TOM's Talks | John Crotty Weighs In On Heat

had an eleven year NBA career. He played with NBA Legends and for league coaching Royalty and Krowny has also long established a career in commercial real estate in South Florida. Here's another edition of Tom's Talks with John Crotty. Welcome to another edition of Tom's Talked, and we're joined by John Crotty at the Miami Heat television broadcast and a former Heat player in a long time NBA player, and John,

thank you so much. We appreciate this. As we speak, we're between games between the Sixers and the Heat during this mid January two games set and even though both teams didn't have you know, a lot of its players. Quite a game in an entertaining overtime game in the first matchup last night as we speak, Yeah, it really was.

Hey Tom, good to see you. Very exciting game and uh, you know, really different obviously the Heat only having eight available players and you know, having their two all stars out and the Sixers mixing missing you know, some of their quality players and starters as well. Just different lineups, different matchups, rotations all over the board. A very exciting game could have gone either way. And uh, obviously with the Sixers pulling it out in overtime. So one are

the players from Miami that has excelled. He had a career hid in the regular season last night with thirty four. Certainly shine the bubble was Tyler Hero And you know, you came into this league as young player, but have you ever seen a guy with swagger and the way he he's played in his first season's special? He's special. I mean, it's it's really interesting. He only played one year at college at Kentucky, came in had great confidence.

Has it really interesting, you know, mix because he's got great confidence when he steps in between the lines, but

he's very humble off it. I think it's really endeared him to some of the veteran guys on the team, and guys like Jimmy Butler in particular, and Bam and Dragget you've taken him in and um, you know, instead of being sort of the brash guy and then turning guys off, I think he's really done a nice job of playing with a great swagger on the court but being also you know, humble and wanting to learn and and really putting the work in as a young player,

and the older veteran guys you know, want to see him be successful. So I don't know if you from your seat would call it an improbable run. But the Miami Heat made the NBA Finals and a most unusual circumstance last year in the bubble, and that had to be quite a bit of fun for all of you

guys down there in South Florida. It really was. I mean, it was a phenomenal run, being a fifth seed in the East to make it to the finals, and you know, have significant injuries early in that series against the Lakers and still take the Lakers to six games. Um, and the way the team did it I mean, this is a team that played with incredible unselfishness. Um shared the ball, move the ball, Um you know, really got hot. And

you mentioned Tyler Hero. I think he made maybe one of the great improvements from the end of the regular season to the restart to the bubble where he played

it at such a high level. Um, you know, got better really during the three to four month break that everyone experienced due to COVID and then the team just came together and played to win and everyone, um, you know, really rose their game up and it was it was really a fun group to see, uh, you know, play and get hot and beat teams that you know, everyone thought, we're going to take care of them. Last thought on the here and now and then we're going to delve

a little bit into your career. But you know, we've all been saying this is going to be an unusual season, and now you have to amend that and say no, it is an individual scene with game postponed and the specter of all that is out there with the health and safety, the calls and whatnot. So what do you think so far in terms of the East, Like you're seeing some teams like Milwaukee, you expect team Brooklyn to

rise up. Philadelphia had a great start obviously with the sexually starting seven in one, But Indiana and your club and Atlanta, what do you think right now in the eat? Yeah, it's really interesting because there's so many other factors that are kind of you know, weighing in other than just you know, the typical um, you know situation where you see teams, you know, trying to pull together and get the chemistry. You got so many distractions it seems going on,

you know, with COVID and player in and out. You know, just our game last night was a great example. I mean, uh, you know, every team really seems to be using their two way players and going with the full seventeen man rotation because they have to. They need the depth. I mean, guys, you know, are are being counted on. We had we had Gabe Vincent as an example as a two way player play significant minutes and had a career high last night and really help Miami. I think teams are doing

that as a result. It's still it's been shoppy. You know, it's hard to tell. There's some teams that are underperforming. You know. I always feel like it's a good rule of thumb Tom that you know, you have to kind of give a team twenty games before you really can evaluate who they are and where they are. And but with early on, with a lot of players in and out due to COVID and due to injury, and just

um the way the schedules flowed. Um, it's it's kind of hard to tell right now because there's some teams that I think that are better than their record implies. And yet you know, the East overall is no question tougher because there's been more talent acquired and on teams, you know, like you mentioned, So I'm still kind of scratching my head. Every game is is you know, a different challenge, and it's like it's hard to look ahead.

You gotta you gotta just put keep your nose down and keep grinding, I think, day in and day out, and just stay competitive. After your playing career, you got into broadcast in Miami and you have a parallel career that will touch on in commercial real estate. But you've done it shows. You were with Mike English for a number of years on the radio and now you're on TV with Eric Reid. How has that been in terms of adapting the Tellable. Yeah, well, it's it's it's interesting.

