All right.
Joining me on the pod, the former assistant coach of the Nets, Pistons, Mavericks, and Spurs following a successful stint with Anoka Ramsey Community College.
He is now the head coach of the Orlando Magic, Sean Sweeney.
Welcome to the show.
And first, where is Anoka Ramsey Community College?
Uh, first, thanks for having me, Chris.
Uh, Noa Ramsey Community College is in the Twin Cities up in, uh, just north of Minneapolis, up in Minnesota.
So how did you wind up beginning your coaching career there?
Uh, I needed a job when I finished college, and that was the only one that would take me.
And uh yeah, it was, it was a fun time, fun time.
Not a lot of wins, but a fun time.
What was, I mean, you played college basketball a couple of stops there began at Green Bay.
Um, I, you know what I loved about your Wikipedia page, by the way, it says like if anybody that played college basketball, it says NBA draft undrafted like like, yeah, I did go undrafted.
You don't know that I was eligible.
You joined the ranks of the undrafted, uh, NBA players.
Like, how, how did you get into coaching?
Why was coaching the way you want to go?
Yeah, you know, I, I, uh, when I, when I was playing in high school, I, I always knew that I wanted to be in basketball some way, shape or form.
And when the shape and form was not gonna be as a player, uh, I knew I wanted to get into coaching.
So, I started immediately.
Anoka Ramsey went there right away.
Actually, my, my high school coach was the head coach there, a guy named Bill McKee.
And so, he, right when I finished playing, offered me a job, and I went there, and then from there, I went to the University of Evansville and bounced around for a while until I, Got to the New Jersey Nets.
Back when I was asking you about fights on Epics and uh been in the pros ever since.
That's how we met, uh, your, your love of boxing when, uh, when you're working with the Nets there and you could see your, your championship belt, uh, there behind you.
What is that?
Is that the WBO title if I'm, my eyes don't mistake me?
That is the WBO title and, uh, Chris Algiri gave it to me when he came to talk to the team.
My man Russ Amber's book is up there as well as Chris's.
Uh, book on how to eat if you want to be a fighter.
Chris Algiri is, in addition to being a very good fighter, world champion, world-class nutritionist, knows, knows his body.
You had him, you had him speak to the team recently, right?
Yeah, he came up to talk to the team about, um, we, we talked about when he fought Ruslan Pravadnikov and, uh, yeah, Siberian Rocky, and, you know, Chris not even supposed to be there, gets there, gets the opportunity, not supposed to win, massive underdog.
And fights an incredible fight, you know, gets his face broken in the 1st round, knocked down twice, and climbs all the way back to win his championship in 12 rounds in the decision.
But just in general, who he is, what he had to go through, um, you, you know, to, to get to be a champion, I think speaks to, um, you know, all that we're looking to do from a competition standpoint, from a toughness standpoint.
And uh just in, in general, the way, the way he spoke athlete to athlete to the, to the players was, was phenomenal.
Yeah, he was incredible.
Do you want me to have um Sergio Mora come down and like tell them what not to do like the Latin snake and I heard on a recent podcast referring to himself as the aluminum boy.
Yeah , he would be phenomenal as well.
He refers to himself as a lot of things on our, uh, our boxing show.
I wanna go back though, like when you're like a young coach in these like far-flung college ranks, like is the dream to get to the NBA back then, like what were those experiences like?
Yeah, I, I always wanted to get to the pros, Chris.
Um, you know, I, I, I, when I was at Evansville, I worked for a guy named Marty Simmons, and it was a really good start for me with how much he taught me.
But even then, you know, I always talked to him about if I ever get a chance to coach in the NBA that's what I wanted to do.
Uh, you know, the, the competition standpoint stood out to me, the, the highest level of players, the highest level of coaches, and that was always something that was in the back of my mind or a goal or whatever you wanna call it.
And Um, so, you know, very fortunate to be here now.
What kind of roles did you have on those college coaching staffs?
Uh, you name it.
Drive a player to, uh , the airport, in charge of training table at CC's Pizza, get travels organized for the team, buses, road meals, on up to video coordinator, you, you name it, every which way, I had to do all the different jobs along the way, um, you know, so, it was, I was, I was well experienced by the time I got An opportunity with the Nets.
Do you look back?
