May 31, 2024 • 38 mins
Vince reacts to the Mavericks and Celtics winning and gives his NBA Finals preview with matchup breakdowns, Jason Kidd inside perspective and the emotions of Kyrie returning to Boston for the Finals. Vince compares Kyrie's situation to his return to Toronto for the First Round of the 2007 playoffs. Plus he talks about the latest with the Clippers giving Ty Lue an extension and the Lakers looking likely to hire JJ Redick.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's the VC Show. It's the VC Show. It's the
VC Show. It's the season dude, let's see show season two. Yeah,
we back again, got the world coon in there for show.
So go and tell a friends my heart got me
on the squad us slam duncan whistle go on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Then kick your feet up so you can listen.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's the VC Show. It's the VC Show. It's the
VC Shows the season two. Let's welcome to the VC Show.
I'm your host, VC. The playoffs are still rolling, a
lot of exciting basketball still going on. It has had
(00:45):
us on the edge of our seat. So we're gonna
dive into that. We're gonna dive into new coaches, coaches
getting extensions, a whole lot of basketball talk. So kick
your feet up. The VC Show starts now what they wanted,
then said, what up everybody? Now that the finals are set.
(01:09):
I would have briefly talked about the Dallas Mavericks and
their season and their resiliency, their getting the job done.
They go up three three nothing, Minnesota gains a little
momentum and they find a way to get the job
done to move on to the finals. Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It says a lot about that that team, staying focused,
living in the moment, But it also says a lot
about their superstars. And I'll be the first to admit
I was very, very curious to see if this duo
would work. That was the elephant in the room in
(01:52):
my opinion. It's just I'm not saying that we me
people wrote Kyrie off more so than my questions were
would it work because of two point guards, ball dominant
guys like the ball in their hands. And at the
same time, I've seen Kyrie make a sacrifice with James
(02:16):
Harden said hey, no, you're the point guard, you handle it.
So he's definitely made that sacrifice. But my other question was,
could Luca buy into allowing another superstar be a decision
maker in the score that they can be for the
good of the team. And he has done that and
(02:36):
look at them now listening to some of Luca's interviews,
he felt disappointed that he let Luca. I'm sorry he
let Kyrie down because of he felt he needed to
play better and I thought that showed growth. And the
one thing that we don't hear often. Yes, some people
say it, I'm not saying I'm the only person that
says this, but Jason Kidd does not get enough credit
(02:57):
for not for them winning and playing well, for his
approach immediately while getting Kyrie, sitting Kyrie down to the table,
whether it's the two of them or the three of them,
meaning Luka, j Kid, and Kyrie laying on the table
and have an understanding of how they're going to go
about this. And I think that is what started the
(03:19):
trust for Kyrie going through the first year, seeing like, Okay,
I understand what you're saying, coach. You think about his
interview in the summer talking about next year, like you
believe like he's going to come back ready to go.
And we still were like, we'll see, we'll see it
sounds good, the honeymoon stations. No, they got it done.
(03:41):
Luka was able to understand when he needed to allow
Kyrie to do his thing, and it seems like they
had like an understanding. Luka kind of gets things started
in the first half and Kyrie still plays well. Kyrie
gets going in the third. In the early parts of
the fourth quarter, we see we will see an aggressive
Kyrie and kind of Luca plays off the ball. Huge growth,
(04:06):
huge growth for him, and it's paid off and I'm
now looking forward to an unbelievable matchup with two duos
that we consider some of the best in the game,
with Kyrie and Luca versus Jason Tatum Jalen Brown. But
the interesting thing is the matchups that we're gonna see
(04:27):
more than anything. Derek White and Drew Holliday are going
to guard, gonna guard both of those guys a lot.
But then they can give you a different look with
Tatum guarding Luca, Jalen Brown guarding Luca, Jaylen Brown with
a taller guy on Kyrie because they've seen Kyrie and
they know hisy and tendencies and how he plays as well,
(04:50):
so from playing with him and seeing him every day.
So it'll be very, very interesting to see the matchups.
And I think BA will have that advantage by saying,
and I mean that by saying, they can throw different
bodies at both of those guys, and I think we'll
(05:12):
see some double teams. I think the one thing that
Minnesota did to get themselves back in the series is
they frustrated. They tried to frustrate Luca a little bit
by double teaming him, knocking them down, knocking them around
a little bit, making him get off the ball, denying
Kyrie and making Gafford, making Lively, making Jones Junior, making
(05:35):
those guys the playmakers and decision makers, which is huge.
Sometimes you got to give tip your hat when Jones
Junior hit a three or two and got to the basket,
But like, can they sustain that because that's not what
they do game in and game out, That's not their
role if you would. They tried to change it up,
and then the MAVs j Kid, Luka, Kyrie, they adjusted
(05:58):
and that's why they're here. So yeah, it's gonna game one,
game two, I think, I honestly feel like game two,
game three. Maybe the game three's when we'll kind of
see all the adjustments. I mean, obviously there will there
be more and where do you go from here? But
game one is going to be a feel out who's
going to guard, who how you can guard, because I
(06:18):
think Dallas won't be able to crack the code of
Boston until Luca and Kyrie has seen the matchups of
those four guys that I need, and they'll probably see more,
but once they got to see what it looks like
when they're going against those four guys individually is when
Dallas can really adjust and possibly take off diving into
(06:43):
Dallas and the importance of Jason Kidd. I got the
opportunity to play with JA Kid, and I understand how
valuable he is as a player. His knowledge of the game.
We all knew about the Kid vision. If you know,
for you young or you young people, you probably don't
(07:04):
know about the Jkid vision. But he could see the
game the play before it happened, and he put me
in positions to where I was able to shine and succeed,
which is probably why my jersey is getting retired now
because of him. I really believe that. Shout out to
j Kid, But I think I'm going to start with Luca.
(07:25):
I thought his hire for for for the MAVs was
essential to Luca's growth, and I talked about could Luca
buy into playing off the ball and allowing another superstar
player to be to do their thing to make the
game easier for him. Check he has done that. I
(07:49):
thought he also was great for Kyrie one. Kyrie Respectshim
were talking about a Hall of Fame point guard, super
successful at the position. Even j Kidd with me, you know,
I talked about being an elite point guard and a
(08:10):
great decision maker. It was times where he got off
the ball allowed me to be the ball handler, to
make plays in situations, and he was a shooting guard.
So he's been there, he's seen it all, he's done
it all. He's been in all of these positions. Even
playing in the Olympic team with the Kobe d Wade Lebron,
he understood how to there I use empower but allowing
(08:34):
these guys to be themselves and giving them the ball
in their hands and saying, hey, I'll play off the ball.
