Denver is one win away from their first title ever and there's nothing the casuals can do about it. Run it back starts now Good Monday morning, we are back, but we are not back because we're all in very different places Introducing everyone stadium is at her Shamsherani a Chandler P coming to us from Orlando I can tell he's thrilled and Eddie Gonzalez there on the end from his home That is that is nice to see do you are you having a good time Chandler? I Did I did is my brother's birthday today happy birthday He's my godson's birthday. He got baptized had a lot a jammed hacked weekend, but it was a lot of fun Oh, that's a family weekend if there ever was one love that for you guys We have a game tonight. It was weird to have an entire weekend during the finals and not have a game But it's back tonight in Denver's just one went away from their first-ever giant parade eight and a half point favorites back at home in Denver I'm look the odds are what they are Chandler, but as we've been saying all season long or at least during the playoffs Don't count out Miami. Don't count out Miami at some point. That's gonna run out of juice Should we count out Miami? Yeah, I think it's over. I will say that That's that's a lot of points though if I was a betting man Definitely take the heat plus eight and a half tonight That's just that's a lot of points and the heat are not a team. They're just gonna lay down. We've seen it all Playoffs long. This is a team. That's resilient. This is a team that battles the team that is tough They're not gonna give up. I just think they finally have met their match Denver is too good Denver has really made adjustments Especially on the pick-and-roll where Matt Barnett said it last week a lot of guys just switched to easily off pick and rolls and off actions It's made that a point to not do that to not even allow them to get a mismatch last game And so I think with their defensive adjustments the effort they're given there That the production that they're getting from Aaron Gordon and Bruce Brown and guys like that It's just too much and then we look at the nuggets all season long They've been the best team and now they've been the healthiest team throughout the playoffs and and it just seems like it's their year and I Fully believe that they get it done tonight and they get their first ever championship Yeah, I'm counting them out. I'm sorry like the Jimmy stuff was fun Well, it lasted and his scoring has went down in each series since the opening round It's actually kind of funny if you think back the Bucks allowing him to score 35 points a game It's a little absurd when you look at everything that's happened since then, but yeah I'm counting them out. You can't drop both games at home. You tried all your You tried the Kevin Love thing you've you've tried the zone You've got out of the zone because the zone stopped working. You you've almost run out of answers I respect Eric Smolster. I think he's the best coach in the league But there's only so many things he can do what he has Doesn't seem like Tyler hero is gonna ever play in the series, which is unfortunate So I there's no ace left in the hole for them Can they maybe still this game and maybe push the series and on and on sure? But the nuggets have clearly established themselves to the better team the deeper team They're getting more contributions from their bench and from their other guys like Chandler just said when you have Christian Perron playing his greatest he's playing Bruce Brown obviously had an incredible game In game four you can't match that which when Bruce Brown is out playing Jimmy Butler the series is over I'm sorry and it's unfortunate because I wanted a better more competitive series and I know this is like the True Hooper Series for the real hoop fans and all that stuff But there was very little tension in the series and that's unfortunate because we had a great season as that one Twitter thread Has shown us and had a great playoff run, but this is the Denver Nuggets year and I think tonight they get it done Yeah, I'm not gonna say I'm picking the heat to win this series But I'm not gonna count them out of tonight I was at game four post game a lot of the people around the heat were saying just how banged up Jimmy Butler Is how banged up gave Vincent this I'm not saying that's an excuse for Miami They've been through a lot probably a lot more than You know Denver had nine days off between the conference finals in the NBA finals The heat were on a flight to Denver right after game seven from Boston. That's a long flight So there's been no rest from Miami and I think this Jimmy Butler series He has not had a signature game I think in every other round in the Eastern playoffs He had a signature moment a big 40 50 point game or just a game or even in the Nick series He plays through an ankle sprain really gives that that heat team life. They take home court advantage We haven't seen that signature game. I guess in game two twenty one points nine assists. He was great I think getting his teammates involved in that game But he's not even among the top four leading scores in the fourth quarter in this series And I think that's not the Jimmy Butler that we've seen so far in these in these playoffs So I'm gonna go off on a limb I guess and say that I think Jimmy Butler has a signature moment Tonight and and I do think that Miami hopefully for all of us will be competitive. I like that you're doing That's almost like you're you're wishing it into an existence so we can get a better series Aaron Gordon, by the way, who to thunk it the kid from Orlando that we saw years ago is now a Huge part of this nugget squad at 27 points the other night kind of fun to watch from a flashy dunker to a very very important part of the team Chandler, I mean, what can you say about Aaron Gordon that hasn't been said so far Just the development of his entire game, right? You look at his entire playoff here He went from guarding Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony Towns to Kevin Durant to LeBron James and now Jimmy Butler So when you look at this team the Denver Nuggets, they aren't a defensive team, right? They have an unbelievable scoring passing big and you know, good They have an unbelievable scoring playmaking guard and Jamal Murray and then you throw in just this real treat for those two guys That can kind of take on that load and take on that responsibility every single night to go and guard the best player And he's physical and he's worked on his game. He's worked on his handle You see him in the post just kind of exposing mismatches down low when he gets a guy too small on him He can get the defensive rebound. He pushes and starts the break So not only is he he has gotten a lot better and he has improved his game majorly, but he's a perfect fit for this team He's a perfect fit for Jokic. He's a perfect fit for Jamal Murray And he's a huge reason why they are winning this series and they're gonna inevitably be NBA champions Is because Aaron Gordon and how much better he's gotten and it's still a lot of guys in the NBA They're big. They're