May 15, 2026 • 22 mins
Houston Rig Hands' head coach Calvin Murphy joined Adam Clanton and Adam Wexler on The A-Team and revealed the latest on the team's upcoming season, what to expect from the Rockets moving forward, and much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, three o'clock hours underway simulcast overwey on or
underway on sc HN.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It is the A Team wex AC.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
And if you are watching on Space City Home Network
right now, you already know the man, the myth, the legend.
Sitting to my left. You're right, Calvin Jerome Murphy in
here to talk. I hear that red button so people
can start hearing what you say. We just absolutely here.
Swing that around. I forgot to even do the most
important part, which is get that in front of your face.
(00:28):
There were we go if you want, all right, yeah,
there we go. You're in here to talk about Big Three.
And I say this to you probably at least once
or twice a season. I always want you to coach.
I'm always want you to work on free throws with
people because you were so good at it. But like,
what took them so long to get you involved in
something like this. You're like Taylor made for it.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Uh, you know it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
I'm a teacher. I've never been considered I considered myself
a coach. Of course, A coach is one that gets
players together and uh to win. A teacher is one
that works with the athlete to get them ready for
the coaches, to help them to stay in a job.
And this is what I've done all my life, work
with youngsters. So I've never considered going into, you know,
(01:14):
the big leagues to be a coach. You know, a
coach is hired to be fired. Nobody likes that scenario.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
That's the dirty side of the business, but it's the truth, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
But you know, getting involved with the with the Big Three,
it's been a very humbling experience because what I've learned
is not to be so mean with coaches I see
out there in the other leagues. Now what they've got
to go through.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
It is a tough gig.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
And you were talking about something and you know, hopefully
I can say this on the air, you didn't know
a lot about this league before you got involved. I
was I'm still kind of there, right, nine years?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Is that what you said?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, around nine years. It would have been ten.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Of course, you know that one year with the pandemic
slowed them down. But it's it's an excellent, excellent league.
And I'm not just saying it's because I'm collecting a
paycheck by any stretch of imagination, Because if I didn't
enjoy it. If I didn't think I had something to
bring to the table, I wouldn't be involved. When I
was approached about coaching the Houston ric Hans, I jumped
(02:15):
at the opportunity because you know, at my age now,
you know it's still not too late to try new ventures.
And last year, unfortunately, the rick Hans came in last place,
and it wasn't no fault of the players. You know,
we lost three main ingredients to injury and it was
a makeshift team last year. And then we had a
couple of players that couldn't make certain games because they
(02:38):
were involved with the NBA Summer League. So we got caught,
you know, between the rock and a hard place. But
this year, look out, my peopils.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
You and I talk about it all the time.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
You're the coach, but so it's about the players, about
what they go out and do. What you can help
guide them to do, a little bit of excitement from
you about the group you have this year. Be at
Toyota Center on July twenty sixth and August sixth, the
full slate of games over there coming up later this summer.
You get hit Big three dot com for information on that.
Who's on the Calvin Murphy led at Houston rig Hans
(03:13):
this year.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Well, we're gonna start off with Jonathan Simmons. As you know,
Jonathan played in the NBA. Great shooter, a great athlete.
I'm excited, you know, about having the opportunity to coach.
Have been knowing him a long time.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
He's been around Houston a lot of his interrofessional life.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yes he did, Yes he has.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
And the fact that he's he is still a great athlete,
still a great basketball player, and he's excited about playing
for the rig Hans this year.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
We got Adam Wesler.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I cannot wait to play for Murph.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I got Adam.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Just put a dr on there.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
I know it might sound odd. That is not the
first time that's happened. Adam Drexler a part of the
rig Hans this year. Yes, that last name is a
familiar one.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Yes, and Adam is one of my favorite. Said I'm
gonna tell you why, Because people like Adam uh has
gotten me a chance to be in the Basketball Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And why do I say that?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Because Adam reminds me of people like like Major Jones,
uh and and and Alan Levo and and uh Mike Dunlevy.
Why do I get those games out? These are the
people that have talent, that did the dirty work and
allowed me to be me. So anytime I get an
opportunity to coach a player like like Adam that will
(04:28):
go out there and put it all on the floor,
h I'm excited about it. You always got to have
somebody that that's not afraid to go out there and
mix it up. Even in the Big Three. The defensive
end of the game, even if a three on three game,
the defensive end of the game, especially going down the stretch,
is very very important. So we got we got Adam,
and then of course we got Kevin Murphy. You know,
(04:49):
no relation, but after we win this, we're gonna be
We're gonna be partner, right, you know. He's one of
our co captains as well as by the way, Jonathan
Simmons one of the co captains also, and our big
boy is Isaiah Austin seventy to one.
Speaker 5 (05:07):
A lot of people are very familiar with him for
his career at Baylor. His host too be playing in
the NBA a big event when he was drafted into
the NBA with with how they treated that incident obviously,
with his medical history, but quite a baller.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Yes he is. And I'm trying to get these youngsters.
