 Welcome to another episode of In the Zone. I am your host, Chris Broussard, and we got a great show for you today. My man, one of my favorite interviews, ex NBA player, NBA champion, Eddie House is in the house and better yet in the zone. So we're going to have a great interview with him. But first, as always, I'm going to hit you with a top five. And look, in honor of Eddie House, who was on one of the greatest teams in recent memory, the 2008 Boston Celtics. I started thinking, hmm, who are the best five NBA championship teams of the 21st century? That's from 2000 onward, not to Showtime Lakers, not to Jordan Bulls, none of that. From 2000 onward, who are the top five teams? Here you go. At number five, the Miami Heat 2013, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosch went on a 27 game win streak and edge the San Antonio Spurs in the seven game series to win their second title. Now you might be saying, number five, why so low? Well, here's the deal. Let's face it. They weren't a great fit. They had great players. LeBron is superb. Dwayne Wade's an all time great player. Chris Bosch will probably be a Hall of Famer, but they didn't fit together that well. I mean, you didn't get the best of each one of them. Dwayne Wade had to kind of back up and let LeBron run the show and be 80% of the player he really was. Chris Bosch, heck, he became a glorified role player. 16 points, six rebounds a game. That's it. So, and remember, they barely edged an older Spurs team. Ray Allen's miraculous three point shot at the end of game six saved them and allowed them to go on in game seven. Great performance by LeBron and win that second title. So at number five, Miami Heat 2013, at number four, the San Antonio Spurs of 2007. You might have thought I was going to say 2014 when they ran through Miami, but here's why I didn't. In 2007, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker were all in their prime. So they had to be better than the 2014 team because those three players were older. Duncan was virtually a shell of his former self in 2014. Look, in 2007, they swept LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers and I know everybody wants to say, oh, that Cavs team wasn't any good. All they had was LeBron. But look, that Cavs team had beaten a very good Detroit Pistons team. One they had won a championship, still had Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Arashi Wallace and had added Chris Weber and Antonio McDice. The Cavs took them out in six and yet the Spurs just swept them. So that is the fourth best team of the 21st century, 2007, San Antonio Spurs. At number three, Eddie Houses, Boston Celtics 2008. That's probably the first time they've ever been called Eddie Houses team. But I want to give my man some love. Of course, they had the big three, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, put it together right away, won the championship in their first year. Those three Hall of Famers fit perfectly. You had three Hall of Famers in their prime who were all willing to sacrifice to win a championship. KG was the defensive force. Paul Pierce was the slasher, the guy they tended to go to in the clutch. And Ray Allen, of course, tremendous shooter. Then you had the perfect point guard for a team with three big time scores. And that was Rajon Rondo, who didn't want to shoot, didn't look to shoot, just fed the big guys and let them go to work. That was a tremendous team. Don't sleep on the 2008 Boston Celtics. At number two, 2017, Golden State Warriors. I know you thought they might be number one, but don't be a prisoner of the moment. 2017 Warriors were a great team with Kevin Durant and Steph Curry. And of course, Clay Thompson, Draymond Green, and the rest of the crew, third most efficient, third highest rated offense of all time. Absolutely ran through the entire playoffs, 12-0 in the West, 4-1 over the Cavaliers in the finals, 16-1 overall. Can't mess with them. Let's see if they become a dynasty. They're not a dynasty yet. You better slow down with that. They haven't even gone back to back yet, but they have a chance to become a dynasty. So let's see if they do it. But they're number two right now in the 21st century. And at number one, you should know it. That leaves the Shaq Kobe Lakers. That's right. Nobody would have been able to deal with Shaq on this list. No other team could have handled him. And that was the, what year do I pick though? They three-peated 2000, 2001, 2002. I'm going to go with the 2001 Shaq Kobe Lakers. Shaq was at the height of his powers. And so was Kobe. They ran through the Western Conference playoffs, undefeated, then got to the final. Let me, let me back up. Let me tell you about some of the teams that they waxed in that year. Portland swept them in the first round. That was a Portland team that had Rashid Wallace, Scottie Pippin, and Steve Smith. And Damon Stoudemire actually had a good year that year as well. Then they swept the Sacramento Kings of Chris Weber, Paisa Stoyakovich, and Vladi Divash. That was a good team that had given them all types of problems in the years past. And they swept them. Then they took it to the next level against those San Antonio Spurs. Tim Duncan, smack dab in the middle of his prime. David Robinson, not quite in his prime, but still a top center in the league. And they just ran through those San Antonio Spurs. Then they got hold of the Philadelphia 