The Post’s Steve Serby went one-on-one with the late-season arrival who energized the Knicks during their strong finish on the way to the No. 2 seed.
Q: How would you sum up your on-court mentality?
A: I take the fight to people. I never play on my heels. I’m always the aggressor, in every situation.
Q: Do you think you’ve been misrepresented as a player?
A: By who, though? That’s the thing.
Q: By media, fans …
A: The teams I’ve played on, they love me. The people that I play against? They don’t like me. That’s a good thing.
Q: You’re one of those guys who doesn’t like anybody in the other color uniform.
A: Not at all. I love my guys, I love who I’m on the team with at the time. I’m not takin’ nothin’ from nobody — opposing coaches, players. I’m out there to win, and whatever it takes to win, that’s what I’m out there to do. I’m out there to win basketball games, I’m not there to make friends.
Q: You play basketball the way Lawrence Taylor played football.
A: Yeah, go get it. Like a bunch of crazed dogs out here. You heard it; that’s what it’s gonna be. That’s the way I approach the game. That’s just the way I was taught from when I first started playing basketball at 10 years old, man.
Q: How do you know about Lawrence Taylor?
A: I’m a big football fan. I don’t like the Giants, I’m a Cowboys fan. But I’m a huge football fanatic. Huge.
Q: The reason I asked you whether you think you’ve been misrepresented is because I’ve seen coaches and teammates say your basketball IQ is off the charts.
A: I know the game well. I’m a student of basketball, I know what it takes to win.
Q: But you also consider yourself an enforcer, don’t you?
A: Definitely. Like that’s what I do. I don’t back down. Like I don’t know how to flop. That’s never been a part of my game. For me to know if a guy likes to turn left shoulder or right shoulder in the post, I have an advantage. Or if he likes to go left all the time, I have an advantage. Or if he can’t make open jump shots, I have an advantage.
Q: Do you think you get in players’ heads?
A: Maybe ’cause I play ’em a certain way, and the frustration level kicks in ’cause I’m there all the time. I’m gonna bump you, hit you, hold you, push you down, step over you … so if that’s getting in their head, then great. Going out there and making it a conscious effort that, “I’m gonna get in this guy’s head today,” no. But if you’re in a game and I’m playing against you, you’re gonna know you’re in a game. You’re in a dogfight for 48 minutes.
Q: So is cutthroat a word?
A: Definitely.
Q: Mean?
A: I can be. I’m not a mean person, though, off the court.
Q: So if you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?
A: (Pauses) Probably an alligator.
Q: Why alligator?
A: You get in their territory, they’re comin’ after you. You get in their territory, you are bait (laughs).
Q: Do you talk trash a lot?
A: If someone started with me … I can talk and play. I talk with the best of ’em. But I don’t do it every game. I talk more on the bench than I do on the court.
Q: Favorite story about the young Jason Kidd.
A: We were playing Indiana, and I never seen him get mad — never. And Jamaal Tinsley did something to him on the court, and he surprised the hell out of me. Swung an elbow at him, almost knocked his head off. He’s always been someone who I could talk to, good and bad, someone I always can go to.
Q: Mike Woodson?
A: Great guy, man. I love him. Different coach than I’ve ever had. He’ll laugh and joke with you, but he’s stern and he treats everybody the same around here. I love playing for him.
Q: Oak Cliff?
A: One of the roughest neighborhoods in Dallas. If you mention Oak Cliff around Texas, people automatically know what you’re talking about.
Q: Worst thing you ever saw there?
A: Just getting shot at as a kid.
Q: What happened?
A: Just people trying to take your coats and your shoes and stuff like that, chasing you with guns, and all that kinda stuff going on, man.
Q: How old were you?
A: A lot of stuff happened in junior high, man. Like a lot of horrible stuff that you saw growing up happened in seventh, eighth grade.
Q: Did you see anybody get killed?
A: One of my childhood friends died before he reached the ninth grade. He got shot. A guy had a gun, shot him in his heart.
Q: Boyhood idol?
A: My mom. She took care of me and my sister, so I look up to my mom.
Q: Describe your mom for me.
A: Loving, caring, strong-willed … attitude similar to mine (smiles) … mouth similar to mine … she’s feisty.
Q: Is that how you would describe your attitude — feisty?
A: Just don’t take no stuff from nobody, don’t take no B.S., so yeah, it’s the same mentality. Never back down from anyone.
Q: You last saw your father when you were 7?
A: I saw him a couple of years ago, when my little brother Rich Roby got married in Vegas. Since I’ve been adult, it was the first time I’ve had a conversation with him.
Q: What was that like?
A: A little weird but, I’m a grown man now, so … but I don’t hold no grudges against him, I just don’t know him. So I think I’ve turned out to be a decent man and I had to learn a lot of stuff on the fly.
Q: So your mom filling both roles made you not miss having a father?
A: Of course there’s some things that I would have liked to have … none of my friends growing up had their father in the house. None of ’em. We had uncles and stuff like that, but nobody had a father in the house, none of my friends.
Q: What was the worst part of having a stuttering problem as a kid?
A: Just getting teased. It affected my grades in school. I would never talk in class, never read in class, never participate and stuff like that.
