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What is up? Dolphins?
And welcome to the Drive Time podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, we are knocking it out of the park with these big time guests, and.
We have two more for you today.
The head football coach at Texas A and M Jimbo Fisher joins us to talk about new Dolphins running back and his former back there in Aggie Land Devon Achan. You guys are gonna love that interview. You're also gonna love talking about some Miami Heat basketball on the trip back to the NBA Finals for the second time in four years. Let's go, Baby, Let's go Heat. Jeremy Tashe from Bally Sports, Miami, Mic d Up and The Dan Levittard Show joins us to talk about this year's fun
run for the Miami Heat. All of that in the heck of a lot more from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
This is the draft time, Parks.
Hey, let's jump right in today with my first guest, Texas A and M head football coach, the legendary Jimbo Fisher. And we have a very special guest today from college Station, the head football coach at Texas A and M Jimbo Fisher.
Coach.
Welcome in, great to glad to be with you, guys. Hope you're having a good day.
We're having a great day. It's always a day done here in South Florida. And I want to start here, coach, because I imagine that over the years we're talking about of course new Dolphins running back to von a Chain, you know, coaching so many future NFL players at this moment. I'm sure it never gets old for you, But I want to know about when you heard Devaughn's name called on draft day and what that moment was like for you.
Well again again, you go back to the when you recruited a guy and you remember his mom, his family and all their dreams. You know there was a chance for all those dreams to come true. You've you've all your hard work, all the things you dreamed about, and it's a great It's one of the great feelings you get as a coach to know those guys have that opportunity to go to pro football, just like the one. And then he got in a great organization with a
great team who has a great future right now. I think he's a great fit for where he's going, And that's the other part. They get that opportunity, but you always worry about the fit.
You know what I mean? And I think again I was excited for him to go to Miamis.
We love to hear that for sure. How quickly after his draft selection, did you talk to Devony.
Right after his congratulating him and traded lating before and a half, Because afterwards it's hard to get to him because everybody in the world jumps on him. But now you just you just wish him the best and tell him that you can ever help him.
Let us know, was he pretty fired up to come down here?
He is, But he's such a his emotions are kept will in check. He's such an easy going when he's excited, you wouldn't know if he was if he was down, he was high, I mean, if he was neutral, or if he was happy.
I mean, he's so it's not unemotional, but he keeps his feelings really.
In chick, same guy every day. That's that's an easy guy to coach, right because you know you get every single day from him. Yeah, that's really cool to hear. So so our goal here coach today is kind of twofold to both get to know the player and the person. You've talked a little bit about the person already, but I want to start with that part talking about the person. Devon a chain and because in preparing for this podcast, I found some really cool quotes about Devon coming back
for that LSU victory Yalla High late last season. Had a chance to ask Devon about that in the media availability and he talked about getting the opportunity to strap it on one last time with his guys. Right, I'm wondering what that meant to you as a coach and your program.
Well, he's a throwback in that. You know, it's about the team for him. He's a very unassuming guy. He's all team. He's easy to coach, he comes to work every day, and it is about team. I mean, he wants to play well so his team can do well. And it's you know, it's not the vice versa where I want to do well so I can do well. He really truly believes in that and that's the way he approaches each and every day. And that did It made me happy, but it did not surprise me what happened in the LSU games.
Does that kind of leave an impact on your program? Because not really, that's not really the typical decision these days in modern college football. How rare was that for you guys to get him back for that game?
No, it's not in the modern day athlete, because it's always about it. It seems to be more about them than as it goes on. But it's very refreshating when your best players exhibit those habits and then they have success and they get their dreams come true. It's an easy thing to point to and teach too to other guys because I still am a believer in the reasons for guys having success in his business, whether it was fifty
years ago or now, are really not any different. I mean, I truly believe they're the same, and to take away some of the selfishness. And it's a great guy to teach from and to point too that say, look this guy here did it and it look what he got.
Yeah, it sounds it all tracks because I read this quote from your coach in one of the draft guides I was looking at and you said this, he's a tremendous human being, player, leader, competitor, and he has nothing but heart and toughness about him and everything he does. Now, that's not a quote that you drop because of one isolated incident. I'm thinking you only issue that kind of
praise when a guy demonstrates those traits daily. Right, I'm curious to know about how DeVaughn went about his business day in and day out.
Those are his habits. I always say, we are what our habits say we are. And you can want to be something or think you're something, but when pressure comes and what you do on a daily basis is who you really are, and that's who he really is. I mean, he just he comes to work and those things. He loves it. And that's the thing about him. People aways say, well, you know, he's such a track guy.
He can really run.
No, he's a football player who ran track. He wasn't a track guy who played football. And I think there's a difference. I don't mean it's not an insult to track guys, but football was his first love. And if you watch and when you watch him play, there's times you say, man, is he really that fast? Because he doesn't play out of control. He's so under control and too he doesn't have to be and use his speed. It's natural for him to do the things on the football field when it comes out.
