October 15, 2025 • 48 mins
Dan Barreiro opens the show wondering who will fix their run defense first: the Vikings or the Gophers? Our friend Tom Crean joins us to talk about the news that he will be working on some Timberwolves broadcasts this season!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, they're both both gonna get work.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Both can you get reps? And very much looking forward
to our whole team getting back out there.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hate that.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Excuse me, excuse me?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
This is your Who's Gonna Fix It?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
First Leader fan Fan Radio Networks and k f a
N dot Com. Two minutes and eight seconds past the
hour three o'clock Central daylight time, we welcome you back.
It is the midweek edition Wednesday production of the Bumper
(00:46):
to Bumper program on another fairly dark, dank, moist Wednesday
afternoon here in the Twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
My name is Dan Barrero, host of the program, guards
he produces, and we have a power packed broadcast for
you today on what we like to affectionately call the
(01:06):
afternoon Artvarc. Some days were the beast, some days were
the ardvark.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I'd like to think I don't think the ardvark is
a very violent animal. I don't think it's one. Is
the art is your average ardvark aggressive? I've never heard
of an ardvark attack. Push them attacked by an ardvark,
which they got their limits is.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
What I was told.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
You push them too hard, they're going to defend themselves.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, we have. I wonder if we have any ardvark
owners out there, is anyone? I hope not. How often
is it even legal to have the an ardvark as
a pet? How many of them are out there in
the United States of America.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I don't know if there are any ardvarks in America?
Is that true? Well, just other than the zoo, Yeah,
just googling it right now. They're mostly native to Africa,
it looks like, and I don't know if any have
made it over here. I'm sure it is zoo. Yeah,
I'm Me'll tell us.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
We've got some great ardvark minds out there. You know that,
We've got specialists who handle pretty much everything. Will be
with you until six thirty. Tonight is another distance show.
Correct should be all the way until six thirty this evening.
And the emotional part is Mace will be in my
Face today. He is back not in the Fargo studio
(02:31):
where he has been living and bunking up for the
last several weeks. He is in our studio here in
Saint Louis Park. Mace in My Face at four h two.
Kessler in Your Keister will be at five thirty and
also in studio. We think he'll be here, he's not.
(02:53):
He didn't go back to Italy on his own. I
don't think so. No, I don't think he did. But
we'll find out, uh closer, go to John from Hastings. No,
we did not get TIBs.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I now I actually feel a little better about Tibbs
ignoring us because I did happen to listen to a
little bit of Frank is Soola this morning, and they
had been in Minnesota yesterday. I think he was in
mil doing the show originating from Milwaukee this morning. I'll
remind me there are a couple of very funny stories
(03:26):
he did tell us about his time in Minnesota on
Sirius xm NBA channel. But I did hear him long
enough to find out that I Solo was also aware
that Tibbs was at practice yesterday when they were, you know, recording, yeah,
several interviews, and similarly, Tibbs ignored Isola. Now there is
(03:49):
no bigger Tibbs fan in America, including me, than Frank
I Sola. Interesting so to that extent, I guess that's
just Tibbs. He just wants to when he wants to
isolate and and leave the Jackals alone or be left alone.
At least he's consistent with it. So I actually felt
better about being ignored yesterday because he apparently also ignored
his guy, Frank I soli.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Okay, so whatever, I actual text you both back. Yeah,
we'll just keep the channel. I don't disagree. I don't
disagree with that.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
You know who I think would text back our three
thirty guest hit me with this news cold. I had
not heard anything about it. In fact, I didn't completely
understand it till I read the release that you had
sent to me as well. You texted me that we're
going to have Tom Crean on the show at three thirty,
(04:37):
and I thought it was to announce he's got some
big new national sports analyst gig via FanDuel. But the devil,
well not the devil. The good part is the detail here.
The detail is he is going to be the Wolves
specialist pregame and post game half the time on the
(05:02):
Minnesota Timberwolves FanDuel TV broadcast. Now, I think sharing the
games some I think fifty to fifty or close to
it with Rebecca Brunts.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
So we did him last year a lot, right, Yeah,
she's done it the last couple of years. I so
Crean goes local with us, how much of a cut
do you think we deserve.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Any you think he do? You think he might throw
us a ball? Because this is really big time, I
believe for a local team to have Tom Crean, I mean,
this is not small time. Not forget whether he's been
on with us and has established a relationship with us.
This is a guy worthy of national for sure analysis
when it comes to basketball. And the fact that the
local team was able to assign him somehow someway. Well,
(05:47):
I shouldn't say the local team in conjunction with FanDuel.
That is a big If you're a basketball fan, you
should be delighted. You should exactly right. I mean, this
gives that whole broadcast much greater credit ability.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
As far as I'm concerned, I don't know if there's
a better local broadcast in the entire NBA. It was
already good, right with Grady and Horton and Jim Pete
and Marns obviously, and then you add to that Tom Crean.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Are you nuts? Are you nuts? Yeah? I had to.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I had to read the release like four times because
that's very good.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I mean, again, if we do when we do shows
from the cage. I'm assuming it might be easy to
get him over there with us, because I've already got
a long standing relationship. So I fired up looking forward
to three point thirty of looking forward to maybe even
having him on more often than we had before. And
the guy this shocked me. I gotta admit, I gotta.
I gotta give credit where credit is due. You know,
(06:42):
the first person who reached out to me to text
me to congratulate us regarding this particular breaking news that
you passed along, who's that kevin fulness that is? That's
not magnanimous. You know, Paulness is a hockey guy. Yeah,
but that's how generous he can be. He's excited he
should about the Tom Crean addition. So you know, I gotta.
(07:03):
I'm hard on Fallness sometimes, but in this case, I
think I gotta give him his due. I mean, that's
that's rising above all the fraternal nonsense that takes place
back and forth, thing about you right, stripping me of
the ambassadorship, all of that stuff. It's pretty good anyway.
We're happy.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
We're very pleased for Fallness and very pleased for basketball fans.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Are the winner. In Minnesota. In my opinion, for sure,
who is going to fix it? First?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Guardsy, what needs to be fixed? There's so many things,
you know, what needs to be fixed?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
What's that in the.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Case of both your Golden Golphers and your Minnesota Vikings
stopping the run?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Stopping the run?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
That was good?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Guess by me, honest to God? What is going on here?
Whatever happened to good old fashioned meat and potatoes football?
Defensive football? Here are your pertinent Nuggets. The Vikings currently
rank twenty third in the league when it comes to
stopping the run, allowing four point five yards per carry.
(08:04):
That's ridiculous. It's a little frustrating. We are reminded by
Andrew Kramer that the club ranked eighth in run defense
in twenty twenty three and fourth last year. We're nowhere
near as good. Vikings ten point two missed tackles per
(08:24):
game are up almost two and a half tackles from
a year ago. Ivan Pace Junior used to love the guy.
He leaves the club with ten missed tackles. He only
missed twelve in twelve games last season. So we've even
(08:44):
had I think it's been several weeks where I've gotten
quotes read quotes from b flow. We got to worry
about the un sexy stuff. We keep hearing that, but
we don't seem to be doing anything about it to
this point. Meanwhile, your club, Golden Gophers fifty eight missed
tackles when they started playing against Power four teams. That
(09:06):
was September thirteen in count That's an average of fourteen
and a half miss tackles a game. According to Randy
Johnson's Start Tribune, Minnesota is allowing an average of one
hundred and seventy four point seven yards rushing per game
in Big Ten play. That's sixteenth out of eighteen in
(09:33):
the conference. So I'll throw the question to you, which
team will fix it first? Which team has a better
chance to fix it first? In fact, wasn't Purdue like
A didn't They didn't. The Boilermakers go into that last game,
one of the worst running teams in football, and they
at what they end up with four hundred yards rushing.
It was like Gophers.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Against Michigan, the game they blew right around Halloween. So
you tell me who is more likely which team is
more likely to fix it first? I think the Vikings
because Blake Cashman's coming back right, we think he talked yesterday.
I want to say, I think the Vikings are getting
their reinforcements back, so I'm more apt to say that
(10:14):
they are more likely to fix the first now you
read my mind, because they can at least get guys back.
Suggest or pretend that it's all about the guys missing.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
We may find out it's bigger than that. It may
be more about the line of scrimmage and who he
traded away. But those are legitimate run stoppers, especially Cashman
that the Vikings have been missing. I don't think the
Gophers have any significant injuries in his front seven or
eight mic not there.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
The quote that Cashman said, though, applies to the Gophers,
where he talked about we're not doing a good enough job,
just kind of tackling in the spot.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I think he called it leakage or leaking yards.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
What should be a three yard run turned into a
seven or eight yard run. You're in the meat grinder.
That's one hundred percent ago for issue. It certainly was
against Purdue where you've got a guy there and you
hit him and he drags you forward for four or
five yards.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
All of that stuff adds up. There's no question at
this stuff adds up, and it still matters even in
a passing league, whether that if you want to call
the Big Tenne passing league or not. Certainly the NFL
has become a passing league, although I think a little
less so last I think, yeah, we're seeing a little
bit more of a trend back to back to the running,
at least a little greater balance. And you cannot give
(11:30):
up these kinds of yards because the Vikings have given
um up against forgettable running backs and very good running backs. Right,
does not seem to matter thus far.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
The fan and two men and a junk truck want
to give you a shot at our Bonus Bucks contest.
It's our national cash contest and you can enter the
keyword check at kfan dot com. Go to kfan dot
com and enter the keyword check.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
John from Plymouth, are they not coaching wrap up tackles anymore?
Too many guys are trying to just knock a runner
down with a hit. My two cents drives me insane.
That's John the Olympian from Plymouth. Well, some people think
they offer that theory. Others say too many defensive players
(12:34):
get obsessed with, you know, the the the pet out effect,
punching the ball out. It's such a it's it's so
widely celebrated. It may be a combination of all of
those things. I don't know. Uh, seven to one to five,
guy Dan, it's the hairy, the horrible effect. Trading him
to the Jets gave us no depth on the offensive
(12:55):
defensive line. Yes, we've been better the last couple of
years stopping the run. Well, we're gonna find out this week,
is I you damn well sure the Eagles are going
to try to figure that out again because they need to.
