Dallas Mavericks assistant coach God Shammgod brings his legend to the NBA Finals

DALLAS – On the eve of the NBA Finals, Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving talked about the playing against his former team, the Boston Celtics, his past NBA Finals appearances, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and glowingly about God Shammgod.

There may not be a more well-known NBA assistant coach than Shammgod, the Mavericks’ dribbling guru. The Mavericks’ player development coach works closely with Irving, NBA All-Star guard Luka Dončić and the rest of Dallas’ players. But Shammgod is best known for his legendary ballhandling moves that have long been an internet hit, most notably his signature Shammgod move that Dončić and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, among others, have used in games.

“Man, shout-out to God Shammgod,” Irving said during NBA Finals media day June 5. “He’s been imperative in just helping me grow, enjoying the game every single day, competing. I feel like he’s just one of my uncles just from Harlem, New York, that’s there to give me a little s— when I need it but be honest all the time. [To] Remind me this is bigger than basketball.

“Shout-out to God Shammgod. He’s helped me a lot this year, been there every single day to help work me out. Also inspire the next generation. He does it in his own way. I’m just following his footsteps, just like other uncles of mine who have done great things in this world.”

Shammgod talked exclusively to Andscape during Mavericks media availability June 8 in Boston about the origin of his storied dribbling skills, being mentored by NBA legend Nate “Tiny” Archibald, the impact the famed Rucker Park in New York City had on him, teaching dribbling to Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant, the mistake of leaving Providence College early for the NBA, his childhood friendship with rappers Ma$e and Cam’ron, how his dribbling wasn’t welcomed during his short NBA career, losing 50 pounds, his championship dreams and more in the following Q&A.

How do you feel about your legend and the love NBA players give you?

For me, it’s a humbling experience. I know it’s a unique experience. And I know it’s only from God because it’s organic. It’s not metaphors. I wish it could be in the [Basketball] Hall of Fame if I could pick anything else. But God made this journey better than the first journey.

How did you learn how to dribble?

Man, that’s a real funny story. So, I was born in Brooklyn. When I moved to Harlem, I went to a park called Rucker Park, and it just so happened that Mase and Cam’ron were two of my best friends. So, at that point I never played basketball. So, Mase took me to Rucker Park and there was an all-star game. I was 13 years old. My father used to train fighters like Mark Breland and boxers in USA [Boxing]. So, I grew up in boxing because my father’s a Five-Percenter. I grew up Muslim, militant. So, we didn’t do sports. At that point, I had never seen the [New York] Knicks play. So, I knew nothing about basketball at that point.

So then when I moved to Harlem, the only thing you could do in Harlem was sell drugs or play basketball. At that point, my father got put in jail for robberies. So, I knew I wasn’t going to sell drugs. I knew I didn’t want to go to jail. My mother used to always take me to visit him. Terrible experience. So then when I got to Harlem, everybody was about basketball, basketball, basketball…

So, I went to Rucker Park and it was the first time I fell in love with anything in my life. So, it was Malloy ‘The Future’ Nesmith, ‘Master’ Rob [Hockett], [Gerald] ‘Dancing Doogie’ [Thomas], Lloyd ‘Swee’ Pea’ Daniels. So, these are people I’d never even heard of. So, when I saw them play, I was so overwhelmed with the crowd. They were coming in fancy cars. Money. And this is the first time I’ve ever seen Black people in a positive way, because in Brooklyn all they did was steal, rob and stuff like that. It was really tough. So, when I got to Harlem, it was more glamour. You got the Apollo [Theater]. Any famous singer, they’d go to Apollo and stuff like this [that’s] more positive. And the only person that was rapping then was, rest in peace, Big L in Harlem, there was Black excellence like you see in Atlanta now.

