WEBVTT - Cruising and Snoozing 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:05.600 The Dream Team Tapes Season two. Kobe, Lebron and the 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:10.320 Redeem Team is a production of Diversion Podcasts in association 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:26.799 with I Heart Radio Diversion Podcasts. By now you know 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:31.000 our intro Jerry Colangelo with soundbites from Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:34.239 and Carmelo Anthony. But this time we're gonna change it up. 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.960 Here's USA Basketball Boss Jerry Colangelo announcing the full roster 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:41.360 for the two thousand and eight Olympic Team. The twelve 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:45.720 players selected for the honor of representing the United States 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.680 in the two thousand and eight Beijing Olympic Games are 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:58.080 Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets, Carlos Boozer of the 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:08.520 Utah Jazz, Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors, Kobe Bryant 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:18.200 of the Los Angeles Lakers, Dwight Howard Orlando Magic, Lebron 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:30.720 James Cleveland Cavaliers, Jason Kidd Dallas Mavericks, Chris Paul New 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:41.040 Orleans Hornets, Tayshawn Prince Detroit Pistons, Michael Read Milwaukee Bucks, 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:51.040 Dwyane Wade Miami Heat, and Darren Williams Utah Jazz, and 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.000 I'm j A. Dande joined by Jack McCallum, and this 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.200 is episode nine of Kobe Lebron and the Redeemed Team. 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.840 We're calling it Cruising and Snoozing Teamy to say, cruises 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.440 through pool play at the Olympic Games and one assistant 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.440 coach has trouble staying awake. But Jack, let's start with 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.360 a quick look at the top of the roster that 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:13.160 Chalangelo just gave it, and it had ten members of 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:16.359 the two thousand and eight All Star teams there, so 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:20.880 this this elite crop of players from the NBA. Of course, 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:22.640 she had Kobe, who was the reigning m v P 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:24.640 it just won his first and only m v P 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.960 award earlier that spring, and then he would go on 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.600 to win the next two NBA finals MVPs Lebron James, 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:34.880 who would win the next two MVP awards. The Most 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:38.720 Valuable Player in two thousand nine in Chris Paul, who 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:41.040 was the MVP runner up in two thousand and eight. 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:43.560 He led the NBA and win shares in two thousand 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:47.280 eight for the analytics crowd. He also led the league 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:51.000 and assistant steals in two thousand nine. H Dwyane Wade 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:54.040 the two thousand six NBA Finals m v P the 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:57.760 NBA's leading score the season. After the Olympics in two 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.560 thousand eight oh nine and Dwight Howard. We forget about 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.280 the impact of Dwight Howard and how coveted he was 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:06.480 at that time. He was in the top five and 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.200 m VP voting every year from two thousand and eight, 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:12.480 Ton culminating as the runner up for the m v 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:16.760 P inn that award went to Derrick Rose, and after 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:21.200 these Olympics he wins the next three Defensive Player of 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:24.400 the Year awards. So, Jack, that's a sense for the 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.480 star power at the top of this roster. And I mean, 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:29.680 if you look at it, it's this is the elite 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:32.320 of the NBA at that time. A couple of things 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:34.680 strike me there, j And the first thing is, since 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:38.680 we make so many references to the the Dream Team, 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:40.920 if you took the top three players on a dream 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:45.000 team were uh, Jordan's Bird, Magic, but not at that time. 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.880 You know, Burden Bird retired the season after and Magic 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:50.960 was close to the end of his career. So I 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:53.760 would say the top three players on that team at 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.200 the time they were playing, you could disagree or agree with, 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:02.760 was Michael h Scottie Pippen, and Charles Barkley. We're gonna 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.840 get into later whether the Redeemed came, of course a 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:09.120 hopeless hypothetical. Could the redeem Team beat the Dream Team? 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:12.640 But could Superman beat up Batman? But you know, we love, 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:18.200 we love hypotheticals. Kobe Lebron and d Wade at the 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:23.360 top of this roster, that might be better. We don't 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:25.760 have time to deconstruct that because you do have the 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:30.120 Jordan's factor perhaps overweighing everything. But that's the first thing 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:33.320 that strikes me. The second Jay and I didn't remember 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:36.839 this till you, God bless you did the research. Chris 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:41.480 Paul m v P runner up in two thousand eight, 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:45.360 and uh, there's only been one m v P six 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:47.279 ft m v P in the history of the league, 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.920 and that was of course Alan Iverson to win runner 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.400 up of the m v P in in that time. 