lot, man. You, you have to learn a lot. It's more than just creatively doing things. have to as you know you know how it is when you know you're taking those meeting meetings with the accountants and the agents and the managers and the lawyers all those things uh fall into place too what is it about basketball players probably more so than any other athlete in music you get dame you get dame lillard dame dollar you get iman shumpert you get shat you get aaron gordon you get metal world peace even alan iverson tried to do something with the rap colby tried to rest his soul what is it about basketball players in the music industry

man you know that's a really good question i think i think for one there's a lot of idle time so when you're going on those bus rides there's a lot of bus rides there's a lot of idle time. So when you're going on those bus rides, there's a lot of bus rides. It's a lot of practice. It's a lot of downtime with your teammates. If you're out of town for a road trip, you know, if you're in summer league, you're going to be with your boys

and there's going to be a hotel room and it's the summer and you guys are hanging out. And I mean, rap was just so influential. I mean, I remember from the minute I was listening to music, rap was everywhere, you know, so it had a huge influence on on our life. And like, to be honest with you, you don't see you didn't see many black men at that time successful and much else, you know. So it's like's like you know unfortunately

in those times which is much better now but in those times yeah you I mean they write rhymes about it but you know you either play basketball or you were a musician a rapper or something that people you know wanted to aspire to and to be quite frank it was cool man I mean the people that you wanted to be like Tupac, everybody wanted to be Tupac. And if you look at it, and also the flip side, you look at the rappers, you look at the entertainers, you look at J. Cole, you look at 2 Chainz,

you look at The Game, Nelly, you look at all these guys and they, you know, they love football. But there's something about the lure of basketball that attracts them and vice versa. Yeah, I think football, football is like one of those things you find out pretty quick if you can or can't do it. You know what I mean? Like you find out real quick, man. Basketball, you know, you can talk noise. You can sit up there. You can shoot at the park. You can play money if you want to.

You know, you have some sort of connection with it and it's you know it's a it's a little closer you know even um when we were in high school and in college the guys would come to the games you know coming to the games were a good time and and it kind of really starts that connection and and you know a lot of people play ball like i know jay cole and and two chains for sure they play uh uh you know at a high level of basketball so they they understand and it's a good feeling you know um you know hooping you do that with your friends those are summer days it's a lot of memories uh that go with that and master p almost almost made a basketball master p man p man, P, man, you know, the legend.

Guys were always playing and it's just ingrained so deep into the culture, you know, that people were doing that really before. I mean, I know my dad, we would go with friends and, you know, play and pick up the same guys or musicians or something like that. The same dudes go around. We all, if you play ball, go play. Pick up at the park, you know, you go, if you want ball go play pick up uh uh at the park you know you're gonna you if you want to find a game you'll find a game right and play with your friends you

know it's just one of those social things too so who are some of your obviously you if you're doing rap so who are some of your favorite some of your favorite artists some of your favorite rappers are are you not necessarily are you writing for some of not just rap? Are you writing for R&B? Are you writing for other genres? Oh, yeah. We do it all. We do it all. You know, we don't discriminate. OK. I mean, you know, music is music. I grew up on. I mean, even, you know, country music. I love country music. I love pop music, R&B, you know. I love country music. I love pop music, R&B, you know, I mean, really everything, 70s soul.

It's just so many genres of music. I never really try to limit myself creatively. And especially now with the way things are going, you kind of don't want to you don't want to put a cap on yourself or what you could do. You know, I've worked with some great artists and songwriters, and the things that you get when you cross-pollinate, work with people you'd never think you'd work with, the things that you get are kind of brand new. So that's kind of one of the things I love doing, and I never try to put a cap on what it is, do we rap quite a bit? Yes, we do. The artists that I work with, but we always challenge ourselves to make timeless music that people want to listen to 10, 20 years from now. Right. What are some of the artists that you listened to before the game? For me, I couldn't listen to rap because it got me too amped up. And so I had to listen to the opposite. I needed something to settle me down because I'm high strung to begin with. And so? Sade, Maxwell, Michelle and Diggie, or Cello. You know, something like that. Jill Scott. You know, I needed to slow it all the way down.

Man, I was. You were ready to go, huh? Yeah. Jill Scott bring you down just enough to be like, all right, let's do it. Yeah. Listen to Tupac and Biggie and Mystical. Here I go. Was having me about to pass out before the kickoff.

Hey, man, you got to find, that's what I love about it. You know, I was kind of like that. It's funny, like people would always listen. What do you listen to before a game? It kind of goes in ways. I kind of get amped up, you know, in the regular season. You got to find that thing. Playoffs, playoffs yeah i need to be calmed down and i need to think about what i'm doing so right i would listen to a lot of classical music okay you know because it's almost like okay

two hours before tip off i don't want to be talking to nobody right i kind of want to get in my head and just think about what's about to happen so that I can do my job correctly. You know, yeah, getting amped up, that was a young guy's thing. Yeah, but Chris, I can understand you needing to get amped up because you're playing 82 games. You're playing every other night or every third night. So after a while, I'm only playing once a week.

And I know somebody's trying to, you know, I'm already a week and I know somebody's trying to you know I'm already pumped up because I know somebody's trying to tear my head off for sure it's physical it is physical I couldn't imagine man I couldn't imagine I have so much respect for football man I don't know how you guys do it man so you were all so did you were you always the tallest kid in school or did you grow it was a little bit of both so I was always the tallest kid and then I kind of leveled off around seventh eighth grade okay I was pretty tall but not the tallest right not abnormally tall right then um between ninth and eleventh grade I probably grew man about 10 inches what yeah about nine ten inches in three years and I went from you know okay basketball player like yo this kid might be something I played a couple games on varsity even in my freshman year to, you know,

oh, man, he's a prospect. So it happened pretty quickly. Okay. So you played against Kendrick Perkins in high school. Your team was 40-0. How many did you drop on Perk? Man, about 20. If I'm not mistaken, I had 23 points.

23 points, about 12 or 13 rebounds, a few blocks. Because you guys went 40-0 that year, and you were the number one team in the country, right? Yeah, yeah. It was like the hood version of Friday Night Lights, to be honest with you, man. We were not losing that game, you know. It was a really magical run. That was like, that was, I mean, you know, I talk about it all the time with people.

I had a, I was, we were very blessed to have a magical run in my high school senior year. You know, we were a public school that got ranked number one in the country. You know, one, they said they called it the mythical national championship. So that was pretty cool. But we were, you know, we were from South Dallas, man. We didn't know much else.

We were just playing ball. Did you guys, so did you guys have recruits? Were you like this IMG Academy or Oak Hill? Were you one of those schools? No, sir. Basically, everybody that was on your team actually went to that school you didn't have guys coming in just obviously just to play basketball no uh from citywide in a city kind of feel kind of but not on not on oak hill's level no right no

not in that kind of context yeah we were not a privately funded school this was dallas independent school district you can look it up that in lincoln high school you can look it up if you get bored obviously at 6 11 you win the state you missed the basketball in the state of texas so obviously you had your pick uh you didn't choose a blue blood you didn't choose the Blue Blood. You didn't choose Carolina. You didn't choose Kentucky. You didn't choose Kansas. You chose Georgia Tech. Why Tech? Man, for one, they had an African-American head coach, black head coach.

