The Bad Boys team.
You get this label as a Bad Boys team.
Y’all rough and tough and all that stuff.
But my history of the game, the game
I grew up loving, like all the players from like I'm talking about
y’all had 12 players and the personalities, the characters, the,
the game from everybody in NBA history has so many personalities.
Can you speak on some of the
the teammates you had and then
like the Joe Dumars, the Rodmans, the John Salleys, the Mahorns
like they’re a big personality in our league and you know we grew up on that
so the team that you had assembled to win them championships with.
Can you speak up on them?
I'm glad you say the team that we had because we
we identified and we represented ourselves as a team.
We came as one unit
with one thought to win the game,
not as individuals
trying to to be great within our team.
It truly was a team concept that allowed,
that allowed everyone to be known.
Right.
And you know, we used to say, let it be known and
everybody gets a chance
at a slice of the pie.
But if you’re an individual walking in, then you get all the glory.
- Yeah.
- So I am happier today
about the way people think about our team.
Because all the people that you just named, you know, those guys were,
you know, six man coming off the bench, you know,
Buddha, Vinnie,
Rodman, Salley, I mean, so so from a team standpoint,
how many, how many players
that played on a championship team
that still have the name notoriety that our team had.
- Top to bottom. - Top to bottom.
So that's that's how we marched and
that's how we played.
Now, it was a league that was moving towards individuality, and we resisted that.
- Yeah.
- What we stood for and what we still stand for today
in terms of team over individuals,
that has stood the test of time and is still, you know,
how can I say it is,
in my opinion, what the game should be about.
- I used to watch you do this
figure eight dribble between your legs,
and I used to do this every single day. The spider dribble.
All that stuff.
You’re one of the best dribblers in NBA history.
You know what I'm saying?
Like these these kids now that evolved into you,
what you used to do back in the day. Like who taught you
how to dribble the ball the way you do
and how you kept on perfecting and then getting even better?
- Sidebar, he still can do it right now.
We’d be at work, every once and again, like, we’d be out there on the court and he’d -
Somebody would be like, “What the f-”
I’d be like, “Yeah. Straight up.”
Right now. Still can do it.
- Again, I was so fortunate to-
So when you asked me who taught me how to dribble like that,
I learned that from Curly Neal and Marques Haynes.
Now, how did I miss Curly Neal and Marques Haynes?
When I was playing at the Martin Luther King Boys Club,
one of the, the coaches there who would come around
and advise our bitty basketball coach was John McLendon.
John McLendon is a former student and Naismith.
And he was also with Abe Saperstein
and Mrs. Saperstein of the Globetrotters,
who would come give clinics on the west side of Chicago.
And I remember Curly-
And so when you see me like
patten it real low and then I'll fall on the ground and get up and then go back.
All that come from Curly and Marcus in terms of how
they taught you how to dribble.
I’ll never forget my second game in the NBA after we beat Milwaukee.
I come to Chicago and Ricky Sobers and Reggie Theus are the guards.
And I came
down and you know, I went through my legs and Ricky Sobers grabbed me real hard.
He said, “Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, you're - ain’t.
Don’t be going through your legs and stuff on me.” You know, now he trying to punk me
because I ain’t say nothing, you know, he grabbed me hard, right?
“Don't be going.”
And so and so now I think John Long was on the foul line
and he said, “You know, I know you're young and everything
just getting in league.” And you know, he talking smack.
Yeah, I looked and I say,
“I just want you to know you live here in Chicago.
You see all the people sitting in them stands over there.
They're my boys.
Say something else to me.”
Oh, we was good
We was good then.
He was like “Ah, Isiah I didn’t mean nothing.” I say, “Okay, we good.”