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:58.320 And to think of what a defensive presents Chris Paul 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:03.840 might be the best small defender, uh, in the history 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:05.839 of the league. And we're gonna see he was very 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:09.000 important to this team. But that really stuck out to me. Yeah, 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.520 and and later he would go on to defend Kevin 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:14.880 Durant in playoff games. I remember one time there was 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.279 a Clipper Oklahoma City Thunder series and they switched Chris 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:21.120 Paul on the Durant and he defended him effectively and 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:23.320 they come back in the fourth quarter and win that game. 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:28.960 Also amazingly successful at winning jump balls. Regardless of who 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.279 he was up against, he would win jump balls. And 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.719 I was thinking about this last night Jack before we 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:38.320 recorded this, about how Chris Paul. No, he hasn't won 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:41.960 a championship, but the number of playoff games he won 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:44.640 has to count for something. And we look at the 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.839 impact he's had, uh as we're taping as the last 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:52.200 couple of seasons with Oklahoma City, going there and then 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:55.000 coming to Phoenix and turning these teams that were not 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.919 really playoff contenders into playoff contenders and winning more playoff games, 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:04.320 and that has to count for something. He he doesn't 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:06.719 have all the hardware that some of the other guys 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.200 on his team had or would go on to have, 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:12.080 but this guy did a lot of winning and put 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.560 up a lot of impressive statistics. Yeah, Lebron, you know 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.960 we're recording this as Lebron's in the middle of an 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.200 injury and you don't know what's going to happen out 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.640 in that Western Conference. But you're right. I mean Chris Paul, uh, 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:27.920 he is really an elevator and I will always have 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:31.599 a soft spot for m J. I was working on 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.960 the story about twelve thirteen years ago. I had this 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.520 idea to do a story on last second shots, how 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:41.359 they're set up, who, what the strategy is. Does the 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.960 same guy always take him? And I don't. I can't 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.560 remember why I picked going to New Orleans. And I'll 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:52.479 be damned if Chris doesn't hit a second shot. I mean, 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:55.680 that never works out when you have this kind of 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:58.560 there's your lead, right, you had your lead. Oh man, 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.560 I walked into the locker room. I'll never forget this 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:05.160 Chris Paul like as this big smile. I knew because 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:06.960 I had talked to him before the game about it, 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:09.000 and it was pretty extraordinary. I want to ask you 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:12.480 one other thing, though, about Dwight Howard and what you 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:16.280 just said about him. This is on me a little bit, 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:20.360 I guess I never I've never seen a great player 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:25.480 with great numbers who's been as kind of roundly trashed 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:29.400 as Dwight, and I've sort of. And and by the way, 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:33.080 he's still playing and now he's you know, still contributing 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.600 with the seventies sixers. And he stayed down long enough, 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:37.880 I think to be become likable. Like I think, think 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.679 about how acrimonious the split was when he left the Lakers, 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:44.520 and they loved him in the twenties twenties season. Laker 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:46.360 fans loved him when he came back and helped them 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:49.200 win a championship. You know, he's he's a guy that's 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.960 better suited apparently as as the as a supporting cast. 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.000 He he wasn't quite cut out to be the guy. 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.440 But even though he had monster numbers, you know, he 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:01.480 was a ay, I think he was twenty two and 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:05.000 fourteen guy the season of the redeemed team. But as 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:06.960 we're gonna see in these games, we're gonna talk about 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:11.480 it a little bit. Um he's not He doesn't assume 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:14.520 like a back to the basket, throw it into him 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.960 position because he never had sort of a signature move 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.840 and he couldn't really face up, and you couldn't you know, 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:22.480 and you couldn't put him at the free throw line. 