The Ringer NBA Show - Stephen Curry on ‘Underrated,’ The Chris Paul-Jordan Poole Trade, and His Relationship With Kevin Durant | Real Ones

Episode Date: July 24, 2023

Logan Murdock and Raja Bell are joined by Golden State Warriors guard and four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry to discuss his early days in the league, being teammates with Raja, and the new documentary film on his career, ‘Stephen Curry: Underrated’ from Apple TV+ and A24 (2:00). Along the way, Curry talks about the Warriors’ decision to trade Jordan Poole for Chris Paul and how he thinks the move is going to impact the team next season (12:00). Later, the two-time NBA MVP briefly addresses his current relationship with Kevin Durant and his reactions to Durant’s trade request last season (27:00). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming, please checkout ringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Producer: Jonathan Kermah Production Assistant: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Sean Fennessey. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And together we host The Big Picture, The Ringers Film Podcast for new releases, career retrospectives, director interviews, movie drafts, top fives, and so much more. Twice a week, we break down the latest releases, argue about whether movies are doomed, and debate our modern film canon. Listen to The Big Picture on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. What's popping?

Logan Murdoch here. Raja Bell, they're real ones. Raja, it's the third anniversary show. So we had to do it big. We got a former teammate in the building. We got a four-time champ. We got someone I used to cover. We have a documentarian of a documentary called Underrated

that you can see on Apple TV Plus at the moment. He is Wardell on the court. He is deli-bo in the streets. We have Steph Curry in the building. Steph, how you doing? I am doing fantastic. Appreciate you all having me on. excited to be here, you know? A lot of, a lot of history amongst this pod. Yeah, yeah.

A long time Rowan's listener, Steph Curry. Oh, word? Yeah, no, I remember one of my first episodes I was talking to. I used to make photo the way Logan used to do them reads. I would get a random text like, you baby Bidurico for the whole house. So it's good to have you on, Steph. So as we go, into the underrated bag where we're in, I can't help but think about the early years of you in the NBA with a guy by the name of Roger Bell, who was your vet, who came into the Bay Area for a brief stint. I was a vet. I was a vet. I got there very, very late. Was a vet on the

team? A vet. A vet on the team. What do you remember about that? He said he had to, did you have to get donuts? Did you have, like, what did you have to do with, Roger came late in the season. What was the experience like as Roger as your teammate? Well, I mean, like, this ain't to date, Roger, because he was a vet, but he was a serious vet in the sense of, like, when I was coming up, you know, watching the league after my dad had retired, like he was, you know, that dude is a part of, you know,

some amazing playoff runs and moments, like the battles with Kobe. Like, there was such a, his name, we all, we all, knew if you knew the league. So coming in as a rookie, I was playing with Monta, Stephen Jackson for a hot second, and then that was a trade. You came from Charlotte, right? Yep. Yeah. So, like, there's just a lot of connection and respect for who he was, but I had no idea what the hell was going on in the league at the time and, you know, just trying to figure it out, trying to get some reps underneath me. And, you know, we have a vet like that. We weren't winning anything, So it wasn't like we was, you know, coming in trying to establish like championship culture.

I mean, Roger was trying to get out at that point. Just even self-admittedly, he was trying to get out. I was just trying to, you know, gain as much wisdom as possible along the way. He didn't, he said he came in a little later, so I skipped all the rookie duties. Maybe a Quizno sub or a Jama Juice on the way to the airport. Maybe one or two runs from that. But for the most part, it was pretty low-key. Yeah, I was the greatest 25, I think.

It was 25 win season of all time right there. Man, listen, I've told Logan and then before, because coming from Charlotte, like, your Pops was doing our games, right? So, like, even the year before that, when you were, you know, this would kind of dovetail into the dock. But, like, even when you were on that run, like, I would be talking to Pops and asking him, you know, and asked about you as you were going through your draft process and all of that kind of stuff.

So when I got there, I mean, it was, there was a lot of young talent, but, you know, you guys were all trying to. trying to figure it out. And then there were vets like Devin, George, who else was there, Ronnie Torrio, I think was there in a couple. Cory McGity. Corey, that's right, McGettie. And so I would be sitting with them and, you know, they asked me if I could tell.

