Speaker 1: Welcome to this League Uncut in the world of twenty
Speaker 1: four hour NBA news. This is you, Chris Haynes. It's
Speaker 1: so time, part's time, It's so time. This League Uncut
Speaker 1: is underway and on fire. This should be a good one.
Speaker 2: Good one, just a good one.
Speaker 3: We might need to reach out to our friend Tim Kitsrow,
Speaker 3: the voice of NBA JAM to maybe amend that, because
Speaker 3: this is a great one. Our visit with Lakers coach
Speaker 3: Darvin Ham, who sat with Chris Haynes and I for
Speaker 3: an hour at Caesar's Palace, the iconic Caesar's Palace, a
Speaker 3: live interview with Darvin Ham, and he was tremendous and
Speaker 3: open book on so many different subjects. We decided this
Speaker 3: had to be a two part episode. Enjoy Now listen
Speaker 3: into part two, where we talk about all kinds of subjects,
Speaker 3: including Darvin Ham's plans for Austin Reeves now that Austin
Speaker 3: Reeves is back with the Lakers on a lucrative contract extension.
Speaker 3: Big plans for Austin Reeves that Darvin Ham explains and reveals,
Speaker 3: and also he addresses the Lakers rivalry with the so
Speaker 3: called Laker Daddy. Nuggets coach Mike Malone. That's all here
Speaker 3: now on this edition of This League Uncut Live from
Speaker 3: Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: I'm really lucky on my substack.
Speaker 3: I have a huge community of Laker fans who are
Speaker 3: readers of my substack, and so they sent me a
Speaker 3: zillion questions to ask you. I'm not gonna ask you
Speaker 3: a zillion, but I gotta ask at least a couple
Speaker 3: so they don't get mad at me. And this one
Speaker 3: is from Kobe Boyd, who we call the green Room Mamba.
Speaker 2: That's a long story. I'm not gonna explain that whole thing.
Speaker 3: But if I don't ask you for a full breakdown
Speaker 3: of your plans for Austin Reeves and what his future holds,
Speaker 3: I will I will never be forgiven.
Speaker 4: I'm putting it on record right now. Aust Reeves will
Speaker 4: be an All Star at some point soon. I think
Speaker 4: what you saw him being invited to to be a
Speaker 4: part of the World Cup team, it's the first step
Speaker 4: in that direction. Everything you saw him do last year.
Speaker 4: The kid is a flat out competitor, one of the
Speaker 4: greatest human beings you can ever be around. Always fun,
Speaker 4: keeps things simple, but yet works at his craft. It's
Speaker 4: fearless in the biggest of moments, and my plan is
Speaker 4: to continue to feature him. He's our starting to guard.
Speaker 4: I think there's a lot more levels he's going to
Speaker 4: get to before it's all set and done, and he'll
Speaker 4: be all starting a world champion with me in the
Speaker 4: room with him.
Speaker 2: Chu go, and then I'll take this back.
Speaker 5: Last time we saw each other in person, it was
Speaker 5: the last game you lost against when you got got
Speaker 5: swept by the Denver Nuggets and Stein. This is behind
Speaker 5: the scenes, so this is probably two hours after the game.
Speaker 5: I got some news right after that game Lebron that
Speaker 5: he was considering retirement, and I didn't I didn't publish
Speaker 5: the story.
Speaker 6: I saw d Ham.
Speaker 5: I was like, I gotta go tell d Ham before
Speaker 5: I published it. That's just out of respect, No, just
Speaker 5: out of respect.
Speaker 6: I don't want you know.
Speaker 5: I know he probably didn't care that. You know, he's
Speaker 5: probably mad. He was with his family at the time.
Speaker 5: But I pulled d Ham.
Speaker 6: To the side.
Speaker 5: I was like, d I just want to let you
Speaker 5: know so you're not cut off guard. Momentarily, I'm about
Speaker 5: to publish that Lebron is considering retirement, And I said,
Speaker 5: did you know anything about that, he said hell no, hell.
Speaker 6: You know he said, okay, well, well thank you that
Speaker 6: he would all just start taking.
