The Bill Simmons Podcast - Kevin Durant IV: Ask Kevin Anything Part 1 (Ep. 251)
Episode Date: August 24, 2017HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by 2017 Finals MVP Kevin Durant for the first installment of a two-part series to discuss the shocking Kyrie Irving trade and to answer listeners' most pres...sing mailbag questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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All right, coming up on Wednesday night,
I went to Kevin Durant's place in LA
and we did a podcast that was so long
that we're going to split it up into two parts.
We talked about the Kyrie Irving trade
for the first 15 minutes of part one.
And then we went into a mailbag, which was only possible because I sent out a bat signal to the listeners, you guys, and asked for email questions, mailbag questions, respectful questions, smart questions, questions that use KD as a resource.
And the questions were awesome.
And we just kept going and going.
And we ended up making this a two-part pod.
So if you want to listen to this all at once, we're going to drop part two late Sunday night.
So if you want to listen to all at once, just wait until then.
Or listen to part one right now.
Kevin Durant, this is the fourth time we have done this.
KD vs. BS, part four, right now.
But first, Pearl Jam. taping this on a Wednesday night
undisclosed location
Los Angeles
this is not the Trojans
this is the fourth one
KD Kevin Durant
fourth one
what's after a Trojan
a quadrilogy
yeah
I don't even know
we're like
we're like a Fast and Furious
franchise at this point
oh yeah
we're getting there
nobody even knows the numbers anymore.
And people asked for Rich Kleiman to have a microphone this time.
Mic'd up.
Because everybody said they were tired of hearing you from 15 feet away.
They might just be tired of hearing me.
So look, we've done this three times.
We've talked about every possible thing we could ever talk about.
And we have a wrinkle this time.
I asked the listeners to send
mailbag questions for you i can't wait this is an aka ask kevin anything but before we get into it
um there was a there was like a minor nba trade yesterday minor very minor minor the uh
the celtics and cavaliers decided to switch some players. Kyrie Irving is now a Celtic.
Isaiah Thomas is on the Cavs.
So is Jake Crowder.
There were rumors about this.
You can't pick that up.
Can you pick that up?
I heard it.
People are playing video games upstairs.
It's fine.
Oh, yeah.
Don't worry.
It's fine.
There's noise everywhere.
People are adults.
So there were rumors about Kyrie and LeBron and things had fallen apart.
Kyrie wanted to be traded.
Did you think he was actually going to get traded?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I figured it was real once I heard it.
And once Woj tweets at anything, it's real.
So you believe Woj every time?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, he's pretty accurate.
God, how do I get to that level? How do I get to that Woj every time? Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's pretty accurate. God, how do I get to that level?
How do I get to that Woj level?
I didn't believe it was because they didn't like each other at all.
Yeah.
So what do you think it was about?
I heard Richard Jefferson say something that was really, really interesting.
And he kind of, what he said was like Kyrie, to me,
what I get from him is Kyrie is just a pure basketball player.
He like crafted his skills since he was like eight, nine years old.
You can just tell the way he plays.
Like nobody plays like him.
Yeah.
So he's a pure basketball player.
He probably played playground ball.
His pops probably took him to the roughest neighborhoods and threw him out there on the basketball court and just told him to just go play.
So he built up the love for the game.
So when you're around LeBron James, it's like there's so much that comes with that.
There's like so much outside, like distractions and conversations
and just noise that just comes around just from being around LeBron James.
And Kyrie at the point, like, all right, we lost the championship.
This whole season is going to be about if LeBron is going to leave or not.
Like I'm ready for a new challenge.
Like all that stuff kind of met at the pinnacle of, you know,
why he wanted to leave.
And it just felt like he just wanted a situation where he could just be free
from all of that and just play.
Right.
And it's a perfect system for him in Boston.
It's like a perfect fit. you know what I'm saying?
Because he's a 6'3", like Isaiah Thomas, basically.
And Isaiah just thrived in that system.
And then he got Gordon Hayward and Al Horford.
That's going to be able to make plays for him too.
It's going to be pretty sweet.
I think it was a great deal.
But I just think Kyrie at that time,
he just wanted a place that he can just focus
on just playing basketball and not worry about
the other drama that comes with it.
You can identify with that, right?
Oh yeah, for sure. When you just
love to play the game, the NBA
kind of adds so much
baggage on top of it from the business
side to the media, just to everything.
When you just want to play and not worry
about that stuff, you try to find a place where you could do that and Kyrie um I'm sure he had
to know that he was going to Boston it was he wasn't blindsided at all so I'm sure he was okay
with going to Boston and wanting to go to Boston well I'm sure there was a couple teams that were
sniffing around and his agent can control it yeah I'm not going to resign there in two years and do
it that kind of stuff yeah exactly he had he had a little bit of control yeah so like and
that's a great organization winning organization great coach just a great culture and he's like
all right let me try this out he did what he's supposed to do in cleveland it's on to the next
chapter i i can really appreciate what he did he stood up for himself he showed a lot of courage
man because you know it's hard to take that type of like criticism right you know what I'm saying when
you just want to play ball yeah you know so I I felt him on that do you think there was a small
part of it that he found out he that they were trying to trade him or at least shop him a little
bit last they were I think before this whole stuff came about I think they were Before this whole stuff Came about I think they were Oh they were I think so
Why
Yeah
I think they
He's unguardable
Yeah
So the last time we did this
You were
We were talking about him
Versus Allen Iverson
Which somehow
You said so many
So many more interesting things
Than that in the pod
Yeah
And then people were like
Katie thinks Iverson
Who said
That was gonna be a big thing
Rich
Rich said that Now you have be a big thing? Rich.
Rich said that.
Oh, you're good at that.
Now you have a mic.
Now we can listen to you.
That's true.
No, but I thought it was a great debate.
It was, but I wasn't comparing stories and legacy.
A lot of people who came to me on Twitter was like, I recently led this team with nobody,
no stars to the finals.
I'm like, all right, that's a team thing.
I'm talking about individual players. If you look at down the line, I'm not talking about leadership and clutch.
That stuff is not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about can he dribble, pass, can he shoot?
How many moves he got?
How he can move.
Efficiency.
Who's better at that stuff?
The other stuff, you'll figure that stuff out.
That's a good debate on Twitter.
But you talk about straight basketball skills, that's what I was talking about.
And Kyrie has somehow weirdly become underrated,
even though he was in three straight finals.
I was making the case for him before the Celtics traded for him
just because I was going to those games.
And this is one of the reasons this came up last time.
I was like, this guy's amazing.
And you see it in person.
You see his ability to just chain.
It never gets blocked, as you pointed out.
The degree of difficulty of the shots he makes.
I'm excited to see him a little bit more unleashed.
And I really think it's not about the man.
He wants to be in charge of things.
