May 29, 2025 • 52 mins
Thad and Ryan welcome Greg Anthony to the show to discuss the current playoff rosters, Greg's unique origin story and his championship run at UNLV, as well as his perspective on his son playing in the NBA and his unique popularity as the voice of NBA 2K.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Rosters to Rings. I'm here with co host
Ryan McDonough.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Ryan.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We're in the middle of the semifinals in the NBA,
and these games have been absolutely riveting. We've seen everything
from blowouts to massive comebacks. In your career, can you
remember this number of games that teams were down by
twenty and ultimately ended up winning them?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Not this many that and the irony of it is
a lot of them involved the same team. The New
York Knicks, who were down twenty in the first two
games in Boston in the second round, came back and
won in historic fashion. And what may decide the NBA
Conference Finals in the East as we record the show,
we're in the middle of the Eastern and Western Conference
Finals in the NBA. What may decide the Eastern Conference Finals, ironically,
(00:47):
is that blown Knicks lead at home in Game one.
You know it is the Tyres Haliburton game where the
shot went up, hit the back of the rim, bounced
to the rafters of Madison Square Garden, then came straight
down through the net. Haliburton went to the Chokes signed
maybe a little bit prematurely, but the Pacers did go
on to win that game in overtime, So no, I
can't remember it. And that's been a theme of some
(01:09):
of the smartest commentators and folks who cover the NBA
respect is the prevalence of the three point shot, the
pace of the game. You're going to have these wild
swings and these win probabilities tend to go out the window.
And we're going to talk to a guy here in
Greg Anthony that I think covers the league as well
as anybody. And Greg's got such a unique perspective because
(01:29):
he was on a national stage at a young age
at UNLV. He was on those famous run and Rebels
teams late eighties early nineties, coached by Jerry Tarkanian. He
had multiple teammates get drafted in the lottery and Larry
Johnson and Stacy Agman. But also he's very current, not
only for the fact that he broadcasts NBA games for
TNT for NBA TV. He also has a son, Cole
(01:51):
who's playing in the NBA in the Orlando Magic. He's
also the voice of NBA two K. So that as
you and I welcomed in his first guest, I think
we both especially this time of year, Ji in the
NBA Conference Finals, that he'd be the perfect guy.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I mean he is.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
He's a wonderful guest to have and a good friend
of yours. You know, when you look back at those
Running Rebels teams in my childhood, I remember of the
Fi Slama Gym and then later on after those guys,
you had the Fab Five, and it's like those were
the three best college basketball teams of my lifetime that
I could ever remember. And you know you mentioned it
when they played that Duke team. I don't know this
(02:27):
for a fact, but I have to believe that may
have been the most NBA players in the starting five,
you know, facing each other. Because the Running Rebels had
five guys who went onto the NBA. I think Duke
had three or four. That's an incredible consideration, especially when
you think of the college basketball dynamic today where guys
buy and larger are transferring every year and going or
(02:49):
they're one and done. The fact that they had so
many NBA players on that court are exceptional, and the
perspectives he'll be able to give to our fans I
think will be incredible.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, it's a different time in college basketball and something
that's not going to be replicated with Nil with the
one and done era of the elite prospects. These guys
became household names. Greg Anthony at UNLV on the other side,
Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill at Duke, those guys met one
of the most historic games in the history of college basketball.
And then Greg continued to be on a big stage.
(03:20):
I mean, imagine going from their Thad to the New
York Knicks. Of all teams, he was there playing against
Reggie Miller in the Pacers. He also played against you know,
Michael Jordan and those guys in their heyday. And then
from there he went on to the Pacific Northwest and
had a long and successful NBA career there. So, as
he pointed out, he's a fantastic guy. He's actually a
big baseball fan as well an excellent broadcaster, and he
(03:41):
and I have a lot of fun when I go
down to Atlanta and do NBA TV, both on and
off air. Off air is probably more fun Thad. But
since this is a family show here in Roster Rings,
we'll save those stories for another day. But Greg Anthony
a terrific guy, terrific guest here on Rosters to Rings.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
It'll be wonderful, you know, run and I'm sure he'll
give his perspective on this about kind of the changing
of the guard in the NBA as we're seeing these
four young superstars on these teams and Jalen Brunson and
Sga and Ant and Halliburton and all the magical things
that they're showing our fans. He came into the game
when Bird and Magic the era was kind of winding down,
(04:17):
and he was getting to see Michael Jordan in that
new era of form, and I'd be curious as to
his take on this new era of players. And you
referenced earlier the performance of Haliburton and Brunson latent games
has just been incredible. And you know, one of the
debates we'll have ongoing on rosters to rings is the
influx of analytics and how much it shaped how we
make decisions in front offices. But one thing that I
(04:38):
know in baseball was really tough to predict was this
notion of being a clutch performer. Well, I think we're
seeing guys who are just absolutely off the charts in
terms of clutch performance. You referenced Reggie Miller. You know,
the Halliburton choke signal that he gave the other day.
You don't do that unless you're a clutch performer and
have some kind of some kind of confidence. But Ryan,
as you see it, you know, like when you were
(05:00):
building championship rosters, like, how much did you factor in
this notion of like guys who just performed better in
the highest pressure situations.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Well, I think it's important, but it also can be
hard to predict, especially now in the NBA thad when
guys only play maybe one year of college basketball, and
if they're not on a great team playing at the
highest levels. You know, I think guys can develop and
grow into those roles in time. And you're seeing in
this year's playoffs, Tyres Haliburn in particular, is putting himself
on the map as an elite closer, as a guy
(05:29):
who can win close games at the highest levels, and
he's making a reputation because of that. We'll see if
the Pacers can close out the Knicks in advance to
their first NBA Finals in twenty five years. But yeah,
coming up, we're gonna have Greg Anthony here on rosters
to rings. We're gonna get into all that the conference finals,
his career at UNLV, his son Cole playing for the
Orlando Magic two K stick with us Ryan Mcdonoughthed Levine,
(05:53):
We'll be right back on Rosters to Ranks.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Welcome back to Rosters to Rings with Ryan McDonough and
your host Bad Levine. We're honored today to be joined
by our first guest, a guy who has as comprehensive
a basketball resume as you're going to find. And I'm
going to turn it over to Ryan, a good friend
of his, to introduce him.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah, welcome to the program, Greg Anthony. Greg grew up
in Las Vegas played college basketball at UNLV for some
of the most famous teams in college basketball history. He
was coached by Jerry Tarkanian. They won the nineteen ninety
national championship. They lost the next year against Duke after
having an undefeated season. Greg, Welcome to Rosters to Rings.
(06:37):
And since this is the Rosters to Rings podcast, let's
start there with that nineteen ninety UNLV team and the
championship ring. I know as a youngster growing up that
really I thought, not only put college basketball on the
map for a lot of folks nationally, but a lot
of us became you know, UNLV fans, fans of yours.
Larry Johnson Stacy Agman, etc. As you look back now,
(07:00):
how about thirty five years later, what stands out to
you about your time at UNLV.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
First the fact that it was thirty five years ago,
because we literally all just got together as a group
late last year and it was the first time obviously
coaches not with us anymore, but it was the first
time we had the entire team together since the championship,
which was really weird. And we've had times where we've
gotten six or seven or eight guys together, but never
(07:27):
the entire group. So that was a pretty special moment,
and it definitely the memories do kind of come back
to you, you know, looking back. It was really unique
for me personally because you know, I was born and
raised in Las Vegas, and I grew up a huge
UNLB fan, huge fan of coach Tarcanian. And I would
tell a story when I was a little kid, fifth grade,
(07:47):
you know, we we had one television. It was in
my mom's room, and they would replay the Rebel games
at midnight on the local KVVU channel five in Vegas,
and so I would literally take my blame and I'd
go in my mom's room and I.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Put the blanket over the television.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
And over me and I turned the volume down, and
I've watched their games and you know, they were the
greatest show. And again this is I'm dating myself, but
we didn't have the internet, we didn't have cable, so
this was like a huge deal. And you know, I
got to see them play in the Final four in
seventy seven and then so the one day grow up
and have the opportunity to play there. My fourth grade
(08:26):
teacher is the one that told my mom, you know,
if he ever gets his act together, one day, he
could play at UNLV. And that changed my life, changed
the entire trajectory of my life. First time somebody had
given me hope that I could do something. And so
fast forward to getting the opportunity to play for coach
and with Larry and Stacey and those guys, and you know,
it was a unique time in college athletics because you know,
(08:49):
we were all good enough to leave school early, but
we enjoyed the process. We wanted to have a chance
to defend the national championship. And so those are memories
that to this day, you know, you remember finally, you know,
I tell the story. I literally have never had a
day of my adult life where I've been out in
(09:10):
public and someone hasn't asked me about that team, which
is amazing. You know, because when you're playing and in
the moment, you never think about history. You never think
about the context of what it means to be a
national champion. You know, you just like living your dream
and it's like awesome and it's cool and it's fun.
But now you know, looking back to see that it
(09:31):
culturally had such a significant impact, it's pretty incredible. And yeah,
it can be humbling at times to know that you
were a part of something right because you know what,
there's going to come a time when we're all dead
and gone and buried. But to be able to have
something that someone will at least be able to remember
you by, I think is a pretty cool and awesome experience.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Greig.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
One of the things that we talk about Ryan was
fortunate enough to work for a franchise that won a championship,
gone to two and lost them is like how galvanizing
sometimes those losses can be. You know, you talk about
the celebration of the triumph. You guys, then come back
the next year you're as dominant. I mean, my recollection
as a kid was you know, Fi Slama Jama was
(10:15):
the standard of the best college teams I'd ever seen
until you guys came along. And I mean it was
just sheer, utter dominance, you know, And for you guys
to just roll through nineteen ninety you rolled through nineteen
ninety one. I'm sure you got into that final game
with the expectation that you were gonna You're gonna knock
Duke off again. Talk to us a little bit about
(10:36):
like how galvanizing it was to win, But then like
how much did that bring you guys together, that that
defeat you had?
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Yeah, you know, and you guys both being a part
of sports, I don't think there's any question that you
you generally remember the losses more than the wins. So
losing the title our senior year, losing the Duke by
two and they were team than they were a year before,
but so were we. Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
It was it was disappointing. It's frustrated.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
It was somewhat shocking too, because you did have the
expectation of winning. But that's sports, And and I've said before,
you know, the beauty of it, especially in the college basketball,
because it's a single game elimination. You know, not like
baseball basketball at the professional level, you know, you got
to beat me four times, so you generally the best
team's gonna win. But in college basketball, you know, more
(11:28):
often than not more often but almost as equal as not,
the best team doesn't win.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
And so that's just the nature of it. Being a
young person, it was somewhat dramatic because you knew it
was your last time playing college basketball, and so then
they have to have your last moment be one of disappointment. Uh.
It was a tough pill to swallow, it really was.