Like, I always say that like, like I'm glad what I'm doing now.
I love what I'm doing now, but I had more fun like being broke living in New York City like with three roommates in early, the early 2000s.
Like, do you look back on those times like in the same way?
Yeah, no, I, I, I love, I loved it.
And, uh, you know, like Evansville, I was living in university housing, and like, my meals were on the student meal card, you know, so, yeah, I, I loved it, but, you know, the thing to me that it was fun cause you felt like you're really trying to work your butt off and, and help the team in every which way, and like, you know, there was a lot of simplicity to how you had to live.
Because it was out of necessity, I mean, living off the meal card, endless chicken wings, uh, let me tell you, yeah, that, that cafeteria at the University of Evansville was phenomenal.
You can't go wrong with that stuff.
Um, how do you get to the, how do you get to the Nets?
Uh, you know, I, I was at the, uh, University of Northern Iowa, working for Ben Jacobson, and the lockout occurred, and the Nets ended up looking for a video coordinator.
And so, through a guy named Mitch Kaufman, who was actually the first video guy in the NBA who runs Hoop One Video, uh, I got connected and got an interview with Avery Johnson and went out there, and like, Right after Thanksgiving, got hired, and 2 weeks later, I was packing up and moving to Jersey.
And getting ready to go for the 2011, 2012 season, the lockout year, 66 games and 3 games in three nights, all that stuff.
So, it was like bang bang, bang bang bang.
I mean, I was in Cedar Falls, Iowa one day, and like two days later, I was driving across the country to Uh, Newark, New Jersey, and getting ready to roll with the Nets.
So what's it like?
Like, you've been a video coordinator in college before, but like you said, you were kind of a jack of all trades, doing a lot of different things in college.
Like when you get to the NBA, like how, how big an adjustment is it to be an NBA video coordinator?
Yeah, I do, dude, it, it's a Extreme.
I thought I had a good feel for how to coach, and what good basketball was, and, you know, what good players were.
And then when I got to the Nets, I remember thinking to myself, like, holy cow, these guys are so good, the coaches are so smart, you know, early on, we go down to Orlando, and we're playing the Magic and like Dwight Howard and the Superman, Dwight Howard days, and I'm looking at him, Derrick Rose, how fast he covered the court, LeBron, like, you name it, Blake Griffin.
When he was with the Clippers, I mean, these guys like just seeing how athletic and how explosive and how talented all these guys were.
And then seeing how good the coaches were to figure out ways to guard or stop or compete against each other.
Like it was, it was eye-opening for me to say the least.
And you started there, like you said, under Avery Johnson, the next coach with the Nets was Jason Kidd, and that was developed.
into a really productive relationship for you.
You guys seem to have great chemistry early on.
You had multiple stops with Jason Kidd, Milwaukee in Dallas.
Like the two of you, did you click right away?
Was there something about that dynamic that worked immediately?
Yeah, we , we, we clicked pretty early on, you know, Jason, um, you know, with me, he, he did a really good job of trying to help me grow just as a young coach.
And I owe him a, a huge debt of gratitude, and a lot for what he did for me in my career.
And, yeah, early on, we clicked, and then as we got to know each other better, um, you know, Milwaukee, we, we, we got some things done there, helped, helped the Bucks improve, and then in Dallas had some great years, going to the Western Finals, our first year.
And then going to the, uh, the finals, uh, you know, a couple of years later.
And so, you know, I owe him a lot and from a coaching standpoint, he taught me a ton on how to operate, how to coach great players, how to see the game, creativity, yeah, he, he helped me a lot in my career.
Well, that's the, like I'm kind of jumping around a little bit, but like you have had great relationships with superstar players, like, you know, with Giannis early on and throughout his time in Milwaukee, Luca, like.
I just got back from Slovenia.
Luca was talking shit about you in Slovenia and you know, your relationship with him has been rock solid.
Your one year in San Antonio, great relationship with Wemby and the young guards that they have there.
Is that something like you, Jason obviously comes from a different position as you.
He's a Hall of Fame player and, and immediately gets that kind of respect, but like coaching stars, what did you learn from him about the best way to do it?
You know, what he was really good about was he was a great listener, one, and the other thing he really did a good job of was he made sure that everybody knew, you're here to service the players.
