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00:00Ridiculous! A cheat code!
00:08Steph Curry is not human.
00:12Now, back to Will and Bibby on 95.7 The Game.
00:16That's the call on Yes Network, right?
00:18That's the, uh, that's the other team's call.
00:21A cheat code!
00:22Right.
00:23I love that from Ian Eagle and the chuckling in the background
00:26because that's kind of the vibe, right?
00:28As Ian Eagle of Yes Network, Voice of the Nets, TNT,
00:32also will be doing tournament games,
00:34joins us here on Willard and Dibs.
00:37I mean, that's the thing that we've been sitting here talking about, Ian,
00:41is trying to figure out where Steph Curry's greatness fits in the league
00:45because it's one thing that's greatness,
00:47it's kind of what you said on that call,
00:49like nobody knows how to even make sense of what he's doing.
00:54Yeah, I think, guys, the thing that has struck me now more than ever before,
01:00when you think you're heading towards the end,
01:03even though we don't know how many more years he's going to play,
01:06there is a greater appreciation for what he's done.
01:09And it seems like these debates and these conversations
01:13are popping up more and more into where he fits in, in the grand scheme.
01:18And to me, all you have to do is go to a game with him in it
01:24and you feel where he fits in.
01:27He is absolutely one of the all-time greats.
01:29He's one of the most intriguing figures in NBA history
01:32because he just isn't the normal type.
01:37There have been athletic guys, there have been big guys,
01:40there have been highly skilled guys.
01:42I just don't know if there's been anybody like him.
01:46And that's why maybe now NBA fans around the country, around the world,
01:51are starting to truly appreciate what this man has done for so long.
01:56The sustained excellence is just incredible, beyond incredible.
02:02Is part of it, too, Ayan, the connectivity with home fans?
02:06And by home fans, I mean Brooklyn fans last night
02:09where the shot goes in before the half
02:12and it's almost like Nets fans and neutral fans and all fans
02:15were going just to see something like that.
02:18Is that a part of his legacy as well?
02:21I think so, and I did the game Tuesday night at the Garden,
02:24so it would be one thing to say, all right, well, Brooklyn,
02:27you're getting some people that really have no rooting interest necessarily
02:33for the Nets, that it hasn't been a 50-year connection with the city.
02:39It's still relatively new, but they've built a fan base
02:42and there's certainly been success within the borough of Brooklyn.
02:47But it happened at the Garden on Tuesday.
02:49This is one of the storied franchises in the history of the game
02:54and obviously one of the more historic venues in the history of the game.
02:59And I felt the same thing when Curry started making shots.
03:03You still have the NBA fan that is into it, is engaged in the action.
03:11So I walk this tightrope as a local broadcaster
03:16and as a national broadcaster.
03:18And there is a conscious part of what you're doing
03:21because you have to be conscious of who your audience is,
03:25what the expectation is when you do these games.
03:28It doesn't mean you change who you are.
03:30It doesn't mean that you entirely change your style,
03:33but there are slight adjustments and nuances that go into it.
03:37I remember very vividly my first year doing TV for the Nets.
03:43We're out in Seattle, and Gary Payton and Sean Kemp
03:46are lighting the Nets up.
03:48And there was an alley-oop that very easily could have been
03:52a top ten highlight of the year.
03:55And I called it as such. It was an incredible highlight.
03:57I'm doing the Nets broadcast, but it's Payton, the glove,
04:02and it's Kemp, the rain man.
04:05And I jumped out of my seat because it was that impressive.
04:09I get back to the East Coast.
04:11There's a piece of mail waiting for me sent to the Nets offices,
04:15and this was not fan mail by any stretch.
04:18This is somebody taking me to task.
04:21I can't exactly use the words that were used in the letter,
04:25but the basic premise was, how dare you?
04:28How dare you go crazy on a highlight that is against the Nets?
04:33And the person did put their return address on there,
04:36so I sent him a letter back, and I explained my position.
04:40I said, of course, I'm the Nets broadcaster,
04:43but I'm an NBA broadcaster.
04:46Part of the job is to convey the excitement of the moment
04:49when it happens.
04:51If you feel it in the arena, I want you to feel it at home.
04:56I want you to understand what you just saw was special
05:02and unique and different.
05:04And all these years later, we're talking about 30 years later,
05:07I have the same philosophy.
05:09Last night doing the game on a Nets broadcast,
05:12you can't pretend it didn't happen.
05:15Everybody saw it.
05:16They saw what he did at the end of the first half.
05:19If you're not committed as a broadcaster to be the conduit
05:23to convey the excitement and electricity of the moment,
05:26then you're not doing your job very well.
05:28Well said.
05:29Yeah, absolutely.