Now it was helpful that we had won it the
(11:56):
year prior. Uh, And that does ease the anxiety and
the frustration a little bit, but it never takes it
away totally. And I've had many We've had like as
grown men sessions myself and Larry and Stacy where we
sit around and we talked about, you know, what happened,
(12:17):
have we done X, Y or Z a little better?
You know, there was a lot of that that goes
on and again we talk about that more than we
do the year we wanted, which is kind of the
irony of life in a lot of ways that you
tendn't have put that much effort and energy into the
disappointment and sometimes forget the fact that, hey, we did
(12:37):
win a national championship that you know, that will always
be a part of our legacy and our resume. So
but that was a difficult one. I've become good friends
with some of those guys from the duke team, and
you know, it is just the spirit of competition, and
that's the other thing. And you guys notice as well
as anybody in sports, like I remember Pat Raley saying
to me, he said, in sports, there's two things as
(12:59):
when in the misery.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
That's really what it is. And there's no way, no matter.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
How successful you are and how much you've won, those
moments are going to resonate the losses, the disappointments, and
that's that's no different. Thirty five years later, there's still
some frustration and disappointment in not being able to repeat
because that is something that you know, not many can
say they've done, and very few get the opportunity to
(13:27):
try and achieve. So yeah, there's there's frustration and disappointment,
but it is a chapter in my journey, and that's
one of those ones where, yeah, it's not the most
enjoyable memory, but I still enjoy the fact that I
had the opportunity to try, and I don't lose sight
(13:47):
of that. And I think that's really important just in life.
And I you know, you look at some of the
most successful people in any capacity, you know they don't
allow the failures to define them.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And they all had them.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
They all there's no really successful person who didn't fail
several times, and they didn't look at his failure.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
They looked at it as an opportunity to grow and learn.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
And the disappointing part for us was we wouldn't get
another opportunity because we were seniors.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Well, and Greg, I think you're talking about, like what
the heart of a champion, right, Like the heart of
champions get consumed with what could they have done slightly
better in order to triumph that one additional time. And
I think that's one of the cruel elements of sports
is the team that technically finishes second is deemed as
a loser, where no other context in life with somebody
(14:38):
who finished second in the most competitive landscape ever deemed
themselves a loser. And I'll just share one quick story
when I worked for the Texas Rangers, when we lost
the World Series in twenty ten and twenty eleven. Michael
Young was kind of our captain at the time, one
of our best players, but clearly one of the best
leaders we had on our team. And it was about
ten years later after that that I said to him, here,
(15:01):
I just want to let you know I couldn't be
more proud of what you guys accomplished in twenty ten
and eleven. And he just looked at me and said, well,
thank god you said it, because I feel like it's
like this almost badge of shame that we fell just short.
And it's like, so, yeah, you want to strive for excellence, right,
but you do want to celebrate those moments of achievement
that you know it took to get to those moments
(15:21):
where you had the opportunity to compete for that ring.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
I think that's such a great point. And it comes
back to perspective, right that. And Ryan, you know, it's
like it's easy to lose perspective in the big picture
when you're in the moment, and then if you don't
have an opportunity to discuss it and you know, deal
with the emotions that bring it about, you can lose
(15:47):
sight of the perspective. And I remember, like my rookie
year playing for the Knicks, I got the opportunity to play
for one of the great coaches of all time in
pat Riley. And one thing that I really appreciated about
him is, you know, he was very goal oriented. And
I never forgetting training camp the year before I got
to the Knicks, I think, and he'd the year before
he got there, they were thirty one and fifty one, right,
(16:10):
So going to the training camp that year, you know,
he laid out these goals. You know, we want to
win the Atlantic Division. You know, to the average fan,
it doesn't sound like a big deal, a one year division, right,
but like he made it an important target for us.
He gave us a goal and that was one of
winning Atlantic Divisions. So that year we won fifty one
(16:31):
games and lost everyone. And then that's since we had
the same roster, we just had a different coach and
so that perspective, so we looked at it to your
point that the already right. So we lost in the
second round in seven games to the Bulls, But man,
that was a successful season.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
You know.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
We we we had perspective, you know, seeing where we
had gone and what have you and so that it's
so true what you say is like, as a competitor
and athlete, like you know, thirty thirty two high remain
teams you have in your respective sport, you finished second,
you know, a the Olympics, you get a silver medal.
You know, like you're not necessarily looked at as a
(17:10):
loser or failure. But for some reason, at the professional
level oftentimes we do we look at it as a disappointment,
and it is disappointing, but it's not a disappointment. Yeah,
you had an opportunity to achieve the ultimate goal. And
then I think the other aspect of that is, you know,
(17:33):
there are those who will then point fingers as to
you know, to blame. And I think, and I used
to use this with my kids. I still with my youngests, Like,
you know, my youngest and if he misses a shot,
you know, he gets frustrated, And I said, well, you know,
don't get frustrated that you missed. Figure out why you missed,
you know, and try to try to approach it from
(17:55):
that way. That way, every disappointment can be a learning experience,
you know, as opposed to one that dampens your self
esteem and I think that's something I like, I remember
talking with Michael Jordan about that, Like he you know,
he every time something didn't go well, he really focused
on learning from it as opposed to allowing it to
(18:15):
put a chink in his armor. He looked at it
almost like a you know, when you're a kid, you
get the scar, and my Granddad's like, oh, that Bill's character.
You know that'll you know, you get cut. And that's
how he approached it, and it really is a good
perspective to have, Like, you know, you don't look at
you don't have to look at a disappointment as failure.
You just look at it as an opportunity for growth.
(18:36):
And so for me as an athlete, that's really how
I approach it, and that's not even how I look
at in sports as an analyst. You know, I'll tell
people this jokingly, but truthfully, you know, when a team loses,
people are quick to say, what you didn't do right
to lose? And I always say, you know, the other
team they get checks on the first and fifteen too.
(18:56):
You know they're they're they're playing to win too. And
sometimes it's not that you didn't do some it's that
they did and you know, it doesn't take away from
your greatness. It's just a matter of on that night,
they did something better than you did. And the good ones,
when you get an opportunity for redemption, you kind of
can write the ship if you can learn from the
(19:18):
experience and improve upon it.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, Greg, I always thought about it. Their three outcomes
to every game we watch or we play. One is
we win, and I enjoy winning. That's my favorite outcome.
The second is that you won and I got to
tip my hat because you just outplayed us. And that's
gonna happen from time to time, right, Like you know baseball,
we always said there one hundred and sixty two games,
everyone's gonna win sixty, they're gonna lose sixty.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
It's what you do with the other forty two.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
So like, you're gonna lose sixty games because the other
team just was better than you that night. And as
you said, you want to grow, you want to get better.
The ones that haunt you a little bit are the
ones that we lost, you know, where you know you
took an active role in helping the other team beat you,
And those were the ones that I felt like you
had to come away with and like you had to
correct some some things that what happened. But I really
(20:05):
didn't find the ones where the other team just beat
us as too haunting, like that's going to happen from
time to time.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Those are the easy ones, right, I would throw all
fourth because the reality is sometimes.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
They lose, Right, I like that. I enjoyed those.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
Yeah, those they are fine too, And I think you're
spot on with that. You know, we were I don't
know when we're going to air this, but we we
were doing Game four last night with the Thunder and
the Timberwolves, and so going into the game, you know,
we were talking about what we thought. I said, well,
you know, in a weird way, the way the Timberwolves
(20:39):
won Game three, I said, that actually helps the Thunder.
It helps the Timberwolves that they won because they just
completely annihilated and went in by forty two points. I said,
But when you're a really good team and you get
beat like that, first of all, you know that's not
who you are, and they know that's not who you are,
because there's no team that's forty points better than you
at that leint. That's just not a reality. That just
(20:59):
means they were on and you were off, and I said,
those are the games that are most easiest to respond
to as a competitor, you know, as the hard ones
are what I call the fifty to fifty games, right,
Like to your point, in baseball, you know, you get
beat ten tonne Man, not a lot you could have
done about that one. But if you lose, but if
you lose seven to six, there's a gazillion things that
(21:21):
could have gone a different way. A play, you know,
there was a play in every inning that could have
changed the outcome of that game. Those are much more
difficult to deal with, right, Those are the ones that
are harder to learn from because there's so much more
pain when you get blown out. There is no emotion, right,
you've already checked out. You literally don't even have to
(21:42):
go over that game, you know, because you already know
why you didn't have a chance. And so that's really
how I try to approach things, because you are when
you compete, there's a chance you're not gonna win. You
can play well and lose, you can play horribly and win,
and so everything's relative. That's the beauty of competition. Like
(22:03):
we like to think we always control our own destiny.
We can have a say in it, but that's just
not always the case. All you can do is prepare
yourself as best you can. But even with that, sometimes
the other team's just better.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Greg.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
I'm glad you brought up the New York Knicks getting
drafted there after the great run at UNLV, because I
want to go back there. We're recording this, as you mentioned,
in the middle of the NBA Conference Finals, and you know,
not only with the Knicks in the conference finals for
the first time in twenty five years, Greg, I want
us to take us inside your emotions. But watching Tyres
Haliburton hit that shot in Game one, go to the
(22:43):
choke sign. I know you were on the Knicks when
Reggie Miller infamously scored eight points in nine seconds and
did the same. What's it like to see the Knicks
back in the conference finals and what are your emotions
not only watching the Knicks play in the final four
in the NBA, but against the team the Pacers they've
had so many great battles against over the years.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, it is so true.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
You know the Aria that Ryan so the choke game
that that Reggie pulled off. That actually wasn't that nine points?
Eight points in nine seconds. That was actually in a
series where I think he scored like twenty in a
quarter they won. I think it was Game five. The
beauty of that was we won that series. We came
back to going to the series. The irony though, is
(23:25):
the one where he scored those eight we got behind
the eight ball because now we're down three to one,
and I go back to it when in seven insers,
I would say, like, it's the games that cost you
when you lose series. Are the fifty to fifty games,
the games that you should win or could win, and
you lose, right because the blowout games a block game,
like each team generally will get blown out once in
(23:47):
a competitive series potentially, I mean, they're gonna be the
times where they're all close games. But it's last night's
perfect example, you know for the Templewolves, like they they
lose a two point game.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
So that's the one you can and get back.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Because even though you you're good enough to win a
series at this level, it's hard to win three in
a row against another really good team because the margin
of error is so small. So for me looking at
that series, I go back to for this this year's
conference finals with the Knicks. To me, I said, you know,
Game one is and one that might cost them a
series if they don't win it, because that's the game
(24:22):
they should have won. You know, you're up. I think
they were up eight or nine with a minute to go.
