June 14, 2024 • 41 mins
John Rhadigan and Nate Newton dive into the excitement of the upcoming NFL training camp, discussing contract extensions for Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb and analyzing the Cowboys' offseason moves. Nate emphasizes the need for a dynamic running back while highlighting the importance of veteran leadership and effective coaching.
Switching courts, they break down the Dallas Mavericks' playoff performance, focusing on the crucial role of defense. The duo discusses the Celtics' defensive tactics against the Mavericks, Luka Dončić’s controversial foul call, and the influence of superstars on the game.
The episode wraps up with heartfelt tributes to basketball legends Jerry West and Robert Hughes. Tune in for insightful analysis, passionate discussions, and a celebration of sports icons!
#CowboysCamp #NFL #MavsPlayoffs #DefenseWins #Tributes #SportsTalk
Switching courts, they break down the Dallas Mavericks' playoff performance, focusing on the crucial role of defense. The duo discusses the Celtics' defensive tactics against the Mavericks, Luka Dončić’s controversial foul call, and the influence of superstars on the game.
The episode wraps up with heartfelt tributes to basketball legends Jerry West and Robert Hughes. Tune in for insightful analysis, passionate discussions, and a celebration of sports icons!
#CowboysCamp #NFL #MavsPlayoffs #DefenseWins #Tributes #SportsTalk
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Hey, everybody, here we areagain. It's me John Ragan with the
great Nate Newton. Number sixty onein your hearts, No number one in
your hearts. He was sixty oneon the field and he's here because we
do this little show called What Nate. Let me tell you something, and
after this show, maybe he's sixtyone in your hearts. It's a truth.
(00:31):
It's the truth because Nate, andhe's been this way almost his whole
life. He's a Celtics fan.Yes, so you know, people watching
this may not align a lot withwhat Nate's saying, but we're going to
get into all that. We bothdigested Game three last night, probably in
different ways, but we'll get intoall that, and we'll talk a little
(00:51):
bit about the Cowboys. Of courseNate's team since he was ten years old
too, because they're getting ready togo and not that close, but getting
ready to go to training camp.Nate, this month between when you had
your last mini camp and when youhave training camp, is that a great
month for NFL players because you knowit's your last bit of freedom if you
(01:17):
will for a while. Or whatdo you remember about the month of June.
I remember it was like two anda half weeks, maybe three weeks
off. It wasn't a month,month and a half or six weeks off.
A lot can happen, good,bad, or indifferent. If you're
a rookie, you want to behanging around the facilities. You want to
(01:38):
be getting everything you can in.You want to be trying to watch a
little film into your playbooks. Soif you're a veteran guy, you put
the finishing touches on what you gotto do and who you are. You
know, But a guy like mewho was had a weight problem, I
had to be real cap for duringthis time. I had to make sure
I kept some type of regid going. When you have a new coach and
(02:04):
you know that that gives you alittle bit of anxiety, especially for your
first year, second year guy.You're trying to solidify yourself and who you
are, so you want to betrying to get into that playbook, do
the right things. A lot ofkids don't understand get that family time in
at the beginning when they first giveyou off of the mandatory mini camp is
(02:29):
over them first two weeks. Goand be with your family, then come
back and start back your regiment soyou can roll into camp in some type
of shape. Don't do it theother way. Don't don't continue to work
out. Then take two weeks offand hang out with your family because it's
(02:52):
gonna be about fun, it's gonnabe about having a good time, it's
gonna be about relaxing, and it'sgonna be hard to get up and work
out though those two weeks, andso you may lose some of that edge
and some of that uh that uhthat get up and go. So you
don't want that. I mean,now, some guys had that perfect body,
that perfect metabolism, they can dothat, but most guys can't.
(03:15):
So you know, when you firstbreak that mandatory, that last mandatory mini
camp, you want to make surethat you get with the family to have
fun, travel, do what yougotta do. And then uh, about
two weeks left, you want youwant to put that fine edge on on
that thing so you can be mentallyready for camp. So, uh,
(03:36):
did your career start early enough towhere there were still guys you know,
because back in the day, guyscame to training camp to get in shape.
Right, Yeah, a lot ofthem work does a dead gum insurance
salesman or whatever in the off season. Yes, they came to training camp
to get in shape. Uh doyou remember that happening or by the yeah
(03:57):
you were in Yes you do.I called the tail end of when you
spent eight six to eight weeks incamp, two weeks with the rookies by
themselves, and then about a weekand a half later the veterans come in
start trickling in and then you know, they'll start trickling like you about that
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, getthemselves settled in in that Monday the real
(04:20):
training camp start, because now youwill go from getting one hundred percent of
the reps to maybe getting ten percentof the reps because they got they got
to get getting these guys in shape, and the coaches knew who was gonna
come in there right and ready togo and who wasn't, you know,
depending on the position and who theplayer was. So go ahead on,
(04:43):
I'm sorry. Did you did youfrom the get go have to spend this
time, like you say, beingreally careful managing the weight and stuff like
that, or did that happen alittle later on in your career. The
first time I ever came to aCowboys training camp, I was about three
point forty. Oh yeah, youknow, and then after that, you
(05:05):
know, it just was I wasyoung. I was having fun, man,
I was enjoying myself. So butas time went on, I got
better about my conditioning because I gotolder and you can't get to wait off
as quick or as fast, andso you know, your bones hurt a
(05:25):
little longer, so you you kindof be a little bit more careful as
you get older. All right,So in this final month before training camp
begins, do you believe, Nate, that we could expect progress, Let's
face it, not just progress,but could we see either Back or CD
(05:46):
get that extension that they both eitherdeserve or in the case of CD,
he definitely deserves it, but alsoreally wants it. You know, I
never try to guess what mister Jonesis doing. You I'm one of the
few guys that don't know. Youknow, they say, okay, I
know Jerry speak. I don't knowJerry speak. I know this about mister
(06:09):
Jones and his guys that he workedwith, and his son and his family
is that they can pick times toexplode on the scene. So if doing
that CD right now, who reallycares? But let something big jump,
(06:29):
you know, something big happen rightbefore a training camp. All of a
sudden, you'll see the CD Lambdeal done. You'll see the dam deal
done. I mean, they knowhow to capture the scene, take away
the glory from something else to addon to them. Oh yeah, by
the way, the Cowboys have donethis. You know, we never really
hear that during the off season orwhen it's a lull and things. They
(06:53):
don't want to be the explosion.They want to be the enhanswer to the
explosion. So yeah, yeah,so I mean I'm not looking for anything
to get done right now. Butyou know, let's say training camp has
started and you know, and theyneeded that big bang. Oh we got
Ceedee Lamb sign. He'll be intomorrow Da da da da, and they'll
capture the world. You know,And that's just how you do it.
(07:15):
Yeah, And because it's true,because you know, you said, who
cares if they sign? I meanthe reality is I'm not sure Dak's too
worried. But CD cares, right, I mean, yeah, he has
been holding up. He cares.That's who cares if they signed. When
you've had one or two contracts likeDak, you know, even if it
don't get done. He one hundredand forty fifty million in the hole within
(07:38):
the bank CD. You know,I'm not saying he saved his dollars or
don't have his dollars that he's madeover the years, but man, he
finna go from ten eleven mil fivemillion a year to possibly twenty six twenty
seven million a year. Woo.Yeah yeah, with a big signing bonus
of probably sixty mil. Yes,sir, Yeah, that sets you up
(08:01):
for life right there, It suredoes so, uh yeah. To your
point, though, a lot oftimes in sports, once the uh even
once the training camp begins, guysdon't want to deal with it anymore.
Certainly, once the regular season begins, they don't want to deal with it
anymore. They'll be like, let'sjust do it after the season now.
But I do remember to your point, I can't remember if we were in
(08:22):
uh in Japan or maybe Mexico Citysomewhere. I'm pretty sure we were in
a foreign country when the Cowboys announcedthat Pop had signed his latest new deal.