strong when you watch him play. He seems like a man playing with boys He's just got he has more physicality and we're talking about this mighty Disciplined tough Miami Heat team and Aaron Gordon's taking it to him every which way he's on the floor He's busy. He's battling the post. He is doing everything possible just to kind of beating them at their own game So you when you think of him, you're right You think that dunk contest was Zach Levine you think of high flyer But now he was on the verge of being an all-star this year looking now He probably should have been in some of those other guys And he's become a real NBA player and a huge piece to this team It's funny how winning can change the perception of a player like to a T. I mean a few years ago Devon Booker was a Bad team good stats guy and and same thing Aaron Gordon when he was he was drafted fourth overall He was meant to be a cornerstone for the Orlando Magic He was very ball dominant and it just didn't seem like he was qualified for that role You look where he's at now. He finds the perfect situation He finds that he's the perfect compliment to Nicola Yocas because what Chandler said the way he defends all these guys The way he can play with more physicality. It's not that Yocas doesn't but he's so nimble and he will play outside of the paint So often you need that physical force in the inside the paint and you watch those highlights these show He's just thriving in that role. He's not having a dribble. He's catching. He's dunking. He's catching and shooting threes It's it's perfect for him like situations matter so much in the league And so it's ball dominant as you think of him as in Orlando Magic This is a second high scoring season of his career, you know He's thriving in this role and it's a huge reason why they're as dominant as they have been so far and it's great I mean, he's still a young guy. He's looking can have great years like this That's the scariest part about this this Denver Nuggets team They have so many guys under 30 and their entire core is essentially under 30 that Who knows how long a stretch they can run off of the league is gonna have to adjust to what they're doing and It's just one of those teams there were they swing the pendulum for the rest of the league And they're that great they should I think everyone looks right now at the end result, right? But this has been years and years coming and yeah, Aaron Gordon is the missing piece for the Denver Nuggets And this really started in 2021 you have to give a lot of credit that Denver's old president Tim Connolly He goes out and makes the trade for Aaron Gordon during that 2021 trade deadline And this is a guy who he had interest from from the Houston Rock as he was entering He's gonna he was gonna go into the last year of his deal. He the Rockers were one of the teams I'm told that we're willing to give him an extension of up to 80 million dollars And so the Nuggets had to grapple with the fact that they were gonna have to they were gonna trade for him They would have to pay him an excessive amount of money as well And they but they really viewed him as that guy that can be the missing piece with Jamal Murray Nicola Jokic and the group that they had there then Jamal Murray enforcing Thursday CL but I keep coming back to that team in 2021 was really prime to make it to the finals now would they have won I'm not so sure but now they get a couple years Jamal Murray's back to himself And I think you can look back at that trade when Calvin Booth who's now running the Nuggets You know as of right now. He was going back and forth with Aaron Gordon's agent You know really trying to ask him do you really think he's our missing piece and Calvin Andrews Aaron Gordon's agent kept saying yes He will be and they got him they made the trade then they pay him 92 million dollars And now you see Aaron Gordon to me He's kind of like what Wiggins was last year for the Warriors where I don't know if he's the one finals MVP But you can't say that the Warriors last year would have won without Wiggins and you can't say the Nuggets win this year without Aaron Gordon I love a good Cinderella story There's so many of these stories in this playoff especially in Denver Bruce Brown is another one by the way had a hell of a fourth quarter He has the option this to opt out if he wants to as he played himself into a highly coveted Player position Chandler like if you're another team, are you going after him? One thousand percent and I'm definitely opting out with the hopes to return to this team because again I think he has gotten a lot better, right? I think he's worked in his game his jump shot is completely different than it was when he was coming out of Miami So as much as he's gotten better you can credit that to him you can credit that to the Nuggets He's also a product of this system And he is very good as is Aaron Gordon with those two guys and I think those guys make it easier But on the flip side, so does he and every team across the league can use someone like Bruce Brown who pretty much is a Point guard that can play all the way through four or five. He can switch pick and rolls. He defends He's now creating his own shot. He's shooting the three-pointer at a high percentage So he's turned himself into this all-around player and he's undersized But it doesn't matter because he battles you he remember Brooklyn remember he was playing this He was playing center at some point. It was ridiculous as a point guard So I think he's definitely deserved himself a bag this summer and just because he's valuable every team needs these rule players like PJ Tucker like the Patrick Beverly's Alex Caruso's Bruce Brown was that and now he's even more now. He's a starting player in the NBA And he showed that during this playoffs and he took over that game in the fourth quarter last game So he's definitely if I'm his agent and he's already opted out Yeah, I mean he I was shocked he got the deal he got this summer I was shocked the nets let him go after what he showed for them in the two years there that I saw him He was great in the Celtic series and then yes He was the recipient of a lot of softer coverages against the way they were attacking Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving But he thrived in it. He took advantage of it He had huge he had a couple huge games and he was great throughout the season like Chandler mentioned He was playing like a pick-and-slip center, but he has a lot of he has great touch on his floater in the rim And he's he's powerful at the rim He's a pretty big dunker and he was starting to knock down threes He could handle the ball a little bit I remember me and Kevin were coming back from games just kind of like wild impressed with what he was doing So the idea that that people were running off that Kevin asked for him to be pushed out or whatever Off of a comment where he denied that just blew my mind because we were very impressed with him in Brooklyn I'm not shocked at all. He's thriving in Denver It's a perfect situation for him and he's taking advantage and he's been a gamer like