Stan Van Gundy Spittin' With Q + D | Knuckleheads Podcast | The Players’ Tribune

yo yo yo we live on location we live in Orlando Florida City beautiful at home we had to do this and we got one of my favorite coaches all time my main man Mr Stan Van Gundy appreciate you coach yeah yeah first of all I appreciate you coach coming on on the show you know it's big you know now I feel like I'm in the NBA if you're on the Knuckleheads podcast now you made it until then you just you're on the outside [Music] presented by DraftKings this is a two-part question uh when you first got to college who was the first person to bust your ass and strategy wise when you first start head coaching in the NBA who was the coach strategy wise to bust your ass the first quote well I've certainly had my ass busted many times you know I was a division three player yeah all right so when I when I was playing in college I remember we had a I was only a freshman and we had a flu outbreak on on campus and we go down and play a division two team Hartwick College and they had this division two All-American Dana Garris you know and I said man [ __ ] I want to guard him you know all this and like dude had like 42. in like 28 minutes and I mean I was killing myself like trying to stop him it just absolutely crushed me I said man I better start working on this coaching stuff and he was the point guard he was like he could have been whatever he wanted against me he was posting me up beat me off the dribble but we only had five guys so it's not like you're in a sub I mean we had one of those five million games you're going 40 minutes and just getting worn out no great so but as far as like coming into the league like I think one of the things that helps you as a coach is when guys will have like strategy stuff where you don't have an answer and now you got to go back to the drawing board and go to it and I don't really remember as much the first year but the second year as a head coach when we had Shaq you know and Udonis was our starting power forward and at that time UD hadn't become like a real good mid-range shooter yet so people used to try to front and back so you couldn't get him the ball and the ball would come to Udonis at the top and yeah you encourage him to take the shot but your whole offense just became Udonis taking mid-range jumpers right so you had to find out other answers and we would see that all the time and had to get into movement and stuff where we could get Shaq on the on the back side and things like that but you get it I mean literally every year all the time like somebody runs into something where you're like I got my ass kicked tonight I mean as coach and you gotta rethink what you're doing being a coach like I know I'll be telling um like my friends and other people like when I watch basketball I might not watch it the way you watch it like as soon as I instantly see the screen I instantly start thinking about what that team doing what they doing on offense what they doing on defense what they taking away the strategies of of everything so when you watch basketball now you can't watch it like a you know a regular fan or person so every time now that you watch basketball you instantly start strategizing and and it instantly goes in your head of what the team is trying to do overall yeah absolutely like you know like I'm a big baseball fan yeah the thing I think I like is I don't know that much so I just watch it as a fan but basketball I always start thinking about like all right what could you do against that yeah what are your options offensively or defensively X and O they should do this and they should do that or they should at least have the option of doing that yeah I don't think you ever lose that I think it's the way it's the way you come up and so I grew up my dad coached for 42 years and so you just sort of grow up with that's your mentality that's the way you approach the game from an X and O standpoint morph than from a player's standpoint I think what I had to really learn when I came into the league is I had to learn how to teach players you know what I'm talking about and like the guy who helped me a lot he came to us in a trade my first year as an assistant in Miami we got heart away in a trade at the trade deadline and Tim really helped me understand like pick and roll basketball from a point guards mentality you know like this is what he's looking for and this is how you teach other guards to make plays like the X and O part was I mean I had a lot to learn when I came in the league but that was relatively easy for me to learn but to say okay how do I take a guard and teach him what his looks are I had to learn that from players and I don't think people think about that a lot from coaches they always think players are learning from coaches but when you get to this level coaches are learning at least as much if not more from players especially veteran guys because you can't get by you guys know you can't get by in this league just on your talent like people I think the most underrated thing about professional athletes at least in our league is how smart guys are yeah because if you're going to have a long career in this league like you've got to learn what's going on and I didn't have a player's perspective so I had to rely on assistant coaches on my staff who were you know had been players but from the players themselves and and Tim was the first one like he taught me a lot about pick and roll basketball which is obviously a big part of of the NBA and not just the two guys on the pick and roll but where he wanted other guys spaced and all of that like yeah because certain certain angles he can't see that's what you're thinking he can see like when he come off the screen in this big seven footer right there like I can't see from that angle no that's right I mean and that's why I think like I love the NBA because like when I was I was in college for 14 years and college guys even by the time they're juniors I mean they're still young yeah you got you know you know like so you really can't learn from them they don't know enough they don't have enough experience and quite frankly guys in college a lot of times they're getting by on their ability their skills and their athleticism whereas NBA guys everybody's got skills everybody's got athleticism so to sort of be able to make it in the league you got to learn what's going on so those guys are smart and you're crazy as a coach if you're not talking to players and like what do you see what do we need to do to help you things like that I mean yeah that was all the time for me I love coaches that make adjustments like uh a coach that'll make an adjustment in the middle of the game or or this adjustment might just come in the fourth quarter and he didn't did them how hard is it for a coach to have a strategy wanting to stick to that strategy the whole game and to throw that whole strategy out and completely change the whole strategy see I think it's hard if you're not prepared to do that ahead of time so like we'd be in staff meetings preparing for games right yeah so we decide like I don't care if it was offensive defense this is the stuff we want to do yeah and right there in the like we'd be planning all right what's Plan B what's plan C and if you're playing against the best players you got probably playing d e f g h i j k because nothing will work but to me like I don't think I'm smart enough to just come up with something new on the fly like we were planning to adjust if that makes sense yeah if this isn't working this is our next step if this ain't working this is our next step so you were ready to make those I'll tell you we had a game last last night Lakers against Golden State and you know Golden State usually wants to run their offense through Draymond up top right and he's handling the ball well the Lakers literally Anthony Davis played him down at the dotted Circle standing in a lane and then they played on top of all their Shooters Well normally they'll back there's nowhere to go hey D's standing down there yeah and they've got crushed for like a quarter and a half and then Steve Kerr I'm sorry that ain't working we're either going to run straight pick and roll so ad is going to have to come up a little bit or we're gonna throw it to Draymond in the post and now run all their post splits and stuff like those are adjustments that Steve was smart enough to make but as part of their system like you have to have stuff to adjust to you can't just be making up [ __ ] on the fly like you know I've seen this play out in practices and walk through like well he said c d e all of this like when I first got to the team this is when I used to when I was doing my figure and Coach out process I was like I used to think he was crazy and didn't ever want to go home we'll be going through the team's offense and you can attest to this we'll go through the wrinkles and then like he said if he sees something he'll be like now the Scout is done Charles Bob whoever they done with their part of the Scout bro they did he went through the three wrinkles coach like nah what about this what about this we the players we sitting here like oh my God like this ain't even partying this is so he like well I mean if I'm seeing if they could do this I mean they could possibly do this they could run they could they could this could be the last play of the game like he would go through we would like because he would sit there and be sitting there like nah they could try this thing we'll go through three to four like that's why I used to be sitting there and like that was when Jamir Nelson became my best friend because the Mirror Mirror used to be like bro are you gonna dry yourself crazy just trying to like just just let it go he's like this is gonna be every day like if you you like you making me upset because you complaining about it and I know it's not gonna stop you I need you to get where I'm at just so you can know like and I was sitting there though when I first started understanding like yo like his basketball like that's why when you ask him how did he watch his game that's why I started laughing I can't even imagine yeah he's sitting here watching the game because I I get that and I'll be like I'm looking at the game totally different than everybody in the room then I'm looking that's looking at the game absolutely and I think what you need like I think you know you're never doing it on your own as a as a head coach and you know you're talking to your players and then you got your staff and you hope like you're going to have guys with different perspectives you know like you got a Tim Hardaway on your staff well he's looking at the game through a point guard's eyes you know so he can help you with that you know you got a Patrick Ewing on your staff he's looking at the game through a big man's eyes you know and I think the more diversity of that you can get so that everybody's looking at it a little differently and then you can bring it together yeah is what you're going for but to Q's point I think one of the things you have to try not only what your own adjustments are going to be you have to try to anticipate what the other team's adjustments are going to be when we take this away what are they going to do and are we ready for it one of the fears I always had one of the things that kept me up at night is I was going to get something thrown at us that we weren't prepared for and I was going to let my team down and it happened it happened but you you try to fight hard that whatever happens in the game we're we're prepared for it when does you fall in love with basketball was it uh was it your pops that that loved the game and he was so into the game that it made you fall in love you and your brother fall in love with what what was the moment when you was younger that you came up and you fell in love with basketball I don't know if I could come up with a moment D because it really was I mean I've never not been around the game and it wasn't just that my dad coached all of my dad's friends were coaches like maybe even in other sports but so it was just always like that's who I was around was coaches and stuff but my dad like his even today he's 87 you know he will say like his perspective is he never worked a day in his life and this is not a guy who ever made big money you know I mean he coached at High School junior college small college level but just loved being in the gym every day loved being around players every day and when you grow up around that when a guy's like you got your father excited to go to work every day you know you start looking at it as a kid going yeah that's that must be that's what I want to do you know and then when I was 13 years old my dad was um an assistant coach at St Mary's College in California and he had major brain surgery so he was laid up for a couple of months and at that time you know this was before us how old I am but at that time freshmen couldn't play in college they had to have separate freshman teams so my dad was an assistant you know with the varsity doing all the recruiting but then he would coach freshman team and they would play a lot of junior colleges we don't have a staff when you're coaching the freshman team that's just part of what you do yeah so my brother and I my brother was like 10 or 11 I was 