Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy Sixers podcast Wherever you get your pots. Hi.
Speaker 1: This is Tom mcginners. Over the course of twenty five
Speaker 1: years of calling seventy six Ers games on the radio
Speaker 1: here in Philadelphia, I've met hundreds of people. It's one
Speaker 1: of my favorite things about the job. Philadelphia may be
Speaker 1: hard to beat as the best basketball city in America.
Speaker 1: One guy who would know and who's pretty much seen
Speaker 1: it all is Jimmy Linum. A great high school player,
Speaker 1: MVP at Saint Joseph's on its basketball team in the
Speaker 1: early nineteen sixties, a successful coach at his alma mater,
Speaker 1: seventy six Ers head coach and general manager, many years
Speaker 1: as an NBA assistant coach, and now the insightful and
Speaker 1: passionate commentator on NBC Sports Philadelphia's pre and postgame live
Speaker 1: coverage of the seventy Sixers. I recently spoke with Philly
Speaker 1: basketball legend coach Jim Lynam coach. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: How's it going? And I know you're hunkering down here
Speaker 1: during this hiatus. How you've been pretty well? Tom? Thanks?
Speaker 1: You know, like everybody else, we're in very unusual times,
Speaker 1: so you make the best be able to see the
Speaker 1: grand kids from Afar every now and then, Yes, from Afar.
Speaker 1: You know, basically somebody drops something off, but more through
Speaker 1: through zoom or right. We've all become accustomed to this
Speaker 1: new technology and zoom has been real integral to do
Speaker 1: everything basically in terms of meetings and conversations with family
Speaker 1: and work. And I know you just recently did one gym.
Speaker 1: You work for NBC Sports Philadelphia in the pre and
Speaker 1: postgame Live and have been a tremendous analyst at this
Speaker 1: point of your career. But you've done everything and we're
Speaker 1: going to touch on that a little bit. But they
Speaker 1: reached out to you to talk about the Last Dance,
Speaker 1: the current series on ESPN about Michael Jordan, and I
Speaker 1: know you're six teams faced him and you did a
Speaker 1: great job describing that look in that game that you
Speaker 1: guys wanted the spectrum. But have you enjoyed the series
Speaker 1: and looking back and watching Jordan in one of his
Speaker 1: final performances in Chicago. Yeah, my wife and I look forward.
Speaker 1: We saw the two episodes last night. Yeah, it brings
Speaker 1: back obviously a lot of memories, but I think they
Speaker 1: were in and of themselves. They were They were pretty
Speaker 1: special times. I mean, you had a front row seat
Speaker 1: to not just Michael arguably if he's not the greatest,
Speaker 1: he's right there with whoever one would deem to be
Speaker 1: the best player to ever play in the NBA. But
Speaker 1: the circumstances surrounding it. You know, it was a great
Speaker 1: theater as well as great basketball, right, And you've been
Speaker 1: a part of so many stops and so much great
Speaker 1: basketball throughout your career. As I said, I'm going to
Speaker 1: take you all the way back to your days at
Speaker 1: West Catholic High School playing with Herb McGee and your
Speaker 1: team was one of the great high school basketball teams
Speaker 1: in Philadelphias, had lifetime relationships with like coach McGee. What
Speaker 1: do you remember about that time and what should we
Speaker 1: know about your high school efforts at West Catholic? Well,
Speaker 1: Herb and I played together a Jim Boyle I was
Speaker 1: on that team, who was a dear friend you know,
Speaker 1: for both Herbs and mine the rest of our lives
Speaker 1: we passed away. I guess it's over ten years ago now.
Speaker 1: Another prominent player was Albanny mc john beck, whose brother
Speaker 1: played for the Philadelphia A Warders, Ernie Becke, it's a
Speaker 1: great ten player in the NBA player So we had
Speaker 1: we were, i'd say, the beneficiaries of great tradition when
Speaker 1: we were growing up, you know, West Catholic and won
Speaker 1: a lot of Catholic League titles over the years. I
Speaker 1: knew a lot of those older players from the various
Speaker 1: neighborhoods around Southwest Philly. You know, they were always out
Speaker 1: are been to mentoring us. So it was like just
Speaker 1: a good fortune to be able to continue a tradition,
Speaker 1: to be a part of something that you know, as
Speaker 1: a young kid growing up, really relished. And then you
Speaker 1: go to Saint Joe's. You play three years on the varsity,
Speaker 1: your final season you're the MVP, You make it to
Speaker 1: the final four, you end up third. You played a
Speaker 1: four overtime game with Utah. What was that like? I know,
Speaker 1: the NCAA tournament may not be you know what it
Speaker 1: was it is now back then, but still a pretty
Speaker 1: neat achievement. Only thirty two teams, if the recollection serves
Speaker 1: me correctly, But that was a real good team. It
Speaker 1: was my sophomore year at Saint Joe And actually the
Speaker 1: while they don't have the consolation game anymore. Maybe because
Speaker 1: of that game. Bobby Knight was getting ready as a
Speaker 1: player to play his Ohio State team was going to
Speaker 1: play Cincinnati for the national title game. And I remember
Speaker 1: during our game, you know, them coming onto the court
Speaker 1: like three different times requesting their sweatsuits, and they were
Speaker 1: sitting under the basket area only to go back, you
Speaker 1: know each time that there's going to be another overtime.