Q: How did you overcome it?
A: Just fight people. If you tease me, I’ll fight you.
Q: And now?
A: I still stutter now, but I don’t think about it. I used to be conscious of it then. I went to speech therapy when I was like second or third grade. Now it doesn’t bother me. I don’t care what nobody says now. I’m a grown man, and if I stutter, I take it in stride, that’s just me getting my thoughts out.
Q: You have a Bad Ass Yellow Boy tattoo on your chest.
A: Down South, they call light-skinned people Yellow. When I got to college (Cincinnati), there was a song out, that some guys from New Orleans called UNLV, they had made the song, and that was my theme song.
Q: How many tattoos do you have?
A: I have no idea, man, I lost count after the first couple. So my mom sees me now, she’s like, “You’re still markin’ your body up, huh?”
Q: What’s your favorite tattoo?
A: All of my tattoos have meaning, I don’t have random tattoos. So probably, the portraits of my kids (Kenyon Jr., 12, Sierra, 10 next month, Kameron, 8).
Q: Are they basketball fans?
A: My daughter likes to go to games, but she doesn’t like to play. My boys do. My oldest son is gonna be player. Kameron started playing when he was 7, so he’s gonna be pretty good.
Q: Do the boys or the girl remind you of you?
A: My oldest. He’s me all over. He’s a Capricorn, he’s quiet around people he don’t know, but he’s outgoing around his friends. He’s aggressive on the basketball court as they come. Sneaky kid, to try to get away with stuff, I was the same way — he’s me all over.
Q: What other stuff did you try to get away with?
A: Everything. I averaged about a whuppin’ a week when I was a kid, man (chuckles).
Q: Do you remember beating the N.Y. Riverside Church team in the semis of the Slam’N’Jam tournament?
A: Yes. I remember Elton Brand playing, Erick Barkley playing … they didn’t give us a shot (to win). So we went out there and showed ’em that these boys from Texas can play. We took it to ’em pretty good.
Q: Bob Huggins?
A: After I got to college, he was like a father to me. He didn’t take it easy on me. He motivated me to get better each and every day. He was on me, but it was tough love and I understand it. He didn’t really have to coach me ’cause I always played hard. If you come out and you play hard for him, he loves you. I knew it wasn’t gonna be easy, ’cause he told me, he was in my house recruiting me: “I’ll give you nothing but a hard time and a pair of tennis shoes.” You gotta respect that (chuckles). And he did. But I was there for four wonderful years, four long years. Some of the stuff you don’t like doing at the time, but I realize it was getting me better.
Q : The moment when you broke your leg as a senior before the NCAA tournament?
A: It was heartbreaking for me to go down that fast the first game of the Conference tournament. Then when Hugs came out on the court, only thing I just kept repeating: “Not now. We came too far for this, man. Not now.”
Q: What was it like being the top overall pick of the 2000 NBA draft?
A: The best day of my life.
Q: Other than this interview, you mean?
A: Besides the birth of my kids and this interview (smiles)? It’s probably the best date of my life, man, ’cause I knew I was gonna be able to provide for my mom and my sister, man.
Q: You also broke your leg as a rookie.
A: I got kneed on my fibula, I knew I broke it right away. I was on the sideline trying to get my feeling back and I told the trainer, “I broke my leg again.” He was like, “Don’t say that.” People don’t know, the major thing when I broke my leg in college, was I tore my ligaments in my ankle, that was the thing. I had to get a screw in my ankle.
Q: Why did your grandma call you Killer?
A: (Laughs) I killed all her plants when I was little. She had a house full of plants, so I went around taking stems and leaves off of the plants … I was bad, man, I was mischievous.
Q: Why did your uncle call you Honeydew?
A: I shaved my head bald, and it was real yellow at the time, so he called me Honeydew.
Q: Why did your sister call you Boo?
A: She still calls me Boo to this day. It’s just her name for her little brother, man.
Q: You still play the violin?
A: Nah, I haven’t played the violin since the third grade, man. It was fun … I would like to probably play it again, but it was fun learning all the different songs. I think one of the songs was “Hot Cross Buns,” and different stuff like that. So it was fun at the time.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; John Wooden; Malcolm X.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: Life.
Q: Favorite actors?
A: Al Pacino; Denzel.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Catherine Zeta-Jones?
Q: Favorite entertainer?
A: Jay-Z.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: My mom’s tacos.
Q: Are you going to be on TV after your basketball days are over?
A: That’s my thing, I don’t hold no punches, man. But only thing, they’d have to have a short time delay with , I might let one slip here and there (smiles).
Q: What do you want Knicks fans to say about you?
A: I play with my heart, and they love their Knicks. So from Day 1, they knew what they were gettin’ from me. The one game I didn’t play, they were calling for me. That just showed me right there that they respect what I’ve done through my career.
Q: Can you imagine what this city would be like if you guys made a deep playoff run?
A: This place is gonna be up in arms, man. That’s what we want it to be. We want them to be on their toes from the tip.
Q: Anything else you want to add?
A: I’m lovin’ this journey that we’re on. It started late for me. But better late than never.