The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Former UH Cougar & NBA Vet Damon Jones Talks The Return Of The NBA

Episode Date: May 27, 2020

Hey, this is Whitney Mercilus. The Texans this year. Listen to real Texans talk on your smart speaker. Just say, hey, Google. Play Sports Talk 790 on IHeart Radio. The pride of Galveston Ball High School, the pride of the University of Houston, numerous successful years in the NBA,

and now he's on ESPN. Have I missed anything on the biography of Damon Jones, DJ? Hi, Matt T. How you doing today? Long time, no talk. Friend Howard, Thing. man i'm doing really really well uh considering uh the pandemic but uh everything is going well you're bored aren't you how bored are you one to ten man 10 is most bored yep uh nine oh okay so there's a little room for growth i understand yeah yeah just a little room only because the NBA uh looks like it's going to be coming back i know i know hey have you caught

yourself on television in the game lately i have i have i have And it's, you know, I am probably 60 to 70 pounds lighter on TV than I am now. I wasn't going to say that. You know that. It's okay. You know, it's called getting older. Which game was it? Can I ask?

I watched the Wizards game when I was fortunate enough to make the game winning shot to send us to the next round. I've seen a lot of stuff as far as, you know, my coaching career, us winning the championship in 2016. That's always fun to watch. And, you know, I've seen a couple of Miami Heat games, so I've covered all bases.

All right, well, the Damon Jones fan club continues to grow. Hey, I'm so happy for you on the ESPN experiences. What's that like? And I know that everything's been kind of derailed because of the lack of games, but I see her on a little bit of everything. What do you enjoy so far about that experience? I enjoy all of it because I get the chance to go out and give my opinion about the game of basketball.

And there's no winners and no losers. It's only my opinion. ESPN has been so great to me far as the contract that they gave me to do the job. And I'm just happy to do it. And hopefully we get back on the air soon. Have you been on the jump yet? Yeah, I did a couple episodes on the jump, but I mainly do get up and first take,

and here recently, before the pandemic started, I was doing more sports center stuff. Nice. Well, next time you get to see Max Kellerman in person, you can just push him to the side and say, look, I know way more basketball than you do because you're just a hater. Just do that for me.

Will you do that for me? Well, you know what? Max knows his basketball being a long-time Knicks fan, So he understands. Well, he's a long time James Hardinators is what he is, too. I can tell you that for personal experience. A long time rocketeer, too. Oh, okay, okay.

I understand where you're going now, so I'll make sure I'll let him know. Yeah, please do. Please do. Your feeling. Hey, you are still very well connected. You've got a lot of friends still in the game because you weren't that as an assistant coach and played not too long ago. Not to speak on behalf of every person you know,

but what's the general sense among guys you talk to on a semi-regular basis? I think the feeling is we're all coming back, but what's everybody scared about? What's everybody encouraged about? Are there trepidations still at this moment? Well, I think, you know, for the most part, you know, the guys want to get back out there and play. I mean, you know, it's like unfinished business that the season wasn't able to go on and complete the 82 games and to playoff. So, you know, most guys are just, you know, they want to get back out there. play and do what they love to do.

I think that, you know, maybe the testing part of it or, you know, how many times they'll be tested in the whole bubble situation, how is it going to work? I think that's the only trepidations that, you know, the players that I've talked to have is, you know, what is the bubble situation or the campus, whatever Adam Silver is calling it. how is that really going to look? Are they afraid that once they get in the bubble they can't leave? Are they worried about the size of the bubble?

Is it a little bit of both? I think it's going to depend on how many teams actually go to the bubble if the league is going to go straight to the playoffs or if they're going to bring back all 30 teams and play five to 10 regular season games. You know, there's big talk going on about that right now because in the Western Conference, you have a couple of teams that are three and a half games back of the eight spot. And, you know, I think if they can have a schedule

where they're playing 10 regular season games, those teams, New Orleans and Portland, have a legitimate chance to get the eight seat. Let me ask you this. I think we're not worried about the playoff teams, the ones that are on the cusp, but there is a concern of the Golden States, the Cleveland's, the Atlantis, the New York's. Unfortunately, Damon, you've played on a few of those type teams, not many, but a few. How do they get the motivation to

come finish this off? Man, that's the toughest part. The teams that are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, I don't know. It depends on the franchise and the organization and how

they're going to approach that. Because if you're going to only play say five to ten regular season games, would you risk putting your stars out there for injury? I mean, you know, having played in two and a half months or three months by the time they start playing, is it conducive enough to risk our stars going forward? So, I mean, it's no clear cut way to do it.

I just think that the majority of the people out there just want to see NBA basketball come back. So I'm one of those guys. Yeah, for sure, I am too. So for those guys that don't have a chance to make the playoffs, can you just say, Damon, can you just say, hey, there's money for you to be made if you go get it? Can that be enough? Or will it be enough guys that will say, you know what, I got enough in the piggy bank. It's not worth me picking my body up and taking my family or taking myself to Orlando, Vegas, whatever. and being with these guys for a month,

worrying about potential COVID, or, oh, by the way, we got no chance of playing in the playoffs. Well, like I said, I think it's an organizational thing. And I think the majority of the NBA players today, you know, they care about not only their selves, but their team age and organization.