Okay. I was very into that. I was drawn to that. Paul Hewitt, right? Yeah, Paul Hewitt. He was running a great program, turning the program around. it was very young it was youthful the blue blood programs were there it just it just didn't it just didn't um it just didn't attract me in that kind of way and we really had a really great class and a lot of guys started getting picked up early i believe north car Carolina had three McDonald's All-Americans from our class.

They had Raymond Felton, Sean May, I'm missing Jawad Williams, and Rashad McCants. That was in two years. They have four McDonald's, three from my class. So that was gone. Duke has Sheldon Williams, J.j reddick daniel ewing you know it just seemed to kind of all be uh uh going uh you know to guys that were very very good very early and they know where they want to go right for me you know what i had florida and texas and i just i don't know i

wanted to play in the acc because i felt it gave me a better chance to make it to the league. So, like, in my mind, I'm like, oh, yeah, I'll go to Georgia Tech because if I want to go to the NBA, the ACC, they don't have, there's a void at the four that they need to fill. I can go play there. You know, people later told me, said, dude, you were going to play anywhere you went. Right. But I didn't have that awareness of myself at that time. So who would be your top five players to come out of state of Texas in high school basketball?

Ooh. Man, I mean, me, of course. OK, that's one. You only got four more to go. Got to put big perk in there. Okay. Got to put TJ Ford in there. Oh man. It goes quick. I got to put LJ in there and Rashard Lewis. Wow. Okay. I know I'm missing some people.

I know I'm missing somebody, but those are the people. But the biggest – Texas is really not known for basketball. You are football, mecca, and track and field. Guys play football, and guys can really run fast in the state of Texas. For sure. All day, every day. But, you know, that was one of the best things that happened. I think. Well, I'm just not thinking about it, too. Even in my class. I know I get a lot for that, but I got to put D. was overtaking basketball, but it was like, in Texas, if you were a sports junkie, if you're a high school sports junkie, that's like the perfect place for you. You follow careers, you get your information in the papers, you go see

every game. Because a lot of the times, the best football player is the best basketball player too, on a lot of teams so you know just the just the school spirit and and just continuing sports just all through and then it'll tide you over to track and field man then you just keep it going all year you're good to go yeah so you you go to Georgia Tech you play in the ACC what was it like playing those teams because even though you chose not to join them you felt the ACC gave you a better opportunity or a better pipeline to the NBA. So that meant you had to play well against the Dukes,

against the North Carolinas. It was very humbling because despite how good I did, we were still getting crushed as a team. Just as a team, I wanted to win. You know, you want to win. You have a certain fixation on how the season is going to go, of how the school year is going to go. None of that happened for me.

And, you know, we, you know, had a couple of great moments. But it was just a tough year. Adjusting to college was really hard. Right. You know, being away from home, going from Dallas to Atlanta, I underestimated how tough that was going to be. It did, but let me tell you, brother, it did have it going on. That was not a good thing.

I didn't have any money in my pocket. And you quickly learn how much competition it is for a pretty pretty young lady and oh yeah you know in Atlanta you know it's like oh damn you know I don't have none of that stuff you know what I mean I'm I was striking out left and right so it was it was very humbling so when you went when when you went to tech did you know that you're like I'm one and done or did you think that you know like, I'm one and done? Or did you think that, you know what, I might stay a year, I might stay two years? Or was it because the evaluation that you got, like, I got to go?

It was because of the evaluation. I didn't know until later in the season around the time, about February, late February. That's when I was aware because people tell you, being in Atlanta, people are going to tell you. So I was just keeping my head down and working. Right. People start finding me and telling me that information. And my intent was to do two years.

In my head, I said, okay, two years. And I'm going to be, man, I can have a shot. And it was kind of, it was hard to take because i honestly i wasn't ready to hear that right no you i'm just man we're losing and we not what are we doing wrong and i have to get better and i'm thinking about the things to to do to get better and then you know people are telling me like well yeah you can go number five. I remember that. Number five. And I was just, I didn't understand. You know, no, no, not yet. He's like, no, because that meant you had to go.

Right. Oh, you don't have to. Absolutely. I know what that means. I'm like, oh, I'm just now starting to get used to Atlanta and college. College life is looking good. You know me. Oh, man, the sun was shining.

It changed up, man. It just, you know Oh, man. The sun was shining. It changed up, man. It just, you know, that stink of the season was off. Yeah. It's just next year, we were – which the guys went to the final. They competed for a national championship. We were looking around and saying, man, we might be all right. But, you know, it just came up, and it was quicker than I anticipated. The 2003 draft, LeBon was regarded as universally he's going number one right did you think your carmelo anthony's in that draft

uh dark darko milicic is in that draft and d wade they're the most the high profile did you think you had a chance to move up to maybe number two number three i thought i could move up to number two i wanted to play in detroit because i have i have family in detroit okay and at the time you know you're young you don't know nothing but i'm like man they're taking dark old maybe i can if i work out for him so i actually worked out for him but they were taking darko was a grown man at that time they were right they were taking one through three, pretty much was solidified. I didn't even, I think I worked out for Denver, but that was pretty evident that they were going to take Carmelo. Right. We, I played Carmelo that year in college. They, they beat the crap out of

us. They were pretty good, man. But, you know, with, with LeBron and Dwayne, not, not LeBron and Carmelo, I had never seen basketball players like that. So you knew they were going early. And with Dwayne, nobody really knew. I didn't even hear of him until, you know, you hear a couple of things. I didn't really just like know, know until that Kentucky game he had with the triple-double. The triple-double, the final four, yep. Yeah, and it's like oh okay but everybody thought he was gonna be lower mid in miami miami worked them out and

they knew right but um you know after after after three was pretty much kind of like the question mark at the time so you know so you didn't play any of these guys in aau ball you play you didn't play any of these guys in AAU ball. You didn't go against LeBron. I played LeBron. Yeah, LeBron actually, it was ABCD camp in 2001 in Teneg, New Jersey. He was the first team, well, the first guy I played against. So it's kind of like they take 300 kids from all over the country and divide them into teams. And you just play like two games a day for a week.

And the first game we played was LeBron. And I remember watching him play like, yo, who is this guy? He said, oh, this is LeBron. Okay, I've heard of this guy. Haven't heard his name, you know, have not heard his name since. And then like we played each other a couple more times that year. Yeah. So, yeah, we played each other.

That was – and then I played with Melo, actually, at USA Basketball in Venezuela back in 2002. So watching LeBron play then, did you know he would turn out to be this? Or is he even better than you thought he would be? Definitely better than you thought it would be. But, like, you know, when you're kids, right, this is – you're just – it's a friend. Right. You know, it's like, oh, man, what's up?

Yeah, you were at the camp. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, and then you're at the draft. And then all of a sudden it's like, okay, but right before that, it was chosen one. I'm like, oh, shit, you're on the cover of Sports Illustrated? Damn. But I remember when I got to Georgia Tech for my freshman year,

they played on ESPN in high school, and that was kind of like, damn, that's crazy. And then it's like, boy, he's been hitting the weights. He looked, he took that next leap. And then, you know, you don't see him for a year. And then the next time you see him, he's just transformed. So we knew right away that, okay, he's going to be the number one pick. But to be honest, you don't really think that far into it you just you know you it's all of us this is cool i went right into you know trying to be great myself and right for my you know pouring all my stuff into the game wake up with football every morning and listen to my new

podcast nfl daily with greg rosenthal five days a week you'll get all the latest news previews recaps and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game, every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claibon, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl

window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and

funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here. Just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic,

and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that?

Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media.

That's Patrick Claibon, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl.

