Who is God Shammgod’s favorite point guard? What’s Paul Pierce’s favorite sports movie? Boardroom has all the answers.
Basketball stars past and present converged on the Midnight Theatre in the Hudson Yards section of Manhattan on Tuesday night for the premiere of NYC POINT GODS. The film looks at the iconic point guards of the 1980s and ’90s, highlighting how their impact on the playgrounds of New York City still resonates today. NYC POINT GODS debuts Friday night on Showtime.
Boardroom spoke with a dozen big names on the red carpet and went rapid-fire on several topics:
Who’s your favorite point guard of all time?
God Shammgod: Kenny Anderson
Paul Pierce: Magic Johnson
Kenny Anderson: Tiny Archibald
Mark Jackson: Magic Johnson
Metta Sandiford-Artest: God Shammgod
Nancy Lieberman: Me
Omar Cook: Stephon Marbury. He’s five years older than me and I got to watch him play, and he was my favorite.
Rafer Alston: Isiah Thomas, but all these New York City guys are my favorite.
Rich Kleiman: Mark Jackson. That’s easy, bro.
Smush Parker: Rod Strickland
Stephen Jackson: Magic Johnson
Tracy McGrady: Jason Kidd. He’s a pure point guard, passing, very cerebral, fast, knows the game, sees a play before anyone else. He’s that guy.
What current NBA point guard could survive in the old school New York City playgrounds?
Shammgod: Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving, Stephen Curry, James Harden.
Anderson: Kyrie Irving
Mark Jackson: LeBron James
Sandiford-Artest: Russell Westbrook
Cook: Probably Ja Morant. He’s got a lot of flash to him. He’s got a lot of toughness to him.
Alston: Damian Lillard
Kleiman: Chris Paul, Ja Morant, Kyrie, obviously.
McGrady: Kyrie
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Who’s one point guard you would never want to defend?
Shammgod: Pearl Washington
Anderson: Kyrie Irving
Sandiford-Artest: Oh my goodness. Ed Booker Smith.
Lieberman: Kyrie
Cook: Washington.
Alston: Allen Iverson. He was relentless, just non-stop he’s gonna attack, attack, attack.
Kleiman: Kyrie
Parker: Kyrie
Stephen Jackson: Shammgod. He can back you up all the way to the rim and he can still cross you over.
McGrady: I’ll guard all of them.
When you think of New York City basketball, what song comes to mind?
Shammgod: “Come Home With Me,” by Cam’ron, Juelz Santana, and Jim Jones.
Anderson: “I Ain’t No Joke,” by Eric B & Rakim.
Mark Jackson: “Empire State Of Mind,” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.
Sandiford-Artest: Queensbridge music. All Queensbridge music. Doesn’t matter. You already know.
Lieberman: “New York, New York,” by Frank Sinatra
Cook: “Empire State Of Mind.”
Alston: Any Nas song.
Kleiman: Oh, man. A lot of Mobb Deep, a lot of Jay-Z, a lot of Teddy Riley and Guy because they used to play that at the Garden before they would warm up for games. But just all that early ’90s hip-hop and late ’80s R&B.
Parker: “Welcome To New York City,” by Cam’ron, Jay-Z, and Juelz Santana.
Stephen Jackson: “Empire State Of Mind.”
McGrady: “Empire State Of Mind.”
What’s your all-time favorite sports movie?
Shammgod: “Love & Basketball.” What are we doing? Come on, man. That’s the easy one.
Pierce: “Remember The Titans.”
Anderson: “Remember The Titans?” That’s a good one. Oh no, “He Got Game.” I think that was a story that I could live through. That’s a great story. One that you could relate to.
Mark Jackson: “NYC POINT GODS.”
Sandiford-Artest: The one with Tupac and Duane [Martin], “Above The Rim.”
Lieberman: “A League Of Their Own.”
Cook: “Above The Rim.” I just remember waking up at 7 in the morning, going to the park, working out by myself and I got that from the movie.
Alston: “Above The Rim.”
Kleiman: Maybe “Remember The Titans,” “Above The Rim,” “Hoosiers,” “Field Of Dreams.” But I say “Hoosiers” now though and people look at me like I’m old as hell. So I don’t say that as much.
Parker: I’m gonna go with “The Air Up There.”