They need something. While native to Africa, at ardvarks can
be found in some zoos across the United States. They're
only about a dozen ardvarks in US zoos accredited by
(13:20):
the Associate Association of Zoos and Aquariums, making them an
uncommon site. That would seem to indicate if someone has
a pet ardvark, that would be illegal and unlikely. But
there's people out there who are weird about animals. I
assume there's is there a black market for ardvarks. I'm
(13:43):
sure there is animals, Yeah, no question. Speaking of ardvarks,
in the nineteen seventies, there was a kids show called Wonderama,
which prominently featured the song Does anybody here have an Ardvark?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I do have.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
No, that's from Leicester. I have no recollect of that program,
do you, of course it's a little before your time. No,
I do not. Does anybody here have an Ardvark? Huh?
I wonder as he named it as Wonderama. I don't
remember that. I wonder what network that show was on.
Coming up at the bottom of the hour, Tom Crean
will join and Kessler at five point thirty, and in
(14:20):
between Mace in your Face allegedly expected in studio. So
I mentioned I Sola who I was.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
I was having some fun with it yesterday about when
he get back to me, which he ultimately did.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
He did not ignore us, but I found out why
he was so difficult to get a hold of yesterday.
I don't think it was because there was any bad
blood or necessarily that I'm dead to him. But as
you know, he is the emergency backup post on pardon
the interruption sometimes that's right. So, as he was telling
(14:54):
the story this morning, he's in Minnie. He's in Minnesota. Well,
sorry for those who you know Minnesotan's who are out
of state. It was Minneapolis. In this I'm not trying
to offend anybody, And he gets the call at like noon,
we need you to tape. Pardon the interruption today, he said. Usually,
(15:16):
because he's a planner, he brings along just in case
a coat, a sport coat, and a shirt like a
you know, a button down shirt. But he didn't have either,
so he furiously tried to basically navigate the skyway system,
oh boy, to find a department store that would sell
(15:39):
them a suit coat or even a sport coat and
a dressier shirt. And he said, I couldn't find any
stores that even existed anymore, which is, of course, relatively
speaking true compared to what it once was. He guessed
where he ended up finding a suitable at least for
(15:59):
that day, sport coat and dress shirt. He's in downtown Minneapolis. Correct.
I'm gonna say the Target on Nickel it you nail,
very good y.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
See that he's sound scouts. You're not gonna believe we're
ended up Target. It's right there for you.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
He said, it was great. He said the shirt actually
didn't fit him, but he said it was close enough
where you weren't gonna notice. Because he's sitting down. Yep,
but yeah, because we have so what is left? Are
there any department stores left in downtown Minneapols. I'm sure
there are. I don't know off the top of my head.
People that live down there can probably let us know.
I'm sure we have a couple Macy's. I think that's
(16:36):
he's still there. How does he go to find Macy's.
He probably didn't look too.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
I didn't look to the skyways and they probably don't
know exactly how it all works. Well, I'd probably saved
himself some money anyway, right, Absolutely go to Target. The
shirt and I get the most compliments on Now, again,
that's a low bar because like I wore like a
flannel shirt to Gopher practice.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Is really like one of those fashionable flannel I.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Don't know if it's fashionable or not, but it's it
just didn't have a logo on it. Right, Because my
wardrobe basically consists of logoed polos, hoodies, zip ups. Today
I'm wearing a Minnetonka under armor like thermal shirt type thing.
And you wouldn't believe the comments I got from like
the Gopher coaching staff because it was so out of
character for me. To not be wearing like just a
(17:26):
sweatshirt that says KFA N or something that fancy. They're
not either. That's the bit. That's why I had to
fight back a little bit, like these are the guys
that are gonna hirt me about my wardrobe. But the
number one shirt that I get compliments where people say
I really like that Walmart nine to Florida Walmart.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Because I had to go.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
I was going to Mace's Buddies plays Flemings and I
needed a nice shirt, didn't really have one. Went to
Walmart nine ninety nine, a little Ben Hogan polo and
people love the shirt. So did you find it in
a Walmart and Florida, Florida, Florida next to our hotel. Interesting?
So you can get you anywhere is the point.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
John the Olympian from Plymouth, thanks for the shoutout, Dan,
I'm available in February if you need any curling commentary. Lol.
I have a good show I wonder Yes, that's exactly'
Sean the Olympian, I love it. Wonder Ama was syndicated
and shown locally on Channel eleven when it was Metro
Media eleven and was not a network affiliate. Yeah shows
(18:26):
you how up on top of it? We are uh
six one two guy says Macy's closed in twenty seventeen.
I I don't think. Well again, we have people who
live downtown. Yeah, let us know what clothing stores are
left in downtown Minneapolis. How did you just say, curiosity?
Where was do you remember Bellison's? No Bellisons? I don't
(18:48):
know if there was ever one. I want to say
there was one downtown. There was definitely one any Dinah. Yeah,
every time Jay Berrero came to town.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Oh yeah, we were talking about we'll go to Bellison's
and he'd clean the place out.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
They loved him. They saw him coming to guy, he
get you like three jackets he was and I got
a few things as because then it was it became
kind of like it's infectious. Ah, I might as well
pick up a couple of things too.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Well.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
I do remember when he passed away. Your hand me
downs from him were unbelievable for like years you. I
still have them and they're still sitting. These are ye
He's like, these are nicer anything.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
I have.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Ben Hogan shorts from Walmart, whale they do.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
It was awesome. Five oh seven, guys, I should probably
go back Hubert White in the I d s recently closed.
That was the last. Yeah, that's that is. IDs had
some bad I mean we knew, we knew things were
in that regard have not come back anywhere near the
way they should.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
But that's that's those That's a big hug. It was sobering.
That's true.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Deal with him, didn't I think he did. I'm pretty
sure he had a deal. Youbert White, as he would say,
that's true, White, that's true. Jackson Gray is a good store.
That's in the North Loop. Oh yeah, that is a
good Jackson Gray is a great store. That is a
good store. There's there, there's in several malls, yep. At
this point as well.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Are the most famous ardvark in the world. Arthur the
Ardvark resides in Elmwood City, Pennsylvania, so sadly he is
likely an Eagles fan. Now, is that in a zoo
in Elmwood City, Pennsylvania or is there some other place
that the that Arthur the Ardvark is located.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Well, I would assume it's zoo. I don't think Arthur's
got like his own place. I'm just one what the
rules are, Yeah, have no idea Pennsylvania's different.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, they as well. How many Eagles fans do you
think will be in the crowd on Sun Too many? Yeah,
but there will be a lot. And you know it's sad.
We'll welcome them, I know, like we did. We're more civilized,
like we did to the super Bowl that year. I
just hope I don't want any of those fights like
the one I saw what Commanders versus Bears that was awful,
not involving players, that was right in the crowd. All right,
(20:48):
let's just stay on time, come back and chat with
Tom Crean new Wolves analysts. You can't make it up, man.
I'm glad we invested in him because now starting at
three point thirty, maybe it'll pay off. Great news on
our guy Tom Crean and his connection now not just
with Anthony Edwards, but with the coverage on Minnesota Timberwolves
TV broadcasts. All of that from our guy Tom Creane.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Well, you know this show, we're always very understated and
what's the what's the word for itself deprecating to a fault.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Never would we brag about. And then the Wolves figured
out Tom Green's a hell of an analyst. I wonder how
they figured that out and we would never ever go
down that road that they finally caught up with us.
But we're glad to be joined with that big announcement
made earlier today by Tom Crean himself on the Connecticut
Water Systems hotline, congratulations.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
I appreciate it. I like you're not taking credit, but
you're taking credit. I like that.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
You know, I learned that from giving me a.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Back of an opportunity to be on your show.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
But I appreciate that not only have we given you
a great opportunity, you have grabbed it like very few
people before, and we we love every minute of and
we appreciate all the time you have given us.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
So we're obviously having some fun. But tell me how
this came together. We should remind folks who don't know
that the Fan Duel announced today that Tom will be
a pregame and postgame doing analysis on a number of
Timberwolves games for the upcoming regular season, which is now
right around the corner. So how did this thing come together?
(22:52):
How recent is it and then? And how do you
feel about it?
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I think it's about nine ten days old, to be
honest with, you came up last week and it came
up from my agent. I have an agent named Nick
Lapinto who's with Sandy Montag of the Montag Group, and
he had he had relationships with a gentleman named Larry Holme. Now, UH,
the whole situation is a lot of the people that
(23:18):
are at FanDuel now had been at ESPN, and UH,
I know some of those people, and certainly I knew
a lot of the names, Like uh is really running
the show now at FanDuel. But long story short, I
got a call last week from Nick and said that
he had he had brought it up to Larry Holme
and and other gentleman to see if they would have
(23:41):
interest in me being a part of it, and then
he would check to see if I did. And I said,
absolutely I would because you know right now I have
I have a contract with ESPN. I have one with
NBC UH, which is relatively new this year, even though
I did a couple of games with them last year
and then I did a lot, especially during the tournament
(24:02):
for Westwood One. So to get an opportunity to do
the NBA, to get an opportunity to with a team
that I watch every night and have great respect for,
and obviously with Anthony Ayer and the respect level and
love for him. I mean, to me, it was a
no brainer if that's what they wanted to do, and
they did, and it all got done on Monday, and
(24:24):
we had some talks about it yesterday and all of
a sudden, there's the release. So it's really really really fast.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
That's outstanding.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I'm excited about it.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
And I said this. I'm not just sayings because you're
on the air. I said it earlier and I mean it.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
I think when a team, when a single team in
the NBA can get somebody worthy of national stature because
I think you're that good at doing this stuff, that's
great for not just the team, but I think the fans, right,
the basketball fans who follow this thing. I think it's
such a win win for everybody. So I'm happy that
that worked out.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
And selfishly, it is even better for us because the
really relationship we've already been able to, uh to establish.