I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast at NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You get drafted number four overall.

You go to Toronto. What were your expectations and what was Toronto like? Ma'am, I didn't have any expectations for Toronto because it was kind of shocking, man. It was a culture shock. It was moving to a different country. I knew I was playing with Vince Carter. You're excited to move.

You're excited to get it going. But then just that professional pace is very slow, man. And then, you know, boom, you're throwing into the pan. You know, I really struggled when it got cold. When it started getting cold, that's when I started, you know, getting homesick. You know, I'm 25, 30 games in. I'm getting smashed every day by grown men. The league was a little, you know, a little different than it is now.

You know, you could, guys, it was more physical. And, you know, I'm like 210, 215. I mean, I'm just getting my ass handed to me every day. So I was, it was a struggle. It was a real struggle. And we weren't doing too good as a team. It was, you know, just an adjustment getting used to the NBA life. And then socially, I was calling my friends every day back at Georgia Tech.

They're going to the Final Four. I'm just like, God, man, did I make the wrong, I don't know if I made the right decision. I was going, I was going through that in my head, but you know, everybody has to go through it.

We all have to go through it. And you know, those are my years, man. Did you ever think about bringing family out maybe your mom your dad or someone that you're very familiar with you're close close with to live with you to be there to give you that sense of home we i had that i did have that i had a tremendous support um uh at the time um always had someone with me it's just they're not with you in that huddle. You know, they're not with you on those road trips. Yeah.

It's just the grind of the season. It sounds a lot cooler playing on the road than it actually is when you first start. You got to get used to it. It's a lifestyle adjustment you have to make. And being 19, let's say being 19 in the league full of grown guys it's it was it was a struggle man it was just different uh chris i hate to bring bring this up but um january 22nd 2006 you happen to be on that team in which uh kobe rest his soul again yeah drop 81

everybody talks about jaylen rose and you kind of get and you don't ever mention it so you've done a great job of like hey ain't nobody doesn't anyone remember that I was on that squad so I ain't gonna break it up I brought it up a couple times you know just a couple times not a lot I it's more like a trivia thing and then people say oh that is you oh you can watch the game and maybe not even though it's me because i look a little different i was pretty young i think i was like 22 yeah 22 23 at the time yeah that was uh that was embarrassing man so what do you what what do you remember about that game and then when he got it going did you ever think he would get to that plateau no i didn't okay so like all i remember i just like i remember halftime and a lot of people don't

know but he scored 55 points in the second half right that's like the stat that's like that's the staggering that's what swept up under the rug. You know what I mean? They think it was like, okay, 40, 40. Nah, he had 55. You know, I just remember we were up. We weren't a very good team. But you were up big on him.

We were up big. We were up about 14, 16 points. And on the road, we're feeling great. He's got 26 points, right? So I'm like, ah, you know, hey, Kobe can have 50. Don't matter. As long as we win by, you know, man, I just remember he came out.

It's like he couldn't miss. I don't know. It's like you just start watching him play because he started doing stuff you never see anybody do. Nobody was pulling up for threes. Steph Curry started pulling up for threes again. Nobody saw that back then. He was pulling up from that far, you know.

And the game, the second half just started. It just started the second half. He just come out and shoot it. Bop, bop, bop. Okay, he hits like four threes in a row if I remember correctly. And that's like 12 points. And then he just started hitting everything and we were bad defensively already so it wasn't like there

was a bunch of resistance so it was like it was that perfect storm of he hit every three he hit every shot and he shot a lot of free throws right so it was really the perfect storm oh it was the perfect storm man he he gave it to us man and that was uh that was a tough one man that was and it was kind of like i just remember running back and forth just like yeah this can't be real you kind of get stuck in a dream on right you know like can we stop this i don't know he he just hit this fade away from over there. I've never seen that before. You just kind of get like, no way. Bop.

Like, God dang, this dude is killing. So the horn goes off and you look up and it says, and he has 81. And you're like, is that a misprint? Ain't no way this man had 81 points in big. Hey, Shannon, I didn't even have to look. I just walked off. I knew what he had.

His last two, free throw, free throw, and then they took him out. And I said, man, let's just get off the court. Let's just get out of here as quickly as possible, man. That was a Sunday afternoon. Yes. Let me ask you a question. When Toronto won the title last year what were your emotions because you did start in Toronto although you had your greatest success greatest team success in Miami

what were your emotions were you excited you're like okay yeah I played for that team I'm happy for oh man I was so happy I was so happy for the city because nobody ever would have thought that would happen that they would even have the opportunity just because that was the stigma for so long right and especially when I was there that was the stigma that you would fight like I don't know man can we compete for a championship here and then it would start to kind of see through the city but when I went I got the chance the opportunity to work with the finals for Canadian Cable TSN up there. And so I went to every game. And just to see the excitement, that's one of the things I wish I would have got more

of was to see playoff basketball in Toronto. Phenomenal fans. Right. And to see their spirit and for them to experience that, not only experience it, but win it. Right. I mean, I was so happy for those guys. I mean, I still know the trainers, the coaches, you know, the staff, the front office.

The first thing they say when they see me is like, yo, can you believe it? I'm like, I know, man, this is great. I was just, I was so, so happy for those guys. And that was one of the times I really, really enjoyed. I got to go back and see all the old guys. And that was one of the times I really, really enjoyed. I got to go back and see all the old guys. You know, on those days, I wasn't working pregame too much. I would go back to the locker room and in the equipment room and talk to my old equipment manager and the trainers

and just, you know, have a couple beers and shoot the shit, you know, have some fun. And just to see those guys in that city have that opportunity and win it and have that forever it's nothing like it obviously kawaii was a big part of that team in in toronto last year he moved on to the clippers is there what was different between kawaii last year in toronto and kawaii this year in la because it seems he had more talent in LA than he had in Toronto, but he didn't enjoy the same level of team success. Why do you think that was?

You know, and I think it's the motivation. I think you can get to a complacent place as a team. It's not easy. And with those guys, they had to have the gap in between shutting down the season and the bubble. So there could have been many miscues there. But I think, you know, they kind of let that take them out of their rhythm. And it's a hard lesson learned. I mean, you know, hopefully those guys can learn from what transpired. But all in all, they still have the talent.

They'll still be a championship contender. It will be harder next year because, you know, you got guys like Golden State who they're going to, you know, they got the Splash Brothers rested up, Draymond rested up and a high pick, you know, coming. So we'll see how that goes. But, you know, I think it wasn't as much urgency. You know, they didn't play with the urgency.

They didn't play with the edge that they needed, one, to put Denver away, and two, to really sustain their great play. 2008, you guys, it was dubbed the redeemed team because in 2004, they had lost a gold medal. Not only did they, yeah, because they say, you know, you don't win a silver, you win a bronze, you lose gold. They lost the gold medal. They got the bronze.

If I'm not mistaken, Argentina won the gold medal that year behind Manu. Yep. In 2008, what was your focus? What was you guys' focus going in to try and bring the gold medal home? Because you're not – basketball started in America, so we should never lose in basketball. Man, it was embarrassing, man. And, like, I didn't get the opportunity to play on the team in Athens,

but I played in Tokyo in 2006. We didn't win that either, you know? So it was getting to the point, you know, where it's like, man, this is embarrassing. We're supposed to be the world leaders in this. MJ and those guys never lost. So we've got to fix this and we definitely can't lose in a way. It was just a very, very serious atmosphere. so we've got to fix this, and we definitely can't lose in a way.

