Club Shay Shay - Paul Pierce Part 1

Transcript

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Listen to Wayfinder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if you guys were the same age? What if you came in? Because you came in 98, LeBron came in 003.

If we were the same age, I don't believe he would have had four championships. He wouldn't have got them.

You kept him before?

He wouldn't have got those two in Miami. You know, I was at an older age then, a lot of miles and stuff, and it was hard for me to keep up with him.

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I'll be looking at that tape shed, and I'm like,

like, damn.

I couldn't even move.

Sacrifice, hustle, paid the price, want a slice, got to roll the dice. That's why, all my life, I've been grinding all my life.

Hello, welcome to another episode of Club Shay Shay. I am your host, Shannon Sharp.
I'm also the proprietor of Club Shay Shay.

Stopping by for conversation on the drink today is one of the greatest small forwards in NBA history.

He's an NBA legend, an NBA champion, a finals MVP, 10-time All-Star, four-time all-NBA selection, a member of the very prestigious 75th anniversary team, signifying he's one of the greatest 75 players in NBA history.

NBA scoring champ, NBA three-point contest champ, self-proclaimed best scorer in NBA history, pure scorer in NBA history, pure

Hall of Famer. His jersey is retired by two storied franchises, the Boston Celtics and the Kansas Jayhawks.
He's a McDonald's all-American, Mr. Basketball in the state of California.

Government name is Paul Pierce, but you know him as the truth. Here he is.

Truth.

Good to see you, dog.

I'm always, I always, like, when I read off people's accolades, I'm always, I'm anxious to hear when you hear everything that I read off. And it's not that you deserve that, you earned that.

When you hear all the things that I read, what's going through your mind? I'm like,

I'm like, damn, I ain't heard it like

minute. Like for real.
I'm like, man, I really did left my mark on the game. Yeah.
You know what I'm saying? And it's come from childhood, you know, coming from here in Englewood and

going through every stage.

being one of the top from like high school to college to making it to the league. I mean, it's, I've been blessed, yeah.
You know what I'm saying?

It's just a testament, I think, of my hard work, my dedication to everything,

and it's showing, you know, based off what you read off. Right.
Man, let's toast that down. Oh, man, it's great to have you on.
Man, for sure. You did break the internet.

You said you're the best pure scorer. in NBA history.

I want to, because when people think of scores, having followed the game as long as I follow, people talk about Kobe, people talk about Jordan, they talk about Kevin Durant, they talk about James Harden.

You said you are a better, a pure scorer.

What is your definition of a pure scorer all right this is this is what i'm gonna say because when i said it i didn't give enough context to it correct and so like this is i'll say it like this if you just took

everybody's greatest scoring strength

or just say the athleticisms let's just say the athleticism okay

and put me in that realm with them

that's how i feel

But Paul, you know, people don't look at you as being athletic, Paul. You don't jump high.
You don't run.

I know. You You don't know.
That's what I'm saying. That's why I feel I'm a.
If you take the athleticism out of it. Okay, okay, okay.

You know what I'm saying? Yes, you know.

Take Jordan's athleticism out, where he can't just jump over you to score. And we just do everything on the floor.

I feel like my skill level is.

Better than Cove?

Man, Cobe is close.

He cloaked with you.

No, no, no, no, look, look.

You close to him, but he's close to you.

Because if you ever watch Cove interviews about me, you know, he always talked about my footwork. Yes.
And Cove had elite footwork too. Yeah.

And so like, Cove without his athleticism was still pretty elite because of that, because of his IQ and his footwork. Correct.

And there's not a lot of players I can say that about once I take their athleticism away. So if there is anybody, he's

he's right there.

Well, Hardin is not the most athletic, but Harden can put the ball in the basket at an elite elite level. Yeah, but listen to this.
When you look at how you score. Okay.

so like, say, like, you look at Harden, one of the greatest scorers ever had a historic season, but he was all threes and layoffs and free throws. Yeah, like, no MIDI,

like, he could shoot the MIDI, but like, think about this. I could come off, like, today's game, name me one player that can come off a down screen and hit a jumper.
Right. They don't even run it.

Ain't nobody tried to hit that. Nobody could do that.
Like, maybe Kevin Durant and Steph Kirk. Yeah.
But like, post-game, mid-range, off the dribble three,

step back, off the pick and roll. We're not talking about nothing out there, just getting buckets.

I feel like

post-game, mid-game, elbow, three, all the way out. I have no offensive weaknesses, like not one.

So when you said that statement,

how many former or current NBA players call and say, true, man, what you talking about?

I mean, they thought I was on something, but I'm like, I mean, they don't think like how I was thinking and like how I'm explaining. And now

i think it'll make more sense when people watch this you know when you say but even that take all the top scores take the best thing they do right and you can take the best thing i do see the thing about me you can't even tell me what's the best thing i do offensively because i think i do all of them the same really well you know i'm saying like you can say curry take his shooting ability away right uh uh

jordan what his his fade away or whatever like you like what do you take away from me like i can do like what's my greatest scoring strength? Nobody can even tell you because I did it all well.

I'm going to push you to the three-point line.

I won a three-point championship contest. I won a three-point contest.
That ain't nobody guarding you.

I mean, I've dominated the games from the three. Yeah.
Like, you know what I'm saying? So I say it like that. And it's not a knock on the great scorers because I respect all of them.

And, you know, it wasn't a knock on Jordan because I respect Carmelo, Kobe, and all of them. But I'm like, I'm right there.
Right.

You did, you did something that you're the first player to win the three-point competition

for a Celtic since Lagbird, and you beat Steph Curry. That's right.
So I always tell people that's the thing.

See, it's not just winning the three-point competition, it's who you beat in order to win the three-point competition. I say, hey, Steph Curry was in the contest.
They'd be like, oh, he was a rookie.

It was still Steph Curry. It was still Steph Curry.
It wasn't Steph Curry. That's all I need to know.
Steph Curry was in the contest because in 10 years from now,

that's Steph Curry, and I beat him.

I don't know how old he was. I don't know how old he was.

He was there. He was there.

Hey,

we're not talking about 10-year steps. We're not talking about...
No, we're talking about.

Is he the greatest shooter ever? He's the greatest shooter ever. Well, I beat him.

That's all I'm saying. Kevin Durant responded and said, you know what? He said,

I really didn't see any weakness in Paul's game. I understand where his confidence comes from.

You mentioned, I ain't have no hoes. I can post you.
I can hit the MIDI. I could shoot the three.
I could drive the basketball. I could drive and pull up.

I can go to the, A, I could put the ball on the floor and get to the rim. You find me.
I'm going to the free throw line. I'm going to make 80 plus percent of those.

So when you look at it, it ain't really no. That's what I'm saying.

Like, what can they do that I can't

except jump over somebody? Right. You know what I'm saying? Like,

I got...

I can shoot the three. I can shoot the pull up.
I can shoot all. Who's the greatest scorer? Kevin Durant? I can do everything he can do.

He just probably does it at a higher percentage. Oh, yeah, he's gonna shoot it at you.
Yeah, he's gonna do it, and that's the difference when you talk about the score.

The efficiency in which he does, the efficiency in which someone does something. Yeah, that's what they're looking at now.
That's what they're looking at.

But if we just talk about just the ability to do

that way,

then I'm right there. But like when you're doing it at a higher percentage, it looks different on another level.
And that's what he does.

In today's game, who do you, when you're watching today's game, you're like, okay, I see a little bit of of my game in him.

Man,

I say Shea Gilgis because he played below the rim. Yeah.
You know what I'm saying? He not just blown by people. He's footwork, pivots and stuff.

And he just gets to the money. Right.
And so I can say him, Jason Tatum. Okay.

I could say that about him.

Yeah, I definitely see Tatum more so. Tatum.
Yeah. And Jimmy Butler, too.

And the reason I see Jimmy Butler, because he get overlooked a lot. Right.
You know what I'm saying? It ain't all flashy. No.

But he gets the point A, the point B, and he gets, and that's how it was. And his mental, his mental, it's like, we got a same type of mental type.
And people like Flash. Yeah.

That's why Jordan, because we had never seen a player like Jordan. I mean, the tongue hanging out, the way he got the ball in the hand, got it in your face.
He elevating over people.

You know, Connie Hawkins and

Dr. J could elevate.
But Jordan, it was just something about that passage. Sweet.
And this from that point on,

you find a guy that has that flash kobe came with flash and it's like now if a guy can score man he don't look like jordan he don't do it like cold right you got to have flash with it now as great as shay is i don't think he gets the appreciation because it's it's fundamental right we like things unorthodox we don't need to we don't want

to we know we come from the era shannon to where you know as a culture we flashy yes you know what i'm saying like the way we dress the way we walk the way we you hear me before you see me.