Do you remember that? Yeah?Yeah, I remember that. And
like I say, you know,we was in a foreign land, But
it won't only that. We wasgetting out the plane and you know,
(08:45):
and and and and and the thingwas big because the cowboys coming now,
they gave it. They just addedsome nitrol glistening to that dynamite man and
took it over the top. Sothat's what mister Jones them do. You
know. I'm not saying it's calculated, but it always seemed at the right
time. So uh uh see,you know, uh, Dank, I'm
(09:07):
a little hesitant. That's a lota lot of money for a guy that
needs a whole lot of people aroundhim, uh uh to to help him,
you know. So and I'm notsaying every quarterback don't need weapons,
you know, but you know,uh, he's not my homes he's not
(09:28):
Aaron Rodgers. I don't care.And uh you know, I ain't gotta
walk around to me. I lovethat, I love that. I'm a
Cowboy fan, so I'm down withDak. But uh, we just need
to know that with all this money, man, if we do have some
big gaping holes, he got tocover them up and cover them up not
even thinking twice about it. Yeah, yeah, it's a great point.
(09:50):
And it's also a huge percentage themoney right that that they're allowed to spend.
If you if you give Dak thisnew content track. Man, that's
a big percentage of how much moneyyou have available. Yes, yes,
and uh you know you can beall in, but who all in on
(10:11):
one guy? Nah? Yeah?Yeah? All right. So, uh
then when training camp does get goingthis time around, uh, you know,
I assume the players, like likeeverybody around here in the in the
media world for sure, thinks.Literally, I've seen it written, I've
(10:33):
heard it talked about. This isone of the worst off seasons in Cowboy
history. Right. They said theywere all in, but they didn't do
enough. Tell me, Rad,what did they need to do? Rad?
Well, they needed they needed uh, I mean they every team needs.
(10:54):
But again I get it. Theycould spend more in free agency,
right, they need a running backand there were a couple available, right,
so they could have gone and gottenAnd I love Zeke, He's one
of the great guys. He's wonderfulfor that room. Zeke's not you know,
Derrick Henry or someone like this.Right. No, right, you
see what I'm saying. So that'sone thing they could have done, right.
(11:18):
The only thing they did was basicallyshore up the defense with you know,
a bunch of young dudes. Althoughthey did get the one linebacker,
you know, so they could havedefinitely done some work there in free agency.
Right, those are the things theycould have done. And truly,
if the you know, if ifall in meant what everybody took it to
(11:43):
mean, that's what they would havedone. Right, all in generally means
when we're only a player or twoaway from taking this thing all the way,
let's go all in. Let's go. You know, in the back
in the day, in the DallasStars case, they signed Brett Hall to
go all in. Right, youknow, back in the day in the
Texas Rangers, they got Cliff Leeto go all in. And this year
(12:09):
year, you know we're going toget to the MAVs, you know,
putting Luca and Kyrie together, whichactually happened last year. That's all in.
You need that one guy. Andit seems to me like who would
be one guy to make John Raddickand feel that they're all in? Who
would be that one guy? Wellthat's the thing. They didn't need just
(12:30):
one, but they didn't sign anyokay, right, they didn't need just
one. They needed a running backand you said it too, and you
know they needed a big time runstopping linebacker, probably because you know,
but now with a new defensive system, that might not be all on a
(12:50):
linebacker. But when we talked atthe end of last season, we didn't
know d Q was leaving. Butat that point, at that point his
his defensive line. When we're basicallyall pass rushers, right, they weren't
stopping to run. So so youwere saying we needed a linebacker. Will
get me that stud linebacker, right, give me that stud running back,
and it feels to me like we'rea heck of a lot closer to all
(13:13):
in. So Edrick Eric Kendrick isnot enough to be all know. I
don't think of him as I don'tthink of him as elite, Nate.
I don't think of him as you'relooking for elite talents. I am so
free agency is what got you gotyou you know, got your your your
hairs raised on your back. Itwas lack of free agency that wanted more.
(13:35):
See, okay, you wanted wantedmore, And I don't want to
have to count on four rookies werechecking. We got two offensive linemen who
are switching positions. Could have signedthere too. We needed offensive line.
I just want to know, becauseyou are cond it through the media for
the fans, and I like that. So I said, let me just
(13:58):
see what was all in for JohnRadicking and his followers and in his you
know, his disciples out there thathe's preaching and teaching too. But this
is what they want. This iswhy it didn't bother me that they were
silent. I look at it likethis, when they went out and get
drafted a guy in the second round, Keenan, the defensive end, run
(14:22):
stopper, slash pass rusher. Uh, they have a few young guys that
they you know, they're gonna lookat it. Linebacker they got, Kendricks
came in. I just want tosee where this thing go at because I
think what we need is a plethoraof quality guys bl B players and the's
(14:43):
some veterans out there at running backthat once once people get released. Sweet
thing about running back, it ain'tlike you gotta be the smartest guy in
the room. I'm not saying runningbacks are dumb, but you don't have
to be the smartest guy in theroom. We need maybe a home run
hit or the type guy so youknow we can throw it to the out
(15:07):
of the backfield. We can makehim, give it to him and let
him get off tack and go sixtyseven yards. That's what we need is
a home run type guy. Wegot ric O'donald, we got Zeke.
Those guys are bang inside the tacklesand can and still have a little ability
to get outside of the tackles.They can block on third downs, and
so I'm not worried. I'm notworried. My thing is how quickly can
(15:31):
you get the two draft picks acclimatedto this league? Are you gonna throw
him in doing training camp and letthem start doing training camp and never take
them out and let them go throughevery quarter of our preseason. I have
(15:52):
a different mindset. I think theCowboys, and you heard me say this
before, I think they're on asoft bill. I think, like McCarthy
is the coach up now in thefuture, because you don't want to bring
in these young guys. Start tobuild and even if the season is shaky
(16:14):
and we don't have a lot ofsuccess, you're starting to build something and
then get a new face as aas a as a coach. I'm good
sign CD. We got a nicetight end, you know, and then
we got to get see if Schoolmakercan stay healthy and we'll be okay.
Offensively, I think we'll be okay. We get another year out of Zach
(16:36):
Martin. Now that's the scary thing. And that's why I try to tell
everybody we needed to draft a offensivelineman. I get a free agent offensive
lineman last year, So we're ayear behind on that. Because if we
got offensive line, then we candictate some things and quick as quick as
we can get these guys acclimated andup and running, and it just speed
(16:56):
up this game that better off.The Dallas coup was a beat towards the
end of the season. Uh thatwe have a death roll, uh first
four or five games. But ifthey can get through that healthy and roll,
the Cowboys gonna be all right.We're getting out, We're getting our
corners back, we got all oursafeties in play. All we need is
(17:17):
for our defensive line to hold up. That's the scary part. Yeah,
I think the defensive line that isthe scary part. So you just got
doing this a little bit, Nate, because you got a whole bunch of
that blue kool aid dripping down onyour beard. Oh yeah, yeah,
yeah, that's a yes. Wholethe thing you just said it. You
(17:38):
said it in your own comments there. You said, yeah, we need
that home run hitter, and Ricoo'donald and Zeke's they're not it right soon
where's the home run hit? Ornot say they're not it as you basically
said, and maybe get outside.I said, you can go out and
get a home run hitter. Theleague will be that that that last cut.
(18:04):
The league will be dripping with speechsters. You cannot keep them all.
And the way they are devaluing runningbacks, we will be able if we
need to get one. You knowwho was the speechter for Mike McCarthy,
was it darset eleven's I don't thinkso. They had a kid out Obama,
(18:26):
I don't think so. They aren'thaving the home run hits, but
they had dependable, reliable running backsthat get you six seven, eight yards,
that could pick up the blitz boomand they and they won, They
won year in the year out anda yeah, but you notice I never
(18:47):
said that I never get the quarterback. Yeah, I never brought the quarterback
because uh, it's a few people, excuse me, people, it's a
few people that's elite, elite,And then you get yeah, guys that
are just I think great. Ithink Dank is a great quarterback, elite.
No, I don't think so.Yeah, yeah, I get it.
(19:08):
I get that, all right.So gosh, I guess we uh,
we agree to disagree on the offseason. It'll be fun to see
what happens. We're about a monthaway from training camp. Yeah. Unplugged
yourself, man, you'll kind ofdoing it. Unplugged yourself. Bray,
you have plugged into the people toogood? You plugged into Yes, I
am, I guess I am.I need to I need to switch.
