"Why Being Nice Destroyed Us": Ex-NBA Pro's Championship Secret | Mario Chalmers DSH #1106

Like, okay, I can run the team.

I can hold my own.

I can do X, Y, Z.

And, I mean, I told my killies I got hurt, so that was just damn.

But there's a lot of guys I heard in the league that are like that.

They're on the bench right now.

If they were on another team, they would score 20.

It's always like that.

It's like you got to be able to

adapt to your vibe.

So if you need to just be a strength to point guard and get these guys the ball to win a championship, hey, that's what I'm going to do.

Facts.

All right, guys, Mario Chalmers here at Celebrity Poker Tournament.

What happened to you, man?

Oh, man, it's the Big Blind.

The Big Blind takes me out every time.

I don't lose to no other players, but I lose to the Big Blind every time.

You fell rush.

I just had nothing to fight for when the Big Blind came, and that just took me out.

Who got you out?

The Big Blind.

Like, literally, the Big Blind.

I had, I want to say about

375, and the Big Blind was 300.

Damn.

So, yeah, that took me out.

I had nothing to fight for.

You've been following the NBA this season?

I have been.

It's been it's been real

it's been a lot of storylines yeah you liking what you're seeing 53 the game for some teams i do like it i just feel like the nba right now it's a lot of it's a lot of three-pointers and it's a lot of different skills that's being shown um from the players and you know the stars are being stars right now absolutely lamello ballot in a great season i'm impressed with lamello and me being actually in charlotte and seeing them and hearing about them like

LaMelo is one of them guys,

he just hoops.

No matter if he's at 24-hour fitness or he in the NBA game, game, his game is going to look the same.

And

that's what's really helping him right now.

It's like he's just a bona fide hooper.

Sax.

You think he's a top three point guard right now in the league?

He's averaging 30 a game right now.

I think he's fifth in the league scoring.

See, when it comes to being a point guard, I'm old school.

So when I think of point guards, I think of people that actually set people up that will.

Pass up their shot for other shots.

And I know that's not really the point guard game right now, but he's very good i just can't give him my top three oh so who you got then my top three i gotta go

you know my favorite is kyrie i'm a big kyrie fan um i always been but kyrie luca and you gotta throw steph in there damn my well all three of those guys are scoring too

they're all scoring but they also command a lot of attention and they also

average seven eight assists not saying that he doesn't but he's another person i think

Before the beginning of the season, I think Tyrese was one of the better passers and playmakers in this game.

He's just not showing it right now, whatever's going on, but I think he's still up there, but I wouldn't put him in the top three.

You know what I'm saying?

Top five, though.

There we go.

Yeah,

that top five is cool, but I mean, you still got Jalen Brunson.

It's a lot of guards right now.

And that's the big thing about basketball.

It's a lot of good guards right now.

It's a new era.

It's definitely.

It's a point guard era.

Yeah.

Like, when I played, it was more big men era, throw it in the post now.

Let's get a ball to guards and let them rock.

And Victor's shooting threes.

Victor's the truth.

I like Victor.

I'm a Victor fan.

I was skeptical at first, but I'm definitely a different person.

A lot of people are skeptical.

Yeah, I just think I felt like he was too tall at that moment.

I didn't think he would be able to move, but he's impressed me.

Man, these kids are different these days.

These kids are different.

I mean, even if you're a center now, you got to be able to move and shoot.

Definitely.

That's the name of the game now.

Cards one through five because everyone's so talented now, right?

You feel like the skill level has gotten a lot better since your era?

Yes.

That's one thing I will say.

You know, everybody talks about how the game has changed and all that, but the skill level, players are more honing into being able to shoot more, being able to play without the ball.

It's just different.

It's a different game.

It's more skilled.

And it feels like a younger game.

Definitely is a younger game.

Like me being 38, trying to get back for the last couple of years, a couple of years ago, and they was like, nah, once you hit that 35 mark, it's kind of like, ah, we really want somebody that's 21.

Not a lot of guys make it past 35, right?

Nah, not a lot.

Braun and probably a handful of others.

Braun, Harden.

I can't think.

Maybe Westbrook.

steph is on the way westbrook is on the way cp3 yeah so i think about it my draft class was 2008 and we have maybe four or five people left that's it that's it damn yeah and pg 2010 they have one person he's the only one left that's what i think i've seen that last couple days but yeah it's it's scarce it's getting really young Your draft class was stacked, right?

Yeah, me, D.

Rose, Westbrook, Kevin Love.

Yeah, D-Rose, just Beasley.

You know what I'm saying?

We had a bunch of people.

Kevin Love is still out there.

Westbrook is out there for my class.

I think that's it, maybe.

Yeah, probably another couple of years for those guys, too.

Two, three years at that.

How was the transition afterwards?

Was it smooth?

For me, it was a little bit harder just because the way I had a transition.

You know, for me tearing my Achilles to not fully getting back the way I wanted to, that was the kind of different of a transition.

But,

you know, once you get over that, you understand that Father Tom is undefeated, everything becomes easier because, you know, you can still.

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Still do so with the game of basketball.

And that's, you know, that's my passion.

I love the game of of basketball.

So right now I'm training kids and teaching my kids just different things of the game.

So you can always be part of basketball if you can't play.

Facts.

You're going to start up a basketball podcast?

A lot of players are doing that.

I'll say this.

I think people are scared to put me on a podcast of what I might say.

Really?

I mean, you just got to think about it.

I've been

around a lot of players.

I've been around a lot.

Like, I would never say nothing crazy about nobody, but.

I also know a lot about what it takes to be one of these superstars or one of these top players like LeBron and him.

