Month: February 2022

The last time NBA All-Star Weekend was in Cleveland, an 18-year-old rookie named Kobe Bryant won the Slam Dunk Contest. To secure the title, he defeated Michael Finley, Ray Allen, Bobby Sura, and Chris Carr. Seated courtside among the 1997 All-Stars who witnessed the high-flying bravado from young Kobe that night was Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Terrell Brandon.

Twenty-five years later — as his adopted hometown prepares to host All-Star Weekend once again — Brandon recalls the athletic display of brilliance from Bryant that culminated in a between-the-legs windmill dunk to win it. But more than the swagger and above-the-rim heroics from the budding superstar, it was a conversation that Terrell had with Kobe before the contest began that he treasures the most.

https://www.youtube.com/pKTLxG0wGfg

“I was so tired when I got to the Dunk Contest,” Brandon said while thinking back on the last All-Star weekend in Cleveland. “When you’re the All-Star host, you have a lot of commitments. There are a lot of interview requests, a lot of places that are pulling at you. Sponsors have events, Nike needs you to make appearances, this and that, there’s a lot of places you have to be. It was fun, but it was also exhausting.”

Terrell earned a spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team for the second-straight season in 1997. As Cleveland’s only participant in Sunday’s game, Brandon’s SkyPager was buzzing throughout the weekend. He hosted a party on Friday for the All-Stars a few blocks away from what is now known as Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Gary Payton, Penny Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and others came through. NFL stars like Ed “Too Tall” Jones made an appearance and other celebrities like boxing great Pernell Whitaker.

While the All-Star festivities were underway, Sports Illustrated published their latest magazine issue with Terrell on the cover. The headline declared Brandon as “The Best Point Guard in the NBA.” On Saturday, he was up early to tape an episode of NBA Inside Stuff with Ahmad Rashad. Media obligations and sponsorship events filled the rest of his time from there. His chance meeting and conversation with young Kobe almost didn’t happen.

“Saturday morning, I was with the great Ahmad Rashad on NBA Inside Stuff,” Brandon said. “We filmed the segment crazy early in the morning. After that, there were so many commitments throughout the day. I was so tired when the Dunk Contest came around. But my homeboys from Portland were like, hey man; we didn’t fly out here to be in the house – let’s go.”

Brandon and his friends arrived just in time for the highly-anticipated contest featuring the Los Angeles Lakers rookie. He took a seat alongside the other NBA All-Stars behind the bench. Gassed and thirsty, Brandon decided to grab a water bottle from the Cavs locker room. While walking through the tunnel, he bumped into Kobe, who was in uniform, moments away from participating in NBA All-Star weekend for the first time.

“I went into the back to get a bottle of water right before the dunk contest started,” Brandon explained. “Kobe was walking in the tunnel, and he happened to be walking my way. I didn’t know Kobe personally at this time, and he was very young. So I walked over to introduce myself to him.

“As I introduced myself, I said, ‘Hey, what’s up, man. I’m Terrell.’

“Kobe replied, ‘What? You think I don’t know you?’”

“My bad, man,” Terrell said with a laugh. “I wasn’t sure if you did?”

Kobe shook his head to suggest, of course, he knew Terrell. Then he added, ‘Man, let me ask you a couple of questions real quick.’

The conversation continued as follows:

Bryant: “How do you come out of the University of Oregon averaging 27 points a game, and you’re only 5-11?”

Brandon says he was surprised Kobe knew his college stats. He smiled and answered the question.

Brandon: “Well, I’m a Pac 10 point guard. We play hard where I’m from, and we play with an edge. We don’t back down from anybody on the west coast. That’s the mentality I play with on the court. What’s your second question?”

Kobe nodded. Then he asked his second question.

Bryant: “What do you think about my game. How can I get better?”

Terrell remembers feeling like Kobe was asking a genuine question that someone would only ask in a situation like that if they truly wanted to be great. He offered the rookie the perspective of an NBA veteran in response.

Brandon: “I don’t know about your eating habits, but stay away from fast food. And get on the weights. The weight room is going to help you as you get older. You’re going to get more mature, and you’re going to gain weight naturally. But get on the weights in the meantime. Get in the weight room and get stronger.”

Bryant: “Man, I appreciate that.”