And I call him youngsters because you know, I just
had a birthday, so you know, I call everybody youngsters.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Calum Murphy just turned years old. I know whatever the
number is, and I know what it is. I don't
believe it.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
You don't believe it. Just seventy eight, seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
You are not seventy eight years old. This guy they
called you the energizer bunny. That has not changed. It's
not changed.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
You know, the first time I met Calvin, I was
in college. Like I had seen you since I was
a kid watching the Brockets broadcast. But I shadowed you
and Bill Urrel Yes for a broadcast on TV. And
my grandmother used to watch you may she rest all
the time, and she he called you. She's like, that's
the perfect nickname for him. He's always talking. I'm like, yeah, yeah,
(06:04):
that's Calvin. So you're not seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I don't believe the.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Lord has blessed me. I'm seventy eight.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
And you know, of course, my grandsons, you know, they
still think I'm sixteen because they want to get me
in the gym and work on their game. Calvin the
third right now is a tremendous ball player, and you know,
I had him in the gymmy of the day and
I was showing him some of my stuff from back
in the sixties. Fell down, and my three grand boys
that picking me up like a real old dude. Now
you know, I'll get off of me. I got this.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I got this.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
So I officially retired last week with my grandsons had
to pick me up off the court.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
That's not time to do it, though, you know now
A moment.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Sooner, absolutely so. But but you know, even at my age,
right now, I feel real good. And I've had people
ask me how long am I planning on being in basketball?
As long as the Lord lets me, that's my answer
to that. I've been blessed that the Rockets have had
me on the broadcast for a number of years and
they're still excited about me being a part of the
(07:01):
broadcast team. I had the good fortune to work for
a course with Adam for some games and stuff. So
I'm planning on as long as I stay healthy. And
I'm blessed right now that I am healthy.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
I was asking him this question before you got in
here about the Big Three.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
You know he was founded by Ice qbe.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yes, Yes, great, great guy.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I'm telling you, if you ever make it happen that
I meet him, we're gonna have I'm gonna owe you
big well.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I'm a huge fan.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
You come to the game when weird Cans have? What
is that August sixth?
Speaker 5 (07:32):
August six will be the second stop. July twenty sixth
is the first stop.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
I will promise you, I will take you over and
introduce him to you.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Personally just a legend.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Oh but he's but you know, here's a lot of
legends that you don't want to be involved with.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, you don't want to meet your hero.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, that's right, because you don't want to throw away
the dream. But but he is a genuinely great person
because he's basic. You know, he treats you like you
the star, opposed to who he is.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
You know what's funny about you saying that?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
That is so true, especially with celebrities, athletes, and then
a lot of times, the more they talk, the more
they give themselves away. Right right with him, the more
he talks, the more I'm like, man, he he makes sense.
He's like pretty common sense guy about a lot of things.
I mean, not just sports, politically, there's a lot of
things he said that. I'm like, wow, I did not
(08:24):
think I would be agreeing so much with ice Cube
on this subject.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
But that's how it's been with him.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
You know.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
But the thing that really impressed me when I first
met him. Of course, you know, my grandchildren know who
he is through the movie Friday and through this Nature
and how he developed the character Smoky and all that
kind of stuff. But when I went to him and
asked him if my marching unit, Marching Thunder could perform
(08:52):
at you know, sometime during the Rican game in Houston,
and he said to me, if they belong to you,
I know the top shelf, not a problem, that right there,
anddeared me to him because he knew how important it
was for me to have my kids around me in
the city of Houston, and never gave it a second thought.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Then after he saw him perform, he fell in love
with him.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
He went over and he asked to take a picture
with these youngsters, and every youngster has a copy of
that picture. Hit right in the middle, and they're not
looking at the camera. They're all looking at it. That's
the kind of individual. He is larger than life, larger
than life. But the league's been successful and that's what counts.
I mean, it's great to have your name attached to it,
but if it's not successful, and here we are nine
(09:34):
years later and just the product itself. Talk about the
product itself and how the quality of the basketball that
people are gonna come out and be able to see, Well, well,
you know, first of all, every year it gets better.
Why because they actually sit down and go over to good, bad,
and ugly of what happened the year before. They've changed
the rules periodically to fit the product, and they're always
(09:57):
conscious of what they think will deer the public to
the league. Now you look at some of the rules
and I love it because it's old school basketball. You know,
in today's NBA, for instance, you can't touch anybody. So
they talk about Curry being the best shooter ever Bologney,
it's like speaking, you're here, man, you can't you can't
(10:19):
touch him. He's a great, great shooter, great great player.
But if you can't touch him, how you're gonna stop him.
So when you look at the Big Three, we're going
we're going back to my era. When when you had
to beat somebody off you just to get your jump
shot up and put the ball in the basket. I
like the fact that every year the talent gets better
and the talent gets younger. See, people looked at it
(10:40):
as first as the old People's League, you know, that
type of a deal, which is not what it is.