Yeah, the way we play

sports. We look at our car.
That's how we play sports. So we gravitate towards that.
We do. You know what I'm saying?

And that's why when they start talking about the face of the league, they gravitate toward Anthony Edwards because of his flash. That's right.

When Jason Tatum has won the chip now, has been on top of the world, and nobody really gave him that when they won.

You know what I'm saying? So we look at that, that shiny

that's attractive, that we gravitate to. And so, and that's why I never really got a lot of the credit because I wasn't that.
I was more of a no-nonsense player. Right.

And that's why I throw Jimmy Butler in there. He's like that.
I feel like LeBron has been the face of the league since his second or third year.

You know what I'm saying? We was calling him the king from day one.

You know what I'm saying? I heard about him in high school.

NBA Caps was flying to his game. I was in the all-star game in Philadelphia.
I'll never forget this.

We was in the locker room because we all congregate both teams, East and West. They was like, it's a kid right now that can play an all-star game today.
And I was like, what?

They were saying that in the NBA all-star locker room while this kid was in high school. That's when I heard about him.
So LeBron had to be what? He's on the teens.

18. They was like, this kid can play in this game today.

That's what they were saying in the locker room. Oh, my goodness.
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Jackie Robinson, John Elway, Lisa Leslie, Oscar De La Oya, Willie McGinnis.

I mean, Shermill is not from L.A. She's from a suburb, but she's from, we're going to group her in there.
You the best athlete come out of LA? No, not the best athlete.

He probably meant more like basketball player. But I wouldn't even, I wouldn't give myself best basketball player.
Who you'll get it to? I give it to Lisa. Okay.
I give it to Lisa Leslie.

I've always had admiration for her. She's from Englewood.
Okay. Okay.
You know what I'm saying? I had an honor to see her play in high school when you know the word around town. Englewood's small.

Yeah. So like you hear about people when you young, you're like, let me go check out.
Everybody talk about Lisa. She scored 100 points.
Like at the half. Man, I'm trying to get a little bit more.

How you scored 100 points at a half, even if you by yourself. Right, right.
She was cold, man. I'm telling you, I got to give flowers to Lisa.
Right.

You know, I looked up to her as a kid, watching her at Morningside, bringing that we come from the same place. Right.
And so

I give it to her. Give it to her.
I'll probably be in the top three or four, maybe basketball players.

But like athlete, that's kind of a stretch because there's so many great athletes come out to see. Because Callie's so big.
Yeah, yeah.

What's your fondest memories of growing up in Englewood?

What did

seven-year-old, 10-year-old, 12-year-old Paul Pierce, what did he want to be? Growing up

and running around Inglewood, what did you want to be?

Man, I think as a young black kid growing up, and like, so I'm going to tell you this. Look, Shan, I was born in East Oakland.
Okay. You know, and then I moved to L.A.
when I was like nine years old.

Okay. So, like, everybody's dream as a kid is just like to be a sports or rap.
You know,

you know, that's just what it was in the black community. Yes.
You know, we didn't feel like we can be doctors or the huckstaboos, even though we watched that.

You know, we just felt like that was the only way out to ghetto.

And so my dream was always to be in the NBA or

professional sports because all our heroes was that. Yes.
You know, unless you rap, you know, because I'm looking at other black kids and black successful people

rapped

sports. Correct.
You know, so my dream was always to be

in the NBA, man. It was like, it was, it was all or nothing.

You know what I'm saying? And

I was a pretty smart kid. You know, I went to my classes.

I'm not saying if I didn't make it in hoop, that I wouldn't have been nothing, but I would have found a way to do something, whether it be sports or...

just succeed in life because I'm a hustler, I'm a grinder, and I'm going to find a way. You're going to find a way to figure it out.
You just devoted. It's not that you couldn't have been better

in your books, but the books was about, let me do what I need to do to make sure this basketball thing pans out. And if that basketball thing don't pan out, then I'll think about something else.

But yo, you got a singular focus. And I think you have to.

Nothing else.

Well, I got a plan B, I got a plan C, I got a plan C. Dot, I got a plan A.
If A don't work,

after a couple of years, if A don't work out, I'll get to B, C, and D. But right now, it's all A.
And then you don't realize how hard you really work.

Like, people say it, but they don't do what it takes to actually get to the dream. Yeah.

You know, like me, when everybody going out, man, I'm telling you, man, me and my boys, we used to, when I was like in college, we would go out to the club and we'll leave the club and go to the beach and run and go to the sand dunes and run up that hill.

We were so obsessed with it. We was like, man, you know what? Ain't nobody talking about nothing tonight.

Let's go to the gym. Let's go to the sand dunes.
You gotta be obsessed with it. My grandfather used to tell me and my brother now all the time we were growing up in rural South Georgia.

He said, never mistake habit for hard work.

And it took a while for me to understand I had to get older. See, people do things over and over and think they're working hard.

Just because you go to the gym every day, that don't mean you're working hard. You're doing that out of habit.
Yeah, for sure. So people mistake habit for hard work.

And when they don't get the results, see,

you can't complain about the results you didn't get for the work you didn't put in. Right.

Man, man. Coach messed over me, man.
I was both. I was spoke back.
Hey, hey, Paul, what not better than you? And

what a matchup we got, y'all. This is that classic HBCU vibe.
Non-stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lick.
Chants echo. Drum beat.
Everybody's showing that school pride. Game like this?

Yeah, it calls for an ice-cold Coca-Cola.

Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there.

Mmm yeah. That taste always hits the right note, just like the band at halftime.

And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere, and an ice cold Coca-Cola? That's a winning combo.
No matter the sport, no matter the yard, everybody knows.

Fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca-Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.

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Eighth grade. That probably

was. Yeah, he was, dog.
But you, you, you, you, you showed complacent.

Exactly. He got complacent.
But it's funny to hear other athletes say it.

And if you've been a professional athlete, you understand what it takes to get to that level. Yeah.
Man, coach just like you.

Coach ain't putting no ball in the basket. Coach ain't catching no passes.
See, those people is excuse makers. Yes.

Like, whenever my mom was like, you know, she always told me, like, listen, dog, you're going to forge your own path and don't, don't get discouraged, but you got to put in the work.

But, like, don't make excuses for this shit. Yeah.
Like,

you, you, it's on you. If something happens, it's on you.
You correct. Don't stop blaming everybody else because you're going to spend the rest of your life blaming everybody else for your failures.

Yes. I blame me for every time I mess up something.
That's the only person.

And then I can get over it better. Yes.

So it's it's easy.

But you grew up in Oakland. You started your first nine years within Oakland, then you come to Englewood.
The gang culture was heavily in both areas. How did you not succumb to that? Man,

that's a story we don't document enough. Like, I think there needs to be like a documentary on the way sports and gang culture came up, especially for like inner city kids.

It kind of went hand in hand. Yeah.
You know, because you grow up with guys and once you start getting older, you start forging your path, but y'all still live in the same cool. We still cool.

And so it's like, you could easily get caught up because I've seen guys that was great at basketball, but they were still in the streets.

You know, and, and that comes from like, I think having like

the right people around you, the right friends, you know, and the right parents. I saw my mom struggle.

I come from a single parent home. Okay.
And I never met my father, you know.

To this day. Well, I seen pictures of us when I was little.

I don't know. You don't really remember it, though.
No. Like, I was like three or four.
Okay. But I don't have a memory of them.

And so, you know, the one thing that I always preach, like, don't be a follower. You know, because I think

that's what the gangs is all about, just following each other. You know.

I've heard people say, it's the only family I know. It's the only family I had.
They made me feel like I was a part of something. And that's what family, you know, you're supposed to feel the love.

And I never felt love at home, but I felt love from this group. But like, if this is love, then why y'all beating my ass

to get on? If this is love, why are you asking me to put my life on the line and have dangerous acts? Right.

You know, I'm getting in a car and there's a drive-by. I can go to jail.
Right. You know, I've been caught in one of them cars, Shan.

Man, I've been caught in one of them cars and I looked at my life flashed between my eyes and I never got in that car again. I didn't know what's going going to happen.
Right.

But I was just like, I can't put myself in this situation no more. You know what I'm saying? Because I see a lot of my young friends get killed.
I've seen a lot of my young friends. Like,

it's crazy. Like, as a kid, you don't really think about it because we so used to it growing up in the hood.
Like, like, it's traumatizing now. Like, when you think about it, like.

What could have been or what could have been lost?

But we taught to be tough when I just lost my friend. I was with at the movies yesterday.
I went to like three funerals in high school.