Brandon would sit behind Kobe and talk with him throughout the Dunk Contest. But for the moment, in the hallway outside the Cavs locker room, they went their separate ways. Terrell walked in to grab a bottle of water, and he assumed Kobe made his way out onto the court. That’s why it seemed odd when Brandon and the Cavaliers trainer, who was also in the locker room, started to hear a loud banging noise nearby.

“We were the only people in the locker room, and we heard a thud, thud, thud, like that,” Brandon said. “We thought something was going on in the ceiling or with the ventilation system. But then, when I walked out of the locker room, the noise got louder. It sounded like it was coming from the weight room. So I opened the door to the weight room, and Kobe was in there lifting weights – five minutes after I told him to start making weights part of his workout regimen.”

“That was some great advice, TB!” Kobe shouted as he curled a pair of dumbells in his Lakers uniform. “I thought I’d get started with these weights right away.”

“Hey, man,” Brandon replied with a laugh. “There’s a lot of people out there waiting on you. I didn’t mean you should start lifting weights right now.”

A couple of hours later, Kobe won the dunk contest. To celebrate the high-flying finish that sealed his victory, the young rookie who’d eventually achieve potential GOAT status stood on the baseline and flexed.

Brendan Bowers is a New York-Times Best Selling Author of the book “Cleveland Is King.” His new book “Point Gods of the 1990s” will be released later this year.

Although Snoop Dogg wears many hats — rapper, actor, DJ, product pitchman, record label owner, Puppy Bowl coach/host, etc. — there are really only a couple of things he’s truly known for. One of those things is being a big fan of the devil’s lettuce, of which he partakes regularly and in copious volumes. Yet, somehow, the New York Post thought that it was worthy of a headline that Snoop Dogg — gasp — smoked weed before his Super Bowl halftime show performance. What a shocker, am I right?

Well, Snoop fans on Twitter are having fun with the reversed “man bites dog” moment, taking the Post to task for basically reporting that everything happened as planned and nobody got hurt. “Snoop Dogg engages in recreational activity that’s legal in LA and in…wait for it..New York,” wrote one miffed responder. Meanwhile, actor George Hahn gave his dramatic interpretation of the Post‘s tweet, positing that the writer, rather than being Captain Obvious from one of those travel website ads, was instead one of those pearl-clutching conservatives who railed at the supposed lasciviousness of the whole halftime endeavor.

For what it’s worth, it doesn’t seem like there was much condemnation behind the headline so much as a sense of “hey, get a load of this guy.” Still, people see what they want to see on Twitter and generally respond accordingly. Over here, we’re just happy we got to see Snoop take the stage alongside Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige for one of the most exciting halftime shows in years.

Indie-pop stalwart Samia is back with her first new music this year just in time for Valentine’s Day. To follow last year’s Scout EP, she’s sharing two heartfelt covers; one is a rendition of the Eagles’ piano ballad “Desperado” and the other is an acoustic version of “Born On A Train” by Magnetic Fields, along with a chaotic remix of the latter. The tracks are vulnerable and patient in Samia’s hands, fitting perfectly into her discography as if she wrote them.

“These two songs feel like a conversation; they’re almost two totally opposite perspectives,” Samia said about these songs. “I definitely relate more to the sentiment of ‘Desperado’ but wanted to give a voice to both sides. ‘Born on a Train’ is one of my favorite songs ever and my friend Ned soundchecks with it every night on our tour so we always end up singing it together. Two other members of my band, Sam and Boone, played on the tracks and Caleb’s production is so honest and intimate; these songs feel special because I worked on them with my friends!!”

Listen to the covers of “Desperado” and “Born On A Train” (as well as the “Anxiety Version” of the latter) above. Samia is currently on tour; find her remaining shows below.

02/14 — Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
02/15 — Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
02/17 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall (Upstairs)
02/18 — Austin, TX @ Antone’s
02/19 — Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Art Company
02/22 — Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
02/23 — Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
02/24 — Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
06/10 — New York, NY @ Governor’s Ball

The season one finale of The Book of Boba Fett features what is supposed to be an incredibly climactic stand-off between bounty hunters Boba Fett and Cad Bane. Boba Fett finally faces his mentor turned enemy Cad Bane in a battle for control of Mos Espa in the western-style face-off, shot by director Robert Rodriguez. Cad Bane, a character from the animated series The Clone Wars, trained Boba Fett in bounty hunting, which you’d only know if you watched Clone Wars yesterday or recently read one of the many articles circling the internet right now called “Who Is Cad Bane?” But even with knowledge of who Cad Bane is and his relationship to Boba Fett, Boba’s victory, which could and should be a huge although complex moment, falls flat because Boba Fett has not been the main character on The Book of Boba Fett for the past two episodes. Instead, the episodes focused on Din Djarin (Mando) and Grogu, the unconventional but star-crossed buddies from The Mandalorian. And also, we’re still on freaking Tatooine.

