Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy Sixers podcast wherever you get your pods. On
Speaker 1: this edition of Tom's Talks, we visit with former NBA
Speaker 1: head coach Mike Fritello. In a coaching career that spanned
Speaker 1: thirty years, Fatello coach more than twelve hundred games in
Speaker 1: the NBA. In nineteen eighty six with the Hawks, he
Speaker 1: was named NBA Coach of the Year. It was in
Speaker 1: Atlanta that Fortello coached then NBA rookie Doc Rivers. He
Speaker 1: could see early on the leadership qualities of the seventy Sixers.
Speaker 1: New head coach Fortello shares what Doc Rivers will bring
Speaker 1: to the Sixers. He talks about his time in the
Speaker 1: mid seventies as an assistant coach at Villanova and his
Speaker 1: role as the lead analysts for NBC's NBA coverage when
Speaker 1: he was dubbed the Tzar of the teleostrator. Mike Fritello
Speaker 1: on Tom's Talks. Welcome to another edition of Tom's Talks.
Speaker 1: We're joined by NBA coach Mike. Hello, and coach, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for doing this. We appreciate it to
Speaker 1: join us from outside Cleveland, Ohio and back in the
Speaker 1: in the mid eighties, you were the head coach at
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Hawks and now the sixties head coach Glenn
Speaker 1: Doc Rivers was a rookie in the NBA. If I'm
Speaker 1: not mistaken, you were in your first year with the Hawks.
Speaker 1: What did you see and the young player from Marquette
Speaker 1: in Doc Rivers in the way of you know, like
Speaker 1: leadership capabilities as a rookie player with you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of confidence coming into your program with the Hawks
Speaker 1: at that time, Tom good to see probably if it's
Speaker 1: okay with you, give you some background on the situation
Speaker 1: how Doc wound up in the spot that he did.
Speaker 1: When I got the Atlanta Hawks job, it was a
Speaker 1: team that was old, overweight, slow, but smart enough to
Speaker 1: know just how to win fifty percent of day games
Speaker 1: therefore qualify for the playoffs. And that's not what it
Speaker 1: was supposed to be all about. When we were at
Speaker 1: about thirty eight hundred people per game in the sixteen
Speaker 1: thousand seed Dominie, so we made a decision to start
Speaker 1: over again. So in that first draft, we decided we're
Speaker 1: going to try and come up with some young guys speed, quickness, athleticism.
Speaker 1: We had one there that wasn't too bad that we
Speaker 1: had done a trade with Utah, and that was Dominique Wilkins.
Speaker 1: So we decided to keep Dominique and keep Tree Rollins.
Speaker 1: Probably a good decision with Nique. Don't you think what
Speaker 1: happened was when they hired me. Okay, there was an
Speaker 1: agreement made between Atlanta and Chicago that Atlanta would give
Speaker 1: Kevin Lockery, who was the head coach at the time,
Speaker 1: permission to talk to Chicago about their opening that they had. Well,
Speaker 1: when they hired Kevin, they said, well, we'll come up
Speaker 1: with some compensation down the road. Both teams agreed on it.
Speaker 1: Now I get the job, and I had remembered reading
Speaker 1: something about compensation down the road. So I said to
Speaker 1: the general manager, when we get in that compensation and
Speaker 1: he goes, well, you know, we'll come up with like
Speaker 1: a second round pick or something. I said, let's get
Speaker 1: it right now, because I'm thinking about I mean, I'll
Speaker 1: be there very long. Let's get what we can. So
Speaker 1: we get the compensation was a second round pick. And
Speaker 1: we're watching the names drop and as we had everything
Speaker 1: lined up by position, point guard, two guards, small forward,
Speaker 1: here's Doc Rivers, Glenn Dock Rivers, name dropping, and Doc
Speaker 1: had been promised by a club that he would be
Speaker 1: picked in the top ten players. Well they didn't keep
Speaker 1: their word, and he's dropping and dropping and we get
Speaker 1: to pick I think it was thirty one in the
Speaker 1: second round, and here's Doc's name up there. I just said, look,
Speaker 1: this guy is six four strong. We have to take
Speaker 1: this guy. He's just like he's there. We gotta take him.