I will never forget, at halftime at Rucker Park, Malloy The Future, he got on one knee and dribbled between his legs at half court. That was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. So now I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ At this point I’ve never seen Walt Frazier. I never seen none of those Knicks. So, I was like there is no way there is anybody better than these [Rucker Park] kids … I was going back to park saying, ‘I’m Future. I’m Malloy Nesmith. I’m Master Rob. I’m [Tyrone] ‘Alimoe’ [Evans]. He lived in the same block as me, ‘The Black Widow,’ rest in peace. They were like our superheroes.

So, then every day I just sneak to the park and just practice, dribble, practice, dribble, practice, dribble. So, I started learning how to dribble, and then I used to always just do fancy moves.

You were mentored during your youth in Harlem by Hall of Famer Nate “Tiny” Archibald. How did that come about?

Then, I went to a junior high school called 275, and my gym teacher was Tiny Archibald. At this point, I don’t know anything about NBA. So, I’m doing all these tricks, everything Malloy was doing, jumping between the legs, throwing passes. Yeah, I thought it was cool. I’m doing all the tricks. So, people in the school were like, ‘Shammgod can do all the tricks with dribbling.’ But I couldn’t play.

So, I remember being in gym doing all these moves. So, this old guy comes up to me and he’s like, ‘Hey, you should stop doing that. You should really learn how to dribble.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ Excuse my language. And I was like, ‘Who the f— is this old dude telling me how to play? Get the f— out of here.’ So, then he’s like, ‘Oh, you don’t listen …’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t got to listen to no old guy.’ So now I’m getting interested in basketball. My friend brings me a VHS tape called Below the Rim in 1989. It’s ‘J-Kidd’ [Mavs coach Jason Kidd], Magic Johnson, Kevin Johnson, Tim Hardaway, all these people. So, I’m fascinated seeing real NBA players. So, in the middle of the tape, they showed old school players. [Earl] ‘The Pearl’ [Monroe], ‘Pistol’ Pete [Maravich] and Tiny Archibald.

In my school I know him as Nate Archibald. So, I’m not putting two to two together. So, I go to school and I’m like just looking at [Archibald]. I go to him and say, ‘Hey, do you have a son that played in the NBA? I saw his tape and there was some guy named Tiny Archibald.’ He said, ‘That’s me.’ And I’m like, ‘No way, no way. Why didn’t tell me you played in the NBA?’ He’s like, ‘Because you young guys think you know everything and you don’t listen. Why should I have to tell you that? I was trying to give you correct information.’ And from that point on with everything he said, I listened. Then I used to go to the park to practice.

I would go to the park every night and I would be under this light and I would just dribble, dribble. I would put ankle weights on when I dribbled. Then I got so obsessive. I used to look at the floor because of my shadow and believed that one day I could shake my shadow. So, I used to dribble so hard. At this point, Ma$e and Cam’ron were good in basketball, they was going to parties and stuff. So, they had come walk past the park at night and see me in there, and I was [obsessed]. This would be 1, 2 in the morning. I got six other siblings. My mom wasn’t tripping as long as I was [at the park]. I was in the park doing all these moves and then I would never play. So, people were like, ‘Yo, we got to play.’ I’d be like, ‘No, I’m nice. You ain’t any good.’ But I wasn’t any good until I built up the confidence to play. And then after that I started playing for a team called Young Life with Rafer Alston, Stephon Marbury, Kareem Reid, Cam’ron and Mase. And that after that, it just took off. Kept growing. Kept developing. Then I watched film in slow motion looking at footwork and handwork. And the rest is where we are at right now.

What was the key to your creativity as a dribbling?

It’s the same thing as Steph Curry shooting or [Michael] Jordan shooting the fadeaway. You practice so much. I train people to be reactional. I can teach 10 people how to dribble. Two are going to dribble better than eight and one is going dribble better than nine because of creativity. I didn’t fear. I didn’t care about turning the ball over and stuff like that. If you make somebody learn to react, then they will always have a different movement every time. If you make somebody robotic, then it’s hard for them to change in the middle. My motto used to always be, ‘Dribble so much that you’re comfortable in uncomfortable situations.’ That was my whole thing to always be comfortable in uncomfortable situations.

