Speaker 1: Well it chie well, ITCHI well, ITCHI. Team usays Men's
Speaker 1: squad is still rolling.
Speaker 2: As the games become more and more competitive, the stakes
Speaker 2: get higher, but the results still feel a little predictable,
Speaker 2: which I like.
Speaker 1: As a team USA Basketball, I like it. I love it,
Speaker 1: and we are like exactly. I cheer for the Terminator
Speaker 1: and the Terminator films.
Speaker 2: We're gonna continue our nineties nostalgia conversation with a true
Speaker 2: NBA historian, author Pete Brauto on today's episode.
Speaker 1: I'm Miles Gray and I'm Jack O'Brien, and this is my.
Speaker 2: Wooes dot chicory got it, look at dot chic hits ta.
Speaker 1: Okay, there you go, driving spinning batch got it with five?
Speaker 3: Who's gonna try another three?
Speaker 1: Mister, look god, James, to be honest with the tail.
Speaker 1: Look at shut time.
Speaker 2: Yes, oh well yeah, it's it's a hot day here
Speaker 2: in the United States, especially.
Speaker 1: On the West coast.
Speaker 2: One. Oh, but I guess I'm on the West coast. Jack,
Speaker 2: you are on the East Coast and holding our day. Pete,
Speaker 2: you're also on the East coast. You are the author
Speaker 2: from hangtime to prime time, and what a great time
Speaker 2: to have you on.
Speaker 1: As we take a look.
Speaker 2: Back at some of some players that we I feel
Speaker 2: like aren't talked about enough from the nineties. And yeah,
Speaker 2: but like I said, welcome to the show. Thank you
Speaker 2: for joining us.
Speaker 1: How are you? We were wondering if we could have
Speaker 1: a little hangtime with you here in prime time on
Speaker 1: our podcast.
Speaker 4: That you thank you, no, thanks for having me back. Guys.
Speaker 3: Yeah, looking forward to this.
Speaker 2: So what about how are you looking at Team USA
Speaker 2: Olympic basketball? Are you like following every match you kind
Speaker 2: of like I'll check the highlights when they come out.
Speaker 4: What sort of your yeah, you know, I mean, I mean, sorry,
Speaker 4: I'm a I'm a highlight guy with with uh with
Speaker 4: with Team USA basketball, both men's and women's.
Speaker 3: The other thing, too, is like there's really no I.
Speaker 4: Mean not to sound like a narrative wind bag, but
Speaker 4: there's no like storyline really like gets me into this,
Speaker 4: Like there's no redeem team, there's no you know, there
Speaker 4: really isn't anything really kind of hooking me into to watch.
Speaker 4: And I mean also the fact that the games are,
Speaker 4: you know, when they're showing a lot or kind of
Speaker 4: you know, all over the places, hard for me to
Speaker 4: kind of catch up. So now I'm just you know,
Speaker 4: reading accounts and pulling stuff on social media.
Speaker 1: Like, sure, what is it about the international game? Like
Speaker 1: is it the spacing? I feel like there's a lot
Speaker 1: of there's a differencing. It just feel it feels a
Speaker 1: little like college hoops played by NBA players or something
Speaker 1: like everything's like kind of clogged up. There's still like
Speaker 1: big men still matter. That's cute, it's quaint.
Speaker 4: I'm all with that. I'm you know again, as a
Speaker 4: as a fan, as a fan of the backs of
Speaker 4: the basket style of playing, as someone who does it
Speaker 4: when he does play. Yeah, you know, it's this this
Speaker 4: should this should very wont it should very well be
Speaker 4: in my my wheelhouse.
Speaker 3: But I don't know what it is with with Olympic basketball.
Speaker 4: I just I don't know. It just it doesn't hit
Speaker 4: me the same way that it did, you know, twenty
Speaker 4: twenty five years ago. But that's that's okay. I mean,
Speaker 4: I'm obviously rooted for.
Speaker 3: The for the US to win, so that's you know,
Speaker 3: that's yeah, yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 1: Well, your nineties players, by the way we're going to talk,
Speaker 1: you're some of your favorite nineties guys, and you've gotten
Speaker 1: some of some of my favorite Back to the Basket
Speaker 1: highlights that I've watched in a long time. Makes it.
Speaker 1: I was going to say, get back to the basket. Yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah for sure.
Speaker 2: If if like we had the Dream Team and Redeemed team,
Speaker 2: what nickname would you give this squad?
Speaker 1: Is it just like hurry up and just win the goal?
Speaker 4: It I'm trying to you know, it's funny. It's it's
Speaker 4: a little late in the day for me here, so
Speaker 4: my my gears aren't ring the way.
Speaker 3: They should be thought nicknames. I don't know, maybe the
Speaker 3: geez that's a good question.
Speaker 2: More like I guess the more the expectation, right, because
Speaker 2: you were saying there's like sort of a lack of
Speaker 2: like a narrative you can invest in.
Speaker 1: The results seem pretty like.
Speaker 4: For I don't know, like the you know, I don't know,
Speaker 4: the go get them squad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 2: It's sort of just like we I think we all
Speaker 2: have the feeling of like, well, they're gonna win, so yeah,
Speaker 2: they're gonna win.
Speaker 4: I mean it would be yeah, I don't know. Again,
Speaker 4: I think at some point there's gonna be another.
Speaker 3: Rejiggering of how this works.
Speaker 4: There's gonna be maybe a mix of like college players
Speaker 4: and pro players on.
Speaker 3: The US side.
Speaker 4: So I don't know. I mean, the next the next
Speaker 4: wrinkle that gets thrown in, the next obvious narrative that
Speaker 4: gets thrown in, you know, that's when that's when I
Speaker 4: think I'll be a little more interested in what's going on.
Speaker 1: But I mean, I also don't think it's over. It's
Speaker 1: not over. The US has been playing really well up
Speaker 1: to this point. They have to play Serbia for conservatively
Speaker 1: the fourteenth time this summer in the final four coming up.
Speaker 1: But I mean they always say beating a team for
Speaker 1: the fourteenth time is always more difficult than the first
Speaker 1: time you're playing them. So I can see, you know,
Speaker 1: something wild happened. I did come into this Olympics saying
Speaker 1: I don't know why the US is so heavily favored,
Speaker 1: and now I know why. And that's called learning, folks, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's called Maybe those warm up games were truly warm
Speaker 1: up games, Like, I don't know, I feel like they
Speaker 1: were holding something back a little bit. Yeah, it feels
Speaker 1: like you're just watching them toy with, not toy with,
Speaker 1: but like the way that they like don't even have
Speaker 1: the beginnings of a rotation. There's like, yeah, we're gonna
Speaker 1: let this guy get his run. Like heading in, we
Speaker 1: were talking about how it felt like a YMCA basketball
Speaker 1: team where they're like you five play now, you five
Speaker 1: play now, you you know, like just get letting everybody
Speaker 1: get their minute, and my dad coach, Yeah, and it
Speaker 1: still feels like that, like just on a game to
Speaker 1: game basis where they're like, all right, we're gonna tell
Speaker 1: eight guys that they're in the rotation tonight and then
Speaker 1: just warn a couple other guys that they're sitting.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's so crazy if you think about it,
Speaker 4: how quickly the Olympics starts right.
Speaker 3: After the NBC NBA season ends. I mean, it's it's absurd.
Speaker 4: It's what what maybe maybe six weeks over the finals ends,
Speaker 4: and then you go right into international play and you
Speaker 4: have to just again orchestrate chemistry and lineups on the fly.