He doesn't want to be LeBron's sidekick over,
oh, now you get to be involved in this play,
which I'm sure you identify with a
little bit just the concept of man sometimes it's nice to know if you can run your own team
i wouldn't no i wouldn't say that it's just a it's just the fact that you want some structure
you want to so you think it's about structure not about it's about like the coach needs to find like
what what do you want me to do?
Like, do you need me to score?
Do you need me to pass?
Do you need me to just play defense?
Like, tell me what you need me to do.
And also tell the other guy what you need him to do.
And then tell the next guy and then the next guy
so we can define some roles so we can figure out, you know,
what position to put this guy in because he's best at maybe shooting corner threes
or being at the dunker spot or setting pick and rolls like when you just have no structure and no type
of flow and it's like go create force Kyrie LeBron Kevin Love you don't think there's a small part of
it though where it's it's not being he hears like well of course Kyrie's good he plays with LeBron
that's why he's good I mean he's got to hear that stuff I mean you hear it is you mean it's good. I mean, he's got to hear that. I mean, you hear it. I mean, it's hard to quiet that noise.
But at the end of the day, like, you still got to go play every day.
So you want to have a good environment where you want to play as far as,
like, you want some type of structure.
You want to learn the game at a different level.
You want to kind of challenge yourself to fit in with a team
and use your skill set a different way.
Like, Kyrie reminds me of myself just from the outside looking in. to fit in with a team and use your skill set a different way.
Kyrie reminds me of myself just from the outside looking in.
I may be wrong on all these things, but from the outside looking in,
been around him for a month or so, he reminds me of myself as far as just loving to play the game, just wanting to learn it
and try to get better at it every day.
I can feel that.
I can sense that in him.
One thing I've learned from at least spending a little time with basketball players over the years,
you can sense when certain guys carry a level of respect with the players versus guys like me who aren't out there playing.
But there's certain guys where the other guys are like, no, that guy's legit.
There's something about that guy.
And it seems like Kyrie has had that for a while where in the community, he carried a weight.
Kyrie got like a really a cult following amongst.
Amongst the players.
The players and like the younger generation, like they love Kyrie.
Yeah.
The shoes help.
I think the shoes have been popular.
But just his game.
I'm telling you, his game is just so fun to watch.
It's so shifty.
It's like, what is he going to do next?
They love him.
I'm pumped.
At the same time, I loved Isaiah Thomas.
I mean, I got a bunch of questions about this,
so I could just combine them into one question.
But a lot of people are saying, ask KD.
This is like, you took all this shit when you left Oklahoma City
and went to Golden State.
It's like, you weren't loyal to Oklahoma City. And now this is the flip took all this shit when you left oklahoma city went to golden state it's like you weren't loyal to oklahoma city that what and now this is the flip side of it this is isaiah thomas who became a franchise guy in boston who played hurt who played the day after
his sister died or two days after comes in who played that two playoff series in a row with like a screwed up
hip yeah and was a great celtic and people loved him and everyone wore his jerseys and they just
traded them so there is no loyalty in sports is the moral of the story i thought we all knew that
like i don't think people did i thought we knew that. It's been happening for years.
Guys have been getting traded in their sleep for years.
Guys have been getting their shitty end of the stick for years.
I mean, organizations have been...
Some guys have been fucking over organizations too.
You know what I'm saying?
But there's no loyalty in it.
It's business.
There's money involved.
There's money involved.
There's loyalty. It's loyalty money involved so there's loyalty it's
trying to get it's it's loyalty to people it's loyalty to like that's what you say to teammates
yeah those those relationships that you had were like sure with trainers and teammates and anybody
in the organization that's that's loyalty you know i mean that's friendship that's relationship
that's something that's gonna last forever but when it comes to numbers on the paper name on the paper like at the end of the day that trumps everything you know i'm saying i
gotta does this dude fit into our salary cap or into our into our plans nah let's see what we can
get for him like that's just a part of the game but you didn't know that when you came into the
league in 07 um i knew it, but I didn't think it was.
Like, I didn't know exactly that it was really just a.
I thought it was like 50-50, you know what I'm saying?
With, like, emotion and, like, business.
Like, I want to trade this guy.
I've been knowing him for nine years.
Right.
You know what I'm saying?
But then at the end of the day, it was like, no, we need this spot
or we need this money.
We got to move him. He still is. At the end of the day, it's like, no, we need this spot or we need this money. We got to move him.
At the end of the day, he's going to get it.
It's a part of the business.
So nowadays when players leave, it's just part of the business.
I spent five years ago, I spent the whole day with Bill Russell.
And part of the things I was obsessed with that we built this documentary
did around him was the fact that he's still not mad at Boston but doesn't feel a connection
with Boston really and there's a variety of reasons for it you know they didn't
they didn't really love this ethics when he played they treated black players
terribly in 1960s he was not treated great and he reached a point where he
was just like my loyalty was to the guys I played with in the locker room I don't
feel loyalty to Boston which is weird to hear when he won 11 titles in 13 years in boston but he was just like
look i'm loyal to koozie and heinz and all those guys the city it's just the city i played in
that was shocking to me now that's a that's an extreme example yeah that is that's shocking but
i think the the relationships,
I think,
is what seems
to endure the most.
Now,
you have some exceptions.
Like,
Paul Pierce,
I think,
really loves Boston
and had a real connection
with that city.
If he wouldn't have won
a championship,
you thought he would
have felt the same connection?
Probably not the same.
Okay, then.
I think we would have
loved them, but...
That's just business.
Yeah.
Probably not the same.
You know what I'm saying?
But we did, I mean... There's some players that Probably not the same. You know what I'm saying? But we did.
There's some players that love where they play.
You know, they really love the organization, and that's amazing.
You know what I'm saying?
I love where I play.
I love the organization.
I love the owners.
Yeah.
But at the end of the day, I know what's important.
You know what I'm saying?
And it's not being selfish.
It's just like you got to do what you got to do.
Yeah.
Players make decisions based on on solely
on money so why can't you make a decision based solely on how you feel or the environment you want
to be in so it's like why not how to your you know why not dictate your future they do it in the
organizations do it try to do it so why can't you do it somebody forwarded me a tweet that you liked
on twitter about about it was basically this loyalty question which i thought was interesting I try to do it, so why can't you do it? Somebody forwarded me a tweet that you liked on Twitter.
It was basically this loyalty question, which I thought was interesting.
Because you realize when you like something on Twitter,
people know that you liked it.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I know.
There was a big debate on the Ringer staff
whether you were the NBA social media MVP this summer.
I should be.
You did.
You really started like 10 news Keep it real, man.
You started like 10 news cycles.
I keep it real.
I mean, I used to think that, man.
Let me make sure I watch what I say about this and that.
At the end of the day, it's all jokes to anybody.
I mean, everybody anyway.
They make jokes about this, whatever goes on in this world anyway.
I mean, in this basketball world anyway.
So why can't I just chime in and, you know?
There were some people that made runs at the title too.
