Steve Serby of the New York Post sat down with new Knicks forward Metta World Peace to talk basketball, trash talking, his book about the Malice in the Palace, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Iman Shumpert, his top three dinner guests and so much more. We culled our favorite 10 quotes from the revelatory interview with the eminently quotable MWP.
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10. On the best trash talker in the NBA:
Just check out this brief exchange.
Metta World Peace: Paul Pierce is the only one left.
Serby: Is he good?
MWP: He’s the best.
Serby: What about Kevin Garnett?
MWP: Paul Pierce is the best.
We never knew when we spoke with him, but according to Metta, Pierce is the best trash talker in the league, and that’s The Truth. Also, MWP only talks trash when he’s bored or down. He never talks smack when he’s doing well because he doesn’t like to be a front-runner.
9. On what would happen if the Knicks won a title:
“I think right now I’m just not gonna think about it, ’cause when you start thinking about things like that, you kinda forget what you’re supposed to do. I think the main thing for me is to be the best I could be, to help this team be the best that we could be.”
8. On the infamous Malice at the Palace:
“I wrote a book about it, son. I think I’m gonna wait to talk about it. But I wrote a book about that whole experience.
[…]
Maybe like 500,000 people still talk about it, or a million people. But the other 6.9 billion people in the world, I think they got other things to worry about, you know — from the economy, to Middle East problems, to starvation in some countries, to girl trafficking in some countries, to gang violence. There’s so many other problems in the world.”
This isn’t the impulsive Metta from a few years ago.
7. On who else could have their own comedy tour [Metta appeared in one this fall]:
“Iman. … Iman Shumpert is so funny.”
6. On Isiah Thomas:
“I wish he’d never got fired in Indiana. I thought we were gonna do great things that next year. Great coach, great coach.”
5. On Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony:
“[Kobe’s] a competitor. … Five rings, I mean, what more could you say? [‘Melo] has that special thing about him that great players have, so I’m excited that I got a chance to play with him.”
Check out more Metta favorites, and his first favorite basketball player…
4. On the three people he’d like as dinner guests:
“Celine Dion, Dennis Rodman, Mike Tyson. [Rodman’s] my idol on the basketball court. [Tyson’s ] a family icon, we all look up to him. I love boxing, and I thought he was the greatest boxer that’s ever lived.”
3. On his basketball boyhood idol:
“My first favorite basketball player was B.J. Armstrong. The first time I seen somebody score was B.J. Armstrong from the corner. That’s before I even watched basketball. I never watched a lot of pro games. I was always outside, never was in my house waiting for a game to come on. When I was 13, I knew nothing about college basketball. I can’t tell you anything interesting. Some of my friends can tell you everything about college basketball.”
2. On fighting while playing basketball in the tough Queensbridge projects where he grew up:
“Basketball on the court was like a fight. So on the court, we played so hard, it was like fighting. Sometimes you might get in a little scuffle, or you might get in the middle of violence, some of the gangs might try to show their strength, but for the most part, it was always basketball on the court.”
1. On breaking Michael Jordan’s ribs:
“It was a pickup game, he was posting me up, and I tried to get the ball accidentally. The next day I heard his rib’s broken. I was like, ‘Wow.’ Then he called me and said don’t worry about it. And I told him, ‘I’m sorry.'”
Just go read the entire Q&A if you have the time. It’s worth it.
What do you think of Metta’s interview?
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