Bill Bradley, who tells his unique story in new doc ‘Rolling Along,’ talks Knicks, gambling and healing America – The Denver Post

In routine and preparation, Bill Bradley was brought back to his playing days.

The Knicks legend had established a goal of telling his life story as a theatrical performance adapted to film, a 90-minute solo act that Bradley wrote and committed to memory during strolls around Central Park.

Before his live shows, Bradley made sure to regiment his meals, nap and exercise. It was like readying himself for a tipoff at Madison Square Garden.

“It was like re-orienting my life to when I was a Knick,” Bradley tells the Daily News. “When the big night came at 7:30.”

Bradley was so nervous during the first rehearsal that his mind went blank.

“I lost it,” he said.

But the actual performance went well. And on Friday, Bradley’s latest ambitious venture, “Rolling Along,” will premiere as a documentary film at the School of Visual Arts Theater on 23rd St. It’s certainly a unique story of a small-town Missourian who became a Princeton cum laude graduate, an NBA champion and a U.S. Senator, which Bradley weaves together with America’s ugly racism history as a backdrop.

While creating the film, Bradley linked up famed directors Frank Oz and Spike Lee, who are both credited as executive producers.

Now 79, Bradley spoke to The News about “Rolling Along” and other topics, including legalized gambling, Phil Jackson’s latest controversial comments, Julius Randle’s complicated relationship with Knicks fans and whether Carmelo Anthony should have his jersey retired:

Daily News: What inspired you to do this film?

Bill Bradley: In 2018, I gave my political papers to Princeton, and they did an oral history project and interviewed people. Interviewed about 60-70 people. I then did a reception and invited all of them to come and most of them did come. And I stood up and told stories about each one of them. And one of the people in the audience was Manny Eisenerg, who produced 72 plays on Broadway and has been a friend for 50 years and the only compliment he ever gave me was after the first Knicks championship. He said, ‘Nice going.’ That’s about it. He came up afterwards and said, you sound a little bit like (Tony-winning actor) Hal Holbrook, you outta work something out. And so, I spent the next six months writing the first draft and then over the next following six months, eight months, I took it to 20 places around the country. Went to a theater in San Diego or in Seattle or San Francisco or wherever. Boston. And I would essentially read it, and there were only about 50-60 people, people who were part of their subscriber list and they’d make suggestions and I take notes and I refined it that way. I did that for about a year, with the thought being that I would do a theatrical production. And then COVID hit. And it all ended. And I thought, ‘Well, I’ll still do it and we’ll turn it into a film.’ And that’s how it happened.

DN: Was there anything in particular that was difficult to talk about?

BB: No. I asked a person what they thought this was about, and that person said, ‘All of us.’ In other words, there are elements of my life that people can identify with. Not all but there are moments people see their lives. And that’s my hope because if I had my biggest goal to come out of this, it would be that I’m being honest about myself. That’s the first step toward healing and I think the country desperately needs healing.

DN: So it’s not just about your healing?

BB: Yeah, as I say at the end, we can learn from the lessons of basketball, which is take responsibility for yourself, respect your fellow human being and enjoy their humanity and never look down on someone you don’t understand. And if we all do that, our country is going to be in good shape over the long term.

DN: In the film you talk a lot about race and social issues, both in your experiences growing up and as a politician. How did those hurdles shape you?

BB: Race was a kind of a theme throughout my life. From a small town in Missouri all the way through to the Knicks, to the Senate, to today. And as my grandmother said, ‘Never look down on someone you don’t

understand.’ And to me, we’ve made a lot of progress, and we still have more to do. And that’s the story of America. Moving things forward.

DN: On that note, your former teammate, Phil Jackson, said recently that politics shouldn’t be a part of the game and that he was turned off by the messaging during the NBA bubble, particularly some of the slogans that were on the back of jerseys that were meant to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. I was wondering what you thought of those comments?

BB: I don’t know what Phil said exactly. But I think that people should express themselves. And it’s a free country. You can express yourself with something on your jersey, and you can express yourself in some interview. The key thing is protecting your right to do that.

DN: In the film, you talked about how Knicks fans adored you, and then quickly rejected you when you struggled in the beginning. What were some of the things that were said to you and how did you react to that?

BB: Well, it hurt. It was painful. People would come out and say, ‘Bradley, you overpaid bum.’ I was failing. I was too slow to play guard. And even in my second year, I was still too slow. I improved but I was still too slow laterally. And that’s when Cazzie [Russell] broke his ankle, and they moved me to forward, which was my natural position.

DN: I also asked that because now the Knicks have a player, Julius Randle, who’s had a very up-and-down relationship with the fans. Where they can chant ‘MVP’ one night and then boo him the next. And he doesn’t seem to react very well to negativity. What would be your advice to a player in New York and under that spotlight who has to deal with those kinds of things?

BB: It’s just part of the job that you bear down and develop your own game and your relationship with your teammates. And if the team wins, everybody feels a part of it. And that’s what you want to do as a player. With your teammates, get to a championship. And then everybody feels a part of your expression of excellence. If you lose, there are always 100 different stories as to why you lost. You can’t let it bother you. When I was booed, it hurt me. But at the same time, it’s part of the whole experience.

DN: Carmelo Anthony just retired and there’s some debate about whether his number should be hung alongside yours at MSG. Do you have an opinion one way or another about that?

BB: Nah, I’ll leave that to the Garden hierarchy. They make those decisions.

DN: As a politician, you were steadfast against gambling on sports. …

BB: I was. One-hundred percent. It was my bill. Literally, I passed one law about sports in my 18 years, which was prohibiting sports betting. I think that the Supreme Court erred when they reversed the law. And I think that there will be problems. There’s stories now of people betting on high school games. It’s ridiculous. It’s just not what the game is about. It’s OK if it’s a business and people pay to come and so forth, but I always thought the guys who were booing because the points spread was covered were kind of ridiculous. You’d never pay attention to them. They were always out there. But now the Supreme Court has legitimized this. The game should be about excellence, should be about team, should be about the collective expression of the community. If you turn it into point spreads and betting on this betting and on that — there always was betting but why would you have the Supreme Court legitimize this in the eyes of the public? And anytime people see money, they go towards where the money is.

DN: When you say there ‘will be problems,’ what do you mean by that?

BB: I’m a kid of the betting scandals of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. People are paid a lot of money now, so it’s unlikely it would be so overt. But you never know. I just think that the game shouldn’t be broken down into things like betting on somebody scoring X amount of points and whatever else. Make the bet with your friend. Don’t legitimize it. I think it demeans the sport. There’s a value to sports. And those are the values that are lost when you turn everything into a betting chip. I don’t think players should be roulette chips.

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