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.360 So maybe all those reasons I'm sort of doing a 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:29.480 maya culpan. Now, I really was not kind to Dwight Howard, 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:32.400 but I'm looking at these numbers you've dug up, and 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:34.960 I guess I should have been a nicer guy to him. Well, 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:38.120 for some reason, we didn't let him do By we, 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.400 I mean the media and the fans and social media, 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:45.240 we just didn't let him be himself. And he was 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.600 an outsized personality, and he did like to have fun. 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.920 And he's the type of guy that would go over 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:53.760 and as he's on his way to check it into 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.440 the game, maybe there's a fan sitting courtside with a 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:58.280 tub of popcorn, and he would reach in and grab 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:00.920 some popcorn, and we'd also, what are you doing. You're 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:03.000 you can't be grabbing popcorn and you've got a game 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:05.880 to play. But if Lebron did something like that, would say, oh, 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:09.360 look at Lebron interacting with the fans right right right. 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:14.480 And and so his his goofiness, his playfulness, And we 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:16.719 asked that of our athletes, and we want them to 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:18.840 be characters. We don't want them to be robots. And 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.800 here he was not only a player with the personality, 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.359 a big man with the personality, with the playful personality, 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:28.920 which the lack of that playful personality had gotten everyone 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.560 from wil Chamberlain the Kareem Abdul Jabbar on the wrong 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.240 side of the ledger with the fans and media right 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.120 and and he did so many things that we asked 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.679 of everyone else. But when Dwight Howard did it, for 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:43.480 some reason, everybody turned on him and hated for it, 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:47.000 in part because Jack he didn't have the results first. 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:51.559 And remember Lebron was hated for a year, and then 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.000 he goes to Miami, and well, he was hated when 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.240 he went to Miami, and then he wins a championship 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.600 and the playful aspect of him comes back and everyone 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:01.520 loved him. And remember the time a fan hits a 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:04.480 half court shot and Lebron comes running out the out 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:07.120 of the heat huddle and he tackles him at half court. 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:09.960 And if he had done that a year earlier, everyone 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.160 probably would have said, why wasn't he in the huddle 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.520 listening to the coach poster drop of play? And instead 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:17.920 he does this, and it's like, oh, look at Lebron, 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.360 He's having fun. Isn't this great? And it Dwight is 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.080 really a lesson in how we allow some people to 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.320 do things that we don't allow others to do. That's true, 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:30.719 I will, I will, I will accept that, but I'll 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:34.400 still never love him. But go ahead, move on, move on, 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:38.320 Let's talk about Lebron. Speaking of Lebron. To watch Lebron 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.959 at this stage in his career, Jack, if you remember, 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.920 it was just breathtaking. And I'm sure you had the 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:46.920 opportunity as I did. I was fortunate enough to be 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:50.040 able to watch him from either courtside or near the court, 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:53.920 and taking advantage of our press passes, we got the 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:57.680 chance to see up close a man that big, move 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:00.240 that fast. And when I used to try to urge 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:04.680 people to see Lebron, if at all possible, at whatever costs, 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.920 to see him in person, to try to if you 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:10.280 could obtain a good seat, to see him in person, 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:14.160 because that was a phenomenon unlike anything else I've seen 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:17.040 in my two plus decades covering league. I'm wondering if 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.640 you can compare to anything. And you're with three four 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.360 decades of cover in the NBA, maybe five, but we'll 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:26.240 leave it at for No, there's nothing like Lebron. You know, 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:30.320 we will never get uh, we will never fully be 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:33.920 able to get that thing. Is he the best? He 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:35.959 will never be listed as a point guard. I mean 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.880 that is never gonna happen, even though he had the 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:43.719 damn ball in his hands during playoffs. As much as 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:46.920 like you know the line, there is Magic and Oscar Robertson. 