We've had a chance to watch him for a couple of practices here so far and it shows up right away that track speeds evident, But so is the football acumen. That's something you really praised, you know, and a lot of the media I looked at that you did talking about this player and how quick things come to him. I'm curious when did you first notice that with devon that quick learner trait.
You know what's funny early in camp when he was a freshman. I mean, because you know, when you're installing offense, I mean in those young guys, you know you and you give lard and you throw the whole I called whole part hole. You throw everything in and you go
back and reteach it. Then you really perfect it. But his retention level, and I mean you telling something one time, it was very it was evident from the day he ever did it, and I mean extremely intelligent and extremely instinctive, and usually those don't always go together.
I go back to a question I asked earlier about how it benefits your program. I'm curious how that benefits your program on you you know, you want to put something new on a Monday to install it for Saturday, and he's got it down by Tuesday. That's got to be a big benefit to a coaching staff.
It's huge, and I think it's what really separates average players from you know, really good players and really good players, some really great players. If you go back and watch all the great ones, most of them they learn at a high level and they take pride in learning and their retention levels because the vast volume of information you have to learn in a college program or a program and a pro offense is people don't have any idea
how much it is. And then you know, if a guy gets it early in the week, he can perfect it during the week because now he truly understands the concepts of what you're running. When guys take a long time to comprehend things, not that they're at the end of the week and by time they really understand it, there's not time to prefer. So I think the learning curve to me is a huge part of guys being successful and also staying in the league for a long time.
That's fascinating insight, not just for Devon a Chang, but for the idea of you know how those intangibles kind of benefit a football player. Really good insight from you their coach. But back to a chain and the physical traits, they're obvious, right, pretty rare player in terms of the speed you talked about, he's a football player who also happens to run track and not to mention at an Olympic qualifying level speed and the explosiveness is there too. I want to go back to when you first caught
wind of his high school tape. I have to imagine that was like a first snap, like, whoa, this is something special here.
It was, and then you know some of the first things you question. You go, all right, how good is this ball? Who's he playing against?
You know what I'm saying.
And listen, he played at Fort Ben Marshall, which was an extremely high level of football and had great players and the people they played, and they went to state championships.
You know, I think back to back.
Years, his junior and senior year and you're going, I mean, it's like amazing, and I never forget we got to I got to evaluate again. He played one of his playoff games in our stadium, so I was able to watch the game, and I'll never forget.
It was just like it's like a video game.
He actually hit a bunch of big runs, was in the scoring that and then he hit an eighty yard run and he gets called back. Okay, so it's first in fifteen on the fifteen Well guess what, he hit an eighty five yard run.
On the play.
He had one hundred and sixty five yards to two only got credit for one. But I mean it was just every time he touched it, you didn't take your eyes off of it because you know what could happen.
He didn't have to go to the sideline for a blow for.
That, he didn't. He didn't come out and he hit another one. He went all the way first score.
That's amazing. So how would you say, if you could describe it for us, how that speed and the home run hitting ability, How did that kind of benefit your offense? Maybe change the way you guys did things knowing you have that in your back pocket.
No, and the other unique thing about him if you watch, if you watched him practice, he doesn't have good hands.
He has excellent hands.
He catches the football and he judged, which I didn't know until we had him here for just a little bit because you were teaching the offense and you start flexing him out, putting him in positions to catch the ball, and then a lot of backs and catch the ball ten fifteen yards down. But he has great ability to judge the ball in a deep part of the field, and he can catch the go balls and the post.
And we had a lot of things that we tried to get him the ball at now people of course, now every time he got out there everybody in the world got they backed up for twenty five yards, but which I would have too.
But he can run routes. Likely he can run a retrieve.
I receive retree route progression and which is and it's very easy for him, and he naturally he adjusts on the ball and contorts his body very well to catch it. So he creates a lot of abilities or coming out of the backs on his little option in scat routes. You know, you get the verticals rent off and you get him isolated on a linebacker. His ability, his instincts to read leverages and pressures those teaching things. Again, I go back to he picked up on very easily.
It's funny you mentioned how a team's kind of back off when you have a player like that out there. And the fit here with the Dolphins, like you mentioned earlier, I mean, Tyreek and Jalen do that pretty well on their own on the outside. Now you put de von h in the backfield, it's a lot of speed to contend with their coach three.
I actually know those guys very well. We almost got water when I was recruiting very hard when I was at Florida State. Then I transferred over here and he was from Houston, and I knew Jalen really well. We'd had a big guy named Marvin Wilson who came from his high school year before we'd signed at Florida State.
You know, we recruiting very hard.
Here at A and M and Tyreek, believe it or not, was on an official visit at Florida State.
For me.