It is giving people the opportunity that career was cut short,
a chance to do some other things. Uh, and it's
still in basketball.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Can we hold you for another segment?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Sure, I'm not going anywhere. You can hold me all
day long.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Nobody loves me now, you see he continues to speak
my love language. This is Calvin Murphy. He's in here
to talk about the Big Three, which will obviously be
here in town.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Ninth season of the Big Three.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
It's hard to believe that's where they're at, But Calvin
Jerome Murphy, the coach of the Houston franchise for Big Three.
We'll continue to talk about that and more with him
when we come back.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
Huge, huge surprise during the break in between segments here
with Calvin Murphy in studio here on the A team.
We basically just had the exact same conversation just extended,
So we'll pick it back right up here. I remember Calvin,
who joins us here in studio as the head coach
of the Houston rig Hands and the Big Three beginning
their season in June. Two stops in Houston on July
(11:47):
twenty sixth and August sixth of a slate of games there.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I think it was back in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
I was over on television side, we're going over Channel two,
and I had a chance to sit down with the
recently named commissioner of the Big Three, Clyde Drexler. I'm
still doing, yes, the Big Three commissioner and doing a
wonderful job.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Before I go to Clyde, I got to also mention
that our captain is their favors, you know, super super
super super uh young man.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Now, with that being said, I don't want to leave
him out.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
Another part of the rig Hands upcoming season. New to
the league, Derek very familiar to fans here in Houston.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Yes, Now going to my man Clyde.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
He is a fabulous, not good, but a fabulous commissioner.
And I'm gonna tell you why, because he has the
respect of all parties. When he speaks like he is hunting,
everybody listens and he's only gonna tell you one time.
And you know, in any league, you're gonna have situations,
you're gonna have problems, and he takes the bull by
the horns and he resolves it. You know, when he
(12:46):
helps them to get a CBS, I believe contract to
put a league like like you know, like the Big
Three that's gonna challenge the w n B. A of
course is coming to Houston. Now you're doing something and
I just see I've been doing Clyde ever since, you know,
he was a kid, and of course the University of
Houston and of course you know, joining the dream and
(13:08):
win a championship here. And the one thing I've always
appreciated about about the Glide is is you know, you
ask him a question, He's going to give you the answer.
He's not going sugarcoat it. Now if you don't want
to know the answer, you know he asked his his
mild mannered reporter attitude. But he's given you an answer
that you may not want, So don't ask him the
question straight up, pure pure people. I love him to
(13:31):
death obviously. The way I'm talking you know, I can't
begin to tell you over the years how many conversations
I had with him about various subjects and some of
the answers.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
He gave me that I didn't really want to hear.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Yeah, you know, but you wouldn't necessarily expect an unfiltered
response like that from Clyde because he's so well spoken
in mild mannered.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
No.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Absolutely, but he's going to be honest with you, and
you can't ask any more from man than that.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
He brought up that path, you know, through high school
in Houston, College, University of Houston, and playing his NBA
career and coming to Houston play for the Rockets. We
hear from fans all the time still to this day.
We talk about it all the time, you know, about
his arrival here into the arena, into the summit and
how everything went wild. What was your perspective of the
evening of introducing Clyde to the Houston fans when he
(14:19):
walks in the arena.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
You know, it's interesting when he wasn't drafted by the Rockets,
I was the most disappointed individual. But then again, of course,
you know, the Rockets had some great talent during that
time also, and the Lord has a direction for everybody.
But you know, his timing was perfect when he came
in for that second ended of championship, that type thing,
(14:41):
and I you know, I felt chills when I saw
him walking there because he should have been there seven
eight years earlier, earlier, because he was even though he
played in Portland and had a fabulous career there, he
was still Houston.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
I feel like if he had played anywhere but Portland,
he would get even more credit than he does because
I know he went up against them, Jay and everybody
likes to talk about that. It was they were like
one and two.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
It was that fluids and you don't forget that, and
you can't remember now Portland was a very small market.
They were just there and he was the reason why
they started getting some maccolades. Now, I've talked to Michael
Jordan myself about Clyde and when when When When when?
The greatest player, in my opinion, they ever played the
game said that when he got ready to play Clyde Drexley,
(15:28):
he got him a nap before the game. That tells
you the respect that it is being shown because he
knew that Clyde was a solid defender, a great officer man,
and he was always in shape and played against Clyde
and playing against you know, against the greatest in the world.
