LA Lakers Stories With Bruce Bernstein: Jerry West, Magic Johnson and More!

every team every topic everywhere this is [Applause] believe welcome back to the jello jiggling podcast I your host Ryan Ward and I got a special guest today Mr Bruce Bernstein uh long time long time uh Sports Enthusiast and uh worked for ESPN for for a very long time didn't you yeah I was there for a total of 32 years nice nice um so but you had a lot of experiences with the with the Lakers during your time at ESPN didn't you oh absolutely I mean my my experiences with the Lakers started believe it or not when I was about 12 years old in my hometown of Brockton Massachusetts when I was exposed to my very first Laker Legend Jerry West uh and I'm happy to happy to tell you that story if you're interested yeah well I'm in perfect timing with the Lakers announcing that they're going to honor him this season with the patch and then the opening night they're going to do with some celebration or ceremony so yeah shoot man all right so anyway um my my mom used to go shopping at this shopping mall in my hometown of Brockton Massachusetts which is about a half hour south of Boston so one day we're in the mall and she's doing her thing and I used to go to this kind of you know um store called Bradley's okay which is sort of a mini mini mini version of like Walmart is now it's like a department store so you know she'd be around shopping and I'd go there I'd say Mom I'll be looking at the sporting goods in Bradley so you know whatever tell me what time to meet you so I walk into the sporting goods store one day now this is I'm about 12 years old so I'm gonna say this is like 1969 okay so I walk into Bradley's and sitting in like one of those metal folding chairs like you know you if you go to a bingo game at the church you know those metal fold in chairs sitting there all by himself was Jerry West okay in Brockton Massachusetts of all places and he was sitting there with a stack of like these photos and I'm gonna actually go off camera for a second I'm gonna grab it and show you hang on okay he's sitting there with a stack of photos all right now this is the photo all right he actually signed it uh down here all right yeah uhhuh and he's just sitting there and that's the famous logo pose right he's just sitting there and I remember this so vividly I just looked at I couldn't even talk right I'm a 12-y old kid I couldn't even talk it's Jerry freaking West sitting in Bradley's in Brockton so he just grabs one of the things signs it there was nobody around him there was no one from the store there was no one from the sporting goods company which was Regent Sporting Goods there was nobody it was Jerry West sitting there and I swear to God I'm not tripping this really happened because I still have the picture so I was like that was my first experience with a Laker and it's funny later on about four years ago when I was with my previous company called Pure Hoops media we did a podcast with Jerry because one of my podcasters was a former Lakers assistant coach and former Clippers general manager by the name of Dave wall I don't know if you remember Dave he actually played he was assistant coach he was on Riley's Showtime staff I think he got a ring in 85 and he coached the Nets and you know whatever so we had we had Jerry on and before we started the show I told him that story because I was just curious you know I didn't expect him to remember it I mean look you know it was 50 whatever years ago I and I asked him you know do you remember this he said nope I was never there I'm like well yes I didn't say this to him I said yeah you were but that's a memory I mean that's like you know what 55 years ago Ryan I mean but that was my first exposure to a Laker Legend and I still got the picture I got the receipts so that's around the time where they're still like kind of promoting the NBA right and he's like one of the poster boys so they're doing like the rounds and stuff like that I'm sure yeah well look back then those guys didn't really get paid all that much money so I'm sure any endorsements I mean look they had to be in in Boston to play the Celtics maybe the next night or the day before or whatever which is the only reason I could imagine Jerry West would have been in Bradley's so he was already in a bad mood really right you know um you know hey look you know he he had some tough games against the Celtics but Jerry West is just I mean I have such admiration for him it was such a blow when when you know when we lost him you know earlier in the year um because the the podcast that we did with him with Dave wool which was called Dave's front office uh if anyone really wants to search for it on Apple's podcast you could still find it it's still up there um just a remarkable guy I mean just in so many ways and I remember he was talking about elen Baylor you know because Elgen was very very sick at the time he hadn't passed away yet and Dave asked him about Elgen and the the words that he used to describe Elan were just so heartfelt and he truly truly loved Elgen they were they were Way Beyond friends I mean that that that they were like family lot of tough battles together those two before will came along right yeah I mean look at the very you know by the time I started following basketball which was around 1966 Elgen was still kind of in his prime in 66 but we didn't get games on TV back then you know if you were lucky you got a weekend game on ABC uh but it wasn't like now where you know there's stuff up on the satellite there's cable TV there was none of that stuff so the only time we saw him was like kind of on film uh and now looking back on it I mean you see some of the things that he used to be able to do and uh he truly was I mean Elan Baylor was like you know he was playing Above the Rim when the only people playing Above the Rim was like Wilt or Bill Russell or you know seven Footers yeah yeah I was going to say didn't they uh at least from a documentary I saw like they called him like the first real NBA superstar right because he could do literally everything on the court I mean didn't one year he averaged like a crazy amount of rebounds on top of all his scoring yeah talking like 14 15 rebounds a game something nuts yeah I remember seeing that and just being like whoa this guy must have been everywhere on on the basketball court you know I'm actually old enough to remember when Dr J Julius Irving kind of came into prominence and I remember hearing at the time oh yeah you know he's he's like the closest thing to Elgen Baylor so you know with just kind of