Mully & Haugh Show
Joakim Noah surprises Billy Donovan by calling in
(upbeat music) We're gonna listen to dead music now for the rest of our lives. It's Molly and Haw. We are broadcasting live from the Blue Cross Blue Shield performance stage, so we got him in his ear. Our tourist car, the show, this is here. Schmaltz is deli is here serving food. And guys, a lot of fun to just have the start of a season. I mean, there's so much going on. I'm just curious, did you spend any time watching the Olympics? Do you like Olympic basketball? Did you like seeing the US team? Did you like having some guys that were involved in the Olympics? Do you think that's a good experience for players? - I mean, I'm always nostalgic about Olympics. I love Olympics. That's my favorite event. And obviously, you know, go back to '92, '96. I had an opportunity to play for Lithuania national team, but I mean, this Olympics, I've watched every sport. It was available. It was great, televised, streamed, each sport. And it was just love the opening of the ceremony, obviously again, going back to, you know, when they used to just walk around the stadium and opening ceremonies. It's just a special event that unites all world, just for sports event. - At one point, did you scout for Team USA for Mysyshevsky? - I did for the World Cup 2014, not Olympics, but yeah, for a couple of years, I worked with the USA basketball, kind of while I was in Denver, to help them out a little bit with scouting, yeah. Yes, I did. - That was kind of fun to see the US win that thing. It was worrisome though, because it was closer than I thought it would be, and especially France could be a dangerous team moving forward, what the heck was that? - Well, the evolution, you know, as the basketball and how every, you know, the world caught up to US and, you know, seeing 37, I think NBA players play in Olympics. It was really good competition and close games. And it was great to watch. - Let's talk about the Eastern Conference. Parity is everywhere in the Eastern Conference. And as much as we can talk about what you guys do well and what you need to work on, how much of that parity gives you hope this season, because you can be a team that, you know, you stick around depending on what your goals are, but there's a lot more parity, it seems like, than ever. - That gives you a chance, right? But for us, it's like, you know, you gotta start, you know, from training camp, trying to figure it out, you know, with this new group, guys coming back from injuries, new faces, and how that all is gonna work, because a lot of players that, you know, gonna have certain responsibilities and roles, they've never had them before. So it's gonna be good to see in training camp, and we're gonna have to take, you know, one game at a time in terms of expectations and see where we at. - Billy, you like the Eastern Conference? Do you worry that this particular group of teams, you know, I mean, Boston seems to sit alone atop those standings and obviously win the title, but it's a, the conference itself, the division doesn't look overwhelming. - Yeah, I mean, the way I always look at it, right, the schedule comes out, you're playing 82 games, right? And the schedule is what it is, and to me, you know, the one thing you know is that, like, every night is a challenge. Does it make a difference who you're playing against, if you don't come ready, these guys are professional athletes as well. So I think our focus is, our tourist mentions, gotta be on ourselves. What are the things that we have to do? And certainly, you know, you know, Philadelphia getting Paul George, and you know about Milwaukee, you know, with another year of that group under their belt, you know, you talked about Boston. And then I think there's probably a lot of teams trying to find, you know, like we are an identity and how they're gonna play and how guys are gonna gel and mesh together. And, you know, for us, I think we just need to worry about us and what we've gotta do and how we need to play and the things we've gotta commit to on a daily basis. - Organizationally, how will you handle the rhetoric surrounding the team? Because if you are as good as you wanna be, then maybe you jeopardize that protected top 10, or that pick with that you have. And there's, you know, how pro sports works. You know how it works in a sports city like Chicago. So what is the approach and how will you answer those questions? - Well, the approach, again, going into training camp and then depends how the things work out in training camp. Now we're gonna approach every game, you know, and we're gonna try to win, to win every game. And because, you know, going back to, you know, development is like what goes into winning. And that's the only way you can teach those guys, you know, how to win games is, you know, going through that. And with a lot of things to be determined, I think training camp will show a lot of things. Alright, we got a special guest, believe it or not. Now joining us on the A Turo Tire Hotline, A Turo Your Home Town Tire, A Turo.com, is none other than Jo Kim Noah, famous Bulls player near MVP with the Bulls, but certainly a championship winner with Billy and Florida. Jo Kim, welcome to the show. - What's going on guys, what's going on? - Wow, thanks for joining us. Wow, what are you up to these days? - Well, I just wanted to give some love to my old ball coach and I had a few questions from him. I'm calling from the deep jungles of Africa, you know, hunting lions out here and just taking the time to call into the radio show and see if coach was gonna have the five men at the top of a press and just play some real winning gun. Billy the kid styled that good ball. - Well, unfortunately we don't have so with his athleticism. Used to put him on the ball at Florida in front of the