Speaker 1: So we take him. And I never forget how angry
Speaker 1: he was when I called to say, hey, Doc, congratulations
Speaker 1: and I am so upset. And they told me and
Speaker 1: I said, whoa Doc, I said, we picked you. I
Speaker 1: love you. I said, come here him, show them that
Speaker 1: they were wrong, show him that you're a great player.
Speaker 1: And he eventually made the All Star team and led
Speaker 1: our team for seven years at the point guard position.
Speaker 1: So that's how we wound up as an Atlanta Hawk.
Speaker 1: And you could tell from the beginning we wanted to
Speaker 1: start him from day one, but we just felt we
Speaker 1: had a veteran there, Johnny Davis, and we were trying
Speaker 1: to move Johnny to another situation where he could win
Speaker 1: some games. We knew we were going to start over
Speaker 1: and build with young guys. So we waited for that moment.
Speaker 1: The opportunity moved Johnny on and part way into the season,
Speaker 1: that's when Doc took over as our starting point guard.
Speaker 1: And you knew right away him he commanded the respect
Speaker 1: of his teammates because of his work ethic. It was
Speaker 1: not afraid to ask a question, a tough question, not
Speaker 1: afraid to say, hey, couldn't we do it this way
Speaker 1: instead of that way? What are the reasons we're doing
Speaker 1: it this way? And I would not be surprised if
Speaker 1: Doc went home after practices and wrote stuff down and
Speaker 1: filed it away in his three ring notebook, knowing that
Speaker 1: someday I might like to go into coaching. And this
Speaker 1: is how it's turned out. When Doc was in Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: Don Nelson was the coach of the Bucks, and he's
Speaker 1: told the story before that, you know, even at Marquette
Speaker 1: as a sophomore in a junior and this would be
Speaker 1: totally outlawed by today's NBA. And I'm sure it was
Speaker 1: even on the downlow back then, but he actually practiced
Speaker 1: with the Bucks and I'm sure that informed his decision
Speaker 1: a little bit about going to the NBA. But he
Speaker 1: already had the confidence to know that he in part
Speaker 1: play in the NBA based on that a little bit,
Speaker 1: and so you saw a bit of a more polished
Speaker 1: player than maybe a typical rookie player. Correct. Doc was
Speaker 1: the first one to tell me, look, I was this
Speaker 1: big when I was in high school. He said, I
Speaker 1: was bigger than most of the guys. And he said,
Speaker 1: you know, I was blessed with a strong body in
Speaker 1: this six three six full frame that he had, so
Speaker 1: that gave a little bit of an advantage. And then
Speaker 1: he was my locomotive. He We had two point guards
Speaker 1: with that group. Doc was the the big, strong, slow
Speaker 1: fast break guy, and then I had Spud Web behind him,
Speaker 1: who was the sprinter. With that second unit, we had
Speaker 1: ten deep with that group. So with Doc's group we
Speaker 1: would run and if Dominique was ever out in front,
Speaker 1: the idea was get him the ball in the open
Speaker 1: floor and let him go. So Doc would pitch ahead
Speaker 1: and Nick had the one man fast break, whereas Spud
Speaker 1: was so fast with the ball in his hand, he
Speaker 1: would just blow by everybody to create situations. But you know,
Speaker 1: Doc was that straight line take it to the basket
Speaker 1: overpowered people, and as he improved, and as his shooting
Speaker 1: improved from the perimeter, we became a better team. That
Speaker 1: training camp that particular season was in Charleston, South Carolina,
Speaker 1: at the College of Charleston. John Crest opened up the
Speaker 1: gym for you guys, and you came in there. I
Speaker 1: remember Spud took it elbow from Tree. I was there
Speaker 1: too as a television reporter in Charleston, and cut his
Speaker 1: whole face hop and I'm like, man, at five to
Speaker 1: seven or whatever, this is probably gonna have this kid
Speaker 1: all the time. It didn't really do that, but that's
Speaker 1: a pretty good combination in terms of Spud, Web and
Speaker 1: Doc and I just shared that story. But Rivers to
Speaker 1: come in there, and you had, like you said, some
Speaker 1: veteran players, and even though the leadership maybe would have
Speaker 1: grown and made itself evident later in his career, but
Speaker 1: just to have the moxie and the wherewithal to step
Speaker 1: into that group and as you say, it's said a
Speaker 1: certain point takeover as a point guard. That right there
Speaker 1: showed that he was a leader with a lot of confidence. Correct.