13. we were going out like scouting games like of teams they were going to play against and stuff and I'm sure the reports at that age were terrible but the fact that we had the opportunity to do it and see what it was like I mean I think that's the time where like you're thinking sort of changed that end the fact that I always thought like you know I was going to be a player either a baseball or basketball player by the time I got to high school and saw what was out there I was like now this ain't going very far like when you hit under 100 in baseball and then this before Nike camp and stuff like that the first one I remember I grew up on the west coast they had a they called it Superstars camp and so I was like I think the top 100 150 guys from the western United States right so I'm there shouldn't have been but I was there right and I remember they used to sit us in the stands and then the coaches would pick teams so guys are coming down out of the stands and so you're going yo [ __ ] there ain't many of us left up here right it got down to me and one other guy yeah somebody took me I was not the last guy left I was so freaking happy I was like oh my God I was 149th out of 150 in the draft I said all right there is not going to be a playing career here so if you want to stay involved in the game what are you going to do and I knew from the time I was probably a junior in high school because I was going into my junior year I knew like okay it's going to be it's going to be coaching that's what I want to do you know guys play basketball you got a lot of guys play basketball especially in high school but get into the Strategic part of basketballs like some people when they play basketball they have no clue that it's a strategy that goes in with this when did you you kind of get to the point like I I'm into the strategy of it I'm starting to know the X's and O's of the fundamentals of it because I always tell the kids about fundamentals you learn the fundamentals then you can start sprouting out to everything else involving the game yeah I had a good base coming up through my dad and through you know other coaches friends of his and I was around so I was lucky in that not just in learning them myself but watching really good coaches teach fundamentals yeah so I had an idea to do that but even with the X's and O's I think you know even at a young age like very basic stuff like with my dad and and listening to conversations like you knew what these things were at 10 or 12 years old whether yeah you know people were a big thing on the west coast at the time as everybody was running the flex right and so you know you're learning that and then you know Pete Newell when he was coaching a callus before shoot I was I was a little kid right and you know they were running reverse action they called it so you had all this stuff I was learning that like I was just part of how I grew up I didn't think it was yeah anything special um and my dad really taught me to see all five people on really all 10 people on the floor on what was going on and I think that's you know really key like I think at first when you see a lot of people even when they come into the NBA and they're scouting right they're running pick and roll on on this side of the floor great what what are these three guys doing do they have space they have a guy ducking in is there a guy cutting and a lot of times like young Scouts and stuff in the league they'll be like I better go back and watch film like it's not enough to have two there's ten people out there yeah like what's everything doing and I think I was lucky because I had that kind of education coming up I mean I was really privileged in that regard that you know I was taught from a young age that this is how the strategy of the game goes yeah I see it on all all levels uh when I played basketball I just paid attention a lot and I just listened to exactly how they said if you tell me exactly like this this is exactly how I supposed to go but you see on all levels that even when teams when they press or they play a Zone some of these kids and some of these guys don't even know the meaning of why we doing it this way like some of the guys when you when you like how uh San Antonio used to front the post man because they bring in the bottom guy over yeah but some of these guys don't even know the meaning of why we're doing it this way to set them up this way and I'll be trying to preach and just tell other guys like man you got to know the meaning of the gang why are you pressing like this why are when he throw it to this ball you just don't run and trap and get yourself out of position these days with the kids and and knowing that because a lot of guys don't even watch basketball you know they don't watch it to know know the strategy of it how important is the strategy of basketball not just running jumping and getting your shots up but knowing the strategy of not only your team but the other team that you playing against yeah you know those are great I mean you bring up so many good points there um first of all with the why are we doing things I remember I was lucky when I came to Orlando and then when I went to Detroit I had Brendan Malone on my staff you know he'd been at home yeah you know Michael's dad and he would walk by me at least once every practice he would say to me coach the why like not just we're doing this but what just why are we doing like he thinks it doesn't make any sense to players if they don't know why you're doing it yeah like this is what we're trying to accomplish so he would say that to me constantly coach the why but you know the going to your first thing Dee I think like you hear so much about Player Development now yeah in the NBA right but I think most people think of Player Development is just you're in the weight room getting stronger better conditioned whatever or you're out there working on your skills and the part they leave out or two parts they leave out one like Q did for us in Detroit is and Spencer dinwid he brought this up on your guys podcast is you got to learn how to be a professional that's part of Player Development like just what do you do to be a pro in the league and then the second part is I think they've got to learn the game like you have to teach them in film sessions and practice and all of that you have to teach them the game you know like this is what's going on this is what this team is trying to do to us this is why they're trying to do it this is how we're going to counter it you know things like that and I think if you don't do that you're leaving out a huge part of Player Development and I don't think it's all on the players like I say this even about like parenting and stuff right everybody will say oh kids are different not on a world around them is different and it's the same in the NBA I don't think players have changed I think the world around them some of it we can't do anything about social media all that that's changed but us as coaches or people we've changed in what we do I think players want the same things man they want to be as good as they can possibly be they want their teams to win and you got to help them do that stuff that's our responsibility and just to say oh well we can't do this because you know players are different they don't want to work and I don't I think that's BS myself I really do yeah uh like I say you see football players that have this big old Playbook and you know it's a lot of players out there so if one player is not doing exactly what that whole play with these other 11 players out there it messes up a whole player mess up a whole strategy my thing was always to be telling these kids that it ain't all about basketball when when it ain't all about going to the gym you need to know your strategy like damn literally is a point guard because he knows how to manipulate the game he know how to use the plays to work for him and his teammates it ain't all about oh he was just shooting the jumpers and he shot so many jumpers that he can just shoot jumpers good he still has to play the strategy of the game yeah and I all the time the best players like they've seen it all yeah and they know all the strategies you know whatever you throw at Damien Lillard whatever you throw at Luka doncic who's been playing his Pro for half of his life you know they've seen it all and it was interesting Jay Kidd this year we were talking to him you know about attacking the Blitz and everything on Luca he said look Luca has seen it all he knows what to do he said well I got to coach is the other guys yeah like where are we spacing and what are the plays we're looking for because I don't worry about Luca yeah he said he's going to make the right Play It's can we get the other guys and you know a lot of those guys might not be guys who ever get blitz so they have to understand what's going on from Luca's perspective to get to the spots that are going to help him out and allow them to attack four on three behind the defense and you're right if you don't that stuff well to me and this is one of the reasons I think even my assistant coaches would say like we we had really long walk throughs my entire career really long Walkers guys would [ __ ] in the whole thing and my assistant coaches would say to me like they can't retain this much like we need to be going over less and my answer would always be and I understood their point of view I did but my point of view was always well they can't I know what they can't retain they definitely can't retain anything we don't go over straight up like that for sure they can't maintain and I also think like I said before I think we underestimate I think everybody does we underestimate the intelligence of pro athletes like there's a reason like if I go out and watch an AAU Tournament right I'm going to see hundreds of guys that are great athletes where you're going like oh my God you know the athletic ability and the skills so how do we weed out people till we get to the guys who are NBA players and I think a lot of it is part of its attitude work ethic but the other part is intelligence so and so we got these super smart athletes and we don't think they can retain information my experience tells me that's BS so guys would I understand man if you're a player like you don't want to be out there an hour and 15 minutes on a walkthrough I'd get that but to say they can't retain the information is BS like the argument that would resonate more with me is if people said we don't want them on their feet that long okay that I understand but don't tell me they can't retain it I don't think I honestly don't think you can throw too much at NBA players like maybe some of them but like I didn't coach you but I coached you there was never I don't care how much like he might not have wanted to be out there an hour and 15 minutes but whatever I threw at them we'd go into the game and they'd know exactly what we were supposed to do on every play they would know so tell me they shouldn't be on their feet but don't tell me they can't retain it I'm just I'm different than a lot of guys I don't buy that I think they can retain whatever it is you give them I think the best example with that is like we just had we just had Turk on oh listen Turk was the best like this was the part that I brought up like coach please explain to the world if we had a one o'clock game oh please tell the world what we were like Turk was not showing up to maybe the fourth quarter oh we would always have them in Toronto too for some reason we always got the Sunday I remember Toronto would always win Sunday and we would always have those I'm telling you by the last time so Turk went to Toronto and then he came back right by the time he came back like cliff and Patrick were like we shouldn't even bring him up here for this game like at one o'clock because I would like I was never one of those guys like every game I ever coached Q can vouch for this I don't care back to back what we were going to do a walk through it might be in the hotel whatever so we had those one o'clock games we'd get them up at like eight o'clock have breakfast we'd be walking we'd be walking through in a ballroom and turkey could be like muttering under his friend and all this too early it's all of this oh my God all the time and he was he was like Turk wasn't going to get going until about three so that might be the start of the fourth quarter you might have a chance but oh my God yo Turk was Turk was the he was the funniest because he would he would complain he was the grumpy employee he would complained the entire time none stop like when he started doing one place take him here me he just always just found most of the time we would be together because we both wings so I'd be sitting there like this man is going nuts then he's always cold that was the other thing yes yes it's cold bro cool bro [Laughter] but he was also like in practice what you'd have to do with him like I remember trying to talk to him my first year because you know like whatever you're doing in practice like something's going to be a warm-up drill you're doing it first so we would do a lot of like just five on oh fast break like up and back running your break and he would just be going half-assed like he just would not get going so I try to talk to him I tried to yell at him nothing's