Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy sixers podcast wherever you get your pots. Hello,
Speaker 1: and welcome to another installment of Tom's Talks with me
Speaker 1: Tom McGinnis. With no live professional sports to watch on
Speaker 1: television right now, American sports fans have been tuning to
Speaker 1: the ten part ESPN series The Last Dance as You
Speaker 1: Know It chronicles the Chicago Bowls nineteen ninety eight NBA
Speaker 1: championship team, with a special focus on Michael Jordan. A
Speaker 1: teammate of Jordan's and a member of three of those
Speaker 1: Bowls title teams is Bill Wennington, a seven footer from Montreal, Canada.
Speaker 1: Bill had a fifteen year professional basketball career. He also
Speaker 1: played at Saint John's University during the nineteen eighties, the
Speaker 1: heyday of college basketball's Big East Conference, and he's a
Speaker 1: member of the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame. Here's my
Speaker 1: chat with Bill Wennington. Welcome back in another session of
Speaker 1: Tom's Talks, and today we are really happy to have
Speaker 1: Bill Wennington and he has been working around the clock
Speaker 1: all of a sudden with these interviews about The Last Dance.
Speaker 1: People are just loving this series. It's really one of
Speaker 1: the most talked about things in sports because it's so
Speaker 1: dramatic and it's Michael Jordan and that Bowls. That was
Speaker 1: a special time and you were part of it, so
Speaker 1: you must really enjoy it. I mean, it's not like
Speaker 1: you're the Buffalo Bills, where you're went over four of
Speaker 1: the vikings and football years ago with it may you
Speaker 1: won the championship, so you must be reveling a little
Speaker 1: bit in this as well. It is a lot of fun,
Speaker 1: and I think part of it also is the timing
Speaker 1: of it with obviously the COVID nineteen going on and
Speaker 1: there are no sports. There's just not a lot to
Speaker 1: watch sports wise on TV right now, and it definitely
Speaker 1: has been fun and I think I hope that it
Speaker 1: can quench the thirst for sports a little bit and
Speaker 1: also quench maybe a little bit of the goat conversation
Speaker 1: with who's the best. And of course, obviously I'm very
Speaker 1: biased with Mike with Michael, because I really believe he is.
Speaker 1: He's the best that I've seen, the best that I
Speaker 1: played against before I got to the Bulls, and then
Speaker 1: once I got to play with him, saw why he
Speaker 1: was that good. And it's been phenomenal for me great,
Speaker 1: great trip down memory Lane, Tom, I bet, and just
Speaker 1: to be able to watch it on national television with
Speaker 1: millions of people and see yourself with John Cusack or
Speaker 1: getting a cup of conky at MSG in the locker room,
Speaker 1: and those are the episodes last night and five and six.
Speaker 1: I mean, what a treat it must be to, like
Speaker 1: you say, a trip down in every land, you must
Speaker 1: get goosebumps every now and then a little bit. I
Speaker 1: don't know if I get quite goosebumps, but it is,
Speaker 1: it is. It is a lot of fun because you
Speaker 1: remember the good times we had and how hard we
Speaker 1: worked in practice to yet where we were in You've
Speaker 1: seen it in the episodes, especially the first four. Michael
Speaker 1: is a driving force and if you weren't pulling your weight,
Speaker 1: he was going to push you. And I liked that.
Speaker 1: I thrived in that atmosphere. I had coaches that did
Speaker 1: that to me in high school and obviously to Saint
Speaker 1: John's with the coach Conseca, and it was it was
Speaker 1: very good for me, so I understood exactly what he
Speaker 1: was doing, and obviously it worked real well for everyone
Speaker 1: because he won the three championships there with us. Well.
Speaker 1: He was so driven and you know, like had that edge.