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:49.800 They are the two big point guards. If you just 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:55.800 took someone conducting the offense facing the basket still has 0:11:55.840 --> 0:12:02.160 his dribble. Come on, I love Magic. Lebron's the guy. 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:04.959 I mean yeah, I mean he was. He was Magic's vision, 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:09.760 Magic's passing ability, and let's talk about the pinpoint preciseness. 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:12.040 Another thing I got to see up close one time 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:14.640 during practice. There's an open practice session they had during 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:19.679 the NBA Finals at the Warrior's practice facility, and I 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:23.160 was able to stand behind like Channing Fry Chain Fries 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:25.960 in the corner and Lebron's throwing these passes out to 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:29.160 him as they're going through their scrimmage or their walk through, 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:31.720 and to be able to be right behind the player 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:34.559 and to see the player's perspective as Lebron would throw 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.080 to him. And he doesn't do this quite as well 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:40.040 now as he did in his prime, but he would 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:44.120 deliver the past, precisely in the right place to make 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:46.960 it easiest for his teammates to catch and shoot. It 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.719 was just right on target. The shooting pocket pocket is 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.160 what the players call it, and Lebron would zip that 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:54.760 ball right into the player's shooting pocket. If you go 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.120 back and watch him at his peak, notice when his 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.680 teammates catch the ball, they don't have to maneuver it anywhere. 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.200 It's right where it needs to be. The other thing 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.160 watching him here in these two thousand eight games, seeing 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.160 him in that Team USA jersey, the cut of the 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:11.000 jersey reminds me of his first stint in Cleveland. You 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.040 can kind of identify Lebron the different stages of his 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:17.920 career also by the looseness or tightness of his jerseys. 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:21.640 And this is still first Cleveland Lebron wearing his jersey 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:24.240 the same way he did in that same type of jersey. 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:26.760 Members a different jersey in his first stint in Cleveland 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:29.080 than than they had in the second stint in Cleveland. 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:33.520 And the shorts were huge back then. They would drop 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.200 below the knee. I can't get over how big they were. 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:38.800 But it's not just the look, it's the way he plays. 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:42.160 He he was always facing the basket. He was always driving. 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.640 This is the Cleveland Lebron, right. He he wasn't shooting 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:46.880 outside very much. They were giving him the outside shot 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:49.600 in the NBA games and plenty of times during Olympics 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:54.960 they just said, here's that shot. And back then, Chris Bosh, 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:57.880 who was still a back to the basket player, Um, 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.880 Lebron evolved that back to the basket style that you 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:03.680 see now where he'll her back guys and he'll shoot 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:07.160 that fade away or or dreamshake moves like that. But 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:09.680 back then, Chris Bosh was playing with his back to 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.920 the basket, and he was envious that Lebron always got 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:16.319 to play facing the basket. And I was always been 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:20.400 jealous of Lebron during his career because you know, everybody's like, man, 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:23.400 oh wow, this is so incredible. He does this. Of 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:27.480 course he does it. He's been looking at offenses and yeah, 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:29.320 he's been looking at the offenses with the ball in 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:33.200 his hands, facing the whole court, the whole half court, 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:37.760 for his entire lifetime of his career. Because he started 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:41.760 out as a point guard. As a big I'm like, damn, dude, 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:45.000 I don't even know what's behind me. You know what 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:48.520 I mean, if I go up to the elbows really 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:50.800 over and I don't get to see it from that angle, 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.160 you know. So him being able to see the offensive 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:58.480 flow of the game all the time. See when somebody's 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:02.960 face is like, Okay, let's get let's get let's get shot. Now, 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:04.720 let's get see me a shot. I see the look 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.640 on his face. Let's get it to him. He's always 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.280 been a facilitator and a distributor, and with that said, 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:12.960 he can always create his own shot, you know. So 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:16.960 asking him to sacrifice um to move the ball for 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.200 the sake of moving the ball, I mean, he's he's 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:21.160 always gonna be for it. But I would argue that 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.400 Lebron earned that right by being such a good playmaker. 