this elegant controlling the ball with one hand and doing this kind of stuff yeah just you know again way you know a a true um you know Pioneer in that particular style of basketball yeah talk about a cool guy I I got to interview Dr Jay I think about maybe about six years ago uh because he joined for with the big three you know he was a coach on the sideline or whatever and the pr person told me I get like 10 minutes and I'm like oh man you know what they force it in there and you just gota like go running off questions like and it sucks usually most of the time they just want to get it over with right I talked to him for 45 minutes and he was just so cool like we went into like this whole thing on Barkley um his time in Philly I think we talked about Jordan Kobe I mean we just kept going and going and going and going I was like man what a laidback dude like these I love retired players like interviewing retired players because they they have no filter for one right because Byron Scott who you know right he was another guy I interviewed him and I covered him uh when he coached the Lakers before you know before he got fired but uh and he was super like you know arms crossed all the time like basically don't talk to me right gave off this this this Vibe of just like you know what I hate the media I just I'm just here to coach basketball right uh and I talked to him over the phone for like half an hour completely different guy completely different guy I couldn't believe it he was he was so nice but the way to transition to that so you you've got some experiences with Byron Scott too yeah I do but I but but I wanted to Circle back for a quick Dr J story since you brought him up if you got him for 45 minutes Ryan you must have been asking him some damn good questions because like you said these guys are usually like you know looking at their watch we done with this thing soon person chimes in like every five minutes you got like four minutes you got like three minutes you know what I mean uh but uh I learned my lesson the first interview I ever did with a pro athlete was like one of the most intimidating things ever because it was a Father's Day thing and I had to interview Eli Manning and Archie Manning at the same time over the phone and I was nervous as hell I even pounded a beard before I got on because I was so nervous boy Ryan yeah like I'm like I kept telling my mom was like I don't know I can't stop thinking about being nervous she's like have a Corona so I found a Corona with L Jam that lme in there oh yeah and uh and they told me I get I get 10 10 minutes 10 minutes again right so I as like an idiot I wrote out 10 questions thinking it was gonna go minute by minute I was done in four and a half minutes all those questions after that I learned have way more questions than you think you're actually going to ask because you never know where it's going to go right not only that but listen to the answers because a lot of I've done the same thing a lot of times the question you don't think of in advance turns out to be a great question because they say something and you realize oh I think I can hook into this one a little bit let me bounce something back and then you get the good stuff yeah and then you just realize how much they've been you know how long they've been around how much they've experienced people that you didn't know were connected to them all of a sudden you know that's story it's yeah it's crazy man I get I love I I interviewed Kareem too once and that was a completely different experience uh he was super nice to me he was just very kind of calm and cool and like just didn't want to give up much yeah I remember I remember he had one quote on Dwight at the time because this is like I think this is the tail end of Dwight being in LA or maybe he was in Houston already I can't remember but I brought up Dwight and I was like so did you work with him he's like yeah but Dwight didn't want to work and I'm like oh okay so I gotta dive into this a little bit right see he's like yeah he's like yeah I I went to the facility and he just didn't want to work and I and he wouldn't elaborate on it he was just it was basically just like a a shot at Dwight's uh work ethic I think right yeah so and I put it on Instagram I made a graphic out of it everything I even I I feel bad but I did I did tag Dwight and Dwight sure enough responded and he's like whatat are you doing man why are you telling people this I'm like don't kill kill Don't Kill the Messenger dude go go to the source talk to the captain yeah that's Kem that said I didn't say this I'm relaying the message y that's my job and he just kept coming at me coming at me coming out I'm like hey look if you really want to clear this up let's get it let's jump on an interview right now we'll talk about it we used to do a show on on ESPN when I was there called um NBA Coast to Coast it was like we did it on Tuesday night it was sort of a whip around show where we'd go from game to game whatever and I had this idea that on on Kareem's 65th birthday I wanted to have him on the phone as a guest so I had to go through his his representative whose name is Deborah I don't know if you know Deborah you probably had it's his it's it's his wife isn't it isn't it his wife that he that maybe I mean it could be I didn't realize if that was the case but Deborah was tough man I mean she was a real good gatekeeper so she asked me a million questions what do you want to talk to him about and it's like honestly it's kind of like a Little Love Letter to Kareem right because we're all on the show all of the guys on the show on the set you know admire him and it's his 65th birthday we just want to kind of wish him happy birthday see how he's doing so finally she said okay and and he did it and you know and it was and it was cool but anyway so last Quick Dr J story and then we'll talk about Byron because I know you want to talk about Byron I love Byron Byron is just super so I was really good friends with Bill Walton all right because we worked together at ESPN so one year there was some NBA legends at the hoop Hall of Fame in Springfield which is you know not far from my house so I wanted to go up and shoot shot some sound for some features we were doing so uh bill was there and Dr J was there and Casey Jones was there and there was one or two other people so I brought my son Adam with me who is now in his 30s but at the time he was like probably 12 or whatever and he had a basketball and I said all right Adam you know bring your basketball because I knew bill would sign it because Bill and I were