Saturday Sportsworld with Marc Stein (July 15, 2023) Part 2

We go one-on-one with Tyson Chandler, who joins us live from Las Vegas to talk about coaching and mentoring Mavericks first-round pick Dereck Lively II.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is Saturday Sports World with MarkStein, presented by Treating Cards and Collectibles
on your official home to all DallasMavericks games. To everyone, Mark Stein
here on Saturday Sports World. Weare in the process of connecting with Tyson
Chandler. Hope to have him onthe line here momentarily from Las Vegas.

(00:24):
And I can tell that people arereally excited to hear from him because I'm
getting text messages on the text linetell Tyson how much MFFLS love him and
are thankful for the ring that hebrought us. And the text line is

(00:46):
I'm going to read a couple oftexts here while we're while we're getting ready
to connect with him, because weare we are tracking him down in Vegas.
Cody in Fort Worth. I'm bigon Holmes with a pick and roll
centered offense, something Holmes showed usin Sacramento that he could do beside Tyrese

(01:14):
Haliburton. So there's a vote forHolmes as your starting center, and we
have Brody from McKinney. I wouldlove to see Lively get some chances to
start rim run with Luca and Kyrieblock some shots foul a lot. I

(01:37):
don't think the MAVs want him foulinga lot, but that happens to rookies.
Obviously, they're going to have towork on his ability to stay out
of foul trouble. More from BrodyMcKinney. Loved his hustle on the glass
in the last game and that issorely needed for us. Obviously, the
MAVs are really encouraged by what they'veseen from Lively so far. Shout out

(01:59):
to my man Ian and San Diego, who's asking me, what are the
latest Dame rumblings? Not gonna doDame Lillard talk right now. We're we're
focused on mister Lively, and Iam told that the legendary Tyson Chandler Maverick's
royalty is indeed on the line withus now, Coach Chandler. Great to

(02:20):
have you with us, sir.How are you? Yeah? Great,
you sir, very good man.It is Uh, it's great to catch
up with you. It's been waytoo long. I did see you from
Afar a couple of times in Vegas, but uh I didn't. I didn't
want to. I didn't want tostock you and bug you because I knew
we would be doing this chat.Had I tracked you down ten years ago
and asked you how likely it wouldbe that you would be tutoring big men

(02:45):
and coaching. What would you havesaid, Oh, man, Um,
you know up honest, I wouldhave believed you. Um. You know,
I forget if I once, youknow, my career, and I
wouldn't want to just completely step awayfrom game. And you know, learning
everything that I learned along the way, I definitely feel like, you know,
you gotta pass it along. Iremember when your pal Navitsky was a

(03:09):
rookie and Don Nelson told me,oh, Dirk's gonna win Rookie of the
Year. That was great for mebecause I got an amazing headline out of
it in the Dallas More News.I don't know that it was so great
for Dirk to have that target onhis back from the start. So now
with Derek Lively, there are somany comparisons. He's the next Tyson Chandler,

(03:30):
He's got elements of Tyson Chandler.There's all this Tyson Chandler talk.
How do you think he is handlingthose comparisons. I think I think he's
handling it with grace. Um,And you know, I think it's a
compliment to him, and I thinkhe appreciates it. But you know I
want him to be better than me, to be quite honest, Um,

(03:51):
you know I would love to shortenhis curve of you know, learning.
M trying to give him things thatyou know I learned along the way.
You know that I wish I couldhave learned earlier, you know in my
career. Um you know, somy goal honestly is to uh, you
know, make him a better playerthan I was. How much of yourself

(04:11):
do you actually see in his gamein this short time you guys have been
together a lot, a lot honestly. I mean, you know he's a
very active player. Um. Youknow, he protects the room, he
wants to go after you know,every shot runs the floor and um,
you know, extremely well, veryathletic, fast, um um, great

(04:33):
attitude, Um, great teammate.Uh you know, eager to learn.
Uh you know, still a youngkid, got a long ways to go,
but you know has great attributes.Mavericks legend Tyson Chandler here with us
on Saturday Sports World on ninety sevenone the Freak Direct from Las Vegas,

