Rox/Clips Cuttino Mobley interviewed with a video link...

Cat Mobley on his comeback bid, labor issues and medical mar1juana

July, 25, 2011

By Kevin Arnovitz

DeMar DeRozan was the headliner and only active NBA player at the 1:15 p.m. game on Saturday at Drew League -- but former Rockets and Clippers guard Cuttino Mobley was the entire story.

Mobley scored 37 points for Go H.A.M. (whose logo oddly resembles the Piggly Wiggly, if the pig had a basketball in its mouth). He beat defenders with his crossover, mercilessly posted up smaller defenders for easy buckets, drained rainbow 3s, hit ridiculous leaners, went right with a vicious drive and-1, pulled the chair out on his man to force a turnover, swatted the ball away on a one-on-one break, flew in to the basket area and followed a DeRozan miss, thread the needle in traffic to his big man, then iced the game with a big shot inside of two minutes.

The PA announcer at Washington Park's gym offers a running commentary of each game. As he said over the mic, "Get a professional to do the job!" On the far side of the gym, an old-timer squawked, "They took his ass out of the nursing home and look at this!"

We caught up with Mobley after the game to discuss his three-year quest to return to the NBA.

Mobley discussed his frustration with the New York Knicks, whom he feels unfairly precipitated his retirement, NBA labor issues and his newest cause: trying to open a mar1juana dispensary in Providence, RI and educating the public on the issue. Mobley says medical mar1juana is about compassion and health. He feels passionately that the biggest hurdle in framing the conversation is the stigma carried by mar1juana, one he feels historically has racial overtones and is widely misunderstood.

Our postgame conversation with Mobley:

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/po...meback-bid-labor-issues-and-medical-mar1juana