76ers in the finals. The Sixers did end up getting the game thanks to the greatness of Allen Iverson. But it never really was a series. The Shack Kobe Lakers of 2001, the team of the 21st century thus far. All right, here we are with my man Eddie House, man. It's always good to have you back here in the Fox studios, man, especially on in the zone. Look, I just did my top five that I do every week. I did it on my top five NBA champions of the 21st century. And you were on one of the great teams 2008 Celtics. I had them number three behind the Shack Kobe Lakers. And then number two was the Golden State Warriors of 2017 with Durant and Steph. Where do you think the 08 Celtics stack up? Well, I would be a damn full, not to say at the top. And number one, I mean, I think this reason, because we we were deep. We were really deep. Our second unit were we were able to extend rest time for our first unit because our second unit was so good. We could battle against the starters because, hell, we battled against them every single day. And it was games. That's how our that's how our training camp started off. We went to Italy and the second unit took it to the first year. I was there. I was at the in Rome, which y'all were killing. Yeah, we killed them the first day and that like put them on notice. Doc was like, we're gonna have a special team. And then from then on out, it was you know, we we had a room full of alphas. So it it wasn't just on the court. We was talking when we got back in the locker on the bus. Oh, in the morning, I was talking trash. What? Yeah, for sure. In the morning, we're like, y'all better bring it again, man. We'll kick your one more time. Believe that. But that was healthy competition for us. And I think that's the reason why I will put us there and everybody's because I played on the team, but put all that to the side that I play. I just know I think we were deeper than than than those teams. So how would y'all deal with Shaq? Hacking. But you did have perk. Yeah, we have perk, but Shaq, I mean, we had to deal with him like everybody else did. Just take whatever he's going to give us, you know what I mean? And then try to limit everybody else. You had Shaq and Kobe, and then you had to try to limit all the other guys. You can't let D fish get off. You know, you can't let Rick Fox hit some shots and stuff like you had to try to minimize what they do while, you know, you deal with what Shaq, because they're going to do what they do regardless. I brought up going state in 2017. Obviously, this is a new three-point era and you were a great three-point shooter. It wasn't as big of a shot back then. How do you think your career would be different if you were playing in today's era? Oh, man, I tend not to think about that, because you could drive yourself crazy, you know what I mean? Because they handed out a lot of money for three-point shooters, you know what I mean? But I mean, if I would have been, I think I would have thrived in it. Obviously, I was able to have an extended career 11 years in the league when that shot wasn't that popular, when I was basically doing what guys are doing now and called a specialist or a higher gun to where now guys are being the man on their team for doing those type of things. So I would have been fine, man. I would have been fine. Do you, you played against Mahmood Abdul-Rov? I didn't play. I might have played against him at right there at the tail end, but that's one of the guys that I looked up to. Chris Jackson at LSU and then Mahmood. Yeah, he was a killer, man. I used to like copy his moves and see how he comes off pin downs, how he come off the pick and roll with the quick pull up. People always said I had a quick release. I think he had one of the quickest release, you know, he's not being a bigger guy. So we had similar body types. Well, people, you know, Phil Jackson, remember a few years ago, he said Steph Curry is like Chris Jackson or Mahmood Abdul-Rov. And people laughed at him because Mahmood was really good, but, you know, he didn't, he wasn't like a pretty all star. But do you think that comparison was legit? Like if Mahmood was playing today, it would have been at another level. Yeah, that's fair because he had, excuse me, his handle was just as good as Steph's. I think his mid range game, they play very similar steps a little taller. I think maybe Steph could finish around the rim a little bit better than Mahmood. But I mean, that's a very fair comparison. So who you got between Kobe and LeBron? That's tough right there. That's a real tough. It's interesting because most outside, like when I say outsiders, I mean reporters, fans that I talk to, they think LeBron clearly. But when I talk to more ex players or players, I've talked to more to take Kobe. Yeah, Kobe's the closest thing to Jordan that we've seen. We might not see another, you know, as much as people hated him while he played, you're gonna miss him while he gone. Oh, that's a tough one. He got his five. You know what I mean? Only knock, I could say, about Kobe. It's the only knock is in 2006 when we were in, when I was in Phoenix, game seven, literally quit. Like that was a quit. Didn't take no shots the whole second half. Basically, it was a point he was trying to prove like, okay. Because it was our everybody was complaining. You shoot too much. He's like, oh, you think I'm shooting? I won't shoot at all then. But that was at the sacrifice of his whole team. And you know, they had y'all. They didn't have. If he would have did what he did, it might have been close. We blew him out that last game, but he didn't take a shot. But yeah, that's a he won't get killed for that. LeBron gets killed for Dallas. Yeah. But Kobe don't, it's like most people don't even think about it. Because it wasn't the finals. Yeah. That was the first round. It was one game, too. It was the first round. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Were they up 31? I think they were. They had y'all. Now teammates, let's switch gears. Lanzo ball, LeVar ball, that how you've been in many NBA locker rooms. How do you think LeVar's comments affect the teammates of Lanzo with the Lakers? I think it would affect the team because they're a young team. You know what I mean? If they were a team for the Vets, I think it would have been shut down. And not only shut, not like saying they shut LeVar up, but it would just be shut down. Like, hey, this ain't an issue. As long as he come in and ball out and do what he do, we don't care what his dad says. As long as dad ain't talking about nobody inside this circle right here, talking bad about him, he could say whatever he wants. He could have his own thoughts. But within this circle, if he doesn't attack anybody within this circle, we could. So when people say it's got to be hurting the locker room and all that. Well, that's if they're young. That's a young locker room, so it could be bothering them. It could be a distraction to these kids who are just coming out of high school, excuse me, coming one year out of college, not far removed from high school. Or even a young Kyle Kuzma who played some years in college. But that could still wear on you if you're a young player and you don't have vets to pull you to the side and kind of school you. What do you think Magic Johnson is the president? A lot of people have said he needs to go to LeVar and kind of try and chill him out. What do you think Magic should do? Well, LeVar and Lithuania, ain't he? Yeah, but he's still making noise. He's way out there. So we ain't worried about somebody that's all the way on the other side of the world. You know what I'm saying? So I don't think Magic needs to do anything unless it starts being detrimental to the inside of that locker room. And we don't know for sure. Like I said, I don't know if it's bothering them or if it's not. But if it attacks anybody that's within that locker room, you know, like the comments maybe about Luke Walton, you know, that's when you want to say something like, oh, man, you're stepping on toes right now. So you need to maybe pull back, stay in your lane. You know what I'm saying? And just be chill. Stay in your lane. You know, LeBron, do you think that LeVar's presence and just his bluster and all that will be a deterrent to LeBron going to the Lakers? I don't think that if LeBron want to go to Lakers, he's going to go. But again, I don't think that would be the best place to go. I mean, even if you do add a Paul Joy, you still got a bunch of young kids over there that you're going to be playing with. And that's just not going to get it done in the NBA. You, of course, that 08 Celtics team, Paul Pierce, Ray Island. Last week, big controversy about why Ray wasn't at the Jersey retirement. What was your take on that whole thing? Well, starting where it started from, where the whole problem began. Yeah, you can go through it. You can go back there. The whole problem begins when Ray wanted to go to Miami. Yeah. Didn't pick up the phone and say, hey, guys, and I mean, I've heard this from numerous guys that that's basically what it was. They felt like a brother betrayed them. That was, that's the real gripe. And I see it through their eyes, but also see it through Ray's eyes, where he doesn't have to tell anybody what his next move is. You know, he is his own man. And, but from, from that, that's where all this created has been created. And it'll be nice just to see them, you know, bury the hatchet and just, you know, may go out to dinner one time and just talk it out. Well, they seem like Paul and Ray have kind of done that to some degree, but not the, not with Rondo and ticket. And yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, KG, Rondo, they really, well, all of them or everybody's really close, but I just think that I would like them to bury the hatchet. Because if we ever have a reunion where all of us, how is he not going to be a part of that? And then when he's there, how is he not going to be interacting? You know, just clicked up. That ain't how we were. We wasn't clicked up. We was a team through and through. We did everything together. If it was gambling on the plane, if it was going out to eat, if it was Halloween parties, Christmas parties, we did everything together. So that would be kind of, that would be weird. So I'm hoping that they can, you know, mend all whatever wounds that they have and make it better. It was always a lot of talk about Rondo, butting heads with doc and all that. What was the genesis of that stuff? Well, well, you got a headstrong point guard and a headstrong head coach. And at times they just, it would be like that sometimes, you know, I'd be having to Rondo chill out, man. I'll say that. He'll be like, man, you know, forget him, man. I trippin off him. So I'm stuntin off him. I'd be