(19:30):
I can switch my plug over tothe your side of things here. See
what sounds more like I'm a partof the uh organization? Yeah, yeah,
exactly, Yeah, which I know, and you know, and that's
one of the it really is.It's one of the things I admire the
most. I just told my sonthis this week. I said, you
can't find a former Cowboys player thatdoesn't I'm gonna say beyond like love Jerry
(19:56):
Jones. Yeah, he is sucha good person to his players. Uh.
And you know his the people thatyou know again, people that make
him a ton of money and andand give him all the success that they've
had. Which is still plenty playerex players all love him. Yeah,
he good man, he good man, solid man. I just hey,
(20:18):
you know, hey, you know, it is what it is. But
we're not here to discuss the Jonesthis, but we are here to talk
about winning, winning, Oh winning, Oh Claiols, Mavericks playoss. Yeah,
don't talk about the playoffs. Actually, you know it's interesting because we
(20:40):
did. We do want to getinto the MAVs because you are a lifelong
Celtics fan, which is okay,because I agree you should stay true to
your teams, even though I don't. I think I think it's noble.
I like it, uh, andI kind of do. I'm always I'm
always true to my Detroit teams.But I'll look over here and say,
(21:02):
oh squirrel, you know, ohPenny, yeah yeah yeah. But anyway,
so in the MAVs are a veryintriguing team that had a unbelievable run
through the West. Right, theybeat the number one seed, They beat
the team, you know easily thatbeat the defending champions. You know,
they beat their nemesis, the LAClippers, right, at least their playoff
(21:26):
nemesis for the last few years.So man, it's been surprising in a
way to see Boston do And isthis what it is in your estimation,
Nate? Are we seeing Boston dowhat Boston does? Defensively? In particular,
the MAVs haven't scored one hundred andany of the first three games.
What did I tell you a weekand a half ago? I said,
(21:49):
if we are to have a chance, I'm to my the Celtics to win
this game. What they have todo is defense, defense, go back
and pull up. All I talkedabout was if they're gonna have a chance,
they're gonna have to play defense.And they have done it in a
most unique way, and that isby letting Brown. I can't think of
(22:14):
the other kid with the dreads,Drew Holiday stick this guy one on one
and may okay, Luca, you'regonna get thirty, Yeah, okay,
Kyrie, you're gonna get fifteen totwenty. But what about Green? What
about these other guys? They ain'tgonna get five or six. We aint
gonna give them no more about fiveor six points. And we're gonna beat
you because you're combined sixty three points. I mean, somebody gonna come up
(22:40):
with thirty five somewhere else and thatain't happening because we got white. We
got too many guys that can defend. And what was amazing last night is
we didn't have a big fella,big fellow us out. Yeah, the
big fellow for singles was out.So yeah, And when the MAVs jumped
out to a thirteen point lead early, I was thinking and Lively was pretty
(23:03):
active at that point. I wasthinking, oh wow, man, Porzingis
really does mean that much to them. But then that sort of and end.
Look, anytime you have Prezingis onyour team, you know you're gonna
miss him a lot because of injury. Yes, but the reality is,
you know what, they're great atthe Celtics right now. They're sort of
the masters of positionless basketball. Yes, right, they put about five six
(23:26):
eight guys out there. You don'tknow who's who or what's what, and
they're all, you know, reallygood at both ends of the floor.
Yes, if you go to theirpercentage rates, Lucas at thirty five percent,
the other kid is at twenty twopercent. But if you go over
to Boston, you got twenty two, twenty one, nineteen sixteen all in
(23:51):
there together, So you don't know, you got to pick your poison.
All of them can shoot the three, all of them can drive to the
basket, and all of them playabove average defense. So no matter who
they're sticking, you got to havea contested shot. And the league in
the league today, you can't stopLuca, but you can make every shot
a difficult shot, even just aneasy step back. If you up on
(24:15):
him with your hands up, hestill has to shoot over you. And
that's the deal. Now, justget in front of a guy, don't
fall him, make him shoot overyou, make him go through you to
get to where he needed to get. So and as you notice, I
like the Timberwolves, they ain't lettingLuca get to the top of the key
(24:37):
before they challenge him. They lethim step one foot across the half court
line and they out on him.Set me, you gotta set that pick
even further out. So when thatguy turns and when he set that pick
to go for the alley, whohe got a long ways to go.
Whereas when they was doing it before, they was right at the top of
the key and Luca just lob itup and the guys, what's going up
(25:00):
and get it? Well, nowyou got to take four or five steps
and that gives the guy on theback end of the court that's out on
a corner three to have a chanceat least running there and could test you
for that shot. They started outslow last night because no for zingis to
protect the riom, so when itwas doing that, they anticipation was a
little slow at the beginning, butas the game got heated, they got
(25:22):
better and better added now and thenof course they take a big twenty one
point lead. They led the Celticsdid by twenty one points with like eleven
left. That's a fourth quarter.Yes, they're up by twenty one,
and I'm sure all Mavericks fans arethinking, well, that's it, this
is over, this series is over, and I'll be danged if the MAVs
didn't make just an unbelievable comeback.They go on a twenty to two run
(25:47):
nate and get back to within threepoints. Oh yes, and I'm sitting
there just looking, I'm like,wow, I knew that something defensively offense
really had to happen to to tobreak this run, A time out something,
and so when that charge popped up, the blocking popped up, I'm
(26:11):
like, Okay, this is gonnabe a difference makeup in this game.
This is gonna swaytest thing one wayor another, because one team stand to
lose their superstar, the other teamstands to get free throws. So we
see how that went, and itwent against the Mavericks, and that leads
to the point where me and youneed to be right now, Yeah that
(26:33):
call, and I, yes,I wanted the MAVs to win. Yes
he did, but I believe Lucafollowed him there, and MAVs fans are
going and they're already up in armsoutraged. But I promise you if it
had been the other way right,and Tatum was trying to set a pick
on Luca and the same thing happened, every MAVs fan would say it was
(26:56):
a foul. It was a foul, and fans, look, I think
it's somewhat generational. Man. Fansjust have to have somebody to blame.
Nobody wants to be accountable. Nobodywants to just say, hey, man,
we didn't get it done. Everybodywants to blame someone else. Maybe
they're following Luca, who he arguesfor his other his teammates, you know,
(27:18):
his teammates get a follow and he'sarguing with the ref about it.
I mean, I don't know whatit is, but just everybody seems to
think it's on the refs. Ihate blaming the refs, Nate, and
I know you do too. Mything is, I've been fortunate, and
we talked off air, I've beenfortunate that since high school to always have
had a coach that believed that,you know, reff is not going to
dictate who we are. We're gonnawork hard enough, We're going to be
(27:41):
smart enough in certain situations not tolet this happen. First of all,
you know, somebody said two weeksago that this good, this dude,
Luca is better than Larry Bird,and I just kind of laughed. Right,
you think Larry Bird to take acharge right there? Think about that.
(28:03):
Now, you're the best player onthe court. You're just like Larry
Bird. You're not a great oneon one defender. You are a great
help defender. Somewhere now, somewherein your mind, you gotta be saying,
if I go out this game,we stand a great chance of losing.
(28:26):
He did not think of that.He did not think of that.
And now you are forcing the roughto make a fifty to fifty call.
That was a fifty to fifty call. You lost. Not only did you
lose the call, but you gotout of the game with this sixth floul
(28:49):
and you gave the Celtics the momentumback. So not only did that's one
you out of the game, twoon a fifty to fifty call, and
three you gave a momentum back tothe Seas. That was That was a
killer. That was a killer.Larry Bird would not have put himself in
(29:11):
that situation. Sometimes you have todepend on the secondary player to try to
divert that guy because you're in thegame, you're making a run. You
know, the momentum was not thatgreat that your srow feet was gonna make
the difference now. And it's notlike Luca would or should go into it
(29:33):
thinking, you know, I'm asuperstar, which he is, but I'll
get this call because it isn't likeLuke lucam. Superstars do sometimes, but
Luca maybe never will because it complainedso much. You know one thing about
me, and I told you thisa couple of weeks ago, and I
try to be consistent. If that'swho you are, be who you are,
(29:57):
but understand the people you're going atwith the venom that you're going at.