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.840 And Jack, I'm wondering where does Lebron fit in among 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:30.800 the bigger players who have essentially been point guards. So 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:33.520 Lebron is listed as a small forward, but he runs 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:36.520 the point and when you compare him to others of 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.960 his height range, how does Lebron fit in the lineage? 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.560 And who else can we really compare him to. I 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:44.560 was struck by the way I remember when we're doing 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:48.520 that interview with Chris Bosh, and you do not hear 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:53.480 other players use the word jealous. You know, it really 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:57.000 struck me when Chris it's a it's a factor both 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.480 of you know, the magnificence of Lebron, but also Bosh, 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:03.160 you know, thinking thinking like that. You know he thought 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:06.320 he thought a little differently. Um. I can remember during 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:10.760 the playoffs. This is probably why I'm doing a podcast 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.360 instead of coaching an NBA team. But I used to 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:17.920 scream take him off, take Lebron off of the ball 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:20.920 once in a while. I mean, what do you want 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:23.400 the guy to do. He's gonna have to get the key, 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:26.200 reeb He's got to score. He's gonna have to find 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:27.880 the right guy. If he does give it up, he's 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:29.960 gonna have to get the key rebound. He was one 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.920 of the best late game rebounders I've ever seen. If 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:36.920 you look at his games, the rebounds he gets, like 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:39.960 in the final four or five minutes are amazing. And 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:42.160 he's gonna have to lock down somebody on defense. And 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:46.840 I always thought he was more effective. Let somebody else 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:48.560 bring it up and get him to it. Get it 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:50.920 to him maybe at the elbow. So when you factor 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:56.160 everything in the responsibilities that he had, and he's also 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.720 going to run that offense. As I said, he's never 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.400 gonna to be listed as a point guard the way 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:06.760 that magic point guard PG. That's what he is. That 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:09.439 is not Lebron. I guess he goes down as a 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:14.240 small forward. But there's nobody like him Ja, particularly as 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:18.439 you mentioned, since he got a three point shot and 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:21.800 a and a step back. Uh, nobody like him. Michael. 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:24.160 One year they kind of put Michael on the ball, 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.680 you know that Michael was yeah, and he starts and 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:31.800 he could have been it. It wasn't exactly the same. 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.960 I think Lebron stands apart in that class as a 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:39.639 guy running the offense facing the basket, who can shoot outside, 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:44.320 who can take it to the basket, like nobody. Uh, 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:45.800 you know, I don't even know who compared him to. 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:48.600 I guess Michael, and then find a guy also, there's 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.320 nobody like Lebron. And the same thing Jack is. This 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:55.160 team comes smack in the middle of a golden era 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.679 of really traditional size point guards. Maybe they didn't all 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:02.200 play the position traditionally, but you had Chris Paul and 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:04.880 Darren Williams who were both on this team, and and 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.239 we we had a great debate going on and who 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.119 was the best point guard? And Chris and and Darren 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.920 were certainly in the midst of that. Jason Kidd, who 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.080 was on this team, not really in the debate as 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.080 much at this point. He probably held the title earlier 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.760 in the decade. Uh then you had Steve Nash, who's Canadian, 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.159 so he wasn't eligible to play on Team USA. Rajon 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:28.359 Rondo was the reigning champion, the point guard on the 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:32.639 Boston Celtics that year, and then Russell Westbrook had just 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:36.000 been drafted by the still Seattle SuperSonics as they were 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.800 on their way to Oklahoma City. Derek Rose gets drafted 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:40.600 in two thousand nine by the Bulls with the number 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:44.120 one pick. So this field, this this pack for the 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.920 title of best point guard in the NBA gets even 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.080 more crowded. And it's amazing to think that here's Darren 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.840 Williams on this team. The twelve best players are the 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:55.959 best team that we could assemble at the United States 