like, no, man, that's our coachless. He trying to, he want the best for you. That's all it is. Let's try to lock back in so we can get our work done. But that's healthy though. You know what I mean? Those are healthy butts of the head. It was nothing that ever festered and stayed around. It was all for the greater good for the team. Was Rondo even like that? His, cause the year y'all wanted, that was just his second year. Remember everybody thought that was going to be a weakness at point guard. Was he that headstrong even then when he wasn't really known? Yeah. Well, the thing is quiet do if you don't know him really. But then if you know him, you know, is you could, he's very competitive, everything he does. So that, that was, Rondo on the tee, he was, he was, he was like that, but he got more as he was a bigger part year in a year out. He got more and more of the leader, you know, cause he's basically, you know, at the helm, he's like the quarterback. So the more confidence he got, the more confidence other guys having him, the more he was like locked in. And, you know, all the good ones are ass. You know what I'm saying at times. And that's when he was, you know, that's when he started developing that. And that's, but that's what makes him. You're right. You can look at MJ had his issues, Isaiah Thomas, the legend. I said, even the, this new Isaiah Thomas guy, 21st century, I don't know what to call it, the second company or whatever. But you said on undisputed earlier that you felt LeBron quit during the, the 11 finals against. It might have been the wrong word. I just don't think that he, he wasn't there. You know, he didn't show up. I don't, he didn't quit on it. It wasn't like he's like, man, I'm not playing on y'all. He just wasn't there. He wasn't himself. So I'll take that quit. I use the wrong word with that. But yeah, he just wasn't there, man. I don't know what it was he did. He wasn't engaged and you could almost like see it in his eyes at times during timeouts. He was somewhere else. He wasn't, you know, what LeBron looked like when he's locked in. You know what I mean? You could see it watching on TV. That's what I'm saying. And you could see that, but it wasn't there. It seemed like it happened in the middle of the series. It did. It was like game, game two, after we lost game two, then we won game three and that's where I don't know. Even with game three, he just wasn't himself. You know what I mean? He just, he just didn't dominate. He didn't, was he the same in the locker room away from the game? Like as Joe, you know, in the finals, you know, in the finals is in the playoffs and the finals is different. You're, you're in the locker room, but everybody is like locked in on theirs. You know, it's not like regular season game. Yeah, we joking and no, it wasn't like that. So I was in my own zone. Everybody else was. The only time that we really kind of got out of our, our mental zone was when we were hit the court and then we start having to talk like, hey man, no, on that pick and roll, you got to show a little harder. So I could get, you know, that, but besides, we were locked in and I didn't see it until we were actually in the series. Like his, his demeanor was totally different. It wasn't, it wasn't the king. See, I felt like when he left Cleveland, went to Miami, I felt like he sold himself short because I actually thought he was good enough to help those carry those role players in Cleveland, maybe to a title, you know, but it looked like mentally he really wasn't ready, you know, where he had to learn how to win. It showed in 2011. But now, you know, he's won, you know, three championships. He's obviously older, more mature, and there's talk about him going to golden state. I don't think he'll do it. What would your thought be though, if he did do that? I don't know if I would, I probably would never watch a game they play. It wouldn't even be fun. I'll probably watch all the other games say who's, who's jockeying for position, who's trying to get that, that other side, who's trying to knock them off in the Western conference. But yeah, no, it wouldn't even be fun to watch. You know what I mean? It wouldn't even be fun to watch them play. I mean, it would be unfair. It would be crazy. What do you, there's all the talk about him, what he should do next summer. If he came to you and was just like, yo man, what, what you think I should do? What would your, what would you advice would you give him? Well, I think his best, if he doesn't go to Houston, right? Because that would be the number one that to me that would have to be if you're going to go to the Western conference. Because if you go to any other team, maybe San Antonio, I was going to say, I could see him in San, I don't think he'll go there. Maybe San Antonio, but does San Antonio have enough three point shooting to put them over the top of the Warriors? Because it always comes back to that for me with the Warriors. Can you match those three point shots? If you cannot match those three, you're going to lose. You're going to lose. Even if they have an off night and you're not a three point shooting team, all it takes is a two minute span before you know it. They didn't knock down four threes and you're looking up down 10. You know what I mean? They're like, man, what, what just happened to Arlent? You know what I mean? But I think Houston is a spot where they'll have a