These are not robots. These arehumans that you're going at that you
cussing out in different languages. Theyknow you're cussing them out, so you
don't think that you're that smart totell me, you know. And they
(30:18):
supposed to have thick skin, andthe majority of them do, and the
majority of them walking to the thingssaying telling their party, you know,
we got Luca tonight. You knowwe got Luca tonight. And so I
have no problems with This is onething about superstars that I've adjusted to due
to the fact that I had Troy, Mike, Emmitt, Dion, Charles
(30:42):
Haley. The list goes on,on and on. I played with superstars,
Larry Allen, I played with andagainst superstars, and one thing I
had to accept as being a other, as Shaq would put me as a
other, because I had to accepttheir quirkiness. I have no problem now
(31:03):
when Luca plays, I expect forhim to cry from the beginning to the
end, to the point where itdon't even bother me. Okay, you
know that is who Luca is.People say he's going to grow out of
it. Why why should he?He's very successful in being who he is.
I mean, this kid, thiskid killing folks man, I mean
(31:25):
not literally putting them in the ground. But yeah, I mean why,
I mean, tell me why shouldhe change? Yeah, I mean he
can get it. He can gethis even when he's winding crying and and
they're you know, defending him hisand so it's amazing. But what I
want to say is I can't livemy life. When I first got here,
(31:48):
to the to the to the tothe Metroplex. Uh, I had
to live with the Miami heat,you know, oh the Miami he did
this, And I'm like, isthis is what? This is? This?
What is about? Crying and whining? I got here. We was
(32:09):
losing. You know, they killedcoach Landry, they knew the refs by
names. I mean, I'm like, is this is who we are?
And then Jimmy came in. Jimmydidn't believe in refs dictating games, and
my high school coach didn't believe it. My college coach didn't believe it.
(32:29):
It's just too many plays. Now, don't get me wrong. Certain times
in the game you'd be like,whoa, yeah, you know this thing
is and I'm quite sure you gota couple of stories where things have just
changed, you know, and youcould see it obviously, and you can't
shake it, you know. AndI go to the New Orleans game several
(32:50):
years ago in the playoffs. Youcould not shake that. You could not
shake that. But a fifty tofifty call against Luca. Nah, nah,
no, no, no, thatthat ain't a reason last night,
that ain't a reason. Luca issmarter than that, and he should have
played smarter than that. He needsto be if he, if he,
(33:10):
you know, that's that's a basketballiq, you know, game time situation,
right, get a score situation,his emotions get away from him.
Yeah. So, and you're rightabout Jimmy. You know, I remember,
and probably in almost every media scrumafter a game, you know,
there's a media person maybe in somecases just a young person doesn't really know
(33:35):
what they're supposed to ask, soyou know, they go to the default.
Uh did you think that was abad call? And in almost every
press conference after the game, Jimmywould say, oh, we got to
be better than a bad caller too, We've got to be better than that.
We can't let the calls affect us. We can't let the referees affect
us, you know, and thatwas it, man, that was his
attitude. I loved it. Ilove not making that excuse if you will.
(34:00):
But then I also do remember toyour point about it does happen.
Yeah, I remember, yeah,and we were in uh but here's one
from from Jimmy actually where we werein New York. We were playing the
Giants and it's really cold that there. I remember that. And uh.
We get in that postgame press conferenceand Jimmy grabs a football, which he
(34:22):
never has a football during the postgamepress conference. He gets up there and
he goes, this is a football. And ever since my daddy showed me
one of these and said this isa football, I have never ever ever
seen such bad officiating. Yeah.I was like, whoa coach? You
got it? Jimmy was, youknow, he could be so dramatic and
(34:46):
uh and uh. Anyway, sothat was so it does happen. And
I told you about my son.They were defending state champions. They go
play some school over here and thatyou know, they brought in their own
reps or I don't know what happened. I looked at our our scor a
statue at halftime, the fouls weretwenty nine to one. Yes, and
happened three Three of the starters onmy son's team had fouled out. Do
(35:07):
you see that now? It happens, right, We know there was some
payoffs, right, there was somepatting and point and all that in the
NBA. Right, it happens.But in general, don't blame the refs.
I just believe this. You haveto know who you are and how
(35:28):
important you are to a team.Yeah, and when Luca got that Phil
foul, somebody should have said,Luca, no at all, Collts,
we're making this run. We cannothave you because somebody did a stat And
I think I was listening to Chuckas I was riding around early. Yeah,
(35:49):
where they are minus seventeen when he'snot in the game. Yeah,
you that means you go from positiveto negative so quick. I mean he
go to the bench for one minuteand five points a score. So if
you have a five point of sixpoint lead within thirty seconds and them hitting
the bench, the game is back. Even so, when Luca went to
(36:15):
that bench, I was talking toa guy and George who said he's a
Celtic fan, but he don't talklike it. He was like, man,
what do you think I said?Game over? Game over? I
said, Luca Luke on the benchthat goes to zero. That mean Kyrie.
And this is what I tell people. This is what I tell people.
(36:39):
This is what I tell people.Let me tell you might need to
change the name of the show.I like this. This is what I
tell people. I tell people.Kyrie is a star, not your superstar.
Yeah. See, Kyrie could havewent to the bench. And if
(37:00):
Luca was left out there nervous,I'm nervous. Yeah, but Kyrie left
out there by himself. Nah nah. And see that's what That's what lebron
knew. That's what the New YorkNets is. I got to write the
new the Brooklyn Nets. That's whatthey knew. See, some guys are
(37:23):
not Celtics, knew it. Yeah, they are not super stars. They
are stars. Yeah, you know, you can't you you can have your
nights when you dictate, but it'shard for you to do it on a
consistent basis. And the Boston wasn'thaving it. They're like, Okay,
(37:44):
Luca going nah, let's just playgreat defense. Don't give up with three
with two minutes now, let's don'tgive up threes. Let's give up twos.
They can't stop us from going inthe middle. We man can't stop
them from going in the middle.But they definitely can't stop us. And
we got more shooters, natural shootersthan they do. That's how the game
(38:07):
was won. Man. Yeah,defense, defense is winning this game.
And I told you guys a coupleof weeks ago, I don't care about
the shooting. The shooting comes andgoes, Like the Great John Wooden say,
defense is all about our guys wantto He ain't got quick feet,
he ain't got his Now. Defenseis about what do you want to do?
(38:29):
Yeah, yeah, and so.And I think we saw more defense,
better defense, and more defense fromLuca at the beginning of this game
than we've seen all series. Youknow, he was he was getting staying
in front of people. He is, you know, flying and tipping balls
and the whole thing as the gamewill own. He can't keep his foot
speed unless his offensively because he hasthe ball and can dictate where he goes.
(38:52):
He's not gonna be rushing. Andbefore we get off this arra,
let me say this right here,you know, let me tell you people
something we have not forgotten about.The Great Jerry West. We have not
forgotten about him, mister Clutch thelogo May God be with you, you
and your family. So I wantedto get that out. Rad. I
(39:12):
don't know if he was thinking aboutit, but I say I was crossing
my mind. I better get itout. I'm a little old now.
I don't want to forget. Yeah, the great Jerry. It's a great
way. And while we're at it. On the same day, a man
who was actually ten years older,who impacted so many lives, and I
got to know quite well, RobertHughes. I don't know if you ever
met him, Nate. He wasthe head coach at Dunbar High School in
(39:34):
Fort Worth and he died yesterday too. And he's the all time winning is
high school basketball coach thirteen hundred andthirty three wins. And I'm telling you
that man in the heart of atough neighborhood in Fort Worth, he changed
when I first got age to hearabout that man, to hear about it
when I first got to the Cowboys. Yeah, he's a great man.
(39:57):
We lost two great men of basketballyesterday and uh, and so that's a
great way to end it. Nate. I appreciate you bringing that up,
and make God protect each of themand their families as as they now move
on and and look, we'll dothis again. We may have to,
you know, I don't know ifwe'll take a break before training camp.
I will say this, we probablyhave to do one to wrap up the
(40:22):
seven game historic comeback by the DallasMavericks next week. Yes, come on
back to see what I say,town, so we can we put a
ribbon on this, we can puta bowl on this. Yeah, come
on back, baby, come on. Four straight wins, die hard baby,
Yes, yes, Shoe Mavericks betterdo is die hard baby? It
(40:44):
will be. It will be ormaybe the Celtics. We'll find out next
week. Show Spencer Bass. Oh, my emotions are so up and down
by emotions. Yeah, it's agroup saying that she's got the best of
your love. Baby. All right, man, it's been fun night.
