'Bron Didn't Talk For 2 Days' | Fiz On LBJ's EPiC GM6 vs Celtics in 2012 | Previews 2023 NBA Finals

And who better to talk about the NBA finals, he knows a lot about both teams, especially the Miami Heat. He's the assistant GM of the Utah Jazz, was an assistant coach in Miami with the Lakers, head coach of the New York Knicks. That, of course, is David Fizale. David, it's Frank Isola, Mitch Lawrence. How are you doing this morning? Hey, Frank. Hey, Mitch. How are you guys doing? Good. Really good. Good to hear from you again. Let's start here really quickly. You know a lot about coaching. You've done it for a long time. How do you enjoy a different role, the executive role, the job you're doing with the Utah Jazz? It's energizing, you know, to take on a new challenge and to try to be on the other side of the team building, you know, to sit in the office with Danny Ainge and Justin Zanuck every day and try to figure this thing out. And we have a lot of stuff to figure out. It's been really energizing and fun. And so, you know, looking forward to what we're going to end up building together. Yeah, you're around great people, that's for sure. And you were around great people for a long time in Miami, and you know how that power structure works there. And all year long, I'm thinking to myself, I get it. They've been hanging out in seventh place all year long, but they were a conference finalist the year before. They eventually become the eighth seed. Did you think that the Miami Heat were capable of a run like this, this year's team? Well, I just felt like they just could never really get healthy and get their whole squad on the floor. And they're still not healthy, which is amazing, even more amazing than what they're doing. You know, I just working with Spoe and working with those guys, you just kind of learn with them. You know, they never say die, like they never you got to cut the head off the body and like, watch it stop moving. Otherwise, they're going to keep coming at you. They're going to figure out different ways to poke at you and, and they're going to win in a variety of ways. And they don't care who's helping them win. They just want the job done. And that's why I love Spoke always calls his team a Navy SEALs team. Because it is true, you watch them in the bubble, they're the fifth seed, they get to the finals. Here they are now eighth seed or whatever, and they're in the finals. And it's just you can drop them anywhere. And they're going to find a way to claw their way out. And this is a credit to Pat and Mickey and, you know, the whole HEAT organization. So what's the game plan for dealing with Nicola Jokic? If you're the Miami Heat? That is the best question ever. Gosh, I mean, it's, it's, it's really hard with him. Like is I've watched him destroy teams from all spots on the floor, whether he's at the high post the top of the key in the post, bringing it up in transition, like there's so many different ways that Mike utilizes him and that the team understands what he's doing and how to play off of them that I just don't know how you take him out. Can you limit Jamal Murray? Can you limit Michael Porter Jr.? You know, all of these others that who are really talented and know their role and play it well. And Jamal's electric, but can you limit those guys? Because I just don't know how much you're going to be able to do to Joker to slow him down. We'll talk with, we'll talk with David Fizdale, Utah Jazz Assistant GM has been an assistant coach and a head coach in the NBA. You know, Eric Spelster always uses that expression. You know, we're not for everyone. And it does seem like, you know, Miami has a way of, you know, obviously you're going to win with stars. And when you were there, they had LeBron Dwayne Wade. I get all that, but like, why does that work? Is that because of Pat Riley and the owner and the head coach all being on the same page? Like what makes that work? The idea where you could just say, well, we're not for everybody, but we'll find the guys that do fit in with us. It is, it's, they are, it's beyond alignment now. You know, it's not just the alignment, it's the, the mission statement that everyone is following and aligned with, and just the way that they approach team building and the way that they respect, you know, what's going on in the building and how they get that to filter throughout the building. And it really does start with Mickey and Nick and the Harrison family. Like they, you know, they just, they set a tone for the kind of people they want around and they let them do their work. And once Mickey brought in Pat and Pat now has, it's still such a incredible culture of just toughness and competition and togetherness. You know, they really have a bigger than me attitude when it comes to each person in the building. And so obviously Spo is carrying that, he's evolving it. You know, he's, I marvel at him and he's my boy, like he is my brother. And, but I still marvel at just how good he has become and continues to get because he's never satisfied or stuck in his ways. It's just, it's a credit to all of them, but you know, it's just to put your ego to the side and everyone will get on board. It's not easy and it's not for everyone. Yeah. Spo's been, I mean, his record speaks for itself, so he'll get most of the attention in this series, but what are your impressions of the job that Michael Malone has done? I guess he's been in Denver since the Yoka Terra started. Well, you know, again, it says something to the organization that, you know, they had some moments in there where noise, it got noisy and, you know, people were saying, well, maybe they should let Mike Malone go and, you know, and they stuck with their coach and, you know, what they put together with the pieces that they have and what they've done in the draft and going out and getting particular guys to fit around those guys. I mean, they've done a heck of a job and Mike is just, I think he's really found an incredible balance of really coaching them up and coaching them hard and pushing them, but also letting every guy be themselves and play the game of basketball in a fun and, you know, read and react way. And they're really like, it's really fun to watch them play basketball because it's all five guys. And obviously when you're a star player is arguably the greatest passing big to ever touch a basketball. I mean, how fun is that? And they're so competitive. They're so solid. They do everything with timing. They're passing his own point. And when you talk about those kinds of things and the execution of those things, you've got to give credit to Mike Malone. He's just done a hell of a job. Yeah. It's going to be a terrific coaching matchup. You know, the Miami Heat go into Boston, they win that game seven. I thought they were more than capable of doing it. I know that it was