Speaker 1: You can see the expression on their faces. So it
Speaker 1: was somewhat anticlimatic, but you know, for us to get
Speaker 1: to the final four was a big deal. The only
Speaker 1: reason I say that because then I T was prominent
Speaker 1: at that time too, correct, no question. Yeah, I'd say
Speaker 1: the two probably rival one another as to the you know,
Speaker 1: the biggest achievement, although I do think the NCAA probably
Speaker 1: still had an edge at that time, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: to get to the final four, that's awesome. That must
Speaker 1: have been a great experience. And John Halichick, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: those buck guys getting ready to come out. Honda was
Speaker 1: on that team, correct, Jerry Lucas was, Larry Siegfried. You know,
Speaker 1: they had a cast of guys who were going to
Speaker 1: go for one and the great NBA players, but they
Speaker 1: didn't win. They lost the championship to Cincinnati, you know,
Speaker 1: which was a really a brutal lost to them. You know,
Speaker 1: an ind State team, right, and it was Oscar had
Speaker 1: just finished playing. So you know, teams were like, we're
Speaker 1: looking forward to get in Cincinnati without Oscar. Well guess
Speaker 1: what they got them, they said, but they weren't able
Speaker 1: to take them down, right. So then you get into coaching,
Speaker 1: and you coach at Fairfield and American University. Two years
Speaker 1: at Fairfield and I believe five years at American University,
Speaker 1: and then you come back and you get to Saint
Speaker 1: Joseph's job, and everybody here in Philadelphia remembers the big
Speaker 1: upset against the Paul that was at Dayton. The year
Speaker 1: was nineteen eighty one. You knock off Ray Meyer and
Speaker 1: Mark Aguire and Tony cost and Brian work are on
Speaker 1: your team. What do you recollect and what are some
Speaker 1: of your memories about that number one? I would say
Speaker 1: that we had a very good team. You know, I
Speaker 1: still to this day see a lot of those players.
Speaker 1: John Smith, Jeff Clark, You mentioned Tony Costner, Brian Warwick.
Speaker 1: Ronnie McFarland was a freshman on that team from Roman
Speaker 1: cast like, so we had a lot of very very
Speaker 1: good players and it was, you know, going to be
Speaker 1: a good team for a number of years. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it DePaul was the number one team, number one seed
Speaker 1: in the tournament. And ironically LaSalle had played them a
Speaker 1: game in Philly back then during the Big five pay
Speaker 1: Day we played doubleheaders and we played first half of
Speaker 1: that double head or Lasal playing the Taul in the second.
Speaker 1: So our guys had seen the Paul firsthand. And let's say,
Speaker 1: I really my brother was at the back court a
Speaker 1: govery good player, or LaSalle being high school teammate that
Speaker 1: was on a golf scholarship, Greg Webster, and they gave
Speaker 1: De Paul all they could handle. Short of winning the game,
Speaker 1: I think they lost three. So that kind of we had.
Speaker 1: Winning our first game against Greyton, we kind of tapped
Speaker 1: into that Sam was good enough to play three point
Speaker 1: that we thought we had a shot. So you make
Speaker 1: it to the Mid East Regional and it was in Bloomington, Indiana.
Speaker 1: And I told you this before, but I actually went
Speaker 1: to those games. We met briefly in the hotel. I
Speaker 1: can understand why you wouldn't remember that, but I did
Speaker 1: have a long conversation with Jean Barto because he was
Speaker 1: the coach of UAB Alabama, Birmingham, Indiana of course, who
Speaker 1: would go on to the Spectrum and win an eighty
Speaker 1: one national championship, and Boston College and they were coached
Speaker 1: by doctor Tom Davis. And if I remember, that was
Speaker 1: your first game, and right you played BC. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: BBC really was not a very good game, to be
Speaker 1: honest with you, Well, what was the deal? Because I
Speaker 1: was a college basketball player at the time, and a
Speaker 1: bunch of us and the older guys from the outside
Speaker 1: of Chicago, these brothers would always get tickets and we
Speaker 1: were thinking that Paul would be in there. Wake Forrest
Speaker 1: was really good. I think Kentucky and Indiana were like
Speaker 1: holy man. The ticket coach was twelve dollars and fifty cents.
Speaker 1: Of course I still have the receipt or whatever the ticket.
