Speaker 1: Hi, Legends, Welcome back to the Mason Cock Show. I
Speaker 1: hope you're having a great week, because this week's a
Speaker 1: bit different. We're gonna double the content for you because
Speaker 1: there's something unique happening in sports. Happens once a year
Speaker 1: and it's a big deal, and it's the start of
Speaker 1: the NBA season.
Speaker 2: So what do we do.
Speaker 1: We started to bring in someone with a bit more
Speaker 1: knowledge than us and someone who's got a bit of
Speaker 1: a say, finger on the pulse, maybe even a hand
Speaker 1: on the pulse. His name is Phil Handy. Now he's
Speaker 1: an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, one of
Speaker 1: the biggest teams in the world. He's coached people from
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant to Lebron James to Anthony Davis, all these
Speaker 1: household names, and we go through a kind of basketball
Speaker 1: and how much the NBA has changed since he played
Speaker 1: back in the day to where it is now, and
Speaker 1: how it's changing the whole landscape of going into the NBA.
Speaker 1: Along with some of the guys who've made it in
Speaker 1: the NBA, from Josh Giddy to Patty Mills and Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons and everyone else you could possibly imagine. It's a
Speaker 1: great chat. He's a great, great, great mentor for a
Speaker 1: lot of high profile athletes and he's done a lot
Speaker 1: for them over the years. So there's some absolute gens
Speaker 1: in the one in this one, and we're really excited
Speaker 1: for you to listen to it. So without further ado,
Speaker 1: here we go. I'll go through a bit of his
Speaker 1: his resume. He played for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, play
Speaker 1: for the Omaha Racers, the Nancy Baskets, the Mackers, Bobcats, Giants, Tigers, Razorbacks,
Speaker 1: and now he coaches coached the Cavaliers, Raptors and now
Speaker 1: as a coach for the Lakers. He's been around that,
Speaker 1: he's been around town, he's been around the world, to
Speaker 1: be honest, and now he's one of the most well
Speaker 1: respected assistant coaches in the NBA and coaching people like
Speaker 1: you know, Lebron James. So we'll say a massive thank
Speaker 1: you for coming on, Phil, Phil Handy. I haven't actually
Speaker 1: said your full name, but massive thank you mine. It's
Speaker 1: an absolute honor.
Speaker 2: To have you.
Speaker 3: Man. Man Mays is a pleasure to be here in
Speaker 3: the mobile I don't know what the mobile mobile cat
Speaker 3: rolling band.
Speaker 2: It's all love, man. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Having no no worries man, and you actually played here
Speaker 1: in melbourn so you played for the Melbourne Tigers. Give
Speaker 1: people a bit of a background of your connection to Australia.
Speaker 1: You played with Andrew Gayes. He's a big deal here
Speaker 1: in Melbourne and everyone loves them. Now my question you
Speaker 1: would you get him one on one?
Speaker 3: You know what, man, when I when I first got
Speaker 3: here to Melbourne, I think Drew he was with the
Speaker 3: he was with the national team, so they were playing
Speaker 3: matter of fact, Team USA and they were preparing for
Speaker 3: the Olympics. Yeah, he came back super late. So fortunately
Speaker 3: for my man, Drewy, we didn't get to have that
Speaker 3: one on one. But I tell you who I did
Speaker 3: play Copes. Yeah, he used to knock his head everything,
Speaker 3: no chance, no.
Speaker 2: Chan And I know coaches go see this too. It
Speaker 2: come back, what it talks to. You gonna want to
Speaker 2: talk some talk a little ish, you know, so.
Speaker 1: Man, well I'll jump straight into it. I want to
Speaker 1: talk about I guess the NBA and how much it's
Speaker 1: changed since you played. Like the NBA obviously now now
Speaker 1: is a massive pathway for people to go to the
Speaker 1: NBA and something that they're going around the n CB
Speaker 1: A system and coming out here to actually play, and
Speaker 1: you got guys like LaMelo Ball obviously or j Hampton,
Speaker 1: these guys have come over and played. What's your thoughts
Speaker 1: on how much it's changed and how it's kind of
Speaker 1: really changed the whole game of the avenue and the NBI.
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, I think the Rising Stars program they put
Speaker 3: in is a phenomenal thing.
Speaker 2: And I think it's the track record of it.
Speaker 3: You know, even the kid Josh Getty, you know he
Speaker 3: kind of went to even though he's Australian grown, going
Speaker 3: through that program and for him to be able to
Speaker 3: take that next step.
Speaker 2: It's a program. Man. I think for young athletes.
