Throwbacks with Matt Leinart & Jerry Ferrara - Turtle’s Jerseys in 2025, NFL’ers at the Olympics & Luke Walton Talking All Things Hoops!

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

Current assistant coach... former 10-year pro... legendary rec-league baller??  On the latest edition of Throwbacks, Pistons assistant Luke Walton drops by to share his thoughts on the NBA Playoffs, discuss Cade Cunningham’s rise to stardom and reflect on his days tearing it up with Matt in rec league hoops.  Matt and Jerry also express their excitement over flag football coming to the next summer Olympics and try to put together their perfect flag football roster.  Plus, Matt tells us why Edgerrin James was such a great teammate, Jerry tells us the scenes he dreaded most as an actor and we get a firsthand recap of Patrick Mahomes’ golf tournament.  Finally, in the mailbag, Jerry reveals which jerseys Turtle would be rocking in 2025 and we contemplate the best pieces of Michael Jordan memorabilia that you could possibly own.  New episodes of Throwbacks drop every Thursday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also, make sure you’re locked in on social @ThrowbacksShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys & the Throwbacks community. (http://throwbacksshow.com/)      A big thank you to our sponsors:    Wendy’s    Find your new favorite Frosty Fusions™ flavor today with choices like OREO® Brownie, Caramel Crunch, and Pop-Tarts® Strawberry.  https://m-wendys.app.link/frostyswirl25  Zip Recruiter  Try FOR FREE at http://Ziprecruiter.com/Throwbacks   NHTSA  Click It Or Ticket. http://www.nhtsa.gov/clickit   Nissan  Take adventure to new heights in the all-new 2025 Nissan Armada.  Go to https://NissanUSA.com/Armada to learn more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does Matt ever see the sand? Matt's a winner We let Matt serve when it's a big point and Matt gives great speeches during the timeouts. I can tell you one thing We're bringing heart and soul brother. I'll punch somebody in the face out there All right, welcome to another episode of Throwbacks. Please give us a follow on social at Throwback Show. Don't forget to subscribe on the YouTube. We love that. Give us some likes, comment, all that good stuff. Matt, Mattie liner.

What up, baby? Listen, we got a lot to get to today. God we do there's so much going on right now You came through with a guest today and I'm gonna tell you why Someone like who we have on the show today is a favorite guest whether on our show or anyone's show We have Luke Walton joining us who is a good friend of yours Why I'm excited to talk to Luke today and why I'd be excited to see him on any shows because Luke doesn't do shows.

He doesn't do podcasts, doesn't do YouTube shows. Like he doesn't do it. There's a lot, there's like, I'll reach out to a lot of people and I don't really care with Luke. I was like, buddy, I love you. Can you come on? Like I just, I was like, and I know you don't.

And if you say no, I won't care. But he goes for you, I'll do it. I was like, buddy, I love you, can you come on? Like, I just, I was like, and I know you don't, and if you say no, I won't care, but he goes, for you, I'll do it. I was like, awesome. And I think people need to listen to this because one, he's currently coached for the Pistons. He, you know, he talks, he's gonna talk, he talks, Nick's and his thoughts on who he thinks is gonna win the NBA championship.

But he and I had the greatest 2013 of all time, and you have to tune in to listen why, because it was absolutely fucking fire. That's all I'm gonna say. That's my teaser. You guys were ring chasing. We'll just say that. You were also ring chasing during 2013.

We were doing a lot of things, and that was one of them, yes. Well, we gotta know, yeah, he's gonna be awesome. When you texted me that, I was like, obviously I loved watching him play, and then I just had to watch him coach the Pistons against the Knicks, which I sweated every one of those games out. And I was really thinking you really don't see outside of coaching. You don't see Luke Walton anywhere. And he's had such an amazing career both as a player and now a coach. So it's a great get. It's a great thing about like he, he think about like, when you actually

think about his path, like he obviously was a great role player for the Lakers's a great get. Think about like he, he co think about like, when you actually think about his path, like he obviously was a great role player for the Lakers for a long time. Played with Kobe and like won two NBA rings, then coaching, right? So he coached, he played for Phil. He coached with Steve Kerr and the Warriors on some of those great teams. He then got a head coach. He coached, so he coached Steph. He coached LeBron as a head coach for Lakers. He coached Steph, he coached LeBron as a head coach for the Lakers. He coached the young Sacramento Kings team that was really fun to watch at the time. Then he went back to the Cavs and now he's with the Pistons and he gets to coach Cade Cunningham, which is a future superstar in this league. Tons of wisdom, tons of knowledge, a great dude.

And yeah, man, it's a great interview for everybody. Like, stick around. It's fun to listen to him because like you said he doesn't he doesn't really do it he's very just kind of to himself quiet just kind of hangs you know so it's fun to it's fun to see him so before we get to Luke Walton I gotta know I mean we texted a little bit but I wanted to save it for the show how was your not your first but something you don't do often. You played in Patrick Mahomes golf tournament in Vegas. How did it go? Bro, the golf gods are calling me ever since I met you. I didn't really like you. Like

I actually, so I'm going to, I'm going to name, I'm just going to name drop right now. Drop the mic, do it. No, no. Well, Justin Thomas. So Justin Thomas friend of the show, like, and uh,. And I put out that story on Instagram of my swing, which by the way, I don't have a good, the problem with me is my back is tight. Like I don't have a lot of like movement, but like I hit okay. But I was messaging with him because he had commented

and I was like, dude, Jerry is, I'm starting to get a little bit of the bug, a little bit. It's a little bit, because now, as you always said, these golf events, I've done them before. They're fun, they're exciting. So I had a blast, man. Mahomes does a great job. First class everything.

Little pairings party. I hung out with my boy Manziel, who's also been on the show for a long time. Yeah, he's a stick, by the way. He's a stick. He can play. Love Johnny, we caught up a lot. By the way, it was me,. He can play. Love Johnny. We caught up a lot. By the way, like I had a, it was me, Johnny and my home's his dad,

who by the way, we were talking baseball for like an hour and a half. It was awesome conversation. Shout out to Mr. Mahomes, man. He was fun to talk to. And then the gala was Thursday night and the gala was super cool. I ran into Kelsey,

talked to him for a bit, Whitworth, I sat with Danny Amandola. Just a who's who, very obviously as you can imagine, great job. Mahomes and his wife do such like amazing things in the community and all the charities they work with. And then golf last week, man, I actually will say this. Like how'd you hit him? It's scramble, right? Yeah.

Like I hit the ball way better than I thought. Like, like I putted, we had, you know, we have a caddy in those things. So my putting was like, I was six inches within the hole on everywhere we were, you know. Where'd they have you in the putting order? Were you putting first, last, in the middle? Where were you?

I was, I always, I either just kick it off or I'll go second because I don't like, I'm never the best one so guys I'll give you guys the line right but I was putting really really well I made I made like a 15 foot birdie putt like just to kick off on one hole like let's go um but dude it's just like it was fun man it was fun like I can I can I can feel it I can feel it I can feel listen if you would have told me with this show we were gonna get Dodgers, Yankees, World Series. Okay. Now we're going to get the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals.

And now I got Maddie Leiner starting to get the golf bug. Everything with this show I could have ever wanted is slowly starting to happen. I haven't told my wife that yet either. So we'll see how that flies. I think it's going to Josie's cool. She's gonna, I think she's gonna be happy you get out there. No, I think it's gonna be great until, unless you turn into me then you might start having some problems. My goal is, and I'm curious of like, like like you, you play a lot more golf than I do and you got little kids too but you play a lot more golf. Like, like my goal is to play like two, like to get to two

to three times a month. Which by the way, it's still like, you're playing once a week, which is all I can really do anyway. So I wanna play more and more in these types of tournaments. I wanna get there. I wanna go to the range. Like I'm gonna go to the range next week.

I'm gonna go to the range once or twice by the house. And just, I just wanna hit, cause the problem is, is I haven't, like I don't know my clubs, right right like I've had nice clubs for a couple years but like I need to start to know my clubs and distances because I'm out there I'm like thinking like oh sure well this is 180 like I don't know like should I hit my six iron like I mean I have a general idea but like I want to get I need to get better I do have to say this is airing on Thursday so you're

seeing a much calmer version of me because Nick's Pacers game one has not tipped off by the time this airs Nick's will either be up or down 1-0 but let me just tell you man first of all I got I got media members who I know my guy Chris Manix all these guys like hey let's do a a bet now you know Mary you and I did like a Dodgers Yankees bet I want to do a bet with you I will I will listen you want to do a bet with, Yankees bet. I wanna do a bet with you. I will, I will. Listen, you wanna do a bet with the Yankees, or the Giants, or the Rangers? Sure, I have enough to worry about. Like, Manix is like, you gotta wear a Red Sox jersey. I'm like, no, if the Knicks lose,

that's the worst punishment I could possibly get, trust me. Let me ask you a question. I need to go wear a Red Sox jersey too. Let me ask you a question. Are you losing sleep at night thinking about the Knicks, whether win or lose? Like, I don't want to say this. When I coach Cole's teams and like we're

playing in the playoffs, and like, you'll get this when your boys get a little older and they're playing. Like, you start to lose sleep because you're thinking about the thing. Do you lose sleep knowing the Knicks have a shot, I mean a real shot to win an NBA championship this year? You losing sleep after these games?

