Well, we all knew the day was going to come,
so it's not a surprise. It'll be a,
you know, a festive occasion when.
We all get to thank him after the game, but.
He he certainly deserves it.
You know, just like mono and Timmy did so.
We'll we'll do it and bid
him bon Voyage and you'll
live the rest of his life.
He's got a lot ahead of him.
It'll be a whole lot more
fun than basketball.
All the things he's.
No, he never came to practice
most of the time anyway.
He was always doing that stuff
while he was a player, you know,
he he was involved in all kinds of things.
So it's not a surprise at all.
He does a good job.
He's a good businessman,
he enjoys travel, he enjoys people.
He likes, you know,
getting involved in different situations,
whether it's, you know,
personal business or charities.
He's very active.
So this is right up his alley.
He's going to have a lot
of years to participate.
And this sort of thing.
Director. That's. Now.
Both.
Oh, sure, sure. I mean,
they were all important to each other.
They respected each other,
they felt responsible to each other,
they pushed each other,
they enjoyed their time together.
So to have all three of those jerseys
out there together is very special.
Right.
Well, it's it's always fantastic
to see one of these guys move
on to bigger and better things.
So you know, Taylor spent most of his time,
then it was the D league,
so he got his feet wet coaching and was
able to do a lot of things down there and.
Figure out what he believed in
and what he thought would happen,
and he spent a lot of time up here with us.
Whenever he can get out,
get out of Austin.
And so he's had a lot of experience.
Before he took this job and to see him.
Be in this position is very heartening
and he's going to do a great job.
You can already see that they've bought in.
You know they work hard every night,
their energy playing unselfishly,
understanding that it's night
after night after night.
You can't just come and play every
three or four games, so he's got to.
He's in a good position and he'll
do a fantastic job, I think.
You say in turning back
in 2000? Made you want.
Well, he, he obviously had
some physical skills, you know,
he was very fast, more fast than quick.
No. Very fast and.
He had a great confidence in his abilities.
And when we decided or.
Came to the conclusion that.
He was physically tough enough,
you know, we gave him the ball early,
I think after five games to see
how he would handle it mentally.
And he did a fine job.
He he never blinked. He wasn't.
Intimidated by anyone,
he handled criticism.
He learned from mistakes,
so he was, he was a special
guy from a very young age.
Could go on to be a legend
here in San Antonio.
Ohh. I don't know.
There's no point for that.
I don't know when that.
It's not like the light
comes on all of a sudden,
you know, everybody's career
progresses at a certain pace.
I read that you said that.
Construction.
Right. What happened?
Absolutely. You know, he was a scoring guard.
He wasn't a distributor or anything like
that. He wasn't really a point guard.
At that time, so you know on that
spectrum so to speak or that scale.
I thought if we could bring him halfway.
Into the middle and he became more
of a distributor one would not expect
him to distribute like John Stockton.
You know, that's a special player in
his own right, but if he could do that,
I thought he would be very effective and.
You know, help us win.
So he. Learned how to do it.
Found his teammates but kept
his scoring abilities.
You know when he would drive,
he was a great finisher at the rim and
overtime he learned how to shoot the
the three pointer from the corner.
Gain more confidence in his shot.
You know,
working with Chip England and Chad Forcier.
So he he did do what I asked him.
To do or whatever challenge they
gave him in the very beginning.
Can you speak to his willingness to?
He started his career.
Sure, you know he you know
players that have class,
that have character that understand.
About the group more than about
themselves do that in their careers.
You know he he knew that
his speed would fade,
that he needed to shoot,
and he learned how to do
that much better and then.
He understood that younger players
were probably going to get time
and his time would diminish and he
was very willing to be a mentor
and help them along the way.
So from beginning to end he
was he was just a class act.
How big of a deal?
Well, let's just imagine that they
had egos such that they couldn't
deal with each other, you know,
then you don't have championships.
You have pretty good seasons,
probably less fun. And.
That wasn't the case.
You know, we were unbelievably fortunate.
It was like serendipity to have three guys.
That you could coach.
And hold them accountable just like
you would anybody else on the team.
No special treatment.
Or anything like that.
Holding each other to that standard.
Oh, sure, you know, you know.
If you've got character, you,
you have your own standards.
You don't. You don't need somebody
else to constantly push you and
lead you in a certain direction.
You you know what's right
and you know what wins and.
That mutual respect they had for each
other was pretty obvious all the time.
Right.
I I can't
say that I knew it would be this many.
