Latest / Stugotz and Company / Set 2: Could Listen to You Talk "The Mecca" All Day (w/ Jim Jackson)

Transcript

Set 2: Could Listen to You Talk "The Mecca" All Day (w/ Jim Jackson) · Stugotz and Company

0:22
Speaker 1: Jim Jackson was one of my favorite players to watch,
0:24
Speaker 1: both in college and the NBA. He is now one
0:26
Speaker 1: of the most respected voices in broadcasting doing a lot
0:29
Speaker 1: of work with Fox.
0:30
Speaker 2: He is kind enough to join us here during a
0:32
Speaker 2: very busy time. What's going on, Jim, I done too.
0:36
Speaker 3: Much, Ben a lot of basketball. Unfortunately not anymore for
0:41
Speaker 3: the Cleveland Calves. So shout out to the Knicks for
0:44
Speaker 3: getting you back to the finals. But we got a
0:46
Speaker 3: heck of a series, you know, coming up these next
0:49
Speaker 3: three games with OKC and San Antonio. So no complaints, brother,
0:53
Speaker 3: how are you?
0:54
Speaker 2: I'm doing good? Thank you? Were you surprised it was
0:56
Speaker 2: that easy for the Knicks?
0:59
Speaker 3: I really was. And the reason why I say that
1:02
Speaker 3: is because but the makeup of the Cavs team, they
1:06
Speaker 3: they've always seemed to play hard whether you win the
1:08
Speaker 3: game or not. You know, sometimes you can't control that.
1:11
Speaker 3: What surprised me was the lack of effort that continue
1:16
Speaker 3: kind of from the end of Game three. R that
1:21
Speaker 3: that's that kind of rolled over spilled over the Game
1:23
Speaker 3: four at the beginning, giving up all those transition layups,
1:26
Speaker 3: that just the body language just wasn't there from the
1:28
Speaker 3: beginning it's almost like and I can't, you know, Stu
1:31
Speaker 3: got It's hard to jump into the mind of each
1:34
Speaker 3: individual player with their thinking, right, but body language tells
1:39
Speaker 3: you a lot unwritten not language, and the body language
1:45
Speaker 3: across the board from the calf not all, but collectively
1:50
Speaker 3: was not good and as a result, the game was over,
1:53
Speaker 3: you know, once they threw through Unfortunately they're in tip ball.
1:57
Speaker 1: Right when did you start to notice that in terms
1:59
Speaker 1: of body language? Was it after they blew the big
2:02
Speaker 1: lead in game one? Like when did you start to
2:03
Speaker 1: notice that, Jim.
2:04
Speaker 3: No, you know, the leading game. I thought that their
2:07
Speaker 3: body language Game two was pretty good. Game three they fought,
2:11
Speaker 3: but I thought later third quarter, fourth quarter of Game three,
2:16
Speaker 3: you can kind of see, especially in the lack of
2:20
Speaker 3: effort down the stretch when Jaden Brunton kind of went
2:22
Speaker 3: by everybody got the layup and we got layups near
2:24
Speaker 3: the end of the game. That to me at that
2:26
Speaker 3: point right there was like Raving waving the white flag, right, Okay,
2:30
Speaker 3: but you look at it like this too and say, okay,
2:33
Speaker 3: waving the white flag just for this game, or is it, Oh,
2:38
Speaker 3: we're done. We can't come back from this three oh
2:40
Speaker 3: deficit okay, and that was the energy I felt at
2:46
Speaker 3: the beginning of the game that it transferred over from
2:49
Speaker 3: how they end if they would have ended that game
2:51
Speaker 3: three were a little bit more energy. Game is over, okay,
2:54
Speaker 3: but you played hard right, Okay, you continued to fight
2:57
Speaker 3: through it. Then I can see some momentum. Not to
3:00
Speaker 3: say they may have won the game in game four,
3:02
Speaker 3: but I think you'd have been a different body language.
3:04
Speaker 3: What happened in game three was very indictative about the
3:07
Speaker 3: start of Game four for the Calves unfortunately, and those
3:09
Speaker 3: fans and management, I know management got to be shaking
3:12
Speaker 3: their head right now about won the disappointment in losing four,
3:18
Speaker 3: all the way they lost, and what does the future
3:21
Speaker 3: look like for this Calves team that's kind of stuck
3:25
Speaker 3: right now in this great area of the Eastern Conference right.
3:30
Speaker 1: Plus the management has to be confused by some of
3:32
Speaker 1: the comments made by Kenny Atkinson after game three and
3:36
Speaker 1: James Harden after the series. I want to played this
3:37
Speaker 1: sound for you, Jim okay, and yet your thoughts on it. First,
3:40
Speaker 1: let's play James Harden. This is after the series.
3:43
Speaker 2: James Harden.
3:44
Speaker 3: First, we're carded, just because genuinely I do feel like
3:47
Speaker 3: we are the better team.