I'll tell you what, I am losing sleep after every game. Because number one, if they lose, right? If they lose, that means like, okay, well I guess I can't listen to any podcast tomorrow, turn on ESPN, look at Twitter, because I don't want to see it. So that bugs me. When they win, and I'm like solo I don't want to see it. So that bugs me when they win

and I'm like solo, my kids are already asleep half the time. Like I'm, I'm just on Twitter. As you've seen, I am, I am just yelling at every, cause like, I mean, I've seen a lot of trolls on Twitter and you are one of the biggest trolls on New York. I've been getting trolled. I've been getting trolled my whole basketball fandom. Like it's all been one big troll. Because you guys have, you guys have sucked for like 30 years. And that's why like even arguing with these Celtic fans, here's, here's a sports term that needs to be retired.

I don't want to ever hear it again. It's stupid. Oh, why don't you hang a banner? Why don't you hang a second round banner? Because you beat the Celtics. Like buddy. So what you're saying is I shouldn't celebrate that every single person picked the Celtics to beat the Knicks in five six games I shouldn't be celebrating You don't think Seventh Avenue is gonna be ripping out the telephone poles going nuts like just stop to hang a banner Yeah, I'm not hanging a banner because it's not a championship But that's a dumb term and you're And you're not taking this away from me.

The joy, because I've suffered. I was there, and this is no disrespect, I was there for Emmanuel Moudier. I was there for Chris Duhon, Frank Nilekina. And these are all players that I thought were going to change the franchise. Chris Copeland. You've been, yeah, you've been let down your whole life.

Yeah, I mean, let's just face it. You've been let down. Retire that term, hang a banner. Will you go, I know we talked about this last time. Is there... Oh my God, I just got a huge email, Matt. I just got a huge email. You got invited to a game.

It looks like I'm gonna be in the building for game two. Hold on to your motherfucking hat, bro. Holy shit! What you're trying to say is you just got fucked the courtside game two. Hell yeah you're fucking going. What I'm trying to say is you just got fucked up court side game to hell. Yeah, you're fucking going I'm trying to say is I am literally I just got a ticket right now. I just got goosebumps for you Look at you, dude. You're like it. You're like a five-year-old on Christmas morning I don't think people I try to tell people to it like the Knicks court side stuff. Wait, what are you wearing? Dude, what are you wearing? I haven't even begun to think about that.

You're wearing, you might have bust out those shoes that are right behind you with your fucking Nick starter jacket, your Nick's jersey and your Nick's hat. You want me to wear the fooky? These things have never touched the floor, man. No, I don't. I don't want you to wear those.

I don't want you to spill popcorn on that shit. I will just be locked in and the series is gonna be tough and we're gonna talk to Walton about it too, but I just, if you wanna make a bet with me about the Yankee, sure, cause it's been nothing but great in Giants. I have a bet with Colt Nose, like we bet. No, I want the Knicks to win.

I was just thinking if the Knicks win the championship, you get, you're like, you'll shave your head, you know. The Knicks win the championship, I would maybe get Knicks tatted for sure sure somewhere on my body and I have zero tats There you come from a place where everyone's tatted by 30. We confirm that can we confirm that we could if the Knicks win a championship Will you get a Knicks tattoo, please right now? Too much is happening right now too much much is happening. Would Bree approve? I just got fucking amped for you bro.

Listen. Wow. She would probably disapprove but like I said, no one's taking this joy. That being said, right now as you're listening to this, the Knicks could be down 0-1. This series is gonna be shit. Yeah, let's not jinx this dude. This is gonna be awesome. We gotta fucking lock in.

But Giants, I mean, did you see, I know you saw, right? I got so fired up at the draft when they drafted Kam Skataboo. This one, I don't know what even is viral. I don't even know what's viral anymore. Well, I'll tell you what's viral. Let's put up the picture. Hold on, I know we got a picture.

Kam Skataboo. So that picture went viral, right? So that's a picture of, I think that's Isaac too. So I know Isaac and Kam Scataboo in a Michael Strahan jersey. Is that recent? Is that recent, right? That's after he got drafted.

This is like, yeah, he's definitely not wearing that. I don't think he was a Giants fan before he got drafted. The Kam Scataboo moved to New York and immediately turned into Turtle from Entourage. And that shit went off. And now let's post the next picture. Cause we have, I mean, dude. Look at that Allen Houston Jersey.

I'm rocking right there. But I just want to say this about you really quick. I mean, we've seen some glow ups in this world when we've seen some glow ups. And by the way, that fucking Turtle picture, Turtle's a beast, bro. Like, look at that. That's just swag city.

Just don't give a fuck about anything. Right? Except the Knicks. But man, you were about three bills at some point. No, you can get them five, six. Your glow up now, five, six, what are you, buck 80? In that picture, wait, now? Right now, 160?

160. 160. That picture I'm like now? No, right now. 160. 160. 160. That picture I'm like 208. No double chin, fucking like, you know, jawline. But most importantly, Maddie Ice, I'm rocking in Allen Houston Jersey in 2008. Yeah, but Allen, but those were good Knicks teams though. That was the last time.

The last time they made the conference finals was the Spree well Alan Houston beaten the Knicks the Heat in game five Patrick Ewing got hurt Marcus can be balled out That was like the last time we ever tasted this Marcus can be do you think that when that picture was put out on X? Do you think cam scataboo knew who turtle was from entourage? So I actually don't there it is Look at the side by side. That shit's gotta go up. By the way. Is that real heights?

Scataboo can't be more than 5'10". I tell you what, I'm 5'6", so does that look like 5'6''s versus 5'10'? God, you are. I'm short, man. I'm short. I realize how short you are. I've been short my whole life, so it's not like.

Well, you were short and wide back in the day, now you're just short. By the's not like you were short and wide back in the day. Now you're just short By the way, though, you wouldn't want to be guarding you Even though you were athletic. I would just fucking turn around and just shoot right this that's fair But I'm just saying five six two bills with that little bowling ball You're heading right in my belly, but that's I'm saying I'm going like into your hips and knees, bro I'm a problem for you. Yeah, not to scale. We just got word that picture is not to scale. But no, I don't think Cam Scadaboo knows. He's like, he's a young dude. Some people don't stumble onto Entourage. Maybe they never

will. But all I will say- He for sure Googled you. My number one guest that I now want on this podcast after Luke Walton, Luke Walton's a huge one. And I'm reaching out to members of the Giants. I'm trying hard. I need you to pull all your NFL connections here. I want Cam Scadaboo on this show. I just got to talk to the guy.

Swag King. That is such a Giants player. When I talk about the Giants players, I mean like throwback to the Eli teams and back in the day. That's such a Giants player. When I talk about the giant players, I mean like throwback to the Eli teams and back in the day. That's such a giant player. I'm so excited for Cam. And I will say Cam, let me say, Turtle was onto some things in entourage. All right. He was the first to kind of go sneaker culture on TV, video game tournament before was popular back in oh wait, he literally started hot girl Uber. That was a thing. He started a car company.

He was basically hot girls driving Ubers. It was hot girl Uber. And lastly, Turtle was the genius behind celebrity endorsed tequila. He did it first. Vince was the lightning rod. So Cam, I will be your Turtle. Let's go.

You're a trendsetter. Oh, that's good, man. Well, it leads us to all. I mean, there's not a whole lot going on in the NFL right now, but I think it sets us up for what we want to talk about with our Wendy's flavor of the week. Okay. It's time for flavor. The week presented by Wendy's find your new favorite frosty fusion flavors today with choices like Oreo, Brownie, caramel crunch and pop tarts, strawberry. So our flavor of the week, I think we talked about it in the pre-show meeting and this is big news for me.

Do you want to take it? Yeah, so this week, basically the NFL is allowing current players to basically give them the eligibility to compete in the 2020 Olympics on the flag football team. I don't know if there's tryouts. I don't know how the teams are going to be picked, but they are allowed to play in the 2020 Olympics on the flag football team. I don't know if there's tryouts. I don't know how the teams are going to be picked, but they are allowed to play in the Olympics, which I think is rad.

When you look at sports, first of all, like I think every, if you're an athlete, and even probably you too, Jerry, like to win a medal or to represent your country is like the greatest thing in the world, right? Football has never had that opportunity because you just can't play tackle football in Olympics and also just wouldn't be fair.