Speaker 1: We had a built We had a young, wild group
Speaker 1: of guys when we first put everybody together, and you know,
Speaker 1: these were high energy, guys could go twenty four hours
Speaker 1: a day, and sometimes they did go twenty four hours
Speaker 1: a day and we paid the price the next night.
Speaker 1: But Doc was the one that could talk sense to
Speaker 1: them and they would listen. They were all around the
Speaker 1: age at that time twenty two twenty three, twenty four
Speaker 1: years old, very athletic, and we were very deep as
Speaker 1: a roster. But Doc's voice was the one that in
Speaker 1: the locker room he could talk to them and saying, hey, listen, guys,
Speaker 1: hold on a second, we don't get too excited. Let's
Speaker 1: talkless over, Let's think about it. Here's the other side,
Speaker 1: here's why Mike is doing this, here's why the staff
Speaker 1: wants us to do this. So I think because of
Speaker 1: the respect that they had for Doc coming out after
Speaker 1: his junior year, that they would listen to him, and
Speaker 1: most of the time to do with Doc would recommend it. So,
Speaker 1: as you said, he's been a quick study over the years,
Speaker 1: and he played for yourself and Larry Brown and pat
Speaker 1: Riley and learned a lot. And then when do you so?
Speaker 1: Maybe this is all that that body of work and
Speaker 1: experience led to him being a very good tactical coach
Speaker 1: with the xs and os. Did you see that? And
Speaker 1: being a point guard or a quarterback certainly helps in
Speaker 1: that realm. Did you see that? Well? They've always said
Speaker 1: that point guards wind up moving on and becoming good
Speaker 1: coaches if they decide to stay in the profession. But
Speaker 1: when players are willing to ask questions, when they're not
Speaker 1: just standing there nodding their head, Okay, this is how
Speaker 1: we're doing it, When they're wanting an answer as to
Speaker 1: why we're doing it this way versus another way, it
Speaker 1: probably means a couple of things. One, they probably had
Speaker 1: very good coaching before they got to you, so it's
Speaker 1: making them remember what they used to do or how
Speaker 1: they used to do it versus how you're telling them
Speaker 1: to do it now. And then maybe thinking down the
Speaker 1: road that someday I might want to get into this.
Speaker 1: Tell me why we're doing it differently, what makes you
Speaker 1: a way better than the other way? Or why are
Speaker 1: we doing it this way tonight? Why are we changing
Speaker 1: tonight from what we did last week against this other team?
Speaker 1: All part of the inquisitive mind that makes the guys
Speaker 1: research study and trying to come up with answer. How
Speaker 1: do you think doc Rivers will do as the head
Speaker 1: coach of the Philadelphia seventy six ers. I've been asked
Speaker 1: that question a number of times now since Doc got
Speaker 1: the job, and I hope people understand what my answer means.
Speaker 1: I've said it depends what the players decide they want
Speaker 1: to do. Doctor's going to give them everything that they
Speaker 1: will want and need to be a big time winning program.
Speaker 1: But it's how the players go about what he asks
Speaker 1: them to do that will make the difference. Doctor's gonna
Speaker 1: run good at stuff at the offensive end of the
Speaker 1: floor side and underneath that abouts three point plays, end
Speaker 1: of the game plays, Doc has a bunch of them.
Speaker 1: They execute him very well, and he pulls the right
Speaker 1: card out usually at the right time. Defensively, they will
Speaker 1: be very solid because he's played for a number of
Speaker 1: coaches that have emphasized defense, and the NBA now has
Speaker 1: come to switching so much of the stuff that if
Speaker 1: you learn his techniques and you understand when time to
Speaker 1: switch and not time to switch, that will all simplify
Speaker 1: the game for them. But if they don't want to
Speaker 1: put the work in, if they don't want to put
Speaker 1: the effort in, if they don't want to sacrifice beyond
Speaker 1: when they're on the practice court, do the film study,
Speaker 1: do the extra work, come in on the off days,
Speaker 1: get extra shooting in. Then they're not going to be
Speaker 1: a championship team. No matter who you have coaching him,
Speaker 1: the team is not going to get to the level
Speaker 1: that they could get to. So you have to be
Speaker 1: willing to accept the new staff coming in. You have
Speaker 1: to be willing to accept what Doca is saying to you. Understand,
Speaker 1: he's done it, and he's done in a number of
Speaker 1: times that he's won an NBA championship as a player
Speaker 1: and as a coach. Well, now he's trying to take
Speaker 1: this and pass it on to you. And if you
Speaker 1: take it and run with it and do the things
Speaker 1: he said and put more than just an even mess
Speaker 1: effort out there, then you got a chance to be good.