Your job is to help the players, regardless of who it is, be as efficient as, and as impactful as you can possibly.
be.
And so, as coaches, your job is to serve.
And I think the thing about Jay, and it was the same way he was as a player, like, he leads as a guide, not as a hero, you know, he's like serving leadership from that standpoint, not only as a player and how he set up his teammates, but as a head coach, he, he did the same thing.
Didn't take credit for anything.
And, and really wanted to see guys do well.
How, how do you, as, as someone that comes from an entirely different place, doesn't have the NBA career, all the accolades, like all these guys , like on some level, they grew up watching Jason Kidd, whether it was early years in Dallas, more likely with the Knicks at the end with the Mavericks.
Um, like for, for you, like how, what, what's the, I guess the question is like what's the best way to get respect from guys?
Like all these guys that, that you built these relationships with.
Is there a common thread there in how, how you coach them?
Yeah, you know, for, for me, Chris , and I think it's the same with our staff, and that's why, you know, I'm happy about the guys we have here.
Our job is to be direct communicators.
Our job is to know what we're talking about, to be really prepared, to be really consistent.
And then at the end of the day, our leadership is intention-based and our attention is active, because our job is to help the players get as much as they can out of themselves and ultimately the team.
And You know, from, from our standpoint, from my standpoint, we want them to have individual success as well as team success.
And the best job they do with their individual execution means the best job we're gonna do with our team execution.
And so we, we try to really put an emphasis on that each and every day.
So, when you got to Milwaukee, like, Giannis was still the stringy kid with potential.
Like, did you, could you tell right away that like, this was, this kid had something?
Yeah, you, you could see internally, he had way more than people grasp on the outside, probably, uh, you know, his drive was incredible.
And then, I think his mind was, was, was really stronger than people probably understood.
You know, you're a young player coming from overseas, trying to learn the language, trying to figure out what to do, and so, you can make some mistakes early on, but you could tell he was a smart player, he was a driven player, and he had a level of competitiveness that was Singular, you know, and then obviously on top of that, he had size, he had a skill set that kept getting better and better and better.
That, that's got to be the common thread with some of these great players, the level of competitiveness.
Like the three guys, the three biggest names I would say that you've been involved with, with Giannis, Luca, and Victor, like straight from the outside looks like they have this relentless competitive streak.
Yeah, the competition piece for those guys is, is huge.
I mean, Luca, as you probably saw in Slovenia, like, he'll compete in anything.
Cards, checkers, tiddlywinks, you know, guessing numbers, he doesn't care, like, he, he, he wants to compete.
You put a scoreboard on and he's trying to win.
But that's all those guys, I think to a certain extent, they, they all have that desire to compete, and, and, and the hate of losing and the love of winning.
And the other thing I think with those guys that stands out to me is , They're willing to do every day what most are not.
Their consistency, um, you know, day in and day out, whether the lights are on or not, it, it's, it's different than, than most, and that's what separates so many of those guys that are great, is they're willing to do what others aren't.
Did you ever beat Luke at anything?
Oh man, you, you name it, not basketball.
Anything, not basketball, cards, uh, who's gonna win, whether it's Notre Dame or the opponent?
Ah yes, you name it.
The love for Notre Dame.
I keep forgetting that the Midwest love for Notre Dame.
That's, uh, as a, as a, as a Boston College guy, I, I, I, I can't weigh in on that.
You had your one.
We've got you this year.
We've got you guys on the schedule this year.
That's.
I don't know, ND's got BYU coming up this weekend, so it's gonna be a big one.
But now, Luca, you know, I'm gonna be honest, I probably took more L's than I did wins with Luca.
Uh, you know, he, he's a multi-talented kid and, and just a special person all the way around, and you only got the, the one year in San Antonio with Victor, but like, and there's been so much written about Victor.
I've had a chance to.
sit down with Victor a couple of times in his career.
I wouldn't say I know him at all, but he's a really fascinating guy to me, uh, during the conversations I've had.
What, tell me something that you learned about Victor that impressed you when you got to San Antonio.
You , you know, the, the thing to me, right off the bat, Chris, when, when I got there and asked him, it was like mid-June or, or maybe getting almost July, and I asked him, you know , how can I help you get what you and the team want?