working and so I forget which assistant coach said just make them keep going again until he does it so that's what we started doing it he'd be running with Jamir and Dwight because you know Richard it would be the starters right so we'd be running a break and it'd just be like they're supposed to be going up and back go again go again like six straight times and they're all looking I'm sorry look we're gonna go till Kirk goes and then everybody's screaming in here this [ __ ] the whole thing I said well sir you know what you could do you could go full speed the first time and then we would be done and it wouldn't be [ __ ] but the dude could play though I know he could play use a gamer growing up the one-on-ones between you and your brother who was getting their ass but who got the better records I'm two and a half years older so you know that makes a difference when you're young but by the time I got uh to college so I was a freshman in college he was a sophomore in high school by then it turned still win one-on-one but he was a lot better player but one on one because like I wanted to score we had different mentalities like when I played I wanted to score score and I you know especially when I was young I probably even took a lot of bad shots like I was getting them up like I wanted to score where he was a true like point guard pass first guy so one-on-one I'm gonna win right you know now he is a better player but one on one yeah I was gonna I was gonna win but you know it's funny you would bring up one-on-one though because I remember like Bob McAdoo when I worked with him in Miami Bob would always say he goes Stan man I think after every practice I ever had in the NBA I played one-on-one against somebody right and when we were in Orlando and we had Earl Clark and Von Wafer I don't care you could practice for three hours those dudes were gonna go for an hour after practice one-on-one and some guys would jump in right but they want that's the last time I've seen guys play one-on-one on their own that's the last time what you think about them trying to add a one-on-one tournament in the All-Star game I think it would be better than that All-Star game we saw I then if you're not gonna try one-on-one well you're just gonna get your ass busted then and go home we got to do something about stop listening I feel like if guys you know we got enough guys we got guys in the league that can take it serious I think if they get in there and they you know how it is in the locker room man before the game or whenever they gotta really get the right guys to buy in and start talking like yo we gonna hoop tonight and I think if you get three four the right guys on each team and they start getting it going like man they gonna play but it's I don't think anybody's I don't think it's been that atmosphere for whatever reason guys just you know whether it's guys coming in chilling and they tired trying to take a break or whatever but like you like when code was was around when he he be on that like well you remember when he first matched up with MJ yeah he was like up there guarding him and like yeah like he wanted that challenge I remember 2005 was the first one I coached I coached the All-Star Game 2005 in Denver and at halftime AI is like yelling at guys because that's when the Wes started to really take over the East and ai's coming in at halftime he goes man you all aren't like tired of this [ __ ] about how the West is better than us and we all a bunch of [ __ ] he goes I'm tired of the West we got to go out I mean he's like giving the halftime talk I'm like damn and what I remember about the game so like the coaches the assistant coaches make more on the winning team than on the losing team so I got SPO and Ron rosstein and I can do right and then you could only have three guys on the bench so I'd already told Keith Askins like because they wouldn't pay for a fourth I'll give you my money right so you know you got your whole rotation out for the uh that's all you do in the All-Star Game you want to make sure everybody gets their minutes yeah so every time in the second half I tried to take AI out the assistants were like no no no because they knew he wanted to win and sure enough we won the All-Star game they got more money and AI got the MVP once the assistant's heard that talk like no no we didn't take today but he must have played 20 minutes out of the 24 in the second half of that game tell me about when you got to Castleton State is the first first head coaching job how was that so I was really young I'd only coach for two years I was an assistant at the University of Vermont and so then it's 1983 and I ended up with two job opportunities at the same time I could have gone as an assistant at Dartmouth with Reggie Minton who I'd known because he tried to recruit me to the Air Force Academy when I was coming out of high school great man really good person um and that job was paying like 37 000 okay at that time or I could go as the head coach to Castleton State which was a division three NAIA program for 7 500 bucks a year right so like a five times difference and I remember calling my dad and he I said what did you think and he said I said what do you think he said look he said if you want to coach take the responsibility over the money like you're 24 you don't need the money he said and once you have more money you'll never go backwards so then you'd never take a job like that again he said the bottom line is 7 500 is good for you because if they were paying more you couldn't get it he said they're stuck with you at 7 500 and two years of experience and so that's what I did and the opportunity to be a head coach and inherit a really good team at that level like was great and with great people who virtually every single one of them I mean that's 40 years ago now and I'm in touch with virtually every single one of those guys um now and again learned a lot from them just in terms of how to coach you know I came in like with all the answers man you know how it is like I'm sure you guys as players when you were 24 had all the answers right and I remember my dad saying to me he said Son if you got all the answers it's only because you don't know all the questions and I have kept that in my mind I think it's so true of everybody in any job once you think you got all the answers yeah you just don't know all the questions you know and it was but it was a great experience you know to be able to coach your own team I mean I was two years older than than a lot of the players and it was my it was my first time and the whole thing it was it's still the most fun I've ever had you know and I've had fun with a lot of NBA teams too but that was the most fun I've ever had you know so what was the decision to to be an assistant coach at Wisconsin with Stu Jackson what made you make that decision well I think then I got to the point I'd been at the time I was at UMass Lowell division two now they're division one but at the time we were division two you know and and you're looking for opportunities to move up and to go to the Big Ten and my brother had worked for stew um with the Knicks Okay so you know we had like I knew about Stu and I've always thought this like jobs are about who you get a chance to work for and who you get a chance to work with yeah right and so we knew that Stu I knew from my brother's experience that Not only was Stu a good basketball man but he was just a good man right to go and work for and I've never been at that level and to be honest never thought I'd have an opportunity to be at that level I think looking at my dad's career and the way my brother and I came up um you know I always thought like man I hope someday I can get one of the really good small College coaching jobs you know that's where I saw myself in so this opportunity to to be in the Big Ten yeah back then it was oh yeah I mean that was that was big dog you know oh yeah like you know I had breakfast in Phoenix well we recruited Richard Griffith but Finley was already there Tracy Webster yeah you know I mean it was like hey this is a chance to go to the Big Ten I mean it was just a a great opportunity at that at that stretch in my uh my life I was like sort of in awe and I sort of got the opportunity because of my brother which is also how I eventually got opportunity with Pat Riley and got in the league that's what I want to ask yeah I mean it's it's like I have so much appreciation for for my brother because he sort of was you know ahead of me in his career even though he was younger and not only did I learn a lot from him but the fact that he did such a great job for these guys made them say well [ __ ] if he's anything like Jeff right then at least you'll take a a chance now you got to be able to do the job once you get it but yeah that's how I got in with uh with Stu I think I was sort of uh I'd be interesting to see what Stu said but I think I was sort of still knew who they wanted to hire but like well let me at least talk to him you know he's Jeff's brother in the in the whole thing and so I got an opportunity I remember the final four was in Minneapolis that year and so I didn't go to the final but I flew up and we met off-site so nobody saw anything but at a hotel up there and I met with him for a few hours and then got the uh got the job offer it was it was tremendous and then you know Ray McCallum was on that staff it was a holdover but then we ended up hiring Sean Miller who's obviously done a great job as a college coach so not only did I get a chance to work for stew and learn but to be around those guys and then with you know you're a Chicago guy but to be around like guys like Mike Finley and and Tracy Webster and and then recruit Rashard Griffith and I'm still in touch with with all of those guys you know so tremendous experience how was it going from there to to your first time being in the NBA going to go play I will work with Pat Riley and I know the weather was better the weather was a lot but let me tell you my first experience so you know I get the job I'm working for Pat and so we had and this was like maybe only a month before to start a training camp because Pat was just coming on board we had this big rookie Camp I must 30 guys and like all like some guys who had been in the you know CBA before it was a g league and some guys who were undrafted rookies and all of this and and obviously been in the Big Ten I'd seen talent but never that much talent all in one gym at the same time right and so I'm like sort of in awe it's day one and we're running this camp and you're not doing a lot of coaching it's more getting them organized so they could play and evaluate and I'm like damn there's a lot of dudes that can play and then so we go to lunch between the morning session and the afternoon session so I'm there we had this older assistant who since passed away Scotty Robertson I go there with him and then Pat comes in as soon as Pat sits down I'm like sort of in all this talent in the gym as soon as he sits down Scotty Robertson said well there's nobody here that can play for us and I just went oh [ __ ] that's the most Talent I've ever seen in one gym in my life and Scotty blue out of the water at once and Pat said yeah it's a little disappointing and I was like oh my God so then you go to training camp and we hadn't traded for Alonso yet but it was like Glenn rice and you know I'm just like oh my God like the NBA is a whole different level and I remember I think back to it now because you know like I had had Michael Finley and we played against big dog and the whole thing and I remember when we were here q and maybe in his like third or fourth year they asked JJ Redick like well you played against a lot of Pros when you were at Duke like what's the difference and he said well the difference is the best college teams maybe have two or three NBA players he said how many NBA players do you think the average NBA team has all of them that's the difference like all of them every guy out there potentially especially if you're not ready can bust your ass on anything dude could come on and bust your ass and like so when you go like and you're there through training camp and I'll be I'll be honest like I'm going to my first training camp I coached in college for 14 years I thought I knew the game well and the whole thing and I was scared like going to the first training camp practice like you know these dudes are at a whole new level you know and some of them are veteran guys like what are you and I just remember Pat's saying to me listen just coach and when they figure out you know what you're talking about you'll be fine like you know that's all they want to know is that you can help them and you know what you're talking about they don't care where you came from or anything else and I've always remembered that and he said just relax and do your thing don't try to impress anybody just coach so that means that you was there for the for the very beginning and the Inception of this the Heat Knicks rivalry oh tell me how was that the first game y'all played the Knicks that you cause this is the first year he's leaving New York and coming to Miami so how was that first time y'all played the next that year I remember going in there man and we weren't very good in Miami that year now we made some trades and ended up making