Speaker 3: If they don't want to play in college, they don't
Speaker 3: want to play in the G league. You know, this
Speaker 3: is a great avenue. And I say it because the
Speaker 3: Australian League a couple of things English speaking country. You know,
Speaker 3: the weather is obviously great. You know you come down
Speaker 3: in the summertime with the league. The basketball league itself
Speaker 3: is an incredible league. The talent is top notch, the
Speaker 3: coaching is top notch, and so for these young athletes,
Speaker 3: this is a great almost in some ways, man, a
Speaker 3: little bit tougher in college, a lot tougher to coverge
Speaker 3: because you're playing with grown men that have professional experience
Speaker 3: and you're going to get a chance to get coaching
Speaker 3: in a professional environment. So I'm a big fan of the
Speaker 3: Rising Stars program and what the NBO is doing.
Speaker 1: It's pretty amazing. Like I'll play college ball to Oklahoma
Speaker 1: State back in the day with you like Marcus Smart
Speaker 1: and it's it's funny because there was never even a
Speaker 1: thought of this kind of being a thing, right and
Speaker 1: now in the last like four years, it's really just
Speaker 1: taken off. People don't understand this in Australia. Ru you
Speaker 1: you've played, you work in the NBA. The NBA has
Speaker 1: got some cash, some proper cash. And I try to
Speaker 1: describe this to people in the AFL world that in
Speaker 1: cuble are they're amazed that there's chartered flights for in
Speaker 1: cuble a like and you laugh at that. I laugh
Speaker 1: at that too, because I'm like, yo, there is more money.
Speaker 1: That's like, that's amateur, that's not even like professional yet.
Speaker 1: Well that's this first. Where's the weirdest place the NBA
Speaker 1: has ever taken you in the world, most unique experience
Speaker 1: in the world have gone on the hell of that
Speaker 1: land here.
Speaker 3: My first well, my first year with the Cavaliers, not
Speaker 3: my second year with the Cavaliers. We went to Rio
Speaker 3: dejan Narrow. I mean, it's not the weirdest place, but
Speaker 3: you know, as a preseason game, we went to Rio
Speaker 3: Desonnaro to kind of honor Andy Verjial and play a
Speaker 3: home game, play a game in front.
Speaker 2: Of his fans.
Speaker 3: It was pretty dope. It was a dope experience. I
Speaker 3: can't remember who we went with.
Speaker 2: I think it might have been in.
Speaker 3: Portland Trailblazers, I believe, but the experience was was pretty dope,
Speaker 3: just to see.
Speaker 2: Andy go back because because you know, and taking his
Speaker 2: pro team.
Speaker 3: It was it was absolute bananas man to support that
Speaker 3: the people showed for him.
Speaker 1: When we got back to real Yeah, well MANU, it's
Speaker 1: I can only imagine some of the stories they've probably
Speaker 1: come out of here. Seriously, I could go for hours
Speaker 1: and just dive into some crazy ship.
Speaker 4: That's just like yourself, maze, you know how it is, man,
Speaker 4: You get into these things, you go you kind of
Speaker 4: look around at some point and go, what the hell
Speaker 4: am I in Melbourne the back of the vand.
Speaker 2: I said a basketball taking me to some some weird places.
Speaker 1: Man, it's been some awesome experience. I'm sure, man, what's
Speaker 1: I guess you're going to this? Because obviously as an
Speaker 1: assistant coach, you are known to help shape people into
Speaker 1: the humans that are not only on the on the
Speaker 1: basketball court, but also off the court. What's some of
Speaker 1: the best advice you've made given not you giving someone,
Speaker 1: but you've been given that you've really passed on to
Speaker 1: other people.
Speaker 3: Man, I think in this world of sports right we're
Speaker 3: so we're we're polarized as public figures, coaches and athletes,
Speaker 3: and there's so many avenues for people to have things
Speaker 3: to say about you as a coach, as an athlete.
Speaker 3: You know, Coch gave me some vice men a long
Speaker 3: time ago. Just don't be concerned about what people think
Speaker 3: about you.
Speaker 2: You know, if your.
Speaker 3: Heart's in the right place, if you're if your intent
Speaker 3: is in the right place, and what you're doing, you
Speaker 3: love what you're doing, stay committed to it. And you know,
Speaker 3: I've kind of always that's kind of stuck with me.
Speaker 3: I've had a lot of great mentors.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: My father was a great mentor to me. Very hard
Speaker 2: working man, but.