friends so Bill you know signs the ball and he's there he's there wait a minute let me go let me go get Dr J to sign it so Bill takes Adam and marches him over to Dr J B Bill Dr J this is Adam Bernstein you know Adam you know work I work with his dad you know he's like the greatest human being ever bill was always very over the top with that yeah and Doc and Dr J signs the ball so I have the ball actually I'll show it to if you want to see it Dr J and Bill Walton hang on oh well that's cool wow Bill Walton takes up a whole I didn't know it was going to be Show and Tell today but you know it just you know see that's what happens you know you start out with something of a sudden something else comes up it's like we were talking about doing the interview but I don't know what this is worth but it doesn't matter because so is it is it just Phil and and Dr J yeah I don't know it's kind of hard to see with the refy well I can see bills bills is huge but Dr Jade's look pretty big too and he went Julius huh yeah so Julius Dr Jay Irving but anyway so Byron Scott love Byron Scott okay yeah he you know when I I'm probably the first Celtics fan you've ever had on your show which you know may maybe that's true maybe not but you know when before I started working with these guys you know I'd always roote against the Lakers so I you know when I'd root against him back in the 80s you know I didn't know the guy but then I started working with him he is such a great dude all right you you know this right you know he grew up in Englewood in the shadow of the Forum he was contemporaries with Daryl strawberry and Eric Davis who was a great you know player for the Cincinnati Reds I think he ended up on the Dodgers at one point yeah he did I remember him yeah I mean Byron at 63 was playing Above the Rim but he was also a great three-point Shopify is the global Commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business Shopify is there to help you grow Shopify helps you sell everywhere from their all-in-one e-commerce platform to their imperson POS system shopify's got you covered Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers with the internet's best converting checkout 36% better on average compared to other leading Commerce platforms and sell more with less effort thanks to Shopify magic your AI powered Allstar what I love about Shopify is how no matter how big you want to grow Shopify gives you everything you need to take control and take your business to the next level Shopify Powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US and Shopify the global force behind Alberts rothis and Brook linen and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 175 countries plus shopify's award-winning help is there to support your success every step of the way because business businesses that grow grow with Shopify sign up for a $1 per Monon trial period at shopify.com westwood1 all lowercase go to shopify.com westwood1 now to grow your business no matter what stage you're in shopify.com westwood1 shooter I mean he led the league in three-point shooting I think in 85 or whatever he won three rings have they they haven't retired his number have they number four no because he's not in the Hall of Fame I don't think so no okay all right so you got to get in all right well I don't know I think that's a prerequisite that's why Coupe just got in so because he just got the hall got it okay so anyway he was on you know three championship teams and you know he he was a really good coach he coached in the finals a couple times lost to the Lakers once during that little mini Dynasty in' 02 I think it was when he was coaching the Nets he also coached the Hornets he was coach of the year and after he finished up in Charlotte he joined us in 2009 and again like Kurt and I talk about him he was such a great analyst because the guys who played and coached gave you the absolute best Insight because they could talk about it from you know multiple perspectives and I remember at the time the the dress code was a big thing you know David Stern had instituted this dress code because a lot of guys were showing up looking kind of raggedy on the bench and he wanted Iverson was wearing all his gear and to the Hammer Down exactly so so I asked him one time you know about I mean because Byron used to look good man he had great great suits and he was you know good looking guy still does the guy the guy doesn't age he looks exactly the same absolutely so I asked him one time I said you know what's the deal you know how many suits do you own he's there well I'm not really sure how many I own but I use 41 suits during the regular season I I'll never wear the same suit more than once at home and once on the road so he actually would inventory all right I can wear this suit at home 41 times I can wear it on the road 41 times because he never wanted to wear the same gear twice and you know I I don't remember asking well so how'd that work during the playoffs right I if it were me I would have had a couple of like go-to suits you know for but I I never you know I should have had the presence of mine to ask him that but I never did but Byron was just great I mean even now you know we're friendly on Facebook every so often we'll hit each other um and he's just great and you're right ran that dude looks like he could still go out there and ball yeah he he does he hasn't gain any weight or anything he looks in shape like like he just does the guy just doesn't age and he's very he's very uh active you know he's always going on people's podcasts doing shows and stuff so yeah playing golf I mean you know he keeps himself up that's uh that's how I intered youw because he he wrote a book with somebody I can't remember who the other guy was but it was it was more about financials the financial side of things and uh that's where we got talked but then we went into a whole another thing you know about Kobe and magic and all that stuff yeah yeah magic I mean damn magic was magic is so freaking remarkable I mean when you were on our 48 minutes podcast our fellow believe podcast you know couple weeks ago uh we were talking about that whole Anthony Edwards thing with magic where those two got into a little bit of beef that was and and you were saying like yeah magic just handled that so well he said I don't deal with guys who haven't won anything and it was like it was kind of like giving him one of these and it was great just shutting him down in a couple of words you know it was and I I was like you couldn't have answered that question any better than that that was perfect and