HOOP: We do this interview on a sad day for the NBA with the news of Wayman Tisdale's passing. Having had your own battle with cancer, what are your thoughts when you hear about guys in the NBA family like Wayman or Coach Daly, who passed away recently?
EJ: Obviously, everybody remembers Chuck as a coach. But when I was just starting out at Turner and I was doing the show by myself at that time, we used to bring in guests during the playoffs, everybody from Barkley to Shaq and different coaches. I remember, it may have been my first year in studio, they said "We're bringing in Chuck Daly for the next two nights," and I was so intimidated. I was thinking "Oh man, here's this guy, I've never met him. He has this championship resume. What's he going to be like?" But he was just such a gentleman, treated me like I'd been doing this for 40 years and it was just so special. He was amazing.
I didn't know Wayman as well, but I knew him in passing and then saw him at All-Star Weekend at the Legends Brunch, and was able to talk to him there a little bit and recognize him. In fact, I wrote a poem for the event and included him in it as one of the legends there, and I think the line I wrote about him was how cancer couldn't steal his smile. And it was true. He maintained a wonderful attitude, while he was going through a lot.
It's awfully sad to see both of them pass, in a week's time, basically. After you've gone through cancer, you know what some of these guys have gone through and a lot of people have gone through much, much more than I did in my treatment, but your heart just goes out to them and you prayers go out to their families.

HOOP: How is your health today?
EJ: Never better. I'm in the best shape of my life. I've never felt better. It was three years ago this summer for my treatment. Everything's going great.

Courtesy of TNT Sports

HOOP: You were a Christian before you got cancer and have talked publicly about how your faith helped you deal with it. But did going through that whole experience change you at all?
EJ: If anything, it strengthened my faith. It really did. It's one of those things where if you try to tackle that alone, it can be very disheartening because there's nothing that you yourself can do. You can do what the doctors tell you, and hope for the best. Really my perspective on the whole thing was that we all have journeys that we're on, and everybody deals with these "valley moments." You know, along with the mountain top moments that you feel in your life, you go through these valleys. I really just rested in the fact that this was part of His plan for me. If it was up to me, it wouldn't have been part of my plan, but I rested in the fact that He was taking me somewhere through this process and good would come out of it. I remain steadfast in that belief to this day.

HOOP: You mentioned your poetry again. What is it that you enjoy about poetry?
EJ: I've always been into creative writing and that's just been a way to do that. I wrote one around 9-11, too. So it helps me deal with some things. It's not all yucks. It's a way to express myself and kind of work out some things that I'm feeling at that time.



HOOP: You're on TV almost every night during the playoffs. How difficult is that on your family life?  
EJ: It always is. It's a drain on all the responsibilities that we have around the house, but my wife Cheryl is just unbelievable. We don't have four kids in the house anymore, but for a long time it was four in the house. But still we have two at home. We have a sophomore in high school and Michael is 20, and is wheelchair bound with muscular dystrophy and special needs, so it's a 24 hour a day job with him. So yeah, it's difficult, but we get through that playoff grind somehow.

HOOP: Which current NBA player would make a good broadcaster or studio analyst?
EJ: Man, that's hard. Chris Paul is always good on the air. We've had him as a guest before. Lamar Odom was a good guest when we had him in. If you look at guys who are comfortable in front of the camera... Shaq might be good... I knew Steve Kerr would be good when he was playing with San Antonio. He's such a good interview and has a quick wit, and is well spoken. It's guys like that you can look at, and say "He could make it." It's tough to gauge. It's a different animal. It really is. Somebody could be really outgoing and they may say a lot, but unless they're willing to go out there on a limb a little bit and say the things that might not be popular... if you're just going to repeat the obvious, fans at home can say that. So I think that's what you have to have. In addition to having the personality to be on, you have to have the where with all to say what's on your mind. That's not an easy thing.

HOOP: Speaking of not easy things, how challenging is it for your producers at TNT with the sort of unplanned nature of your discussions?
EJ: The producer, Tim Connolly, and I know what video we have available, what graphics we have, what direction we might want to go with the show, but that is certainly subject to change if Charles has got something else on his mind, or if Kenny and Charles get into it on another front. TK is great at switching gears and letting us go, and I think that's really the key to the show, having that freedom.

HOOP: Okay, one last curveball. Were you really that bad at baseball?
EJ: Well, my one year of college baseball we won the division in the SEC. We won the East but got beat by LSU for the SEC championship. That was a great time, even though I didn't get to play that much. It was a blast, my stats not withstanding. I think I was like 2-for-17 from the plate that year.