In 2017’s (weirdly) polarizing film The Last Jedi, writer/director Rian Johnson challenged everything we expected from a Star Wars movie. Johnson united its hero, Rey, with the villain, Kylo Ren, creating a gray area in a world that was always presented as black and white. In The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker rejects all of the ideals that once made him a hero. “It’s time for the Jedi to end,” he says. In the film, Rey also discovers, through Kylo Ren, that her parents were nobodies who abandoned her. Regardless of whether or not you liked The Last Jedi, Johnson’s idea that the politics within the galaxy far far away are more complex than surface-level good and evil and that a hero could come from nothing was a necessary reversal that provided more room for exploration within the Star Wars universe.

Season one of The Mandalorian was a similar relief back when it premiered in late 2019, which feels like several decades ago now. Finally, someone – creator Jon Favreau and executive producer Dave Filoni – understood the Star Wars universe beyond the Skywalker saga. This was a show about a guy doing his job who comes across an adorable green baby with mysterious powers. But in the second season, The Mandalorian reverted back to the narrative of the original trilogy, weaving in characters like Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) from The Clone Wars (who will get her own live-action series), a digitally de-aged Luke Skywalker, and Boba Fett, the bounty hunter who had long been assumed dead, swallowed by the sarlacc pit in 1983’s Return of the Jedi. While still good, The Mandalorian quickly became a show everyone thought it wasn’t, struggling to balance between being its own standalone space buddy adventure and being the link that holds an entire decades-old franchise and all of its spin-offs together.

The first several episodes of The Book of Boba Fett concentrated on Boba Fett, as you’d expect from a series called The Book of Boba Fett, although the show featured zero books. The first several episodes follow the iconic bounty hunter’s journey from getting out of the sarlacc pit, being a captive of Tusken Raiders, becoming friends with the Tusken Raiders, and taking over Bib Fortuna’s position as crime lord and Jabba’s Palace. The series was fine, but not nearly as magnetic as the first season of The Mandalorian. Just as things were beginning to get interesting on The Book of Boba Fett, episode five instead follows the adventures of Mando. Episode six then focuses on Grogu’s Jedi training with a digitally de-aged Luke Skywalker, with an appearance from Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano.

While I’ll never complain about seeing the miracle that is Baby Grogu or the miracle that is Timothy Olyphant as a space desert sheriff, the integration of storylines from multiple series comes across as desperate corporate overlords reminding audiences that other Star Wars shows exist on their streaming platform. While it does make sense that characters such as Mando and Boba would continue to interact with each other, it also can’t help but feel like a condescending reminder that The Mandalorian exists, that Ahsoka exists, and that Luke Skywalker (ever heard of him?) exists. At a certain point, it feels more like content than rich storytelling, when it could so easily be the latter.

Disney Plus’ Marvel Cinematic Universe shows Loki and WandaVision were so strong because while they were part of a massive, bloated, and corporate universe, the shows had their own stories and individuality that separated them from the rest. Loki and WandaVision – and even the weaker shows The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye – had their own signature style and independent stories that made each feel essential and unique. The Book of Boba Fett is stylistically the same as The Mandalorian, its only identifier being different theme music.

If everything looks the same and ties together so much that two episodes of The Book of Boba Fett were episodes of The Mandalorian – then why are they separate shows? A departure from The Mandalorian that focuses on Boba Fett makes more sense than a departure from The Book of Boba Fett that focuses on Mando. The sluggish integration of the stories from two different television shows slows both shows – which are, to be clear, still quite good – down. This also makes the future of the Disney Star Wars shows less promising. Will every Star Wars show eventually become one interchangeable storyline? It’s a little early to judge too much since there have only been two live-action shows so far, but it feels like the shows are repeating the same cycle as the prequel and sequel trilogies which had their highs but were ultimately disappointments because of convoluted integrations of characters we already knew. The Star Wars shows started as standalone shows that would explore unearthed parts of an infinite universe filled with colorful characters from hundreds of planets. Ultimately, the Disney Star Wars live-action series have mistaken the Skywalker saga, a story that concluded itself almost 40 years ago, for being Star Wars. Will season one of Obi-Wan Kenobi, coming May 25, feature a bearded Ewan McGregor feeding purple milk to a 30-something Baby Grogu? I, for one, would like to see that as much as I don’t want to see it.