now Edwards is going to think whenever he says anything yeah I don't think he said much since then I mean I haven't heard anything out I haven't heard anything I bet his his publist and and the pr for the Timberwolves are like shut up you're not doing yourself any favors or the team right magic just smacked you and sent you to your room now yeah one one quote I got from uh Byron um talking about magic is uh he said that when they were winning championships or this is right before they won the first one he said um with Byron on the team he said that uh Magic said when when when we went or when we win we all win and he's like but I didn't know what that meant until we won a championship and then all of a sudden all these endorsements and everybody wanted a piece of you and he said that's what he meant he meant like you become a different marketable player you know what I mean you're on billboards you're on commercials and all that stuff I thought at that point right I mean you know you you you're in the club forever yeah and and Byron's an icon he may not have a jersey up on the wall but everybody knows who he is I think a lot of this generation Lakers fans probably have a skewed view of him just because of uh you know his Co his last coaching stint with the Lakers it really didn't go well uh but he wasn't given much at all to work with it was as an old Kobe who was just trying to get to the end a bunch of young guys who you know hadn't developed yet so I I did feel for him because I think it really frustrated him that they couldn't win you know because he was a great coach as you said I think a lot of people forget the coach of the year and him coaching Jason kid in in New Jersey he had a lot of great players um so he was and he was he before he became a head coach he was an assistant coach in Indiana and you know Larry Brown was the head coach then and Larry Brown's one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time and you know byr and look Byron played for riy and he was an apprentice under Larry Brown so by the time he got his chance I mean he was ready he was ready to go and you know again when you've been on a team with Kareem Abdul Jabar and Magic Johnson and James Worthy and rambus and all those guys I mean your basketball IQ is up there yeah it's through the roof that's for sure but you were saying Magic Johnson so you got you got something with magic he was part of ESPN for a while there too yeah well I've got a few Magic Johnson stories but the most incredible Magic Johnson story I think is so we were at the 2008 finals working together but that that one didn't well for the Lakers yeah so we were working together and you know we were in we had like a booth in the TD Garden where you know our set was and you know it was very you know fans were literally like right outside this window right because some of our seats were you know you know how those boxes are you have like a few seats in front of your box and but the rest of the crowd's right there so magic would be you know and in either in the booth looking out or we might be sitting you know with some of the other analysts and uh the Boston fans were very respectful of him okay really really resp oh absolutely because Magic Johnson is a God right fre God right even drunk Celtic fans can recognize that and by the way we have the drunkest fans in sports in Boston by the way oh yeah I've heard some tales about you I don't I don't think it's even close Ryan but anyway so magic was so great he'd be bantering with the fans whatever and at one of the games I got you know I bought tickets for my wife and kids and brought them and and I brought them to meet magic right you know because I was able to get them into the you know into the booth to meet him and you know met my wife my son's Mitchell and Adam super nice and that was that right so then like a year later um magic was in Bristol okay uh Connecticut where ESPN is and he you know he we're in the green room and you know my my wife you know came to see me because I said oh you know Magic's here why don't you come say hello he remembered her name without me even introducing him he met her once the before when he came when she came in he just looks at he's here hey Nancy how are you and it I was stunned right I don't even think he remembered my name but he remember but he remembered her name and I'm thinking to myself this guy is like on a completely different level than like other other humans and you consider how much you know you know he's a great businessman obviously so he's probably talking to people like on a daily meeting new people daily right not just you know wherever he goes goes everybody wants to meet him but just you know conversing with every I I struggle with names the older I get the the more I'm terrible at it you know I'm like I I used to be really good at that now it's just it's just not the same thing anymore but those guys that that's incredible that that he's got that kind of memory but I remember I remember when um when the Lakers decided to hire Mike Brown as coach um and so magic happened to be in Bristol that day I was there and I remember Mike wilbon was doing an interview with with uh Mike Brown on Sports Center whatever and Magic was just you know like the rest of us we were all sort of shocked that they hired Mike Brown even though Mike Brown's a damn good coach he's actually a very good friend of mine we worked together for a while too and he's done our podcasts and stuff great great man um so I remember asking magic because that was like during the Jimmy bus time when Jimmy was you know I think Dr bus had given Jimmy certain responsibility and Jimmy was like you know one of the I guess had Personnel responsibilities so I asked magic because we're looking at each other I said magic who's who gives Jimmy advice on these things and he just kind of looked at me he says I don't know you know I guess that was kind of a Jimmy hir and and Mike had a pretty good record there but the bar is set so high in La that you know you can have a pretty good record in LA and it's garbage in La it's it's kind of the same that's why right now with JJ he's getting all all the the grief right because he's I I've never seen somebody get hired with zero coaching experience at all right let alone Steve would be the last guy but you know but at least like I mean he had the resume right I'm not saying JJ didn't basketball wise but I mean two time MVP Steve n right like that's it's a little higher up there right like you figure his IQ is just through the roof um and I think he was more personable with