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Speaker 3: How's the King?
Speaker 2: Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins.
Speaker 4: Now, let me check your pulse if you're not for.
Speaker 1: What is up? Dolphins?
Speaker 2: And welcome to the Drive Time podcast, part of the
Speaker 2: Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2: How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 2: And on today's show, we are knocking it out of
Speaker 2: the park with these big time guests, and.
Speaker 1: We have two more for you today.
Speaker 2: The head football coach at Texas A and M Jimbo
Speaker 2: Fisher joins us to talk about new Dolphins running back
Speaker 2: and his former back there in Aggie Land Devon Achan.
Speaker 2: You guys are gonna love that interview. You're also gonna
Speaker 2: love talking about some Miami Heat basketball on the trip
Speaker 2: back to the NBA Finals for the second time in
Speaker 2: four years. Let's go, Baby, Let's go Heat. Jeremy Tashe
Speaker 2: from Bally Sports, Miami, Mic d Up and The Dan
Speaker 2: Levittard Show joins us to talk about this year's fun
Speaker 2: run for the Miami Heat. All of that in the
Speaker 2: heck of a lot more from the Baptist Health Studios
Speaker 2: inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 1: This is the draft time, Parks.
Speaker 2: Hey, let's jump right in today with my first guest,
Speaker 2: Texas A and M head football coach, the legendary Jimbo Fisher.
Speaker 2: And we have a very special guest today from college Station,
Speaker 2: the head football coach at Texas A and M Jimbo Fisher.
Speaker 1: Coach.
Speaker 4: Welcome in, great to glad to be with you, guys.
Speaker 4: Hope you're having a good day.
Speaker 2: We're having a great day. It's always a day done
Speaker 2: here in South Florida. And I want to start here, coach,
Speaker 2: because I imagine that over the years we're talking about of
Speaker 2: course new Dolphins running back to von a Chain, you know,
Speaker 2: coaching so many future NFL players at this moment. I'm
Speaker 2: sure it never gets old for you, But I want
Speaker 2: to know about when you heard Devaughn's name called on
Speaker 2: draft day and what that moment was like for you.
Speaker 3: Well again again, you go back to the when you
Speaker 3: recruited a guy and you remember his mom, his family
Speaker 3: and all their dreams. You know there was a chance
Speaker 3: for all those dreams to come true. You've you've all
Speaker 3: your hard work, all the things you dreamed about, and
Speaker 3: it's a great It's one of the great feelings you
Speaker 3: get as a coach to know those guys have that
Speaker 3: opportunity to go to pro football, just like the one.
Speaker 3: And then he got in a great organization with a
Speaker 3: great team who has a great future right now. I
Speaker 3: think he's a great fit for where he's going, And
Speaker 3: that's the other part. They get that opportunity, but you
Speaker 3: always worry about the fit.
Speaker 4: You know what I mean? And I think again I
Speaker 4: was excited for him to go to Miamis.
Speaker 2: We love to hear that for sure. How quickly after
Speaker 2: his draft selection, did you talk to Devony.
Speaker 3: Right after his congratulating him and traded lating before and
Speaker 3: a half, Because afterwards it's hard to get to him
Speaker 3: because everybody in the world jumps on him. But now
Speaker 3: you just you just wish him the best and tell
Speaker 3: him that you can ever help him.
Speaker 2: Let us know, was he pretty fired up to come
Speaker 2: down here?
Speaker 3: He is, But he's such a his emotions are kept
Speaker 3: will in check. He's such an easy going when he's excited,
Speaker 3: you wouldn't know if he was if he was down,
Speaker 3: he was high, I mean, if he was neutral, or
Speaker 3: if he was happy.
Speaker 4: I mean, he's so it's not unemotional, but he keeps
Speaker 4: his feelings really.
Speaker 2: In chick, same guy every day. That's that's an easy
Speaker 2: guy to coach, right because you know you get every
Speaker 2: single day from him. Yeah, that's really cool to hear.
Speaker 2: So so our goal here coach today is kind of
Speaker 2: twofold to both get to know the player and the person.
Speaker 2: You've talked a little bit about the person already, but
Speaker 2: I want to start with that part talking about the person.
Speaker 2: Devon a chain and because in preparing for this podcast,
Speaker 2: I found some really cool quotes about Devon coming back
Speaker 2: for that LSU victory Yalla High late last season. Had
Speaker 2: a chance to ask Devon about that in the media
Speaker 2: availability and he talked about getting the opportunity to strap
Speaker 2: it on one last time with his guys. Right, I'm
Speaker 2: wondering what that meant to you as a coach and
Speaker 2: your program.
Speaker 3: Well, he's a throwback in that. You know, it's about
Speaker 3: the team for him. He's a very unassuming guy. He's
Speaker 3: all team. He's easy to coach, he comes to work
Speaker 3: every day, and it is about team. I mean, he
Speaker 3: wants to play well so his team can do well.
Speaker 3: And it's you know, it's not the vice versa where
Speaker 3: I want to do well so I can do well.
Speaker 3: He really truly believes in that and that's the way
Speaker 3: he approaches each and every day. And that did It
Speaker 3: made me happy, but it did not surprise me what
Speaker 3: happened in the LSU games.
Speaker 2: Does that kind of leave an impact on your program?
Speaker 2: Because not really, that's not really the typical decision these
Speaker 2: days in modern college football. How rare was that for
Speaker 2: you guys to get him back for that game?
Speaker 3: No, it's not in the modern day athlete, because it's
Speaker 3: always about it. It seems to be more about them than
Speaker 3: as it goes on. But it's very refreshating when your
Speaker 3: best players exhibit those habits and then they have success
Speaker 3: and they get their dreams come true. It's an easy
Speaker 3: thing to point to and teach too to other guys
Speaker 3: because I still am a believer in the reasons for
Speaker 3: guys having success in his business, whether it was fifty
Speaker 3: years ago or now, are really not any different. I mean,
Speaker 3: I truly believe they're the same, and to take away
Speaker 3: some of the selfishness. And it's a great guy to
Speaker 3: teach from and to point too that say, look this
Speaker 3: guy here did it and it look what he got.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it sounds it all tracks because I read this
Speaker 2: quote from your coach in one of the draft guides
Speaker 2: I was looking at and you said this, he's a
Speaker 2: tremendous human being, player, leader, competitor, and he has nothing
Speaker 2: but heart and toughness about him and everything he does. Now,
Speaker 2: that's not a quote that you drop because of one
Speaker 2: isolated incident. I'm thinking you only issue that kind of
Speaker 2: praise when a guy demonstrates those traits daily. Right, I'm
Speaker 2: curious to know about how DeVaughn went about his business
Speaker 2: day in and day out.
Speaker 3: Those are his habits. I always say, we are what
Speaker 3: our habits say we are. And you can want to
Speaker 3: be something or think you're something, but when pressure comes
Speaker 3: and what you do on a daily basis is who
Speaker 3: you really are, and that's who he really is. I mean,
Speaker 3: he just he comes to work and those things. He
Speaker 3: loves it. And that's the thing about him. People aways say, well,
Speaker 3: you know, he's such a track guy.
Speaker 4: He can really run.