Like you just can't do it. And you're seeing more and more Olympic sports like happen like, obviously flag football, women's gonna play flag football in 2028 to see our best athletes in the world compete in flag. I love flag football. I started in flag football. We have a bunch of flag football leagues in Orange County I love flag football. I started in flag football. We have a bunch of flag football leagues in Orange County.

Like I coach my kid in flag football. I love the sport. How like it is, it's fricking insane. Well, it's like, it's a guaranteed gold medal, right? Like who's gonna, who's gonna listen. Well, we gotta do a little research because we're already really good. Like we got really good players

and it is a different game than, especially quarterback. Receivers are running routes and all that and you're making guys miss. Like that tracks. Remember, can we get the name of the quarterback for the US? I think Doucet is his last name. He's a dog, but like Darrell Hoosh Doucet. Darrell Hoosh Doucet. Have you seen highlights of this kid?

He's unbelievable. He's unbelievable. And, but, but my point is, is like, is there going to be a quarterback competition between him and whoever? Jaden Daniels who that would have been my NFL pick. Jaden Daniels, with the accuracy would have been my flag football. So who, if you could build five, so you get five on offense, five on defense. If you want to do defense, you can, but who are your five? You get a quarterback, two receivers, a center and a running back.

I mean, it's, it Travis Hunter was created for this. Now he was created for NFL football as well. And again, I guess you have to really, I wonder how the franchises are going to be about this. Like, uh, do you want your star athlete, you know, your star player in 2020? You're also missing training camp. You probably will miss some camp, right? Or at least they're really stuck. Yeah, the timing they Travis Hunter certainly seemed like, cause he solves both, you know, you got to have

DBs too, obviously the cover. So Travis Hunter, I think would be like a pass rush, so you need to have the mobility to get in. I like the Jaden Daniels accuracy. I think he's got a lot of accuracy. I think he's got a lot of accuracy. I think he's got a lot of accuracy. I think he's got a lot of accuracy. I think he's got a lot of accuracy. I think he's got a lot of accuracy. I think he's got a lot of accuracy.

I think he's got a lot of accuracy. I think he's got a lot of accuracy. I think he's got a lot of accuracy. I think, I know it doesn't hurt, but I got to, I mean, I know, I know there's like a pass rush, so you need to have the right. I like the, I like the Jayden Daniels accuracy for something like flag football. And this is three years from now, two, three years from now. So I think Lamar still still in his prime. Tyler Murray could be an interesting one. For sure. Jayden Daniels, someone obviously that can just, I would mix up like on the receiving side, I would mix up like obviously like a Tyree kill would be incredible, but I think you want some of the big body like a, you know,

like Brock from the Raiders. Like I think you want a big. Brock Bowers would be by center. Right. Because they're L of yes. Yeah. I think you want some big, and I'm trying, I was trying to think like who also is just a huge receiver. Like I never time I think about, I is a, just a huge receiver. Like, and every time I think about it, I keep coming back to the tight ends. AJ Brown is big. DK Metcalf.

I mean, Jamar. Jamar's, but Jamar's not big. I just like, that's what I mean. If we start doing this, who the hell on earth is gonna be? How fun is it gonna be? Like, there's gonna be like, so like in USA basketball, there's tryouts.

Most of the team is picked, right? Like, you know, Steph is going to be on the team. You know, LeBron's going to be on the team. Like some of those guys, but you do have to make it for like those last three or four roster spots. I think Justin Jefferson said like his dream was to win a gold medal in another sport. So like, are they going to have tryouts?

Like are you going to have tryouts and you have like the top eight receivers in the NFL all trying out to make, some guys aren't going to play but dude Are we gonna do a dream team? Are we going flag football dream team? That's essentially what we could we could have the first ever NFL dream team dude outside of pickleball I mean flag football is just absolutely booming now Also, like I was all about this too You gotta start having the conversation about like a sauce gardener or a stingly, like you have to be able to cover.

And you don't really need, yeah, you need all those fast DBs. You just need fast, quick, titchy DBs that can just, and you need a linebacker. Do you know like, but like, because you're rushing the quarterback, you want, you're really looking for speed and agility. You don't need power.

You could throw like a Travis Hunter at middle linebacker. Right? This is gonna be so fun. I know. It's good. The strategy is gonna be crazy because obviously they do flag football for the pro bowl now because no one really cares about the pro bowl. So they've tried everything to fix that. Now they do the pro flag football game, which is actually, it's actually kind of fun to watch. I mean, like they're competing a lot, you know, harder than they are with tackle because they don't want to get hurt. But is there any part of it though? That's like, if you're a sauce Gardner or Travis Hunter and they, they want you to be on and you're, but you're like, you know, you gotta remember

these guys, these men and women are playing flag football all year round and it is a different game. Do you want to be exposed on the Olympic stage potentially with a dude that you never heard of from Brazil who absolutely played like 10 years of soccer and is now an elite flag football player and you just get exposed. I would love to know like who's good in flag football. I'm just looking up flag football world rankings.

We'll come back, you know what? Let's think for social. I don't even know. Let's do our draft of players. Oh, here we go. USA is one, Austria. Two, Mexico, three, Germany, four. This is men's 2024 IFAF flag football world rankings. Austria?

Yeah. Don't know if I would have picked Austria. Well, I don't know. Just based on points. Very excited for that. Yeah, man, that's gonna be fire. Big shout out to Wendy's again, flavor of the week. And I think it's time now, let's get to your boy.

Let's get to Luke Walton. Also one of the best voices maybe of all time. Just the bass and the man's voice. Just as a voice of gold. Let's go, Luke Walton. All right, Luke, thanks for joining us. I know you don't do a lot of these. Matty really had a call in like the ultimate favor. I basically said, I'll love you forever if you do this for 30 minutes and he goes

fine. Yeah, I want to put that in there too. If I happen to have a third kid, which I'm probably not, but if it's a boy, we'll put Luke on the table as a name just for doing this podcast. That's awfully nice of you. I appreciate it. And Matt's family. So if Matt texts and asks me to do something,

I'm going to do it. Oh, you're so. Dude, you know what I was thinking about? You'd be so proud of me because I am currently dominating our local rec league. And we just talked about this before. And I wanna talk to you about our experience about 12 years ago, which would might've been the greatest rec league

ever assembled. But dude, I'm playing Monday nights at Bay Club, 35 and older. I got roped into this. They take stats, right? So like you get to use stats online, which I think is the best part about it. Do you want to know what your boy is averaging right now? I'm a walking double, double dude. I'm 15 and a half and 11 and a half boards

for assists a game. Well, by the way, that's like a Luke Walt in the Arizona stat line. Yeah, no, that's a good one. But I knew the double, double wasn't coming with assist because I played with you and you're, but to your credit, you're a score Matt, like. Bro, I'm a black hole outside the three point line.

The only time I play with Jerry, he, I took Jerry, Jerry came and we were doing some shows together in LA and I took him to the Bay club and we were playing with Cole who's a B. He told me it was all old men and it was not. Our team was like me, Cole, Cole's boys who play Acosta who are like 6'5 and Jerry, poor Jerry, the only shot he got he air balled that shit. In fairness to me Luke these dudes were playing with like a clock. I never played like organized pickup with like a clock, like a running clock. So I saw the clock ticking down.

I hoisted up a three. But yeah, Matt, actually there's a clip out there. You guys got a ring together basically, right? You won a championship in rec league, no? We have a ring. It was one of the greatest years of my life right after I retired from playing in the NBA. I told Jerry the same thing.

Tell us about this. So you're a year removed from the NBA. Yeah. And you're not quite done yet. Still have the itch to play. So we get a great idea to put a league together, but not only are we playing in a rec league, like Matt and I are at Equinox working out seven times a week. We're playing beach volleyball four times a week. I'm first time coaching with the, with the Lakers G league team and also recruiting players that aren't getting

minutes to come play on our rec team, which was unsuccessful in that free agent signing. But it was literally like, it was an awesome year. And yet we want to, we want a hard fought title together. I told Jerry, I said, I said, we retired the same year and we would go, I literally said, I said, dude, we would go to Equinox five days a week. Just get, Luke would always say, let's get meaty today. Let's get meaty. We would go, we'd train.

We would go to the, remember the little restaurant right next door? We'd walk over there or we'd get a smoothie or we'd go to Houston's for lunch. But the best part, do you remember what you made me do with you? We used to go get foot massages. That's right, that's right.

Wasn't it your boy Danny, or is it this guy Danny? He goes mad as shit. He worked at the back of a nail salon, and he did reflexology, and it hurt so bad, but he was so good at it. How many, were you, were there a lot of former NBA guys? Because if I'm rolling up and like, all right, let's see who we got week one and fucking liner and wall come walking out. My God, let's just go home. Let's go get some food.