Speaker 1: Will Purdue had an interesting comment after he won the
Speaker 1: ninety one championship, and I know that wasn't youwhere on
Speaker 1: those teams, but you know they saw Michael crying with
Speaker 1: the trophy and he's like, we never really saw that
Speaker 1: gear him in mote like that because we only saw
Speaker 1: the drive and the anger and the frustration. So I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously and everybody talks about Michael can be very down
Speaker 1: to earth, but you know, it just shows you that
Speaker 1: when he was in the gym, to your point, he
Speaker 1: was going to make sure everybody gave it one hundred
Speaker 1: percent and was executing and doing what they were for.
Speaker 1: You know, it was it was like an on off switch,
Speaker 1: and the switch was turned on in training camp actually
Speaker 1: for him before that, while he was training to get
Speaker 1: ready for training camp, and it wasn't turned off until
Speaker 1: the championship was won. And you didn't see it after.
Speaker 1: You got to see it a little bit if you
Speaker 1: hung out with him, where he was down on earth
Speaker 1: and just a great guy and fun to be around
Speaker 1: in a good teammate. But during the season he was
Speaker 1: pushing you. He's pushing everyone to be the best because
Speaker 1: he wanted to win. That there was no other goal
Speaker 1: or agenda that he had. It was just to win.
Speaker 1: And if you weren't doing your job or are enough
Speaker 1: to help him win, he had no use for you.
Speaker 1: And he was going to make your life visible. And
Speaker 1: I always liken it to a teacher in school, when
Speaker 1: they're pushing you and they're driving you, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, when they give up, they stopped talking, you
Speaker 1: stop stopped talking to you. And if that happens, you
Speaker 1: knew you were in trouble with Michael. But as long
Speaker 1: as he was pushing you and getting on you, you
Speaker 1: knew that you know, you still had purpose and he
Speaker 1: still thought that you could do it. You just had
Speaker 1: to push yourself a little harder to do it more consistently.
Speaker 1: So with yourself and coach Kerr, Steve Kerr, and Judd
Speaker 1: Buchler and Nabie Pats, you guys, you know, were on
Speaker 1: the same bus in that same world. But when you
Speaker 1: watched everything that went around at the hotel, leaving the
Speaker 1: arena and the whole what existed with people wanting to
Speaker 1: get to see and get around Michael Jordan, you must
Speaker 1: have just been looking out into the world and it's
Speaker 1: just an incredible like, wow, this is amazing. It really
Speaker 1: was amazing. There were just so many people that wanted
Speaker 1: to be around the bulls and just get a glimpse
Speaker 1: of Michael and what he was doing. One story I
Speaker 1: like to tell is we were in Utah and Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: and after our team dinner, and you know you've been
Speaker 1: away with the team. That team always has a nice
Speaker 1: spread put out, so you have a nice Thanksgiving dinner,
Speaker 1: you celebrated as a team. And after after the team,
Speaker 1: after the meal, we decided we all wanted to go
Speaker 1: to a movie, so we all went down to the
Speaker 1: movie theater I think you started. The movie started around
Speaker 1: five o'clock, which is an early show on Thanksgiving, so
Speaker 1: there weren't there was no one in the theater. We
Speaker 1: were seeing the first show of the day and it
Speaker 1: was epis. So we all walked in and there probably
Speaker 1: about of us, Michael, Scottie, Luke Lawley, Steve Kerr, Dicky Simpkins,
Speaker 1: Randy Brown, Tony Ku Kutch and I believe Steve Kerr
Speaker 1: was there, and uh Judd Busher was there. But it
Speaker 1: was almost like the whole team went pretty much everyone
Speaker 1: So we get the movie, a great movie. As we're leaving,
Speaker 1: the theater is now packed lines out out the door,
Speaker 1: not because we're there, but because the movies are in
Speaker 1: and everyone wants to come to the seven o'clock show. Well,
Speaker 1: when they see Michael walk out, I kid you not,
Speaker 1: the whole theater followed us back to the hotel. We're
Speaker 1: about four or five blocks from the hotel and everyone's