He came on official visits, so I got to research his film in college and all that too, So I'm very familiar with those guys. And I said, now you're putting this guy in with them, And they said, you know, you usually got one guy that caliber, you know what I mean to get and then to have to read of that caliber. I said, That's why I saw it
was a really good fit. Because of the style and the speed people have, and those guys pushing people vertical down the field, isolating him underneath on the things he can do with his skill set. I think is a really good combination for them, and I think it's.
A great fit.
It sounds like you and coach McDaniel have similar tastes in terms of the speed you like on the outside and in the backfield as well. Because plenty of speed here to burn. You know you mentioned the route tree in the past game Prowess, I'm curious to hear your take on his ability and pass protection because often for rookies we see it's difficult to get on the field early on because of the pass po responsibilities. How does he handle that part of the game.
He understands and learns that because we run a pro style offense.
I mean he's used to.
He understands where the mic calls are and I got first or second, or if I'm scanning to the backside, and how to read the safeties and the pressure safeties. We taught that in our system. So he did that very well. And here's the other thing. The thing about him he ran track, so his ability to lift, and I'm really looking forward to watching them as a pro because.
He's starting to put on size now.
In strength, he's all right, he's a shorter guy, but he's a stocky, well built strong player. I mean he really is. And I think now with a continual off season of heavyweights because he was in track so much, he never got that as much in college. I think it's even going to excel to him because he understands how to play low to high. He can use his that size. I mean, it's power you can over guy's
gonna try to overpower. But he's much stronger, and he understands leverage, he can create twitch, and he understands pass protection very well.
That's going to be is it's a Dolphins fan's ears. I have one more question for you here, coach, if you don't mind just summarizing the person, the player the Dolphins are getting ultimately the package of Devon A.
Chang.
What are we getting down here in South Florida.
I'm first of all again I say you're getting a really good The guy doesn't He's very unassuming. He's going to do his business. He's not going to be in trouble. I mean, he's very close with his mother. He has a young child. I mean he's very close with He's a family orientey guy. He's not a go out guy.
He's not a run around guy. Never was in college, very family oriented, works very hard, extremely talented, as we said, but cares and takes pride in the learning concepts of things and not making mistakes and mental mistakes on the field. And you've got a guy with that kind of ability. If he knows what to do, which he's going to pick it up very quickly. I think you're gonna get a high character quality guy who's going to be extremely productive.
And I think whether it's running the ball and that's where you're gonna be subscribed. He's much stronger in between the tackles than people really giving credit for my opinion because you think of the speed, catches it very well. And of course there's another aspect. He is a great kick return guy. He's taking moldible kickoffs back for touchdowns. We beat Alabama here a couple of years ago. He took one back for one hundred dad a year ago. He's done it two or three times in his career.
So I think in all those different aspects he can affect your team. But you're gonna get a very high character quality guy I don't believe will ever be in trouble, who's going to learn at a high level, be a team mooring a guy and play his hard out.
I just saw him the other day Coach Rip a big run going right between the guard and the center on the offensive line. So you talk about runington tackles, it's definitely in his skill set. That's great to hear. Legendary coach Jimbo Fisher, coach, we appreciate your time so much today. Best of luck this season and.
Gig them best of lucky y'all too, Thank you, thank you.
And there he goes. I mean, how much fun was that? If you're not going to get fired up about that, I guess we'll keep trying. We're gonna go ahead and have the next guest here on our nineteen twenty seven New York Yankees lineup of guests. We've had the last couple of weeks, our murderers bro if you will. Jeremy Tash, Miami micd Up, Bally Sports, and The Dan Levittard Show. He's my guest next here on the Draft Time podcast.
Your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation and making his Drive Time debut, is the man behind the Miami micd Up podcast. He's a digital host and reporter for Bally Sports. You can find him on the sidelines at the Heat Games alongside coach McDaniel. There and my personal favorite role of his of this renaissance man as he were, jere Bear on The LeBatard Show. Jeremy Tasha Jeremy, how we doing on this glorious South Florida rainy day.
I am absolutely wonderful and even better after that introduction. Thanks man, This is an honor. I've wanted to be on here for a while with you, so I'm I'm super excited to have a chance to chat and think you're amazing at this, So excited to be here.
You're too kind, and what better time to have you on than right now? And South Florida sports are just kind of going off right now with the Panthers in the finals and the heat depending on when this podcast drops and what happens with the games that happened. We tried our best to time this up. It's just not possible to do a podcast on an afternoon and then have a game that night and find out who's going on in the next round, or if we have to come back to Miami for another game, We'll find out
about that and we'll make the podcast work accordingly. But I brought you with that intro and purposefully saved the Levatard liner there for the end because I just want to go ahead and validate you out of the box, Jeremy. So I'm gonna go ahead and play some sound for you in the audience here real quick.