chance to come out of the West. Anywhere else, stay in Cleveland because then you have a great shot coming to the finals every single year. You played with LeBron in Miami, so you know his game. I mean, look, I was wrong about Chris Paul fitting in there. He's fitting in perfectly. And I do look at if LeBron did go there, I don't really know how that would work either. You think that would, I mean, maybe they all good enough and smart enough. They make it work, but it looks like it'd be a challenge. Yeah, that's the same thing that I thought about Houston was like with that work. But well, I think when you get professionals, you know, veterans that they've made their money and they made their bones in this league by scoring or dominating the ball. But now they're trying to win. You know, it happens to them all when they're trying to win, they kind of tweak their game a little bit. They're still the killer that they were, but they pick and choose spots. It's not like they have to dominate it. They let other guys get off. They understand that other guys have to get off for you to be successful. You know what I mean? Like as good, great as Jordan and Pippinwood, you needed BJ Armstrong to hit shots. You needed Cartwright to hit that baseline jumper. You needed Horace Grant to hit elbow jumper, Paxton and Kurt knocking down shots. You needed all those things and that just helped them. You know, once you get your teammates feeling good and they're confident now, you can't help as much because this guy's hitting shots too now. It might only have eight, nine points, but them eight to nine points was when he helped too hard and got stuck because he was worried about this guy. Now the lane opens up and things get real, real easy. But I think because of they, their basketball IQ was so high, I think that they could make it work. And I think that will be the only, to me, the legitimate spot there where they will have a chance to come out the West besides that man, stay in the East and go to as many finals as you can and try, because you can't win unless you're in it. You know, you don't want to go somewhere and you like, he goes to the Lakers or he go to the Clippers and gets put out in the second round. Like what does that do to his legacy? Then you think they hate, you think they're talking bad on him now? Then they might say you only got to that many finals because you was in the East. Right. Exactly. What, you saw the moves Cleveland made over the deadline, which obviously they plan a lot better. Do you give them, I assume, I think they clearly went in the East. Tell me your feelings on that. And then do you think they could actually challenge the Warriors or maybe Houston if they come out? Well, I think they got significantly better when they made the trade. They got rid of the locker room issues that they had. That's the number one thing that they needed to do. They did that. Then they got younger, faster, more athletic. And they got guys that have played in big situations, George Hill and the Eastern Conference Finals playing with San Antonio. And then on top of all of that, you got guys that can create off the dribble, which they have been missing. You know, LeBron was the only one really getting it. Everybody's like, oh, they missing Kyrie. Now they got Jordan Clarkson, who to me is underrated. I think he can get, you know, he could score and he's bigger than what people think he is. You know, he's about like six, four, six, three, six, four. And then I like Rodney Hood. I like his game. He's another guy that can create, you know, and we know what George Hill could do. It could take some of the onus off of LeBron James as far as bringing up the ball every time, initiating the offense. You have other guys that could do it. And then when he makes the play, he kicks it. It's not just to a spot up shooter. They're going to have to close out, guard the shot and guard the drive. And I think that's where they got better. They closed the gap to the Warriors, but didn't put them over the top. And I got them coming out to East too. So you still think the Warriors will beat them? Yeah, I still think the Warriors. I just don't think that they have, they just won't have enough. I don't think they have enough three-point shooting still. You know what I mean? It comes to that. I don't think they have enough. They have some, you know, up into LeBron's, up and down. Clarkson is, you know, he's not, he's not a knock down. George Hill is not a knock down either. You know, the guys that you're thinking is going to be a knock down. They get hot, but they really knock down. Yeah, the same knock down is going to be Kyle Korover and, you know. Who they might have trouble having on the floor for the defensive purposes. The Warriors have talked about, you know, lack and sense of urgency. Steve Kerr said they're fried, you know, going into the all-star break. Is that just the regular season doesn't mean that much to them? Because they pretty much know they're going to the finals or that's the only goal for them? Or what, you have any concerns about them because of that? No, you know, January, February, those are the dog days of the NBA. So you're not going to get, you're going to get some of the worst play out of really good teams during that stretch. A lot of times people are just trying to get to the all-star break so they can press the reset button. And I think that's what the