This is stupid. We're not playing in there. No, there was there was no other member. The drew league guy that you beat in the finals. That was good. He was good. He was talking too much trash. So for a rec league game. But yeah, but he was was good. Yeah, he was good. He was talking too much trash, so for a rec league game, but he was pretty good. And not only that, like we had a bunch of six, nine beach volleyball players.

So we looked like if you walked in the gym, like you thought you were going to lose by 40, but what we also learned was beach volleyball does not carry over to. So soft. Well, it's, it's, we're going to talk about six man at the end, but it was, I remember like Jerry, Jerry, you got, you've seen this with me, like athletes are like just hyper competitive and everything. So like we were there and we were putting together this team and like these volleyball players are great athletes,

but they're great athletes on the sand, which by the way, I'm a terrible athlete on the sand. So I respect them, but you, but it doesn't like never John, like I mentioned Johnny Hackett, we by the way, I'm a terrible athlete on the sand, so I respect them. But it doesn't, like, remember Johnny, I mentioned Johnny Hackett, we got guys six, nine, who literally have two right hands. I'm like, bro, we would get pissed. I'm like, dude, you're not fucking playing, dude. Like, you're sitting on the bench.

Like, we need fucking dogs out there. And then Johnny got mad and stopped showing up to games. Yeah, we hurt Johnny's feelings for sure. We gotta talk about current NBA, but the last thing is we were watching this clip and there's a clip on YouTube. If anybody wants to go watch it. It's an awesome clip.

Just type in both our names, rec league, and it's a four and a half minute clip of Luke diving on the ground, just to absolutely dominating this dude, like hitting threes. I remember saying like, bro, you didn't hit threes in the NBA. He had you, but you were hitting like nine threes a game in this shit, dude.

It wasn't my role on the team. You want to make it that we had Kobe and pal. My role was to give them the ball. I was totally okay with that. So I want to ask you something too, cause I really think I know the answer, but so when you were coaching with the Cavs, I am now in Cleveland. That's where my wife was born and raised, went to a lot of Cavs games. And I think it was the Celtics year when you guys said, put the Celtics in the playoffs round two, I guess it was they sat me first row right behind your the Cavs bench, which is the worst seat for a short person ever.

Like I got Tristan Thompson sitting right in front of me. I feel like though there was a few times you coming after a timeout, you looked at me and you gave me a head nod. Do you have any recollection of me being at a Cavs game? It's okay if you have no idea that I was there or who I even was at that point. He doesn't even know who you are now, Jerry.

But that's a lie. That's a lie because when I played for the Lakers, you guys used to do some filming at our games. Yes, yes, all the time. And that was our show. I remember Jordan Farmer and I would get together and watch it every time a new episode came out. So yes, I remember you being there.

I was used to see you. That was a real head nod. OK, good. Me and my, I'm like, I tell my wife, I'm like, Luke just gave me a head nod. He wasn't looking at you. He wasn't looking at you. So all right. Well, dude, you current, I mean, I love watching you, man. I remember, I remember when we had that year, and then a couple

years, I was like, why are you still coaching, man? Come hang at the South Bay, but you're continuing to do it. Now you're with the Pistons and you guys had a hell of a year, you know, fell short to the Knicks. but just like trajectory of this team, like how fun was this team to coach and how do you guys continue to get better going into next year? Yeah, it was beautiful.

And that's the fun part. And you talked about it as an athlete, how competitive you are, which is why I've stuck with coaching because you get to still compete at that highest level. And one of the beautiful things about sports is when a team really comes together and that's what we had here in Detroit this year. Uh, obviously we, you know, coming in here for the first year, wasn't a

lot of high expectations with the season they had the year prior. And we had a group of guys that just bought in and wanted to, to get past what they went through the previous year. And it was honestly one of the most fun coaching years I've had. And I've been on a, you know, a lot of fun, fun teams that, that have had a lot of success, uh, but it was awesome to be part of this ride this year. And you know, next year, obviously you get better by building on what you went

through and the hope is, uh, and you know, uh year, obviously, you get better by building on what you went through. And the hope is, and you know, Matt, I don't know how high of a level you played in Jerry, but when you lose, when you lose in like a playoff series, or, you know, a championship round, like it motivates you so much, because you just want to get back there and get past where you were. So the hope is the guys feel that they felt how exciting NBA playoff basketball is for a lot of them. It was their first time ever being there playing in those types of games.

And then, you know, we just build on what we started this year. You I mean, you coached I think you coached Steph, you coached LeBron in LA. How, it was fun to see Cade Cunningham. You know me, I'm a basketball fan. I like to see these young stars. And I feel like there's all this talk about that older generation is kind of coming down to Ann, Steph, LeBron, KD, and then this younger generation with Ann.

And you didn't even throw Brunson in there. You know, Jalen's been outstanding. But like Cade Cunningham was a star this year. Like, do you see some of that? Like, is this a kid that you're like, okay, we could build around this kid, players are going to want to come play with Cade because he's, he continues. It's like, you know, like, like Shay, right? He continues to elevate his game. Yeah, he's he is the real deal. And you can 100% build an organization around him. And one of the best things that you just never know until you're with the guys

every day is his leadership ability for his age is just, it's unbelievable. I mean, he cares not only about winning and doing the right thing, but he cares about his teammates. He has no problem calling people out if, you know, people are complaining or bitching or whatnot. And then he gives players love when they need love. And for him to have the emotional awareness and the the care factor of that at his age is like, it's just awesome.

You don't see it very often in this league. And it's it's exciting to know that, you know, we got him with us. So I'm, I'm a huge Knicks fan. I'm obviously sweating out this whole Pacers series, but I've been me and all the million Knicks group chats that I'm in, we keep talking about that Detroit series. And I wonder as a, as a player, and even as a coach, if this is even a thing.

So obviously everyone in the media was like, the Knicks don't want to see the Pistons. And in the back of my mind I'm like, yeah, you're kind of right. That's going to be tough. But I'm like, I should be able to handle it. Every one of those games could have swung the other way. Every one of these, especially like campaign comes out in game one and goes berserk. I don't think he scored that many points since he played and obviously a Sora Thompson like I feel like that almost prepared the Knicks going into like the Celtics. He's like if you could score on a Sora Thompson, you could

score on anyone. And is there something to like, you know, the calves kind of played, you know, the heat who kind of didn't seem like they wanted to be there as a pretty like is there something to just hey Getting ready for playoff basketball game one round one. It was on from Joe for sure Yeah, and there's levels to it if you're you know if you're a championship team, and you've done it before You can have an easier first round and still mentally be ready for that second round, but to your point Yeah, like the series we had with the Knicks, like you were razor sharp going into that next series, uh, just like we would have been if we could

have found a way to win some of those late games, um, uh, as opposed to where you kind of have a cake walk in the first round and then all of a sudden you're hit with an intensity that you haven't seen yet. Uh, so as far as that is for sure, I think our series with the Knicks really kind of helped them get to where they needed to go, because I mean, they like you said, every game was coming down to the end. So, you know, you're you're you're you're as sharp as you can be coming out of that series. Well, I think that, yeah, that's the thing, too.

And they say I never really knew when they say, oh, this is great experience for a young team because the young team still wants to win. Right. Like, it's not like, oh, hey, we we play them tough. That being said, your team is so young that I really do think that that series, like there is no doubt going into the playoffs next year that the Pistons are going to know exactly where they need to be mentally, emotionally, physically. Yeah. And you're right. Like we were heartbroken here. You know, we, we wanted to win like at the time you don't care that you got the experience, you know, in hindsight, big picture, like the experience is everything and it's awesome. And now like when you're coaching, we always talk about like coaching is like parenting. It's like, you tell your kids what to do, you tell them

what to do, what's gonna come. And then you get there and you know, you make mistakes, but then you're like, Oh, yeah, so they do know what they're talking about. And hopefully then you go into the next year. And it's like, this is why boxing out is so important. This is why following a game plan is so important. Cause when you get to the playoffs, it's every possession that ends up, you know, winning and losing a series. And you have to train your mind to be at that level.

And until you get to that level, people can tell you all day long, but you just don't understand it. But I think our guys understand it now. What are the chances you're watching? Do you watch the playoffs now? Are you just like- Every game.

You do? You do, you can't help it. I'm addicted to it, yeah, every game. And the best now is my 10 year old son Lawson is so hooked on basketball. He lays on me and he's huge, so I'm like, get off of me. The guy's gonna be 6'10", dude.