a playoffs but early in the year we weren't good but guys knew how important it was to him I think we took like five charges in the first quarter of that game but I remember when we came when Pat came onto the court so you know you're an assistant you're out there early but then Pat comes walking out to the court oh my God crowd was unbelievable like they're MF in him like I remember turning around once this one dude was like red face which is like maybe eight or nine-year-old daughter next to him throwing out f-bombs yo that's your daughter like I remember Bob McAdoo and I go and these people are crazy absolutely CR and they booed him the entire game we got off to a good start but then we weren't good enough we couldn't make enough shots and we ended up losing but God I've never seen anything like pure hatred like the guy took him to the finals all he did was take another job and it was like absolutely nuts when was the first time it got physical on the court though with the team well as always you know how the 90s were anyway I mean it was come on it was physical all the time you know and it wasn't just the Rivalry he just had a lot of physical dudes I mean you know you're gonna put Charles Oakley and then eventually Larry Johnson and Anthony Mason and guys that played in that rivalry and you know Dan Marley and then Alonso and I mean come on it was gonna be physical all the time and the thing I remember like you notice now NBA games guys will be out there like talking to each other on the court I'm not talking trash like they're like friends at every dead ball on the other it wasn't like you guys remember even when you first came out it was not like that no and I remember like maybe eight or nine years after Dan Marley was done playing somebody in Miami did an interview talking about the Rivalry and you know Dan was always matched up with Alan Houston and they asked him like what's the most memorable thing you remember you guys saying to each other you and Alan Houston and Dan said I don't think we ever spoke one word to each other in that whole rivalry like it was just competing the whole time like going out and but you know how it is too like I see it now when I see ex players out there like from that era like you legitimately hated guys at the time playing against them like when Keith Askins when he got waved in his final year in Miami my brother was a coach in New York had great respect for it they tried to claim him off waivers they wanted him to go he said I can't do that I can't do it I can't go like his career Ended as a player he couldn't do it and it worked out good because he's still working in in Miami but it was that kind of thing but the respect they have on both sides yeah like you listen to him talk they might not like those guys but the respect man because of the competition level every single night I mean I wish we had a little more of that like I don't know if you want to call it hatred but that animosity I wish we had competitors just be more competitive absolutely like no I ain't trying to be your best friend like hey you know who's got a little bit of that is Giannis like Giannis won't you know how these guys all get together to work out in the off season not Giannis only guys he'll work out for are other bucks guys like no he ain't working he don't want to be friends with those guys you know it's just different how was it like you know yeah I made the moves to get Tim y'all made the moves to get along so for you to get there when they they didn't have all this to turn it into a team that can compete with the Knicks how was that process of yeah how Pat Riley pulled all that together we got Alonzo that literally the night before the opening game of the season so we'd gone through training camp with one whole roster and we got Alonzo the night before it started for Glenn rice Matt Geiger I forget what else Khalid Reeves I think and then we got like Pete Myers and Lauren Ellis back in the deal so obviously Lonzo just changed the whole mood of everything um where you thought you had a chance to compete and I mean lonzo's one Alonso is one of the greatest competitors there was in the league like you know I mean he would give it to you every single night yeah and everything changed but then we went through the the Hardaway trade it was I'll remember this we played in Philly like either the night or two nights before the trading deadline and you can still look back we beat Philly but I think it was the first or or second lowest scoring game in the since the shot clock era in the NBA like we won like 59 to like 56 and the NBA game Scotty Robertson his old assistant coach set by me the whole night and he just kept going he'd like elbow me look at the scoreboard like the whole night it was the worst game and at the time we would get on the plane to watch film but it wasn't like now where you had it on your computer like you remember those old like one-piece TV and vcr and the whole thing so we'd have to get them down and that's what you're doing and you throw your VHS on so I got my VHS going in Pat gets on the plane he goes do not watch that film we will have a whole new team the next time we take the court and I was like okay damn right so we get back and then the next day we traded Five Guys for Five Guys we got Hardaway Chris Gatling Ty Corbin Walt Williams and Tony Smith anything from Phoenix so three different trades our first game after the trade we play the Jordan Bulls the year they won 70. we don't even have these guys here right we got Tony Smith in he had never practiced with us he ended up he started played like 30 some minutes we brought Jeff Malone off the injured list the last year he played it was one of those things it was like everybody had no pressure on him Rex Chapman had like I don't know I just saw that game the other day oh no no it was crazy like every shot he threw up went in the crowds bow into it and we beat Jordan's Bulls like the whole thing got over and the second thing I remember about this trade we were talking about how smart guys are so you know at that time you had big Play Books you guys remember at that time like coaches had that now I don't know like team might have three pages I mean but back then we had this whole Playbook so my job was we had these five new guys Pat's like take them before practice and after practice like put in as much as you can so I got Gatling and I got all these guys and we're down there after practice we're going through stuff and I come back up to the office and and Pat says what can we run with Tim tomorrow night and I said Pat you can run whatever you want he said come on Stan I said Pat can run whatever you want I've never seen anybody pick [ __ ] up like that like literally I mean Pat had maybe the biggest playbook in the league at the time I said literally Pat you can run whatever you want now a couple of those other dudes I don't want to throw out any names on the podcast you better keep it to like two plays thumb up thumb down yeah pop them down I roll like let's keep it to that but with Tim run anything Pat said come on he didn't believe me I said Pat I'm telling you whatever you want to run Tim's got it you know how like if people learn a foreign language they learn the word for microphone in that language that's all it was with Tim he'd seen every play in the league it's just what's the language what is the heat call it I know the right I know the play and he could put it all together I was like yo man it's a different dude right here when you first heard that you was going to be the head coach you didn't put all the years in in Miami and now you you're hearing you're gonna be the head coach what was your first impression you know well it was weird it was weird timing because we went through the whole preseason like we played all of our exhibition games Pat was the head coach so it wasn't like a normal off-season thing and then I just remember Pat he came in the next day and he would have to walk by my office you know how those offices are in Miami so I was the last one he comes by my office and he pokes his head in and he said are you ready and I'm like am I ready for what like practice I said yeah I left my notes on your desk he said no are you ready and I'm like like I don't know he said come on in so we go in the office I got my I would leaving notes every day I'm like what I think we should work on all that stuff that's how we that's how you like we didn't have meetings then with him a lot it was just you know you leave him notes he looks at the suggestions he does his thing so he brings me in and he he says it again are you ready I said Pat ready for what and he said I'm gonna step down and you're going to be the head coach are you ready and I was like I don't know if you can be ready for that but but yeah I'm I'm I'm ready I'm ready to go and so that's uh that's all I can remember yeah the other thing I remember about that day so I become the head coach that day my kids are still young we had bought tickets my wife had bought tickets the little kids you remember the Wiggles yeah yeah we bought tickets for The Wiggles so I get the job and we're like downstairs like watching The Wiggles in this concert the other day I got the job but then you know we get going and like we lose our first seven games like I'm 0-7 and the seventh one was against my brother in Houston I'm like man you would think the dude like you got a good team you got yeah you can give us one right damn brother needs one right so they busted us and then we ended up beating Cleveland finally actually on the second night of a back to back we got our first one but man it was a uh it was a tough tough start I don't care how you've prepared yourself and I've been a head coach in college for eight years you know it's just different I mean it's different like you know all the decisions in an NBA game is a lot different than College because you know you get down to the end of the game as timeouts Advance the ball I mean a minute you might get four possessions like you can do a lot and there's just more coaching involved I mean I remember Chuck Daley back in the day and he had come from Penn he said there's more coaching decisions in the last two minutes of an NBA game than there is in a college season you know and I don't know if that's true but it is different and I've heard spot talk about it like it took him a couple years to get past the Imposter syndrome like you're like man I don't know if I belong doing this thing you know so then these guys looking at you for leadership no that's exactly right you know and and so you've got to project that you've got all this confidence but you know you're questioning yourself a lot you know you really are like you're questioning yourself like am I doing enough to uh help these teams well what I ended up learning over the course of my career is it never stops like I'm gonna say the best coaches are still doing that questioning themselves because you feel a responsibility to a group of guys to a team to help them as much as you can and I had never stopped for me I took every loss my entire career as my fault not that I totally blame myself obviously to players you know the whole thing but if I would have done this if I would have done this we could have had a chance to win you know and so it doesn't stop so it really never changed for me what was your first impressions of D Wade like at what point did like because obviously you saw him some point before y'all got him there like when did you hear that that's who y'all were like honing in on and then like what was it like when he like got there and you got to see him I'll tell you where where you knew so I was still an assistant then because I didn't get the job till after training camp so I coached the summer league team yeah I was there you were there you were playing with Cleveland with LeBron in him you guys were loaded yeah Boozer LeBron the whole thing right so the first night because of LeBron they played at the old arena here yeah remember that because all you guys and I remember because we had there was the games were at three five and seven we had three clock game I think against Milwaukee and so you know like when the game started it was like a quarter full and then a few more people came in went in the locker room did your post game talk to the team and we come out like and it's the five o'clock game going on not even your guys game you couldn't find a place to sit because they didn't charge the [ __ ] place was full okay all about LeBron so but then after the first night they moved it you know practices yeah to the rdt and then we played you in so it's we're going down last possession and we give the ball to D Wade he runs a clock down all the way and hits the game-winner against that yeah you know I was like okay this dude this dude yeah he had a great game great summer league no I mean and he was playing so we we had decided going in like I've always thought this as a coach particularly in the NBA like one of the things you're trying to do like is you're trying to figure out how to get your best players on the floor and so we had Eddie Jones at the two at the time right and we had Quran at the three so which one of those guys are you putting on the bench for for Dwayne right so we said no [ __ ] it we're gonna play Dwayne as our