Reggie Miller on the Dan Patrick Show Full Interview | 06/05/23

As we bring back Hall of Famer, Turner Sports NBA analyst Reggie Miller, before you got to the game, did you have bed control when you played with the Pacers? Was there never anyone in the lobby to watch the players as they arrived? going, were you aware of them? Not that I know it's not like football. I know that in football they have bed controls or curfew. Remember you're only dealing with 12 to 15 people versus, you know, 40 or 50 on a football roster. 25 I believe in a baseball roster um no, I think everyone was abandoned uh to the honor code uh to the honor system um but look if you need to be monitored at this time of year to know what's on stage, something's wrong, no You have the right priorities, yes, but there are a lot of young players in the game now.

I'm not talking about the NBA Finals, but I think you have to have a hallway monitor with some of these kids. I mean, they're kids. Rich, but. I mean, they've been doing this for a while, the AE circuit is much worse than what you know in college or the pros, so you would assume they are some kind of built-in system or trust within the player, an organization, a coach . a franchise um but there was no one in uh the lobby was a keyboard with a keyboard and a pencil monitoring what time you came in or out or who came in, that's more important who comes in and who leads, yeah, a lot of times you don't need to go anywhere side, you can have fun on your own, that the import-export business you could be fine in, would you have a problem if you're a Denver Nugget with your coach Mike Malone saying this and I asked him?

The team, you, tell me why we lost and they knew the answer. Miami came here and worked harder than us and we were, by far, at least disciplined in these 16 or 17 playoff games, whatever it is now, if we're going to try to fall. there and regain control in this series and yet the home field advantage, we're going to have to outwork Miami, which we didn't do tonight, and our discipline is going to have to be off the charts. Do you have a problem with that? No, absolutely, I think it's a little nice to Coach Malone, if you remember, in some of those games early in the playoffs, he was calling them soft and asking who this team is.

I think that's very soft on Michael Malone and he's absolutely right, for me the first. six eight minutes of the second game set the tone now again Miami or excuse me, Denver bounced back and played well from the second to the beginning of the fourth, but the tone had already been set for what that particular second game was going to be like. Played it was much more physical, it was possession oriented and there were a lot of missed assignments, defensive assignments, that was not seen in the first game for Denver, it was almost as if they were playing a regular season game instead of the second game of the finals from the NBA, yes, but I don't know, it seems like he wants to mention individual names, but he will do it under the collective umbrella like the team he would start with, Michael Porter Jr III, why the hell are they paying you so much? money, you don't

show

up, it's like a good game, you don't

show

up, good game, you don't show up and you know he's the third best player on your team, you can't have that guy, yeah, at this point in the year, no , and you're As valuable as he is to the Nugget's success, you also know, I know we're only two games in.

I'm still waiting for Jamal Murray. We saw what he did in those early rounds where he's been absolutely fantastic. He had his moments in the second or third quarter, but we're still waiting for him to have one of those signature moments here in the finals, but you know, when I watch the second game, it looks like Miami followed the game plan. "And Yogurts are in the same category as Stephen Curry. You have to make them or they won't be able to do both, or they'll have a volume score or they'll get as many assists as they can." I didn't do both and in the first game Yogurts did both.

He was over 25 and had 10 plus six. He will get the rebounds from him. I'm not worried about that, but in the second game he 41 points and I think only five or six to six, yeah. four, so you have to do one or the other, it's a win. Denver is crazy when he's able to score and take out those other guys, he couldn't do that last night, okay, Eric Spoelstra would have a problem with you with that logic. there because here's Ramona Shelburne from the mothership talking to Eric's poster last night, this is probably oversimplifying things, but sometimes when teams play against Yo Kids, you turn them into a score, you turn them into game controls , you only had four assists tonight, yeah, that's it.

It's ridiculous, you know, it's just the untrained eye that says something like that. This guy is an incredible player twice in two seasons. He has been the best player on this planet. You can't just say, "Oh, score it." That's not how they play. we have so many different actions that just engage you, we have to focus on what we do, you know, we try to do things the hard way, and he requires you to do a lot of things the hard way, and then we have all our respect, okay? thank you, thank you coach, but he didn't do it the hard way and that's staying home with Shooters attached, which makes life very difficult for Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr, so you can't just go down and help, and if he wants come in, go in that shift and do all those spins and make those incredible shots like he did in the third quarter, shake hands, you're going to lose anyway, but you can't let the order give you 12 to 15.