That's not normal. Right.
No, absolutely not. You know what I'm saying? But we looked at it as like, man,

deal with it. Right.
You know, this is what happens. You know, like today,

you know, you're going to have to see or see somebody and talk about it. Whereas like you got to deal with it.
But I'm like, man, just don't

stay from this area. Right.
Watch, you know, watch. And that's not normal.
the mindset because like my mindset was like man i just want to make it to 21.

yes wow you know like damn what you want to be when you grow up man i want to just be 21. 21.
because you know, the statistics was most young black kids before the age of 21 would be dead or in jail.

Correct. And you hear that all the time growing up.
And I was just like, get to 21. Paul, was there a situation I remember when, like,

when I was in college and then I got to the league, I had guys that I went to high school with. I knew what they were doing, but they would never put me in harm's way.
I would be somewhere.

I was like, hey, man, I'm headed back downtown. Anybody want to ride with me? They're like, nah, sharp.
I got that stuff on me.

I ain't going to, cause I ain't going to even put you in home harm's way you get stopped they already know i'm dirty now if they ain't gonna talk about me they're gonna talk about sharp's homeboy in the nfl so forth and so on was it a situation because it used to be like that guys would not let guys bro you got some man get your ass out of here you got stuff going on for you get the help them around here yeah that's that's what gang cultures are once you started getting good in the neighborhood that's the thing about the gang culture and sports.

They started rallying around that. So they was just like, nah, you can't come over here today.
Right.

Or nah, we got to make sure you get home because if anybody gonna make it a hood, we're gonna make sure you make it. Yes.
You know, and that's the story don't get talked about. You know what?

We're gonna go to the games. Ain't nobody gonna do nothing.
It was like, yo, yo, yo, security.

You know,

security way back then. Yeah, security way back then.
Like, don't mess with Pete. You know, he's gonna make it out.
Right. You know, because if he make it out, we feel like we all made it.
We do.

And that was the culture. And that's what it was.
I did have that. You know, it'd be times like, you know, I'm over there, they smoking weed and everything.
Like, man, you gotta go home, man.

You You know, get, go home, get home. Right.
I'm just outside around the corner. Right.
But this is what I live around. Right.
You know, they all standing outside.

Man, go home, man. Get ready.

Go to the gym or go shoot some hoops. Right.
Like, all right, get out of here. Bet.

Is it true that you got cut from your high school basketball team as a freshman and a sophomore? Sophomore. Yeah, I got demoted.

So you tried out for bars and they put you on JV? Yeah. Yeah.
But then he brought me back up.

He brought me back up because, look, we was missing some players

he brought me back up because we was missing some players i think we only had like seven players for this tournament damn you know what i'm saying because over christmas break right was going by everywhere so i was there so he had no choice but to play and so i started ball i took advantage of the overall opportunity yeah you know and that's what people got to realize when your window is there you got to seize it yeah that was my window right because like maybe i wouldn't have gained the confidence i gained if

i didn't take advantage of my window and from that point on, it just, my confidence grew.

I was the youngest on the team. And then they were just like, man, you know what? We're going to keep him up on varsity.
He's going to start the rest of the year. Wow.
Like the last 16 games started.

And from that point,

that was it. I started gaining confidence.
I was getting stronger. And I was just like, man, I can be good.
So now I'm like, shoot,

I'm in the gym. Like, I'm getting better.

I'm growing into my little grown man phase now. And I'm just like, ooh, okay.
Because, you know, when you get that confidence and you just see

everything is

everything when you start seeing shots going and you getting better and you growing and you like oh man i can do it and then i got the people around me saying man you can you can do it you're like i don't know who job i took but he ain't getting it back ain't no coming back from this ain't no coming you about stay on christmas break bro yep yeah ain't no coming back from this backtrack

the reason why you moved to la did you burn the house down i did have a situation like that man what you mean a situation man i was a kid and uh You know,

this is something I'm not like. A lot of people don't know this story.
And thank God social media wasn't out because

I was playing with matches as a like eight-year-old.

We had a little small two-bedroom house and three boys in it. And I was playing with them.
I'll never forget it either. I'm whitening up the quilt, blowing it out.

Like, you know, we called it quilts then. Yeah.

Kids don't know about that. The quilt that was handmade.
So I'm blowing it out, seeing how matches worked, and it lit it, and it said,

and I looked and I,

and it was so out of control. And my mama's bedroom, I ran out and sat on the couch.
You ain't tell nobody? Say nothing.

Didn't say nothing.

Next thing you know, it's smoke. And next thing you know, man, we,

man, I'm in front of the house, the whole neighborhood outside, fire trucks. Did you tell them what happened? Yeah, eventually, I got my ass whooped a lot.

They beat it out yard. Yeah.

You know, and that's why I'm so proud that I made it.

That I was able to reward my mom with a house when I got to the league.

This is the house I burned. Mama, this was the one I burned down.
Man, this is a true story, man. I got relatives to this day that'll tell you this story.
Man, I'm telling you.

It's like, and then, so as a kid, when I get back to the neighborhood a year later, we move back in the house. I guess a year.
Later, we moved back in the house.

I'm going around the neighborhood. They like arson.
The older kids is calling me arsonists. I don't even know what that is.
I have no clue what an arsonist is at the age of eight.

You know what I'm saying? So I'm like, why are they calling me that?

You know what I'm saying? I was like, damn. And then later I found out, oh,

you said fires. You said fire.
Man, you didn't get that smokey debarring PSA. I know.

Don't play with badges. Man, things happen for a reason, you know.

Did you ever try?

Did you ever try football? Yeah, I was good at football. You were good at football? What position you did? I was a quarterback, and then I played DN also.
I started in football and baseball.

Damn. But I broke my leg.
I was playing with older kids. So I was like eight, nine years old playing with like 13, 14 year olds because I was a big kid.
Broke my leg.

And then I broke my leg again when I turned 12. Okay.
So I broke my leg twice before I was even a teenager. Damn.

And so moms is like, you're going to stunt your growth. You can't play football.
Yeah, they thought you were going to break your growth. Yeah, that's the stories we got told.

Don't lift weights and don't, you broke something, you can't play no more.

But I was originally football and baseball before I even

thought about basketball. Right.

So. So high school,

you turn it out, you go to the McDonald's All-American game. Yeah.

And you were recently named one of the 35 greatest McDonald's All-American players in the history of the game. So what was it like? Okay, you finish up your senior year.

You get the call, Paul, you're a McDonald's All-American. Obviously, if you play basketball, there is no higher honor for a high school basketball player.

You miss the basketball in the state of California, and you get to invite McDonald's All-America. That was everything because I remember my sophomore year, I told everybody I want to be in that game.

I remember watching Jason Kidd in that game.

I said, I'm going to play in that game. I'm telling one of my best friends, and he was like, Man, shut up.
You know, get out of here. I said, watch, I'm going to play in that game.

That's when my constant growing it. So when I got that invitation, I was like, man, this is it.
This is the top of the top. Yes.

And then I got KG there because the summer before, me and KG played together AAU. He stayed at my house.

So me and KG history go way back.

That explains it. Now, because I was wondering, I was like, well, damn, how they, I mean, they didn't come out together.

And then the researching, I was like, okay, they was in the McDonald's All-American game together.

I didn't know the AAU story, though. How many people know that AAU story?

It's out there. So

our AAU coach flew flew Kevin out to LA in the summer or 11th grade going to 12th grade year. He was like, I got this kid, Paul Pierce, because then you have to read about cats.

You didn't know. Yeah, it wasn't no internet.
He saw a picture that he couldn't see. So he flew him out.
He actually stayed at my place

for a whole week.

And we practiced at Englewood High School and we drove out to Vegas and we played in the tournament, won the tournament. And so that year, KG was in South Carolina, was going to move.

He was getting out of South Carolina because he was dealing with some issues out there.

So I was trying to get him to move out to Inglewood. You can stay with me.
So he was feeling either coming out to Englewood or going to Chicago.

Wound up going to Chicago and, you know, the rest is history. He left out of high school and all that.
But that's when we started our relationship the summer before. Okay.

I'm looking at that game, KG, Vince Carter, Stefan Marlberry.

You're like, okay, because Vince won the MVP. Who won the all-star game MVP? KG won.
KG won. Vince won the dunk contest.
Yeah, he embarrassed me me and that. What you

true.

You know, you know, I don't fly. I know.

And you know what? You know what's so crazy, Shaddy? I was so excited to be in the McDonald's game. I participated in the three-boy contest, the dunk contest.
I just said, sign me up.

I knew I had no business being in that, but I was just like, sign me up. You missed six dunks.
I know. And then I seen Vince for the first time, and I was just like, whoa.