You know, you lose that one against a really good team,
It's hard to make that game up, right, And so
that's where your concern is because now, you know, I
would think that the Pacers will play better in Game four,
you know, and however it plays out, if they win
(24:42):
that one, for all intents and purposes, you feel like
that series might be over just because of how hard
it is to beat a really good team three consecutive times.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
You know.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Like that's so I do think about that, and it
does put more emphasis on this game for both teams personally. Look,
I love the Knicks. I always want to see the
Knicks do well. But Brian, you know, like once you
get into the business, and like, as an analyst, one,
I've seen so many of these guys.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
I've watched them grow up.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
I saw him playing high school and college and now
the pros you develop relationships and friendships and so it's
not as personal for you as an analyst now at
this stage, you know, because I don't necessarily work for
a team, and I'm a fan of the game, so
you know, it's a little bit different in my mind.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I'm always happy to see them do well.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
But you know, I Rick Carlis is a really good
friend of mine, you know, so I'm always happy for
his success. Tyre's Hallibert, Andrew Nemhart, I've known him since
he was in high school, and so you like to
see the success of these individuals. And so of course,
if the Knicks win, I'm going to be thrilled for him.
(25:54):
But I'm not going to be unhappy for the Pacers
if they were to go on a win, because I
do like their team, you know, And so for me,
that's kind of how I approach it. And my New
York brethren, they get mad at me when I when
I say stuff like that, but it's true, you know,
like after a while, you can become a little disconnected,
like in basketball in college, Like, okay, I'm.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
A runner Rubel, right, I don't really follow my team
as much anymore.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
I will now that Josh Pastor got the job, you know,
I'm gonna root for him and pull for him. But
my oldest son went to Carolina, so I you know,
I tend to have an affiliation with them. I play
with Hubert Davis with the Dick. So like you know,
your your allegiances and your loyalties and your your loves.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Can they can translate and they can change. You know.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
How many times do we see guys that when their
kids grow up, they go play somewhere else. It might
be a rival that you play that Now all of
a sudden you're in that that arena with the hat
on for that school that your son's at and the jersey.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Like that's just the way life works.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
And so for me working at Turner and being an analyst,
I'm just a fan of the game and I just
try to really be as objective about it and not
allow the emotions to get into it.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I want to see a great game. I'm marvel at
Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
I think that that Tims has done a hell of
a job with this group. I think it's compelling for
our sport. Like the one thing I do root for
is the NBA. Okay, Like I root for our sport,
and so I love the fact that we had in
the conference. Simmis eight teams, and I said to France,
and you know, that's probably the first time in my
life that in the Semis I felt all eight teams
(27:30):
could win it, and I wouldn't have been surprised if
either had won it, you know, like there was a
case to be made for each And so that's kind
of where I am at this stage, of just loving
the matchups, but also just appreciating the moment and the
growth of our gameg Greg.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
One thing that Ryan and I've talked a lot about
is the composition of championship rosters, and I just be
curious your take. I think I'm saying this right When
you came in the league, it was kind of the
end of the Mad and Bird era and Michael was
kind of in full form right now. Do you feel
as if we're seeing with Brunson and Sga and Ant
(28:09):
and Halliburton, is this the wave of a new era
of superstars? And the other conversation I have I'd like
to ask you about is you played eleven years in
the NBA. You played in the playoffs and eight of them,
I believe, But you played as a twenty four year
old man. You played as a thirty three year old man.
What was your difference in your preparation and your perspective
when you were the young, upstart rookie versus when you
(28:32):
were the veteran, Because objectively speaking, it seems like these
four rosters are pretty young. You know that these aren't
laden with a lot of experience. What's your perspective on
these four superstars up and coming? Is this the start
of a new era? And also just your feeling about
how much experience plays into these playoffs and how did
(28:53):
it personally impact you.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Yeah, I think that's a really great question, and I
would say, first and foremost it goes back to the evolution,
because a twenty four year old today oftentimes has been
in the league four or five years. And I think
it's just also the growth because when you know, twenty
thirty years ago, there was always this start of a
(29:16):
pecking order that you had to pay your dues, that
you had to you know, you had to take the
same path as all those who were before you. And
what you're seeing though now, and you see it in baseball,
you know this that like twenty thirty years nobody was
coming into the majors at nineteen or twenty and if
they got there, they weren't having an impact. And I
(29:37):
remember when kids started coming out of high school, initially
they were non factors. We didn't have the scouting you
know back then, you know, the international player impact. We
didn't have the resources to really get a better sense
and feel for who would project to be really good.
And so I think you see a similar dynamic. Yeah,
there is somewhat of a changing of the guard, but
(30:00):
the other aspect of it is there's just tremendous parody.
I remember when I first started broadcast. It's harder to
talk about it when you play because in the moment
when I was a twenty four year old, to your point, kid,
I really was a kid because I was just finishing
my rookie year, going to college for five years, and
you just assume you're going to always win, because I
(30:21):
had only won my whole life. I wasn't state championships,
national championships, and now I'm playing for pat Riley and
heat only won. So you tend to think that's just normal,
and you don't always appreciate the process that it takes
to win, right because you've gotten accustomed to it. And
then when you get older, everything does change because your
(30:44):
role changes oftentimes the situation, you know, the expectations could
also change. You know, maybe you're playing for a championship
caliber team when you're older or when you're younger, and
those that those roles juxtaposed against each other had changed.
But I think younger players now are far more prepared.
(31:05):
They have a belief system that's far superior to what
people had twenty thirty years ago. Because I remember, even
coming out of high school, you don't have that perspective.
I remember I was a senior in high school and
I used to go and play against the guys at UOLB.
Now when I was going to be a freshman, that
team that you don't be one to the final four.
(31:27):
It lost to Indiana they or Indiana won in eighty seven.
And I used to in the summer go and play
against Mark Wade and Freddie Banks who were the starting guards,
and they were going to be seniors, and I was
going to be coming in as a freshman, and I
felt like I was better than them, you know, pickup.
I was just better, you know, I was more talented.
But in my mind, I'm thinking I'm better and there's
(31:47):
a big difference between me and more talented and being
a better player. And so I remember coach telling me,
he's like, look, you're not going to really play much.
And I was crushed because I was like, but wait
a minute, I'm better. But like I'm thinking as a talent,
not understanding the nuance of what it takes to win.
I'm just basing it off raw talent. And so you
(32:10):
see the evolution of that with these guys today. You
see a guy like SGA and his ascendants to where
he is. You look like, look at Anthony Edwards at
twenty three, He's in the second conference final.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
That's unheard of. You know.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
Lebron was the first to kind of do that. Like
Lebron made a final at twenty two, and that was
thought to be a failure. He took a team to
the finals at twenty two. Nobody had ever done anything
like that before. You know, you go back to Michael.
Michael had been in the league six or seven years
before he finally got through right to get to the finals.
(32:47):
And so you're seeing younger players now preparing and mentally
being in a place where their expectation is to succeed early.
They say now and it's for all this, why not
now why do I have to wait? Why can't I
put in the work and have the approach that allows
(33:09):
me to succeed at a high level today? And I
think organizations are identifying these these players. And like in basketball,
I always tell people, when you put a team together,
it's not about talent, it's about the fit.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
It's a puzzle.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
I always said, basketball is that is a game where
you don't win with the five best players. You win
with the five that play best together. And so that's
really what you see with a team like Indiana. It's
the reason why the Knicks and the Minnesota toy trade
has allowed both teams to get better, you know, because
they fit better. And that's really what you want to
(33:46):
look at. And that's why it's hard to win in
professional sports because sometimes you'll have people philosophically they just
think that if you just go get talent and throw
them out there, you're gonna win, and that's like the
worst thing you could do.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
And the pay are a perfect example of that.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
You know, if you broke the Pacers down individually in
terms of talent, they're probably gonna be fourth of the
final four teams. But if you for me, if I
said who are the four best teams? I probably say
they're second because I think OKC as the team is
(34:23):
comparable to them, but they just have a little more
talent two way talent. But but Indiana's right there. And
having said that, you know the Nick and Morton Stiel
capable winning that series. Minnesota's got there back against the
wall now down three to one, but had they won
last night, they would have had a great opportunity in
that series. And I think that's what you're looking for
(34:44):
in terms of team building, and you've done that, Like
it's you've seen teams get to the World Series. They
weren't the most talented teams. They you know, you can
have the least talented team, but if you got a
great age, he's gonna get to pitch three times, you know,
and and he could he could he could potentially pitch
deep into the into each game, and that gives you
(35:05):
a decided advantage in hockey. If you got a hot goalie,
you know, you can ride that guy. He can play
every game. And so you know that that plays a
role in it. I just think that it's kind of
like technology in our society as it's evolved. I think
the thought process and the preparation of young people has
(35:27):
also evolved, and these guys come in far more mature.
Like I use the line of like when I played,
the best teams all had five or six knuckleheads on them,
like guys that were just spastic and you just had
to figure it out. You're you're gonna be hard pressed
to find a knucklehead or two on a team today.
(35:49):
Generally speaking, these these young players, they have high character,
They're really professional, they work extremely hard. They understand their value,
you know, they they know what it takes to be successful,
and if you give them the proper vehicle as a
front office, you're going to be rewarded.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Craig, You've had a long and successful basketball career. But
I imagine of all the things you've done in basketball
as a player now as an analyst, one of the
most rewarding has to be watching your son Cole play
for the Orlando Magic.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
What's that like.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
It's rare where there are two generations of NBA players
in the same family. What's it been like for you
to watch Cole? He was drafted out of North Carolina
by Orlando in the twenty twenty draft. He's found a
nice role with the Magic over the last five or
six years. What's it like watching him play and what
are the main differences between when you played and then
watching a child play at the highest levels.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
Well, it's I would say as a parent, man, it's
the most nerve wrecking thing to see. The beauty of
it was. It was his choice. You know, I'm a
big believer in like with kids. You know, you let
you kids tell you what they want to do because
you can learn all the same life lessons and values
(37:06):
no matter what they choose to do, whatever be a
sport or whatever discipline. You know, they just got to
find a discipline and then the processes to succeed that
discipline are really the same, they really are. And so
in that regard, that was nice. He had a passion
for basketball early on, and it definitely allowed our connection
to grow because you got something in common. And I
(37:27):
use that because I have two daughters as well, two boys,
two girls, And like, my youngest daughter is hugely in
the dance and she's really good at it, but it's
not necessarily something that I'm as familiar with, right like
ballet and jazz and all these different discipline she's into.
But she has the best work ethic probably of anybody
(37:49):
in my family. You know, like she she doesn't have
to be coached up or say hey, you need to
work on it.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
She just does it on her own.
Speaker 4 (37:57):
And so in Cole's k he was very similar in
terms of you know, he had a really good work ethic.
He was really focused on that's what he wanted to do,
almost to a fault, because had he not done it,
I don't know what the hell he would have done.
You know, he would have probably played overseas, gotten the
coaching or something because he does love basketball, and I said,
(38:18):
he has other interests, but it is it's fine. I've
kind of adopted Orlando because of him, right what we
were talking about with your son, Like, so I became
a huge Magic fan.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
I love their coachest to have, I love their front officer.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
It's a great organization, Like they really do things the
right way and their patient group. They're not it's not
a championship now or we got to blow it up
and start over it. They're just in the process of
building towards it. And so it's been a lot of fun.