He wanted to show that he belonged in that company.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Did you get a kick? I know you watched the
last dance you had? Of course they did you get
a kick out of it?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
You know, Jordan's going down the line.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
He's talking about all these guys he goes up against,
and he was like, and I took that personally. He
took everything personally, sure, But when he talked about Clide,
he he kind of conceded. He said Clyde was a threat,
you know, and that that's about as much credit as
you're gonna give publicly on camera, you could tell he
was talking about Clyde differently than maybe some of those
other guys that he talked about in that documentary.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Absolutely, you know, so much was said obviously about the
fact that that Isaiah Thomas was left off the Dream Team.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Okay, and and they.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Don't know if if he should have replaced uh the
guard from from from Utah John John stock John John
Stockton or or Clyde. And uh, you can be assured
when when they were putting the thought process together of
who the other guard should be. You can be assured
that that Michael said he wanted Clyde on that team
(16:45):
with him.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And he didn't want Isaiah.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
But you know, unfortunately, I'm a big fan of Isaiah
Thomas too, you know, point guards, no question, you know,
I hold him his number two professionally, you know, of course,
you know, I still think very magic is the man
with the ball. But the fact that Clyde got on
that dream team and actually was a major contributor to
(17:12):
the Dream Team showed the world that he belonged.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
Talking about all this NBA stardom and all these NBA
players and the championship Clyde gets while he's here had
a chance to work. As you mentioned some Space City
Home Network late season games as the Rockets this year
were playing some of their best basketball headed into that
series against the Lakers. Obviously, things health wise were not
what they were as the season ended when they went
into that series. Just some thoughts about how the season
(17:39):
ended for the Rockets and what lies ahead.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
I've been asked, you know, a billion times since the
sea's been over about my opinion. Of course, I was disappointed.
I truly believe in people thought I was on drugs
that we had a shot at winning the championship. I
thought we had all the ingredients and I still do now. Obviously,
when you don't win, it might be changes. Unfortunately, that's
just the nature of the beast. But we had a
(18:04):
hell of a team. Unfortunately, injuries once again cropped in.
It reminded me of when we had a Harden and
CP three and CP three went down that year, and
that was a year that we could have really really
made some inroads to another championship. So we ran into
that situation again. Everybody that played on the Rockets team
(18:25):
put forth an effort, but you cannot beat situations like
injuries or father time type of situation. Now, of course
people are asking me about trades. I don't know nothing
about that. I have a hard enough time figuring out
my team with the big three. But everybody that's on
the Rockets team and here again, I treat people how
people treat me. They treat me like royalty. So I
(18:47):
hate to see anybody leave, but unfortunately that's not the
way basket of professional basketball goes. Now, they're gonna sit
down because you know, mister Fatita is a winner. That's obvious,
and they're gonna make some decisions to give the best
product to the city of Houston that they possibly can.
So coming up, we may lose one, somebody may lose
(19:08):
one of their favorite players. But it's just just unfortunate.
But this year, if the injury has not cropped up,
and they brought across KP in kd N with Alfred,
you know, so you had to want two punch, and
then you had some people that came off the bench
and did the dirty work. I thought they actually had
(19:29):
a great chance to come out of the West. I remember,
everything's about matchups. We should have beat Okay, see the
first game of the season and lost lost by that
at one point, and then every time we match up
we give them fits. So you never know who's gonna
beat who is in the playoffs. Is all about matchups,
(19:50):
you know.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I do wonder since you're a point guard, your thoughts
on this.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
You know a lot of people think that the Rockets
mentality is well if they get healthy, and by health
healthy Fred van Vliet is back, that solves a lot
of the problems. And I know you're about the only
person on the planet that hates turnovers more than me.
I gosh, just maddening to watch this team this year.
Just low IQ basketball at times, not even force turnovers.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Well, you know, you say low iq.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
You know, a lot of turnovers happened when people try
too hard. A lot of turnovers happen when people come
to the game and they're trying to do too much
at one time because they don't know how much playing
time they're going to get. And then sometimes, of course,
like anything, you make a bonehead of mistakes. But yeah,
turnovers have really, really, really been a nemesis for the
(20:37):
Rockets of this past season, and I'm sure they're going
to address that before the season starts this year. Now,
was it because they didn't have a quote two point guard.
I don't believe that.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
You know.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
The one thing I've told people, and this is Calvia
Murphy's opinion. Now this is I haven't talked to anything
with the Rockets fans, so let me just tell you
this is my opinion. We were such a great rebounding team.
I didn't think we needed a point guard. I thought
we rebound, push that ball up, put the pressure on
the defense, get on their heels, and get as many
opportunity baskets as possible. Then when you have to play
(21:12):
half court basketball, it's all about knowing what is the
game plan is in executing you know, when you get
to the level of professional anything, I don't think a
person need to be led round by the nose you can.
If you don't have your own mentality about the game itself,
(21:32):
you shouldn't be there.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
Big three head coach Houston rig Hans, You're right with us,
my boy, Calvin Murphy. Season begins on June twentieth, four
games in each city when they make their stops. They'll
start in LA, but they come to Houston twice during
the season, July twenty sixth the Toyota Center and then
again on August sixth the Toyota Center. That is a
Sunday and then a Thursday. You'll watch Derek Favors, Adam Drexler,
(21:57):
Isaiah Austen and the rest of Calvin's team crush the competition.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Looking forward to it. Love having you in here. Love
the enthusiasm is always for the very young Calvin Murphy.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
I'm gonna hold him to that promise. On the ice
cube photo, I just upgraded it. You're getting me a
picture with him.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Now, that's a promise I made to him.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
But yes, the last thing I'm gonna say about the Rinkhands,
We're gonna be one of the teams to beat. Forget
about last year, which was the experimental. We're going to
have one hell of.