3:50
Speaker 2: Jim, take it away.
3:52
Speaker 3: Why are you laughing?
3:53
Speaker 2: I mean they just got swept. They lost by thirty
3:56
Speaker 2: seven at home in in game four. What did they
3:59
Speaker 2: talk talking about?
4:02
Speaker 3: Listen again, it's and being a player is hard to
4:06
Speaker 3: go into the mindset of a plan to tell them
4:08
Speaker 3: what to say and what not to say, what to think,
4:10
Speaker 3: what not to think. You can think that all you want,
4:12
Speaker 3: But obviously for four games in this series, the Knicks
4:15
Speaker 3: were the better team. The Knicks themselves back end of
4:18
Speaker 3: the year kind of find the found their mojio. The
4:21
Speaker 3: beautiful thing about the Knicks too, is understanding your role.
4:24
Speaker 3: Everybody has a role. Jalen Brunton has a role, all
4:26
Speaker 3: the way down to Mitchell Robinson to Landry Shammon. Everybody
4:31
Speaker 3: has a role. And by accepting that later in the season,
4:34
Speaker 3: even kat they probably are playing the best basketball of
4:39
Speaker 3: the three remaining teams collectively as a group, consistently. And
4:43
Speaker 3: that's the scary part with his next team. So with
4:46
Speaker 3: James Harden saying that, maybe on paper, the roster says that,
4:50
Speaker 3: but here's the flaws that Cleveland got to understand how
4:53
Speaker 3: to address. They're not as athletic on the wing. That's
4:55
Speaker 3: why I thought Detroit would have been a much more
4:58
Speaker 3: challenging matchup for or New York because of the versatility, athleticism,
5:06
Speaker 3: defensive minded and physical play of Detroit. Okay, they would,
5:10
Speaker 3: I think they really would have challenged the Knicks from
5:12
Speaker 3: that aspect. With Cleveland, you really don't have from a
5:15
Speaker 3: wing perspective, players that can challenge the Knicks in that
5:19
Speaker 3: area and as a result not being as athletic and
5:23
Speaker 3: being able to create all the dribble with multiple players
5:25
Speaker 3: outside of James and uh, you know, Donovan Mitchell, it
5:30
Speaker 3: made it much more challenging when this team got down
5:32
Speaker 3: trying to fight back in to kind of secure a victory.
5:35
Speaker 3: So you know, management is going to have to address
5:39
Speaker 3: that issue. I thought they, you know, a few years ago,
5:40
Speaker 3: may have addressed her with DeAndre Hunter, but obviously that
5:44
Speaker 3: that wasn't a case even with Kris Lebert.
5:46
Speaker 1: Sure one more bit of soundier. Taylor has a question
5:49
Speaker 1: about Jalen Brunson. After this, here's Kenny Atkinson saying the
5:53
Speaker 1: Cavs won the first two out of three games.
5:56
Speaker 2: I'm a Knicks fan, man, I got to enjoy this.
5:58
Speaker 3: Come on, analytically, I think we won expect I said
6:04
Speaker 3: three out of three, we're two out of three and
6:06
Speaker 3: the expected one. If you guys followed analysts, it was
6:08
Speaker 3: an expected score. What was that? What did what did
6:13
Speaker 3: he say?
6:14
Speaker 2: I have no idea.
6:16
Speaker 3: Well, no, no, I didn't understand what because it was
6:19
Speaker 3: kind of muffled a little bit on what comments and
6:22
Speaker 3: they were relating to Jalen Brunton, right.
6:24
Speaker 1: He was just talking about the analytics suggests to him
6:27
Speaker 1: that they've been the better team two out of the
6:29
Speaker 1: three games.
6:29
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, I saw that going in the game
6:32
Speaker 3: for it. So okay. So here's the thing you gotta understand.
6:35
Speaker 3: And I love analytics from this respect. I played for
6:37
Speaker 3: pat Riley. It was analytics. Before analytics, it was plus
6:41
Speaker 3: minus when you were on the court, off the quote
6:43
Speaker 3: what you did and didn't pat Riley would sit you
6:45
Speaker 3: down before practice and go over on his blue card
6:49
Speaker 3: or the whiteboard, you're plus minus. Yeah, I don't care
6:52
Speaker 3: if you had twenty points, but you didn't rebound, you
6:54
Speaker 3: had turnover, So why were you playing? That was pat Riley.
6:57
Speaker 3: But here's the thing. I just this is where the
7:00
Speaker 3: balance has to be. And I know Kenny Atkins is
7:03
Speaker 3: huge into analytics. Analytics don't determine how hard you play.
7:08
Speaker 3: Analytics can't predict how players will interact and engage and
7:12
Speaker 3: play together and mesh. So you can take two players
7:16
Speaker 3: okay and say their analytics say they should match and
7:19
Speaker 3: they should play well together. But analytics can't They can't
7:24
Speaker 3: predict personalities and how guys are going to actually fit.
