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TJ Ford: LeBron James can go in the same room. He can go in the same room as Michael Jordan. His impact around the world is the same as Michael Jordan. It looks different, but it's the same. LeBron James has done the same things that Michael Jordan has done. When it came down to the collective bargaining agreement, Michael Jordan helped change the financial stability for us athletes. LeBron James did that coming in. LeBron James is a huge part of the success of why we’re making a lot of money and why guys are now making $50–60 million. He cut the contracts down, so he was so far ahead of the curve in knowing the business of basketball for himself that he changed the landscape of our contracts. He changed the landscape of the amount of money we were signing for. So, his impact, if we put it all in a box, to talk about his impact not only on the basketball court but on the business side of basketbal."
TJ Ford on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: His game is beautiful, it's a beautiful game that he plays with fun
Who is your favorite current NBA player to watch? TJ Ford: There are two guys right now for me. I think there’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Oklahoma City. Being able to watch him with his length, his pace, he dominates guys in so many different ways. He can shoot the basketball well, has a good mid-range, and he’s strong driving to the basket. His game is beautiful. It’s a beautiful game that he plays with fun. Watching him play, watching him be able to elevate guys who didn’t have a high profile, he has these guys playing at an extreme level. And then when you look at Anthony Edwards, his competitiveness kind of reminds me of Kevin Garnett as a guy who is going to give you something funny when he talks.
TJ Ford: I came into college with this health condition, spinal stenosis, the narrowing of the spinal cord. So, I was seeing doctors right away; I was having some symptoms, but you know, after a little period of months, I felt those symptoms went away and, you know, I was scared to have surgery going into my freshman year that summer. But I decided at the last couple of hours before it was time for me to go in. I asked my Coach Rick Barnes that I felt healthy and that I didn’t need the surgery, more out of fear. And he was like ‘Okay,’ which I wasn’t really expecting a successful career. And then to not have any problems in college… I took some, I took more nasty falls in college than I did in the NBA, but just being able to overcome it, I mean, I had to prove to myself that I could be one of the best basketball players in the world.
What was it like being six-foot in an era that was so much more physical and bruising compared to today’s game? TJ Ford: Man, it was extremely tough. Playing against the best players every night, guys much bigger, with a different style of basketball, it was very physical. I was part of the era where all the guards posted up every night against guys 60-70 pounds heavier than me.
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Bucks alumni scheduled to attend Monday’s event include Vin Baker, Bob Dandridge, TJ Ford, Dick Garrett, Desmond Mason, Jon McGlocklin, Michael Redd and Fred Roberts. Select current Bucks players may also attend intermittently throughout the day along with Bucks executives and staff.
From the Hall of Famers and on, it was loaded. So, you're drafted by the Bucks at No. 8. There's this picture floating around of you in these big-ass shorts. Where'd you get those, man? TJ Ford: "You have to do the rookie-transition program. I don't know how it was for you, Poz, but they had the gym set up at the Knicks’ practice facility. It’s where you did all the media and you did all the stuff for the video games and that's where they gave everybody their uniforms. So, when I got there, that's what the Bucks had sent me. I'm like, 'Yo… What? What you want me to do with this?' They were like, 'That's all we’ve got. It's either you wear them or you won't get these photos.' I'm like, 'Shoot, I wanna have my rookie card. I ain't gonna miss this.' So hey, we gotta do what we gotta do!"
Man, you couldn't even roll the shorts up or nothing? Ford: "So, imagine the jersey. The jersey is the same length as the shorts! I still have the jersey. I may have to do a Throwback Thursday and actually wear it because I kept the whole thing 'cause I had to. Now, the cool thing about it is, that was so long ago. That was back in 2003. Every year, when these new guys come into the league, that picture keeps resurfacing and all these kids see it for the first time. Now, when I'm in the gym somewhere, Poz, that's my little thing where everybody's seen it. That's what they want to show me! It's cool, I enjoy it. I guess it's something in history, so I'll take it."
Ford: "My first time getting traded, I got traded in the summer. I think after Hurricane Katrina and all that. It was when the Essence Festival was in Houston for the first time. So, I got a house to fill. Somebody bought my house and I was supposed to move out a week later, but they told me they wanted me out on Friday. Now, I've got an appearance in Milwaukee on Saturday that I'm supposed to fly to on Friday. But I decided that I was gonna go hang out. We hang out, I end up getting on the flight. My pops ended up moving all of his stuff out of his house in Houston. So I get to Milwaukee, I speak at Michael Redd's camp and he wasn't there. It was just a strange day. Who comes to somebody's camp and they ain't there? That just didn't make sense to me. [I’m thinking], ‘Gosh, something ain't right…’
Ford: I ended up having dinner plans with Skip [Robinson], the public relations guy. He helped me do a lot of great things in Milwaukee. We go to dinner and I didn't really have no power at my house, so at the restaurant, I’ve got my phone and my charger, but they’re not next to me. He answered his phone and he's sitting directly across from me and I just hear him go, 'No! No! You've got to be kidding me.' So, he's like, 'Here, the GM wants to talk to you.' So, I'm like, 'What's going on?' The GM's like, 'How do you feel about going to Toronto?' I'm like, 'What are you talking about? Stop playing with me. Stop f------ with me. Seriously, what's going on?' He's like, 'No, for real. We just traded you for Charlie Villanueva and it hasn't hit the news yet and it probably won't tonight.' I'm like, 'Yo, Skip, he just told me he f------ traded me. He must be joking with me.'
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Ford: So, I handed him the phone. I get my phone and I've got a bunch of missed calls from my mom. So I called my mom and she's like, 'Your agent has been trying to call you. He's been saying something about a trade?' I was like, 'I know! The GM just told me that he traded me, so it must be a joke or something. I don't know. I'll call you right back.' I called my agent right away. But before I was able to do that, they got a TV at the bar in the restaurant. And, remember, the GM just told me that nobody knew about it. But it had just hit the news. Not ESPN, I'm talking about the local news at 10. I'm like, 'Ah man!' It was the worst day, man. Worst day. I was hurt. That was a tough one."
Josh Lewenberg: This is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 1st game in Canada since his soph year in high school. He spent a lot of time in this building as a kid, growing up a Raptors fan. Vince Carter? "More like Chris Bosh, TJ Ford & Jose Calderon era." (He wasn't even 2yo when VC won the dunk off)
T.J. Ford will play in the 2018 season of the Big3 league six years after retiring from the NBA following a number of scares to his surgically repaired spine. Ford, 34, told ESPN analyst Stephen Jackson in a text that he agreed to a deal with the half-court league founded by Ice Cube that features former NBA players. The Big3's inaugural season wrapped in late August, with the Rick Mahorn-coached team Trilogy featuring Kenyon Martin, Al Harrington and Rashad McCants winning the championship, played at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
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