Speaker 7: Pictures of the film. Appreciate.
Speaker 6: But have you have you spoken to Lebron?
Speaker 5: Most people didn't think he'll really get to that point,
Speaker 5: but it's just for me. What it showed me was
Speaker 5: that he's finally thinking in that direction, like the time
Speaker 5: is like we're the time is limited that we're going
Speaker 5: to you know.
Speaker 6: See That's that's the way I took it.
Speaker 5: But have you spoke to Lebron this summer and you know,
Speaker 5: moving forward about what the plans are.
Speaker 4: Man, me and the King communicate often, and like I
Speaker 4: like I said it, you know, publicly, he has every
Speaker 4: right to feel how he wants to feel. He's done
Speaker 4: nothing but heavy lifting throughout his career. I mean, you're
Speaker 4: talking about somebody with the type of expectations that were
Speaker 4: placed on him coming out of high school to where
Speaker 4: he is now and the guy that's not only met
Speaker 4: the expectations but exceeded them and even recreated the narrati
Speaker 4: of how special he is. And yeah, I'm talking about
Speaker 4: not just heavy lifting for his team trying to win,
Speaker 4: have his individual success, but heavy lifting for the league
Speaker 4: where he's taking the league, the NBA as a whole globally,
Speaker 4: you know, just one of those ones in the generator,
Speaker 4: once in the generation type players. I just I just
Speaker 4: felt like, you know, he needed all the time, whatever
Speaker 4: time he needs, and he gets the chance and gets
Speaker 4: he has the right to do what he feels his
Speaker 4: right for Lebron James and his family. Like he's more
Speaker 4: than earned that, and so whatever he's ready, whenever he's
Speaker 4: ready to get back to basketball, he decides he don't
Speaker 4: want to do it no more, and he's totally earned that.
Speaker 4: I appreciate him again for what he did for me
Speaker 4: in my first year being in that seat, and the
Speaker 4: support he gave me, and the compliance and again allowing
Speaker 4: himself to be coached, giving me the feedback stepping up
Speaker 4: as a leader. We don't get that far without the
Speaker 4: impact that he made for us as a coaching staff
Speaker 4: and for his teammates and the performances he put forth.
Speaker 4: And so you know, he, in my opinion, he gets
Speaker 4: he earned the right to do whatever he wants to
Speaker 4: do and our respective decision either way, whatever he decides
Speaker 4: that the final decision will be. I would anticipate though
Speaker 4: that we hadn't seen the last of the world. We
Speaker 4: got some unfinished business that he and I talked about.
Speaker 4: So it's it's, uh, we'll see, we'll see, We'll see
Speaker 4: where he is October third, October second guy ask ask
Speaker 4: some questions on media day whether or not he's in
Speaker 4: the gym or not We in Vegas, right, I'll put
Speaker 4: some money on the fact that he might just be
Speaker 4: in that gym come October second.
Speaker 3: I'm glad that we are getting your a material on
Speaker 3: July eleventh. So the October second crew we we got,
Speaker 3: we got a.
Speaker 2: Two and a half month head start on that.
Speaker 7: Absolutely, we've kept.
Speaker 3: You too long. We're only going to do a couple
Speaker 3: of work. This is awesome, this is fantastic. But will
Speaker 3: we would do two hours if we could. I mean,
Speaker 3: you are your openness and willing to tell guys.
Speaker 4: Some money over here. Decided to take a nap and
Speaker 4: try to forget about it. I mean, it's it's it's
Speaker 4: a cool vot.
Speaker 6: We got some stars in the audience. Am and O
Speaker 6: Hasson is over there right there, Keith Smith is over there.
Speaker 6: Got a turner man they represented.
Speaker 7: Bring out the heavy hitters man.
Speaker 3: So Denver has lost Bruce Brown, They've lost Jeff Green.
Speaker 3: You guys have have made a serious.
Speaker 4: If they lose Jamal Murray, they lose Joker. If they
Speaker 4: didn't lose those two, they really didn't lose a damn thing.
Speaker 7: So just for the.
Speaker 2: Record, so I guess that's my question.