And he did that and teams were successful. And I thought,
you know, and I mentioned it earlier and I'll say
it again, Jay kidds value of being upfront, being a
point guard, being able to navigate through players and understanding
how to coach that individual player. Sitting Kyrie down, having
(08:59):
a heart to heart conversation on his growth, their expectations,
and what the future could look like if everybody could
buy in. And everybody has bought in. And I also think,
like a lot of people have said, but when they
drafted Lively, I said, oh, that's gonna be a huge
(09:20):
pickup for them because of his live and active body
before he went down with his injury, getting knee kicked,
beat up, punched in the face, the whole nine. His
activity on the screen, to the screen, to the role,
to the lib set up everything for him. Not that
Gaffert was not doing it, but it was. It was
(09:42):
tough for Minnesota to guard. Then you go and get
a gaffer. So now maybe Lively is not having the game,
Maybe he Lively's in foul trouble. You bring another live
body in there that plays the same way, super active
on the glass, creates extra possessions for open threes, like wow,
that was another great pickup. Oh and then you go
(10:03):
even further and go get PJ. Washington, which a lot
of us I played against the young fella and you
knew he's a big guy who could shoot shoot the ball,
but he kind of got lost in the sauce in
in Charlotte. But kudos to Nico Nico Harrison over there.
And you know, the GM seeing a gym, a diamond
of the rough, a piece that would fit their team,
(10:24):
and he's coming to his own and was a great
pickup for him. Toughness, fearless, another score, even though he
did not shoot well in the last series, once he
got the ball going in, he was a difference maker
because he gave them another perimeter score. That's gonna play
hard and play tough. So then you have Derrick Jones Junior,
(10:45):
who I think j kids said, look, I need you
to be athletic. I want you to shoot the ball
when you're open, regardless of makes or not. And you
can see that, like we get caught up into numbers,
and sometimes yes, you can look at the numbers, but
confidence is a mug man. And when you have a
coach that says, regardless of your numbers, I don't care
(11:05):
what the percentage, I couldn't even tell you Derek Jones percentage.
And if I'm on the other team, I'm still gonna
give him that shot. But as a teammate and as
a as a player that your coach says, if you're open,
shoot the damn ball, I don't care about the result.
Shoot it with confidence. We'll deal with the result because
he knows that he's gonna get that shot. So by
telling him to shoot the ball and to be confident
(11:27):
shooting makes a huge difference because I'm if I'm on
the other team and I'm saying, okay, we're gonna make
Derek Jones Junior the shooter. We're gonna make Lively and
Gafford the decision makers. We're hoping that they're hesitant. Oh man,
I'm out of a rhythm or I know, I'm not
supposed to really shoot this one. I'm only supposed shotwo
or three times and they're getting seven eight shots. After
(11:48):
a while, you get you get a little gunshot. But
if my coach is telling me to shoot every time,
well guess what. I'm gonna shoot every time. But when
I see the lane, I'm gonna drive the lane. And
you do it within the reason. And that's what has happened.
And everybody understands their role, which makes the game easy
for Luca and Kyrie because they play off of each
other as well, so they're gonna be a tough out.
(12:09):
I think this is gonna be a fantastic series and
I cannot cannot wait. And I'm not going to give
you a pick yet because i still need to think
this through, so don't ask. And then we have some
interesting parallels in this game, and I'm gonna start on
the other side. Persingus going back to Dallas after that
(12:35):
matchup was after that stint was very very interesting how
that ended. He wanted to have more of a a
more touches and a bigger role, and it just didn't
work out. So I think that's one. Yeah, that's cool,
and I started there because the obviously the bigger conversation,
(12:55):
or I want to say, that's that's that is an
elephant in the room. Kyrie going back to Boston and
what that's gonna look like, sound like, feel like for
him is what has intrigued me because I've been in
that situation before as a New Jersey net going back
(13:18):
to Toronto in the playoffs and he's gonna receive booz
And I've documented this for y'all, like whatever bulls like.
There's no such thing as oh, this is the lot
oft boolls I've ever seen, because that's bs because I
was a part of the lot oft booze ever. But
to take you into that process or what that looks like,
(13:39):
it feels like excitement because you're playing your own, your
old team and trying to gather yourself and not make
it about you and you only because this is not
a regular season game. This is a playoff game, so
try not to get caught up into that. Proving to
(14:01):
a fan arena player on the other team more so
than doing what you've done to get you there, which
is it's tough to do. But the comforting thing about
what Kyrie is going through is there's one guy on
that team that has experienced that. That is Jason Kidd.
(14:26):
Jason Kidd was my teammate going into Toronto when all
that was happening, so he understands that moment. He understands
as a player what that's like and what it was
like for me, and helping me be in the moment.
(14:47):
But feel confident that your teammates have your back. You're
not doing this alone and not allowing me to go
off the beaten path and trying to beat Toronto by myself,
allowing Kyrie to beat tried to beat Boston by himself,
and I think that's a huge advantage for him. Yes,
(15:08):
I want you to be aggressive, and if i'm him,
meaning Jay Kidd, I don't. I wouldn't even run the
first couple of plays for Kyrie. I just let him
just play within the offense, make a play if he
has a drive. If anything, your first shot should be
a drive, because I can tell you my first shot
(15:29):
boy playing against him for the first time, didn't go well,
I felt like I shot an easy shot and I
wanted to make it so bad I airmailed. I missed
the whole darn rim and hit Jerry West on the
other side. And that was just a regular season game.
So obviously the anxiety and just the moment of finals
in itself, and yes, Kyrie has been in the moment,
but this is different when you're playing your old team
(15:51):
and you hear what you're gonna hear out there and
stuff like that. So I would allow a couple of
couple of possessions, maybe a couple of minutes to where
I don't I don't run and play for him and
maybe in the first, you know, the first two games,
and just allow him just to play in the moment
where he can settle down a little bit because he's
(16:12):
gonna hear a lot, see a lot, feel like he's
gonna his emotions are gonna be so high, Like you
can say, he can say what he wants and you
can say, oh it is he he said, He's like,
it's just another game. No, no, no, I've been there,
and we do that, we as players, we do that
for our own good. The approach you wanted to feel
(16:35):
like just another game, but the reality is not just
another game because it's the Finals. It's not just another
game because of how things ended and went in Boston.
So I think he'll be fine, particularly knowing that you
have that other guy by the same of Luka Doncas
up there who can get things going and get you
(16:55):
settled in and you can just ease into the game
as opposed to having to carry the load, which I
think makes things a little a little different and more
difficult for someone in that position. So I'm definitely interested
in seeing both dynamics because for for for for Zingis,
it's still the same thing. Maybe it's not going to
(17:17):
be as high scale, as high of a scale and
draw as much of attention, but it's going to draw
some attention because of that's just how it goes. Like
the MAVs. Remember he was there, and I think Boston
for Zincas, I think it's easier for him than it
is for for Kyrie because he's not the number one,
(17:37):
number two in my opinion, he's the number three, and
the early early in games, they're gonna play through Jalen
and Tatum, but he will benefit by getting some open shots.
But I if if they ask my opinion, ever, I
say drive the ball. I don't care how open three
you are from three for your first couple of shots,
(17:59):
drive the ball, get as close as possible, and work
your way out just because of all of the anxiety
and feeling that's inside of you. It's gonna come out
and you're gonna feel like Hawk Hogan out there when
you're shooting, as opposed to just a finesse player, because
of the emotion and excitement. So I'm interested to kind
(18:19):
of watch that. I'll be watching that closely just because
I've been there and just like to see how they
handle that. But j Kid, more than anybody, has been
there as a player and understands and has seen it all,
so he can kind of direct Kyrie in the right
direction towards this. The Eastern Conference right now is on hiatus.