And every single role player for this team stepped up, and they have the best player in the series, Jimmy Butler is the best player in the series, whether Giannis is healthy or not.
So, Jeremy. That was April twenty fourth. The series was two to one at the time. Miami was up in the series, and you know, Michael Jordan said it best. I think that when you can talk your trash when you're tied or behind, that's the sign of a confident man. And while the Heat were up a game in the series at that point, nobody was predicting them to win the series. Hell, they were still saying Boston's gonna win the series, you know, or that the Heat were dogs
after having two wins in Boston. So what I want to know, Jeremy, what I really want to know is what was the genesis of that ranch of that spot on Take Walk Us Through It?
You know, I first of all thank you for the validation because I've been searching for it NonStop on the show and they will not give it to me no
matter how bad I ask for it. I think the genesis of that actually came from frustration from almost like months of talking about the season that Jimmy Butler had that despite the fact that the Heat were struggling up until basically the last few weeks where they got it together, Jimmy Butler, for all intents and purposes, was having the best season of his career and nobody was paying attention, you know, despite the fact that they were one seed
last year and had gone to the finals and years before. And so I think after watching him just come out of the gate and have such an incredible start to this postseason, after all of the talk of those play in games and on the show, the talk of purpose tanking the second play in game, which is what was the recommendation of a couple of the guys in the shipping container. I will not even put their names out there for some ridiculous take, but the idea of tanking
and hoping that you get a pingpong ball. And now he had Jimmy Butler, the ultimate competitor, going out there and showing why you always try to make the playoffs, and it really validated what the Heat have done for years and years and years, right, I mean, people look back at a season where the Heat just barely missed the playoffs the thirty and eleven year, and it was like, why are you trying so hard to win with this roster? And it's because the Heat are always trying to win.
That's the premise of sports is to try to win. And so I think this was just sort of an amalgamation of all of that and watching what was obvious greatness in Jimmy Butler and knowing that, truthfully, I really genuinely believed that he was the best player in that series in terms of no, does he have is he gonna have ultimately? I mean, look, we'll see what happens now this year and maybe years going forward, but is he going to have the type of legacy in the
game that Jannis ultimately will probably not? Giannest is going to go down as one of the all time elite players ever, will probably win multiple more championships from here. But right now today, going into the playoffs, there was not a player I would have wanted on my team maybe besides nicallehokicch more than Jimmy Butler.
Like that's it.
And he was the best player in that series, and he's been the best player in each subsequent series.
Since you know what, I saw that take, and I'm a kind of casual sports fan of other sports. It's kind of nice to like not be so you know, like in depth involved in the other sports and just kind of enjoy them as they are. And that's kind of how I approach basketball, at hockey and to an
extent baseball, I suppose. But you know, I was tweeting about the Miami Heat that day, saying like, I want to get this dub, I want to get into the playoffs, and that was the reaction that I got, was like, no, we want to lose this game and get better lottery opportunities.
I was like, what, yeah, I think. Look, it was a frustrating season. I can't understand for fans who were so used to success. Why, Like for Jimmy Butler, this was the first season with the Heat where there were actually major expectations if you really think about it, where they didn't meet the expectation. You know, the first season he was here was the bubble and they go on this unbelievable run. The following year it's like a six week off season. So just about everybody understood this is
going to be a grind of a season. And when they lost to Milwaukee in five, or rather were swept by Milwaukee, it made sense Milwaukee ended up winning a title like they were the most dominant team in the league, and they had given the Heat trouble. Following season there were one seed and they come a shot short of going to the finals.
But that was in a year where nobody.
After the season they had in twenty twenty one, believed that the Heat would be back in that situation and so again exceeding expectations this year, all those expectations are there. It's hey, what did you do in the off season. Oh, it's just going to be running back, all right, let's see what it is. And ultimately, for most of the season from a wins and loss' perspective, they were falling short of what people expected.
But those of us who.
Were watching and covering this team saw both Jimmy and Bam having tremendous individual seasons Tyler Hero included, and it's crazy that they're doing this without him, considering how great he was this year. But Jimmy and Bam doing what they were doing and saying, look if the role players who we saw over a representative sample the season before
excelling if they could get close to that level of form. Again, there's no reason to believe this team couldn't compete as long as they get to the postseason, and ultimately that's what happened. Now, did anybody expect fifty percent shooting from three in that first series against Milwaukee? That would be you could not convince me that was going to happen in one game, let alone, I think in three different games.
But this has been a fun ride, and Jimmy Butler is obviously the leader of the ship, but.
I love most about it.
And you know, I'm a cue of being a Homer all the time, but I always just say I just believe in what they're doing and have no issue being critical when it's warranted. But when you believe in it, it makes it more fun and the job easier to do. But I'm sure that you heard how much of a home or take that was, right.
Hey, believing in in heat culture and believing in a culture in an organization. You know, I understand why, and particularly over the last really like two decades, why the shift has been to you know, this is about the athletes on your team, and ultimately it is like like one hundred percent.