Speaker 5 (22:26):
A team gauntlet laid down by Calvin Murphy. Much more
still to come here on the eighteen
All right, three o'clock hours underway simulcast overwey on or
underway on sc HN.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It is the A Team wex AC.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
And if you are watching on Space City Home Network
right now, you already know the man, the myth, the legend.
Sitting to my left. You're right, Calvin Jerome Murphy in
here to talk. I hear that red button so people
can start hearing what you say. We just absolutely here.
Swing that around. I forgot to even do the most
important part, which is get that in front of your face.
(00:28):
There were we go if you want, all right, yeah,
there we go. You're in here to talk about Big Three.
And I say this to you probably at least once
or twice a season. I always want you to coach.
I'm always want you to work on free throws with
people because you were so good at it. But like,
what took them so long to get you involved in
something like this. You're like Taylor made for it.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Uh, you know it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
I'm a teacher. I've never been considered I considered myself
a coach. Of course, A coach is one that gets
players together and uh to win. A teacher is one
that works with the athlete to get them ready for
the coaches, to help them to stay in a job.
And this is what I've done all my life, work
with youngsters. So I've never considered going into, you know,
(01:14):
the big leagues to be a coach. You know, a
coach is hired to be fired. Nobody likes that scenario.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
That's the dirty side of the business, but it's the truth, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
But you know, getting involved with the with the Big Three,
it's been a very humbling experience because what I've learned
is not to be so mean with coaches I see
out there in the other leagues. Now what they've got
to go through.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
It is a tough gig.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
And you were talking about something and you know, hopefully
I can say this on the air, you didn't know
a lot about this league before you got involved. I
was I'm still kind of there, right, nine years?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Is that what you said?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, around nine years. It would have been ten.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Of course, you know that one year with the pandemic
slowed them down. But it's it's an excellent, excellent league.
And I'm not just saying it's because I'm collecting a
paycheck by any stretch of imagination, Because if I didn't
enjoy it. If I didn't think I had something to
bring to the table, I wouldn't be involved. When I
was approached about coaching the Houston ric Hans, I jumped
(02:15):
at the opportunity because you know, at my age now,
you know it's still not too late to try new ventures.
And last year, unfortunately, the rick Hans came in last place,
and it wasn't no fault of the players. You know,
we lost three main ingredients to injury and it was
a makeshift team last year. And then we had a
couple of players that couldn't make certain games because they
(02:38):
were involved with the NBA Summer League. So we got caught,
you know, between the rock and a hard place. But
this year, look out, my peopils.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
You and I talk about it all the time.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
You're the coach, but so it's about the players, about
what they go out and do. What you can help
guide them to do, a little bit of excitement from
you about the group you have this year. Be at
Toyota Center on July twenty sixth and August sixth, the
full slate of games over there coming up later this summer.
You get hit Big three dot com for information on that.
Who's on the Calvin Murphy led at Houston rig Hans
(03:13):
this year.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Well, we're gonna start off with Jonathan Simmons. As you know,
Jonathan played in the NBA. Great shooter, a great athlete.
I'm excited, you know, about having the opportunity to coach.
Have been knowing him a long time.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
He's been around Houston a lot of his interrofessional life.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yes he did, Yes he has.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
And the fact that he's he is still a great athlete,
still a great basketball player, and he's excited about playing
for the rig Hans this year.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
We got Adam Wesler.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I cannot wait to play for Murph.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I got Adam.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Just put a dr on there.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
I know it might sound odd. That is not the
first time that's happened. Adam Drexler a part of the
rig Hans this year. Yes, that last name is a
familiar one.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Yes, and Adam is one of my favorite. Said I'm
gonna tell you why, Because people like Adam uh has
gotten me a chance to be in the Basketball Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And why do I say that?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Because Adam reminds me of people like like Major Jones,
uh and and and Alan Levo and and uh Mike Dunlevy.
Why do I get those games out? These are the
people that have talent, that did the dirty work and
allowed me to be me. So anytime I get an
opportunity to coach a player like like Adam that will
(04:28):
go out there and put it all on the floor,
h I'm excited about it. You always got to have
somebody that that's not afraid to go out there and
mix it up. Even in the Big Three. The defensive
end of the game, even if a three on three game,
the defensive end of the game, especially going down the stretch,
is very very important. So we got we got Adam,
and then of course we got Kevin Murphy. You know,
(04:49):
no relation, but after we win this, we're gonna be
We're gonna be partner, right, you know. He's one of
our co captains as well as by the way, Jonathan
Simmons one of the co captains also, and our big
boy is Isaiah Austin seventy to one.
Speaker 5 (05:07):
A lot of people are very familiar with him for
his career at Baylor. His host too be playing in
the NBA a big event when he was drafted into
the NBA with with how they treated that incident obviously,
with his medical history, but quite a baller.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Yes he is. And I'm trying to get these youngsters.