There's three weeks left in the summer.
They're not as real as me.
Hassan Whiteside had his whole CSI parrot thing.
That was big.
That's manufactured.
What else happened, Tate?
Who are the other contenders?
KD's have a big lead.
There's still three weeks left.
I'm just authentic man
what is it about
using all the different pieces of social media
that you seem like you have
especially embraced this summer
it's just different ways to communicate
I think on YouTube
it's kind of easy to see the comments
and just kind of scroll through and like them
yeah
on Twitter you're like going at
people twitter yeah yeah like i said rich what do you think of this you can't joke on i can i mean
he doesn't like his white side was the runner-up no i'm just listing candidates oh so rich you
don't like when he does all this social media stuff or you get worried.
No, no, no.
I'm with it.
I'm with it now.
I needed to understand.
You just said you didn't like it.
Cause I didn't, I used to question it.
I used to ask him why I used to ask him why about certain things he said and did, but
you know, he's going to do and say what he wants anyway.
So I just understood where he was coming from.
But the YouTube stuff I love, I mean, that's our baby.
But on Twitter, I realized like, that's, that's him. And, and mean that's our baby but on twitter i realized like that's that's him and
and then that's just him you know see i'm hoping he becomes an example because he's just candid
and people are used to it now so when you say stuff not to compare you to like somebody like
barkley but barkley reached a point on tnt where he just said his opinion and people are like oh
that's barkley he just he says stuff that's what he does you have now gravitated toward that point which i think is a good place to be not
most guys are afraid don't say barkley because he's no that's why that's 95 percent wrong well
but i'm at least i knew you were not gonna like that 87 86 percent right i knew you weren't gonna
like that but you know what i mean people are like oh that's barkley he's not afraid to say
things yeah but he's always wrong.
Man, you and the old guys.
You just feud with the old guys.
No, I love.
Come on, man.
I'm a.
You know who got really mad?
James Worthy.
Yeah, we solved that, though.
I'm sorry, James.
That was a big mix up.
That's our boy Randy. Oh, we're apologizing to James Worthy now?
That's our boy.
Yeah, that's our boy Randy.
Big game, James.
All right.
Sorry, big game, James. Mailbag coming up. up but first i want to talk about flea flicker being a fantasy
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All right, hold on to your hats.
Here comes the mailbag with Kevin Durant.
Got a lot of mailbag questions here.
These are some good ones.
Are you ready for this?
Let's do it.
This is great.
You're going to love this.
From Matt DeLuna, was there a player who balled you up in your rookie or second year that you feel like you could totally beat now and it's kind of annoys you
somebody that took it to you when you're a rookie rudy gay rudy gay took it to you as a rookie
rudy gay did you get him back oh yeah okay yeah. Okay. Oh, yeah, plenty of times.
Franco D. wonders,
what do you think when you hear player evaluations
like Brandon Ingram is going to be the next Kevin Durant?
Do you appreciate it or do you get annoyed
that people think there's going to be another Kevin Durant?
I appreciate it.
I appreciate it, especially when it's accurate.
Somebody like Brandon Ingram feels like,
it looks like he can play like me.
We have similar builds.
But some of the times I'm like,
it's hard to compare a guy to Myers Leonard or Darren Collison
when they're coming into the draft.
It's all right.
Those guys are really good players, and they make a lot of money.
So you don't have to compare them to stars.
The expectations, man, that can kill a player.
And, you know, you compare somebody to LeBron James when they're coming out of high school or college,
you're going to expect them to be LeBron James when they're not really going to be LeBron James.
So start comparing these guys to some solid players once in a while.
I think Jason Tatum is going to be the next Paul Pierce.
That's a fair comparison. There's a new, new Kevin Durant they're talking about. I think Jason Tatum's going to be the next Paul Pierce. That's a fair comparison.
There's a new new Kevin Durant they're talking about.
I think you're going to be mad at that.
Kevin Knox, Kentucky kid.
That's who they're saying is the new Kevin Durant.
Kevin Knox is the new Kevin Durant?
Really?
Yeah, 6'9".
See, now he's going to leave the podcast and go on YouTube.
Ain't that nice?
Yeah.
He ain't you.
Porter's nice.
Porter's nice.
What do you consider, this is from Drew Kells in New York,
what do you consider the all-time what-if moment in your career?
Choice A, Blazers draft you over Odin.
Choice B, Harden does not get traded.
Choice C, Klay does not go off in Game 6, 2016.
Choice D, Zaza falls into into your leg and instead of whatever injury
you had it's actually worse and you missed the rest of the season what's the one that haunts you
or what's the one that you say thank god that went the other way or oh man what would my career
have been like if it had i say b b harden interesting so you finally come around to my
side after five years yeah you're mad at me i used to i told somebody the other day i was like i used
to hate when he used to bring that up like damn i know we know we know just relax this will be like
four years later what about the harden guy all right? All right, Bill. No. That's what I felt like.
They're showing a lot of old games on NBA TV.
God bless them, the Hardwood Classics.
And they showed game two of the 2012 finals
when you guys were babies,
but you made the finals anyway.
It's amazing to watch the three of you guys
out there together against LeBron, Wade, and Bosh.
Because everyone was saying in this finals,
oh my God, so much talent.
There was just as much talent in that finals.
It's just you guys were young.
You weren't the guys you would become.
We were overcoming, yeah.
But we don't got to talk about that.
You got fouled on the baseline.
We don't got to talk about that.
Can you admit you got fouled?
You're not going to get fined for that.
I still should have made that shit.
But you did get fouled on the baseline.
They didn't call it.
We didn't foul.
All right.
The last TV show
you were obsessed with
that's from Nicole in Washington
last TV show
Billions
oh Billions
are you going to be in Billions
I'm trying
Rich
could you and Axe invest in something together
that's what we were trying to figure out.
That's the plan.
Don't give the plot away.
Shit.
Ozark.
Something goes wrong?
You got to watch Ozark, too.
Yeah, I got to watch Ozark.
You keep telling me about Ozark.
You're going to be...
So, Billions or Ozark?
No, I watch Billions.
He was telling me about Ozark.
In Billions, watch Ozark.
Ozark's good.
I'm friends with Brian Koppelman, one of the guys who created that show.
They told us they
raved about you he said basketball players love billions yes that was one of the one of the one
of the things they've learned um nicole also wonders i saw you in a morrissey t-shirt what
bands are you in that would surprise people i'm not into them okay you're just wearing the t-shirt
love the t-shirt sorry nicole sorry it's not my
greg phone wants to know who are the other four players from pg county that you'd want to run with
at the heights of their game that's a good one that's a great one explain to people what pg
county is prince george's county the hotbed for hoops right outside of Washington D.C.
DeMar Johnson Okay
Early pre-accident DeMar Johnson
Everybody said he was amazing
Cincinnati
first couple years in the league DeMar Johnson
Was Delonte from that area?