05:30Ian Eagle with us.
05:31Ian, have you ever seen a crowd consistently react
05:36to a road player the way those crowds react to Steph
05:40in your career?
05:42Well, it's interesting, guys.
05:44When the Nets played in New Jersey,
05:46the big selling point for a lot of those seasons was that
05:51you could see the greatest stars in the NBA come to New Jersey
05:56and get a seat because the Nets were not selling out games.
06:01So that's during the run of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant
06:06and LeBron James early in his career before the Nets
06:10moved to Newark and then eventually moved to Brooklyn.
06:14So I have felt it before.
06:16And certainly on the Nets side of things,
06:18it became pretty commonplace.
06:21Shaquille O'Neal is another one that comes to mind.
06:24Fans wanted to see these guys play.
06:26They couldn't get tickets at MSG,
06:28so they went to East Rutherford, New Jersey,
06:32and got a ticket and got in and either wore the jersey of the player
06:36or just came in neutral.
06:38But you could feel it.
06:40You could feel the energy for the opponent.
06:42And this was a mechanism for them to sell tickets.
06:45At one point they had a marketing campaign,
06:47which was come see the best players in the NBA at the Meadowlands
06:52or at Continental Airlines Arena at the time.
06:55So I do have experience in it.
06:58I do think Steph has taken it to another level.
07:01And the other part, which you guys already know,
07:04the practice routine prior is warm-up.
07:07It gets a lot of attention.
07:09When you're in an opposing arena,
07:11it is truly a novelty for these fans.
07:15They want to be there.
07:16Everybody's got their phone out.
07:18It's not, oh, a couple hundred people pool around.
07:21Thousands of people were on hand at 6.30 local time
07:27to watch this take place.
07:29That I do not see from other players around the NBA.
07:33That has become absolutely an event unto itself.
07:38And it's incredible to watch for us.
07:40And every time we go out to Chase Center, we all see it.
07:44And it never gets old, even though you've seen it now
07:46almost 100 times here locally.
07:48And you had me remembering the old days with the Warriors
07:51of the Kobe Bryant five-game mini-pack.
07:54Click and roll at warriors.com and all the rest of it.
07:57Because Raymond Ritter was the master RPR guy
08:00at helping to sell those tickets.
08:02When you look at Steph now and about to be 37
08:06and the Jimmy Butler effect on this team,
08:09is it foolhardy to think that maybe something special
08:12could be afoot?
08:14No, I don't think it's foolhardy at all.
08:16I think there is a legitimate case to be made
08:20that they're very much back in the mix.
08:22That they can play with anybody.
08:24That the competition that they are ready to take on
08:30must be concerned because they've been rejuvenated.
08:34And the other part, it's not just that Jimmy Butler
08:37is an excellent player and he's been a winner
08:39and he plays hard and he's versatile.
08:41All those things are true.
08:43That is check, check, check, check, check.
08:45All those boxes.
08:46His IQ level is so high and you blend that
08:51with two guys with an incredibly high IQ level
08:54on the basketball court and Steph Curry and Draymond Green
08:57and you can see it.
08:59The cutting, the movement, the anticipation.
09:03This is still a new relationship with Butler and Curry and Green
09:08yet you feel like it's already incredibly comfortable
09:12and they have a sense of what the other one is going to do.
09:16So Butler has fit in, not just seamlessly,
09:18he's actually raised the level of other players
09:22and because his drive is so strong,
09:29I think he will carry guys with him
09:31and he's highly motivated, obviously,
09:33after everything that happened in Miami
09:35and we could probably just do a full hour on that
09:39and where we stand with front-line NBA players
09:42and the power that they have, it's real.
09:44He did not want to play for the Heat anymore
09:46and he was not going to play for the Heat anymore.
09:49I saw the same thing with James Harden and the Brooklyn Nets.
09:51He did not want to play for them anymore.
09:53He checked out mentally.
09:55He eventually checked out physically
09:57and they had to make a move
09:59and the beneficiary, in this case,
10:03is a Golden State team that I'm not even convinced
10:05he was their top choice.
10:06He probably wasn't, but it ends up being
10:09the right fit at the right time.
10:11They get him the money he was looking for,
10:14so he's very happy and content financially.
10:17The deal that was worked out,
10:19and now from a basketball standpoint,
10:21it has been exactly what Steve Kerr
10:24and his coaching staff needed
10:25to give this team a jolt.
10:27It is legit.
10:29Okay, Ian, with all that said,
10:31and you can only imagine what the honeymoon period
10:33is like right now.
10:34They've lost one time when he suits up,
10:36so everybody is just like,
10:38they're singing the exact same song
10:41that you just put out there.
10:43Is it sustainable, though?