Speaker 3: No, he's a football player who ran track. He wasn't
Speaker 3: a track guy who played football. And I think there's
Speaker 3: a difference. I don't mean it's not an insult to
Speaker 3: track guys, but football was his first love. And if
Speaker 3: you watch and when you watch him play, there's times
Speaker 3: you say, man, is he really that fast? Because he
Speaker 3: doesn't play out of control. He's so under control and
Speaker 3: too he doesn't have to be and use his speed.
Speaker 3: It's natural for him to do the things on the
Speaker 3: football field when it comes out.
Speaker 2: We've had a chance to watch him for a couple
Speaker 2: of practices here so far and it shows up right
Speaker 2: away that track speeds evident, But so is the football acumen.
Speaker 2: That's something you really praised, you know, and a lot
Speaker 2: of the media I looked at that you did talking
Speaker 2: about this player and how quick things come to him.
Speaker 2: I'm curious when did you first notice that with devon
Speaker 2: that quick learner trait.
Speaker 3: You know what's funny early in camp when he was
Speaker 3: a freshman. I mean, because you know, when you're installing offense,
Speaker 3: I mean in those young guys, you know you and
Speaker 3: you give lard and you throw the whole I called
Speaker 3: whole part hole. You throw everything in and you go
Speaker 3: back and reteach it. Then you really perfect it. But
Speaker 3: his retention level, and I mean you telling something one time,
Speaker 3: it was very it was evident from the day he
Speaker 3: ever did it, and I mean extremely intelligent and extremely instinctive,
Speaker 3: and usually those don't always go together.
Speaker 2: I go back to a question I asked earlier about
Speaker 2: how it benefits your program. I'm curious how that benefits
Speaker 2: your program on you you know, you want to put
Speaker 2: something new on a Monday to install it for Saturday,
Speaker 2: and he's got it down by Tuesday. That's got to
Speaker 2: be a big benefit to a coaching staff.
Speaker 3: It's huge, and I think it's what really separates average
Speaker 3: players from you know, really good players and really good players,
Speaker 3: some really great players. If you go back and watch
Speaker 3: all the great ones, most of them they learn at
Speaker 3: a high level and they take pride in learning and
Speaker 3: their retention levels because the vast volume of information you
Speaker 3: have to learn in a college program or a program
Speaker 3: and a pro offense is people don't have any idea
Speaker 3: how much it is. And then you know, if a
Speaker 3: guy gets it early in the week, he can perfect
Speaker 3: it during the week because now he truly understands the
Speaker 3: concepts of what you're running. When guys take a long
Speaker 3: time to comprehend things, not that they're at the end
Speaker 3: of the week and by time they really understand it,
Speaker 3: there's not time to prefer. So I think the learning
Speaker 3: curve to me is a huge part of guys being
Speaker 3: successful and also staying in the league for a long time.
Speaker 2: That's fascinating insight, not just for Devon a Chang, but
Speaker 2: for the idea of you know how those intangibles kind
Speaker 2: of benefit a football player. Really good insight from you
Speaker 2: their coach. But back to a chain and the physical traits,
Speaker 2: they're obvious, right, pretty rare player in terms of the
Speaker 2: speed you talked about, he's a football player who also
Speaker 2: happens to run track and not to mention at an
Speaker 2: Olympic qualifying level speed and the explosiveness is there too.
Speaker 2: I want to go back to when you first caught
Speaker 2: wind of his high school tape. I have to imagine
Speaker 2: that was like a first snap, like, whoa, this is
Speaker 2: something special here.
Speaker 3: It was, and then you know some of the first
Speaker 3: things you question. You go, all right, how good is
Speaker 3: this ball? Who's he playing against?
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: And listen, he played at Fort Ben Marshall, which was
Speaker 3: an extremely high level of football and had great players
Speaker 3: and the people they played, and they went to state championships.
Speaker 4: You know, I think back to back.
Speaker 3: Years, his junior and senior year and you're going, I mean,
Speaker 3: it's like amazing, and I never forget we got to
Speaker 3: I got to evaluate again. He played one of his
Speaker 3: playoff games in our stadium, so I was able to
Speaker 3: watch the game, and I'll never forget.
Speaker 4: It was just like it's like a video game.
Speaker 3: He actually hit a bunch of big runs, was in
Speaker 3: the scoring that and then he hit an eighty yard
Speaker 3: run and he gets called back. Okay, so it's first
Speaker 3: in fifteen on the fifteen Well guess what, he hit
Speaker 3: an eighty five yard run.
Speaker 4: On the play.
Speaker 3: He had one hundred and sixty five yards to two
Speaker 3: only got credit for one. But I mean it was
Speaker 3: just every time he touched it, you didn't take your
Speaker 3: eyes off of it because you know what could happen.
Speaker 2: He didn't have to go to the sideline for a
Speaker 2: blow for.
Speaker 4: That, he didn't. He didn't come out and he hit
Speaker 4: another one. He went all the way first score.
Speaker 2: That's amazing. So how would you say, if you could
Speaker 2: describe it for us, how that speed and the home
Speaker 2: run hitting ability, How did that kind of benefit your offense?
Speaker 2: Maybe change the way you guys did things knowing you
Speaker 2: have that in your back pocket.
Speaker 3: No, and the other unique thing about him if you watch,
Speaker 3: if you watched him practice, he doesn't have good hands.
Speaker 4: He has excellent hands.
Speaker 3: He catches the football and he judged, which I didn't
Speaker 3: know until we had him here for just a little
Speaker 3: bit because you were teaching the offense and you start
Speaker 3: flexing him out, putting him in positions to catch the ball,
Speaker 3: and then a lot of backs and catch the ball
Speaker 3: ten fifteen yards down. But he has great ability to
Speaker 3: judge the ball in a deep part of the field,
Speaker 3: and he can catch the go balls and the post.
Speaker 3: And we had a lot of things that we tried
Speaker 3: to get him the ball at now people of course,
Speaker 3: now every time he got out there everybody in the
Speaker 3: world got they backed up for twenty five yards, but
Speaker 3: which I would have too.
Speaker 4: But he can run routes. Likely he can run a retrieve.
Speaker 3: I receive retree route progression and which is and it's
Speaker 3: very easy for him, and he naturally he adjusts on
Speaker 3: the ball and contorts his body very well to catch it.
Speaker 3: So he creates a lot of abilities or coming out
Speaker 3: of the backs on his little option in scat routes.
Speaker 3: You know, you get the verticals rent off and you
Speaker 3: get him isolated on a linebacker. His ability, his instincts
Speaker 3: to read leverages and pressures those teaching things. Again, I
Speaker 3: go back to he picked up on very easily.
Speaker 2: It's funny you mentioned how a team's kind of back
Speaker 2: off when you have a player like that out there.
Speaker 2: And the fit here with the Dolphins, like you mentioned earlier,
Speaker 2: I mean, Tyreek and Jalen do that pretty well on
Speaker 2: their own on the outside. Now you put de von
Speaker 2: h in the backfield, it's a lot of speed to
Speaker 2: contend with their coach three.