Speaker 1: But Doctor Tom was a huge bounce pass guy. I
Speaker 1: remember counting like twenty five bounce passes a possession, didn't
Speaker 1: he do? What was the deal with that? Yeah? It
Speaker 1: was a good friend and he had a unique style
Speaker 1: of play. What they did. They he played very fast,
Speaker 1: like you'd run the ball down the floor usually had
Speaker 1: a really good guard jump badly. Yeah, they have been
Speaker 1: on that team, but he had guards Michael Adams small,
Speaker 1: but they were they were good enough to play in
Speaker 1: the NBA. And what they would do they would rush
Speaker 1: the ball down the court trying to get an early shot,
Speaker 1: but if they didn't no shot clock back in those days,
Speaker 1: they would back it out and as you said, they
Speaker 1: would pass the ball incessantly, you know, time after time
Speaker 1: to try to get an optimal shooting opportunity. So the
Speaker 1: game was it was one of the weirdest games I
Speaker 1: ever was involved in. To be honest with you, I
Speaker 1: had no idea, but I'd be talking to like one
Speaker 1: of my assistants on one side and one on the other,
Speaker 1: getting two different versions, and I was as confused as
Speaker 1: they were, like we in good shape or we like
Speaker 1: big trouble. As it turned down, we made a couple
Speaker 1: of plays down the stretch at to win the game
Speaker 1: to get a chance to go against Indiana to go
Speaker 1: to the Final four back here in Philly at the Spectrum, right,
Speaker 1: but as State would have it back in those days
Speaker 1: in Indiana again, they were a great team. Isaiah Thomas,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure matter where we played them, right, but
Speaker 1: I would like to have a shot on anywhere other
Speaker 1: than their own court right now. Absolutely, what an advantage
Speaker 1: for them. And I ended up setting for the first
Speaker 1: games when they played u AB right behind the bench.
Speaker 1: People get confused, like when you see as Family Hall,
Speaker 1: it looks real small, but it obviously goes way up.
Speaker 1: But I was sitting there right behind Bobby Knight, which
Speaker 1: was unbelievable. And Isaiah against Alabama Birmingham had like a game.
Speaker 1: They were saying, you could put it in a cornerstone,
Speaker 1: tap into it fifty years from now and you know
Speaker 1: it would still hold up. And you played him in
Speaker 1: that game which you described a little bit. But what
Speaker 1: do you remember about that game against Indiana in their building,
Speaker 1: an assembly hall. Yeah, it wasn't much of a game,
Speaker 1: to be honest. Again, they had a number of the
Speaker 1: NBA talent, Randy Whitman I think was on that team
Speaker 1: with Isaiah, and the combination of Night, who obviously was
Speaker 1: one of the premier coaches, great players, and the home
Speaker 1: board advantage for us to we had to be able
Speaker 1: to stay close to teams like that have a chance
Speaker 1: in the game, and we simply weren't able to do
Speaker 1: it when they played the and you know this just share,
Speaker 1: but when they ended up playing that national championship game
Speaker 1: the following week, it was a Monday night, and that
Speaker 1: was the day that President ray And had been shot.
Speaker 1: And by this time, again college basketball players, we were
Speaker 1: back on campus, and there was some speculation that they
Speaker 1: weren't going to play the game, and being big hoop
Speaker 1: hads were like, you gotta play the game, and eventually
Speaker 1: they did, and Indiana one that championship pretty handily, if
Speaker 1: I remember, against a pretty good North Carolina team that
Speaker 1: was really a one of the Bobby Ifel, one of
Speaker 1: Bobby knights better teams. So then you end up matriculating
Speaker 1: to the NBA. You were an assistant in Portland, you
Speaker 1: had that year in Los Angeles with the Clippers and
Speaker 1: that was their first year in Los Angeles, is that correct? Coach?
Speaker 1: And yeah, when I went to the NBA, Jack Ramsey,
Speaker 1: you know really who was my mentor from the get go,
Speaker 1: coached me at Saint Joe's and then giving me a
Speaker 1: coaching opportunity that really started me in the profession. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I was the coach of the Clippers actually for when
Speaker 1: I got the Clipper job that were in San Diego,
Speaker 1: hop Sterling, it is inimitable style. He moved the team
Speaker 1: under cover of darkness, literally one night, moving Vans game
Speaker 1: onto the San Diego Sports Arena. Whatever they had, they
Speaker 1: packed it up and boomed they went north. So yeah,
Speaker 1: the second year, right, I was a coach up in
Speaker 1: that the Clippers in those same right, coach, Just going
Speaker 1: back to doctor Jack Ramsey, because again, you're an icon
Speaker 1: in fully basketball, so as your friend Jim O'Brien one
Speaker 1: of our assistant coaches with the Sixers, and obviously doctor
Speaker 1: Jack was his father in law. And you know with
Speaker 1: doctor Jack hollin those Miami he games for years and
Speaker 1: then ESPN Radio. What a man. I mean you mentioned
Speaker 1: he's your mentor. I mean, just an incredible person. To
Speaker 1: talk about doctor Jack Ramsey for a second, Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: he was really not just a terrific basketball coach obviously,
Speaker 1: but he was a special guy. He was I think
Speaker 1: it's fair to say, Tom, you'd have to go pretty
Speaker 1: far and wide to find someone who was as universally
Speaker 1: respected both in and out of profession than Jack Ramsey.
