Speaker 1: Right, and and he's used the word disjointed. I've used
Speaker 1: it a couple of times in the stories. How do
Speaker 1: you become undisjointed? If that's the right word with the
Speaker 1: people you have on the roster?
Speaker 2: Well, again, I you know, not to place all the
Speaker 2: blame on him, but I think if if Caleb gets
Speaker 2: it going, it's going to open it up for others.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, they're going to some of the
Speaker 2: attention will come off of him, and uh maybe they
Speaker 2: leave more chances for the others.
Speaker 1: Just kind of relax, Okay with that, We're going to
Speaker 1: take our break here and come back now. We're back
Speaker 1: live here. Thanks for joining us back though here on
Speaker 1: I on the Ball. We went over a little on
Speaker 1: the last segment, as you probably all know that let's
Speaker 1: go take a break. Just kidding, No, you would be
Speaker 1: when it kept hitting the commercials and it played back
Speaker 1: to back for like eight minutes whatever it was. But
Speaker 1: if you like to call, please do we have some time.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go to breaking news, although did
Speaker 1: you have something that you said was happening.
Speaker 2: Like what you got some Bowl games coming up to that.
Speaker 2: There's a lot a lot of stuff kind of happened
Speaker 2: on this Uh, the Washington State football coach took the.
Speaker 1: Job at wake Forth.
Speaker 2: Washington State also lost their quarterback. I know this this
Speaker 2: past week and to the transfer portal. So I don't know,
Speaker 2: you feel sorry for some of those teams that are
Speaker 2: still hanging around and waiting to join a conference as
Speaker 2: soon as possible.
Speaker 1: You did mention something at the beginning of the show,
Speaker 1: not on the air, but off here with the former
Speaker 1: ad here. Oh Greg Burn, Yeah, what was what was this?
Speaker 2: He was, he's he's pleading with Alabama fans to help
Speaker 2: fight back with nil money. Apparently there's not enough there
Speaker 2: because god, you know, they didn't get in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: and uh, he's he's upset about that, and it's time
Speaker 2: for alabamaation to fight back. He says, time for action.
Speaker 2: You know, they still went nine to three. They did
Speaker 2: lose to Vanderbilt. The world's gonna End's gonna.
Speaker 3: End for Alabama.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know how much they need, but
Speaker 2: their recruiting class was still ranked like fourth in the country,
Speaker 2: behind you know, Texas and Georgia and.
Speaker 1: Well either Oregon. Here's the other thing that I'll give
Speaker 1: you credit for two in that conversation we had earlier.
Speaker 1: What did you say about what I said? They finished
Speaker 1: ninety three, So that NIL money is not going to
Speaker 1: help right, beat that or built or what. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, it didn't help them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wonder how Greg Burnin would have done here
Speaker 2: with the nil because he was a really great fundraiser. Yeah,
Speaker 2: in the you know, in the in the normal times,
Speaker 2: but you know when things switched up, and the athletic
Speaker 2: department was really at the beginning of this was really
Speaker 2: not involved with nil SU. That was more of an
Speaker 2: outside group and it still is. But now that you
Speaker 2: know all this money is coming into the schools, you know,
Speaker 2: starting what next year with the twenty million dollars coming
Speaker 2: to each school, how that's going to play outs on?
Speaker 1: Are the things I didn't realize that maybe you did this,
Speaker 1: you did at the time. Okay, so they got twenty million,
Speaker 1: twenty two million. They have percentages divvied out for these teams, right,
Speaker 1: and someone said yesterday and I can't remember who saw
Speaker 1: the sources is whatever, but that sixty five percent of
Speaker 1: it is going to go to football and basketball. Right,
Speaker 1: there's still twenty one other school. There's still twenty other
Speaker 1: school of sports sports that they get a gift to
Speaker 1: and there's not gonna be a lot of I don'
Speaker 1: I think maybe it was it was Leb yeah talking
Speaker 1: about this, and I'm thinking I thought it was going
Speaker 1: to kind of be delivered equally.
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: How naive of mine.
Speaker 2: No, I mean those quarterbacks, they're the one they're still
Speaker 2: making the big money.
Speaker 1: The mind then, I know, honestly, like I said, David,
Speaker 1: if I had a daughter or a son playing something
Speaker 1: else who works just as hard in track or volleyball
Speaker 1: or whatever, and they're getting a pittance of what the
Speaker 1: quarterback is who's not even playing, right, that's a little
Speaker 1: that's a title line thing, isn't it. Well?
Speaker 2: And also too, that's probably again why the portal is
Speaker 2: so full of two thousand athletes that are looking you know,
Speaker 2: I just made you know, twenty five thousand dollars here
Speaker 2: at ex University and this guy out here is making
Speaker 2: fifty thousand.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm gonna I mean, it's got to be that
Speaker 3: all of that.
Speaker 2: They all have agents and they're all you know, I
Speaker 2: mean where the big money is and you know where
Speaker 2: they think they can play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's all that Dave. It's just really strange. And
Speaker 1: I'm sure you saw maybe you didn't. I saw a
Speaker 1: column by Greg Hanson talking about the idea. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that there's not enough. And she's she was on
Speaker 1: our showl last year and she talked about how did
Speaker 1: they compete with the l s U s and the
Speaker 1: other schools trying to get those players when they don't
Speaker 1: have very much one hundred and fifty thousand whatever it is.
Speaker 1: Guess what Arizona is? What it is? Yeah, it just
Speaker 1: and you had to go and search money. You knew,
Speaker 1: you one of those guys. How do you sell this place?