7:29
Speaker 3: That's where you need the balance. You can't just use numbers,
7:32
Speaker 3: but you just can't use okay, my eyes. You gotta
7:37
Speaker 3: have the blend of the two okay, where they balance
7:40
Speaker 3: each other out in order to kind of get the
7:43
Speaker 3: best product, the best players that you can get. But
7:46
Speaker 3: if you lean too heavily one way, you can make
7:48
Speaker 3: the numbers, say with the one okay, just like Kenny
7:51
Speaker 3: Atkinson said, two out of three games are analytics are better.
7:56
Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, the score indicates
7:58
Speaker 3: that New York won. You can manipulate and use it
8:03
Speaker 3: in different ways to kind of justify your thought process.
8:06
Speaker 1: Yes, Jim, the reason I'm laughing is because everyone's been
8:09
Speaker 1: laughing at me since nineteen ninety nine. I've had fourteen
8:11
Speaker 1: days of Jeremy Lynn and that's about it. All right,
8:14
Speaker 1: So I am going to enjoy the hell out of today.
8:15
Speaker 3: All right, Hey, listen, you know I'm excited for this.
8:20
Speaker 3: Mine is more personal because I had the opportunity to
8:23
Speaker 3: cover Jalen, Josh and McHale through Villanova do their championship
8:31
Speaker 3: runs and watch those three develop into who they are
8:36
Speaker 3: Jalen was. This is all love about Jayleen Bruns. Jalen
8:39
Speaker 3: was the number one point guard coming out of high school.
8:41
Speaker 3: Could have went anywhere and started. He chose to go
8:43
Speaker 3: to Villanova, come off the bench behind Ryan Archidiacino to
8:47
Speaker 3: understand how to play the point guard position and learn
8:50
Speaker 3: play for Jay Wright, and as a result you have
8:52
Speaker 3: two national championships. He was Player of the Year. He
8:57
Speaker 3: solidified himself as one of the best college basketball players
8:59
Speaker 3: to play the game. But his unselfish nature and understanding
9:03
Speaker 3: he had to learn first and then grow into who
9:06
Speaker 3: he needed to be says a lot about his personality.
9:09
Speaker 3: So why is he successful now? In the least, it's
9:11
Speaker 3: the same thing people said, you know, can Jayden get
9:14
Speaker 3: by guys? He's non athletic. Listen, I said this before.
9:18
Speaker 3: Probably five players that you can name right now in
9:22
Speaker 3: the top ten made first or second Team All NBA
9:25
Speaker 3: A non athletic Jokic, Sengoon, Sga, Luca, Jalen Brunton. Now
9:34
Speaker 3: Jason Tatum is on the outside of that, meaning he's
9:37
Speaker 3: not overly athletic. He doesn't rely on it. So when
9:42
Speaker 3: even Derek Queen, who I think is going to be
9:44
Speaker 3: a heck of a player down in New Orleans, it's
9:46
Speaker 3: not as athletic, but it's in between here. So watching
9:50
Speaker 3: Jalen progress and then watching McHale go through his things
9:53
Speaker 3: at Phoenix and then going to Brooklyn, and then now
9:55
Speaker 3: finally finding his way and Josh kind of solidifying the
9:58
Speaker 3: whole group, it brings a lot of joy to me
10:01
Speaker 3: because I had an opportunity to kind of be with
10:03
Speaker 3: those guys early and watch them mature now reach a
10:07
Speaker 3: higher pinnacle a goal of all New York fans, which
10:11
Speaker 3: is getting to the finals. Believable.
10:13
Speaker 2: I'm surprised you put Sga in that in that category.
10:16
Speaker 3: But he's not athletic, but he does.
10:19
Speaker 2: Jim, I've been saying that for years and people get
10:21
Speaker 2: mad at me.
10:21
Speaker 3: Yes, but that doesn't mean he's not an athlete, right, Okay,
10:25
Speaker 3: it's a difference. They're all athletes, but they're not overly athletic.
10:30
Speaker 3: They don't rely on running and jumping. Oh, they play
10:33
Speaker 3: off two feet. They use the thing in between the ears. Okay,
10:37
Speaker 3: the mind of how to break down the you know
10:39
Speaker 3: their defense, and how to utilize the offense and how
10:42
Speaker 3: to best get their offense off. And those are the
10:45
Speaker 3: things to me that are very impressive in today's game
10:48
Speaker 3: because you rely so much or when you're getting drafted, Well,
10:52
Speaker 3: can he run jump? What's his vertical? What's his speed here?
10:56
Speaker 3: Can he guard vertically? Can he slide his feed? All
10:59
Speaker 3: of this stuff in you getting Can the guy play Kenny? Kenny?
11:04
Speaker 3: Does he? Is he a winner when tough situations are about?