Speaker 1: He just he was down to earth, a normal person.
Speaker 1: He was an educator, you know PhD. He actually taught
Speaker 1: me a couple of classes when I was a student
Speaker 1: at Saint Johs. But just what impressed me the most
Speaker 1: I think about him is the way he bent about
Speaker 1: what he did. You know, it was never about him.
Speaker 1: He loved the game, He had tremendous respect for it,
Speaker 1: and he was just a great teacher. Anything he could
Speaker 1: do to impart, like thought, help whatever to the next person,
Speaker 1: you know, be a player coach. He was always at
Speaker 1: the front of the line to do so. More with
Speaker 1: Jim wind him coming up. In this time of social distancing,
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Speaker 1: dot com. Now back to my chat with Jim Linum.
Speaker 1: Maybe this is a good spot and I want to
Speaker 1: get into your time with the Sixerson as a GM
Speaker 1: and your work now and working with d every now
Speaker 1: and then. But Philly basketball to somebody that's not from here,
Speaker 1: how would you describe it? Because to me it's every
Speaker 1: level of basketball from Cyo, your high school obviously, the colleges,
Speaker 1: the pro game, the Polestra women's basketball. How would you
Speaker 1: describe Philly basketball to somebody not from here? I always stay,
Speaker 1: I go A to Z is what I say. If
Speaker 1: you want to talk. I mean, there's obviously a lot
Speaker 1: of great cities that have a lot of great programs
Speaker 1: and great players. But if you want the history of
Speaker 1: the game and you want to go all the way back,
Speaker 1: Philadelphia is pretty tough to beat in my opinion. I mean,
Speaker 1: Will Chamberlain is from Philadelphia. The list of great referees
Speaker 1: in the history of the NBA, the number of them
Speaker 1: that are from Philadelphia staggering. The great coaches, the Big Five,
Speaker 1: and I was never want to say like that Big
Speaker 1: Five is better than this league or better than that league.
Speaker 1: You know, it wasn't really a league. It was kind
Speaker 1: of a you know, an informal like group of teams.
Speaker 1: But it was unique in a sense that nowhere in
Speaker 1: America could you have something like that. Played all my
Speaker 1: home games on Penn's home court as the coach of
Speaker 1: Saint Joe's. Now, you know, we didn't have the like
Speaker 1: an arena like assembly hall out there in Indiana. But
Speaker 1: I just think that when you look at it from
Speaker 1: a lot of different perspectives, and you look at the
Speaker 1: number of great players, look at the number of outstanding coaches,
Speaker 1: outstanding referees, as you said, from whatever level of basketball
Speaker 1: you want to describe. You know, I'll just pick one.
Speaker 1: You know, like the great Roman Cathway teams over the years,
Speaker 1: and Speedy Marris, you know who coached just on the
Speaker 1: collegiate level, but the scholastic level, you know, a career
Speaker 1: that spanned fifty plus years. I mean, yes, Kr McGee is,
Speaker 1: you know, my closest friend. But the fact is, I
Speaker 1: know he's when it's all said and done, he has
Speaker 1: a chance it's going to be out of here. In
Speaker 1: Mike Kolschowski, you know, with the greatest number of wins
Speaker 1: in the history of the sport level at one school.
Speaker 1: You know, he went to Style and when we left
Speaker 1: high school in what nineteen fifty nine, four fifty nine,
Speaker 1: he never left. He stayed at one school and coach
Speaker 1: that he played it and coach at that school. So
Speaker 1: I think when you, you know, you put it all together,
Speaker 1: a school like Villanova winning three national champions right, I
Speaker 1: mean that this is a you know, I have great
Speaker 1: respect for villain Ovis, so I say it in that
Speaker 1: in the was complementary terms. But please, this is not
Speaker 1: the University of Texas or Hamel or you know, some
Speaker 1: massive physical plant, you know, Catholic School element Philadelphia main line.