(04:54):
where Tyson is a part of themath part of the MAVs coaching staff on
the summer league squad and working alot directly with Maverick's first round pick Derek
Lively the second Who were you comparedto on your way into the NBA.
UM? I was compared to umAG. I was compared to uh carrying,

(05:16):
uh I was compared to uh UM. I think those are main comparisons,
you know, body type. UM. Yeah, I think those are
the most main comparisons that I wouldget. Because Jason Kidd loves to say
how you came in as a wing, I genuinely, I genuinely can't even
remember. Were you really projected asa three coming in? I mean that

(05:40):
seems, you know, the wayMAVs remember you in the role you played
on the championship team like that,that is hard to fathom. You know,
my my game changed completely. Ihad to adapt to what the league
was. Um. And you knowwhen at the time when I was coming
into the league, there wasn't bigguys like you know, playing like k

(06:00):
D or UM or you know,like whenby just got to like, there
wasn't big guys doing that. Um. You know, the game was completely
different. UM. So I hadto find my way. So I had
to just to the you know,to the game that was in front of
me, um, and you know, they wanted more back to the back,
you know, and this mat.So those were the years that I

(06:21):
spent with Chicago. UM, themtrying to turn me into a five,
you know, but I was draftedas a three, and then them trying
to turn me into a five.UM. And then you know, once
I finally when I got traded umto New Orleans and then LinkedIn was CP.
That's kind of when my game,like we came up with a new
game really um, you know,and then I kind of rode with that.

(06:45):
I saw I was at the gymfor one practice before you guys left
for Vegas, So I got towatch you working a little bit with Derek
on just really simple touch stuff aroundthe basket. But on a daily you
know, when when you got toget on the practice court, is it
different thing every day or what whatdo you try? What lessons are you
trying to impart to him in areally short time obviously you're only with him

(07:08):
for a couple of weeks. Yeah, and no, totally, UM,
you know, honestly, I'm notI'm not worried about the right now,
like I want to give him,uh you know tools um that he can
use as I see it. Um. But for me, it's the long
haul. Uh. You know,for me, it's it's really I hanging
things out and you know, turninghim to the best possible player that he

(07:30):
can be. So what you've seen, um, what you've seen is doing
once I was just really trying towork on his touch around the room,
um, you know, for whenhe gets offensive rebounds or get some of
those dump off passes, um,you know, and or when he's you
know, just trying to tip theball. We were uh in little baby
hooks. We were working on that. But you know, a lot of
the practice really it's honestly, anythingI see, I try to tell him

(07:55):
like, look, it's it's it'sit's gonna be this way for a while.
You know. My bets told mewhen you know, the same thing
when I was younger, like you'regonna hear my voice so so much,
you know, I tell him,be the patient, don't you know,
trying to get frustrated, trying toget frustrated yourself. Don't get frustrated me
because I'm not gonna stop. Um. You know, And as you continue

(08:16):
to grow as you continue to process, you know, some of these things.
You hear my voice less and lessand less and less. Um,
you know. But right now,UM, it's detail because I don't want
him out there doing um things overand over, you know, and repeating
mistakes, um and not correcting them. So you know, if I see
something, I'm gonna tell him.Um. You know, he's been great

(08:37):
about it. He's been really greatabout it. He's a sponge. He's
eager to learn. Um. Ithink he's just as excited as I am.
You just I think you kind ofanticipated my question. What kind of
listener is he? He? He'sa he's a great less he's a great,
great kid. And I hate toeven call him a great young man.
Um Uh, he's a he's agreat young man. He listens like

(09:01):
a safe eager He has a greatspirit. You know. It's I love
it. You know, he makesit. He makes it easy. Championship
winning former Maverick center Tyson Chandler herewith us on Saturday Sports World on ninety
seven one The Freak presented by PaniniAmerica direct from Las Vegas, where Tyson

(09:22):
is part of the MAVs coaching staff, working a lot with MAVs first round
pick Derek Lively the second. Youknow, it's not clear cut who if
the season started tomorrow, we don'treally know who would be the starting center
based on what you have seen tothis point. How feasible is it that