Speaker 1: But if you don't buy in to what he's asking you,
Speaker 1: if it's false hustle, if it's false camaraderie, then it's
Speaker 1: not going to mean anything in the end. Look what
Speaker 1: happened to the Clippers in the second round of the playoffs.
Speaker 1: All they talked about was how good the zoom calls
Speaker 1: were and how close they were, And that wasn't the truth.
Speaker 1: They were fooling themselves and Doc knew it. You could
Speaker 1: hear in Doc's press conferences. There was always something in
Speaker 1: the press conference, in his honesty that you knew something
Speaker 1: else was going on, that this wasn't one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: And look what happens in the end, they get knocked
Speaker 1: out earlier than anyone expected. Great answer, Coach, This is
Speaker 1: kind of a general question. And again, you were an
Speaker 1: NBA coach of the ear and did it well both
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, Cleveland, Memphis. What does it take to be
Speaker 1: an NBA head coach? And I know some of it,
Speaker 1: but because and you just addressed a lot of it
Speaker 1: with what Glenn Rivers is going to bring to the Sixers.
Speaker 1: But you know, because sometimes you get the guy at
Speaker 1: the end of the bar is like talking about maybe
Speaker 1: some of Phil Jackson's teams with Phobe and Shack or
Speaker 1: Michael Scottie, I could have coached them, And I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't say that, but I want to say, you
Speaker 1: couldn't even gotten into the room. You would even be
Speaker 1: able to walk in the room. So you have to
Speaker 1: you have the players have to know that you're going
Speaker 1: to help them. But respect like that to me you
Speaker 1: can't even get in there and look them in the
Speaker 1: eye unless they you have their respect, because that popical
Speaker 1: list or right in there, without question, the players must
Speaker 1: respect what the head coach is doing. As a head coach,
Speaker 1: I think there's a certain amount of confidence that you
Speaker 1: have to have. You have to have a game plan
Speaker 1: in your mind of how you teach coach basketball. How
Speaker 1: much do you practice, how hard? How long? You have
Speaker 1: so many people now in analytics that are telling head
Speaker 1: coaches do this, do that, give them off tomorrow. Don't
Speaker 1: give them off tomorrow. You're practice them too long. You
Speaker 1: need to practice longer than not in shape right now,
Speaker 1: You and your own mind have to have an idea
Speaker 1: of what's right what's wrong. And to me, I always
Speaker 1: felt surrounding yourself not only with better players because better
Speaker 1: players win more games in the NBA bottom line, but
Speaker 1: I thought surrounding yourself with the right staff was so
Speaker 1: important to me. I was blessed in all three places
Speaker 1: that I was a head coach. I thought I had
Speaker 1: outstanding assistance. I think eleven or thirteen went on to
Speaker 1: become head coaches, and that means they must be pretty good,
Speaker 1: and that means they're helping you. So if you get
Speaker 1: guys around you that are helping you, giving you good ideas,
Speaker 1: good suggestions, if they're experienced, and if you're willing to
Speaker 1: listen to them, then you've got a chance of really
Speaker 1: turning out a pretty good finished product. I think Doc
Speaker 1: is more than willing to listen to his good assistance.
Speaker 1: He's out outstanding guys along the way, and now he
Speaker 1: takes over a new group that has to listen to
Speaker 1: what Doc is preaching because it's pretty darn good. We'll
Speaker 1: have more of my conversation with Mike Fritello after this.
Speaker 1: In this time of social distancing, Nova Care Abilitation is
Speaker 1: offering physical therapy from the comfort and safety of your
Speaker 1: home through their new tell a Rehab program. Novacare will
Speaker 1: virtually bring their services to you so you may heal,
Speaker 1: build strength, and get back to the things you love.