Speaker 1: That Arizona is what it is?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you have to look and you have
Speaker 2: to just try to get people, you know, connected somehow,
Speaker 2: whether it's hosting events, there's all kinds of kind of
Speaker 2: tricks to the trade.
Speaker 1: How many were how many were there of you were
Speaker 1: there in fundraising?
Speaker 3: Oh, there's like, I don't know, sixty sixty quite a.
Speaker 1: Few, Okay, so you're you get sixty people sixty it's
Speaker 1: going out again or you know, in the field right,
Speaker 1: searching for food, right, And it's it's it's part of
Speaker 1: the part of the job.
Speaker 3: It really is.
Speaker 2: And then that's really what people I think alumni kind
Speaker 2: of expect to be contacted sometimes, especially if they're doing well.
Speaker 2: You know, there's the whales out there. I guess if
Speaker 2: you want to, didn't really call them that. Sure, there
Speaker 2: are people that big donors, and you hope that they
Speaker 2: would find, you know, another reason to give. You know,
Speaker 2: if football struggles again next year, you know they're going
Speaker 2: to be looking even deeper. There's there's young people out
Speaker 2: there too. There's a lot of people who are but
Speaker 2: they also have to be loyal. I mean, they have
Speaker 2: to be loyal to the school. They have to be
Speaker 2: loyal to the team.
Speaker 1: If they don't, Okay, like Steve, Steve rivera here ms
Speaker 1: you calls me, says, dude, it's good luck to you.
Speaker 1: I'm really not a fan, never really have been. Good
Speaker 1: luck to you, and I wish you well, but I
Speaker 1: can't do it, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Well, I think the majority of people are that way.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's there's a lot of people who are
Speaker 2: given you know, one hundred dollars a year and tells
Speaker 2: you about it, and there's not many giving you know,
Speaker 2: ten thousand a year. But they want more than that,
Speaker 2: and every school is looking for that. And Greg Byrne
Speaker 2: when he was here, we're just mentioned with Alabama, you know,
Speaker 2: when he was here, he was a phenomenal fundraiser. That
Speaker 2: was his kind of claim to fame when he showed up. Oh,
Speaker 2: he's a great fundraiser as opposed to whoever was before him.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: And he learned from his dad, and he learned from
Speaker 2: Jim live and Good who was also great at that.
Speaker 1: Well, the guy that was very good at it, and
Speaker 1: he was apprentice under Jim because he's a bs or
Speaker 1: and he's a friend of mine, you can say that
Speaker 1: is del Conte, Yeah, who was fantastic at it. He
Speaker 1: did it at TCU and at Texas and he's got that.
Speaker 1: He's got that, yeah and there, and they're probably the
Speaker 1: richest team out there or school out there because of it.
Speaker 1: He's done really well. But to be fair too, I
Speaker 1: think that Desiree one of the reasons they brought her
Speaker 1: in is she's that person too. But but how do
Speaker 1: you become that person when you're you're the first you're new, right,
Speaker 1: you're new, and if people kind of knew you, yell,
Speaker 1: desire is coming in. We know what's but now she's new.
Speaker 1: Now she has to find and shake hands and kiss
Speaker 1: babies and do all this stuff.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean other than I mean, Oregon's kind of
Speaker 2: you know, new money, I guess in the last thirty years.
Speaker 2: But like, look at these programs too, I mean, Georgia, Alabama, Texas,
Speaker 2: they're all traditional powers. They've been around, you know, their
Speaker 2: alumni is you know, goes back hundreds of years. Basically
Speaker 2: they got all that oil money in Texas. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: there's there's in Texas. And M's endowment is enormous. It's
Speaker 2: up there with with everybody else, all the big ones.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know if that's the case though, too,
Speaker 2: why is in Stanford doing great because their endowments is number.
Speaker 1: Well, because they're they're they're their priority on academics and
Speaker 1: athletics is probably a little bit different, right Cal too, probably.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Cal Stanford.
Speaker 1: S C.
Speaker 2: I'm sure they're because they're private, they don't have to
Speaker 2: disclose everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So so we'll see, we'll see what she does
Speaker 1: and what they do and and uh and and you
Speaker 1: know what, I know, it's about the money. I know
Speaker 1: it is. I know it is. Uh, But if you
Speaker 1: don't have the money, and Arizona has been this way
Speaker 1: for a long time. They found ways by coaching them up.
Speaker 1: You know, you're talking about Bama with all that they
Speaker 1: had saving right, probably the Rolls Royce of coaches. Now
Speaker 1: when you're when he's gone, how are you gonna find
Speaker 1: another Rolls Royce? The coach they have now about Debau
Speaker 1: is not a Rolls Rooye. Right, guess what, He's not
Speaker 1: gonna turn into a Rolls Royce. He's just not a
Speaker 1: Rolls Royce. So, yeah, Greg, you can bring all the
Speaker 1: money in the world you bring in, it ain't gonna work. Yeah,
Speaker 1: does that make sense?
Speaker 2: Well, you're right because a lot of the players come
Speaker 2: to Alabama because of Nick Saban you know, yeah, the
Speaker 2: money too, but also against and get a chance to
Speaker 2: play for him. He puts all these guys in the pros.
Speaker 2: They can all kind of know what you're gonna get
Speaker 2: when you get there.
Speaker 1: That's why I think that North Carolina it's gonna do okay,
Speaker 1: because they're gonna go for the reason to play for
Speaker 1: for him, for him, and he's a pretty good coach.