You know, I think you learn something from every aspect, from the media perspective. Coming in on radio with Mike and English reference was a phenomenal experience for me. I did that for like eleven twelve years. And what you learn, I think radio and you know, as you've got to be succinct, and particularly as an analyst. You know, the play by play guy is the one describing the action.

Obviously the fans can't see the action, so um, you know, my time to jump in as the analyst is basically when the ball goes in the basket and is being inbounded and walked up the floor to the half court line, and then I got to get out. So it's a it's a really quick, uh situation where you've got to make sure you make your points and get in and get out. And I think it's great training for television,

um where now people can see. UM. I had some studio experience which gave me comfort, you know, more comfort getting on camera and you know where to look and have someone in your ear, you know, with an earpiece telling you when you're coming on, when you're going off. And that's another skill set to learn to be able to think, well, you know, someone's yelling in your ear. Um.

But the the chemistry with Eric's been amazing. UM. You know, Eric Reed's been our broadcaster with the Miami Heat from the very beginning in his thirty third year and you know, just won an award as the best sports broadcaster in the State of Florida again. Um. And you know, he does a great job. His preparation is amazing and he teased me up well, and you know, I get to do what I love to do, which is described the how and the why. Um, you know, why something's happening.

I think a lot of people love to see the dunk or the jump shot, UM, but I like to see what transpired an order for that person to get open to do that, you know, and um, be able to articulate that for the fan, and then you know, try to try to teach people the game when I can, UM. And that's that's been the real joy for me with the TV medium. So let's go way back and get into the late eighties and then your college career at

UVA into the nineties. But you're from like mid to North Jersey and you go to Brothers Academy and you get recruited by Kerrie hire Harland at UVA just in the e back when the ACC was you know, probably the pre empty basketball in the country, and you have a lot of success at Virginia. Tell us about that whole experience. Yeah, well, look, I'm I'm blessed. I still have you know, look, my parents still live in New Jersey,

my sister does. I'm from Monmouth County, so the central part of the state, and as you referenced, you know, went to Christian Brothers Academy, which was a great basketball powerhouse at the time. We were you know, consistently ranked in the state and when I was there, we were fortunately we were ranked in the country, so we played the best competition. It was a real um you know, learning ground and testing ground for me and had the opportunity to be in McDonald's All American and then be

highly recruited. And I always envisioned playing in the ACC. My father played at North Carolina and that was impactful to me. I grew up going to that basketball camp and they recruited me. But Virginia was the best fit for me from an academic and athletic and social standpoint, it was phenomenal. I I you know, love it to this day. My children went there, my wife. There are just a lot of positive, um, you know, vibes. And it's great to see what coach Tony Bennett's done with

the program, you know, in the last seven years. Um, and you know that I thought, you know, Virginia and coach Holland really prepared me for having a chance to play in the NBA. And the competition, the acc was second to none. Every night you went out and you had to you had to put it out there because there were no easy nights, and you know, you learn to compete and develop and um, you know, to me, those are those are some great memories for me from

eighty seven nineteen ninety one. So then when you get into the NBA, I mean, what a challenge right for you and you straight togethered his career and you played for Jerry Sloan and down there in Miami with pat Riley. What was your NBA experience all about? Yeah, it was. It was tough for me to get in there. I never anticipated and really thought about playing in the NBA until I was about a junior in college, and and then I saw I had an opportunity I wanted to

having to play in a minor league. I came in as a free agent. I had to play in a minor league for a year and then made the Utah Jazz and started my career there for three years. And that was a you know, it was it was tough, but it was a great place to break in because they had, you know, excellent role models with John Stockton

and Karl Malone and ultimately Jeff Hornesseek as well. You had um Jerry Sloan coaching, who you know, was a Hall of Famer and just phenomenal um, you know, a teacher, but also just a just a you know, an example of toughness and fairness and um. But those guys taught you how to be a professional and had to bring it every night, the consistency, and I think that helped set me up. I played for eleven years, seven different teams. Really enjoyed playing for Miami in the middle of my career.

We were I was on a great team with Tim Hardaway and Alonzo Morning and Dan Morley, a team that made it to the Eastern Conference Final. Again. We lost to the Bulls, who ultimately won the championship. But um, I was able, you know, to maintain that connectivity so that when I retired and ultimately moved back here to Miami, I was able to you know, get an opportunity to broadcast when when the opportunity arose. At ninety seventeen, folk up.

Also with PJ. Brown, you played fifteen playoff games, so you got a lot of experience. You had a role. Yeah, back hard way, it'd be pretty cool. Yeah, my role was kind of interesting in the NBA, and you know, we all come in being a star from college. But you know, my role was really as a backup point guard. But I had the opportunity which was again probably not great the greatest for my opportunity career wise in a play I was always backing up all star point guards.