Speaker 3: I mean there's no there you know there is. There's
Speaker 3: not a lot of runway to to get lineups now.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I mean I can absolutely see that happening
Speaker 4: where Steve Kurrs like okay, like Derek White, great, let's
Speaker 4: try this, let's put let's let's sit Jason Tatum down
Speaker 4: for a bit. So I don't know, that's interesting. That's
Speaker 4: interesting to me, But I don't know how you guys
Speaker 4: feel about this too. Maybe I'm just maybe it's a
Speaker 4: side of my increasingly creaky old age. But like between
Speaker 4: the Olympics the w n B, A, I don't know,
Speaker 4: I kind of I kind of needed to be a
Speaker 4: break from play, Like I think to me, like it's
Speaker 4: kind of nice to just have a little bit of
Speaker 4: rest before we go into the pre into you know,
Speaker 4: into the into the NBA preseason, you know. I mean,
Speaker 4: I'm I do follow the w n B a little bit,
Speaker 4: but not to into the NBA. But I do think
Speaker 4: it's okay to have a break. But maybe I'm just
Speaker 4: the weirdo who who doesn't want wall to wall basketball.
Speaker 2: No, you need you need those You need to punctuate
Speaker 2: the action with a little bit of breathing space in between,
Speaker 2: so you can kind of be in to reset your expectations,
Speaker 2: build new fantasies in your brain, as I do as
Speaker 2: a Lakers fan. If they're playing all the time and
Speaker 2: Rui's hurt, I can't begin to write fan.
Speaker 1: Fiction in my mind with NonStop basketball, seeing the team
Speaker 1: not look that great with Mbat in there, until this
Speaker 1: past game against Brazil has really not given my brain
Speaker 1: the break it needs to begin dreaming of a fantasy
Speaker 1: seventy six er season where it all comes together and
Speaker 1: you know, the seventy six ers win the title, because
Speaker 1: now I'm still seeing the same problems with them be
Speaker 1: being in the middle out there. So I'm like, I
Speaker 1: can't even dream. I can't sleep in this offseason.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like again, it's you know again with the ninety
Speaker 4: two dream team, like that was very much just a
Speaker 4: one big celebration from start to finish, and it really
Speaker 4: and you and watching those games, you know, as a teenager,
Speaker 4: it didn't really feel like there was much struggle involved.
Speaker 4: Like I was watching I was a nick guy, so
Speaker 4: watching Patrick doing you know, play, I wasn't thinking about
Speaker 4: I don't know, like he's not adjusting all of the
Speaker 4: double teams. I was just happy watching him clean you
Speaker 4: know someone you know, some guy from Brazil's from Brazil's clock.
Speaker 4: So like. But now, because because the teams are so
Speaker 4: much more competitive internationally, you don't have that ability to
Speaker 4: just see Joel Embiid drop thirty five points and feel
Speaker 4: good about yourself.
Speaker 3: You can't have to think about like, oh, boy, like,
Speaker 3: you know, he.
Speaker 4: Looks like he looks he looks like he's struggling here
Speaker 4: in the summer, and he's not gonna have.
Speaker 3: Time to reach hard.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it adds a lot of drama, a lot
Speaker 4: of drama too. If you're if you're if you're, if
Speaker 4: you're a fan of a team, Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 4: I can't. I mean, I love him bid, but I can't.
Speaker 4: I can't imagine being a Sixers fan and watching this unfold.
Speaker 3: It's got to be, you know, painful, a.
Speaker 1: Joy, like being a six fan is always a joy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I was talking to my Philly cousins
Speaker 1: shout out Drew shout out of Alma cousins from Philly,
Speaker 1: and they were talking about like they get frustrated at
Speaker 1: about like Sixers fandom is like everybody. It's just like
Speaker 1: everybody's constantly depressed and like sad. Like even in this
Speaker 1: off season where they like finally put us a really
Speaker 1: compelling team together around Embiid, they're like, yeah, but Embiad's
Speaker 1: the problem, And uh so, I don't know, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna stop being as critical and just immediately
Speaker 1: depressed as I usually am until you know, at least
Speaker 1: ten games into the regular show.
Speaker 4: I get it because, look, I used to be a
Speaker 4: diehard Knicks fan, and in a way it became impossible
Speaker 4: to enjoy the game at a simplest level. So like,
Speaker 4: you know, again, like I, you know, I tell the
Speaker 4: story a lot, but like I was a Knicks fan
Speaker 4: during Michael George's heyday, when basically every spring he would
Speaker 4: just beat the Knicks like like yote the money, like
Speaker 4: it was just every spring was the same narrative played
Speaker 4: over and over again. And as a as a kid,
Speaker 4: as a teenager, my springs were miserable because Michael Jordan
Speaker 4: was just killing the Knicks and torturing Hubert Davis and
Speaker 4: John Starts for forty points a game, and I couldn't.
Speaker 1: I couldn't.
Speaker 3: Not only could I not enjoy it the.
Speaker 4: Knicks, I couldn't enjoyed Michael Jordan. And I couldn't enjoy
Speaker 4: arguably the greatest player of all time at his apex
Speaker 4: because I was worried about you know, Anthony Mason not
Speaker 4: getting enough playing time, or Ubert Davis not not you know,
Speaker 4: Uber Davis inability to take the ball to a hoop.
Speaker 4: So the one cool thing about being sort of a
Speaker 4: basketball I don't know, like just being a basketball fan
Speaker 4: basone just watches the games to watch them, is that
Speaker 4: I can watch any game without that nagging feeling that
Speaker 4: you have Jack of being the Sixers fan. Yeah, and
Speaker 4: you know, and wondering like, you know, is Paul George
Speaker 4: going to be effective when this when this contract ends
Speaker 4: and he's like thirty eight years old. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 4: those are that's those are things I don't have to
Speaker 4: deal with anymore. And it's it's kind of nice just
Speaker 4: to be able to watch a game, to watch a game. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but I don't know, it's my take.
Speaker 1: That's what. The one thing I really enjoy about like
Speaker 1: watching the international games or like the Olympic Games is like,
Speaker 1: especially when the US is playing, is I actually I
Speaker 1: feel happy for all of.
Speaker 2: The people that are clearly in there to see all
Speaker 2: these NBA players and just like the excitement they get
Speaker 2: was just like, yeah, Lebron's on a fast break, you dunked,
Speaker 2: and they're like it's just like exploding.
Speaker 1: Everyone is like, yes, I saw it. I got to
Speaker 1: see this. I got to see the thing. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: like Katie having great games special effects, he can actually
Speaker 1: do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he just did that in front of me, Like
Speaker 2: right here, did you see he shook Tony Parker's hand.
Speaker 2: Tony Parker looked like a little guy next to him.
Speaker 2: Shocking stuff. Shocking stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but that's but but that's I think.
Speaker 4: But you're that's a really good point though, cause I
Speaker 4: think it's very easy to forget those little things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, basic things.
Speaker 4: That we just take for granted it, like you know, again,
Speaker 4: just to you know, to see Lebron James performing the
Speaker 4: way he is a what thirty.
Speaker 1: Nine, Yeah, incredible, it's incredible, Like.
Speaker 3: Just just just say to me, like, that's the beautiful
Speaker 3: Boby of the Olympics.
Speaker 4: That there is a part of it that I think
Speaker 4: is that I think I that I think I gravitate
Speaker 4: toward is the fact that you can enjoy players.
Speaker 3: Without having to worry.
Speaker 4: About the the baggage they bring, right, Like I can't.
Speaker 4: So like, if you're a Cavaliers fan and you're still
Speaker 4: upset about Lebron bolting twice, you can watch the Olympics
Speaker 4: and just enjoy Lebron being Lebron. Or you know, if
Speaker 4: you if you're if you hate Steph Curry. You can
Speaker 4: just enjoy Steph Curry shooting threes with ease.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it just naturally.
Speaker 4: That's kind of the nice part about the Olympics that
Speaker 4: it just allows you to be, I guess, more of
Speaker 4: a fan instead of having these these allegiances you know,
Speaker 4: way down way way down your your you're viewing.