Speaker 1: And guess and you've seen this success snold balls into
Speaker 1: more success. Yep.
Speaker 3: Good coach, good good school, really good school.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and the conference is not going to
Speaker 2: kill you in the ACC. It's not like he's playing
Speaker 2: in the SEC or at the Big ten. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I would not be surprised. I bet you know year
Speaker 2: two that probably you know, ten wins things like that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and maybe in the playoff.
Speaker 1: Right right, and he's seventy two ish, right, how much
Speaker 1: long is he gonna go? Right? Right? Well, and then
Speaker 1: his son will probably come in and blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: But seventy two coach to his seventy five ish. I
Speaker 1: know Luke wanted to coach longer, and the circumstances happen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's we talk about the end game, right, I think
Speaker 1: we talked about the end game.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 1: When do you say goodbye?
Speaker 2: I thought Belichick did that? Yeah yeah, yeah, he's back, right,
Speaker 2: he won't go away. He's a coach for life.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, well, coach k went probably a little bit too longer.
Speaker 1: Too deep, Yeah, most of them. Do you know? The
Speaker 1: checks keep cashing, the wins keep coming.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, mister Nike keeps sending your money.
Speaker 1: We got about another minute or so and then we'll
Speaker 1: take off and bring our guy from the Indianapolis Star,
Speaker 1: Justin and I'll get his last name, I promise, talked
Speaker 1: to him about covering McConnell, covering about Mathrin, all these guys.
Speaker 1: I think he may have been covering them when when.
Speaker 3: Jared Bayless no no.
Speaker 1: No, the one that very stoic, very very good uh
Speaker 1: player kind of started with Loot Uh is end of
Speaker 1: Loot and with Sean didn't play for Lute, but she
Speaker 1: came on with Sean. It'll come to me eventually, I'll
Speaker 1: tell you. Yeah. Yeah, so talk about to Orans too.
Speaker 1: He went from there to New Orleans. Yeah, why can't I? God,
Speaker 1: getting old sucks.
Speaker 2: I mean the Pacers have been around, of course from
Speaker 2: the their ABA days, and they've had great success, you know,
Speaker 2: pretty much forever. But that we'll talk about a basketball
Speaker 2: state and now football state. With these two teams playing
Speaker 2: each other around the of the college football playoffs, that's
Speaker 2: gonna be kind of fun for Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: Yeah, to have that Dustin dope brick, let me go. Okay,
Speaker 1: so we'll see, Okay, bring him in. Okay, let's take
Speaker 1: a break down. He's already texted me when are we
Speaker 1: gonna call him? So let's do that and come back.
Speaker 5: On the side with Just Streamy live on the Ihearts
Speaker 5: Radio AB. This is I on the Ball with Steve
Speaker 5: Ravera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty eight.
Speaker 1: Hey, welcome back to my Iying the Ball here on
Speaker 1: Fox Sports fourteen fifty I'm Steve Rivera and will be
Speaker 1: the day is Dave Silver now on the phone. We
Speaker 1: have Dustin Dope HERECT from the Indiana Star or or
Speaker 1: Indianapolis Star. How you doing. I'm gonna keep you for
Speaker 1: like ten minutes. That is that? Okay? So you were
Speaker 1: waxing poetic, You were waxing poetic on TJ. How was
Speaker 1: it covering? How is it covering him?
Speaker 4: Yeah? No, it's been enjoyable basically from a just watching
Speaker 4: him standpoint. Obviously that he's I mean, obviously he's a
Speaker 4: heck of a player with certainly, you know, it's kind
Speaker 4: of an inspirational sort when you look at the guy
Speaker 4: that was went undrafted, was always undersized. I mean, I
Speaker 4: grew up, I grew up in Pittsburgh myself, so I
Speaker 4: had a outside of Pittsburgh myself, so I knew about him,
Speaker 4: and obviously I graduated high school in college long before
Speaker 4: he did, but you know had a sense of the mcconald's.
Speaker 4: I mean obviously know his on Susie. I covered up
Speaker 4: one of a couple of her names bacially when I
Speaker 4: was living in Tennessee. I did Sweetlance to turn the
Speaker 4: NCAA tournament when when Tid was there one year. So
Speaker 4: knew about the mcconnald's and how important they were. And
Speaker 4: I remember, uh, TJ. I mean TJ was really undersized
Speaker 4: early high school and obviously grew up a little bit,
Speaker 4: but still you consider I mean, he he's he's the
Speaker 4: ultimate coaches kid. And then you know his dad certainly
Speaker 4: was a big deal as a high school coach just
Speaker 4: in the Pittsburgh area. But it's just that really smart,
Speaker 4: really savvy player. But you know, you don't always expect
Speaker 4: a guy like him to be able to make in
Speaker 4: the NBA because that undersized. But if he's just been
Speaker 4: uh for the Pacers, he has been so important for them,
Speaker 4: and you obviously seem he's gone ten years into this
Speaker 4: league and always found a way to make an impact somewhere.
Speaker 4: But he fits this group particularly well. Their style of play. Basically,
Speaker 4: they really under rikhy Allow and really since they got
Speaker 4: Tyreez Halliburton in particular, they've played a lot faster. They've
Speaker 4: based their idea of what they do on getting downhill
Speaker 4: and playing with pace. They're not as good at it
Speaker 4: this year as they were last year when they literally
Speaker 4: were the highest scoring NBA team in forty years. But
Speaker 4: it really fits. It really maximizes what he can do.
