The Big Interview: Darryl Dawkins on block parties, living with Doug Collins and playing with Kobe’s dad

Off the Bench intern Josiah Schlatter occasionally convinces pro athletes to talk to him. This is one of those times. — Ed.

OTB: I remember I read a book about you and the whole ‘Chocolate Thunder’ legend, you remember that book?

Darryl Dawkins: Yeah!

It talked about how you used to throw block parties back in West Philadelphia, in Overbrook, right?

Oh yeah man, we had a ball around there! We took down the whole block and brought out the turntables. We got a few people to flip the grill and we just beat it, man. We had a block party for two days.

I went to a block party thrown by Ron Artest last summer and it was an amazing time, but why do you think athletes don’t do stuff like that anymore?

We like to give back to the community but the problem is everybody’s so self conscious right now about if somebody comes up and gives a hug, are they going to be sued, or stuff along those lines, and I think that’s stopping a lot of people from interacting at a personal level. I mean, it really doesn’t stop me from doing what I do. I always like to have fun with the people for as long as I can live (chuckles).

It just seems like athletes are afraid of having fun in public these days, am I wrong?

Yeah they are and it’s because if you do one tiny thing wrong, it’s on the front page. And if they do something great, it’s on the back page in little tiny writing that nobody ever sees. They have to sell the papers so they’ll jump on anything.

I read an article in Sports Illustrated about the amazing intelligence of your former teammate Doug Collins. You played with him a lot of years.

Oh yeah, I LIVED with Doug Collins once when I was in Philadelphia. I lived with him for a month when I played in the Baker League, and I used to take his son Cris Collins around and he’d sit beside me and we’d be riding around town, this big black guy riding around with a tiny white kid in the car with him. That was a lot of fun! Doug is a good, good guy. A great basketball guy. If he gets some time in Philadelphia he WILL put a team together. But then you get a lot of business people looking at a team as an investment, if you want to think about money all the time then you’re going to get in the way.

You gotta let the people who know basketball handle basketball. Let Doug do what he do! And if you give him the right tools, he will do that. They’re talking about this draft coming up, is he going to pick the best player on the board or is he going to pick what the team needs? He knows what he wants to do.

I’m sure you’ve watched a lot of the NBA Playoffs, so what’s your take on Derrick Rose taking his Bulls so far with basically no viable second scoring option? What do they need to do?

When you have a guy like Deng over there, Deng doesn’t make his own shots. Yeah, if you pass it to him and he’s open he’ll make the shot, but that’s only if you can get it to him! And Boozer’s the only other guy who can really facilitate an offense, and he’s a power forward. If you double team Rose with some big guys, he ain’t that big of a guy. He’s going to use a ton of energy trying to get around the bigger defender, like LeBron for example, to find that open guy. He’s going to need some help.

I’ll always say I’m not a hater of Miami, but Dallas is playing some really good team ball right now. Hey, if Miami wins, Miami wins. We kind of expected that. But when it comes playoff times, it’s not about who’s the best team on paper, it’s the team that’s playing the best right now. And that’s who wins.

You were always known as a great showman. LeBron basically destroyed his public persona over the last year. How can he get it back?

If I was in that situation now, well, he made a lot of people mad. And some people are going to stay mad regardless of what happened. But by winning championships and doing the right things and being more visible in the community, and by letting them know you remember where you came from. You gotta make it seem like you’re an open guy who people can comfortable approach in public, like you’re real. If you try and make yourself seem like a God, that isn’t going to work. I’m not saying he doesn’t do good things, he just has to do more good things than he’s doing right now to get back in the good graces of the people.

Yep, like how Michael Vick got back in the good graces of society.

One good thing about America is that they will always give you a second chance provided you’re willing to work at it. If he works at it, it’ll get fixed. That’s the way of the world.

I read that Darrell Griffith is trying to go by ‘Dr. Dunkenstein’. Are you mad at him for trying to take one of your nicknames?

No, you know what, I had so many nicknames that if he chooses to take one, God bless him. I ain’t mad, he can have it!

What was your favorite nickname that you made up yourself?

Haha, well I never made up nicknames, they were all given to me! Some journalist who never saw me nicknamed me Chocolate Thunder. I was nicknamed the Master of Disaster, Pure Pleasure, Dr. Dunkenstein, and none of these were names I made for myself, people just came in and piled on. So I just rolled with the punches, man. You gotta know when to fold and when to hold.

When you were a rookie you were surrounded by some pretty good players, do you think it rubbed off? Did it make you into a good player?

Well, when I was a rookie, we didn’t much of a team, man! We had Harvey Catchings, Doug Collins, World B. Free, Joe Bryant, aka Kobe’s father, LeRoy Ellis, Fred Cartter, Freddie Boyd. Nah, we didn’t get great until that second year when George McGinnis and the Doc came in. Dr. J took over leadership.

World B. Free and me had to go one on one in practice, and I had to shoot outside the paint, and he had to shoot inside the paint. And it helped me with my ball handling and my skills outside. Got a pretty good little jumper out of it, and in return he learned how to play with the trees. So you can play with great players and pick up bad habits, or you can go out and improve each other. We just enjoyed playing the game.

You played with Joe Bryant, as you said. Did you ever think he had the ability to produce a superstar son of Kobe’s magnitude?

Joe was one of the most underrated players in the NBA. Joe played PG, SF, PF AND center. Joe could run, jump and shoot. He had a mind of his own! And sometimes it wasn’t what was best for the team. He was a heck of a player in his own right, and it’s sad that he’s overlooked because his son just blows everyone else away. Joe was a heck of a player.

So you weren’t surprised that he could produce a kid like Kobe.

Oh, definitely not surprised. Joe knew how to play the game and he knew how to dissect. He’d say, “Well that play failed because the pass needed to go here to here instead of here to here”. I’m sure he coached Kobe’s mind up. I’ve taught my kid how to pass and shoot, but I never really coached him up because sometimes that backfires on you and he gets burned out and you lose your son. Basketball’d him out, football’d him out. I don’t want to lose my kid. It only works for a select few.

What’s the true advantage of home court advantage?

I gotta be honest with you, when I start hearing people boo me I play better. I play better because you’re booing me and calling me a bum. I wasn’t a bum when I walked in there and I sure as hell ain’t going to be a bum when I leave. If they do something to reeeeeaaaally make a team mad, I’ve seen a team play exponentially better. Cheering for me? Yeah, I like that, and I’m going to put out what I think is my maximum energy but if people are saying I’m a ‘scrub’ and a ‘bum’, I’m going to play you even harder. Home court advantage? I think it’s just something stuck in people’s minds. There are teams winning everywhere now. It doesn’t matter where they are, if they’re playing better they’ll win.

I remember there was a play in the Bulls-Heat series where Taj Gibson was talking some pretty big smack to Chris Bosh, and all it did was motivate Bosh to play out of his mind and do a great spin move that resulted in a three point play. Gibson was benched on the spot. You think he should’ve been benched?

You gotta keep guys under control out there. They make a lot of money out there as it is so they feel entitled to talk. The people come to see them play! But if you have a giant asleep, let him sleep! Don’t wake him up! A guy like him who doesn’t really assert himself, you get him angry and he’s doing things he won’t normally do. Where’s that been all year? Well somebody assaulted his manhood and now he’s angry. I was always better when I was angry.

• As part of the One Million Poses campaign, for everyone in Philadelphia who uploads a picture of them doing the Captain’s pose to the Captain Morgan Facebook page, the Captain will donate $1 to the Urban Affairs Coalition of Philadelphia.