Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Stephen A. Smith Full Interview

Transcript

Stephen A. Smith Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: My next guest is on the phone on a daily
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Speaker 1: basis about business and life and sports. He is the man.
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Speaker 1: USA Today called him the most powerful talent in the
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Speaker 1: sports business just a year ago, and he followed it
2:15
Speaker 1: up with his best year as a professional. He has
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Speaker 1: reshaped sports talk and it's the most socially engaged talent,
2:22
Speaker 1: sports media talent and social media today. It really is incredible.
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Speaker 1: He is the face of ESPN. He is the man.
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Speaker 1: Please work on the money making conversation, my man, stephen
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Speaker 1: A Smith. What's going on, mane. I'm doing really good,
2:37
Speaker 1: Steven there, you know, uh, you know, I know. He
2:40
Speaker 1: just finished a couple of hours on first take, so
2:42
Speaker 1: the energy is up there, you know every day you
2:44
Speaker 1: let me tell you so, stephen A going into the show,
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Speaker 1: because you're pretty laid back guy. You're not You're not
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Speaker 1: the guy we see on TV for two hours. Correct, No,
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Speaker 1: not for not the guy you see on you know
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Speaker 1: for two hours. I know how to wind down and
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Speaker 1: relax and be a little mellow taste myself and conserve
3:01
Speaker 1: my energy for one. It's time. I'm very big on that,
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Speaker 1: and it's really important because of the fact that you
3:06
Speaker 1: have so much to say, but sometimes it's all about
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Speaker 1: sports and you know, and you know, I also have
3:11
Speaker 1: conversations about, Hey man, I want to tell a different
3:14
Speaker 1: story about my life. And so there's rumors there's a
3:17
Speaker 1: book in the making. And why do you feel it's
3:19
Speaker 1: important that you write a book. Well, I think there's
3:22
Speaker 1: a lot of people that you know, talk about me,
3:24
Speaker 1: and they have a lot of things to say. But
3:27
Speaker 1: there are a lot of things that I don't talk
3:28
Speaker 1: about on television or radio. There's a lot of things
3:31
Speaker 1: that I don't get into particularly as extensively as I
3:35
Speaker 1: would get into it, uh, and as it paints to
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Speaker 1: a book. So you know, people have been on me.
3:41
Speaker 1: You're one of those people that have been all over
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Speaker 1: me about writing a book for years and years and years,
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Speaker 1: and so I finally, you know, during you know, once
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Speaker 1: this coronavirus UH kicked in and obviously the sports world
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Speaker 1: and the world overall has been brought to a halt
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Speaker 1: um to give me an opportunity to reflect and where
4:02
Speaker 1: where's a lot of people are going through some hard times.
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Speaker 1: All of us are to some degree an incredible adjustment
4:07
Speaker 1: that we all have to make it. I also look
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Speaker 1: for opportunities when they present themselves, and the opportunity to
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Speaker 1: sit down to hunker down and to be a bit introspective,
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Speaker 1: uh and and really really get into what I want
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Speaker 1: to say, why I want to say things that I
4:24
Speaker 1: want to say, and how I want to go about
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Speaker 1: saying this. This, this coronavirus situation has afforded me the
4:32
Speaker 1: opportunity to be more introspective than I've ever been. And
4:36
Speaker 1: as a result, instead of thinking about the hustle and
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Speaker 1: bustle that exists in the real world, it allowed me
4:41
Speaker 1: to step back, be a bit introverted and come out,
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Speaker 1: you know, swinging run It's time right, you know, you're
4:48
Speaker 1: you know, really the thing that I always enjoyed when
4:50
Speaker 1: I talk to you is about giving. And you understand
4:54
Speaker 1: the role of the employer and the employee, and you
4:57
Speaker 1: always promote employees giving one cent to the employ explained
5:00
Speaker 1: to us exactly what you mean by that. Well, if
5:04
Speaker 1: you're working for somebody else, you're not winning unless your
5:08
Speaker 1: employer wins. And I understand, and I've learned to understand
5:12
Speaker 1: that the hard way through trials and tribulations that I've
5:14
Speaker 1: endured in my career. You're not winning if your employer
5:18
Speaker 1: is losing. You must first ensure their success and then
5:23
Speaker 1: master how to reach the benefits from it. That's really
5:26
Speaker 1: it's really a two pronged agenda that you should have.