Speaker 1: The USA Basketball did have to come out and specifically
Speaker 1: say yes, USA does include Cleveland. I know there is
Speaker 1: some question about that, but you are we do represent
Speaker 1: you as well. So that was exciting for them. I
Speaker 1: do wonder like if they continue this dominance, and I
Speaker 1: don't I don't personally, I don't expect that to happen.
Speaker 1: I think they're going to have tougher games against Serbia
Speaker 1: and then France or Germany, But like, would this be
Speaker 1: the most impressive because they haven't been this dominant since
Speaker 1: the Dream Team, and there's so much more talent around,
Speaker 1: like in on these other teams than even four years ago,
Speaker 1: Like that, it would be pretty wild if this team
Speaker 1: was able to just like kind of continue doing what
Speaker 1: they're doing so far.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I in that way, they're kind of underdogs because
Speaker 1: they're playing against history, they're playing against themselves and they're
Speaker 1: playing against titaned competition that is not nearly as good
Speaker 1: as them and jet Lag, Oh the jet Lag. Can
Speaker 1: you what Bron's eating like the bed No Olympic village food, No,
Speaker 1: not a chance, right. I don't think any of the
Speaker 1: I doubt any of the US athletes.
Speaker 2: I don't like the steaks are so high like for it,
Speaker 2: like because this is like also like you know, soft
Speaker 2: propaganda for the world, so like it's like, yeah, dude,
Speaker 2: we brought it, we bought, we brought like a herd
Speaker 2: of cattle to process our own beef.
Speaker 1: So they're eating enough red right there.
Speaker 3: Yeah they're not. I don't think they're either.
Speaker 4: They're they're walking the streets of powers looking for McDonald's.
Speaker 1: You don't think so, Yeah, you don't think Lebron's being
Speaker 1: forced to swim in the Seine. There was like that one.
Speaker 2: I think an Italian swimmer who was like sleeping in
Speaker 2: a nearby park because he's like the Olympic village was
Speaker 2: like too uncomfortable for him.
Speaker 1: Like the guy just took a nap in a park
Speaker 1: and they're like, yo, this guy just competed in the Olympics. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a very I think it's just been out drinking
Speaker 1: to be To be fair, I've slept in parks before,
Speaker 1: but right after a pretty wild night. All right, let's
Speaker 1: take a quick break. We can come back. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about some of the other international teams and some great
Speaker 1: nineties player. This is going to be a history lesson
Speaker 1: that I'm gonna you might have forgotten about. I didn't, certainly,
Speaker 1: but you the listener may have. We'll be right back
Speaker 1: and we're back. We're back, and Australia has been eliminated.
Speaker 1: Australia Sorry, sorry, annoying just across the board in the
Speaker 1: Olympics this year. Wow, I'm standing by it. I don't
Speaker 1: like you. No, that's not true. There were just there's
Speaker 1: a doubles team that beat the US that was annoying
Speaker 1: to me. That's mainly who I'm talking about. But Australia
Speaker 1: basketball has been eliminated by Serbian and overtime. Despite a
Speaker 1: great game from Patty Mills. You're never gonna guess who
Speaker 1: closed the show for Serbia. Jokic. I'm just gonna read
Speaker 1: this from leor Kozi summary of the end of the game.
Speaker 1: Jokic block. Jokic knocks a layup off the rim, Jokic Steele,
Speaker 1: Jokic jump hook in traffic to take a one point lead,
Speaker 1: Yokic turnaround, fade away to go up by three, all
Speaker 1: within ninety seconds. Wow, yeah, he just took it over.
Speaker 1: He's good at basketball, I think.
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm still waiting to you know, afore the
Speaker 4: MVP would convince me, but like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Not quite there. We got a World War matchup coming
Speaker 1: between Germany and France. Germany defeated Greece and Jannis. France
Speaker 1: defeated Canada and Dylan Brooks and Jamal Murray and Shay
Speaker 1: Gilgess Alexander Canada. I think a lot of people were
Speaker 1: expecting to be up there on the podium, so that
Speaker 1: I'd say that was the biggest surprise of a team
Speaker 1: going out earlier than expected as of yet. And they won.
Speaker 1: Despite Wembiyama not having his best stuff in this game,
Speaker 1: he did give us the photograph of the Olympics so
Speaker 1: far by blocking Dylan Brooks in an otherwise you know,
Speaker 1: forgettable game. But just you know, his head is at
Speaker 1: the backboard, his arm is up incredibly high. Dylan Brooks
Speaker 1: is shooting a floater that is getting easily gobbled up
Speaker 1: by Wee Biyama in mid air. It's pretty wild.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's he's gonna be a special player.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's it's yeah, he's just so talented
Speaker 3: that guy.
Speaker 1: Where do you do you think he is in the
Speaker 1: MVP competition two years from now, three years from now,
Speaker 1: next season, I think two years, I.
Speaker 4: Think be expected as as he gets, as his body
Speaker 4: gets used to an NBA schedules, he gets as he
Speaker 4: grows up, as he gets older, he gets more weight
Speaker 4: on it, waiting on the frame. The Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 4: I think I think in two years he'll be he'll
Speaker 4: be riding that he'll be right in that competition, especially
Speaker 4: if the Spurs get good, you know, and and and
Speaker 4: that's that's that's a big part of this too. But yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean it's it's every time I've seen him play,
Speaker 4: it's just he's I mean, he is, he is. He's
Speaker 4: an anomaly. I mean you don't see that body, that
Speaker 4: that that length, that height, the ability shoo from the outside.
Speaker 4: I mean it is, he's, he's he's a creature. I
Speaker 4: mean it's just there's no other way, there's no other
Speaker 4: way to put it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, did you guys, watch any three on three basketball.
Speaker 1: I just want to bring sad really quickly. I did
Speaker 1: watch the I'd watched the gold medal game. Was this
Speaker 1: sport specifically invented to create a basketball medal that the
Speaker 1: USA did not win in Chile?
Speaker 2: Because I I'd imagine, right, Because I mean, and here's
Speaker 2: not even my conspiratorial thinking. I mean, it's like truly,
Speaker 2: like even as the Olympic, like the IOC describes the
Speaker 2: history of three on three, it's like American street basketball,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. It's like so clearly they're like,
Speaker 2: we're taking this from American culture. But you know, as
Speaker 2: I think most of us were like, bro, we should
Speaker 2: be putting out a team that should just be serving.
Speaker 1: People out there.
Speaker 5: It's the eligibility rules you have putting this team together. Well,
Speaker 5: you have to be playing foeba three on three basketball
Speaker 5: and you get enough games. Yeah yeah, So what player
Speaker 5: is going to be Like, I just finished my NBA season,
Speaker 5: I'll now spend my entire summer trying to get enough
Speaker 5: games in and the FOBA three by three on three
Speaker 5: circuit to be eligible. That's why, like some you know,
Speaker 5: I think the closest thing was maybe Cameron Brink who
Speaker 5: before she injured her a cl she was going to
Speaker 5: be on that three three on three team. But like
Speaker 5: so they're definitely there's w NBA representation and for NBA
Speaker 5: players who have either played the game or not whatever.
Speaker 1: Jim or it did not happen. They came in seventh
Speaker 1: out of eighty. Canyon Barry, I didn't know they were
Speaker 1: still a Berry person playing. I know, I had no idea.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean the thing that the thing that I
Speaker 4: found really curiousbout the three on three tournament. And this
Speaker 4: is just me being being just you know, just seeing
Speaker 4: pictures and whatever, but like, why why was the ball?
Speaker 4: Does he really really weird something you get from a supermarket?
Speaker 4: Like it's small, yeah, Like it was different colors too.
Speaker 3: It just it looked I don't know, I don't know if.
Speaker 1: That's just the design of it or just it wasn't
Speaker 1: even like a leather basketball.
Speaker 3: It was like a it just looks like something you
Speaker 3: get like like like a.