Speaker 3: Just that part of just just being true to yourself
Speaker 3: as a coach, as an athlete. I think the world
Speaker 3: today is is so built around image. You know, so
Speaker 3: much of an image of you know, what you should
Speaker 3: be or who you should be. And I've just always
Speaker 3: tried to try to remain myself as a coach, stay
Speaker 3: in my lane and you know, do what I do best, man,
Speaker 3: Just try to help players improve on the floor every day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's interesting because I'll look at the IFL standpoint,
Speaker 1: it's very team oriented and stuff in that sense, and
Speaker 1: then you get to the NBA and there's so much
Speaker 1: money that you know, one player can make a huge
Speaker 1: difference to whether or not you can win a championship,
Speaker 1: no doubt, And you get to that point where you
Speaker 1: have these necessarily egos. It is probably not the right words,
Speaker 1: it's somewhat of a negative word, but you have these
Speaker 1: people have such an or and such an impact that
Speaker 1: they can have on a team, Like how do you
Speaker 1: how do you get them to buy into this team
Speaker 1: atmosphere to help because there's no one person that's winning
Speaker 1: a championship. How do you get them to buy into
Speaker 1: a team idea and culture to help win a championship
Speaker 1: you did in twenty twenty with the Lakers in covid
Speaker 1: which is a wild bubble and scenario within itself, much
Speaker 1: less to actually have to keep the team together in
Speaker 1: a very isolating environment.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, Mace, you know how that goes.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 3: I think your best players are always your leaders. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and when your best player like you know as Lebron
Speaker 3: Lebron Is is one of the most coachable guys I've
Speaker 3: ever been around. And people have these myths about him, Well,
Speaker 3: he's the coach, he's the GM, he's the owner, he's
Speaker 3: making all these decisions. But man, that dude's one of
Speaker 3: the most coachable guys I've ever been around, in the
Speaker 3: sense of, all right, coach, what's the game plan, what
Speaker 3: are we doing or how do we execute it? And
Speaker 3: when your leaders like that, it kind of trickles down.
Speaker 3: You know, when we were in the bubble, you brought
Speaker 3: out the bubble raison. Rondo, Man is one of the
Speaker 3: purest basketball minds I've ever been around. And those guys
Speaker 3: didn't have egos. They had a common goal of what
Speaker 3: is it gonna take for us to win a championship?
Speaker 3: And they were just they were all in line with
Speaker 3: each other every day. And you know, it started with
Speaker 3: our coaching staff. You know, Frank Vogel was a great
Speaker 3: leader for us. It started with the coaching staff and
Speaker 3: it trickled down to the players. But they held themselves accountable,
Speaker 3: you know, and any championship caliber team, it doesn't always
Speaker 3: come from the coaches.
Speaker 2: You guys, you know, your peers.
Speaker 3: You have to be able to hold each other accountable,
Speaker 3: right because there's gonna be times when you're on the field,
Speaker 3: you know, you're on the court, coaches can't get out
Speaker 3: there and do it for you. And so I think
Speaker 3: that part of just the ego. I think more ego
Speaker 3: is more off the court, you know, and people's personal lives,
Speaker 3: their persona, their brand and again I don't like to
Speaker 3: use the word ego either, more of a brand thing.
Speaker 3: But if you're if you're a true competitor or true professional,
Speaker 3: you're gonna put all that aside and put your job
Speaker 3: first and say, well, what's the what's the main thing,
Speaker 3: the main thing. Let's keep the main thing the main thing,
Speaker 3: and how do we win a championship?
Speaker 1: And so success part of things.
Speaker 3: For sure, And I've been been a part of some
Speaker 3: great teams that have just had that kind of chemistry.
Speaker 1: What is it that that brings that chemistry?
Speaker 2: Reckon? Is there?
Speaker 1: Is there kind of you have like a guy that's
Speaker 1: the comedy guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what, you got everything. You have to
Speaker 2: have to have personality and character. We were in Cleveland.
Speaker 3: The teams that we had in Cleveland, Richard Jefferson and
Speaker 3: Channing Fry are like freaking frack them two dudes, man, Like,
Speaker 3: I'm talking about comedy show all day long. And then
Speaker 3: you know, we had all these personalities.
Speaker 2: You had j R. Smith, We had Emon.
Speaker 3: Shumper, we had Kyrie Irvis, you had Lebron you had
Speaker 3: Kevin Love, we had Tristan Thompson. All of these dudes
Speaker 3: are are different in their own way, but but you
Speaker 3: got it. You have to have guys, right, And then
Speaker 3: we had the James Jones, you know, and James. People
Speaker 3: don't really know much about James and Kendrick Perkins. Those
Speaker 3: guys were like locker room guys, you know. They were
Speaker 3: they were the chiefs. They didn't really play.
Speaker 2: But they were.
Speaker 3: They were so respected as vets, you know, because they
Speaker 3: showed up every day to do their job and they
Speaker 3: were just keeping everybody in line, coaches, players, you know,
Speaker 3: front office, medical staff, whatever.
Speaker 2: It was just it was you.