Speaker 3: I actually know those guys very well. We almost got
Speaker 3: water when I was recruiting very hard when I was
Speaker 3: at Florida State. Then I transferred over here and he
Speaker 3: was from Houston, and I knew Jalen really well. We'd
Speaker 3: had a big guy named Marvin Wilson who came from
Speaker 3: his high school year before we'd signed at Florida State.
Speaker 4: You know, we recruiting very hard.
Speaker 3: Here at A and M and Tyreek, believe it or not,
Speaker 3: was on an official visit at Florida State.
Speaker 1: For me.
Speaker 3: He came on official visits, so I got to research
Speaker 3: his film in college and all that too, So I'm
Speaker 3: very familiar with those guys. And I said, now you're
Speaker 3: putting this guy in with them, And they said, you know,
Speaker 3: you usually got one guy that caliber, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean to get and then to have to read
Speaker 3: of that caliber. I said, That's why I saw it
Speaker 3: was a really good fit. Because of the style and
Speaker 3: the speed people have, and those guys pushing people vertical
Speaker 3: down the field, isolating him underneath on the things he
Speaker 3: can do with his skill set. I think is a
Speaker 3: really good combination for them, and I think it's.
Speaker 4: A great fit.
Speaker 2: It sounds like you and coach McDaniel have similar tastes
Speaker 2: in terms of the speed you like on the outside
Speaker 2: and in the backfield as well. Because plenty of speed
Speaker 2: here to burn. You know you mentioned the route tree
Speaker 2: in the past game Prowess, I'm curious to hear your
Speaker 2: take on his ability and pass protection because often for
Speaker 2: rookies we see it's difficult to get on the field
Speaker 2: early on because of the pass po responsibilities. How does
Speaker 2: he handle that part of the game.
Speaker 3: He understands and learns that because we run a pro
Speaker 3: style offense.
Speaker 4: I mean he's used to.
Speaker 3: He understands where the mic calls are and I got
Speaker 3: first or second, or if I'm scanning to the backside,
Speaker 3: and how to read the safeties and the pressure safeties.
Speaker 3: We taught that in our system. So he did that
Speaker 3: very well. And here's the other thing. The thing about
Speaker 3: him he ran track, so his ability to lift, and
Speaker 3: I'm really looking forward to watching them as a pro because.
Speaker 4: He's starting to put on size now.
Speaker 3: In strength, he's all right, he's a shorter guy, but
Speaker 3: he's a stocky, well built strong player. I mean he
Speaker 3: really is. And I think now with a continual off
Speaker 3: season of heavyweights because he was in track so much,
Speaker 3: he never got that as much in college. I think
Speaker 3: it's even going to excel to him because he understands
Speaker 3: how to play low to high. He can use his
Speaker 3: that size. I mean, it's power you can over guy's
Speaker 3: gonna try to overpower. But he's much stronger, and he
Speaker 3: understands leverage, he can create twitch, and he understands pass
Speaker 3: protection very well.
Speaker 2: That's going to be is it's a Dolphins fan's ears.
Speaker 2: I have one more question for you here, coach, if
Speaker 2: you don't mind just summarizing the person, the player the
Speaker 2: Dolphins are getting ultimately the package of Devon A.
Speaker 5: Chang.
Speaker 2: What are we getting down here in South Florida.
Speaker 3: I'm first of all again I say you're getting a
Speaker 3: really good The guy doesn't He's very unassuming. He's going
Speaker 3: to do his business. He's not going to be in trouble.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's very close with his mother. He has
Speaker 3: a young child. I mean he's very close with He's
Speaker 3: a family orientey guy. He's not a go out guy.
Speaker 3: He's not a run around guy. Never was in college,
Speaker 3: very family oriented, works very hard, extremely talented, as we said,
Speaker 3: but cares and takes pride in the learning concepts of
Speaker 3: things and not making mistakes and mental mistakes on the field.
Speaker 3: And you've got a guy with that kind of ability.
Speaker 3: If he knows what to do, which he's going to
Speaker 3: pick it up very quickly. I think you're gonna get
Speaker 3: a high character quality guy who's going to be extremely productive.
Speaker 3: And I think whether it's running the ball and that's
Speaker 3: where you're gonna be subscribed. He's much stronger in between
Speaker 3: the tackles than people really giving credit for my opinion
Speaker 3: because you think of the speed, catches it very well.
Speaker 3: And of course there's another aspect. He is a great
Speaker 3: kick return guy. He's taking moldible kickoffs back for touchdowns.
Speaker 3: We beat Alabama here a couple of years ago. He
Speaker 3: took one back for one hundred dad a year ago.
Speaker 3: He's done it two or three times in his career.
Speaker 3: So I think in all those different aspects he can
Speaker 3: affect your team. But you're gonna get a very high
Speaker 3: character quality guy I don't believe will ever be in trouble,
Speaker 3: who's going to learn at a high level, be a
Speaker 3: team mooring a guy and play his hard out.
Speaker 2: I just saw him the other day Coach Rip a
Speaker 2: big run going right between the guard and the center
Speaker 2: on the offensive line. So you talk about runington tackles,
Speaker 2: it's definitely in his skill set. That's great to hear.
Speaker 2: Legendary coach Jimbo Fisher, coach, we appreciate your time so
Speaker 2: much today. Best of luck this season and.
Speaker 4: Gig them best of lucky y'all too, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: And there he goes. I mean, how much fun was that?
Speaker 2: If you're not going to get fired up about that,
Speaker 2: I guess we'll keep trying. We're gonna go ahead and
Speaker 2: have the next guest here on our nineteen twenty seven
Speaker 2: New York Yankees lineup of guests. We've had the last
Speaker 2: couple of weeks, our murderers bro if you will. Jeremy Tash,
Speaker 2: Miami micd Up, Bally Sports, and The Dan Levittard Show.
Speaker 2: He's my guest next here on the Draft Time podcast.
Speaker 2: Your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation
Speaker 2: and making his Drive Time debut, is the man behind
Speaker 2: the Miami micd Up podcast. He's a digital host and
Speaker 2: reporter for Bally Sports. You can find him on the
Speaker 2: sidelines at the Heat Games alongside coach McDaniel. There and
Speaker 2: my personal favorite role of his of this renaissance man
Speaker 2: as he were, jere Bear on The LeBatard Show. Jeremy
Speaker 2: Tasha Jeremy, how we doing on this glorious South Florida
Speaker 2: rainy day.
Speaker 5: I am absolutely wonderful and even better after that introduction.
Speaker 5: Thanks man, This is an honor. I've wanted to be
Speaker 5: on here for a while with you, so I'm I'm
Speaker 5: super excited to have a chance to chat and think
Speaker 5: you're amazing at this, So excited to be here.
Speaker 2: You're too kind, and what better time to have you
Speaker 2: on than right now? And South Florida sports are just
Speaker 2: kind of going off right now with the Panthers in
Speaker 2: the finals and the heat depending on when this podcast
Speaker 2: drops and what happens with the games that happened. We
Speaker 2: tried our best to time this up. It's just not
Speaker 2: possible to do a podcast on an afternoon and then
Speaker 2: have a game that night and find out who's going
Speaker 2: on in the next round, or if we have to
Speaker 2: come back to Miami for another game, We'll find out
Speaker 2: about that and we'll make the podcast work accordingly. But
Speaker 2: I brought you with that intro and purposefully saved the
Speaker 2: Levatard liner there for the end because I just want
Speaker 2: to go ahead and validate you out of the box, Jeremy.