He's talking about the calls the refs are making, he's, you know, is this a foul? Is that, it's a lot of fun, but you know what I'm saying. That's like, I mean, Jerry's, Jerry's, Jerry's boy is the same, like he's turning them into Knicks fans. It's like, and Jerry, Luke knows, I mean, Luke's known Cole forever, but it's like,

Cole's 18 now, and it's just, it's just so fun to kind of, you mold them, and you've been around, like obviously, you know, your kids are gonna love basketball going, but that's awesome, dude. And he's probably around the arena all the time, right? With the guys and stuff. Is he good? Has he got a little, does he got game?

So he's always, soccer has always been his thing. And then over like the last year, which I love, soccer is a beautiful game. I love it. I don't know anything about it, so I can just sit there. He's gonna be too tall for soccer. Cut, cut, box out. So when he plays soccer, I just sit there and watch basketball. He's gonna be too tall for soccer. I'm like, cut, cut, box out. So when he plays soccer, I just sit there and enjoy it.

But over the last year and a half, he's really fallen in love with basketball. So he's out there shooting in the driveway every day. It's raining out. He's like, dad, come rebound for me. And I'm like, shit, I don't wanna go. I did this when I was a kid. I don't wanna go sit in the rain.

You can't say no, man. That's what I'm trying to- But you can't say no. So we go out there and I got my sweatshirt on and somehow it's almost June and it's 45 degrees and raining out here still. But he wants to shoot all day long. So he's to answer your question. He's getting pretty good. you who he's a big Knicks fan, but I feel like that generation and younger, obviously he's going to root for the Pistons and wherever you're coaching. But does he root for teams or is it more, I feel like the younger generation, it's about like a player. They'll lock onto a player and kind of follow that player around. Yeah. So he's a diehard Pistons fan right now, but his birthday is this Sunday and he wants an SGA Jersey. He wants me to take him to Oklahoma City for a game.

It's beautiful this time of year, right? Exactly. So, but you're right. Yeah. He loves SGA. He loves Kade. He loves Ant-Man. And then he just tells me all about them all day long. I'm like, yeah, that's the best. I wanted, I want to switch. I have never, I've heard, I've heard Richard,

RJ Richard Jefferson, who is one of your best friends talk about college and we have something in common because we both lost in the national championship game. And I've never asked you specifically what happened. So we're going to go from Pistons in a great year to what the hell happened losing to Duke in the national championship game. By the way, you guys were what number one team, right? Yes. Were you

the number one team? I think so. That game was loaded with guys. I mean, yeah, like, I'd like to, you know, blame the refs or whatnot. That was, they were really good. Our team, our team was really good. It was stacked too.. I mean, we had between the two of us, there was like 10 NBA players in that national title game, but Dunleavy got hot late. According to Gilbert, it was Richard's fault. According to Richard, it was Gilbert's fault. Sounds right. Yeah, I was gonna say those two are very similar. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was heartbreaking. I similar. Yeah, I mean it was heartbreaking. So I'm gathering you don't really want to talk about it.

I don't at all. I don't. That's what happens when people ask me about Texas and Vince Young. I'm like, guys, dude, shut the fuck up, please. Like, he's Superman. And here's the thing, like, I couldn't stand Duke. And now everybody, everyone I've met from Duke is like, just an awesome person. Like they're just good people and it still kills me that I like all these guys now. But yeah, I don't really want to talk about that.

Well, can I ask you this? Was it, did you, is it true you and did you and Richard host Gilbert on his visit? Is that, did I read that or that that must have been fun? Because yeah, he wasn't like a big giant prospect, right? Coming out of the valley. It was like us in Kansas state were the only teams really on him and we didn't know who he was. And our starting guard the year before was a freshman with us, Ruben Douglas and Gilbert came in and pretty much said, yeah, I'll start here next year because I dominated Ruben in high school for three straight years. It said this in front of Ruben.

So we've, you know, Ruben's right there. Yeah. And sure enough, by the start of the next year, like Ruben transferred before the season even started because Gilbert was just dominating practice every day going into the season. That's just one of the biggest mysteries to me. Cause obviously like even like seeing the highlights of you in that rec league game, like it's like so clear, like, okay, that guy is by far like at a 15 different levels

and everybody here. Like how does a player like that who turns into an NBA star go so overlooked? Like even Kyrie, I remember watching this thing about Kyrie where obviously went to Duke but he like walked into a camp no one he's like ninth grade no one knew who Kyrie was I don't know if it was an exposure thing and he just destroyed people I just always wonder how like how isn't someone like Gilbert more recruited and how does he turn into such a star even in college it seems like such a big miss, except for Arizona, who knew?

Yeah, I don't know how to answer that because like, again, back then there wasn't social media or those things, but like there's still scouting and magazines and we'd go to the bookstore every Tuesday when the magazines would come out and check out who the highest ranked players were. And whoever was doing that completely blew on the Gilbert one because he was like, he didn't come in and then get all get much like, get better right away. Like he came in

and was awesome. Like this kid could, could yeah, he was a dog. And I mean, he could score so easily. He was so athletic. He was a little immature, but he was a lot of fun, a lot of fun to be around. What's your, like, I just laugh when I think of RJ. We trying to get RJ on the pod. He's like, yeah, yeah, I got you, I got you. I'm like, bro, I don't hear from him for two weeks, typical. Last time RJ called me, he talked for 12 straight minutes.

And then I felt like I was talking to my dad again. I'm like, dude, you called just to talk. And then you're like, I gotta go by. Like, just leave me a voicemail next time. Did you run into him this year at all? Did he call any, did he call the playoffs? He called game one of our Knicks series. That's pretty cool, man.

What's that? He didn't even tell us he was coming. He literally texted JB Bickerstaff, our head coach. He texted his wife who also went to Arizona with us. She was a soccer star at Arizona. And my wife who played volleyball at Arizona and told them he was doing the game and that he'd be in town. And JB comes back from his pregame media. He's like, oh, Rich is doing the game. He's here. He didn't even text you? He didn't even text you. He didn't even text us. He was coming. Did you, did you know, so I'm also curious about, you know, coaching and when

a former player, there's so many foreign players I've talked to and I even asked like, would you ever coach? That's like a hard no for them, which I, you know, but for you, did you always know that that's something you wanted to do? Like, when did it come to you? Like, I just love the game so much. I want to coach. Yeah. Again, going back to that first year of retirement, I kind of separated my life in three, like retired life, which was hanging out with Matt every day, going to the gym, playing beach volleyball.

That was a good life, buddy. Part-time coaching with the Lakers G league team and then part-time TV with the Lakers, uh, station. So, uh, just to kind of see where I wanted to go. And after a year of that, it was clear to me that coaching was kind of where my passion was and still so much fun to be out there with guys competing, talking trash, uh, trying to win together. And then Steve Kerr got the job that next year. So I called Steve and I was like, any

chance I can get on staff? He's like, I just gave all my money to Alvin Gentry and Ron Adams. But if you're interested, we can talk. And I said, Absolutely. And Steve offered me the job. I've been coaching ever since. I just say, just when you look at your path, like, from the G or from LA to Sacramento to Los Angeles to Cleveland, like, when you kind of look back to where you're now, is there something, not like what would you do different, but like something that you've really taken on this path to this point that's like, maybe you get a head job again, I don't even know if you'd ever want to even try and be a head coach again, but is there something that you kind of look point that's like, maybe you get a head job again. I don't even know if you'd ever wanna even try and be a head coach again,

but is there something that you kind of look back and say like, man, if I could do this over, I would, or this is what I learned. And you played for Phil, who's one of the best ever. Yeah, for sure. There's a lot that I've learned on this journey. You know, when I first got that Laker job, I'd only been coaching for two years

up there with Golden State. And there's just, there's a lot of different things since then that I've, that I understand in different situations that I've been in that clearly have, it's like anything, even when you're a player, hopefully continuing to grow and understand the game more. And it's the same with coaching. So yeah, there's a, to answer your question, Matt, there's a lot I would do different and there's a lot I've learned since then. Yeah. I mean, you have such a unique thing. Cause I'm even, I was even thinking back to that 15, 16 Warriors team when you started off 39 and four and so much in the playoffs right now is like, oh, well the Celtics missed 53s and they're just gonna shoot better or even the other night, you know, Minnesota missed 53s and everyone talks about those warrior teams of they shot the three and that's why they won but I start going down that roster I'm like we need to have a Sean Livingston conversation the dude who never missed

from the mid-range that team still had Andrew Bogan like it was like there was so much more than a you know the Warriors to me were the first good shooting team to really rely on it there there was so much more to those teams. That must have been a great ride with that Warriors team. It was so fun. And everyone loved the offense and the threes that Steph and Clay would shoot. But what really made that team special was the defense that we played along with it. And if you go back and look at the numbers, uh, both years, you know, it

was a top five defense, Draymond, Bogut, uh, Livingston, Barbo. We had just so many good, Iggy, right? Good dollar was on that. Yeah. Yeah. You guys had a stack team. I mean, it was in, and to your point, like none of those guys were, you

know, three point shooters like that. And they were so, uh, they were just so smart and they were so selfless and all about the team. Uh, that, that, I mean, that's the only way you can win championships is when you have those type of players and role players and, uh, togetherness, uh, and you compete on both ends of the court. Uh, and I think you see a lot of that kind of with, uh, that OKC team right now. Yeah. Like they can, they, they, they play so many different guys, different series, from game to game.