It was just a very, very serious atmosphere. I mean, not only for basketball, but just the spirit of a nation. I mean, we talked to veteran people who were disabled or disabled, lost their eyesight, re-enlisted back into the military, you know, to fight for their country. Talking to two- and three- the military, you know, to fight for their country, talking to two and three star generals, you know, it was super, super patriotic, super heavy. And I mean, Coach K, I really want to say Coach K led the charge on that one because he knew the moment and how serious it was, not only as a in in basketball and setting the precedent with that but just representing you know the United States of America having pride in that and not

letting anybody kind of take that away from you you know just just wear with pride and and we played pretty hungry we were we were ready to go that year it was a lot of fun so what what are some of your best memories about the 08 team? Obviously, you're around some of your round D-Way, Mello, LeBron. You guys came in in the same draft in 03. So you're very familiar with each other. Kobe was on that team also. Kobe was there, yeah.

Crypt CP3. So what are some of your best memories about that besides winning? Obviously, that was the greatest memory of winning. Yeah. But what are some of your behind-the-scenes memories? that was the greatest memory of winning. Yeah. But what are some of your behind the scenes memories? Hanging with Kobe, of course. Going to the, we went to the Village quite a bit.

I want to say every other day we had built this thing where we would play. The next day we practiced and then go hang out at the Village. But just to hang out at the Village, see the spirit of the games, talk to the people, you know, eat in the mess hall, you know, eat the same food. And, like, seeing how big Kobe was.

Because, you know, LeBron is, you know, Kobe is the guy. And LeBron, he's like, okay, he's the guy you can touch. You can't touch Kobe. Right. LeBron, you can touch kind of. And he's on his way and like he's one of the best in the world. But then Kobe was around and it was just, I mean, the way people reacted to that guy was crazy.

But just getting to see some of that, getting to see how hard he worked, how much he put into the game, how good he really is or was. And, yeah, just hanging with the guys. And we had a good time. It was a lot, a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun on that trip. You know, I think I was 24 years old. We were all, yeah, Brian was 23.

Mello was 24. Dee was 25. We were just some, you just some young guys hanging out. When you guys are at the Olympics in 08, did you know that there was a possibility that you, D-Wade, and Bron might link up later? Would that ever? I did not.

No, I'm sure Bron knew. I'm sure he knew because he's a very calculated person. I was just happy to be, one, be on the Olympics. I was trying to play. Right. I was just trying to get more minutes. And I was so concentrated on making Toronto a destination. That was, like, my goal and focus as a franchise player.

a destination that was like my goal and focus as a franchise player I truly truly believed um that we could uh compete for a championship one day I just had to keep doing what I'm doing and you know I was just fully into that I really didn't start thinking um all the way about free agency until I think it was that was it it that summer? I think the summer before, yeah, in 2007, we all signed our deal. So it was kind of out of my mind for whatever reason. I wasn't, I was just kind of, kind of just compartmentalizing and just thinking about things that were in front of me. So how did, so how did that come together? So how did you guys,

you D-Way, LeBronron are you on the phone are you in a room and you're like obviously they're not coming to Toronto so in order for you to play in order for you to play with D-Wade and LeBron you're gonna have to make the move to the state so how did this come about so it kind of started out all cloudy you know um free agency is is crazy but you know it was known that um miami was making moves to get enough cap space that's pretty much what it came down to once the cap space was made yeah a couple phone conversations you know i mean we're friends we see each other and and at that time it was still just possibilities nobody really thought because you know i mean we're friends we see each other and and at that time it was still just possibilities nobody really thought because you know i believe um there were still moves to be made and all that

stuff so you know it was just kind of a pipe dream at the time but it was on the radar um and you know my agent uh the late great henry thomas me and him had me and Dwayne at the same age you know so um I kind of everybody put me in a position where it's like Chris if you come for sure we're gonna get one of them you know so that's what like New York New Jersey Chicago that's what they're telling me like for me they were putting me in the middle of it and i mean so in other words you were the one that was going to connect the dot because if you come one of the others was definitely coming that's that's what they were trying to sell me on never believed it any any part of the day i'm like guys i don't know but they um that's definitely what was being sold to me quite a bit but you know it

was just it was a slow burn um right. You know, the free agency period happened. Once I heard the possibility, I mean, it was pretty evident to me. I was on board. The welcome, when the Heat had their welcome party and you guys are on stage and the pyrotechnics are going off and there are probably 15,000 people in Heat Arena and LeBron is saying, not one, not two, not three, not four. Are you like, bro, let's hold this thing. Let's get one first. And then we'll get the two, the three, the four.

What's going through your mind when you hear him say that? That's right. That's right. Tell him. So you gas him up. Oh, yeah. I was taking, yo, give me all the gas gas wasn't even thinking about how that would look wasn't even aware i mean it was just everybody was having so much fun to be honest man and it kind of not that it did it didn't get flipped we definitely should have

been smarter it was just like in the context the question was asked and then he said we're not here to win not one but of course you got it hey man they're gonna pick up they're gonna just nudge that over pick that part up and yeah you did kind of we did we were all there counting all the way up to 10 or whatever yeah i mean we were feeling so good man we had no idea and at the same time like we weren't seeing the aftermath of the night before right you know we went straight to parties and stuff so we were told at least on my end i was totally unaware of uh of the perception and how it was So, yeah, if we would have known that and how good and how hard it is to win a championship, yeah, we probably would have said some different stuff, you know.

And, you know, come on, the crowd was like, yeah. Yeah, they had no gas. Oh, we were gassed, bro. By the time he got to eight, it was a standing ovation. But you, as you mentioned, you didn't see the backlash that had happened the night before, because once you guys said, once you guys did what you did, you went straight to parties.

But you go, you're beloved. LeBron was beloved, D-Wade, and now you guys combined, and you're the most hated team in all, maybe in the history of basketball, outside of the bad boy Pistons. But you go from beloved to hated overnight. That's what kind of threw me off. And that's what kind of, that was my naive nature at the time, just being a younger guy. Everybody loved me in Toronto.

I was not threatening. I'll give you 20 and 10 a night right no we'll make it the eighth seed seventh seed right we'll get you guys out of here at five man chris you boy you can play you know and and and and it wasn't uh threatening and you know prior to that i want to say yeah 2009 you know, prior to that, I want to say, yeah, 2009, you know, when I tell you everybody was so nice because free agency was coming up. Right. And so you kind of get in this mode of just thinking, oh, yeah, they're my friends. Or, yeah, nobody, not even putting yourself in their position and saying, oh, yeah, okay, they're a fan and they're a Bulls fan. So if you don't go to Chicago, they're not going to like that. So, I mean, you know, I think for everybody, for all of us,

we kind of – Dwayne and LeBron had some experience with it. I had none. So I was just steadily playing catch-up and, you know, just catching those straight bullets, man. How difficult was it? Because, as you you mentioned you go from being a 2010 guy a guy that they're running the offense through to all of a sudden it's LeBron D Wade D Wade LeBron now Chris okay here's a little something for you how difficult was that for you it was very difficult to be honest with you because in my mind um i thought i said man i'm gonna get my

touches here and they're gonna be making plays for me because duane and lebron can pass so well right i'm gonna be the leading scorer man i'm gonna average my game is gonna continue to to go up i averaged 25 last year 24 point oh i probably averaged 26 at least. Yeah, it wasn't like that. Yeah, yeah, I know. It's not like that. And then even in that, we're trying to figure it out as a team. I'm running a whole different playbook. I don't like it.