Speaker 1: following us, and Michael and Scotty had their security guards
Speaker 1: with This is about four four security guards, but it
Speaker 1: ended up Luke, myself and Tony we're keeping fans away
Speaker 1: from Michael and being extra security. By the way, Michael
Speaker 1: still hasn't paid me for that, um, but just to
Speaker 1: keep the fan Avantgela. It was crazy. They walked all
Speaker 1: the way back to the hotel with us hung out
Speaker 1: in front of the front door for a little bit
Speaker 1: see if Michael was coming back out, and then had
Speaker 1: to hurry back to go to the movie, which already
Speaker 1: was starting. And it related for the movie, but they
Speaker 1: were willing to miss the movie that they were going
Speaker 1: to go see just to follow and see if they
Speaker 1: get close to Michael. And it was like that everywhere
Speaker 1: we went. Unbelievable. What was it like to watch the
Speaker 1: performances and to be on the team and set the
Speaker 1: screens for him and given goes and run in the
Speaker 1: triangle and the incredible feats, not just in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: but to watch, as you say, the greatest player in
Speaker 1: the game in your opinion mine too, take to the
Speaker 1: court like that and achieve that greatness and score those
Speaker 1: points and drive you guys to victory. Well, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: ruffle your feathers a little bit. The advantage that we
Speaker 1: had is that we practice with Mike every day and
Speaker 1: Mike practice hard every day. So contrary to Alan Iverson,
Speaker 1: who really doesn't need to practice, nor does Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: need to practice, the problem is I need to practice
Speaker 1: with Michael Jordan because when he's on the floor, it's
Speaker 1: totally different. So in the games, it was another practice
Speaker 1: because we had done this in practice thousands of times
Speaker 1: and we've pushed ourselves in because of Michael, we practice hard,
Speaker 1: So it was really it really was a game in
Speaker 1: practice because the best part of being on that team
Speaker 1: was after practice and the Kibbots seeing that the guys
Speaker 1: had ripping each other, poking each other on who got
Speaker 1: burned in practice, who did well, who made a nice shot,
Speaker 1: who got dunked on, and all those things, and Michael's
Speaker 1: competitive spirit kept that going. So games it was just
Speaker 1: second nature to us because we'd gone through practice and
Speaker 1: which was very much like a game situation for us.
Speaker 1: But okay, been in the playoffs and the championships when
Speaker 1: he was pushing you over the hump, because it's not easy.
Speaker 1: Six championships, I mean, none of those games, and we
Speaker 1: all know playoff games are so hard to win, particularly
Speaker 1: on the road, and watching the swooping and the driving,
Speaker 1: and knowing that the magic Carpet ride was about you
Speaker 1: guys were going to get to your destination and just
Speaker 1: to look in high five your teammates, that had to
Speaker 1: be special. Way we have seene in practice. To watch
Speaker 1: it in front of twenty thousand people at the United
Speaker 1: Center on the road, that had to be extra special.
Speaker 1: It was very special. But what he did in games,
Speaker 1: what he was doing in practice every day. So I
Speaker 1: don't know if I wouldn't want to say, I'm n
Speaker 1: it was phenomenal to watch. It really was, because it's
Speaker 1: one thing to do it against us in practice, but
Speaker 1: when you're doing it against the best in the NBA
Speaker 1: in the playoffs is absolutely phenomenal. But but what is
Speaker 1: really special about him, it's just his competence and the understanding,
Speaker 1: the understanding that he had that he was not going
Speaker 1: to let us lose. There were several times where he
Speaker 1: getting in the playoffs he said, Okay, tough win, but
Speaker 1: don't worry about it. We're winning in the finals. We
Speaker 1: lost in Utah, We're coming back home and don't worry.
Speaker 1: We're gonna win the next game at home. It's done
Speaker 1: smoking a cigar and just a confidence. It kind of
Speaker 1: just spread through the whole team because we were a
Speaker 1: little oh boy, they got this one. We're in trouble.