(41:06):
We'll do it again, Yes,sir, we will do it again.
And if we if we continue on, it'll just be mostly a lot of
conversation people. It's just conversation aboutcamps and about life and our kids.
And we'll let you a little bitin on us man, and what we're
doing. And bring in special basstoo, man. Yeah, and we'll
get a big jug of a clearpicture so you can see the blue kool
(41:28):
aid. Yes man, I'm drinkinga baby. I die hard, all
right, brother, We'll see younext week, See you next week.
Jump back glass you and your famyou too,
Hey, everybody, here we areagain. It's me John Ragan with the
great Nate Newton. Number sixty onein your hearts, No number one in
your hearts. He was sixty oneon the field and he's here because we
do this little show called What Nate. Let me tell you something, and
after this show, maybe he's sixtyone in your hearts. It's a truth.
(00:31):
It's the truth because Nate, andhe's been this way almost his whole
life. He's a Celtics fan.Yes, so you know, people watching
this may not align a lot withwhat Nate's saying, but we're going to
get into all that. We bothdigested Game three last night, probably in
different ways, but we'll get intoall that, and we'll talk a little
(00:51):
bit about the Cowboys. Of courseNate's team since he was ten years old
too, because they're getting ready togo and not that close, but getting
ready to go to training camp.Nate, this month between when you had
your last mini camp and when youhave training camp, is that a great
month for NFL players because you knowit's your last bit of freedom if you
(01:17):
will for a while. Or whatdo you remember about the month of June.
I remember it was like two anda half weeks, maybe three weeks
off. It wasn't a month,month and a half or six weeks off.
A lot can happen, good,bad, or indifferent. If you're
a rookie, you want to behanging around the facilities. You want to
(01:38):
be getting everything you can in.You want to be trying to watch a
little film into your playbooks. Soif you're a veteran guy, you put
the finishing touches on what you gotto do and who you are. You
know, But a guy like mewho was had a weight problem, I
had to be real cap for duringthis time. I had to make sure
I kept some type of regid going. When you have a new coach and
(02:04):
you know that that gives you alittle bit of anxiety, especially for your
first year, second year guy.You're trying to solidify yourself and who you
are, so you want to betrying to get into that playbook, do
the right things. A lot ofkids don't understand get that family time in
at the beginning when they first giveyou off of the mandatory mini camp is
(02:29):
over them first two weeks. Goand be with your family, then come
back and start back your regiment soyou can roll into camp in some type
of shape. Don't do it theother way. Don't don't continue to work
out. Then take two weeks offand hang out with your family because it's
(02:52):
gonna be about fun, it's gonnabe about having a good time, it's
gonna be about relaxing, and it'sgonna be hard to get up and work
out though those two weeks, andso you may lose some of that edge
and some of that uh that uhthat get up and go. So you
don't want that. I mean,now, some guys had that perfect body,
that perfect metabolism, they can dothat, but most guys can't.
(03:15):
So you know, when you firstbreak that mandatory, that last mandatory mini
camp, you want to make surethat you get with the family to have
fun, travel, do what yougotta do. And then uh, about
two weeks left, you want youwant to put that fine edge on on
that thing so you can be mentallyready for camp. So, uh,
(03:36):
did your career start early enough towhere there were still guys you know,
because back in the day, guyscame to training camp to get in shape.
Right, Yeah, a lot ofthem work does a dead gum insurance
salesman or whatever in the off season. Yes, they came to training camp
to get in shape. Uh doyou remember that happening or by the yeah
(03:57):
you were in Yes you do.I called the tail end of when you
spent eight six to eight weeks incamp, two weeks with the rookies by
themselves, and then about a weekand a half later the veterans come in
start trickling in and then you know, they'll start trickling like you about that
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, getthemselves settled in in that Monday the real
(04:20):
training camp start, because now youwill go from getting one hundred percent of
the reps to maybe getting ten percentof the reps because they got they got
to get getting these guys in shape, and the coaches knew who was gonna
come in there right and ready togo and who wasn't, you know,
depending on the position and who theplayer was. So go ahead on,
(04:43):
I'm sorry. Did you did youfrom the get go have to spend this
time, like you say, beingreally careful managing the weight and stuff like
that, or did that happen alittle later on in your career. The
first time I ever came to aCowboys training camp, I was about three
point forty. Oh yeah, youknow, and then after that, you
(05:05):
know, it just was I wasyoung. I was having fun, man,
I was enjoying myself. So butas time went on, I got
better about my conditioning because I gotolder and you can't get to wait off
as quick or as fast, andso you know, your bones hurt a
(05:25):
little longer, so you you kindof be a little bit more careful as
you get older. All right,So in this final month before training camp
begins, do you believe, Nate, that we could expect progress, Let's
face it, not just progress,but could we see either Back or CD
(05:46):
get that extension that they both eitherdeserve or in the case of CD,
he definitely deserves it, but alsoreally wants it. You know, I
never try to guess what mister Jonesis doing. You I'm one of the
few guys that don't know. Youknow, they say, okay, I
know Jerry speak. I don't knowJerry speak. I know this about mister
(06:09):
Jones and his guys that he workedwith, and his son and his family
is that they can pick times toexplode on the scene. So if doing
that CD right now, who reallycares? But let something big jump,
(06:29):
you know, something big happen rightbefore a training camp. All of a
sudden, you'll see the CD Lambdeal done. You'll see the dam deal
done. I mean, they knowhow to capture the scene, take away
the glory from something else to addon to them. Oh yeah, by
the way, the Cowboys have donethis. You know, we never really
hear that during the off season orwhen it's a lull and things. They
(06:53):
don't want to be the explosion.They want to be the enhanswer to the
explosion. So yeah, yeah,so I mean I'm not looking for anything
to get done right now. Butyou know, let's say training camp has
started and you know, and theyneeded that big bang. Oh we got
Ceedee Lamb sign. He'll be intomorrow Da da da da, and they'll
capture the world. You know,And that's just how you do it.
(07:15):
Yeah, And because it's true,because you know, you said, who
cares if they sign? I meanthe reality is I'm not sure Dak's too
worried. But CD cares, right, I mean, yeah, he has
been holding up. He cares.That's who cares if they signed. When
you've had one or two contracts likeDak, you know, even if it
don't get done. He one hundredand forty fifty million in the hole within
(07:38):
the bank CD. You know,I'm not saying he saved his dollars or
don't have his dollars that he's madeover the years, but man, he
finna go from ten eleven mil fivemillion a year to possibly twenty six twenty
seven million a year. Woo.Yeah yeah, with a big signing bonus
of probably sixty mil. Yes,sir, Yeah, that sets you up
(08:01):
for life right there, It suredoes so, uh yeah. To your
point, though, a lot oftimes in sports, once the uh even
once the training camp begins, guysdon't want to deal with it anymore.
Certainly, once the regular season begins, they don't want to deal with it
anymore. They'll be like, let'sjust do it after the season now.
But I do remember to your point, I can't remember if we were in
(08:22):
uh in Japan or maybe Mexico Citysomewhere. I'm pretty sure we were in
a foreign country when the Cowboys announcedthat Pop had signed his latest new deal.
Do you remember that? Yeah?Yeah, I remember that. And
like I say, you know,we was in a foreign land, But
it won't only that. We wasgetting out the plane and you know,
(08:45):
and and and and and the thingwas big because the cowboys coming now,
they gave it. They just addedsome nitrol glistening to that dynamite man and
took it over the top. Sothat's what mister Jones them do. You
know. I'm not saying it's calculated, but it always seemed at the right
time. So uh uh see,you know, uh, Dank, I'm
(09:07):
a little hesitant. That's a lota lot of money for a guy that
needs a whole lot of people aroundhim, uh uh to to help him,
you know. So and I'm notsaying every quarterback don't need weapons,
you know, but you know,uh, he's not my homes he's not
(09:28):
Aaron Rodgers. I don't care.And uh you know, I ain't gotta
walk around to me. I lovethat, I love that. I'm a
Cowboy fan, so I'm down withDak. But uh, we just need
to know that with all this money, man, if we do have some
big gaping holes, he got tocover them up and cover them up not
even thinking twice about it. Yeah, yeah, it's a great point.