Nobody, I mean, when it's new, nobody likes it. And then we're trying to figure out how to play. With each other. Yeah, with each other. And then like, it's's so loud every game is like a playoff game so learning on the fly it's not really working so we're going back to old habits it was bad you know it just it just kind of snowballed into this situation where we said okay as a team this is what we have to do and to be quite frank man i mean they they were so they were so amazing just at what they did i said all right cool you know they i mean i would see lebron get a block get the rebound push it kick it up and catch the alley oh my god okay i can't do that d-ade doing all those Euro steps and getting the steals in the backcourt.

They just did things that I could not do. So I pretty much, it was pretty evident as far as like how I would affect the game and where I would fit in with that team. You guys don't get off to the best start at At 17 games in, you're 9-8. Yeah. How much truth is it that D. Wade and LeBron wanted Spoh gone and Pat Riley to come down? And were you in on it? No.

Yeah, never. It was never a thing. That was just – that was so – it was getting so crazy, man, to be honest with you. That was one of the things that we didn't, you know, expect coming. Because, you know, hey, we gave Spoh a rough time. Don't get me wrong. You're supposed to give your coach a rough time.

In that situation, nobody's happy, right? But, yeah, the fans in Miami, they started – it started at the home games, if I remember correctly. People were just like, we want Riles. Riles pretty much had to – we had to have a whole team meeting about that and just say hey i'm not coaching you know this is our team and and him doing that we knew that okay this is what we're working with it's not gonna be any any kind of wishy-washy kind of stuff over here he's the coach he's You know, we're good to go.

How difficult was 2011? Because you guys were favorite to beat the Mavericks. And it does not go. You win game one. You're up by 15 at one point in time. In game two, they go on a 22 and 22 to, they go on a 22-5 run, something like that. Yeah, something like that. And they end up winning the game.

They win that series. Yeah. How difficult was that? And what was the offseason like? The offseason was long because it was the lockout year. Right. So not only did we lose, but it's like, damn, are we even going to get another chance to even redeem ourselves?

Probably. I don't know. We'll see. But it was embarrassing it was hard uh we were shameful i mean every what went wrong what went wrong we just weren't ready we just weren't ready they were better than us um we we didn't psychologically we didn't play well um our offense was stagnant lebron didn't play well. Our offense was stagnant. LeBron didn't play well. I didn't play well.

Nobody played with a coaching staff. Hell, the popcorn man, I'm sure he was like, I didn't get them the popcorn like I, you know, but it just, you know, one thing I learned from that, you have to gain experience as a team and as an individual. And unfortunately, sometimes that requires pain. one thing I learned from that, you have to gain experience as a team and as an individual. And unfortunately, sometimes that requires pain. And we understood as soon as we lost how important it is to pay attention to the small details, to play with that, to play with that pain. You know what I mean? And you get into a mold where it's's and you got to give credit to the Mavericks too Jason Kidd Jason Terry Dirk Nowinski they were very steady and they

picked us apart and they were always a step ahead as far as like what we were doing so we were always catching up to them right and I mean they seized the moment man you got to give them credit they played well and we did not did you feel like okay LeBron obviously is the best player but he goes to D Wade's home it's kind of like look I understand I might have more money than you but when I'm in your home I need to act accordingly right you know that LeBron was holding back because he was in Miami and this was D Wade's castle oh yeah for sure that was that was all of our things I didn't want to step on their toes lebron definitely didn't want to step on these toes because he had developed his pretty much

developed his style of uh of play at the time so you know that's a ball dominant style to be honest with you so like i know for sure he didn't want to you know know, it's like, yo, this is D-Wade. He's the franchise guy. It took them having a conversation to pretty much say, hey, man, you know, you do your thing. We're, you know, we're in behind you. We've got your back. We're going to allow you to be the best player in the world. And that pretty much was the conversation. It was off and running after that you had this epic these epic battles with the celtics um you're down i mean you you go up to oh they win the next

three walk us through game six what would because you had just lost the previous year to the mavericks right you can't lose you can't lose again. Oh, my God. It's over if we lose. It'll be terrible. What was your mindset? What was the team's mindset? And did you know LeBron was going to have an epic night? I didn't know he was going to have an epic night.

From my mind, I was hurt. You know, I had a torn groin. I could play. But I knew I couldn't give much. Right. So I just wanted to give as much as I can give. And I was coming off the bench. I think I was playing.

I was going to, I knew I was probably going to play 18, 20 minutes. Right. So that was my, you know, focus is playing with this pain and hopefully something could come out of it. Because you missed the first series right against Indiana. You missed the first series. Yeah, I came out, probably played six minutes and missed the whole series

and then missed the first five games of this particular series with Boston. Well, first four. And I came back game five and then we lost. But, I mean, it was just kind of one of those things where we we just kind of had to believe man you had to believe we weren't really thinking too much about the possibilities it was more so just like all right cool Boston we're going to Boston let's get it done you just I'm gonna eat dinner I'm gonna do shoot around I'm gonna I, you know, that's all I was focused on. And then about midway through the first quarter, end of the first quarter,

I noticed Bron like, God, he hasn't missed. Am I tripping? You know, and then just, damn, we're playing well. And then, okay, man, he's hitting everything. We're not even running in any plays. You know, I can just focus on defense. we get some stops he's gonna take care of the rest that's great that makes it easy on everybody and then we were just in a good rhythm defensively as a team you know the couple times that he did get off the ball we scored um and you know we were able to get out of there but like I mean it was it was a crazy experience I mean before you know I'm sure you've been in one of those games, right, where you could just hear a pin drop. You know, it's nothing.

It was nothing to say. There was no hype speeches. It was just, you know, let's go out here and go. And then, you know, it's just one of those moments. 45-15-6. God, it's like, man, this dude is hitting everything. Man, are you tripping? Then we're up 20.

It's kind of like a good dream, but like an eerie dream. Like, am I in Boston up 20 right now? Are we about to get out of here alive? Okay, cool. And that kind of gave us, you know, some, it reinvigorated us for game seven. And you mentioned that was game six. All that did was promise you another game. You still weren't out of the woods because you have game seven and it's in your building, which would

have been even worse had you lost game six, because you would have got the L in your building. For sure. Didn't even, Hey, once you get there, it don't even cross your mind. It's like, Hey, we're at the crib. It don't matter. We'll whoop your ass on the moon. Let's go. Hey, we're at the crib. It don't matter. We'll whoop your ass on the moon. Let's go. So you play OKC.

You lose the first game. You win the second one. OK, what's going through your mind at the beginning of the series? And did you like, OK, we've got control now. We're going home for three games, and we're not coming back to OKC. Oh, yeah, definitely. I know I felt that in my spirit. We didn't play particularly well game one. We knew that.

We turned the ball over a lot. And when you get that far, you don't freak out. You don't get that far just to freak out over one game. Right. We recognized the mistakes that we were making as a team and we knew we could play much better and you know knowing kind of trying to get an OKC's head they were all in their early 20s I know how I was when we won game one I thought we were going to win it so naturally you're going to have a let up in game two just that little bit of let up right up or change the ties a little bit.

We kind of knew that. So we said, OK, let's get game game two. And then once we get that, once we got that game, I said, OK, we're not coming back. I mean, that's just how I feel. We were a tremendous home team. I think one of the best home teams in the league. And we were just totally confident at home. So going back, we just knew we had a chance to run them all off and you didn't know this at the time but you beat a team that would later go on to have three regular season mvps and a guy that won two finals mvp crazy we knew they were good and you know it was kind of know, playing them was very difficult.