point guard so we went into summer league and we played him totally his point he wasn't a point guard in high school he wasn't the point guard at Marquette we're playing him at the point yeah I'm like man this this is a different dude like you know and the other thing you I got you picked up from him right away it was interesting because I remember Pat probably wouldn't admit that but Pat had I mean he knew we wanted Dwayne in the draft I'm not saying that but he had one misgiving and that was like Dwayne in his workouts you know you guys went through those draft workouts I heard you I've heard you guys talk about him on here and you know the heat like everything I mean they pushed the [ __ ] out of you in the workout right and Dwayne sort of uh when he practices like when he's doing workouts like that like he's maybe three-quarter speed like he's not uh like 100 mile an hour guy he's just not right and so that bugged Pat a little you know Pat wanted guys going 100 miles an hour but the thing you picked up from Dwayne and and it continued through I mean I was only there for his first two years but like SPO was a guy who worked with him at the time and SPO would work with him on something after practice and they'd be going like half speed and Pat would come over to me and go man you got to get him working harder I'm like but Pat watch whatever they worked on it would be something new this dude would be doing it the next night in a game like usually that takes forever right like next night in a game he was doing it like that's a sort of like the word may be used too much but he had this like genius like he could see something do it a little bit and put it in his game like he didn't need like a thousand repetitions or something like a lot of guys and so that's something we noticed right away too and then the dude then you go through the whole season and by the end of the year he's clearly our best player and his first playoff game ever and the thing with him was great I always said and I would argue this with anybody I know people will have other guys he's the best into the game last shot guy I've ever seen I know I'm biased but here's the thing with D Wade too not only did he shoot a high percentage in those situations like if it's tie game he's getting the last shot you ain't getting one back he's not shooting it too early like and he was a rookie in his first playoff game I think he left them three tenths of a second the other way I remember and dropped it in and it's like and after the game he was like damn man he said to me something about putting the ball in a Rookie's hand in that situation I said I never thought about putting the ball in the hands of a rookie I said put the ball in the hands of your best player that's all it was but right off the bat he was just and I remember him and and you play with LeBron so you you know like right from the beginning like I coached those guys both of them in their first All-Star Game and I've coached a I've coached a couple other guys like even in 2010 in their first All-Star Game and they're sort of like in awe right those two guys they looked like yeah this is where we belong and this is where we're going to be like it was it was nothing to them man and Dwayne had that ear about him and he wasn't like arrogant he wasn't cocky he knew he had a lot to learn but he knew who he was and what he could do from the very beginning and he could handle mistakes you know to me that's a big challenge of young players because you guys asked guys this all the time on your podcast with the players about like who was a guy who like busted their ass when they came in you're gonna hit that adversity as a young guy to me the when you're going to know about a guy is how he can handle those moments because if it's rolling well [ __ ] anybody's great when it's rolling but Dwayne could handle those moments and go okay like I remember we played the Pistons we should have won but we played him game one of that playoff series Eastern Conference Finals his second year and they were switching everything and we were having trouble in the pick and roll and they thought like oh well we got taishan Prince on him and the size and all this and we got the answer first of all anytime you think you've got an answer to the great players you're fooling yourself you know and sure enough like the next night like put whoever you want on him he was just game two like all right you got me game one he learned from it saw what was going on busted ass in game two I want to talk about the pedigree that that Pat Riley like put into the Miami Heat like uh like if you saying for instance like he's not a Miami Heat guy like it's it's it's heard around the league that you know you got to be a certain player to be in Miami to play for Miami and being that type of environment and culture can you tell us more about like the standard that he set for you to come to Miami and play in Miami because you know you you always say here in Miami you hear the beaches and stuff like oh I'm gonna go and have a good time but when it comes to that professional team you gotta have body fat air there and you know what every everybody knew it right it got that word got out around the league yeah like if you go to Miami you're going to be expected to have this level of conditioning you're going to practice longer and harder than most people you know like it was out there and I think that benefited them a lot because people who didn't want that well they didn't they didn't want to be there I remember so when guys used to come in even if they were just coming in to work out but we or even if we traded for guys or whatever like guys would come in and Keith Askins all the time like new guy would come in Keith would be like yo man Welcome to The Rock how long you in for you it's crazy because it was but but if you were that type of guy like you know you knew you might not like it but you knew you were going to be treated with respect and stuff too like they were going to respect you as a worker and you were going to have a chance to make it and and spouse says all the time um you know I hear him say it read his quotes all the time he says we're not for everybody yes and and I think that's I think that's great I remember Bobby Knight long time ago right before he went nuts um I remember him saying he was griping about a guy who had quit his team right and so he was griping to one of his captains like this dude like the whole thing and the guy just looked at him he said coach you're not for everybody and I think that's a good lesson for coaches too like every coach isn't for every player and every player isn't for every coach and that doesn't make that doesn't mean the player is wrong or the coach is wrong like you're not gonna be for everybody and I think that's one of the first things you have to learn because if you're trying to be for everybody as a coach I I think you won't you won't be any good for anybody to be quite honest like you got to be who you are and in Miami we everybody knew what the what the standard was going to be you know like the conditioning test every year yeah like you know you're gonna run when we first started it now we used to have to run 17s five of them and I think like the point guards had to average 58 seconds in the whole thing I remember bimbo Coles our first one Scotty Robertson this older guy and he lost count so had to go 19. so his first time was like a minute and two or a minute and three so now you're gonna have to average 56 on the other members this [ __ ] I ran 19. Scotty what the hell are you doing if people was like I want somebody else over here Calvin it was a big deal because bimbo was in the best shape of anybody yeah and you got no margin for error 58 three so pissed but it was a big deal in Miami and then the crazy thing was if you didn't make the conditioning test you had to do it before practice the next day well wait you're going twice a day if you couldn't make it the first day before there was no chance you were going to be running now every morning until training camp was over uh which chance you had was when you got down like you had it finally had a day off and then only one practice that was your next chance to do it I mean it was great but then you know Sean Lampley Sean passed out we were doing it we had we had changed it because it was you know 17 there's too many turns so Bill faran a strength coach convinced Pat like we can do the same thing but we got to do 10 links to the court because there's fewer turns and lamp had gone you know because he was sort of a fringe guy right trying to make it so he had worked out with us all summer but at the end of the summer he got a contract to go play in the Philippines with a team for the playoffs and you know you need the cash so lamp went over there and he got like a little sick and stuff he lost some weight he came back now we're going to training camp and I mean he'd worked his ass off he was definitely in good enough shape but he was sick and he's trying to make it and he went down and they had to take him to the hospital that stuff all changed after that right that all changed we didn't do it I don't know if they've gone back to it but we didn't do it anymore it's like man no because I mean I was I think it was quran's rookie year and I mean those guys were freaked out they were like oh [ __ ] like you know that sort of kills mood on the first day of camp somebody's getting hospitalized that's it you had udonis's rookie how proud of you to see the career that Udonis has them always had yeah listen I mean those are the great stories in the NBA right he and Wade came in as rookies but you know Udonis here's the thing so Udonis had a great success in college and then comes out and nobody takes him and he had to go to Europe he had to lose 50 pounds had to change his life and then he's got to make it as like coming in with no the hardest thing to make it on yeah well perfect team for him now yes you know that's the thing so Miami's tough and everything but like I said like I'm not sure Udonis with where his skill level was and he was only six eight when he first came in the league I'm not sure that he would have made it everywhere you know like his work ethic was great and that was highly respected where we are but Udonis like right off the bat like had everybody's success you know had everybody's respect I mean you know the way he did things all the time never made an excuse worked his ass off I mean it was it was incredible and what I've liked watching is you know I loved watching his development as a player and I think unfortunately because it's been so long since he actually played people forget like this dude was good like he was a big part of those championship teams he was good as a basketball player and but his leadership and his and his wisdom and stuff with young players and then just what he's done in the community and business-wise for himself like that's somebody that every NBA player should be looking at and saying you know what do you want to be as a person as a player and then what do you want to do in the future like follow that guy you know I mean and what an incredible thing to go to high school in Miami play at the University of Florida one year he had to be away from the state one year he used to be he had to go over to France and then come back in his whole career right there all in the same state and almost all of it right in the same city I mean and he's the rebound Legend oh no he's unbelievable he lead the rebounds in Miami grab one that's a record that's exactly right now he's he's the best you know there's nobody there's nobody better than him you know and I remember like we used to play shooting games for money right you know I've always done that stuff and so we would let the rookies pick first right who do you want to partner with and those two guys would pick each other all the time him and Wade and of course they weren't going to win neither one of them were very good Shooters they would never win right like the whole year and so finally we're like right at the end of the season so I said something like I like we're going like five times the money today they won and they were like trying to convince people like they'd set it up all year to win on the last day you know but it was those guys were great but that was the that was the other thing like that's how those guys were like the Loyalty like you guys probably would have done that with the Clippers like instead of instead of like picking like Eddie Jones who's gonna help you win they're picking each other every day but those guys had that allegiance to each other from from like day one I mean and it was and still do I mean I I think they hold each other in extremely high regard because they literally went through all of it together closing the chapter to Miami and having them all them years in Miami and getting opportunity to to come to Orlando right down the road and start with a A young team and to revamp that team how was that that transition for you because Orlando you know new stadium they were doing a lot of new stuff in the city to to change it around to get it back popping so how was it for you to come in Orlando and bring something new to him yeah it was a great opportunity you know I was their second choice so they had they hired