So it would have to be a total team effort on the decision if we play or don't play. You know, I understand Damien Lillard's stands wholeheartedly. If we don't have an opportunity to make the playoffs, you know, why would I risk playing five games or whatever? And I don't have an opportunity to make the playoffs. I understand his viewpoint. I just think that I wish that he would have handled it in a little better way than he did. Well, it made him look like I'm taking my ball and leaving the court.

And I don't think people, if he had even a drop day, I'm worried by my health. I think he would have gotten some people on his side. But he was like, if I can't win and I can't make the playoffs, I'll be there, but I'm not putting the uniform on it. It just was like, take my ball and go home. And I don't think that's the kind of person he is, but it certainly came across that way. Damon Jones, with us from ESPN, former Houston Cougar, a longtime NBA player. I was surprised, DJ, that there are so few players. that were able to get to a basketball court.

I know the teams are slowly bringing their players back, but I'm astonished how few players had a court or a basketball goal to shoot at. Did that catch you by surprise, but the number of players are like, I haven't shot a ball in a month and a half? Man, I mean, you know, with the pandemic, everything was shut down. All gyms and, you know, and most NBA players have, you know, courts at home that they could use, but a lot of them don't. And, you know, it's, you know, when you're a professional athlete, whatever sport is, baseball, football, basketball, and there's a stoppage in play, and you're not able to work on your game.

And, you know, you find yourself only doing bike work or treadmill work or running outside or whatever. Man, it's a tough go at it. But, you know, knowing these guys, you give them a couple of weeks, they'll be able to, you know, get back in great physical condition and be able to go out there and put a great product on the floor. If you were an active player, how much time would you need personally between training camp, maybe playing a few scrimmages? Because, I mean, playing against your own teammates is one thing. But, you know, if all of a sudden Dallas called and said, hey, let's put something together here before the season started. I mean, how long do you think it will effectively take players to be ready to get back into pretty much either the end of the regular season or right to playoff mode? Well, I think that what the organizations have been doing has been masterful, and I don't think a lot of people know about it.

They've been holding weekly Zoom calls with their players where they're doing some type of cardiovascular type exercises or whatever. to stay in some semblance of shape. But I think if you give those guys maybe two to three weeks of training camp time where you can get your rhythm back and get some type of up and down, I think guys will be great and, you know, we'll see a good product. Is this downtime helping the veterans, helping the younger guys, or is it just indifferent? Everybody's going to come back kind of feeling, you know,

working through the cobwebs a little bit. Well, I think for the playoff teams that had key players that were nursing injuries, I think it helped them. But, you know, a time off like this in the middle of a season, I don't think helps anybody. Because once you, you know, ramp your body up before the season starts and then you get in the training camp and then training camp, that's where you build your base for your 82 game season and hopefully playoffs. you know, to take an abrupt stop for three months and say, shut your body all the way down from basketball-related activities, then it becomes hard because your mind, you go through, you know, season after season to where once you're out of the playoffs

or eliminated or whatever, you know, you're going to cool mode for a month, maybe six, seven weeks, and then you ramp it back up for the next season. but to stop in the middle of a season and then have to ramp your mind and your body back up after a three-month layoff. I mean, it's going to be tough, but I think these guys are ready to have that task. Last question. We were talking about this a little bit before you joined us. If Damon Jones, the active player, was doing this game in front of no fans, how much would you have to clean up your language? Would coaches have to clean up their language in order to make sure that everything is FCC-friendly on an NBA broadcast?

Oh, man. I mean, it's so much stuff that goes into an NBA game, you know, and the emotions and, you know, there's highs, their lows, the frustrations. You know, for me, you know, I kept my trash talk, you know, no cuss words involved. So it would be probably comical for the people listening at home. I can't speak for all players, but myself. Wait a minute.

You didn't swear at all when you played? No, not when I was talking trash. No. That's the worst kind. Because it's easy to swear in trash talk. For you not to use any powerful language? No, no. They should have called you to choir more when you play then.

No, no, no. Only funny talk. That's all I give you is funny talk. All right, fair enough. Hey, DJ, congratulations on your career of the ESPN. I look forward to seeing you back on that network very soon. I hope that you'll come in and be on the show once in a while. We get this season started again.

I want to get your thoughts on all this, and I appreciate your insight and your friendship for these many years, friend. I really appreciate you coming on. Matt T. Anytime, man. You have my number. Call me. I'll come on whenever you want me to. I appreciate your friendship and also go coogues. Go coogs is right. Thank you, friend. Yeah. All right. There it is. The one and only, the legend, Damon Jones with us here on the Matt Thomas show. 144 is our time. Are you a good trash talk without using swear words? I'll ask Joe George and Rossville if they abide by that rule next 145 on 790