5:30
Speaker 1: You shouldn't be about the business of getting yours without
5:33
Speaker 1: getting these because that's not winners due. And you shouldn't
5:36
Speaker 1: be about the business of ensuring that they get the
5:38
Speaker 1: is but ignoring yourself, because that's not when what winners
5:41
Speaker 1: do either. It's the collaborate. It's the collaboration of vote, ideas, agendas,
5:47
Speaker 1: et cetera coming together that breeds true success. And even
5:51
Speaker 1: if you became an entrepreneur, it's like thinking about your
5:54
Speaker 1: bottom line without thinking about the consumer that you're looking
5:57
Speaker 1: to patronize your product. That doesn't make any sense. You
6:00
Speaker 1: can't possibly win as an entrepreneur if you're not giving
6:04
Speaker 1: the consumer what they covered, because in the end, you're
6:07
Speaker 1: not gonna have any kind of sustained success because you
6:11
Speaker 1: paid attention to your needs instead of paying attention to
6:14
Speaker 1: the needs of others. And when you learn to pay
6:16
Speaker 1: attention to the needs of others, that ultimately it briefed
6:20
Speaker 1: success because again you thought about something not instead of yourself,
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Speaker 1: but something that extends beyond yourself, thereby ensuring the success
6:29
Speaker 1: of a multitude of people as opposed to you. So
6:32
Speaker 1: if the ultimately hit a pitfall, a whole bunch of
6:36
Speaker 1: folks that you initiated successful that you've benefited, not that
6:41
Speaker 1: you just benefited Trump, but you made sure they've benefited
6:44
Speaker 1: from you. You have them incentivized to uplift you and
6:47
Speaker 1: to not keep you lying down. That means that basically,
6:51
Speaker 1: even in because we always think about it, you know,
6:54
Speaker 1: from an employee in forty hours week, I go do
6:56
Speaker 1: my time, and you're saying, hey, do your time. If
6:59
Speaker 1: you do mourning your and then the benefits of the employer,
7:02
Speaker 1: of which means that that company can just sustain yourself longer,
7:05
Speaker 1: which means that may be raises, maybe promotions available, but
7:08
Speaker 1: if you're on, if you're on giving fifties, then who
7:11
Speaker 1: is that benefit. It's not gonna benefit you. That's basically,
7:15
Speaker 1: and that's one of the important reasons why I always
7:17
Speaker 1: promote a career instead of a job, because the job
7:20
Speaker 1: is doing what you have to do to sustain or
7:22
Speaker 1: elevate your quality of life. But the career is doing
7:24
Speaker 1: what you want to do, and it just so happens
7:26
Speaker 1: to do those things as well. And the reason why
7:29
Speaker 1: the career is important is because the job is when
7:31
Speaker 1: you punch in the clock, you're looking at how much
7:34
Speaker 1: time you have to dedicate to this particular task at hand,
7:38
Speaker 1: and the days are longer and the hours are longer,
7:40
Speaker 1: and just to plight of your responsibilities are far more
7:44
Speaker 1: arduous and cumbersome. As a result of that, you can't
7:48
Speaker 1: possibly be given a full fledged effort because you're operating
7:52
Speaker 1: devoid of enthusiasm. But when you're doing the things that
7:55
Speaker 1: you want to do, you're not paying as much attention
7:58
Speaker 1: to the clock the time of the commitment that is
8:01
Speaker 1: required because you're enjoying what you're doing, and therefore it
8:05
Speaker 1: becomes almost effortless. And as a result, you're not thinking
8:08
Speaker 1: about the eight hours or the nine hours that you
8:10
Speaker 1: have to put in there. Sometimes you might put in
8:13
Speaker 1: sixty seventy hours a week without even scratching, without even
8:17
Speaker 1: batting an eye, because you're doing something that you're enjoying.