Speaker 3: You got to have those pieces, right, the comedian, you
Speaker 3: got to have the guy that's always late.
Speaker 2: You have to thing every It's like a family, right.
Speaker 2: It's the same as a family. Man.
Speaker 3: You have all these different pieces and everybody just kind
Speaker 3: of fits into their place.
Speaker 1: Man, it's like we got one thing you different from me.
Speaker 2: We're all trying to reach the same questions.
Speaker 1: One of the reasons you hear I'm Kobe gg and
Speaker 1: the involvement with female basketball. Can you tell us a
Speaker 1: bit about that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, I think you know, Cob was a big
Speaker 3: inspiration for that. You know, always just been a fan
Speaker 3: of basketball players in general. You know, I don't I
Speaker 3: don't really look at females as female. They're athletes to me,
Speaker 3: So when it comes to basketball, I'm just I'm coaching
Speaker 3: another athlete. But but Cole was really stirring the pot,
Speaker 3: you know with his daughter, right, really trying to push
Speaker 3: the envelope and getting behind women's basketball and making it
Speaker 3: more of a popular sport. From the standpoint of saying, hey,
Speaker 3: you know, you got to respect these women and what
Speaker 3: they're doing. You know, respect their craft, and it's just
Speaker 3: it's been, you know, a torch that I've tried to
Speaker 3: be a part of to help carry and to me, man,
Speaker 3: it's just just another part of the game of basketball.
Speaker 3: Women's basketball is growing so fast, you know, it's just rapid,
Speaker 3: and I just think not only do women basketball, I
Speaker 3: just think women's sports in general, right, there's more of
Speaker 3: a spotlight on it of just respecting the female athlete
Speaker 3: and what they do and so being able to work
Speaker 3: with some of the female athletes I've worked with. Jewel
Speaker 3: Lloyd is you know, probably closest to me. You know,
Speaker 3: she was part of Kobe's families. He's part of Kyrie's family.
Speaker 3: Just having a chance to be around some of these
Speaker 3: elite athletes, man, it's amazing to watch them go through
Speaker 3: their process and watch them, you know, treat their profession
Speaker 3: just like just like just like anybody else. And I
Speaker 3: think the misconception is it's just it's women's sports because
Speaker 3: they're not as athletic, you know, people think that the
Speaker 3: game is not as pure. I'll tell you what, They're
Speaker 3: just as skilled. Most times, they're more fundamentally sound. And
Speaker 3: people don't even know this women's basketball is probably more physical.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna say this with you know again in a point,
Speaker 3: because people don't understand how physical.
Speaker 2: Women's basketball is. Man, they're physical, physic.
Speaker 1: I'll play for the n c I women's team. I
Speaker 1: helped out with them. Before those girls are backing me
Speaker 1: down to the post. I was like, damn, this is
Speaker 1: not this isn't bad. Look for me, look for me.
Speaker 1: So it's good to see the growth. I think it's
Speaker 1: just only going to continue. Matter of fact, you know,
Speaker 1: me and Michelle my business. I was just just saw
Speaker 1: a clip a young lady online. She was doing a
Speaker 1: pick and roll drill mate. She came off the pick
Speaker 1: and roll, pick and pop jab too drible. She's dunking
Speaker 1: walk right to the rim. Nasty, Jesus nasty. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be so interesting to see what the next generations like. Man,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be unfair because it's just so accessible to
Speaker 1: like just making your game that much better. I feel like,
Speaker 1: but I appreciate you, man, seriously, you got some good stories.
Speaker 1: I would go for like two three hours, but I
Speaker 1: know yourself to do. Man, you only and I'll Stralia
Speaker 1: for so long. But I hope we catch up either
Speaker 1: in LA or in Australia next time you're in town. Man,
Speaker 1: But I want to say a massive thank you for
Speaker 1: coming on. I'm so good to chat to you and
Speaker 1: it's really fun. Let's get it brothers up all right, man,
Speaker 1: Thanks sir all the best. Thanks so much for tuning
Speaker 1: in Legends really appreciating Phil. What an amazing chat. He's
Speaker 1: mentored some of the highest professional athletes in the world.
Speaker 1: He is a person who I think has so much
Speaker 1: where we can learn from. And hopefully you've been able
Speaker 1: to take out something from that chat, and you know,
Speaker 1: maybe we'll be able to do these shorts more often
Speaker 1: if this goes well. Sorry, I just want to say
Speaker 1: everyone has always like comments, share everything else, and I
Speaker 1: hope you have an amazing day and hopefully the Lakers
Speaker 1: can maybe go all the way this year, so enjoy
Speaker 1: the day. Hopefully you'll hear from us soon in the
Speaker 1: next podcast, And thanks so much for listening.