Delonte was
He was nice in high school
He was a late bloomer? He was a late bloomer, though.
Oh, was he?
Yeah, he was a late bloomer.
He didn't come on until like right when that year he had in college.
That's when he came on.
He was killing.
He was good.
Yeah, I'll take D-West as my point.
So you can't even get to four guys.
Can you get to four guys?
Yeah, D-West's my point.
Okay.
And then two more.
D-West and Johnson's going to be the two. Yeah. I'm guessing i'm in three right you can be whatever you played five in the finals i
think we can move you around three um man so many i'm missing because there's so much so you don't
want to hurt somebody's feelings yeah but the guys that i know kind of grew up on mike sweetney
it's nice mike sweetney number nine pick. Mike Sweetney. It was tough.
I actually thought
he was going to be
a good pro.
I don't know
what happened there.
He was in that era
with the physical
power forwards.
Yeah, he was one of those guys.
Like nowadays,
he wouldn't be able to,
I don't know where
he would play.
He'd be a nice little bruiser
if he get the,
you know,
if he had toned up
a little bit.
Yeah.
A nice bruiser,
quick feet,
you know,
but. You have a fifth? Fifth. We can come back to it. Tone up a little bit. Yeah. Nice bruiser, quick feet, you know.
You have a fifth?
Fifth.
We can come back to it.
No, you got to throw Mike Beasley in there.
Oh, Beas.
That's a great team.
Where's Ty Lawson's on from there?
He is, but. Yeah, that was better.
Comes off the bench.
Yeah, he got to come back.
Delonte was over Ty.
Yeah, you're just trying to hurt Tate.
All got length on that team.
He's trying to hurt Tate.
Hey, I will remind you,
Delonte West in the 2008 playoffs
was the second best player in the Cavs.
He was really good in that.
Delonte West was nice, man.
He was good in that series.
Tony wants to know,
who's winning McGregor versus Mayweather,
and will you watch it?
Mayweather's going to win.
Probably... Yeah, I'll probably watch it.
I feel like you have to, right?
I don't really care about it, but.
It's not going to be a good fight.
I don't think you're going to miss much.
Russell, no relation, asks, are you and Westbrook friends again?
I don't think we ever stopped being friends.
We just stopped talking, but I don't think we ever stopped being friends
so you're talking again not talking no but i mean i don't think any there's no problems it's not like
you know but i don't i don't think we ever stopped being friends all right um jake albright the
thousand oaks said i saw you sitting next to lebron and Kevin Love at Nike Skills Academy, and aside from the usual, I see you respect DAP.
Do NBA stars
actually enjoy being in the
presence of their rivals?
That's a good question.
Yeah.
Rich is almost two-thirds engaged at this
point. He's really enjoying this.
I'd rather be around
some great basketball players than
anybody else, to be honest.
So the rivalry thing, you kind of put it on the side during the summer?
I don't really believe in rivalries, man.
It's just a healthy, fun competition, I think.
Is that why we hang so much?
I guess.
Rich, you're great usage right now.
Rich is two for two. You said some great picks. I guess. Rich, you're a great usage rate right now.
Rich is two for two.
You said some great picks.
When you saw LeBron for the first time after the finals, what happened?
I just backed him up.
All right.
Pat from Minneapolis wants to know, after your recent tour to India,
what surprised you most about your time there?
Where did it make you want to travel next?
It made me want to go to Mumbai.
I want to say Goa.
Is that Goa where one of the guys was telling us?
Maybe I want to explore a little bit more in that area.
Delhi was a part that was, you know, just felt like it was under, you know, it was a little different than the bigger cities.
It was a smaller city.
It was more, you know, I guess compact, you know, in one area.
It felt like it was a lot of people in one area.
But as far as, you know, other parts of the country, I would love to explore.
I heard so much about it.
I know what I said back in, when I came back from there was a little,
got some people upset, but I really, really do want to go back
and explore a little bit more.
I was only there for two days.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Todd Stoop wants to know,
how many pairs of shoes do you go through during a season?
Do you wear your game shoes in practice to break them in,
and do you use a during a season? Do you wear your game shoes in practice to break them in? And do you use a special insole?
This is an obscure question that I was like,
I can't wait to hear the answer for this.
No, that's a really good question, though.
Yeah, thank you.
I want to know that.
Yeah.
All right, so what are the answers?
I usually go through probably like five, six pair a year.
Five, six a year?
Yeah.
So like one a month?
Yeah, I don't like switching out a lot how do you know
that it's time for the shoe to go usually when um when my orthotic so i wear insole in my shoe
when i broke my foot i never used to wear them until i broke my foot right and i had to wear
them to leave to take the pressure off the outside of my foot where i broke it so i wear insole
and so now you're used to the insoles yeah I love them now perfect for me now should
you have always had them I should I warm in college and once I finished in
college I never put them on again and I was just out and I was just playing for
the last what eight years is bare yeah and that's my foot at bat but I wear
insoles and I usually change my shoes once my ancillary start to wear to the I usually wear my ancillary down to like the
to the
to the plastic
that's how I wear them for a month straight
and they start to rub to the plastic and once they
start to rub to the back side of my foot
I know it's time to change my shoes
the AKA is really
on fire right now
Matthew Chapman wants to know he's from Montreal
which historical team do you think would have given KKA is really on fire right now. Matthew Chapman wants to know, he's from Montreal,
which historical team do you think would have given the 2017 Warriors the most fits?
You got a list or you want me to just?
No.
Grab somebody from history. The 16-1 team, the Laker team, would have been tough because Shaq was just big.
Yeah, my first instinct was to say the 96 Bulls
because they could have matched them athletically.
But I came to the same conclusion you did.
That team, like, you need some size to get.
But they were bigger, and Kobe was in rare form.
But we got a lot of length.
We had a lot of quickness on that perimeter.
I don't think they could have stopped.
We could have threw a couple guys at Kobe, but it would have been tough.
I think it would have come down to
offense versus offense, and you guys would have made
more threes. You just would have given Shaq.
You would have fouled him sometimes.
Shaq and pick and roll. A lot of pick and roll.
We would have put Shaq in a lot of pick and roll.
Make him just guard.
Make him guard
Steph, me, Clay, coming off pick and rolls.
And we would
double him every time he got the ball.
And make him be a passer.
Because nobody doubled him.
Like hard doubles.
I'm talking about as soon as he catches the ball.
I think the rules were slightly different back then though, right?
Didn't they tweak them?
I think they tweaked them after.
They might have tweaked them after that season.
No, we would double as soon as he catched that shit.
Yeah, I don't think there was the same kind of doubling.
Like some guys couldn't play against us, though.
Who would guard you, Kobe or Rick Fox?
Probably Fox.
Rick Fox, I would say.
Kobe would have to chase Klay around.
Horry would have taken you, too.
It's Horry.
It's a silent H.
I always call him Horry.