So give me a little sense of are you going
to be here for some games study other studio? How's
that gonna work in terms of your location?
Speaker 1 (25:11):
You will, Yet the majority of it, I think the
majority of it is going to be uh virtual, It's
going to be at home wherever I'm at, and so
basically it's going to be home. I will be in
Minneapolis early, uh during the season, and I won't have
the first game with the Pacers, but then I'll be
in there when they have that home stand. So I
(25:32):
will actually be in Minnesota nice, which is going to
be great. And I'm sure there'll there'll probably be some
other trips like that during the year, uh, but but
most of it will be where I'll be set up.
In fact, my wife is all excited that he's wanted
me to get a set up at home, and now
we're gonna perfect. We're gonna end up doing that where
(25:52):
I have that set up right in here, and there
will obviously be some you know, I could be traveling
where I'm sure you know, doing a game somewhere the
next stay or you know that type of stuff. It's
just to me, and I've said this to anybody that
ever acquired with me or to my agents, I just
really want to work. You know, when you used to
work in three hundred and fifty five to three hundred
and sixty days a year, and even when you're not working,
(26:15):
you're not really shutting it off. I mean it's really
really hard to get used to that, and I never
wanted to get used to that. So the more opportunities
that I have that I can be doing things, you know,
whether it's home, whether it's travel, and it's certainly something
as important as the NBA and the Minnesota Timberwolves and
that whole that whole program. I mean, it's just I'm
(26:36):
excited about it.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
That's upstanding.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
It'll be fun. But I'm looking forward to geting to
Minnesota in a few weeks.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
So yeah, we'll try and we'll see if we can
arrange a dinner or to meet in person. That'd be
great to do at some point as well. So are
you basically splitting the games with Rebecca Brunson?
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Then are you?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Is it like forty one forty one or is a
little more unofficial than that or do you know yet?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Well, I think the majority of it is going to
be the home games, Okay, I got just a different
format for the road game now I say that, and
I'm not one percent certain on that, you know, but
but I think, uh, and then I don't think it
includes if it's an NBC gamey, But but I think
that that is the plan on the split and hopefully
(27:16):
you know my schedule. Uh, it's it's not always set
is quick. You know, with studio games get set fairly quick,
but studio times are not always set as quick, so
there'll be some adjustments we'll have to make. But uh,
I'm really looking forward to it. I mean I've watched
all their exhibitions already. I mean certainly saw everything last year,
(27:36):
and it's just it's it's fun to to pay attention
to it. And I'm so excited about what he's doing
and how he's improved this summer and the work that
he's put in. And I love hearing you know what
the players are saying about him. You know, Na's reed
talking about his maturity level and and and how it's different.
And I know the work that Anthony put in with
(27:59):
the conditioning. You know, we talked about this before, I
mean right away. I mean it wasn't he was training
and stadium steps and things like that less than two
weeks after the season ended last year. This past season, sure,
and I know he's excited about the mid post. I
know he's excited about developing more contact. He's got to
get filed more. I've heard Chris Finch say that today
(28:20):
on a show on NBA Radio with Frank and Ryan Calabrini.
You know that it's important for him to have some
shots that he can go to, that he can get
in pressure situations, that he can get filed. And I
think he's listened loud and clear to that, and I
think he's put a lot of work into that.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
All right, let's stay with Anthony for a second, now
that you've brought him up. I want to cover a
lot of ground if we can. But let's start there
or continue there. You know, Trent Tucker, I think, or
you certainly know of him, and I heard him again
the other day says is it we're all trying to
figure out, Okay, what is the next step? How do
you get Edwards to the next place? How does the
team collectively get to that next spot. As good as
(28:57):
it's been the last couple of years, you want more,
I mean, you know, at least maintain and get a
little bit better. It's his opinion, double T's opinion that
if the Wolves want to get more out of Edwards offensively,
they actually have to take the ball out of his
hands more than they have. That he needs to play
off the ball more even if you want to do
stuff Anthony talked about, I want. I'm working on posting
(29:20):
up a lah Kobe, a lah Michael turnaround jump shot baseline,
that kind of stuff. Tucker thinks. To make this work,
you actually have to take the He can't have the
ball with all the responsibilities that come with doing both
as much as he's had with this team. Do you
agree you think it's more complicated than that. What do
(29:40):
you think?
Speaker 1 (29:42):
I think it's a combination. And I do agree. And
because and I've said this on your show many times,
he's at his best and you saw this a lot
last year. He could make threes off the dribble, but
he also shot a ton of catch and shoot threes,
which was really really important. He's got to move more
without the basketball. And there are times, and I loved
(30:03):
pointing these things out to him. You know, every chance
that you watch the game and say, man, if you
caught that ball on the break and you just attack
the rim, or you ran a little bit harder on
the wing and they threw it to you, you were
going to have a dunk. Like he's going to score more,
and he's going to score efficiently when the defense has
got to chase him and react to him, not when
(30:26):
they can proactively get set to guarding. And too many
times the defenses are built around him with the ball,
and I think he can take advantage. And I think
Chris understands this. I think, you know, just listening to
some of the interviews, I think Anthony understands this. I
think you're going to see ways for him to dribble
into ISOs. You're going to see ways for him to
attack the wing. You know, the last thing that team
(30:48):
needs to do right now is be heavy ISO early. Right.
They don't need that, you know, they need to get
that movement. But I think we go back to the
Oklahoma City series, which said a lot about that series
to me, said a lot about where Anthony's got to
get better. He's got to move better without the ball.
He's got to get the cutting game going even better.
(31:08):
He's got to use the baseline more. And what I'm
seeing early with him right now is he's got to
be more definitive when he doesn't get the shot okay,
and it's early like okay, am I going to the
glass or am I getting back? He's still infer inched
one of the best rebounders that I've ever coached, even
and and and and could be phenomenal. Now it comes
(31:30):
down to what what do they want to do in Minnesota.
What are their expectations for him with the glass or
with transition. But right now, he's got to get himself
into a place where like, Okay, I'm either back and
I'm taking this away or I'm sprinting through and trying
to get an offensive board. And I think him being
in a movement mindset, not a waiting for the ball
(31:51):
or happen to have the ball mindset. That's that's the
part that I would add to what Trent said. There's
too many times he's waiting for the ball rather than
be proactively cutting, moving and looking for openings. And I
think he'll mature into that this year. I really do.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Those are great points. Tom Creane kind of enough to
join us. He's going to be doing plenty of TV
analysis on the Wolves this upcoming season, as was just
announced earlier today on FanDuel. You know, there's been a
lot of talk throughout training camp about the team wanting
to run more. This is a team that did not
run very much last year. In fact, I think the
(32:26):
new rule is you can't have, you know, the too often.
Last year when they looked at tape, it was we
had two guys running back for the ball in the
back court, and they're trying to wean themselves off those
the players out of those habits. Everybody wants to run more,
I think, Tom, but it's sometimes it's easier said than
done in your experience and knowing the personnel on this team,
(32:47):
because not everybody is built. You could say, for a
running game, how do you make that work? How do
you think this team could make that work?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Got to be thrown ahead? I mean, it sounds simple.
It's not that the Pacers. The Pacers showed that the
Pacers were far and away the best team running because
they were the best team of throwing the ball ahead,
especially when that heart had it. And I think when
you watch Anthony and I watch it this way a lot,
like when he gets out and runs and if they
(33:16):
give him the ball, like that's a place where he
can do something against an unset defense, against a rotating defender.
And then because he can pass and see so well,
if the rotations are there and they get down into
the lane area to cut him up while he can
make the kickout, and I think running is hard. I
think it's very very easy in this day and age
(33:37):
that think you're not going to get the ball on
the throw ahead, and especially when you have numerous guys
that can bring the ball up. And I just think
if they emphasize they don't have to be the pacers
with the throw ahead, but they've got to be more
so than what they've been. And I think when the
ball is thrown ahead, that is where the encouragement for
(33:58):
the player. They get that initiative like Okay, if I run,
something's going to happen. And I think that's I think
the interesting things with this team is I think the
Vincenzo is going to have a fantastic year. And I
don't know him obviously, I don't know him personally like that,
but I follow him and I think you put him
in there now for that second full year in their
understanding the system. You know, obviously he got traded the
(34:20):
night before the season or whatever it was last year.
I think he can do so many things for that offense.
And I'm going to go back to what I said
after the draft. I think they're going to do a
great job and you can see it already. You can
see it coming even in the exhibitions. They've already done
a good job of making Baron Jay better. Right, He's
(34:41):
not ready. I'm not saying he's ready today, but he's
getting better. And I think when you have a player
that's exploded on the scene the way he has in
the last four or five years and really didn't play basketball,
so everything is so new for him. And from everything
that I've ever heard, he's a great guy, a very
very respectful guy, family guy, you know, sponge of learning,
(35:03):
and when you watch him play, you can see some
of that stuff coming out. And I think eventually, I
heard Chris say this in that interview, that they've got
to figure out how they're going to play more defensively
than Rudy's not on the floors. Well, I think as
this season goes on, Baron Jay is going to be
a part of that. And then the other guy that
I think looks like he's really figuring out how he
(35:23):
can help the Wolves early is Shannon Tarn. Shannon, I
think the corner threes, the way he gets to the glass,
the way he runs, I think if people are patient,
those guys are just going to keep getting better and better,
and I think the Vincenzo is gonna have a great year.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
You know, you've been very honest with us last year.
Going back, I think it may have been the post
mortem after they were eliminated about Dillingham and whether he
is ready to make a significant step this year. And
I'll be honest again, I know he had a huge
game live. I think it was last night, although again
it was not against their best competition. I don't yet.
(36:00):
I loved them getting him. I love their aggressiveness and
getting him. I'm not giving up on him, but I'm
not ready to say that he's on the verge of
making a big jump. What's your view on him, because
you know, there's a lot of young guys in this group.