And the two things he asked me for was, hold us accountable and make sure we don't waste time.
This is like a 21-year-old.
And, you know, I remember thinking to myself, holy cow, like, that's impressive.
But, Who he was every day, how thoughtful he was, the kind of teammate he was, the inner drive to be great, uh, the pride in his own performance and the team performance were second to none.
I mean, it was pretty special to see that.
And I think, you know, being there, seeing how Mitch, uh, Johnson operated with him, like it was really helpful for me.
You know, in, in, in, in a number of ways, but definitely learned a lot from being there and being around those guys.
What was the harder finals loss to get over 24 or 26?
Uh, 26, yeah , 26.
You know your voice went a little bit lower right there, man, well, at least you put the knife in my chest, not in my back.
Uh, no, 26, they were, they were both really tough, but 26, I mean, all those games went right down to the wire.
You felt like they were, you know, each game you could have gone either way, but, you know, the Knicks were a phenomenal team all year.
They, they had great players, you know, I was fortunate enough when we were in Dallas my first year, got to coach Jalen.
Uh, Bronson , see how special he was at that time.
And so, you know, credit to them, but yeah, 26 was a, a, a tough one.
Did, did you, did you see the Brunson ascent coming?
Like he was good in Dallas, like, like really good in Dallas, but he, he'd become great.
Like, did you see that jump coming?
You know, I, I thought he was gonna be really good, man.
I thought he was gonna keep getting better and better, like just to see how much he improved in that year when Luca was out, he raised his game, even in the playoffs.
I mean, he had 40 in the first round in a game against Utah.
Like you could see the, the beginnings of like a guy that's gonna be an all-league kind of guy.
Um, but, I mean, to say I think he was gonna, a few years later .
tear my heart out in the finals.
No, I wasn't anticipating that.
Do you, do you, like we, we talked about how in like, uh, players grow from experience, like Victor's gonna get better, Harper's gonna get better.
Castle's gonna get better in San Antonio.
Do you as a coach, like how do you take the heartbreak of that and use it to make yourself better?
Um, yeah, I mean, you know, after you get done crying yourself to sleep every night, you just gotta study it, you've gotta learn from it, you know, we've got to look at what did they do really well to impact winning, what did we need to do differently, and then, it's like anything else , you take the test, You do what you do on it.
If you get a good grade, you look at what you got right, you try to do it again.
If you look at, you, you get your marks that you got wrong , you try to correct them and you move on.
And just, in general, I think, you know, the approach is, if you make one mistake, don't make two, and if you get it right once, try to get it right, right twice.
So you were, uh, a coach in demand last season, last offseason for a lot of teams.
Um, you got this job officially during the finals, you were named, um, uh, head coach.
Um.
Like what was, what was that process like for you?
Like, were, were, was there a specific team or teams you were like, these are the teams that I want to coach ?
Were you looking for any opportunity?
Kind of what was your mindset as you started to become this like hot property out there?
Well, you know, we were fortunate, um, you know, with how good things were going in San Antonio that Um, you know, in talking to Andy Miller, my agent, you know, we, we had the opportunity to be a little bit more selective, and when Orlando opened, this was the job that I wanted to go after.
Um, you know, uh, the players and the talent was something that really stood out to me.
The front office, uh, with Jeff Weltman being here, John Hammond, who I was with in Milwaukee before, on the medical side, Arnie Kander, who I had experience with in Detroit, he's been in the NBA for 40+ years.
And then when you started to study it, the, the, the ownership here, the DeVos family, just how strong the franchise was in all these different areas.
It really reinforced and made me double down on the desire to be here.
And then when you look at the, you know, the weather in the city of Orlando, and just how great it is, like, all the boxes were checked.
Um, So that that was kind of the approach this, this, uh, this summer, you know, when the opportunity came around.
So the, the roster was pretty locked in when you took the job.
A lot of talent, like good talented players in that roster, but it's not a situation where you're going to a rebuilding team or a team that's gonna make a ton of moves, at least not right away.
Like, what did you think of the roster from afar?
Uh, well, I, I love the talent, and I, I like the size and versatility of a number of the players.
