A Candid Chat with Jalen Rose About the Fab Five, Trash-Talking MJ, and Reconciling with Chris Webber
The NBA player opens up about Michigan glory days and strained brotherhood
By Clay Skipper12 hours ago
"It was the bling-bling era. We were two chains, two bracelets, one watch," Jalen Rose tells me. "Our clothes were oversized. We did everything big. Bigger."
He's talking about the '90s, but really, he could be talking about any time in the life of Jalen Rose. Because it's that big personality—outsized even for his long, 6'8" frame—that's always imbued Jalen with a certain magnetic swagger, an irrefutable cool. He had it when he joined Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson at Michigan, five freshmen who Voltroned to become the "Fab Five", the coolest team to ever step on hardwood. (And one of the most scandalized off of it—Michigan does not recognize them and erased all their wins; Chris Webber has distanced himself from the other four.) It's what carried him through a 16-year, six-team NBA career, where he faced off against MJ's Three-Peat Bulls and Shaq and Kobe's Three-Peat Lakers. ("That was the best basketball I been a part of.") And it's what makes him one of the most loved analysts on ESPN, where he's more open and honest than most professional athletes about a life we can only dream about.
That and more is all there in his new book Got To Give The People What They Want. So we called him and asked if he could give us what we wanted. Namely, a crash course in trash-talk, insight into whether or not MJ can still ball, and the question that hovers over him constantly, a black cloud shading everything: will the Fab Five ever reconcile—that is to say, will he and Chris Webber ever be friends again?
The beginning of this interview is going to hurt a little bit, because we need to talk about the end of that Michigan/Michigan State game.
O-M-G. Okay, let’s do that. A couple of things. I bleed Maize and Blue and I joke that Jim Harbaugh is my dad, biologically. We got a little cute. We were doing a rugby style punt. That’s a hard play to get on the move. That’s [number] one.
Two: We had just called a timeout and I know for a fact, they told this young man, “If anything goes wrong, just fall on it. If you get confused, fall on it. If you get nervous, fall on it.” So that part didn’t happen.
And lastly, I joke about this all the time. This is one of the things I appreciate in my life. I’m most humble when people say, I named my son or daughter after you. Okay? Now, I know there are a lot of Denzel’s and Shaquille’s. I love both of them and they’ve accomplished way more than I could ever dream of. But all of those kids are black. Jalen is a universal name and girls also are named Jalen. So of course the person who picks up the fumble and runs it in, his name is Jalen. I’m like, okay, really?
I just imagine you sitting there texting your Michigan State fans trash talking, and then being like, Oh. shyt.
I was tweeting about it! I was all in. I was feeling myself too much to talk trash to the people I was with. That was too easy. I was talking trash to the whole world.
What would have happened if Twitter had existed when the Fab Five was in school?
The only time I’d be on ABC would be breaking news, and it wouldn’t be positive. Just no. That would not be good.
You’d have quite the following I’d imagine.
But it wouldn’t be because I’m doing what I’m doing for a living.
Back to trash-talk. You give a five-point primer in your book on trash-talking. Number five is: be prepared for the consequences. You have a specific example of when your trash-talking led to unfortunate consequences?
I’ll give a current events example. It’s one thing to date one of your ex [player’s] wives. It’s another thing to date Matt Barnes’ ex-wife. That’s exactly what I mean. Pay attention to not only what you’re saying or doing, but who you’re saying and doing it with. So growing up, playing basketball on the Northwest side of Detroit, you could talk all the trash you want. But you might say the wrong thing to the wrong person who isn’t focused on going to high school and getting a college degree—not trying to play college basketball—that’s where the term “pop the trunk” comes from. You don’t want to be bumpin’ your gums to the wrong people at the wrong place on the wrong day.
What’s the worst thing you’ve said that I can print?
It’s the comments that were said in the Fab Five documentary, that we used to call Duke players Uncle Toms. That was probably the thing that as I look back at, that was the thing that crossed the line. At 42, you wouldn’t have said those type of things, but we were dumb and young and trying to beat ‘em, and that’s why we never got lucky. That’s why we were 0-4 against them maybe.
"The stogies MJ's been smoking the last 20 years alone, he can't get out there and run up and down the court. He ain't beating nobody that's getting paid a check."
What’s the worst thing you’ve heard someone say on the court?
All kinds of crazy stuff. I don’t really wanna validate them. I’ll tell you what, the most hostile and angry trash talker ever is Gary Payton.
There’s really nothing sacred when it comes to trash talk?
Not at all. Let me tell all you want to do. You want to have more points than the other guy, and play better. That’s all you want. You don’t want: you out picking up your kids on a Wednesday, and that dude come rolling up with his dudes from the neighborhood, saying, “What you say in the third quarter?”
You've told that story about dunking on MJ when he was on the Wizards late in his career. You also said you got ejected for talking junk. What'd you say to him?
Oh, maaaan. I’m from Detroit. We didn’t wear Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan wasn’t the GOAT [Greatest of All Time] to us. I felt like I was on the Pistons when we walked off and didn’t shake their hands. That’s my team. So while I knew he was the GOAT, I didn’t accept it. So it was the same thing when I got to Indy. Those were the two cities that will still boo him to this day. And when he won, it was because of that [being the GOAT].
But now, you on the Wizards?! Oh, okay, let’s do this. So that’s what it was. I was having a good game—I think I had like 30—I did a good move, and one time I got a tech, and then I did another move, I dunked it, then I got a tech, and me and him was jawing. The difference was: I got ejected. And he’s Michael Jordan.
Sounds like he still thinks he can take some of the current guys in the NBA in 1-on-1.
Naaaaw. I love, MJ, right? Okay. The stogies he been smoking the last 20 years alone, he can’t get out there and run up and down the court. Stop.
You think could take him right now in a game of 1-on-1?
Oh, he could beat me probably. But he ain’t beating nobody that’s getting paid a check.
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What was it like playing with Reggie Miller? I feel like we see so much of Steph Curry in practice and behind-the-scenes because we have access to everything with Instagram and Twitter, but we never got any of that with Reggie.
Well, here’s the deal. Let me squash a couple things. The greatest set shooter ever? Larry Joe Bird. Period. The best coming off screen? Reginald Miller. And the best off the dribble? Steph Curry. There is no gray for me.
Where’s that leave Ray Allen?
Right behind Reggie. Ray-Ray, right in the mix. He’s next. He’s right there. If I played with him 6 years, I’d probably swap him with Reggie. But I didn’t. If he was my older brother, I’d probably swap him. But he ain’t. Ray’s right there, but I gotta give my guy Reggie the nod.