players whereas JJ seems a little bit more edgy a little bit more opinionated right um yeah but LeBron's he's LeBron's guy so you know that that kind of shields him I think it's gonna give him a little bit longer honeymoon maybe than some other guys might have in that situation well for now for now until that tide starts turning right and then all of a sudden LeBron's like yeah I don't know maybe we should get rid of this guy you were um you know I was you know because I'm kind of an Oldtimer you know I wanted to talk a little bit about about Kurt rambus and um you know because Kurt I think unfairly gets a lot of heat from some of the fans in La that that guy and again I you know I can understand why but you're not gonna find too many people that are smarter than Kurt ramus I was actually at the game in 1984 at the finals when M Clos lined him and about yeah we talked about that on 48 minutes a few weeks ago so that was really my first visit to a basketball game in La we were there for games three and four the finals that year game three I mean the Lakers absolutely smoked Boston I mean they beat him by like 20 points Larry Bird called out the team called him a bunch of sissies because they were down 2-1 with game four in LA right and and they they were pretty much you know on the brink if they lost game four in La they were going to lose that series right so male you know so bird challenged the team and male was not really a a a rough player he was more kind of like you know a Gumby type guy with all of his moves and he didn't really clobber guys like that uh but I guess gum Gumby's a good comparison I can see yeah he's kind of like rubber man you know he's like Here There and Everywhere with all this crazy moves underneath whatever so I don't think he really knew how to play physical but I think he knew at some point he had to be physical but he kind of did it wrong and he closed that could you imagine if somebody pulled that crap today they be suspended for half this it'd be like uh mice in the palace type type suion right yeah exactly that would be a 20 game suspension I mean maybe more because you know he could have really really hurt Kurt badly but Kurt I mean Kurt was a m massive human being okay he wasn't the tallest guy but he was probably one of the best athletes on that team because he was strong man he was super strong and it's funny we were we used to talk about a lot of basketball things and one of the things he told me that he actually worked on when he was a player was you know how the Lakers you know they always wanted to run back in those days run run run you know Showtime get it out but you know whereas most teams couldn't really start a fast break unless the other team missed you got a rebound and pushed it or maybe there was a live ball turnover and you started to push it Kurt told me that you know riy had him drill on a made basket by the other team Kurt said my skill was getting that ball out of the basket so quick getting on one foot out of bounds and letting it fly to Magic who was already flying up the court so what that was one of the keys to their fast break they could run even after a made basket whereas most teams couldn't and Kurt said that was a very premeditated thing that we used to work on all the time and I was always the guy who would try and get the ball out of the basket and you know fire that ball because magic would just take off running as soon as the ball went in and Kurt you know would get the ball out to him and boom they're they're they're running off of made hoops and uh and that was uh that was a neck that he uh you know that he learned and you know as an analyst man I used to love working with Kurt because I was I was the coordinating producer for the show so I was overseeing the whole show I'd have a producer and I'd have my talent and all that yeah Kurt was great much like when I was talking about Byron a few minutes ago because he had been a player and a head coach he could break down video showing why a guy was out of position on a play but he could also explain some of the luck lock room chemistry stuff why certain guys were great locker room leaders or they might have been you know negative forces whatever and just the nicest coolest guy ever I you know I saw I last saw him and and Linda his wife who I'm also friendly with a little over a year ago I had produced some playoff games for ESPN radio so I had a chance to go visit with with those guys and you know Linda introduced me to jeie and you know we did stuff with jeie over the years and jeie is just I know you mentioned when we did our show that you know she's been getting a lot of heat lately you know from the fans she is such a lovely warm person she really is lay off a genie Laker Nation come on man she's she she's one of the good guys that's not a lie yeah that only the only experience I ever had with there was I don't know if I said it on your show where I was in the elevator with her and Phil Jackson yeah he wasn't too happy to see you yeah I wasn't supposed to be there at all and Phil Jackson's giving me the stink eye but she was just the nicest person she's probably the nicest person I've ever met in this this crazy business right like she just she had there's no reason for her to even acknowledge me and and the other guy Bob that I was with and and she was just all about us she was just like you know how are you doing you guys you guys gonna come up you gonna get go party with us and stuff I'm like God I wish I wish I could go do that but just a matter of time before you see the badge says media and not you know yes let me hide this thing let me tuck it in here oh yeah and Phil just knows the whole time just like a giant looking down on this little guy and I'm was like oh my God but yeah I had an experience with uh Kurt Rambis once um I was covering an event wasn't that long ago I think it was like Frank bogle's first year um and they they had this partnership with a credit union or something or some Entertainment Credit Union or something like that and they went all out like we got free drinks all night free free everything it was it was really fun and everybody's mingling right players everything and we got some time with uh Kurt James Worthy and uh Robert Ory and we went down to like the bowels of this this place in the middle of downtown LA and um all of us have drinks in our hands and we're all half hammered and I'm interviewing all of them I got questions for all of them and they were all super nice and and Kurt was just seemed like such a like a pleasant guy to be around right him and James Worthy