Speaker 1: Tell a Rehab let you easily connect with one of
Speaker 1: Novocare's licensed therapists through web based technology that is Hippo compliant.
Speaker 1: For more information, visit novacare dot com. Now back to
Speaker 1: my conversation with Mike Vitello. We're going to go into
Speaker 1: the wayback machine and go into the almost the beginning
Speaker 1: of your coaching career. After a stop here and a
Speaker 1: stop there, you ended up right outside Philadelphia here at
Speaker 1: Villanova with Rollie Massamino, and we're an assistant for the Wildcasts.
Speaker 1: I know you stay close to the program through Jay.
Speaker 1: Talk a little bit about that time in your career
Speaker 1: and working for coach mass one of those special situations.
Speaker 1: And I never was a coach anywhere that I was
Speaker 1: that in my mind, I was saying, any year in
Speaker 1: two years, I want to be a head coach somewhere.
Speaker 1: I always felt that it would come along at the
Speaker 1: time and I would know it was the right time.
Speaker 1: So when coach mass had come after me the first time,
Speaker 1: I had made a commitment to a coach named Lou
Speaker 1: camp and Ellie down at Madison College. He was starting
Speaker 1: the men's basketball program down there, a new situation, and
Speaker 1: Lou had said, if you come with me, the only
Speaker 1: thing I'm going to ask is that you stay for
Speaker 1: two years. Well, at the end of the first year,
Speaker 1: Roli gets the job of Villanova. Lou used to be
Speaker 1: Rollie's assistant in high school. So Rolie closed low and said,
Speaker 1: can I talk to Mike Fritello and Loui was like, well,
Speaker 1: you know Roli, and Rolie's like, ah, come on, Loui,
Speaker 1: what are you kidding me? Go Nova at Madison College.
Speaker 1: So Luis said, okay, talk to him if you want.
Speaker 1: So Roli drove down to Madison College. We had dinner
Speaker 1: that night, breakfast the next morning. He said, what do
Speaker 1: you think and I said, Roly, I can't come. I said,
Speaker 1: I promised I would stay for two years. And I said.
Speaker 1: We had a handshake, and that with me. That's all
Speaker 1: you have to do. If I shake your hand, that's
Speaker 1: it for me. So Rolie was like, okay, bump in
Speaker 1: the car and he drove back to Villanova. I stayed
Speaker 1: with lou two more years, and then Rolie lost a
Speaker 1: couple of assistants, came back called again. I came up
Speaker 1: there and it was just three of the greatest years
Speaker 1: of my life to be with Rolie, to watch the
Speaker 1: basketball knowledge and his teaching ability, and to be able
Speaker 1: to take that Villanova program which had struggled for a
Speaker 1: couple of years, and be part of the turnaround which
Speaker 1: then eventually led to that championship that they wont I
Speaker 1: had moved on by then, But to me, it's an
Speaker 1: experience that I still stay in touch with Jay right
Speaker 1: all the time. You know, Rolie had passed away and
Speaker 1: then Mary Jane, his wife passed away recently. But the
Speaker 1: children and their children, it's a family. Just like Jay
Speaker 1: preaches all the time. Villanova basketball is all about family,
Speaker 1: and that's what it is. I think when you go
Speaker 1: there and watch their program them, you see the type
Speaker 1: of young men that they have. My godson was picking
Speaker 1: between two schools and I said, you know, you need
Speaker 1: to think about Villanova as one of them. So the
Speaker 1: third school came in, which is Villanova, and that's where
Speaker 1: he is right now in year number two, a manager
Speaker 1: for the basketball team on the coach right. So, like
Speaker 1: I said, there's a lot of ties and a lot
Speaker 1: of pride in that program. Absolutely well said. And I've
Speaker 1: seen your picture with a coach in the Davis Center.
Speaker 1: What And that was obviously a special time for you
Speaker 1: there at Villanova. But if there was a time in
Speaker 1: your career where you could say, man, that was center
Speaker 1: cut right there, I wish I that that situation would
Speaker 1: stay that way. In other words, your fondest memory, whether
Speaker 1: it's the eighties or just that that period that was
Speaker 1: your sweet spot your group. You had some really good
Speaker 1: teams there in Cleveland. What would you reflect back on
Speaker 1: it as you think back and remember, man, that was
Speaker 1: an unbelievable It was maybe the prime of my career.