Warriors needed to do. If you've been around the team, this is going on. They're trying to go to four straight finals. Think about all the time they spend with each other. If you spend time like that with your own brother, you're going to end up arguing. You know, it's just not going to be the same. You know, you're not, you're going to tune out that your parents voice because you're like tired of hearing it. So they needed that break because you think when they go to the finals, they win it or lose it. Then they have like two months off, two, three months off, actually like two months. And a lot of them go overseas and do all this. It's constant basketball. They never have an opportunity to just take a deep breath, relax, think about just family. They're selfful a little bit and then get back to basketball. It's like non-stop basketball and it could be overload. But they understand that with these last 24 games, what they're going to try to do is just get their defense back on track and then start playing for each other again. Because I think that's the one thing that that they lack this year is not being as good of a defensive team as they've been. And they've been turning the ball over a lot. Now you play for Mike Dantonie and a lot of people when they look at the Rockets record and how would they're playing, they say, but Dantonie don't get it done in the playoffs and all that. What's your take on that? You think he's matured or grown enough where that won't be the reason they lose if they lose? Well, that remains to be seen. It's just like last year when, you know, they lost in the playoffs and James Harden, it's like his usage rate, they was just using him too much. He wore down, he got tired. They talk about Chris Paul, you know, he can never, excuse me, he can never get it done. It's like in the playoffs, he don't show up. Dantonie, so you have these three pieces that seem like always fall short in the playoffs. At some point, they can get over the hump. So I'm not going to just discount them and be like, yeah, no, they can't get there. They've improved defensively. You know, they're efficient as hell on offense. And if they continue to do that, they definitely can give the run. I don't think the way, I don't think the lights are too bright. You know what I mean? They can't be too bright. They're too good. You know what I mean? Now you're playing for Dantonie. I mean, what was it like defensively? Because you were in Phoenix. Because I heard, man, y'all didn't hardly even talk about defense. No, we spent like five minutes. How different is that from every other like good team you're on? Well, night and day, you know, most of our clips when you're on good teams, you take your defensive breakdowns first. You're watching all of your defensive mistakes, and you're breaking that down. And that's going to take more time than your offensive clips. Offensive clips is more about spacing, movement, moving the ball, seeing what you're supposed to be seeing. As defense is like, okay, your job is this, you need to make sure that we can't, if we do it this way, this will have to happen. You cannot allow to get split. If we're going to blitz the pick and roll, big man, you can't get split. You know what I mean? It's like those type of things. But when I was in Phoenix, we spent, Mark Ivoroni was our defensive coach, and we would spend minimal time, Jimmy Jackson to tell you that, minimal time on defense and all time on offense. But I don't think that we also had those type of defensive players. We had offensive players, guys that just was going out there scoring, you know, we didn't have any lockdown. Roger Bell probably was the only lockdown defender that we had on the squad. Do you think though, if y'all had emphasized that y'all could have been better on defense? Yeah, of course. We're pros, you know, if we were, it wasn't a point of emphasis day in and day out. The point of emphasis was, we got to get these points up. We're going to outscore everybody. So that was more of the mindset of our team was, we're coming in, we're going to outscore, we're going to get it up as fast as we can. We're going to get up more shots and that's that. That must have felt like heaven. Oh man, what? That's the reason why I went there. So I had the opportunity to go either there or Miami. Pat Riley was like, yeah man, I want you to kind of know, you was here three years. I see you mature, you got a lot better. I want you to come back. And I told him, it's between y'all and Phoenix right now. He's like, you should come here. I said, I think I'm going to go to Phoenix though. He's like, you're making a mistake. They won the championship that year. Oh, I think you told me that before. Yeah, they won the championship that year. But yeah, that's the reason why I went. It was just like free flowing. As long as you take your shot that you work on, he doesn't care. So what would you prefer? The Pat Riley style of, I mean, I know y'all's working your tails off when you play for him versus the Mike Dantonie system where it's just a ton of fun. Can we get a mix of both? Honestly, I prefer, this is not the winning. Yeah, you're almost taking winning out. Yeah, just take winning out. I would prefer Dantonie, a little looser, more fun. You're able to, you're not getting ran into the ground practice. You know what I mean? So I will prefer that style as far as that approach. But if we're