And I really couldn't, like, like on full scale, right? Because like, admittedly, you said you haven't really figured it out yet. But there would be these snippets in time. There'd be these flashes. And those dudes would be telling me like, hey, man, no, this is for real. And I sit over there and I watch it and you'd watch these like, and you'd be like, oh shit, yeah, that's it. That's it.

And so I always have to answer, like, honestly, like, I didn't know, but I shouldn't have been surprised, right? Because you could see that. I think that, you know, even though Jack was probably better for y'all's team at that point, like starting to kind of subtract some of those pieces around and putting more and more on your shoulders systematically was like a big part of that, you know? No, for sure. It was a growing up.

quick trial by fire type of year where like you said all the circumstances did not make anything you know easy but um i got reps i got to learn through mistakes i got to kind of figure it out and even we had a little something to play for throughout the year trying to get nelly the uh the all-time coach's wins record um so like there was a little something to kind of key on even though we were way out of playoff chase and all that and like we had some of the best but we had like a team of young rooks and guys from the g league anthony morrow that's right yeah uh reggie williams uh anthony tolliver CJ so it was like a it was a hard kind of transition but it was mad fun because we were just trying to figure out a little bit of confidence at the time and any bright

spot was like the best thing in the world i remember i remember talking to riko hines um a couple years ago about you. I was doing a story on you. And he was talking about your early days. And when he was talking, when we were talking about that first season where he says, you know, man, we didn't even once, whenever Steph would shoot floaters, we would tell him to stop. He would shoot floaters from like the college three-pointer reins. And they'd be like, what are you doing? How did you, I think this goes back into your story a lot, but like, how did you go from a fact of people telling you your game is not fitting for this specific era or whatever. This isn't fitting for the type of basketball we want to play right now. And you just saying, nah, I'm just going to shoot this floater. I'm going to use

my imagination on the basketball court in this way. I mean, at a certain point, like you said, you stick with what you know, how you see the game. I'm coachable in the sense of I try to take in as much information and direction as possible to know, like to figure out, you know, or acknowledge what I don't know and understand what am I actually building towards the being like a dude that can be a leader of a winning team. But there's also just a creativity and a free flowing nature that I played the game from Jump. And so as much as you'd want to like be methodical about the game and like really predictable about what you're trying to do, I get out there and I just I just play the way that I saw the game. And so it all stemmed back for like, I remember hopefully Roger would say this too when he, when he, when we played together, like I love to work. So it wasn't like I was just out there just trying stuff.

It was, you know, I really put the time in and like the reps in it. Like, that's not the first time I've ever done anything like that or I wasn't trying to refine the skill on a daily basis. So when I got out on the court, like there was a, there was a sense of confidence that I could execute whatever I was trying to do. So I'm sure coaches respected that too. you know, early on trying to, he was old school and he didn't want to give rookies any type of free pass, I guess, in the sense of,

like, you know, having to go through, you know, the early struggles. But he told me like I should never have more shot attempts than assist at one point. And I was like,

and when he said it, I was like, I get, I'm a point guard. I get, I got to get other people involved. But that's, like,

you're dimming a light in terms of something that I could add value in terms of shooting the ball. So that really messed with me a little bit early on. I think he was kind of testing my mental fortitude, too, a little bit. Oh, he tested your mental fortitude in first. Yeah, yeah. There was a lot of testing of that. I think, you know, Steph kind of,

and you asking the question about him figuring out, like he had to be kind of true to himself as a player, it helps when you go into a situation like he described where you might not be chasing a championship or a, you know, second or third seed in the West right away, right? because that provides a landscape where you can kind of, you know, get out there and just spread your wings. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, you know, we go back to the drawing board. It allows you the freedom to kind of do that, right?

And the pressure isn't on right away. That's important. And then secondly, I just touched it on Nelly. Like, I've told the story before. Steph, I was fucking blown away, man. Like, I was rehabbing, I was rehabbing my wrist. And I would go out to some, like, occupational therapy. So I'd pull up on top of whatever that is, that Marriott, like five minutes before practice would start, right? Like five minutes.

Y'all would be in there, juiced up, ready to go, and I'd have to hustle in and get changed. And this one time I pulled up, and there was this, this, like, old school single cab truck, like sitting right by the door. I shit you not. It was sitting right by the door. And I was, I wouldn't have paid much mind to it except smoke was coming out of the windows. And I was like, oh, shit, that truck's on fire. So I ran over. That's a way to put it.