Speaker 1: But we went back to Utah and won the game.
Speaker 1: So it was he did stuff like that all the time.
Speaker 1: Whenever you had a little bit of doubt, he just
Speaker 1: picked it up and turned up. Now we're not losing
Speaker 1: that we're going to go out and win. And how
Speaker 1: about Phil Jackson orchestrating all this and keeping you guys
Speaker 1: together and you know, with Michael being the superstar and
Speaker 1: bringing in that offense and all those things that helped
Speaker 1: you be a championship team. Phil's the best coach I
Speaker 1: ever played for. It, and he does something better than
Speaker 1: anyone else does. And Tom, you know, being around the
Speaker 1: NBA so long, a lot of coaches are good coaches,
Speaker 1: and it's not necessarily your offense and your extras and ohs,
Speaker 1: although that's very important, but it's how you relate to
Speaker 1: the players and how you get the players to buy
Speaker 1: into what you're doing. And Phil was absolutely the best
Speaker 1: at doing that. He had twelve egos on that team,
Speaker 1: and all twelve of those guys in college and high
Speaker 1: school were the elphas. They were the main guys on
Speaker 1: their team and play except for me because I played
Speaker 1: with Chris Mullen at Saint John, so I was I
Speaker 1: was used to being second fiddle. But other than that,
Speaker 1: but he still had to keep us happy and he
Speaker 1: had the ability to read your body and how you're
Speaker 1: acting to pull you up just when you had had enough.
Speaker 1: Because everyone wants to play more. There's no one that
Speaker 1: is happy playing five minutes a game. There's no one,
Speaker 1: and if you are, then maybe maybe that's probably why
Speaker 1: you're only playing five intesea But everyone wants to play more.
Speaker 1: And every time I was ready to sit go into
Speaker 1: his office. He met me the day before and just said, hey,
Speaker 1: hang in there, you're playing great, You're doing well. We
Speaker 1: got big games come up. Rick Smiths in Indiana, Patrick
Speaker 1: Ewing in New York, Alonso Morning in Miami. You've got
Speaker 1: three big games coming up in the next two weeks.
Speaker 1: You've got to be ready. You're doing well. Just hanging there,
Speaker 1: keep going. You got any questions, and just talk to you.
Speaker 1: And he understood that where a lot of coaches don't
Speaker 1: talk to you until there's a problem and it's and
Speaker 1: it's too hard to fix. But also he kept Michael
Speaker 1: and Scottie and Horace when Horace was here and Dennis
Speaker 1: when Dennis was here, happy and content playing. And you
Speaker 1: saw he'd let Dennis go to Vegas for for forty
Speaker 1: eight hours, which a little bit longer than forty hours,
Speaker 1: but he understood that he had to keep Dennis happy,
Speaker 1: and Dennis was a little bit different than the rest
Speaker 1: of us and need a little bit different line. So
Speaker 1: he let that happen and really managed it really well.
Speaker 1: And that's why he was the perfect coach at the
Speaker 1: right time for this team. Last thought on the last
Speaker 1: Dance and the Bulls, but three championships for you and
Speaker 1: that franchise and that team to be at the end
Speaker 1: in June, after one hundred some games, all the ups
Speaker 1: and downs, the thrill of victory from Bill Wennington. Let's
Speaker 1: say you it was phenomenal, and you're talking about the
Speaker 1: last one, you know what it was. Winning championships is phenomenal.