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna go ahead and play some sound for
Speaker 2: you in the audience here real quick.
Speaker 5: And every single role player for this team stepped up,
Speaker 5: and they have the best player in the series, Jimmy
Speaker 5: Butler is the best player in the series, whether Giannis
Speaker 5: is healthy or not.
Speaker 2: So, Jeremy. That was April twenty fourth. The series was
Speaker 2: two to one at the time. Miami was up in
Speaker 2: the series, and you know, Michael Jordan said it best.
Speaker 2: I think that when you can talk your trash when
Speaker 2: you're tied or behind, that's the sign of a confident man.
Speaker 2: And while the Heat were up a game in the
Speaker 2: series at that point, nobody was predicting them to win
Speaker 2: the series. Hell, they were still saying Boston's gonna win
Speaker 2: the series, you know, or that the Heat were dogs
Speaker 2: after having two wins in Boston. So what I want
Speaker 2: to know, Jeremy, what I really want to know is
Speaker 2: what was the genesis of that ranch of that spot
Speaker 2: on Take Walk Us Through It?
Speaker 5: You know, I first of all thank you for the
Speaker 5: validation because I've been searching for it NonStop on the
Speaker 5: show and they will not give it to me no
Speaker 5: matter how bad I ask for it. I think the
Speaker 5: genesis of that actually came from frustration from almost like
Speaker 5: months of talking about the season that Jimmy Butler had
Speaker 5: that despite the fact that the Heat were struggling up
Speaker 5: until basically the last few weeks where they got it together,
Speaker 5: Jimmy Butler, for all intents and purposes, was having the
Speaker 5: best season of his career and nobody was paying attention,
Speaker 5: you know, despite the fact that they were one seed
Speaker 5: last year and had gone to the finals and years before.
Speaker 5: And so I think after watching him just come out
Speaker 5: of the gate and have such an incredible start to
Speaker 5: this postseason, after all of the talk of those play
Speaker 5: in games and on the show, the talk of purpose
Speaker 5: tanking the second play in game, which is what was
Speaker 5: the recommendation of a couple of the guys in the
Speaker 5: shipping container. I will not even put their names out
Speaker 5: there for some ridiculous take, but the idea of tanking
Speaker 5: and hoping that you get a pingpong ball. And now
Speaker 5: he had Jimmy Butler, the ultimate competitor, going out there
Speaker 5: and showing why you always try to make the playoffs,
Speaker 5: and it really validated what the Heat have done for
Speaker 5: years and years and years, right, I mean, people look
Speaker 5: back at a season where the Heat just barely missed
Speaker 5: the playoffs the thirty and eleven year, and it was like,
Speaker 5: why are you trying so hard to win with this roster?
Speaker 5: And it's because the Heat are always trying to win.
Speaker 5: That's the premise of sports is to try to win.
Speaker 5: And so I think this was just sort of an
Speaker 5: amalgamation of all of that and watching what was obvious
Speaker 5: greatness in Jimmy Butler and knowing that, truthfully, I really
Speaker 5: genuinely believed that he was the best player in that
Speaker 5: series in terms of no, does he have is he
Speaker 5: gonna have ultimately? I mean, look, we'll see what happens
Speaker 5: now this year and maybe years going forward, but is
Speaker 5: he going to have the type of legacy in the
Speaker 5: game that Jannis ultimately will probably not? Giannest is going
Speaker 5: to go down as one of the all time elite
Speaker 5: players ever, will probably win multiple more championships from here.
Speaker 5: But right now today, going into the playoffs, there was
Speaker 5: not a player I would have wanted on my team
Speaker 5: maybe besides nicallehokicch more than Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 1: Like that's it.
Speaker 5: And he was the best player in that series, and
Speaker 5: he's been the best player in each subsequent series.
Speaker 2: Since you know what, I saw that take, and I'm
Speaker 2: a kind of casual sports fan of other sports. It's
Speaker 2: kind of nice to like not be so you know,
Speaker 2: like in depth involved in the other sports and just
Speaker 2: kind of enjoy them as they are. And that's kind
Speaker 2: of how I approach basketball, at hockey and to an
Speaker 2: extent baseball, I suppose. But you know, I was tweeting
Speaker 2: about the Miami Heat that day, saying like, I want
Speaker 2: to get this dub, I want to get into the playoffs,
Speaker 2: and that was the reaction that I got, was like, no,
Speaker 2: we want to lose this game and get better lottery opportunities.
Speaker 5: I was like, what, yeah, I think. Look, it was
Speaker 5: a frustrating season. I can't understand for fans who were
Speaker 5: so used to success. Why, Like for Jimmy Butler, this
Speaker 5: was the first season with the Heat where there were
Speaker 5: actually major expectations if you really think about it, where
Speaker 5: they didn't meet the expectation. You know, the first season
Speaker 5: he was here was the bubble and they go on
Speaker 5: this unbelievable run. The following year it's like a six
Speaker 5: week off season. So just about everybody understood this is
Speaker 5: going to be a grind of a season. And when
Speaker 5: they lost to Milwaukee in five, or rather were swept
Speaker 5: by Milwaukee, it made sense Milwaukee ended up winning a
Speaker 5: title like they were the most dominant team in the league,
Speaker 5: and they had given the Heat trouble. Following season there
Speaker 5: were one seed and they come a shot short of
Speaker 5: going to the finals.
Speaker 1: But that was in a year where nobody.
Speaker 5: After the season they had in twenty twenty one, believed
Speaker 5: that the Heat would be back in that situation and
Speaker 5: so again exceeding expectations this year, all those expectations are there.
Speaker 5: It's hey, what did you do in the off season. Oh,
Speaker 5: it's just going to be running back, all right, let's
Speaker 5: see what it is. And ultimately, for most of the
Speaker 5: season from a wins and loss' perspective, they were falling
Speaker 5: short of what people expected.
Speaker 1: But those of us who.
Speaker 5: Were watching and covering this team saw both Jimmy and
Speaker 5: Bam having tremendous individual seasons Tyler Hero included, and it's
Speaker 5: crazy that they're doing this without him, considering how great
Speaker 5: he was this year. But Jimmy and Bam doing what
Speaker 5: they were doing and saying, look if the role players
Speaker 5: who we saw over a representative sample the season before
Speaker 5: excelling if they could get close to that level of form. Again,
Speaker 5: there's no reason to believe this team couldn't compete as
Speaker 5: long as they get to the postseason, and ultimately that's
Speaker 5: what happened. Now, did anybody expect fifty percent shooting from
Speaker 5: three in that first series against Milwaukee? That would be
Speaker 5: you could not convince me that was going to happen
Speaker 5: in one game, let alone, I think in three different games.
Speaker 5: But this has been a fun ride, and Jimmy Butler
Speaker 5: is obviously the leader of the ship, but.
Speaker 1: I love most about it.