And I call him youngsters because you know, I just
had a birthday, so you know, I call everybody youngsters.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Calum Murphy just turned years old. I know whatever the
number is, and I know what it is. I don't
believe it.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
You don't believe it. Just seventy eight, seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
You are not seventy eight years old. This guy they
called you the energizer bunny. That has not changed. It's
not changed.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
You know, the first time I met Calvin, I was
in college. Like I had seen you since I was
a kid watching the Brockets broadcast. But I shadowed you
and Bill Urrel Yes for a broadcast on TV. And
my grandmother used to watch you may she rest all
the time, and she he called you. She's like, that's
the perfect nickname for him. He's always talking. I'm like, yeah, yeah,
(06:04):
that's Calvin. So you're not seventy eight.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I don't believe the.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Lord has blessed me. I'm seventy eight.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
And you know, of course, my grandsons, you know, they
still think I'm sixteen because they want to get me
in the gym and work on their game. Calvin the
third right now is a tremendous ball player, and you know,
I had him in the gymmy of the day and
I was showing him some of my stuff from back
in the sixties. Fell down, and my three grand boys
that picking me up like a real old dude. Now
you know, I'll get off of me. I got this.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I got this.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
So I officially retired last week with my grandsons had
to pick me up off the court.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
That's not time to do it, though, you know now
A moment.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Sooner, absolutely so. But but you know, even at my age,
right now, I feel real good. And I've had people
ask me how long am I planning on being in basketball?
As long as the Lord lets me, that's my answer
to that. I've been blessed that the Rockets have had
me on the broadcast for a number of years and
they're still excited about me being a part of the
(07:01):
broadcast team. I had the good fortune to work for
a course with Adam for some games and stuff. So
I'm planning on as long as I stay healthy. And
I'm blessed right now that I am healthy.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
I was asking him this question before you got in
here about the Big Three.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
You know he was founded by Ice qbe.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yes, Yes, great, great guy.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I'm telling you, if you ever make it happen that
I meet him, we're gonna have I'm gonna owe you
big well.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I'm a huge fan.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
You come to the game when weird Cans have? What
is that August sixth?
Speaker 5 (07:32):
August six will be the second stop. July twenty sixth
is the first stop.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
I will promise you, I will take you over and
introduce him to you.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Personally just a legend.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Oh but he's but you know, here's a lot of
legends that you don't want to be involved with.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, you don't want to meet your hero.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, that's right, because you don't want to throw away
the dream. But but he is a genuinely great person
because he's basic. You know, he treats you like you
the star, opposed to who he is.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
You know what's funny about you saying that?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
That is so true, especially with celebrities, athletes, and then
a lot of times, the more they talk, the more
they give themselves away. Right right with him, the more
he talks, the more I'm like, man, he he makes sense.
He's like pretty common sense guy about a lot of things.
I mean, not just sports, politically, there's a lot of
things he said that. I'm like, wow, I did not
(08:24):
think I would be agreeing so much with ice Cube
on this subject.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
But that's how it's been with him.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
You know.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
But the thing that really impressed me when I first
met him. Of course, you know, my grandchildren know who
he is through the movie Friday and through this Nature
and how he developed the character Smoky and all that
kind of stuff. But when I went to him and
asked him if my marching unit, Marching Thunder could perform
(08:52):
at you know, sometime during the Rican game in Houston,
and he said to me, if they belong to you,
I know the top shelf, not a problem, that right there,
anddeared me to him because he knew how important it
was for me to have my kids around me in
the city of Houston, and never gave it a second thought.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Then after he saw him perform, he fell in love
with him.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
He went over and he asked to take a picture
with these youngsters, and every youngster has a copy of
that picture. Hit right in the middle, and they're not
looking at the camera. They're all looking at it. That's
the kind of individual. He is larger than life, larger
than life. But the league's been successful and that's what counts.
I mean, it's great to have your name attached to it,
but if it's not successful, and here we are nine
(09:34):
years later and just the product itself. Talk about the
product itself and how the quality of the basketball that
people are gonna come out and be able to see, Well, well,
you know, first of all, every year it gets better.
Why because they actually sit down and go over to good, bad,
and ugly of what happened the year before. They've changed
the rules periodically to fit the product, and they're always
(09:57):
conscious of what they think will deer the public to
the league. Now you look at some of the rules
and I love it because it's old school basketball. You know,
in today's NBA, for instance, you can't touch anybody. So
they talk about Curry being the best shooter ever Bologney,
it's like speaking, you're here, man, you can't you can't
(10:19):
touch him. He's a great, great shooter, great great player.
But if you can't touch him, how you're gonna stop him.
So when you look at the Big Three, we're going
we're going back to my era. When when you had
to beat somebody off you just to get your jump
shot up and put the ball in the basket. I
like the fact that every year the talent gets better
and the talent gets younger. See, people looked at it
(10:40):
as first as the old People's League, you know, that
type of a deal, which is not what it is.
It is giving people the opportunity that career was cut short,
a chance to do some other things. Uh, and it's
still in basketball.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Can we hold you for another segment?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Sure, I'm not going anywhere. You can hold me all
day long.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Nobody loves me now, you see he continues to speak
my love language. This is Calvin Murphy. He's in here
to talk about the Big Three, which will obviously be
here in town.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Ninth season of the Big Three.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
It's hard to believe that's where they're at, But Calvin
Jerome Murphy, the coach of the Houston franchise for Big Three.