(09:50):
And it's also a huge percentage themoney right that that they're allowed to spend.
If you if you give Dak thisnew content track. Man, that's
a big percentage of how much moneyyou have available. Yes, yes,
and uh you know you can beall in, but who all in on
(10:11):
one guy? Nah? Yeah?Yeah? All right. So, uh
then when training camp does get goingthis time around, uh, you know,
I assume the players, like likeeverybody around here in the in the
media world for sure, thinks.Literally, I've seen it written, I've
(10:33):
heard it talked about. This isone of the worst off seasons in Cowboy
history. Right. They said theywere all in, but they didn't do
enough. Tell me, Rad,what did they need to do? Rad?
Well, they needed they needed uh, I mean they every team needs.
(10:54):
But again I get it. Theycould spend more in free agency,
right, they need a running backand there were a couple available, right,
so they could have gone and gottenAnd I love Zeke, He's one
of the great guys. He's wonderfulfor that room. Zeke's not you know,
Derrick Henry or someone like this.Right. No, right, you
see what I'm saying. So that'sone thing they could have done, right.
(11:18):
The only thing they did was basicallyshore up the defense with you know,
a bunch of young dudes. Althoughthey did get the one linebacker,
you know, so they could havedefinitely done some work there in free agency.
Right, those are the things theycould have done. And truly,
if the you know, if ifall in meant what everybody took it to
(11:43):
mean, that's what they would havedone. Right, all in generally means
when we're only a player or twoaway from taking this thing all the way,
let's go all in. Let's go. You know, in the back
in the day, in the DallasStars case, they signed Brett Hall to
go all in. Right, youknow, back in the day in the
Texas Rangers, they got Cliff Leeto go all in. And this year
(12:09):
year, you know we're going toget to the MAVs, you know,
putting Luca and Kyrie together, whichactually happened last year. That's all in.
You need that one guy. Andit seems to me like who would
be one guy to make John Raddickand feel that they're all in? Who
would be that one guy? Wellthat's the thing. They didn't need just
(12:30):
one, but they didn't sign anyokay, right, they didn't need just
one. They needed a running backand you said it too, and you
know they needed a big time runstopping linebacker, probably because you know,
but now with a new defensive system, that might not be all on a
(12:50):
linebacker. But when we talked atthe end of last season, we didn't
know d Q was leaving. Butat that point, at that point his
his defensive line. When we're basicallyall pass rushers, right, they weren't
stopping to run. So so youwere saying we needed a linebacker. Will
get me that stud linebacker, right, give me that stud running back,
and it feels to me like we'rea heck of a lot closer to all
(13:13):
in. So Edrick Eric Kendrick isnot enough to be all know. I
don't think of him as I don'tthink of him as elite, Nate.
I don't think of him as you'relooking for elite talents. I am so
free agency is what got you gotyou you know, got your your your
hairs raised on your back. Itwas lack of free agency that wanted more.
(13:35):
See, okay, you wanted wantedmore, And I don't want to
have to count on four rookies werechecking. We got two offensive linemen who
are switching positions. Could have signedthere too. We needed offensive line.
I just want to know, becauseyou are cond it through the media for
the fans, and I like that. So I said, let me just
(13:58):
see what was all in for JohnRadicking and his followers and in his you
know, his disciples out there thathe's preaching and teaching too. But this
is what they want. This iswhy it didn't bother me that they were
silent. I look at it likethis, when they went out and get
drafted a guy in the second round, Keenan, the defensive end, run
(14:22):
stopper, slash pass rusher. Uh, they have a few young guys that
they you know, they're gonna lookat it. Linebacker they got, Kendricks
came in. I just want tosee where this thing go at because I
think what we need is a plethoraof quality guys bl B players and the's
(14:43):
some veterans out there at running backthat once once people get released. Sweet
thing about running back, it ain'tlike you gotta be the smartest guy in
the room. I'm not saying runningbacks are dumb, but you don't have
to be the smartest guy in theroom. We need maybe a home run
hit or the type guy so youknow we can throw it to the out
(15:07):
of the backfield. We can makehim, give it to him and let
him get off tack and go sixtyseven yards. That's what we need is
a home run type guy. Wegot ric O'donald, we got Zeke.
Those guys are bang inside the tacklesand can and still have a little ability
to get outside of the tackles.They can block on third downs, and
so I'm not worried. I'm notworried. My thing is how quickly can
(15:31):
you get the two draft picks acclimatedto this league? Are you gonna throw
him in doing training camp and letthem start doing training camp and never take
them out and let them go throughevery quarter of our preseason. I have
(15:52):
a different mindset. I think theCowboys, and you heard me say this
before, I think they're on asoft bill. I think, like McCarthy
is the coach up now in thefuture, because you don't want to bring
in these young guys. Start tobuild and even if the season is shaky
(16:14):
and we don't have a lot ofsuccess, you're starting to build something and
then get a new face as aas a as a coach. I'm good
sign CD. We got a nicetight end, you know, and then
we got to get see if Schoolmakercan stay healthy and we'll be okay.
Offensively, I think we'll be okay. We get another year out of Zach
(16:36):
Martin. Now that's the scary thing. And that's why I try to tell
everybody we needed to draft a offensivelineman. I get a free agent offensive
lineman last year, So we're ayear behind on that. Because if we
got offensive line, then we candictate some things and quick as quick as
we can get these guys acclimated andup and running, and it just speed
(16:56):
up this game that better off.The Dallas coup was a beat towards the
end of the season. Uh thatwe have a death roll, uh first
four or five games. But ifthey can get through that healthy and roll,
the Cowboys gonna be all right.We're getting out, We're getting our
corners back, we got all oursafeties in play. All we need is
(17:17):
for our defensive line to hold up. That's the scary part. Yeah,
I think the defensive line that isthe scary part. So you just got
doing this a little bit, Nate, because you got a whole bunch of
that blue kool aid dripping down onyour beard. Oh yeah, yeah,
yeah, that's a yes. Wholethe thing you just said it. You
(17:38):
said it in your own comments there. You said, yeah, we need
that home run hitter, and Ricoo'donald and Zeke's they're not it right soon
where's the home run hit? Ornot say they're not it as you basically
said, and maybe get outside.I said, you can go out and
get a home run hitter. Theleague will be that that that last cut.
(18:04):
The league will be dripping with speechsters. You cannot keep them all.
And the way they are devaluing runningbacks, we will be able if we
need to get one. You knowwho was the speechter for Mike McCarthy,
was it darset eleven's I don't thinkso. They had a kid out Obama,
(18:26):
I don't think so. They aren'thaving the home run hits, but
they had dependable, reliable running backsthat get you six seven, eight yards,
that could pick up the blitz boomand they and they won, They
won year in the year out anda yeah, but you notice I never
(18:47):
said that I never get the quarterback. Yeah, I never brought the quarterback
because uh, it's a few people, excuse me, people, it's a
few people that's elite, elite,And then you get yeah, guys that
are just I think great. Ithink Dank is a great quarterback, elite.
No, I don't think so.Yeah, yeah, I get it.
(19:08):
I get that, all right.So gosh, I guess we uh,
we agree to disagree on the offseason. It'll be fun to see
what happens. We're about a monthaway from training camp. Yeah. Unplugged
yourself, man, you'll kind ofdoing it. Unplugged yourself. Bray,
you have plugged into the people toogood? You plugged into Yes, I
am, I guess I am.I need to I need to switch.
(19:30):
I can switch my plug over tothe your side of things here. See
what sounds more like I'm a partof the uh organization? Yeah, yeah,
exactly, Yeah, which I know, and you know, and that's
one of the it really is.It's one of the things I admire the
most. I just told my sonthis this week. I said, you
can't find a former Cowboys player thatdoesn't I'm gonna say beyond like love Jerry
(19:56):
Jones. Yeah, he is sucha good person to his players. Uh.
And you know his the people thatyou know again, people that make
him a ton of money and andand give him all the success that they've
had. Which is still plenty playerex players all love him. Yeah,
he good man, he good man, solid man. I just hey,
(20:18):
you know, hey, you know, it is what it is. But
we're not here to discuss the Jonesthis, but we are here to talk
about winning, winning, Oh winning, Oh Claiols, Mavericks playoss. Yeah,
don't talk about the playoffs. Actually, you know it's interesting because we
(20:40):
did. We do want to getinto the MAVs because you are a lifelong
Celtics fan, which is okay,because I agree you should stay true to
your teams, even though I don't. I think I think it's noble.