Speaker 4: Like those big river balls that are like like you
Speaker 4: know the supermarket.
Speaker 1: That yeah, like a big page.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like dodgeball balls, Yeah, exactly, Like you know, the
Speaker 2: ball is slightly smaller than the Foeba size.
Speaker 1: Because they said they're trying to humiliate us. What is
Speaker 1: going on exactly? Do all the little things to throw
Speaker 1: Americans up? The ball is different, like and sometimes the
Speaker 1: ball is uneven and like when you bounce it, it
Speaker 1: just goes in a different direction. Yeah, like when you've
Speaker 1: been treating an outdoor ball terribly. All right, but like,
Speaker 1: who do we need to get involved here? Like one
Speaker 1: name came up before I think Jabari said it, and
Speaker 1: I was like, yes, that is who would be the
Speaker 1: best three on three player from from the NBA is Kyrie?
Speaker 4: Oh I was going to say, like Kyrie is great,
Speaker 4: but if you're looking for retired, I mean Joe Johnson
Speaker 4: has been the name that's coming.
Speaker 1: Jo Johnson has been so good. Yeah, three on three who.
Speaker 4: Amazing? So fun amazing.
Speaker 1: I feel like, yeah, you could easily like create some
Speaker 1: kind of like development league where it's like the old
Speaker 1: like and one type players are like, let's because I
Speaker 1: would that would just be such a show. But but
Speaker 1: that didn't really even look like what was winning in three?
Speaker 1: It was slow and people cutting and yeah.
Speaker 2: In my mind, it's just straight up like clear out
Speaker 2: the clear out the lane every time, Like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just doing one on one and then shooter. I
Speaker 1: mean it feels like there are some like the the
Speaker 1: amount of three point shooting is very inconsistent and like
Speaker 1: sometimes like there were some games where the US took
Speaker 1: like six threes total, which are twos in this but
Speaker 1: the reason like it took the NBA two and a
Speaker 1: half decades to realize, Wow, threes are mathematically worth so
Speaker 1: many more points than twos. We should like change the
Speaker 1: way we run our offenses to take that into account.
Speaker 1: Two is even more than one, Like it's double, you know,
Speaker 1: like mathematically. And I did crunch the numbers on this,
Speaker 1: and I spent a lot of time on this is
Speaker 1: more than one. It's actually yeah, I did run the
Speaker 1: numbers by Terrence Howard and Helogy.
Speaker 4: Two.
Speaker 1: It's so if you just have Kyrie and shooting, and
Speaker 1: then you know people who are able to defend, I
Speaker 1: don't know, so like a big who can shoot.
Speaker 4: Since to me, you get a point guard, you get
Speaker 4: a really good outside you do you get a big
Speaker 4: man or yeah, you get it, you get a center. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean they just thinking now like you probably do
Speaker 4: that with recently retired NBA players.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just and but I don't know.
Speaker 4: I mean, I again, I'm this, this sounds great in
Speaker 4: my mind, but again, you know, I'm a dumb ass.
Speaker 4: So this is probably some of the probably also ready
Speaker 4: to refute this, but like, I don't know, if you
Speaker 4: if you got like let's say Kyle Korver and Dwight
Speaker 4: Howard from whatever lead He's roam around and and and
Speaker 4: I don't know, let's say, let's just say rayper Austin
Speaker 4: to go back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know, does that team do well?
Speaker 1: Does that team, yeah, right, do better than seventh of eight? Probably?
Speaker 1: I think I think maybe maybe Jamal Crawford is also
Speaker 1: an idea that was thrown out by a super producer, Jabari,
Speaker 1: that I really liked, and I'm a little concerned that
Speaker 1: he wasn't actually involved. I think Jamal Crawford Joe Johnson like,
Speaker 1: where what are we doing here? Guys?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: It was Why were they not on this team?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Just a big three to just get the three? Well,
Speaker 3: the big thing's run right now, right, so you can't
Speaker 3: really do that.
Speaker 4: You can't have the big three?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it feels like it would be worth it, like,
Speaker 1: find a way to make it worth their while? All right,
Speaker 1: we should get to the continuation of our Summer of
Speaker 1: nineties hoops conversation. I'm a big Patrick Ewing fan. Uh
Speaker 1: So it's Ewing, it's Petrovitch, and it is the guy
Speaker 1: who was referring to up top, back to the basket magician,
Speaker 1: our vetus, Sibonis, he is our vetus, he is Sibonis,
Speaker 1: he is your desire. I but Ewing has definitely become
Speaker 1: underrated over the years because he's just one of those
Speaker 1: guys who like never quite got there in terms of
Speaker 1: the title, but was so great and like had his
Speaker 1: peak was blocking everything was you know, a bucket was
Speaker 1: just so good on the on the glass, just unbelievable.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, do you think if he hadn't been injured in
Speaker 1: ninety nine, do you think they win the title?
Speaker 4: Me? No, I don't think they do. I think I
Speaker 4: think I mean again, you know that that rum was
Speaker 4: was incredible and it was it was it was led
Speaker 4: by you know, spree Well and Canby. You know, Youing
Speaker 4: at that point was fourteen years into his career and
Speaker 4: you know had played heavy, heavy minutes you know, the
Speaker 4: majority of the of of that time. You know, he
Speaker 4: was not the Patrick Ewing of nineteen eighty nine or
Speaker 4: even nineteen ninety five. He was. He was a good center,
Speaker 4: but he was I don't think he was going to
Speaker 4: hold up against David Robinson and Tim Duncan in the
Speaker 4: nine finals.
Speaker 1: And when he got hurt is when they went on
Speaker 1: the run, so exactly.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So yeah it was. And that's I think what
Speaker 4: ultimately led the Knicks to say to themselves like, we
Speaker 4: really don't need yeah, Patrick Ewing uh anymore, which was
Speaker 4: a whole drama you know when I was you know,
Speaker 4: when I was reading the sports pages back in the day.
Speaker 4: But you're right, I mean, Ewing was somebody who I
Speaker 4: think as time, as as time has gone on, he's
Speaker 4: become forgotten. I think for a few reasons. A. He
Speaker 4: didn't win a championship. B he became A he came
Speaker 4: during an era of just superstar centers with Shaquille O'Neill
Speaker 4: and Kim Olajuan, David Robinson, Baile won championships and and
Speaker 4: Ewing sort of became kind of like the eighties nineties
Speaker 4: version of like you know, Elvid Hayes, just you know
Speaker 4: a player that was you know, you look at him,
Speaker 4: you look at the stats, you put up wonderful stats,
Speaker 4: but he kind of gets lost in the shuffle. But
Speaker 4: it's funny when you look at you Ing now, he
Speaker 4: really was. He was really the beginning of, or rather
Speaker 4: the start of the out of the outside shooting centers.
Speaker 3: I mean there were a few, there was a few
Speaker 3: that were Yeah, there were a.
Speaker 4: Few that were around, like in the seventies, in even
Speaker 4: the sixties, but Ewing was really a lot of his
Speaker 4: game was, you know, baseline jumper, top of the circle jumper,
Speaker 4: and he had he had great post moves, but he
Speaker 4: was he liked to be in the outside. And I
Speaker 4: think back then now sort of knock against him was
Speaker 4: that he wasn't really as physical as he should have been,
Speaker 4: kind of like embiad is now where you know, I
Speaker 4: think if you watch him be play, I think he
Speaker 4: kind of favors the outside little too much.
Speaker 3: But Patrick Guan was a great player.