Yeah, he gonna win.

He gonna win a lot of these for years to come. He could have won the NBA Dunk contest as a senior in high school.

Because he was, I mean, you see old footage, and his head is at the realm in high school. Man, that's what I'm saying.
I'm sorry. I just was happy to be there, and I wanted to participate.

I'm trying to help me understand this.

A kid from California, Englewood, California. How the hell you end up in Lawrence, Kansas? Only Dorothy wanted to go back home.
You're right.

Kansas? No beaches. Yep.

Ain't a whole lot of people that look like you out there. Not at all.
And you like, yeah, this is where I need to go. 100%.

Hey, listen, when you grow up in the streets out there, you seeing what's going on, I need to get away from it. You tried to get as far away as I can.
I'm not far away from this.

And I'm not coming back.

I'm going to come back for a week to see my mama. Right.
You know what? It's crazy. I took my visit.
You said, Lad, you know, you know, you take your visit, party up.

You ask us. Fun, it's fun.
Cal, Arizona's fun, fun. When I went to Kansas, it was nothing going on.

I was like this is where I need to be focused locked in I ain't got to worry about it because see if you in UCLA USC man every weekend you're going to be home they're going to be like hey you want to go to the game you want to go back into the neighborhood I came out there.

I was like, you know what? This is just nothing going on out here. They got a long John Silvers to eat.
I'm cool with that.

You know, I'm coming here. Right.
And that was it. Because

I was mature. I knew what I needed, you know, and I knew I was like, man, I'm not coming back to the wood because it's too much.
Too much going on.

When you look at Kansas players, where does Paul Prich rank himself? You got Wilt Chamberlain. You got Embiid.
You got Wiggins. You got Danny Manning.

I mean, you've got some great Kansas Jayhawk players.

I'll put myself in the top five. I'm going to say Wilt is the greatest player to ever come out of Kansas.
And then, you know, everything's up for debate. You know, Embiid was the number one pick.

Wiggins was the number one pick. You know, but if we just talk about your Kansas career,

you know, you got to put like Danny Manning got. Danny Manning got

probably second. Yeah.
I remember Danny in the Miracles. Yeah, Danny Finn.
Ain't no way he's supposed to. They supposed to win a national championship.
You got to put Danny Man.

And I never even went to a Final Four. I was the first-team All-American, and I had some good statistics, but it's guys that really had great college career.
Mario Chalmers is in there

for the national championship. By the most outstanding player.
Forrest Twins.

Thomas Robinson. He was national player of the year, I think.
So we got some great players come out.

I'll put myself in the top five because of what I was able to accomplish from college all the way through. You look at at the end of the story.
Oh, wait, well, you're number two.

Behind Will. Yeah, I'll probably be number two.

You'll be number two behind Will. And

they ain't a bad day. That ain't bad.

So now you come out. You have a great college career.
You come out in your draft, Vince Carter. You got Dirk Novinsky.
You got Mike Bibby, Antoine Jamison, Jason Williams, Larry Hughes.

So if they were to redraft, say, you know what? We know what we know now, and they redraft, where you going in the draft? I'll probably go number two. It'll probably be Dirk, and then me.
Yeah.

Yeah, I would say that.

You redraft, then you probably go Vince. Yeah.
Dirk, me, Vince. Then

it's close from then. I mean, you could say Mike Bibby or Antoine Jameson, something like that.

Yeah, but that'll be the top three right there. Do you believe you should have won Rookie of the Year?

Man, as much as

I was, after the first month, I was all in a one, but then I sprained my ankle.

Let me tell you this story, Shay.

My boy was living with me my rookie year. He came out from the wood, and he was like, oh, I sprained my ankle.
He came in, like, did you see what Vince did last night?

And I was like, man, I don't care what Vince did, like, because we compete for rookie of the year.

And I'm like, damn, you know what? He is killing.

He's showing me all these dunks. And so

I couldn't deny what Vince was doing this rookie year. Yeah, he was crazy.
Man, he was going crazy. I mean, he was dunking on everybody.
Man, he got Voe. He got Rick's man.
He got everybody.

As a rookie, too. I mean, he just, that was his coming out party.
And I was just like, I couldn't deny that.

So

I deserved second because I miss, because I was hurt. And I was, oh, if I didn't get hurt, it would have been a closer race.
Closer race.

But Vince deserved that.

As a rookie, what are some of the things? Because I think every league has what rookies have to go through. Some people call it hazing or initiation.

You got to bring donuts or you got to get chicken or burgers for the play. You know what I'm saying?

It's a... a ritual.
It's an initiation that, you know, I'd be like, man, I can't wait.

I was like, I will make the team next year just because I want somebody to bring me-ish, then I got to bring everybody else.

That's the sole reason. So, what, as a rookie, what did they have you doing?

Man, shaman.

You know, you had to bring that care package to the vets.

The vets should put it in the bag.

Got to go on the road. You know what that care package was.
You know, you're going to have

a little bit of everything. Yeah.

You wasn't afraid. Like, hold on, man.

Y'all put me at risk. Yeah.

Come on, man. Come on, dog.
Risk.

Hey, you play it at the highest level. You know what I'm looking at? That

care package. Hey, put that in the luggage when we get to the airplane.
Damn.

And then I got to take the package back when we land.

Whatever's left of the package.

And dispose of it. Yeah.

So

you get drafted. You go into the Boston Celtics.
What would you think like, damn?

Where did you want to go? Did you work out for the Celtics?

I didn't work out for the Celtics. Damn.
That's what I'm saying. I was projected to go number two

in the draft. So the number one pick was the Clippers at the time.

And number two was Vancouver. Vancouver had a need for my position, but the Clippers did too.

And so I asked Elgin Bailey, let me work out again because I wouldn't have mind coming home to the Clippers my first year.

Who they took Oliver Candy? They took Oliver Candy. And then number two was Mike Bibby.
Three was Ray from the France. Then it was like Antoine Jameson, Vince Carter.

And you know, the crazy part, when they picked Jason Williams, white chocolate, I didn't even know who that was at the time. He went to SAC, right? Yes.

But I didn't even know who he was because apparently he went to flu. I didn't even know what college he went to.
Apparently he got suspended for something in the play.

And I was just like, I was sitting there like, who is that? Right. You know, and then when Boston called me by name, I was just like, I didn't even work out for them.

You know, and then like a good friend of mine's Chauncey Billups, I remember talking to him while he was in Boston. Right.

And he was telling me how I was like, how the league is, man. You know, this is before I got drafted.
Right.

And he was like, man, you know, training count was tough, dog. I got Ray Petino.
He had like five or six of us on IVs. And I was like, what? Like we running like y'all run like that in the league?

He was like, yeah. So when he called, when he called my name, Boston, that's all that's going through.
That's all we're going through. Yeah.
He gonna kill us. Oh, Oh, man, he gonna kill us.

He's gonna be on the IVs. So I'm going hard this summer.
Like, I ain't about to be on no IVs. I'm about to be running these sales.
But it was just, it was a shock, truthfully.

I didn't know whether to smile. I was smiling, but I wasn't happy.
Because you understand, a Boston Celtics was one of the premier franchises in basketball.

I mean, at the time, you're talking about Knicks, you talk about the Lakers, you talk about the Celtics and the Bulls at the time because Jordan had reinvigorated everybody.

Was talking about the Bulls. So you go into a storied, a historically great franchise, although they had been on some lean years.

Did you look at like, man, man, the history, it's hard to say an NBA team got more history than the Boston Celtics.

All those championships, all those great, those great names and those jersey retired. You see six and 32 and 34.

I mean, excuse me, 33 and you got double zero and you got cooling number retired and, you know,

all the

KC and Sam Jones. Yeah, you know, it's crazy.
When I first got got there, one of the first persons I met was Red Arback.

You know, because he throw a charity golf tournament before the season. So I had a chance to sit with him.
He was like, Paul, come here. And I looked.
I didn't think he was talking to me.

I didn't even think he knew who I was.

So I had a chance to sit down with him. But then it was such a blessing, Shannon, because think about this.
I'm a kid from the Los Angeles area.

Going to the Boston Celtics.

I'm really going to find out who my friends are. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely.
Yeah. You know, let me see who's rocking with me now.
Right.

You know, because we, as LA, as a black kid, we hated Boston. We hated Boston.
We hated Boston. You know, I'm a Laker fan.
And, you know, it was that whole magic bird, black, white. That was a thing.

Yes.

What a matchup we got, y'all. This is that classic HBCU vibe.
Non-stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd.
Lit. Chants echo.
Drumbeat. Everybody showing that school pride.
Game like this.