It's been a total blast in that regard. Frustrating at times,
as well as as it's the case for all of
(38:51):
us his parents. Sometimes I would assume, but I've enjoyed it.
I'm happy for him. He's over in Japan right now.
He's a big anime guy and Pokemon, so he's living
his best dream. And I say, hey, you got you
know about about time to get back to start training
getting ready for next season. So h yeah, I'm still
Dad in that regardless still, But it's also frustrating because
(39:14):
as they get older, you kind of have to let
the leash go, you know, and then it's not so
much about being dad as it is about trying to
be a resource and a friend at that point, because
his decisions are his h and you got to try
not to impose yourself upon his world as much. Even
(39:37):
if I may disagree with something, it doesn't help if
he's not willing to interact and engage and so, like,
it does take time for me to like, Okay, I
gotta I'm not Dad in that regard anymore.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
I can't tell you what to do and how to
do it.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
So that part was an adjustment, but overall it's been
it's been a pretty cool experience. Listen, he's off the
payroll man. You know that's one down. I will take it.
I will take it, you know, Greg.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
It's funny, but I have a fifteen year old son
and I was driving him to school today and I
was telling him who was going to be on, and
I was singing your praises. I was talking about that
UNLV team and how exceptional was I was talking about
how you guys had I think five guys drafted in
the first round over two years off that team, about
your eleven year NBA career, eight times going to the playoffs,
(40:26):
all your broadcasting, and he's he just paused and said,
wait a minute, you're having Cole Anthony's dad on the
guy who does the voice for NBA two K. And
I was like, yep, that's that's the guy. And it's like,
you're now cross generational, your relevant across a number of
different generations. Tell us a little bit about how you
got into NBA two K and how often you get
your voice recognized by the next generation of fans.
Speaker 4 (40:49):
That is the weirdest thing for me, because obviously kids
didn't see me play. Hell, it wasn't even an HD
when I played right, it was that ste back bit.
And so you know, what's really cool is like you
could be somewhere like with my younger, my thirteen year old,
and you know, kids will I'll say something and they
don't even know who I am, but they know my voice.
(41:11):
That is really weird. That is like the weirdest thing
I've ever seen. And I gotta say it took me
a while to get used to it. You know, we
have they basically with two K, they wanted to create
a game that mirrored the NBA, and so they brought
a lot of the broadcasters in and they're a great
(41:32):
group to work with. And I can't even tell you
I've just spent over a decade now that I've been
doing this, And it is also a cool way to
stay connected with young people with it's because my youngest
son loves to play and we do the my player
and his friends come over and play, and so for me,
it's good for the ego to still say somewhat relevant
(41:54):
with young people because our worlds can be really different,
but the commonality of sports and video games kind of
allows us to stay connected. So I've thoroughly enjoyed that.
And we got to probably get ready to start taping
for two K twenty six here pretty soon.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
Greg.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
One of the things we like to do here at
Rosters for Rings is go way back to the beginning
of your sports origin story. Where did your passion for
sports start. We know what you've done in college and
the NBA and now beyond, but where did your passion start?
You mentioned you love baseball as well growing up. I'll
take us back to Greg Anthony as a child growing
up in Las Vegas and how you got so interested
(42:37):
in sports.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Wow, it's crazy. You know.
Speaker 4 (42:40):
I grew up in a poor environment and sports was
something that was free es Like you could you know,
you could go to the rec center, you could play,
and I didn't. I just played all the sports, whatever
the season was. You know, we played football on the street.
We'd played stickotball, you know, we played basketball. We'd go
(43:02):
sneak in and the summers, jump the fence at the
elementary school or the middle school and go to the
courts and we shoot on the chain link nets and play.
And the weird thing is I was in third grade
and they were getting ready to have basketball trials so
the middle for the elementary school.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
I didn't know anything about it.
Speaker 4 (43:22):
And one of my friends said to the teachers. Like
the coach was mister Edgewood. He's a fourth grade teacher,
but he's also a basketball coach. And he goes, coach,
you should you should go grant the trial and I
got literally never played other than pick up with the
rest of the kids. And he says, take a shot,
and never So I took the ball from like the
(43:43):
top of the key and I shot it and it
banked it and then so I would He said, tryouts
are going to be Thursday. It's maybe like a Monday,
and Tuesday at this time, show up. And that's literally
how it started. And the bigger thing was I had
a knack for it. But what I mentioned this earlier,
what happened was he met with my mom and I
(44:05):
had never.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Met my father. You know a story.
Speaker 4 (44:08):
Unfortunately as it is, it's not uncommon, and so I
have my granddad as a role model, but he was
a lot older, so he wasn't able to physically do
a lot with me. And mister Edgewith told my mom said,
you know, one day he could play in un LB.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
We never thought about playing professionally.
Speaker 4 (44:24):
I mean, I was just trying to get out of
the hood and try to make some of my life
and go to college, and that moment put me all
in into sports, like in basketball in particular, and so
that's kind of where it started. And then every day
since literally i'd have a ball, have one in my
hands and playing.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
And I always had a love for sports because again
it was.
Speaker 4 (44:49):
Something that you could watch and you could identify with
because you played. And so that for me was the
beginning back in elementary that's led to this life that
I always said, that little orange pill man, It's been
quite the blessing to have had that.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
In my life, you know, Greg.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
One of the themes, as Ryan mentioned it on Rosters
to Rings, is we love these origin stories because it
is the tide that binds us all together. Whether you're
an excellent player such as yourself or your fun off executive,
or your coach or your referee, whatever you're doing, you're
giving your life to a game, and it's because you
have this amazing bond to it. So and also the
(45:28):
gratitude you just expressed towards the coaches around you and
the teachers and how those things they make a difference, right,
and those are the forks in our road, and we
could have gone many different ways all of us, but
we all landed in the place we did, and it's
because so many people guided us along the way. I
got to just ask you one last question before we
let you go, which is, you know, from a front
(45:50):
office perspective, when you're building a championship team, you think
about adding that finishing piece to a roster. And I
look at these final four teams. I just want to
get your player's perspective when when you add a Cat,
when you add a Julius Randall or Devincenzo or Caruso
and Hartenstein, what's the player's perspective when you know, I
was told by John Hart longtime in Borderline Hall of
(46:12):
Fame general manager, when the players do their part, the
front office should step up and help them. When you,
as a player see a guy like Cat walk into
the clubhouse or you know, whether it's Hartenstein Cruzo walking
into your locker room or Julius Randall and Devincenzo, what's
the player's response When you feel like you're really close
(46:33):
to winning that championship and the front office is invested
in that extra piece to help you take you over
the top.
Speaker 4 (46:40):
I think one of the things you have to have
is a great relationship and as is what you start
player and an understanding of who they are, and I
think you work from there.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
And I think if you look at all four of these.
Speaker 4 (46:51):
Teams, they've kind of done things that you know, they
were in different places too, because I remember when you
look at Indiana, they made the trade to get remember
they got Halliburn in the trade they got Siakam And
you know, when you look at the individual moves, you
don't necessarily think, man, this is going to get us
(47:12):
to back to back conference finals, but in essence it did.
And I think what I would look at from the
perspective of the front offense is you really want to
understand who your best players. You know, think about sports,
whether it be baseball, like, you can win a lot
of different ways. You really can't Likeston basketball. You can
play fast, you can play slow, you can play a
(47:33):
lot of guys, you can play a few guys. You know,
you can have whatever kind of system you want and
you can win with that. But it really all starts
with building a system around the identity of your best player.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
And I think it really has to start there.
Speaker 4 (47:48):
Now there are times where you don't necessarily have a
best player, then you want to develop a culture. But
this goes across all sports. All the best teams tend
to have great defensive principles, right, so we know we're
gonna have that. And then when you figure out and
identify that best player, then you've got to find guys
that compliment him, not just talent wise, but also in
(48:12):
terms of who they are. You know, you can't necessarily
go get another alpha if your guy is an alpha,
but if your guy isn't an alpha, even though he
could be your best player, because that's also the case,
and I say this with all due respect, like I
wouldn't say that Kevin Durant is an alpha even though
he might be my best player. So I would have
(48:33):
to then make sure I have guys that can fulfill
a role that allows him to be the best version
of himself.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
Right.
Speaker 4 (48:41):
One thing about coaching or building a team, One thing
I learned from coach Chark. He said, you know, you
never ask players to do things that are uncomfortable doing
because they'll never achieve what they're capable of, you know,
And that's the case. I think in a lot of
ways for any now, you can make them uncomfortable and
you can push them to heights that maybe they don't
(49:04):
know they have. But I go back to my puzzle analogy.
I need to identify who my best player is and
where he strived, where he really has great strengths, and
then also identify the areas that he needs help. And
I think all four of these teams have done a
(49:24):
great job of that.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Right, if you look at the.
Speaker 4 (49:27):
Makeup of their teams, you know, Sga, he's not a
tough guy, right, Steph Curry is not necessarily a tough guy.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
So you get guys that fill that void.
Speaker 4 (49:39):
Right, So you have a lou Dort who brings that
kind of a mindset and fills that void. And you
have a Draymond Green that brings that kind of a
mindset and fills that boy. Because the formula for success
is always the same. May not be the style, but
the formula for success is the same in terms of
you've got to have great mental toughness, right, you have
(50:02):
to have supreme talent.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
But then there's also there has to be credibility, accountability
in chemistry, and so all those things have to work.
They and the teams that recognize that.
Speaker 4 (50:16):
That's why teams miss a lot because they may have
one of the three or two of the three, but
the best teams have them all. There's a connection, and
it doesn't always look like it works. Like you wouldn't
think that Draymond and Steph are that close based on
the way they play and conduct themselves. But there's no
duo with better chemistry maybe that we've ever had in
(50:37):
this game, and so being able to identify it early
Jokich and Jamal Murray another example of that, right, Like
completely different places, culturally, different interests, you know, but it
works and it's not always easy to identify. But that's
what you really look for, Like, you know, you want
(51:00):
your guys to be in a position of comfort, and
I feel like that's that's the biggest thing. You don't
want to If I got to ask you to do
stuff you're not good at, how the hell am I
going to ever expect.
Speaker 2 (51:10):
Us to be really good?
Speaker 4 (51:12):
You know, if you're spending time doing stuff you don't
do well, I want you to be the best version
of yourself. And it's my job as a front office,
as a coach to find the guys to fill the.
Speaker 2 (51:22):
Voids in the areas that maybe you don't have.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
He is Greg Anthony. You watched him play at UNLV
for the New York Knicks, for the Vancouver Grizzlies. I
don't mean to date you here, the Vancouver Grizzlies, the
Seattle that City. Who realize now that I realize you're
mister Pacific Northwest, Vancouver Grizzlies, Seattle SuperSonics, and Portland Trailblazers.
