Front Row Seats to See Dr. J

Welcome to Young Hollywood. Hey guys, Michelle Marie coming to you from the SB Style Studio. I am here with Dr. J.

J. Manati.

I just saw you scratching a little over there. Are you DJ or what? Is that your second job?

Uh, it's about fifth. I got a lot of occupations.

I know, you do. Right, right, right.

I don't skateboard though, I don't sky dive. No, no. But I like to have fun.

You like to have fun? Yeah, yeah. That's a good thing. Well, I have to say this is the funnest time of year for me. You guys get to see everybody in sports. How do you feel about the SPs?

It's actually really cool. I've been coming here seven or eight years, maybe even 10 years, I don't know. You know, you lose track. I always bring my buddy out, John from high school and uh, we come out and we kick it. We have a good time. We played golf yesterday. Neither was one, but we played for a great cause, we played for the Jimmy V Foundation. Which is one of the greatest causes out there. And uh, you know, Jim Valvano was a guy who I knew personally. Uh, he actually recruited me when I was in high school to go to Rutgers University. And I didn't go and play for him, but you know, followed his legacy. And uh, to me it's the SPs for sports people to be celebrated and honored and recognized. The only thing that exceeds that is probably the Oscars.

The Oscars. Yeah. So we just come back for the Oscars. Let's do that. Right. Your career is just phenomenal. You really helped modernize basketball in the NBA. So how do you feel about the success you've had over the years?

It's just tremendous. I feel blessed. I feel it's a real privilege to be able to be out there to to do something that I probably would have done for free and got paid for it. Not as much as they make today, but I but I did all right. Right. And uh, I think I'm kind of like the linchpin between the the old game and and the new game. And uh, me and Pete Maravich and probably a handful of others, the guys that, you know, ushered in this generation of high flyers and slam dunkers and highlights and and uh, doing it, you know, a little beyond the fundamental approach. Right. So, uh, so yeah, I accept that as a as a recognition, as a compliment too.

Now, what would you say is the most memorable moment in your career if you were to pick one?

Oh, it was obviously sweeping the Lakers in 1983. And uh, you know, we had lost to them twice in in play in the playoffs in six games. So for us to win in Philadelphia, and Moses, and Andrew Tony, and Maurice Cheeks, and Billy Cunningham, and the other guys who were part of our franchise, uh, to validate our presence in that era, uh, as a great team. Uh, nothing was nicer than that.

How do you feel about the how the league is kind of shaken up recently? You got the Dream Team over down in Miami now. LeBron made a really big decision. Now, was this something you think you would have done back in the day, make, you know, like a whole hour special on a big decision to move to another team? Is that something you would have done?

It's just it's just irrelevant. You know, I don't even know if the opportunity would have existed. It was more like personal business then and you know, right now, I mean you could pick up a newspaper or go online and you could find out what everybody makes. So talking about money, which once used to be a taboo, it's not a taboo anymore, it's commonplace. So not to be surprised or unsuspected that a special would be made out of it.

So do you think that they have what it takes to beat the Lakers this year?

I don't know, you know, I played on a team, uh, two different teams where we had uh, three guys who averaged 20 points a game. And one team is sixers uh, won, the other team with me, George McGinnis and Doug Collins didn't win but we got to the finals. Right. So it's a prescription for success, but it doesn't it's not a guarantee for winning a championship. There are no guarantees.

To my fans in Young Hollywood, from an old dog. Good to see you. It's always good to be here. And uh, glad to have you in my life.

Thank you.