Billy Donovan you know I didn't know it at the time right but I came in and interviewed with them and you know you're doing the interview and Otis and Bob vandewyd who was the son-in-law of the divorces was running the team at the time and Dave towardsick right so they're all sitting in the interview and the interview was good and everything but like you're getting into the near the end of it and they just keep looking at their watch oh my God damn man like what's going on well I'll find out afterwards like they literally left my interview and went to Gainesville to offer Billy the job Billy Donovan so like I was like the backup because you want to have like someone what if Billy said no right and the whole thing so Billy takes the job he has a press conference I remember the whole thing he has a press conference so now I'm out in Vegas interviewing for the Sacramento job you know I'm interviewing for the Sacramento job with Jeff Petry and Wayne Cooper and we're in Vegas because the Maloofs owned the team at the time and that's where they were based right so I'm out to dinner in Vegas and you know like one of those times you're having dinner and you know like your phone's just vibrating like you know you know somebody's trying to call you but it's like one after the other and I'm like I don't I mean I was at the time like I'd never texted or anything it was just I had a flip phone yeah like God damn why is this sinking so I look you know I get up and I say because you don't want to be rude I gotta go to the bathroom I go down I see the phone it's my brother he's made like six calls in six minutes so I'm like oh [ __ ] I hope something didn't come from my parents or something that's what you're thinking right and so I go back so I call him he's like look whatever you do don't take that job right now if they offer it to you I think Billy's going back to Florida and I'm like what and he goes no I think he's going back to to Florida and the whole thing and sure enough Billy decided to go back well I'm the only other guy they'd interviewed and if you you know if you have something like that it's a little bit embarrassing the guy going back so you don't want to be waiting like three weeks to make your next tire who are you going to hire you only interviewed one other guy right so you hired me and Otis had the best line ever at the press conference because you know they got turned down and now they're hiring me and they asked him about like the thing and he said hey look we identified two outstanding coaches and we hired both of them it was great but it was a great it was a great opportunity for me you know because I'd had the opportunity in Miami but you know for good and for bad at least at that time I don't think it's as true now because suppose been there a long time but at that time that was still Pat's team right and you came here you had a chance to sort of put your own marker and um and that was a tremendous opportunity for me Plus on a personal level like my wife's mom and stepfather had already lived up here for 20 some years so right on time yeah so we were coming right home we ended up moving like I don't know four or five miles from them I mean it was just a uh it was a great opportunity and obviously you know a really really good team um so I was very very lucky to to get that opportunity I want to get from your standpoint because we've we've talked about it previously on here we feel that Dwight obviously was should have been on that top 75 list and that you coached them for most of his dominant rain can you just talk about how he literally dominated like defensively like obviously his offensive game came on a little bit later but like from a very jump just talk about how how good and like all time good he was as a Defender yeah look the time I was here to talk about in his League at that time were LeBron and Kobe yeah was still playing right that was it like there was no one else to talk about in my opinion because you're talking both ends of the floor I mean he was three straight years of defensive player in a year and you know we were always one two three something like that in defense and if you look out there like I love we had really good players but we didn't necessarily have really good Defenders you know we were and it was because of him and other guys put in great effort I don't wanna but what made us a really good defense was him right had been on offense he's still getting you 20 plus and we didn't even like go to him right you know like we weren't like throwing in the wall all the time to let him get numbers but everything revolved around him you know I mean he would roll and at that time you know suck in the entire defense and then we had Shooters around him I mean look for him to not be in the top 75 that was just a personality thing there's no way you know I mean like I think Anthony Davis is great but at the time they selected it you're selecting on the careers they had had up to that point come on I mean it's not close there's not like you can think a guy is better that's fine like that's a subjective thing right it's like I was arguing with people the other day like it's fine if you want to tell me that Michael Jordan was a better basketball player than LeBron James that's fine you can you can make a case for that what you can't make a case for is that Michael Jordan had a better career than LeBron James you can't make a case for that and when you're going top 75 you cannot make a case and I I'm only bringing out one guy there's a lot more yeah but you cannot make a case that Anthony Davis when they picked that team or even now had a better career than Dwight Howard that's absolutely ridiculous yeah you know but people didn't didn't like you and funny thing is they did love him for the time he was here he was out voting whoever like for the All-Star leading like he was wiping it out like clean when I came here I tell people I had to learn how to play defense different I had to stop fouling like I had never played with somebody that was literally like he was going to erase whatever mistake you made you can play people way like you remember how you play I could get all into people because if somebody get by me big fella waiting yeah play with me if you want to I'm gonna be Olive and I'm gonna talk and do everything I felt a whole different level of confidence I could come out here talk [ __ ] like go ahead like you know what I'm saying go ahead run past me when I first got he'll be time people somebody get fat you know my father big fella be coming like the solar eclipse like no don't fail he oh he holding on to the backboard I'm like God damn like and then after I started learning it was like he putting it in the third row hey big fella set that thing down that's why when it counts like oh no like y'all can't do this like no this is this ain't cool this is like this is a no-brainer it is it was for real like that like he was that dominant it would it shouldn't even been a question well here's the thing too that he never got enough credit for I didn't think but you know until he finally had the back injury the the last year we were here right he had the back injury which people thought he was faking because he and I had our thing yeah but he ended up having surgery in the whole thing and then it really sort of he was now right so he played every night but that was back in an age where we actually practiced yeah like we practiced he never took practices off no and I remember saying to him like I would always at that time put the third sinner on his team or the backup center so he could get take reps off and he wouldn't let him play he would come he played 38 minutes do all that come into practice the next day take every rep so people would look I used to hate it like because he'd laugh and smile on the court so they tried to paint him like he wasn't a serious competitor and I was like man don't be looking at what's on a guy's face look at his body at work out there you know it was like and like he said though for him to be pricing like that for him because like Superstars you know they're gonna take one or two like big fella used to just be out there all the time like they might goof around yeah yeah yeah but like he would go hard too all the time it was just you know he didn't get enough credit for that I I just you know that incident I had with them I regret and the only regret I have about it is I think it had a lot to do with sort of uh ruining his reputation of who he was if people had actually talk to me like I've never I said the truth about what I said there but anything I've ever said about the guy is just what I said here great player hard worker should he have been in the top 75 yeah put him in the top 50. I mean this dude one of the most dominant players of his generation and again going back to it we've said it like three times the dude was so smart we used to do so when we did scouting reports and we used to do them different ways but in Orlando we would go do our walk through you'd do the walk through the film we were here forever D but and then we would divide up by groups like the wing guys the big guys the point guards right yeah right and we would talk about personnel and so Brandon Malone had the big guys right Brennan and Pat and so they would ask guys like you know like I'll tell me about so and so and Dwight would not only know about everybody he'd be up like standing up you'd see him in the locker room like demonstrating guys moves and stuff and we had to make a rule we wouldn't let him talk anymore and he was like why I said because these other guys I need to know if they know what's going on with the players and they never have to answer a question because you answer every one of them and when he was with Team USA they had Mike Fratello was like I don't know what he was doing with Team USA but they had him call me one day and they said Stan like they wanted me to call you like we've got Dwight what can we do with him on pick and rolls like on defense I said Mike anyway whatever you want I said and if you want to adjust five times in the game go ahead like he's gonna pick it up like this guy is smart as hell like he's just he was a different level he's listen the smartest I coach good big guys through I mean I was lucky but he was the smartest big guy I ever coached now Shaq was really really smart too but in terms of stuff like that there was nobody like Dwight I mean Dwight studied the league he knew everything and I tell you like he was a he was named them from Chris Paul to Dan Williams to who he got out and he got a poke on them guys oh yeah on the pick and roll I ain't never seen big boys get out there like he would he'll get out there and I'm talking about name whoever the best point guards were he'll get out there and he had jumped there and he'll pull the ball away real quick I'd be like God damn like nobody can't do that but big fella get out there and hit I'm talking about from the best of the best he'll get one on him and he always you know he was Goofy get excited yeah oh yeah he's gonna come let you know like I got the problem like yo this big dude sick like for real going into the uh Eastern Conference Finals against LeBron them you see all the commercials on TV with him and Kobe and you see the World warning him and Kobe to meet in the finals going into that series you know sometimes that can be discouraging from players and you know you got to keep their motivation up what was your strategy and what did you know that your team could do to really be beat LeBron them that they everybody was trying to give them the finals yeah you know what we had great confidence against him you know like sometimes it's just how you match up with certain teams so for our my first two years here like we had we had beaten them consistently and we had even gone over to China and played them like two games in the preseason and the whole thing um and we had which people like they sort of got on me once but like we came back they had been beaten Uh crap out of us in one of those games I left my dudes in in a preseason game to beat them you know and people were always like come on man what is it and I'm like hey we're here to win right but I think just the whole thing was we had always beaten them not always but I don't know they hadn't beaten us very much and so we had confidence against them coming in and I think that was the big thing and we went into that series like LeBron had an unbelievable series I think scoring wise still the best series he ever had so it's not like we shut him down but I think you know they won 66 games that Year and no knock on anybody again but their second best player was Mo Williams like who's not going to make the Hall of Fame like you know they had good players but they didn't have like great players and so we made the decision going in that we just couldn't give him everything like if he's going to go out and get 30 and 12 assists and set those other guys up well then we're going to have a hard time so we were going to try to play him one-on-one as best we could you know we played him with you know keto and Beatrice yep you know and we're gonna we're gonna try to try to play those guys and he had big nights but the other guys didn't have big nights and the only other guy that we just our bench struggled with of