and and ory too but Kurt more so because he was talking more than anybody right and I think I asked him about the clothesline thing and and uh a lot of different things like but my memory's fuzzy about that night so I'm glad I got it recorded it's recorded somewhere but uh yeah he was that's the memory I have of him we were literally there's like I think like six of us total downstairs in this random place um all with drinks on our hands and and he's such a chill guy man he is totally chill yeah he he looked like a cool guy to hang out with like you know just to to shoot the you know I was gonna say they I can't I can't cuss anymore right like I I got a bad mouth but yeah he he just seemed like a cool guy to have a conversation with him talk just talk basketball you know you know you know what's funny so you know that you know his wife Linda is like best friends with jeie right yeah they're like you know for you're you're probably too young to remember the show I Love Lucy unless you saw on reruns but there was Lu kid like channel five you know like all day long yeah yeah so Lucy and Lucy and Ethel Ethel Merz were like the the you know besties all right so Linda and jeie are like Lucy and Ethel did you know that Linda was with the Lakers before Kurt was with the Lakers she was there first because she if you watch the the winning time show which I'm sure you did on HBO there's some depictions of Linda you know and and Jeanie you know back when Linda her maiden name you know she went under her maiden name back then but she was actually a part of the Lakers organization before Kurt was and crazy yeah I didn't know that yeah so and she's you know she introduced me to jeie when you know because when I would be in La I would go up to their old offices in elag gundo I know their new offices are also in elag gundo but you know they I'd grw up in the old office and remember you know Linda introduced me to jeie and you know I walked by Jeanie's office and she had all these like lario Brian trophies just lined up on like a credenza because she had a window where she could look down on the practice they they purposely do that like just like a just to show you you know just how successful the team is or whatever like I think the new practice facilities like that too those two those two buildings are like so different from one another one is very dated and very kind of like like wreck Jim kind of type feel to it this new one's like state-ofthe-art everything's beautiful and Flawless you know one of these days I'd love to get out there and see I don't really go to La very much but so worth the trip yeah I covered a lot of practices there and every time I'm always like you know oh my God this place is so beautiful so nice Genie jeie when when we used to do uh the Mike wise show on my old company called Pure Hoops media um Mike and jeie were very good friends so she did our podcast a couple times and again if any of your you know Laker Nation uh listeners ever wanted to check these out I mean they're all on Apple podcast so you know I could I can send you info if you wanted to share it with them where to find it because jeie was just so I mean she did like an hour and then another hour you know a few years apart she did her last one was right after the Lakers won their last chip and she was so happy and we were talking about LeBron back then I know there are Laker fans and there are LeBron fans but at the time I think every Laker fan was a LeBron fan because they just won the championship yeah and and Mike asked her said you know jeie is is LeBron gonna get a statue and the answer was yes so at some point even though LeBron won't have played most of his career there we know he's going to the Hall of Fame obviously there will be a LeBron James statue at some point and that'll that'll be interesting to see but he's going to probably play till he's like 50 so it's be a while before we see that who knows that guy in I I I think I said on your podcast I wouldn't be surprised if this is his last year you did say that you did I just it see it feels like it's lining up that way for some reason like he just set it up to where he's like kind of gauging where this season's gonna go and if he didn't like it or if he if he could see the end he'll just say hey look I'm I'm done but like I said I would think if he's going to do it he wants that fair fair World sour so he's going to it would be media day would would be when it happens or the first day of the Season or or whatever you know like the preseason or whatever um so it's this season's crazy man I mean I know you've seen a lot of Seasons as well but I've never seen anything like this this is this is it's very strange and surreal and I I don't really understand it completely all the moves they made and um well you know I mean look there it's G to be a tough season for those guys I mean I've got them finishing uh with 40 43 wins all right which is probably puts him in the play in tournament um I'm concerned about health for those guys I mean look I mean LeBron has been very durable over the course of his career although in the last few years he's gotten hurt a little bit Anthony Davis we talked about it on on 48 minutes when you were on he played 76 games last year which is like the most he's ever played in the season but you know I think you and I both said Gee is he going to be able to do that again you know because we don't know so if they're healthy and you know they get some contributions you know I mean Austin Reeves is nice he a nice player and you know I think uh Gabe Vincent will help you know having a little bit of depth there D'Angelo Russell who even knows you know I you know they'd love to get rid of that guy if they could get anything of value for him but that's a tough contract to move I think and plus you know de they would have moved it already if it was that easy to move you know so I got them winning 43 and I think finishing ninth in the standing so that puts him in the play in we'll see what happens but you know it's it's it's tough times for Laker fans right now I know you guys are used to being you know at or near the top and it's good for the league when the Lakers are at or near the top just like it's good for the league when the Knicks and the Celtics and the Sixers are all up there near the top totally agree uh and those other three teams I think are all 50 plus win teams this year Boston I think 60 you know the Knicks and and Sixers you know up there so I don't know I'm I'm not a Lakers hater I swear to God I'm not I think I can you guys can tell I have an appreciation for