Speaker 1: That was my best stop, if you will. There's probably
Speaker 1: two situations that jump out. The one in Atlanta where
Speaker 1: when we lost Game seven by two points to the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics. That great Game seven with Larry Bird and
Speaker 1: Dominique Wilkins had the shootout between and one at thirty
Speaker 1: four thirty six and had forty six forty seven. I
Speaker 1: think Nick had at that moment. We were a young
Speaker 1: Hawks basketball team, and what happened is, you know, front
Speaker 1: office ownership and the excitement of wow, we got two
Speaker 1: points away from moving on to the conference finals. Tried
Speaker 1: to do a little too much. Didn't realize how much
Speaker 1: chemistry meant to that team. So we added two pieces
Speaker 1: that were all star players, but we lost our chemistry, chemistry.
Speaker 1: It was like we had an all star team rather
Speaker 1: than having a real team and the stuff that goes
Speaker 1: into the team. And it was a shame because I
Speaker 1: thought we had a shot. Just be patient, just add
Speaker 1: a little piece here, a little piece here. Let these
Speaker 1: young guys grow and develop. Another year or two, we
Speaker 1: may have been at the top of the Eastern Conference,
Speaker 1: but we elected to go for it at that moment,
Speaker 1: and you never know. Injuries could have knocked anybody out
Speaker 1: of the lineup. So I understand what they're thinking was
Speaker 1: at the time, but I wish I had that back
Speaker 1: to do over again. And then we got to Cleveland,
Speaker 1: and after rebuilding twice because of injuries, we had a
Speaker 1: group that we started three freshmen, three rookies, and the
Speaker 1: fourth one actually did start, but I asked him to
Speaker 1: come off the bench. So we had four rookies that
Speaker 1: made the Rookie All Star Game at one time was
Speaker 1: the first time it had ever happened in the NBA,
Speaker 1: and it was Brevin Knight, Derek Anderson, Cedric Henderson, and
Speaker 1: Zudrunas Ilgauskas were the four rookies. And we put Sean
Speaker 1: Kemp with that group, and they won forty seven games
Speaker 1: with four rookies, Sean Kemp and Wesley Person playing the
Speaker 1: majority of the minutes. I said, this group we got
Speaker 1: a bright future, and unfortunately we had a lockout season.
Speaker 1: Sean Kemp got hurt and that was the end of
Speaker 1: broke his foot. That was the end of my career
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, which was a shame because I thought that
Speaker 1: group could have really gone on if we kept them
Speaker 1: all together and done a lot of damage at ease. Well,
Speaker 1: and this is obviously speaking to you, but to me,
Speaker 1: and that specific time that you're talking about, you guys
Speaker 1: against the Sixers won like three years worth of games,
Speaker 1: but it was twelve or so games, ten, eleven, twelve
Speaker 1: in a row, thirteen in a row, and then the
Speaker 1: Sixers got Larry Brown and the Sixers turned the tables
Speaker 1: on Cleveland. And obviously it has a lot to do
Speaker 1: with rosters, but that was to me a snapshot of
Speaker 1: coaching matters. You ran a great program, very structured discipline,
Speaker 1: and then need I say more, but Larry Brown was
Speaker 1: a Sixers coach and that just showed me. Right, they
Speaker 1: flipped like we got Larry Brown and all of a
Speaker 1: sudden we won like three years games in a row
Speaker 1: against Cleveland. Speak to that a little bit about you
Speaker 1: know where coaching can make a major impact with an
Speaker 1: NBA team. Well, I think if you remember that one
Speaker 1: of those first games that they won, Brevin Knight, who
Speaker 1: was our starting point guard, had gone ten for ten
Speaker 1: or eleven for eleven from the free throw line and
Speaker 1: got to the line at the end of the game
Speaker 1: with a chance to win and missus a foul shot.