And whoever is playing is just all in. They can play small ball. They can play double big lineups. And it's a lot of fun to watch. And then they have, in my opinion, the MVP of the league out there to finish games off for them if it's close. So they're a lot of fun to watch right now. I feel like this is a common thread on this show

because we get a lot of former athletes who have kids who are growing up. And obviously your dad, you know, Bill was great. And I just went through this with Cole, like the time when I realized like, damn, I'm passing the torch. Like he's just fucking way better than me. Was there? That was like four or five years ago. You know me,

Luke. I'm a little slow-footed lateral movement. I can't take him on the core. I used to go the bottom. Was there, I think it's just fascinating because I've read stories where you know you and your brothers when I think like what like Larry Bird would come over and shoot at the house, which I love to hear about that. But like, what age did you like tell pops like, all right, man, like, like when you were beating them one on one, was there a specific time? got big enough, he just couldn't walk anymore. So he would just pull up his chair and sit there and like talk trash to us from the sidelines. But there wasn't really that, I never had that moment with him

just because his body was so. You had it with your brothers though, I'm assuming. Oh yeah, and their friends. That's really what motivated me was like, I had two older brothers and I just wanted to hang with them all the time and they wouldn't let me play. So I was like, whatever, I'm going to get really good at this. And then I started busting all their friends' asses.

Eventually they're like, all right, we got Luke on our team and we would just literally play all day in the backyard. And I remember how good of a feeling that was. So I can imagine Cole's feeling pretty good right now that he knows he can dominate you, Matt. By the way, he would, he, if he saw you right now, he'd be like, Luke can't guard me. He's too old. Like he, I was like, I was like bro, I just had the conversation with him yesterday about there's this dude on a rec league who's like six, five, he's 40, but he's he's tall, he's physical dude. And I'm like oh, you're not I like I like buddy

You're not gonna score to he looked at me Luke. He just goes he goes dad. Are you serious? I go I go yeah, and he was dead serious He thinks he's better than everybody when he walks in the gym, which I kind of love you gotta love that That's how you felt when you were his age Matt. I mean, that's how I still feel sometimes But then I realized when I'm out there. I'm like shit my calf like I pulled the Nate dude I've been I pulled each one of my calves the last time I played not down to the point where I was out But I'm going out for two years with a calf strain By the way still mind-boggling what the fuck happened?

Yeah, bro, what did you do Luke's Luke's best friend? One of our good buddies literally pulled a calf Jerry but like torrent this dude didn't play sports for like two and a half years. We're like, what are you doing? I'm gonna say I don't blame him. I'm gonna say I don't blame him. Yeah, but this is at like 30, like we were in shit. We were in like mid 30s. He was a former professional athlete too.

So anytime, it's still today, Matt, anytime someone gets a calf injury, I send them a text. I'm like, you think he's done forever? Is he out for life? At least two and a half years, Luke. What do you remember about Larry Bird coming to the house? You remember any specific stories? It was awesome. Because Larry was like we were all basketball fanatics and obviously like my son now loves the Pistons

loves Kate Cunningham. Like that's how we felt about Larry. So when he showed up to the San Diego house in the summer, and we and we, he'd come in the backyard and play. We have a great gym in San Diego called Muni gym right down the street. And like people would lose their mind. It would be my dad, Larry, three of us out there playing and Larry would talk so much shit. And like, it was just like, I can't remember how old I was at the time, probably eight or nine, but we'd play two, two on two in the back and Larry would like score

nine straight on bill talking trash. And then whatever one of us got to be on his team, he'd let like just keep shooting until they hit the game winner. And then the rest of the day, he would just call one of us game winner and talk trash. It was, it was so much fun. They say he's like one of the, maybe the best trash talker of all time. Like top five.

Yeah. The clips they have of like old players talking about some of the stuff he would say and do was just, it was pretty awesome. Just the fucking, that high release. He could do about it. So before we let you go, we're going to get you out of here. Does Matt ever see the sand when you guys play beach volleyball? Or is the first time in Matty Ice's career that he has to watch the big boys do it?

Oh, I know. I know. What is Matt like on? What's your role? I want to hear more about this sixth man thing, which sounds insane. In Manhattan Beach, by the way. Yeah, Matt, Matt's a winner. So what we do is we let Matt serve when it's a big point. And Matt gives a great, great speeches during the timeouts. And occasionally if we're playing a lesser team, we'll put them up there on the outside and set them up.

No, I get a little butter. You remember me saying last year? That's right. Here's the thing, Jerry. This is the thing about Luke and I. And this is why I love Luke because I see him now maybe once, twice a year and still like my boy. But when we play in this fucking tournament and we got a squad now, these guys are- You guys are so competitive.

No, these guys, these volleyball dudes, and they would tell you, but they're awesome athletes. Man, they are like, I'm always mesmerized watching these guys jump in the sand. But there is a little like, you gotta have a little fucking toughness and grit in these things. If you wanna win, and me and Luke, every time we're down,

and we've been beat now by a nasty team in the finals, like two years in a row, but me and Luke always will be on the side of like, man, we're fucking not tough enough, dude a row. But me and Luke always will be on the side of like, man, we're fucking not tough enough, dude. And Luke's always like, Matty, they don't fucking want it. They don't know what champions are. We always have these side conversations that have died.

But Jerry, I know my role, dude. Trust me. By the way, Luke's a big part of the squad. Luke middle block, he brings intensity, fire, energy, all that. I'm bringing fire on the sideline. I do give a little speech. I'm usually pretty hung over all weekend, but it's like, I have to come watch. You gotta come. I bring your kids, bring the wife. I'm coming out for that. I'm coming out to Manhattan. My wife played,

yeah, Bri plays played volleyball at Arizona and she's still like, we have to plan our summer around six, man. Like she's so over volleyball, like she doesn't want to play anymore. And I'm like, we can do whatever you want, but I will be in Manhattan Beach weekend. That's not, that's can't miss for you. Yeah. My team needs me and I need my team. So like, it's, there's no discussion about it. We will be there for six man weekend. I just got chills guys. I'm coming for this Jerry. You should honestly, dude. Like I'll cover it. I'll be the sid. That sounds awesome. Jerry, you should honestly do it like. I'll cover it. I'll be the sideline reporter, bro.

Oh, you'd be great. You're a diehard sports man. You would appreciate this and watching these guys play. Like it's pretty ridiculous. Like the athleticism. We just need to bring a little more heart and soul. That's it. And that's what we try to do every year.

Yeah. And me and you, Matt, I can tell you one thing. We're bringing heart and soul, brother. Oh, that's what I'm saying, bro. I'll fucking punch somebody in the face out there if I have to. Oh, dude. Luke, can't thank you enough, man. That was awesome. I will see you this summer at the sixth man for sure. And yeah, keep doing your thing with the Pistons, man. That was scary

as all hell. You put the fear of God into me, man. Real quick. Do you have a, uh, I mean, I don't know as a current coach, can you, like, do you have a prediction? Like who do you think is going to win or who's the toughest team? Yeah, I think, I think, okay, see, I just think they're so deep. I know they're young and they haven't, they haven't been there yet, but none of these teams that are left have been there. Yeah.

So I just feel like with what they can do, as long as they stay healthy, obviously, I just see them being too much for the other teams. But I think both these series are going to be awesome. Like a lot of fun to watch and just looking forward to it. God, if the Knicks win the championship, I'm going to be sick. like a lot of fun to watch and just looking forward to it. God, if the Knicks win the championship, I'm going to be sick. Oh, you're going to have to quit the show. You're going to have to quit. The throwbacks might be over.

Although I'm a Knicks fan. I become a Knicks fan. I mean, the Knicks are so, I mean, what they do is so impressive. Yeah, they're fun. And Jalen Bronson, oh my, he is, he is so special. Tom Thibodeau trying to kill load management one playoff way at a time. Seven guys, we train for this.

He's trying to end the whole load management as a thing. So I feel like I need to call you guys Maverick and Iceman at this point. I feel like Luke is more Maverick. All right. I'll be I'll be ice to to Mav all day, man. It's my guy. Well, I miss you, buddy. Thanks for coming on, man. I know, uh, I know you're busy. Give my best to the, to, to bring the kids too. Yeah, I will. And you do the same and I'll see you in SoCal after summer league.