10:44Is this honeymoon period,
10:46are we going to get the rug pulled out from underneath?
10:48These are not young guys,
10:50so that's the one aspect of this
10:52that you can never predict.
10:53You're talking about guys that have put in
10:55a lot of mileage playing in the NBA.
10:58All three have played well past
11:01the 82-game regular season
11:03in multiple years.
11:04Jimmy Butler's had a couple of runs
11:06at the NBA Finals,
11:08and obviously what Curry and Green have done
11:11throughout their Hall of Fame careers.
11:13But what I do like about what this team
11:17has begun to do
11:20is integrate the others.
11:22Responsibility added, yes,
11:25but not all of it on Podjemski's shoulders,
11:27on Moody's shoulders.
11:29Clearly Santos and Post have
11:32discovered roles on this team
11:34because they've benefited greatly
11:36from double teams.
11:38Post has got some really good confidence
11:41from the outside.
11:42Santos just is a lunch pail guy,
11:44does a little bit of everything.
11:46So what this team is now blending together
11:50gives me more of a confidence
11:54than what I would have said
11:56before the trade deadline
11:57where there was a missing piece.
11:59There was a connector missing from this group.
12:02It was Green and it was Steph,
12:05but it didn't feel like any of the other guys
12:08were going to be able to take over
12:10that next role.
12:12Now they don't have to.
12:13Jimmy can.
12:14And then with Kaminga coming back,
12:16to me it just adds a whole other element.
12:19So to answer your question,
12:21from my perspective,
12:23obviously matchups determine so many things.
12:25We have no idea who they're going to play
12:27come postseason time.
12:28We didn't even know if they would be
12:29in the playoffs guaranteed until recently.
12:31And now it looks like a six seed
12:34and maybe even a five seed
12:35becomes a possibility.
12:38But this team has enough
12:41on their roster to make noise.
12:43Is the idea of championship pedigree
12:46mostly just hokum?
12:48Or is that a real thing
12:49when we get into April and May
12:51that a team like the Warriors can rely upon?
12:53No, I think it's real.
12:54I still believe it's real.
12:56OKC is highly impressive.
12:58They have done it right
13:01from an organizational standpoint,
13:02from a coaching standpoint,
13:04how they have crafted this roster.
13:07Everything has been done correctly.
13:09If you were going to write a book
13:11how to build an NBA team from scratch,
13:14OKC could be the model that you use
13:17from infrastructure to development
13:20to making the right choices
13:22personnel wise, personality wise.
13:24They've done it all right.
13:26Even with that said,
13:27it guarantees you nothing.
13:29All it takes is one bad series
13:31as we know in the NBA
13:33and it sets you back
13:34because now you have to make more changes
13:37and you have to reassess what you've done
13:39and now you have to question
13:40some of the guys that you paid.
13:42So there's going to be pressure
13:45on the thunder.
13:46I think there's this misconception
13:48that once you get to the postseason,
13:50the pressure is going to flip over
13:52to the Lakers because of the expectations
13:54of the Warriors.
13:55I think the pressure is going to be on OKC
13:58to show that they are legit
14:01and for real
14:02and the regular season does matter.
14:04Last year was such a big jump by them.
14:07I think at that point,
14:08no matter what they did,
14:10the reaction was going to be
14:11nice building season for them.
14:13They lost to Dallas,
14:14as we know in the conference semifinals.
14:16Mavericks ended up going to the NBA finals
14:18and now to look at their roster
14:20is just hard to believe.
14:23But I think this year,
14:25they're expected to deliver
14:28and that's a different level of pressure
14:30and angst that a team has to deal with.
14:32Ian Eagle, YES Network
14:34and right off the top of this conversation,
14:36we played your great call of Steph Schott
14:38last night.
14:39You called it a cheat code.
14:40I wonder if maybe you'd compare it
14:43and contrast it,
14:44maybe a little critique,
14:45if you will,
14:46of another big time Steph Schott
14:48from not too long ago,
14:50just from a broadcasting standpoint.
14:52Can we do that, Ian?
14:53Can we play something for you?
14:54Sure.
14:55Alright, okay.
14:56So what do you think of this one?
15:14Okay, what did you think of that one, Ian?
15:18I give it a gold medal.
15:19100% gold medal.
15:21I remember exactly where I was
15:24when that took place
15:25because obviously,
15:27it was Team USA
15:29doing their thing
15:30with all of the pressure
15:32that came with that.
15:33I was pacing around the house.
15:34My wife was watching the game downstairs.
15:36I couldn't stay in one place.
15:38I walked upstairs.