Bro, yeah. I ran over. And Nellie was sitting in the driver's side, smoking a cigar, petting his dog on. the front seat next to him, man. This is five minutes before practice started. Lucky the Chihuahua. That was his... That's what's up.

He come through that side door like five minutes for practice and his little trench coat. You put his stool up on the side and just call out plays the whole practice. It was such an interesting vibe from day one. So, yeah, we learned a lot quick. Yeah. I want... I have so many deli stories.

Like, I feel like every time during this pod, we always have just random Nelly stories that we just come and talk to, like the shuffleboard by the lake story. I think that I forgot the name of it, but they would always, the initiation before every season when Nellie was there was to take you guys shuffleboarding before, before a season.

Do you have a shuffleboarding story? Oh, absolutely. I didn't get mine until probably January, February, but we skipped practice one day and he took us down there. He didn't tell us where it was going. It was like this little hole in the wall kind of bar spot, and you pull up, And, you know, he's like, you get a drink, come over to the Suffleboard.

We stayed there for two hours. And, like, it's a trap to think that that's the real NBA. Yeah, yeah. This is the true NBA experience. Like, this is Don Nelson, like the freaking godfather of the seven-second offense and all this other. It's like, yo, what is going on right now? I loved it, though. All right, man.

I do want to get into the real NBA, Steph, now that you brought it there. Let's get to the real NBA. I think the last time I saw you was game five of the semifinals. It was after you guys won game five going back before you guys went to L.A. And I was working on a story that wound up coming out in May. And it was basically talking about the two, I think I prefaced the question, just the two sides of the locker room last year. And I think one of the questions that I asked you was,

how do you bridge the gap between, at least the team of last year, the veteran team and then the young guys? how do you bridge that gap? And you turned around and we pointed at Jordan Poole's locker and you said that he is the key. Right. And we are here now and two months later and or however many months later and Jordan Poole is no longer on the team. And I guess my question to you is what is the biggest thing in your mind that changed from May up until whenever the deal happened? And why do you think it got to that point, considering all the history and all the things you guys wanted to do with him? Yeah, I mean, it's essentially the nature of the league where I think if you look at, there's nothing linear about, you know, how decisions are made, right? I guess everything has a kind of cause and effect.

And the fact that we were in that fight when we had that conversation going into the playoffs run. and looking at our team as currently constructed, I firmly believe that that was a true statement in that moment where the way that he approached his game, his energy and his presence in the locker room is so kind of contagious for the young guys to build confidence for us to believe that we were all headed in the right direction. And obviously the playoff run didn't go exactly the way we wanted it to,

and then there's a conversation of like every team is trying to get better. Every team is trying to put themselves in position to legit, like, be a title contender. We have the know-how to kind of gauge what that actually means. And there is a decision that needed to be made on like, you know, what is the right group of guys, what's the right pieces that can fit to captain. maximize our core, which we doubled down on our core, and that's what I felt like we should do, because I don't feel like we're that far off. Like, what's the right, what's the right move? What's the right combination of guys that can put us in that position? So that was, you know,

the conversation that happened over the last, whatever, four weeks before, you know, the trade deadline and tough decisions have to be made and you can't shy away from them. As much as... How fast was that, I guess is the question. Like, how fast was that turnaround, right? Because, like, even after the season, everyone's thinking, at least, that he's going to be back on. And then all of a sudden, you know, the trade happens. Like, what was the turnaround from how it happened? From my standpoint, like, it's extremely fast. It was pretty dead after the playoff or after we lost to the Lakers.

You're watching the rest of the final or the playoff run. They're watching the finals. You're watching Denver when. You're looking at all right. What other moves are happening around the league, which, you know, you're always keeping tabs on what's going on. And so probably, honestly, like 10 days or so before the deal happened, you start to hear conversations of the decision tree, right?

We're trying to sign Draymond. We're trying to get some more experience in the locker room because we know we needed that to be a lot deeper team. And then the CP trade happens. It's like, oh, did you consider the option of playing with him? And it's like, that makes a lot of sense in terms of connecting a lot of rotations, but what does that mean? And then what that means is a tough decision with JP.