Now you can watch his excellent coverage on TNT on
(51:49):
NBA TV, and for your youngsters and your gamers, you'll
watch them and hear them on NBA two K. Greg Anthony,
thanks for joining us today on Rosters to Ranks.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
Please me host that Levine, Ryan McDonough and other general
managers every week for Roster Syrings on Apple, Spotify, or
wherever you get your podcasts
Welcome to Rosters to Rings. I'm here with co host
Ryan McDonough.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Ryan.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We're in the middle of the semifinals in the NBA,
and these games have been absolutely riveting. We've seen everything
from blowouts to massive comebacks. In your career, can you
remember this number of games that teams were down by
twenty and ultimately ended up winning them?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Not this many that and the irony of it is
a lot of them involved the same team. The New
York Knicks, who were down twenty in the first two
games in Boston in the second round, came back and
won in historic fashion. And what may decide the NBA
Conference Finals in the East as we record the show,
we're in the middle of the Eastern and Western Conference
Finals in the NBA. What may decide the Eastern Conference Finals, ironically,
(00:47):
is that blown Knicks lead at home in Game one.
You know it is the Tyres Haliburton game where the
shot went up, hit the back of the rim, bounced
to the rafters of Madison Square Garden, then came straight
down through the net. Haliburton went to the Chokes signed
maybe a little bit prematurely, but the Pacers did go
on to win that game in overtime, So no, I
can't remember it. And that's been a theme of some
(01:09):
of the smartest commentators and folks who cover the NBA
respect is the prevalence of the three point shot, the
pace of the game. You're going to have these wild
swings and these win probabilities tend to go out the window.
And we're going to talk to a guy here in
Greg Anthony that I think covers the league as well
as anybody. And Greg's got such a unique perspective because
(01:29):
he was on a national stage at a young age
at UNLV. He was on those famous run and Rebels
teams late eighties early nineties, coached by Jerry Tarkanian. He
had multiple teammates get drafted in the lottery and Larry
Johnson and Stacy Agman. But also he's very current, not
only for the fact that he broadcasts NBA games for
TNT for NBA TV. He also has a son, Cole
(01:51):
who's playing in the NBA in the Orlando Magic. He's
also the voice of NBA two K. So that as
you and I welcomed in his first guest, I think
we both especially this time of year, Ji in the
NBA Conference Finals, that he'd be the perfect guy.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I mean he is.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
He's a wonderful guest to have and a good friend
of yours. You know, when you look back at those
Running Rebels teams in my childhood, I remember of the
Fi Slama Gym and then later on after those guys,
you had the Fab Five, and it's like those were
the three best college basketball teams of my lifetime that
I could ever remember. And you know you mentioned it
when they played that Duke team. I don't know this
(02:27):
for a fact, but I have to believe that may
have been the most NBA players in the starting five,
you know, facing each other. Because the Running Rebels had
five guys who went onto the NBA. I think Duke
had three or four. That's an incredible consideration, especially when
you think of the college basketball dynamic today where guys
buy and larger are transferring every year and going or
(02:49):
they're one and done. The fact that they had so
many NBA players on that court are exceptional, and the
perspectives he'll be able to give to our fans I
think will be incredible.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, it's a different time in college basketball and something
that's not going to be replicated with Nil with the
one and done era of the elite prospects. These guys
became household names. Greg Anthony at UNLV on the other side,
Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill at Duke, those guys met one
of the most historic games in the history of college basketball.
And then Greg continued to be on a big stage.
(03:20):
I mean, imagine going from their Thad to the New
York Knicks. Of all teams, he was there playing against
Reggie Miller in the Pacers. He also played against you know,
Michael Jordan and those guys in their heyday. And then
from there he went on to the Pacific Northwest and
had a long and successful NBA career there. So, as
he pointed out, he's a fantastic guy. He's actually a
big baseball fan as well an excellent broadcaster, and he
(03:41):
and I have a lot of fun when I go
down to Atlanta and do NBA TV, both on and
off air. Off air is probably more fun Thad. But
since this is a family show here in Roster Rings,
we'll save those stories for another day. But Greg Anthony
a terrific guy, terrific guest here on Rosters to Rings.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
It'll be wonderful, you know, run and I'm sure he'll
give his perspective on this about kind of the changing
of the guard in the NBA as we're seeing these
four young superstars on these teams and Jalen Brunson and
Sga and Ant and Halliburton and all the magical things
that they're showing our fans. He came into the game
when Bird and Magic the era was kind of winding down,
(04:17):
and he was getting to see Michael Jordan in that
new era of form, and I'd be curious as to
his take on this new era of players. And you
referenced earlier the performance of Haliburton and Brunson latent games
has just been incredible. And you know, one of the
debates we'll have ongoing on rosters to rings is the
influx of analytics and how much it shaped how we
make decisions in front offices. But one thing that I
(04:38):
know in baseball was really tough to predict was this
notion of being a clutch performer. Well, I think we're
seeing guys who are just absolutely off the charts in
terms of clutch performance. You referenced Reggie Miller. You know,
the Halliburton choke signal that he gave the other day.
You don't do that unless you're a clutch performer and
have some kind of some kind of confidence. But Ryan,
as you see it, you know, like when you were
(05:00):
building championship rosters, like, how much did you factor in
this notion of like guys who just performed better in
the highest pressure situations.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Well, I think it's important, but it also can be
hard to predict, especially now in the NBA thad when
guys only play maybe one year of college basketball, and
if they're not on a great team playing at the
highest levels. You know, I think guys can develop and
grow into those roles in time. And you're seeing in
this year's playoffs, Tyres Haliburn in particular, is putting himself
on the map as an elite closer, as a guy
(05:29):
who can win close games at the highest levels, and
he's making a reputation because of that. We'll see if
the Pacers can close out the Knicks in advance to
their first NBA Finals in twenty five years. But yeah,
coming up, we're gonna have Greg Anthony here on rosters
to rings. We're gonna get into all that the conference finals,
his career at UNLV, his son Cole playing for the
Orlando Magic two K stick with us Ryan Mcdonoughthed Levine,
(05:53):
We'll be right back on Rosters to Ranks.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Welcome back to Rosters to Rings with Ryan McDonough and
your host Bad Levine. We're honored today to be joined
by our first guest, a guy who has as comprehensive
a basketball resume as you're going to find. And I'm
going to turn it over to Ryan, a good friend
of his, to introduce him.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah, welcome to the program, Greg Anthony. Greg grew up
in Las Vegas played college basketball at UNLV for some
of the most famous teams in college basketball history. He
was coached by Jerry Tarkanian. They won the nineteen ninety
national championship. They lost the next year against Duke after
having an undefeated season. Greg, Welcome to Rosters to Rings.
(06:37):
And since this is the Rosters to Rings podcast, let's
start there with that nineteen ninety UNLV team and the
championship ring. I know as a youngster growing up that
really I thought, not only put college basketball on the
map for a lot of folks nationally, but a lot
of us became you know, UNLV fans, fans of yours.
Larry Johnson Stacy Agman, etc. As you look back now,
(07:00):
how about thirty five years later, what stands out to
you about your time at UNLV.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
First the fact that it was thirty five years ago,
because we literally all just got together as a group
late last year and it was the first time obviously
coaches not with us anymore, but it was the first
time we had the entire team together since the championship,
which was really weird. And we've had times where we've
gotten six or seven or eight guys together, but never
(07:27):
the entire group. So that was a pretty special moment,
and it definitely the memories do kind of come back
to you, you know, looking back. It was really unique
for me personally because you know, I was born and
raised in Las Vegas, and I grew up a huge
UNLB fan, huge fan of coach Tarcanian. And I would
tell a story when I was a little kid, fifth grade,
(07:47):
you know, we we had one television. It was in
my mom's room, and they would replay the Rebel games
at midnight on the local KVVU channel five in Vegas,
and so I would literally take my blame and I'd
go in my mom's room and I.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Put the blanket over the television.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
And over me and I turned the volume down, and
I've watched their games and you know, they were the
greatest show. And again this is I'm dating myself, but
we didn't have the internet, we didn't have cable, so
this was like a huge deal. And you know, I
got to see them play in the Final four in
seventy seven and then so the one day grow up
and have the opportunity to play there. My fourth grade
(08:26):
teacher is the one that told my mom, you know,
if he ever gets his act together, one day, he
could play at UNLV. And that changed my life, changed
the entire trajectory of my life. First time somebody had
given me hope that I could do something. And so
fast forward to getting the opportunity to play for coach
and with Larry and Stacey and those guys, and you know,
it was a unique time in college athletics because you know,
(08:49):
we were all good enough to leave school early, but
we enjoyed the process. We wanted to have a chance
to defend the national championship. And so those are memories
that to this day, you know, you remember finally, you know,
I tell the story. I literally have never had a
day of my adult life where I've been out in
(09:10):
public and someone hasn't asked me about that team, which
is amazing. You know, because when you're playing and in
the moment, you never think about history. You never think
about the context of what it means to be a
national champion. You know, you just like living your dream
and it's like awesome and it's cool and it's fun.
But now you know, looking back to see that it
(09:31):
culturally had such a significant impact, it's pretty incredible. And yeah,
it can be humbling at times to know that you
were a part of something right because you know what,
there's going to come a time when we're all dead
and gone and buried. But to be able to have
something that someone will at least be able to remember
you by, I think is a pretty cool and awesome experience.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Greig.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
One of the things that we talk about Ryan was
fortunate enough to work for a franchise that won a championship,
gone to two and lost them is like how galvanizing
sometimes those losses can be. You know, you talk about
the celebration of the triumph. You guys, then come back
the next year you're as dominant. I mean, my recollection
as a kid was you know, Fi Slama Jama was
(10:15):
the standard of the best college teams I'd ever seen
until you guys came along. And I mean it was
just sheer, utter dominance, you know, And for you guys
to just roll through nineteen ninety you rolled through nineteen
ninety one. I'm sure you got into that final game
with the expectation that you were gonna You're gonna knock
Duke off again. Talk to us a little bit about
(10:36):
like how galvanizing it was to win, But then like
how much did that bring you guys together, that that
defeat you had?
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Yeah, you know, and you guys both being a part
of sports, I don't think there's any question that you
you generally remember the losses more than the wins. So
losing the title our senior year, losing the Duke by
two and they were team than they were a year before,
but so were we. Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
It was it was disappointing. It's frustrated.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
It was somewhat shocking too, because you did have the
expectation of winning. But that's sports, And and I've said before,
you know, the beauty of it, especially in the college basketball,
because it's a single game elimination. You know, not like
baseball basketball at the professional level, you know, you got
to beat me four times, so you generally the best
team's gonna win. But in college basketball, you know, more
(11:28):
often than not more often but almost as equal as not,
the best team doesn't win.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
And so that's just the nature of it. Being a
young person, it was somewhat dramatic because you knew it
was your last time playing college basketball, and so then
they have to have your last moment be one of disappointment. Uh.
It was a tough pill to swallow, it really was.
Now it was helpful that we had won it the
(11:56):
year prior. Uh, And that does ease the anxiety and
the frustration a little bit, but it never takes it
away totally. And I've had many We've had like as
grown men sessions myself and Larry and Stacy where we
sit around and we talked about, you know, what happened,
(12:17):
have we done X, Y or Z a little better?