Marcus Smart is one of the NBA’s best and most versatile defenders. He is one of the few players in the league who can genuinely guard every position on the floor, and that ability provides the Celtics with an awful lot of lineup options depending on their matchup that night.

Smart is best known for his physicality, which is why he can hold up in the post against taller players, but he also has tremendous quickness, great hands, and is incredibly smart as a defender. All of that makes his propensity to flop one of the most frustrating things about him, because he’s a terrific defender without needing to do it, but can’t help but practice the dark arts of faking contact in big moments. There are plenty of examples of Smart embellishing contact and flying to the floor to try and get a call, and for a recent live show of JJ Redick’s Old Man and the Three podcast, Redick and Jason Gallagher put together a compilation and surprised Marcus by showing it to him on stage, leading to an incredible reaction.

Naturally it ended with photos of the stitches Redick had to get from Smart’s flailing elbow trying to draw a foul on a three-point shot, and the two talked about that and more, with the highlight being Smart explaining the method behind the madness. In explaining his hilariously bad flop against Pascal Siakam in the playoffs, he said he did it knowing it’d draw a challenge from the Raptors and take their only challenge away before the fourth quarter. It’s pretty incredible the levels going on with that decision from Smart, knowing the call has no chance of standing but it’s more important to force them to burn a challenge in that situation than actually caring about whether it’s a foul or not.

Saweetie and HER fly the (very) friendly skies in the video for their funky new collaboration, “Closer.” Expanding her Icy brand to include a fictional, ladies-only airline, Saweetie and HER take on the role of pilots for a private flight, with Saweetie meeting a new boyfriend at every destination, which include Paris, Tokyo, and of course, the Philippines. And because Saweetie is sponsorship queen, there’s product placement for water flavoring powder, Ledger hardware wallets (even Saweetie’s into crypto), and Bumble, which apparently helps her keep track of her conquests.

With its dreamy, cloudy aesthetic, the “Closer” video looks a lot like the video for “Back To The Streets” with Jhene Aiko, another of Saweetie’s more well-received singles. When she teams up with other ladies, as she did on “Back To The Streets” and “Best Friend” with Doja Cat, it seems the girl power brings out the best in the Bay Area rapper. Hopefully, that energy will be present on Saweetie’s upcoming debut album, Pretty Bitch Music, which she’s promised to release sometime in 2022 after pushing it back to tweak some of its songs. If “Closer” is representative of the new direction, then Saweetie is definitely going the right way.

Watch the video for “Closer” above.

Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Following Kanye West launching yet another rant at his ex Kim Kardashian and her new boyfriend Pete Davidson on Super Bowl Sunday, questions started swirling around whether West is still dating Uncut Gems actress Julia Fox. The answer is… complicated. In early February, reports claimed the two were in an open relationship because they’re “evolved beings” and also super busy. Of course, it probably wasn’t a coincidence that those reports arrived on the heels of Kanye being spotted on a date with model Chaney Jones, who bears a striking resemblance to Kim Kardashian.

However, Kanye and Fox’s relationship became even less concrete following his now-deleted Super Bowl Sunday meltdown. Following Kanye’s rant making headlines, a source for Fox told PEOPLE that the couple is taking some time apart:

“Kanye and Julia both have separate busy lives. Julia lives in New York City and Kanye has been in Los Angeles. The distance makes it hard,” the source said. “They are still in touch and will see each other when they can. Kanye really likes her. It’s fair to say that they have cooled off a bit, though.”

Further complicating the matter is the fact that Kanye has been very vocal about his intentions of getting back with Kim Kardashian. He’s openly posted on social media, “GOD PLEASE BRING OUR FAMILY BACK TOGETHER,” and during his latest rant, he declared that Pete Davidson will never meet his children. In short, Kanye is still intent on patching things up with Kim, which doesn’t lend itself to a relationship with Julia Fox, if there ever really was one to begin with.