Speaker 4: It allows him to really play downhill and opens up
Speaker 4: his goal to score the basketball, and that's something he
Speaker 4: didn't always do a lot of in Philadelphia or even
Speaker 4: just with the Pacers, with the previous interierations under NAMEC
Speaker 4: Millan named Yorker. And this opportunity has really allowed him
Speaker 4: to flourish and to shine in ways that he never
Speaker 4: had the opportunity to because I mean, he has this
Speaker 4: really funky, fascinating game. There's not I haven't seen anybody
Speaker 4: else in the league who plays like him. Yeah, and
Speaker 4: he makes them a really really hard guard because he
Speaker 4: gets down hill, he gets to this little six foot jumper.
Speaker 4: He might run around underneath the backet basket and curl
Speaker 4: around and get a shot there. There's this He scores
Speaker 4: in ways and not a lot of other people do,
Speaker 4: and it makes him a really really difficult cover. And
Speaker 4: he's a guy that you I mean, basically, he'd just
Speaker 4: drive you crazy if you have to defend him, because
Speaker 4: he can just beat you in so many different ways.
Speaker 4: And you've got this guy again. He's undersized, he's sixty one,
Speaker 4: he's got no wingspan to speak of, but he found
Speaker 4: a way to get bucket after bucket after bucket. He's
Speaker 4: having the best year of his career at the age
Speaker 4: of thirty two.
Speaker 1: It's funny because Justin Day was in the business and
Speaker 1: TV I went a newspaper business and and Sean would say,
Speaker 1: he's gonna make it, He's going to do it maybe,
Speaker 1: And we thought, Okay, you know, you're trying to, you know,
Speaker 1: appease him and and all that stuff, and we're all
Speaker 1: looking at each other. There's just no way ten years
Speaker 1: later that he's rich and and doing exactly what you're saying.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, exactly. And then I talked to Sean a
Speaker 4: little bit about him for a story I did last year,
Speaker 4: and I think it's because, I mean, they see the
Speaker 4: determination and Sean was a very it was a similar
Speaker 4: player basically in Pittsburgh, you know, growing growing up there,
Speaker 4: you know, pitt played a pit and everything like that.
Speaker 4: I mean, Shaun was a better shooter, uh basically where TJ.
Speaker 4: TJ apparently was a pretty good high schoo shooter right now.
Speaker 4: You know, that's kind of one of the fascinating pieces
Speaker 4: about it. The NBA has become so three corner driven.
Speaker 4: H So you would think you can't make it as
Speaker 4: a point guard in the NBA if you don't shoot threes,
Speaker 4: and TJ barely ever does. I mean, basically, the only
Speaker 4: time he shoots the three is if he feels like
Speaker 4: he has to because he's wide open and he just
Speaker 4: has to, you know, at least try to make them
Speaker 4: pay when they go under a screen or something like that.
Speaker 4: And every once in a while they'll hit one of those.
Speaker 4: But you know, I mean, for a guy that doesn't
Speaker 4: dunk and doesn't shoot threes, again, he's averaging double figures.
Speaker 4: And if you if you you know, branched out like
Speaker 4: his per thirty six numbers are crazy when you actually
Speaker 4: consider the minutes he's playing. I mean, he's somewhere around
Speaker 4: twenty a game because he is coming off the bench.
Speaker 4: But it's it is fascinating how it works. I Mean,
Speaker 4: this is the guy that's just determined and again I
Speaker 4: mean like obviously basketball like he was through the roof,
Speaker 4: you know, like the if he's passed the classic coach's
Speaker 4: kids beyond, Like his level of basketball, like Q is
Speaker 4: so high, right, But you know again, it's just found
Speaker 4: something within this game basically, like something that nobody else
Speaker 4: was doing and there's something therefore nobody else was prepared for.
Speaker 4: And so you know that every once in a while,
Speaker 4: That's how the game works in basketball, baseball, football, other
Speaker 4: sports is sometimes you got to go the opposite direction
Speaker 4: that everybody else is going, and that's where you find
Speaker 4: your niche and your opportunity because you know, everybody else
Speaker 4: gets used to defending whatever that is and they're not
Speaker 4: used to this. And there's so many guys that you
Speaker 4: watch you're like, you're just not ready for what he
Speaker 4: can do. And because he can finish a butt in front,
Speaker 4: you can finish behind. Had a really just fun conversation
Speaker 4: last year with Tyree Salibert, and I asked him, basically,
Speaker 4: ty how is he to do this? Because ty is
Speaker 4: tie is also a fascinating guy basketball mind. You know,
Speaker 4: at was just off the charts and he just was
Speaker 4: like he's like, you know he's got every kind of finished.
Speaker 3: He can beat you every.
Speaker 4: Different way, and you don't realize that. You look at
Speaker 4: it and you think he's undersize, and you don't think
Speaker 4: him as being as athletic as he is. But he's
Speaker 4: I mean, first off, he's really really fast with the
Speaker 4: basketball and hand, and there are just so many ways
Speaker 4: that he can get you. His touch is just phenomenal,
Speaker 4: you know, inside the arc and really inside.
Speaker 1: Of ten feet.
Speaker 4: I mean it's hard to get downhill really fast and
Speaker 4: do what he does. As a way tyres put it,
Speaker 4: he's like he's got great breaks, you know. And I
Speaker 4: thought that was a fascinating way of putting it, that
Speaker 4: he is able to kind of be going sixty miles
Speaker 4: an hour and pull up and not just you know,
Speaker 4: have so much for momentum going he can't make the shot.