for the franchise and for many of the people that were there so I hope that they will overachieve because I would love to see them make a nice run I am a huge LeBron fan I think LeBron's the greatest all-around player ever and I know I'm in a minority there everyone else will say Michael Jordan maybe a handful of people will say Kareem or whatever All Things Considered I'm I'm a LeBron guy I've never he's never been on a team that I root for but I just I couldn't admire him anymore there's one I can't remember who said it but I thought it was pretty pretty well put uh saying that because I think Jordan's the best I've ever seen and I don't even really think it's close but somebody said Jordan's the best player ever player LeBron had the best career ever right and I think that's pretty on the no that's pretty cool yeah I like that yeah yeah it makes a lot of sense right I mean he doesn't have the Rings and you know the individual accolades I guess that Jordan does but like you know the longevity is just ridiculous it's like Brady doesn't doesn't make sense like how have you not broken down at this point but uh um and just coming into his season where is going to turn 40 in what a couple of months yeah and he's still going at this this level in a game that's so demanding on your body it's just it's just crazy look how he dominated the Olympics I mean he was the MVP of the Olympics you know well the thing is with that situation which I don't think a lot of people are paying attention to is he's playing on an All-Star team right so he doesn't have to do damn near everything he just has to do what he does best right Distributing scoring and and key moments and I think you saw that a a little bit from all those guys Steph all of a sudden in the end just just exploded after not playing great in the beginning ad playing really well um just all those guys Kevin Durant had his moments uh but that's that's the kind of game kind of game I want to see in the All-Star game every year yeah that kind of competitiv well those I mean that's what it looks like when it's when it's when it's right when it's when all those guys are clicking I mean imagine how entertaining that would be every year the All-Star game is such a joke now total joke it's a joke I don't even watch it anymore I can't watch it it's it's it's like an eyesore I just two points you know last year there was like 400 points scored in the game right and I think there was like a total of three free throws taken in the whole game because nobody was guarding anybody which meant nobody fouled anybody it was it was unwatchable I mean look watching you know Sabrina janesu and Steph Curry shoot threes way more entertaining yeah yeah yeah and I hope they do that again I hope they get Kon Clark involved somehow that'd be awesome that would be incred I I think you know again that's I'm sure they're gonna ask her question is gonna be does she want to I I think it would be great she might she's a competitor she she might she might take the the the challenge I hope she does I think I think I'm not positive about this is the allstar game in Indianapolis this year was it there last year I can't remember maybe it was there last year might like honestly I didn't even pay attention to it outside of that shooting contest and the dunk contest which was awful like even even your boy Jaylen Brown couldn't really do anything I was just no it was ter I mean the best thing he did was the Michael Jackson glove and that didn't work out too well I hate these little props that they bring out like just dunk dude just do some crazy thing that we've never seen before you know don't bring props on it it's not show like that you know there's just such there's just such um expectations oh what are they gonna do you know I think you know Blake Griffin started a lot of it when he jumped over that car about 10 years ago when he was doing that Baron Davis throwing the ball up yeah yeah and like you know Dwight Howard with the Superman cape and all that stuff I mean it's like you know whatever I mean to me the dunk contest I agree it's kind of boring I love the Three-Point Shootout me that's the best it's the best thing of the whole weekend those guys really want to win right they are really competitive they they know that it's the distinction of being like one of the best Shooters in the league and everybody it's hard yeah it's hard to jack up like 25 shots in 60 seconds right or like well your guy Larry Bird I saw some uh some highlights of his three-point shooting what is that that famous quote where he comes into the locker room and he say okay well who's gonna finish second right i' love that that's such a Larry Bird thing I wish more players had that kind of edge to them you know what I mean they're they're willing to talk crap and like you know stir the pot a little bit and it's just everybody's so safe nowadays you know they don't want to go ruffle feathers and then there's Anthony Edwards that you know just kind of says crazy stuff now and and then on Larry Bird's last shot he lets it go and he just kind of does this oh yeah starts walking just out his hand he knows it's in yeah and it was like that's like Steph before Steph you know doing the turnaround thing and running down the other side yeah that's that that was cool to see absolutely absolutely well look I hope I hope that I hope bronny uh you know gets a chance to develop a little bit and that you guys don't crush him too bad if he starts out a little slow out of the gate it'll be you know that's coming you know that's coming man you predict you predicted that you said as soon as the first guy blows by him or or jacks up an airball oh yeah he goes goes 0 for five or something oh it's just gonna be brutal it's just gonna be brutal that's I mean when when it gets bad like this people just pile on you know anything negative it's just like oh pylon and that's the reason why you know what I mean I just hope that he doesn't get like blame if the team's not good oh they're so crappy I mean because you know they got bronny on the team it's not gonna be because of bronny I think the only reason the only way that would happen is if he gets way more playing time than he should right yeah like if he's playing over Max Christie or Austin Reeves or something like that then I I get it that would makes sense but and then you just know that the wheels are completely off this thing right like it makes no sense what's going on because I I like the kid I think he's got a good head on his shoulders right he he's not saying stupid crazy things he's keeping quiet I don't