Please understand this, folks: Joey doesn’t play. No, sir.
As one of the world’s elite streetballers, King Handles has established an international reputation for all the right reasons. Hoops, not hype. Tricks, not talk. Spin moves, not spin. He knows as well as anyone that there will be drama, but he’s also aware that there’s only one true stage for it: the court. Coaches, not directors. Benches, not box seats. Sunlight, not limelight.
King Handles shakes defenders so hard that they don’t need just X-rays;
they need counselling. Is it any wonder then that he prefers to make his statements on the blacktop? Still, there are times when the ball goes out of bounds, and the options are to stand by and watch or dive into the front row after it. Tru Baller fumbled the rock by posting a vituperative, semi-coherent message online. Now, by setting things straight, Joey is knocking it back inbounds so that the real game may continue.
You see, Joey might ball, but when it comes to respect, he doesn’t play. A habitual line-stepper opened his mouth a little too wide, claimed a little too much and made matters a little too personal, and it was time to let him know what was what. "King Handles" is fitting, but "Handle Your Business" seems similarly apt now. He deals with his both on and off the court, and in this interview he encourages those who drop more f-bombs than they do defenders to act likewise.
Speaking exclusively to HoopsVibe.com on Wednesday, King Handles cut loose and discussed Tru Baller’s issues, the disintegration of Dime55, and why he’s The King. Excepting the maroon text, everything that follows is straight from the monarch’s mouth.
On Tru Baller’s message.
That dude is crazy, man. He’s got problems. And you know what? I’m not even really going to respond because I’m better than that.
I’m not even trying to go down like that. He’s been in the game how many years? And he still hasn’t made it big. He’s just talking all that junk so that I could respond so that it starts beef. He’s getting confused. You need to go in the rap game if you want that. There’s no beef in basketball. The only beef is on the court. He needs to take the time he spends talking and work on his game. Oh, and what I really want to say - and I want you to put this in there - is that he’d better worry about his pitbull (laughs).
I just got in the streetball game at seventeen and now I’m twenty. I’ve been in the game for three years and already I’m getting pretty big. But I’m not talking; I’m just working on my game.
On Tru Baller’s attacks on his family and girlfriend.
Straight up, if you’re going to come at me, come at me.
On Tru Baller’s claim that the YPA has fallen off and that Dime55 is coming up.
Oh, he’s fallen off. They don’t even have a dotcom site now. It’s falling apart, so he wants to start something to get publicity. But I’m not really going to respond. I never dissed his game. I never said he sucks. But he thinks that this gets his name out there. But you know what? In the streetball game, that’s not going to work. Beef does not work, because if people know you’re big-headed, you’re not going to get it in the streetball game, not in any game. You’ve got to be humble. You’ve got to be polite.
He just took things overboard. It was way too much. He’s come the wrong way. He’s come from a different angle, man, and it’s not cool.
To tell you the truth, nobody’s got respect for him, not even Hot Sauce. I talked to Hot Sauce and he was like, "Tru Baller? He’s nothing, man. I’ve got no comments about him." The truth is that Hot Sauce scored twenty-four points on Tru Baller and Tru Baller had twelve points that weren’t even on Hot Sauce. He hit one jumper on Hot Sauce, and that’s it. I can tell you what he did. He put it around his head and put it in his shirt and did that moonwalk to the side he does. That’s not getting somebody. Hot Sauce killed him the whole time, but he’s trying to make a little hype for himself there.
On the idea that Dime55 would beat the YPA in battle.
No comment (laughing hard). That’s a joke, man. I ain’t going to say nothing (still laughing).
On the possibility of a King Handles vs. Tru Baller one-on-one battle.
I’m not even going to sweat it. But he was scared to play me down at the YPA All-Star game. I called him out. He could have played at practice, but he didn’t.
He just sat down the whole time. Any time, any place, I’ll play any one of y’all. He was there, and he didn’t say nothing. So after the game we wanted to go to a twenty-four hour fitness place with a basketball court, and I said to Ghost, "Yo, Ghost, you want to go hoop? You and Tru, do you want to go hoop?" And Ghost said, "I’ll go." But Tru was like, "Nah. I don’t want to." He backed down, and that’s real talk. People know that. All the YPA staff know that.
On the suggestion that King Handles and the YPA are fake.
I’m fake? I’m fake? I don’t want to talk because I don’t have a big head.
I’m fake? Dog, I was in
SLAM magazine twice. I’ve got my own website, and it’s up. The YPA site is up, not down. So you want to talk? And my mixtape’s going to be in stores, so take
that. It’s not going to be just on the internet, so if you want to talk, we can talk for days. And, I was in a movie. What the heck has he been in? I was in
Like Mike 2. He’s just trying to
be like Mike.
On Tru Baller’s chances against him.
He’s got game. He can play, but he’s hella slow. I’m fast, so I think I would win. He might give me one or two moves, but that doesn’t mean he’s better than me because I’m going to score buckets on him and school his ass at the same time. He can’t beat me. I’m going to win no matter what because I’m not going to let that dude come in my world and be me.
The bottom line.
To Tru Baller, this is what I’ll say: SLAM magazine twice, Like Mike 2, NBA Street 2 and 3, Air Bud when I was in grade seven, training with the Harlem Globetrotters. I’ve done so many things. I’ve done interviews, and he had to interview himself on the internet. What kind of crap is that? I don’t want to waste my time typing on the internet. I want to be working on my game, thinking about my game. I’ve got no time for that.
I don’t do self-interviews. I don’t try to be like Mike. I’m just doing me right now, and I don’t talk shit. I’m not going to respond to anything he says any more. This is the end here.
