00:00So former Wizards head coach Randy Whitman was on my podcast yesterday.
00:04He's a really good guest.
00:06He's had such an incredible basketball life.
00:09Grew up in Indianapolis, played as a very successful high school basketball player
00:14in the state of Indiana, which is a big deal.
00:17Went to Indiana, played for Bobby Knight, won a national championship
00:20playing alongside Isaiah Thomas, was in the NBA for many, many years,
00:26played on some of those really good Atlanta Hawks teams with Dominique Wilkins in the 80s,
00:30and then obviously had a very long coaching career,
00:33including his stint here in Washington from 2012 to 2016,
00:39where I always felt like he didn't get enough credit for being an excellent coach.
00:45Most coaches always viewed Randy Whitman as very strong as an X's and O's coach.
00:51So I had him on yesterday.
00:53You're not going to hear the whole thing because a lot of it was about the NBA Finals
00:57and previewing Game 1, even, and previewing the series.
00:59But we talked about a number of things, and I finally got to
01:03Wizards have the number one pick on June 23rd.
01:07If you're in the room, what would you do?
01:10So the Wizards have the number one pick.
01:12I know you're a huge college basketball fan as well.
01:16So if you're in that room and you're part of the decision-making group,
01:20who are you taking at number one?
01:23Yeah, I would really think hard and long of seeing, number one,
01:30what you can get for it.
01:32There could be some crazies out there that it is a deep draft,
01:38and you never know what kind of package you might get for that.
01:42I mean, that's what I'm looking at, number one.
01:45I love the kid from BYU.
01:51DeBonsa.
01:52Yes.
01:54The thing I like about him, he just loves to play.
01:59He loves to play.
02:00Were they a great team?
02:02They weren't a great team.
02:03They lost that player that really hurt them, and they didn't go as far as they did.
02:08But this kid just, you can see it in his face and his emotions.
02:14He loves playing basketball.
02:18And that you can't teach.
02:21And if you have a guy like that, I had a guy like that in Kevin Garnett.
02:25The guy absolutely loved playing, which translated to he loved practicing.
02:33He loved competing, whether within an actual game
02:37or against his teammates in practice.
02:39And that goes a long way.
02:42That goes a long way in developing your team
02:45when you have a big component of your team
02:50that rubs off on other players like that.
02:54But, I mean, the kid from Kansas is a good player.
02:58He's probably more, has a more, you know, chance to be a really great pro.
03:04But I don't know if he likes to play.
03:07Right.
03:07Yeah.
03:08You can say all you want now.
03:10He can come out and say it's whatever the vitamins I'm taking
03:13or whatever my butt.
03:16Right?
03:16There's no way I'm taking myself out of the game.
03:21It's not the trainer taking you out or a doctor taking you out.
03:24I'm taking myself out of the game.
03:26Right?
03:26Because that scares me.
03:29That's just me speaking off.
03:33So, you know, a lot of people compare those two guys, I think.
03:36I don't think there's any comparison.
03:39Talent-wise, I think the Kansas kid might have a little bit more talent.
03:42But the other dimension of the kid, those intangibles you can't teach.
03:50All right?
03:51And that's a talent, too.
03:53If you have those kind of intangibles that go over.
03:56And he's a good player.
03:57Don't get me wrong.
03:58He's a good player.
03:59He's not that much different talent-wise.
04:02But that other thing just scares me too much.
04:05But I would look to see who would give me, hey, you know,
04:08you've got two veteran guys there on the team, too.
04:12You can package that and, you know, really put something together
04:17that you guys could take off next year.
04:21Real quickly, because you brought up Kevin Garnett
04:23and the kind of competitor that he was and how he loved basketball,
04:28you were on that staff right with Flip Saunders, correct?
04:32Correct.
04:34Because he didn't play college basketball and he came right out of high school,
04:40like, did you guys know that about him at 18 years old?
04:45Or did you figure it out once he actually got into an NBA game?
04:52Like, how did you know that about Garnett?
04:55You knew his passion for the game just the way he played it.
04:58Now, you didn't know the other part.
05:00You know, that his drive, I mean, he isn't even close.
05:07He's the, for a superstar, a Hall of Fame player, he practiced every day.
05:17I mean, Flip would have to throw him out of the gym.
05:22Right.
05:22If he said, oh, you're not practicing today,
05:24we're coming off four games in five days, you're not practicing,
05:28we're going to play a lot of these.
05:29He would get pissed off.
05:32And you would literally have to throw him out of the gym to keep him off the floor.
05:37Now, you didn't know those things.
05:39We just got lucky.
05:40Right.
05:41We got lucky with that.
05:43But I kind of see those same intangibles with the kid from BYU.
05:47All right.
05:47I do have one more just because everything pops into my head as you're talking.
05:51You have coached great players.
05:53You have played with great players.
05:55Who's the greatest player you've been around as a coach or a player, as a teammate?
06:02Isaiah Thomas.
06:03Yeah.
06:03He was by far the best at just everything.
06:11Leader, not only a talent, made other people better.
06:19He was a tough, I mean, tough physical dude at six foot.
06:24I mean, he would fight you in a minute, even if you were seven foot.
06:28Yeah.
06:29And Hart, he was a winner.
06:33I mean, he just, he was a winner through and through.
06:37And I always gravitate to the people that make your teammates better.
06:44And he did that along with being a great player.
06:49And he, you know, I'm biased.
06:51I played with him.
06:52We won a national championship together.
06:55And he ended up having a pretty good career in the NBA, too.
06:59Yeah.