a lot of people laughed at The attempted game when he said he took against the Bucks, but I remember thinking like yo That was ballsy to do that like if Kyrie and Katie on the court the play was for Kyrie He saw open lane. He tried to go get a layup. He missed it. Unfortunately, but it was bold of him to try it I'm not shocked. He's thriving. He hasn't he's a lot of great tools. He's 6-4, but he has crazy long arms He plays very physical. He defends I think he's gonna get a bag. I think he'd be smart for him to stand Denver But if he goes against the money, I can't blame him. I think he deserves it How much of that matters if or when Denver wins? Is it easier to leave? I mean, how does how does the thinking go as a player on that? Or is it more that you want to stay and get another one? Well, I think it works both ways, right? I think someone like that maybe thinks the grass is a little bit greener Individually and selfishly that he can go and expand his role He can be a starter somewhere else. He can go and try and average 16 to 20 points somewhere else But you know, hopefully he's got good, you know support system around him that understands him and his game and his needs And what he needs to succeed and it's this roster that he's currently on and it's the system and it's coach Malone and People always say we never seen anyone like Yolkich, right when you ask these other players these older players Who would they want to play with of anybody in the league? It's Yolkich.  Sorry Eddie What's it say made six point five million dollars this year's options a little bit higher than that But if you can push the 10 12 14 million dollars. Oh, yeah, yeah, you got to leave at that point I mean you can live on six and a half But yeah, it certainly would be nicer to to double that up Look, we got we have to focus a little bit on Miami and maybe it's just simply they ran out of juice But their inability to do anything at home Did that shock you at all Chandler that it just seemed like they were anemic at best Yeah, I am surprised because how electric that place could be how there hasn't been a finals game there in so long But this comes down to their role players. You look across the board BAM has been pretty good Jimmy has been solid But he hasn't had that one big game that Shama has been talking about but Max juice has been a visible and this is a guy who's been knocking down shots for them Who's been a fisher from the field Duncan Robinson had his highs and lows But he presents such a defensive challenge where literally they have to go to zone every time he's on the court Which enables their entire system and what they're trying to do Caleb Martin, I think he had such a good Eastern Conference finals and you could never take that from but I think people put these unrealistic Expectations on this guy like he was that top three player on the championship team And that wasn't really fair So yeah, I think I think it is a little shocking because teams usually come out Especially in the playoffs juice ready the crowd is rocking They protect home court and we've seen they've gone they've gone to and oh I think when they were on the elimination games on the road So this team has been very confusing but again, this is not a team that is just gonna lay down They've had more success honestly on the road this year So it's not that tough for them to go to Denver again, but I am very very surprised But it's just been down to their role players that their role players have it not the shots down They haven't played as good as they had it then in the Eastern Conference finals that they are now Can they bounce back? I mean you mentioned Caleb Gabe Vincent strews. Can they bounce back? I mean, I know this is the whole mantra, right?  I got the most I got everything I could get out of these guys I'll say this they know they're one game away from now the series switching again Just like in the left of the previous series. So you you take this one play at a time It sounds cliche you take this one quarter one play every possession matters As soon as you win this game tonight and it goes back to Miami now all of a sudden Denver feels it and they understand that they let one go and they could have closed it out and Malone said a lot of times when teams get up this high they kind of come up for air and So it's interesting. We'll see tonight. I think Miami does come out to a hot start tonight I think they jump out early. I think they're super aggressive. They're gonna be the first throw the first blow And I think it's I think that's what they need to do. But yeah, you win this game Then it gets really interesting Eddie you got anything? I mean, I think the series is I think series is over I mean, I understand what Chandler's saying about putting pressure back on the nuggets But that's two of these last three games at home. This is not the 3-1 come back I don't I don't see 2016 again and if you look at the games They've been gotten progressively wider and two doubles easy losses at home that that has to be demoralizing I mean, there's there's no way around it. And like I mentioned earlier, I think they're running out of strategic, you know counters they're running out of things to do I'd like to keep putting Kevin Love out there and saying yo He can guard Aaron Gordon. He doesn't he doesn't dribble We don't think he can shoot and then Aaron Gordon goes out and has three-point game So it's we're running out of stuff we can try I Don't see it. I mean, I think I always like to say like I like to see how teams Compete when the when the champagne and the trophy are in the building the trophies in the building The NBA just posted a pitcher put it in the middle of the court trophies in the building I'm expecting Denver to you know act like they know it's out there and get this over with at home Celebrate in front of their home fans. So funny that's in the building shams You recently sat down with Caleb Barton. We're gonna run that interview right now. I talked to you about it afterwards. Here it is I think Eric calls. Hey, he's already in Miami. He's already got the booster shot. He can be ready by tomorrow morning I don't have I'm not Miami. I don't have a booster shot. So I gotta drive away the shot I get the booster shot drive all right back to Raleigh Flow out that night be ready for the scrimmage in the morning So I do all that and they think I'm down the street, you know in Miami So then we come we work out in the morning.  You know, I mean, I was planning for a respect I was playing you know, I mean playing just trying to earn my stripes and stuff like that It just show people like I belong in the association I Just I love everything about that shams. What was your biggest takeaway?   