15:39I started watching my bedroom
15:41and then the added layer
15:43of the fact that my son
15:44was calling the game
15:46and I knew that
15:48it's going to go down
15:49one way or the other
15:50as a call that
15:52matched the moment
15:54or people will forget the call forever
15:56because it didn't really resonate.
15:58So for him to come up with that
16:00in the moment
16:01and match it
16:02was really cool
16:03on so many levels.
16:04How old was he
16:06when he started answering the phone
16:07and people thought it was you?
16:09He did have a deep voice.
16:11Like you guys said,
16:12exactly a lot of kids.
16:13It's unbelievable.
16:15No, there are people
16:17that believe
16:18there might have been
16:19some kind of cloning
16:20in my basement.
16:21The government was looking into it.
16:22But I assure you
16:23that did not happen.
16:24This was real.
16:25This was an actual thing
16:27that happened.
16:28And how old was he
16:29when you could kind of see
16:30the gleam in his eye
16:31that he wanted to do
16:32what daddy did?
16:34Yeah, he didn't really
16:36cop to it
16:37until probably 13, 14.
16:41Although I would say
16:43before that
16:44I just noticed
16:45that he was paying attention
16:46and would ask
16:48really good questions
16:49about broadcasting
16:51and the approach
16:52and not the normal ones.
16:53So questions about
16:55when you're doing
16:56a opening on camera
16:58with your partner.
16:59When do you look at your partner
17:00and when do you look at the camera?
17:02And he was nine.
17:03I was like, oh.
17:04He was nine.
17:05Really good question.
17:06What?
17:07All right.
17:08Go to your room, Noah.
17:09Yeah, please.
17:11You're freaking me out.
17:12Go away.
17:14I wonder this though too
17:16because you've been doing this
17:18for how long?
17:19How many years?
17:20I graduated in 1990
17:22so I started at FAN
17:24after I graduated
17:26behind the scenes
17:27and then got on the air
17:28in 1991.
17:29Okay, so for well over 30 years
17:31you've been doing this
17:33and then your snot-nosed kid
17:35gets the Olympics?
17:37Come on, man.
17:38How did that happen?
17:40No, that's great.
17:42Unlike some people
17:43I actually take
17:45incredible amounts of pride
17:47and I want him to do better
17:49than I did
17:50so that's what I'm rooting for in life
17:51for him to enjoy it
17:53and the fact that he is having a blast
17:55doing it
17:56all of the things that come with it
17:58I'm thrilled for him.
18:00It's been beyond cool.
18:02He can do better
18:03but maybe he could like
18:04I don't know, slow down a little bit
18:05and let dad have another 15 or 20 first?
18:07No, I'll go to a deserted island
18:10and get a drink
18:12with a nice straw in it
18:14and retire.
18:16I'm cool.
18:17Perfect.
18:18Hey, Ian, great job
18:20and great flavor
18:22of what's been going on
18:23the last couple of games
18:24for Steph Curry
18:25and the Warriors in New York
18:26so we love having your perspective
18:28and thank you so much.
18:29Yeah, it was awesome, guys
18:31and just being around his orbit
18:33for a couple of games this week
18:35you go through your schedule
18:37and I knew it was on there
18:39but I'm so locked in
18:40and getting to the next city
18:41and getting to the next assignment
18:43and preparing
18:44I don't think it was front of mind
18:46until I walked into the garden on Tuesday
18:48and I thought to myself
18:49oh, yeah, it's Steph Curry
18:51and it's the Warriors
18:52and it's the Knicks
18:53and oh, by the way, two days later
18:54it's Steph Curry again
18:56and he did provide
18:58the highlights that he always does
19:00the man is really special.
19:02When the Nets went up 22
19:05were you thinking that they were going to win the game?
19:08No, I never got to that place
19:11but I was shocked
19:12in how quickly they came out of the box
19:15and how flat the Warriors
19:17look now, they have been in New York now
19:19for an extended period of time
19:20they knew it was the last part of the road trip
19:23everybody had been singing their praises
19:26Steve Kerr, who I know you guys know well
19:29he's just such a stand-up person
19:31he's someone that is so direct
19:34and his comportment
19:36the way he handles that team
19:38blows me away
19:39he just has a really good understanding
19:41of people, of dynamics
19:43and in the back of my mind
19:45I thought to myself
19:47he's probably going to figure it out
19:49that's who he is
19:50they'll problem solve in the moment
19:52and they did
19:53it was a fun game
19:54it was highly entertaining
19:55the crowd was into it
19:57from the opening tip
19:58Love it, love it
19:59Ian, thank you so much
20:00we look forward to talking to you again soon
20:02down the road
20:03All the best, guys
20:04See ya
20:05Ian Eagle
20:06Yes Network
20:08With the Nets
20:09TNT