Speaker 1: So the Sixers escaped there, and then the Sixers stole
Speaker 1: Tyrone Hill from us. Okay, well, Tyrone became a part
Speaker 1: of that Sixer team that went to the finals, which
Speaker 1: one of the all time great favorites of mine. Tyrone Hill,
Speaker 1: how he played the game, came to work every day,
Speaker 1: did his job really terrific big man defender. It was
Speaker 1: a perfect compliment to the other pieces that Larry had
Speaker 1: put together. And then Larry Hall of Fame coach and
Speaker 1: did an outstanding job with that group. So there were
Speaker 1: a couple Syrisks in there, Okay, don't forget. I think
Speaker 1: it might have been the broadcasters jinx I put the
Speaker 1: whammy on Breven. He also had ten steals in a
Speaker 1: game against the Sixers. And that ninety four ninety five
Speaker 1: season you speak of a Tyrone got named the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference All Star Team and he was so humble he
Speaker 1: didn't want to go because he felt like some of
Speaker 1: your other team players with the calves should have gotten
Speaker 1: to go. Not too many guys would make that statement
Speaker 1: about not wanting to go to the All Star Game
Speaker 1: because his teammates weren't able to go. That is special.
Speaker 1: Special guy. Tyrone came to work every day. I used
Speaker 1: to laugh. We had a thing with the team, the Tyrone.
Speaker 1: There was never a happy day for Tyrone. If everything
Speaker 1: went well, that was no good. There had to be
Speaker 1: something wrong with the day, so then Tyrone could move
Speaker 1: on with everything else. He walk in and we'd say
Speaker 1: what's wrong today? And he said, what do you mean, Well,
Speaker 1: something's got to be wrong otherwise you know it's not you,
Speaker 1: Tyrone coach. And I mean this in the most complimentary way.
Speaker 1: So eventually you transition into tell vision and again you
Speaker 1: went back and coached at Grizzlies. But it came really
Speaker 1: easy too. I mean, you know, the game, great personality,
Speaker 1: It lent itself really well to this second career for you.
Speaker 1: Is that how you see it? I was just blessed,
Speaker 1: you know, right place, right time when NBC outbid CBS
Speaker 1: for the rights to NBA basketball. I had just lost
Speaker 1: my job in Atlanta and NBC had never done NBA
Speaker 1: basketball before. So the voice of NBC right away was
Speaker 1: Marv Albert. Then they got Bob Costs to commit, and
Speaker 1: I knew the two guys that they wanted to be
Speaker 1: the broadcasters for the games with Pat Riley and Chuck Daily,
Speaker 1: both of whom had stepped down from their respective jobs
Speaker 1: in Detroit and LA. So when they brought me in
Speaker 1: for an interview, they said, listen, just so you understand,
Speaker 1: it's strictly, strictly to be the sideline guy. Okay. I
Speaker 1: had nothing else going on, So I interviewed in the
Speaker 1: studio of NBC sitting on the edge of a chair
Speaker 1: because they had no open offices. And the guy sitting
Speaker 1: on the chair next to me on the edge of
Speaker 1: it was a guy named Bob Costas, and Bob interviewed
Speaker 1: me for twenty minutes on camera. And as we're going
Speaker 1: along and I'm waiting to hear back from them, I'm
Speaker 1: good friends with pat Riley, good friends with Chuck Daily.
Speaker 1: So pat wants to be in the studio. They're like, well,
Speaker 1: how can you be in the studio. You've never done
Speaker 1: the studio, Patson. We'll get somebody good next to me.
Speaker 1: So Bob Costas, pat Riley wind up in the studio,
Speaker 1: Chuck Daly on the first sit down negotiating thing, Chuck says,
Speaker 1: let's just get to the bottom number and then, you know,
Speaker 1: get it over with. When they gave him the bottom number,
Speaker 1: he said, I'm going to go back to coaching. So
Speaker 1: Chuck takes the new Jersey next job instead. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: by default, guess who ended up sitting next to Marv
Speaker 1: Albert And we had a wonderful three years to get
Speaker 1: at NBC and he's still to this day one of
Speaker 1: my closest friends. Right. I always say, like, you're not
Speaker 1: getting that guy, these former coaches and players without a
Speaker 1: certain number. And obviously the late Chuck Daly spoke to
Speaker 1: that and you and Marve as you say, you a,
Speaker 1: you had a really good relationship. He dubbed you the
Speaker 1: Tsarre of the Telestrator and that came across during the
Speaker 1: course of the game, and that must have been fun.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you know you didn't maybe get the sweaty
Speaker 1: palms that you did when you were pacing the sidelines
Speaker 1: as a head coach, but to be a network announcer
Speaker 1: when the NBA was maybe at its peak, that must
Speaker 1: have been pretty cool. It was special because I respected
Speaker 1: more for the fact that he was as prepared as
Speaker 1: you're ever going to find anyone for a game. He
Speaker 1: left nothing unturned. He had notes all over the place
Speaker 1: going into the game, way too much to use during
Speaker 1: the course of the game. But that's what more is
Speaker 1: all about. He'd rather have way more than have too little.