8:20
Speaker 1: When I find people, you know, people can sit up
8:24
Speaker 1: there and say, Okay, he's got some success, and you
8:26
Speaker 1: know he's earned a little cash now and all of
8:28
Speaker 1: this other stuff. But I swear to you, a shawan
8:31
Speaker 1: the number one thing that has people envious or jealous
8:34
Speaker 1: of me in my career. That I haven't counted is
8:37
Speaker 1: that they know I enjoy my work. They can't say
8:41
Speaker 1: the same in a lot of situations about themselves. It's
8:44
Speaker 1: not the success I read. It's the fact that when
8:47
Speaker 1: I've got to bust my tail and work hours upon
8:50
Speaker 1: hours a day, it doesn't seem to phase me. The
8:54
Speaker 1: sacrifices that I have to make, it doesn't seem to
8:57
Speaker 1: phase me. It's not that it's literally true if certain
9:00
Speaker 1: things will face you that time. I mean, you can
9:03
Speaker 1: get time, you can get sleepy, you might be sick,
9:05
Speaker 1: whatever the case may be. But overall, buying large, I'm
9:09
Speaker 1: living a good life. It's not because of the money
9:12
Speaker 1: I make. It's because of the enjoyment that I get
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Speaker 1: from earning my money first, and then obviously the money
9:19
Speaker 1: comes after. It really amazingly that you know, when I
9:22
Speaker 1: when I look at your brand, you know, and I've
9:24
Speaker 1: watched you, we loaned you a long time and uh
9:28
Speaker 1: when we've been both part of personal ups and downs
9:30
Speaker 1: and each other's career and it supported each other in
9:33
Speaker 1: both instances. So what makes you so popular now? Stephen A?
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Speaker 1: What you know? You know? What? What? What? What? What?
9:44
Speaker 1: What made it pop? You know what made you explosive?
9:47
Speaker 1: And you know you drop a video goes viral on Twitter.
9:51
Speaker 1: You know your your likes and your followers explode on
9:54
Speaker 1: Instagram because because in the Instagram accounde. You just started
9:57
Speaker 1: Instagram account like two years ago, right, it wasn't that long. Well, well,
10:04
Speaker 1: first of all, you would know because you're the one
10:05
Speaker 1: that convinced me to start it. That's number one. Uh.
10:08
Speaker 1: Number two, you would know a lot about my career
10:10
Speaker 1: because you were there to help me when I was
10:13
Speaker 1: down and out, which is why I brought you on
10:15
Speaker 1: as my business manager, because you're somebody I can trust.
10:18
Speaker 1: Number three, Um to answer the question directly. I think
10:22
Speaker 1: people know I'm not a book artist, that I mean
10:25
Speaker 1: what I say, and I say what I mean and
10:27
Speaker 1: they know it, and and and and as a result,
10:30
Speaker 1: I'm trustworthy. It doesn't mean that I'm gonna be right
10:34
Speaker 1: of the time, a devoid of making mistakes or anything
10:37
Speaker 1: like that. It means that people know I don't lollygag.
10:42
Speaker 1: I put forth a full fledged effort. I strive to
10:46
Speaker 1: be great at whatever I choose to do. I'm relentless
10:50
Speaker 1: in my pursuit of it, and more importantly than anything else,
10:53
Speaker 1: whatever I perceive as my truth based on the information
10:59
Speaker 1: that I have a quiet people know and trust that
11:03
Speaker 1: I'm going to give it to them. I don't let
11:05
Speaker 1: them down in that regard. Even on the rare occasions
11:08
Speaker 1: when I've been wrong, people see me say I was wrong, period.
11:13
Speaker 1: There's no excuses. This is what it is. And so
11:16
Speaker 1: when you've been counter to somebody in this damn age
11:19
Speaker 1: full of b s, when you see people around here
11:21
Speaker 1: full of bs, you know, double talking, trying to take
11:25
Speaker 1: short cut short cuts and and and and basically implement
11:29
Speaker 1: a cliff notes version of things in their life, and
11:33
Speaker 1: then you encounter somebody whose resume and whose persona tells
11:38
Speaker 1: you I'm about anything but short cuts, and I'm gonna
11:42
Speaker 1: be as real and as authentic as I possibly can be.