think it's his personality to really say a lot right right um and I think he's a great defend I think he has a chance to be a good Defender it's just that shot he's got to knock down shots or else he won't be able to stay on the floor it's like how they say you know um the other way around you you could shoot but you can't defend so you can't stay on the floor you got to have both you can't you have to be three and D or you're not on the floor so and I think that's an easier skill to develop shooting rather than defense defense is more instinctual right it's more phenomenally based if you don't have it in the beginning sometimes you'll never have it right but like I said on your podcast like I think if he goes in the way of Jason kid right like Jason kid was able to hone his shot later in his career and he became one of the best Shooters in the league at the time right after being Gary pton Gary Payton used to make fun of him he used to call him as he's there because he doesn't have a j never heard that before oh yeah that yeah you're right I mean he he couldn't you know he couldn't shoot at all but you know he he wanted to be good and he wanted to be great and he ended up I think maybe even leading the league one year in three-point percentage I'm not 100% sure about that but he was he was a threat and you know yeah so I hope you know look with bronny I don't think I think he's got the work ethic and if he's and you know once he gets a couple games with with the goat because he can't call him dad he's got to call him the goat once he gets a couple games on the court with the goat and they can kind of Market the crap out of that as we discussed you know a few weeks ago go down to the g- league and learn to play Le learn to do the things that you don't because they'll give him all the minutes he wants down there because they don't really care about winning that's all about developing players there they'll probably get more exposure for the for the South Bay Lakers than ever before right they'll sell a lot of tickets to see Bri Absolutely I'll watch I'll watch those games just just to see you know how he does you know there there's a couple times in the past where I watched but not something that intriguing right not that much of a draw and I think that's they're yeah like like we said yeah they're gonna milk the crap out of this whole thing one way or the other as they should yeah I mean they I mean they're pay that dude a lot of money to like not really having proven himself so sell some tickets at South Bay you know those some of those games will probably end up on NBA TV so that all hopefully mean some more you know exposure and and revenue you right you know for for you know to help kind of you know offset what they paying him or or or you know come up with the revenue to pay him whatever not that that should be a problem silver is probably happy that's for sure he's like oh this kid we could just Market him and then everybody starts watching the g-league all a sudden you know yeah I mean because the g-league is a tough watch I mean I've tried watching some g-league games and again some you know the the Celtics affiliate is up in Maine I think they're called the Maine claws or lobster claws or something I don't know what and I've tried watching some of those it's like watching a high school game on local cable because the gyms are small right you know you could see after the basket you know you take three more steps are out in the hallway right it reminds me of a summer leag yeah same kind of basketball played in summer league just very kind of sloppy and certain guys shine and certain guys don't or like there's guys that drop 30 and they can't drop you know five in an NBA game it's just yeah and some of the gyms they have like those random like markings on the floor like for like the volleyball court or something you know I mean not all of them do most of them are pretty professional looking but yeah g- League's a tough watch but you know what I'll watch bronny playing a g-league game or at least a I the whole game but you give it a shot yeah check it out it's a lot of people probably thinking the same way right now especially yeah well uh I'll get you out of here on that Bruce is there anything else you you wanted to go over well I would just ask those of you know the jello jiggling crowd if you're interested in a in a podcast that kind of covers the entire league our show is called 48 minutes on the believ network we usually a new one drops after midnight on Monday nights most weeks uh my co-hosts are uh Rosser who just came back from Greece he was at yanis Santa Kumo's wedding because Ross and yanis are like good friends Ross used to work for the bucks and the Knicks and also the Phoenix Sons and our other co-host is Michael worldbe frier uh who's like a statistical Guru so we've got a coach we've got a numbers guy and we've got me whatever my thing is but we you know we we do a lot of fun stuff our show this week we went through the entire Eastern Conference team by team did over under on wins so if you're looking at maybe trying to place some bets going into the season want to get some perspective on who's going under their number who's going over who's under whatever uh we've got that and next week our plan is to do the Western Conference so that might play in more to the jello jiggling crowd since you're probably primarily Western Conference beeps but we'd love it if some of your listeners would check us out uh we appreciate you Ryan we appreciated you being on a few weeks ago we had a blast with you hopefully we can do that again and uh yeah thank you for inviting me on this was a whole lot of fun yeah man we got to do this more often and then if you know when the Lakers play the Boston you know maybe we do a show before or after or you know whatever you want to do that'd be great well you know what sometimes I go to see the Lakers when they're in Boston I'm not sure where where the schedule uh you know Falls for them this year but anytime because I follow the Lakers pretty closely too so if you ever want to just have a you know someone from the enemy camp that's in quotes all right to kind of give you like the East Coast perspective on what's going on around the league I'm always here for you Ryan I I appreciate you and and uh you know you do a great job on your show and thank you for inviting me thanks no problem man anytime thanks for coming man till next all right if you like the show please take a moment to rate review And subscribe it really does help the show to grow thank you for listening [Applause]