(18:59):
Why because the Boston Celtics did what they're supposed to
do and they got the sweep. And yes it was
a sweep, and I think a lot of you, even
if you're a Boston fan or not, you will agree
it was a very entertaining series. The Indiana Pacers were undermanned,
(19:19):
they had guys down, and they still stepped up and
made it a series. I think, you know, there's a
lot of teams and I've said this on a couple
of episodes with some of our guests and otherwise that
you look at teams like the the Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, Pacers, Timberwolves.
(19:48):
A lot of these young teams who are getting experience
have one games or one series. This is huge experience
for their superstars going into next year, and it's gonna
make it even more interesting because there's teams like the
Memphis Grizzlies who aren't in the playoffs this year, who
are trying to get healthy. Uh you know, the Miami
(20:09):
Heat who are banged up and injured. Le's see what
happens with them. The Clippers, like, you know, they're gonna
have the experienced teams, and then you're gonna have these
young teams who now understand what the playoffs are like,
understand how you must play to win playoff series round
a round and as you move forward. And so I
(20:30):
think the Pacers are going to be a very scary
team next year because of this. And you know, shout
out to Nie Smith, who was fantastic on both ends
of the floor, Nim Hart who I think got an
opportunity to elevate his game to the next level, being
that Halliburton went out and did not play games three.
(20:51):
In games four, and he shined and kept them afloat
and almost got them a win in game four, losing three.
The young rookie Shepherd, I thought, being that he'd never
been there before. All those guys never been there before.
You could see the young mistakes, first time mistakes as you,
(21:16):
like I said, as you move into deep into the playoffs,
turnovers are magnified to the next level, and I think
turnovers hurt the Indiana Pacers three of the four games
which they should have won. I think game two they
were blown out, but Game one, three and four, I
felt the Indiana Pacers had the game in hand. We
(21:41):
recall a simple inbounds play, late game turnovers by their
go to guys superstars. I know Siakam had a turnover,
a big turnover in each of those games that they
should have won. The turnover getting the ball in. I
think that was game one, late game execution, so on
(22:03):
and so forth. It's just those are the things that
they will learn to settle in a little more. You
can see the more experienced team in the Boston Celtics,
and shout out to the Boston Celtics who for taking
the Pacers' best punch. There were times where Jason Tatum
didn't play his best basketball, but the experience that they have.
(22:25):
Jalen Brown is a number two guy that lives for
that opportunity when their number one guy isn't playing. He's like,
I got it, let me handle this, and he's done that.
He did that is why he deservingly in my opinion,
I know it could have gone either way. You know,
won the award for I guess the most valuable Player.
(22:48):
I mean, he played like it, he was most consistent,
But the hero in my opinion was Drew Holliday. Drew
Holliday by far showed his value to this team for
both teams. He shows his value in general, and I
think any team that he goes to he will adapt
(23:09):
and be just what we saw, a score when you
need him. And obviously on defense, he's gonna make the
big play just like he did for the Milwaukee Bucks
to help them get a championship. And I think the Bucks,
regardless of them making the trade and getting a lot
of scoring, they miss him. Tremendously on the defensive end
(23:31):
because of just his intangibles and the things that he
brings to the table that you do not see on
the stat sheet. That still that he got Game three,
if I'm not mistaken, falls down, gets back in the
defensive states, able to slide, guess correctly, get to steal
without a foul, and seal the game. You say, oh,
(23:54):
he's not a great score, he doesn't score much whatever,
but guess what he had twenty eight points I think
in that game and another big scoring night Game four,
close out game. So when he drew Holliday is most valuable.
And I heard whispers, don't shoot the messager, but I
heard he was one of the first guys called to
be on the Olympic team because of his value on
(24:18):
both sides of the ball. He's a point guard that
can get guys, put guys in position, and then obviously
you know what he can do on the defensive end.
I think on the other side, Halliburton and Obi Topping.
I didn't mention Obi toppin the growth that he's gotten.
We just we could see how comfortable he was. They
(24:40):
played through him, Pascal Siakam, Miles Turner, They have so
many guys that I think learned a lot and they
couldn't get over the hump. But I'll tell you what.
I got to give my shout out to coach Rick Carlisle.
I played for him in Dallas, for him to have
his particular style and the way he wants to play,
(25:01):
and being able to buy into a new style of play,
the new generation, and getting those guys to buy into him.
They score a lot of points and you would think
they played isolate some basketball, which yes they do. But
at the same time, that ball moves. That ball moves,
and that's a lot of it. Because of Halliburton and
his unselfishness, I think he's gonna learn how to be
(25:25):
a scorer and distributor because I think they needed his
scoring in the first In the first game or two,
it drove me crazy because he would get in there.
He's just a setup artist. He's just used to it,
finding guys, finding guys. But it was at a point
they needed him to score, needed him to score, and
he was kind of not looking at the basket, and
once he decided to do so, it made a difference,
(25:47):
a huge difference, and in making a push into trying
to win. So I looked, I mean, we saw that
in against the Knicks. That's another team. I didn't even
mention the Knicks. Look Out for the Knicks next year,
and I'll be interested to see what the summer looks
like because there will be a lot of moving parts,
not only for these young teams, but in teams in general.
(26:10):
We're hearing, obviously Jimmy Butler possibly moving. We're hearing PG
possibly going somewhere. So many sorrys. That's the two guys
that I think right now are valuable pieces to teams
that can go and put them over to hump. So
we gotta stay tuned with that. But I would to
(26:32):
go back and I think about the Pacers and I
said how they were in every game and just did
not get over the hump. I think about my first
playoffs with the Toronto Raptors against the Knicks, more experienced
team I saw. I saw double teams and some triple teams,
and we were in games and mind you, I don't
(26:52):
remember the score and I don't know the comparison in
point differential, but at the same time, I felt like
we were in some game and our lack of experience
and them putting pression on me, making other guys beat me.
T Mac had an unbelievable series and I had to
work extremely hard to get a bucket, make a play,
(27:14):
find guys that were open while trying to maneuver in
those situations. And seeing that, we watched Denver do that
to end. Edwards put two guys, sometimes three guys on
him where he struggled and he had to make plays
for everyone else. And you have to kind of trust
(27:36):
in your teammates in the simple fact of that they'll
make the right you will make the right play, and
they'll make a bucket for you, because if you get
off the ball and those guys make shots, it opens
the door for him. And that happened for me. Year two,
where I was experienced, we got to play the knicks
again and I was prepared for it, and I was
(27:57):
settled in because I understood stood the dying mix of
the playoffs and seeing those doubled and triple teams and
not only making the right play, but I made quicker decisions.
And that's what I think will continue to learn, and
I just think the young pacers will learned that as well,
being a little more decisive in different situations and not
settling or holder onto the ball too long, and then
(28:22):
I jump into the other side. I dive in to
the Celtics. You know, it's easy to say, if you're
the Celtics, you want to get this series over with.
