- 2 days ago
On The Midday Show, Andy and Randy are joined by 92.9 The Game Atlanta United and Hawks Announcer Mike Conti to discuss the extension of Hawks head coach Quin Snyder and what it means for the franchise moving forward. They also get Mike's thoughts on the USMNT's recent World Cup performances and whether the team is trending in the right direction ahead of soccer's biggest stage.
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00:00This, in your guys' opinions, was this something that wasn't really in play
00:05until they got on that streak and they got hot and they finished the season
00:09the way they did, or was this kind of always going to happen?
00:14I believe this was always going to happen.
00:17I really think that Tony Ressler right now is on team continuity.
00:22I don't mean team continuity.
00:24I mean like Team USA, team continuity.
00:28And I think there was a lot of satisfaction even before they got hot at the end of the year
00:35and they started making all their moves.
00:36I think there was a lot of general satisfaction in the job that Quinn Snyder was doing.
00:40And I think there's plenty of arguments that can be made that this is a positive thing,
00:45that maintaining that level of continuity is going to be good for the Hawks
00:49and that there's been some evidence that this can really work with Quinn Snyder as the coach,
00:54with the group that they've assembled.
00:56I just don't know what the playing group is going to look like beyond a couple weeks from now.
01:00But it's certainly well-deserved.
01:02I think it goes in tandem with the Anzi Saleh extension.
01:06I think Quinn and Anzi are kind of tied at the hip right now
01:10as far as being the co-team builders and team operators.
01:14So none of this really surprised me.
01:15I thought Anzi was one of those, because I saw he obviously had the extension.
01:18A lot of times we talk about when a GM didn't hire a guy, he wants his own guy in.
01:22That was my ultimate thing when he got the extension in the new title
01:27and all those different things.
01:28I'm thinking, okay, well, he wants his own guy.
01:30Now, again, I thought after the game, I'm like, okay, I know Tony Ressler.
01:34I don't know him personally, but you can't tell me he didn't sit back there.
01:38Are you talking about the game six where they were down by 61 at one point?
01:42I don't know.
01:45I don't think Tony Ressler makes decisions like that.
01:49It would have been very easy to be emotional.
01:52And look, we heard it with people who were calling into the radio station
01:56and interacting with us in the hours and days following that game.
01:59There was a lot of emotion.
02:01Like, this can't continue.
02:02You've got to blow it all up.
02:04You don't run successful businesses that way.
02:06And Tony Ressler is a very successful businessman.
02:08No, I don't think that thought even crossed his mind at any point
02:13during or immediately after that game.
02:16Well, I mean, look, if there's something that I like about it,
02:18and I think that they've done a fine job.
02:21I think there's been a lot of different factors involved that have made it complicated.
02:26But if there's a part of it that I like, it's the team continuity part of it.
02:30That's something that they haven't had.
02:31They've had a bunch of different coaches
02:33and a bunch of different people running the show behind the scenes for the last decade.
02:37Now, I don't think that you can just prioritize continuity
02:42in the hope that results come from it.
02:44I think results tend to lead to continuity versus the other way.
02:48We talked about this with the Falcons for years.
02:51I'm just hopeful because it seemed like there had been a lot of change
02:54over the last decade or so.
02:57Hopefully these guys with these extensions and new titles
02:59and then success following even more will lead to continuity.
03:03I think another thing it could potentially lead to is it makes it a little more straightforward
03:09now going into your roster building period over the next few weeks.
03:15And I don't know if this is really even a factor or not or if money just talks.
03:20But if I am a free agent evaluating, okay, I've got an offer with the Atlanta Hawks
03:26and I've got an offer from another team whose coach might be on the hot seat
03:30or they might be making a change in their executive group.
03:33Again, I think money predominantly talks.
03:35But that could be a tiebreaker.
03:37And I also think, too, if Tony Ressler is going to be asked to increase the payroll in some way,
03:48and I'm making a general statement there because the NBA and the aprons and the caps and everything,
03:54it's very, very complicated to get into all of that.
03:57But I think Tony Ressler's general statement has been if he feels like a team can be built
04:03that will contend for a world championship, he is willing to spend whatever he can legally spend to do it.
04:10Now that you've made the commitment in extending Quinn Snyder and Anzi Saleh,
04:15if Quinn and Anzi go to Tony Ressler and say, hey, we need to go into the second apron
04:21or we need to do this to get to that, now it's not in the back of Tony Ressler's head,
04:28well, I might be replacing these guys in six months, so forget what they want.
04:32Now I think that just makes the team-building process a little more serious.