So Shout out Caleb Martin for that. I don't know Chandler. Have you seen a player? Just lie about where he is and what he's doing to get a contract. Is that a thing? Shows you what this kids right shows you how much he wanted it shows you that you know He was willing to do what say whatever to get his chance and he's taken full advantage of it I'm happy for him. That's that's one of those good lies kids. That's a good lie. You're allowed to do those Look this I talked about we've all lied We've all lied and said we we know how to work excel at a job interview and then I know that I got a Google how to work excel. So I love the story and you know, it's a look. He's had a great season It's unfortunate that they're down 31 in the playoffs But he's definitely made his his place in the league and made his reputation known now and it's crazy because I remember both twins Played well in Charlotte. It's not like they weren't superstars but they took advantage of the minutes they got out there as well, so You know having a rush and find a booster and all that stuff That's I will say though him riding the scooter to and from is the most Miami thing ever like I love everything about that story Like that you mentioned Eddie that Twitter's got that thing going on right now about how this has been the wackiest NBA season of All-time this weekend gave us like three more stories as if it couldn't get any better and one of them is this I don't know why Connor McGregor is doing a an ad in the middle of a game But he did this so realistically that that poor guy had to go to the ER Is this the dumbest simulation that we're all living in right now? Please help me understand What what am I looking at right now? Chandler? Have you ever Eddie? Have you ever seen this in your life? I mean, I gotta say when I when I saw this I thought it was a little aggressive, right? Like I was Looks this looks You know what a little bit of that whiskey he's selling I love that what was going on with that I don't know. I'm brave of the mascot. He agreed to this though. Like there's no way I'm agreeing to that I'm not a little but his punch packs a lot. I'm not doing yeah I'm waiting on a lawsuit from this guy. They got putts. I haven't seen any of those stories yet WWE has officially crossed Connor McGregor off to because he does No, no, because you know what they reminded me of when Brock Lesnar first went to WWE He could you could tell he didn't know the line yet and there were moments really all that guy's gonna die So, yeah, no, that's that's where my conner's just small so he has that going for him Yeah, dumbest season of all time in the best of ways. We're gonna take a quick break when we come back George Carl joins the show. We're gonna talk nuggets and we're gonna talk everything else. There he is We'll be back I like that song a hall of fame coach joining us today playoffs 22 times five different teams Nine times with the nuggets. George Carl is here. George. We have so much we want to ask you We're gonna jump right in. Good morning. First of all, but I you're in Denver The nuggets on the verge of their first ever championship. Is this the best version of a nuggets team you've ever seen? I have to say yes Our team that went to the western commons finals 2009 I thought the next year was the best version of artsy Uh, and that was the year I got sick And we stopped there too late And then that year after that mellow major requests to be traded. So, um I think it was the situation that we had a really good run This team has had a similar run I think it's fantastic because I think the oakage has been under looked under appreciated Under accepted began now everybody's realizing what a great player he is And I think Denver their roster now is in a very quiet way become Probably the best roster in the western conference It might have been the west best roster for the last year or two George as a coach, how would you stop a player like nicole yoki? You know a lot of guys come into town and they call me out They take me to breakfast or lunch and they ask me that same question I don't know. I my my my belief in great players is you got to change the walk That you give them constantly throughout the game And I don't know how many teams now are built offensively to do that Most teams in the NBA now are built Probably more offensive oriented than having a combination of different defenses The teams that had success a little bit this year Played small on them and brought the big guys to the double team Instead of playing big and bringing the little guys to the double team Um, I think you got to be physical with them And I think the big thing that miami has found out If you have a chance to be him is you can't let him be a facilitator Every time he gets ten assists They went I think they won almost 90 percent of games This year when when yoki just had ten assists and he loves to facilitate more than he likes to score I really think the guy could average 40 points game as we wanted to Yeah, coach just talking about yokich here.  Maybe like a shack or Who you got on that kind of level Over the years, I've always thought shack was the most difficult guy to game plan against Because a lot of times you didn't have a guy That could cover He had to cover him with multi-bodies and foul trouble one Uh, you know, I know michael jordan was very difficult to cover Uh, kevin durant and my time was really difficult. I said to cover kobe bryant When he gets him to rhythm was very difficult to cover Well, I was blessed to have the opportunity to cover a lot of great players But what I love about yokich is there's no nonsense To playing the game the right way He demands almost everybody on his team to play the game the right way And because of that, I think they've turned into being the best team in the NBA And I really admire that because in today's game superstar him sometimes is More individually oriented The superstars totally committed to be doing it through the team Making the team better and winning because we're a team Coach from 1 15 to the number 15 you coach carmelo anthony A lot of people wonder how the nuggets will handle that number in the future going forward Do you think they can should they retire the number for both guys? What do you think they should do there? I don't I don't deny that mellow deserves to be on the rafters has those yokich um I don't know how they handle that That we never and I just has many different jerseys. Maybe one with one jersey neither with the other um Mellow was the best scorer I've ever coached. I've never had an offensive player like that other in my time And it was kind of in the year when the game was changing from defense to offense And mellow was kind of a leader there along with You know other guys like kevin diran guys like that who could put big numbers on the board The game has become a very offensive oriented game This three ball was analytically exploded all over the place And the game has definitely changed But mellow deserves to be in the rafters here in denver in my opinion It's such a it's such a tricky one. I can't believe this is going to be a situation. All right, coach Everyone talks about good, but I want both. I want the best thing about coaching mellow and the worst thing about coaching mellow Um The best thing is about coaching mellow was offensively. He daved the games where he couldn't lose his throw explosive And he was also a very good clutch player people don't remember that mellow was Probably