We'll continue to talk about that and more with him
when we come back.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
The eighteen on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
Huge, huge surprise during the break in between segments here
with Calvin Murphy in studio here on the A team.
We basically just had the exact same conversation just extended,
So we'll pick it back right up here. I remember Calvin,
who joins us here in studio as the head coach
of the Houston rig Hands and the Big Three beginning
their season in June. Two stops in Houston on July
(11:47):
twenty sixth and August sixth of a slate of games there.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I think it was back in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
I was over on television side, we're going over Channel two,
and I had a chance to sit down with the
recently named commissioner of the Big Three, Clyde Drexler. I'm
still doing, yes, the Big Three commissioner and doing a
wonderful job.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Before I go to Clyde, I got to also mention
that our captain is their favors, you know, super super
super super uh young man.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Now, with that being said, I don't want to leave
him out.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
Another part of the rig Hands upcoming season. New to
the league, Derek very familiar to fans here in Houston.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Yes, Now going to my man Clyde.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
He is a fabulous, not good, but a fabulous commissioner.
And I'm gonna tell you why, because he has the
respect of all parties. When he speaks like he is hunting,
everybody listens and he's only gonna tell you one time.
And you know, in any league, you're gonna have situations,
you're gonna have problems, and he takes the bull by
the horns and he resolves it. You know, when he
(12:46):
helps them to get a CBS, I believe contract to
put a league like like you know, like the Big
Three that's gonna challenge the w n B. A of
course is coming to Houston. Now you're doing something and
I just see I've been doing Clyde ever since, you know,
he was a kid, and of course the University of
Houston and of course you know, joining the dream and
(13:08):
win a championship here. And the one thing I've always
appreciated about about the Glide is is you know, you
ask him a question, He's going to give you the answer.
He's not going sugarcoat it. Now if you don't want
to know the answer, you know he asked his his
mild mannered reporter attitude. But he's given you an answer
that you may not want, So don't ask him the
question straight up, pure pure people. I love him to
(13:31):
death obviously. The way I'm talking you know, I can't
begin to tell you over the years how many conversations
I had with him about various subjects and some of
the answers.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
He gave me that I didn't really want to hear.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Yeah, you know, but you wouldn't necessarily expect an unfiltered
response like that from Clyde because he's so well spoken
in mild mannered.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
No.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
Absolutely, but he's going to be honest with you, and
you can't ask any more from man than that.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
He brought up that path, you know, through high school
in Houston, College, University of Houston, and playing his NBA
career and coming to Houston play for the Rockets. We
hear from fans all the time still to this day.
We talk about it all the time, you know, about
his arrival here into the arena, into the summit and
how everything went wild. What was your perspective of the
evening of introducing Clyde to the Houston fans when he
(14:19):
walks in the arena.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
You know, it's interesting when he wasn't drafted by the Rockets,
I was the most disappointed individual. But then again, of course,
you know, the Rockets had some great talent during that
time also, and the Lord has a direction for everybody.
But you know, his timing was perfect when he came
in for that second ended of championship, that type thing,
(14:41):
and I you know, I felt chills when I saw
him walking there because he should have been there seven
eight years earlier, earlier, because he was even though he
played in Portland and had a fabulous career there, he
was still Houston.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
I feel like if he had played anywhere but Portland,
he would get even more credit than he does because
I know he went up against them, Jay and everybody
likes to talk about that. It was they were like
one and two.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
It was that fluids and you don't forget that, and
you can't remember now Portland was a very small market.
They were just there and he was the reason why
they started getting some maccolades. Now, I've talked to Michael
Jordan myself about Clyde and when when When When when?
The greatest player, in my opinion, they ever played the
game said that when he got ready to play Clyde Drexley,
(15:28):
he got him a nap before the game. That tells
you the respect that it is being shown because he
knew that Clyde was a solid defender, a great officer man,
and he was always in shape and played against Clyde
and playing against you know, against the greatest in the world.
He wanted to show that he belonged in that company.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Did you get a kick? I know you watched the
last dance you had? Of course they did you get
a kick out of it?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
You know, Jordan's going down the line.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
He's talking about all these guys he goes up against,
and he was like, and I took that personally. He
took everything personally, sure, But when he talked about Clide,
he he kind of conceded. He said Clyde was a threat,
you know, and that that's about as much credit as
you're gonna give publicly on camera, you could tell he
was talking about Clyde differently than maybe some of those
other guys that he talked about in that documentary.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Absolutely, you know, so much was said obviously about the
fact that that Isaiah Thomas was left off the Dream Team.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Okay, and and they.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Don't know if if he should have replaced uh the
guard from from from Utah John John stock John John
Stockton or or Clyde. And uh, you can be assured
when when they were putting the thought process together of
who the other guard should be. You can be assured
that that Michael said he wanted Clyde on that team
(16:45):
with him.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And he didn't want Isaiah.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
But you know, unfortunately, I'm a big fan of Isaiah
Thomas too, you know, point guards, no question, you know,
I hold him his number two professionally, you know, of course,
you know, I still think very magic is the man
with the ball. But the fact that Clyde got on
that dream team and actually was a major contributor to
(17:12):
the Dream Team showed the world that he belonged.