That's just what I do.
I did a podcast with him.
I have mental pronunciation blocks
with things. I think
the 96 Bulls would have been fun because
they would have played Rodman at center.
They would have played Pippen at
power forward against you.
Then maybe
you go to five. That would have been a battle.
Pussy would have been playing your
coach. That would have been weird.
Yeah, that would have been super weird.
We would have put him in side pick and roll every time.
Well, so I was texting with him about that.
Because I was saying, would you have been better off now or in the era you played?
And he said he was better off then
because now he's going against Russell and Kyrie.
There's 17 guys in the league.
That would have been a nightmare.
I don't think they had as many back then.
No.
But he was saying that, first of all, Kukoc would have been amazing
because he would have been like Joe Engels, like better Joe Engels.
Joe Engels is good.
At 6'10", at the 4, though.
Shooting threes.
Yes, he would have been a matchup problem.
And then he was saying that Jed Boosler would have been good.
Jed Boosler would have been good.
Jed Boosler was probably about 6'7". He said he could guard at either forward spot,
and he would have shot threes,
and he would have been a totally different player.
Ron Harper was a great defender.
Right, but you would have left Ron Harper open.
He can't shoot.
Yeah.
No, he can't shoot at all.
You would have played seven feet off him.
Steve Kerr didn't start at the one.
No, Ron Harper did.
It was a little Steve Kerr.
That really depended on the matchup. Sometimes they just had Pippen and Power Forward. didn't start at the one. No, Ron Harper did. It was a little Steve Kerr. They're really dependent
on the matchup.
Sometimes they just had
Pippen and Pafford.
But against us,
they would start Harper
so he can guard Steph
because he's bigger and longer.
And then they would put
Jordan on Clay
and Pippen on me
and then Rodman on Draymond.
And when we go small,
they would bring in Price.
They couldn't bring in
Steve Kerr.
Bushler.
They wouldn't have been able to play one into interline. No, they had a cool coach. They'd't bring in Steve Kerr. Bushler. They wouldn't have been able to play
Wendington or Longley.
They'd have to play Longley.
They'd have to play a center against us because we got Zaza.
Luke Longley.
The series would have come down to when Rodman and Draymond
got in the fight, how many
games each guy got thrown
out. Oh, they would for sure
fight. That would be a great rivalry.
That would have been good.
That probably would be better than Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman.
Yeah.
I think the 0-1 Lakers, I thought that was the best Lakers team,
the second title team.
Because Kobe was fully Kobe at that point.
Yeah.
And Shaq was still great.
That was the team that went.
You said it, 16-1 or 15-1, whatever it was.
I think they would have been good.
Oh, here's another sneaker question.
Jeff from New Jersey.
How much design input do you have on a signature sneaker?
What's the process like?
Are you actually involved in this or no?
Yeah, I am.
I mean, they kind of give me a blueprint of what they want to do
and how they want to kind of go about telling my story
through my shoes.
So they're kind of like, here, this is what we got first,
and then we kind of build off of that.
Is there a new one coming?
Yeah.
No, well, we got the ones that came out in the finals.
Those are going to last us all the way up until next year.
Okay.
So, yeah.
Another historical question from R. Casey in San Antonio
if you could join any historical NBA team
from before
or when you played
which team would you pick
just get to slide on a team
this is a good
hardcore NBA junkie question
teams that
needed threes
I have my answer for you after.
Me too.
Oh, you have an answer.
I would take worthy spot on those teams with Magic.
Poor James.
He can't win in this podcast.
I know.
I'm sorry.
You just apologized to him.
We got to call him.
You told me.
I'm sorry, James, but that team was fun.
How about you play the four and get Rambis on the bench?
Nah.
Oh, yeah, you could have done that.
Worthy at the four.
I could play the three.
So you could have done 85 Lakers, Kareem, you, Byron Scott, Magic, and Worthy.
Oh, my gosh.
That's length.
And we was moving them, too, running them.
We was getting out of the glass and pushing.
And Magic ain't have nobody else who can get off the glass and push like me.
That would have been good.
I had the 93 Suns too because it would have been fun to see you play with Barkley.
No, I couldn't play with Barkley.
He want to post up all game and tell everybody to stand around.
Just you want to know who I had?
Yeah, who did you have?
Yeah, oh yeah, we forgot to ask Rich.
Ewing, Oakley, KD.
Oh, man, that's so sad.
Ewing, Oakley, KD, Starks, Derek Harper.
I'm not rolling with that mob.
Or this one, Mark Jackson, Gerald Wilkins, Kevin Durant, Charles Oakley, Patrick Ewing.
You need, you couldn't play with all the big guys.
They clogged the lane.
Gerald Wilkins.
He was older at that time, though.
No, when he was on the Knicks, he was nice.
You're talking about the early 90s?
The Patino teams.
Oh, the Patino teams were fun.
Yeah.
Young Ewing.
We are going to take a quick break to talk about Gillette.
Did you know the tip of a Gillette razor blade is measured on an atomic scale,
meaning their blade edges are thinner than a single brain cell?
Oh, yeah, that's true.
That precision is the work of many brain cells,
hundreds of members of Gillette's research and development team.
They've spent over 4,700 years combined working to make your shave closer
and more comfortable.
Well, that's longer than the Egyptian pyramids have been around.
Tate, I had no idea how long the Egyptians, now I know.
While over 1,000 craftsmen and women in Boston, hey, Boston, I have no, Tate, I had no idea how long the Egyptians, now I know.
While over a thousand craftsmen and women in Boston, hey Boston, I like that city, are busy making your blades.
Another team is putting your blades through more than 60 extremely strict and precise quality checks.
Fail just one of these tests, it doesn't leave the factory.
In other words, the hardworking people at Gillette never stop working to make your blades better.
And it's no coincidence that since they named the new stadium Gillette Stadium,
the Patriots have just been ripping off Super Bowl wins.
Now, that includes the price tag, all this good stuff.
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See for yourself at GilletteOnDemand.com.
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Gillette, the best a man can get. Pricing applies to select products and is at the sole discretion of the retailer.
And now back to Kevin Durant.
Mike from Dartmouth.
Best Skirvin Hotel ghost story you've heard from another NBA player about coming to OKC.
I heard D. Rose when they came his second year in the league he made a rookie sleep on his floor
because the year before he said he felt somebody touch him or something like that that's what i
made a rookie sleep in the room so he the next year he made i think it was james johnson might
have been sleep on his floor james johnson the miami james johnson i heard that because that's
a good guy to battle a ghost yeah i heard he made him sleep on the floor. That was funny as hell to me.
I got it.
The ghost came in my room.
I never believed in ghosts, but that happened.
I lived there for a month.
When I first got there, I wasn't scared of anything.
I didn't feel nothing there.
I think you have to be on the floor that the ghost jumped out the window of in 1920.
I heard it was just the whole hotel.
Oh, they mess with people?