talking about flat out, just trying to win things and get things done and pay attention to detail, you have to go with Pat Riley. Disposed to work y'all like that, to work y'all as hard as Pat Riley? No, not as hard. That's one thing he learned. He was different. Very similar in a lot of things. A lot of ways that Pat approached the game and approached his team, Spoe does the same thing, except the fact that he kind of has a pulse of his team and understands, hey man, sometimes I got to take my foot off the gas a little bit, let them get a break, not go so hard, maybe have a longer film session, a shorter practice, not tape, just like walkthrough type stuff. So that's the one thing that he learned and that's what you have to do. You've got to evolve. What was something when you were in Miami, what's something about LeBron that we wouldn't know? Like just as a teammate you might know, but the average person wouldn't know, average fan? What would? The average fan would know that he is like a big kid. You know what I'm saying? He just wants to laugh, have fun, play serious business on the court, but away from the court and the locker room, some of the things he was doing at locker room, man, it would be pretty funny. So he's like a big kid, just having fun and you can see he loves the game. He loves being around his teammates and stuff like that. That's probably one thing that nobody would really know. They just see the LeBron interview and him on the court, but he could be a big Google ball that time. I was one of the first, the first I heard say this and I think people have picked it up, but I don't know if I'm the first to think it. I feel like LeBron is kind of a system unto himself, like the way most of the teams he's on play the same way where it's kind of focused around him creating for everybody. Did you feel that way and how tough is it to adjust to playing with him versus playing in other places? Easy to adjust. He's playing with the greatest player on the planet at that time and right now who is a willing passer, who's looking for you, who wants you to get off because he knows it, help him get off, very easy to adjust. And to your point about him being a system and that's what, if you get him, you're going to have to tweak some things and you got to make it about him and build around that. So that's why it seems like wherever he went, it was like he's his own system because you got to build around that. Yeah. Adam Silver's talked about changing the format to the, I mean, somewhat to the best eight teams in each conference still, but you know, they would play. Yeah. Personally, I feel like you should even out the schedule so the West and the East are playing roughly the same schedule because it's still not fair. Because Western teams are playing a better, tougher schedule. So if you even out the schedule and then go one through 16, just best records, that's how I think, but what's your take on playoff formats? To me, it sounds good in theory, the one through 16, but what if you get a team Sacramento that makes the playoffs and has to play Boston or something or Miami or anything like that or Portland going down from the top to the bottom, you know what I mean? Like the travel, I think that's where the problem is. Would that be a big deal? I mean, y'all travel all the time. Yeah, but it's not like that though. You know what I mean? It's not like across country, you know what I'm saying? In a series because it's going, yeah, you know what I'm saying? So there'll be, there'll be a lot of travel right there. Yeah. So you just like, like, and plus there's no days off. Well, you get like back to back, then you get a day off. No, no back to backs though in the playoffs. Oh, yeah. You usually get at least one day, but maybe two, sometimes you get two, they kind of spread it out, but, you know, it'd be, it'd be interesting. It would be interesting, but I just that travel I think could bother. All right. Let me, let me hit you with some rapid fire before you go. Best teammate you ever had. Rashid Wallace. Really? Why? He just, man, if you ask anybody that played with, it's just who, who, who Rashid is, what he stands for. He's, he does little small things, man, little things that, you know, for example, he took us to the World Series, the whole team. We and Philly, they're playing the Yankees and he rents out a suite and has all of us at the World Series. I've never been to a World Series before in my life. First time I ever went with him, you know, he little things like that, like, but just on the court stuff too, talking to him, being a mentor to not only the younger guys, but chopping it up with, you know what I mean, with vets as well, about just experiences and just life experiences and stuff like that. Just man, just a good brother. Shout out to she. Now he, you know, I dealt with him in the media and we never had any run-ins or anything, but he wasn't one to talk to the media very much, you know. Why do you think that was? Well, it just, that was him. Because he's really intelligent and he had a lot of good things to say, but he just didn't want to go. Because sometimes you get what you say can get misconstrued, you know what I mean? And I could say something that you can interpret it totally different from what I really meant. Go out there and write something and so I think he just avoided that. Okay, okay. Best Kevin Garnett story? I think