Andre Iguodala’s Ex-Teammate Sees Big Future in Basketball for Heat Forward

Andre Iguoadala is three-time NBA Champion as a member of the Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson-led Golden State Warriors.

Iguodala, now a member of the Miami Heat was NBA Finals MVP in 2015 and has career averages of 12.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.

Before his days with the Warriors, Iguodala spent time with the Philadelphia 76ers and played with the Houston Rockets’ Lou Williams and Naismith Hall of Famer, Allen Iverson.

On this week’s episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast, I discussed the 76ers days with his former Philly teammate, Marreese Speights.

Additionally, we discussed his role with Ice Cube’s Big 3.

Check out our Q&A below:

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Welcome to the podcast!

Marreese Speights: Thanks for having man, I’m excited for it. I gotta have a session with my guy Scoop, so I’m excited for it!

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: But of course man! Me and you met in January when we were both going to the Celebrity Basketball Game at that week in Tampa. You said you were going to do something big and you did it!

Marreese Speights: Yeah man, I feel like this is the best situation for me and my family and all the organizations and all the businesses that I have going on down here, is the best situation for me and my family AND the BIG3 so I’m excited for it man…

GettyMarreese Speights of the LA Clippers celebrates his pass for a dunk to DeAndre Jordan during a Jazz win at Staples Center.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: When you look at the BIG3 and guys like Joe Johnson, and other guys that you know have kind of revitalized their careers and had a shelf life, how is that going to help you similarly?

Marreese Speights: I think that the BIG3 does a great job since the last – since they been started, about the publicity and putting guys on the big stage kind of like the NBA; playing CBS, playing on ESPN, playing on all of the different TV outlets. For me as a 32 year old playing that, and I still can play at the highest level, it’s going to help me out a lot and benefit me a lot. Guys seeing me out there in shape and being able to do the things I do. And that’s the biggest thing that I’m going to get from it.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: The 16th overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft Marreese Speights on the line with Scoop B Radio… Brother, I don’t know even where to start – first of all I went to college in the Philadelphia area and I remember when you played for the 76ers [2009-2011]… and I went to Eastern University down the street from Villanova by the King of Prussia Mall. When I watched that Sixers team. To me, the thing that always stood out was Andre Iguodala, Lou Williams, yourself… I feel like 30 for 30 should do a documentary on your team because they were ahead of its time. Do you miss those Sixers days?

Marreese Speights: Yeah I ain’t gonna lie man, it was a brotherhood man. We was young and it was fun, and a lot of people were starting to come on and understanding that and then so many things happened. Things that happen in the League and the team kind of broke up. Like you said, that team would’ve been dangerous if we would’ve kept the same core of the guys that we were getting. That team would’ve been REAL dangerous. It was exciting man, being on that team.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: In your rookie season you had a .502 FG average and you played in 79 games averaging 77.3%. I feel that there were still dominant big man in that era. In that pre-Warriors era. If you started today, do you think that you’d dominate the NBA with that type of statistics like you did in your rookie season?

Marreese Speights: If I started, explain that to me a little bit more —

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: So I feel like the big man is making a comeback. Hybrid big man like DeAndre Ayton, Joel Embiid of the Sixers and I feel like the big man is making a comeback. I think post-Warriors dominance in the NBA Finals. Not taking anything away from your Championship team. If you yourself, who was drafted in 2008 start in the NBA today, with the reemergence of the big man do you think that you would pick up where you left off as if when you were a rookie currently in the NBA?

Marreese Speights: It just depends because I never really started you know what I’m sayin’? I started when I went to Memphis [Grizzlies], so it’s different when you’re coming off the bench and starting but back then if I had the opportunity like a lot of people to come in and start I would have probably been different…but you’ll never know – even in my last year in Orlando, I was still coming in the game and my plus/minus and my points per 48 were always the top 20 in the League. So if I ever got an opportunity to start like I did in Memphis, ah man I would never know what would happen with that so, yeah because I had confidence in my game and my ability especially my rookie year, my ability to jump, and my athleticism was way crazier… so yeah I probably would.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson:  The Golden State Warriors are kind of having a down year. There’s been injuries; Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, Andre Iguodala is now in Miami and Draymond Green is probably the ‘iron man’ of that team currently. If injuries weren’t an issue, where would you see the Golden State Warriors being currently?

Marreese Speights: Top 5 in the West. 

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson:  What was it like playing for a championship team like the Golden State Warriors?

Marreese Speights:  It’s a family. It’s a whole family. So Golden State — The whole organization, the whole city, and the whole state of California and all the people who follow them is like being in college again. Anywhere you go, they’re always going to be right there to support you for what you do for the city and all that, so it was like a dream come true.  If you’re an NBA player coming into the League, that’s the kind of situation you want to be in. It’s a family. They treat everybody right, treat your family right everybody that has something to do with you. That’s one thing. They were the first type of organization that treats the family just like the players like – it’s crazy man. And that was straight up the BEST time of my career. The best time of my life to meet all of those people in North California and just build relationships with people that I’ll never forget. 

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson:  You played with Andre Iguodala in Philadelphia and then was a teammate of his in Golden State. My question is where did you see his growth from the beginning to that point in Golden State? 

Marreese Speights:  Well with Andre you gotta understand I was in Philly with him when he was a little younger. And a lot of people really didn’t like him here in Philly. For me, I saw his growth by always coming to work no matter what’s going on outside of the court, and he would just go hard every day. Then when I seen him in Golden State, I knew he was a whole different player because he went through Denver and he stayed up there for a year, he did what he did and got them to the playoffs and then came to the Warriors – he’s always been a really smart guy, he knows plays before they happen and all that kind of stuff ; I can definitely see him as a GM or coach one day. Or maybe even an owner or something one day. That’s what kind of understanding – that’s how smart he is. After seeing his growth as a younger player ‘til he got a little older… and he always knew how to play this game the RIGHT way and always guiding the guys the RIGHT way. And that’s good man.