You know, pretty much every team I was on up the seven, it was an all star ahead of me, and so it limits your playing time. But what I did a lot was I would play with that guy and push him to the two. Um. I did it in Seattle, Gary Payton, I did it in Utah with John Stockton, or I'd play the two and he'd played the one. And then UM in Miami with Tim harrowing

a lot. UM. So those were examples where you know, you're playing with another ball handler, another attack or another shooter, um, and you have an opportunity to go small and handle the ball a lot like we're seeing actually today and today's NBA with you know, maybe a smaller active quicker players,

particularly in the front court. You guys in the you know in Philly have a rare exception, um with Joel Embiid, who's incredibly skilled, who can play inside and out, you know, with like a for a guy his size, the way he's able to impact the game. Um. But it was, it was, it was a great time to play in the NBA. And um, you know, I had an I had an awesome run over the course of my eleven years.

Just for a second, we'll talk about in bad because we speak again between these two games between the six Ers in the heat and it beat ended up with forty five, forty six points. But he at twenty third quarter he was eight for eight. And all over these years, these guys, you know, with the big size and whatnot, but the touch, I mean, the guy he was making threes, falling down three point plays. That was a pretty incredible display. Of finest and footwork and strength all in one package.

It really was. I mean, look, he's he's an incredible player. I mean, you know, there are times I scratched my head with him. In the first half, he was just looked completely disengaged. At ten points, I think he was three or seven shooting something like that, and then he he flips the switch and you see what he can do. He's he's so gifted, um, and he just asserted himself. He demanded the ball and he scored I want to say, five or six straight buckets, and you know, that's that's

a guy to me who Um. You know, if he if he ever figures out how to play that way, you know, at a higher level throughout the course of the game and with the conditioning, um, being in top top shape, he's unstoppable, Absolutely unstoppable. Um. There's nobody who can guard someone that big and strong with that type of touch. You can step outside or then bully you inside, and then he can pass. I mean he was passing out of double teams. Miami had to double him to

try to slow him down. And he's able to find shooters like Danny Green out there, you know, on the perimeter. So man, he's a load. He's a tough guy to prepare and match up for him when he's playing at that level. And now back to your gage, John, you had a fun thing after making a basket, You did the karate chop. Tell us about that. I don't know, I just I mean the fans wouldn't you know, would engage you and try to get me to do some

fun things. But look, I always tried to play hard and and uh, you know, always love the fact that you know, people appreciated that in my game. Just someone who was competitive and tried to bring it for their team. And um, you know you try to do what you can to maintain and have fun with the fans and yet still still always stay competitive. Right. Yeah, No, you didn't strike me as a guy with too much player.

I was gonna say, you could get some indide heat, high tight fastball if we're careful doing the karate job. But that's right, that's right, baseball you get knocked out. Let's talk a little bit about going to Florida and being as you say, you maintained that tie and coach Riley took the fold. That happens when you go down there to work and you get into that Heat culture and you're in a situation now where you forged this whole second career in broadcasting because of that early stint

as a pro with the Eat. Yeah, I mean in the NBA as a whole. It does a tremendous job if you take advantage as a player. They have multiple programs where you can do internships and try different things, and they put you in touch with some incredible people. This is in the off season. I used to try to spend two weeks every summer, you know, thinking about what I would potentially do when I retired, And you know, one of them that was always of interest was broadcast thing.

And I was able to be connected with Ted Ballard, who's actually still the senior you know, producer executive producer for the Miami Heat, and Ted set up a internship for me while I was still playing. Came in the summertime, and Eric Reid came in on two days in the summer on his own time, and we actually broadcasted two games together that had previously occurred where they shut the sound off and Eric and I broadcast the games together.

So I'm always I'm always in debt to both Ted and now my partner Eric at such a small world. How it's come, you know, all the way around. He came in on an off day in the summer to do that, to try to, you know, help me and ultimately, you know, it was the avenue for me to take, which which I really enjoyed it. Now, as I mentioned earlier, you're on this this other track professionally where you've been

in commercial real estate for a number of years. In my I remember Septembers ago or whatever when we were all together broadcast in New York and we were out. It was a beautiful night Harvard Cruise where around the lower part of Manhattan and everybody. But meanwhile you're closing a different like a ball in Orlando. You're making money. More about that that track has You've really done a great job. You're getting into that and it's spent a

lot of time in that in that area. Yeah. Well look when I when I first retired, I did not have the broadcasting you know, um opportunity set up. So for the first basically three years I was retired, I