You know, there was a lot of that that goes
on and again we talk about that more than we
do the year we wanted, which is kind of the
irony of life in a lot of ways that you
tendn't have put that much effort and energy into the
disappointment and sometimes forget the fact that, hey, we did
(12:37):
win a national championship that you know, that will always
be a part of our legacy and our resume. So
but that was a difficult one. I've become good friends
with some of those guys from the duke team, and
you know, it is just the spirit of competition, and
that's the other thing. And you guys notice as well
as anybody in sports, like I remember Pat Raley saying
to me, he said, in sports, there's two things as
(12:59):
when in the misery.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
That's really what it is. And there's no way, no matter.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
How successful you are and how much you've won, those
moments are going to resonate the losses, the disappointments, and
that's that's no different. Thirty five years later, there's still
some frustration and disappointment in not being able to repeat
because that is something that you know, not many can
say they've done, and very few get the opportunity to
(13:27):
try and achieve. So yeah, there's there's frustration and disappointment,
but it is a chapter in my journey, and that's
one of those ones where, yeah, it's not the most
enjoyable memory, but I still enjoy the fact that I
had the opportunity to try, and I don't lose sight
(13:47):
of that. And I think that's really important just in life.
And I you know, you look at some of the
most successful people in any capacity, you know they don't
allow the failures to define them.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And they all had them.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
They all there's no really successful person who didn't fail
several times, and they didn't look at his failure.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
They looked at it as an opportunity to grow and learn.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
And the disappointing part for us was we wouldn't get
another opportunity because we were seniors.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Well, and Greg, I think you're talking about, like what
the heart of a champion, right, Like the heart of
champions get consumed with what could they have done slightly
better in order to triumph that one additional time. And
I think that's one of the cruel elements of sports
is the team that technically finishes second is deemed as
a loser, where no other context in life with somebody
(14:38):
who finished second in the most competitive landscape ever deemed
themselves a loser. And I'll just share one quick story
when I worked for the Texas Rangers, when we lost
the World Series in twenty ten and twenty eleven. Michael
Young was kind of our captain at the time, one
of our best players, but clearly one of the best
leaders we had on our team. And it was about
ten years later after that that I said to him, here,
(15:01):
I just want to let you know I couldn't be
more proud of what you guys accomplished in twenty ten
and eleven. And he just looked at me and said, well,
thank god you said it, because I feel like it's
like this almost badge of shame that we fell just short.
And it's like, so, yeah, you want to strive for excellence, right,
but you do want to celebrate those moments of achievement
that you know it took to get to those moments
(15:21):
where you had the opportunity to compete for that ring.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
I think that's such a great point. And it comes
back to perspective, right that. And Ryan, you know, it's
like it's easy to lose perspective in the big picture
when you're in the moment, and then if you don't
have an opportunity to discuss it and you know, deal
with the emotions that bring it about, you can lose
(15:47):
sight of the perspective. And I remember, like my rookie
year playing for the Knicks, I got the opportunity to play
for one of the great coaches of all time in
pat Riley. And one thing that I really appreciated about
him is, you know, he was very goal oriented. And
I never forgetting training camp the year before I got
to the Knicks, I think, and he'd the year before
he got there, they were thirty one and fifty one, right,
(16:10):
So going to the training camp that year, you know,
he laid out these goals. You know, we want to
win the Atlantic Division. You know, to the average fan,
it doesn't sound like a big deal, a one year division, right,
but like he made it an important target for us.
He gave us a goal and that was one of
winning Atlantic Divisions. So that year we won fifty one
(16:31):
games and lost everyone. And then that's since we had
the same roster, we just had a different coach and
so that perspective, so we looked at it to your
point that the already right. So we lost in the
second round in seven games to the Bulls, But man,
that was a successful season.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
You know.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
We we we had perspective, you know, seeing where we
had gone and what have you and so that it's
so true what you say is like, as a competitor
and athlete, like you know, thirty thirty two high remain
teams you have in your respective sport, you finished second,
you know, a the Olympics, you get a silver medal.
You know, like you're not necessarily looked at as a
(17:10):
loser or failure. But for some reason, at the professional
level oftentimes we do we look at it as a disappointment,
and it is disappointing, but it's not a disappointment. Yeah,
you had an opportunity to achieve the ultimate goal. And
then I think the other aspect of that is, you know,
(17:33):
there are those who will then point fingers as to
you know, to blame. And I think, and I used
to use this with my kids. I still with my youngests, Like,
you know, my youngest and if he misses a shot,
you know, he gets frustrated, And I said, well, you know,
don't get frustrated that you missed. Figure out why you missed,
you know, and try to try to approach it from
(17:55):
that way. That way, every disappointment can be a learning experience,
you know, as opposed to one that dampens your self
esteem and I think that's something I like, I remember
talking with Michael Jordan about that, Like he you know,
he every time something didn't go well, he really focused
on learning from it as opposed to allowing it to
(18:15):
put a chink in his armor. He looked at it
almost like a you know, when you're a kid, you
get the scar, and my Granddad's like, oh, that Bill's character.
You know that'll you know, you get cut. And that's
how he approached it, and it really is a good
perspective to have, Like, you know, you don't look at
you don't have to look at a disappointment as failure.
You just look at it as an opportunity for growth.
(18:36):
And so for me as an athlete, that's really how
I approach it, and that's not even how I look
at in sports as an analyst. You know, I'll tell
people this jokingly, but truthfully, you know, when a team loses,
people are quick to say, what you didn't do right
to lose? And I always say, you know, the other
team they get checks on the first and fifteen too.
(18:56):
You know they're they're they're playing to win too. And
sometimes it's not that you didn't do some it's that
they did and you know, it doesn't take away from
your greatness. It's just a matter of on that night,
they did something better than you did. And the good ones,
when you get an opportunity for redemption, you kind of
can write the ship if you can learn from the
(19:18):
experience and improve upon it.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, Greg, I always thought about it. Their three outcomes
to every game we watch or we play. One is
we win, and I enjoy winning. That's my favorite outcome.
The second is that you won and I got to
tip my hat because you just outplayed us. And that's
gonna happen from time to time, right, Like you know baseball,
we always said there one hundred and sixty two games,
everyone's gonna win sixty, they're gonna lose sixty.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
It's what you do with the other forty two.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
So like, you're gonna lose sixty games because the other
team just was better than you that night. And as
you said, you want to grow, you want to get better.
The ones that haunt you a little bit are the
ones that we lost, you know, where you know you
took an active role in helping the other team beat you,
And those were the ones that I felt like you
had to come away with and like you had to
correct some some things that what happened. But I really
(20:05):
didn't find the ones where the other team just beat
us as too haunting, like that's going to happen from
time to time.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Those are the easy ones, right, I would throw all
fourth because the reality is sometimes.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
They lose, Right, I like that. I enjoyed those.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
Yeah, those they are fine too, And I think you're
spot on with that. You know, we were I don't
know when we're going to air this, but we we
were doing Game four last night with the Thunder and
the Timberwolves, and so going into the game, you know,
we were talking about what we thought. I said, well,
you know, in a weird way, the way the Timberwolves
(20:39):
won Game three, I said, that actually helps the Thunder.
It helps the Timberwolves that they won because they just
completely annihilated and went in by forty two points. I said,
But when you're a really good team and you get
beat like that, first of all, you know that's not
who you are, and they know that's not who you are,
because there's no team that's forty points better than you
at that leint. That's just not a reality. That just
(20:59):
means they were on and you were off, and I said,
those are the games that are most easiest to respond
to as a competitor, you know, as the hard ones
are what I call the fifty to fifty games, right,
Like to your point, in baseball, you know, you get
beat ten tonne Man, not a lot you could have
done about that one. But if you lose, but if
you lose seven to six, there's a gazillion things that
(21:21):
could have gone a different way. A play, you know,
there was a play in every inning that could have
changed the outcome of that game. Those are much more
difficult to deal with, right, Those are the ones that
are harder to learn from because there's so much more
pain when you get blown out. There is no emotion, right,
you've already checked out. You literally don't even have to
(21:42):
go over that game, you know, because you already know
why you didn't have a chance. And so that's really
how I try to approach things, because you are when
you compete, there's a chance you're not gonna win. You
can play well and lose, you can play horribly and win,
and so everything's relative. That's the beauty of competition. Like
(22:03):
we like to think we always control our own destiny.
We can have a say in it, but that's just
not always the case. All you can do is prepare
yourself as best you can. But even with that, sometimes
the other team's just better.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Greg.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
I'm glad you brought up the New York Knicks getting
drafted there after the great run at UNLV, because I
want to go back there. We're recording this, as you mentioned,
in the middle of the NBA Conference Finals, and you know,
not only with the Knicks in the conference finals for
the first time in twenty five years, Greg, I want
us to take us inside your emotions. But watching Tyres
Haliburton hit that shot in Game one, go to the
(22:43):
choke sign. I know you were on the Knicks when
Reggie Miller infamously scored eight points in nine seconds and
did the same. What's it like to see the Knicks
back in the conference finals and what are your emotions
not only watching the Knicks play in the final four
in the NBA, but against the team the Pacers they've
had so many great battles against over the years.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, it is so true.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
You know the Aria that Ryan so the choke game
that that Reggie pulled off. That actually wasn't that nine points?
Eight points in nine seconds. That was actually in a
series where I think he scored like twenty in a
quarter they won. I think it was Game five. The
beauty of that was we won that series. We came
back to going to the series. The irony though, is
(23:25):
the one where he scored those eight we got behind
the eight ball because now we're down three to one,
and I go back to it when in seven insers,
I would say, like, it's the games that cost you
when you lose series. Are the fifty to fifty games,
the games that you should win or could win, and
you lose, right because the blowout games a block game,
like each team generally will get blown out once in
(23:47):
a competitive series potentially, I mean, they're gonna be the
times where they're all close games. But it's last night's
perfect example, you know for the Templewolves, like they they
lose a two point game.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
So that's the one you can and get back.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Because even though you you're good enough to win a
series at this level, it's hard to win three in
a row against another really good team because the margin
of error is so small. So for me looking at
that series, I go back to for this this year's
conference finals with the Knicks. To me, I said, you know,
Game one is and one that might cost them a
series if they don't win it, because that's the game
(24:22):
they should have won. You know, you're up. I think
they were up eight or nine with a minute to go.
You know, you lose that one against a really good team,
It's hard to make that game up, right, And so
that's where your concern is because now, you know, I
would think that the Pacers will play better in Game four,
you know, and however it plays out, if they win
(24:42):
that one, for all intents and purposes, you feel like
that series might be over just because of how hard
it is to beat a really good team three consecutive times.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
You know.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Like that's so I do think about that, and it
does put more emphasis on this game for both teams personally. Look,
I love the Knicks. I always want to see the
Knicks do well. But Brian, you know, like once you
get into the business, and like, as an analyst, one,
I've seen so many of these guys.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
I've watched them grow up.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
I saw him playing high school and college and now
the pros you develop relationships and friendships and so it's
not as personal for you as an analyst now at
this stage, you know, because I don't necessarily work for
a team, and I'm a fan of the game, so
you know, it's a little bit different in my mind.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I'm always happy to see them do well.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
But you know, I Rick Carlis is a really good
friend of mine, you know, so I'm always happy for
his success. Tyre's Hallibert, Andrew Nemhart, I've known him since
he was in high school, and so you like to
see the success of these individuals. And so of course,
if the Knicks win, I'm going to be thrilled for him.