11:08
Speaker 3: Can't he make the right to play the right decision?
11:11
Speaker 3: Is he a great teammate? Those things matter and you
11:14
Speaker 3: see that come to fruition with this this next team.
11:17
Speaker 3: A shout out to my former teammate Chris Jit loving
11:20
Speaker 3: it for him right now with the Knicks as an
11:22
Speaker 3: assistant coach. I think he's running an offense there with
11:26
Speaker 3: Mike Brown.
11:27
Speaker 1: Jim, I'm so glad you brought up heart brunting and bridges,
11:30
Speaker 1: because that's the stuff you're talking about when you say
11:32
Speaker 1: that analytics can't measure everything. They can't measure those three
11:35
Speaker 1: guys knowing how to play with one another.
11:37
Speaker 2: They can't do it, can't do it right.
11:39
Speaker 3: They can't because they think about this. It's infectious too.
11:43
Speaker 3: Sometimes it may be silly between especially Josh and Jaylen
11:46
Speaker 3: how they joke at each other, but it's true brotherly love.
11:49
Speaker 3: They can get on each other. They hold each other accountable,
11:52
Speaker 3: which means that their other teammates can also do the same. Okay,
11:57
Speaker 3: they're not above and beyond anybody, but yet and still
12:01
Speaker 3: they kind of brought this bond with them, especially solidifying
12:06
Speaker 3: with Michel Bridges. And he's been through a lot this year,
12:08
Speaker 3: a lot of expectations, a lot has been heaped on
12:11
Speaker 3: his shoulders because you expected him to be that wing
12:14
Speaker 3: player that can defend, that can score. He was a
12:16
Speaker 3: little inconsistent, but when playoffs come, those three kind of
12:20
Speaker 3: lock in. And now you got Kat accepting his role,
12:23
Speaker 3: being utilized a lot more as an initiator of the offense.
12:27
Speaker 3: Uh and Sat Shammick coming off the bench, McBride doing
12:31
Speaker 3: this thing. Everybody's this is when you want to be
12:34
Speaker 3: We always said you got this is when you want
12:36
Speaker 3: to be playing your best basketball. I think it's overused, right,
12:38
Speaker 3: but here's a prime example of a team that all
12:42
Speaker 3: year have been working to get to this point in
12:45
Speaker 3: the playoffs, where you win eleven games in a row
12:48
Speaker 3: because you're playing your best ball. Forget I noticed, you
12:50
Speaker 3: know you got to say who you played Toronto? You
12:53
Speaker 3: played Cleveland, so what? Whatever? Whoever you played so what?
12:58
Speaker 3: They weren't formidable, but you still had to win those game. Yes,
13:00
Speaker 3: and they haven't lunch. Yes, right.
13:02
Speaker 1: It's interesting with Jalen brunts In all the great things
13:05
Speaker 1: just said about him in college and coming into the
13:07
Speaker 1: NBA with a hard worker, team player, all that stuff,
13:10
Speaker 1: did you expect him to be this kind of good though?
13:13
Speaker 2: Because this is special.
13:14
Speaker 3: Now, I'll be lying if I said this, right. I
13:17
Speaker 3: knew Jalen could play in the league. I knew he
13:20
Speaker 3: could be affected. Now, how that my perspective changed because
13:26
Speaker 3: he was with Luke at the time. How much of
13:28
Speaker 3: that really was going to impact his growth? He still
13:33
Speaker 3: was able to perform at a high level despite not
13:36
Speaker 3: being you know, the captain of the ship, so to speak.
13:39
Speaker 3: Because of Luca. What happened, Just like Ryan Archidiacino, he
13:43
Speaker 3: learned how to play in these environments, these situations. He
13:47
Speaker 3: soaked it up. So when he got his time like
13:49
Speaker 3: Villanova his freshman year, he was still able to perform.
13:53
Speaker 3: And then when he kind of broke off that shell
13:57
Speaker 3: sophomore year, like now going to New York, he had
14:00
Speaker 3: all the ingredients, kind of the knowledge not just from
14:04
Speaker 3: Luca but from his father Rick of course, and being
14:06
Speaker 3: around it, but just here. So no, did I think
14:10
Speaker 3: he would be a top five player? No? Did I
14:14
Speaker 3: think he would be a valuable asset and a really
14:16
Speaker 3: good player long career in NBA? Yes, no doubt.
14:31
Speaker 4: Jim, you mentioned Karl Anthony Towns being the focal point
14:34
Speaker 4: of this Knicks offense. He has more assists and less
14:38
Speaker 4: turnovers this series than Donovan Mitchell, then James Harden. Why
14:42
Speaker 4: has that been so efficient, the Karl Anthony Towns led
14:46
Speaker 4: offense during this historic run for the Knicks.