Speaker 1: When you reached a pinnacle of what you're trying to
Speaker 1: do and actually become the best at what you do
Speaker 1: is phenomenal. And albeit I was on the best team,
Speaker 1: part part of those championship was great, but that last
Speaker 1: dance was really special because we all knew it was
Speaker 1: over and Phil wasn't coming back, Michael wasn't coming back,
Speaker 1: and most likely the team would have been broken up,
Speaker 1: and it was, and Tim Floyd was already around. We
Speaker 1: had seen pitchers, seen him in the stands actually with
Speaker 1: Jerry Krauss, getting ready, getting ready to come in the
Speaker 1: following year. So to win that last one a goal
Speaker 1: that was set early in the season, like we always
Speaker 1: do early in training camp, they actually be four training
Speaker 1: camp started was absolutely fantastic because Phil made sure that
Speaker 1: we understood what was going on, and he actually even
Speaker 1: told us to look around and see what's happening on
Speaker 1: the outside because Normally, you're so focused, you got the
Speaker 1: blinders on. You just see the twelve guys in the
Speaker 1: coaches in front of you, and that's it. You don't
Speaker 1: want distraction. But Phil made sure that we paid attention
Speaker 1: to the fans that we could come to the game,
Speaker 1: paid attention to the arrivals at hotels where there's thousands
Speaker 1: of people waiting to see you at three o'clock in
Speaker 1: the morning. So it really was special because it put
Speaker 1: it all in a different perspective for us, just how
Speaker 1: much was going on around us and how much we
Speaker 1: affected the city of Chicago. And for you, it wasn't
Speaker 1: always that way. In nineteen eighty five, you were a
Speaker 1: first round draft pick at the Dallas Mavericks. This is
Speaker 1: Reunion Arena. Donald Carter is the owner of the Mavericks.
Speaker 1: I'm sure your career didn't start off like that, correct.
Speaker 1: I don't think very many careers start off like that
Speaker 1: where you're coming in, unless unless you like Jason Caffey
Speaker 1: and you get drafted in ninety six and you joined
Speaker 1: the Chicago polls and that's the way it starts off
Speaker 1: with No, like everyone else, I went to actually a
Speaker 1: very good team in Dallas in nineteen eighty eight, we
Speaker 1: went to the Western Conference Finals and lost in seven
Speaker 1: games to the Lakers. But this what happened in Chicago
Speaker 1: with the second three peat that I was on never happens,
Speaker 1: and it was really a special special event for all
Speaker 1: the players that were on the team in the city
Speaker 1: of Chicago. But the bonds that were made and created
Speaker 1: on that time is one of the best teams that
Speaker 1: I've been on, not just playing wise and winning wise,
Speaker 1: but people wise and just how well everyone got along. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was hard. We've pushed ourselves. It was going to
Speaker 1: work every day and it was a job that we
Speaker 1: wanted to complete and finish. But the bonds are there
Speaker 1: and they're strong. When you see Steve Kerr in San
Speaker 1: Francisco or Judd Busler he's been with the Knicks, what's
Speaker 1: it like to reconnect with some of these guys, like
Speaker 1: you say, because these are bonds that will last a lifetime,
Speaker 1: it's always great And as you know, tell me, we
Speaker 1: have good friends that you went through battles with like that,
Speaker 1: it's like we haven't missed a day. Like I haven't
Speaker 1: seen Steve Kerr now since a little over a year ago,
Speaker 1: but every time he comes to the United Center where
Speaker 1: I go out to Golden State with with the Bulls,
Speaker 1: It's like we saw each other yesterday. Judd Busher is
Speaker 1: the same way. When you see them these guys, you
Speaker 1: don't get to see them a whole lot because they
Speaker 1: don't live in Chicago and I don't live well. Judd
Speaker 1: was up in New York and Steve San Francisco, but
Speaker 1: you don't get to see him a lot. But when
Speaker 1: you do, if the connection is there, the bond is there,
Speaker 1: it's great to see each other and you just start
Speaker 1: reliving great stories and also some news stories what's been
Speaker 1: going on since then, because we all when we're all here,
Speaker 1: we all had little kids. Now we all have adults,
Speaker 1: adult kids, and that's fun to catch up with those two.