Speaker 1: And he was not afraid to help me and teach me.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of guys who sit there, maybe
Speaker 1: because the guy was a head coach in the league
Speaker 1: or a former player, they don't want to say anything
Speaker 1: to him to try and help him because they feel
Speaker 1: he'll take it the wrong way. I think our relationship
Speaker 1: with us that Marvin mill I could use help. I
Speaker 1: was willed and wanted him to help me things that
Speaker 1: he would notice, things that he would see during the
Speaker 1: course of the game that afterwards we'd talk about. And
Speaker 1: I had that great respect for him because of that.
Speaker 1: And on the other side, I think he felt that
Speaker 1: this guy knows what he's talking about. When we come
Speaker 1: to basketball and xs and ohs and drawing on the telestrator,
Speaker 1: which became like a big thing for everybody that you're
Speaker 1: the czar the telestrator. That's what coaches do. Coaches draw
Speaker 1: in time out. It's coaches on pens and papers and
Speaker 1: diners and restaurants, draw plays. You're always drawing, so when
Speaker 1: it came to using the telestrator, if you didn't get
Speaker 1: a tellustrator that had a bad attitude, that day right
Speaker 1: stuff to do and you enjoy doing it. Coach. You
Speaker 1: grew up in New Jersey, Hackensack, New Jersey, and I
Speaker 1: live in New Jersey, and I don't know if i'd
Speaker 1: consider myself a Jersey guy. I was kind of a
Speaker 1: Midwestern guy. Do you and I say that about Jersey
Speaker 1: because it comes with a certain attitude, Like my wife
Speaker 1: is a Jersey girl and she won't deny that that
Speaker 1: comes with a bit of a nice, aggressive, festive, feisty attitude.
Speaker 1: Does Jersey ever leave you? No, I'm very proud. I've
Speaker 1: always said on speaking to groups, I want to ask
Speaker 1: the question. If I had to do over again, I'd
Speaker 1: be right back in North Jersey, up in Hackensack, because
Speaker 1: for me, it was a cultural melting pod. The schools
Speaker 1: that I went to, there was a little bit of everything.
Speaker 1: In the schools. You had to figure out how to
Speaker 1: survive and get through the elementary school, junior high schools,
Speaker 1: into the high school. The one big high school we
Speaker 1: had in the city, which is just ten, eleven and
Speaker 1: twelve grade. And the people and the coaches. I had
Speaker 1: such outstanding coaches that I was exposed to along the way,
Speaker 1: and then the people that we grew up together, and
Speaker 1: still to this day. The group might be sixteen, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five guys that stay in touch with each other
Speaker 1: every chance. Yeah. When I would go up and do
Speaker 1: the games for the Jersey Nets or the Brooklyn Nets,
Speaker 1: if I got in a day earlier, I could stay
Speaker 1: a day longer, I would and would have to get
Speaker 1: together with them. So, yes, you're right, and Jersey girls
Speaker 1: can be tougher than Jersey guys, believe me, Okay, I
Speaker 1: know definitely. Well, Coach, I thank you so much. We
Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Stay well and we'll see you down
Speaker 1: the road here in the NBA. Thanks for having me on,
Speaker 1: and good luck to the Sixers this year. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to this edition of Tom's Talks. Look for new
Speaker 1: episodes throughout the offseason. If you like what you're hearing,
Speaker 1: consider subscribing to this seventy six podcast network feed or
Speaker 1: giving us a follow wherever you get your pods. And
Speaker 1: if that happens to be on Apple Podcasts. We'd love
Speaker 1: for you to give us a rating. I'm Tom McGinnis,
Speaker 1: talk to you down the road.