I'll see you. I'll see you soon, dude. All right. It's now time for Strapped In presented by NHTSA. NHTSA reminds you to always wear your seatbelt, make it home safely to the people you care about. Don't risk it. Click it or ticket. All right. Each week we kind of talk about, we focused a lot on you because like, you know, strapping

in for something that lends itself better to athletics. So I'm going to bring you into the acting world for a second. Please, yes. And actors do indeed have to strap in for scenes from time to time. There's been stunts involving cars, where I've driven a Ferrari around a racetrack where you gotta get a little training.

There's been stuff where you have to have fight scenes and you wanna make sure everybody's okay. But really, what I'm gonna talk about for a second, this puts fear into every actor's heart for sure, is if you know weeks in advance that you're having a love scene. It just, and it's number one. How much anxiety does that give you?

First of all, fortunately for me, that is similar to an athlete. Actors have attributes. That is not one that I get called on. Like if they're saying like, hey we need a corner three shooter, it's different. So, but the few that I've had, number one, it's always, not uncomfortable, but you know,

you're sort of always being respectful of the other person you're doing the scene with, but there's also 80 people around you. But number two, you know, film lives on forever. You gotta get, you wanna kinda, I've seen a lot of people do some crash diets, talk about actors hitting the gym. And I feel like I'm always reminded.

They don't eat for like seven straight days. I feel like Kevin Connolly, who played E, had a scene like that in the Entourage movie, and obviously we had hundreds of cameos in the Entourage movie. So he was on of cameos in the Entourage movie so he was on that like had not you know really eating light and working out like crazy kind of dehydrated I feel like it was Liam Neeson when he was doing his cameo walked into the hair and makeup trailer and just took one look at a dehydrated fatigued colleague drinking lemon water

and was like oh you have one of those scenes, don't you? After like 300 sit-ups. What's, I'll say that, what's more pressure, playing in a national championship game or doing a shirtless love scene in the movie? I would say a shirtless love scene in the movie. There's nowhere to hide, Matt. There's nowhere to hide.

And it lives on forever. Forever. So. Let me ask you a question without going into detail right here. Again, we're stra high, and it lives on forever. Forever. So. Let me ask you a question without going into detail right here. Again, we're strapped in with this. We're strapped in. Like, what are you wearing in that?

Like, there's underwear, right? There is, yes. Like, there's rules to this. Oh, there is a intimacy coordinator, someone who is there to make sure both parties are comfortable. God, how awkward is that? make sure both parties are comfortable. How awkward is that? There's things that are obviously separating you.

Yes. No, it is. It is. There's a lot happening. At least in my experiences, it's always been professional and almost like, all right, now we act out. It's so professional, we have to still make this believable. So let's like try to pretend we're enjoying this and not totally

uncomfortable. So, uh, but yeah, man, it's, but it's more so the time leading up to those scenes where you're just, you know, you have to shoot that, that day, the night before talk about no sleep. You're like tomorrow really. So funny. So I always laugh about with, um, the people who are good at those scenes, right? I probably they're ripped, they're ripped. And like, I make this joke. They're ripped, they're ripped and like. I make this joke with Brie all the time too. Like if I take my shirt off, dude I grab it by the collar and I pull it over my head.

Those people we're talking about do the double arm cross. And it's like an unveiling. I've never taken my shirt off like that once in my life. It's always like, how do I do this as quick as possible so no one sees? You stretch, you stretch. That was like me in gym class in fourth grade, dude. It's always like, how do I do this as quick as possible so no one sees? Yeah, you stretch the, you stretch the, that was like me in gym class in fourth grade, dude.

Just hide, like put it, take it off real quick. So I bet you, you did not see that for our strapped in this week, but shout outs to NHTSA. Again, don't risk it, click it or a ticket. I'm glad we got that all out there. You're giving me anxiety. Just listen to that, just getting a visual. Fortunately for me, I only did that, just getting a visual. Listen, fortunately for me,

I only did that like three or four times. Even like Power, when I was working on Power, everyone has one of those scenes in Power. What were those scenes? I wanna go watch it. I literally, no, I told Courtney Kemp, the show runner creator, I'm like, when I started working on a show, I'm like,

Courtney, don't put me in one of those scenes. No, what were your two love scenes? What were your two love scenes? In Entourage? Was it in Entourage? I had two or three in Entourage. It wasn't Ron DeRouse? No, it wasn't Ron.

It was Donnie Ramirez was like the horrifying one. Let me by horrifying. It's like, it was like shirt off, full on simulation. Didn't enjoy that. I'm going to go back. This other girl, Jana, Jana Kramer. Oh yeah. Was what was one. And then I had a few with movies and stuff like that, but I'm glad we don't ever have to talk about this again. You know what? Let's let's shift

the focus on to you. Let's do a little all time adventures driven by Nissan. Take adventures to new heights in the all new 2025 Nissan Armada. Go to Nissan USA.com slash Armada to learn more. This is where we highlight an adventure. We try to keep this career driven. So I wanted to know from you, I know we're not quite locked into baseball the way we were during the playoffs, but you know, we just had Yankees, Mets, Subway series, Yankees took two out of three, all this Juan Soto stuff, which I do feel is being fabricated as many things by the media.

Like he flies private by himself, I think that's already been debunked as not true, not hustling out of the batter's box, that's kind of true. But he's now getting- There's a lot of people that do that. He's getting the diva, took the money, left the Yankees, all this stuff, which I would would do the same exact thing probably but have you in your career both back in college into the pros ever had to deal with a player that was

having these we'll call diva like traits. You don't have to call anybody out hardcore. No honestly I I mean there were I, there's probably like, I mean, look, like me and Reggie were treated differently at USC my senior year because of just adding up to that. Like we had like literally security guards for us that would walk from, that's actually a great story. I can get on another, but we'd have security because there were so many fans on campus

that wanted our autograph, like on a Wednesday, September. So that probably is a little diva-esque, but it was just to get from point A to- How's it feel like the media wanted you guys to be divas? They were hoping you were. Yeah, it was just like autograph people, the eBay people, all that shit. But I thought about this,

and it's actually quite opposite. And I want to tell the story because he could have been this way and he just wasn't. I played with Edgeron James. And for those who don't remember Edgeron James, the great Miami hurricane, great Indianapolis Colt in the Hall of Fame, which is so awesome. Played for the Colts with those Peyton Manning teams for like eight or nine years. My rookie year, he was a big free agent pickup for us. Signed him to like a four year deal. And it was kind of the tail end of his career, but he was incredibly impactful for me.

You know, I know it didn't work out for me there, but just seeing him and seeing what a Hall of Fame player and how he worked and all those things, he was the opposite. And what I mean by that is when he signed there, he stayed at the Ritz Carlton up in Scottsdale or Phoenix. That's where he lived. He didn't buy a house. He just kind of did his own thing. But the cool thing about Edge was he rented a house right by the facility for like a playhouse for all the guys to go

over and hang. Like, like not even like a crash pad, like here's pool tables, here's this, here's that. Just like to build the bond and the camaraderie. The camaraderie house almost. In Tempe, like five minutes away from the facility, go there, it's always open or here's a key. And dudes would go and just go and hang. And this was my first year in the league. So like, I'm coming from USC,

like I'm coming from a very like, we were in the spotlight. So like, I'm coming from USC, like I'm coming from a very like, like we were in the spotlight. So like, I was, I was just shocked cause I still like, I'm like, damn dude, I'm about to play with Edwin James. Like this is dope. I'm about to play with Larry Fitzgerald. This is, this is sick.

I just thought I saw it from a Hall of Fame player. And I saw that with Andre Johnson and Houston, Larry, I played a lot of Hall of Famers, man. And like, I saw the opposite, which I'm pretty lucky. So never really played with someone like that, at least that had that kind of narrative around him and that perception. It was actually quite opposite.

I'd love to get EJ on the pod, man, because he's an incredible dude, incredible stories. And he was always the smartest dude I knew. Like, he saved his money. He's always a the smartest dude. I knew like he saved his money He was a bit. He's always a business thinker. He's like, I'm not spending my money like and so like he just he was awesome, man So but yeah, like he was he was team first guy even at that point in his career So like the sort of thing where all right, we just had a you know, crazy practice walk through whatever You could literally just cruise over to that house if you don't feel like going home just

yet and order some food, play some pool, put on a game or whatever's on, play video games. It was a kick it house. Yeah. It was just a kick it house. He was, uh, he called, he just, that's all he did ever was call me quarterback. That's all he did. If I texted him right now, he'd be like quarterback. That's all he said. Well, he has the same thing that Walton has. Like you don't really see, I don't see edge on every podcast or every YouTube show.