Speaker 1: So I think when you put it all together, you know,
Speaker 1: it's an incredible story of basketball success. And you know this,
Speaker 1: But like when I meet a man said, a doctor
Speaker 1: and a guy like of your age, and you know,
Speaker 1: he finds out that I'm in the NBA or whatever,
Speaker 1: he goes, yeah, but he kind of waxes nostalgic, gets
Speaker 1: a little misty eyed, and he thinks of those games
Speaker 1: in the Plestra. Like it's kind of like, I like
Speaker 1: basketball when basketball was basketball, And he's talking about going
Speaker 1: to those games at the Palestra, and that captures the
Speaker 1: essence of what they remember about Philadelphia. Basketball kind of
Speaker 1: encapsulates what you're talking about. It had a very local
Speaker 1: flavor to it. You know, a lot of the teams
Speaker 1: recruited from the city and you know the suburban areas.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think that that the people really did
Speaker 1: identify with it. Now, again, keep in mind, there were
Speaker 1: two teams playing doubleheaders, so you know, the big schools
Speaker 1: with Scott the table. You know, it's a place only
Speaker 1: seats nine thousand, and you guys need two schools to
Speaker 1: sell it out. But it became kind of almost mystic
Speaker 1: in a sense, you know that in terms of little
Speaker 1: loyalty and the way that the game's kind of displayed
Speaker 1: and unfolded, you know, the signs and the just the
Speaker 1: enthusiasm with respect to one team, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: outdo the other. The fans were very very much a
Speaker 1: part of it because kind of integral experience, not just
Speaker 1: playing on the court, but what went on in the
Speaker 1: stands as well. What speaking of enthusiasm, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to get into your time as the Sixers head coach
Speaker 1: and with Berkley and and like that and one you
Speaker 1: told me a fun story one time. We'll get back
Speaker 1: to that in a sect. But where does your passion
Speaker 1: and enthusiasm Because you're you're really unique, I mean, and
Speaker 1: different people. It manifests itself in different ways. But like
Speaker 1: the one story that I you know, I could tell
Speaker 1: a million But when we were in the playoffs, is
Speaker 1: six has played Detroit and we were at the Palace
Speaker 1: and they at that time they had Rashid. It would
Speaker 1: have been after their national, their NBA championship, and you
Speaker 1: were helping Maurice Cheeks coach the team and you were
Speaker 1: walking us through the shoot around the players, the team,
Speaker 1: but you were talking about sheet He on the baseline.
Speaker 1: You took your wallet on your back pocket and you
Speaker 1: was like, o't bet my entire wallet. Just that fiery style,
Speaker 1: that passion is just emanates. Where does that come from?
Speaker 1: Where do you where do you get that drive? I
Speaker 1: don't wait how to answer that. To be honest with
Speaker 1: you that you know, just as a as a young
Speaker 1: kid growing up, uh, you know, we played very competitively
Speaker 1: a lot or whether it was on the corner literally
Speaker 1: on the corner basket, you know, up on a telephone call.
Speaker 1: That's where it started for me. And then as you
Speaker 1: got older, you know, you got to the schoollyards, but
Speaker 1: it was always very competitive. I tell the story that
Speaker 1: when I was a young kid and Wilton was growing up,
Speaker 1: I used to take the bus up right across the
Speaker 1: ook high schools a playground called Tustin Playground. It's still
Speaker 1: there today, and you would have to get there early.
Speaker 1: I was. I was like, I would have to sit
Speaker 1: all day to get in the game at Tustin Playground literally,
Speaker 1: but I would watch and when you would come into
Speaker 1: Tustin Playground, the phrase was what's the number? And that
Speaker 1: meant like, how many games do I have to wait? Verse? Twelve?
Speaker 1: I mean, and there's twelve eleven groups ahead of you, dude,
Speaker 1: before you're going to get your shot to play. And
Speaker 1: Chamberlain would play in those games on an occasion. I
Speaker 1: would watch. Obviously he would rarely lose, and but when
Speaker 1: Will Chamberlain lost at Tuston Playground, he was done. He
Speaker 1: had to ask what was the number? That was Will Chamberlin.
Speaker 1: So it was a very very competitive environment. You know,
Speaker 1: there wasn't the rankings and you know the fluff I
Speaker 1: caught that there is out there today, you know, as
Speaker 1: the A three and a half star, as the A
Speaker 1: four and a half star. It was about you know,
Speaker 1: going going to the court, throwing the ball up and
Speaker 1: starting to play. And we figured we knew who could
Speaker 1: play and who couldn't. So I guess the seeds of
Speaker 1: whatever you're referring to in terms of competitiveness, they were
Speaker 1: playing it early in my life. If you were going
Speaker 1: to be good, you had to show it, and you
Speaker 1: had to kind of climb your way up the ladder.
Speaker 1: And I remember as a young guy like I saying
Speaker 1: to me, well, you're you know you can, You're good here,
Speaker 1: but you wait though, you get the West Catholic and
Speaker 1: you know it's and each step along the way. When
Speaker 1: I first got there, you know, it was a little intimidating,
Speaker 1: like a lot of them said that make them a mistake.