(09:43):
Live Lively is going to be readyfor real, if not a starter real
NBA minutes come October. Oh yeah, I think you'll be ready for some
minutes. You know, he's gonnahe's gonna be young hopefully. It really
honestly depends on like how much wecan um curve the curve, you know,

(10:03):
how quickly he could pick up onsome things, because you know,
it's it's it's one thing you knowin summer league, it's gonna be a
completely different beast and training camp,and it's gonna be a completely different beast
as the season goes along. It'sgonna be a completely different beast as it
starts getting close to the playoffs,completely different pieces and playoffs. So,
um, you know, my jobis starting to get him as ready as

(10:24):
I can, you know, withwhere he's at, and not overwhelm them.
Um, you know, but Idefinitely feel like he for sure I
can contribute. I mean, he'sathletic. He could protect the realm,
could run, and he could finishat the realm. So he's definitely gonna
be able to contribute. It's justa matter of, you know how much.

(10:45):
A couple more quick questions here beforewe let Tyson Chandler get back to
the chaos of a Saturday morning inVegas. You don't tweet a ton,
but you definitely caught my eye withsomething you tweeted during the playoffs. You
said that if the to you,the Yokich Murray pick and roll in Denver

(11:07):
reminds you of Navitsky and Jason Terry. What are you seeing? What made
you what made you say that?Their chemistry? Uh, the chemistry And
it's not often that you can runa pick and roll with a guard and
a point or two, you know, us, it's really rare that you

(11:28):
can run a pick and roll witha big in the guard. But with
the big handle on the ball orthe or the guard can set the upscreen,
the big comes off, he's ableto throw it back, you know,
if they cheat and the guard popsand vice verse. Dirk and Jet
would would like run that brilliantly umand they would just play with the defense
until the defense made a mistake.You know, Jet might be handling the

(11:48):
ball one time coming up the wing, then Dirk sets up their pick and
um, you know, if theydon't go for it, the Dirk might
post you know, I do theopposite um, and they would run it
until they got the massive matchup thatthey liked. And both of them were
so skilled, you know, bothof them can handle the ball and can
shoot the ball and could pass theball. It just made it terrible for
the defense. And that was YokiMary like to close the game a lot

(12:11):
of times, you know. Iremember it was a stretch that they were
running the exact same play and Iwas wondering if they you know, if
they just happened that way, orif they you know, saw it took
it. But they played it brilliantly. And that's the only other time I
didn't even seen anybody be able todo it. You know, I was
a different player, you know,coming off picking other than that, clearly,

(12:31):
um, so to be able torun it with the you know skill
big, like their skill big,like Yokich you know, it's a very
rare thing to try to have todefend. Uh And they ran it brilliantly.
I will ask on your behalf whenI see the nuggets. We only
have about thirty seconds left. Butreal quick, last one, how often
do you look at the ring?What is your ring strategy? Does it

(12:52):
go away never to be looked at? Do you like to pull it out
and check it out? Like?How how do you approach having that championship
to bring wherever you hide it?It's it's random for me, like you
know, and it's really moments.It's like you know, whether the playoffs
come around our championship round. I'vereally only seen I've really only seen my

(13:15):
ring A few times. I bringit out, you know, hearing the
um, but for the most part, I just keep it in the safe.
Hopefully this year I got a reasonto bring it out to motivate the
guys. Listen, MAVs fans arethrilled that you are involved with this team,
thrilled that you're passing on all ofyour experiences and knowledge to young mister

(13:39):
Lively. It is great to catchup with you man, always one of
my favorite guys to talk to formany many years before he became a Maverick.
Tyson Chandler, thank you so muchfor doing this and thank joining the
show. I appreciate you having you, and thank you thanks to Mill.
There he goes Tyson Chandler with theMAVs in Las Vegas. Lots of insights

(14:00):
there. Stay tuned after the break, Lots more to come here on Saturday
Sports World presented by Panini on ninetyseven one, The Freak. You're listening
to a Saturday Sports World with MarkStein presented by Panini, Trading cards and
collectibles on your official home dwell DallasMavericks Games ninety seven one The Freak