Yeah, because the ghost jumped from the top floor, but the ghost moves around.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm sure she does.
I can't wait for the answer to this question.
By the way, the listeners right now are saying,
I didn't think this mailbag was going to work, but they're enjoying it.
I can tell.
Man, Kevin's locked in right now.
Kevin's locked in.
He loves this.
Yo, you are locked in.
This is good.
We can go for hours.
This is solid, right?
Incredible.
All right, good. then he loves this you are locked in this is good we can go for hours incredible Luke Merring
wants to know
who is the last person
to beat you
1v1
my guess would be
Westbrook
no we never
played 1v1
you never played
1v1 with Westbrook
no like after practice
like no
not like that
oh I would play with like Dion and Anthony Morrow.
I would cook them.
I don't remember.
I don't remember losing one-on-one a series because I don't play just one game and we're done.
It's usually like three or four games.
Five-game series, seven-game series.
DJ Augustine probably beat you a few times, no?
Not in Texas?
No.
All right.
So I don't even know that answer.
Zachary Everett, this is a good question.
I want to know the answer to this.
How often and when exactly are NBA players drug tested?
Four times a year, randomly.
During any point during in the season yeah it has to be for or could it be less than four sometimes
there's three I think sometimes guys get three because I always heard it's for
tests we take it was for tests from I think training I'm not training camp to
start a first game maybe I don't know till finals because the story i always heard was after the fourth test it's like
that's it it's like your get out of jail free card oh i don't know it's interesting that
zach would ask that i don't know i don't know what zachary everett is doing um
the nba has a greater international influence asked asks Adam Green. What's the best tradition or food from another culture
you've been able to experience thanks to an international teammate?
You've had a few international teammates.
Yeah.
I never really.
Never dove into the food?
No, not of the teammates that I had, no.
Really? Okay.
No.
Should they widen the court by a foot on each side,
asked Emmanuel Crosby.
Why would they do that?
It would allow for more driving lanes,
larger gaps for defenders to cover,
and also bring about the reemergence of the mid-range.
This is not slam ball.
Yeah, I didn't like that question either.
This is not an arcade game.
Yeah.
Byer, I don't know how that that's his name must be a nickname buyer hey
what's your craziest team usa cruise ship story from rio 2016 oh my there had to have been a card
game what we were uh on a boat we couldn't leave like we couldn't leave you were there 24 hours a
day right except for practice people to come on you you had to get, like, a 72-hour clearance.
So it was just you guys hanging out?
Who else was on the boat?
The women's team.
And then it would be, like, it was some random people on there, too, that stayed on the boat.
So we would have breakfast.
Supposed to be, like, just for Team USA.
It'd be random people in there.
But we would just drink, play cards.
Who won the most money playing cards?
We would go on the top deck, and they had these hot rocks for us,
and we used to just make our own steaks.
We did that every night.
That was so fun to us.
Really?
Yeah, I don't know why.
And we just drank beers and just played cards.
We really just did that every day.
Who do you think, if there was a tally for cards who did
the best mellow mellow god there's so many mellows there's olympic mellow there's hoodie mellow
there's card mellow yeah he's got all these identities rich bour Ray Mello Guts Mello that's what we play Boo Ray Guts everybody
everybody
everybody kind of
did their thing man
it was a long trip
so it was like
you don't get a winner
and plus we don't
never stop
so whenever we see
each other again
we just gonna pick
the game back up
I don't think the game
will ever end
you know what I'm saying
it's not a clear winner
did you guys hang out
with the women's team at all
yeah
who was
who was like the coolest woman on the women's team?
BG
She's the homie
We still talk
Oh Griner?
Yeah
She was cool man
I liked her
Stewie
Breonna Stewart was cool
I mean all of them were cool
But I talked to probably Sue Bird
And DT Diane Taurasi I talked to probably Sue Bird and DT, Diana Taurasi.
I talked to them and BG probably more than anybody.
Diana Taurasi's cool.
She is.
She's been on.
And she a hooper.
She can play.
She's by far the best women's player of all time.
I don't know if somebody from this next generation can pass her.
She talks a lot of shit.
Her and Draymond got into this shit talking.
What?
Her and Draymond. About what? Just talking basketball shit. You of shit her and draymond got oh yeah shit talking what her about
what just like just talking basketball shit you ain't shit draymond all you do is they give you
the ball so you can pass it to somebody else it's like fuck you dt but they're the best of friends
this is amazing oh my god tommy that's my new dream podcast. Draymond and Diana Taurasi together.
Oh, my gosh.
If you get that, that'll be next level.
It's replaced KD and Perk as my dream podcast.
We got to get those two on.
She's the best.
I sat courtside for a Sparks game once, and she was trash talking everybody.
And it was like some random regular season game.
She's the best, man.
Scott Lavin wants to know, if you were to rename the redskins
laven oh what are you doing if you were to rename the redskins what would you call them and why
would you rename the redskins first of all
i mean just that tradition has been there for so long, but I know the name is so offensive to so many people, too.
And you definitely want to take that into consideration.
But for me, it'd probably be, I don't even know.
I would call it like the Body Snatchers or something like that.
Would you go back to the West? Sick Go-Go song when I was growing up, body snatchers.
Would you go back to the Washington Bullets or no?
I like the Bullets.
I guess it was a negative connotation.
I still love it.
I wish they could come back.
I love the Bullets.
Man, the colors was fire.
Oh, Scott also wants to know,
which NFL player would have the best shot at successfully playing
five minutes of NBA garbage time?
Jimmy Graham played in college.
Jimmy Graham?
Julius Peppers.
Julius Peppers played in college.
Antonio Gates.
Antonio Gates played in college.
I knew Tate was going to get it.
The cat from the tight end, they love in Dallas played.
Rico Gathers.
He played in college.
He can play.
You know who was fantastic, apparently?
Aaron Hernandez.
Who's now in jail.
Come on, man.
I didn't say it to be a comedy killer.
He's dead.
What?
No, I'm saying in college.
They used to play the football team against the basketball team
he was pretty good yeah the tebow and aaron hernandez jamaical finley was good well all
those six foot six tight ends you would think they had balance and speed and size um caleb in
pennsylvania wants to know what is the most enjoyable basketball game you've ever been a
part of i don't think he means like winning the finals.
I think he thinks he means just this game where you're like, wow, this is incredible.
Everybody's playing great.
Or it could be the Rucker Park game.
I don't know.
We played Miami in 2014 in Miami.
We were down like 22 to 4.
And me and Bron had like this, I want to say like two minutes just back and forth.
He came down, hit a tough step back.
Came down, hit a three.
He came down, hit another step back in the corner.
I came down, hit another three.
We were going back and forth literally
for like six possessions.
And it was fun.
It was so much fun.
Cause I've been wanting that.
You know what I'm saying?
And he took on that.
He took, he felt like, he seen me coming at him and he's like,
nah, let me gear up.