Mmm, yeah. That taste always hits the right note, just like a band at halftime.

And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere, and an ice-cold Coca-Cola? That's a winning combo.

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How so many of us were taught to survive love instead of experiencing it.

A lot of men think being solid means being silent. I'm good.
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Because somewhere along the line, expression got labeled weakness.

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This special episode of It's Up There Podcast with Long brought to you by Healthy Sexual from Gilead Sciences on the iHeart radio app or wherever you get your podcast.

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This is where the mindset comes in. Someone will be eliminated.

It's the gaming event of the year featuring T-Pain's Nappy Boy Grizzlies versus Neo's Gentleman's Gaming.

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Absolutely. You know what I'm saying? So it was just like,

let me see who the homies is now.

But if they roll with you. Yeah, but like I had a homie I invited to the gang.
We played the Lakers.

Man,

he wore the whole Laker uniform.

So me in the back, you know, my mom, my mom didn't play that. Yeah.
She was like, who's this?

Right? He with you? You can't be, we ain't doing that because my mama, my whole family going to have my jersey off. You know, my section, I know, he's standing next to all the Celtics jersey.

With a Laker jersey on. Yeah, with a Laker jersey on.

This is all like, come on. I know we all from L.A., but it's time to switch up, y'all.

You put that on when you go back out there. Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, but like, damn. You know, so I found out who the real homies was fast.
You get that first check.

Obviously, all the things that you like, I'm going to the NBA, I'm going to be a professional athlete, and all the things that you wanted to be able to accomplish and you always wanted to do.

Now you have that opportunity. When you got that first million dollars, what's going through your mind? Man, it took a while to get that million, Shannon.

People think, because

let me tell you this: when I got drafted, number 10, my check for the year was a million. Right.
We had a lockout, so cut that in half. Ooh.
So then it's $500,000. Right.
Taxes. Cut that in half.

Yeah.

So, really, all I had was about like $200,000.

By the time you see my taxes, the age of getting three to five percent. Yep.
So knock that down. I needed me an apartment to rent.
Right.

And probably $2,500, $3,000. $5,03,000 at the time.
Yeah. In LA too, and Boston.

So I just had like. You need a whimp.
You got to have, you got to get around. WIMP, man, when I tell you, I had about like my first year, I probably had about like thousand left

you weren't able were you able to get mom anything man mom's i i i hardly gave her anything

i had to sign cards you know and i was you know and i retired and i was like it's gonna come in my life

but man i i i didn't even get her house my first year Wow,

I don't think I got her house till like my third year. Right.

So, you know, when you got that first big check, though, when you looked at it,

you re-signed, you re-up, and you're like, damn, man, this more money. I mean, when I was dreaming,

I don't know if the money, I don't know if the check was this big, even in my dreams. But now this is a reality.
Right. And that's when moms got that house.

Go ahead, mom. We driving around Beverly Hills.
We up in the hills. Yes.
You know, so I got her something nice. That was that.
It was just so special for me to just see the look on her face.

You know, and my mom, old school, I got her a Cadillac. Right.

You know, she wanted the new, it was the new version of the Cadillac, though, you know, because we always dream, like, I want my mom, I want that Cadillac

that was like, you know, in the black neighborhood, the Cadillac was like a benz

today, absolutely, you know what I'm saying? The Cadillac was that black's damn near the same Cadillac because that's all blacks got, they didn't get no Mercedes-Benz or BMW, right?

They wanted the caddy, caddy, all that. Crown, they wanted that, that, uh, uh, that L-Dog, right, that uh, coupe deville, that coupe de ville, right?

That Cadillac coupe, man,

they want that long boy. Yeah.
Put you on. But it was the new body style at the time

around the late, you know, early 2000s. Because we grew up looking at that long thing with the couch seats.
Yeah, yeah, clean the beat.

But I got her a Cadillac, and she was happy to go. You know, she just wanted to get her good outfits to go to church in and her Cadillac.
Right. Get her nice hat.

And just to have mom looking like that in church. was like, man, everything.
And you pull her there with a hat on and that new.

The new catty with the hat on.

Just to go in there with her, sitting next to her, that was everything for her.

Paul, we've talked a little bit this off-camera about guys making so much money

through maybe it's a bad investment. Maybe it's a divorce.
Maybe it's...

Even if it's kids, you had kids in the marriage and you're not divorced. If you have kids outside the marriage, you can imagine what it costs.

I mean, private schools and, you know, all that other stuff, insurance, no things like that.

and guys going belly up and now it happens in a lot of sports but you know football players even though they're making great money now their money is not guaranteed basketball players you see a hundred million they're gonna get a hundred million dollars minus the taxes 200 million they're gonna get 200 million minus the taxes 300 you say I think Luca can be the first guy to make 400 million in 28

having been around and seen guys like How does a guy lose that kind of money?

Man, I think people don't understand. Like, because when when people see you saying, like, like today, the number is so ridiculously high.
It's going to be hard to lose that. Yeah.

So like my maximum contract, my first contract was 80 million. Right.
So

let's cut that in half. That's 40.
40. Minus the 35% for the agent.
Agent fee. Boom.
You talk about that. Then you talk about you want to get a house.
Yeah. Now I got a big deal.

I want to get a house now. So I spent like four or five million on the house.
Yes. State taxes on that.
Now I got, you know, the family on payroll. Yeah.
Boom.

So now that's about another like half a million, which every half a million costs you a million. A million.
And so it can go faster than you think. Yeah.

You know, and then everybody ain't making my money. Right.
You know, majority of the league is making lower than that. But here's the problem that they run into.

Half the league ain't making your money, but that same half spending your money. Now you want, now, yep, now I want to go stunt at the club, have nice meals.
Yeah.

I want to go to the club.

Get that bottle service. $5,000 every time I go out to the club.
Oh, man. Man, all right now.
Shoot. Oh, damn.
I got, let me take care of this girl over here. Let me throw her $2,000 a month on rent.

It's my girl. Yeah.
You know, I don't want her to live with me, but I'll make sure she

gets her apartment. You know, that, that.
Get her, get her a nice little car, get her a little car, get around. This is my girl.
Yeah. You know, I got her a little something.
That's my girl.

You know, I don't want her, you know.

So that's. What about the homies? You flying the homies out.
You got three or four homies. You bring them out.
They first class.

If they not stayed with you, they stayed in the hotel. You paying for everything.
Paying for everything. And they got that reflective shine.
So they, that's Paul Pierre's homeboy. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, that's me. Then you're going to go on at least one trip.
One. At least one when you got about four or five of them.
And you paying for everything.

We're going to, where are we going to stay at? The Ritz?

Well, what, well, Pete, what's your room? Oh, I got the fit out suite. You're right.
I'm going to get, but the Ritz, the regular rooms is $800 a night. Right, right.
And you out there a week.

Your room, $2,500 $2,500 a night. Right.
Man, and then you keep constantly doing that.

That adds up. Man, people don't know.
If you ain't got them endorsements, I was fortunate enough to have some endorsements. So I used to use my endorsement money.

I'm obviously going to use that, pay for that, put my NBA money over here. Right.
You know what I'm saying? But like, for the guys who ain't making max deals,

man, you look up after

five, six years, you look up and like, man, I'm checked to check. Yeah.
That happens a lot. It does.
And is gambling, because, you know, we're we're very competitive. We're competitive everything.

Man, let's shoot for $5,000. Let's shoot for $10,000.
Let's play Tom. Let's play Bo-Ray.
Let's play Guts.

You know the black culture. Ain't nothing for free.
The black culture

is built around gambling when you got money and you're successful. Yeah.
You see it everywhere with us. You know, you see it in the music videos, shooting dice.
You see the card games on the planes.

You know, guys want to be, you know, they want to impress their girls, high road, go to, you know, and I was a victim of that. I was going gambling you know

you did casino gambling yeah i was going to the casinos and stuff and doing all that but you played blackjack you like blackjack yeah i played blackjack uh and it's easy when the money rolling in

you know what i'm saying but i i had a lot of examples around me right to say like you know you better slow down right like they losing money you you can end up like this you know

My teammate, you know, Antoine Walker was a victim

of gambling. And he told a story that, you know,

I'm bringing all my homeboys. I'm taking five, ten homeboys with me.
I'm gambling five, ten, fifteen thousand a hand. Yeah.

Yeah, I ain't never did that. No, I don't forget that.

My limit is like $300,000 a hand.

Yeah, that's a lot. But see, what happens is you get around somebody that got that kind of money and they playing like that, you want to impress people.
Yeah, I seen that. Hey, nah.
I see now.

I'm watching that. I like this watch.
Like, I had a chance to watch, you know, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley and them.