Speaker 1: You know, Saint jose is a little over your head
Speaker 1: when I first got there. The fellow I played against
Speaker 1: every day at Saint josephs an NBA player. He's alive today,
Speaker 1: Bobby McNeil play for the next for three years, big
Speaker 1: time player. But playing against him every day, you know,
Speaker 1: I learned from him. I got a little bit better,
Speaker 1: my confidence grew. And then let and behold. The day
Speaker 1: before we started our sophomore year, Rams coach Ramsey told
Speaker 1: me I was a start in guard. So I guess
Speaker 1: it always served me well to like to compete as
Speaker 1: hard as I could and I never I never had
Speaker 1: it like faking. I never had any qualms about it.
Speaker 1: If you want to get involved and something you really,
Speaker 1: you know, are emotionally involved in, and obviously I was,
Speaker 1: and then you give it your all. And what was
Speaker 1: it like when you became the Sixers' head coach and
Speaker 1: you had some good teams at Berkley and Jaminski I
Speaker 1: believe he won the Atlantic Division. That must have been
Speaker 1: a pretty neat time in your career. Yeah, obviously, again,
Speaker 1: you know your success as a coach. Tom, you know
Speaker 1: this as well. We're better than I do all the
Speaker 1: different teams that you've broadcast and observed. You know, it
Speaker 1: starts with good players and good players who are good people.
Speaker 1: If you have those two ingredients, then you have an opportunity,
Speaker 1: you know, to have a decent team. And yeah, some
Speaker 1: of those Philly teams were all my favorite obviously, the
Speaker 1: chance to coach Charles, who was, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the all time great NBA players. I don't say that
Speaker 1: because Charles a friend like one mine. It's stark fact.
Speaker 1: And if you have a player like him, then you
Speaker 1: have a chance to have a real good team. And
Speaker 1: our problem really was that, you know, out in Chicago.
Speaker 1: They had a pretty good team too, was we're saying
Speaker 1: with these so I chose battles with Chicago, and actually,
Speaker 1: you know we we we had good battles with Detroit.
Speaker 1: We actually fared pretty well against Detroit. One of your stories,
Speaker 1: and let's see you can remember this, but you were
Speaker 1: telling me this about you were playing the Hawks at
Speaker 1: the Omni and it got down to the end and
Speaker 1: if it was a situation where you guys show you
Speaker 1: you call the play for Barkley and it turned out
Speaker 1: that you were going for it where you could have
Speaker 1: maybe stood pat and gone overtime. And then later you
Speaker 1: sort of remember that there was a ten thirty flight
Speaker 1: Eastern Airlines flight that you guys took back to Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: and by going for it, you'd be able to make
Speaker 1: the flight. And the guys didn't know all that, and
Speaker 1: it sounds like you actually thought of that later, but
Speaker 1: they thought you were gung ho going for it. They
Speaker 1: loved before it. Barkley made the shot, you made, you
Speaker 1: won the game, and you made the flight. Do you
Speaker 1: remember that story. Yeah, The story was we went was
Speaker 1: like seconds left in the game. I think we were
Speaker 1: two dawn and I knew at the time. It was
Speaker 1: that was the last flight out of Atlantic, and I
Speaker 1: just said to myself, you know, leap this. I said,
Speaker 1: we're shooting three and out of here. And no, we
Speaker 1: did not win the game. Charles actually he put a
Speaker 1: three halfway down at the buzzer and we lost the game.
Speaker 1: I think it may have been the first game I
Speaker 1: was the head coach sware to that, but it was
Speaker 1: one of the early games that I coached. But you know,
Speaker 1: all the players, they told me years later they really
Speaker 1: admired the fact that I went. I went for the win,
Speaker 1: and in my mind, no, I went for the plane.
Speaker 1: I don't want to stay overnight in Atlantic. That's great,
Speaker 1: all right. So you've also told me the story one
Speaker 1: of your GM stories. And when Scott Brooks comes through,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously he pays homage because he wouldn't be
Speaker 1: in the NBA if you didn't have him on your team.
Speaker 1: But the point is that as a general manager, you
Speaker 1: obviously had to deal with the agents and whatnot, and
Speaker 1: it must the stories not just for the big you know,
Speaker 1: big talented players that got big contracts or whatever, but
Speaker 1: putting a team together. What was that like being the
Speaker 1: general man? German team, but everything you had to deal
Speaker 1: with in that regard, I did it for two years
Speaker 1: kind of was more curiosity to see. I thought I
Speaker 1: would really enjoy it, but I didn't know if I'd
Speaker 1: enjoy it the way I did coaching. And I thought
Speaker 1: it gave me a little versatility. They were the two
Speaker 1: main reasons that I did it. But I missed the coaching,
Speaker 1: you know, very very much. I really wasn't. I don't
Speaker 1: think meant to be. Like in the office all day long,
Speaker 1: there was the GM and the front office types. You know,
Speaker 1: they spend it incredible amounts of time communicating with other
Speaker 1: people around the league, you know, but watching endless amounts
Speaker 1: of tape footage, you know, trying to evaluate the players.