Speaker 3: I mean, they love they lost two of their eight
Speaker 3: main rotation guys.
Speaker 2: That's my long.
Speaker 4: Winded way of saying, how Joker decides to retire, go
Speaker 4: back to service. They called me then, no, no disrespect
Speaker 4: the Bruce Jeff. But that's what happens, man, when you
Speaker 4: have a hell of a team, a championship squad. I've
Speaker 4: seen it as a player, seeing it as a coach,
Speaker 4: like those high value players, whether starters. Obviously he's not
Speaker 4: gonna lose your main guys, but those rotation guys are
Speaker 4: huge for you. But other people see what the contributions
Speaker 4: they make and increases value and a lot of times
Speaker 4: you're not able to keep them in the fold because
Speaker 4: again their value is get shot through the roof. And
Speaker 4: when you win at the highest level, at the highest level,
Speaker 4: like people are gonna be coming for you, man. They
Speaker 4: want those guys to bring that same pedigree to their
Speaker 4: individual franchises.
Speaker 3: So how much better would you match up with them
Speaker 3: if you had to play them in a series? Now
Speaker 3: with the changes you've made, and they've lost a.
Speaker 7: Couple guys, we'll see.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think with a lot of what they did,
Speaker 4: they had guys from KCP, the Michael Porter and Aaron Gordon,
Speaker 4: they had guys Bruce Jeff, they had guys stepping up
Speaker 4: making plays, making big plays.
Speaker 2: And so I mean they know who they are. That's
Speaker 2: clearly there.
Speaker 4: Besides Joe, I think our size that we've added, I
Speaker 4: think our basketball IQ, the fearlessness of a gay Denton
Speaker 4: getting you Ruie back, getting Austin back, adding a young
Speaker 4: explosive prospect like Jackson Hayes getting d Lo back, you know,
Speaker 4: Cam Reddish, Torrian Prince like. I think we match up
Speaker 4: extremely well now, and it's up to us and it's
Speaker 4: our job now to take all of those names and
Speaker 4: translate it, transition it, I should say, from the paper
Speaker 4: to the actual court and getting everyone to lock in
Speaker 4: and buy into what we're doing. I think Scott's will
Speaker 4: be a limit. We'll only go as far as our
Speaker 4: work takes us. Always believe in.
Speaker 5: That you mentioned the guys Jackson Hayes still have to
Speaker 5: defend Joker, like you still have to have a body.
Speaker 5: I believe Rob Palika said recently that they're they're the
Speaker 5: search for big man. Do you do you believe that
Speaker 5: it's critical that you get another big man, somebody with size,
Speaker 5: just in case you have to see Joker in the future.
Speaker 4: I mean, no one man is gonna stop Joker. No,
Speaker 4: no community of men is gonna stop Joker. You know,
Speaker 4: his his points of attack are all over the place,
Speaker 4: whether it's the post, whether it's through the elbows where
Speaker 4: there's three point line, him play making making plays, whereas teammates.
Speaker 4: Same with Jamal. I just think we have to be
Speaker 4: able to fight fire with fire, you know. And the
Speaker 4: big thing about Denver is you can't make can't turn
Speaker 4: the ball over. You have to finish at the rim.
Speaker 4: You gotta get to the free throw line and make
Speaker 4: free throws. But you cannot have any what we call
Speaker 4: again self inflicted wounds. You can't beat yourself like they're
Speaker 4: they're tough. We'll see because you know their core is young,
Speaker 4: They're they're set up to make a run for a
Speaker 4: plenty more years. So what we hope to do is
Speaker 4: again all those guys I mentioned getting get them in
Speaker 4: the gym as quickly as possible and start getting on
Speaker 4: the same page of being able to get a full
Speaker 4: training camp well off season open gym training camp, and
Speaker 4: to start the season off with a unified group that's
Speaker 4: highly talented, highly skilled, and we've gotten younger and so
Speaker 4: uh again, being able to fight fire with fire. I
Speaker 4: think it's no one person you can go find that's
Speaker 4: going to stop these guys. You just have a you
Speaker 4: have to have a fully commit, fully committed arsenal to
Speaker 4: throw back.