So it happened really fast in the sense of, again, you're reacted to what's going on in the league and what options are out there. And every team goes through a scenario where you have to, you know, kind of play at your flag on who you are, what your identity is and what you're really investing and committing to. And for us, it was the core. For us, it was, you know, trying to establish ourselves again as a title team. I feel like we're that

and we just have to go execute it now and if it doesn't work, you make decisions going forward. That's just the nature of the NBA. It's part of the process. You kind of touched on connecting lineups, right? Like as CP3 is concerned and like I want to ask

because at least, like in theory I understand what you're saying, but you could argue at times, at least historically speaking in his game and what you guys try to do as an offense, those things don't, at least to the naked eye, look like they fit all the time. Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, so I'm of the belief that great teams and great players figure those things out and people can adjust. How much of that is on you guys and coaches to kind of incorporate Chris and try to figure out what's best there and how much of it is on Chris to come in and say, all right, look, this is kind of the way we do it. Like, how do you see that? Like, maybe not a perfect world, but how do you see that playing out? I think it starts with us as the players to, we always say, like, a great team that has a lot of

talent and guys that know how to do it. You have to bring your egos, bring your full identity of who you are to the table, but you also have to know when to sacrifice for the betterment of the group. And that is the big question for us is, you know, how do we put all of any agendas on the side and say, we're just trying to win, right? We're trying to maximize the great years that we have left because we know that there's a timeline to this and what it looks like shouldn't matter right we know that there's you could argue seven guys that could argue they should start there's seven guys that could argue they should finish games and do the math like there's going to be two people that are you know outside of that equation and even guys that are taking their next steps

up on in terms of the cream and you know Moses moody jay jay AK, those guys, they're going to want to have an extreme impact on the team. So we have to be able to put any agenda aside and say we're just trying to win and whatever it looks like is in the best interest of the team. And that'll reveal itself as we go through. So that's what us as players for CP. Like I think he gives us an element and a change of speed that we needed even in the Lakers series because it started to become, you know, kind of just a one speed pitch that

you know, it was motion offense and, you know, jacking up threes. And we were trying to figure out some more pick and roll situations. We were trying to find some more ways to create offense in the half court. He's obviously a master at that. And I know at this point in his career, he still has the ability to elevate the talent around him. You have to be mindful of minutes and games and, you know, making sure that we're peeking at the right time coming at the end of the season, but he gives us a different look. And I feel like, you know, the commitment to, you know, figuring that out early, we don't have to have answers right now because, you know, that's what

training camps for. That's what the early seasons for is to try to trial and error and figure it out. But he gives us a different element that we need and even putting me and clay off the ball for more parts of the game, you know, it's going to be fun to, you know, to figure out what the right combinations are. When you think about what happened last year and you have the benefit of hindsight months later, how do you think that you guys handled last season and what maybe could have been have done better in your eyes with the benefit of hindsight that you guys have? Because your your mission was to let the culture figure it out and the culture didn't figure that out. So what do you think you guys could have done better in that situation?

And in hindsight, how do you think it could have played out if you could have done it over again? Honestly, I don't know. I feel like maybe more of a, I don't know, I can't tell you how many conversations we had, you know, training camp when the incident happened to the beginning of the season when, you know, you're trying to make sure everybody's on the same page in terms of expectations on a daily basis of how you deal with, you know, personal relationships, how you try to be. professional when it comes to the job that we're all here to do, you know, dealing with some of the uncomfortable nature of, you know, the remnants of that situation. Because it's,

we always thought about it between JP and Draymond, you know, being able to try to rectify the situation, you know, have the necessary conversations from a coach's upfront office standpoint. Like, I'm sure you could argue about should there have been a suspension or not. And it's like we had so many conversations and so many kind of back and force in that moment of what was what the right course of action was. And there were a lot of variables that you had to take into play. So I feel like there's no regret there. It's just a matter of like it was an unfortunate situation that everybody was put in.

And at the end of the day, we felt like time would heal, you know, some of those wounds in the sense of allowing us to just be, you know, somewhat understanding of like when we're on the court, we're here to hoop. And honestly, that's how it should be in the first place. We'd love to have deeper relationships and friendships and ability to let that expand off the court. But at a bare minimum, there's trust that we're all here to add value to the team. And I felt like we, we have bright spots, but we just couldn't sustain it. And arguably, if you think about it, long window way of saying this. If you think about it in the playoffs,

you know, it's a tough matchup with L.A., but a couple of games here and there where we, you know, we all, I'm not everybody individually levels up their game and plays to the level that we should. It's a different story.