Speaker 4: I think I think it was just his misfortune that
Speaker 4: not only did he not want a championship, but he
Speaker 4: didn't for whatever reason. The Knicks front off is Dave Checkets,
Speaker 4: and you know, primarily they never surrounded him with great
Speaker 4: complimentary players. They never really strouded him with with a
Speaker 4: with a great number two player. He never really had,
Speaker 4: you know, the way that you know, Steph had Clay,
Speaker 4: you know, Lebron James had Kyrie Irving Patrick who didn't
Speaker 4: really have a terrific number to play, kind of dominicqe
Speaker 4: Wuilgans in Atlanta, you know.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, they drafted Mark Jackson. He won the Rookie
Speaker 1: of the Year, but he was gone pretty quickly, you know,
Speaker 1: he was he was gone pretty quickly.
Speaker 4: And he wasn't like he wasn't like Kyrie Irving. He
Speaker 4: wasn't a guy that he wasn't the kind of player
Speaker 4: that you could depend on to.
Speaker 1: Score twenty five was like a bucket. Yeah. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: was just a great great great point guard.
Speaker 4: Great point guard, great player, but again not not you know,
Speaker 4: wasn't gonna put up twenty five points a game. And
Speaker 4: you know, the Knicks tried to get Yeling that they
Speaker 4: traded for Rolando Blackman back in ninety two. That didn't
Speaker 4: work out because Rolando Blackman aged about fifteen years in
Speaker 4: the season he was in New York, you know, Charles
Speaker 4: uh when blacking, like like Xavier McDaniel was a little
Speaker 4: you know, pass his problem, and they picked him up
Speaker 4: in ninety one. Charles Smith wasn't who they thought who
Speaker 4: wasn't the premier talent he was gonna they thought that
Speaker 4: the Nicks thought they were going to get. So it
Speaker 4: just never really worked out for Patrick Ewing with getting
Speaker 4: number two. But I you know, again as a Knicks
Speaker 4: fan growing up, and I love Patrick Doning because he
Speaker 4: just he he just always seemed to work so hard.
Speaker 4: And again the image I of Patrick Ewing is him
Speaker 4: part of the free throw line, sweating like he had
Speaker 4: just run two marathons like he was. He was just
Speaker 4: pouring sweat, And I think that further kind of further
Speaker 4: accentuated this whole warrior aspect about him.
Speaker 1: But no, yeah, he was.
Speaker 4: He was a great player.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean like what I mean, And I was
Speaker 2: too young, but like when he was at Georgetown, was
Speaker 2: he known for being as offensive a player as he
Speaker 2: added those dimensions, Because I felt like I remember, like
Speaker 2: at least my childish perception of him was like he
Speaker 2: was an insane defender in college and then then added
Speaker 2: these other and credit to him, like evolved his game
Speaker 2: in a way that you know, obviously makes them.
Speaker 1: As Shaq would.
Speaker 2: Say, one of the greats, which is wild too because
Speaker 2: for me, I always thought, I like, you know, being
Speaker 2: when when Shaq came in the league, I'm like, this
Speaker 2: is what I think is like a dope center. But
Speaker 2: I remember later on Shaq was on NBA TV and
Speaker 2: like got emotional talking about Patrick Ewing, and that's when
Speaker 2: I sort of was like, oh, I'm I'm a child
Speaker 2: or like obviously I have a very one dimensional way
Speaker 2: of looking at, like, you know, judging someone's game, and
Speaker 2: that was like a very interesting I'll just play like
Speaker 2: a quick clip of it because it was sort of
Speaker 2: like one of these things was like, oh wow, like
Speaker 2: Shaq is truly giving this man his flowers. And as
Speaker 2: he always put it, he's like I saw him as
Speaker 2: a great that I was modeling my game after.
Speaker 1: But I had to build on that.
Speaker 2: So yes, that part of that does include destroying him,
Speaker 2: but that's just my spirit as a competitor, not because
Speaker 2: I have no respect for him. You are right, No,
Speaker 2: let's you getting look like you're getting emotional?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I saw it. I just saw Patrick Ewing. Man,
Speaker 6: that's a real tier too. I was Patrick Ewing, did
Speaker 6: we get.
Speaker 1: A close up on the deck? Can we zoom in
Speaker 1: that that's real tears, ladies and John, that's not trick
Speaker 1: rat are you saying not like the real tissue?
Speaker 6: You know, you know a lot of people. You know
Speaker 6: a lot of people when they talk about the great
Speaker 6: and never comes up. But I'm putting patching you in names.
Speaker 6: There's great. It was a great competitor, even though he
Speaker 6: never even at the time when you scream this is
Speaker 6: my house, get out of course, listen, listen. I watch
Speaker 6: a lot of karate movies, and in every karate movie,
Speaker 6: the student always had to kill the teacher to become
Speaker 6: the best. So you know, even even though Pat was
Speaker 6: better than me, I had to to say that to
Speaker 6: psych myself out.
Speaker 2: But yeah, so yeah, yeah, it's like when you hear
Speaker 2: those kinds of sort of kind words that kind of
Speaker 2: really put things into perspective of like where it was.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people remember the missed layup
Speaker 1: and like a crucial miss lay up towards the end
Speaker 1: of his career. But just watching some of these highlights
Speaker 1: that super producer Jabari put together, the violence with which
Speaker 1: he dunked on people. Yeah, early in his career, I mean,
Speaker 1: and like throughout his career is really like, yeah, it
Speaker 1: feels kind of influential in some ways.
Speaker 4: Like he was he was, he was, he wasn't informer
Speaker 4: And again like I don't think you played with Charles
Speaker 4: Oakly for eight nine years and you know thrivee with
Speaker 4: him if you're timid or if you're if you're weak willed.
Speaker 3: Patrick Ewey was was a scary dude, and he was.
Speaker 4: Somebody who, as you put it, jack like he would
Speaker 4: he would dunk on you, and he was he was.
Speaker 3: He came to the hoop hard, you know.
Speaker 4: But but I think, but it's unfortunate that again, we
Speaker 4: remember the times that he came up short, Like the
Speaker 4: ninety four finals is a perfect example. You know, a
Speaker 4: kim Alavn just cleaned his clock, and I think that
Speaker 4: is what people remember.
Speaker 3: They remember, they remember a Keeam going.
Speaker 4: Bana going bananas against against Patrick Ewing and John Starts
Speaker 4: going was it two for nineteen.
Speaker 1: In game seven appeals?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so yeah, so it's very so yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean he unfortunately if he had won one championship
Speaker 4: with it, Elvin Hayes did the way that Dolve Chase
Speaker 4: did and back Aways Wolves reed one too.
Speaker 3: He's remembered a lot.
Speaker 4: I think he'd be remembered a lot more fondly, and.
Speaker 3: It would take.
Speaker 4: It would take it wouldn't take Shaquille O'Neill to kind
Speaker 4: of get people to remember him.
Speaker 1: Yea, he was.
Speaker 4: He was an outstanding player, and he also played an
Speaker 4: impossible media market in Miles as he said, like, yeah,
Speaker 4: at Georgia he was like he was more like a
Speaker 4: Bill Russell type, like a block, a rebounder, defensive guy.
Speaker 3: And he yeah, I mean if you look.
Speaker 4: At his highlights in college, like he's not doing those,
Speaker 4: you know, he's not doing that back to the basket,
Speaker 4: curl to the center jump shot. He's not you know,
Speaker 4: posting up on the low blocks. He's very much just
Speaker 4: a kind of a the ultimate. He's a defensive presence.
Speaker 4: He's a defensive monster. And so yeah, I mean I
Speaker 4: don't think he gets nearly enough credit for being for
Speaker 4: being a truly great player. I mean, he had fourteen
Speaker 4: or fifteen great seasons. How come does that happen?
Speaker 1: Right? Yeah? Yeah, he was also like Embiid and like Alajuan,
Speaker 1: like started hooping pretty late in life, you know, he
Speaker 1: didn't come to the US until eleven and started playing
Speaker 1: basketball then. So I think that's like, you know, Embiid
Speaker 1: in college was not a like the thing you'd noticed
Speaker 1: about him was not his like deft offensive touch. It
Speaker 1: was like, Wow, he's like really athletic and like good
Speaker 1: at blocking. And yeah, yeah, but I don't mean to
Speaker 1: talk about I was speaking of Shack.