Speaker 5: At the World Champs, I wanted to ask this question
Speaker 5: coach real quick, Mike, Mike Bootholzer got let go by
Speaker 5: the Bucks. What was your reaction after, you know, not
Speaker 5: too long ago hoisting up a championship for the organization?
Speaker 6: And I guess where's his mindset.
Speaker 4: That I mean you're talking about, But it is, you know,
Speaker 4: obviously disappointed about that, but I think he's in a
Speaker 4: great place mentally in terms of now you know, having
Speaker 4: some time to really get back to his family and
Speaker 4: and and to really you know, lock in with his
Speaker 4: kids and do different things with its own free time.
Speaker 4: It's amazing because it's not just with Bud, but you
Speaker 4: know Manti obviously was ever able to pivot and go
Speaker 4: to Detroit and Nick Nurse Doc rivers like you're talking
Speaker 4: about some high, high level coaches with championship pedigree being
Speaker 4: let go for whatever reason.
Speaker 7: It's crazy.
Speaker 4: My emotions are, it's like, damn, like you even when
Speaker 4: you win, it's not good enough. But this is what
Speaker 4: we sign up for, so you can't. You know, you
Speaker 4: just got to keep putting your best foot forward every
Speaker 4: each and every time you get a chance to wake
Speaker 4: up and and and and be that league guy for
Speaker 4: your team, and you just again, you got to make
Speaker 4: sure you're doing everything possible to not just put yourself,
Speaker 4: but you're into group in the position to be successful.
Speaker 4: And if someone decides that get into the pinnacle or
Speaker 4: whatever and winning, is that not good enough? And it's
Speaker 4: just not good enough and but someone will appreciate that work.
Speaker 4: And as you saw, a couple of those guys were
Speaker 4: able to pivot into different jobs. But yeah, you look
Speaker 4: at it like damn, they fired them, and then you
Speaker 4: turn around and they get Minnie Williams eighty million dollars.
Speaker 4: So that's also inspiring.
Speaker 6: All of all that's good.
Speaker 7: Dudes, Like, oh wow, go ahead, but we got the
Speaker 7: same agent too. Wow. Shout out to Spenser Breacher c
Speaker 7: AA in the building.
Speaker 3: What point in your life did you know you want
Speaker 3: to do this? Like twenty it's almost twenty years since
Speaker 3: the Pistons championship. Had I stopped you in the hall
Speaker 3: at the Palace of Auburn Hills and said, if you
Speaker 3: want to coach someday, Like, what would you have said
Speaker 3: at that point in your life?
Speaker 7: Come with me, Mark, We're gonna take this drug test.
Speaker 6: So when was it?
Speaker 2: When was there want to?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 7: Actually?
Speaker 4: And I remember running into you at the MAVs games
Speaker 4: when I used to do a little work with Fox
Speaker 4: Sports Southwest after it was then known, and then you know,
Speaker 4: doing some stuff with the NBA.
Speaker 2: TV producers.
Speaker 7: Put me audience.
Speaker 4: So that was a lot of fun. But one thing
Speaker 4: I realized is like one, how much I missed the
Speaker 4: game and two didn't feel like I was necessary necessarily
Speaker 4: close enough to the competition. It's one thing, like to
Speaker 4: analyze the game from that from a neutral perspective, but
Speaker 4: I'm one. I want to be able to pick a side,
Speaker 4: and so outside of playing, coaching to me, was the
Speaker 4: next best option and spending four beautiful years in the
Speaker 4: G League was known as the D League then in Albuquerque,
Speaker 4: New Mexico. And it's funny because the part owners of
Speaker 4: the team, the Thunderbirds, who eventually became the majority owners,
Speaker 4: Sam and Jackie Brickman, their son Alex breaking the you know,
Speaker 4: Perennial All Star for the Houston Astros. I've known him
Speaker 4: since he was twelve thirteen years old. He and I
Speaker 4: have an incredibly He's like a little brother than.
Speaker 7: Me, man.