(Via PEOPLE)

Zoe Kravitz will make her debut as Catwoman alongside emo Batman Robert Pattinson next month, which has been a while in the making. But next up will be her highly-anticipated movie, Pussy Island, which will star her rumored boyfriend Channing Tatum.

Tatum plays a billionaire who woos a cocktail waitress named Frida into his inner circle, where things are darker than they appear. In a new interview with Elle, Kravitz mentions that she had not met Tatum before casting him, based solely on his work in Magic Mike. The two have now been rumored to be an item since last summer. “Looking at his work and hearing him speak about Magic Mike and the live show, I’m like, I think he’s a feminist. You need to be so far from who this is, where it’s not scary. And I don’t think we’ve ever seen him play someone dark. I’m excited to see him do that.”

Kravitz says she co-wrote movie with long-time friend E.T. Feigenbaum in 2017. “I started writing it pre–#MeToo, pre–Harvey [Weinstein]. Then the world started to have the conversation, so [the script] changed a lot. It became more about a power struggle and what that power struggle means. I rewrote it a million times. Now we’re like, ‘Holy shit. We’re doing this!’” The film begins production this summer.

As for the couple, who are often seen out and about but have yet to comment on the relationship, Kravtiz simply told Elle, “I’m happy.”

The Super Bowl is over and despite the fact that I was born and raised in LA, I’m not going to gloat. To me, the Super Bowl isn’t about some game, it’s not about who’s team wins and who’s team loses. It’s not about local pride. It’s all about celebrating the only day of the year where it is socially acceptable to be excited about commercials.

Ads aren’t anyone’s favorite thing, I get that. They’re intrusive, obnoxious, and really easy to forget exist, especially if you have an ad-blocker. But during the Super Bowl, they take on a special importance and significance. They reflect our cultural needs and obsessions. They make us feel like we’re a character in Mad Men.

It’s the one day of the year where ad companies try to flex their Draper-level shit, and nobody is as good at it as the food brands. From market staples to fast food brands to liquor labels, they bring their A-Game and often drop the day’s most memorable commercials. So we rounded out all our favorites for your viewing pleasure before life resumes to normal and you go back to rightfully being annoyed by them again.

Let’s watch!

Taco Bell — “The Grande Escape”

Taco Bell, Doja Cat, Doja Cat covering Hole’s Celebrity Skin, what’s not to love about this commercial? Oh, right the clowns. Look, I won’t pretend to understand what the hell is going on in this commercial. But we see Doja Cat, at some sort of clown university, peel out in an open-top car with some of her clown buddies going to a Taco Bell parking lot where they eat taco and shitty hot sauce and drink Baja Blasts.

Oh, I get it. They’re saying Taco Bell fans are clowns.

Frito Lay’s — “Push It”

There’s something funny to me about this commercial. No, it’s not the beatboxing animals eating chips dusted in chemicals that are banned in Europe. It’s that Frito Lay’s paid a lot of money for it — a lot of money to clear Salt N Pepa’s Push It, a lot of money to get Megan Thee Stallion and Charlie Puth to do teasers for it. Hell, the very fact that the commercial had teaser trailers, to begin with, is hilarious to me. All in an effort to sell more Flamin’ Hot chips.

Don’t we already love Flamin’ Hot chips as it is?

Pringles — “Stuck In”

I feel for the dude in this ad because who amongst us hasn’t gotten our hands trapped in a Pringles can for a second and thought ‘will I have to live my whole life like this?’ Oh is that not a thing that happens to anyone? Anyway, this dude gets his hand stuck in a Pringles can and lives the whole rest of his life like that, which means to answer the question we know you’re wondering. Yes, he has sex with it on.

Hilarious.

Avocados From Mexico — “Always Good”

A bunch of Romans tailgate at a gladiatorial game but the party doesn’t really start until someone busts out the avocados from Mexico. Sounds about right. Burn the history books, this is all we need. Avocados from Mexico. In Ancient Rome.

Well, at least we get to see Andy Richter as Julius Ceasar, so it gets a pass.

Lay’s — “Stay Golden”

This year Lay’s brought us the Paul Rudd/Seth Rogen buddy movie we never knew we needed. We see them singing ballads in a drop-top. They almost die in a plane crash. They get kidnapped by stalkers. They get involved in a turf war. Seth buys a haunted house, and then marries a demon? Give it to us now.