Some of them are going to have to start playing
right because of some losses. But where he fits in yet,
(36:21):
I still I'm still not sure he gets how to
try to control an offense, how to go about his
job as gifted as he can be offensively.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
I'm with you. He is better, though, He's definitely better.
You can see it even in these exhibitions. He looks
a little stronger. I think a guy like that is
so used to having the ball in his hands. He's
so used to doing whatever he wanted to do and
he's effective that you don't want to take his initiative away,
but you don't want to put him in a situation
that he's got to do too much. Like right now,
(36:55):
he's not a great help defender, right, he doesn't understand
all of that yet. But like if you give him
one job and say, okay, we're going to deny this
guy the ball, all right, we're gonna deny him. We're
gonna make his catches hard. A young player can do that,
you know, while he's learning day in and day out.
Then you don't get isoated as much, and then you
don't get put in those screening situations where people are
(37:15):
just trying to attack and tag you. I think the
biggest thing to me, okay, watching him and watching him
since he was a tenth grader in high school, is
he does not see the floor the way that he
needs to. He misses too many He sees the rim, yeh,
but he doesn't always see the floor, And I think
there's a big, big difference. You know, Anthony was like
(37:38):
that in a lot of ways. Anthony really saw the
rim because but he could attack it, but when you
force somebody we only I haven't had him a year obviously,
and we worked hard at it, but he's gotten so
much better at it while he's been in The pros
is that you've got to teach somebody to really see
the floor. They got to see the weak side of
the floor, the other side of the floor were when
they're on the side, And like there's numerous times that
(38:01):
Dillingham recognizes where the help is too late, especially and
some of that maturity, but some of that is you're
looking for your shot rather than looking for where the
opening and looking for what the game is giving you.
But they are doing a good job with him. I
just think he's got to continue to understand, like Chris
(38:24):
made a point about Anthony wants to hit home runs
and he needs to hit more doubles and singles. There's
no doubt about that. I think Dillingham needs to understand
I can be way better if I'm hitting singles than
an occasional double, and that will help me with this team.
And then I think he gets confidence, and then I
think he gives the coaches confidence. But he is getting better.
(38:44):
He's way better defensively than what he was in college.
There's no doubt about that. He's definitely stronger. He's always
been slight but quick. But I think that vision Dan,
I think the vision part of it and seeing the
floor is the next big step to him offensively.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
How well do you know Finchy and regardless what what
are your impressions of him? What? What stands out to
the in terms.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Of what I don't know him. I don't know him
really at all. We've exchanged some texts. But I'm thankful
because I know that he he cleared this right like
they uh, he was good with this with me coming
in there, you know, which was good because this all
moved so fast. And they told me that, So I
felt really good about that. And and I think he's outstanding,
I mean, I really do. I mean, I think he's
(39:32):
He's got a presence. I think he built the relationship
with Anthony to where there were some hard days early on,
especially and and and and it was all weathered and
and and and Anthony understood that that he had his
best interests in mind and what he was pushing him on,
and and that he wanted him to be really successful,
(39:53):
and that he knew there was greatness in him. Say
that's that's the whole key with young players. They they'll
take it if if they really believe that you see
that greatness that they need to have. Now, the selfish
ones and the ones that are in college that are
about the money and about the numbers and all those
things they have, those guys are tough to coach. And
(40:15):
if a guy really believes that you see greatness in them,
and I think that's exactly what Chris Finch has gotten
across to Anthony, then you have it. You build a
really really good relationship. And a really good relationship is
not agreeing on everything. A really good relationship is not
being happy every day. A really good relationship is where
you're being driven to be as good as you can
(40:36):
possibly be. And I think Chris does that. From my
judgments of talking to Anthony and from watching from the
distance and I'm watching it, I see that. I think
that team is getting better. I think it's a really
good staff. I think the fact that he's got that
continuity on the staff, the fact that he kept Pablo
on that staff when the Knicks wanted them, Like, there's
a lot of good things happening in Minnesota and with
(40:59):
the coaching, and then he lets like Chris Hines, Chris
Hines and Anthony have a great relationship. Well, he allows
that to happen, but at the same time, Anthony knows
Chris as the head coach. So those are the things.
I think he's got great schemes. He's got, he's got
he's an open minded guy. He's got tremendous experiences, and
when you've come up the hard way in basketball like
(41:21):
he has, you don't take any for any of it
for granted. And I don't look at him and think
he's ever taken any of the successes they have in
Minnesota for granted one bit. And I think we'll see
that this year. I think he's he's he will drive
you to be better. You know, he does not accept
bs and he does not accept Lackaday's goal effort, and
(41:42):
he coaches you through it. But he also understands how
to deal with people.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Two last items. A listener who's paying attention had a
Dillingham question the basis of what we were talking about.
He writes this, Dillingham will never be a pure point guard.
He's better off being a scorer off the bench, similar
to your Crawford in the short term. Could he be
Could he be a ten minute a game voltage guy
(42:07):
who you just say, go score or is that unrealistic
the way the game is played today.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Yeah, I don't think. I don't think i'd put that
in his head. I really don't. I think the scoring.
I like the idea, and I understand what that man's saying,
but I don't think that's what he needs. You know,
he's not j R. Smith, that's what That's how the
Nuggets did such a great job back in the day
with George carl when they put j R. Smith in there,
and he changed the dynamic of the game with his scoring. See.
I think Dillingham can change the dynamic of the game
(42:36):
with his speed. I think he can change it with
picking the ball up full court. I think he can
change it with with with trying to deny people. I
think he can change the tempo of the game and
his scoring will be a part of it. But he's
got to be a distributor because the first time that
it's all about him scoring the ball, and you've got
Terren Shannon open, or let's say Aunt is in there,
(42:57):
Let's say Naz is open for a three, that is
not going to fly. I think the most important thing
for Dillingham is to continue to learn and understand the
game and learn that his scoring and his shooting come
from the flow of the game, not just because he's
wired to be a score if that makes sense, and
then I think he'll score more points. It's really a
lot of the maturation of Anthony. You know, the more
(43:20):
Anthony passed the ball, the more Anthony moved the ball,
the better Anthony shot selection became, the more it came
back to him, and now he can do numerous things right.
And they're different players, but every young player goes through
that process and it's the ones that understand it the
best that if the other guys are impacted, that is
going to impact me. And I just think because of
(43:41):
his body, they've got to find some different ways to
get the most out of him while he's growing.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
That's fair. I've saved the best for last. How about
our Indiana football Hoosiers. I think I've established long a
graduate from many many years ago, as nineteen seventy. When
I graduate seventy seven, I think you spent plenty of
time and there you know that town, well, you know
the football struggles over the largely over the decades. What
(44:06):
the hell is going on with your guys, Signetti, Well, he's.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
I worked with him a long time ago. Don't know
if I mentioned on your show, but he was the
recruiting coordinator at pitt under Johnny Majors, and I was
assistant for Ralph Willard before went to Michigan State, So
we interacted back then, and I mean you could see
then the way he approached recruiting, the way he approached
organization that like he was a business assassin. Now, like
he knew what he knew what he wanted to do
(44:34):
even back then. I think the fact that how he's
come up obviously a coaching family with his dad and brother,
how he's come up where he went and had success,
the things he's done, I think is he's is the
levels have changed, especially with this one. He knew he
had to He didn't have to change how he coached,
(44:56):
he didn't have to change how he evaluated, but he
had to get into the mix. And that's probably why
I took the Indiana job, because of the commitment that
they made financially right, and I think the fact that
he was able to bring in guys that were his
own soldiers, you know that that could come in and
help run his locker room, help be a big part
of the meetings, not only be big parts of the team,
(45:17):
but but be big parts of that culture that he
was trying to build. Probably that in the staff thing
is probably the secrets of his success. But he has
got and I don't know him like that, like I
haven't seen him in a long long time, but like
to have the continuity of the staff, to have those
kind of players, to be able to have the money
that they have now to be able to compete says
(45:39):
a lot about what Indiana's doing too. And they've got
the boosters. Certainly there's numerous there's a lot of money there.
You know, Mark Cuban is a part of that. But
they're not paying for average. You know, when you're going
to invest that kind of money into that program. They're
looking and saying, wait, this guy's different, and I think
he proves that every week. And to go in there
and beat Oregon because I think Dan Lanning's unbelievable. He's
(46:01):
a good friend of mine from the times that we
were at Georgia, so I love the guy. I think
he's one of the best coaches around and to go
in there and win that game that way, in that environment,
and that was incredible. So I just think, again, when
you watch football like you don't, you don't ever see
them beat themselves. And I think now their talent level
has picked up so much, and they've got the schemes
(46:24):
and they've got the belief that I don't think you
can put any I don't think you can put any
exclamation point on when it's going to be over for them.
I mean, there's this They're really really good, and it's
it's it's really fun to watch. It's fun to watch
somebody that's come up like that, absolutely because when you
listen to his interviews as you do, like you say,
hey to this guy, this guy has really put a
(46:46):
lot of time into this, but he doesn't feel like
this is some lucky shot, right. He feels like he
belongs and he coaches.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
That way, no question about that. Again, thanks for the time.
We're looking forward to visiting as much as you'll let
us visit with you. Congratulations on the new gig, and
as I said, Wolves fan should be celebrating this every
place because you're going to bring a nice added piece
to the analysis as a person who as you know,
as you said, I mean, you live this stuff and
(47:14):
you want to keep working it, and this will be
a great opportunity for both ends. So thanks again and
we will hopefully talk soon.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
Thanks Tom, Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (47:22):
Absolutely appreciate you. Tom Crean former college basketball coach at
a number of places, including Georgia where he coached Anthony
Edwards for one season, and now we got a local
angle with him. Beyond Anthony Edwards, he is going to
be doing a number of games on the Timberwolves regional
broadcast I guess you could say fan Duel broadcast as
(47:44):
a pregame and postgame analyst. Glenn Mason is not in Fargo, No,
he's well, he's in Guardgie Studio right now. He's going
to join us next thing. He's going to have to
be the conscience of this show because if it's up
(48:05):
to me of the next hour, like fifty two minutes
of it might be hoo's your hotline. So we'll have
him try to talk me out of that and get
to some good stuff with Mas next
Yeah, they're both both gonna get work.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Both can you get reps? And very much looking forward
to our whole team getting back out there.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hate that.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Excuse me, excuse me?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
This is your Who's Gonna Fix It?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
First Leader fan Fan Radio Networks and k f a
N dot Com. Two minutes and eight seconds past the
hour three o'clock Central daylight time, we welcome you back.