Speaker 4: So it's crazy the different blessings that comes from those
Speaker 4: different situations. And not only me being able to extend, ascend,
Speaker 4: you know, to to this position I'm in now, but
Speaker 4: just the competition, man, the spirit of competitiveness, I can't
Speaker 4: get enough of. It's like, that's why, you know, everybody's
Speaker 4: like this. The Lakers may be overwhelming for certain people.
Speaker 4: Being in the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers,
Speaker 4: I embrace all of it like it's it's a total blessing.
Speaker 4: It's a challenge that we're in the process of figuring out.
Speaker 4: You know, we went from being an I only want
Speaker 4: to say a laughing stop. But getting us back to
Speaker 4: that credibility as being a top of the food chain
Speaker 4: team in this league and with plenty plenty more room
Speaker 4: to grow and and we're going to grow from everything
Speaker 4: we went through last year and to be able to
Speaker 4: hit the ground running this year and proper form, proper
Speaker 4: order with the guys we've added, guys were able to
Speaker 4: bring back, and if Bron decides not to retire, will
Speaker 4: be even stronger and better along with Anthony.
Speaker 7: So we're looking forward to it. That's the competition mark
Speaker 7: as a.
Speaker 3: Player, though you didn't have these aspirations like you all happened.
Speaker 4: Aganically, like literally me doing different radio shows and you
Speaker 4: know before it was podcast with doing the radio shows
Speaker 4: and then doing little TV spots.
Speaker 7: And I'm like, man, I.
Speaker 4: Really missed the game, Like I'm searching in my mind
Speaker 4: how to get more involved in coaching? Was it and
Speaker 4: it just feels like a natural fit to me, Like
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 7: I'm not overwhelmed or.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's thing like seeing you now, I can't imagine
Speaker 3: you not coaching, but like you know, I always wonder
Speaker 3: like a you.
Speaker 7: Know, it's fun then.
Speaker 3: You know we all like I started kind of when
Speaker 3: you started, So it's like, yeah, to watch guys you
Speaker 3: cover then become coaches, Like it's always yeah, who.
Speaker 7: Have thought Sam to Sell would be a coach?
Speaker 2: Right, And he's been doing it so long.
Speaker 4: Now, IQ, and he's another guy. Just I can't wait
Speaker 4: for him to get an opportunity because feel handy Chris Jent, like,
Speaker 4: it's some damn good coaches who are more than capable
Speaker 4: of running their own team. And just knowing all these
Speaker 4: guys for the decades that I've known them in their
Speaker 4: IQ and just I just think it's a natural fit.
Speaker 4: And now these guys they you know, no disrespect. People
Speaker 4: have to come into this thing in their own way, right.
Speaker 4: But I think what these players do if you've been
Speaker 4: a part of a team, if you played in this
Speaker 4: game and you know how to articulate that well is
Speaker 4: everything's just not well. I played and I used to
Speaker 4: average thirty. So you should listen to me. No, if
Speaker 4: you actually studied the game, you understand how all pieces fit.
Speaker 4: You know you're not just a star player coach, You're
Speaker 4: the coach of an entire group. I just thank God
Speaker 4: to go into it, man, because these guys really need
Speaker 4: I think we're in the system now where everything that's
Speaker 4: happening out in society. These guys need strong leadership in
Speaker 4: the locker room on all levels, not just a basketball level,
Speaker 4: but even a social level. These guys need leadership, and
Speaker 4: they need guys that they can that can help them navigate,
Speaker 4: you know, through through their journey and make the best
Speaker 4: possible decisions for themselves and their families. And I think,
Speaker 4: being a guy that's done it and been around the
Speaker 4: great players I've been around playing with coach, I just
Speaker 4: come with a humility.
Speaker 7: Man, That's me. That's not an act.
Speaker 4: It's just how I was raised and just how I
Speaker 4: decide to approach it again, factual based, no elaborated stories,
Speaker 4: no manufactured you know situations or I told him and
Speaker 4: I told him though, I just try to look at
Speaker 4: the game, look at my team, try to see how
Speaker 4: the ways we can get better and and be humble
Speaker 4: and and and be strong and consistent at the same time.