a good not not wanted. He's probably one of the top four or five guys in the fourth quarter When he was in his prime The most difficult time I think coach mellow is the Mellow had an ability to a triple double every night People don't realize he was a great rebounder and a pretty damn good pass But he was committed and and he was kind of dominated by he had to score points To get his recognition I wish it had been more committed to be more of a triple double guy Today's game rewards triple doubles a little bit more than back 10 15 20 years ago um And then I think um I don't know if this is a bad or a good thing, but mellow believed in himself more than he believed in his team No, because it's the exact opposite Yelkes believes in the team more than he believes in himself And I think in times of toughness and mental toughness is needed I think the team wins more than the individual does Yeah, you you never end up winning a title in Denver coach But do you ever look back and think this year this team man we we should have where we could have Well, you know I I love my coaching career. I I really enjoyed being on in the kind of a small market Over a team and type of basketball team. We had a lot of Seattle. We had some of them here in Denver We had one in Milwaukee and It was time, you know that it was kind of like The Denver Nuggets didn't get a lot of recognition. Everybody wanted to deny that they were very very very good And now that they're on the verge of winning a championship um I I would say 70 80 percent of me is celebratory And I can't deny every once in a while. I wish I would have had the opportunity to maybe coach me. I like yours You you manage a lot of personalities personalities in your career You Carmelo who we've talked about coach Allen Iverson Gary Payton the list goes on and on and on Is there ever a guy that you just could not see eye to eye with no matter how hard you tried? I mean, I had my nightmares with players. I mean, I mean um My feeling and my coaching career is I always wanted to be a we team and not a me team And I always wanted to play as a team more than as an individual star And so the guys that didn't want to play that way. I had I had battles with I had battles with Gary Payton and I right now are one of my best friends And during I battled more than anybody But we always came out in a game and competed to win the game the right way um You know no walkie. We made a trade for Anthony Mason. It didn't work out Uh, that was somewhat troublesome to the team I know Ray Allen was in my Anthony didn't get along and We went to the conference finals and then the next two we fell apart That would be the one time that I think It destroyed the team more than anybody any other place I was at Wow George that team with Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony. That was a fun team a lot a lot of scoring Um, what was your favorite part about coaching Allen Iverson? What was the most amazing thing? Uh, you saw him do and just overall. What was it like coaching? Um Well people don't understand how small Allen Iverson is And I was amazed How hard it could play And still do what he did uh, I know, um His ability to score points was harder than You know for I mean a little guy on the screen they named today and When Allen played there was more physical contact And I thought he was just a gamer or winner He was a competitive guy Uh, that's I think in a lot of ways changed our game Even though we don't give him a lot of credit But there was You know in the 80s and 90s of the NBA Little guys didn't exist And Allen Iverson Brought the little guy back to the game of basketball in many many ways And I I was forced into coaching for a couple years And you know, I had him on the downward side a little bit But he still had many amazing games for us Brought back the little guy. All right coach, you know, you know, I have to ask this one question because we had Kenyon Martin on the show last week. Um, and to put it mildly he has not forgiven you still for suspending him for the 2006 playoffs I know you saw the clip Were you were you surprised at his response? Was there anything there that kind of got you? That's maybe sad I I know it disappoints That I could get a person that angry Or that disappointed in me Uh, I want to love my players. I want to care for my players But I am also the The leader and the policeman Of my team and My response in that game I don't think was out of control or unusual I was doing something I thought I had to do for my team Uh, I might have been wrong I don't you know, I I You know, what you know when those things happen you want to move forward. You don't want to go backwards and uh To suspend him in that situation was very difficult for the organization I know it was very difficult for him um I think Kenny Martin is I mean, I'm gonna tell you I thought he was one of them Brightest defensive players I've ever coached And I thought he'd make a hell of a coach Because he's a competitive guy I also said that in the book that I wrote that everybody doesn't read all the book I mean, I I really think Uh, you know, Kenyon is a competitive SOB Tough to handle at times Tough and difficult to handle His first team is and for the other team But he played the right way he played the win And many of the wins here was because he wasn't Nuclear so our defense We weren't a great defensive team But because of him we were a good defensive Yeah We're also now seeing coaches You know fired after a winning coach of the year or a couple of years after winning a championship Do you think it's it's gotten out of control or do you think expectations are too high for coaches? Yes, no, there's no there's no question The territory of the coach The influence of the coach is going downhill I don't know if it will ever come back. I don't think management wants to come back I don't think agents wants it to come back They like the interaction of management and agents Controlling the the decision-making I'm not sure that's the way it should be But as the coach, I mean, I meant I was my son's the coach I tell him this is probably the way it's going to be Until something changes it. I think it's going to continue on this path Someone told me the other day that 19 Of the 30 coaches have been fired in the last two years I think that's a little ridiculous that you think about if you think about it My my belief really is there's not a lot of bad coaching in the NBA There's a lot of coaching that doesn't win But really I think a lot of owners now want to find the magician They can pull a championship out of the hat And to win a championship you gotta have a process You gotta have a culture and you gotta have a good coach And you gotta have a hell of a lot of good players Coach on that same token Do you feel like it's more of a players league today than it was when you were coaching and and because of that Do you feel like your coaching style would have to change in today's game? I I tried to play basketball for fun I mean most of the time I was very very I demanded detail I love you know in seattle we play defense aggressively Here and then in Denver we played offensive aggressively I tried to play my system build upon the strengths and weaknesses of my players Not on my philosophy, but what fit their philosophy I Love coaching. I loved it the evolving of what you have to do to be that become a good basketball team It's a lot of times it's a putting a puzzle together Over an 82 game season can be difficult But when you do it, it's celebratory. It's fun. This is your energizing And I was blessed to have a lot of really good teams And a lot of good runs in the NBA. I just never got to the mountains Yeah, one of those great runs george was in seattle seven years there seven playoff appearances went to the NBA finals We know obviously Sean camp Gary Payton.  