It is the midweek edition Wednesday production of the Bumper
(00:46):
to Bumper program on another fairly dark, dank, moist Wednesday
afternoon here in the Twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
My name is Dan Barrero, host of the program, guards
he produces, and we have a power packed broadcast for
you today on what we like to affectionately call the
(01:06):
afternoon Artvarc. Some days were the beast, some days were
the ardvark.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I'd like to think I don't think the ardvark is
a very violent animal. I don't think it's one. Is
the art is your average ardvark aggressive? I've never heard
of an ardvark attack. Push them attacked by an ardvark,
which they got their limits is.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
What I was told.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
You push them too hard, they're going to defend themselves.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, we have. I wonder if we have any ardvark
owners out there, is anyone? I hope not. How often
is it even legal to have the an ardvark as
a pet? How many of them are out there in
the United States of America.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I don't know if there are any ardvarks in America?
Is that true? Well, just other than the zoo, Yeah,
just googling it right now. They're mostly native to Africa,
it looks like, and I don't know if any have
made it over here. I'm sure it is zoo. Yeah,
I'm Me'll tell us.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
We've got some great ardvark minds out there. You know that,
We've got specialists who handle pretty much everything. Will be
with you until six thirty. Tonight is another distance show.
Correct should be all the way until six thirty this evening.
And the emotional part is Mace will be in my
Face today. He is back not in the Fargo studio
(02:31):
where he has been living and bunking up for the
last several weeks. He is in our studio here in
Saint Louis Park. Mace in My Face at four h two.
Kessler in Your Keister will be at five thirty and
also in studio. We think he'll be here, he's not.
(02:53):
He didn't go back to Italy on his own. I
don't think so. No, I don't think he did. But
we'll find out, uh closer, go to John from Hastings. No,
we did not get TIBs.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I now I actually feel a little better about Tibbs
ignoring us because I did happen to listen to a
little bit of Frank is Soola this morning, and they
had been in Minnesota yesterday. I think he was in
mil doing the show originating from Milwaukee this morning. I'll
remind me there are a couple of very funny stories
(03:26):
he did tell us about his time in Minnesota on
Sirius xm NBA channel. But I did hear him long
enough to find out that I Solo was also aware
that Tibbs was at practice yesterday when they were, you know, recording, yeah,
several interviews, and similarly, Tibbs ignored Isola. Now there is
(03:49):
no bigger Tibbs fan in America, including me, than Frank
I Sola. Interesting so to that extent, I guess that's
just Tibbs. He just wants to when he wants to
isolate and and leave the Jackals alone or be left alone.
At least he's consistent with it. So I actually felt
better about being ignored yesterday because he apparently also ignored
his guy, Frank I soli.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Okay, so whatever, I actual text you both back. Yeah,
we'll just keep the channel. I don't disagree. I don't
disagree with that.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
You know who I think would text back our three
thirty guest hit me with this news cold. I had
not heard anything about it. In fact, I didn't completely
understand it till I read the release that you had
sent to me as well. You texted me that we're
going to have Tom Crean on the show at three thirty,
(04:37):
and I thought it was to announce he's got some
big new national sports analyst gig via FanDuel. But the devil,
well not the devil. The good part is the detail here.
The detail is he is going to be the Wolves
specialist pregame and post game half the time on the
(05:02):
Minnesota Timberwolves FanDuel TV broadcast. Now, I think sharing the
games some I think fifty to fifty or close to
it with Rebecca Brunts.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
So we did him last year a lot, right, Yeah,
she's done it the last couple of years. I so
Crean goes local with us, how much of a cut
do you think we deserve.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Any you think he do? You think he might throw
us a ball? Because this is really big time, I
believe for a local team to have Tom Crean, I mean,
this is not small time. Not forget whether he's been
on with us and has established a relationship with us.
This is a guy worthy of national for sure analysis
when it comes to basketball. And the fact that the
local team was able to assign him somehow someway. Well,
(05:47):
I shouldn't say the local team in conjunction with FanDuel.
That is a big If you're a basketball fan, you
should be delighted. You should exactly right. I mean, this
gives that whole broadcast much greater credit ability.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
As far as I'm concerned, I don't know if there's
a better local broadcast in the entire NBA. It was
already good, right with Grady and Horton and Jim Pete
and Marns obviously, and then you add to that Tom Crean.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Are you nuts? Are you nuts? Yeah? I had to.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I had to read the release like four times because
that's very good.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I mean, again, if we do when we do shows
from the cage. I'm assuming it might be easy to
get him over there with us, because I've already got
a long standing relationship. So I fired up looking forward
to three point thirty of looking forward to maybe even
having him on more often than we had before. And
the guy this shocked me. I gotta admit, I gotta.
I gotta give credit where credit is due. You know,
(06:42):
the first person who reached out to me to text
me to congratulate us regarding this particular breaking news that
you passed along, who's that kevin fulness that is? That's
not magnanimous. You know, Paulness is a hockey guy. Yeah,
but that's how generous he can be. He's excited he
should about the Tom Crean addition. So you know, I gotta.
(07:03):
I'm hard on Fallness sometimes, but in this case, I
think I gotta give him his due. I mean, that's
that's rising above all the fraternal nonsense that takes place
back and forth, thing about you right, stripping me of
the ambassadorship, all of that stuff. It's pretty good anyway.
We're happy.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
We're very pleased for Fallness and very pleased for basketball fans.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Are the winner. In Minnesota. In my opinion, for sure,
who is going to fix it? First?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Guardsy, what needs to be fixed? There's so many things,
you know, what needs to be fixed?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
What's that in the.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Case of both your Golden Golphers and your Minnesota Vikings
stopping the run?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Stopping the run?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
That was good?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Guess by me, honest to God? What is going on here?
Whatever happened to good old fashioned meat and potatoes football?
Defensive football? Here are your pertinent Nuggets. The Vikings currently
rank twenty third in the league when it comes to
stopping the run, allowing four point five yards per carry.
(08:04):
That's ridiculous. It's a little frustrating. We are reminded by
Andrew Kramer that the club ranked eighth in run defense
in twenty twenty three and fourth last year. We're nowhere
near as good. Vikings ten point two missed tackles per
(08:24):
game are up almost two and a half tackles from
a year ago. Ivan Pace Junior used to love the guy.
He leaves the club with ten missed tackles. He only
missed twelve in twelve games last season. So we've even
(08:44):
had I think it's been several weeks where I've gotten
quotes read quotes from b flow. We got to worry
about the un sexy stuff. We keep hearing that, but
we don't seem to be doing anything about it to
this point. Meanwhile, your club, Golden Gophers fifty eight missed
tackles when they started playing against Power four teams. That
(09:06):
was September thirteen in count That's an average of fourteen
and a half miss tackles a game. According to Randy
Johnson's Start Tribune, Minnesota is allowing an average of one
hundred and seventy four point seven yards rushing per game
in Big Ten play. That's sixteenth out of eighteen in
(09:33):
the conference. So I'll throw the question to you, which
team will fix it first? Which team has a better
chance to fix it first? In fact, wasn't Purdue like
A didn't They didn't. The Boilermakers go into that last game,
one of the worst running teams in football, and they
at what they end up with four hundred yards rushing.
It was like Gophers.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Against Michigan, the game they blew right around Halloween. So
you tell me who is more likely which team is
more likely to fix it first? I think the Vikings
because Blake Cashman's coming back right, we think he talked yesterday.
I want to say, I think the Vikings are getting
their reinforcements back, so I'm more apt to say that
(10:14):
they are more likely to fix the first now you
read my mind, because they can at least get guys back.
Suggest or pretend that it's all about the guys missing.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
We may find out it's bigger than that. It may
be more about the line of scrimmage and who he
traded away. But those are legitimate run stoppers, especially Cashman
that the Vikings have been missing. I don't think the
Gophers have any significant injuries in his front seven or
eight mic not there.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
The quote that Cashman said, though, applies to the Gophers,
where he talked about we're not doing a good enough job,
just kind of tackling in the spot.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I think he called it leakage or leaking yards.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
What should be a three yard run turned into a
seven or eight yard run. You're in the meat grinder.
That's one hundred percent ago for issue. It certainly was
against Purdue where you've got a guy there and you
hit him and he drags you forward for four or
five yards.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
All of that stuff adds up. There's no question at
this stuff adds up, and it still matters even in
a passing league, whether that if you want to call
the Big Tenne passing league or not. Certainly the NFL
has become a passing league, although I think a little
less so last I think, yeah, we're seeing a little
bit more of a trend back to back to the running,
at least a little greater balance. And you cannot give
(11:30):
up these kinds of yards because the Vikings have given
um up against forgettable running backs and very good running backs. Right,
does not seem to matter thus far.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
The fan and two men and a junk truck want
to give you a shot at our Bonus Bucks contest.
It's our national cash contest and you can enter the
keyword check at kfan dot com. Go to kfan dot
com and enter the keyword check.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
John from Plymouth, are they not coaching wrap up tackles anymore?
Too many guys are trying to just knock a runner
down with a hit. My two cents drives me insane.
That's John the Olympian from Plymouth. Well, some people think
they offer that theory. Others say too many defensive players
(12:34):
get obsessed with, you know, the the the pet out effect,
punching the ball out. It's such a it's it's so
widely celebrated. It may be a combination of all of
those things. I don't know. Uh, seven to one to five,
guy Dan, it's the hairy, the horrible effect. Trading him
to the Jets gave us no depth on the offensive
(12:55):
defensive line. Yes, we've been better the last couple of
years stopping the run. Well, we're gonna find out this week,
is I you damn well sure the Eagles are going
to try to figure that out again because they need to.