Speaker 1: It's ironic getting that kind of are on this path,
Speaker 1: given that the Eagles just had their draft, and I
Speaker 1: actually spent some time after the fact, you know, looking
Speaker 1: up the history, the recent history of Hallie Roseman drafts
Speaker 1: Approchman has some great players, right, But you know, it's
Speaker 1: a very imprecise science, the draft, and you know, you
Speaker 1: do the best you can, and it's just philosophies are involved,
Speaker 1: and really it's I have a great deal of respect
Speaker 1: for the people you know, some some are better than others.
Speaker 1: I always felt that Larry Brown was one of the best.
Speaker 1: Obviously he's a Hall of Fame coach, but in terms
Speaker 1: of putting a team together, I always felt that he
Speaker 1: was one of the best. I kind of jokingly say, now,
Speaker 1: don't only ask me to coach Larry's team. He's one
Speaker 1: of the best of putting the team together that he
Speaker 1: can win with, right. But to know that and to
Speaker 1: have that ability, that's a real gift. When you speak
Speaker 1: about watching tape and everything. It just came to mind.
Speaker 1: When I first started the Sixers, officers were still at
Speaker 1: Veteran Stadium, and so this is give or take August
Speaker 1: or September of nineteen ninety five, and Gene Shoe was
Speaker 1: still doing some work and I think he might have
Speaker 1: worked with Tony Delio. And they had the VHS tapes
Speaker 1: and they were stacked up and there was big old
Speaker 1: tapes and Jean put in a tape and I was
Speaker 1: in there with him and he watched it for like
Speaker 1: whatever twenty eight seconds and he goes, can't play and
Speaker 1: that was it. I think exactly what he met can't
Speaker 1: play done, And I'm like, well, there goes that guy's yeah, right,
Speaker 1: So I want to get into your time with Marie's
Speaker 1: cheeks a little bit. And you know, I know you
Speaker 1: spent the time in Portland with him, and then the
Speaker 1: time here in fact that it was the anniversary of
Speaker 1: when he helped that girls singing the national anthem at
Speaker 1: the Rose Garden and you were in that picture as well.
Speaker 1: And I'm just going to jump to this, like everybody
Speaker 1: has memories of Vegas that probably are more salacious than
Speaker 1: my minor firkin porkmi is getting forty and three and
Speaker 1: in some of the game against Boston. But one of
Speaker 1: the times, one of the things I love so much
Speaker 1: about some of the league is seeing guys like yourself.
Speaker 1: And really it's like the green room of the NBA.
Speaker 1: Anybody who's anybody in coaching in the front office is
Speaker 1: there and just walking up to my spot to call
Speaker 1: the game on like Sixers dot Com or whatever. You
Speaker 1: were with Maurice, and you guys laugh so hard and
Speaker 1: so genuine I know you appreciate your friendship with him,
Speaker 1: but isn't that rich. Isn't that something that you know
Speaker 1: to be able to spend that time and he makes
Speaker 1: you laugh so hard. It's pretty cool to see, right Tom.
Speaker 1: Obviously I coached Maurice. I had one of the worst
Speaker 1: days literally of my professional career the day we traded
Speaker 1: him and work through circumstance, he didn't know we traded him.
Speaker 1: To find out like that we trade him. I'm going
Speaker 1: to say, one o'clock in the afternoon he finds out,
Speaker 1: ironically from Michael Barkan news truck out in front of
Speaker 1: his house, you know, with a microphone in his face.
Speaker 1: Through it all, Yeah, Maurice and I have a I
Speaker 1: would say, a unique friendship after going through all that.
Speaker 1: Then he hires me back to be his assistant both
Speaker 1: important and in Philly. But I would say that would
Speaker 1: be an indication of what I cherish most about what
Speaker 1: I've been able to do, you know, over the course
Speaker 1: of my working lifetime, it's always been about the people
Speaker 1: for me. Yeah, I enjoy the games I mentally and
Speaker 1: the competitiveness of it. But the special relationships that you
Speaker 1: build for long periods of time, you know, through thick
Speaker 1: and thin. I mean, you know, you experience it's a
Speaker 1: lot of highs what you experience lows. Also in this profession,
Speaker 1: you're in a long enough right but it's really about
Speaker 1: the people that that that's you know, what sustains over
Speaker 1: over the long haul. And you know, my relationship with
Speaker 1: Maurice would just be you know, one of those examples, right,
Speaker 1: I would agree, well said. And one of the relationships
Speaker 1: that as part of your basketball life is your daughter
Speaker 1: D has been a reporter for a number of years.
Speaker 1: You guys are able to do some things. I still
Speaker 1: do some games periodically with her with the Bluecoats in
Speaker 1: the G League. But how cool is that to be
Speaker 1: able to you know, over the years at different times,
Speaker 1: I was be able to work with your daughter and
Speaker 1: then as a father to see her in your field
Speaker 1: and excel the way she hasn't and had a career
Speaker 1: like this that she has. I call that bonus coverage.