You know, even back then, early 20s, it was like and and I think Westbrook put on like 15 pounds after that series. You know, they took it to another level individually. We knew that they were going to be a problem. We knew there were a problem coming into that series. We knew that there were going to be a problem. We knew there were a problem coming into that series. You know, everybody didn't really get used to the Harden thing until Houston. Right. Doing that with OKC.

You know. Did you know Harden? I think he was sixth man of the year. But did you know Harden would be this? I mean, it's one thing to say, OK, yeah, he can be good. But to be this. A guy that averages 36, a guy that averages 35, he leads the league in assists. I mean, a 50-point triple, a 60-point triple-double.

Did you know he could be this? No. No. We knew. It's like, yo, he's cold. He's bad. He can be a franchise player somewhere else. But if they stay together, you can fill in the blanks.

And then when he went to Houston, oh, man, he's going to be pretty good. But, yeah, what he's – the things he's been able to do, I mean, he's inspired. He's done a whole other thing with the game of basketball that nobody else has seen before. Yeah, I don't think anybody saw that coming. I think he gained his confidence. And then with whatever that crazy creativity that he's got in his brain, he started figuring things out and it's like, oh wow, I can

do this. He's almost unguardable with that step back three. Oh, for sure. So I don't know how you defend him. Yeah, you don't know either. You're just in the whole game. How do we defend this guy? Yeah, you don't know either. You're just in the whole game. How do we defend this guy? So you win that one, and then the next year you go the Spurs. You lose game one. Tony Parker hit that miraculous shot.

LeBron got indeed up. Shot clock's winding down. And somehow he throws it up. It rolls around, and it falls in. You guys lose. What's going through your mind? You're like, goodness yeah it's like oh my goodness but man it's cool but that's not okay see now that's not okay that's him dunking and parking genoble yeah oh i'm not saying you don't want to you want to lose it but you don't allow yourself to. It's like, okay, all right, cool. We lost that one. All right.

Hey, we cannot lose game two. That's just, and, you know, we start identifying the problems and what we need to fix right away. And we were able to have a great game. But, you know, in that particular moment, you just try to, you know, in the finals, you have to have a very long outlook on the series. So, you know, not that it gives you peace, but just saying, okay, hey, this is what we need to do. We identify these mistakes.

We correct them. Let's have a better game next game. You still, you get one game because you got to get one in order for you to come back to Miami. You get the one game, you come back 3-2. Talk to us about game six. What's your mindset? What are you feeling going into game six?

Win it. It's none. I mean, it's kind of, you have to fight that deja vu kind of feel because we were in the same situation with the Mavericks. We knew our backs were against the wall. We didn't expect it, did not expect it at all, you know, but we're here. And so, you know, winning two games at home or just winning one game at home was the focus. But we never lacked confidence.

It was always, you always want to approach that situation with confidence. You know, being beat down after being in San Antonio and dealing with that home crowd, with their home crowd for a week and a half, you know, being away from your home is a difficult thing. But, you know, it refreshed us. And, you know, you just get ready for the battle man

that's all you can do get your mind right it's not about the x's and o's you go through those things but it's not about that it's just about the preparation it's about doing what you do um and and going out there and competing at the highest level you start the fourth quarter of game six you're down 10 are you thinking like man this san antonio we know they're gonna exceed down the stretch this is not a young team they're well coached they're gonna be where they're supposed to be they're gonna execute their offense like they're supposed to do you allow yourself to like damn how did we get ourselves in this situation against that team no we were good at throwing away the situations i mean we were probably the best fourth quarter

comeback team by far in the league that year. So we had confidence. I mean, we didn't want to be there, but you know not all is lost. Right. And, you know, our second group with LeBron, they played amazing basketball. They always got us going even in the regular season.

So it was just one of those things where you trust your guys. You trust the second group, Le'Veon LeBron. You know that they're going to get you back in it. And once they get us, once we get back in it, we've got to either sustain it or overtake the lead. And that's the, but that's one of the habits that we had built up all year, you know, having that faith in each other. Right. You're down and it basically has come down to this,

a missed shot and a rebound. You see LeBron pulls up, you're tracking the ball. What's going through your mind? The ball. Fill your mind with watching the ball what's going through your mind the ball fill your mind with watching the ball man i mean um if you watch the play in slow motion um the way that they played it tony parker read the play and he stayed on top of my screen right boris diab did not see him they both went and and contested lebron shot that allowed me pretty much a free pass to crash the boards.

And I watched the flight of the ball. With no Tim Duncan because Pop had made a strategic effort, a strategy to take Duncan out of the game. Yeah, and, you know, that's always a what if thing. But they had been doing that all year. Right. You know, this is their late game package. This is what they always do but that allowed me um a free run to the basket while

i'm watching the ball and so uh any rebounder can tell you if you get to watch the flight of the ball and nobody hits you nine times out of ten you're gonna know or or your instincts are gonna take over and you're gonna be able to be there when the ball is there. You know, great rebounder told me, Hey man, it was old school or two. He's like, Hey man, trick the rebound and it's getting there before the ball gets there. Right. Yeah. You're right. You track the ball. You grab the rebound with the, with the, the arena as loud as it is.

How do you know? Did you know Ray was going to be back there? How, and even if you didn't know, he said Chris or CB, whatever he's calling you. How did you hear that? I heard him, man. That's the only thing I heard, to be honest with you. Isn't that crazy?

Yes. That's the only thing I heard. CB! I didn't hear anything else. in my mind it went a lot slower but when i watch it on replay i'm like there's no way i could i don't know but i distinctly heard him and i could see his eyes and his facial expression running back like backpedaling and so you know just the body took over did did what it needed to do, and his took over, and shoot. And we were able to live to play another day, man.

We still had to play overtime after that. Right. But you know they were crushed, guys. You know they were crushed. For sure. Psychologically, they were crushed. For sure. That's that thing, like, let's move in right now

and win this game. And then that's like, ah, then you still got game seven to play after that. So it was, Ray Allen hit the greatest shot. Forget the, you know, the, that's the greatest shot given the circumstances and how does, how does he backpedal? He does not. If you look at Ray, he never moves down. He has to like train train he trained himself that he can backpedal no i'm far enough back i'm not gonna step out of bounds let that shot go and it's pure for sure i don't know if you ever had that moment in football have you ever had that just moment

where after the game you're just like it could be hours it could could be everybody's gone. You're still in your uniform just in a stare, just like, you know. What just happened? Yeah, what just happened? And me and Ray were just kind of like that. And, you know, and I said, man, do you practice that shot? He said, oh, yeah, I practice that. And ever since that day, I practice that shot every day. Every day that became a part of my routine,

practicing craziest shots because you never know when you got to break the glass and use it. And that's what I tell people is that when you see these guys take these shots, they've practiced them. Steph Curry just didn't all of a sudden start pulling up from the timeline in the game. He practiced those shots. Everybody's shooting these logo shots now they become routine whereas chris when you first got into the league you only attempted that shot the end of the shot clock or the end of halves that's the only time you attempted that for sure for sure or he shooting that shot now with 18 seconds on the shot yeah it's like the backup like, young fella. Wait a minute. So you're two-time.