14:49
Speaker 3: Well, what it does. It gets Jalen Brunting off the ball,
14:52
Speaker 3: so eliminates the double team right away up front. It
14:55
Speaker 3: gets him to the second side. So when the ball
14:57
Speaker 3: action works and it's in the middle of the quarter,
14:59
Speaker 3: it's harder to come and help on cat because you
15:02
Speaker 3: have shooters on the wing. Now when the ball gets
15:04
Speaker 3: to the second side, Jalen can now get into us actions.
15:07
Speaker 3: It's a little bit more difficult to tilt the court
15:09
Speaker 3: his way. When you have Cat, you have Josh Hard
15:12
Speaker 3: on the other side of Michal Bridges that can beat you.
15:15
Speaker 3: So you see it a lot with SGA a little
15:17
Speaker 3: bit late game in the later fourth quarter, different players
15:20
Speaker 3: like Alice Cruz who will bring the ball up Chet
15:23
Speaker 3: let him work off the ball, and then now it
15:26
Speaker 3: eliminates that early double team and now on that second
15:30
Speaker 3: side they can get into their action. I think Kat
15:33
Speaker 3: accepted the fact that now he's being utilized a lot more.
15:36
Speaker 3: And I think, guys, it's not that he's shooting more.
15:39
Speaker 3: The ball is in his hands, he feels the rock.
15:42
Speaker 3: He feels like he's initiating making things happen. From a
15:45
Speaker 3: mental perspective, think about it. That always keeps you involved.
15:48
Speaker 3: Whether you're shooting the ball good or bad, you're taking shouts,
15:51
Speaker 3: you're make him, you're involved in the offense. When you
15:53
Speaker 3: don't touch the rock and you're a high volume, kind
15:56
Speaker 3: of high usage player and you're not touching it, you're
15:59
Speaker 3: not involved. That can affect you. And I think it affects.
16:02
Speaker 3: It affected Cat early in the season when he said,
16:04
Speaker 3: I still have to figure out how I fit into
16:06
Speaker 3: this offense. How does it work for me? How can
16:09
Speaker 3: I be affected? The ball just wasn't in his hands
16:12
Speaker 3: enough for him to feel comfortable. Now we see that
16:14
Speaker 3: he's making the right decisions, not turning the ball over
16:17
Speaker 3: and as a result, like I said, the Knicks, out
16:20
Speaker 3: of all the teams, have been playing the best basketball man, Jim.
16:23
Speaker 3: How do you see the Knicks matching up with the
16:25
Speaker 3: two teams out west? And for us Nick fans, who
16:28
Speaker 3: should we be rooting for individually? Like the face?
16:36
Speaker 2: Which team?
16:37
Speaker 3: Yeah?
16:37
Speaker 2: Which team would should we want to see?
16:39
Speaker 3: Jim? Well, you will want to see the less experienced team,
16:42
Speaker 3: which is saying Tony.
16:43
Speaker 5: Right, he scares me. He But the problem is you
16:47
Speaker 5: want to see who he the alien? That guy Ralph
16:52
Speaker 5: Sampson five point zero?
16:53
Speaker 2: Yes?
16:55
Speaker 3: Is he just changes everything you do offensively? Okay? Because
17:02
Speaker 3: of his presence and then what that allows san Antonia
17:05
Speaker 3: to do. This is why they I think they really
17:07
Speaker 3: match up well with OKAC and can watch match up
17:09
Speaker 3: well with New York. The guards can now get up
17:12
Speaker 3: into you because they can be physical, they're not worried
17:15
Speaker 3: about getting beat off the dribble because you know what,
17:17
Speaker 3: Victor is back there. So now they're overly aggressive. They
17:20
Speaker 3: really utilize their strength of protecting the paint but also
17:26
Speaker 3: on ball defense. So each team gives you a different problem.
17:31
Speaker 3: SGA gives you in a healthy Jalen Williams is going
17:36
Speaker 3: to really test the backcourt you know, of U of
17:41
Speaker 3: the New York Knicks, Yes, okay, a lot more so
17:46
Speaker 3: it's it's to me, it's it's it's a give or take.
17:49
Speaker 3: Both teams have their different challenges that New York is
17:52
Speaker 3: going to have to face. But at the end of
17:54
Speaker 3: the day, I just think that New York is so
17:56
Speaker 3: focused on who they are and how they want to
17:58
Speaker 3: operate and how they want to say.
18:01
Speaker 2: He's going to say it, Oh my god, Well I'm.
18:04
Speaker 3: Gonna say what.
18:05
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter who we played with the best.