And even the Shammgod move, I was trying to do another move when I was starting to really learn about basketball. I was obsessed with Kenny Anderson. Kenny Anderson was the No. 1 player in the country in high school. Then he went to Georgia Tech. So, I was trying to do a move Kenny Anderson did, and I just happened to mess up and the defender tried to go get the ball and the only thing I could do is snatch back. And then because I watched film, I’m like, ‘Oh, this is all right. This could work.’ And then I used to always practice against my boy Corey Wright at Providence every day, every night. And then I started doing it in games, and then I did it on national TV against Arizona. And then the rest is history.

There has been an evolution in dribbling in NBA games where there is much more flair than what you were allowed when you played for the Washington Wizards from 1997-99. Why is that?

When I played, they had [big men] like Shaquille O’Neal, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson. You couldn’t come down and do all these moves and dribble and stuff like that. When I got NBA, they was like, ‘You are dribbling too much, you’re too fancy, this and that.’ And I used to be like, ‘I’m from New York. I’m stubborn.’ ‘You don’t know what y’all talking about.’ Coaches hate it. And now 25-30 years later, I guess I was right. Now everybody truly loves you. So that’s why players relate with me so much.

I meet so many kids young, whether it’s Kyrie, whether it’s Trae Young. I knew these kids at 14. I had P.J. [Washington] at 14. So, people reach out to me and are like, ‘Hey, can you teach my kids how to dribble?’ What happens is because I go above and beyond, then it resonates to the players. I try to teach the players that it’s mostly mental, too.

What was the biggest compliment you have received from NBA players?

Chauncey Billups and I have been best friends since we were 15. When he was an assistant coach with the [LA] Clippers and I was an assistant coach at Providence, he asked me to come up to a game in Boston. So, I go to the game and he said, ‘Chris Paul wants to meet you.’ So, I meet Chris and he said, ‘If it wasn’t for you and Tim Hardaway when I was coming up, I wouldn’t have played basketball.’ I said, ‘OK.’ He said, ‘Do you think I’m playing?’ Then he FaceTimed his friend and said, ‘Yo, look who I am with.’ His friend said, ‘Oh, is that Shammgod? We used to watch him so much.’ That meant a lot.

The top one that meant the most was I was 17 years old and I met a young kid from Italy, Kobe Bryant. His father asked me if I can show him how to dribble. I was a camp counselor and he played on my team at ABCD Camp. I was like, ‘I don’t want to show your son how to dribble. He’s a ball hog. He thinks he’s [Michael] Jordan. So, I tried to mess with him and I told him I’d be at the gym at 6:30 [a.m.] because I thought it be too early for him. I get there and he’s in a full sweat already. So, I’m showing him all this dribble stuff and that one thing turned into a 30-year relationship.

And then it came full circle because before his untimely demise, he called me. He said, ‘Can you come train my daughter?’ And I flew there and I worked his daughter out. His daughter dribbled for four hours, no exaggeration. Two hours in the morning. Two hours in the afternoon. And she acted just like him, obsessed. And then that night I worked out all the girls, and I have a picture in my house, and it’s me, Kobe, and all the girls that were in the [helicopter] accident.

From our first interaction to 25 years later he trusts me with his daughter. And then the other day, when somebody asks Kyrie what I meant to him, then he said what he said, those things are organic. Those things are things I could have never thought of. I could have played in the NBA 25 years and not get those things. So, it means a lot because I get to live in my inspiration every day whereas most people don’t know what they meant to people. But because I’m in the NBA, because [Mavericks owner] Mark Cuban blessed me to be on this team, when people do the Shammgod, I’m right there.

What did you think about Luka using the Shammgod move in a game?

I didn’t know he was going to do it at that time. You get a young kid from Slovenia, a whole other country, who comes here and says, ‘Man, people in my country love you.’ One thing you want to do is make your job better than how you found it. And I know when I’m gone, I would have made basketball better because every little kid that’s born will always learn my name without knowing me. Every kid that’s born, if you get to a certain age, first move, they’re saying, ‘Hey, you got to learn how to do the Shammgod.’