And we talked about Game three, sorry, game four. That
was what was important. Obviously, trying to get Prozingis back,
getting him as healthy as possible in rhythm, which is
(28:43):
to me impossible to do because the only way you
get in rhythm and get in game shape is to
play the game. So I Expectzingis to his minutes to
be monitored, probably short stints throughout the finals, but he's
gonna play a huge factor in Boston's success and quest
(29:06):
to win a championship. And Boston now having nine days
off until they play again. It's kind of a gift
in the curse, and I think Boston would always say, yes,
we're gonna get our guys healthy, rested and ready to go.
And then you have to find that finals energy. You
(29:26):
have to find that first game energy, that hit first mentality.
I mean, obviously they'll be on their home court, so
you'll get the energy of the crowd, but sometimes you
get a little too hyped and you wear down. So
nine days is I think a week five days would
be enough. And I think now you get antsy and
(29:46):
ready to play again. And so what as a coach,
what do you do? Simulation? You got to try to
simulate these moments, so you want to play pick up
a little bit. And as a coach, you're over there
crossing your fingers that you don't get anybody injured by
any means. So everybody has to be careful on how
they go about it because you need guys ready to
play more so than trying to prove a point in
(30:08):
practice prepping for the finals. I think back to twenty ten,
nine to ten with the Magic, We we did some damage.
We swept the first two rounds. I think we swept
the Atlanta Hawks, then we went on to sweep the
Charlotte Bobcats. At the time, and the first question was
(30:34):
after the first week, how would we react and handle
ourselves into the second round, which I thought we did
a great job because the team prior to me getting
there had just left the finals, so they understood the
lack of focus. I'm sorry, they understood the focus and
(30:55):
not really getting caught in the moment and every game
counted and being prepared for me. I think even if
they were a little lack of days ago, here's me
getting the opportunity to kind of move on. I was
ready to go. So we had different people who could
step up and kind of bring our team. But we
were locked and focus and got into Game one against
(31:16):
the Boston Celtics in the Conference finals and I thought
we got we got ahead of ourselves. I think we
had our chance poked out a little bit and Boston
hit us in the mouth, and we thought we were
invincible going eight in a row, and felt like we
knew it was gonna be a challenge. Don't get me wrong,
(31:36):
but we felt like we could we could compete with anybody,
which we did. We ended up losing in six Boston.
Boston moves on to the finals. So for the Celtics
this year, I just think they're focus. I think their
focus because of the fact that they've been there before.
Al Horford I think told the story to me in
his interviews, like I'm ready for this, They're waiting for
(31:59):
the They're chomping at the big ready for the moment.
You know when you're right around the when it's right
around the corner, the opportunity, you're ready to go and
you're gonna do what you have to do. They're experiencing.
They're not a young team, so I think they'll be
fine and they're gonna be a tough out. Moving on
(32:33):
to other topics, let's talk about some coaches that have
made some headlines, you know, starting with tylu getting the
extension from the Clippers, becoming if I'm if I'm not mistaken,
one of the highest paid coaches ever, well deserved, but
(32:54):
he was one of the guys that was talked about
potentially becoming a Laker, the Lakes head coach and the Clipper,
saidnam Man, And it makes sense if you're if you're
moving into a new building, you want to have your
coach established, particularly that the fans are very are familiar
with already players that they're familiar with hit the ground,
(33:16):
hitting the ground running, and they're going to do that.
He's a He's one of the best coaches in the
game right now. Very he's proven, and I think they
made the right decision on not allowing any thoughts of
ty lou leaving, particularly going into that Laker locker room
with transition into JJ Reddick being the front runner for
(33:40):
the head coaches sounding like he's potentially the guy to
get that job. So, uh, it's just interesting to me.
You fire a coach to get, you know, with who
gained experience, had some success, and then you go and
get a guy who is with with who doesn't have
(34:05):
any experience coach. He's a smart guy. He knows this stuff,
you know, he knows the game. It's different obviously being
the coach. So it's just interesting that that's the avenue
they chose. I feel like when you're you have a
guy like a Lebron James, uh, and you're trying to
take advantage of his window and what's left you go
get an experienced coach. But uh, j J is showing
(34:30):
that he he's very he's he's a smart guy, and
I guess they feel like he's very capable. We don't know,
you know, so it's not knocking. It's like, we just
don't know. So I'm just interested to see how that
works and if he becomes the head coach of that team,
I'm curious to see. And I know we've heard Lebron
(34:53):
is out of the process and not in the decision making,
but I hope Anthony Davis is in this process because
the next year or two, or whenever Lebron chooses to
walk away from this game, Anthony Davis is going to
be your guy. And you hope that he and JJ
(35:15):
Reddick or whoever the coach is has a good rapport
and get along and have a great understanding, because he's
the guy now that has to he's the voice. He
will be the franchise guy and the guy that you're
going to play through. So I'm curious to see what
JJ uses as an offense. It goes about it like he's,
(35:36):
like I said, he knows the game and I'm sure
he has an idea. And I'm curious to see if
JJ gets a job, who he has on his staff,
because I feel like that's extremely important because JJ's going
to have a lot of responsibility as a new coach,
and it's just like being a rookie coming into the league.
Everything's going to go one hundred miles an hour and
you're still trying to figure out what works, what does it,
(35:58):
what you like, what you don't like, how you go
about it as a coach, and feelings and anxiety, the
all of this stuff, you know, goes into coaching as well,
So you're gonna have he's gonna need a great assistant
in staff in general, but first assistant to really help
with the process, a calming voice, and a decision maker
(36:22):
sometimes where you're not quite sure on what direction you
want to go, because like we can, we can sit
here and say in different situations, hey, that's what this
is what I would have done, this is what I
would do, and then we tend to forget about situations.
We don't think about whether it's a like offense defense situation,
(36:42):
utilizing your timeouts or to review plays, all of this stuff.
Like when you're in the moment, like that's when you're
hit with it and you're like, I never really thought
about it. But you have that coach who's been there
before who can make those decisions to help help you along.
I know Jason Kidd when he first got the job,
literally from playing his last game to becoming a head coach.
(37:05):
I soluted it because that's tough to do where you
don't have any experience. Obviously, he's very smart, understands the
game like JJ does, but he had Lawrence Frank, our
former coach, as his first assistant, who's been there, who
has who had been to the finals twice who understood
every aspect which helped him understand the coaching chair and
(37:29):
help him slowly go through it. While having that guy
is important. So I'll be interested to see who his
first assistant and his coaching staff in general is. So
we have to stay tuned. So, yeah, those are my
thoughts on that. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts
and what you think about that. I think always the
coaching decision for an organization is whether is rather interesting
(37:52):
and why did that go in that direction? What they're
thinking about? And you know, we can easily say this
guy hasn't had experience, you know, and then we draw
comparisons to other coaches and who who hasn't had success?