(25:54):
But I'm not going to be unhappy for the Pacers
if they were to go on a win, because I
do like their team, you know, And so for me,
that's kind of how I approach it. And my New
York brethren, they get mad at me when I when
I say stuff like that, but it's true, you know,
like after a while, you can become a little disconnected,
like in basketball in college, Like, okay, I'm.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
A runner Rubel, right, I don't really follow my team
as much anymore.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
I will now that Josh Pastor got the job, you know,
I'm gonna root for him and pull for him. But
my oldest son went to Carolina, so I you know,
I tend to have an affiliation with them. I play
with Hubert Davis with the Dick. So like you know,
your your allegiances and your loyalties and your your loves.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Can they can translate and they can change. You know.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
How many times do we see guys that when their
kids grow up, they go play somewhere else. It might
be a rival that you play that Now all of
a sudden you're in that that arena with the hat
on for that school that your son's at and the jersey.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Like that's just the way life works.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
And so for me working at Turner and being an analyst,
I'm just a fan of the game and I just
try to really be as objective about it and not
allow the emotions to get into it.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I want to see a great game. I'm marvel at
Jalen Brunson.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
I think that that Tims has done a hell of
a job with this group. I think it's compelling for
our sport. Like the one thing I do root for
is the NBA. Okay, Like I root for our sport,
and so I love the fact that we had in
the conference. Simmis eight teams, and I said to France,
and you know, that's probably the first time in my
life that in the Semis I felt all eight teams
(27:30):
could win it, and I wouldn't have been surprised if
either had won it, you know, like there was a
case to be made for each And so that's kind
of where I am at this stage, of just loving
the matchups, but also just appreciating the moment and the
growth of our gameg Greg.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
One thing that Ryan and I've talked a lot about
is the composition of championship rosters, and I just be
curious your take. I think I'm saying this right When
you came in the league, it was kind of the
end of the Mad and Bird era and Michael was
kind of in full form right now. Do you feel
as if we're seeing with Brunson and Sga and Ant
(28:09):
and Halliburton, is this the wave of a new era
of superstars? And the other conversation I have I'd like
to ask you about is you played eleven years in
the NBA. You played in the playoffs and eight of them,
I believe, But you played as a twenty four year
old man. You played as a thirty three year old man.
What was your difference in your preparation and your perspective
when you were the young, upstart rookie versus when you
(28:32):
were the veteran, Because objectively speaking, it seems like these
four rosters are pretty young. You know that these aren't
laden with a lot of experience. What's your perspective on
these four superstars up and coming? Is this the start
of a new era? And also just your feeling about
how much experience plays into these playoffs and how did
(28:53):
it personally impact you.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Yeah, I think that's a really great question, and I
would say, first and foremost it goes back to the evolution,
because a twenty four year old today oftentimes has been
in the league four or five years. And I think
it's just also the growth because when you know, twenty
thirty years ago, there was always this start of a
(29:16):
pecking order that you had to pay your dues, that
you had to you know, you had to take the
same path as all those who were before you. And
what you're seeing though now, and you see it in baseball,
you know this that like twenty thirty years nobody was
coming into the majors at nineteen or twenty and if
they got there, they weren't having an impact. And I
(29:37):
remember when kids started coming out of high school, initially
they were non factors. We didn't have the scouting you
know back then, you know, the international player impact. We
didn't have the resources to really get a better sense
and feel for who would project to be really good.
And so I think you see a similar dynamic. Yeah,
there is somewhat of a changing of the guard, but
(30:00):
the other aspect of it is there's just tremendous parody.
I remember when I first started broadcast. It's harder to
talk about it when you play because in the moment
when I was a twenty four year old, to your point, kid,
I really was a kid because I was just finishing
my rookie year, going to college for five years, and
you just assume you're going to always win, because I
(30:21):
had only won my whole life. I wasn't state championships,
national championships, and now I'm playing for pat Riley and
heat only won. So you tend to think that's just normal,
and you don't always appreciate the process that it takes
to win, right because you've gotten accustomed to it. And
then when you get older, everything does change because your
(30:44):
role changes oftentimes the situation, you know, the expectations could
also change. You know, maybe you're playing for a championship
caliber team when you're older or when you're younger, and
those that those roles juxtaposed against each other had changed.
But I think younger players now are far more prepared.
(31:05):
They have a belief system that's far superior to what
people had twenty thirty years ago. Because I remember, even
coming out of high school, you don't have that perspective.
I remember I was a senior in high school and
I used to go and play against the guys at UOLB.
Now when I was going to be a freshman, that
team that you don't be one to the final four.
(31:27):
It lost to Indiana they or Indiana won in eighty seven.
And I used to in the summer go and play
against Mark Wade and Freddie Banks who were the starting guards,
and they were going to be seniors, and I was
going to be coming in as a freshman, and I
felt like I was better than them, you know, pickup.
I was just better, you know, I was more talented.
But in my mind, I'm thinking I'm better and there's
(31:47):
a big difference between me and more talented and being
a better player. And so I remember coach telling me,
he's like, look, you're not going to really play much.
And I was crushed because I was like, but wait
a minute, I'm better. But like I'm thinking as a talent,
not understanding the nuance of what it takes to win.
I'm just basing it off raw talent. And so you
(32:10):
see the evolution of that with these guys today. You
see a guy like SGA and his ascendants to where
he is. You look like, look at Anthony Edwards at
twenty three, He's in the second conference final.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
That's unheard of. You know.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
Lebron was the first to kind of do that. Like
Lebron made a final at twenty two, and that was
thought to be a failure. He took a team to
the finals at twenty two. Nobody had ever done anything
like that before. You know, you go back to Michael.
Michael had been in the league six or seven years
before he finally got through right to get to the finals.
(32:47):
And so you're seeing younger players now preparing and mentally
being in a place where their expectation is to succeed early.
They say now and it's for all this, why not
now why do I have to wait? Why can't I
put in the work and have the approach that allows
(33:09):
me to succeed at a high level today? And I
think organizations are identifying these these players. And like in basketball,
I always tell people, when you put a team together,
it's not about talent, it's about the fit.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
It's a puzzle.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
I always said, basketball is that is a game where
you don't win with the five best players. You win
with the five that play best together. And so that's
really what you see with a team like Indiana. It's
the reason why the Knicks and the Minnesota toy trade
has allowed both teams to get better, you know, because
they fit better. And that's really what you want to
(33:46):
look at. And that's why it's hard to win in
professional sports because sometimes you'll have people philosophically they just
think that if you just go get talent and throw
them out there, you're gonna win, and that's like the
worst thing you could do.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
And the pay are a perfect example of that.
Speaker 4 (34:02):
You know, if you broke the Pacers down individually in
terms of talent, they're probably gonna be fourth of the
final four teams. But if you for me, if I
said who are the four best teams? I probably say
they're second because I think OKC as the team is
(34:23):
comparable to them, but they just have a little more
talent two way talent. But but Indiana's right there. And
having said that, you know the Nick and Morton Stiel
capable winning that series. Minnesota's got there back against the
wall now down three to one, but had they won
last night, they would have had a great opportunity in
that series. And I think that's what you're looking for
(34:44):
in terms of team building, and you've done that, Like
it's you've seen teams get to the World Series. They
weren't the most talented teams. They you know, you can
have the least talented team, but if you got a
great age, he's gonna get to pitch three times, you know,
and and he could he could he could potentially pitch
deep into the into each game, and that gives you
(35:05):
a decided advantage in hockey. If you got a hot goalie,
you know, you can ride that guy. He can play
every game. And so you know that that plays a
role in it. I just think that it's kind of
like technology in our society as it's evolved. I think
the thought process and the preparation of young people has
(35:27):
also evolved, and these guys come in far more mature.
Like I use the line of like when I played,
the best teams all had five or six knuckleheads on them,
like guys that were just spastic and you just had
to figure it out. You're you're gonna be hard pressed
to find a knucklehead or two on a team today.
(35:49):
Generally speaking, these these young players, they have high character,
They're really professional, they work extremely hard. They understand their value,
you know, they they know what it takes to be successful,
and if you give them the proper vehicle as a
front office, you're going to be rewarded.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Craig, You've had a long and successful basketball career. But
I imagine of all the things you've done in basketball
as a player now as an analyst, one of the
most rewarding has to be watching your son Cole play
for the Orlando Magic.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
What's that like.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
It's rare where there are two generations of NBA players
in the same family. What's it been like for you
to watch Cole? He was drafted out of North Carolina
by Orlando in the twenty twenty draft. He's found a
nice role with the Magic over the last five or
six years. What's it like watching him play and what
are the main differences between when you played and then
watching a child play at the highest levels.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
Well, it's I would say as a parent, man, it's
the most nerve wrecking thing to see. The beauty of
it was. It was his choice. You know, I'm a
big believer in like with kids. You know, you let
you kids tell you what they want to do because
you can learn all the same life lessons and values
(37:06):
no matter what they choose to do, whatever be a
sport or whatever discipline. You know, they just got to
find a discipline and then the processes to succeed that
discipline are really the same, they really are. And so
in that regard, that was nice. He had a passion
for basketball early on, and it definitely allowed our connection
to grow because you got something in common. And I
(37:27):
use that because I have two daughters as well, two boys,
two girls, And like, my youngest daughter is hugely in
the dance and she's really good at it, but it's
not necessarily something that I'm as familiar with, right like
ballet and jazz and all these different discipline she's into.
But she has the best work ethic probably of anybody
(37:49):
in my family. You know, like she she doesn't have
to be coached up or say hey, you need to
work on it.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
She just does it on her own.
Speaker 4 (37:57):
And so in Cole's k he was very similar in
terms of you know, he had a really good work ethic.
He was really focused on that's what he wanted to do,
almost to a fault, because had he not done it,
I don't know what the hell he would have done.
You know, he would have probably played overseas, gotten the
coaching or something because he does love basketball, and I said,
(38:18):
he has other interests, but it is it's fine. I've
kind of adopted Orlando because of him, right what we
were talking about with your son, Like, so I became
a huge Magic fan.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
I love their coachest to have, I love their front officer.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
It's a great organization, Like they really do things the
right way and their patient group. They're not it's not
a championship now or we got to blow it up
and start over it. They're just in the process of
building towards it. And so it's been a lot of fun.
It's been a total blast in that regard. Frustrating at times,
as well as as it's the case for all of
(38:51):
us his parents. Sometimes I would assume, but I've enjoyed it.
I'm happy for him. He's over in Japan right now.