It's just that's how basketball goes, right? Like, if everybody plays their best, or the, in each game in the series, you know, the team that usually, you know, has guys play at or above their level is probably going to win. And that's why everybody, that's the unpredictable nature of the game. We were just on the wrong side of it this year, which then illuminated all the other issues that we had throughout the year. So it'll be interesting

for us to have a fresh start and regain the culture that we've established over this last decade. And now a Real One's Original. He is thrown a perfect game of beer pong out of a helicopter on three separate occasions. He once led a course on my first. He once led a course on my marksmanship at the Navy's top sniper academy. He's undefeated in minigolf while wearing a blindfold that's his handicap. He's the greatest shooter in the world, Stefan Curry. I don't always miss, but when I do, none of your business. I got one more.

I'm interested in this because I've never been in a situation. Steph, this is a long ride, right? Like you're in a long window of sustained excellence as a franchise as an individual. And from everyone I know that has had similar stretches of time, they say it can become, you know, really exhausting, both physically, emotionally and mentally. And so, you know, maybe coming up short last year and having this reset, if you will, with the roster and having new challenges like bringing in Chris and figuring out how that works, you alluded to it, not having to look great right away. But, you know, this is going to be something that you guys can now sink your teeth into in terms of another challenge. Like, how refreshing is that? Like when you're this deep into it, right?

Now you kind of get to hit a reset and try to figure it out again. Like I often think that's important to have something new to tinker with and figure out and kind of re-energize and revitalize. It's big if you take advantage of it. You go about, you know, the X's of those on the court a certain way. You establish an identity and there's like just a newfound confidence. I'm talking like our peak run, even during the KD years where, it was clear you asked anybody like how do we play what do we do

how do we do we win and everybody would probably say the same thing then you go through years like 20 21 where that answer was probably 20 different answers from coaches the front office to the players in terms of there was not really an understanding of what it meant to took the win there's a learning curve there and then we figure it out in that next season and now we hit a low this year where, you know, obviously it's hard to defend, but a championship, but it came with a lot of new, new challenges along the way. And to your point, yeah, we have so many unknowns now of like,

all right, me, Dray, we really feel like we still have a lot less in the tank. We feel like we can you know, way at the highest level. Wigs, uh, Loon, guys that have been a part of championship teams and our veterans in their own right understand who they are and now it's just about hooping. You got CP coming into a new fray, our history, us trying to figure out the new look

and blending different styles of play. That's an unknown. You got young guys that are trying to step up again, like I mentioned before, and figure out who they are as NBA players, but also how do they affect winning in this situation and in this organization? That's an unknown.

So like, it's, a lot. And I love these problems because it means that we're still, you know, relevant. We're still contenders in the league. We're still a position that you have to take us serious on a nightly basis. And the fact that we've been doing it for 11, 10, 11 years, like it's, it's kind of unheard of in the league in the history. So it's, you got to accept all of these unnotes and to your point, turn it into fuel to say, all right, we still control, kind of our own destiny in a sense of this team that's currently constructed and you want to ride that wave as long as you can because you know the business of the league can can snatch your

coat tail pretty quick. I want to go back to the dock for a bit. There's a scene in there where after you were in New York when you broke the three point record and you guys had a little event and Kevin Durant showed up and there's a part in there where you know you guys are are exchanging pleasantries. I'm not quite sure what was said on there. I got to watch the doc again, but I wouldn't say it's a full circle moment because you guys are always tethered. But how have you guys been able to, even though he's not on the team, kind of just integrate him back into the family, if you will, right, where he's a guy that is, you know, he's tethered with you guys for a long time. What is, how did you guys get back, if you guys did it all? Because I know you got when he,

you went to go see him before he left. How did you guys? kind of get back to a place where you guys are where you are at now and being back to that spot where not necessarily maybe the hurt is kind of subsided and you guys have gotten back. I mean, I never really had any hurt to begin with. I knew as a man, as an athlete, like, he didn't owe me anything. He didn't owe our franchise anything. It was a situation when he left. It was, you know, his own decision. I made sure I was. available and open about how I felt about him as a person as a player, you know, how confident I was that we would be able to win for a long time. Like you say your peace on that front,

but at the day, he makes a decision to leave. Like, I fully respect him as a person and has so much appreciation for what we were able to accomplish. I didn't really have any resentment on that front in terms of like the last, whatever, was it been four years since we played, five years. There's competition. There's the different narratives that come up in terms of the success that we've had and him trying to find another championship

and you don't really play into that as much because you have your own things to worry about in the sense of leading your own team and making sure you're giving everything you got to and not getting distracted with all the quote-unquote like bull that goes around our league in terms of narratives that pop up. And even when he came by,

the celebration after the game. Like that was a gesture in and of itself. He didn't know those cameras there. He didn't know I was filming a doc. He just happened to show up. Wanted to show me love because he acknowledged greatness in that moment of me, you know, breaking that record. And like, that's the relationship that we have.