Speaker 1: Tom uh, you know, just another kind of one of
Speaker 1: the good fortunes, one of the many good fortunes that
Speaker 1: we experience, myself and my family, you know, D being
Speaker 1: a part of it and being able to share some
Speaker 1: of this, you know with her because it's her passion
Speaker 1: and my wife is a big part of it. Also.
Speaker 1: She never played, She didn't really have a strong interest
Speaker 1: until we met, but once she got interested in it,
Speaker 1: you know, she she has a great field. She I
Speaker 1: really have gone a lot of what I called big
Speaker 1: picture stuff from my wife over the years. So to
Speaker 1: be able to share with you know, my family, the
Speaker 1: whole environment, the whole experience, you know, that's been very special. Also,
Speaker 1: that's great. Um. And then I don't know if it
Speaker 1: was d or yourself, but you're like a man genius,
Speaker 1: right you You're able to hardly maybe genius is stretch it,
Speaker 1: but you're you're really go at numbers right. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I have a map degree, and I think the analytics
Speaker 1: you know, something I always in my own way, you know,
Speaker 1: paid attention to and certainly respect what they do with
Speaker 1: today's world coach. Last thing, and I so appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: But all this in the game, like like a basketball wifer.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the friendships and the relationships. Uh, what
Speaker 1: a gift the game has been. It's been it's been
Speaker 1: your life, as you said, going all the way back
Speaker 1: to those games on the playgrounds just just down the
Speaker 1: street from your house. Yeah. I never planned it, a
Speaker 1: true story. I really uh taken a job, a computer
Speaker 1: job with the government, and I needed a part time
Speaker 1: courst work. I had to finish in Saint Joe's and
Speaker 1: I need to. I was getting married in September and
Speaker 1: I didn't have a part time job that like fit
Speaker 1: in with my schedule. I had some opportunities, but nothing
Speaker 1: that I really wanted to do and fit. So my
Speaker 1: wife and I were sitting in my Beyonce at the time,
Speaker 1: we weren't married yet. We were sitting on the beach
Speaker 1: in Ocean City, New Jersey. Fella's name was father John Dugan,
Speaker 1: who was an athletic director at Lansdale Catholic High School
Speaker 1: and he was the center ten years older than me
Speaker 1: at Saint Joe. I know him casually. He's walking the
Speaker 1: beach and as he kind of got to where our
Speaker 1: blanket was, he took a left hand turn and came
Speaker 1: straight to the blanket and we made small talk for
Speaker 1: you know, maybe thirty seconds a minute, and he said,
Speaker 1: I hear you're looking for a job, a part time job.
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, so I'm looking for a coach. And
Speaker 1: I remember my mom went like, what does that have
Speaker 1: to do with that I need a job. This guy's
Speaker 1: looking for a coach, right. Well, long story short, that's
Speaker 1: how it started. I called Ramsey and told him and
Speaker 1: I says, is that the weirdest thing? And he paused
Speaker 1: for a second. He said, what so weird about that?
Speaker 1: He said, if you if you'd like to do it,
Speaker 1: so I think you'd do a good job. And I'd
Speaker 1: never thought about coaching, ever coached the day in my life.
Speaker 1: And it's the way it thinks, Tom. It's a good
Speaker 1: indication of you know, when somebody takes a shot and
Speaker 1: like steps out on one's behalf right. And you know,
Speaker 1: father John Dugan, he didn't know me real well. He
Speaker 1: saw me as a player. He saw qualities in me
Speaker 1: that he thought translated I'd like to have that guy
Speaker 1: around our young guys teaching them basketball. And that started,
Speaker 1: you know, it was what was a journey for me
Speaker 1: that I couldn't be ever a dream. Well, you're one
Speaker 1: of the great guys to have around, As I said,
Speaker 1: I so much appreciate your time and getting to know
Speaker 1: you and visit with you at the games and watch
Speaker 1: you on TV when you're doing your pregame show. I
Speaker 1: have a television monitor obviously, and I was like, dang,
Speaker 1: I wish I could be listed. I'd be getting inside
Speaker 1: stuff right now. I have a chance. Well that's another
Speaker 1: facet of it, and those people I still use say
Speaker 1: Comcast and be see Sports Philly. But you know, the
Speaker 1: young people down there do a phenomenal job supporting us,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's Amy Fidel or Michael Barkin, Mark
Speaker 1: Jackson and myself now, but yeah, it's something I really
Speaker 1: I appreciate that opportunity because it keeps me close to
Speaker 1: the game and around the people. You know that I
Speaker 1: really enjoy spending time. Right well, coach, thank you so much,
Speaker 1: Be well, take care and I can't thank you enough
Speaker 1: for the time, my pleasure time. Thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: Tom's talks with me Tom McGinnis on the seventy six
Speaker 1: Ers podcast network. Check for new episodes every weekend.