11:45
Speaker 1: I think the number one ingredients to my success is
11:49
Speaker 1: that people trust me to be exactly who the hell
11:54
Speaker 1: I say I am, and they can appreciate that that
11:57
Speaker 1: is absolutely the truth I have. I've been there, you know, Stephen,
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Speaker 1: I was trying to do this interview man, like I
12:02
Speaker 1: don't really know yet, I'm trying I can get some
12:05
Speaker 1: questions out there. You know, you have to tell everybody
12:07
Speaker 1: about our little business together. Man, I'm just trying to
12:10
Speaker 1: keep you know what, I'm not gonna do what I'm
12:13
Speaker 1: not gonna do. And I've always and I've always been
12:16
Speaker 1: big about that. Listen, there are people. Do you realize
12:19
Speaker 1: there are people in my business radio and in television
12:23
Speaker 1: there are people who have, for example, radio shows and
12:27
Speaker 1: they have partners, but their name is on the radio
12:31
Speaker 1: show and not the partner. Stuff like that. I don't
12:34
Speaker 1: operate that way. I'm very, very very big on giving
12:39
Speaker 1: people credit who deserve credit. People are showers. Timular an
12:44
Speaker 1: interview with my colleague Dan Lebertar to ESPN just last week,
12:48
Speaker 1: and I was talking about folks that and and mel
12:51
Speaker 1: Khyper Jr. Was on the end with me the other
12:53
Speaker 1: day and I was talking about how he's forgotten more
12:55
Speaker 1: football than I know. Dan Lebertar was one of the
12:58
Speaker 1: people that spearhead the way for people like myself to
13:02
Speaker 1: further into this business. And they don't want to hear
13:05
Speaker 1: stuff like that because you know, they're humble dudes, very accomplished,
13:09
Speaker 1: but they're embarrassed to some degree by the praise I
13:13
Speaker 1: give it to them anyway, because I know I'm humble,
13:16
Speaker 1: and I want to make sure to remind people I
13:18
Speaker 1: didn't get here alone. And I'm not gonna stay here
13:21
Speaker 1: on top because I intend to be on top for
13:23
Speaker 1: a long time. I'm not gonna stay here alone. The
13:27
Speaker 1: people who helped me, I'm gonna carry right along with me,
13:30
Speaker 1: because that's how I wrote Cool. We'll be back with
13:33
Speaker 1: more of Stephen A. Smith and got some interesting conversation
13:37
Speaker 1: because him and not getting some arguments on a regular
13:39
Speaker 1: basis by sports TV everything because you think you know
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Speaker 1: as much as I know, and that's questionable at times.
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Speaker 1: Well I do know no more thing you go about sports,
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Speaker 1: dot Ai. Hi does ra Sean McDonald and you're listening
15:55
Speaker 1: to money making conversations? Steven A. Smith is my guest,
15:58
Speaker 1: Um steven E, when do we show you? Take it?
16:02
Speaker 1: A couple of weeks ago, you appeared on and at
16:04
Speaker 1: the end of the show, I'm sure it caught your God,
16:07
Speaker 1: she started crying when you complimented your son. You know,
16:12
Speaker 1: did that catch you off? What? What was your reaction
16:14
Speaker 1: to that? I'm sure it was a good reaction, but
16:16
Speaker 1: it was it caught me off, It cut me off guard.
16:19
Speaker 1: I really really appreciated, Um. I really appreciated what I
16:24
Speaker 1: considered to be a very authentic reaction on her part,
16:27
Speaker 1: because regardless of what she's going through in her life
16:30
Speaker 1: or what she's going through in her life at particular moment,
16:33
Speaker 1: in particular moments, first of all, she is a great
16:35
Speaker 1: talent um and number two, she has always pledged and
16:40
Speaker 1: has displayed in undying devotion to her son. I know
16:44
Speaker 1: her son is a fan of mine, that he's a
16:47
Speaker 1: sports fan, um and and he's already a couple of
16:50
Speaker 1: times I met him once or twice. He was incredibly
16:53
Speaker 1: kind and plus he's a young kid on the come
16:55
Speaker 1: up that has a promise in life ahead of him
16:58
Speaker 1: because of the life's his mama has provided for him.
17:01
Speaker 1: And so I just wanted to pay you know, she
17:03
Speaker 1: was kind enough to have me on her show, and
17:05
Speaker 1: I wanted to take the opportunity to pay tribute to
17:08
Speaker 1: her um as a mom by just showing her son
17:12
Speaker 1: some love. Because if you know anything about mama's it's
17:16
Speaker 1: very very important to them that their children received some love.
17:19
Speaker 1: And so he deserves it. Um, he deserves it, and
17:22
Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure that I gave it to him.
17:24
Speaker 1: But I did not expect that reaction, but I did
17:27
Speaker 1: consider it very authentic on her part and very very real.