Speaker 2: Yeah, someone who really something that really puts things into perspective,
Speaker 2: especially like we got to talk about.
Speaker 1: Our Vitas Sabonis.
Speaker 2: So I grew up watching us do battle with him
Speaker 2: in these Western Conference finals, in the playoffs, just throughout
Speaker 2: the regular season, and he was one of the most
Speaker 2: frustrating players.
Speaker 1: I remember being like, but we got Shack, but this
Speaker 1: guy's Sabonis. He's like not even as athletic.
Speaker 2: I don't understand. It was really frustrating. And then I remember,
Speaker 2: like later on I learned, I was like, oh, we
Speaker 2: were playing the dusty version of R Vita Sabonis, like
Speaker 2: we've missed peak Arvet and that's in my mind, Wizard's
Speaker 2: version of R give his Shack that work.
Speaker 3: And I was like, yeah, yeah, you know who.
Speaker 4: It's funny looking at the old highlights of Arvidas Sabonis
Speaker 4: and he's so much like Jokic, you know, very I mean,
Speaker 4: great outside touch, amazing passer, just a guy that just
Speaker 4: a just a great team player.
Speaker 3: And and you're right, wus like he I remember.
Speaker 4: Watching I think it was a the Rookie, the Rookie Showcase,
Speaker 4: the Rookie first year Player whatever that's called the Rising
Speaker 4: Stars Challenge, like in ninety five ninety six, and I
Speaker 4: remember Sabonis played in that game, and like he's like
Speaker 4: exactly like he's saying, it's like Joe Smith and like
Speaker 4: he's you know, up and all these like these young
Speaker 4: these young bloys. He looked like he was running in sand.
Speaker 4: Like he was so moving so slowly and so tenderly. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it almost looked like it was it seemed like he was.
Speaker 3: In pain playing right at that kind of pace.
Speaker 4: But he was, but he was just but even at
Speaker 4: at the minished state he was, he was not only
Speaker 4: was he was he a good player, He was a
Speaker 4: very good player. But he was a key contributor to
Speaker 4: some really really good Portland Trail Plazer teams. I mean
Speaker 4: that that two thousand team, that game seven, aside that
Speaker 4: that meltdown, they they headed the finals. So so you know,
Speaker 4: to to watch Sabonis like that's one of the great
Speaker 4: what ifs like what if Sabonis when he was there
Speaker 4: but he was drafted by Atlanta originally at eighty six
Speaker 4: straight five?
Speaker 3: What if he came out then? What if he was
Speaker 3: able to make.
Speaker 4: That jump and play with Dominique Wilkins, doc whit gosh,
Speaker 4: Kevin willis like that to me is one of the
Speaker 4: great Or what if like what if he played you know,
Speaker 4: what if he came back five years before, like at
Speaker 4: eighty nine and played with ky.
Speaker 2: Drets and potentially Draws and Petrovitch even Yeah, yeah, but
Speaker 2: it was also part of that part of the start
Speaker 2: up in Portland.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think we're talking about a completely
Speaker 1: different world. I think he comes over, he's giving Bird
Speaker 1: the work, like he's better than Bird right away, and
Speaker 1: we lose the Cold War, like America's spirit is completely
Speaker 1: deflated and it's like rocky for him. Reverse he comes
Speaker 1: over and we're just like they're they got us man,
Speaker 1: Like this is our best absolutely hoop, Like I had nothing,
Speaker 1: no frame, Like my brain would not have been able
Speaker 1: to compute somebody coming over from Russia, Like I was
Speaker 1: like Russia, like yeah, okay, they they might be superior
Speaker 1: in ice hockey. Like they don't have basketball over there,
Speaker 1: it's too cold, and like having just like have the
Speaker 1: nastiest game. Like some of these highlights, we'll link off
Speaker 1: to them in the show notes, but like some of
Speaker 1: these highlights are it's like, oh yeah, I've never seen
Speaker 1: that pass anywhere except for maybe Magic and Jokic. And
Speaker 1: it's like a behind the back pass where he's not
Speaker 1: even like looking. He just like has a sense that
Speaker 1: somebody's where he knows they are, and it goes past
Speaker 1: three people's heads, like just over their shoulders, like three defenders,
Speaker 1: and just like weaves its way through in a way
Speaker 1: that seems like it's it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 4: He was he was a magician, and he was he
Speaker 4: was so splendid in the low post passing. I mean,
Speaker 4: I can watch clips of or Vitas a Bonus in
Speaker 4: Portland passing to Scottie Pippen and Steve Smith and Kenny
Speaker 4: Anderson all day because the meam like that. Once or
Speaker 4: twice a game, one of them would cut and Sabona
Speaker 4: but just delivered the bullet bounce pass hits the guy
Speaker 4: riding's drive like he to me, what what I love
Speaker 4: of watching Yokic playing is to me.
Speaker 3: This is gonna sound silly, but.
Speaker 4: I kind of wonder what would be like to play
Speaker 4: like half court basketball with them, yea, and like I
Speaker 4: get so excited and that's why, and that's what it
Speaker 4: would be. I can't imagine what it be like playing
Speaker 4: half court with with Yokic or with Sabonis, because like
Speaker 4: you just know that if you make a cut to
Speaker 4: the basket, you're gonna the ball is going to be
Speaker 4: in the right location and you'll be and if you move,
Speaker 4: you'll be rewarded. Or it was like that magic was
Speaker 4: like that where they just they just had they just
Speaker 4: they had just great anticipation and they just they trusted
Speaker 4: their teammates to be in the right spot. But I mean, Sabonis,
Speaker 4: it's so but yeah, I mean when Sabonis came to
Speaker 4: Portland and you touch on this on this just now, Jack,
Speaker 4: Like now we hear about players coming in from overseas
Speaker 4: and it's not a big deal, Like you know, Wemby
Speaker 4: goes first, and it's it's okay, Yeah, of course some
Speaker 4: foot three Greek of Nature can shoot outside jump shots.
Speaker 3: He's nineteen.
Speaker 4: Of course we're going to get them. But back in
Speaker 4: back in the eighties, and nineties. Even in the early
Speaker 4: two thousands, there wasn't this pipeline of information. There wasn't,
Speaker 4: you know, there wasn't. There wasn't The basketball hadn't really
Speaker 4: spread the way that it has it has now, where
Speaker 4: you know, we can actually talk about the Olympic Games
Speaker 4: being competitive among multiple countries. So when our Vita Savonas
Speaker 4: came along, and even when you know, Drosen got drafted,
Speaker 4: Petrovich and a lot of depots, there was a lot
Speaker 4: of suspicion because like, that wasn't a normal thing to
Speaker 4: get players from overseas and bring them into the NBA, right,
Speaker 4: not like unless they were like a Chemo Lagat or
Speaker 4: Dela Shrimp and they went to a US college, right,
Speaker 4: got refined, got reps and then okay, it's fine. But
Speaker 4: like to pluck someone from a foreign country and bring
Speaker 4: them into the NBA, that was not That was almost
Speaker 4: underheard of, especially in the late nineteen eighties, And.
Speaker 1: It was as of this show that it go back
Speaker 1: to that way. We don't like them at US all
Speaker 1: the way Russia. Jack, there was the US s R
Speaker 1: back then, but he's from the US s R. Whatever.
Speaker 1: Man too much Rocky to your Rocky Brain dies the
Speaker 1: USSR though, man, that would have been that would have
Speaker 1: been close enough for me, right up.