And, you know, there's certain guys that stand out that have more name, value, or whatever, but just when you look it up and down the roster, and as I've gotten to know these guys, like really impressed with all of them, um, you know, whether it's Desmond Bain and his leadership, or Franz Wagner and his skill set and his commitment to win, you know, Wendell Carter and his ability to To make the invisible plays, you know, Jalen Suggs, who I've known him since he was a little kid, we grew up about 10 minutes from each other.
Uh, obviously, I grew up at a different time period than he did.
Uh, but, you know, I used to play in the AAU program, I used to coach in, and then like Paulo and, and how he's been with carrying the torch for attacking each day, and, and, and on down the line, you know, there's, there's a number of players here that are talented, and, you know, I'm excited to coach.
Um, You know, so that was, that was how I looked at it.
So when you got through the finals, you were able to catch your breath and, and take on the new job.
Kind of like what was your offseason like?
Like, were you visiting guys?
Were you talking to them on the phone?
Kind of what was, what was your prep, your pre-camp preparation to kind of try to build something with these guys?
Yeah, all, all of, all of the above, yeah, right away, basically after the finals ended, um, you know, and really before that, once the job, uh, everything was wrapped up and interviewed with, you know, Jeff and those guys, and then met the DeVos family, and once everything was done, I, I immediately was calling players, you know , and just touching base with those guys.
Regardless of where they were, you know, Franz was in Germany, like Tristan, uh, De Silva was in Orange County.
You know, guys were all over the place, wherever they were, but I, I made sure to reach out to those guys immediately.
And then once we got here to Orlando, um, some of the guys were here, saw them, went to see some of the guys.
So, yeah, it was immediate, you know, building the, the connection and the chemistry that we wanna build to, to do what we wanna do was right away.
What, what do you, Paulo is You know, he's a star.
Um, the question is like how big a star can he be?
What kind of, what's his ceiling as a player?
When, when you look at Paulo, like what do you see?
Like how do you see him developing this year and beyond?
Well, you know, I, I, I love his, I love his ability to compete, you know, he's done a great job this summer with his work ethic, and how he's really worked to get his body where it needs to be to handle attacking each day and attacking all 82 games.
And I think he's a, he's a guy that can drive your team in a number of ways.
He can drive offensive success, you can leverage his size and physicality on the defensive side and his rebounding.
He's got a diversified skill set.
But the thing I, I've been really impressed with, with him, Chris, is he's carried the torch for, for who we wanna be since he got the job.
You know, his level of competitiveness is high, he's got a high level of toughness, you know, he's committed to the connection side of things with his teammates.
And just in general, like he's done a great job of being open in his communication and great with his effort.
So what kind of team do you want this to be like?
They've had like, they've been kind of, uh, little Jekyll and Hyde sometimes last couple of years.
And I've been bullish.
I, like, I'm on record.
I've been bullish about the Magic for years now.
I thought they were gonna make a run the last couple of years.
Like the talent is real.
I love the Bain trade a year ago.
Um, a couple of years ago, they were this like defensive-minded team trying to grind out wins.
They were still good defensively last year in spurts, but they were playing a little bit faster last year.
Like, what is your vision for how this team looks at its best every night?
Yeah, well, I think, you know, to that point, like, there's a foundation that's been laid here.
I mean, this team over the last several years has had a lot of wins and, um, you know, more than people probably grasp.
So, you know, there's a foundation here in that sense.
But for us, you know, defensively, we wanna be a team that dominates the ball.
We wanna punish our opponents with some physicality, and uh what I would term as appropriate violence, which we've gotta get a little better at here, because we've been following too much in our first couple of preseason games.
But You know, we wanna do a great job with our physicality, and then we wanna be ready to attack the play.
And the more we can do all that together, I think, you know, we're gonna have a chance to be a pretty good defense.
And then offensively, you know, it starts with being aggressive with balance.
You know, we really want to attack, but we wanna have some balance and control while we do it.
We wanna do a great job of creating together, you know, that it's us together against the other team and making sure that we make the right play when the right play presents itself.
And then, you know, the third thing is we wanna weaponize our screening.
We've got guys that are versatile and so we wanna put them in different spots that are advantageous for their skill set, um, so that way we can, you know, leverage what we do have and and really look to attack on the offensive end.
What was the phrase used?
Appropriate violence?
Is that, uh, yeah, appropriate violence.