And I was like, Yeah, see, Mike, see, Mike be trying to, he know he want to make, he wants to be at enough to make you uncomfortable.

Bro, I'm not finna lose my house fooling with you, trying to impress you. Uh-uh.
Nah, hell nah. You know, and you know what? A lot of guys get caught up with taking the credit lines.
Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? So I don't take the credit line. So I'd bring.

Once you got what I came with, I'm good. I'm good.
That's it. This is this, and this entertainment, you took this? All right, I'm good.

In Boston, you had a situation. You got stabbed.

Neck, back.

You got hit over the head.

Had you ever had any issues in Boston before that incident? I never had no issues before that. You know, I was in my third year.
Yes.

I have had no problems in the streets with nobody. I really believe that it was an isolated incident.

And, you know, I think egos got involved. Yes.
Okay. You know what I'm saying? And

it shouldn't have happened. You know, it was a situation to where I tell the story.
You know, we played pool. We ended up the pool game.
Went over to the club. You know, it happened so fast, Shannon.

It was so crazy because we literally just got there. It was me.

Tony Betty, Derek Batty, maybe a few other guys.

And it was just like, man, I'm young. Yeah.
I'm

going to have a good time.

I'm going to go talk to some girls or whatever. I mean, what? I'm in the league.

Am I doing something wrong? No, I'm not doing nothing wrong. I want to meet some girls that's attractive.
I'm, you know, I'm young, successful.

And, you know, and I get into a situation and

it's still blurry. Like, I don't remember completely because I was like, I had a concussion from it and everything.
But the only thing I really remember was three girls and one guy.

You know, and it was just like a situation where

I wasn't disrespectful. You know, I never want to disrespect somebody that I, in a situation in a town where I don't know people.
You won't really know what's going on.

But my fault, where I messed up at, was we walk in as a group

and I tell off.

I don't go to the section with them. Right.
I walk this way instead. Yeah.
Like when you together, y'all supposed to stick together. Got to.
You know, and that's, that's a lesson I heard learned.

It was a hard lesson. Yeah.
You know, because if something escalated, at least if my guys was there, they could have de-escalated it. Correct.

And, you know, I wouldn't end up in that situation.

And, you know, it happened. It was just like, I guess

it went from talking to some girls to an argument pursuing. And then next thing you know, I'm feeling attacked.
So I'm just like. It was one guy, it was both of them.

And it looked like one guy right here.

But like after it was all said and done, it was like three or four guys. And I'm a big dude.
Right. You know what I'm saying? So you ain't going to just take me down.
Right.

And so, you know, the reports that came out from the people was like, man, if you didn't fight for your life, you would have been dead.

It was like, you was fighting, but they was jumping on you and everything. But you were still fighting back and everything.
And, you know, when three guys with three knives, it was three knives. Wow.

You know what I'm saying? It wasn't just one.

It was like three, it was like, based on the puncture wounds, it was three different different knives wow so they all was boom boom poking you and i'm just so blessed that like damn they said if you didn't have that leather coat on yeah it would have been much worse than what it was you possibly could have lost your life yeah i had a leather a tough leather avarax jacket i wish i had a picture of it because it was shredded right and then when i came out of all of it i just remember the end of it uh you know i'm looking at myself like i'm like bloodied up boom i just remember wiping the blood I couldn't, it was like profusely, bleeding profusely.

And then it was just like, damn, I need to go to the hospital, you know, because my clothes are soaked in blood.

And fortunately, I made it down the stairs because I got pulled into like a black room over here, didn't go down the stairs, and the hospital was literally one block away.

Like literally, I could have walked there, but we drove there, got it. And man, who knows? If the hospital wasn't right there, I couldn't be sitting here talking to you today.

And, you know, that right there really changed my life.

Did it change where you go? Did it change how you move? Did it change how you talk to people? Did it change how you assemble

the women, you know, like, okay, you got somebody? Because you got somebody. I don't want to hear this.
I just broke up last, me and my man broke up last week.

Or, you know, I'm getting a divorce, but we still together. How did it change the way Paul Pierce interacted moving forward? Man, it just changed.
Like, like you said a lot of it.

It changed how I went out because after the incident, I didn't go out for a couple years. Yeah.

I can imagine. It took a couple years for me to step into a club again.

You know, it just changed my whole mindset because I didn't realize how many people it affected.

You know, I'm sitting in the hospital and I'm seeing stacks of letters. And I'm seeing, you know, my mom's, my brother's.
Your mom's word and death. Because your mom's in the church.

So she's a woman of faith.

Man, woman of faith. Pray every day.

Like, and I'm just like, damn, I'm looking at how it affected everybody around me. And it was just like, man, I put myself in a situation to where I affected all these people that love me.

And I was like, I can't do that again. Never.
I can't do that again. I'm like, I'm too valuable to the family right now.
You know, I'd have made it this far.

Not to throw it away like this on some on some bullshit. Yep.

I don't have to go to the club like i you know i came out here to hoop you know and i ain't even signed my deal yet right i ain't even got my big deal what am i doing right you know and i know you young want to have fun and

but i i but everybody truth i tell guys all the time i say there are a lot of guys that are excited and happy. Yeah, man, that's truth.
That's sharp, man. Hey, man, how you doing?

Man, I love the Broncos. I love the Celtics.
But there's another group that feels some type of way because of who you are.

Oh, you you think you can talk to my lady oh you can you know your lady choosing me bro i i i didn't say anything but it's that way and so for me that's one of the reasons why i was very very uh uh how i moved and i didn't really go out and i only went out one this is one teammate when i was in denver if he wasn't going i wasn't going right and that and we always we walked in together we we never left separate when he walked in i walked in when i walked out he walked out yeah and i look, and I would tell the guys, you know, a lot of times, because a lot of guys do feel this way, truth, is that they see somebody, their football player, and they touching somebody.

I said, bro, don't do that. I said, you got to understand, a man going to fight really, really hard in front of his lady because he's not going to let you plunk it.
Right.

I say, and you don't know what he got on him. So just let that go.
Let it go. Hey, you know, I had a situation, man.
I had, man, I'm about to fight my own teammate.

He's touching the girl. He's like, oh, you got someone on your back.
Oh, he with you.

I say, oh, I said, bro, that's enough. We're not fit to do that.

But you have to understand, did you ever go back to that club again? No, never again. You know, and if there was some advice that I can give to the young professionals

coming to the NBA or coming to the NFL, whatever sports you play where you're at a high level, I would say like, you know, I was on a young team. I should have got with a vet.
Yes.

You know, right away, like, man, you know, I want to go out with you. I want to kind of see how you move.
How you move. And everything, because I don't know how to move.

I'm still learning how to, you know, make the money and what to do with it when I go out. What, you 21, 22? Yeah, I'm 21, 22 years old.
I don't know how to move like that yet.

I'm not knowing that, like, maybe I should get a security guard or a table

to escort me in a certain different way. Yeah.
You know, and stay with the group. Like, you know what I'm saying? So for the young players and the young.

Hoopers or whoever you are, a successful black athlete who are in the limelight, you know, get with somebody who been there, done that, right? Who've been around for a minute, though.

Not no four or five years, like somebody 10 years in the game or something like that. Understand it.
That understands, like, you got to do it like that and talk to them.

You know, so that's what I would say.

From that point on, did it change like the type of woman that you dated or the type of woman that you was like interested in?

Because, you know, sometimes, you know, you like, we like what we like, but sometimes what we like get us in trouble. True that.

Yeah, but you can't go to the places

where

they're gonna be it. They gonna be

you know

I can't like I know I like what I like, but

if she kick it there, I probably don't need to like her, you know, but if she ain't no first time probably, yeah, exactly.

And it's just like

you never know, right? You don't you don't know, and that's why you need to get with the vet because the vet can pull your coattail.

Hey, bro, I know she look good, but hey, she done been around, she done been blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, so forth and so on. So,

not put you in harm's way. Because you know how guys are.
You get with somebody, they're gonna let you, they ain't gonna tell you at first, they're gonna clown you. Yeah, they got, they gotta get,

they're gonna clown you at first.

I'm just telling you, how to be real, having been a professional athlete and see young guys come in and see this young lady that has dated several guys on the team and maybe one of the nuggets.

I'd have seen that too.

You know what I'm saying? But I don't know because I'm not out there like that. So I don't know until you bring her round.
And then when I see, I'm like, bro, bro, what you doing?

Nah, man, I got a good girl. Yeah.

No, you don't. Yeah.

But

at that point in time, no matter what I think of her or know what she's done, I got to respect that man's choice because he chose her. Yeah.

And the last thing I want to do is cause friction between he and I. Right.