17:30
Speaker 1: And I was honored that she had me on her show,
17:33
Speaker 1: um And I was honored that she was touched by,
17:35
Speaker 1: you know, my cond words towards her son. Because Wendy
17:39
Speaker 1: Williams is a person that can't create controversial about type
17:42
Speaker 1: of question to ask, and and this interview was was
17:47
Speaker 1: a powerful interview from the standpoint of you allowed to
17:49
Speaker 1: be stephen A and she was allowed to be windy,
17:51
Speaker 1: and it came across as an authentic interview that what
17:54
Speaker 1: you always talk about maintaining well, I will say this,
17:58
Speaker 1: and i'll say this, this don her reputation and I
18:01
Speaker 1: get all of that. But you know, there's nothing wrong
18:04
Speaker 1: with saying no comment. There's nothing wrong with saying I'm
18:08
Speaker 1: not going there and if necessary, none of your business.
18:11
Speaker 1: And so she she didn't take me to that point,
18:14
Speaker 1: but as she took me to that point, I'm perfectly
18:17
Speaker 1: capable of saying I'm not broaching certain subjects about my
18:21
Speaker 1: personal life or anything like that. I was glad that
18:24
Speaker 1: she didn't do it, But if she had done it,
18:26
Speaker 1: it would not have surprised me because that's part of
18:29
Speaker 1: her show. And and and in fairness to her, it's
18:32
Speaker 1: not like she's blind siding you with it. That's her show,
18:36
Speaker 1: that's who she is. And if and if you come
18:37
Speaker 1: on a show, you know, it's not like folks don't know.
18:40
Speaker 1: In a lot of times, hosts get discredited and maligned
18:45
Speaker 1: for being who they are. People knew exactly what they
18:49
Speaker 1: were walking into, chose to walk into it anyway, and
18:53
Speaker 1: didn't want to blame her. I'm not down with that
18:55
Speaker 1: at all. I knew what the interview was going to
18:57
Speaker 1: be about. She was very honest and forthcome think about
19:00
Speaker 1: what the subject matter was going to be. She stayed
19:03
Speaker 1: true to that, and I respect and I appreciate rather
19:06
Speaker 1: the level of respect that she showed me, and I'm
19:09
Speaker 1: thankful for it. Now let's get into a little basketball here.
19:12
Speaker 1: The Last Dances is out there and m a documentary,
19:17
Speaker 1: a documented series that wasn't now Shock. They had three
19:24
Speaker 1: straight championship with the Lakers rolling on the debate and
19:28
Speaker 1: you're saying that shocks Lakers. That's with Kobe yep I
19:32
Speaker 1: couldn't do anything with the Bulls name and now with
19:37
Speaker 1: the now, with the Bulls in their prime, nowhere on earth,
19:40
Speaker 1: they would have got destroyed. Okay, cool, Let's let's just
19:42
Speaker 1: break that down. So you had Shack. Who's gonna hold Shack? Well,
19:46
Speaker 1: first of all, nobody's gonna hold Shock, but Shock was
19:48
Speaker 1: gonna hold himself at the free throw line because he
19:50
Speaker 1: was shooting about so free throws alone. Well, one thing.
19:54
Speaker 1: You have to also take into account that Chicago had
19:57
Speaker 1: at least the three sometimes the fourheaded monster. Why does
20:00
Speaker 1: that matter with the big boys because they had two
20:04
Speaker 1: fouls to give, So in other words, you could have
20:06
Speaker 1: fouled Check all day long and he would just missed
20:09
Speaker 1: free throws. Kobe wasn't yet in his prime. He was
20:12
Speaker 1: a young, tremendous talent, but he hadn't really honed in
20:17
Speaker 1: his skill as a superb basketball player and the second
20:21
Speaker 1: greatest point off guard and it is to be a
20:23
Speaker 1: basketball until later on, not before that particular moment in time.
20:28
Speaker 1: Number four. Michael Jordan's was not only a prolific score
20:32
Speaker 1: averaging thirty a game and thirty three per game in
20:35
Speaker 1: the postseason. And not even remember Madgel, Jordan's averaged one
20:40
Speaker 1: point seven three point shots per game in his career.
20:44
Speaker 1: So he averaged over thirty a game shooting two pointers. Okay,
20:49
Speaker 1: in this era you don't see that. And then considering
20:53
Speaker 1: the road travel to prosperity, having a toughen yourself up
20:58
Speaker 1: to go through the likes of the or Pistons, if
21:01
Speaker 1: you recall, if you recall Shaquille O'Neil got swept in
21:04
Speaker 1: the finals, by her chem a dream, the Lodger one
21:07
Speaker 1: and the Houston Rockets. Your Houston Rockets, Kenney Smith, Robert Dory,
21:11
Speaker 1: Maxwell Sam could sell a large one these boards. It
21:14
Speaker 1: wasn't on Chicago's level. Let's be clear about that, Okay.