Speaker 5 (17:16):
Talking about all this NBA stardom and all these NBA
players and the championship Clyde gets while he's here had
a chance to work. As you mentioned some Space City
Home Network late season games as the Rockets this year
were playing some of their best basketball headed into that
series against the Lakers. Obviously, things health wise were not
what they were as the season ended when they went
into that series. Just some thoughts about how the season
(17:39):
ended for the Rockets and what lies ahead.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
I've been asked, you know, a billion times since the
sea's been over about my opinion. Of course, I was disappointed.
I truly believe in people thought I was on drugs
that we had a shot at winning the championship. I
thought we had all the ingredients and I still do now. Obviously,
when you don't win, it might be changes. Unfortunately, that's
just the nature of the beast. But we had a
(18:04):
hell of a team. Unfortunately, injuries once again cropped in.
It reminded me of when we had a Harden and
CP three and CP three went down that year, and
that was a year that we could have really really
made some inroads to another championship. So we ran into
that situation again. Everybody that played on the Rockets team
(18:25):
put forth an effort, but you cannot beat situations like
injuries or father time type of situation. Now, of course
people are asking me about trades. I don't know nothing
about that. I have a hard enough time figuring out
my team with the big three. But everybody that's on
the Rockets team and here again, I treat people how
people treat me. They treat me like royalty. So I
(18:47):
hate to see anybody leave, but unfortunately that's not the
way basket of professional basketball goes. Now, they're gonna sit
down because you know, mister Fatita is a winner. That's obvious,
and they're gonna make some decisions to give the best
product to the city of Houston that they possibly can.
So coming up, we may lose one, somebody may lose
(19:08):
one of their favorite players. But it's just just unfortunate.
But this year, if the injury has not cropped up,
and they brought across KP in kd N with Alfred,
you know, so you had to want two punch, and
then you had some people that came off the bench
and did the dirty work. I thought they actually had
(19:29):
a great chance to come out of the West. I remember,
everything's about matchups. We should have beat Okay, see the
first game of the season and lost lost by that
at one point, and then every time we match up
we give them fits. So you never know who's gonna
beat who is in the playoffs. Is all about matchups,
(19:50):
you know.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I do wonder since you're a point guard, your thoughts
on this.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
You know a lot of people think that the Rockets
mentality is well if they get healthy, and by health
healthy Fred van Vliet is back, that solves a lot
of the problems. And I know you're about the only
person on the planet that hates turnovers more than me.
I gosh, just maddening to watch this team this year.
Just low IQ basketball at times, not even force turnovers.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Well, you know, you say low iq.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
You know, a lot of turnovers happened when people try
too hard. A lot of turnovers happen when people come
to the game and they're trying to do too much
at one time because they don't know how much playing
time they're going to get. And then sometimes, of course,
like anything, you make a bonehead of mistakes. But yeah,
turnovers have really, really, really been a nemesis for the
(20:37):
Rockets of this past season, and I'm sure they're going
to address that before the season starts this year. Now,
was it because they didn't have a quote two point guard.
I don't believe that.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
You know.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
The one thing I've told people, and this is Calvia
Murphy's opinion. Now this is I haven't talked to anything
with the Rockets fans, so let me just tell you
this is my opinion. We were such a great rebounding team.
I didn't think we needed a point guard. I thought
we rebound, push that ball up, put the pressure on
the defense, get on their heels, and get as many
opportunity baskets as possible. Then when you have to play
(21:12):
half court basketball, it's all about knowing what is the
game plan is in executing you know, when you get
to the level of professional anything, I don't think a
person need to be led round by the nose you can.
If you don't have your own mentality about the game itself,
(21:32):
you shouldn't be there.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
Big three head coach Houston rig Hans, You're right with us,
my boy, Calvin Murphy. Season begins on June twentieth, four
games in each city when they make their stops. They'll
start in LA, but they come to Houston twice during
the season, July twenty sixth the Toyota Center and then
again on August sixth the Toyota Center. That is a
Sunday and then a Thursday. You'll watch Derek Favors, Adam Drexler,
(21:57):
Isaiah Austen and the rest of Calvin's team crush the competition.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Looking forward to it. Love having you in here. Love
the enthusiasm is always for the very young Calvin Murphy.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
I'm gonna hold him to that promise. On the ice
cube photo, I just upgraded it. You're getting me a
picture with him.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Now, that's a promise I made to him.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
But yes, the last thing I'm gonna say about the Rinkhands,
We're gonna be one of the teams to beat. Forget
about last year, which was the experimental. We're going to
have one hell of.
Speaker 5 (22:26):
A team gauntlet laid down by Calvin Murphy. Much more
still to come here on the eighteen
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