And you know, we shall see. But I know I
need some experience before I take a coaching job. But anyway,
I appreciate you guys listening once again, continue to tune
(38:15):
in week after week, interesting topics. We're going to dive
into the playoffs that higher and Kyrie and and persingus
what's been going on. So stay tuned, Man the VC
show Man, it has been a great we out of here.
Let's go
It's the VC Show. It's the VC Show. It's the
VC Show. It's the season dude, let's see show season two. Yeah,
we back again, got the world coon in there for show.
So go and tell a friends my heart got me
on the squad us slam duncan whistle go on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Then kick your feet up so you can listen.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's the VC Show. It's the VC Show. It's the
VC Shows the season two. Let's welcome to the VC Show.
I'm your host, VC. The playoffs are still rolling, a
lot of exciting basketball still going on. It has had
(00:45):
us on the edge of our seat. So we're gonna
dive into that. We're gonna dive into new coaches, coaches
getting extensions, a whole lot of basketball talk. So kick
your feet up. The VC Show starts now what they wanted,
then said, what up everybody? Now that the finals are set.
(01:09):
I would have briefly talked about the Dallas Mavericks and
their season and their resiliency, their getting the job done.
They go up three three nothing, Minnesota gains a little
momentum and they find a way to get the job
done to move on to the finals. Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It says a lot about that that team, staying focused,
living in the moment, But it also says a lot
about their superstars. And I'll be the first to admit
I was very, very curious to see if this duo
would work. That was the elephant in the room in
(01:52):
my opinion. It's just I'm not saying that we me
people wrote Kyrie off more so than my questions were
would it work because of two point guards, ball dominant
guys like the ball in their hands. And at the
same time, I've seen Kyrie make a sacrifice with James
(02:16):
Harden said hey, no, you're the point guard, you handle it.
So he's definitely made that sacrifice. But my other question was,
could Luca buy into allowing another superstar be a decision
maker in the score that they can be for the
good of the team. And he has done that and
(02:36):
look at them now listening to some of Luca's interviews,
he felt disappointed that he let Luca. I'm sorry he
let Kyrie down because of he felt he needed to
play better and I thought that showed growth. And the
one thing that we don't hear often. Yes, some people
say it, I'm not saying I'm the only person that
says this, but Jason Kidd does not get enough credit
(02:57):
for not for them winning and playing well, for his
approach immediately while getting Kyrie, sitting Kyrie down to the table,
whether it's the two of them or the three of them,
meaning Luka, j Kid, and Kyrie laying on the table
and have an understanding of how they're going to go
about this. And I think that is what started the
(03:19):
trust for Kyrie going through the first year, seeing like, Okay,
I understand what you're saying, coach. You think about his
interview in the summer talking about next year, like you
believe like he's going to come back ready to go.
And we still were like, we'll see, we'll see it
sounds good, the honeymoon stations. No, they got it done.
(03:41):
Luka was able to understand when he needed to allow
Kyrie to do his thing, and it seems like they
had like an understanding. Luka kind of gets things started
in the first half and Kyrie still plays well. Kyrie
gets going in the third. In the early parts of
the fourth quarter, we see we will see an aggressive
Kyrie and kind of Luca plays off the ball. Huge growth,
(04:06):
huge growth for him, and it's paid off and I'm
now looking forward to an unbelievable matchup with two duos
that we consider some of the best in the game,
with Kyrie and Luca versus Jason Tatum Jalen Brown. But
the interesting thing is the matchups that we're gonna see
(04:27):
more than anything. Derek White and Drew Holliday are going
to guard, gonna guard both of those guys a lot.
But then they can give you a different look with
Tatum guarding Luca, Jalen Brown guarding Luca, Jaylen Brown with
a taller guy on Kyrie because they've seen Kyrie and
they know hisy and tendencies and how he plays as well,
(04:50):
so from playing with him and seeing him every day.
So it'll be very, very interesting to see the matchups.
And I think BA will have that advantage by saying,
and I mean that by saying, they can throw different
bodies at both of those guys, and I think we'll
(05:12):
see some double teams. I think the one thing that
Minnesota did to get themselves back in the series is
they frustrated. They tried to frustrate Luca a little bit
by double teaming him, knocking them down, knocking them around
a little bit, making him get off the ball, denying
Kyrie and making Gafford, making Lively, making Jones Junior, making
(05:35):
those guys the playmakers and decision makers, which is huge.
Sometimes you got to give tip your hat when Jones
Junior hit a three or two and got to the basket,
But like, can they sustain that because that's not what
they do game in and game out, That's not their
role if you would. They tried to change it up,
and then the MAVs j Kid, Luka, Kyrie, they adjusted
(05:58):
and that's why they're here. So yeah, it's gonna game one,
game two, I think, I honestly feel like game two,
game three. Maybe the game three's when we'll kind of
see all the adjustments. I mean, obviously there will there
be more and where do you go from here? But
game one is going to be a feel out who's
going to guard, who how you can guard, because I
(06:18):
think Dallas won't be able to crack the code of
Boston until Luca and Kyrie has seen the matchups of
those four guys that I need, and they'll probably see more,
but once they got to see what it looks like
when they're going against those four guys individually is when
Dallas can really adjust and possibly take off diving into
(06:43):
Dallas and the importance of Jason Kidd. I got the
opportunity to play with JA Kid, and I understand how
valuable he is as a player. His knowledge of the game.
We all knew about the Kid vision. If you know,
for you young or you young people, you probably don't
(07:04):
know about the Jkid vision. But he could see the
game the play before it happened, and he put me
in positions to where I was able to shine and succeed,
which is probably why my jersey is getting retired now
because of him. I really believe that. Shout out to
j Kid, But I think I'm going to start with Luca.
(07:25):
I thought his hire for for for the MAVs was
essential to Luca's growth, and I talked about could Luca
buy into playing off the ball and allowing another superstar
player to be to do their thing to make the
game easier for him. Check he has done that. I
(07:49):
thought he also was great for Kyrie one. Kyrie Respectshim
were talking about a Hall of Fame point guard, super
successful at the position. Even j Kidd with me, you know,
I talked about being an elite point guard and a
(08:10):
great decision maker. It was times where he got off
the ball allowed me to be the ball handler, to
make plays in situations, and he was a shooting guard.
So he's been there, he's seen it all, he's done
it all. He's been in all of these positions. Even
playing in the Olympic team with the Kobe d Wade Lebron,
he understood how to there I use empower but allowing
(08:34):
these guys to be themselves and giving them the ball
in their hands and saying, hey, I'll play off the ball.
And he did that and teams were successful. And I thought,
you know, and I mentioned it earlier and I'll say
it again, Jay kidds value of being upfront, being a
point guard, being able to navigate through players and understanding
how to coach that individual player. Sitting Kyrie down, having
(08:59):
a heart to heart conversation on his growth, their expectations,
and what the future could look like if everybody could
buy in. And everybody has bought in. And I also think,
like a lot of people have said, but when they
drafted Lively, I said, oh, that's gonna be a huge
(09:20):
pickup for them because of his live and active body
before he went down with his injury, getting knee kicked,
beat up, punched in the face, the whole nine. His
activity on the screen, to the screen, to the role,
to the lib set up everything for him. Not that
Gaffert was not doing it, but it was. It was
(09:42):
tough for Minnesota to guard. Then you go and get
a gaffer. So now maybe Lively is not having the game,
Maybe he Lively's in foul trouble. You bring another live
body in there that plays the same way, super active
on the glass, creates extra possessions for open threes, like wow,
that was another great pickup. Oh and then you go
(10:03):
even further and go get PJ. Washington, which a lot
of us I played against the young fella and you
knew he's a big guy who could shoot shoot the ball,
but he kind of got lost in the sauce in
in Charlotte. But kudos to Nico Nico Harrison over there.