I don't care how much culture you have.
If you don't have guys who are tremendous at what they do, you're not going to be successful. But having a culture and having a representative example of this is how you go about winning allows players to excel at what they do best. And so whether that's Eric Spolster in the way that he coaches, whether that's pat Riley and the rest of the front office and the types of players that they decide to sign, whether that's all of the assistant coaches, and whether that's Jimmy Butler and
Bamadabayo getting their teammates involved. There's so much growth from week to week, month to month, season to season with so many of these young players, that that's what a culture is about. It's not necessarily that you know it's this magic or that you have to follow a specific regimen and no, it's just about competing at the highest level and trying to put your teammates or your players
in the best position to succeed. And you know, look, this does put this season more than any in the history of this franchise, proves that this level of heat culture is real and if you want to tie it back to the Dolphins. Like Mike McDaniel's been at nearly every playoff game for a reason. Man, he's trying to soak it all in. And I can tell you from this is my obviously, I've been a fan of the Miami Heat my entire life, right, Dwayne Wade is what got me into this team, and it's been a heck
of a ride ever since. And to me, you know, I was always this outsider looking in, believing in Heat culture and now being around the team a little bit more.
You know, when I was first hired as a sideline reporter this season, I think my second or third shoot around, I was I was given a book, a novel that has to do with with leadership, and it was attached with a printed out not necessarily handwritten, but a printed out note from Spoe that was basically saying, like this is an example of like this is how we think, this is what we do, this is the type of leadership that we look for, and it's an insight into what it is.
That they do.
And why would they care that a sideline reporter had that insight. It's because the organization ultimately really cares and it matters to them that everybody from top down within it and on the periphery understand the goals in mind.
That's that's impressive. I hope you got through that book and what a weekend or so? Yeah, just about Yeah, that's when when Spoe hands you a book, you get into that thing real quick and make sure you knock it out like a couple of Jimy Butler free throws
late in the game. And you know, you mentioned the culture there, and I want to come back to that here in just a second, because you know, I'm obviously a different timeline as far as where Spoe has been, where his career has you know, taken him to this point, and Mike McDaniel hoping to follow him, I'm sure a similar career path in terms of his success at this level obviously, just you know, his second year in as a head coach, and I think he's done a really
good job of imparting his vision and his culture on this Dolphins football team and you know, empowering his players to be themselves and to have fun with the with the process and you know, you make a play, go and celebrate that big play. So it's been fun to see him get his fingerprints all over the roster, all over the culture. I mean a roster that's just now chuck full of superstar players at this point, and that wasn't always the case in Dolphins pass as you well
know being a south forda native. But what I wanted to do here because you know Jimmy Butler and the culture setting they have there, and I think it's I think there are some good parallels there between the two teams. And I want to play this game with you that I played with Steve Goldstein on the podcast the last episode of Draft Time where he did a matchmaker where you take Dolphins players and Panthers players for him, but
for you Heat players, and you compare them. So so I'm gonna give you a list of guys Jimmy Butler would be compared to who on the Dolphins roster?
Oh man?
I mean, I think it has to be Jalen Ramsey, right, It has to be in terms of this wild competitor with also a big trash talking personality, right like and knowing like he's going to trash talk you and then he's gonna go ahead and shut you down. Also, I think it's both right, it's getting in your face and then backing it up, and that like wild competitive character is part of what makes both of them who they are.
I think I thought you were gonna say Tyreek Hill. It works for both obviously, but Ramsey's a good pick too.
The reason I look at it is as Ramsey actually is is because Jimmy likes to do it on the defensive bend, Like he'd rather shut you down than get his, you know what I mean, Like he takes so much joy in that.
I think Jimmy.
I think on a given night, Jimmy Butler would way rather have ten points, eight assists, nine rebounds and then like six steals in four blocks then drop forty Like he'd way rather be a part of shutting another team down than even getting his and just getting his teammates involved.
Yeah, that's the ultimate selfless athlete, right.
And we actually heard Kevin Harlan on the TNT broadcast comparing him to ex and Jalen Ramsey after he had like six interceptions in the game, which was so cool to hear. Kevin Harlan is the man. I'm sure you loved hearing that as well.
Oh he's been He was sensatial on those calls.
Since that's the only word to describe him with. What about Bam Autobio.
So I mean Bam Bam is Tua.
Bam is Tua in a lot of ways, and that uh Bam loves to distribute to everybody else. Sam is a a singular named entity with a heart of gold, in the same way that Tua Taga bayla is right, nobody wants to say out of Bio and nobody wants
to say Taga bi looa. It's Bam and Tua. And also in the same way that I think they've both been excelling the entire time they've been in the league and yet subject to this like really really microscopic level of criticism that of of both their games and the way that they assert themselves as leaders that's unwarranted for both. So I think there's a really interesting parallel between the two. Well, obviously, you know, Bam is this sort of freak of nature
athlete in a way that maybe Tua is not. At his position, I think think it's the same same type of character of just like yeah.