Speaker 2: I mean that's I mean again huge what if what
Speaker 2: if the bonus comes through? You know, if if first
Speaker 2: of all, if the Soviet Union had allowed it, and
Speaker 2: then maybe he doesn't get that Achilles injury that he
Speaker 2: needs to read. Which is another thing too, is like
Speaker 2: this guy was playing with like a busted Achilles and
Speaker 2: so he still still playing well, still playing yeah, right,
Speaker 2: But the next what if, which I think as I
Speaker 2: was looking into this more and more, seems to be
Speaker 2: like one of the biggest what ifs in the NBA,
Speaker 2: which is Draws and Petrovitch.
Speaker 1: He played what like three seasons in the NBA.
Speaker 3: I think eighty eight eighty nine was his first season.
Speaker 4: Was see he played in the finals against the Pistons
Speaker 4: nineties eighty nine nine. I think's like, yeah, it's eighty.
Speaker 2: Nine and many yeah, but yeah, all that to say
Speaker 2: is like, as I you know, there was this one
Speaker 2: interview I was watching with Reggie Miller and he's like
Speaker 2: the greatest shooter of all time is actually Draws and Petrovitch.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, And I was like, whoa, whoa, that's I mean,
Speaker 2: I knew he was nice with it, but when a
Speaker 2: lot of people really talk about just like what his
Speaker 2: last season with the Nets, and you're like, oh, this
Speaker 2: thing is about to go off like fully, and he
Speaker 2: tragically passed away in a car accident at twenty eight
Speaker 2: that you know, cut his career short. But you know
Speaker 2: what was sort of when you saw the list of
Speaker 2: people you can talk about, like when we were talking
Speaker 2: about nineties nostalgia players, like aside from the what ifs,
Speaker 2: like or maybe it was the what ifs, what really
Speaker 2: drew you to Draws and Petrovitch, I mean.
Speaker 4: With Draws and Petrovitch is more about that team, the Nets.
Speaker 4: I think, you know again, I grew up in central
Speaker 4: New Jersey, which was very much Knicks territory, even though
Speaker 4: the Nets played in the Meadowlands, which was like thirty
Speaker 4: minus from my house from my parents' house. So but
Speaker 4: but the but the that Nets team, like ninety three,
Speaker 4: ninety three, ninety four was absolutely stacked, like they were
Speaker 4: primed to do to do great things because Drazen Petrovitch,
Speaker 4: who was coming into his own who's a remarkable shooter.
Speaker 4: And this is why why YouTube is such a gift
Speaker 4: if you're a sports nerd or any any kind of devotee,
Speaker 4: because you can go back and watch game footage and
Speaker 4: draws and Petrovitch if you watch the game Foich, I'm.
Speaker 3: Sure you guys have.
Speaker 4: His release is just lightning quick like he he comes
Speaker 4: off curls and just shoots and it's a it looks almost.
Speaker 3: Like an optical illusion.
Speaker 4: He is so so quick, and he would have thrived
Speaker 4: in today's game. He was He was almost like a
Speaker 4: Klay Thompson type where he was just he he just
Speaker 4: could shoot from anywhere, could get to the basket if
Speaker 4: he needed to. Great player, but Rosin was was was special.
Speaker 4: But that team, like you have to remember this New Jersey,
Speaker 4: New York was always Knicks still lives to a certain degree.
Speaker 4: But back in ninety two, nineteen ninety three, No. Ninety three,
Speaker 4: ninety four, I believe I'm getting my my dates mixed up.
Speaker 4: Chuck Daly gets hired to coach the Nets, which is
Speaker 4: a big deal because Chuck Daly again coached his dream team.
Speaker 3: He was also Piston's head coach during the glory years.
Speaker 3: So this is a big gat.
Speaker 4: You get Tuck, you get Chuck Daily, and then you
Speaker 4: get Derrick Coleman, who was a great player inside outside guy,
Speaker 4: could could good great rebounder. You have Kenny Anderson was
Speaker 4: one of the one of the best point guards coming up,
Speaker 4: who was just you know, explosive left hander which is
Speaker 4: you know again throws everyone off. And then johnsa Petrovitch.
Speaker 4: That is a great big three right there, and you
Speaker 4: have the right coach, you have players involved. I think
Speaker 4: also on that team was Rick Mhorn Moe Cheeks, like
Speaker 4: good veteran stability there.
Speaker 3: And they had one season. They didn't really get very far.
Speaker 4: I think they lost the Knicks in the first round,
Speaker 4: I want to say, and and that was it, Like
Speaker 4: you know, Dowson, patrickck dies you know in June and
Speaker 4: that terrible car accident on the Autubahn, and the Nets
Speaker 4: never recover, you know, Kenny Anderson, you know, I think
Speaker 4: it gets injured. I think right around the middle of
Speaker 4: ninety three, ninety four, sees know when was that he
Speaker 4: gets injured? He breaks his wrists. One year isn't really
Speaker 4: the same. Derek Coleman never puts it together, He never
Speaker 4: kind of gets he never reaches full maturity, and that
Speaker 4: window closes. So that's one of the to me like,
Speaker 4: one of the great what ifs is if that NETS
Speaker 4: team had another season, if you put together Anderson, a
Speaker 4: healthy Kenny Anderson, Derek Coleman, that isn't you know that
Speaker 4: gets it together maturity wise and Drasan Petrickish You get
Speaker 4: those three together and.
Speaker 3: Chuck daily, how far do they go?
Speaker 4: Yeah? You know, I really think that's one of the
Speaker 4: great one of the great what ifs in basketball history,
Speaker 4: along with you know what if Marie Stokes doesn't hit
Speaker 4: his head and has and basically becomes a paraplegic when
Speaker 4: he's at the Rock, when he's at the Royals. It's
Speaker 4: one of those great what ifs, right, I think.
Speaker 1: Amazing. All Right, we're going to take one more break.
Speaker 1: We're going to come back and we're going to do
Speaker 1: the fastest rapid fire round of questioning that you've ever heard.
Speaker 1: We'll be rappid and we're back. We're back. Pete, my
Speaker 1: dear Pete.
Speaker 2: Yes, we've had a had a great time talking nostalgia
Speaker 2: ball with you, but now it's time.
Speaker 1: To ball B A W L tiers of pain because
Speaker 1: you have entered the hot seat. It's the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: rapid fire around a question.
Speaker 2: It's very hot in my office as I record, so
Speaker 2: forgive my stutters the moment.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was gonna say, I hope this isn't a
Speaker 4: video time I am. I'm sort of like a pot
Speaker 4: roast here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no.
Speaker 4: The doors are closed, and it's like, I'm this is
Speaker 4: why this is.
Speaker 1: Going to be the fastest one, because I only have
Speaker 1: a few more breaths before. You don't much time to
Speaker 1: come to heat stroke.
Speaker 4: I guess. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think we just got to replace our nineties players.
Speaker 1: I think we need I think we need to take
Speaker 1: advantage of Pete's immense backlog of knowledge and do that,
Speaker 1: and it'll be rapid, so rapid, because it's only gonna
Speaker 1: be one shot. We're gonna take one shot.
Speaker 3: I'll do the best that I can.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, right, we'll get ready because here we go.
Speaker 1: Start the clock. Don't, don't, don't don't? All right, you
Speaker 1: want to go first? Or well, there's only one question?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Wait where is the which one are you going to do?
Speaker 4: The one question?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Where was the we had this second ago? I
Speaker 1: wasn't messing around the dog? Did you do something? Replace
Speaker 1: the ones we were there? It is all right, you
Speaker 1: want to do that one I'm gonna ask I'm gonna
Speaker 1: ask another on. I'm gonna ask another question though too. Okay,
Speaker 1: I think we should do I think we should Yes.
Speaker 1: Hold on so fast, dude, I know you can't believe it.