Hellmann’s — “Mayo Tackles Food Waste”

I have to give it to Pete Davidson, he’s a good sport. He knows there’s something inherently distasteful about himself (doesn’t it just boil down to jealousy?). He’s always willing to be the butt of a joke. Not only does he get tackled by an unhinged Jerod Mayo in this commercial, but he also pokes fun at himself for his close relationship with his mom. He also admits he has a very hittable face.

Bless you, Pete Davidson. Oh and apparently, Hellman’s is doing something about food waste. That’ll save us.

Michelob Ultra — “Welcome To The Super Bowl”

Steve Buscemi at a bowling alley? We’re in. Forget all the other famous people, all we want to really see is some kind of spiritual sequel to The Big Lebowski. If we have to drink Michelob Ultra to get it, we’re in.

Cutwater Spirits — “Here’s To The Lazy Ones”

The black and white sentimental ad that attempts to celebrate hard-working people is the biggest Super Bowl ad cliche, and this offense is usually committed by big liquor brands. So we congratulate Cutwater Spirits by poking fun at the trend with their own black and white sentimental ad that celebrates lazy people.

“The ones who make the most of their time are the ones ahead of it.” We couldn’t agree more.

Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda — “Land Of Loud Flavors”

I’m not sure what kind of world Bud Light Seltzer is trying to depict here. Is a world where everyone dresses like and submits to the will of Guy Fieri a good or bad thing? On the one hand, everyone has to dress like Guy Fieri, on the other hand, everyone has to dress like Guy Fieri. See the issue here?

Leave it to Jimmy Butler to deliver one of the only concise messages about crypto ahead of this year’s Super Bowl commercial onslaught which featured celebrity endorsements from just about everyone, including a present day LeBron James visiting a younger, CGI version of himself in the past, and from Butler’s current teammate and best friend, Kyle Lowry.

Butler was part of an anti-celebrity celebrity endorsement campaign for cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, that included UFC Featherweight Valentina Shevchenko and Colombian musician, J Balvin. The three shared different videos but the message was the same: celebrities don’t know anything about cryptocurrency, so why would you take advice from them about it?

On a call with Dime, Butler, direct on the floor as he is in the faces of wayward opponents, shared his thoughts on crypto and making the right investing decisions for yourself. He also talked about the Heat’s approach to the rest of the season, the intuitive way he and Lowry work the floor (and what Lowry brings to the locker room, and everybody’s lives), his upcoming 6th All-Star appearance, and how to be ready for luck, when it comes.

You’re in pretty good company with this campaign. UFC’s Valentina Shevchenko, who is tough as hell, and musician J Balvin, who might come close to you for how candid he can be. Do you feel like it’s kind of the anti-celebrity dream team for this campaign?

I think so. A bunch of great individuals who are learning, just like I am, about crypto, but more than anything some genuine individuals. So they are people that are really going to say what they mean and mean what they say.

You’ve established yourself as a person who appreciates tangible things, I think. Obviously your game, but also playing dominoes, learning closely the intricate process of coffee, same with wine, and now being a dad too. Does that perspective come into play with something like crypto, and how you approach it?

It does. And it’s funny because I don’t think parenting is anything like crypto, don’t get me wrong, but I think being a dad is kind of like, you know what’s best for you and your child. There’s really no right or wrong way to do anything. And that’s what I get from all the research that I have been doing on crypto — and tell everybody else to do the same. Only because your decision is your decision. It could be right for you, it may not be right for you. But I can’t let anybody else tell me what to do. And I go about being a dad the exact same way.

Does it ever come down to instinct?

Instinct is everything. You know. I don’t know, Spidey, tingle, senses — whatever you want to call it — you’ll know what’s right for you. Especially if you’re reading up on it and you’re paying attention to what’s going on.

You’re also someone who seems to like to learn everything about the hobbies they get into or interested they pursue. The crypto space can be overwhelming and a bit reckless, where did you start to get information about it for yourself?

I’ve read countless books. I sit down and I have conversations with a lot of my friends who call themselves “experts” at it — and they’re not. There are so many other individuals that call themselves experts at it — and they’re not. But I will say I actually do pay attention. I do want to do what’s right for me. But I feel like when Super Bowl rolls around and everybody’s telling you to do that, and do this, it’s really tough because you do see those individuals all the time, and you do want to listen to them and what they say, but once again, I just don’t think it’s a good look. I think you should figure out what’s good for you and not good for you, and you ride with that decision.