Murray 25 to 30. uh kcp 10 to 12. You take away the look of those guys and they make a high volume of 30 or more as a joke, they make it feel golden, look at this bill, golden gyms, last night it was. I wouldn't say he was shooting, but that's a lot, that's a lot of attempts, yes. so I understand what Coach Foster is saying, but he doesn't want us to understand, take everyone else, make sure he doesn't have more than 10 assists and get the other guys going. It could have been a monster night where, you know, Jokic scores 41 and has 10 assists, if those guys make six shots then he has 10 assists and then Miami is now down 0-2 coming home, it's not like If they were, you know what you get, write down all your points and then we'll close. take down everyone else, I mean, that's their logic and their philosophy, but if those players take five or six more shots, all of a sudden we see that philosophy differently, it's like if you let him score and get through the first game, they They made their shots in the second game.

They didn't make their shots and that's the difference in their assist total. I agree, but I also think it was a much better effort on the defensive end by Miami, who stuck together and got into the Shooters' huddle and again, at times, stepped out of the bio zeld. low, it's going to have to be single coverage and if you see scores, so be it, but we have to stick together, that's always been the advantage of the Denver Nuggets has been their depth and their ability to catch each other, you know. you hear Shaq talk all the time those others keep the others joking around, that's why they've been so successful in this NBA Finals.

Kevin Love looks like someone's dad who walked onto the court like he cut off his corduroys and New Balance, you'd think you were in the And when you see him, he got old, what happened? Kevin Love isn't that old, well father time gets us all, but I will say this for a guy who started that Boston series and then was practically benched because of Caleb Martin's play and then to play, either he played a lot in the first game, but here he is called scorstron again. I mean, that's why he was among the top 75 coaches who made the adjustment by returning the love, you could just plug it in.

This is a guy that you know every time he's been in the playoffs, his teams have found a way to be in the Finals and he just competes if he's the same player he was when he was in it. in Minnesota and when he won a championship with Cleveland, no, but he's useful, you can hit him, he won't hurt you and he'll play within the confines of how the Heat want to play. Frank Vogel is the new head coach of the Phoenix Suns. What does a defensive-minded head coach bring to a team that has a lot of shooters?

I think he contributes something because I thought he had been criticized when he was with the Lakers. They put a lot of blame on his shoulders and he was showing the door after winning that Bubble Championship, um and I think he's bringing the girl. You have a top-10 player and Kevin Durant, arguably the best scorer this game has ever seen. You have Devin Booker and we saw how electrifying. he was in the playoffs um and if you bring that defensive mentality, I mean DeAndre Hayden, that's what he's known for on defense um, but they have to have some team meetings because I think they have to air some things in that locker room. first and identify rules.

That's the good thing about Frank Vogel is that he's going to identify roles, um, so along with the resentment of what happened with the Lakers, um, that's a scary franchise and if they can add the defense that he's known for again , they will be in the race to represent the Western Conference, a year from now they are more likely to be there next year DeAndre Ayden or Chris Paul um, I think you can get a lot of players for Deandre ayton um wow, it's hard to find four generals, but Chris Paul's body is decomposing and the minor is younger.

I'd probably say I'd err on the size of going younger with Aiden just for the simple fact that Chris Falls is 37-38. and a lot of injuries that have piled up, I would probably say DeAndre just to be safe because of age, yeah he's 38, we're talking to Reggie Miller, the Hall of Famer, uh, Monty Williams, who gets 10 million of dollars a year to coach the Pistons, yes, that bad, okay, okay, how much is Eric Spaulstra worth? How much is Steve Kerr worth? If Monty Williams is worth 10 million a year, they are both worth about 15. I would say they should be worth more than Steve Kerr.

Steve Kerr has three Hall of Famers among his three coaches. Hall of Fame Fans Eric Fulstra Jimmy Butler will be a Hall of Famer, but everyone else, I mean, look at what he's done with Gabe Vincent Max through Duncan Robinson. I mean, the list goes on with Caleb Martin to coach these guys, these undrafted players and define himself as Series Split in the NBA Finals, I mean, come on, man, and he's just making in-game adjustments . Post-game adjustments, they just find ways to gain a slight advantage for Eric in monetary terms, which you're talking about the worst 15 16. million when I was born, okay, who is the best coach in the NBA?