Speaker 4: He's able to harness that, you know, in the middle
Speaker 4: of playing one hundred miles an hour and just stop
Speaker 4: where he is, pull up and make it. And he
Speaker 4: started I started noticing this. He told me he didn't
Speaker 4: know what I was talking about, but you know, he
Speaker 4: does this thing more now where he's pulling up in
Speaker 4: the lane and twisting, so he's squaring up to the
Speaker 4: bucket in the air and continuing to twist after he
Speaker 4: lets it go and making these shots and if that
Speaker 4: is another element, makes another thing that makes him a
Speaker 4: hard recover, and all of it is. Again, it's just
Speaker 4: fascinating to watch how it all works. That he's just
Speaker 4: created this offensive game that nobody really has an answer for,
Speaker 4: and that he could rely we get you know, ten
Speaker 4: to fifteen a night, and then he had thirty against
Speaker 4: Charlotte a couple of weeks ago. Uh, and you're just
Speaker 4: like wow, like how does he does this? But he
Speaker 4: does it night after night after night, even even when
Speaker 4: people know what's coming. It's obviously showing up on film
Speaker 4: when they can't stop it.
Speaker 2: Anyway, I guess tonight too, is the ceremony here in
Speaker 2: Tucson and the whole team is supposed to be here.
Speaker 1: Is that?
Speaker 2: That's what we're hearing Rick Carlisle on the entire staff
Speaker 2: and everybody coming in.
Speaker 1: What what?
Speaker 4: Why is it?
Speaker 1: Is it a function of the coach or is it
Speaker 1: a function of the of the administration?
Speaker 3: Are they are they ordered to come or they just
Speaker 3: loved they just left?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 4: Well it was what was cool? Was you know last year. Yeah,
Speaker 4: they did the same thing for Benedict Mather and use
Speaker 4: he was you know, got in for being a PAC
Speaker 4: twelve Player of the Year and so I went to that.
Speaker 4: So I was on that trip already and basically like he,
Speaker 4: you know, the Rick kind of pushed me to make
Speaker 4: sure that I went, because I didn't know about it
Speaker 4: when we started on the road trip, but he actually
Speaker 4: like they they put me on the plane to make
Speaker 4: sure I got there, basically so they could have somebody
Speaker 4: there to cover it, and put me on the bus
Speaker 4: to drive me back. I mean, I had a hotel
Speaker 4: booked for Phoenix. They didn't tell me until the night
Speaker 4: before when we were in Portland basically and said hey,
Speaker 4: can you get down there? And I talked to my
Speaker 4: boss to make sure it wasn't an ethical issue that
Speaker 4: I could go, and so basically because when I already
Speaker 4: had a flight sched and I just had to sort
Speaker 4: of dip off of that and you know, couldn't make
Speaker 4: it for this one. But this year, you know, last year,
Speaker 4: I mean like most of not everybody went, basically when
Speaker 4: they had just traded Pascal Fiakam and just played his
Speaker 4: first game with the Visions the night before. I know,
Speaker 4: he wasn't on the on the on the bus that
Speaker 4: went to Tucson, and so, I mean, I'll presume I'll
Speaker 4: see if there's I don't know if there'll be anybody
Speaker 4: who just goes all the way up, but there was
Speaker 4: last year there was a bus that went from the
Speaker 4: they landed in Tucson and they had one bus go
Speaker 4: straight to the arena from there, another bus went to
Speaker 4: Phoenix and then basically after the game that that bus,
Speaker 4: you know, the bus that went to Tucson, that went
Speaker 4: to to McHale, you know, went up to Phoenix. But yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean it, basically, I mean it. It is a
Speaker 4: function of the coach in the sense that this is
Speaker 4: the stuff that matters to Rick Connla. I think that's
Speaker 4: a really fascinating piece about him that I've noticed, is
Speaker 4: it's it's really important to him that you celebrate your victors,
Speaker 4: you celebrate your small things. You understand that you know,
Speaker 4: for any of these guys, this is fleeting and no
Speaker 4: matter even if you're in the league for ten years,
Speaker 4: tj as or fifteen years or twenty years, at some
Speaker 4: point the ball stops down and at some point you
Speaker 4: have to move on. But while you're in it, you know,
Speaker 4: you should enjoy it. And it also looks to create
Speaker 4: you know, basically, you know, bonding opportunities. I mean, when
Speaker 4: they're at their best, and they haven't been there at
Speaker 4: their best this season, but when the Pacers are at
Speaker 4: their best, when they're at their most connected, and you know,
Speaker 4: over the last couple couple of seasons, even going back
Speaker 4: two seasons to go, when they won thirty five games,
Speaker 4: and I think that was the happiest thirty five win
Speaker 4: team I've ever seen, sub five hundred team I've ever
Speaker 4: seen because they were young and they were figuring it out,
Speaker 4: but they were figuring it out together. And you know,
Speaker 4: stuff like this I think creates those bonding opportunities when
Speaker 4: you say, we're going to celebrate this. This is for
Speaker 4: one of our guys are doing this, but we should
Speaker 4: all be a part of this. We should all see
Speaker 4: this and celebrate, you know, our teammate. Like That's how
Speaker 4: require looks at it, you know, and that that you
Speaker 4: remember the you know, last year with the the scuffle
Speaker 4: with Gianni's in Milwaukee was basically the idea that they
Speaker 4: and they do this for everybody. When someone scores their
Speaker 4: first point their first NBA points with the Pacers, they
Speaker 4: get the game ball and after sheib Way you know,
Speaker 4: hit a free throw late in that game when Jannis
Speaker 4: had sixty four, and you know, there was a pro
Speaker 4: fusion into what ball somebody had and there was just
Speaker 4: you know, got got into it over there. But that
Speaker 4: is the thing that they do, and you know that
Speaker 4: that's what Carlo explained. And it seemed weird to everybody,
Speaker 4: like what do you mean you got the game ball
Speaker 4: for the guy who scored one point in the blowout loss,
Speaker 4: Like what do you mean like that guy should just
Speaker 4: not get it. But the Pacers were like, no, this
Speaker 4: is what we did. We did this for everybody. And
Speaker 4: then we just saw Enrique Freeman, you know, one of
Speaker 4: the two way guys, and we really even practice the
Speaker 4: other day and Enrique was walking out with his ball
Speaker 4: from when he got his first points. They just decorated it,
Speaker 4: uh and given it to him and like that's that's
Speaker 4: the thing that Carlo likes to do that he thinks
Speaker 4: it's important for this to make sure that guys, you know,
Speaker 4: get their opportunities to really drink in things that they've
Speaker 4: accomplished and that they celebrate them.