I like it, uh, andI kind of do. I'm always I'm
always true to my Detroit teams.But I'll look over here and say,
(21:02):
oh squirrel, you know, ohPenny, yeah yeah yeah. But anyway,
so in the MAVs are a veryintriguing team that had a unbelievable run
through the West. Right, theybeat the number one seed, They beat
the team, you know easily thatbeat the defending champions. You know,
they beat their nemesis, the LAClippers, right, at least their playoff
(21:26):
nemesis for the last few years.So man, it's been surprising in a
way to see Boston do And isthis what it is in your estimation,
Nate? Are we seeing Boston dowhat Boston does? Defensively? In particular,
the MAVs haven't scored one hundred andany of the first three games.
What did I tell you a weekand a half ago? I said,
(21:49):
if we are to have a chance, I'm to my the Celtics to win
this game. What they have todo is defense, defense, go back
and pull up. All I talkedabout was if they're gonna have a chance,
they're gonna have to play defense.And they have done it in a
most unique way, and that isby letting Brown. I can't think of
(22:14):
the other kid with the dreads,Drew Holiday stick this guy one on one
and may okay, Luca, you'regonna get thirty, Yeah, okay,
Kyrie, you're gonna get fifteen totwenty. But what about Green? What
about these other guys? They ain'tgonna get five or six. We aint
gonna give them no more about fiveor six points. And we're gonna beat
you because you're combined sixty three points. I mean, somebody gonna come up
(22:40):
with thirty five somewhere else and thatain't happening because we got white. We
got too many guys that can defend. And what was amazing last night is
we didn't have a big fella,big fellow us out. Yeah, the
big fellow for singles was out.So yeah, And when the MAVs jumped
out to a thirteen point lead early, I was thinking and Lively was pretty
(23:03):
active at that point. I wasthinking, oh wow, man, Porzingis
really does mean that much to them. But then that sort of and end.
Look, anytime you have Prezingis onyour team, you know you're gonna
miss him a lot because of injury. Yes, but the reality is,
you know what, they're great atthe Celtics right now. They're sort of
the masters of positionless basketball. Yes, right, they put about five six
(23:26):
eight guys out there. You don'tknow who's who or what's what, and
they're all, you know, reallygood at both ends of the floor.
Yes, if you go to theirpercentage rates, Lucas at thirty five percent,
the other kid is at twenty twopercent. But if you go over
to Boston, you got twenty two, twenty one, nineteen sixteen all in
(23:51):
there together, So you don't know, you got to pick your poison.
All of them can shoot the three, all of them can drive to the
basket, and all of them playabove average defense. So no matter who
they're sticking, you got to havea contested shot. And the league in
the league today, you can't stopLuca, but you can make every shot
a difficult shot, even just aneasy step back. If you up on
(24:15):
him with your hands up, hestill has to shoot over you. And
that's the deal. Now, justget in front of a guy, don't
fall him, make him shoot overyou, make him go through you to
get to where he needed to get. So and as you notice, I
like the Timberwolves, they ain't lettingLuca get to the top of the key
(24:37):
before they challenge him. They lethim step one foot across the half court
line and they out on him.Set me, you gotta set that pick
even further out. So when thatguy turns and when he set that pick
to go for the alley, whohe got a long ways to go.
Whereas when they was doing it before, they was right at the top of
the key and Luca just lob itup and the guys, what's going up
(25:00):
and get it? Well, nowyou got to take four or five steps
and that gives the guy on theback end of the court that's out on
a corner three to have a chanceat least running there and could test you
for that shot. They started outslow last night because no for zingis to
protect the riom, so when itwas doing that, they anticipation was a
little slow at the beginning, butas the game got heated, they got
(25:22):
better and better added now and thenof course they take a big twenty one
point lead. They led the Celticsdid by twenty one points with like eleven
left. That's a fourth quarter.Yes, they're up by twenty one,
and I'm sure all Mavericks fans arethinking, well, that's it, this
is over, this series is over, and I'll be danged if the MAVs
didn't make just an unbelievable comeback.They go on a twenty to two run
(25:47):
nate and get back to within threepoints. Oh yes, and I'm sitting
there just looking, I'm like,wow, I knew that something defensively offense
really had to happen to to tobreak this run, A time out something,
and so when that charge popped up, the blocking popped up, I'm
(26:11):
like, Okay, this is gonnabe a difference makeup in this game.
This is gonna swaytest thing one wayor another, because one team stand to
lose their superstar, the other teamstands to get free throws. So we
see how that went, and itwent against the Mavericks, and that leads
to the point where me and youneed to be right now, Yeah that
(26:33):
call, and I, yes,I wanted the MAVs to win. Yes
he did, but I believe Lucafollowed him there, and MAVs fans are
going and they're already up in armsoutraged. But I promise you if it
had been the other way right,and Tatum was trying to set a pick
on Luca and the same thing happened, every MAVs fan would say it was
(26:56):
a foul. It was a foul, and fans, look, I think
it's somewhat generational. Man. Fansjust have to have somebody to blame.
Nobody wants to be accountable. Nobodywants to just say, hey, man,
we didn't get it done. Everybodywants to blame someone else. Maybe
they're following Luca, who he arguesfor his other his teammates, you know,
(27:18):
his teammates get a follow and he'sarguing with the ref about it.
I mean, I don't know whatit is, but just everybody seems to
think it's on the refs. Ihate blaming the refs, Nate, and
I know you do too. Mything is, I've been fortunate, and
we talked off air, I've beenfortunate that since high school to always have
had a coach that believed that,you know, reff is not going to
dictate who we are. We're gonnawork hard enough, We're going to be
(27:41):
smart enough in certain situations not tolet this happen. First of all,
you know, somebody said two weeksago that this good, this dude,
Luca is better than Larry Bird,and I just kind of laughed. Right,
you think Larry Bird to take acharge right there? Think about that.
(28:03):
Now, you're the best player onthe court. You're just like Larry
Bird. You're not a great oneon one defender. You are a great
help defender. Somewhere now, somewherein your mind, you gotta be saying,
if I go out this game,we stand a great chance of losing.
(28:26):
He did not think of that.He did not think of that.
And now you are forcing the roughto make a fifty to fifty call.
That was a fifty to fifty call. You lost. Not only did you
lose the call, but you gotout of the game with this sixth floul
(28:49):
and you gave the Celtics the momentumback. So not only did that's one
you out of the game, twoon a fifty to fifty call, and
three you gave a momentum back tothe Seas. That was That was a
killer. That was a killer.Larry Bird would not have put himself in
(29:11):
that situation. Sometimes you have todepend on the secondary player to try to
divert that guy because you're in thegame, you're making a run. You
know, the momentum was not thatgreat that your srow feet was gonna make
the difference now. And it's notlike Luca would or should go into it
(29:33):
thinking, you know, I'm asuperstar, which he is, but I'll
get this call because it isn't likeLuke lucam. Superstars do sometimes, but
Luca maybe never will because it complainedso much. You know one thing about
me, and I told you thisa couple of weeks ago, and I
try to be consistent. If that'swho you are, be who you are,
(29:57):
but understand the people you're going atwith the venom that you're going at.
These are not robots. These arehumans that you're going at that you
cussing out in different languages. Theyknow you're cussing them out, so you
don't think that you're that smart totell me, you know. And they
(30:18):
supposed to have thick skin, andthe majority of them do, and the
majority of them walking to the thingssaying telling their party, you know,
we got Luca tonight. You knowwe got Luca tonight. And so I
have no problems with This is onething about superstars that I've adjusted to due
to the fact that I had Troy, Mike, Emmitt, Dion, Charles
(30:42):
Haley. The list goes on,on and on. I played with superstars,
Larry Allen, I played with andagainst superstars, and one thing I
had to accept as being a other, as Shaq would put me as a
other, because I had to accepttheir quirkiness. I have no problem now
(31:03):
when Luca plays, I expect forhim to cry from the beginning to the
end, to the point where itdon't even bother me. Okay, you
know that is who Luca is.People say he's going to grow out of
it. Why why should he?He's very successful in being who he is.