was um, you know, making a living. Um. I pursued a career in real estate looking to basically syndicate deals that I could find and bringing investors, and um, you know what really flowed into was a position as a broker where I was putting sellers together with buyers and um, you know, getting paid commissions when deals sold, and UM it's it's been a great run. I've been doing that now for a long time and I'm a partner in a firm. UM we do a billion dollars worth of

sales a year. We do it throughout the state of Florida. We sell large development deals, office industrial, retail type deals. And you know, you learn a lot obviously through doing these types of transactions and made some great friends and some great connectivity, um you know, with with um owners of properties and buyers who become your clients and so UM you know, that's been a lot of fun, very

rewarding for me. Has allowed me to remain in one place as well, in Miami, and then the broadcasting gig came thereafter. So it's it's been phenomenal to be able to have, you know, that real estate type type job along with you know, continuing to pursue my love and my passion for basketball, being a broadcaster and being able to um, you know, describe things from a player perspective. For fans, well, I know maybe a handful of moguls,

but you're my favorite mobile. I love that title. I don't get called a mogul too oftent Tom, thank you brother. Let's marry the two things, though, because you so often here about the discipline and all of the things that made just specual, accessful college and educate at UVA, and then you know the thrill of the deal competing to that deal and how all of those things like the order and the structure and the things you learned as an athlete and how that plays into a business. So

it's a great point. It's I go on different panels, particularly for the Players Association a lot in a summer where players come in. They're trying to be educated. They

love the idea of investing their money. They want to learn more about real estate, and what I tell them is, first of all, you know, you come into that as a player and you don't have any experience, and it's very intimidating, and but there are qualities and traits that you do have as a player that you've developed because to get to that level, you have to and that's

typically a hard work ethic. It's typically a discipline of you know, getting up and being a statu you know, getting having a routine and structure in your life and being able to follow through, um on a plan of attack in order to be able to develop your skills. UM. And then I think also, you know, being able to get kicked in the teeth and be able to get back up right, be able to be competitive and and

take a hit and come back up. A lot of people don't have the stomach or the toughness to do that. I think that's part of the life of being an athlete. UM. Those are those are traits and qualities that you can apply to a lot of different things, but particularly a sales gig and um, you know, particularly in real estate that's that can be um you know, challenging. And look when you're when you're living where UM you know you're only eating when you kill you know what you kill?

UM you know you have to have a very tough mindset and and be very disciplined and work hard at it. And um you know, I've been blessed that I have taken a lot of those traits and being able to do it. I think the one thing that's maybe be the most challenging when you come from being a professional athlete where everyone you know wants to get to know him be part of that scene. Is that you have to have when you when you transition out as humility.

I think that's maybe the hardest thing for a lot of guys to have an embrace because you're basically starting, you know, I was thirty two, basically starting a job that a lot of other people typically would start at twenty one twenty two, and you're behind the curve and you got to be humble and be willing to learn and start at the bottom and work your way up. And I think that's, you know, something that I was able to do, which was, you know, at times very difficult,

but you know, absolutely made the difference. And we'll close with this, and it's kind of a piggybacking, if you will, on that same thought. But even in today's NBA with all of the money and that's changed over the last twenty five or thirty years since since you played, But these guys, you have to have a schedule, you have to sate that competitive book. Even if you're you know, you're set for life, for your family's life, and beyond.

You still have to have something that you do and you were able to find that that's important, isn't it perfect? I think so? I think so too. I mean it's a great point. Look, you could you could be worth you know, just one hundred million dollars. But what are

you gonna do. You're gonna you're gonna sit around and play video games every day from age thirty on, you know, I mean, you want to do something that's worthwhile, that that's rewarding, that you know, you feel good about that you're achieving, and you know possibly can help others at the same time. And you know, if that's where you want to lean to and you know, to me, we all should never stop educating ourselves and putting ourselves out

there in different situations that aren't always comfortable. Um. That's how we grow, that's how we improve. Um. I think. You know, today's player has as an amazing opportunity because of the money they're making to really set themselves up and to maybe branch out even more U versus maybe the guys even you know, my age group, which the money wasn't as good. You know, a lot of those

guys had to transition into the workforce. But I think today you know, you have the opportunity to make an impact because we're seeing the platform these these guys have through social media and stuff to make all types of changes. Um, whether it's social you know, justice, or you know some something you know through charitable situations, or practical in your neighborhood, whatever. I mean, there's just the options are limitless. Tom, I mean,

that's that's the beauty. Well, we thank you so much. John. You've done an incredible rear with your business, with your family on TV and that we appreciate your time. Thanks Tom for having me. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to this edition of Tom's Talks. If you like what you're hearing, consider subscribing to this seventy six ers podcast network Feed or giving us a follow wherever you get your pods and if that happens to be on Apple Podcasts, we'd love for you to give us

a rating. I'm Tom McGinnis. Talk to you down the road, hm, hm,