Speaker 1: More of my conversation with Bill Wennington, including his thoughts
Speaker 1: on seventy six or Center, All Star, Joel and bead
Speaker 1: in a Moment. In this time of social distancing, Novacare
Speaker 1: Rehabilitation is offering physical therapy from the comfort and safety
Speaker 1: of your home. Through their new tell A Rehab program.
Speaker 1: Novacare will virtually bring their services to you so you
Speaker 1: may heal, build strength, and get back to the things
Speaker 1: you love tell a rehab let you easily connect with
Speaker 1: one of Novacare's licensed therapists through web based technology that
Speaker 1: is Hippo compliant. For more information, visit novacare dot com.
Speaker 1: Now back to my conversation with Bill Wennington. When you
Speaker 1: go back, let's talk about your days in the Big East,
Speaker 1: because the Big East has come back with Villanova and
Speaker 1: of course one of the best teams winning two championships
Speaker 1: in the NC Double as of the last four years.
Speaker 1: But you're maybe that was the of the Big East
Speaker 1: right there in the mid eighties with Chris Molan. You
Speaker 1: mentioned Lollie Carnistecca was your coach. A magical time in
Speaker 1: college basketball and you were right in the middle of
Speaker 1: that was fun, and honestly, that's really what prepared me
Speaker 1: to go to the NBA. And my first big exposure
Speaker 1: to the big stage playing in Madison Square Garden in
Speaker 1: the Big East Finals, playing against Patrick Ewing for four
Speaker 1: years really helped me develop and maybe I understand that
Speaker 1: how hard I had to work if I wanted to
Speaker 1: continue in a basketball career, and just a lot a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. And one of the stories I'd like
Speaker 1: to tell about the Big East it was. It wasn't
Speaker 1: even after eighty five when the Bulls went to the
Speaker 1: Final four in Villanova ended up beating Georgetown. It was
Speaker 1: eighty four where in Los Angeles and the Olympics, and
Speaker 1: I was with my team with Team Canada playing and
Speaker 1: we'd be walking around the streets in Los Angeles and
Speaker 1: people will be stopping me, going, Bill, Oh, how are
Speaker 1: you doing? Bill? What's going on? What are you doing?
Speaker 1: All my Canadian teammates we're looking at me. How does
Speaker 1: everybody know you? You live on the East Coast. It's
Speaker 1: four thousand miles away, right, It's like, dude, playing the
Speaker 1: Big Yeast. We're on the Big East Game of the
Speaker 1: Week every week, so they've all seen me on TV
Speaker 1: and it couldn't be. It was that big back then,
Speaker 1: the Big Yeast, And it was phenomenal playing great great teams,
Speaker 1: great players, Villanova, Eddie Pickney, Robie Massimino, great coach, John Thompson,
Speaker 1: great coach. Just a lot of fun to be part
Speaker 1: of that. You mentioned your high school coach. You went
Speaker 1: to school. You grew up in Montreal, but you went
Speaker 1: to school on Long Island. Is it the same Bob McKillop,
Speaker 1: who is Steph Curry's coach at Davidson. Absolutely say, Bob
Speaker 1: Hill just called me last month for my birthday. Still
Speaker 1: stay in touch with Bob. He's had a great career
Speaker 1: at Davidson, got that program back to what it was
Speaker 1: back in early seventies. And obviously Steph Curry's coach and
Speaker 1: just a great man, great coach, father figure, helped me
Speaker 1: growing up, helped me become the man that I am
Speaker 1: today with his teachings both on and off the court,
Speaker 1: and really strive to make me a better player. I
Speaker 1: owe him heckload of gratitude because he really helped me
Speaker 1: get where I am. You come from Montreal and now
Speaker 1: Canadian basketball with so many young talented players in the NBA,
Speaker 1: but not so much back then. You were kind of
Speaker 1: one of the first people that came down to the
Speaker 1: States and played and made a real good career of it, right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it was really hard to play basketball as
Speaker 1: a kid in Canada because there were no outdoor courts
Speaker 1: and there was no youth leagues. Now everyone thinks about
Speaker 1: youth league, guys don't play that much. The best players
Speaker 1: don't play that much outside anymore. They're playing in aus
Speaker 1: and Jim's practicing everything. But back then you practice outside
Speaker 1: and there were no ports outside to practice, and so
Speaker 1: I blount to a little YMCA league and played there
Speaker 1: and got to my first exposure to basketball in those
Speaker 1: leagues there. But really it was tough for guys to
Speaker 1: play and there it wasn't on TV because if the
Speaker 1: only thing was on TV back then was hockey and baseball.