04:35How many years have he left, Mike?
04:37Quinn Snyder on his contract.
04:38You know, they never really officially publicized that, but I am going to guess,
04:43this is a pure guess, he was probably going into his final year.
04:47Okay, all right.
04:48Because you don't really need to do an extension if he's got multiple years left,
04:54unless you're going to give him a new title or a heavy raise or something.
04:57And even then, you just amend your existing contract.
04:59What are you thinking of these playoffs, Mike?
05:03NBA.
05:04Yeah, you know, last night's game, I thought the Knicks played really tight early
05:11and then got really tight again late.
05:13And what's interesting is the Knicks, I feel like, got everything they wanted
05:18in the fourth quarter of that game last night.
05:20And you guys talked about it at the top of the show.
05:22The pace was, I think, where the Knicks wanted it to be.
05:26The Knicks were just bricking everything.
05:28And then credit to the San Antonio Spurs going into that environment,
05:32punching the Knicks in the mouth early, and then, look,
05:35this might be a really overrated thing.
05:38I don't think it is.
05:39Making your free throws in the fourth quarter of a finals game on the road,
05:42which the Spurs did last night, was massive.
05:45That's how they iced the game.
05:47If I am the Knicks or a Knicks fan, I'm still feeling pretty good
05:51about where things stand right now.
05:53This is a comment I made during the Hawks series,
05:55when the Knicks were playing the Hawks.
05:57The Knicks were getting, from a tempo and pace standpoint,
06:01everything they wanted, even in the games they lost.
06:03They just did not execute in games two and three of that series.
06:07I feel like last night, that game was played at the Knicks pace.
06:11San Antonio made a couple shots late, probably a couple shots.
06:15They probably should not have made.
06:17They probably should not have a castle shot.
06:18You know?
06:18If you're the Knicks, like, all right, if that,
06:22it kind of reminds me a little bit of game two of the Hawks series,
06:27which was also played at Madison Square Garden,
06:29where the Knicks got everything they wanted,
06:31and they just did not execute in the fourth quarter.
06:33It's funny, it does feel like they get tighter at home.
06:36Yes.
06:37And I don't, I mean, I think we can explain it.
06:40But I think that's the only team in the NBA that has that problem.
06:44Oh, yes, because of the stigma and all that.
06:48You can feel it through the TV, though.
06:50Yes.
06:50Like, the energy gets tight.
06:52It happened a couple different times last night,
06:54where it's like, it's quiet in there.
06:55What did we talk about during that Hawks series?
06:57When the Hawks would make runs, you'd hear these murmurs,
07:00and the murmurs would get loud.
07:01And the Knicks certainly feed off the emotion of what's happening in that building,
07:07and I think it happened again last night.
07:08But I still, the way that the first three games have played out,
07:12unless there is something totally unforeseen to change this series,
07:17God forbid a major injury or a really unexpected tactical shift,
07:22I still think the Knicks are in great shape.
07:24I would be very, very angry, though,
07:27if I were a Knicks fan who paid $50,000 before last night
07:31to go to Game 4 tomorrow.
07:33Yeah, we were just talking about that.
07:34Thinking that it would be the truth.
07:35Yeah, we were just talking about that.
07:36I would be beside myself angry.
07:39Try to get out of it and try to sell it.
07:40A friend of mine who's a Knicks fan was at the game last night.
07:43He paid $1,400 for his ticket.
07:45I said, man, you got a great deal.
07:47Yeah, like in the grand scheme of things, he did.
07:48How did he do that?
07:49I didn't ask.
07:50He just told me.
07:52He's a friend who has connections,
07:54so maybe he worked his connections.
07:56I'm not sure.
07:56He did a great job to pull that one.
07:59Because, yeah, there were seats going for $20,000, $30,000
08:01in the upper level last night.
08:04You're right.
08:04If you have that big ticket for tomorrow night
08:06that you spent a bunch of money for hoping that it would be a sweep,
08:09you're trying to somehow flip it for a Game 6 ticket.
08:11I don't know how you're – you know what I mean?
08:13I still don't think it's guaranteed to go to a Game 6.
08:15No, it's not.
08:15To be honest.
08:16They might win the next two and win in San Antonio.
08:19But I don't know.
08:20I think it's going soon.
08:21You know what would be really funny?
08:22What would be really funny is if the Knicks win tomorrow
08:25and then they send in Scott Foster to Game 5
08:28because they want the Knicks to have a chance to clinch at home in Game 6.
08:31That would be funny.
08:32But that doesn't happen.