My team is Seattle. Yeah, my team's in Seattle work We were very close We stopped our total a couple of years and losing in the first round but We went through the western conference finals early in the early in the run with Sean and Garrett And then we lost a couple years and we came back and went to the NBA finals And of course, Michael was in our way But in that playoffs, I thought Gary and Sean proved to the world that they were damn good And people forget Sean played really well in that NBA final. In fact, he got MVP votes I think Michael got five and and Sean got three and on from a losing team and um Sean and Gary drove me a little crazy But well, I loved the bomb. They were competitors when the game started. They were focused. They were disciplined. They were demanding and And you know, we came up short Uh, I just wish we were that healthy Nate McMillan in the series we played against with the Chicago Bulls because With Nate McMillan, we were really really really good Without him, we were just damn good Coach you mentioned Nate McMillan that maybe that was the thing or hear me out It was in the last dance MJ said that you snubbed him during the finals in a restaurant Now maybe Nate McMillan would have made a difference or if you would have just gone over and said hello in the restaurant Do you think that would have changed everything?  I know I was in a couple restaurants with him um I've known Michael since then I played golf with him three or four times. He's never brought up the subject to me But I mean it was a great run and Uh, Michael would have found a way and I'll be honest with you I thought we did a good job with Michael in that playoff series I think he's shot under 40% He only had one game where he was the reason they kicked our butts um Dennis Robin and two coach and and in pippin A lot of it was a defensive minded playoff series I think the last game was actually 86 78 the sixth game We were a very good defensive team and they were a little bit better than we Coach this has been an absolute pleasure. I know it's early in denver I know the city is alive and well. Enjoy the night. Enjoy the festivities when and if uh, they should occur. We appreciate it I am so I'm so happy for the fans of denver The fans of the ABA back with dugmo and larry brown The only other final they went through was in 70 75 or 76 when they played juniors over Yep, and the ABA and the last ABA's fight championship and now Denver after what 47 48 years Yeah, I think they're going to get it. I hope it's tonight But they better be careful There are a lot of teams three one that have lost this game But they've never lost the series. That's what's on their side right now I think that will win it And I hope it's tonight Thank you, sir. We appreciate it. Uh shams. We're also going to say goodbye to you What a what great company to be leaving in shams leaving with coach george carl love everything about that The three of us though not going anywhere because wendy struggled In a game yesterday.  We'll talk about that when we come back Yeah, time for a little you buying that, you know all eyes on wendy. Uh victor women yama They're playing french league finals out on france game one though eight points seven rebounds two assists In 27 minutes Oh, what is that chandler? Are you are you buying that? He should be playing this close to the draft by the way Yeah, I I I'm not buying that if I'm pop.  And I also respect the the way that he's finishing this season And he's finishing what he started Uh, he's gonna have ups downs. I think you know the expectations also they're gonna have to manage him coming in with such a buzz and such a Argument that he's the greatest prospect of all time when you look at his frame when you look at what he presents It's it's gonna be it's gonna be a process and he's gonna end up being a hell of a player But he's gonna have a lot of 8.7 rebound games But I think the issue here is yeah, I haven't even playing if I'm the spurs I don't necessarily love that he's playing these games, but I respect it is a hopper and he wants to be competing And I I love that he's finishing what he started with this team in france, but Yeah, hold your breath till that till that draft and you can get your hands Yeah, I don't love it if I'm the spurs either But that team paid a premium to have that young man play basketball for them and now he's in the finals in that league So yeah, you got to do what you got to do I'd actually be kind of bummed if he sat out the finals And basically said yo, I'm off to the nva like we've seen some college players do as of late and and I remember Lonzo ball got a lot of flak when he was in the locker room He was not upset that the UCLA Bruins had lost and he was like, yeah, I'm going to the league guys So it's a little bit of both But it would be a little hypocritical because you know, they're gonna play him in a month in the summer league So, you know, get all the work you can in young fella. We're gonna need you ready for next season Yeah, he's young. It'll be fine. It's fine. I'm just telling myself that it's gonna be fine Raptors got themselves a new coach hiring grizzlies assistant Darko Ryakovich to be their next guy eddie you buying that I'm interested to see what this means for the future of that team I know there's rumors coming out this week that they're not blowing it up after Rumors all year that they would and they have tradeable contracts they have mix of veterans and young guys Darko's louded as a player development guy in the league a lot of people credit Devin Booker's development towards him So I'm very interested to see what would his stamp will be on this team But it seems like the Raptors are preparing for both. They're preparing for Continuing on with the team that they have as of now and they're complaining. They're preparing for some player development And that's a good place to be Lot to be decided out there in Toronto still and and this is just the beginning of that Yeah, I like this a lot You know, I feel about just the cesspool of the coaches getting fired and hired and thrown around I like this guy. I like to hire like when when the grizzlies hire Taylor Jenkins a lot of people like who is this guy? What's he gonna do? This is that similar situation where his is a fresh start. It's a young dude. He's excited He's had a track track record of