Speaker 1: In the summertime, we had the Montreal exposed and much
Speaker 1: john than the Blue Jays in Toronto. That was pretty
Speaker 1: much it, but hockey was all you played, so not
Speaker 1: a lot of guys played. But now it's grown. Guys
Speaker 1: are playing all over the place, not that there's so
Speaker 1: many more outdoor courts, but there are more outdoor courts now.
Speaker 1: But youth basketball's picked up in Canada and it is
Speaker 1: grown by leafs and bounds. As you know, there's so
Speaker 1: many Canadians in the NBA, and one of the best
Speaker 1: big guys that ever played in Canada, with Todd McCullough,
Speaker 1: was out in Philly with you guys. So a nice
Speaker 1: little fraternity we have and it's always good to catch
Speaker 1: up with the Canadian players. But from when I started,
Speaker 1: when I left went to Saint John's in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 1: To all the guys that are in college in the
Speaker 1: States right now, it's mind boggling, right well, a fellow
Speaker 1: Canadian and speaking of your Chicago bowls. Now, the new
Speaker 1: general manager of the bull Mark Eversley, has taken the job.
Speaker 1: And you know, we'll talk a little bit about the
Speaker 1: Sixers in a moment, but he comes into a situation
Speaker 1: you got not a lot of young Callen and everybody
Speaker 1: was real fun Mark here. I know he's going to
Speaker 1: do a great jout job out there in Chicago. Now.
Speaker 1: I'm really excited for Mark. I've met him a couple
Speaker 1: of times just to say hello, really haven't spent any
Speaker 1: time with him, have not talked to him yet, and
Speaker 1: I don't think he's here in Chicago yet with the
Speaker 1: virus thing going on right now and traveling and everything,
Speaker 1: so I've not had a chance to see him or
Speaker 1: welcome him here in Chicago. But very excited obviously. John
Speaker 1: Paxson's a good friend of mine, and John has kind
Speaker 1: of led us to believe that something like this would
Speaker 1: be happening for a little while now, and looking forward
Speaker 1: to going in a new direction see what he can
Speaker 1: do and get new minds because it's difficult tom as
Speaker 1: you know, when teams aren't doing well and you're trying
Speaker 1: to find the right answer, the right formula to get
Speaker 1: things back on track. And I've got some new minds
Speaker 1: coming in and I like Mark a lot, and I've
Speaker 1: heard a lot of great things about him, and I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to the changes here now. I know you guys,
Speaker 1: as it turned out of the last couple three years,
Speaker 1: didn't see a lot of indeed, but he did this year.
Speaker 1: And I know furk On Corkma has got a really
Speaker 1: good game. But when you when you get back into
Speaker 1: the NBA and you think a little bit about the
Speaker 1: Sixers and you know the talent on the ball club,
Speaker 1: what do you think of when you think of the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy six years, Well, I think you got a
Speaker 1: game change in MBI and I and I like his
Speaker 1: game a lot because I think he's very versatile. You
Speaker 1: can play outside, but more importantly you play inside right now,
Speaker 1: and he's the guy that you can't guard down low
Speaker 1: because a lot of teams are going away from low
Speaker 1: post actions right now because analytics is taken over and
Speaker 1: it's become a three point shooting league where pretty much
Speaker 1: time you see it, every team's running the same thing.