06:59You know, when it comes to Isaiah, I always think about, you know, and I know we've had
07:05these conversations before because it's coming to me right now that we've probably talked
07:08about this, but nobody remembers.
07:09I think Steph Curry, for me, is the best combination of shooter and ball handler in one body that
07:19I've ever seen.
07:20But I always go back to, if Isaiah played in this era where you're able to pull up from
07:2735 feet in transition and shoot, you know, 15, 18 threes a game, that he would have been
07:36a great long-range three-point shooter.
07:40And I might think of him that way.
07:42What do you say to that?
07:43Yeah.
07:44I say he wouldn't have been a Steph Curry type shooter.
07:48Right.
07:48There's only one of those, Kev.
07:51Yeah.
07:52He's going to go down.
07:54Come on.
07:54I mean, seriously, think back when he was at Davidson.
07:57I think he was the seventh pick.
08:00Was he the seventh pick in the draft?
08:01I think that was it.
08:03Yep.
08:04And we traded the pick.
08:06We traded the pick.
08:10There's nobody thought that he was going to be the player that he's turned out to be.
08:16You know, he's slight buildy, skinny.
08:18He played at Davidson.
08:21You know, I can, Steph is a, he's a tough kid.
08:26I mean, you don't get and do what he's done in this league for the number of years he's
08:31done it with the build that he is, the slight build that he is, and survive without toughness.
08:39Not only mental toughness, but physical toughness.
08:42He's a tough kid.
08:44And there's nobody that shoots it like that.
08:46I don't know if we'll see another one that shoots it like that.
08:50I might not.
08:51I'm sure there'll be another one that comes around.
08:53But he, no.
08:55And, as you said, his ability to handle the ball on top of it.
08:59He's just not a catch-and-shoot guy that can really shoot it.
09:04He could create his own shot without great quickness.
09:08I mean, this kid isn't like, you know, I mean, John Wall was quick.
09:13This kid's not quick.
09:15But the release is lightning quick.
09:18Lightning quick.
09:20Not even, you can't block it.
09:22Right.
09:23Yeah, you know, I'm looking back at that draft and I remember specifically Flip Saunders was
09:28hired before that season.
09:30And Abe Poland still owned the team.
09:33Ernie was the GM.
09:35I forget, were you a part of the 2009 staff or not?
09:40Uh, yes.
09:41Yeah, you were, right?
09:42You came with Flip, right.
09:45So, I can tell you, I know the player Ernie would have picked had he been on the board,
09:52but he wasn't, and that was Harden.
09:54Ernie loved James Harden coming out of Arizona State.
09:58Instead, we traded the pick for Randy Foy and Mike Miller.
10:03You're exactly right.
10:05Yeah.
10:06Ooh, how's that look now?
10:08Steph Curry was on the board.
10:11Well, hey, I think, wait a minute, think about it.
10:15What's the kid, uh, heck, there was another one.
10:18Minnesota, I think.
10:20Uh, Minnesota picked Ricky Rubio with the pick.
10:23Uh, and another, there was another, they picked two point guards.
10:27Uh, God, you're right, you're right about that.
10:29They picked, um, uh, not Tyreek Evans.
10:33Hold on, I gotta, I gotta look it up.
10:34Oh, Johnny Flynn.
10:35Johnny Flynn from Syracuse.
10:37How about that one?
10:38Yeah.
10:38Yeah.
10:38Johnny Flynn.
10:39Yeah.
10:40You lasted a year and a half in the league.
11:10Yeah.
11:11How's he going to guard?
11:12Um, but he loved Harden.
11:15By the way, Harden couldn't guard anybody either.
11:18Uh, but, uh.
11:19Yeah.
11:20But that's the way that one went.
11:21Well, just, just to let the fans out there, I didn't have anything to do with it.
11:25No, you didn't.
11:26No, you didn't.
11:26Um, uh, thanks for doing this.
11:29I always enjoy it.
11:30Hope you're well.
11:31It's always, it's always a pleasure.
11:33And anytime, if I can do it, you know, I'll come on.
11:37If I'm on the golf course, forget it.
11:38Hit him straight.
11:39Appreciate it.
11:40I'll talk to you soon.
11:42All right.
11:42Talk to you later.
11:44That was Randy Whitman from the podcast.
11:46He was really good.
11:47He's always really good.
11:48Really likable guy.
11:50And again, like just, he's been around for some big moments during his career.
11:55Even if he wasn't the, you know, central character.
11:59Um, but yeah, that draft, the Randy Foy, Mike Miller draft, uh, of 2009, when they traded
12:07number five overall, it was because Abe wanted to get to the playoffs immediately.
12:14Uh, he didn't have that much time left and he wanted to see a playoff team and Flip Saunders
12:21was brought in as a veteran coach to coach a playoff team.
12:24Of course, as we know, they didn't make the playoffs until they got to, um, the playoffs,
12:30uh, back with Randy Whitman, with John Wall and Bradley Beal.
12:35Uh, but yeah, that was coming off the, you know, Gil, Karan, uh, Antoine years and, um,
12:41they wanted more, uh, tough, uh, really tough series for the Nats.
12:46I feel like Max, we got on here earlier in the week and we're like, oh my God, they squandered
12:51it all.
12:52Yeah.
12:52And they're, and they're getting ready to go.
12:54Uh, they're playing, uh, Miami.
12:55They could be five games over 500 at the end of this series.
12:58No, they got swept by the Marlins.
13:01Uh, not good.
13:03Um, but they're heading out to Arizona and to San Francisco, uh, currently as a team,
13:08one game under 500 after they got to two games over 500.
13:13All right.
13:14That's it for today.
13:15Chris is next.
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