press and he was a nightmare, but he is one of my favorite guys I've ever coached and just an incredible teammate. Great, great human being and you know, it's been great to be in Chicago where he certainly did so much and then he comes back through with his foundation and stuff. So you never know where he's at, it could be Hawaii, it could be Africa, you never know. You never know where he could be at. - Where are you Jo Kim Noah? - I have a quick question, so when you get a defense to when the big man gets a defensive rebound, are you gonna let him bring the ball up the corner or tell me a little bit? - Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting with him and Horford when I had both those two guys, it was a little bit unique. I let those guys rebound and bring it on the break, which is always a little bit different because, you know, in college, they would always send the guards back for floor balance. So these guys were always coming down the floor racing it, but Jo Kim, I don't know if we've got anybody like that on our team, we'll probably be out letting to the point guards this year. - Okay, okay, that's a good thing. That's a good thing. Just wanted to let you know, I was just hanging out with your boy, num nuts, AKA, Torian Green. - Good. - And keeping him in line, I hope. - He was still really, he was still really mad about that, the fact that you didn't let him come back to the ball at the point guard. - We need, listen, with you and Al, the way you guys handled the ball, we needed to get him up the floor. He had to get fails to realize that on that floor team, no one knows this, he took more shots than you, Brewer, and Al. Can you believe that? He took more shots than all three of you guys. You guys roll lottery picks, and we got this guys taking all the shots. (laughs) - I hope he hears this, I hope he hears this. - Yes. - So what, Coach, what are you most excited about with this year? - You know, just to start of the season, for one, I think, too, how we can try to play, you know, with our current personnel. I think we've got some back court players that can really help us force tempo and force pace. I think we can play a lot faster. I'm looking forward to that. I think we've got a really good group of guys that will work. We had most of our guys joke him in Miami because during the Democratic Convention, our place was shut down. Mostly all the guys were in Miami for a week, and then we've had a lot of guys come back right after Labor Day to work out. So I think it's a good working group. I think that they know there's gonna be some challenges and some sacrifices that we've gotta make, but as a whole, in terms of the people that we haven't felt really good about them. - Any more questions, okay? - No, I'm just really looking forward to coming and see you guys during the year. You know, I always cherish the time, spending some time with Coach Donovan and talking after the games and talking basketball and talking strategy. You know, that's always one of my favorite things to do in the year. So I know the expectations are not high, but I know that you're gonna come in right now and just make us proud, Coach. I appreciate you. You know, I love you. - I love you too, man. - Great stuff, Joe, Kim. Thank you, buddy. Thank you for a great career with the Bulls, too, man. I'm never forget that year. - Oh, yeah. Great role team ambassador. Billy, though, when you look back to that Florida team, which would've been higher, if that NAIL existed, which it would've been higher, the payroll for that team are the first NBA team you coached. - Well, people don't realize this. So when those guys won the national championship, they were all lottery picks. And Joe Kim, after a sophomore year, was projected as the first player taken in the draft. And everybody says to me, like, what did you do from a sales standpoint to get all these guys to come back? Like, how'd you get him to come back? And the reality was, the only guy in that class that could not go prone was not gonna get drafted was Tori and Green. And Joe Kim and Corey Brewer and Al Horford, they all made a pact that they were not gonna leave him out to dry in his career. So when people ask me, what are those teams win? That's what goes into winning. That, like, you talk about sacrificing, and I'm not saying that everybody needs to do that in order to win, but it speaks to their character in terms of, if we leave, this guy's gonna be left with a team that's not gonna be very good in what's gonna happen in his career. You know, they used to give him a hard time all the time when he wasn't working hard. Like, you got one more year, and that's it, we're out of here. You know, but then they came back and did it again. But that was the reason why they came back. And you think about Joe Kim, the character of bypassing being the number one pick and going back for your teammate. Worked out well in the draft for him and the Bulls. No, it was a perfect situation for him here, and he was great. And I knew he'd be great wherever he went, but just the integrity and the character of competition and winning and being a teammate is incredible. Did you help him pick out that suit he wore on draft night? (laughing) I couldn't even tell you half the outfits he had while he was on campus, you know? - Hey, gentlemen, thank you so much. Really appreciate it, really okay. Really appreciate your time. Thanks everybody. We appreciate our chance to get down here into the Blue Cross Blue Shield performance stage, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois through it all. And of course, special thanks to the fine folks at Smoltz Delhi for providing breakfast for us and our listeners this morning. Check out Smoltz Delhi in Lyle, spreading deli goodness everywhere. Mullian Hall on Chicago Sports Radio 67 score.