They need something. While native to Africa, at ardvarks can
be found in some zoos across the United States. They're
only about a dozen ardvarks in US zoos accredited by
(13:20):
the Associate Association of Zoos and Aquariums, making them an
uncommon site. That would seem to indicate if someone has
a pet ardvark, that would be illegal and unlikely. But
there's people out there who are weird about animals. I
assume there's is there a black market for ardvarks. I'm
(13:43):
sure there is animals, Yeah, no question. Speaking of ardvarks,
in the nineteen seventies, there was a kids show called Wonderama,
which prominently featured the song Does anybody here have an Ardvark?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
I do have.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
No, that's from Leicester. I have no recollect of that program,
do you, of course it's a little before your time. No,
I do not. Does anybody here have an Ardvark? Huh?
I wonder as he named it as Wonderama. I don't
remember that. I wonder what network that show was on.
Coming up at the bottom of the hour, Tom Crean
will join and Kessler at five point thirty, and in
(14:20):
between Mace in your Face allegedly expected in studio. So
I mentioned I Sola who I was.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
I was having some fun with it yesterday about when
he get back to me, which he ultimately did.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
He did not ignore us, but I found out why
he was so difficult to get a hold of yesterday.
I don't think it was because there was any bad
blood or necessarily that I'm dead to him. But as
you know, he is the emergency backup post on pardon
the interruption sometimes that's right. So, as he was telling
(14:54):
the story this morning, he's in Minnie. He's in Minnesota. Well,
sorry for those who you know Minnesotan's who are out
of state. It was Minneapolis. In this I'm not trying
to offend anybody, And he gets the call at like noon,
we need you to tape. Pardon the interruption today, he said. Usually,
(15:16):
because he's a planner, he brings along just in case
a coat, a sport coat, and a shirt like a
you know, a button down shirt. But he didn't have either,
so he furiously tried to basically navigate the skyway system,
oh boy, to find a department store that would sell
(15:39):
them a suit coat or even a sport coat and
a dressier shirt. And he said, I couldn't find any
stores that even existed anymore, which is, of course, relatively
speaking true compared to what it once was. He guessed
where he ended up finding a suitable at least for
(15:59):
that day, sport coat and dress shirt. He's in downtown Minneapolis. Correct.
I'm gonna say the Target on Nickel it you nail,
very good y.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
See that he's sound scouts. You're not gonna believe we're
ended up Target. It's right there for you.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
He said, it was great. He said the shirt actually
didn't fit him, but he said it was close enough
where you weren't gonna notice. Because he's sitting down. Yep,
but yeah, because we have so what is left? Are
there any department stores left in downtown Minneapols. I'm sure
there are. I don't know off the top of my head.
People that live down there can probably let us know.
I'm sure we have a couple Macy's. I think that's
(16:36):
he's still there. How does he go to find Macy's.
He probably didn't look too.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
I didn't look to the skyways and they probably don't
know exactly how it all works. Well, I'd probably saved
himself some money anyway, right, Absolutely go to Target. The
shirt and I get the most compliments on Now, again,
that's a low bar because like I wore like a
flannel shirt to Gopher practice.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Is really like one of those fashionable flannel I.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Don't know if it's fashionable or not, but it's it
just didn't have a logo on it. Right, Because my
wardrobe basically consists of logoed polos, hoodies, zip ups. Today
I'm wearing a Minnetonka under armor like thermal shirt type thing.
And you wouldn't believe the comments I got from like
the Gopher coaching staff because it was so out of
character for me. To not be wearing like just a
(17:26):
sweatshirt that says KFA N or something that fancy. They're
not either. That's the bit. That's why I had to
fight back a little bit, like these are the guys
that are gonna hirt me about my wardrobe. But the
number one shirt that I get compliments where people say
I really like that Walmart nine to Florida Walmart.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Because I had to go.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
I was going to Mace's Buddies plays Flemings and I
needed a nice shirt, didn't really have one. Went to
Walmart nine ninety nine, a little Ben Hogan polo and
people love the shirt. So did you find it in
a Walmart and Florida, Florida, Florida next to our hotel. Interesting?
So you can get you anywhere is the point.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
John the Olympian from Plymouth, thanks for the shoutout, Dan,
I'm available in February if you need any curling commentary. Lol.
I have a good show I wonder Yes, that's exactly'
Sean the Olympian, I love it. Wonder Ama was syndicated
and shown locally on Channel eleven when it was Metro
Media eleven and was not a network affiliate. Yeah shows
(18:26):
you how up on top of it? We are uh
six one two guy says Macy's closed in twenty seventeen.
I I don't think. Well again, we have people who
live downtown. Yeah, let us know what clothing stores are
left in downtown Minneapolis. How did you just say, curiosity?
Where was do you remember Bellison's? No Bellisons? I don't
(18:48):
know if there was ever one. I want to say
there was one downtown. There was definitely one any Dinah. Yeah,
every time Jay Berrero came to town.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Oh yeah, we were talking about we'll go to Bellison's
and he'd clean the place out.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
They loved him. They saw him coming to guy, he
get you like three jackets he was and I got
a few things as because then it was it became
kind of like it's infectious. Ah, I might as well
pick up a couple of things too.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Well.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
I do remember when he passed away. Your hand me
downs from him were unbelievable for like years you. I
still have them and they're still sitting. These are ye
He's like, these are nicer anything.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
I have.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Ben Hogan shorts from Walmart, whale they do.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
It was awesome. Five oh seven, guys, I should probably
go back Hubert White in the I d s recently closed.
That was the last. Yeah, that's that is. IDs had
some bad I mean we knew, we knew things were
in that regard have not come back anywhere near the
way they should.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
But that's that's those That's a big hug. It was sobering.
That's true.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Deal with him, didn't I think he did. I'm pretty
sure he had a deal. Youbert White, as he would say,
that's true, White, that's true. Jackson Gray is a good store.
That's in the North Loop. Oh yeah, that is a
good Jackson Gray is a great store. That is a
good store. There's there, there's in several malls, yep. At
this point as well.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Are the most famous ardvark in the world. Arthur the
Ardvark resides in Elmwood City, Pennsylvania, so sadly he is
likely an Eagles fan. Now, is that in a zoo
in Elmwood City, Pennsylvania or is there some other place
that the that Arthur the Ardvark is located.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Well, I would assume it's zoo. I don't think Arthur's
got like his own place. I'm just one what the
rules are, Yeah, have no idea Pennsylvania's different.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, they as well. How many Eagles fans do you
think will be in the crowd on Sun Too many? Yeah,
but there will be a lot. And you know it's sad.
We'll welcome them, I know, like we did. We're more civilized,
like we did to the super Bowl that year. I
just hope I don't want any of those fights like
the one I saw what Commanders versus Bears that was awful,
not involving players, that was right in the crowd. All right,
(20:48):
let's just stay on time, come back and chat with
Tom Crean new Wolves analysts. You can't make it up, man.
I'm glad we invested in him because now starting at
three point thirty, maybe it'll pay off. Great news on
our guy Tom Crean and his connection now not just
with Anthony Edwards, but with the coverage on Minnesota Timberwolves
TV broadcasts. All of that from our guy Tom Creane.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Well, you know this show, we're always very understated and
what's the what's the word for itself deprecating to a fault.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Never would we brag about. And then the Wolves figured
out Tom Green's a hell of an analyst. I wonder how
they figured that out and we would never ever go
down that road that they finally caught up with us.
But we're glad to be joined with that big announcement
made earlier today by Tom Crean himself on the Connecticut
Water Systems hotline, congratulations.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
I appreciate it. I like you're not taking credit, but
you're taking credit. I like that.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
You know, I learned that from giving me a.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Back of an opportunity to be on your show.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
But I appreciate that not only have we given you
a great opportunity, you have grabbed it like very few
people before, and we we love every minute of and
we appreciate all the time you have given us.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
So we're obviously having some fun. But tell me how
this came together. We should remind folks who don't know
that the Fan Duel announced today that Tom will be
a pregame and postgame doing analysis on a number of
Timberwolves games for the upcoming regular season, which is now
right around the corner. So how did this thing come together?
(22:52):
How recent is it and then? And how do you
feel about it?
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I think it's about nine ten days old, to be
honest with, you came up last week and it came
up from my agent. I have an agent named Nick
Lapinto who's with Sandy Montag of the Montag Group, and
he had he had relationships with a gentleman named Larry Holme. Now, UH,
the whole situation is a lot of the people that
(23:18):
are at FanDuel now had been at ESPN, and UH,
I know some of those people, and certainly I knew
a lot of the names, Like uh is really running
the show now at FanDuel. But long story short, I
got a call last week from Nick and said that
he had he had brought it up to Larry Holme
and and other gentleman to see if they would have
(23:41):
interest in me being a part of it, and then
he would check to see if I did. And I said,
absolutely I would because you know right now I have
I have a contract with ESPN. I have one with
NBC UH, which is relatively new this year, even though
I did a couple of games with them last year
and then I did a lot, especially during the tournament
(24:02):
for Westwood One. So to get an opportunity to do
the NBA, to get an opportunity to with a team
that I watch every night and have great respect for,
and obviously with Anthony Ayer and the respect level and
love for him. I mean, to me, it was a
no brainer if that's what they wanted to do, and
they did, and it all got done on Monday, and
(24:24):
we had some talks about it yesterday and all of
a sudden, there's the release. So it's really really really fast.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
That's outstanding.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I'm excited about it.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
And I said this. I'm not just sayings because you're
on the air. I said it earlier and I mean it.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
I think when a team, when a single team in
the NBA can get somebody worthy of national stature because
I think you're that good at doing this stuff, that's
great for not just the team, but I think the fans, right,
the basketball fans who follow this thing. I think it's
such a win win for everybody. So I'm happy that
that worked out.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
And selfishly, it is even better for us because the
really relationship we've already been able to, uh to establish.
So give me a little sense of are you going
to be here for some games study other studio? How's
that gonna work in terms of your location?