I'm still going to be old school, Greg Popovich, well he's going to get a lot better this year with Victor. This will tell me a lot now, when Wendy comes to San Antonio, and if they are the best, I will give them, I will say 16. they talk toxic if they don't have to be on the plan that lets them know that all that is great, dad, right? because the last three years have been terrible. An alarm went off, but they have been Terror, but now you will become weak if they can be one of the top six teams in the West, it has to be a big success.

I saw an analyst who said yes one from Yama. he's like Akeem and Kevin Durant and someone else uh that would be a disappointment for his career Kevin Durant if this kid is a mix of that my only concern is that he looks like me at seven five knock on wood, knock on wood, rarely I was injured during my 18 years, just ankle injuries. I only played on the perimeter. I'm not knocking the big guys, but he's not as physical as he was in the '80s and '90s, so he won't, he won't get hit. Like those days I just hope he doesn't get hurt, right?

I just pray that he stays healthy if he stays healthy and everything I've seen on tape, everything I've seen in the scouting reports, if he plays like that, the future is so I'm excited for him. We talk about Carmelo. You are in favor of retiring his Knicks jersey. I think the Knicks and Nuggets should retire Carmelo. You absolutely don't believe it. Syracuse Nuggets certainly and the Knicks absolutely do. Well, what constitutes retiring someone's jersey? I think the impact in the game numbers you read had more impact on the Knicks than Carmelo had on the community. Okay, no one was good in the community, yeah, he needs his shirt retired. in those three spots Syracuse Denver and New York Knicks I don't know, no, you don't feel that, well, first of all, Jokic wears 15.

I know I was getting ready to allude to that, so how? Do you manage that look? Ed O'Bannon and I from UCLA were both 31 years old. We are both retired at UCLA and he retired before me and I played before him, so 231 are retired at UCLA, why can't we have two numbers? 15 retired for the Denver Nugget, who is better at UCLA, you were Ed O'Bannon, are you serious? Now there are only a handful of players at UCLA who were better than me, a handful and that's, with a couple of fingers cut off, two, wait, okay? so you're saying that Bill Walton and Kareem are the only two players in UCLA history better than you, he laughs, yeah that's what I'm saying, I have to take Gail Goodrich over you, um,I don't agree, but that's your opinion, well, he had an incredible championship game when he put up what 42 and they won it, they won a couple of Nationals, so that's three, there you are, so you're the fourth best player in UCLA history, that's what you're saying, fourth best Paulie Paulie, what are you doing?

What do you have? I have to decide this well. No, I thought you had numbers here. Have. I'm going. Reggie Miller started 93 games for UCLA and had three great seasons 15 points 26 points 23 points Ed O'Bannon and abandoned similarly started three seasons 17, 18 and 20. and won a title part of a title, okay , that's wrong, no, he won a title, what if Reggie was allowed to bring one of his brothers? to help him, which Trump is a lot, yeah, look, if he had Cheryl playing with me at UCLA, ude Charles, would Cheryl have started at UCLA with you? I don't know if she could have started it, but she would have been a great city. she would have played no Cheryl would definitely have played I would have made sure and then I could have won yes Paulie I have a list from the Bleach report the best UCLA players of all time okay, okay, you know, here we go.

I'm just reporting the facts. okay, blue alcinder number one absolutely Bill Walton number two yes Gail Goodrich three Marcus Johnson 74-77 there's Richard Washington is he there? I've got Walt Hazard five Reginald Miller six six but that's the upper echelon I'm in good company yeah we forgot about Marcus Johnson yeah you forgot about Marcus yeah so would you put Marcus above you yeah that would be fine respecting your elders, who Richardson isn't scary, who isn't, no, yeah, I felt bad for Pooh, he couldn't shoot, hey, who was a big but. What a great dealer, yeah tell me, that's what happens, that's what happened, that's what happens when you can't shoot, you have to be a dealer, but he can find you, thanks reg, it's great talking to you honey Yes, yes, Reggie has the Miami Heat. six