Stephen A. Smith tells Draymond Green about nearly losing it with Terrell Owens on First Take, explaining how he keeps heated on-air debates from turning personal. He hand-picks guests and does pre-show briefings to ensure spirited but respectful arguments, and mentors analysts like Jay Williams and Will Cain.
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Is there ever a point where it really gets heated? Because I've been watching some debate TV, in which we'll get into it about. And to me, it looks like at times there could be some acting, number one. And at times it truly does get personal and really heated to where once those cameras go off, there may be some words exchanged.
Well, I would tell you this. I wouldn't go as far as saying when the camera went off, there's an exchange of words because Imma say what I have to say on camera since you wanted to say what you had to say on camera. I ain't gonna wait till we get off the air if you say something on the air. All right, you wanna bring it? Okay, here I am. For better or worse, I would tell you that there have been instances Jay Williams and I have gotten into heated discussions, but it's never affected our relationship 'cause we're pretty tight. I love my brother and it's cool. Will Cain, who used to be on ESPN and is now on Fox News, we got in a lot of heated discussions where we were very, very serious about what we were saying, but it never extended to off the air because I understood that he was different than me politically. His political makeup was different than mine anyway. So I expected those heated discussions. I remember the one time where things almost got— This is the one time I almost, almost lost it, when T.O. came on the air and said that Max seemed Blacker than me. Now, I addressed it on the air, but where it almost got dicey, there's a lot of stuff that has been involved with T.O. over the years. And it took everything in me not to go all in, not to really like, you know, because let's be very, very clear. I'm sorry if it offends anybody or anything like that. When it comes to what I do for a living, which is television and debate and stuff like that, Draymond, I ain't gonna lie, I think I'm the best on the planet. I just do. I just do.
I agree.
I literally don't worry about a human being when it comes to debate. I just don't. Especially on my platform. It's like, you got to be kidding me. And so when he walked into that lion's den, I had to remember my humanity. I had to remember, listen, I'm a brother, this is a brother. I disagree with him, I don't like it, et cetera, et cetera. And there are things that I could have brought up, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. But that was the closest that I had ever come to getting medieval. And there's a different element that was about to come out of me, but I stopped myself. Wow.
I think that's self-control, especially in what you do. Like, I think it teeters that line, right? Of like, yo, like you said, I'm not quite disrespecting you, but I'mma go at you. But the flip side that I think people don't realize is there's another human being involved and that have actual feelings. These are real people talking.
Right.
And you don't know how they may feel. So although you may be so grounded and your emotions and how to control those emotions, how to stay in that space of I'm debating and it's just that. But you don't necessarily know how that other person may feel. And how do you combat that per se?
Well, for me, you gotta remember, First Take is my show. I mean, Molly Karen works with me, she does a phenomenal job, but I'm the star of the show and now I'm the executive producer. And everybody— Congratulations, by the way. Thank you. And everybody that's come on the show been handpicked by me. And so what happens is, what I do, Dre, is I make sure I spoke to every single person on the show before they come on. This is what the show is. This is what it needs to be. I'm gonna challenge you. I want you to challenge me. We gonna make fun of each other. We gonna laugh. We gonna have a good time. And I said, when shots are fired, shots are fired. It's all in fun. And, you know, and when you make sure that you, you couch, you know, debates with that, not on an everyday basis or anything like that. Like I said, it was only one conversation with these folks. But they know, they know when I come on the air— listen, I've been blessed. I've been fortunate. I've been very successful at ESPN. They know I'm trying to make them successful. They know, you know, JJ knows I wanted him calling games. Richard Jefferson knows I wanted him calling games. You know, when Kimberly Martin or Monica McNutt, beautiful females who do a phenomenal job for us, they know I want them doing what they do for the league. Shania Ogwumike and the job that she's doing at NBA Today, phenomenal. You know, Matt Barnes doing his thing. Kendrick Perkins, I know y'all had your issues, all that stuff. Don't get me wrong, but that's my man. I love him. And I want him to do great things, just like I want you to do great things. I want Molly to do great things.
Appreciate it.
And when you have somebody that's in front of you, that's in my position that's not just rooting for you, but telling you and showing you I'm rooting for you and putting you in a position like— you gotta remember, there were times in the past on many occasions, whether it was with Skip Bayless, it was with Max Kellerman or anybody else, Draymond Green, I could have touched on issues, but I left it to them because America needed to hear from them, not me.
Facts.
On that particular issue. It's television. But you also gotta think about the audience. You gotta think about who that audience is and what kind of message you wanna send and who's best to send it. And so all of those decisions are made in real time. And when you have somebody that's the catalyst, like myself on First Take, that's letting you know, look, I'm gonna disagree with you. Our opinions are not phony, it's authentic. We're giving the audience what they want without giving them the vitriol. Without giving them the animosity or the hatred or nothing like that. Patrick Beverley comes on first, get up in First Take and he going off on CP3. Patrick Beverley's my man, like a little brother to me. I love Patrick Beverley. Know him, know his mother, know everybody. Known him for years. But I know he's not CP3. And I know that you can't talk about CP3 like he's some scrub. You can't do that. I mean, he's a Hall of Famer. What are you talking about? You know? So, so in other words, So I had to sit up there and challenge him on that without disrespecting him because I understand part of it is their history together. It wasn't him just talking. They have animosity towards one another.
You see what I'm saying?
Absolutely. And that's the difference. It's understanding that and then it's pulling him to the side and saying, look, bro, you got a future here. Don't waste your time. Being dominated by that issue. You can talk NBA, you don't have to talk CP3. Those are the kind of things. You helping them because I want him to be successful when his playing career is over. So I think about that and I just share that knowledge because to me, that's my responsibility.
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