The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Clyde Drexler Joins Matt for Flashback Friday

Episode Date: January 31, 2020

Former Rocket and NBA Finals Champion Clyde Drexler joins Matt for Flashback Friday!

Rockets, PA announcer and sports talk show host. One might get the impression Matt Thomas loves to hear Matt Thomas's voice. Go ahead, Matt, talk for us. Oh, not a better combination when I was doing the PA as a young man to have the honor to call Clyde the Drexler's name. With this music in the background, it is a flashback Friday. Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks tonight inside Totis. And if you're going to the game or you're going to listen to it here on Sports. Talk 790. It is a 630 start a half hour earlier than normal for a flashback Friday.

Clyde Drexler joins us on the show. Clyde, I haven't seen you in a week. How are things? Everything is great. How are you, Mark? I'm Matt. You're not Mark? What are you talking about? I'm in here, tag. How are you? You think I'm talking to Mark? You think you're talking to Mark Berman, don't you? That's wrong, Clyde. No, no. I'm talking to Matt Chalmers. There you go. What's up, Matt? Hey, I want to get a little respect for you from you and your time with early Kobe, Brian, before we get to the flashback farting some more positive things, obviously. But just give me a thought or two as you were winding down your career about that young man

that came out of Lower Marion High School and the brief competition you guys had for a couple of years. Well, Matt, you know, everybody loves Kobe. Kobe was a consummate professional. He embellished, he relished in the competition of playing against the best players. he was the ultimate competitor, love to watch him play. Off the court, he was a businessman, he was an icon, he was a visionary,

helped a lot of people with his foundation. You know, Kobe Bryant was one of those guys. Everyone loves. Let me ask you about... We're going to miss... Oh, for sure, for sure. Let me ask you about, because he was one of the few that was successful.

There was Germain O'Neill, obviously Kevin Garnett, there was Kobe. From high school, right to the NBA. I can't imagine. And now we're seeing it with a lot of kids playing just one year of college. But what was it like even going back 20-plus years ago to have a guy like yourself, long-time NBA veteran,

playing all these years, and seeing these 18-year-old kids graduating right from high school, right to the NBA? Are you in favor of that long-term? Or do you feel like at the end of the day that maybe a couple of years in college might be the best thing? Well, Matt, you're only talking about one or two guys per year, right? Yeah.

And so if those guys are talented enough, and obviously the scouts think they are, they should have the opportunity because if Cocoa Golf can play against some of the best tennis players in the world at 15, why can't these guys come out of high school at 17 and 18 and play against guys in the NBA if they're qualified?

That's a no-brainer to me. I don't even know why people ask that question. Well, from maturity perspective, did guys try to gravitate towards the younger kids or are the younger guys kind of just on their own on days where there's practices and you're going out and have dinner on the road and that kind of thing?

How much relationship would there be between, say, an 18-year-old Kobe Bryant and an older player, maybe like Shaq a little bit? Every guy on that team will try to help and mentor and provide as much guidance as they can. Obviously, that's a teammate, so it's part of your family, so you want to make sure he's okay. So there's not a guy on that team that wouldn't help him

every single day. So anything he needs, all he's got to do. do is speak up. All right. Flash. So, you know, it's a family atmosphere, Matt. And so when you're on an NBA team, I mean, you're with each other full five hours every day, whether it's practice or games and sometimes traveling.

And so for nine months out of the year, so you get to know them very well. It is incredible because, you know, we just got back from a week-long road trip. And, you know, good times are awesome when you're winning. You're little, you know, surly when you're losing, but you can't avoid each other. You've got to get rid of any sort of, notions of, well, you can't get along. You've got to be competitive. You've got to get better. So, as you know, what was the most difficult time of the year for you as an NBA player? Was it around the All-Star break kind of looking at that calendar? You obviously playing a lot of them,

so you were busy with that. But what part of the season for you was the dog days and how you had to, you know, sometimes had to gut it up and really try to overcome maybe a four or five game losing streak? Matt, the playing in the NBA is a dream come true. So you're playing against the best players in the world on a daily basis. And if you love the game and if you practice and put in the time, this is what it's all about.

So the days go by quickly because you truly enjoy what you're doing, especially if the team is having a good year. I mean, the season flies by. And so there weren't no dog days. It was a privilege and an honor just to play the game. And so these guys today, I enjoy watching them because I think they approach the game

in the same manner. But it's always more fun when you're having a winning season as opposed to a losing season. Yeah, that's no doubt about that. I'll have to say, Gly, I don't remember ever you sitting out a handful of games with this load management bit. What's your general take on that right now? Well, man, you know, my take, let's define load management.

I'm going to define it as taking the day off, okay? I'm not coming to work today. That's what load management is. Now, they give you a lot of money in those contracts, and they expect you to perform in the amount of games that are there. And the way we approach load management is if we were up 20 in the fourth quarter, the starters will say, hey, coach, let the second unit finish it. And so we try to do our job early so we cannot play 35 minutes every game. Some games you play 25, 20 minutes.