all people we could not stop Wally's Irby act like Wally serviac was busting us like but but we did a good job in that series I thought against them because LeBron wasn't really and you know LeBron like you play with him he wants to create for other people and we were just like we're going to stay home and we're gonna try not to foul him in the whole thing we should have swept them yeah we should wrap them because we won game one we had a huge comeback we were down 20 in the first time Richard hit the shot in the corner we beat him we were down 20 again in game two and we had him and that play that they still play on TV well I want to throw something at my TV every year every year like he's gonna hit that shot I'm gonna have to watch it 20 times you sir at TN t for a game he goes hey I got a clip to show you and he'll show that just to throw it at me and in my reaction you know but he hit that shot otherwise we would have swept them because we came home and the two games here were were pretty good but we got it to game six and then Dwight just game six was like that's it I'm taking this [ __ ] over and they had nobody that could play I mean they were afraid to double him because we had so much shooting yeah and so they were leaving him one-on-one down there and it was like okay forget it you know when you played in the finals against the Lakers if it was anything that you can change strategy-wise or you know something that you might want to say what would have been that you feel would have helped y'all win that finals well it was game so game four right um we should have won which would have even the series and Derek Fisher hit a three to send the game to overtime and they were a little different than what we thought coming out of the timeout because and Phil Jackson had done that several times but he took the ball into backcourt instead of you know most people Advance it right after the timeout he took it in the backcourt and we weren't clear with our team that when the clock got under six eight whatever we were going to do that we wanted to take effect we didn't take a foul and that was on me it wasn't on players that was on me and so that game got overtime and we lost I mean that's the one probably of any move in my entire NBA coaching career that's well and the one game winner in in that round too yeah you know because on that one we had to play I'd seen him run that play and what they wanted to do Mike Brown used to run the pin down for LeBron late in the game and he would fake up and they'd back so we talked about that Turk plated perfect took away the back cut had his body right there so LeBron came up I should have had the guy on the ball tracking LeBron oh yeah I should have you know and I didn't so that one right there I'm like damn we could have been up 2-0 so I was killing myself for that one but then I still to this day kicking myself for Derek Fisher's three you know I I mean like had we I mean who knows but you win that game it's 2-2 it's a whole whole different series I mean they still would have home court and the whole thing but it would have been a different Series so I'm yeah if there was that was the thing to this day I'm I'm kicking myself on your brother how proud are you of him of all his success for being the head coach uh the success he's had on TNT and uh just being a fan favorite and what he's created for herself y'all as a whole for your your family name the van gundies everybody know the van gun he's yeah and listen he's said earlier like you know he sort of blazed the trail for for me and uh he was a gr I mean obviously I'm biased but he was a great head coach really really good and I think the guys who played for him would back that up um had a great like toughness about him in a good way you know like um he was great there and then to like change careers and now be the best in the business doing something else I think that it's really it's really an amazing thing but I think the thing I'm most proud of with him is you know just the kind of person he is and the way he represents himself in the game like he has unbelievable respect for the people in the league like he has great respect for players and I think that comes across like you know he's far from being a hater like he has great respect for players he has great respect for coaches you know we both get criticized if we get criticized for one thing it's the most is they'll say we never like get on coaches and stuff um but I think that comes from we both know how hard it is and so just like you guys as players like you know the plan ain't real easy so you're not you may be critical but you ain't gonna totally jump on somebody because it's not because you're trying to protect them it's because you know how hard that [ __ ] is right there you know the whole thing and so I think he has great respect and even with the officials he'll get on him but he has great respect for what they do and he has great respect for the game and I think he's I think what I like the most when I hear him broadcast is he he tries to convey that respect for everybody in the game but he doesn't take himself too seriously like you know you can joke with him you can make fun of him yeah you know and he loves it as much as anybody so I'm just really proud of the uh or the type of person he is um you know I yeah I feel I feel very very proud like people will say stuff to me sometimes on Twitter but sometimes like they'll yell stuff Jeff's the better Van Gundy and I'm like yeah totally agree I don't know how they think they're gonna upset me with that like don't you want you want that for everybody in your family you want them to be better than you like that's that's a great thing you're saying to me right now like yeah that's my brother man I mean I'm I'm proud as hell of him get him going into TV have something to do with you you going over there afterwards and getting it now you with TNT doing your thing well I think two things again right I mean just like with the coaching I'm sure somebody at TNT or all of them said like because he had worked at TNT not for long but you know when he was before he went back to Houston between New York and Houston he worked for TNT so not only did they think he was good doing the broadcast but again like he's just a good person to work with like he was a team player at TNT and treated everybody with respect in the whole thing and so I think that I benefited from people saying you know well maybe he'll be like his brother his brother was great let's give him a a shot I mean there's no doubt in my mind that I would have never gotten the opportunity in the NBA as a coach even as an assistant Pat Riley would have never hired me except he had experience with my brother you know I don't think Pat looked at my resume and said yo this dude won a lot of games at Castleton State in Vermont I don't remember who said that you know I think it was because of my brother and then I'm sure with the broadcasting it was the it was the same thing so I yeah I have no I have no hesitation in saying that without him I would have I would have never had this opportunity that I've had in the NBA so clearly you was you was paying some attention to some of the locker room the airplane and the bus the slang that we was using because now all of the internet and in the social media world we got we got Stan busting out you know you busting out the hip-hop the culture words they got Stan they got the stand spitting little segment on ESPN right like tell me well that all came from Kevin Durant I don't know if you follow so I tweeted out a thing about which I still stand by like I treated out this thing that hey in the 90s when I came in the league guys practice more right More back-to-backs Travel was harder and they played more often and we practiced all you guys know like practice was practice so all I said is something's not working right here and so Kevin Durant just tweeted out a reply Stan spitting I had no idea what he was talking about none zero so I didn't think he was like I didn't think he was like you know busted on me but I thought he was disagreeing with me so I came back and said look I said like injuries like yours a guy rolls on your leg we can't do anything about like I'm explaining myself and then he just came back with LOL I was agreeing with you so now everybody jumped on that stuff right and then everybody's like yo Stan come on man you you coached in the NBA you got to get the Urban Dictionary and [ __ ] but like no like I would hear a lot of stuff when I was gone I never knew any of that honestly you know I knew more about the slang and stuff when my kids were still at home you know because they're young they're around it but now my kids have all been out of the house so and I'm not coaching I'm not around so I'm not up on yeah up on anything right nothing so they got me and it was funny but like that's just and I mean you know me Q you were around me like I'm just who I am like I'm not trying to act like um hip-hop or that I came from where you came from or anything else that's just not who I am like that's not the lingo that I'm gonna use but we've had a lot of fun with it with it on the air and and and Durant got me on that one you know he did I had no idea so now TNT thinks it's funny in there errors who has the best ERA the 90s 2000s early 2000s or this era oval they're all different and they're all of them and I think that's the thing right like to me if like what I grew up on I grew up on Oscar Robertson and you know Kareem Kareem like I grew up in California and so this is before ESPN like you didn't get games on TV okay you can get games on a TV growing up out there was the pack eight at the time Saturday afternoon pack eight game of the week it was always UCLA whoever they were playing Sunday and a lot of times it was 10 a.m in the morning for us in California could be a one o'clock game on the East Coast NBA game of the week those are the two games you got every week so those are the guys I grew up on and you know what a lot of it was more reading about it because you didn't see that many games yeah you know black and white so that era was great and I always think just respect the great ones for what they did in their era and it's hard to compare Aaron of course like just the natural I don't even care if we're talking about basketball natural human evolution guys get bigger stronger faster and they keep improving so the best players are the guys playing now like I I don't even want to argue that with the guys in the 80s and 90s players have gotten better like I don't know if you guys look out there right I mean players are better now than oh yeah than you guys were like it's just but but here's the thing I think the players now have to realize yes you're better now you know why because everybody Builds on the generation ahead of them and without these guys that played before you you wouldn't be here you didn't invent the damn game you just improved on it yeah and and the guys I like and I will say this like I think Shaq has been one of the best of this like if you remember right who played who paid for George Michael's funeral shat did you know Shaq did like that's respecting a guy check never saw him play but that's respect for people LeBron's done a good job of that you know but you got to respect everybody like to me man my hero growing up I still throw him in the the best the com you know conversation for the best ever Oscar Robertson like look man we talk about triple doubles the dude had been in a league five years five years in the league at the end of five years he was averaging 30 10 and 10. he was average in a 30-point triple double like we ain't gonna give my man no respect like come on like Oscar Robertson and here's the thing like you think of the big guards now you think a Luca or before him like magic [ __ ] started with Oscar man yeah that started with Oscar he was a 6'5 power forward playing point guard like give them respect like and it just Builds on every generation so to me yeah like if you're gonna look at a guy like Bill Russell or you know in today's game if yeah if he came with the same game yeah he I don't know he'd be a third string Center somewhere maybe but that's not the point the point is he changed the game he changed the game and so I like the conversations I think they're interesting best player of all time but let's just make sure that we're giving guys of every era respect they deserve because also a lot of things were harder I mean they're traveling commercial playing three days in a row yeah you know sleeping in the wrist yes and not making the kind of money that they were making now those guys all had off-season jobs and stuff you know yeah so that's my only thing is I don't like it it's fine to make have the conversation I don't like it when it comes to yeah those guys couldn't play like I love JJ he's one of my favorite everybody when he called those guys all plumbers they used to play like no no no if you're the best in your generation you were the best based on those training techniques the way people coach them all of that like come on man let's those guys were were great and let's also remember it was there were a lot fewer teams in there were you know 16 teams 12 teams if you go back far enough eight teams well imagine if there were 12 teams now not even