No, I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna win, and I'm gonna do it with a smile. On my face.
That is really, really damn good, Jeremy. I'm just gonna give you all the props for that. That was an incredible comparison there, especially the single named Heart of Gold entity.
That's that's a no wonder.
You're on the Levatard show Man, the way he mastered the English language, You're you're following his footsteps there with that.
I don't do that. Don't do that. Let's let's keep going here. Now we're gonna move on to some more.
You know, I hate calling him role players because they're so integral to the heat success. But I mean, let's move on to you know, once you get past those guys and Tyler Herro, you talk about a Max Struce for instance, Who's who's the Max Struce here on the Miami Dolphins.
Oh man, that's interesting. I'll say Max Druce is Christian Wilkins in that. It's funny. The difference between Max and Christian is that Christian wears his personality out on his sleeve a little more and Max like wants to be reserved. But it's clear like he's got that same level of kind of jokey personality with him that's deep in there, and it's also like you there, you notice them a bunch of times during the game, but it's the stuff that they do that goes unnoticed that really helps their
teams win. Obviously, that's the position for Christian Wilkins, Like, no matter what, playing interior defensive line is going to go almost underappreciated. But with Max, Like, what makes Max amazing is the way he runs around constantly all game
on offense even when he's not involved. The way that that he sets up his teammates by setting screens to get other guys open while they're off ball still, and it's like we notice him when he scores thirteen points in a third quarter, and it's like, oh yeah, he can also you know, offensively be one of the hottest guys in the game. But really it's all the other stuff that he does too, So I think those those might be a decent mix.
He's probably my favorite player to celebrate just because the strus is loose is the best saying.
I think we have done here so good? What about I'm.
Curious this one because I feel like this guy it maybe's more this year than in the past.
Maybe you can correct me if I'm wrong.
There has just exuded a level of confidence I think has really helped his game go to the next level. I'm talking, of course about Gabe Vincent, who is his analog with the Miami Dolphins.
Man is who Here's maybe a fun one. How about Braxton Barrios. First of all, both of them with a killer smile, right, like when those guys are smiling on the field, you're really great about it, or smiling on the court.
But you know this this scrappy little guy.
Who ultimately is like overachieving at the professional level.
I mean Gabe Vincent.
What's amazing about Gabe is Gabe was a top line scorer in college at a small school, right, I mean he went to UC Santa Barbara. Not not like a small school in terms of general population, but a small school in terms of basketball program. He goes there, he goes undrafted despite the fact that he's you know, this really good score or because nobody can figure out what is he a shooting guard?
Is he a point guard? He comes into the.
League in the G League as a shooting guard. The heat turned him into a point guard. Then he's not only a point guard, he's now a point guard. That usurps Kyle Lowry in the starting lineup, and then as soon as Tyler Hero gets hurt, it's, oh, hey, go do your best Tyler Hero impression. And then he did, and then he did. It's the craziest thing. And and and that's the part with Braxton that's kind of cool too,
is like Brax was a great college player. Like I was an associate producer at WSBN during that run where the Canes started ten and zero that season and went to the Orange Bowl, and he was a blast to watch. And he was one of those guys where I was like, all right, he'll be able to do something.
And now you know, he's still hanging around in the pros.
He's still a part of the team, and he's he's now back here in Miami.
So man, that's the comparison. It's a great one.
I mean, honestly, you talk about the different roles you can fulfill Brax, and Barrows is certainly a four down player in terms of special teams prowess. You know, to give him a jet sweep if you want to. He can do pretty much anything on a football field. So you're helping me with the comparison than I. I mean, you knocked it out of the park you and go. I love how you took a little bit more of like the smile. For instance, you mentioned like Goldie was a little bit more like on the ice in terms
and in the football field. But I like how you expanded it there a little bit and uh and gave us a little bit behind the scenes there as well. And something else I talked to Goldie about with the Panthers, and it applies to the heat very well. The exact same way is how you know they go from being, like you mentioned, a one seed a year ago and.
Higher expectations in the postseason.
I'm sorry, it's the same path. It's really exact heart each other. It's crazy, it really is.
And like you know, I was so heartbroken by that Game seven loss last year because I just the same thing we saw we're seeing right now with you know, the lack of respect that they seem to be getting in the national media. Uh even up three to zero in the Eastern Conference Finals. I felt they had that the entire year last year, and it annoyed me that they weren't getting picked to go to the finals by anybody.