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm a cue of being a Homer
Speaker 2: all the time, but I always just say I just
Speaker 2: believe in what they're doing and have no issue being
Speaker 2: critical when it's warranted. But when you believe in it,
Speaker 2: it makes it more fun and the job easier to do.
Speaker 2: But I'm sure that you heard how much of a
Speaker 2: home or take that was, right.
Speaker 5: Hey, believing in in heat culture and believing in a
Speaker 5: culture in an organization. You know, I understand why, and
Speaker 5: particularly over the last really like two decades, why the
Speaker 5: shift has been to you know, this is about the
Speaker 5: athletes on your team, and ultimately it is like like
Speaker 5: one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: I don't care how much culture you have.
Speaker 5: If you don't have guys who are tremendous at what
Speaker 5: they do, you're not going to be successful. But having
Speaker 5: a culture and having a representative example of this is
Speaker 5: how you go about winning allows players to excel at
Speaker 5: what they do best. And so whether that's Eric Spolster
Speaker 5: in the way that he coaches, whether that's pat Riley
Speaker 5: and the rest of the front office and the types
Speaker 5: of players that they decide to sign, whether that's all
Speaker 5: of the assistant coaches, and whether that's Jimmy Butler and
Speaker 5: Bamadabayo getting their teammates involved. There's so much growth from
Speaker 5: week to week, month to month, season to season with
Speaker 5: so many of these young players, that that's what a
Speaker 5: culture is about. It's not necessarily that you know it's
Speaker 5: this magic or that you have to follow a specific
Speaker 5: regimen and no, it's just about competing at the highest
Speaker 5: level and trying to put your teammates or your players
Speaker 5: in the best position to succeed. And you know, look,
Speaker 5: this does put this season more than any in the
Speaker 5: history of this franchise, proves that this level of heat
Speaker 5: culture is real and if you want to tie it
Speaker 5: back to the Dolphins. Like Mike McDaniel's been at nearly
Speaker 5: every playoff game for a reason. Man, he's trying to
Speaker 5: soak it all in. And I can tell you from
Speaker 5: this is my obviously, I've been a fan of the
Speaker 5: Miami Heat my entire life, right, Dwayne Wade is what
Speaker 5: got me into this team, and it's been a heck
Speaker 5: of a ride ever since. And to me, you know,
Speaker 5: I was always this outsider looking in, believing in Heat
Speaker 5: culture and now being around the team a little bit more.
Speaker 5: You know, when I was first hired as a sideline
Speaker 5: reporter this season, I think my second or third shoot around,
Speaker 5: I was I was given a book, a novel that
Speaker 5: has to do with with leadership, and it was attached
Speaker 5: with a printed out not necessarily handwritten, but a printed
Speaker 5: out note from Spoe that was basically saying, like this
Speaker 5: is an example of like this is how we think,
Speaker 5: this is what we do, this is the type of
Speaker 5: leadership that we look for, and it's an insight into
Speaker 5: what it is.
Speaker 1: That they do.
Speaker 5: And why would they care that a sideline reporter had
Speaker 5: that insight. It's because the organization ultimately really cares and
Speaker 5: it matters to them that everybody from top down within
Speaker 5: it and on the periphery understand the goals in mind.
Speaker 2: That's that's impressive. I hope you got through that book
Speaker 2: and what a weekend or so? Yeah, just about Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's when when Spoe hands you a book, you get
Speaker 2: into that thing real quick and make sure you knock
Speaker 2: it out like a couple of Jimy Butler free throws
Speaker 2: late in the game. And you know, you mentioned the
Speaker 2: culture there, and I want to come back to that
Speaker 2: here in just a second, because you know, I'm obviously
Speaker 2: a different timeline as far as where Spoe has been,
Speaker 2: where his career has you know, taken him to this point,
Speaker 2: and Mike McDaniel hoping to follow him, I'm sure a
Speaker 2: similar career path in terms of his success at this
Speaker 2: level obviously, just you know, his second year in as
Speaker 2: a head coach, and I think he's done a really
Speaker 2: good job of imparting his vision and his culture on
Speaker 2: this Dolphins football team and you know, empowering his players
Speaker 2: to be themselves and to have fun with the with
Speaker 2: the process and you know, you make a play, go
Speaker 2: and celebrate that big play. So it's been fun to
Speaker 2: see him get his fingerprints all over the roster, all
Speaker 2: over the culture. I mean a roster that's just now
Speaker 2: chuck full of superstar players at this point, and that
Speaker 2: wasn't always the case in Dolphins pass as you well
Speaker 2: know being a south forda native. But what I wanted
Speaker 2: to do here because you know Jimmy Butler and the
Speaker 2: culture setting they have there, and I think it's I
Speaker 2: think there are some good parallels there between the two teams.
Speaker 2: And I want to play this game with you that
Speaker 2: I played with Steve Goldstein on the podcast the last
Speaker 2: episode of Draft Time where he did a matchmaker where
Speaker 2: you take Dolphins players and Panthers players for him, but
Speaker 2: for you Heat players, and you compare them. So so
Speaker 2: I'm gonna give you a list of guys Jimmy Butler
Speaker 2: would be compared to who on the Dolphins roster?
Speaker 1: Oh man?
Speaker 5: I mean, I think it has to be Jalen Ramsey, right,
Speaker 5: It has to be in terms of this wild competitor
Speaker 5: with also a big trash talking personality, right like and
Speaker 5: knowing like he's going to trash talk you and then
Speaker 5: he's gonna go ahead and shut you down. Also, I think
Speaker 5: it's both right, it's getting in your face and then
Speaker 5: backing it up, and that like wild competitive character is
Speaker 5: part of what makes both of them who they are.
Speaker 2: I think I thought you were gonna say Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 2: It works for both obviously, but Ramsey's a good pick too.
Speaker 5: The reason I look at it is as Ramsey actually
Speaker 5: is is because Jimmy likes to do it on the
Speaker 5: defensive bend, Like he'd rather shut you down than get his,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean, Like he takes so much
Speaker 5: joy in that.
Speaker 1: I think Jimmy.
Speaker 5: I think on a given night, Jimmy Butler would way
Speaker 5: rather have ten points, eight assists, nine rebounds and then
Speaker 5: like six steals in four blocks then drop forty Like
Speaker 5: he'd way rather be a part of shutting another team
Speaker 5: down than even getting his and just getting his teammates involved.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the ultimate selfless athlete, right.
Speaker 2: And we actually heard Kevin Harlan on the TNT broadcast
Speaker 2: comparing him to ex and Jalen Ramsey after he had
Speaker 2: like six interceptions in the game, which was so cool
Speaker 2: to hear. Kevin Harlan is the man. I'm sure you
Speaker 2: loved hearing that as well.
Speaker 1: Oh he's been He was sensatial on those calls.
Speaker 2: Since that's the only word to describe him with. What
Speaker 2: about Bam Autobio.
Speaker 1: So I mean Bam Bam is Tua.