Speaker 1: Together as a team.
Speaker 4: And so that's a push that was made again, Like
Speaker 4: like last year was important for Rick that everybody went
Speaker 4: to math rooms and he said, last year, you know,
Speaker 4: TJ is going to hit ten years next year, so
Speaker 4: we're gonna come back again. And so that was a
Speaker 4: decision that was made, you know, last year that they
Speaker 4: were going to get as many guys as they could,
Speaker 4: uh to come to this game. So it is something
Speaker 4: that that Rick really pushes.
Speaker 1: So we've got about two minutes there, we're tyled dustin dust,
Speaker 1: dustin dope. Pierreka from the Indianapolis Star h tell us
Speaker 1: real quick about Ben because everybody loves Ben too here. Uh,
Speaker 1: we know the talent we see he's kind of opposite
Speaker 1: of of the TJ.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's in an interesting, interesting space and he's he's
Speaker 4: had some ups and some downs this year. Basically they
Speaker 4: you know, went into the year not knowing if he
Speaker 4: was going to start, you know, didn't start when the
Speaker 4: season began, and they've had some injuries that are forced
Speaker 4: men in the starting lineup, which lets which has let
Speaker 4: some more opportunities, uh, some opportunity, you know, some chances
Speaker 4: for him to really play a lot to not really
Speaker 4: be concerned about getting toold or anything like that. Some
Speaker 4: of those guys are coming back. Aaron Smith is soon,
Speaker 4: Ben Shephard is probably going to come back on this trip,
Speaker 4: might even play tomorrow night in Phoenix. So we'll see
Speaker 4: how that changes things for matter or not. And he's
Speaker 4: still obviously going to be a big part of the rotation.
Speaker 4: You know, it's this question of is he going to
Speaker 4: still start and still play the same amount of minutes.
Speaker 4: But you know, obviously, I mean oftensively. You know, if
Speaker 4: he's not their best one on one tour, he's their
Speaker 4: second best to me, if it's either him or Pascal Siakham.
Speaker 4: And you know, in terms of just being able to
Speaker 4: when it's you versus the other guy, go get a bucket.
Speaker 4: Benedict Master is as good as there is add I
Speaker 4: mean the other parts of the game where he's had
Speaker 4: to get better. I think one thing that's been a
Speaker 4: difficult I don't know if the word is transition for him,
Speaker 4: but just it just it's been difficult for them to
Speaker 4: figure out how to work him in to the system
Speaker 4: they play. It's not not that he doesn't know what
Speaker 4: plays to run or whatever, but basically the pacers are
Speaker 4: at the best one. The ball just moves basically when
Speaker 4: everybody's passing, when everybody's moving around, and you know, Mathurin's
Speaker 4: skill set is more one on one isolation base. The
Speaker 4: guy that likes to, you know, get the ball on
Speaker 4: the wing and you know, you know, crossover dribble you
Speaker 4: a couple of times, jab step at you, uh, and
Speaker 4: then go and then go as you and find a
Speaker 4: way to score. And you know, sometimes that's exactly what
Speaker 4: they me. Sometimes the ball's not moving the way that
Speaker 4: it should and somebody needs to go get a buck
Speaker 4: bucket late in the clock. And he's very very good
Speaker 4: at that. But it's just like, okay, well, how does
Speaker 4: that fit in? You know, when you're moving the ball
Speaker 4: as fast as they want to, when you're playing a
Speaker 4: lot of pace, and they've tried to get him to
Speaker 4: be better at just be a better catch and shoot guy.
Speaker 4: Be a guy that just makes quicker decisions. You know,
Speaker 4: it's okay if you drive the basketball, but you know,
Speaker 4: don't take two or three dribbles to do it. Make
Speaker 4: a decision when you get the ball whether you're gonna
Speaker 4: go out the guy or not. And if you're not
Speaker 4: going to move the ball. If you are do it
Speaker 4: fast and you know, get downhill. Uh, if someone you
Speaker 4: know basically cuts you off, then pass, you move the ball.
Speaker 4: If you get two bodies at you move the ball.