Speaker 1: They running a high screen role or the running a
Speaker 1: dribble weave outside to get to get a matchup they
Speaker 1: want and it's drawn kick and everyone's gonna shoot threes
Speaker 1: or Embi can post up. And when you really think
Speaker 1: about it, when you got a seven foot guy that's strong,
Speaker 1: one has the footwork he had, who can guard him
Speaker 1: in the NBA today, You know when I played back
Speaker 1: in the nineties, you had Patrick Ewing, Alonzo warning A
Speaker 1: chem Eli, Juan Shaquille O'Neal. Every team had at least one,
Speaker 1: if not two, seven footers that could bang and pound
Speaker 1: on you. Well, if you put a six foot nine
Speaker 1: guy or six foot eight guy on himb down low,
Speaker 1: he's gonna score seventy percent of the time because his
Speaker 1: footwork and hands are so great down there, and if
Speaker 1: you put a big guy on them, then he can
Speaker 1: step out and hit some jump shots that maybe most
Speaker 1: big guys can't guard. So he's a guy that changes
Speaker 1: the numbers, at least I believe because and until you
Speaker 1: got more big guys you can do it. He's in
Speaker 1: my opinion, he's gonna dominate for a long time because
Speaker 1: you just can't stop him with a six foot nine guy. Bill,
Speaker 1: I thank you so much. I just actually one last thing,
Speaker 1: but to stay around the game, and we both are
Speaker 1: in the game of radio broadcasting. If you will, must
Speaker 1: be a real treat to be able to stay in
Speaker 1: the NBA and travel around the league and just be
Speaker 1: able to watch this competition and lay your expertise, your
Speaker 1: commentary in that role as the analyst for the Bulls Radio. Tom,
Speaker 1: It's it's absolutely fantastic, right. I love basketball. It's been
Speaker 1: great to me and I'm and I talked about working
Speaker 1: jobs and it's not work. If you love what you're doing.
Speaker 1: It's not worth It's hard, and it is a job,
Speaker 1: but it's not work because he enjoyed doing it. I
Speaker 1: used the line from the late great Johnny red Kerr,
Speaker 1: who was my mentor and did TV for the Bulls
Speaker 1: for many years, and he said, we got the best
Speaker 1: job in the world. We get paid to watch and
Speaker 1: talk about basketball, and we get to go out afterwards
Speaker 1: and people buy us drinks in the bars to talk
Speaker 1: about it some more. And it's true, and it's a
Speaker 1: great game to talk about. And I love the game,
Speaker 1: and when you talk to people about basketball, you had
Speaker 1: a lot of different perspectives on it and what's good
Speaker 1: and what's not. But it's definitely been a lot of
Speaker 1: fun in a great ride. Well, you mentioned Johnny mccurr,
Speaker 1: and I was telling you earlier that I just read
Speaker 1: his book, which not a lot of people are saying.
Speaker 1: But out of Chicago Tilden Tech played at the University
Speaker 1: of Illinois, played for the Statis Syracuse Nationals Championship where
Speaker 1: there's a rookie, played for Philadelphia and had a streak
Speaker 1: of over eight hundred consecutive games. A first coach of
Speaker 1: the Bowls, first first coach of the Phoenix Suns, one
Speaker 1: of the true big guys early in his career. Johnny
Speaker 1: ray Kerr was a legend at that time. Absolutely, I'm
Speaker 1: a great guy and a great great friend. Is tough
Speaker 1: loss for us here in Chicago when he passed, but
Speaker 1: just a phenomenal human being and missing dearly. Well Bill,
Speaker 1: we thank you so much, and I know you're doing
Speaker 1: a lot of this so we appreciate it and enjoy
Speaker 1: the last episodes and hopefully we'll see you soon at
Speaker 1: an NBA arena. Take care and we appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Tom, always a pleasure. Thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: Tom's talks with me Tom McGinnis on the seventy six
Speaker 1: Yeers podcast network. Check for new episodes every weekend.