Pretty good read

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/steve ... y-to-tell/

_________________

That was very interesting.

The first paragraphs reminded me of the time I was at a business lunch at one of the big downtown hotels and Reggie Theus was sitting at the next table with two young players one of whom was Mookie Blaylock. I don't remember who the third guy was.

Reggie was trying to school the younger guys in the ways of NBA life. He advised them to have a second phone line installed in their homes but to hide the jack behind a couch or other large piece of furniture. He told them not to plug a phone into that jack except when your main lady was out of the house. The number for the hidden phone was the number you give out to groupies and outside women.

The other thing I remember vividly was that they all ordered soup. When the soup came Reggie took his tie and flipped it over his shoulder. The other two guys followed suit.

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

Matt Abbatacola could’ve used a little Reggie Theus mentoring .

_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

That was pretty good.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Reggie Theus was dating two women who lived across the alley from each other when I was a kid. He would occasionally hoop with us, and laugh about the fact that we knew it, but the women didn't.

When he'd come rolling up in his yellow Benz, we'd come running. He probably spent way more time talking with us than anything. Great guy.

_________________
There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Reading that story reminds me of that era not just in basketball but life. The Drug epidemic in CHicago was similar. It ruined a lot of lives. A lot of my friends lives were ravaged by it. Some played sports others didn't. One of the guys on my old Phillips team was killed the day before our first day of school senior year. He had one foot in the street and one foot on the basketball court but overall he was a good guy. Wasn't a snake but got caught in some of the drug turf wars that were going on in Stateway Gardens Housing Project where he lived. His guys were into it with other guys that resided in the complex and they shot and killed him.

Those drug dealer games were for real back then. I played in a few of them. There would be thousands on the line at a time but guys were making so much money they didn't give a fuck. I remember we lost a game for $15,000 to some guys from the West Side and my guy who was the man back then on the dope side simply said "we probably need to start winning some games". I was a college student at the time and it would be surreal to come home after being away from that side of life for awhile. Like him all of my friends were hustling. If you didn't have a strong mind and some foundation it was easy to succumb to it also.

The money was real at the time but it still felt like that life wasn't. The murders began adding up and so did the court cases. Guys began crossing each other and eventually the money dried up. Many of the guys that I grew up with never really understood the value of education. To be honest I didn't either. It wasn't until my sophomore year in college that I began to really see it. I was home for the summer and one of the guys went in shoe and later the fence and pulled out aluminum foil with cocaine wrapped inside. He looked at me and said I wish that I was doing what you were doing instead of selling this shit. At that time it was pretty customary for low level and middle guys to pull between $3,000 and $5,000 on a good day. But what he was witnessing as a soon to be young adult was a life with a short span and little hope for the future.

_________________

I know this much... he had some fuckin' hops. I believe he lost a couple dunk contests solely because Vince Carter exists.

_________________

Definitely could bounce. I remember that draft well. The top four guys were him, Baron Davis, Lamar Odom and Elton Brand. I remember calling Bernstein's show (he was solo then) and the question was who would you take? I told him I'd take Baron Davis because I thought he'd be the better pro. Steve Francis was in that combo guard mode. Not really a one not really a 2 but he definitely was a talent. I thought Baron Davis had it all as a 1. Bounce handle and could run a team. Francis was like a phenom type coming out of Maryland though. I didn't want the Bulls to take Brand at all. Damn that was long time ago.

_________________

Really interesting story. I hope he got to smash Beyonce after that ESPN shoot.

_________________
"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Very talented class.

Rip Hamilton, Szerbiak, Andre Miller, Shawn Marion, Artest, Maggette, Kirilenko, and Ginobili in addition to the guys you listed.

_________________

Damn they were all in that class. That was an underrated draft class for sure. I think Jason Terry was in that class too


They kept showing that Baron Davis dunk on AK47 the other night on TNT.

I remember that era of the Chicago nightlife scene too. The clubs here would be rocking because a lot of the,local NBA guys would fall through regularly. It was nothing to see those guys on the scene. Chicago guys as well as the Bulls players. It was a crazy time.

I just remember seeing Eddie Robinson out all the time and thinking about how much money he was stealing from the Bulls. Grand Larceny.

_________________

Good read. Knew nothing about his off court stuff other than his poor approach to a news conference. Would have been interesting to be around Hakeem on a daily basis.

Yep, Kenny Smith always has a bunch of great Hakeem stories on Open Court or Inside the NBA. I don't think anything ever fazed Olajuwon.

_________________

1. Shawn Marion was my favorite player to watch on those mid-2000 Suns teams. He could do a little bit of everything. Coolest NBA nickname ever: “The Matrix.” Glad he got a ring with Dirk. Should be in the Hall of Fame. He and Pippen’s numbers are eerily similar.

2. Jason Terry’s still cashing checks.