You went two and three years. You go back. 2014 doesn't end like you want it. LeBron makes his decision. He goes back to Cleveland. What's your feeling? Did you feel that Miami was a total success or did you feel like you guys got cheated or you left something on the table? Oh, we definitely left something on the table. I mean,

in my mind, I, you know, I will always feel like it's an unfinished story, but sometimes the best stories are unfinished. You know, it was a, it was a four year just shooting star, you know, and we wanted to continue it. And, you know, we've, I've had a lot of time to think about it. I've even talked to Pat about it and we both like, you know, I couldn't imagine if my hometown didn't like me. Um, I couldn't, you know, I couldn't imagine that, uh, at the time, you know, feelings hurt. You have to get over the fact that it is free agency. Right. He didn't demand a trade. He did.

He fulfilled his obligation. Yeah, for sure. And it's like, okay, it kind of hurts. But, you know, it's just like, damn, you get used to playing a certain way. And, you know, be frank. I mean, to be frank, you know, man, he's fun. He's a great dude. We've been knowing each other since we were 17 years old. The team dynamic was great. It's LeBron James,

you're playing with the greatest player. And it's a lot of fun. And I knew that things were going to change. But then I think it reinvigorated everyone. I think for me, it was able, you know, I was able to, you know, just move forward as my career, you know, or what I thought my career was going to take off to. It kind of gave me a fresh kind of outlook on the league and what I could be as well as Dwayne and the organization too. And for him, I mean, and that kind of hurts too, right? I mean, you're going over there, K-Love over there.

They just got K-Love, Kyrie. I'm like, damn, they're pretty good. They're pretty good. So, you know, you feel a certain type of way. But, you know, we had plenty of conversations since then, you know, and more than buried the hatchet. This was also going to be your opportunity to go back to being Toronto Chris Bosh.

Yeah, for sure. A guy that's going to be 20 and 10. And then all of a sudden you get the diagnosis at the All-Star game, you're on vacation with your wife, you're vacationing and you get these blood clots. What's going through your mind? And at that point in time, did you say,

you know what, this thing might be career ending? Or did that thought never crossed your mind? It never crossed my mind, but we knew it was there. I just thought I was going to beat it because 2015 had happened. And then 2016 had happened at the same exact time with no pain this time. The first time I was just out, I was in the hospital for two weeks. time the first time i was just out i was in the hospital for two weeks uh i was bedridden i had surgery it was really bad uh the second time was just yeah you have blood clots and that was it and you know it was psychologically it was just super tough to deal with we were i think we were number two second or third in the east at the time and we were kind of and i talked with pat about this too we were looking around like man yo we might think yo i think we can make a run for one we're hitting the marks if we after all

star break we can we can if we can lock up this two seed and hopefully we can lock horns with the calves i'll take i'll take that any day and just you know just how cool that is, how great of a storyline that would be. That was my motivation every day. And like you were saying, having that Toronto spirit about me and leading the team, I was all for that. It was me and Dwayne. But it's just one of those things that just wasn't meant to be, man. So when the doctors tell you, say, Chris, it's over.

Yeah. We recommend and that's normally how they give it to be, man. So when the doctors tell you, say, Chris, it's over. Yeah. We recommend, and that's normally how they give it to you. Yeah. If you were my son, I would advise you not to do this anymore, considering the ramifications that could possibly come along with this. So when you and your wife sit down and you finally come to the ultimate decision,

what's going on? I mean, how difficult of a decision was that? It took a couple of years to get there. I tried my hand in finding a way to play again for a while. And I just ran out of gas, you know. You were trying to find a doctor to tell you it would be okay. Yeah, you know. You were trying to find a doctor to tell you it would be okay. Yeah, pretty much. You know, I'm looking for that one, please.

And I'm just going different places. And, you know, we fought because I felt great. I mean, there was nothing that was, you know, physically I was feeling. You can't see. It's not a torn ACL. It's not an Achilles. No. It's not a torn anything.

It's something. It's an invisible killer. That's what they call it. I'm pretty good. We can play right now. You know what I mean? Breathing great. There was no, there was nothing happening, no pain. It just really messed me up, man. And, and I just kind of, you know, I tried and I tried and it just eventually I had to come to the realization and, and you know there wasn't a singular conversation but just to be honest with you when I saw Gordon Hayward dislocate his ankle right took whatever fight I had left in me it was gone because remember Dwayne and LeBron played in that game right yeah so I hadn't watched basketball any of the year before and I said yo I'm playing

this year let me get back connected with the game. First five minutes that happened. Yeah. So, you know, I knew right then, like, yeah, I mean, that can happen to me, man. I can't. I'm not going to play anymore. Heaven forbid that happened, you know, or worse. You spent four years playing with LeBron and you're watching him do what he does in year 17.

How do you think he's been able to maintain this level of play because we've never seen a guy play this well this late into their career we can debate Chris we can debate who's the gold who's had the greatest seasons all we want to but we can't debate this nobody has ever played this well this late into an NBA career? You know what, man? He put so much into his body so early. Everybody is just now being able to kind of see the benefits that he's reaping, but he's put in the work. He was stretching twice a day, had a trainer, was doing all the things when we were in our early 20s. I remember seeing him and he has a guy that stretches him and they're doing tissue work and all this kind of thing. Even if I wanted to do it, I don't even know where to start. Right.

You know, so just his foresight back then to take care of his body, do the right things, invest in himself. Now he's reaping the benefits. Now he can combine that want and that drive with physically actually being able to do it and compete for championships. And, you know, Mike Jordan, man, he, you know, we, it was all real to us, Mike Jordan and Kobe, they were playing very well at 36, you know. So he's 35. I know he's like, okay, at least until 36 plus one more. I'm sure he wants to play this way until he's 37 and then see where he's at after that.

But, I mean, he's put the time in. He's put the work in. He's made the sacrifice. And now he's able to, you know, keep playing ball at that level. What do you think LeBron's greatest attribute is? His longevity, his durability. Never seen anything like it. Play like a guy that plays every night, every night he plays, you know, and just that has allowed him to be able to do the things that he does.

I mean, you know, obviously we can talk about talent. We can talk about the things he can do. But unless you're out there on the court, you can't do it. He's done a tremendous job in taking care of himself and really dedicating himself to the stretching, the treatments, the weight room, you know, those other things you don't see. Eating, the rest. The eating, you know, all of those things that allow you to perform on the court, but nobody sees. People always talk about his basketball IQ.

Explain to people what basketball IQ is, because there are a lot of guys that can play, and I don't want to get into the name, but you like, bro, you have no idea idea you can just put the ball in the hoop but you don't understand angles you don't understand such a game time situation right you don't file a guy a guy that's struggling to shoot the ball you don't file him on a three-point shot right you don't give the guy you don't give up the baseline to a right-handed guy on the right side I mean things of that nature so talk about LeBron's

basketball IQ. Well, I mean, he's made that commitment too, to mentally dive into those things that, okay, this particular player, he's really good at, you know, two dribble pull up going left. Make sure you force him right. And then you store that in your brain because you're going to play these guys. If I'm playing Bradley Bill, I need to be able to call on a drop what his best move is. Right. To dribble, dribble, step back, watch the film, dribble left, step back three. That's his move. You know, so you get to a level and then you start just dissecting guys quickly and you keep storing that information. Then you get to the team. Okay. Now you get to the coach. Yeah. This coach runs this set, these kinds of plays.