Speaker 5: Bam is Tua in a lot of ways, and that
Speaker 5: uh Bam loves to distribute to everybody else. Sam is
Speaker 5: a a singular named entity with a heart of gold,
Speaker 5: in the same way that Tua Taga bayla is right,
Speaker 5: nobody wants to say out of Bio and nobody wants
Speaker 5: to say Taga bi looa. It's Bam and Tua. And
Speaker 5: also in the same way that I think they've both
Speaker 5: been excelling the entire time they've been in the league
Speaker 5: and yet subject to this like really really microscopic level
Speaker 5: of criticism that of of both their games and the
Speaker 5: way that they assert themselves as leaders that's unwarranted for both.
Speaker 5: So I think there's a really interesting parallel between the two. Well, obviously,
Speaker 5: you know, Bam is this sort of freak of nature
Speaker 5: athlete in a way that maybe Tua is not. At
Speaker 5: his position, I think think it's the same same type
Speaker 5: of character of just like yeah.
Speaker 1: No, I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna win, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it with a smile. On my face.
Speaker 2: That is really, really damn good, Jeremy. I'm just gonna
Speaker 2: give you all the props for that. That was an incredible
Speaker 2: comparison there, especially the single named Heart of Gold entity.
Speaker 1: That's that's a no wonder.
Speaker 2: You're on the Levatard show Man, the way he mastered
Speaker 2: the English language, You're you're following his footsteps there with that.
Speaker 1: I don't do that. Don't do that. Let's let's keep
Speaker 1: going here. Now we're gonna move on to some more.
Speaker 2: You know, I hate calling him role players because they're
Speaker 2: so integral to the heat success. But I mean, let's
Speaker 2: move on to you know, once you get past those
Speaker 2: guys and Tyler Herro, you talk about a Max Struce
Speaker 2: for instance, Who's who's the Max Struce here on the
Speaker 2: Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 5: Oh man, that's interesting. I'll say Max Druce is Christian
Speaker 5: Wilkins in that. It's funny. The difference between Max and
Speaker 5: Christian is that Christian wears his personality out on his
Speaker 5: sleeve a little more and Max like wants to be reserved.
Speaker 5: But it's clear like he's got that same level of
Speaker 5: kind of jokey personality with him that's deep in there,
Speaker 5: and it's also like you there, you notice them a
Speaker 5: bunch of times during the game, but it's the stuff
Speaker 5: that they do that goes unnoticed that really helps their
Speaker 5: teams win. Obviously, that's the position for Christian Wilkins, Like,
Speaker 5: no matter what, playing interior defensive line is going to
Speaker 5: go almost underappreciated. But with Max, Like, what makes Max
Speaker 5: amazing is the way he runs around constantly all game
Speaker 5: on offense even when he's not involved. The way that
Speaker 5: that he sets up his teammates by setting screens to
Speaker 5: get other guys open while they're off ball still, and
Speaker 5: it's like we notice him when he scores thirteen points
Speaker 5: in a third quarter, and it's like, oh yeah, he
Speaker 5: can also you know, offensively be one of the hottest
Speaker 5: guys in the game. But really it's all the other
Speaker 5: stuff that he does too, So I think those those
Speaker 5: might be a decent mix.
Speaker 2: He's probably my favorite player to celebrate just because the
Speaker 2: strus is loose is the best saying.
Speaker 1: I think we have done here so good? What about I'm.
Speaker 2: Curious this one because I feel like this guy it
Speaker 2: maybe's more this year than in the past.
Speaker 1: Maybe you can correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 2: There has just exuded a level of confidence I think
Speaker 2: has really helped his game go to the next level.
Speaker 2: I'm talking, of course about Gabe Vincent, who is his
Speaker 2: analog with the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 5: Man is who Here's maybe a fun one. How about
Speaker 5: Braxton Barrios. First of all, both of them with a
Speaker 5: killer smile, right, like when those guys are smiling on
Speaker 5: the field, you're really great about it, or smiling on
Speaker 5: the court.
Speaker 1: But you know this this scrappy little guy.
Speaker 5: Who ultimately is like overachieving at the professional level.
Speaker 1: I mean Gabe Vincent.
Speaker 5: What's amazing about Gabe is Gabe was a top line
Speaker 5: scorer in college at a small school, right, I mean
Speaker 5: he went to UC Santa Barbara. Not not like a
Speaker 5: small school in terms of general population, but a small
Speaker 5: school in terms of basketball program. He goes there, he
Speaker 5: goes undrafted despite the fact that he's you know, this
Speaker 5: really good score or because nobody can figure out what
Speaker 5: is he a shooting guard?
Speaker 1: Is he a point guard? He comes into the.
Speaker 5: League in the G League as a shooting guard. The
Speaker 5: heat turned him into a point guard. Then he's not
Speaker 5: only a point guard, he's now a point guard. That
Speaker 5: usurps Kyle Lowry in the starting lineup, and then as
Speaker 5: soon as Tyler Hero gets hurt, it's, oh, hey, go
Speaker 5: do your best Tyler Hero impression. And then he did,
Speaker 5: and then he did. It's the craziest thing. And and
Speaker 5: and that's the part with Braxton that's kind of cool too,
Speaker 5: is like Brax was a great college player. Like I
Speaker 5: was an associate producer at WSBN during that run where
Speaker 5: the Canes started ten and zero that season and went
Speaker 5: to the Orange Bowl, and he was a blast to watch.
Speaker 5: And he was one of those guys where I was like,
Speaker 5: all right, he'll be able to do something.
Speaker 1: And now you know, he's still hanging around in the pros.
Speaker 5: He's still a part of the team, and he's he's
Speaker 5: now back here in Miami.
Speaker 1: So man, that's the comparison. It's a great one.
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, you talk about the different roles you
Speaker 2: can fulfill Brax, and Barrows is certainly a four down
Speaker 2: player in terms of special teams prowess. You know, to
Speaker 2: give him a jet sweep if you want to. He
Speaker 2: can do pretty much anything on a football field. So
Speaker 2: you're helping me with the comparison than I. I mean,
Speaker 2: you knocked it out of the park you and go.
Speaker 2: I love how you took a little bit more of
Speaker 2: like the smile. For instance, you mentioned like Goldie was
Speaker 2: a little bit more like on the ice in terms
Speaker 2: and in the football field. But I like how you
Speaker 2: expanded it there a little bit and uh and gave
Speaker 2: us a little bit behind the scenes there as well.
Speaker 2: And something else I talked to Goldie about with the Panthers,
Speaker 2: and it applies to the heat very well. The exact
Speaker 2: same way is how you know they go from being,
Speaker 2: like you mentioned, a one seed a year ago and.
Speaker 4: Higher expectations in the postseason.
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, it's the same path. It's really exact heart
Speaker 5: each other. It's crazy, it really is.
Speaker 2: And like you know, I was so heartbroken by that
Speaker 2: Game seven loss last year because I just the same
Speaker 2: thing we saw we're seeing right now with you know,
Speaker 2: the lack of respect that they seem to be getting
Speaker 2: in the national media. Uh even up three to zero
Speaker 2: in the Eastern Conference Finals. I felt they had that
Speaker 2: the entire year last year, and it annoyed me that
Speaker 2: they weren't getting picked to go to the finals by anybody.
Speaker 2: And they took the Celtics to you know, one Jimmy
Speaker 2: Butler three point shot away from knocking them out last season.