21:17
Speaker 1: So when we look at it from that perspective and
21:20
Speaker 1: Jordan and Pippot's ability to defend, along with the other
21:25
Speaker 1: guys that just played their roles, the Lakers would not
21:28
Speaker 1: have won more than one game in the series against them.
21:31
Speaker 1: It would have been similar, very similar to what the
21:34
Speaker 1: Detroit Pistons did to Shaq and Kobe and the Lakers
21:39
Speaker 1: in two thousand and four. Well, then let's go to
21:42
Speaker 1: the early years of magic Byron Scott, Michael Cooper. Kareem
21:48
Speaker 1: I fueled your ball team. That would have been that
21:53
Speaker 1: would have been a far more tougher matchup because of Kareem,
21:56
Speaker 1: because there was no answer for Kareine. You wasn't gonna
21:59
Speaker 1: send Karee to the free throw line. He was gonna
22:01
Speaker 1: miss it the per cent of the time. He's the
22:03
Speaker 1: lone individual to all tom leading scorer in NBA history
22:06
Speaker 1: and the only person in the history of basketball was
22:09
Speaker 1: one unstoppable move which was Scott Hook. There was no
22:13
Speaker 1: answer for that. That would have been problematic. Here's what
22:16
Speaker 1: I can tell you. That fast break that you saw
22:19
Speaker 1: for the Los Angeles Lakers that would not have happened
22:21
Speaker 1: against That would not have happened against the Bulls because
22:24
Speaker 1: Scottie Pippen. Remember that even though Magic was younger and
22:28
Speaker 1: it wasn't and nine. The key to that series after
22:32
Speaker 1: Chicago and Laws gain one to the Lakers was that
22:35
Speaker 1: Scottie Pippen picked up on Magic four feet. No one
22:39
Speaker 1: did that to Magic, And if you recall, part of
22:42
Speaker 1: Magic's greatness was that Magic was six nine, so he
22:46
Speaker 1: could look over opposing point guards to run an offense
22:50
Speaker 1: and to make those phenomenal passes that he made. With
22:54
Speaker 1: Pippen in front of his seat, he would not have
22:56
Speaker 1: been able to do that. And that's where you're problem
23:00
Speaker 1: a lot. So I would tell you that the Lakers
23:03
Speaker 1: would have given them more trouble with Worthy, Kareem Magic, Cooper,
23:08
Speaker 1: Byron Scott in those boys, they would have gave it them.
23:12
Speaker 1: They would have gave them more trouble. But I would
23:15
Speaker 1: not bet against Jordan's because Jordan's and Tipping's defense was
23:20
Speaker 1: so phenomenal, it would have been a problem. Cool and
23:23
Speaker 1: that's that's that's really great now when we look at
23:25
Speaker 1: the show first take, you know, it was a groundbreaking
23:27
Speaker 1: show when it first came out, and now it seems
23:30
Speaker 1: to be emulated everywhere on ESPN, on Fox Sports. When
23:36
Speaker 1: Skip Bayliss left the show, what were your thoughts when
23:40
Speaker 1: you left the show and what are your thoughts now
23:43
Speaker 1: being how big the show has grown and your brain
23:46
Speaker 1: is grown and really become a phenomenal talent that you
23:48
Speaker 1: are today. I was I have mixed emotions. Um, I
23:53
Speaker 1: was not worried about skips affecting me and what I
23:57
Speaker 1: do want to air because I don't predicate my abilities
24:00
Speaker 1: on my success on what other people are doing. I'm
24:03
Speaker 1: always prepared to carry my own load. But I had
24:06
Speaker 1: mixed emotions because on one hand, I knew the show
24:10
Speaker 1: would be on my shoulders. I would be captain of
24:12
Speaker 1: the ship. The profile would be primarily, if not exclusively,
24:16
Speaker 1: on my shoulders, and that would elevate my profile, but
24:20
Speaker 1: also elevate the level of scrutiny that came in my direction,
24:23
Speaker 1: which was fine. The flip side to it is that
24:25
Speaker 1: I was genuinely going to miss my man, uh Skip Baylors.