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:58.080 And at that point he had yet to make an 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:01.119 All Star team, and it was a function of just 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:03.639 how many great players there were at that position. So 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:06.000 he qualifies for this team, and yet he hadn't made 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:07.800 an All Star team yet. Yeah, and they you know, 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:11.920 they got they got through this selection process Jay without 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:16.640 a lot of uh controversy. I mean when I look 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:18.600 back and I did some I did some research. I 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:21.520 talked to some some people today kind of on background, 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:24.000 and I said, well, who was piste off that they 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:27.320 didn't make it? Because in oh seven, oh six, oh seven, 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:29.600 We've talked about this before. You had some other guys 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:33.240 floating around. You had uh you know, agent double zero, 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:35.760 you had Gilbert Arenas, you had and when I was 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:38.520 the two I was most surprised about was Chauncey, Billups 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:42.480 and Paul Pierce. But Paul had kind of taken himself 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:46.199 out because of injuries. Uh maybe he wasn't at the 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:49.000 peak of his career and had been on that World 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.000 Championship team in two thousand two that finished in you know, 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:56.600 a millionth place in Indianapolis. But uh, and lamar odom 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.200 it was a great national team player. But even they 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:03.680 were not pissed off when the guards were Jay Kid, Uh, 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:08.720 Chris Paul and Darren Williams because uh, Chauncey played later. 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.960 Chauncey played in two thousand ten for the USA basketball. 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:14.960 So one of the great underrated things about this team 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:19.720 was able to assemble these guys and like you said that, 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:23.399 you know, Darren Williams could have been considered a little 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:28.480 bit of a surprise, but hey, he absolutely belonged. And 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:32.280 at that point you could get an argument as to whether, hey, 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.760 who do you want him or Chris Paul Right, there 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:37.280 are arguments on about who should be on the team, 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:39.600 and they were. It was just a fun argument, a 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:41.840 great debate to have. Trust me, we got a lot 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:45.240 of mileage on it on those ESPN debate shows on 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:47.080 who was the best point guard in the NBA, and 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:49.399 it reminded me I missed this, Jack. We don't have 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:52.919 these musical debates anymore, like who's a better singer Whinney 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:56.800 Houston and Mariah Carey, or who's the best drummer? Um, 0:20:56.840 --> 0:20:58.960 you know, best singer all time? Of course, there's no 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:01.440 debate as Aretha frank And it's amazing that it's such 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:05.400 a subjective field. Music is so much more subjective than sports. 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:08.240 But you're not gonna get an argument there. Aretha Franklin 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:10.760 is the greatest pop singer of all time. But you 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:15.879 could have the contemporaries Whitney versus Mariah best guitarist, right, 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:18.399 I we we just don't have those arguments anymore. And 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:21.800 that that best point guard debate reminded me of that 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:25.639 Whitney and Maria. I. You know, I'm my daughter in 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:28.840 laways gonna kill me because she plays Mariah Carey the 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:34.120 Christmas Mariah Carey song from December one until January one. 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:38.399 But jeez, I'm just not seeing that. Whitney Houston seems 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:40.960 to be in a class a buff. Well. My thing 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:44.040 is Mariah had the better voice, Whitney was a better singer. 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:46.440 I'd be willing to spend another hour on this if 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:48.480 you want to, but I might be a separate podcast. 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:53.080 But back to basketball, people would would generally rank Chris 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:56.640 Paul ahead of Darren Williams, but Darren would always kill 0:21:56.760 --> 0:21:59.480 him head to head. The numbers wouldn't even be close 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:01.560 when they when they were matched up against each other. 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:04.920 And uh, we asked Darren about that. He he was 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:08.000 gentle about that, but we we did ask him about 0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:11.800 that internal competition on this team between him and Chris Paul. 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:14.440 I think it was a friendly rivalry, you know, because 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:17.920 I had known I had known c P since college um. 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:19.919 You know, we went to Nike camp and Jordan campus 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:22.960 counselors as college counselors and met each other there. We 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:26.320 played against each other his sophomore year, my junior year 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:28.280