one of the best, because it's a bunch of them, but one of the best was when we were at Ruth's Chris, man, and we was arm wrestling and just the whole team. We was in the back. I don't know how it came up, but we just started, we just started going and next thing you know was him and big baby. So I'll go against Patrick, uh, Patrick O'Brien, right? And I'm like, I'm like, oh, I think I'm toast something up. So I mess, yes. So I messed my elbow up. So Kevin goes against big baby and he like, boom, they go, he's just standing there like, and then he just KG. So he beat big baby. I'm the alpha male. I'm the alpha dog in this. And so that was, that was one of the best stories. He took his shirt off and all tight. He was, it was juiced in there, man. So that was, uh, wow, that was the championship him and big baby. No, they was, we was just, y'all was just doing whatever. Just doing whoever. So he, I would never have thought he needed big baby. We all thought big baby was going to get him, but that's why he took his shirt off of him was hollering. I mean, we're in Ruth Chris in the back. We got the back room. And I mean, as other people in there, I mean, he's screaming at the top of his lungs though. It was dope. It was dope. So, so, um, he was deceptively strong, obviously, I guess. Did you ever feel like, I mean, obviously you didn't guard him, but you could feel it. Or you could see him when he in the weight room, when he getting down, you could, yeah, he was like one of those wiry strong cats. You know what I mean? Wow. Okay. Okay. Uh, will Ray Allen and the 08 Celtics ever truly make up? I hope they do. I hope they do because, you know, it is, I've seen it from both, from both perspectives. And, you know, it's not that serious. You know what I mean? You know, it's not that serious. It's something that could be talked out. It's not like somebody, you know, cheated with somebody's wife. You know what I'm saying? It's not that serious. You know, it was just, it's just a miscommunication, misunderstanding, misinterpretation and all, all those things combined and hopefully they can. Well, you know, it was the talk about Rhonda was getting everybody together for Rome or something. Did that, that ever happen? No, that never came to fruition. I think they're trying to do something again this year. It's hard to try to get guys together though. You know how hard that is. But yeah, I hope they will be able to do it. But again, you know, guys feel their way and their head strong. And I think that's where we're at right now. Everybody's just like, Hey, nah, I'm standing on mine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Best Kobe Bryant story from the 2008 NBA finals. Well, I was in the, on the left wing in the corner. This was a, it was just game. I think this might have been the game after we came back. This game was a five game five, I believe. And I shot a shot and he, I mean, he was so high, but I don't know how I got it off. And it got off and I hit him. He was, he came back to him. He's like, no, next time I'm gonna throw that ****. I'm like, I'm sure through it. Then he was like, man, you see, I have my whole armpit over the thing. I could have just did like that. I said, well, you didn't, you know what I mean? So that was my best one. Got David Beckham was in the background of that shot. I got that picture at home. Oh, really? Okay. Okay. Now you got MJ over Jordan, right? MJ over Jordan. But I mean, MJ over LeBron. Yeah, for sure. Best one. What about Steve Nash stories? Man, Steve, Steve is so cold. Like he's so unorthodox. I've never seen a player like this. You know, Kyrie kind of implements some of that type of game. You know, like jumping off the wrong foot, fading left hand. I mean, Steve had it. Steve had it all. It all come from him playing soccer. His footwork is, is crazy. Man, he has some of the best feet that I've been around. You know what I mean? He's not the fastest. He's not the strongest. You know what I mean? He's not the quickest. Doesn't he has an impeccable handle though, and his shot is cool, but he could see the floor. He was a great leader. Eddie House always great to have you in the zone, man. I appreciate it. It's all good, man. Like that's that hoodie too. You need to hook a brother up with one. All right. Did you see that? Did you saw all eyes on me? I'm sure. What did you think? Well, I'm a big Pac fan. So it was almost an opportunity to see him again. You know what I mean? The dude looked dead on his mannerism when he was rapping. I ain't never seen nobody rap like that in a booth. You know that hype. I was like, is that Pac for real? But it was, it wasn't great. I mean, but you gotta think like, how long could the story really been? He was only, he hit the scene what like 92 and was dead in 96. So what could you really draw from? Yeah, a lot of, I've talked to some people that just felt they were huge Pac fans and they, they didn't like it, but I thought it showed him in a little different light. Like it's, I mean, I mean, people may have known he had been, he was in the Shakespeare and you know, how intelligent he was and stuff. I felt some of these cast just, they just wanted to see the thug. You know what I'm saying? Look what the work ethic, how he was like signed with death row was like, okay, I got to do three albums. He knocked them out like that. All right, my man. All right, cool. Yep. Have a good one.