http://www.nba.com/playerfile/rodney_buford/index.html


After he put in an order to buy some of my Fake Asss shoes, which he's purchased about a half dozen already BTW...... I had a 15min conversation with him about an hour ago. He said some pretty interesting things to me one-on-one.


- Mike Conley is a definite Top 5 Lottery pick

- Pat Riley was the best coach he ever had. He said his game preparation is unmatched, he was prepared for every situation, for every game. Pat doesn't like playing rookies so he didn't get to play much when he was there but thought he should have received some of Majrele and Vashon's playing time when they were there.

- Larry Brown is the best practice coach he had, said the drills he made them run were brutal and non stop. Larry didn't always prepare for teams game-to-game. He said Larry had the mentality that they should beat certain teams and basically said on many nights give the ball to A.I. and get out the way. He said A.I., Mutumbo, Mckie, Snow and the other veterans very rarely practiced. Although Motumbo played well for them he said he was definitely on the backside of his career and the team saw it. He got many nights off. Iverson literally took them to the Finals in 2000-01. For anyone that says A.I. had a squad, he begs to differ how good the squad was talentwise. He felt they definitely shouldn't have made it as far as they did but stated A.I. and Larry were just that good, that yr. Larry Brown loves vets and will run them into the ground vs playing young players(we knew that already). Larry Brown is a teacher and sometimes too hands on but loves so much in that respect.

- Alonzo Mourning is the hardest working player he's ever been around, unmatched work ethic. He said he lifted and ran on his own before and after practice and even after some games. He would be in the gym while the rest of the team was out on the town in Miami Beach. His workouts, along with how hard and the position he played are what led to his poor health, he popped inflammatory pills like candy.

- Doesn't miss the NBA at all, plays overseas between $750,000-1,000,000 tax free and only twice a week

- Kobe and T-Mac by a wide margin are the hardest players in the league to guard

- He said when he played with the Nets the reason they got swept against the Heat was because the coach(Frankie Baby!) played Brian Scalabrine over him LOL!

- The league looks out for white players


I'll be talking to him again hopefully next week when I drop some shoes off to him and I'll try to talk to him about some current Knick players next time.


[Edited by - TrueBlue on 06-14-2007 7:01 PM]

He plays for Maccabi Tel-Aviv who are playing the Knicks in preseason, right?

Posted by TrueBlue:

Posted by VDesai:

He plays for Maccabi Tel-Aviv who are playing the Knicks in preseason, right?

I think he does although he may be on a brief suspension due to violating the you know what policy.

no sex in the champagne room?

Posted by tkf:

nice read....

Thanks!