So for me, like, it was easy to maintain that. Like, obviously, he don't hang out as much or talk that much, just the nature of distance and all that. But I didn't really have any resentment at all. all for him. I'm talking about Kevin really quickly. Last year, last summer, I do remember, you know, there was some talk. And I'm only talking about this because you've talked about it on other platforms and other things.

When he became available for a trade. About him coming back. And I remember him, you being a little giddy and saying something to the effect. Like, I think I saw you in Summer League and you were really giddy and you were like, don't sleep or something along those lines. How did, what was the scenario from your end and how close was it from your eyes? and how did you what ended up happening? I think there was what's the word? I don't know what the word.

Like excitement or like curiosity of is this really a legit like possibility? And at all, to be honest, I had talked to him maybe once or twice about it specifically. But he was not, he wasn't in a decision making process or he wasn't in a position where he's like calling like, hey, I want to do X, Y, Z. Like what do you think?

It was just more of a, natural conversation. And it just spoke to what I just mentioned about, like, yeah, we know our games gel. We know how to play basketball. So if it ended up being that, of course I'd love to play with him. But it never really got past that. So again, you know, like he wasn't in this situation where he could demand a trade, but he didn't really control the outcome of it.

So I didn't really spend too much time after the initial, a shock of like, oh, he wants out of Brooklyn. Like, what? I got a question, Steph, as it pertains to your dad, like we're talking about the doc. I can't wait to watch it. It's Apple TV, right? Apple TV Plus, yes, sir. Yeah, plus, yeah. So my boys and I are going to sit down and watch it. And I ask this because, you know, I have one, one of mine's a football player. The other one's more of a basketball focus, right? And, you know, you lived this. Your dad was a really good NBA player. And, you know, you came up. I think you were probably in a wheelhouse where you were around the team more than my sons were, but were there pressures associated with who he was for you?

How did you navigate those? Like, you know, what was your young career, like going into Davidson as a player? It was a very unique journey just because of the shadow that my dad had cast for playing, growing up in Charlotte, playing, you know, being the NBA son. just the the hype around in my own little world, which I felt like when I came into gym, everybody knew who I was, everybody knew who my dad was. But I didn't really have the path of like everything's kind of paved out in terms of how I get to this next level. I'm destined to playing the ACC, which is a goal of mine. I'm in the position where everything's going to be

easy. And so there's like a real kind of juxtaposition there, which was interesting. It's not like, I mean, I was blessed. I had the underrated mentality is not about like the meat, the lack of resources or means to or access to the game. It was more like, you know, when it comes to be like pure talent skill and the ability to, you know, manifest a dream or realize a dream, my path is just going to be a little bit, a lot more difficult, a lot harder and a lot more unique than even when my dad went through. So a lot of patience, a lot of self-confidence, and that my journey was for me.

And even at the point when I decided to go to Davidson, I got, I kind of got laughed at school. Like, I came back. I was like, yo, I got a scholarship offer. It was hating. It was hating. I verbally committed today. I went to a football game.

I remember this, like it was yesterday. After Coach McKeelip came to my house, and I was like, yo, I want. want to go to Davidson. I'm verbally committing to go there. I went to the football game that night, sat in the section, like, and my shoulders, you know,

back, like, yo, tap my chest. Like, yo, I got a college scholarship. I'm going to play D1 basketball. Like, well, where are you going? I'm like, I'm going to Davis. And it's like, you know, what? Where, who is that, the whole deal? And it just reinforced the fact that

you know, the ability to have an opportunity to just play and and take that next step and be seen by a coach that really believed in me and had a confidence that he could help me get to my full potential. It meant the most of me it unlocked, you know, another new level of confidence. And the funny part about it is when you're seeing the doc, like even when I got to school, my first game was against Eastern Michigan. And I always tell the story because I had 13 turnovers in that game.