He's a big anime guy and Pokemon, so he's living
his best dream. And I say, hey, you got you
know about about time to get back to start training
getting ready for next season. So h yeah, I'm still
Dad in that regardless still, But it's also frustrating because
(39:14):
as they get older, you kind of have to let
the leash go, you know, and then it's not so
much about being dad as it is about trying to
be a resource and a friend at that point, because
his decisions are his h and you got to try
not to impose yourself upon his world as much. Even
(39:37):
if I may disagree with something, it doesn't help if
he's not willing to interact and engage and so, like,
it does take time for me to like, Okay, I
gotta I'm not Dad in that regard anymore.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
I can't tell you what to do and how to
do it.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
So that part was an adjustment, but overall it's been
it's been a pretty cool experience. Listen, he's off the
payroll man. You know that's one down. I will take it.
I will take it, you know, Greg.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
It's funny, but I have a fifteen year old son
and I was driving him to school today and I
was telling him who was going to be on, and
I was singing your praises. I was talking about that
UNLV team and how exceptional was I was talking about
how you guys had I think five guys drafted in
the first round over two years off that team, about
your eleven year NBA career, eight times going to the playoffs,
(40:26):
all your broadcasting, and he's he just paused and said,
wait a minute, you're having Cole Anthony's dad on the
guy who does the voice for NBA two K. And
I was like, yep, that's that's the guy. And it's like,
you're now cross generational, your relevant across a number of
different generations. Tell us a little bit about how you
got into NBA two K and how often you get
your voice recognized by the next generation of fans.
Speaker 4 (40:49):
That is the weirdest thing for me, because obviously kids
didn't see me play. Hell, it wasn't even an HD
when I played right, it was that ste back bit.
And so you know, what's really cool is like you
could be somewhere like with my younger, my thirteen year old,
and you know, kids will I'll say something and they
don't even know who I am, but they know my voice.
(41:11):
That is really weird. That is like the weirdest thing
I've ever seen. And I gotta say it took me
a while to get used to it. You know, we
have they basically with two K, they wanted to create
a game that mirrored the NBA, and so they brought
a lot of the broadcasters in and they're a great
(41:32):
group to work with. And I can't even tell you
I've just spent over a decade now that I've been
doing this, And it is also a cool way to
stay connected with young people with it's because my youngest
son loves to play and we do the my player
and his friends come over and play, and so for me,
it's good for the ego to still say somewhat relevant
(41:54):
with young people because our worlds can be really different,
but the commonality of sports and video games kind of
allows us to stay connected. So I've thoroughly enjoyed that.
And we got to probably get ready to start taping
for two K twenty six here pretty soon.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
Greg.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
One of the things we like to do here at
Rosters for Rings is go way back to the beginning
of your sports origin story. Where did your passion for
sports start. We know what you've done in college and
the NBA and now beyond, but where did your passion start?
You mentioned you love baseball as well growing up. I'll
take us back to Greg Anthony as a child growing
up in Las Vegas and how you got so interested
(42:37):
in sports.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Wow, it's crazy. You know.
Speaker 4 (42:40):
I grew up in a poor environment and sports was
something that was free es Like you could you know,
you could go to the rec center, you could play,
and I didn't. I just played all the sports, whatever
the season was. You know, we played football on the street.
We'd played stickotball, you know, we played basketball. We'd go
(43:02):
sneak in and the summers, jump the fence at the
elementary school or the middle school and go to the
courts and we shoot on the chain link nets and play.
And the weird thing is I was in third grade
and they were getting ready to have basketball trials so
the middle for the elementary school.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
I didn't know anything about it.
Speaker 4 (43:22):
And one of my friends said to the teachers. Like
the coach was mister Edgewood. He's a fourth grade teacher,
but he's also a basketball coach. And he goes, coach,
you should you should go grant the trial and I
got literally never played other than pick up with the
rest of the kids. And he says, take a shot,
and never So I took the ball from like the
(43:43):
top of the key and I shot it and it
banked it and then so I would He said, tryouts
are going to be Thursday. It's maybe like a Monday,
and Tuesday at this time, show up. And that's literally
how it started. And the bigger thing was I had
a knack for it. But what I mentioned this earlier,
what happened was he met with my mom and I
(44:05):
had never.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
Met my father. You know a story.
Speaker 4 (44:08):
Unfortunately as it is, it's not uncommon, and so I
have my granddad as a role model, but he was
a lot older, so he wasn't able to physically do
a lot with me. And mister Edgewith told my mom said,
you know, one day he could play in un LB.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
We never thought about playing professionally.
Speaker 4 (44:24):
I mean, I was just trying to get out of
the hood and try to make some of my life
and go to college, and that moment put me all
in into sports, like in basketball in particular, and so
that's kind of where it started. And then every day
since literally i'd have a ball, have one in my
hands and playing.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
And I always had a love for sports because again
it was.
Speaker 4 (44:49):
Something that you could watch and you could identify with
because you played. And so that for me was the
beginning back in elementary that's led to this life that
I always said, that little orange pill man, It's been
quite the blessing to have had that.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
In my life, you know, Greg.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
One of the themes, as Ryan mentioned it on Rosters
to Rings, is we love these origin stories because it
is the tide that binds us all together. Whether you're
an excellent player such as yourself or your fun off executive,
or your coach or your referee, whatever you're doing, you're
giving your life to a game, and it's because you
have this amazing bond to it. So and also the
(45:28):
gratitude you just expressed towards the coaches around you and
the teachers and how those things they make a difference, right,
and those are the forks in our road, and we
could have gone many different ways all of us, but
we all landed in the place we did, and it's
because so many people guided us along the way. I
got to just ask you one last question before we
let you go, which is, you know, from a front
(45:50):
office perspective, when you're building a championship team, you think
about adding that finishing piece to a roster. And I
look at these final four teams. I just want to
get your player's perspective when when you add a Cat,
when you add a Julius Randall or Devincenzo or Caruso
and Hartenstein, what's the player's perspective when you know, I
was told by John Hart longtime in Borderline Hall of
(46:12):
Fame general manager, when the players do their part, the
front office should step up and help them. When you,
as a player see a guy like Cat walk into
the clubhouse or you know, whether it's Hartenstein Cruzo walking
into your locker room or Julius Randall and Devincenzo, what's
the player's response When you feel like you're really close
(46:33):
to winning that championship and the front office is invested
in that extra piece to help you take you over
the top.
Speaker 4 (46:40):
I think one of the things you have to have
is a great relationship and as is what you start
player and an understanding of who they are, and I
think you work from there.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
And I think if you look at all four of these.
Speaker 4 (46:51):
Teams, they've kind of done things that you know, they
were in different places too, because I remember when you
look at Indiana, they made the trade to get remember
they got Halliburn in the trade they got Siakam And
you know, when you look at the individual moves, you
don't necessarily think, man, this is going to get us
(47:12):
to back to back conference finals, but in essence it did.
And I think what I would look at from the
perspective of the front offense is you really want to
understand who your best players. You know, think about sports,
whether it be baseball, like, you can win a lot
of different ways. You really can't Likeston basketball. You can
play fast, you can play slow, you can play a
(47:33):
lot of guys, you can play a few guys. You know,
you can have whatever kind of system you want and
you can win with that. But it really all starts
with building a system around the identity of your best player.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
And I think it really has to start there.
Speaker 4 (47:48):
Now there are times where you don't necessarily have a
best player, then you want to develop a culture. But
this goes across all sports. All the best teams tend
to have great defensive principles, right, so we know we're
gonna have that. And then when you figure out and
identify that best player, then you've got to find guys
that compliment him, not just talent wise, but also in
(48:12):
terms of who they are. You know, you can't necessarily
go get another alpha if your guy is an alpha,
but if your guy isn't an alpha, even though he
could be your best player, because that's also the case,
and I say this with all due respect, like I
wouldn't say that Kevin Durant is an alpha even though
he might be my best player. So I would have
(48:33):
to then make sure I have guys that can fulfill
a role that allows him to be the best version
of himself.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
Right.
Speaker 4 (48:41):
One thing about coaching or building a team, One thing
I learned from coach Chark. He said, you know, you
never ask players to do things that are uncomfortable doing
because they'll never achieve what they're capable of, you know,
And that's the case. I think in a lot of
ways for any now, you can make them uncomfortable and
you can push them to heights that maybe they don't
(49:04):
know they have. But I go back to my puzzle analogy.
I need to identify who my best player is and
where he strived, where he really has great strengths, and
then also identify the areas that he needs help. And
I think all four of these teams have done a
(49:24):
great job of that.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Right, if you look at the.
Speaker 4 (49:27):
Makeup of their teams, you know, Sga, he's not a
tough guy, right, Steph Curry is not necessarily a tough guy.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
So you get guys that fill that void.
Speaker 4 (49:39):
Right, So you have a lou Dort who brings that
kind of a mindset and fills that void. And you
have a Draymond Green that brings that kind of a
mindset and fills that boy. Because the formula for success
is always the same. May not be the style, but
the formula for success is the same in terms of
you've got to have great mental toughness, right, you have
(50:02):
to have supreme talent.
Speaker 2 (50:03):
But then there's also there has to be credibility, accountability
in chemistry, and so all those things have to work.
They and the teams that recognize that.
Speaker 4 (50:16):
That's why teams miss a lot because they may have
one of the three or two of the three, but
the best teams have them all. There's a connection, and
it doesn't always look like it works. Like you wouldn't
think that Draymond and Steph are that close based on
the way they play and conduct themselves. But there's no
duo with better chemistry maybe that we've ever had in
(50:37):
this game, and so being able to identify it early
Jokich and Jamal Murray another example of that, right, Like
completely different places, culturally, different interests, you know, but it
works and it's not always easy to identify. But that's
what you really look for, Like, you know, you want
(51:00):
your guys to be in a position of comfort, and
I feel like that's that's the biggest thing. You don't
want to If I got to ask you to do
stuff you're not good at, how the hell am I
going to ever expect.
Speaker 2 (51:10):
Us to be really good?
Speaker 4 (51:12):
You know, if you're spending time doing stuff you don't
do well, I want you to be the best version
of yourself. And it's my job as a front office,
as a coach to find the guys to fill the.
Speaker 2 (51:22):
Voids in the areas that maybe you don't have.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
He is Greg Anthony. You watched him play at UNLV
for the New York Knicks, for the Vancouver Grizzlies. I
don't mean to date you here, the Vancouver Grizzlies, the
Seattle that City. Who realize now that I realize you're
mister Pacific Northwest, Vancouver Grizzlies, Seattle SuperSonics, and Portland Trailblazers.
Now you can watch his excellent coverage on TNT on
(51:49):
NBA TV, and for your youngsters and your gamers, you'll
watch them and hear them on NBA two K. Greg Anthony,
thanks for joining us today on Rosters to Ranks.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
Please me host that Levine, Ryan McDonough and other general
managers every week for Roster Syrings on Apple, Spotify, or
wherever you get your podcasts
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