There nothing better than that. And I take pride in that, and I always try to give people the correct information, bring people together and have a family atmosphere.

What would you tell a young kid who wants to dribble like you?

I would tell them to be fearless, to be creative and don’t back down when people are telling you you too fancy. You learn from mistakes. Grow from mistakes and be obsessed with it. If you look at anybody that’s great, whether it’s rapping — Lil Wayne or Jay-Z — these people are obsessed with their craft. And I would tell anybody in your field, you want to be a great writer, you want to be this, that, you got to be obsessed. Since the beginning of the time, people that are great they have one thing in common: They’re obsessed to where it’s borderline [crazy].

Some people might be like, ‘Oh, they’re crazy,’ at certain times when you are watching Kobe, when you are watching Jordan, when you are watching Floyd Mayweather. The thing that is a blessing through my journey is these people are actually my friends. Floyd is my friend, Jay-Z is my friend. Mark Cuban is my friend. So, their personality just automatically aligned with my personality when it comes to it. So, when I look back, I’m like, man, I wasn’t wrong.

What are your future aspirations coachingwise?

I just want to keep growing what I’m saying right now as assistant coach, head of player culture. So, I want to keep growing. I want to one day be a [NBA] GM because I know talent. I know people that fit. So, I have a lot of aspirations. But the one thing that I would never do, I would never speed up God’s progress. I did that one time in my life and it didn’t work out how I wanted to, and that was leaving school early from Providence.

If I’d have come back the next year, I’d would’ve been an All-American and a top five [draft pick]. So since then, I always said I would always be the best version of myself in the moment that God has me in. After that, the sky is the limit. I know I could see full well that his plan for me is better than my plan. This right here will last longer than any playing career because I’m more famous than people that played in the NBA for 20 years and are in the Hall of Fame.

You were the 45th overall pick in the second round of the 1997 NBA draft by the Wizards and lasted two years in the NBA. Afterward, you played professionally in American minor leagues, Poland, China, Croatia and Kuwait. How do you reflect on your NBA career?

At that point, I thought it was all about basketball, all about talent. And when you get in the NBA, you find out it’s way more than that. There’s a lot of different decisions. There’s a lot of different things that go into it. And I’m living proof of that …

When I was coming to the NBA with the Wizards, I didn’t have that type of [player development] that you have now. At that time, there wasn’t player development. There weren’t 10, 20 to 30 coaches. You got to get in where you fit in, and if it don’t work, then OK, you got to move on. Now the way the NBA did, they did an amazing job of helping these kids. And I always think back like, man, if I had a player development coach that was flying into New York, working me out in the summer, no telling where I would’ve been because I had the talent …

Imagine if I had that extra mile. My job is to bring whatever’s in you out of you. Your foundation is your foundation. You only can make it a little better or a little bit worse. My job is to make you a little bit better and to stay away from the worst and that will help you stick around.

You lost over 50 pounds this season. What was the motivation?

Because of the way I was raised, I have an obsessed personality. So, if I love something, I’m all in. So that’s why it was easy for me to lose 52 pounds in two months when I made the bet with Luca. If I want Luca to be in shape, I got to be in shape. So, it’s just team-building stuff, so we made a bet.

What would it mean for you to get an NBA championship ring?

It would mean the world to me because it’s just so many things that came full circle, whether it’s Kyrie, whether it’s Luca, whether it’s Kidd, whether it’s Nico [Harrison] being a new GM and stuff like that. For me, I take pride in all that and I take pride in doing my part to help all versions as well as myself.

So, for me, being a kid from Brooklyn, New York, Harlem, you know how much it would mean to my neighborhood. Just when you don’t think it turned out right, it turned out. It don’t always have to be your version of the story. God has his version of the story. And if you walk that path, then it’s going to be better.