And you know, the GM seeing a gym, a diamond
of the rough, a piece that would fit their team,
(10:24):
and he's coming to his own and was a great
pickup for him. Toughness, fearless, another score, even though he
did not shoot well in the last series, once he
got the ball going in, he was a difference maker
because he gave them another perimeter score. That's gonna play
hard and play tough. So then you have Derrick Jones Junior,
(10:45):
who I think j kids said, look, I need you
to be athletic. I want you to shoot the ball
when you're open, regardless of makes or not. And you
can see that, like we get caught up into numbers,
and sometimes yes, you can look at the numbers, but
confidence is a mug man. And when you have a
coach that says, regardless of your numbers, I don't care
(11:05):
what the percentage, I couldn't even tell you Derek Jones percentage.
And if I'm on the other team, I'm still gonna
give him that shot. But as a teammate and as
a as a player that your coach says, if you're open,
shoot the damn ball, I don't care about the result.
Shoot it with confidence. We'll deal with the result because
he knows that he's gonna get that shot. So by
telling him to shoot the ball and to be confident
(11:27):
shooting makes a huge difference because I'm if I'm on
the other team and I'm saying, okay, we're gonna make
Derek Jones Junior the shooter. We're gonna make Lively and
Gafford the decision makers. We're hoping that they're hesitant. Oh man,
I'm out of a rhythm or I know, I'm not
supposed to really shoot this one. I'm only supposed shotwo
or three times and they're getting seven eight shots. After
(11:48):
a while, you get you get a little gunshot. But
if my coach is telling me to shoot every time,
well guess what. I'm gonna shoot every time. But when
I see the lane, I'm gonna drive the lane. And
you do it within the reason. And that's what has happened.
And everybody understands their role, which makes the game easy
for Luca and Kyrie because they play off of each
other as well, so they're gonna be a tough out.
(12:09):
I think this is gonna be a fantastic series and
I cannot cannot wait. And I'm not going to give
you a pick yet because i still need to think
this through, so don't ask. And then we have some
interesting parallels in this game, and I'm gonna start on
the other side. Persingus going back to Dallas after that
(12:35):
matchup was after that stint was very very interesting how
that ended. He wanted to have more of a a
more touches and a bigger role, and it just didn't
work out. So I think that's one. Yeah, that's cool,
and I started there because the obviously the bigger conversation,
(12:55):
or I want to say, that's that's that is an
elephant in the room. Kyrie going back to Boston and
what that's gonna look like, sound like, feel like for
him is what has intrigued me because I've been in
that situation before as a New Jersey net going back
(13:18):
to Toronto in the playoffs and he's gonna receive booz
And I've documented this for y'all, like whatever bulls like.
There's no such thing as oh, this is the lot
oft boolls I've ever seen, because that's bs because I
was a part of the lot oft booze ever. But
to take you into that process or what that looks like,
(13:39):
it feels like excitement because you're playing your own, your
old team and trying to gather yourself and not make
it about you and you only because this is not
a regular season game. This is a playoff game, so
try not to get caught up into that. Proving to
(14:01):
a fan arena player on the other team more so
than doing what you've done to get you there, which
is it's tough to do. But the comforting thing about
what Kyrie is going through is there's one guy on
that team that has experienced that. That is Jason Kidd.
(14:26):
Jason Kidd was my teammate going into Toronto when all
that was happening, so he understands that moment. He understands
as a player what that's like and what it was
like for me, and helping me be in the moment.
(14:47):
But feel confident that your teammates have your back. You're
not doing this alone and not allowing me to go
off the beaten path and trying to beat Toronto by myself,
allowing Kyrie to beat tried to beat Boston by himself,
and I think that's a huge advantage for him. Yes,
(15:08):
I want you to be aggressive, and if i'm him,
meaning Jay Kidd, I don't. I wouldn't even run the
first couple of plays for Kyrie. I just let him
just play within the offense, make a play if he
has a drive. If anything, your first shot should be
a drive, because I can tell you my first shot
(15:29):
boy playing against him for the first time, didn't go well,
I felt like I shot an easy shot and I
wanted to make it so bad I airmailed. I missed
the whole darn rim and hit Jerry West on the
other side. And that was just a regular season game.
So obviously the anxiety and just the moment of finals
in itself, and yes, Kyrie has been in the moment,
but this is different when you're playing your old team
(15:51):
and you hear what you're gonna hear out there and
stuff like that. So I would allow a couple of
couple of possessions, maybe a couple of minutes to where
I don't I don't run and play for him and
maybe in the first, you know, the first two games,
and just allow him just to play in the moment
where he can settle down a little bit because he's
(16:12):
gonna hear a lot, see a lot, feel like he's
gonna his emotions are gonna be so high, Like you
can say, he can say what he wants and you
can say, oh it is he he said, He's like,
it's just another game. No, no, no, I've been there,
and we do that, we as players, we do that
for our own good. The approach you wanted to feel
(16:35):
like just another game, but the reality is not just
another game because it's the Finals. It's not just another
game because of how things ended and went in Boston.
So I think he'll be fine, particularly knowing that you
have that other guy by the same of Luka Doncas
up there who can get things going and get you
(16:55):
settled in and you can just ease into the game
as opposed to having to carry the load, which I
think makes things a little a little different and more
difficult for someone in that position. So I'm definitely interested
in seeing both dynamics because for for for for Zingis,
it's still the same thing. Maybe it's not going to
(17:17):
be as high scale, as high of a scale and
draw as much of attention, but it's going to draw
some attention because of that's just how it goes. Like
the MAVs. Remember he was there, and I think Boston
for Zincas, I think it's easier for him than it
is for for Kyrie because he's not the number one,
(17:37):
number two in my opinion, he's the number three, and
the early early in games, they're gonna play through Jalen
and Tatum, but he will benefit by getting some open shots.
But I if if they ask my opinion, ever, I
say drive the ball. I don't care how open three
you are from three for your first couple of shots,
(17:59):
drive the ball, get as close as possible, and work
your way out just because of all of the anxiety
and feeling that's inside of you. It's gonna come out
and you're gonna feel like Hawk Hogan out there when
you're shooting, as opposed to just a finesse player, because
of the emotion and excitement. So I'm interested to kind
(18:19):
of watch that. I'll be watching that closely just because
I've been there and just like to see how they
handle that. But j Kid, more than anybody, has been
there as a player and understands and has seen it all,
so he can kind of direct Kyrie in the right
direction towards this. The Eastern Conference right now is on hiatus.