But you can't let

outside interference ruin the locker room. I done seen that, man.
For sure. Absolutely.

Absolutely. So you got to have that talk.

You know, like, come on, man. It'll ruin the locker room if you go that route.
You know, and I don't want to have to break the news to you later.

You know, because I done seen it happen. But the bottom line, you just got to be careful who you with, where you go,

areas you in, what time you in and out. So, you know, I never stay to the end.
No, no, no, no, no, no. I love you.
I never stayed to the end, no more. I'm never going to hear last call.
Never.

Never.

You're not going to be, they're not going to be putting the stools on the bar.

All the lights come on so you can really see everybody before. If

you stay too long,

if they say last call, if they putting the stools on the, if the lights come on, you stayed too long, bro. Yep.
Yep.

But there's a lesson to be learned, and I'm happy that the lesson that I learned, that I'm still here, that I can get a game to the future and the young general.

I'm not saying not to go out and not have fun.

Enjoy it. You know what I'm saying? Because it comes and goes.

But be careful and be smart. Be smart.

Boston. We hear a lot of different stories.
I mean,

Mr. Russell.
Bill Russell wrote a book about what they did to him. He's the winningist

sports. I mean, 11 championships in 13 seasons everything that he had done.
He had fought for the civil rights. I think it was a 67 summit that he was there, and all those guys, and he did that.

So, and I've heard a lot of people come from the outside and say, well, Red Sox fan and Boston fans, they yelled this and they yelled that.

I don't know if I've ever talked to a player that actually played for the Boston team. What is it like playing in Boston? Did you see any of the racism? Did you feel any tension?

I never had a chance to experience that.

Shannon. I think, you know, as fans, sometimes when opposite teams come in, you feel like

you feel a certain type of way. You know, Boston is a sports city and it's hate amongst our fans toward anybody else who ain't Boston.
Right.

You know what I'm saying? And you might have a guy in there licored up and, you know, might get outside himself.

Non-stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd.
Lick. Chants echo.
Drum beating. Everybody's showing that school pride.

Game like this? Yeah, it calls for an ice-cold Coca-Cola.

Mmm, yeah. That taste always hits the right note, just like the band at halftime.

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And say the N-word or something or whatever. You know, it probably has happened.
It's never happened to me. Right.
You know, being that I was a player there, I was loved there in the city.

You know, it's times I went to the restaurant and got a standard ovation.

just like, I mean, it's a real sports town, but like, I've never felt like the racism, and you know, but you know, you go back

in the day, you know, a lot of the Irish migrated to Boston, and a lot of them was, you know, racist. Yeah, and so I'm sure there was a lot of

parts of the city where it was still like that. I just never experienced it.
Right. And you didn't go to those parts to try to figure it out.

I wasn't at the Irish pubs. Right, right, right.

You're not going to Charlestown, you're not southy? Nah, to give them an opportunity to get licorice up and call me a n.

How tough was it? You get to the Celtics. You understand the tradition of the Celtics.

60s, they won all the time. The 70s, they won.
The 80s, they won. Now you get there and you guys are struggling.
How tough was that to deal with?

Because like you said, the Boston fans, they're used to winning championships. They won eight in the 60s and then they won what they won in the 70s and they won what they won in the 80s.

And now you're in the 90s and the early 2000s. You guys aren't winning championships.
Yeah, well, you got to understand

the support system is amazing. From the former players,

man, that kept my head up. Just Red Uraback coming in town, going to dinner with him.
Like, keep your head up. Giving me a cigar.
Bill Russell, going to dinner with him. You know what I'm saying?

Hanging out with Cedric Maxwell. You know, they keep my hat.

Brad be hating.

That's my guy. Brad, you be hating him.

Brad, my man. Yeah, man.
He's good. He's a great dude, man.
Man, that's like my big brother right there.

I used to tell him everything.

And, you know, just having them around, just like, man, what do I got to do? You know, I'm talking to Bill, having dinners with him.

It's just like, man, you just got to stay on the path and everything. And, you know, they kept my sanity of not wanting to.
get traded or go somewhere else.

You know, just having those guys around, JoJo White. Yeah, yeah.
You know, he lived there. He was instrumental to me just keeping my sanity going through all the losing years.

It's just like the family of the Celtic culture kept everything together. And so, you know, that's what I try to bring now with this generation.

You know, I try to be there at the games and go to practices and call Jason time and time again,

try to see if they good.

So, you know, I try to just carry on what they was able to do for me.

Man, that's awesome. Did you ever think in those years you got drafted in 98 and then it was a long time before you won that championship.
Did you ever think you was going to win a ring, True?

Man. Because you see Kobe.
Damn, Kobe and Shaq, man, they winning all damn. And you see the Spurs with Tim Duncan

and Manu and Tony Parker, they're winning. Man, I'm going to tell you, I didn't think it was going to happen, Shannon, like this 2006, 7th season, when I broke my foot.

30 games in, I believe, and we lost 18 games in a row. Damn.
I was just like, damn, we farther off than I thought we was. We more than one piece away.
Yeah.

So I was like, I didn't think it would happen. You know, so I'm having meetings with ownership,

Danny, Doc, like, you know, man, this is the year Kevin Durant coming out. I'm telling you, this dude, we looking at Kevin like, oh, y'all need to, and we got young Perkins, we got young

Al Jefferson, young Tony Allen. Them guys was out of my range.
Yeah.

for winning. You know, I got to wait for them to develop in four years.
I'm going to be in my 10th year or 12th year. I'm going to be like out of my prime or something.

So I didn't think it was going to happen.

But

that was the crossroads. That was the crossroads.
It was like a blessing in the skies that I broke my foot, that we lost that many games because

we was at least middle of the road. Team will be healthy.
We was like hovering around 500.

But when I broke my foot and we were able to get that draft pick that led to Ray and Kevin, it was like a blessing in the skies because

I was ready to go. Wow.
Yep, it was good.

You was not good enough to win the championship, but you wasn't bad enough to lose the tank and

get a top three, top four pick. I'm on losing teams, and I'm still making the all-star game.

Every year losing teams, and that's hard to do.

On a losing team, still, they like, man, he getting the all-star.

He's in. But we losing.
And so I was just like, man, it ain't going to happen. But that was the crossroads of the summer to where we stayed supposed to, we was favored to get the number one pick.

The fifth pick. I had a watch party for the draft.
I was like, oh, I'm thinking like we get Kevin Duran.

I can stick around.

This kid is going to turn the franchise around. I could see that.
We didn't get it. I was like, I thought that was it.
I thought I was out of there. Then they maneuvered, got Ray.

I was like, oh, hold on. They just traded for Ray.

I know I'm sticking around. You ain't going to trade for an older player

to not have me. Right.
So we must be, and the rumors, Kevin coming. Yo, we're trying to get Kevin.
Oh, man. That's all I ever wanted.
That's all I ever wanted. You got a ticket.
You good now.

Man, all I ever wanted was just a chance. Right.
Just give me a chance. You know, like, when you look at the great players,

like, even look at LeBron. He needed Wade and Bosch.
Yes. I don't care how great LeBron was.
He needed to be winning by yourself.

It's tough to win by yourself. You need other championships.
You can win. But winning a championship.
Win a championship. Right.

You got to have another great player.

And so

it was a blessing in the skies. And the rest was history.
Is it true that you demanded to be traded to the Mavericks?

I actually was in the club that summer and ran into Mark Cuban and they're partying

into their section. And I was like.
Telling my agent I want to go play them. Because that year.
Oh, yes. So that year,

they was a 50-win team. I think they was the number one seed in the West, and they lost the first round.
Yeah. So I was just like, this is perfect.

That's the year they lost to the Warriors, wasn't it? Yes. So I was like, I thought it was lined up.
I was like, ooh,

they can win it. They need, if they get me,

because they already really good. Yeah.

We can win it. So my mind was like, ooh, I'm all dirty knee.
So I'm like, I'm trying to line that up. Like, ooh, if I can get to Dallas, they're already good.
I can give them that extra dog they need.

But it didn't work work out. And then the Celtics did what they did.
Right.

Is it true that you and Kobe had a bet that who was going to get traded first? Yeah, we did. Damn, how do you know about that? Damn, that's crazy.

He was at UCLA playing a pickup game.

And this is the same year. We both garbage.
We both in the lottery.

We at UCLA. We playing against each other.
Then it was like the rounds was over. So, you know, he sit on the sideline.

I was like, man, we weak. He was like, yeah, I'm trying to get out of there.
I think he was talking about Chicago. Yeah, he almost got dealt in Chicago.
I think think he was talking.