So we wasn't even calling plays.
He'll make a shot and D Fish, I seen D Fish,
I watched it again, he tried to grab the ball.
I was like, nah, let me shoot.
And same with Norris Cole.
He's like, nah, let me shoot.
It was fun, man.
That was your MVP year?
Yeah.
And I was in a good groove right at that point too.
I can remember that groove I was in.
It was just like, I was just feeling it. Like I was in a good spot mentally when I was in a good groove at that point too. I can remember that groove I was in. It was just like, I was just feeling it.
Like I was in a good spot mentally when I was playing.
And yeah, it was fun.
Nick wants to know,
how would your development as a player have changed
if you were in a situation as a rookie
like Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown right now?
High draft pick immediately thrown onto a team
as a contender versus being used
at the two guard
like PJ Cardellis
will do with you.
Yeah, that's a good question.
I would just
wait in my turn.
I just, you know.
Playing like 20,
I think you would have played like,
put you on last year's Celtics team,
you're playing 25 minutes a game.
Maybe you're not starting.
As a rookie?
Yeah, maybe even more.
30? I average 20 a game as a rookie? Yeah, maybe even more. 30? I averaged 20 a game as a
rookie.
On Seattle. 30?
I could play 30. Yeah, I was playing
probably like 33 minutes as my rookie.
I was just trying to ease you into the
lineup. Nah. Yeah, yeah.
I would wait my turn. I probably wouldn't
start to start the season or probably
the first year. Would you have been a defensive liability that first year?
Because you were pretty skinny that year.
No, I could play defense.
But if you don't tell me to play defense, then I'm going to focus on what I do best,
just like anybody else.
So you've got to let me know this is how you want me to play.
Because I'm focused on it because all I did was work on my individual skills.
So once a coach tells me, look, go play defense.
All right, I know how to do that.
And I'll score.
But if you don't tell me anything, I'm just going to –
I suppose you just want me to score.
So that's how I found my rookie year.
You would have played more than 25.
I take it back.
Yeah.
I'm trying to think how that lineup would look like.
Yeah, you definitely would have played crunch time at least.
What track best expresses your state of mind during the finals?
This is from Corey in Jersey City.
Nas, Hate Me Now.
Mobb Deep, Shook Ones Part 2.
Tupac, Hit Em Up.
Nas, Shoot Em Up.
Hit Em Up.
Hit Em Up?
Really?
Yeah.
You had that much going on?
Yeah.
That was, yeah.
Do you think it's a good thing or a bad thing
that I played Hit Em Up
for my nine and a half year old son
in the car the other day
no it's a great thing
yeah
I wanted him to understand
yeah
he has to
he has to know the culture
it drives the world
he had a lot of questions
especially hip hop culture
he needs to know it
yeah
you should play Takeover for him
he had a lot of questions
after Hit Em Up
like what happened between those guys I explained the whole thing to him it's an interesting story too yeah I explained You should play Takeover for him. He had a lot of questions after I hit him up.
Like, what happened between those guys?
I explained the whole thing to him. It's an interesting story, too.
Yeah, I explained.
Did you see The Defiant Ones?
Oh, I watched it four times.
It was inspiring.
The part about West Coast rap was unbelievable.
The 90s.
That was one of the best.
I didn't know at that time, like, when you start talking gangster stuff on records,
that was shocking everybody.
Really actually physically doing something to somebody over music.
Yeah.
I didn't know that was a shock to them.
That was the first time them actually feeling that.
Like, oh shit, somebody might actually get popped.
I didn't know that was something that they'd never seen before.
So when I watched Defying Ones, I was like, damn, now I know why it was so big.
That Source Awards was easily the most exciting award show moment of all time and snoop defused it yeah because like that could have been that could have been the biggest riot
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Let's keep the mailbag rolling with Kevin Durant.
Dunner wants to know, what does Kevin think,
who does Kevin think is the best trash talker in the league right now
oh Tommy's head popped up he liked that question easily nobody don't talk nobody really don't talk
against us like like heavy like that because I'm used to KG and Paul Pierce like they set the bar
yeah like you can't if you ain't talking shit like them then you might as well not even say
nothing so Draymond has the championship belt.
Oh, yeah.
Are there any young up-and-comers that you have your eye on?
Like is Giannis yelling at Greek at people or anything?
Devin Booker talk a little.
I love Devin Booker, man.
He love the game, and he like a dog.
He'll talk shit.
He'll like rough you up.
He'll get up into you.
Like he better watch out for that boy because he is dog. He'll talk shit. He'll like rough you up. He'll get up into you. Like, he better watch out for that boy.
Because he is nice.
He next.
I'm telling you.
Funniest warrior, David Poster wants to know.
Funniest?
Yeah.
D-West.
David West funny.
Really?
How come?
I was not expecting that answer.
He's so serious.
And his stories are just like, man, off the wall.
Like, that can't be true.
You know what I'm saying?
And it's just like, I believe it, though, because it's D-West.
And how he describes it, man, he a real OG.
I wish I could follow D-West around with a camera and just get everything he says on my YouTube channel.
We can.
We can. We can.
What is D. West doing 10 years from now?
Something interesting, right?
He's definitely going to have his hand in on his youth basketball team,
on his AU team.
I think he's going to run that from the beginning.
I think his thing is he wants to teach the younger generation
about the real part of basketball, like the NBA.
You know what I'm saying?
How to kind of fend for yourself, but not be selfish.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
So he's one of your top three teammates of all time.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, I only spent a year with him, but his knowledge and-
So he's on the perk level.
His respect level, my respect level for him is-
Yeah.
Yeah, he sounds like a great teammate.
Who is the core card playing group on the Warriors?
David wants to know.
That was his other question.
Me, Steph, JaVale.
JaVale?
Draymond.
But not Klay, Klay, Zaza.
They play poker.
I don't play poker with them.
But when we first started bumping, it was me, JaVale, Draymond, and Steph.
But I can't play with JaVale.
Why not?
Because, man, he's just like, you're playing a friendly card game.
He's really trying to win.
We all trying to win.
You get what I'm saying?
But it's just like, I can't explain it because y'all don't play.
Like he's trying to cheat?
Y'all don't play Boo-Ray.
Y'all don't play it, so you don't really know.
But Draymond and Steph, they know what I'm talking about.
Okay. This is for Draymond and Steph. He just don't know how to play it so you don't really know but if like draymond and steph um they know what i'm talking about so this is for the draymond stuff like he just don't know how i play but he wins though that's what pisses me off josh from maine wants to know when was the first
moment you really knew that you could be good enough at basketball to play in the NBA, how old were you?
Rich likes this question. He's staring intently.
I was super cocky at
like 11. Oh, so you were rational?
The N-Raiders, rational confidence?
I was like, I'm going to the league for sure. Nobody around
here better than me. And then I met somebody
that was better than me and he humbled me.