Speaker 4: So that's been I think a you know, it's been
Speaker 4: an adjustment. And sometimes you know, when the offense isn't
Speaker 4: working where it's supposed to. I mean, it's very easy
Speaker 4: to go back to saying, well, look, why don't I
Speaker 4: just do what I'm good at? You know, why don't
Speaker 4: I just play my game as supposed to trying to
Speaker 4: be somebody else? And so I think there's there's been
Speaker 4: this constant you know, push and pull as far as
Speaker 4: that's concerned in what his game is supposed to be.
Speaker 4: And there's been some adjustments. He's had some fantastic games,
Speaker 4: he's had some that haven't in his grade. I mean,
Speaker 4: I think there's he's made some improvements on defense. He's
Speaker 4: gotten a lot better as a rebounder. I think that's
Speaker 4: one thing that's really stood out. His rebound numbers are
Speaker 4: dramatically better. He's getting better as an outside shooter. That's
Speaker 4: made him a better catch and shoot option. So he's
Speaker 4: finding his way. I mean that again, the talent really
Speaker 4: really stands out, and so I think that's one of
Speaker 4: those things people they sometimes talk about. Okay, well he
Speaker 4: can be able to play with Tyree Haliburt and does
Speaker 4: he ultimately fit this So they're going to have to
Speaker 4: move on from him and send him someplace where he's
Speaker 4: gonna be a better fit. I mean, he's just so talented.
Speaker 4: It's really hard to move on, okay, because you don't
Speaker 4: know how good he can be, because he could be.
Speaker 1: Well, Dustin, we appreciate your time, thanks for thanks for
Speaker 1: calling again, and we'll see you enjoy Phoenix and the team. Well, dude,
Speaker 1: thank you so much, appreciate it. Thanks here, and we
Speaker 1: gotta go. We gotta go, and we'll come back right
Speaker 1: after this. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you
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Speaker 1: Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera,
Speaker 1: He's Dave Silver. We went a little long, but it
Speaker 1: is good. Thank you, dustin the Indie Star. Good insight, insight,
Speaker 1: but it's like telling us the stuff that we already
Speaker 1: knew about TJ. Right because he's that guy. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: that guy. And I'm sure there's guys here who wish,
Speaker 1: wish they could be that guy, but they probably don't
Speaker 1: know all the things that go into being that guy.
Speaker 1: You know, smart and IQ and and they think talent
Speaker 1: is the what wins the day. No, it doesn't.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again being a coach's son being I'm sure
Speaker 2: he's been around basketball in his entire life, and he
Speaker 2: gets to the highest level of the game, playing with
Speaker 2: the greatest players in the world, and he's perfect for that,
Speaker 2: you know, He just signed a four year extension this
Speaker 2: year with them for you know, ten million a year.
Speaker 2: He's already made over thirty five million. As you know
Speaker 2: as a slow point guard that you know, he's got
Speaker 2: some finesse. And I was going to joke with Dustin, like,
Speaker 2: you know, he's got that kind of patented little jumper
Speaker 2: he does. You know, from six feet out, he's in
Speaker 2: the land of the giants when he's doing that.
Speaker 1: Too, he's not, but he said he had that arc. Great, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he kind of has.
Speaker 2: You know, it's almost like a globe trotterish kind of
Speaker 2: move where he just circles around the paint.
Speaker 1: So do you play pink pong? Yeah, a little bit.
Speaker 4: I used to.
Speaker 1: I used to play a lot, Yeah, a long and
Speaker 1: I was halfway decent. And you see these guys they
Speaker 1: just slam and slamming good. And you see other guys
Speaker 1: who just kind of like hit the ball back, right,
Speaker 1: hit the ball back, and the other guys get frustrated.
Speaker 1: He's hit the ball back And you think these guys
Speaker 1: are any good? How do they keep it up? Well,
Speaker 1: they just played no mistake, mistate free and they don't
Speaker 1: do any fancy. They just get the ball back.
Speaker 3: That was always my strategy in golf.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just wasn't getting straight exactly.
Speaker 3: I was just straight hit it two hundred and fifty yards.
Speaker 2: But if I could hit it like you know, one
Speaker 2: seventy five straight, you know, had a.
Speaker 1: Good putting game, right, You don't have no exactly a
Speaker 1: good analogy. But you know, I wanted to talk about
Speaker 1: tj W. I don't talk about Mathrin. Don't you think
Speaker 1: if you put Love's name in Mathurine spot, that's exactly
Speaker 1: what he's going through. This team thrives in in move movement,
Speaker 1: movement movement. Love is not doing that now, but once
Speaker 1: it does, and then he doesn't know how to play otherwise.
Speaker 2: Right, that's his style, that's his style. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's going to be cool to see him break out
Speaker 2: of the slump eventually.
Speaker 1: I hope.
Speaker 3: I hope it happens soon.
Speaker 2: I hope that you know, he can just you know,
Speaker 2: relax and you know, hit a couple of shots early on.
Speaker 2: I think that's what every every you know UFA fan
Speaker 2: is wishing for at this point.
Speaker 1: Right because Matthern is the NBA guy, He's the typical
Speaker 1: NBA guy, but he's a he's got a little trier
Speaker 1: in him. Give me the ball, get out of the way.
Speaker 1: But that's not them and and love here is give
Speaker 1: me the ball, get out of the way, And that's
Speaker 1: not Arizona. It's more of a function of move, move
Speaker 1: the ball, move the ball, get it to the open man.
Speaker 1: And for the first three years of Tommy it was
Speaker 1: the ball will find its open man to find a shot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's not doing that. Well.