I've seen the work that they put in.

So like,

I know what it takes.

Yeah, you've seen some stuff.

Yeah.

His leadership style is not like vocal like some leaders, right?

That's the thing.

It's a little bit of both, but he is,

I would say this about Brian.

Brian is more of a vocal leader than he is a lead by example.

You know, from my era, I had Brian and D.

Wade.

So comparing them to, Brian is more vocal.

D-Wade is more, I'm going to show you how to do this and just follow my lead.

But they both have similar tendencies.

Right.

And that was probably the most hated team of all time, right?

At the time.

I love that.

Before the Warriors, I'd say, with KD.

I don't think the Warriors was hated as much as KD?

I don't think so.

I think they hated KD.

Facts, facts.

I don't think they hated the Warriors as much as the Heat.

No, you're right.

That's why I think Bron, they hated everybody around us.

They hated our whole team.

Right.

With KD and him, they just hated KD.

They didn't respect what he did.

But it's like, bro,

at the end of the day, you got to do what you got to do to win.

Yeah.

How did that affect you at the time?

It must have been like crazy, right?

I loved it.

You know, I'm the person, person that, like, I like being a villain.

Like, I like getting people's best shot every night, people talking shit, and we just play basketball.

Like, I like that.

So for me, I embraced that role.

I had a lot of fun with it, and it was something cool.

I liked it.

Did you initiate the shit talking usually?

Nah, not really, because I wasn't getting the ball to take them shots to you know to back up the shit talking i was saying so it was more of like oh yeah d-way like go bust like i remember one time we playing the pistons and i know d-way to get him ready for a game i would always talk shit like rodney stuck he better than you

gonna bust your ass tonight so it'd be stuff like that then d-way be ready for the game so that was more my my approach to the game was antagonize my my big three and make sure they ready to play.

Yeah, yeah, that big three was deadly, man.

Plus you.

I would say that's a big four, man, because you were putting up numbers too.

I I mean,

you know how the media says that everybody says it, so we'll leave it at the big three.

I had my fun, I had my moments, I held my own.

Yeah, so I'd look that was the first time it was like a big three, right?

Other than I guess, Jordan, Rodman, and Pippen.

If that's big three, I mean, even Rodman didn't score like that, right?

So that's why I'm saying it was kind of like we really had the first big three.

Big three in terms of scoring, yeah, because all those three could get 20, 25, 30, quick, yeah, fast.

Which chip uh felt better for you,

12 or 13?

Um,

I would say 13 because that was the harder chip.

Just going through

San Antonio,

being down 3-2.

They always say you need a little bit of luck to win a championship, and our luck was Ray Allen hitting the three.

Facts.

So I'll definitely say the San Antonio one.

Was that the toughest playoff matchup team you've had?

Spurs?

Yeah, I would say so.

Just because

the biggest thing about the Spurs, they executed well, but the biggest factor that I hated the most was they were so nice.

Like they were so nice.

And it's like when you come to a championship, you want to shit talk.

You want to get into it.

You want to be a bully.

And I was like, hey, I'm going to do this spin move and hit a good shot and you can't do nothing.

Right.

I don't even know how to respond to that.

So they killed you with kindness.

And that was the thing.

It's like, bro, I don't know how to respond to kindness.

I've heard stories of people trying to shit talk Tim Duncan and he just stopped.

Hi, how you doing?

Yeah.

And they'd be like, what?

It's crazy, though, because obviously you guys had the way more athletic team, but they just played so well together.

They just jailed together.

Crazy.

They just,

like you said, they jailed together and they played really well together and they got hot at the right moment.

Yeah.

And their coach, I mean, he might go down as the goal.

That's a great coach.

Who was your favorite coach to play for?

My favorite coach to play for was Coach Yeager in Memphis, just because

at the time, Mike Conley got hurt and I was the only point guard.

So I got to really,

really thrive thrive in that role of doing what I want to do, like getting everybody involved, taking the last second shots when I want to.

I don't have to give the ball to Braun, D.

Wade, or C.B.

I get to just be me and be a point guard.

And I think that was the best thing about playing for Coach Jager was just the freedom I had.

Right.

Was that the first time you experienced that freedom?

Yeah, it's the first time in the NBA had that freedom.

So that was like...

You went through years of.

Yeah, but I understood like, I mean, you're playing with Braun, D.

Wade, Ray Allen, like, these are real Hall of Famers.

So it's like, I understand it.

Like, I don't, I ain't tripping, but if I ever get my opportunity, I can show y'all what I was, what I can do.

And that's when I got to Memphis.

I was able to show, like, okay, I can run the team.

I can hold my own.

I can do X, Y, and Z.

And, I mean, I told my Achilles, I got hurt.

So that was just.

Damn.

But there's a lot of guys I heard in the league that are like that.

They're on the bench right now.

If they were on another team, they would score 20 minutes.

It's always like that.

It's like you got to be able to adapt to your,

adapt to your environment.

So if you need to just be a strictly point guard and get these guys the ball to win a championship, hey, that's what I'm going to do.

Facts.

Well, man, what's next for you?

And where can people keep up with what you got going on?

What's next for me is just training, take care of my kids.

I live in Charlotte right now.

My son's a junior in high school.

My daughter's a freshman.

She's top 50 freshman high school players right now.

WNBA.

Yeah, that's the goal.

So I just take care of them, make sure they're on the right track.

And, you know, just try to share my little bit of basketball knowledge that I have with anybody that wants to listen.

Boom.

We'll link your stuff below.

Thanks for coming on.

Thanks, you appreciate it.

Yep.