and I remember it being bad and I remember coach having to make a decision on whether he was going to bench me and not play me and kind of dim my light right away but when you watch the film we found the highlights or the low lights I should say of the actual game it's going to shock you how awful it really looked

and I was out there like Bambi out there wobbly legs couldn't figure out anything and to know like that's how it started and the history of or the journey that I've been on ever since has been amazing. Before we get out, I got a story to tell. I don't know if I've told you this stuff of the time where I think we first met,

but I got to tell this story. I got to give a shout out to my home girl, Persia P from the B. I remember that we bring us full circle from the pod. So your first two years was 09-10 together, right? And so I remember, remember, you guys still do it, but there was the tickets where my pops used to get to like the ticket packages to watch. I was a huge Laker fan, so he would always get the Kobe package, right? And one of the games on there, I forgot who you guys were playing, but it was Bollywood night.

And you were talking during Bollywood night. And I'm going to tell you like this, I was not a believer. I was like, this dude lost to St. Mary. He's like, what the fuck? Like, Monta Ellis is the one. What are you talking about? He's the one. And I remember my dad was like,

Because you were speaking at the end or whatever, right? Yeah. And you, my dad snuck us down. He's like, we're going to come down and watch stuff. I'm like, I don't really want to watch stuff. I don't see. I don't care what he has to say. I'm trying to go home.

Like, I'm trying to take Bart and go home. And so I went and you were speaking and I wound up. Persia, who I went to Berkeley High with, was like a huge believer, a huge Steph Curry fan. And we had the shirts from the night, the Bollywood night. So I was like, I mean, shit, while I'm here, Let me just get this motherfucker to sign the shirt. So her shirt, the shirt from Bollywood day, that was the first time we ever interacted.

Wow. Was be getting her a shirt the next day, FBI. And I wondered, did they put it in the like the curry flare, like trying to connect the Bollywood to the spice name and all that? No, you know what it was? You know what it was? Bebeck was a part owner at that point. So I think that was his deal.

That was what it was. But that was the first time we ever, ever met. Well, we didn't came on my way because even back then, like, before Bollywood night, like I was on, I was on Bart giving out clipper cards and free tickets to our games because we were just making sure the people would stick with us through the, because we believe it was such a distant memory at that point. It was like, all right, what's about to happen now? We was giving out free cards on Bart over in the East Bay.

I remember we used to get the tickets from Lucky's in Lake Mary. I remember, no, I remember my dad. My dad worked at the Hull Foods, but he would always go to that. And so, what's his name? And I know you got to get out of it. I'll leave it at this. Mekyll Petrus used to go to the Whole Foods over there. And he would just like, he would, him and my dad got hella cool.

So he would just leave tickets for my dad. Or sometimes, like, I would just go up to the ticket office, be like, yo, Mikel Pitchis left me tickets. And they would like be like, Mikel Petrus. And they would go to Bichel. And he got me tickets to a couple games. And just out of nowhere. That's how it was back there.

Some good old days, man. Some good time. Humble beginnings, to say the least. Yes, sir. Raj, any last words? No, shout out to Piedmont, baby. You know? Doug.

No. Come on. Let me live, bro. That's what I know. Shout out to Piedmont, man. Shout out to Piedmont. Shout out to Piersia from the B. And thanks again, Steph, man.

This is our third anniversary show. That's me. I'm clapping for y'all. That's a big time. that, bro. Thanks, but I will see you in a... This is hard business. This is hard business to try to keep the entertainment value high and y'all are doing it. So, congratulations.

Appreciate you. Hey, I wanted to say, dog, hey, congrats. I saw the win on the golf tournament. I know. That's dope, dog. And the real ones to Beyond the Fairway podcast next. There you go, bro. Do you go, bro. Good luck, bro.

Was that, that was not a championship? That was not a championship by any means, right? It wasn't an NBA title. but it was a championship nonetheless. How do you feel about winning it? I'm legit calling that number five. That's number five. Yeah, it looked like it.

But you ain't seen that boy's reaction? It looked like that. Bro, he damn there was from the cry, bro. He was really from the cry. Let me show you something right here. Look at it. Hold on. Can you see it?

Look at it. Look at it. That's on the desk. The rest of the death. All right. I'll see you in a couple months, bro. I hollered, man. Thanks so much, man.

with another edition of Real Ones is our last episode of the summer. We'll see y'all in the fall. All the shits, bye. Yes, that is, me.