And that keeps you fresh for the season because it is a marathon. It's not a sprint. And so load management was that you do your job quicker so you can come out the game and watch the second unit finish. game. Well, you know, there is an end game to some of it. You know, Russ is really having a good season. I mean, you're seeing the games just like I am, and he's had a handful of days off in between. But the Russell Westbrook that we're seeing right now this month, frankly, Clyde, is the one we didn't see in the first month. So I don't know if it's just, you know, getting comfortable with the Rockets offense, but he has been incredibly efficient, and he's

been a 30-point score almost every night the last few weeks. Yeah, no, Russ, I agree with you, Matt. Russ has been phenomenal. He's been a great, he's been everything we thought he would be, that MDP player to go along with James Harden, and he's done his share. He plays hard every night. He plays both ends of the floor. He's a leader. He gets his teammates involved.

I tell you what, I can't say enough good things about it. He's superseded my expectations because he's become much more efficient as a Houston rocket. He quit shooting that three ball. He's making, he's posting, he's getting buckets in early transition. Those are

kind of buckets of rockets that's never got before. him and he's making a difference on the court. Clyde the Glyde Drexer with us here on the Matt Thomas show. Glide, you had very few slumps in your NBA career. Right now, James Hardin is in probably about a month slump. So if you can go back in the history books, and you didn't have many,

but if you weren't a slump, how did you get out of it? Well, you know, I love James, Matt. James is my favorite player in the league. Sure. Because he's a gamer. He never takes games off. He loved to play basketball. I think what James is going through now

It's more mental than anything else. It's like you have a different team. You have a guy like Russell who can also carry a team on any given night, which means some nights you're not going to get your 30 shots. And if you're not going to get your 30 shots, you've got to say, you know what, that's okay because it's all about winning. It's all about winning. If we're winning and everybody's happy, we're good.

You know, back when we played, you had to put up numbers to get paid, right? These guys put up numbers that get paid, And now if you have to do less for the team to grow and get better, that should not be a problem. And I think that's the problem. It's not a problem. I think that's something James has to come to grips with. Sometimes you've got to do less for the team to get better. I'll give you an idea.

Before we, the team I played with in Portland in 1989, 90, I was averaging 27.2 points a game back when, you know, scoring was hard and hand checking and all of that. And so we got better players the next year. the general manager and the coach came to me and said, Clyde, you know, we don't want you to carry these guys. Let's let these guys grow and get better. So we'll be better in April and May and June when it counts. He said, now in the last two, three minutes, if you need to take over, take over. But throughout the game, just try to let those guys work on their game as well.

So I went from averaging 27 points to 21.8, and we made the NBA finals. And so sometimes you have to do less in order to be better as a team. I think that's what James is going through right now. Makes a lot of sense. Hey, Gly, when the Rockets wear these ketchup and mustard, I'm afraid I'm going to scream number 17, Mario Ellie, or 25, Robert Ori, because, I mean, I feel like those numbers should be,

in those uniforms, those are two guys. It's just fun seeing the old school. Do you like seeing these retro uniforms, and I was just important on the other day, and they're going with some of those retroes? It kind of gets you back to yesterday when we were growing up watching basketball. You know, it's good as a novelty,

but as a steady diet. No, I like to show. see the traditional uniforms because that's what those teams. I mean, when you see the Lakers, you don't want to see them in some retro uniforms or the Rockets. I want to see the crimson and red. I want to see the traditional uniforms. But, you know, I understand that they're in the business of merchandising and they got to

sell uniforms and they got to create new avenues for merchandises. But as a traditionalist, hey, use those things in practice. When the game starts, I want to see these guys in their uniforms. It is kind of strange for the good. teams don't wear white uniforms at home like you did every single day when you play in the NBA. Exactly. That's how you know who's at home. So, I mean, some things are good. The reason they would like that is because they really worked and everybody got it. But to change all of that is really, and I'm not against change, but I don't know if it's better.

It's just different. It is different. Hey, I was on Clyde Drexor Way just a couple of days ago. That street needs to get longer, don't you think? That's just not a long enough street. Hey, Matt, all I can say is when you get. to the arena. You've got to go down my street. That's all I can say. And it's a tremendous honor to have played 11 and a half years in Portland. You know, had some of my best years when I was young and could really play there. And I came to Houston when I could still play a little bit.

We're able to get that ring. And let me tell you something, Matt. I've been fortunate to play with two great franchises and it doesn't get any better. It's kind of different because, you know, we're here in a big metropolitan city. Portland's kind of a smaller community, but loves its basketball, and I tell you what, you're the greatest blazer of all time, but that Dame Lillard is trying to get up on that pedestal with you because he has been playing out of his mind the last week or so. Well, he is really a great player. I love watching him play. Now, in an era where it is, easier to score now. You've got to understand. And they take volumes of shots. They're obviously going to break a lot of scoring records because there's no hand-checking.

And so that's to be expected, Matt. And I'm happy for him if he does. But, But, you know, he got to get that team to the finals. He got to get that team to compete for a championship year after year. Yeah, hadn't been there yet. Hey, Glyde, thanks for the visit, as always, friend. We'll see you very soon at the arena. I look forward to it, man. Take care yourself.

Clyde the Glyde Drex are on a flashback Friday tonight. 630. The Rockets take on the Dallas Mavericks, and we'll have it for you right here on Sports Talk 790.