08:33It showed up a little bit last night in terms of the team down 0-2
08:37got a little bit more leeway.
08:39You know what I mean?
08:39Well, LeBaniana should have gotten a flagrant foul on the first quarter.
08:42A flagrant?
08:42Really?
08:43It was a two-hand shove to the head and neck area of Jalen Brunson.
08:47That's a flagrant foul.
08:48Well, he was looking at him.
08:49You can't put hands on a guy's neck.
08:51He was looking at him.
08:51He should have at the very least been called for a foul.
08:53It was at least a common foul.
08:55He was called for nothing.
08:56There was no call on that.
08:58He mushed his face to the ground.
08:59He didn't get called.
09:00Now, I'm also the same guy who says Michael Jordan should have gotten a foul
09:03for pushing off on Byron Russell.
09:05Oh, no, Mike.
09:06That's just me.
09:07Push off Truther?
09:08No way.
09:08Oh, no.
09:09The letter of the law is that Michael Jordan should have been called for a foul.
09:12He didn't extend.
09:13He didn't extend.
09:14The letter of the law is that he should have been called for a foul.
09:17All right.
09:17You've seen the U.S. play a couple friendlies now,
09:19and then they start their World Cup journey on Friday.
09:22Where are your thoughts, your expectations for what the run can be for the U.S. team?
09:26Going into the friendlies against Senegal and Germany,
09:29I thought the U.S. men's national team had absolutely no chance to win this World Cup
09:34and would really struggle to get out of group.
09:38Now, having seen these two friendlies,
09:40I still think they have absolutely no chance to win this World Cup.
09:44I was going to say, but.
09:45I was wondering where you're going.
09:49But now they're getting better.
09:52Okay.
09:52That really encourages me.
09:54They're getting better.
09:55It looks like they're playing with a little more chemistry.
09:57I mean, remember, in the buildup to any World Cup,
10:01these national teams are really only together for a couple days,
10:04and then they go home.
10:05This group now has been together for two, three weeks.
10:08They're going to obviously stay together a while longer.
10:11It feels like Pochettino now is starting to really get this team
10:15to play with some chemistry and execute what he wants them to execute.
10:18So I do think, based on what I saw in the Senegal match,
10:23which the U.S. won, and the Germany match, which they should have won,
10:27or at least gotten a draw, a result,
10:30that the U.S. men's national team should get out of group.
10:34I think they have a decent chance to win their group.
10:38And then it just depends on if you win your group, your second, your third,
10:41how tough is your matchup in the round of 32.
10:43If this team goes to the quarterfinals or further,
10:47that is a major, major achievement.
10:49I think it would be a huge deal in this country if it happens.
10:52I think quarterfinals are the absolute ceiling for this team,
10:55but that would be a great accomplishment for them.
10:57Their problem, as I told you guys last week, is defending.
11:02They had, again, terrible defensive errors against Germany
11:07that produced two Germany goals, and that was the margin in the game.
11:10And in a World Cup game now against Paraguay on Friday, it starts.
11:14If you have a defensive lapse early and you give up an early goal
11:18and you are chasing it, you're going to be in trouble.
11:20Remember, the U.S. men's national team, I think,
11:24has only won five games in the World Cup ever.
11:28I mean, it's a really, really low number.
11:30Yeah, I know.
11:31It's gnarly.
11:31It's a really low number.
11:33Yeah.
11:33You know, the last couple World Cups where they have advanced
11:38is because either they've defeated a much lower-ranked team
11:42or they got a bunch of draws.
11:44You know, in 2022, they had a horrendous, ugly, grotesque,
11:49scoreless draw against England, a draw against Wales,
11:53which should not have happened, and then they beat Iran.
11:56Good job.
11:57And you made it.
11:58Yeah.
11:58You know, so.
11:59And then they got worked by the Netherlands.
12:01Yeah.
12:01I mean, it was way worse than the score.
12:03Yeah, it was.
12:04You got to win on Friday.
12:05He won on Friday.
12:06I'll feel pretty good.
12:07But it doesn't give me any joy to say this
12:09because he's former Atlanta United.
12:11But Miles Robinson, if you see that he's starting on Friday,
12:15I'm going to be really, really scared.
12:17Oh, wow.
12:17Miles doesn't feel off like that.
12:20Injuries, right?
12:21He's had injuries, but he's played in both of these friendlies.
12:24I thought he really, really struggled badly.
12:26I'm rooting for him.
12:27Yeah.
12:28All right.
12:28Thanks, Mike.
12:29We appreciate it.
12:29All right, guys.
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