And they took the Celtics to you know, one Jimmy Butler three point shot away from knocking them out last season. But I'm curious to hear your take on this because, and you know, Mike McDaniel had mentioned it through the course of last season, all those tough games they had in December, and it didn't go the way they hoped it would in the majority of those games, but they earned that valuable experience. They earned more valuable experience in
that loss up in Buffalo in the postseason. And for the Panthers, you know, Goldie said that that Lightning series last year. He thinks that that series is what propelled this playoff run. I'm curious if you see something similar with the Heat this year after going through that struggle, you know, last season in the playoffs and then this year having such an inconsistent regular season. That has to have an impact on the way they're playing right.
Now, certainly, And I think all of it has had a bit of a like wear and tear on these guys just emotionally, right Like, when you think about the Heat in particular in this core, right like, you look back to twenty twenty and the roster is like almost entirely different. It's just Jimmy Bam and Duncan. That's it, Like that's everybody who's left. And Gabe was there, but
he didn't play in that twenty twenty run. But when you look at that core and some of the guys who they've subsequent subsequently built around it, including Max Struce and Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent and now Kyle Lowry and all these guys, you know, the last four years have been this emotional rollercoaster, and it's totally understandable to think that coming off of such a heartbreaking loss, you know, on your home court, inch literally inches away from advancing
to the NBA Finals as a one seed after nobody thought you could do it, after having been a couple of years before and getting swept out of the playoffs in the year in between, Like, there's bound to be
an emotional letdown. And I think this season the heat came in the same group of guys, the same locker room, a smaller locker room than in football, So you know, personalities can kind of wear and tear on each other a little bit when it's the same message and the same thing over and over again, and ultimately, you know
they needed their backs up against the wall. And so when they got to the trade deadline and there weren't any really major moves, but in the buy out market they're able to get Kevin Love, who has been I mean, from a ViBe's perspective as well as his as well as his obviously play on the court, but from a
ViBe's perspective, a godsend to the locker room. I mean, he's such a bridge between these young guys who were looking at him for guidance and the veterans and Jimmy and Kyle who respect the hell out of him, and he's just a fun personality, and so he's made a huge difference, honestly, and in the way everybody gets along along with Cody Zeller, another veteran, and you get a couple of new personalities in there, and then you realize, oh crap, if we don't start getting it together, we
might not actually even make the playoffs, And all of a.
Sudden, the competitive juices get going again.
And really, if you look at the last six weeks of the season, there are the occasional outlier games, almost like what I imagine Game four against Boston may look like ultimately, But there are the occasional outlier games where the heat turned the ball over a lot, didn't get back on defense, struggled from three, gave up a lot
of threes, and got blown out of the building. But during the last six weeks, their three point shooting and their defense improved significantly from every single world player on the team, and it's what allowed them to get into the position to be in the play and to begin with, and they were close to getting to that sixth seed. Ultimately they have that aberration of a game where they dropped the first play in but backs up against the
wall end of the fourth quarter. They turn it on and from there, it's been this really fun ride where all of these guys who are you know, we talk about it all the time. They come from being undrafted. A lot of them are Vets now, but they carry that chip on their shoulder collectively as a unit, and to watch all of them come together and compete this way, it feels like watching a really fun like March Madness run.
Like it feels like there's just like a bunch of seniors who have been together for four years and just you know, really understand how each other's games work better than these other teams that are led by freshmen, and you know, they might not be the most talented team in the league, but they're able to figure it out with a genius head coach, a little bit of his own defense, and you know, some timely three point shooting.
That's exactly why I don't understand this I guess apprehension, apprehension around the heat as a potential finals team and all the ratings talk, because what you just said about the NCAA team, like they are loyal and merimount, like they are that team that everyone should be rallying around, because of the way they play, because of the way they hustle back in transition, the way Kyle Lowry even in Game four, like they talked about in the broadcast, he went down there and got like a foul before
an easy bucket and they missed a free throw, like it saves you a point. These little things they do that just generate, you know, the ultimate I guess path to victory. It's what makes me love this team so much and why it was so easy for me, a diehard Sonics fan back in the Northwest growing up when they moved away to pivot towards a team coach by Eric Spolstrow because one, I love the Dolphins, so it made sense. I love Dwayne Wade, so it made sense to be a Miami guy. But then the way they
play was what really brought me in. So I just don't understand why it's difficult for outsiders to get on this bandwagon, because it's so much fun to watch, and it's it's kind of unique in a league where you know, it's the isolation and spacing is kind of more of the key. This team does it in multiple ways, and again, I think the parallels are there to the Dolphins in terms of how they do things and the guys they
bring in. And I want to go ahead and bring it back to that, Jeremy to end the podcast here because you mentioned it earlier. You know, Mike McDaniel comes out to I saw a tweet today someone posted like Mike McDaniel spotted at a Junior National Soccer U eighteen game, Like they're making fun of the fact that he's at all these sporting events, which is so cool to see him supporting you know, the local teams down here and
that arena is packed with celebrities every single night. But Mike McDaniel finds a way to kind of be one of the one, you know, foremost among them. I'm curious, you know, as someone that worked so long to have the team there and you get books given to you by Eric Spolstra, how those guys view the Dolphins inclusion into their their support, their community. And you know, Eric Boelscher comes out here for practices sometimes. I think he
brought Chris Quinn last year at one point. I just want to kind of hear your perspective on the Dolphins and Heat relationship.