What does that mean?
It means, uh, you want to do a great job of moving your feet, playing with your bodies, and using your hands as the, uh, situation dictates.
OK, I hadn't heard that phrase before.
That's a good one.
I like that one.
the, the, the two, you know, I was just came from our NBC orientation around guys that are much smarter about basketball than I am, guys that played the game, Melo and Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady.
We talk about Orlando during the day and a couple of things that come up with the magic is like, one, do they have enough shooting?
Like how would you answer that?
Do you believe that shooting is something that you have enough of to be the kind of team you want to be?
Yeah, no, I, I like the way we've been shooting the ball.
I think, you know, our first preseason game, we shot the lights out, our second one, we weren't quite as strong, but, you know, we want to do a great job with, when I talk about creating together, you know, it starts with, do we make the right decision to get the ball in the paint or to pass it to an open teammate.
We've got to do a great job with our spacing after that.
So that way, when we are in a situation where a pass is uh dictated, we're ready for it.
And then, part of it is the shot prep, you know, being down and ready to shoot the basketball.
And then the third part is the shots or the, the last part is the shot selection, you know, making sure we take the right shots.
And I think the more that we can educate ourselves on what great shots are, The numbers are gonna go up, you know, just in general.
And the other one thing we talked about was, was Suggs, who has like been such a big part of the team's success the last couple of years.
Like, I don't know what the numbers are, but it seems like they win when he's healthy and, and out there on the floor.
Like, is he like, as a playmaker, is he capable of being that guy?
Do you need him to be that guy?
Like what do you need out of Jalen Suggs this year?
Yeah, you know, Jalen's got a great skill set, man, and just in general, like who he is as a person, you know, he has a level of competitiveness and positive energy that I think that's what you're referring to when you talk about the team winning when he's on the floor.
He can really uplift those around him.
And just in general with him, you know, he's a guy who can dribble, he can pass, he can shoot, he can guard at a high level.
And we, we need him to be 100% of himself.
We don't need him to be 80% of somebody else, or 150% of You know, something, we, we just need to be him because when he's been out there and he's been You know, showing that level of consistency, he impacts winning.
You know, you are and, and have, you know, every guy I've talked to, um, about you over the years, um, whether it's stars or, or, you know, 13th men or whatever they are.
They, they say you're tough and direct and, you know, you, you don't beat around the bush with, with stuff like, can you be the same guy as a head coach that you were for years as an assistant?
Do you have to modify yourself at all now that you're in the big chair?
You know, I, I think just in general, one of the things that I saw when I was in San Antonio, being around Mitch, uh, is, it, it's actually, you gotta double down on being who you are.
You know, you can't try to pretend to be something you're not, and then you just try to do the job as well as you can.
I think that was one of the things that I learned from being around Mitch, like, his leadership was exceptional, and You know, the guys that were there before me, the way they talked about him, he was the same guy.
He just was the head coach and, and, and was even more himself.
And so that's one of the things that I try to take away from being there and, and try to remember when I'm here is just, you've gotta be yourself and you've gotta do the best job you can each and every day because guys seem to want to be coached, right?
Like, you know, at the end of the day, like I think they want, they wanna believe in the coach, but they want kind of tough love sometimes.
Yeah, well, well , we wanna give them what we call encouragement as much as we can.
We wanna encourage them to do things as well and as hard and as uh together as they can.
But my experience is, you know, that the great players wanna be coached, and most guys that I've been around, you know, the vast, vast majority want to improve.
So, it's our job to help them improve .
And help them with their individual success and then, you know, that'll lead to team success.
So that's kind of my last question there.
Like, what does team success look like to you this year?
I know you're not gonna give me a number or a ranking or a playoff finish, but like what's at the end, at the end of the year, what does success look like to Sean Sweeney?
You know, I, I think the biggest thing to me, and this is one of the things when we talked this summer with a number of the players, is, you know, we wanna get the most out of what we have.
I think that was a common theme.
You know, when I talked to the guys this summer about what are they looking for from, from the coaching staff, and just from the season, is we wanna get everything we can out of our team, out of ourselves.
And I see it the same way.
And it starts with building great habits and getting great fundamentals, and then getting individual team fundamentals.