24:29
Speaker 1: I would not have been on First Stake if it
24:31
Speaker 1: were not for Skip Baylis. Skip Baylors asked me to
24:34
Speaker 1: do the show. He they would never have put me
24:37
Speaker 1: on the show if Skip Baylor didn't insist that he
24:40
Speaker 1: wanted me on the show. Because at that time I
24:43
Speaker 1: had had a fallen out with ESPN over a contract dispute.
24:47
Speaker 1: I was going for a couple of years. When I
24:49
Speaker 1: came back. Initially they didn't even allow me to be
24:52
Speaker 1: on television the first year I was strictly I was
24:54
Speaker 1: restricted to radio. It was Skip Bayless that fought to
24:57
Speaker 1: have me on TV, and Jamie harr With the executive
25:01
Speaker 1: reducer of the show, ultimately co stigne on that and
25:04
Speaker 1: as a result the Hanchos that ESPN decided to capitulate
25:09
Speaker 1: to their wishes and bring me on the show. So
25:11
Speaker 1: I fold my presence offers take to Skip Baylors. But
25:16
Speaker 1: then also what people don't realize is that you could
25:19
Speaker 1: call it a foil or whatever the case may be.
25:23
Speaker 1: I'm a CounterPunch of one minute, I can punch the
25:25
Speaker 1: next or whatever the case may be. With Skip on
25:28
Speaker 1: the show. With me, I have the ability to swing
25:31
Speaker 1: for the fences because I got somebody that's in the
25:34
Speaker 1: trenches with me that does not care about what anyone
25:38
Speaker 1: has to say if he believes what he truly believes.
25:41
Speaker 1: And that's exactly how I think. There was no such
25:44
Speaker 1: thing not show the show, not week to week, a
25:46
Speaker 1: month and month, literally segment to segments. I could be
25:50
Speaker 1: the bad guy one segment, he was the bad guy another.
25:52
Speaker 1: When the show ended, we were equally loved and equally hated,
25:57
Speaker 1: and we were in it together. Max Kellerman as a tremendous,
26:00
Speaker 1: tremendous talent. He slarters a whip, highly educated, Ivy League
26:05
Speaker 1: school education, the whole bit, does his homework, works, knows
26:10
Speaker 1: what he's talking about, and I like him genuinely as
26:13
Speaker 1: a person. The only issue I have with Max is
26:17
Speaker 1: that for the purpose of the first take is that
26:21
Speaker 1: where skipping. I don't give a damn about what anybody
26:24
Speaker 1: has to say. Max, kid is tremendously about what people
26:28
Speaker 1: have to say. If you don't vibe with me and
26:31
Speaker 1: you don't have the same opinion as I have, or
26:33
Speaker 1: skip as we could give less than a dam If
26:37
Speaker 1: you don't agree with Max. Max is like, how can
26:39
Speaker 1: you not agree with me and feels this insatiable appetite
26:43
Speaker 1: to explain to you why he's right, thinking that he
26:48
Speaker 1: can convince you, Skipping, I don't care to convince you.
26:52
Speaker 1: I think that makes for an ideal mix. It's not
26:54
Speaker 1: better or worse or anything, but it's an ideal mix
26:58
Speaker 1: that I don't believe can be duplicated. And that's why
27:02
Speaker 1: he will always be my brother. We will always be
27:05
Speaker 1: tight because I would not be where I am today,
27:10
Speaker 1: um if it were not for first take, and there
27:13
Speaker 1: would have been no first take for me if Skip.
27:16
Speaker 1: Remember he didn't sign off on it. He pushed for it.
27:20
Speaker 1: He insisted on it and asked me to do it.
27:23
Speaker 1: I didn't want to do it, he asked me to
27:26
Speaker 1: do it. First take is Stephen A. Smith. It's all
27:29
Speaker 1: about Skip Baker's congratulations. Uh Stephen. A Game of Thrones
27:35
Speaker 1: ended last year. It's a lot of controversy. Everybody hated
27:38
Speaker 1: the ending, and I didn't like the Indian either. So
27:41
Speaker 1: you can put me in everybody hated. You can put
27:43
Speaker 1: him in that click, put him in that click. Homeland.