That's how me and was talking because we used to play in the summer. He was like, Man, I'm gonna get you out.
He's like, I'm out of here. I said, I'm out of there, too.

And then we was like, I bet I'll get out of there before you. He was like, On the sideline, chopping it up like that, because we were so bad the year before.

And then the crazy part about it, that next year, we in a championship against each other. Ain't that crazy? Because that's what they got power, right? Yep.
Yep.

The summer before we both were start, we was

out of there. Yep.
Do you believe had they not gotten power, had you not got Ray and ticket, you'd have left? Yeah. 100%.

100%.

It was, the marriage would have been over.

It would have been too frustrating. I wasn't going to be happy.

It would have got to the point to where I probably would have forced my way. It would have been...
Boiling over.

Well, you get ticket, you get Ray. How are you guys able to blend it? Because

normally it takes time for a team. You guys have never played together.

Maybe you played with Ray when he was in Milwaukee. Y'all was in the All-Star game together, but Ticket was always in the West.

I know you had a relationship with Ticket when he was in the McDonald's All-American game, but you guys have never played together. How was Doc able to mesh you guys?

Those are a lot of big personalities now. You got to mess together.
That's a lot. You got to break it to a locker room.
Yeah, I'll tell you one thing. Doc is great at that.

Man, what Doc first did, when we first did the press conference, man, we went on a duckboat ride. Just us three.

We went around the city and we was just talking to Doc, like, how are we going to make this work?

You know, because everybody, it was a lot of speculation that I was going to be the odd man, that I was going to be the egotistical one out of everybody. And Paul is, he's going to be selfish.

He ain't going to work with them. It was a lot of people saying that.
And I was just like, all I ever wanted was some other things. It was an opportunity.
Opportunity.

But I will tell you, like, Kevin,

he was the lead dog in all this. Right.
You know, to be honest, because Kevin is the most selfless superstar

ever in history wow he came in and was just like paul this is your team i'm just here to help i was just like damn because i was thinking like man kevin's the man you probably got his mvp

and the mvp he just was like p this is your squad i just want to help win a championship

Man, I ain't trying to step on no toes. Everybody dropped their egos at the door.

But the thing is, we all had previous relationships, whether it was me with Kevin, Kevin with Ray, Kevin with both of us.

And that whole summer, we talked on the phone every day. Wow.

Call Kevin. Hey, let's book Ray in.
Boom, man. Let's get to Boston early, man.
We're going to do this. Man,

we was making summer plans to win the championship the summer before.

That's how we was talking. Say, man, we're going to win it together.
And then we win it, we're going to go to Italy. That's the conversation to be having.
We're going to go here.

I'm telling you, we was already seen it. Yeah, y'all was already locked in like that.
Man, we seen it.

We was like, man, we gonna win this and of course everybody we on the cover every magazine i'm talking about people hated that right oh man the teams across the league like they ain't won nothing yet why y'all crowning this right

but it just it was like the holy trinity it just came together right away so man it was just

It was crazy. I couldn't believe.
When you look back at it now, it do take time to come together. It came right together.
Like day one, we got out the gate like 7-0.

Like, came out like, didn't have no issues.

You know what our first issue was? The first round of the playoffs.

Like when we went to game seven with the Hawks, that was our first adversity. We had no adversity throughout the whole year.
We came out just smacking teams, like out the gate.

First adversity was in the playoffs. That's when we started learning more.
Game seven, first round.

Second round, another

game seven again versus LeBron. Yeah.
Like, man, we like, oh, damn.

So. Once you guys got past that, you like, we're going to win the championship.
100%. Once we got past that young bull, I was like, it was all down here.

But then you think that, like, you get Detroit, but then you got to run it to the bomb. Yeah.

That's why I always tell people, it's hard to win. Yes.
It's hard to win a chip. Shannon, you know this.
Yes, for sure. The hardest thing to do is win in professional sports and then win consistently.

Yeah. Because you can have a little success, and sometimes a little success goes to people's head.
Right. Because the hardest, you know, I remember

we we won the first Super Bowl.

Gary Kubiak, who was our officer coordinator, he called me off. He's an 84.
He said, you know what? Congratulations. He congratulated.

He's like, he said, you know, the hardest thing to do, he says, the repeat. I said, why you say that, cool?

He says, because everybody thinks they're the reason why they won.

He said, the people that cut the grass out there, the reason why they won, we've got to look at who we cut that grass. The people that craft services, that bring the food, it's them.

It's the people that clean, it's them. Everybody thinks they're the reason why.
Yes, yes. And that's not it.
We saw that with our team, you know, and you see it, like once you win it,

people think they can do more. They didn't do more before.

You know what I'm saying? Yep. Like, you saw that, huh? Yes.
We saw that too because people wanted more of a role now. Yes.

They went from like, nah, I want to, nah, I want to, you know, I'm making the fries. I want to make the burgers now.
Yeah, hey. Like, nah.

No, I don't want to make no fries. I want to be cashier.
I don't need to be making the hot a candy green pop it on me. Right.

I want to be, and who was at the cashier? Now they want to be a manager. Right.
Right. Now you like, come on, man.
Absolutely. This is why it worked.

This is why,

you know, this is why this system worked. Right.
She was doing that.

The super team.

You guys were, some people don't want to say it, but you guys were a super team because Ray was a perennial all-star. For sure.
Ticket was a perennial all-star and an mvp you were a perennial all-star

i would i would consider that a super team

did you consider it a super team at the time

the way we was

the way we was flying in these cities in our hotels it was packed outside it felt like it

that's what i do we were super team hey look that's what i do i didn't know at first but when we landed in certain cities and that crowd be out there in front of that hotel yeah we was a super team but you know what

and what what irks me is that I'm old enough to remember is that seems like fans are okay if a team put a super team together they've always been super teens what the hell you think the 80 Lakers were yeah what do you think the 80 Celtics were

they were super teens they just had Burt I mean think about it Byrd is a 50th anniversary team so is Kevin Kevin McKill and so is Robert Paris yep they had Dennis Johnson. Yep.

They had Tiny Archibald. Five Hall of Famers.
They had Bill Walton.

Look at the Lakers. Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Wilts.

Bob McAdoo. I don't know if y'all noticed anything.
All those guys in the Hall of Fame. So they were a super team.
They've always been super teams.

Go back and look at the 60s Celtics. They had 11 Hall of Famers of 13 guys.

Look at the Lakers. So they've always been that.
It's just that guys now have better relationships. They grew up like you and Kevin.
They play AAU ball together. They're comfortable playing.

Well, Bird would have never wanted to play with Magic. Well, Bird didn't have a relationship since he was nine, 10 years old with Magic.

So the only time they saw each other, maybe, was the McDonald's All-America or once they got to the NBA.

Yeah. But I think the problem what people have with the super teams today or

whenever you know Kevin and LeBron is how they came together. Right.
You know, like ours was manufactured. It wasn't like, hey, Kev, come play with me or Ray.

You know, it was Danny maneuvering the trades and hopefully things had to be. Well, everybody ain't got Danny Age, though.
You had to have the right pieces

and all of that. And so I think people kind of frown upon like, you know, Bron going there and Durant going, you know, where he went.
But, you know, you got to have other great players to win.

You got to. You got to.

Just think about it. The Lakers won the NBA title and got the number one pick in the draft.
So just imagine if y'all have won the title and the next year, y'all get the number one pick in the draft.

They won the NBA title and got James Worthy. How is that fair? Yeah.
I don't know how they was maneuvering back then. Jerry Buster and Red R back, I don't know how they was maneuvering.

They was running the league, huh? Because you know back then, you could like declare for the draft. And there's, and go, but Larry Bird declared for the draft and went back.
Yeah.

So that's how the Celtics kept his rights and the Celtics kept his rights. Yeah, right.
So just think about it. You're like, well, yeah, nah, I'm going back to school.
And they still got your rights.

Right. So it was, and back then, you know, they had territorial rights.
So you come out, you was going to a city that was close by you. There's a lot of things that

if they were to do that now,

people lose their mind.

Yeah, there were some things. Now, it was some chess going on back then for sure.

And that's why the league grew to what it grew into.

This concludes the first half of my conversation. Part two is also posted, posted and you can access it to whichever podcast platform you just listened to part one on.

Just simply go back to Club Shether profile and I'll see you there. Did you know Microsoft has officially ended support for Windows 10? Upgrade to Windows 11 with an LG Gram laptop.

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I keep telling them not to say that. I'm no superhuman.
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Non-stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lick.
Chants echo. Drumbeat.
Everybody's showing that school pride. A game like this?

Mmm, yeah. That taste always hits the right note, just like a band at halftime.

You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000.

Club Shay Shay - Paul Pierce Part 1

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