Speaker 2: But I'm curious to hear your take on this because,
Speaker 2: and you know, Mike McDaniel had mentioned it through the
Speaker 2: course of last season, all those tough games they had
Speaker 2: in December, and it didn't go the way they hoped
Speaker 2: it would in the majority of those games, but they
Speaker 2: earned that valuable experience. They earned more valuable experience in
Speaker 2: that loss up in Buffalo in the postseason. And for
Speaker 2: the Panthers, you know, Goldie said that that Lightning series
Speaker 2: last year. He thinks that that series is what propelled
Speaker 2: this playoff run. I'm curious if you see something similar
Speaker 2: with the Heat this year after going through that struggle,
Speaker 2: you know, last season in the playoffs and then this
Speaker 2: year having such an inconsistent regular season. That has to
Speaker 2: have an impact on the way they're playing right.
Speaker 5: Now, certainly, And I think all of it has had
Speaker 5: a bit of a like wear and tear on these
Speaker 5: guys just emotionally, right Like, when you think about the
Speaker 5: Heat in particular in this core, right like, you look
Speaker 5: back to twenty twenty and the roster is like almost
Speaker 5: entirely different. It's just Jimmy Bam and Duncan. That's it,
Speaker 5: Like that's everybody who's left. And Gabe was there, but
Speaker 5: he didn't play in that twenty twenty run. But when
Speaker 5: you look at that core and some of the guys
Speaker 5: who they've subsequent subsequently built around it, including Max Struce
Speaker 5: and Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent and now Kyle Lowry
Speaker 5: and all these guys, you know, the last four years
Speaker 5: have been this emotional rollercoaster, and it's totally understandable to
Speaker 5: think that coming off of such a heartbreaking loss, you know,
Speaker 5: on your home court, inch literally inches away from advancing
Speaker 5: to the NBA Finals as a one seed after nobody
Speaker 5: thought you could do it, after having been a couple
Speaker 5: of years before and getting swept out of the playoffs
Speaker 5: in the year in between, Like, there's bound to be
Speaker 5: an emotional letdown. And I think this season the heat
Speaker 5: came in the same group of guys, the same locker room,
Speaker 5: a smaller locker room than in football, So you know,
Speaker 5: personalities can kind of wear and tear on each other
Speaker 5: a little bit when it's the same message and the
Speaker 5: same thing over and over again, and ultimately, you know
Speaker 5: they needed their backs up against the wall. And so
Speaker 5: when they got to the trade deadline and there weren't
Speaker 5: any really major moves, but in the buy out market
Speaker 5: they're able to get Kevin Love, who has been I mean,
Speaker 5: from a ViBe's perspective as well as his as well
Speaker 5: as his obviously play on the court, but from a
Speaker 5: ViBe's perspective, a godsend to the locker room. I mean,
Speaker 5: he's such a bridge between these young guys who were
Speaker 5: looking at him for guidance and the veterans and Jimmy
Speaker 5: and Kyle who respect the hell out of him, and
Speaker 5: he's just a fun personality, and so he's made a
Speaker 5: huge difference, honestly, and in the way everybody gets along
Speaker 5: along with Cody Zeller, another veteran, and you get a
Speaker 5: couple of new personalities in there, and then you realize,
Speaker 5: oh crap, if we don't start getting it together, we
Speaker 5: might not actually even make the playoffs, And all of a.
Speaker 1: Sudden, the competitive juices get going again.
Speaker 5: And really, if you look at the last six weeks
Speaker 5: of the season, there are the occasional outlier games, almost
Speaker 5: like what I imagine Game four against Boston may look
Speaker 5: like ultimately, But there are the occasional outlier games where
Speaker 5: the heat turned the ball over a lot, didn't get
Speaker 5: back on defense, struggled from three, gave up a lot
Speaker 5: of threes, and got blown out of the building. But
Speaker 5: during the last six weeks, their three point shooting and
Speaker 5: their defense improved significantly from every single world player on
Speaker 5: the team, and it's what allowed them to get into
Speaker 5: the position to be in the play and to begin with,
Speaker 5: and they were close to getting to that sixth seed.
Speaker 5: Ultimately they have that aberration of a game where they
Speaker 5: dropped the first play in but backs up against the
Speaker 5: wall end of the fourth quarter. They turn it on
Speaker 5: and from there, it's been this really fun ride where
Speaker 5: all of these guys who are you know, we talk
Speaker 5: about it all the time. They come from being undrafted.
Speaker 5: A lot of them are Vets now, but they carry
Speaker 5: that chip on their shoulder collectively as a unit, and
Speaker 5: to watch all of them come together and compete this way,
Speaker 5: it feels like watching a really fun like March Madness run.
Speaker 5: Like it feels like there's just like a bunch of
Speaker 5: seniors who have been together for four years and just
Speaker 5: you know, really understand how each other's games work better
Speaker 5: than these other teams that are led by freshmen, and
Speaker 5: you know, they might not be the most talented team
Speaker 5: in the league, but they're able to figure it out
Speaker 5: with a genius head coach, a little bit of his
Speaker 5: own defense, and you know, some timely three point shooting.
Speaker 2: That's exactly why I don't understand this I guess apprehension,
Speaker 2: apprehension around the heat as a potential finals team and
Speaker 2: all the ratings talk, because what you just said about
Speaker 2: the NCAA team, like they are loyal and merimount, like
Speaker 2: they are that team that everyone should be rallying around,
Speaker 2: because of the way they play, because of the way
Speaker 2: they hustle back in transition, the way Kyle Lowry even
Speaker 2: in Game four, like they talked about in the broadcast,
Speaker 2: he went down there and got like a foul before
Speaker 2: an easy bucket and they missed a free throw, like
Speaker 2: it saves you a point. These little things they do
Speaker 2: that just generate, you know, the ultimate I guess path
Speaker 2: to victory. It's what makes me love this team so
Speaker 2: much and why it was so easy for me, a
Speaker 2: diehard Sonics fan back in the Northwest growing up when
Speaker 2: they moved away to pivot towards a team coach by
Speaker 2: Eric Spolstrow because one, I love the Dolphins, so it
Speaker 2: made sense. I love Dwayne Wade, so it made sense
Speaker 2: to be a Miami guy. But then the way they
Speaker 2: play was what really brought me in. So I just
Speaker 2: don't understand why it's difficult for outsiders to get on
Speaker 2: this bandwagon, because it's so much fun to watch, and
Speaker 2: it's it's kind of unique in a league where you know,
Speaker 2: it's the isolation and spacing is kind of more of
Speaker 2: the key. This team does it in multiple ways, and again,
Speaker 2: I think the parallels are there to the Dolphins in
Speaker 2: terms of how they do things and the guys they
Speaker 2: bring in. And I want to go ahead and bring
Speaker 2: it back to that, Jeremy to end the podcast here
Speaker 2: because you mentioned it earlier. You know, Mike McDaniel comes
Speaker 2: out to I saw a tweet today someone posted like
Speaker 2: Mike McDaniel spotted at a Junior National Soccer U eighteen game,
Speaker 2: Like they're making fun of the fact that he's at
Speaker 2: all these sporting events, which is so cool to see
Speaker 2: him supporting you know, the local teams down here and
Speaker 2: that arena is packed with celebrities every single night. But
Speaker 2: Mike McDaniel finds a way to kind of be one
Speaker 2: of the one, you know, foremost among them. I'm curious,
Speaker 2: you know, as someone that worked so long to have
Speaker 2: the team there and you get books given to you
Speaker 2: by Eric Spolstra, how those guys view the Dolphins inclusion
Speaker 2: into their their support, their community. And you know, Eric
Speaker 2: Boelscher comes out here for practices sometimes. I think he
Speaker 2: brought Chris Quinn last year at one point. I just
Speaker 2: want to kind of hear your perspective on the Dolphins
Speaker 2: and Heat relationship.