Speaker 5: My last question, starn Sarb, how long? What's the two
Speaker 5: part question? How long does it take you to get
Speaker 5: over the exit of the playoffs in the Western Conference finals?
Speaker 5: And then what are the expectations with the new moves
Speaker 5: that you made off see what are the expectations for
Speaker 5: next season.
Speaker 4: Well, it's hard, I mean, because you know, having won
Speaker 4: and having been that team that finished second, not just
Speaker 4: third or four, like, it's only one team that's gonna
Speaker 4: be happy out of all thirty at the end of
Speaker 4: the year.
Speaker 7: Bro, it's only one.
Speaker 4: And but the thing I think, the credibility and us
Speaker 4: being able to turn the corner and get the Lakers
Speaker 4: back to their proper position again being talked about the
Speaker 4: last one of the last four teams standing, I think
Speaker 4: it's great. And my expectations is for us to come
Speaker 4: and work hard every day and most certainly put another
Speaker 4: banner up. I'm not in this just to win games,
Speaker 4: get to the second or third round and celebrate that.
Speaker 7: I want it all.
Speaker 4: You know, I've been I know what it looks like
Speaker 4: standing up there looking down on the other side. I
Speaker 4: know I've gotten to do that twice, and so uh,
Speaker 4: I expect to do it again and again. We're gonna
Speaker 4: go as far as our work takes us, and believe me,
Speaker 4: we're gonna have championship work happens.
Speaker 5: I promise you that they don't put divisional championship banners
Speaker 5: up up in the rafters at all for the Lakers.
Speaker 4: Not at Crypto. Hell not, you've been in our facility.
Speaker 4: Ever looked in the Genie's window. Yeah, I see trophies
Speaker 4: up there. I see y'all don't plas around.
Speaker 5: That always gets to me when I know how the
Speaker 5: franchise probably ain't won a championship, but they put these
Speaker 5: division banners up there, and I'm like, come.
Speaker 4: On, now, some people need positive rement. We know what
Speaker 4: we in this for.
Speaker 7: We ain't sure.
Speaker 3: My sign off question is a little bit more of
Speaker 3: a personal one because my I want to I want
Speaker 3: to test your memory here, because I don't trust my
Speaker 3: own memory anymore. I make so many I use. My
Speaker 3: memory used to be one of my When you say
Speaker 3: legendary things, there's a fine line between legendary and washed.
Speaker 3: I had the privilege, I believe, of covering your very
Speaker 3: first NBA exhibition game in Hawaii. Oh yeah, I was
Speaker 3: right on the baseline, a young Denver Nuggets rookie, the
Speaker 3: rim busting Darvin Ham. And again I tried to look
Speaker 3: this up, but of course it's not nineteen ninety six.
Speaker 3: October nineteen ninety six is not that look uppable, so
Speaker 3: I couldn't find it. But in my memory, I was
Speaker 3: the baseline seats were the media where we were right
Speaker 3: near the Laker bench. You threw down a great dunk early,
Speaker 3: and you had the Laker bench ooing and eyeing at
Speaker 3: your throwdown. But I distinctly remember we were this so
Speaker 3: close to the Laker bench.
Speaker 2: We could hear this.
Speaker 3: Nick van X, who of course you know, has to
Speaker 3: talk some smack, said something to the effect of, now
Speaker 3: let's see that jumper. And I don't if I'm going
Speaker 3: to be polite, I don't think your first jumper went great.
Speaker 2: I don't remember it exactly, but I jump shot went
Speaker 2: Do you remember do you remember do you remember? Am
Speaker 2: I inventing this? Or do you remember? Do you remember any.
Speaker 4: Of this closest only that I met through my travels
Speaker 4: within the game. And Nick and I still really really
Speaker 4: cool man, that's my dude. But nah, man, I mean
Speaker 4: back then you were given a simple menu like and
Speaker 4: you know, player development like you had. You didn't have
Speaker 4: as many coaches back then as you have now. And
Speaker 4: you if you were good at I'm like my coach,
Speaker 4: the great Dick Matter, he told me this, I need
Speaker 4: to do four things.
Speaker 7: Jump fella, and you be all right.