(18:59):
Why because the Boston Celtics did what they're supposed to
do and they got the sweep. And yes it was
a sweep, and I think a lot of you, even
if you're a Boston fan or not, you will agree
it was a very entertaining series. The Indiana Pacers were undermanned,
(19:19):
they had guys down, and they still stepped up and
made it a series. I think, you know, there's a
lot of teams and I've said this on a couple
of episodes with some of our guests and otherwise that
you look at teams like the the Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, Pacers, Timberwolves.
(19:48):
A lot of these young teams who are getting experience
have one games or one series. This is huge experience
for their superstars going into next year, and it's gonna
make it even more interesting because there's teams like the
Memphis Grizzlies who aren't in the playoffs this year, who
are trying to get healthy. Uh you know, the Miami
(20:09):
Heat who are banged up and injured. Le's see what
happens with them. The Clippers, like, you know, they're gonna
have the experienced teams, and then you're gonna have these
young teams who now understand what the playoffs are like,
understand how you must play to win playoff series round
a round and as you move forward. And so I
(20:30):
think the Pacers are going to be a very scary
team next year because of this. And you know, shout
out to Nie Smith, who was fantastic on both ends
of the floor, Nim Hart who I think got an
opportunity to elevate his game to the next level, being
that Halliburton went out and did not play games three.
(20:51):
In games four, and he shined and kept them afloat
and almost got them a win in game four, losing three.
The young rookie Shepherd, I thought, being that he'd never
been there before. All those guys never been there before.
You could see the young mistakes, first time mistakes as you,
(21:16):
like I said, as you move into deep into the playoffs,
turnovers are magnified to the next level, and I think
turnovers hurt the Indiana Pacers three of the four games
which they should have won. I think game two they
were blown out, but Game one, three and four, I
felt the Indiana Pacers had the game in hand. We
(21:41):
recall a simple inbounds play, late game turnovers by their
go to guys superstars. I know Siakam had a turnover,
a big turnover in each of those games that they
should have won. The turnover getting the ball in. I
think that was game one, late game execution, so on
(22:03):
and so forth. It's just those are the things that
they will learn to settle in a little more. You
can see the more experienced team in the Boston Celtics,
and shout out to the Boston Celtics who for taking
the Pacers' best punch. There were times where Jason Tatum
didn't play his best basketball, but the experience that they have.
(22:25):
Jalen Brown is a number two guy that lives for
that opportunity when their number one guy isn't playing. He's like,
I got it, let me handle this, and he's done that.
He did that is why he deservingly in my opinion,
I know it could have gone either way. You know,
won the award for I guess the most valuable Player.
(22:48):
I mean, he played like it, he was most consistent,
But the hero in my opinion was Drew Holliday. Drew
Holliday by far showed his value to this team for
both teams. He shows his value in general, and I
think any team that he goes to he will adapt
(23:09):
and be just what we saw, a score when you
need him. And obviously on defense, he's gonna make the
big play just like he did for the Milwaukee Bucks
to help them get a championship. And I think the Bucks,
regardless of them making the trade and getting a lot
of scoring, they miss him. Tremendously on the defensive end
(23:31):
because of just his intangibles and the things that he
brings to the table that you do not see on
the stat sheet. That still that he got Game three,
if I'm not mistaken, falls down, gets back in the
defensive states, able to slide, guess correctly, get to steal
without a foul, and seal the game. You say, oh,
(23:54):
he's not a great score, he doesn't score much whatever,
but guess what he had twenty eight points I think
in that game and another big scoring night Game four,
close out game. So when he drew Holliday is most valuable.
And I heard whispers, don't shoot the messager, but I
heard he was one of the first guys called to
be on the Olympic team because of his value on
(24:18):
both sides of the ball. He's a point guard that
can get guys, put guys in position, and then obviously
you know what he can do on the defensive end.
I think on the other side, Halliburton and Obi Topping.
I didn't mention Obi toppin the growth that he's gotten.
We just we could see how comfortable he was. They
(24:40):
played through him, Pascal Siakam, Miles Turner, They have so
many guys that I think learned a lot and they
couldn't get over the hump. But I'll tell you what.
I got to give my shout out to coach Rick Carlisle.
I played for him in Dallas, for him to have
his particular style and the way he wants to play,
(25:01):
and being able to buy into a new style of play,
the new generation, and getting those guys to buy into him.
They score a lot of points and you would think
they played isolate some basketball, which yes they do. But
at the same time, that ball moves. That ball moves,
and that's a lot of it. Because of Halliburton and
his unselfishness, I think he's gonna learn how to be
(25:25):
a scorer and distributor because I think they needed his
scoring in the first In the first game or two,
it drove me crazy because he would get in there.
He's just a setup artist. He's just used to it,
finding guys, finding guys. But it was at a point
they needed him to score, needed him to score, and
he was kind of not looking at the basket, and
once he decided to do so, it made a difference,
(25:47):
a huge difference, and in making a push into trying
to win. So I looked, I mean, we saw that
in against the Knicks. That's another team. I didn't even
mention the Knicks. Look Out for the Knicks next year,
and I'll be interested to see what the summer looks
like because there will be a lot of moving parts,
not only for these young teams, but in teams in general.
(26:10):
We're hearing, obviously Jimmy Butler possibly moving. We're hearing PG
possibly going somewhere. So many sorrys. That's the two guys
that I think right now are valuable pieces to teams
that can go and put them over to hump. So
we gotta stay tuned with that. But I would to
(26:32):
go back and I think about the Pacers and I
said how they were in every game and just did
not get over the hump. I think about my first
playoffs with the Toronto Raptors against the Knicks, more experienced
team I saw. I saw double teams and some triple teams,
and we were in games and mind you, I don't
(26:52):
remember the score and I don't know the comparison in
point differential, but at the same time, I felt like
we were in some game and our lack of experience
and them putting pression on me, making other guys beat me.
T Mac had an unbelievable series and I had to
work extremely hard to get a bucket, make a play,
(27:14):
find guys that were open while trying to maneuver in
those situations. And seeing that, we watched Denver do that
to end. Edwards put two guys, sometimes three guys on
him where he struggled and he had to make plays
for everyone else. And you have to kind of trust
(27:36):
in your teammates in the simple fact of that they'll
make the right you will make the right play, and
they'll make a bucket for you, because if you get
off the ball and those guys make shots, it opens
the door for him. And that happened for me. Year two,
where I was experienced, we got to play the knicks
again and I was prepared for it, and I was
(27:57):
settled in because I understood stood the dying mix of
the playoffs and seeing those doubled and triple teams and
not only making the right play, but I made quicker decisions.
And that's what I think will continue to learn, and
I just think the young pacers will learned that as well,
being a little more decisive in different situations and not
settling or holder onto the ball too long, and then
(28:22):
I jump into the other side. I dive in to
the Celtics. You know, it's easy to say, if you're
the Celtics, you want to get this series over with.