I reach out. Edge is, Edge is one of the, the, the great dudes, man. Like one of the great dudes. He's not still in Arizona. I wonder where he resides. Nah, he's in, he's in Miami. He's got a lot of kids. I know his oldest is a running back or football. Like he's playing college now maybe. He's a baller, but just an all around good dude. And like one thing too, that I noticed when I was young in the league and I'd go to Miami, the Hurricanes, they run that city, dude.

They run that city. Who's the one guy that runs that city is, who's the big lineman? McKinney? I think Brian McKinney. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. They were like, you need anything? You hit up him. I was like, what does that mean? He's like, you need anything? He was like the mayor. Like they just ran the town. Kind of like, I mean, I guess similar to like us at USC, but we were kids. Like these are grown like

adults. Like you just needed anything in Miami. Like you hit up anyone that went to the U at that time. Honestly, if some of my dream college football matchups, it would probably be one of those Miami teams versus you and the Reggie team. That would probably, I think that's- Well, dude, the Miami Oath 1 team- O1, yeah. Is, I mean, on paper, those names, I mean, it's ridiculous.

It's absolutely, you can go down the list on both sides of the ball, probably 10 to 15 dudes and like more than half were either pro bowlers or will be in the Hall of Fame. Like it's, that's how crazy that is. Edge was earlier. Do you remember, my first memory of Edgeron, and I wonder if you might not as been as big

in college football at the time. They played UCLA. UCL, I do remember this. Cade McNown. Yes. I think it was in the bowl game or was it the end? It was a big ass game and Edge ran, I don't know the numbers.

But he had a crazy stat line. He ran for like 250 or 300 against UCLA. UCLA was nice. That was like JJ Stokes, K. MacNowne. Might have been Deshaun Foster. No, I think it was, I don't know who it was. But yeah, Edge was. By the way, in Green Bay at the draft when we were there,

the coolest jersey I saw the whole time was a Colts, Edger, and James jersey. Someone was rocking the, I saw the number. I'm like, come on, no way. And I turn around and said James. I'm like, come on, no way. And I turned around and said, James, I'm like, that's a fire Jersey. That was a all time adventures driven by Nissan. Again, go to Nissan, USA.com slash armada. Let's do some mail bag. I got two for us today and then we'll get everybody out of here in honor of the cam scataboo viral photo. Trevor, uh, Trevor writes,

what would the current rotation of jerseys for turtle be in 2025? Really good one. Easy answer, Brunson, Cat for sure. That's easy. You're going Cat jersey? I think so. I think Brunson Cat.

Over Hart? I also have here Hart and I think turtle would rock like a Miles McBride. He didn't always go for the big flashy That's I'm saying I think I think you're going I think you're going Jackson dart and you're going or you're for sure going scat I'm going scat a boot. That's that's number. That's probably number was Brunson one one a scat a boot What's your favorite throwback? Giants Jersey

like if you could like like an LT or Like if you could like, like an LT or LTs fire, I think like a Bavaro one is super fire. I love Dave Maggott as a kid. Dave Maggott. That's why I always was in the park. Yeah. Big Dave. I loved like Rodney Hampton, those teams. And like a little later than that, dude, I, even though he got hurt and then Kevin boss

stepped in and unlocked like a whole other part of the office. Jeremy Shockey was a fire jersey. Jeremy Schocke was good. I think also Turtle would probably, I mean Judge would be the easy one. He'd be rocking Volpe if it was a Yankee. He'd be rocking Volpe would be the Italian thing. His throwback would probably be a Mattingly

or if he did a Knicks throwback it could probably be Mason or Oakley. And then I was thinking what's a good, what non-New York Jersey would Turtle rock? I think Turtle would rock like a white chocolate, Jason Williams, King's Jersey, something like that. I feel like as a non- Yeah, Turtle had a little white chocolate vibe to him.

Yeah, I think he would rock that. That's a good call. Good question from there. And then I thought this one was pretty cool from the social media team. A Michael Jordan Jersey from the 93 season sold for 2.6 million. Pales in comparison, the most expensive piece

of Jordan memorabilia all time is from the 98 finals, 10.1 million. So removing money from the equation, if it's not an investment piece, what would be a cool piece of Jordan memorabilia you would like to have? Taking money out? I mean, this is easy for me and it's not even close

to his probably most expensive, it's his Lear rookie card because I've come very, very close to buying it. Very close. It's a great buy, that's like a gold bar. Well, I mean, there's only so many tens, the tens are. Fortune. Yeah, I don't know if they're a million, but they're high.

But like, I was going to buy a graded five and a six, a six. What was a six going for? It was going for, I think you could get it for like seven or eight grand. Seven or eight. But I was getting it for five. Oh, you're winning on that all day. Or I was getting it for lower because actually, I was going through our friend, Josh Richmond,

and I ran it by the wife and she said, what the fuck are you doing? We have children, Matt, you cannot buy a car. I said, you're gonna buy a Michael Jordan, she didn't know graded Michael Jordan card as an investment, you're never gonna sell it. Because my whole thing is like, it's an investment. But like, you're going to buy a Michael Jordan. She didn't know graded Michael Jordan card for it as an investment. Well, you're never going to sell it. Cause my whole thing is like, it's an investment,

but like I'm not reselling. If you don't ever sell that investment, it's just a piece of memorabilia. The 88 FLIR card is, is just iconic. I collect cards. I'm sure there's shoes, there's other things out there, but that would be my piece. So for me, I, and I tried to think off the beaten path.

I would love to have that gold chain he used to rock. And I think his rookie year, second year, it's almost like a choker. It did not dangle at all. It was like real tight around his neck, which was like the coolest thing I think I ever saw a basketball player do with the scripted Chicago on the Jersey.

Give me that gold chain. I would rock that. Also, I think it'd be really cool if you had the actual flu game sneakers. I have the, you know, I have a pair of Jordan Flu Games, but to actually have the game, the sneakers he wore, or even the jersey he wore in the flu game, you know, I could already see me having the jersey, be like, don't touch it, because if I put germs on it, you might get the flu. If you touch that Jersey,

cause that's the flu game. I am, I am fortunate to have taken a tequila shot MJ in his flesh in flesh. I, and Oakley remembered it. Oakley remembered it. One of the best stories. I'll go, I'll go to my grave with that story. My grandkids. Remember Michael Jordan? Yeah, grandpa had a nice shot at a Hollywood club. Well, not many people could nurse the wounds of losing a game like you did at that time with the guys who consoled you, Jordan and Oakley. That's crazy. And the best part was they called me over.

That was the coolest part, was Oakley came over and said, MJ wants to take a shot, wants to meet you, come over. And I was like, dude, sick. When I brought that up to Oakley came over and said MJ wants to take a shot wants to meet you come over and I was like I was like when I brought that up to Oakley I was wondering like is he gonna remember a long time ago and I brought it up to him he was like oh he was so he was so mad and upset we brought him right over yeah he remembered it right away and he was like we would I think they lost some money on that game to be honest too yeah I think they were big on on the Trojans for that one. So good mail, bad questions. Great show today.

I'll be, we'll see you courtside. I'll see you on the garden floor. Tomorrow night, right? Friday night? Friday, yeah. Tomorrow, and again, we don't know. We'll either be trying to go up two oh, or try to not it up at one one.

It don't matter if you're down one or up one. You are, your feet are touching wood. There ain't nothing, there are no better place in sports than on the hardwood. And I'll tell you what too too it doesn't matter what happens tonight in game one you gotta win game two because you're either gonna need to go one one or you know what go up to oh hold home court advantage step on their necks by the way I just bought seventh Avenue if they went by the way seven Avenue and I'm gonna party with everybody by the way I just thought of this bro Timothy Chalamet you're gonna be right next to Chalamet.

Oh, I mean... Can we get him on the pot? He has risen so high up the Nick ranks, and he knows doing a great job before we close the show. Our guy, and we have to get him on too, and this Pete Schrager, okay, who's now all over ESPN. We're gonna get him on training camp for sure. He was on Get Up the other day,

shouting out Nick's content creators on Twitter, who I know because I follow everything, over ESPN. We're gonna get him on training camp for sure. He was on get up the other day shouting out Nick's content creators on Twitter who I know because I follow everything but these are guys who literally have their their entire business is like the Knicks right? They're blowing up because blowing up like you thought I would. Dude you gotta do the good work for the Nick fans. You gotta talk to Chalamet. You gotta talk to Chalamet. He's gonna love you, bro. Listen, let's go, man! So by the way, if your nephew backs out, just hit me up. Would you fly in?

If I was like Matt, my nephew can't go, I can't fill this ticket. You can. I'm on vacation this weekend, so no, I can't. I feel like I'll be able to fill up a seat. I feel like I'll be able to find someone. I'll be sipping margaritas in Mexico this weekend. I'll be watching.

I'll hit some golf balls while you're there. Thank you everybody for listening. Like and subscribe and all that good stuff. We'll catch you next week. Let's go. Thank you, Luke Walton.