27:47
Speaker 1: You know we're talking about this show. A lot of
27:49
Speaker 1: Clara Danes to start the show. Phenomenal phenomenal. Now they
27:54
Speaker 1: finally happened, and I'm gonna tell you this. It was
27:58
Speaker 1: a couple of times in the show that I almost
28:00
Speaker 1: turned it off because I was frustrated by the direction
28:03
Speaker 1: it was taking the lead character, Claire. But in the end,
28:07
Speaker 1: I thought it was a fantastic finally your thoughts, so
28:11
Speaker 1: did I. I thought the ending was phenomenal because you
28:15
Speaker 1: looked at what happened and her betrayed I, I know,
28:18
Speaker 1: without even asking you, when you wanted to change the channel,
28:21
Speaker 1: her willingness to, you know, do that to Saul, ultimately
28:26
Speaker 1: ultimately compromising him. You know, the thing about it is
28:30
Speaker 1: is this when you think about Saul and what he
28:33
Speaker 1: has done for her and what he has meant to her.
28:37
Speaker 1: For her to betray him that way, although it was
28:40
Speaker 1: to prevent a war and prevent millions of people from dying,
28:45
Speaker 1: you know, and in the same breath, it's still disgusted
28:48
Speaker 1: you that she would do that to him. But for
28:51
Speaker 1: it to end with Hus saying, with Hus sending him
28:54
Speaker 1: that note letting him know, I'm fine for you now
28:57
Speaker 1: I replaced your asset in Russia. I thought that was
29:00
Speaker 1: a phenomenal ending and then left room obviously for Homeland
29:04
Speaker 1: to come back the end, it's not the end after all.
29:08
Speaker 1: While you know something if that was like a brilliant
29:10
Speaker 1: writer move, you know, I was like, I didn't see
29:13
Speaker 1: that coming. Um, you know, it was like it was
29:17
Speaker 1: a couple of episodes when he said, when Saul said that,
29:19
Speaker 1: you know she's there, He's She's the most single minded
29:21
Speaker 1: person I've ever met in my life. And they carried
29:25
Speaker 1: that through the final episodes when she's on the mission
29:27
Speaker 1: the bigger picture, right, Do I have a minute to
29:31
Speaker 1: give you an analogy? Absolutely? The ending was so profound
29:36
Speaker 1: for me, not just because of that, but because of
29:39
Speaker 1: her sitting next to her boyfriend who was the Russian
29:41
Speaker 1: spot and smiling and laughing, but also the smirk that
29:45
Speaker 1: came over Saul states at the end, and what I
29:49
Speaker 1: compared that too. If you ever remember the movie The
29:52
Speaker 1: Kingdom with Jamie Fox and in the and it's a
29:56
Speaker 1: phenomenal movie, and Jamie Fox was phenomenal in it. He
30:00
Speaker 1: tells the former girl for Alias. He tells her they said,
30:06
Speaker 1: what did you say to her after her boyfriend had
30:08
Speaker 1: gotten killed early in the movie, Jamie Fox said, I said,
30:11
Speaker 1: We're gonna kill him all and a little boy and
30:14
Speaker 1: a little boy in the Middle East who watched his
30:17
Speaker 1: grandfather killed by Jamie Fox and them. His mother asked him,
30:21
Speaker 1: what did you say to your grand What did your
30:23
Speaker 1: grandfather say to you? And the grandfather he said, the
30:26
Speaker 1: grandfather said to me, we're gonna kill him, were we not?
30:29
Speaker 1: My son, We're gonna kill them all. And then it
30:33
Speaker 1: ends with the boy frowning and looking into the camera
30:37
Speaker 1: and looking mad and evil as hell, showing you that
30:41
Speaker 1: the conflict between us and the Middle East is not
30:46
Speaker 1: going anywhere in his faith said it all. That was
30:50
Speaker 1: what Homeland was like last night. It was powerful, it
30:53
Speaker 1: was it was a great Endian. It was a great
30:55
Speaker 1: like I said, you know me, man, I was I
30:57
Speaker 1: was looking at the show man. I was like, I
30:59
Speaker 1: was struggling and said, I cannot believe this, man, I
31:01
Speaker 1: can't it believe And I hugging as Steven hugging, and
31:04
Speaker 1: that went great, Indie, Great Indie. If your fan of
31:07
Speaker 1: the show is definitely something I'm gonna watch twice, maybe
31:09
Speaker 1: three times, because it's that that great, that great storytelling,
31:12
Speaker 1: you can't pass up. Steven A, thank you for coming
31:14
Speaker 1: on my show. Thank you for coming on my show
31:16
Speaker 1: we talked. If you want to hear more money Making
31:19
Speaker 1: Conversation interviews, go to Money Making Conversation dot com. I'm
31:23
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