And we talked about Game three, sorry, game four. That
was what was important. Obviously, trying to get Prozingis back,
getting him as healthy as possible in rhythm, which is
(28:43):
to me impossible to do because the only way you
get in rhythm and get in game shape is to
play the game. So I Expectzingis to his minutes to
be monitored, probably short stints throughout the finals, but he's
gonna play a huge factor in Boston's success and quest
(29:06):
to win a championship. And Boston now having nine days
off until they play again. It's kind of a gift
in the curse, and I think Boston would always say, yes,
we're gonna get our guys healthy, rested and ready to go.
And then you have to find that finals energy. You
(29:26):
have to find that first game energy, that hit first mentality.
I mean, obviously they'll be on their home court, so
you'll get the energy of the crowd, but sometimes you
get a little too hyped and you wear down. So
nine days is I think a week five days would
be enough. And I think now you get antsy and
(29:46):
ready to play again. And so what as a coach,
what do you do? Simulation? You got to try to
simulate these moments, so you want to play pick up
a little bit. And as a coach, you're over there
crossing your fingers that you don't get anybody injured by
any means. So everybody has to be careful on how
they go about it because you need guys ready to
play more so than trying to prove a point in
(30:08):
practice prepping for the finals. I think back to twenty ten,
nine to ten with the Magic, We we did some damage.
We swept the first two rounds. I think we swept
the Atlanta Hawks, then we went on to sweep the
Charlotte Bobcats. At the time, and the first question was
(30:34):
after the first week, how would we react and handle
ourselves into the second round, which I thought we did
a great job because the team prior to me getting
there had just left the finals, so they understood the
lack of focus. I'm sorry, they understood the focus and
(30:55):
not really getting caught in the moment and every game
counted and being prepared for me. I think even if
they were a little lack of days ago, here's me
getting the opportunity to kind of move on. I was
ready to go. So we had different people who could
step up and kind of bring our team. But we
were locked and focus and got into Game one against
(31:16):
the Boston Celtics in the Conference finals and I thought
we got we got ahead of ourselves. I think we
had our chance poked out a little bit and Boston
hit us in the mouth, and we thought we were
invincible going eight in a row, and felt like we
knew it was gonna be a challenge. Don't get me wrong,
(31:36):
but we felt like we could we could compete with anybody,
which we did. We ended up losing in six Boston.
Boston moves on to the finals. So for the Celtics
this year, I just think they're focus. I think their
focus because of the fact that they've been there before.
Al Horford I think told the story to me in
his interviews, like I'm ready for this, They're waiting for
(31:59):
the They're chomping at the big ready for the moment.
You know when you're right around the when it's right
around the corner, the opportunity, you're ready to go and
you're gonna do what you have to do. They're experiencing.
They're not a young team, so I think they'll be
fine and they're gonna be a tough out. Moving on
(32:33):
to other topics, let's talk about some coaches that have
made some headlines, you know, starting with tylu getting the
extension from the Clippers, becoming if I'm if I'm not mistaken,
one of the highest paid coaches ever, well deserved, but
(32:54):
he was one of the guys that was talked about
potentially becoming a Laker, the Lakes head coach and the Clipper,
saidnam Man, And it makes sense if you're if you're
moving into a new building, you want to have your
coach established, particularly that the fans are very are familiar
with already players that they're familiar with hit the ground,
(33:16):
hitting the ground running, and they're going to do that.
He's a He's one of the best coaches in the
game right now. Very he's proven, and I think they
made the right decision on not allowing any thoughts of
ty lou leaving, particularly going into that Laker locker room
with transition into JJ Reddick being the front runner for
(33:40):
the head coaches sounding like he's potentially the guy to
get that job. So, uh, it's just interesting to me.
You fire a coach to get, you know, with who
gained experience, had some success, and then you go and
get a guy who is with with who doesn't have
(34:05):
any experience coach. He's a smart guy. He knows this stuff,
you know, he knows the game. It's different obviously being
the coach. So it's just interesting that that's the avenue
they chose. I feel like when you're you have a
guy like a Lebron James, uh, and you're trying to
take advantage of his window and what's left you go
get an experienced coach. But uh, j J is showing
(34:30):
that he he's very he's he's a smart guy, and
I guess they feel like he's very capable. We don't know,
you know, so it's not knocking. It's like, we just
don't know. So I'm just interested to see how that
works and if he becomes the head coach of that team,
I'm curious to see. And I know we've heard Lebron
(34:53):
is out of the process and not in the decision making,
but I hope Anthony Davis is in this process because
the next year or two, or whenever Lebron chooses to
walk away from this game, Anthony Davis is going to
be your guy. And you hope that he and JJ
(35:15):
Reddick or whoever the coach is has a good rapport
and get along and have a great understanding, because he's
the guy now that has to he's the voice. He
will be the franchise guy and the guy that you're
going to play through. So I'm curious to see what
JJ uses as an offense. It goes about it like he's,
(35:36):
like I said, he knows the game and I'm sure
he has an idea. And I'm curious to see if
JJ gets a job, who he has on his staff,
because I feel like that's extremely important because JJ's going
to have a lot of responsibility as a new coach,
and it's just like being a rookie coming into the league.
Everything's going to go one hundred miles an hour and
you're still trying to figure out what works, what does it,
(35:58):
what you like, what you don't like, how you go
about it as a coach, and feelings and anxiety, the
all of this stuff, you know, goes into coaching as well,
So you're gonna have he's gonna need a great assistant
in staff in general, but first assistant to really help
with the process, a calming voice, and a decision maker
(36:22):
sometimes where you're not quite sure on what direction you
want to go, because like we can, we can sit
here and say in different situations, hey, that's what this
is what I would have done, this is what I
would do, and then we tend to forget about situations.
We don't think about whether it's a like offense defense situation,
(36:42):
utilizing your timeouts or to review plays, all of this stuff.
Like when you're in the moment, like that's when you're
hit with it and you're like, I never really thought
about it. But you have that coach who's been there
before who can make those decisions to help help you along.
I know Jason Kidd when he first got the job,
literally from playing his last game to becoming a head coach.
(37:05):
I soluted it because that's tough to do where you
don't have any experience. Obviously, he's very smart, understands the
game like JJ does, but he had Lawrence Frank, our
former coach, as his first assistant, who's been there, who
has who had been to the finals twice who understood
every aspect which helped him understand the coaching chair and
(37:29):
help him slowly go through it. While having that guy
is important. So I'll be interested to see who his
first assistant and his coaching staff in general is. So
we have to stay tuned. So, yeah, those are my
thoughts on that. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts
and what you think about that. I think always the
coaching decision for an organization is whether is rather interesting
(37:52):
and why did that go in that direction? What they're
thinking about? And you know, we can easily say this
guy hasn't had experience, you know, and then we draw
comparisons to other coaches and who who hasn't had success?
And you know, we shall see. But I know I
need some experience before I take a coaching job. But anyway,
I appreciate you guys listening once again, continue to tune
(38:15):
in week after week, interesting topics. We're going to dive
into the playoffs that higher and Kyrie and and persingus
what's been going on. So stay tuned, Man the VC
show Man, it has been a great we out of here.
Let's go
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