Ice Cube did not get this far by thinking small. Witness his latest project _ a 3-on-3 basketball league set to barnstorm across America starting Sunday at Barclays Center.
So ask him about his future player wish list for "BIG3" and he responds as many Angelenos would: "He used to wear No. 8, and used to wear No. 24," the pioneering rapper and actor said last week. "That would be a dream."
That would be Kobe Bryant.
But Ice Cube accepts that to get from here to there, the league must establish itself as something more than the passing whim of a celebrity sports fan, and thus his team is taking a long view.
"This isn't a rapper deciding to do a basketball thing because it seems like a good way to make money," BIG3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz said. "This is someone who thought this out ... You can say his name brings a lot, but you have to go behind why that is to really understand it. He is not a guy of the moment."
Kwatinetz said if he wakes up at 6, he already is late for work, because Ice Cube has been emailing him since 5:30.
"I'm not kidding," he said. "If that was a one-day occurrence, I wouldn't bring it up. It's common. One day this week I slept until 7:30 a.m., God forbid. I was 250 emails behind."
Ice Cube said he never has worked harder at anything in his career.
"Just because we have to do everything so fast," he said. "We had six months to build a league, promote a league and market a league with just a pool of great people, dedicated to seeing this work. We're more organized than a lot of [established] leagues already."
So what is BIG3?
It is 3-on-3, halfcourt basketball, a version of the sport played more commonly than the fullcourt game normally seen on TV.
To market it, BIG3 signed the likes of Julius Erving, Charles Oakley, Rick Barry, George Gervin and Clyde Drexler to coach and Kenyon Martin, Rashard Lewis and Chauncey Billups to play. Oakley also is expected to play.
Perhaps most intriguing: Allen Iverson, 42, will coach and play for a team called "3's Company."
There will be quadruple headers each Sunday that showcase the eight teams, with the championship set for Las Vegas on Aug. 26.
First team to reach 60 wins, but you must win by two.
Lewis, captain of "3 Headed Monsters," said when commissioner (and former Knick) Roger Mason Jr. explained it to him, he called it a "no-brainer."
"As a kid growing up, when you play basketball with your friends in the backyard or on the driveway, it's 2-on-2, 3-on-3," he said. "You're hardly ever playing 5-on-5 unless you're in an organized game."
Lewis is the kind of player Ice Cube had in mind when all this started _ a two-time NBA All-Star who is only 37 but whose career ended in 2014 because of a bum knee that is fine for halfcourt, but not for 5-on-5 full-court.
"As a pro player, your game [skills] never really leaves, but your body tells you otherwise," Lewis said.
Said Kwatinetz, "By eliminating the necessity to run up and down the court with a guy like [the Wizards'] John Wall, which is impossible, they can take advantage of their best qualities."
The league has more going for it than most sports startups. That includes a TV deal in which Gus Johnson will call the games on FS1, which will show them on delay Monday nights. The championship will air live on Fox.
Then came an unexpected boost earlier this month when the IOC added 3-on-3 to the Olympics for 2020.
"It's a validation," Kwatinetz said. "The same reasons we believed the timing was right for this is the same reason the NCAA is talking about it and the Olympics are talking about it: Because people are playing the sport and care about it. So obviously it helps with credibility."
Said Ice Cube, "The fact that it's in the Olympics now, this makes the world pay attention."
Above all else, BIG3 has a drawing card in Ice Cube himself. At 48, he has cross-generational appeal and ongoing cultural cachet.
"When Roger told me Ice Cube was behind it, everything he pretty much touches turns into gold," Lewis said.
Said Kwatinetz, "It's a huge selling point. There's the obvious, which is that he's a cultural icon. But he's also as authentic a human being as is out there and as caring a human being. And Cube, he's a huge basketball fan."
Ice Cube said competitive credibility is essential for acceptance. He expects "hard-nosed basketball" from prideful old pros.
"They don't want to get out there and embarrass themselves," he said.
Of course, there also will be an element of show business. Lewis' team's coach is trash talk artiste Gary Payton.
"The knees probably don't work, but the mouth certainly works," Ice Cube said. "The mouth hasn't lost a step."