I’ve heard you say that the approach you’re taking this year with the Heat’s road to the postseason is that it’s an entirely different year, it’s a different team, there’s no point in looking back and comparing yourselves to that team last season. Why is it important to you to shed any previous comparisons, or expectations?

Because every day, in every year, man, nobody even knows what tomorrow brings let alone what you were last year, or two years ago. Now we have a completely different team, everybody’s in a different role. There are just so many things that change from day-to-day. Talking about the trade deadline, it could change again. Who knows.

And it’s actually funny because I feel like there’s more and more stuff that comes up that you can learn about crypto every other day too. So what was okay a year ago, it’s not the same today or tomorrow. So I feel like I can compare almost anything and everything with basketball. And as much studying as I do on the opponent I’m going to play against tomorrow night, whether they be left handed, right handed, left wing, right wing, a lot of that same — probably not as much, because basketball is my job — a lot of my focus goes in on learning about crypto as well.

You like the floor to be organized. You’ve never been shy about being the most vocal leader out there. Bam is like that, Spo’s like that. But now — I’m biased, I’m in Toronto, full disclosure — you’ve got Lowry. Have you felt that responsibility shift from yourself at all, now that you have Kyle?

No. I think Kyle’s like the perfect — I mean that’s my brother, godfather to my child, like all of that good stuff — he’s the perfect counterbalance for me because the points that I get across, are from zero to one hundred. And I’m at the hundred. Like yo, I don’t have time for this. There’s cuss words, there’s yelling that’s going on, and Kyle walks in so calm and collected and he’s just like, everything’s going to be okay guys. Don’t listen to Jimmy he’s just yelling, he’s on one. So I really respect him for what he brings to the table. Along with Bam and Spo and everybody else, but Kyle, I’m telling you he’s the perfect counterbalance, point guard, Hall of Fame player that can really get everybody to rally around him.

That was the point I was going to make. It looks so intuitive, the two of you working in tandem.

He’s definitely one of the more brilliant basketball minds that I’ve been around, but not only that, he actually cares about people. Not just on his team. All across the world, across the league, the fans. Everybody. He just wants everybody to be happy. He’s there to put on a show for everybody that’s watching, and I think you really respect that about Kyle. Because he is a champion, he is a gold medalist, he’s done everything that you can think of when it comes to having a basketball career, and he’s still the same guy. Every single day he comes in, works hard, tries to uplift everybody else. But more than anything he just tries to win.

We really miss him.

Y’all can’t have him back.

I had a feeling that would be the answer, but, congratulations on All-Star! This will be your 6th appearance and I know you appreciate getting picked to be a part of it every time. What are the things that end up standing out for you most with each All-Star that you’re in?

Just how much everybody that’s picked for All-Star has accomplished in this league, and what they’ve done that particular season. And those players, those individuals, have put in a lot of time that nobody gets the opportunity to see. But they’re a big part in why their team is winning. Very huge part in so many other individual’s lives that they don’t even know, just because they’re so good at what they do. I just have so much respect for everybody that has an opportunity to be on the All-Star roster — not just on the roster, in the league as a whole — but definitely on the roster because they’ve been playing at an extremely high level to that point. And I know they’re gonna continue to do it. And those are the teams and the players you’re going to see in the playoffs come April.

You’ve talked before about how much luck plays a factor not just in a career, but in life. I think it’s something people don’t necessarily recognize enough. Luck and timing. How have you learned to stay ready, or to prepare yourself, for luck when it comes?

Honestly, I just keep doing the same things I’ve been doing every single day to get me to whatever point I am in life. But for things that go as close to perfect as they can, cause there’s no such thing as perfect, the stars have to align or however you want to put it, but if you’re doing the same thing every day, you’re definitely going to be comfortable. You’re going to know where you stand whenever adversity hits, or when something gets really, really difficult. And then it’s just like, yo, luck comes around just at the perfect place, the perfect time, and it just takes you over that edge. And now you’re at a point where like, man, all this hard work has really been paying off, but more than anything this is the moment that I’ve been waiting on. And you’re going to capitalize because you’ve been focused, you’ve been planning on it all the time. And then, boom, the luckiness sets in, the right timing sets in, and everything that you really wanted, you’ve got now.