And then I was like, oh shit, this is going to be a little harder than I
thought. So probably around
like 16, I was like, oh alright,
they think I'm going to... You started showing up
on those lists? Yeah, I was looking
at them too. NBADraftNet.com
NBADraft.net
all that. Draft Express.
I was on that every day. If any
young kid said they're not on that, they'd lie.
I was on it every day. I had young kid said they're not on that, they'd lie. I was on it every day.
I had to know who was up there with me.
Where were you as a senior?
I was number two in the country.
Beyond Odin?
Yeah.
Josh Coyne wants to know, once upon a time,
you tweeted that you wanted to drink Scarlett Johansson's bathwater.
Have you met her since tweeting that?
If so, was she aware and was it strange?
I hope she was aware of it.
It is strange now because I look really, it made me look crazy,
but now it made me look real cool because I would,
I actually love Scarlett Johansson.
Okay.
And I would do that.
I could get that done for you.
And she's single now.
Is she single now?
I think so, from what I heard.
Breaking all kinds of news here on the BS Podcast.
Alright, we'll set that up. I just want to get
invited to the wedding.
John Sanchez wants to know, which rookie are you most
looking forward to facing this year?
That's a great question. It's a good rookie quest.
Ben Simmons.
Ben Simmons.
I forgot that he's a rookie.
I mean, he technically is.
I hate that red shirt stuff.
I know, but he's a rookie.
Yeah, I don't like, I mean, I know he ain't playing no games,
but you're around NBA life for a year.
You know how it is.
You got a leg life for a year. You know how it is. Yeah.
You got a leg up on a rookie.
But I'm looking forward to playing against him.
I'm excited to see you try to defend Jason Tatum's follow-away jump shot.
Oh, if he make him over me, cool.
But if he's shooting him from tough twos, I'll take it every time.
Jordan B. wants to know, is Hootie Mello the best basketball player in the world?
You played against Hootie Mello the best basketball player in the world you played against Hoody Mello
you played
handsome in a pickup game
his superpowers
I don't think he's the best
but he's damn good
so who's in that game
in New York City
cause there was
there's five and a half
minutes of video
you forget some good players
it was me
Bron
Mello
Ennis Cantor
JR JR was killing Dante Jones Good players. It was me, Bron, Melo, Ennis Cantor.
J.R. was killing.
Dante Jones.
Dante Jones?
Did he hurt anybody?
He was playing hard.
We needed him on the court.
Who else was out there?
It was two freshmen from Kentucky.
I forget the name.
Diallo and Richards?
Yeah.
Nick Richards.
They were bouncy. Played hard Nick Richards. They were bouncy.
Played hard, too.
They were balling, man.
Who else was there?
Somebody else that was pretty good.
How do you split the teams up?
That's a question I've got a lot.
Brickley did it.
Brickley, I'm sure you know Brickley, who kind of started the whole Hoodie Mellow thing.
Yeah.
Who posted videos. So he just says, you're over here, you're over here?
Yeah, I just walked in and he was just like, you mellow,
such and such,
Braun,
JR,
Ennis,
you know,
and we just played.
So you go like,
not half speed,
but like two-thirds speed?
What do you mean?
When you're playing
in those games.
We don't fuck around, man.
Go 100%? Go 100%?
Bro, when you check ball up,
we play.
Nobody was out there
walking around, chilling.
You talking shit?
No.
Like, shit talking,
it happens,
but it's not like
as soon as the ball tip,
fuck you.
Right.
No.
We playing.
If something happens,
if something pop off, we going, you know what I mean?
But we going to play.
We don't do that.
Who's the worst person at calling fouls anytime they don't make a shot
or there's contact?
Melo was pretty bad at that.
He got a lot better.
Like a couple summers ago, he was really trying to rough the games
because he had the gym, you know, and he'd be on his power trip.
Because that's when it leads to the most.
Yeah, he'll call a bad foul and I'll be like, come on, man.
But this time he was real cool because he was making everything at this time.
Rich, you can't blame him because the Knicks franchise, you just learned bad habits, right?
Come on, yo.
I'm just trying to get Rich to stay awake.
Yeah, yeah.
Ben Moody wants to know, what's your favorite NBA retro jersey?
So, for example, you could pick the early 90s Hornets.
I like the purple Milwaukee Bucks joints with the buck on the front.
The green.
Oh, that was mean.
They retroed them, too, a couple years ago.
Mean.
All right, here's a question just to wake Rich up.
Lars G. in San Francisco wants to know, go me all right here's a question just to wake rich up lars g in san francisco let's know what
was the motivation behind using youtube as your primary online platform to express yourself
say i knew rich would wake up for that well i just wanted to control my content and i want to just
make content for one we always talked about that we always had ideas and uh wanted to kind of portray the game the way we
wanted to portray it or you know kind of drive my story the way i wanted to and work with you too
they gave us you know good platform to do so man we kind of took off i didn't think it would be
this big for me you know it's not huge you know but it's been the biggest success um just the movie we
dropped on there the documentary is still kd you got a what million and a half views almost you
know so that's pretty cool i got 380 000 subscribers i just got on you know so um well
yeah man who knows all his numbers who asked that question uh Rich from New York.
No, no, because Rich knows the answer.
Lars from San Francisco.
Tell Lars there's a bigger play.
Lars will have to stay tuned for it.
All right, Lars, if you want to invest, Lars.
Lars, hit me.
Max from St. Louis wants to know,
why isn't there a one-on-one tournament in the All-Star game?
And if there was, would you enter it?
That's a good question.
That would bring the excitement back.
But you can't get nobody to play no one-on-one game, and nobody would want to get hurt.
You just told me you played 100% in some random pickup game in New York City against Kentucky people.
But you know how that stuff is. It's like I would play in a pickup game or in the summer,
but I won't risk getting hurt in front of a bunch of people.
Who's in the finals of that game?
You just don't want to get hurt in front of a bunch of people.
On a Saturday night.
I think it's the fear of people saying,
this dummy got hurt playing 1-1-1 at All-Star weekend.
That's what people fear.
That's what guys fear, I'm sure.
Are you in the finals of that tournament?
Yeah.
Who are you playing in the finals?
Somebody my size.
Kyrie would be tough to stop, though, man.
New Celtic Kyrie.
Now I'm even more excited.
I'm bigger than him, but we got to have dribbles.
We got to have dribbles in the mat.
Kyrie would just take 29-foot fallaway footers and make them
and just keep moving further and further backwards.
Yeah, well, you got all the confidence in the world and all the space.
Yeah, that'll be fun, though.
We should do that.
All right, as promised, we are going to take this to a part two.
It is going to go up late on Sunday night, a couple days after this one ran.
Thanks to Kevin Durant.
Part two.
Part two gets a little crazy.
Stay tuned for that.
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Night with Kevin Durant. Thanks for listening.
On the wayside I'm a person I never was
And I don't have feelings within