But, you know, we knew early on after
learning that from Don Nelson that
there were great players everywhere.
And I knew that when I was in the military
and played some military basketball overseas.
And I saw players that were really good.
So I personally knew it.
And you know. Observe.
And Don Nelson, you know,
made it even more obvious.
And so we felt that mining
foreign countries for players was.
Something that could be very valuable.
And you know,
obviously other teams have picked up
on it and now it's to the point where
it truly is an international game,
which is great.
You know, I though those guys, you know,
those three have been with them so long.
They're like personal relationships or.
Are so wonderful. And they're,
you know you you miss when you're
not around them, but you know,
you still keep in touch with everybody.
You know Tony's my connection
to Chateau de Kim,
so I have to stay friends with him.
Even if he angers me.
I have to stay friends.
I have to smile.
Which one?
Ohh, Tony without, without.
It's not even close, you know.
Yeah, Tony all the way.
Sure. You know, he'll,
he'll have a glass with, you know,
with his meals and that sort of
thing when we're on the road and it,
you know, through osmosis,
some other guys realize that a
good glass of wine enhances a meal.
So he had an effect on everybody.
Getting there first.
Really. I didn't know that.
Or might might have known it and forgot it.
It was a long time ago. I didn't.
That's not why I did it, for sure.
What? That might have been that.
Well, I, you know, I think it's the same
reason why they weren't a whole lot of
international players at that time,
you know, there were prejudices, you know.
The guys overseas won't play
defense or they won't matriculate.
They won't like it here socially.
They won't get along.
They don't speak the language. You know,
all sorts of excuses to not do your work,
I think is what it was all about.
But it was just a prejudice,
kind of a, you know,
kind of a hubris on the part
of the Americans and so.
Like anything else,
if they see some people being successful
then people will look at it and you know,
I think didn't dirt come shortly after that?
And everybody else.
And actually there was a period there
where the pendulum swung the other way
and a lot of people failed because
everybody jumped in and thought that
everybody was going to make it.
And there were a lot of foreign draft picks,
even high draft picks that did not make it.
So the pendulum had to come back to
the center a little bit and everybody
did a little bit better evaluation.
And now with, you know,
so many coaches and relationships
overseas and clinics, it just exploded.
Special days like this for you
personally, the guy that you saw
come in in 2001 and. His number?
Well, I think I'm, you know.
It's not the most one of
the most fortunate coaches.
That's never been able to do
this because of those three guys.
It's just remarkable to be able to be
with them for that period of time and
watch them develop as people, as players.
To see them interact with so many
other people and travel with them.
Whatever. 8-9 months a year, so.
To have that opportunity is priceless.
It's rare. I don't think a lot of people
are going to be able to to say that they
were with three Hall of Fame players.
For that long period of time.
So talk about serendipity,
good fortune, luck,
whatever you want to call it.
I certainly.
Feel honored and fortunate
to have been there.
I don't. I don't play those games.
Welcome.
Do I? Do I have to kiss
up to him all night long?
Haven't I said enough?
How much more do I got to
say about the guy? Jesus,
get a life, will you?
You know. Let's talk about Bryn Forbes.
Come on. Tony's got enough.
We're gonna love him up.
There's going to be sickening,
you know? Everybody's going
to be screaming and yelling.
Tony, Tony, you know?
Ohh there you go ohh.
What annoyed me?
This is what annoyed me,
I think. So, you know,
I'm trying to do this John Stockton
thing and get him to come halfway.
And so I'd say Tony, there's guys,
you know, you gotta find guys,
you gotta find something.
He's open, you know, you look around,
I know you got to see him.
So if I did that in a game.
He would basically never shoot again.
And he would just try to find people.
I'd say, Tony,
what are you gonna pop?
You told me to
pass said. Well, I didn't tell you
to just exclusively to pass,
you know, that kind of thing.
So we'd go through that once in a while.
Yeah, he take me very little literally.
Sure. You know, NBA clubs and I think NFL,
Major League Baseball, I mean all our.
Our sports here in America,
if somebody has exhibited.
A long career of excellence.
On the field, on the court.
And at the same time done it with class.
And been a good community person,
good teammate, all those things
rolled into one and the team has been
successful because of their presence.
A jersey retirement?
Will naturally follow.
So it doesn't happen very often, but.
When it does happen,
you know that that individual is very
special and that's certainly Tony.
OK. Have a good night.
There's a there's a game
tonight if you guys are staying
for the game.