Speaker 1: Good how we are, Pete. We have two more installments
Speaker 1: of the Nineties Nostalgia Conversation. So who are asking each
Speaker 1: guest to give us a few more names to replace
Speaker 1: the ones we discussed today. Uh, you've seen the overall list,
Speaker 1: so give us a few more to discuss. Who are
Speaker 1: the players that were missing from our list?
Speaker 3: Let's see who are miss I'm trying to remember the
Speaker 3: list we've got.
Speaker 1: I'll give you. I'll tell you who's still on the board.
Speaker 1: Sean Kemp, Iverson, Reggie Lewis, Alan Iverson, Glenn Robinson, Ray Allen,
Speaker 1: Alan Roberson, Uh Debt Li of shremp Hakeem Free Vlade,
Speaker 1: Sam Cassell, Anthony the Iceman, Peeler. It's from our last
Speaker 1: week's guests, Matt Leeb.
Speaker 3: Anthony Peeler. Oh my goodness, someone's the Missouri fan in.
Speaker 4: Uh. That was gonna be Anthony Peter was gonna be
Speaker 4: my guest?
Speaker 3: Or Anthony pig Miller.
Speaker 4: No, I will go with.
Speaker 3: That's a fine list. You know who, you know you
Speaker 3: talk about Sam Perkins.
Speaker 1: That's one person, so smooth, so smooth with it. What
Speaker 1: a smooth stroke. Okay, yeah, you give us one more,
Speaker 1: one more, Okay.
Speaker 3: One more, you know what.
Speaker 4: Let's let's go a little off the beaten path here,
Speaker 4: let's Marty Conlin. You know again, the there are very
Speaker 4: few players who I watched who remind me of me
Speaker 4: when I play. And again, I'm a slow, not terribly
Speaker 4: talented back to the basket player, and Marty Colin would
Speaker 4: be my avatar if I played in the NBA. He
Speaker 4: he had the worst head bake and everyone always did
Speaker 4: on it on the same way. And again, like you're
Speaker 4: not you don't really see players like him anymore, these
Speaker 4: very traditional bangers back to the basket type players who just.
Speaker 3: Sort of stick around for five to ten years. But
Speaker 3: you know, they're just you know, they're they're they're there
Speaker 3: are quite.
Speaker 4: Essential hustle, hustle to hustle guys. So yeah, my, so
Speaker 4: Sam Perkins and Marty Kalina would be my my. Oh
Speaker 4: can throw a third one in there?
Speaker 1: Sure please?
Speaker 4: Okay, you know what, and you can probably replace Marty
Speaker 4: Collin with this because I don't think anyone's going to
Speaker 4: listen to anyone.
Speaker 1: Discussing AKA the Celtic Killer, so he will be on
Speaker 1: the list. Uh yeah, but he did per game.
Speaker 4: There you go. See that's what That's what I would
Speaker 4: be if I if I were playing an NBA player's body,
Speaker 4: I'd be ten points easy.
Speaker 3: Again, probably is his finest.
Speaker 4: But I but the player that I didn't stand that
Speaker 4: list I thought was great in the nineties. That doesn't
Speaker 4: get enough love.
Speaker 3: Mark Price.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, phenomenal playmaker. Was one of the pretty much
Speaker 4: started the trend of when a double team comes you
Speaker 4: split the middle like he would do that a lot.
Speaker 4: He would split like on a pick and roll. He
Speaker 4: would just like kind of duck in and take you
Speaker 4: to the hoop. Great three point shooter. I think he
Speaker 4: shot over forty percent from three point line back when
Speaker 4: that was more of a novelty. But yeah, amazing player.
Speaker 4: Career was cut short because of an ecl injury and
Speaker 4: yeah he was. He was, and he was phenomenal on
Speaker 4: some really really good uh Cleveland Cavaliers themes back in
Speaker 4: the day.
Speaker 3: So yeah, Mark Price would be my choice as well.
Speaker 1: One of the most beautiful strokes I've ever seen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just jump shooter, just a gorgeous Yeah.
Speaker 2: Final question for you, p yes, please describe to us
Speaker 2: your personal highlight for you as a basketball player.
Speaker 4: As a basketball player, that's a.
Speaker 1: Great Really, what's your greatest performance? You've putting it on
Speaker 1: my court?
Speaker 3: My greatest performance?
Speaker 4: Oh boy, this is gonna sound this is gonna sound
Speaker 4: a little silly, but I guess I'll go with it
Speaker 4: because it's contemporary. And I don't want to bore people with,
Speaker 4: you know, back in my day stories because they're not
Speaker 4: they're not that impressive.
Speaker 3: But I'll tell you it's it's My daughter is is seven, and.
Speaker 1: You know, so she'll where's this going? And you just
Speaker 1: put up like windmilled her and I am just.
Speaker 3: Torturing her with right w jump boxs.
Speaker 4: No, but my daughter is seven years old now, and
Speaker 4: she she will One of the great joys is like
Speaker 4: we will shoot baskets together, or like, you know, we'll
Speaker 4: go to the wine. You know, she'll chase down rebounds
Speaker 4: and one of the nice one of the greatest moments
Speaker 4: is just being able to shoot with her and her
Speaker 4: being impressed that I can actually make a basket. Yeah,
Speaker 4: that's not going to last for too much longer because
Speaker 4: you know, I'm She's going to know that I'm a
Speaker 4: terrible athlete and that I that you know, I'm a
Speaker 4: thirty five percent shooterest so like that, you got to be.
Speaker 1: Adding tools in the off season when she's like, I know,
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 4: I should be dedicated to working in my left hand,
Speaker 4: but you know, only so many eighty hours a day.
Speaker 3: But that's probably the nicest moment, is just being able
Speaker 3: to go out there and.
Speaker 4: Have that moment with my daughter and and maybe and
Speaker 4: I hope that she's able to appreciate or maybe get
Speaker 4: into sports because she sees me doing it. So that's
Speaker 4: really that's really that's been a recent development that I've
Speaker 4: really have I really cherish, you know, better than the
Speaker 4: time I you know, I did like two behind the
Speaker 4: back passes in a game or right right, you know,
Speaker 4: almost puts the backward on a layup.
Speaker 1: So yeah, Pete, it turns out that was the correct
Speaker 1: answer that we had written answer and correct roto.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm trying, I'm just trying to elevate the conversation.
Speaker 1: So you know, yeah, one story of the time, that's
Speaker 1: what you on?
Speaker 2: Man, where do the people find you, follow you, read you,
Speaker 2: support you, all that good stuff.
Speaker 4: Oh well, thank you.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, i mean I'm on x Twitter whatever it's called.
Speaker 4: Now Twitter at Pete Crowado my name which is p
Speaker 4: E t E c r O A T t O.
Speaker 4: You can buy my book from Hanging on the Prime
Speaker 4: Time pretty much anywhere, still on Amazon, still on Barnes
Speaker 4: and Noble.
Speaker 3: It still hasn't been turned to mulch, so today.
Speaker 4: Buy it there. And yeah, i mean, I'm always you know,
Speaker 4: I'm always you know. I'm on also most of the
Speaker 4: social media under some variation of my name, and I'm
Speaker 4: always posting stories and stuff.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I'm easy to find.
Speaker 4: Awesome.
Speaker 2: Well, you can follow our show at the hashtag Matt
Speaker 2: boost 's b w S t i E S on Twitter.
Speaker 2: That's we can find show links, show notes, ways to
Speaker 2: get into our listener discord, amongst other things.
Speaker 1: You can find me at Miles of Gray. You can
Speaker 1: find me at Jack Underscore Obrian and that's going to
Speaker 1: do it. Another one on the.
Speaker 2: Books, another one and we'll be next week. We'll see
Speaker 2: what happens with Team USA.
Speaker 1: Will the glory continue?
Speaker 4: I think? So?
Speaker 1: All right, we'll see you the next thing
Speaker 2: I said to see you next team, next time, the
Speaker 2: next gam Bye, Bye, Okayama,