18:10
Speaker 3: Now you're playing the best. A lot of that is
18:12
Speaker 3: because of the challenges that both San Antonio and okay
18:16
Speaker 3: see had faced. They look great, they look good, they
18:18
Speaker 3: have it. It hasn't been a game too much in
18:20
Speaker 3: New York hasn't looked really good even when they've been down. Yes, okay,
18:25
Speaker 3: so that's that's that's the difference. Man. Those two are
18:27
Speaker 3: going to beat each other up in New York. Yes,
18:29
Speaker 3: it's sitting in pole position to sit there and say, Okay,
18:32
Speaker 3: we're on the road no matter what. In game one,
18:35
Speaker 3: we got a chance to take it. Yeah, you know,
18:37
Speaker 3: we got a chance to take game one just because
18:39
Speaker 3: of the attrition of the last playoff series between those
18:42
Speaker 3: two teams.
18:43
Speaker 4: Right, yeah, Jim, whoever wins the West is going to
18:45
Speaker 4: have home court advantage. But the next advantage is the Mecca.
18:49
Speaker 4: As somebody who played in the NBA, can you just
18:51
Speaker 4: explain to people what it's like playing in that building
18:54
Speaker 4: when it's at its best.
18:55
Speaker 2: I mean they were bad when he played there.
18:57
Speaker 1: No, but you know in the early nineties though, You're right,
19:00
Speaker 1: my bad, Jim, my bad.
19:01
Speaker 3: Come on early nineties doing and Mason and Oak and
19:04
Speaker 3: Starks and Heart No. No, Greg Anthony, No, and Oak
19:08
Speaker 3: is my old head. He's from Cleveland. He took he
19:11
Speaker 3: took me under the wings of he and Ron Harbor
19:12
Speaker 3: when I got in the league. So it's it's hard
19:16
Speaker 3: to describe it really is on what it means. And
19:19
Speaker 3: I still have that feeling when I'm covering a game,
19:22
Speaker 3: especially when I'm doing Big East Tournament. There's nothing like it.
19:25
Speaker 3: It's nothing like the vibe in the Garden. It's something
19:29
Speaker 3: that it's like you're on stage and you're performing. Okay,
19:32
Speaker 3: this is art, this is beauty, this is essence, this
19:39
Speaker 3: is something choreographed, you know what I mean, and you
19:42
Speaker 3: go out there because because the appreciation, not the crowd
19:46
Speaker 3: understands basketball. This is basketball. They understand it whether they're
19:50
Speaker 3: a star or not. The heart and soul of the
19:54
Speaker 3: Garden understands the game and they appreciate the game. Yeah,
19:57
Speaker 3: they may be hard, they may yell, they may whatever,
20:00
Speaker 3: but it's because of the passion of the game which
20:03
Speaker 3: makes that it allows that arena to have an atmosphere
20:08
Speaker 3: all into its own, the only other one back in
20:11
Speaker 3: you know, I can it was the form. Okay, when
20:14
Speaker 3: the form was just kind of those two traded sides.
20:17
Speaker 3: Boston was a little different. It was gritty, it was driving,
20:20
Speaker 3: it was Philly was the same way. They both appreciated,
20:23
Speaker 3: you know, basketball and the love of the game, but
20:26
Speaker 3: didn't have that other component of the I mean, I
20:29
Speaker 3: don't know what it is about the Garden. It's just
20:33
Speaker 3: unless you play there, it's really hard to put it
20:37
Speaker 3: in words. I can tell you the words, but the
20:40
Speaker 3: words don't emit the feeling you have when the ball
20:44
Speaker 3: tips up and you're ready to play. It's just something different.
20:49
Speaker 3: I mean, he really is.
20:50
Speaker 2: I mean he's giving me goosebumps.
20:51
Speaker 4: Down Ja talk about the garden all day.
20:57
Speaker 3: It's something about walking up the tunnel or taking the
21:00
Speaker 3: elevator out, going past all the stuff. You're like, man,
21:04
Speaker 3: I can't believe I'm beating this man on the same elevator.
21:07
Speaker 3: I'm going to floor, you know. But you've seen it
21:12
Speaker 3: so many times. Okay, whether that's basketball, concerts, politically, whatever
21:20
Speaker 3: it is. Okay, the guard, that's what you and I'm
21:22
Speaker 3: so glad when they did the renovations out front that
21:25
Speaker 3: they didn't touch inside that. Yes, they put the sweet ten,
21:30
Speaker 3: you know, and they renovated that part. But the floor,
21:34
Speaker 3: the inside is a bowl and it's basketball. Yes, that's
21:38
Speaker 3: what it is. All the frills and all that other stuff. No,
21:42
Speaker 3: this is straight up basketball. And the fans have an
21:46
Speaker 3: impact positively and if you're bad negatively, yes, sometimes on
21:53
Speaker 3: the team as well.
21:54
Speaker 1: Tell her put it on the pall. Can you listen
21:56
Speaker 1: to Jim Jackson talk about the Mecca all day. I'm
21:58
Speaker 1: totally with you too. More We'll get you out here
22:01
Speaker 1: just a second. We appreciate the time you averaged twenty
22:03
Speaker 1: six points a game one year. So I am wondering
22:06
Speaker 1: when you watch Wemby, are you marveling the way we
22:08
Speaker 1: marvel at home?