Okay. This, you know, this situation, you know, just storing information and just recalling it quickly, quickly. And like, I was always envious of LeBron because for his whole career, he's had the ball in his hands. He's 6'8", and he can see over everybody, you know. So he's like has the ball in his hands, and he can watch the offense move. Right. I'm a post guy.

It's always something behind me. Somebody behind you. Somebody's behind me that I can't see. So, you know, LeBron might be looking. I don't know what's behind me. You know, I got to watch film. Right. So, you know, LeBron might be looking. I don't know what's behind me. You know, I got to watch film. So, you know, just him being able to do that for his entire career and combining all that information and just living in it,

you know, of course, you're going to be a savant. Are you surprised that he's playing this well this late and that he has the Lakers one game away from being world champs? Oh, no, not at all. I mean, as soon as he went to LA, I figured they would have a shot at it. As soon as they got AD, they were, you know, they were my favorites to win it. I mean, you know, just combining those tremendous talents and then building that team around it and having guys like Frank Vogel, guys like Jason Kidd, you know,

guys like Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee, with their championship and finals experience, you know, coming in and leading that locker room. I mean, you knew that they were going to be primed to win one. They have a chance. They're on the precipice of it now. They just got to finish it, and we'll see if they're able to have a run.

of it now. They just got to finish it and we'll see if they're able to have a run. D-Wade said Anthony Davis is LeBron James' all-time best teammate. Do you agree or disagree? I disagree. He's being humble. He might be more talented, but not the best. Not the best. And I only say that because what I watched LeBron and Dwayne do, I haven't seen anything since. It was entertaining. Right. You know, they're throwing lives off the backboard. They're doing stuff you play Nerf ball with and do with your friends

in the Little League. You know, just the effect that they had on the culture of things and on the game and the way that they were able to combine their styles on it doesn't really make any sense they're two slashers both of those guys are ball dominant right ball dominant ad actually lebron and ad are better fit because d wade and lebron were both ball dominant d wade had to sacrifice more than AD ever did because LeBron is really starting the offense through AD now.

For sure. Absolutely. And he's doing that. And he can run a screen and roll with AD. We never ran screen and rolls until late, you know, with LeBron and D. But like just the way that they were able to combine their forces and figure things out.

I mean, I just feel that that was just a great compliment and it was entertaining and just so much, so fun to watch. It was just all good. You know, it wasn't going to be anything in the media. It wasn't going to be anything on the court. You were just going to watch some amazing basketball. Does it help that D. Wade and LeBron

were such good friends? LeBron and AD are such great friends. Does that really help with how well they mesh and how well they play? Because they can say things to one another that another teammate probably would be unwilling to say and not say. Because they talk about how D Wade held LeBron accountable. LeBron held D Wade accountable. Vice versa with AD held LeBron accountable LeBron held D Wade accountable vice versa with AD and LeBron do you think that relate that type of relationship helps oh yeah of course I mean you have to you have to respect the person that you're playing with you have to be a friend I

mean you have to care uh because let me tell you when it's when when it's like game six or something and you're dead tired and you have nothing left to give and there's still two quarters left and there's a loose ball. You got to go get it. Matter of fact, LeBron threw the loose ball. And if I don't like him to a certain degree. Nah, you threw that, bro. You go get it. You know, I didn't throw it.

You got to go get it, bro. You go get it. Yeah, you know, I didn't throw it. You got to go get it, man. And you have to be able to sacrifice for each other. And, you know, you got to stay. That's a huge part of being a team. You have to come together as a team. You got to be that solid unit. And, you know, you just have to.

It helps when you like each other. Because, yeah, you're going to have to have some uncomfortable conversations some days. And, yeah, you might have to tell your teammate, yo, you need to play better. Right. And you're not giving, I need more. Or you're not, that was bull. Or, you know, just to keep people accountable. I think that's hugely important. And if you like them, it makes it easier.

think that's hugely important and if you like them it's it's uh it makes it easier what would a fourth ring for 13 do for lebron james oh it'd be great i mean he you know the way i see it it's it's a story still being told um you know i have a little bit of experience with championships i know you just want to get there so So actually winning another one would be, of course, anyone you get is tremendous. Winning it this year in particular, RIP Kobe, you know, and winning it for the Lakers, that's a whole, you know, other thing. Yeah, it's just, I mean, just Brian has a whole, and this is just me talking, it's not him. He Brian has a whole and this is just me talking it's not him

he just has a whole other outlook on the game he's thinking of it as a totality not so much as a city a person a place or a thing he's like oh man I want with the Lakers wow and then with the heat back to back oh and then brought one to Cleveland I mean. I mean, just it's a whole body of work. And I know he probably has a number in his head that he could get to that's possible. I'll go ahead. But, Chris, you heard what they said. LeBron went to the Lakers to retire, spent his last couple years.

He wanted to be close to Hollywood. He wanted to act. He didn't want to be Michael Jordan. He wanted to be Michael B. Jordan. He wanted to be close to Hollywood. He wanted to act. He didn't want to be Michael Jordan. He wanted to be Michael B. Jordan. He wanted to do movie projects. Hey, Chris, you heard it all. You heard it all. This is what they said about the man.

Right, right. He came to retire. Even after the historic season that he had just put up, coming off the NBA finals, he said he's going to L.A. to retire. Nah, I don't think so. NBA finals, he said he'd go to LA to retire. Nah, I don't think so. Not that he won't retire in LA, but if they win this fourth one, that's the start of a run. And, you know, he is in his mind. They're going to do this, you know, until, I mean, contract, you know, obligations are one thing, but, you know, if they can sign AD, they're definitely going to try to really,

really capitalize on their situation. So I see him continuing to compete for a few years. Everybody asks you this. You played the game. You didn't get it. I don't think you got an opportunity. You might've played. You might've called Jordan.

You called Jordan's last name. I didn't, man. I came in the year after he left yeah yeah yeah after you what you saw the last dance the last i mean the last dance you played with lebron you played in the air with lebron when it's all said and done who's gonna be the goat man really man that's just a tough situation i mean you know you can't really quantify it um what lebron has done it's in its own category what kobe did with jordan kareem bill i mean it's really hard to really kind of uh you know, people get very selective. Well, he only did oh well and well.

These are feats that I feel that never will be. I don't think everybody, nobody will be 6-0 in the finals. It just ain't going to happen. Right. That's crazy. Ten finals and counting, you know, I don't think nobody's going to do that. They both have a bunch of MVP awards. They've got all the trophies.

You know those guys, Kobe and Durant. Everybody's talking about the GOAT. I'm just trying to get in the building. You know what I mean? It's going to be a lot to be said if you win finals MVP. He has four finals MVPs with three different locations, which means he would have led three different teams to the ultimate it's gonna be it's gonna it's gonna be tough to hold him out

that conversation let me tell you something man man it will be scholarly debates over this for decades yes you know what I mean and you know I know LeBron wants it that way he Jordan was our hero you know we all watch Jordan we all know that okay I mean this is what I'm up against and man it is what it is but for him to actually create a lane for his own self and then they say hey man he is arguably the greatest of all time there's nothing else to talk about Chris man I really appreciate it bro thanks for sitting down with me and sharing your thoughts about your career and your new music career. Congratulations on that.

And when you win that Grammy for best new producer, best new song, come back and visit your boy. For sure, for sure. I appreciate that, man. Thanks a lot. Thank you, bro. All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price.

Want a slice, got to roll the dice. That's why all my life, I've been grinding all my life. All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price. Want a slice, got to roll the dice. That's why all my life, I've been grinding all my life. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal.

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