Speaker 4: You always have a job compete your ass off, run hard, rebound,
Speaker 4: defend and finish. That's what he told me in that order.
Speaker 4: Compete your ass off, defend, rebound, and run and finish.
Speaker 4: And I was all right, And when I was able
Speaker 4: to do that, you know, and not really trying to.
Speaker 4: I always play with shooters, right the one's looking for
Speaker 4: Darvin hand to be casting up threes. If I'm playing
Speaker 4: with ray Allen, Sam Pacel and Glenn Robertson shot out
Speaker 4: the big dog. Just talk with yesterday for a good
Speaker 4: long time here.
Speaker 7: And I caught up.
Speaker 6: But it just that's what Ramon says.
Speaker 4: Yeah, man, You're like, if you want Draymond taking threes,
Speaker 4: you're out there with Clay step And it's not about
Speaker 4: whether he can make it the one night. It's like,
Speaker 4: what what do you bring to the table, what's gonna bring?
Speaker 4: What are you gonna bring that's gonna give us balance?
Speaker 4: And Draymond is proven that like Hall of Fame career like,
Speaker 4: and being from my city, I'm like, I look, man,
Speaker 4: he's the best ever do it, one of the best
Speaker 4: to ever do it out of Michigan for sure, Like
Speaker 4: in terms of just being a highly competitive, winning basketball
Speaker 4: player and that's all I wanted to do, is like
Speaker 4: I wasn't. I never was caught up in the cosmetics
Speaker 4: of the game. I saw a lot of guys that
Speaker 4: were way more skill than I was that didn't come
Speaker 4: close to having a career I had, And because I
Speaker 4: didn't need the ball, I could make things happen. It's
Speaker 4: funny me and Ray Allam was laughing at Joker one
Speaker 4: time when I was a player in Milwaukee with him.
Speaker 4: I think Ray might have thirty six when I had
Speaker 4: eight points. They showed six of my eight points on
Speaker 4: the highlight stuff. All dunks they show, they showed four
Speaker 4: points of his thirty six.
Speaker 5: So it was like, figure, hey, dark to your point
Speaker 5: about development, I remember back in high school and during
Speaker 5: practice you were six three year higher, I mean six
Speaker 5: three or taller.
Speaker 6: You were in the post, and during practice they would
Speaker 6: separate you.
Speaker 5: They would have the guards on once one half of
Speaker 5: the court had the bigs working on posts. But now
Speaker 5: today's development, everybody's doing ball handling drills, and so it
Speaker 5: wasn't to your point about the way you came up,
Speaker 5: It wasn't that you couldn't never do that.
Speaker 6: It's just that.
Speaker 7: Wasn't it wasn't required.
Speaker 6: It wasn't required exactly.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's that's the biggest thing. Now we're trying
Speaker 4: to extract as much as you can. A lot of
Speaker 4: the growth that you see with a lot of franchises,
Speaker 4: it comes from within, you know, these guys, getting these guys,
Speaker 4: because these guys are coming in now eighteen nineteen, twenty
Speaker 4: years old, long, long, long gone are the days of
Speaker 4: guys being in college for two three four years and
Speaker 4: having that polished, you know, and those guys are still
Speaker 4: highly valuable too, but now they're more looked bad as
Speaker 4: failures because they decide to stay in school so long.
Speaker 4: But coming in now we have a strong, strong, you
Speaker 4: don't have a player development element to your program, and
Speaker 4: you're missing the mark and you're really not setting yourself
Speaker 4: up to succeed because that's a big major part of
Speaker 4: it of how you know, bringing value to your franchise.
Speaker 4: And so I'm just excited that again the G League
Speaker 4: back D League background and understanding that part of it,
Speaker 4: and of coaches field handed Christian gent the guys I
Speaker 4: got with me that really excel and that's the one
Speaker 4: that one of the areas that they excel, and it's
Speaker 4: making gods better.
Speaker 5: I would get a shout out real quick, what's up
Speaker 5: to Aaron Goodwin over there? He's been the news late
Speaker 5: good and he's been the news like.