having a you know success So I love this. I'm all for a new young guy getting an opportunity rather than on one of these other coaches That just they just keep funneling through and giving more chances. So I don't know much about him Um, I I do know whether they're tanking whether they're keeping it together I I love the idea of having this guy and a new coach and a fresh face, you know, kind of being the leader of that I mean stock rivers doesn't have a job guys. So now we're on lookout or does he go back into the booth? Who knows for taking a quick break We'll come back and we'll have an entire segment on Zion Williamson because I can't get enough when run it back returns Get in on the NBA finals action right from the first tip with Fandall right now You can make finals even more exciting with bets that can get you an early w bet on race to 15 first basket score Method of first basket score and so much more There's no better place to bet all the finals action than america's number one sports book download the app Get a quick w today Fandall official sports book betty partner of the m b a all right You guys got a a couple seconds left here at the end predictions for tonight. Does the trophy get hoisted chandler Yes, although part of me thinks that they'd rather win in miami and celebrate at live or 11 Thank you. It's done tonight, but I do think the heat cover the spread Yeah, I ain't a house a lot eddie. It's a lot I got the nuggets Protecting home court winning big i'm happy for a lot of guys on that team yokets getting crowned I'm happy for jeff green all everything. He's been through. Yeah, it's smith Christian brawn the way he worked at bruce brown like a lot of good stories on that team. I'm happy for those guys I hope they handle it today And I think they will Has there ever been a team with more names mispronounced and then devour nuggets? Let's think about that overnight. We'll come back tomorrow We'll do 20 minutes on that alone because if you think even just christian brawn That one's everyone gets wrong, but uh, we have jamal crofford on the show tomorrow I am very stoked for that. Uh, he's become a television superstar Like we all knew he would he'll have his two cents and maybe we'll be talking about the newest NBA champions out in mile high city until then Everyone enjoy the games tonight. We will see you bright and early tomorrow morning


Welcome everyone to the closing meeting of Wildflower Week. I think it's been a really successful event. I'm really excited with how it turned out. We had 16 different virtual hikes, field trips, available to everybody. And so thank you to all of our partners who submitted videos. Many of the videos had over 50 views, so people were definitely out there watching them. And perhaps some of you were able to go out and follow in some of their footsteps to see some of the places and flowers that were highlighted in the videos. One of the big events for the week was a botanical drawing class hosted by a former K&PS board member Amy Tipton. There were 23 participants, and I personally really enjoyed it. I learned a lot about drawing with using pencil. I drew a flocks myself. And then another event was a Wildflower trivia night hosted by the Arboretum and ours truly Emily Ellingson. And there were 37 participants for a really fun night of tricksy botanical questions. And my, my favorite team name of the night was the Smarty Plants. And then I just wanted to thank all of the partners. So everyone who contributed to the event. These are all different organizations who either submitted a video or did one of the events or like Shaker Village submitted a scavenger hunt, things like that. And then a very special thank you to Jeff Nelson, who was great. We put the website together as well as did all of the daily updates. Kendall McDonald, who is a botanist and Lycanologist with Kentucky Nature preserves, who put together eight of the videos that were posted for the week. All of the ones that had the, the K&PS intro were the ones that Kendall put together. And then Vanessa, who is our INAT guru, and if you look down on this list, she has gone through over 900 plants and identified them for you all. So thank you so much, Vanessa. And then last but not least, all of our members for participating in this week's event. So our centerpiece for the week was the statewide botany blitz. And just in case you don't know yet, the botany blitz is a community science event focused on finding as many plant species as possible in a select area for a select period of time. And so the focus of our botany blitz was on spring ephemeral. And we had observations from 63 counties, which I think is amazing because it's over half of Kentucky's counties, we have 120 counties in the state. And they ranged all the way from Calisle County in the far west, all the way to Pike County in the Far East. So it was a really great distribution of the whole state. And in the project itself we had 166 people signed up to partake in it. About 15 minutes ago, there was 2875 observations, which is crazy. I was not expecting that I was thinking maybe somewhere around like several hundred. So this is really awesome. Over 450 species were found. And then, in terms of people identifying it we had over 125 people helping out to make sure all of these species got identified. So thank you for all those people. And currently, our leaders are penguin paladin for most observations and John Abrams for most species. So well done job. And then, in terms of most commonly observed species. So we had 58 observations of flocks di varicada, as well as dwarf larkspur, those were the two big winners for the week. And then viola sorority or sorority or common blue violet came in second or third or however you want to count that. And then may apple spring beauty ruin enemy selenine poppy, all of the rest of these you can see had a lot of observations. You can see two invasives made the list to spring. Common invasives but the rest are beautiful, non native ephemeral species. And then we are, we have decided to hold off on announcing the winners. And purely because the botany blitz is still going through the end of today. And there are a lot of observations that we still need to identify so we are going to hold off on announcing winners. And then we will make the announcement in the next edition of the lady slipper. And we will give out prizes for the top three people in the categories of most observations and most species. So this gives everybody more time to upload photos if you haven't yet. And because data is stored in each digital photo that you take anything you observe from this week. And you post later on will still become part of the project, as it's, it's stored within that digital image. So what would be really helpful is if you get on our naturalist and help us sort through all these observations and help ID them all, that would be really helpful. So, I'm going to hand it off to Vanessa, who's going to give us some highlights on some really cool species that were observed this week. Okay, well, this was such a cool week. So many observations. We