22:09
Speaker 3: Like? What is that? It is? It is again? I'm
22:15
Speaker 3: going back to Ralph Sampson. I was fortunate that in
22:18
Speaker 3: the eighties I was young but still had a chance
22:21
Speaker 3: to witness some of Ralph's games at Virginia, Okay, and
22:26
Speaker 3: how this was a rarety to see a seven to
22:30
Speaker 3: four player move and do the things that Ralph did
22:33
Speaker 3: at that time. Did you think about this is three
22:34
Speaker 3: times National College Player of the Year.
22:37
Speaker 2: Yep, great, yeah, great.
22:40
Speaker 3: Think about that era in which he was in a nominee.
22:43
Speaker 3: Patrick was great, a team was outstanding, But Ralph was
22:47
Speaker 3: different at seven four to run the court, to handle
22:50
Speaker 3: the basketball, not like Wemby, but in that timeframe that context,
22:55
Speaker 3: shooting a little turnaround jump shot, a hook shot like
22:58
Speaker 3: magic or a jump hupe, altering shots at the rim,
23:02
Speaker 3: that was special. It was dynamic. Now you fast forward
23:06
Speaker 3: and you see a seven six seven seven similar body build,
23:11
Speaker 3: similar gait, similar style. But now you add, okay, I
23:16
Speaker 3: was once a guard. I can driple between my legs
23:19
Speaker 3: and step back. I can in transition, you know by
23:23
Speaker 3: the hash mark step, catch and shoot. I can facilitate.
23:28
Speaker 3: It's now I will say this too. I think Wemby
23:33
Speaker 3: his The next iteration is being able his lower body
23:38
Speaker 3: to be stronger because he's still getting pushed off his spots.
23:41
Speaker 3: He's off balanced a lot, but that's comes because he's young.
23:44
Speaker 3: Just think about that. We're talking about an unfinished project.
23:48
Speaker 3: He's nowhere near the potential of where he's all. To
23:53
Speaker 3: think about this, where he's we're talking about this in
23:56
Speaker 3: this stage. Now we're not talking about all Day's true
24:00
Speaker 3: and health stays there. He doesn't have to put on
24:02
Speaker 3: a major way, but enough, I think in his lower
24:04
Speaker 3: body to be able to balance more and be on
24:09
Speaker 3: balance when guys bump them. Think about three or four
24:12
Speaker 3: years from now.
24:13
Speaker 2: I'd rather not to be honest as an excent.
24:15
Speaker 3: I do because it's great for the league. I mean,
24:17
Speaker 3: it's outstanding for the league and where you're going. But
24:21
Speaker 3: just he's just scratching the surface, not just physically, guys,
24:26
Speaker 3: but mentally. Yes, okay, because think about it, he's not
24:29
Speaker 3: a high volume shooting. He doesn't demand the ball. He's
24:32
Speaker 3: not shooting twenty five thirty times a game. That's just
24:36
Speaker 3: And I wonder if as his involved in guys, and
24:39
Speaker 3: you maybe think about this, as he evolves into the
24:42
Speaker 3: player we think he's going to be, does that mean
24:44
Speaker 3: that now he becomes more aggressive offensively really shooting, because
24:50
Speaker 3: maybe that's not his personality to be that aggressive offensively.
24:55
Speaker 3: But now over in Europe he shot a lot of shots,
24:57
Speaker 3: so get me wrong. Yes, maybe he gets to that
25:00
Speaker 3: point in year three four where now Wimby is a
25:05
Speaker 3: lot more demanding and more aggressive in the right way
25:08
Speaker 3: of his offensive You know, ability right, he.
25:11
Speaker 1: Hasn't grown into his body yet. The amazing thing is
25:13
Speaker 1: when he does those things, it looks natural, unlike Ralph
25:16
Speaker 1: at times. Yeah, it looks really natural. Last thing on
25:19
Speaker 1: the way out here, I just got back from a weekend.
25:21
Speaker 1: I watched my daughter win her second national championship. She
25:25
Speaker 1: plays lacrosse at Northwestern Women's Lacrosse. Yeah, four straight finals
25:29
Speaker 1: appearances to two rings. She has two rings, Jim, but
25:33
Speaker 1: you watch your son playing two final fours, and so
25:35
Speaker 1: I ask you this better watching your son or better
25:38
Speaker 1: doing it yourself.
25:38
Speaker 2: It's not even clamp right.
25:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's okay. The better question, what's more nerve wrecking?
25:44
Speaker 2: Okay, got yeah, much better.