Speaker 1 (25:11):
You will, Yet the majority of it, I think the
majority of it is going to be uh virtual, It's
going to be at home wherever I'm at, and so
basically it's going to be home. I will be in
Minneapolis early, uh during the season, and I won't have
the first game with the Pacers, but then I'll be
in there when they have that home stand. So I
(25:32):
will actually be in Minnesota nice, which is going to
be great. And I'm sure there'll there'll probably be some
other trips like that during the year, uh, but but
most of it will be where I'll be set up.
In fact, my wife is all excited that he's wanted
me to get a set up at home, and now
we're gonna perfect. We're gonna end up doing that where
(25:52):
I have that set up right in here, and there
will obviously be some you know, I could be traveling
where I'm sure you know, doing a game somewhere the
next stay or you know that type of stuff. It's
just to me, and I've said this to anybody that
ever acquired with me or to my agents, I just
really want to work. You know, when you used to
work in three hundred and fifty five to three hundred
and sixty days a year, and even when you're not working,
(26:15):
you're not really shutting it off. I mean it's really
really hard to get used to that, and I never
wanted to get used to that. So the more opportunities
that I have that I can be doing things, you know,
whether it's home, whether it's travel, and it's certainly something
as important as the NBA and the Minnesota Timberwolves and
that whole that whole program. I mean, it's just I'm
(26:36):
excited about it.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
That's upstanding.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
It'll be fun. But I'm looking forward to geting to
Minnesota in a few weeks.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
So yeah, we'll try and we'll see if we can
arrange a dinner or to meet in person. That'd be
great to do at some point as well. So are
you basically splitting the games with Rebecca Brunson?
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Then are you?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Is it like forty one forty one or is a
little more unofficial than that or do you know yet?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Well, I think the majority of it is going to
be the home games, Okay, I got just a different
format for the road game now I say that, and
I'm not one percent certain on that, you know, but
but I think, uh, and then I don't think it
includes if it's an NBC gamey, But but I think
that that is the plan on the split and hopefully
(27:16):
you know my schedule. Uh, it's it's not always set
is quick. You know, with studio games get set fairly quick,
but studio times are not always set as quick, so
there'll be some adjustments we'll have to make. But uh,
I'm really looking forward to it. I mean I've watched
all their exhibitions already. I mean certainly saw everything last year,
(27:36):
and it's just it's it's fun to to pay attention
to it. And I'm so excited about what he's doing
and how he's improved this summer and the work that
he's put in. And I love hearing you know what
the players are saying about him. You know, Na's reed
talking about his maturity level and and and how it's different.
And I know the work that Anthony put in with
(27:59):
the conditioning. You know, we talked about this before, I
mean right away. I mean it wasn't he was training
and stadium steps and things like that less than two
weeks after the season ended last year. This past season, sure,
and I know he's excited about the mid post. I
know he's excited about developing more contact. He's got to
get filed more. I've heard Chris Finch say that today
(28:20):
on a show on NBA Radio with Frank and Ryan Calabrini.
You know that it's important for him to have some
shots that he can go to, that he can get
in pressure situations, that he can get filed. And I
think he's listened loud and clear to that, and I
think he's put a lot of work into that.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
All right, let's stay with Anthony for a second, now
that you've brought him up. I want to cover a
lot of ground if we can. But let's start there
or continue there. You know, Trent Tucker, I think, or
you certainly know of him, and I heard him again
the other day says is it we're all trying to
figure out, Okay, what is the next step? How do
you get Edwards to the next place? How does the
team collectively get to that next spot. As good as
(28:57):
it's been the last couple of years, you want more,
I mean, you know, at least maintain and get a
little bit better. It's his opinion, double T's opinion that
if the Wolves want to get more out of Edwards offensively,
they actually have to take the ball out of his
hands more than they have. That he needs to play
off the ball more even if you want to do
stuff Anthony talked about, I want. I'm working on posting
(29:20):
up a lah Kobe, a lah Michael turnaround jump shot baseline,
that kind of stuff. Tucker thinks. To make this work,
you actually have to take the He can't have the
ball with all the responsibilities that come with doing both
as much as he's had with this team. Do you
agree you think it's more complicated than that. What do
(29:40):
you think?
Speaker 1 (29:42):
I think it's a combination. And I do agree. And
because and I've said this on your show many times,
he's at his best and you saw this a lot
last year. He could make threes off the dribble, but
he also shot a ton of catch and shoot threes,
which was really really important. He's got to move more
without the basketball. And there are times, and I loved
(30:03):
pointing these things out to him. You know, every chance
that you watch the game and say, man, if you
caught that ball on the break and you just attack
the rim, or you ran a little bit harder on
the wing and they threw it to you, you were
going to have a dunk. Like he's going to score more,
and he's going to score efficiently when the defense has
got to chase him and react to him, not when
(30:26):
they can proactively get set to guarding. And too many
times the defenses are built around him with the ball,
and I think he can take advantage. And I think
Chris understands this. I think, you know, just listening to
some of the interviews, I think Anthony understands this. I
think you're going to see ways for him to dribble
into ISOs. You're going to see ways for him to
attack the wing. You know, the last thing that team
(30:48):
needs to do right now is be heavy ISO early. Right.
They don't need that, you know, they need to get
that movement. But I think we go back to the
Oklahoma City series, which said a lot about that series
to me, said a lot about where Anthony's got to
get better. He's got to move better without the ball.
He's got to get the cutting game going even better.
(31:08):
He's got to use the baseline more. And what I'm
seeing early with him right now is he's got to
be more definitive when he doesn't get the shot okay,
and it's early like okay, am I going to the
glass or am I getting back? He's still infer inched
one of the best rebounders that I've ever coached, even
and and and and could be phenomenal. Now it comes
(31:30):
down to what what do they want to do in Minnesota.
What are their expectations for him with the glass or
with transition. But right now, he's got to get himself
into a place where like, Okay, I'm either back and
I'm taking this away or I'm sprinting through and trying
to get an offensive board. And I think him being
in a movement mindset, not a waiting for the ball
(31:51):
or happen to have the ball mindset. That's that's the
part that I would add to what Trent said. There's
too many times he's waiting for the ball rather than
be proactively cutting, moving and looking for openings. And I
think he'll mature into that this year. I really do.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Those are great points. Tom Creane kind of enough to
join us. He's going to be doing plenty of TV
analysis on the Wolves this upcoming season, as was just
announced earlier today on FanDuel. You know, there's been a
lot of talk throughout training camp about the team wanting
to run more. This is a team that did not
run very much last year. In fact, I think the
(32:26):
new rule is you can't have, you know, the too often.
Last year when they looked at tape, it was we
had two guys running back for the ball in the
back court, and they're trying to wean themselves off those
the players out of those habits. Everybody wants to run more,
I think, Tom, but it's sometimes it's easier said than
done in your experience and knowing the personnel on this team,
(32:47):
because not everybody is built. You could say, for a
running game, how do you make that work? How do
you think this team could make that work?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Got to be thrown ahead? I mean, it sounds simple.
It's not that the Pacers. The Pacers showed that the
Pacers were far and away the best team running because
they were the best team of throwing the ball ahead,
especially when that heart had it. And I think when
you watch Anthony and I watch it this way a lot,
like when he gets out and runs and if they
(33:16):
give him the ball, like that's a place where he
can do something against an unset defense, against a rotating defender.
And then because he can pass and see so well,
if the rotations are there and they get down into
the lane area to cut him up while he can
make the kickout, and I think running is hard. I
think it's very very easy in this day and age
(33:37):
that think you're not going to get the ball on
the throw ahead, and especially when you have numerous guys
that can bring the ball up. And I just think
if they emphasize they don't have to be the pacers
with the throw ahead, but they've got to be more
so than what they've been. And I think when the
ball is thrown ahead, that is where the encouragement for
(33:58):
the player. They get that initiative like Okay, if I run,
something's going to happen. And I think that's I think
the interesting things with this team is I think the
Vincenzo is going to have a fantastic year. And I
don't know him obviously, I don't know him personally like that,
but I follow him and I think you put him
in there now for that second full year in their
understanding the system. You know, obviously he got traded the
(34:20):
night before the season or whatever it was last year.
I think he can do so many things for that offense.
And I'm going to go back to what I said
after the draft. I think they're going to do a
great job and you can see it already. You can
see it coming even in the exhibitions. They've already done
a good job of making Baron Jay better. Right, He's
(34:41):
not ready. I'm not saying he's ready today, but he's
getting better. And I think when you have a player
that's exploded on the scene the way he has in
the last four or five years and really didn't play basketball,
so everything is so new for him. And from everything
that I've ever heard, he's a great guy, a very
very respectful guy, family guy, you know, sponge of learning,
(35:03):
and when you watch him play, you can see some
of that stuff coming out. And I think eventually, I
heard Chris say this in that interview, that they've got
to figure out how they're going to play more defensively
than Rudy's not on the floors. Well, I think as
this season goes on, Baron Jay is going to be
a part of that. And then the other guy that
I think looks like he's really figuring out how he
(35:23):
can help the Wolves early is Shannon Tarn. Shannon, I
think the corner threes, the way he gets to the glass,
the way he runs, I think if people are patient,
those guys are just going to keep getting better and better,
and I think the Vincenzo is gonna have a great year.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
You know, you've been very honest with us last year.
Going back, I think it may have been the post
mortem after they were eliminated about Dillingham and whether he
is ready to make a significant step this year. And
I'll be honest again, I know he had a huge
game live. I think it was last night, although again
it was not against their best competition. I don't yet.
(36:00):
I loved them getting him. I love their aggressiveness and
getting him. I'm not giving up on him, but I'm
not ready to say that he's on the verge of
making a big jump. What's your view on him, because
you know, there's a lot of young guys in this group.
Some of them are going to have to start playing
right because of some losses. But where he fits in yet,
(36:21):
I still I'm still not sure he gets how to
try to control an offense, how to go about his
job as gifted as he can be offensively.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
I'm with you. He is better, though, He's definitely better.
