00:00How about this, Rick? You just mentioned something about a coach when you went to Houston.
00:04I wonder what that dynamic with Nick Nurse is going to be.
00:07You know, LeBron James hasn't really had any A-alpha, you know, head coaches outside of Eric Spolstra.
00:14Now he gets a coach that has won an NBA championship.
00:17How much do you think that plays into it, too?
00:19And maybe one of the reasons why he chose Philly, Rick, was because, you know, this guy has an NBA
00:26championship.
00:27That relationship, how important is that with the head coach and him?
00:31Well, I think it's critical.
00:33I mean, I think any time when I was coaching even the minor leagues, you always have to establish, I
00:38think, a meaningful relationship with your key players.
00:41You've got to get your key players to buy into your philosophy as to how you want this team to
00:46play in order to win a championship.
00:48And if you can't get your key players to buy into that, it's hard to be successful.
00:53It really is.
00:54So he needs to, the first thing I would do is, you know, invite LeBron and go to dinner a
00:58few times, have some meetings with him, talk to him, get into his head as to, you know, what he's
01:02thinking, tell him what you're thinking, and try to get on the old proverbial same page.
01:07Do you think they have the best starting five in the Eastern Conference now?
01:11Oh, yeah.
01:13Yeah, for sure.
01:14I mean, they've got a lot of talent there.
01:17Absolutely a lot of talent.
01:18And it's just a matter of them playing together, playing unselfishly, and take your, here's my, what I always told
01:23the guys, when I talked to the Warriors, before they started some of the runs in some of the teams,
01:27I said, look, guys, if you want to be successful, you need to take your ego and stick it in
01:32the closet.
01:33Because it's no longer about you anymore.
01:35It has to be about the team.
01:37What can you do to help this team win and be willing to do that?
01:41Even if it means sacrificing a little bit of what you think you should be doing, you have to conform.
01:46And if you're willing to do that as a team with a number one commitment to being an outstanding team
01:51defense, you don't always have to be the best defensive team to win championships.
01:54Because I think in the history of the league, only, I think it was only two teams were outside of
01:59the top 10 in defense that won championships.
02:02So if you have a prolific offense, you can still win a championship, even if you're not one of the
02:06best defensive teams.
02:07But you enhance your chances dramatically if you are one of the best defensive teams.
02:12And they've got a lot of talent on that team.
02:13They've got the big guy to protect the rim.
02:15They've got a lot of other talented people.
02:17But it becomes a collective effort in order to win a championship by helping each other defensively.
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