Built so that way you do have a chance, you know, when the, the pressure goes up to be at your best, but just in general for us, we want to get the most out of what we have.
And does your team know what kind of psychotic boxing fan that you are like, like next level, like I saw you, like for people that didn't know, like they, in Orlando, there is this prospect developmental series at the Carib Royale, I that's what they call it Carib Royale, uh, just outside the city.
Uh, and I'm watching, and I knew you were there, but like I'm watching on Dizone and like I'm hearing the announcer go like, oh, the head coach of the Magic and the players are there.
Like you're dragging players, you're dragging players into your obsession, Sean.
Like what are you doing?
Hey, listen.
The zone, home of the magic, home of the magic.
Come on now, let's get some more pub for the magic up on the Dizone home page.
Let's go.
That's right.
I'm tired to see other teams up there.
Let's get some magic graphics going.
No, I think, you know, they, they don't know, Chris, because there's very few who can comprehend.
Uh, the psychosis, but, uh, slowly but surely that onion layers may be peeled, but you know, you're one of the few who probably can grasp, uh, how much I, I gotta, I gotta tell the quick story of like, like it was like 2 years ago now, and we're in Detroit, and I think, I forget if you were coaching there or just playing or your team was playing there, and it was a Dimitri Salita Claressa Shields show that was in Detroit.
And Clarissa Shields is this great women's boxer, #1 pound for pound, greatest woman of all time, draws a big crowd, draws a very black crowd, like a very, very black crowd in Detroit.
Um, and you're texting me like I'm at the, the arena and I'm looking around and like, you're the easiest person in the world to pick out in the crowd, like the easiest person, like the red hair and the loads, like you're sitting in the loge by yourself.
That's how dedicated in the middle of winter, I think it was.
That's how dedicated you are to going to see a, a random boxing fight in the middle of January.
Listen, that was easy because, you know, when you think about when I went to Flint to see her at the Dort Center when I was coaching in Detroit, that was a little bit of a further drive, harder to get to.
But now, uh, yeah, I, I enjoy it a lot.
Uh, she put on quite a show.
Uh, you know, actually, we played our preseason game in Cleveland, my man Tom Yankelo came over with about 18 boxing guys from Pittsburgh, you know, so yeah, we, we, we, uh, we enjoy, we enjoy watching people perform at their best, especially like my man Amari Jones did down here at the Carib the other night.
And uh we got my man Gio Laroca coming up in Tucson in a couple of weeks.
Another Orlando guy.
You got it, like, I've been telling the guys at Matchroom, like you got to get Omari Jones to these games.
Like, you know, you got the head coach, the huge boxing fan.
You got a local kid who's an ex-Olympic bronze medalist who is competing regularly right down there.
There's got to be some synergy between these two sides , man.
Without question.
I, yeah, he's, I went over to.
Watch him train at the School of Hard Knocks a few weeks ago, of course you did.
Yeah, looked good, looked good.
Second round TKO was not a surprise to me, my friend.
Of course you did.
Your next next career will be as a boxing trainer.
You're holding a spit bucket for somebody down the line.
Uh, Sean, good stuff, man.
Great to see you get this opportunity, man.
I actually, I look, you're not gonna predict make predictions.
I think this team can be really good.
I really, I think the way you guys can get after it defensively, um, I, I think you can be really good.
I think the East is so tough this year and much tougher it's been.
In years past, but I think you got, uh, you got a lot of potential to surprise a lot of people this year, man.
Yeah, I appreciate you saying, but that's what, that's why we like, we like, we want the competition, Chris.
That's, that's why we're in the pros.
That's why we're in the big leagues.
You're in the big leagues.
We're trying to get to your level, OK, my level.
I, but I also don't believe that.
I never believe when a guy says like, I want that team to be at full strength.
I wouldn't.
I don't want to be missing.
Everybody, I want them playing like the 14th man.
Like I want when I want LeBron to play this night.
I want Tatum to play.
No, no, I'm glad when guys are sitting out.
Like if I, if that was me, maybe I'm, maybe I'm the wrong guy for that job, but I'd be glad when guys are sitting out, man.
Get the Sean Sweeney's of the world out there.
There we go.
There we go.
drafted, undrafted in the pros.
Uh, Sean, good stuff, man.
Uh, I appreciate your time.