were really impressed with how many people got out, joined the project and we're observing plants this week. So we just wanted to go over a few of the coolest photos or species that we saw coming through. So this week, okay and peas surveys were focused on bronze rock crust, which is a little mustard. That is globally rare and is mostly found within three counties in Kentucky Franklin on and Henry counties. We've been surveying for this plant this week and enjoying the beautiful weather and here we've got two photos by okay and peas owns just slayed and Tara little field from Jeff Nelson and Robert Dunlap in the Kraken County. We've got this gorgeous blooming Carolina Silverbell it's got these beautiful pendulous white flowers. Jeff and Robert are like our power observers in Western Kentucky so they always like to see what they've got in their sights. In Warren County, a French is shooting star from Kentucky Courtney. This is a really cool shooting star similar to the usual species that we see in Kentucky, go to Kathy on media. So this is great to see in Warren County. So, like, all the photos of these mass blooms were so awesome to see blue I'd marry may still be at peak bloom at Raven run nature sanctuary south of Lexington so if you're in the area you should definitely go check this out because these are just gorgeous. I saw this beautiful rainbow saw this gorgeous roadside grassland remnants. Huge amount of birdsfoot violet this is just so cool to see. Again from just slayed, and this mass bloom of Virginia blue bells in Franklin County. This is still highest sense at Cherokee Park in Louisville so if you're in the Louisville area. This might be one to check out because they won't be there for long this is definitely a spring ephemeral so when it is done for the year in early summer it, it goes dormant and it disappears until next year. This is not a native plant but I this little bumblebee that was coming in for landing was just so cute and so I thought I'd put this in the slide. This is a great capture. This is wild ginger flower flowers at the base of the plant and so sometimes it's a little hard to see, but if you can. Usually you have to get down on your hands and knees or kind of crawl around to find them but if you can get down there, and you can check it out, these flowers are just incredible they're so hairy.  John Abrams took this awesome photo of two leaf miter word, this is one of the hardest flowers to photograph because the stem they're so slender, and these flowers are so tiny but they look like beautiful little snowflakes, and this is a great photograph from john. This is. Common blue violet and blue it's just a really pretty photograph there were so many of these beautiful, beautiful compositions.  There's so much more than this so if you have time, definitely take some time to scroll through, because it's, it's just so nice to see all this color after that long winter. Thank you Vanessa. And I'm going to hand it off to tear a little field now to close out the meeting. So I'm out here at Pine Creek Barrens I was running some errands and was doing a short pop in here. It's got really good cell phone service which is awesome. The Glade Crest the Kentucky Glade Crest which is a federally listed plant is going to seed so I wanted to see that and then some violets because I'm trying to catch as many violets as I can this spring. But like, like Vanessa and Heidi said this has been just such a great week. You know, there's that silver lining in the pandemic where you know we can connect more and communicate more with members across the whole entire state, virtually through INAT through these virtual hikes. And so I know, you know, a lot of people like to meet in person and we are certainly going to be planning some field trips I think later on in the year, possibly the board is going to be meeting in the next week to decide on exactly what our plans are. But I think that that these these meetings and particularly the botany blitzes with INAT we're going to continue to do those kinds of things into the future because they really just connect everyone across the whole entire state. Not everyone can can make it to one place, you know, for wildflower weekend so so I've been so so pleased and excited about the direction that we're going here so very exciting. Some other things I'll just touch touch base on briefly. With native plant society and different projects that we're working on this year and you know we've got our grants program. Our grants committee is looking through the grants right now but I think we've got one or two student grants that will probably be announcing in the next newsletter. And that that that grant. The student grant deadline has closed but if you do know any students that are still looking for grants. I'm sure we can can slide them in and review projects if you know anyone that that is is looking for grants. In addition to those student grants we also have native plant inventory grants that are open to anybody, the community scientists, not just students so they're small grants that will help you get to natural areas and catalog on iNAT or you know in species lists and and we've got folks that can that can that can help and guide guide you through that process so look so look on our website for for for those types of grant opportunities so that that's something new that we're doing just to try to connect. You know, everyone to different natural areas and and and and help with with species lists. So this fall we are definitely going to plan another Kentucky Botanical Symposium like we did last year and it will probably be online still. We might have some. I think that was kind of late winter anyway in winter so so that will probably end up still being on online and that and that works because then we can reach a much larger audience that way. But but if anyone on this call or, you know, just a call out to our members, reach out to us get involved. We need committee chair members we need more people to help organize field trips and and so many different things. We've got a lot of synergy going on with native plant society right now and, and I'm really excited there's new people joining. I think we could do a lot of great things in the in the next coming years. Just looking and looking at plant diversity conserving different areas, learning about all these different cool plants that we have across the state so that's that's really about it. We will be meeting in the next two or so weeks the board will to decide and get some dates down and just check we've got our monthly newsletter the lady slipper. You can hear a car background here. There's there's a road back there. But yeah check our newsletter that comes out monthly so you'll hear once the board decides if we're going to be organizing any actual in person field trips. You all be the first to know if you're on our email list and the members. So, that's, that's really it I'm just, I'm just really excited about all this. And I really appreciate everyone joining and looking forward to, to doing more and in botanizing more with everybody. So.