Brian Scalabrine Q&A: 'I never would’ve played 11 NBA seasons if it wasn’t for Jason Kidd'

Brian Scalabrine was a fan favorite throughout the course of his 11-year NBA career and despite being out of the league, he may be more visible than ever. He’s played in the Big3 every season since its inception, he’s the color commentator for the Boston Celtics’ local broadcasts, he has his own drive-time radio show on SiriusXM and he even spent one year as an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors.

HoopsHype caught up with “The White Mamba” to discuss his post-NBA endeavors, his experience in the Big3, how he became a fan favorite, his one season as a coach, why he doesn’t believe in “team chemistry” and more.

You’ve always been a favorite among NBA fans, which has to be a great feeling. When did you notice that you were receiving significantly more support than a typical role player?

Brian Scalabrine: It started kind of early, when I was on the New Jersey Nets. It started like, “Get Scalabrine in at the end of the game!” But then I became a rotational player, so it kind of disappeared. You don’t cheer for a guy to get in the game when he’s played 23 minutes (laughs). It kind of disappeared and then I went to Boston. My first few years in Boston were really tough. We lost a lot of games and I was supposed to be this [notable] free-agent signing and I was supposed to play better than I did. Those first few years were tough and we were losing so much that people didn’t like our team. It’s not that they disliked me, they just didn’t like our team. We didn’t have Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen yet. Then, once we got those guys, we started winning games. I was a rotational player in Boston, but I wasn’t playing a lot – just 10 minutes a night. Then, [the support] picked up again.  At first, I felt bad because I didn’t think I deserved to get all of this credit and have people cheer for me at the end of games when my teammates were the ones who played well and built the 20-point lead. I felt bad about it because the other guys were the ones working their tails off and building this big lead and then it would be about me at the end of the game.

That lasted through 2008, but then once we won the championship, I fully embraced it. That’s when I’d be telling guys, “Come on, you guys need to push this lead to 20 points so I can get some burn tonight! We gotta give the people what they want!” After winning the championship in 2008, I figured it was just better to embrace it. I continued that approach after that and did the same thing in Chicago. I like it. I feel like I do represent the “common guy,” even though I’m 6-foot-10 and I’ve played millions of hours of basketball and I’ve put my whole life into this. That’s hard for some people to understand because if they watch me, they might think, “Well, if you put that many hours into this, how come you aren’t better?” That shows you how good NBA players are! I had to work my ass off my entire life just to basically hang on. There are guys who work their ass off their entire life and they can’t hang on. With some of these great players, it’s hard to imagine how they even got to that level.

Also, I think fans saw how much fun you were having and the fact that you don’t take any of this for granted. They think, “That’s exactly how I’d feel if I were in the NBA!” They can relate to that.

BS: Yeah, for sure. All of that is fine, but I’m also working out five hours a day. I appreciate the opportunity, but I’m very serious in watching my film before a game and being prepared and I want to do well. But I do come across as [happy to be here], which I am! I know how fortunate I was to be a 23-year-old kid that was drafted by a team that went to the NBA Finals and made me a rotational player. And to add one more element to that: Jason Kidd made me way better than I ever was. Playing on his team allowed me to play 11 years in the NBA. I could’ve been drafted by another team and been out of the NBA in three months and I would’ve been playing overseas. I probably could’ve had a decent career overseas. I never would’ve played 11 seasons in the NBA if it wasn’t for Jason Kidd.

I’m glad you highlighted the work that goes on behind the scenes. Some fans don’t realize how hard you guys work. That’s why I think it’s crazy when fans criticize players for having a life off the court, like how fans tell Damian Lillard to stop rapping and get back in the gym…

BS: Wait, people don’t like that Damian Lillard is rapping? I don’t understand that.

Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. You see it a lot on social media. I’ve talked to Dame about it and I know it annoyed him when he first started sharing his music. Whenever he posts anything related to music, fans tell him to “focus on basketball” and “get in the gym.” Dame is one of the hardest-working guys too, which makes it even more ridiculous.

BS: Wow. You can only work out so much! There’s a point of diminishing returns. Also, I think what they’re learning now is that it’s better to go harder for a shorter period of time rather than messing around for hours and hours on end.

I want to see those people work in their office for 24 hours a day and never leave.

BS: That’s a great call (laughs).

Photo by David Surowiecki/Getty Images for SiriusXM

I interviewed Kenyon Martin recently and we were talking about how the NBA has changed so much in a short period of time. Even from the start of your career in 2001 to now, how much has the game evolved?

BS: It’s a crazy shift that happened, but I think the people who were in it kind of knew this was going to happen. I’ll tell you the moment I knew – my “aha” moment: I was playing for the Nets and the Suns come to town. Typically, there’s this standard way of playing, which is double bigs, pretty physical underneath and a pick-and-roll guard. Some guards could shoot behind the screen, but not really. Usually, they were coming off the screen to get another action. So playing against the Suns, I had Amare Stoudemire coming down the paint and Steve Nash was coming off the screen-and-roll. I was the help guy and Steve was staring right at me, looking to see which way I would move. I make a shift toward Boris Diaw at three-point line, Nash bounce-passes to Stoudemire and he dunks it. As I was running back on offense, I was thinking to myself, “That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.” I felt like I was completely at Steve Nash’s mercy.

Taking it one step further, I remember when the shift started happening. Remember when Rashard Lewis signed with Orlando? I was like, “What is he going to do there?” Then, they put him at the four and had Hedo Turkoglu at the three and Dwight Howard down low. That’s another time where I came away thinking, “That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.” I’m guarding Rashard Lewis on the perimeter, Dwight Howard is rolling into the paint and you have to suck in so they don’t throw a lob to him, but then you have Rashard Lewis open and when they throw it out him, I’m on skates trying to close-out on him. Even if he misses the three or if Dwight Howard gets the ball and misses a jump-hook, that’s not a good stop, [you got lucky] against an unbelievable offensive possession that’s extremely difficult to guard.

The skill level of today’s guards and the addition of stretch fours makes defense so much harder. Now, there are even stretch fives! I know some people say, “I don’t like all of the three-point shooting; it’s not that good.” But when you’re out there guarding it, it’s hard to guard. It’s so hard to guard a pick-and-roll happening with a guy diving to the basket with a shooter lifted on the weakside. I always tell people, “You guys may not like three-point shooting, but try to go out there and defend it!” It creates so much space, all because people are trying so hard to stop the three-point shooters. The skill-level of guards right now is just taking the game to a whole new level. A lot of that has to do with no hand-checks and no contact, but the guards are incredibly skilled and now bigs are great shooters, which just provides more space for the guards to do their thing. (more…)