half the guys that are in the league now would be in the league imagine what the level of play would be you know that's the thing people don't realize like Russell and Chamberlain it seemed like every other night they were playing each other because there weren't 30 teams they didn't get to go you know Russell and Chamberlain didn't get to go against the 30th best starting center in the league those guys weren't out there so it sort of goes both ways if you had to pick five players to to to make you a starting five of all the players that you ever coached in the NBA who would be your five players oh I mean I was lucky I got to coach a lot of good dudes oh that's a tough well Wade for sure yeah the two other point we'll see let me see I I say Wade for sure and I'd take Dwight now that's a hard one over Shaq and I don't think Dwight was better than Shaq but I coached Shaq in his the last year that he averaged 20 and 10 okay um I coached white right in his prime so I want to be clear on that I'm not because they're not jumping all over me saying that oh come on you think now listen Shaq to me is one of the best players this league has ever had and no one not Jordan not Kobe no one made you like change your entire defense more than Shaq like you know you'd go to play that whatever your basic defense is she's out the window yeah you ain't doing that against Shaq okay like that's not gonna work so in a very underrated passer and all of that so I just want to be clear on the Knuckleheads podcast I am not trying to put Dwight up ahead of chat but when I had Dwight for longer and when he was younger and in his prime so I'll take Dwight and Wade and then from there wow it gets uh it gets pretty tough look I only coached Zion for a year but that dude's unbelievable unbelievable yeah I gotta I gotta put Zion in there um the tough one for me would be um between Richard and hito that would be a really tough one for for me right um you know it would um yeah I'd have trouble there so I might have to have a six-man team and then at the point okay so I could go one of two ways here so I could put your mirrors my point because Jamir was All-Star level I mean the year he got hurt and we brought skip in yeah went to the files Jamir which I mean I mean like we beat the Lakers twice that year in the regular season and it was because they couldn't keep Jamir out of the paint they could not he was crushing them um so I could either put your mirror at the point with Dwayne at the two in either hito or Richard at the three right or I play hito at the two Richard at the three and the way at the point so I don't know which way I'd go but you could put you could put the white at The Forum push seconds huh we could now we'd have a hard time spacing the floor with that one in Zion hey that's okay because as far as Zion have you ever seen like a a player a package come like that like and and if if he can like somehow stay healthy like how good can he be listen I mean here's the thing with Zion right like you know he's going to the hole every time you know it like he's not going to shoot a jumper he doesn't have a floater he ain't going to he's going to the rim every time he gets a ball everybody on both teams knows he's going to the rim every time he's getting there anyway like he's getting there anyway and he's underrated like people say well his skill level I said well wait a minute yeah he doesn't shoot a lot of jump shots or anything but let's not forget the other skills great handle great really good passer seize the floor so I think don't put the skills down to one thing and I think he's really really unselfish um he still struggles at the defensive end I think Willie Green's done a tremendous job with not only him their whole team and he's gotten better there but he's still a little bit of a defensive liability but like you said earlier if I got a big fella back there we'll get by with that we'll be okay we'll be okay you know so yeah no Zion is I just hope he can stay healthy for for him for New Orleans and for the fans man because that guy is a you know you're getting a highlight show every single night with him and and he works at it you know he works at it um it's almost like when you look at him and this is what I worry about with him going forward like it's almost like remember when D Rose came into the league like sometimes I wonder with guys like that if they're almost not too explosive for their own bodies good like you know like you're exploding like that that many times and coming down like it's it's almost too much for that's what I worry about like can you be that explosive and stay healthy like I remember D Rose got hurt against us twice here in Orlando you know going up and trying to basically dunk on Dwight you know like hell and he'd get knocked to the floor like well [ __ ] if he wasn't that explosive he would have shot a floater you know and probably being healthy so it's almost what makes those guys so exciting also make some really really vulnerable to injury you got to make this coach your head coach one assistant and uh you got to get rid of one of them yeah start your start sub that's your version yeah start summer bench okay so uh Greg Papa's okay Larry Brown and uh who I had the other one and Don Nelson oh all right well I wouldn't have even been my group but I'll take uh I'll start pop I'll bring Larry Brown Off the Bench and benched on Nelson they're all great it's hard for me I would just say this I mean pop did it at a high level in the NBA for longer and that that means a lot to me um you know and I think Don Nelson was one of the most creative coaches ever like my brother worked for him in New York and he said that guy's mind was incredible like you know just thinking off the top of his head and you know we remember to me his greatest coaching job was that team in Golden State when they beat the Mavericks that was just incredible I mean he's just a really really smart Innovative guy but I think Larry Brown was like he did it at so many places and it's so many levels and was a great great teacher of the game um that I would put him in there I'd actually and again I'm biased but I I think I'd put SPO at the top of the list here's my thing with SPO and I know I'm biased all right and so I also know him better and have seen him up close but here's the thing what I think people forget about SPO is pre-lebron that team was making the playoffs and winning playoff series I was there that's one of those years yeah well and you know Jermaine O'Neal and in that group they were winning and then post LeBron like they stay competitive and I haven't always been in the playoffs but SPO is like steady I have not seen one of Eric's teams where you've thought even a little bit like wow that team's got more in them than that I remember the one year they were struggling right they were 11 and 30 at the halfway point and then went 30 and 11. the second half of the year with Dion Waiters and yeah you know I mean you're just like what's going on I mean because he just keeps looking no matter if they're really good or not good whatever suppose able to keep his focus on just how we're going to get better how are we going to get better every single day and I had two guys into my coaching career not to put anyone else down there were two guys who within a month of working with them where I just said oh this dude's got it one was Sean Miller in college and then one was SPO SPO is our video guy in Miami and he would go up and work guys out nobody Eric Spoelstra like like he's not an ex-nba player he's just a video guy [Music] after one workout guys would listen to anything he said and was the same with Sean Miller in college total respect because just what Pat Riley had said when they know you can help them you'll have their respect and he would go up there and be able to teach and plus he had brought great energy to it and you just knew and he was so intelligent and it wouldn't have been hard for me to predict this kind of career now you never know if the guy's gonna get the players that allow him to win a championship you know you never know because there's been some great coaches who've never legitimately had that opportunity to win a championship and so there I think really underrated as coaches but you know that part you couldn't tell but you knew right off he was going to be great I think Keith Askins you know who was on that staff with us I think those guys would all say the same thing like I'll put him up against me too anybody who's ever been in this league yeah I talked to my my son and um one of the things I always tell them is you got to watch basketball to really know basketball I had a teammate Travis Outlaw he never really watched basketball he just played the video games and I was like you're you're catch so much stuff by watching basketball one of the things that I used to know about players and what they did and the game plan that they used because my TV used to be on on NBA package from the time it came on to the time it went off how important is it if you want to be a basketball player if you want to be in any sport to watch watch the game and watch what you're trying to be oh my gosh it's like one of the best if not the best learning experience you could have you're you have a chance to sit and watch the greatest players in the world every night and see what they do like I don't know how many guys do it though I don't know how many guys like really watch like you know Chris Paul one of them guys to do it I'll tell you what and Q was with me like Brandon Jennings that's all that dude did like play a game the next day he'd be coming into practice like or you know a shoot around whatever like you didn't play that night he'd come in talking about oh do you see this did you see that like watching every game and he about lost his mind we had Dave Bing come in and speak to the team you know Dave being in the all time I mean top 75 at that time top 50 plus he'd been he started his own steel business in Detroit and he'd been mayor in Detroit we bring him in to speak to the team I mean this guy's going who is that who's Debbie I mean Brandon almost lost his mind like Brandon's up there getting an autograph like an NBA player getting an autograph getting a picture Dave Bing and Brandon was like man you all got to start watching some basketball and knowing your history and the whole thing that that respect I'll tell you the other guy we had him here Ray for Alston skip watch every single game and Skip was brilliant skip could damn near give you all 30 teams offense and the calls and [ __ ] like we when we got him to come in for Jamir he already knew half our offense from him played against us right like he's like guys like that and yeah I think it helps them a lot like otherwise you're just listening to a coach come in and give you a Scouting Report that's different from having seen it yeah like if you've seen it you can visualize it that's a lot a lot different than just oh [ __ ] coach said Luke has got to step back going left no no you don't understand yeah let's see the stuff [ __ ] you off because he's so strong and step back like 10 10 and get that space like it's just a whole different thing plus you get like an idea when you hear guys talking about other games you get an idea of who like really loves the game and those guys are always gonna gonna have an edge I know my brother always said like when you do those remember you go to the like the combine and you do your interviews of guys you guys had to do it right my brother said I want to have like a waiting room outside in the interview and I just want to put like I want to put down like a sports page the business page the front page I want to know which one the guy picks up and he said it might be great as a person if you pick up the front page I want the dude who picks up the sports page that's who I want on that's who I want on my team you know the guy who cares about the game all right that's a wrap man we just got a chance to chop it up one of my favorite coaches all time man we appreciate you pulling up coach absolutely [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: The Players' Tribune

Views: 197,532

Keywords:

Id: 9ss680USa7E

Length: 118min 46sec (7126 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 23 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/d12fsu]

Greatest coach in franchise history, until one wins us the title.

[u/DrewBreesAteMyFamily]

I love stan

[u/clingklop]

Knuckleheads Podcast w Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles (3/23/23)

1:13:08 - Miami to Head Coach of Orlando Magic (link starts here)

1:17:00 - Dwight/Top 75 list (puts Howard over Anthony Davis)

1:25:00 - 2009 Eastern Conference Finals

[u/J_Melo]

Wow this was so good to hear. Especially the parts about the finals run. I don't think ppl realize how mental the game is. And how important every decision is possession to possession. Stan should be in the Magic HOF. He's been the best coach we ever had. He even did something I didn't think was possible.... Feel bad for D-12. I love that he exposed how good his work eithic was and smart he was on defense. Great post. Much appreciated.

[u/[deleted]]

real lol such disrespect. no reason AD/Dame deserved it over him.

[u/Elithekid1]

Dwight the greatest to wear the jersey