Kenny Smith explains how Shaq, Chuck, Ernie, and he function as a championship team on Inside the NBA. He throws gasoline on the fire between Shaq and Chuck, then holds the extinguisher to defuse tension. Each person's role, from Shaq's physical humor to Chuck's unfiltered takes, makes the whole thing work.
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Speaking of Shaq, Charles, Ernie, dude, and I've been up there on the set, I've had the pleasure and honor of being on the set with you guys. But this is something that I truly wonder, do y'all view that as a team? And there's roles within that team when y'all step up on that stage? Because it's an entire production. Like that show, that show has gotten bigger than anybody. Than any one person. And it's an entire production. And I feel like everyone makes it work in their own way. Do y'all feel like it's a team and you have roles in what you do up there?
100%. And the one thing that I've learned that, and you've learned being on championship teams, I'm sure, is that everyone's role is really valuable. Like, it's val— I'm not running into a Christmas tree, bro. But we need that. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Charles is not running to the board and breaking down and putting X's and O's and going in the script, but we need that. Charles is gonna come with an unfiltered filter coffee machine of black coffee and you're gonna taste it, but we need that. Ernie is gonna just be the ability to understand when to move on to the next segment. We need that. So like, at no point do we ever look— here it is. And I don't know if you felt like this and you can agree. When you're on a championship team, I never feel in competition with the guy next to me.
Never.
There it is.
Never.
Never. I don't feel competition with them anymore. I've gone past that. You know, initially, and then you get— now you get— we've gone past that. I'm never sitting on a bench hoping Sam Cassell misses the shot so I can get back in the damn game. I'm like, yo, kill this dude, Sam. You know what I mean? Like, I never feel in competition. And that is how I feel on our show. I never feel in competition with those guys.
Have you ever felt like Shaq and Chuck would really get into it? I don't think people realize, like, some of those moments you have up there, like, you're still a human being, you still have an opinion, and at the end of the day, we're all competitive as hell.
Yeah. That's my job.
And so—
That's my job. Like, I'mma throw gasoline on the fire, but I also, I know I'm in charge of the extinguisher too. So when it gets that point and their egos are, here.
Absolutely.
Absolutely. I know my job at times is to take the pressure off of it being about Chuck and him and make it about me and him, or making it about me and Chuck at times too. So it's not where he's just like, "It's them," because they are here and they're ready to come. And then 5 minutes later, that's what I'm saying, 5 minutes later, we're in the back, They're picking each other up. Shaq is like, "I bet I can lift you up. I bet I can bench press you." 5 minutes after they were ready to just— That's what we know. We grew up in that. We understand that that is not long-lasting. But it's real. It's real.
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