I mean, this kid, thiskid killing folks man, I mean
(31:25):
not literally putting them in the ground. But yeah, I mean why,
I mean, tell me why shouldhe change? Yeah, I mean he
can get it. He can gethis even when he's winding crying and and
they're you know, defending him hisand so it's amazing. But what I
want to say is I can't livemy life. When I first got here,
(31:48):
to the to the to the tothe Metroplex. Uh, I had
to live with the Miami heat,you know, oh the Miami he did
this, And I'm like, isthis is what? This is? This?
What is about? Crying and whining? I got here. We was
(32:09):
losing. You know, they killedcoach Landry, they knew the refs by
names. I mean, I'm like, is this is who we are?
And then Jimmy came in. Jimmydidn't believe in refs dictating games, and
my high school coach didn't believe it. My college coach didn't believe it.
(32:29):
It's just too many plays. Now, don't get me wrong. Certain times
in the game you'd be like,whoa, yeah, you know this thing
is and I'm quite sure you gota couple of stories where things have just
changed, you know, and youcould see it obviously, and you can't
shake it, you know. AndI go to the New Orleans game several
(32:50):
years ago in the playoffs. Youcould not shake that. You could not
shake that. But a fifty tofifty call against Luca. Nah, nah,
no, no, no, thatthat ain't a reason last night,
that ain't a reason. Luca issmarter than that, and he should have
played smarter than that. He needsto be if he, if he,
(33:10):
you know, that's that's a basketballiq, you know, game time situation,
right, get a score situation,his emotions get away from him.
Yeah. So, and you're rightabout Jimmy. You know, I remember,
and probably in almost every media scrumafter a game, you know,
there's a media person maybe in somecases just a young person doesn't really know
(33:35):
what they're supposed to ask, soyou know, they go to the default.
Uh did you think that was abad call? And in almost every
press conference after the game, Jimmywould say, oh, we got to
be better than a bad caller too, We've got to be better than that.
We can't let the calls affect us. We can't let the referees affect
us, you know, and thatwas it, man, that was his
attitude. I loved it. Ilove not making that excuse if you will.
(34:00):
But then I also do remember toyour point about it does happen.
Yeah, I remember, yeah,and we were in uh but here's one
from from Jimmy actually where we werein New York. We were playing the
Giants and it's really cold that there. I remember that. And uh.
We get in that postgame press conferenceand Jimmy grabs a football, which he
(34:22):
never has a football during the postgamepress conference. He gets up there and
he goes, this is a football. And ever since my daddy showed me
one of these and said this isa football, I have never ever ever
seen such bad officiating. Yeah.I was like, whoa coach? You
got it? Jimmy was, youknow, he could be so dramatic and
(34:46):
uh and uh. Anyway, sothat was so it does happen. And
I told you about my son.They were defending state champions. They go
play some school over here and thatyou know, they brought in their own
reps or I don't know what happened. I looked at our our scor a
statue at halftime, the fouls weretwenty nine to one. Yes, and
happened three Three of the starters onmy son's team had fouled out. Do
(35:07):
you see that now? It happens, right, We know there was some
payoffs, right, there was somepatting and point and all that in the
NBA. Right, it happens.But in general, don't blame the refs.
I just believe this. You haveto know who you are and how
(35:28):
important you are to a team.Yeah, and when Luca got that Phil
foul, somebody should have said,Luca, no at all, Collts,
we're making this run. We cannothave you because somebody did a stat And
I think I was listening to Chuckas I was riding around early. Yeah,
(35:49):
where they are minus seventeen when he'snot in the game. Yeah,
you that means you go from positiveto negative so quick. I mean he
go to the bench for one minuteand five points a score. So if
you have a five point of sixpoint lead within thirty seconds and them hitting
the bench, the game is back. Even so, when Luca went to
(36:15):
that bench, I was talking toa guy and George who said he's a
Celtic fan, but he don't talklike it. He was like, man,
what do you think I said?Game over? Game over? I
said, Luca Luke on the benchthat goes to zero. That mean Kyrie.
And this is what I tell people. This is what I tell people.
(36:39):
This is what I tell people.Let me tell you might need to
change the name of the show.I like this. This is what I
tell people. I tell people.Kyrie is a star, not your superstar.
Yeah. See, Kyrie could havewent to the bench. And if
(37:00):
Luca was left out there nervous,I'm nervous. Yeah, but Kyrie left
out there by himself. Nah nah. And see that's what That's what lebron
knew. That's what the New YorkNets is. I got to write the
new the Brooklyn Nets. That's whatthey knew. See, some guys are
(37:23):
not Celtics, knew it. Yeah, they are not super stars. They
are stars. Yeah, you know, you can't you you can have your
nights when you dictate, but it'shard for you to do it on a
consistent basis. And the Boston wasn'thaving it. They're like, Okay,
(37:44):
Luca going nah, let's just playgreat defense. Don't give up with three
with two minutes now, let's don'tgive up threes. Let's give up twos.
They can't stop us from going inthe middle. We man can't stop
them from going in the middle.But they definitely can't stop us. And
we got more shooters, natural shootersthan they do. That's how the game
(38:07):
was won. Man. Yeah,defense, defense is winning this game.
And I told you guys a coupleof weeks ago, I don't care about
the shooting. The shooting comes andgoes, Like the Great John Wooden say,
defense is all about our guys wantto He ain't got quick feet,
he ain't got his Now. Defenseis about what do you want to do?
(38:29):
Yeah, yeah, and so.And I think we saw more defense,
better defense, and more defense fromLuca at the beginning of this game
than we've seen all series. Youknow, he was he was getting staying
in front of people. He is, you know, flying and tipping balls
and the whole thing as the gamewill own. He can't keep his foot
speed unless his offensively because he hasthe ball and can dictate where he goes.
(38:52):
He's not gonna be rushing. Andbefore we get off this arra,
let me say this right here,you know, let me tell you people
something we have not forgotten about.The Great Jerry West. We have not
forgotten about him, mister Clutch thelogo May God be with you, you
and your family. So I wantedto get that out. Rad. I
(39:12):
don't know if he was thinking aboutit, but I say I was crossing
my mind. I better get itout. I'm a little old now.
I don't want to forget. Yeah, the great Jerry. It's a great
way. And while we're at it. On the same day, a man
who was actually ten years older,who impacted so many lives, and I
got to know quite well, RobertHughes. I don't know if you ever
met him, Nate. He wasthe head coach at Dunbar High School in
(39:34):
Fort Worth and he died yesterday too. And he's the all time winning is
high school basketball coach thirteen hundred andthirty three wins. And I'm telling you
that man in the heart of atough neighborhood in Fort Worth, he changed
when I first got age to hearabout that man, to hear about it
when I first got to the Cowboys. Yeah, he's a great man.
(39:57):
We lost two great men of basketballyesterday and uh, and so that's a
great way to end it. Nate. I appreciate you bringing that up,
and make God protect each of themand their families as as they now move
on and and look, we'll dothis again. We may have to,
you know, I don't know ifwe'll take a break before training camp.
I will say this, we probablyhave to do one to wrap up the
(40:22):
seven game historic comeback by the DallasMavericks next week. Yes, come on
back to see what I say,town, so we can we put a
ribbon on this, we can puta bowl on this. Yeah, come
on back, baby, come on. Four straight wins, die hard baby,
Yes, yes, Shoe Mavericks betterdo is die hard baby? It
(40:44):
will be. It will be ormaybe the Celtics. We'll find out next
week. Show Spencer Bass. Oh, my emotions are so up and down
by emotions. Yeah, it's agroup saying that she's got the best of
your love. Baby. All right, man, it's been fun night.
(41:06):
We'll do it again, Yes,sir, we will do it again.
And if we if we continue on, it'll just be mostly a lot of
conversation people. It's just conversation aboutcamps and about life and our kids.
And we'll let you a little bitin on us man, and what we're
doing. And bring in special basstoo, man. Yeah, and we'll
get a big jug of a clearpicture so you can see the blue kool
(41:28):
aid. Yes man, I'm drinkinga baby. I die hard, all
right, brother, We'll see younext week, See you next week.
Jump back glass you and your famyou too,
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