a devastating loss in game six, but I thought they would show a lot of the mental toughness and that's a great win. But I think the win that you guys had, it's now we're coming up on the 11th year anniversary of it. When you guys had to go to Boston and LeBron's on that team, you guys had yet to win a championship with that group. And LeBron, it was 45 and 15. What was the mood like going into that game six? I remember folks, Miami had yet to win. They had lost the year before to Dallas. They're on the verge of elimination. They got to go into Boston. You got LeBron on that team. You're going up against Paul Pierce. What was the mood like? And what about that performance by LeBron? The mood was we must win this game. We're not leaving with a loss. But the tone was set by LeBron. We went about our daily business, understanding how to prepare. It wasn't changing anything from that standpoint. We had a great rhythm from that standpoint with Spoe and the guys. But LeBron just went into like this, like, I don't know, he just got locked in. And he didn't talk to a lot of people, if anybody. I didn't see him talking to anybody for like two days. All I saw him doing was reading books and getting treatment and doing the things necessary to prepare his body. And I just remember Juwan Howard and D-Wade was sitting in the lockers and I walked by him and I kind of looked at him and I'm like, is he good? And D-Wade just kind of looked at me like, oh yeah. It was like he knew. And it started right away. And credit to Dan Craig, the assistant coach with the Clippers now, who was at that time our video guy. He came up with our offensive game plan and the game plan was, I don't care what we run, at the end of that possession, the ball finds LeBron at the elbow or in the post. And that's what we did. We ran our stuff and shoot around to the end of the possession and it found LeBron and then he did whatever he was going to do. And we executed that and LeBron was just extraordinary. And he had a dunk that once he, it was like he had, I think it was a tip dunk. Once he had that dunk, Juwan Howard just kind of elbowed me. He was like, we're going back to Miami, baby. That was it. And that was it. So, but I still, even that, that was a great game. I think what, what they did this year, that run was, yeah, because I know what was at stake for us. You know, we never was just trying to coach for our jobs or like reputation. It was just like, we really just enjoyed coaching that team and trying to be together and fight to win. So it wasn't, it was the same kind of feeling that this team has. But for them to lose three straight and like, really got history barking down their neck and to go into Boston and win that game and to win it the way they did. And you know, unfortunately, obviously, Jason Tate, I'm rolling his ankle, was a huge impact on the game. I guarantee you ask anybody in the Heat organization, they understand that, but it is war and you know, you take advantage of whatever you can get. But for them to go in there and do that was like, wow. Like it just, they're just a bunch of like underdogs, man. And it's just impressive to see their resilience. And I think Spoh said something right after they lost game six, that stuck with me where he said, nothing about this year has been easy. So of course we have to go there and play game seven. And so that mindset that, all right, you know, no big deal. We've already dealt with enough stuff. Let's go do it. He had already programmed these guys to not panic and not to, to not cave in. And you saw it in their resilience in game seven. Yeah. So Frank brought up LeBron. So I have to ask you a few hints about, you know, maybe I retire. When you sit there, when you sit there, Dave, what's going to be the thing that LeBron's going to leave on? What, you know, we all think he's back. He wants to play with Bronny. He hasn't had a farewell tour, right? What do you think though, will finally drive him to, all right, onto my next thing I can own a team or whatever? You know, that's a tough, tough question. Only, only obviously he, he knows that, but just knowing him, it's going to be when he feels like the day-to-day is just too much to get up for. And just, you know, cause he's such a professional, like this guy, he's at the arena earlier than everyone he's putting in time on his body all day long. You know, at some point, I think, cause he's human, I hope that he can like his body at some point, I think is going to start telling them like, man, you know, and I saw him when I coached him, you know, a couple of years ago, it was, I could see that, you know, the day-to-day is not easy. But man, he knows he still can perform at such a high level. It's hard to not get back into the arena and go after it. You know, he was so energized down the stretch to go after it again. You know, he just, I think there's a, for him as a part of it, it's an addiction to the feeling of chasing the championship. And so I just think his body is going to have to tell his brain at some point. He's a physical freak and, and he keeps adding different things to his game that I don't know what else you can put in your game at this point, but he's going to figure out something. And he just, I don't know. I don't know. It's a long-winded answer, but I don't know. I just think at some point that the human body has to tell you, sit down. Hey, before we let you go, and we really appreciate the time, you're in a unique position. You've worked for Pat Riley. You're working for Danny Ainge. That's a whole heat. Celtics, that's the Laker, that's the Laker Celtics. How much does that, I mean, do you feel like sometimes you might be in the middle of that? How does that come up at all? No, never comes up, but you know, it's funny because I was the Knicks coach as well. That's right. I consider myself one of Pat's illegitimate children. So like, you know, and I left the nest and I ended up coaching the Knicks. So that was always something we joked around about. And now I'm here working with Danny and Pat's over there. And you could imagine like, I'm sitting in the middle of these legends and these guys who have battled over the course of like 25 years, like 30 years of just like, whether it's coaching, coach player, front office to front office, like these guys have been going at it and trying to get to the top. So it's fun for me and I'm lucky. I mean, you think about the experiences that I'm gaining from being around such brilliant basketball minds. I'm just a lucky guy to have these experiences and be able to absorb this stuff and hopefully take it on to wherever I end up going. Yeah. Well, you're in a great place right now. That's for sure. Associate general manager of the Utah Jazz. David, we appreciate it. Enjoy the finals and hopefully we'll catch up with you down the road. Okay. You too, guys.