Speaker 2: Think about who these guys were watching when they were
Speaker 2: a little growing up. You know, Kobe didn't exactly give
Speaker 2: the ball up too many times. There's a lot of
Speaker 2: short there him, you know, but then there's you know
Speaker 2: guy now it's now it's Steph who does you know?
Speaker 2: He shoots a lot too, but he's also he's also
Speaker 2: a good, a good And.
Speaker 1: It's perfect for that offense. Yeah, the perfect for the
Speaker 1: offense because the ball finds it's open man.
Speaker 2: That these guys see, you know, Jordan first and then
Speaker 2: Kobe kind of following, you know, with that style of
Speaker 2: play where it's you know, just get.
Speaker 1: Out of my way. Yeah, get him away. I'll take control.
Speaker 1: Yeah I would. I don't want the NBA enough to
Speaker 1: know who else does that. I'm sure Tom do. But
Speaker 1: there's you know, like Joannest last night one they won
Speaker 1: the thing. He's not that guy in terms of he's
Speaker 1: not a point guard, he's not a perimeter.
Speaker 2: Guyye, Anthony Edwards, it seemed like you were kind of
Speaker 2: talking about him during the Olympics. Maybe the next of
Speaker 2: those of those great players kind of plays that same position.
Speaker 3: But yeah, Ben, he's still a kid his third year.
Speaker 1: And so much, so much talent. Easily he's the best
Speaker 1: player since uh in the last five years to me,
Speaker 1: maybe even longer than that because he's so talented. But right,
Speaker 1: I mean, he may be too talented for his own good.
Speaker 1: You remember when he came out, he says, Michael Jordan,
Speaker 1: I'm better than him, right, Yeah, he did say that.
Speaker 1: He didn't say that Google his quotes from uh no, no, no,
Speaker 1: it was Michael Lebron. Oh, I'm sorry, I don't want
Speaker 1: to miss quote a miss quote. Who is Lebron?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Lebron is You know when he first came out, he
Speaker 2: was a great passer. Remember when he was like in
Speaker 2: high school. That was kind of his thing. He wasn't
Speaker 2: a great outside shooter. Yeah, and he worked that into
Speaker 2: his game. Eventually of course.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, good for the guys here. Obviously, Solomon
Speaker 1: Hill was the guy I was thinking about. He played
Speaker 1: for India.
Speaker 3: Oh that's right.
Speaker 1: I'm glad we need to ask about him, because we
Speaker 1: did another five minutes. Solomon was good. He was a
Speaker 1: good player here, just just a fundamentally sound just not
Speaker 1: very athletic, but just knew what to do and stayed
Speaker 1: in the NBA probably ten years, right or so. Nice career.
Speaker 1: And that was kind of the topic, right, you know,
Speaker 1: how he got more out of what he was capable of, right,
Speaker 1: which is I wish I could.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be you're going to talk about, right
Speaker 2: about tonight's ceremony. I so yeah, yeah, yeah, you got
Speaker 2: a chance to talk to any of players or besides teaching.
Speaker 1: I doubt it. They'll probably be in the room. But
Speaker 1: I doubt it because I know that Carlisle probably been there.
Speaker 1: But the question is, you know, how cool is it
Speaker 1: to have these guys supporting you. I think Ben, you know,
Speaker 1: he was there a year or two ago and said
Speaker 1: the same thing with all these guys here.
Speaker 4: I don't remember.
Speaker 2: Maybe this is the wrong player, didn't TJ like kiss
Speaker 2: mchaille Center Okay, that's what was a pretty memorable moment.
Speaker 1: In fact, that's kind of probably how I'll start the
Speaker 1: story because because yeah, no, that's what endeared him too.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody loved him. Josh did the same thing.
Speaker 1: You know, this was home to them, right, And remember
Speaker 1: t J was a transfer guy. The story that I
Speaker 1: have about TJ, we only got about a minute or so.
Speaker 1: Uh loot uh. It was it was the year that
Speaker 1: he came in and red shirted, and that teach mcconnall.
Speaker 1: No one knew that he just his only team and
Speaker 1: the Arizona team was pretty good still. And then I said, TJ,
Speaker 1: I mean, Luke, have you gone to the watch practice?
Speaker 1: He said, yeah, yeah, and they're pretty good. He said,
Speaker 1: they said yeah, but he said, the best guy's not
Speaker 1: even playing. And I'm thinking we talk about he said, yeah,
Speaker 1: they have this guard TJ. Something, TJ. TJ. Mcconnald says, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's fantastic. He can't play it yet because he was
Speaker 1: a transfer, right And I'm thinking I didn't. I didn't
Speaker 1: know him to until you see them. Oh, makes total sense,
Speaker 1: makes total.
Speaker 2: Who's a good player coming from Ducane? We are you know,
Speaker 2: we're in the big PAC twelve whatever. You know, what's Ducane?
Speaker 2: Oh they're this, you know, not even the biggest school
Speaker 2: in Pittsburgh. Right, So yeah, came on, came on strong,
Speaker 2: had a great, great run here.
Speaker 1: Right, no end. A very popular dude, very popular dude,
Speaker 1: A future coach, I think. Yeah, and you're thirty two
Speaker 1: years old.
Speaker 3: Ye give him ten more years coaching in the NBA somewhere.
Speaker 1: Okay, well thanks Steve coming in. Sure, we'll see you.
Speaker 1: You come in Friday. Yeah, okay, maybe