Speaker 5: Well, I think they love it, and I think that
Speaker 5: the cool part for the Heat is that because they've
Speaker 5: so established what they're about, what their culture is, their winners,
Speaker 5: all these things, there gets to be this sort of
Speaker 5: welcoming hand to any other organization in the market, whether
Speaker 5: that team is in the process of rebuilding or struggling,
Speaker 5: or whether they're a team right now, like you know
Speaker 5: the Panthers were this season, and the Dolphins are primed
Speaker 5: for a lot of success hopefully in the postseason, you know.
Speaker 5: And I think that what's really great is to have
Speaker 5: a guy like Mike McDaniel around, because Spoe loves an
Speaker 5: inquisitive coach. Su right, Like you ask Spoe question about coaching,
Speaker 5: He'll go on for hours. And so having someone like
Speaker 5: Mike McDaniel around, who already is such a unique thinker
Speaker 5: in the way that he approaches his sport, I'm sure
Speaker 5: Spoe is also asking him questions because look, Eric Sposter
Speaker 5: was already a head coach in the NBA and then
Speaker 5: learned zone and defense from Jim Larenega because he was
Speaker 5: he knew that Jim Larenega knew a lot about Jim
Speaker 5: Beheim's own defense at Syracuse and said, all right, teach
Speaker 5: me what you know, because ween he might need to
Speaker 5: start incorporating this at moments in the NBA. And so
Speaker 5: being inquisitive about coaching and being inquisitive about leadership is
Speaker 5: the type of stuff that I know Eric's Sposter loves,
Speaker 5: and Mike McDaniel seems to be the type of guy
Speaker 5: who wants to learn those things too, right.
Speaker 1: He has his own.
Speaker 5: Obvious, you know, quirks about the way that he wants
Speaker 5: to be as a leader. But I think a lot
Speaker 5: of it also has to do with the same exact
Speaker 5: approach that Spoe had, which is player empowerment to be
Speaker 5: themselves with a motivation to compete at the highest possible level.
Speaker 5: And so when you can master it the way that
Speaker 5: Eric Spolstra has, which is getting the most out of
Speaker 5: his players, I can understand why Mike McDaniel would be
Speaker 5: there looking dispoe to go, all right, how do I
Speaker 5: get the most out of this team? And you've coached
Speaker 5: a star or two in your day, helped me learn
Speaker 5: how to manage all these egos, you know, because you've
Speaker 5: got to make sure everybody's ego gets fed.
Speaker 1: That's part of your job as a head coach. It's
Speaker 1: not just strategy.
Speaker 5: You know, you're you're a leader of a group of people,
Speaker 5: and you need to make sure that everybody feels valued
Speaker 5: the way that they're supposed to. And I don't think
Speaker 5: there's anybody in coaching better at it than Eric Spolstro.
Speaker 5: Like you'll ask him a question about the you know,
Speaker 5: the quote unquote undrafted players and this and that, and
Speaker 5: he'll praise all of them and then wrapped within it,
Speaker 5: he's also giving Jimmy and Bam love for distributing the ball.
Speaker 5: So it's like he's also struck the egos of his
Speaker 5: stars within the answer about his unappreciated players, and if
Speaker 5: he talks about how great the stars are, He'll be
Speaker 5: sure to say and because of the types of screens
Speaker 5: that Heywood high Smith was setting. You know, so there's
Speaker 5: this genius of even coaching when he's speaking to the media,
Speaker 5: and I think Mike McDaniel, I'm sure is trying to
Speaker 5: just soak up all of that and what it feels
Speaker 5: like to see Miami on I know Mario Cristobal was
Speaker 5: at the game the other night, sort of there for
Speaker 5: some of the same reasons. He brought his roster or
Speaker 5: the University of Miami football team. They were all there
Speaker 5: just to sort of see what it looks like when
Speaker 5: Miami is really going, because I mean, that's got to
Speaker 5: be incredibly motivating for you know, anyone else who's playing
Speaker 5: sports down here.
Speaker 2: My first heat game, I just laid to my wife
Speaker 2: and said, this is awesome. Like you got like, you know,
Speaker 2: DJ kallis spinning the records over there, Rick Ross is rapping.
Speaker 2: You've got Alex Rodriguez hanging out with Floyd Mayweather court
Speaker 2: signed like such an experience to go to a heat
Speaker 2: game in the basketball game hasn't hurt either. To bring
Speaker 2: it all home. You know, you talked about you know,
Speaker 2: coach McDaniel and Spolstra. I think a Mic and Spoe
Speaker 2: podcast might do some numbers man something like that. They
Speaker 2: got to get together on something because that those two
Speaker 2: guys talking sports. Oh my goodness, that's just that's my
Speaker 2: My mind went there originally or initially I should say,
Speaker 2: and just kind of stuck there. But good stuff, man.
Speaker 2: Jeremy Tashe, uh, flashy t Is that a good one?
Speaker 2: That's I just came without my own and I don't
Speaker 2: know if that works.
Speaker 5: I like that one, Like, yeah, Jackson's been calling me
Speaker 5: Tash money, which is just it's a lot, but I
Speaker 5: love it.
Speaker 4: It's a lot.
Speaker 1: Was the new one I heard from Goldie on the out.
Speaker 1: That's so good.
Speaker 2: But anyway, he's Jeremy Tashe Levatard Show, Bally Sports, Mindy
Speaker 2: Miked Up podcast. You can find him on Twitter at
Speaker 2: Jeremy Tash. Jeremy, thank you so much for your time today, man.
Speaker 2: Hopefully we'll see you here soon and maybe covering a
Speaker 2: parade or two.
Speaker 5: Oh god, don't don't even get me started. Thanks man,
Speaker 5: appreciate you having me.
Speaker 1: This was a blast anytime. Thanks love buddy.
Speaker 2: And so there you go, and that podcast was recorded
Speaker 2: when the heat were up three to zero, so stressful moments.
Speaker 2: They're thinking about getting to put this thing out because
Speaker 2: it wouldn't have aged very well, I think if they
Speaker 2: hadn't won that game.
Speaker 1: So there you go. Let's go ahead and get out
Speaker 1: of here.
Speaker 2: Drive Time Podcast subscribe, rate review, follow all that fun
Speaker 2: stuff fish Tank podcast YouTube channel. Check out the dot com.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna wrap it up right now because we've been
Speaker 2: going forever. Have a good day. We'll talk to you
Speaker 2: guys on Wednesday after OTAs