You can see it even in these exhibitions. He looks
a little stronger. I think a guy like that is
so used to having the ball in his hands. He's
so used to doing whatever he wanted to do and
he's effective that you don't want to take his initiative away,
but you don't want to put him in a situation
that he's got to do too much. Like right now,
(36:55):
he's not a great help defender, right, he doesn't understand
all of that yet. But like if you give him
one job and say, okay, we're going to deny this
guy the ball, all right, we're gonna deny him. We're
gonna make his catches hard. A young player can do that,
you know, while he's learning day in and day out.
Then you don't get isoated as much, and then you
don't get put in those screening situations where people are
(37:15):
just trying to attack and tag you. I think the
biggest thing to me, okay, watching him and watching him
since he was a tenth grader in high school, is
he does not see the floor the way that he
needs to. He misses too many He sees the rim, yeh,
but he doesn't always see the floor, And I think
there's a big, big difference. You know, Anthony was like
(37:38):
that in a lot of ways. Anthony really saw the
rim because but he could attack it, but when you
force somebody we only I haven't had him a year obviously,
and we worked hard at it, but he's gotten so
much better at it while he's been in The pros
is that you've got to teach somebody to really see
the floor. They got to see the weak side of
the floor, the other side of the floor were when
they're on the side, And like there's numerous times that
(38:01):
Dillingham recognizes where the help is too late, especially and
some of that maturity, but some of that is you're
looking for your shot rather than looking for where the
opening and looking for what the game is giving you.
But they are doing a good job with him. I
just think he's got to continue to understand, like Chris
(38:24):
made a point about Anthony wants to hit home runs
and he needs to hit more doubles and singles. There's
no doubt about that. I think Dillingham needs to understand
I can be way better if I'm hitting singles than
an occasional double, and that will help me with this team.
And then I think he gets confidence, and then I
think he gives the coaches confidence. But he is getting better.
(38:44):
He's way better defensively than what he was in college.
There's no doubt about that. He's definitely stronger. He's always
been slight but quick. But I think that vision Dan,
I think the vision part of it and seeing the
floor is the next big step to him offensively.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
How well do you know Finchy and regardless what what
are your impressions of him? What? What stands out to
the in terms.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Of what I don't know him. I don't know him
really at all. We've exchanged some texts. But I'm thankful
because I know that he he cleared this right like
they uh, he was good with this with me coming
in there, you know, which was good because this all
moved so fast. And they told me that, So I
felt really good about that. And and I think he's outstanding,
I mean, I really do. I mean, I think he's
(39:32):
He's got a presence. I think he built the relationship
with Anthony to where there were some hard days early on,
especially and and and and it was all weathered and
and and and Anthony understood that that he had his
best interests in mind and what he was pushing him on,
and and that he wanted him to be really successful,
(39:53):
and that he knew there was greatness in him. Say
that's that's the whole key with young players. They they'll
take it if if they really believe that you see
that greatness that they need to have. Now, the selfish
ones and the ones that are in college that are
about the money and about the numbers and all those
things they have, those guys are tough to coach. And
(40:15):
if a guy really believes that you see greatness in them,
and I think that's exactly what Chris Finch has gotten
across to Anthony, then you have it. You build a
really really good relationship. And a really good relationship is
not agreeing on everything. A really good relationship is not
being happy every day. A really good relationship is where
you're being driven to be as good as you can
(40:36):
possibly be. And I think Chris does that. From my
judgments of talking to Anthony and from watching from the
distance and I'm watching it, I see that. I think
that team is getting better. I think it's a really
good staff. I think the fact that he's got that
continuity on the staff, the fact that he kept Pablo
on that staff when the Knicks wanted them, Like, there's
a lot of good things happening in Minnesota and with
(40:59):
the coaching, and then he lets like Chris Hines, Chris
Hines and Anthony have a great relationship. Well, he allows
that to happen, but at the same time, Anthony knows
Chris as the head coach. So those are the things.
I think he's got great schemes. He's got, he's got
he's an open minded guy. He's got tremendous experiences, and
when you've come up the hard way in basketball like
(41:21):
he has, you don't take any for any of it
for granted. And I don't look at him and think
he's ever taken any of the successes they have in
Minnesota for granted one bit. And I think we'll see
that this year. I think he's he's he will drive
you to be better. You know, he does not accept
bs and he does not accept Lackaday's goal effort, and
(41:42):
he coaches you through it. But he also understands how
to deal with people.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Two last items. A listener who's paying attention had a
Dillingham question the basis of what we were talking about.
He writes this, Dillingham will never be a pure point guard.
He's better off being a scorer off the bench, similar
to your Crawford in the short term. Could he be
Could he be a ten minute a game voltage guy
(42:07):
who you just say, go score or is that unrealistic
the way the game is played today.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Yeah, I don't think. I don't think i'd put that
in his head. I really don't. I think the scoring.
I like the idea, and I understand what that man's saying,
but I don't think that's what he needs. You know,
he's not j R. Smith, that's what That's how the
Nuggets did such a great job back in the day
with George carl when they put j R. Smith in there,
and he changed the dynamic of the game with his scoring. See.
I think Dillingham can change the dynamic of the game
(42:36):
with his speed. I think he can change it with
picking the ball up full court. I think he can
change it with with with trying to deny people. I
think he can change the tempo of the game and
his scoring will be a part of it. But he's
got to be a distributor because the first time that
it's all about him scoring the ball, and you've got
Terren Shannon open, or let's say Aunt is in there,
(42:57):
Let's say Naz is open for a three, that is
not going to fly. I think the most important thing
for Dillingham is to continue to learn and understand the
game and learn that his scoring and his shooting come
from the flow of the game, not just because he's
wired to be a score if that makes sense, and
then I think he'll score more points. It's really a
lot of the maturation of Anthony. You know, the more
(43:20):
Anthony passed the ball, the more Anthony moved the ball,
the better Anthony shot selection became, the more it came
back to him, and now he can do numerous things right.
And they're different players, but every young player goes through
that process and it's the ones that understand it the
best that if the other guys are impacted, that is
going to impact me. And I just think because of
(43:41):
his body, they've got to find some different ways to
get the most out of him while he's growing.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
That's fair. I've saved the best for last. How about
our Indiana football Hoosiers. I think I've established long a
graduate from many many years ago, as nineteen seventy. When
I graduate seventy seven, I think you spent plenty of
time and there you know that town, well, you know
the football struggles over the largely over the decades. What
(44:06):
the hell is going on with your guys, Signetti, Well, he's.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
I worked with him a long time ago. Don't know
if I mentioned on your show, but he was the
recruiting coordinator at pitt under Johnny Majors, and I was
assistant for Ralph Willard before went to Michigan State, So
we interacted back then, and I mean you could see
then the way he approached recruiting, the way he approached
organization that like he was a business assassin. Now, like
he knew what he knew what he wanted to do
(44:34):
even back then. I think the fact that how he's
come up obviously a coaching family with his dad and brother,
how he's come up where he went and had success,
the things he's done, I think is he's is the
levels have changed, especially with this one. He knew he
had to He didn't have to change how he coached,
(44:56):
he didn't have to change how he evaluated, but he
had to get into the mix. And that's probably why
I took the Indiana job, because of the commitment that
they made financially right, and I think the fact that
he was able to bring in guys that were his
own soldiers, you know that that could come in and
help run his locker room, help be a big part
of the meetings, not only be big parts of the team,
(45:17):
but but be big parts of that culture that he
was trying to build. Probably that in the staff thing
is probably the secrets of his success. But he has
got and I don't know him like that, like I
haven't seen him in a long long time, but like
to have the continuity of the staff, to have those
kind of players, to be able to have the money
that they have now to be able to compete says
(45:39):
a lot about what Indiana's doing too. And they've got
the boosters. Certainly there's numerous there's a lot of money there.
You know, Mark Cuban is a part of that. But
they're not paying for average. You know, when you're going
to invest that kind of money into that program. They're
looking and saying, wait, this guy's different, and I think
he proves that every week. And to go in there
and beat Oregon because I think Dan Lanning's unbelievable. He's
(46:01):
a good friend of mine from the times that we
were at Georgia, so I love the guy. I think
he's one of the best coaches around and to go
in there and win that game that way, in that environment,
and that was incredible. So I just think, again, when
you watch football like you don't, you don't ever see
them beat themselves. And I think now their talent level
has picked up so much, and they've got the schemes
(46:24):
and they've got the belief that I don't think you
can put any I don't think you can put any
exclamation point on when it's going to be over for them.
I mean, there's this They're really really good, and it's
it's it's really fun to watch. It's fun to watch
somebody that's come up like that, absolutely because when you
listen to his interviews as you do, like you say,
hey to this guy, this guy has really put a
(46:46):
lot of time into this, but he doesn't feel like
this is some lucky shot, right. He feels like he
belongs and he coaches.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
That way, no question about that. Again, thanks for the time.
We're looking forward to visiting as much as you'll let
us visit with you. Congratulations on the new gig, and
as I said, Wolves fan should be celebrating this every
place because you're going to bring a nice added piece
to the analysis as a person who as you know,
as you said, I mean, you live this stuff and
(47:14):
you want to keep working it, and this will be
a great opportunity for both ends. So thanks again and
we will hopefully talk soon.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
Thanks Tom, Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (47:22):
Absolutely appreciate you. Tom Crean former college basketball coach at
a number of places, including Georgia where he coached Anthony
Edwards for one season, and now we got a local
angle with him. Beyond Anthony Edwards, he is going to
be doing a number of games on the Timberwolves regional
broadcast I guess you could say fan Duel broadcast as
(47:44):
a pregame and postgame analyst. Glenn Mason is not in Fargo, No,
he's well, he's in Guardgie Studio right now. He's going
to join us next thing. He's going to have to
be the conscience of this show because if it's up
(48:05):
to me of the next hour, like fifty two minutes
of it might be hoo's your hotline. So we'll have
him try to talk me out of that and get
to some good stuff with Mas next
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