Speaker 7: A mover and shake of all movers and shake you hey, good.
Speaker 6: Y'all. Look look him up the news lately.
Speaker 4: Responsible for a bunch of hundred million dollar contracts and
Speaker 4: not two hundred million.
Speaker 6: Man, he's not done.
Speaker 3: We have absolutely overstated our welcome with you. We are
Speaker 3: so grateful for all this time. This is really going
Speaker 3: to be the last, last, last, because we we've kept
Speaker 3: you a half hour longer than I said.
Speaker 7: We were going to.
Speaker 3: It's somewhat your fault because you're giving us gold here.
Speaker 1: Gold.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you are not purple and gold is just gold.
Speaker 7: I appreciate.
Speaker 3: So last week some great dunkers that I've interviewed in
Speaker 3: the past, they didn't like talking about their dunking. Yeah,
Speaker 3: obviously the rim you broke in college.
Speaker 2: Has you know that story has.
Speaker 3: Followed you your whole career. Is that a source of
Speaker 3: pride or are you? Is it you not like talking
Speaker 3: about that? Where do you stand on when people bring
Speaker 3: that up?
Speaker 7: It was great?
Speaker 4: Man? I'm happy, Uh, I'm happy. They were able to
Speaker 4: look at me and say that was him. You know
Speaker 4: he did that and again in that moment, being in
Speaker 4: a tournament tournament playing against you know, basically the Lakers
Speaker 4: of college basketball in terms of the North Carolina Tar Hills,
Speaker 4: like in a tournament game, it's great.
Speaker 7: I mean I.
Speaker 4: Was just as shocked as anyone. But if you look
Speaker 4: at my walk off when I faked it pretty good
Speaker 4: like I meant for it to happen, but uh nah.
Speaker 4: And to have Vince Carter on the floor too at that,
Speaker 4: like that's all right, one of the most dynamic aerial
Speaker 4: uh players that we've ever seen in basketball period. Uh
Speaker 4: be out there to witness that firsthand. It was a
Speaker 4: great moment, man, for our little old school out of
Speaker 4: West Texas, Texas Tech and kind of put us on
Speaker 4: the map. And it was a statement victory and uh
Speaker 4: something I will always cherish and it's always fun talking
Speaker 4: about it.
Speaker 2: I'm glad I didn't want to I didn't want to
Speaker 2: end on. I didn't want to end on a note
Speaker 2: that you didn't want to talk about.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's good, hold on, I forgot all that self
Speaker 4: righteous stuff these guys do, man, they need.
Speaker 6: To knock it off, Mike Malone did a lot of celebrating.
Speaker 7: Oh wow, bring up money like the Lakers Daddy, right,
Speaker 7: that's what they call him. That the Lakers Daddy. That's
Speaker 7: what they called him. Now the Lakers Daddy.
Speaker 6: I guess you could talk, you would.
Speaker 7: We were a championship, bless so this sh it ain't over, God,
Speaker 7: bless you.
Speaker 3: So we knew this was going to be good. But
Speaker 3: good doesn't even good does not even describe it. This
Speaker 3: is the best show we've ever had. Coach Ham, I
Speaker 3: appreciate you, incredible your.
Speaker 2: Time that you've given us here today, and to.
Speaker 3: Do this in front of an audience is the first
Speaker 3: time Chris and I have ever done this face to face.
Speaker 3: We always do it remotely, So thank you for helping
Speaker 3: us make a little history.
Speaker 7: No doubt.
Speaker 3: Congrats on a great debut season as the Lakers head coach,
Speaker 3: and wishing you great success in the future.
Speaker 4: I appreciate you, Mark, I appreciate you too. Chris and
Speaker 4: I love to do it again whenever you guys need me.
Speaker 4: I'm honored and thankful you guys to invite me to
Speaker 4: your platform and put your seat belts on. Baby, we've
Speaker 4: got to turn.
Speaker 6: Up everybody, please give them aroundable plause. Please, thank you.
Speaker 8: Guys, and that'll do it for us. See you next time.
Speaker 8: This League, uncutage and My Heart Radio production
Speaker 7: The same that marks time.