25:45
Speaker 3: Yes, I love playing. So there's way more than to
25:49
Speaker 3: think about this. I covered my center, right, not just
25:51
Speaker 3: watch him so funny real story in the final four
25:56
Speaker 3: against Kentucky his junior year, he has a shot lead
26:00
Speaker 3: to tie the game. Okay, missus Kentucky goes to the
26:04
Speaker 3: final four. I interview him after the game, okay, about
26:10
Speaker 3: that shot and about being in that situation. Right. So
26:13
Speaker 3: it was a it was a it was it was
26:16
Speaker 3: beautiful to watch him grow those four years when he
26:18
Speaker 3: was at Wisconsin. Uh. For me to be able to
26:23
Speaker 3: cover him from a studio perspective, because his sophomore year
26:26
Speaker 3: they took me kind of off of his games until
26:28
Speaker 3: they kind of got in the tournament. I was able
26:30
Speaker 3: to cover him. But it's nerve wracking his heck, bro
26:35
Speaker 3: I mean, you know how it is when your daughter's
26:37
Speaker 3: out there playing and you want them to just succeed
26:42
Speaker 3: and you know, do what win or lose. You want
26:45
Speaker 3: them to be able to all the hard work that
26:48
Speaker 3: they put in, you know, to be able to have
26:51
Speaker 3: success and see what success is. And I tell you, man,
26:55
Speaker 3: watching him, and this is what he hangs over my head. Dad, Yeah,
26:59
Speaker 3: you were real good. You went to the NBA, you
27:01
Speaker 3: played a year college, but you ain't been to a
27:02
Speaker 3: Final four championship. I'm like, I'm like, you got whatever?
27:09
Speaker 3: I got no comeback for that, right, he said, I've
27:12
Speaker 3: been to two. I've been to two. You ain't been.
27:14
Speaker 3: You've been to atlite A.
27:16
Speaker 1: We got you should hear my daughter, she's like, you
27:18
Speaker 1: played D three. I want two national championships.
27:22
Speaker 3: No, it is. Isn't that what we want for our kids?
27:25
Speaker 3: We say we want our kids to be more successful today.
27:30
Speaker 3: Face yes, the face.
27:32
Speaker 1: Yes, but that's when you know they've arrived at success
27:34
Speaker 1: when they started throwing it in our faces.
27:36
Speaker 3: No, it's true, man, it's true.
27:38
Speaker 2: It's awesome.
27:39
Speaker 3: Man, it really is.
27:40
Speaker 2: Jim, we appreciate you doing this. Check him out.
27:42
Speaker 1: He's all over Fox, Foxes college basketball coverage whatever. Yeah,
27:46
Speaker 1: and the Clippers as well. How the hell did a
27:49
Speaker 1: guy from Ohio avoid being a Calves fan.
27:51
Speaker 2: I don't get it. You're a Philly fan.
27:53
Speaker 3: I grew up I grew up closer to Detroit. I
27:55
Speaker 3: grew up a Sixers fan, but I also grew up
27:58
Speaker 3: a Pittsburgh Steeler fan. So some about the Philly area
28:01
Speaker 3: now again, doctor j come on, I mean back in
28:03
Speaker 3: the day and then the steel Kurt so I grew
28:07
Speaker 3: up closer to Detroit, but I never was interested in
28:10
Speaker 3: the Lions. I watched the Pistons a little bit back
28:13
Speaker 3: in the day, or the Calves or Bingles or Browns,
28:16
Speaker 3: Brian Sipe and all those guys. Those a Boomers side,
28:19
Speaker 3: that's great, But something about the Sixers, doctor J. Who's
28:24
Speaker 3: a good friend of mine, and the Steelers man and
28:28
Speaker 3: Swan come on, man, Rocky Blides, Frankle here great me
28:32
Speaker 3: and Joe Green. That was it, Jack Clamor.
28:36
Speaker 1: All right, Jim, I want to have you back on.
28:38
Speaker 1: I want to do this more often. I want to
28:39
Speaker 1: have you on during football season.
28:41
Speaker 2: Football. I want to talk football with you, man, I do.
28:43
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, listen, whatever happens, yes, think about this.
28:49
Speaker 3: Somebody told you Knicks fans at the beginning of this
28:52
Speaker 3: year you'd be in the finals. You would have been
28:54
Speaker 3: happy as hell. Yes, and remember that whatever happens in thechampionship, Okay.
29:00
Speaker 2: Right, you're trying to tell us, don't be greedy. That's
29:02
Speaker 2: what you're saying, right.
29:03
Speaker 3: Well, I'm just reading between the lines, all right, all.
29:06
Speaker 2: Right, but we're greedy. You know that. You know that
29:08
Speaker 2: about Nick fans.
29:09
Speaker 3: We are greedy, man, I know, I know, as you
29:12
Speaker 3: should be.
29:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, get it, Jim, thanks for doing this. We'll do
29:14
Speaker 1: it again, so man, I really appreciate it.
29:16
Speaker 2: Okay, man, all right, thank you. All right, the great
29:18
Speaker 2: Jim Jackson with us. That was fantastic.