Well, I think they love it, and I think that the cool part for the Heat is that because they've so established what they're about, what their culture is, their winners, all these things, there gets to be this sort of welcoming hand to any other organization in the market, whether that team is in the process of rebuilding or struggling, or whether they're a team right now, like you know the Panthers were this season, and the Dolphins are primed
for a lot of success hopefully in the postseason, you know. And I think that what's really great is to have a guy like Mike McDaniel around, because Spoe loves an inquisitive coach. Su right, Like you ask Spoe question about coaching,
He'll go on for hours. And so having someone like Mike McDaniel around, who already is such a unique thinker in the way that he approaches his sport, I'm sure Spoe is also asking him questions because look, Eric Sposter was already a head coach in the NBA and then learned zone and defense from Jim Larenega because he was he knew that Jim Larenega knew a lot about Jim Beheim's own defense at Syracuse and said, all right, teach me what you know, because ween he might need to
start incorporating this at moments in the NBA. And so being inquisitive about coaching and being inquisitive about leadership is the type of stuff that I know Eric's Sposter loves, and Mike McDaniel seems to be the type of guy who wants to learn those things too, right.
He has his own.
Obvious, you know, quirks about the way that he wants to be as a leader. But I think a lot of it also has to do with the same exact approach that Spoe had, which is player empowerment to be themselves with a motivation to compete at the highest possible level. And so when you can master it the way that Eric Spolstra has, which is getting the most out of his players, I can understand why Mike McDaniel would be there looking dispoe to go, all right, how do I
get the most out of this team? And you've coached a star or two in your day, helped me learn how to manage all these egos, you know, because you've got to make sure everybody's ego gets fed.
That's part of your job as a head coach. It's not just strategy.
You know, you're you're a leader of a group of people, and you need to make sure that everybody feels valued the way that they're supposed to. And I don't think there's anybody in coaching better at it than Eric Spolstro. Like you'll ask him a question about the you know, the quote unquote undrafted players and this and that, and he'll praise all of them and then wrapped within it, he's also giving Jimmy and Bam love for distributing the ball.
So it's like he's also struck the egos of his stars within the answer about his unappreciated players, and if he talks about how great the stars are, He'll be sure to say and because of the types of screens
that Heywood high Smith was setting. You know, so there's this genius of even coaching when he's speaking to the media, and I think Mike McDaniel, I'm sure is trying to just soak up all of that and what it feels like to see Miami on I know Mario Cristobal was at the game the other night, sort of there for some of the same reasons. He brought his roster or
the University of Miami football team. They were all there just to sort of see what it looks like when Miami is really going, because I mean, that's got to be incredibly motivating for you know, anyone else who's playing sports down here.
My first heat game, I just laid to my wife and said, this is awesome. Like you got like, you know, DJ kallis spinning the records over there, Rick Ross is rapping. You've got Alex Rodriguez hanging out with Floyd Mayweather court signed like such an experience to go to a heat game in the basketball game hasn't hurt either. To bring it all home. You know, you talked about you know, coach McDaniel and Spolstra. I think a Mic and Spoe
podcast might do some numbers man something like that. They got to get together on something because that those two guys talking sports. Oh my goodness, that's just that's my My mind went there originally or initially I should say, and just kind of stuck there. But good stuff, man. Jeremy Tashe, uh, flashy t Is that a good one? That's I just came without my own and I don't know if that works.
I like that one, Like, yeah, Jackson's been calling me Tash money, which is just it's a lot, but I love it.
It's a lot.
Was the new one I heard from Goldie on the out. That's so good.
But anyway, he's Jeremy Tashe Levatard Show, Bally Sports, Mindy Miked Up podcast. You can find him on Twitter at Jeremy Tash. Jeremy, thank you so much for your time today, man. Hopefully we'll see you here soon and maybe covering a parade or two.
Oh god, don't don't even get me started. Thanks man, appreciate you having me.
This was a blast anytime. Thanks love buddy.
And so there you go, and that podcast was recorded when the heat were up three to zero, so stressful moments. They're thinking about getting to put this thing out because it wouldn't have aged very well, I think if they hadn't won that game.
So there you go. Let's go ahead and get out of here.
Drive Time Podcast subscribe, rate review, follow all that fun stuff fish Tank podcast YouTube channel. Check out the dot com. I'm gonna wrap it up right now because we've been going forever. Have a good day. We'll talk to you guys on Wednesday after OTAs