Hour 1: "I Got Bieber Guarding Me"
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You're listening to DraftKings Network. Now's a good time to remember where the story of tequila started. In 1795, the first tequila distillery was opened by the Cuervo family. And 229 years later, Cuervo is still going strong. Family owned from the start. Same family, same land. Now's a good time to enjoy Cuervo.

The tequila that invented tequila. Go to Cuervo.com to shop tequila or visit a store near you. Cuervo. Now's a good time. Trademarks owned by Bekle. SAB the CV. Copyright 2024. Proximo. Jersey City, New Jersey. Please drink responsibly. This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stugatz Podcast. You know what that is? That's like Hannibal Lecter or something. Shoot. All right, let me try it again. That's Hannibal Lecter louder. It's supposed to be a sprinkler. Oh.

I hear it now. I hear it. I miss sprinklers. What happened to sprinklers? What do you mean what happened to them? I feel like you used to drive down the street and see sprinklers on all over the place, right? And then we had like water crises and then you couldn't like have your sprinklers on at certain times. And I think people just went away from having sprinklers. I still see sprinklers. Really? Yeah. I don't. You don't see them anymore?

Huh. I see them every morning. I don't understand what it is that you are doing. Where do you see them? You live in an apartment. Everywhere, just wetting their apartments. No, Miami Beach, all over Miami Beach in the morning. They water the grass out there. Why were you doing a sprinkler sound? Hard Knocks is back. Oh, wow. Oh.

- Oh yeah. - Long one week break for hard knocks. - Again, why are you doing a sprinkler sound? - Because back in my day, Dan, they used to always open hard knocks with a nice like black and then it would fade to color sprinkler going off in a field on a practice field. They go .

and that was how they would open Hard Knocks, it felt like, every year. But now they do it differently, and what they did with the Bears' first episode of Hard Knocks last night was outstanding Hard Knocks. Big

Because? It's our team. Or one of them. Not really, but that's okay. I'll pretend it is. We're going to keep that bit going because the Bears might actually be good this year. Well, no, but it is your team because this year they're doing a whole division, right? Well, yeah. There's an AFC North hard knocks, too. We're getting hard knocks...

out right now and so far so good so they open hard knocks and they did like a nice montage first it was like Caleb Williams getting drafted first overall in draft night so it opened with the phone call of him and Matt Eberflus at the NFL draft and then they did this whole like montage of like Bears going down

the Chicago River have you guys ever been to Chicago and done like the architectural River tour oh it's like the greatest thing you have to do it at some point in your life you go down the river and then they're like to your left is this building to your right is this but this is the Chicago Opera House this is the Madison Street Bridge and you go out and so they did that with the Bears and like all the old Bears were on the buildings and stuff and then they went into like an Alan Parsons project intro for Caleb Williams with the old Chicago Bears do do do

And the whole thing with Caleb Williams. Then he came out and it was amazing. It was so good. Hard Knocks is great for wrapping all of the packaging that you love in. I mean, NFL Films is so pioneering in making all of this stuff into acrobatics and ballet and art.

But Hard Knocks, the Giants was focused mostly on the executives, right? I did see that Eberflus got a makeover, right? He's coming into this season as an entirely different human being. Well, you're skipping ahead to the goods now, Dan. So, yes, Giants offseason Hard Knocks was just about like from the end of the season through the draft and free agency and everything until the training camp starts, basically. So it was like a lot of Joe Shane on a computer. That was basically four weeks of that. We saw it.

Actually wasn't bad. I would say if you're a Giants fan or just vaguely interested in football and you want something to watch during the summer, not a bad show. I was pleasantly surprised by it. Yes, Billy. Well, so I have a question because I'm confused and I feel like other people might be confused too. So there was the offseason Hard Knocks, which was the Giants. Then this is like the regular what we normally get. This is Hard Knocks. This is the Bears. And then there's in-season Hard Knocks. And then that's going to be the AFC North. Yes. Okay, great.

Okay. No, my confusion was is that I thought that we were now going on to like the AFC North. You thought this was AFC North. No, no. AFC North is in season. That'll come. Got it. So this is just the Bears. And so I think the biggest...

from the first episode of the Bears Hard Knocks is that all you need to do as a person who is maybe slightly on a warmer seat is to get an all new makeover and pretend like nothing that happened in the past actually happened. You're starting over. You've got a beard now. I've heard that Eberflus bought a Dyson hairdryer to get

volume in his hair. He's got longer hair now and they talked about his whole makeover and how he's like dressing differently and like kind of just he's just a different guy now. He's like really got this new look and it works like it works. The guy looks great. Kind of like Dan. Got the new makeover, got the hair going, got the beard. Kind of like me. Started wearing over shirts too. Good look for you. You started dressing like Jeremy. Wow.

The Bears were truly terrible last year, and now they have wrapped up a whole lot of hope in we're going to be exciting offensively.

And I don't know where it is that you guys are with Hard Knocks because I don't need more Hard Knocks. The novelty of it is lost for me. The access, even though it's more access than the average access, I didn't want to watch a bunch of Giants executives executiving. Okay, okay. Question for the room. Pop quiz. Two goats in this first episode of Hard Knocks.

If you can name one of the two goats, I'll give you like $5 or something. Wow. Well, what do you mean? Two goats. Two goats. Two of the greatest of all time were in this episode of Hard Knocks. Simone Biles. Michael Jordan. Bingo. Was she really? Yes, because her husband is a safety for the Bears. And he was packing his bags for the Paris Olympics and they let him have a few days off of camp. $5. I'll get it from the fine bucket right now. Huh.

That was a hint on who the second goat is, by the way. That was kind of amazing, though, the idea that the Bears did let him leave camp to go do that. That is not a normal thing that football people do, even if your wife is Simone Biles, right?

It works when you're like a third or fourth string DB. Right, I mean, it's camp. It works when you can get Simone Viles. Caleb Williams is probably not taking time off the camp. You can't do it. It works when you can get her on the show. Caleb Williams needs the reps. This guy doesn't. You know who says that in the episode? The other goat. You know who the other goat is? Feinbaum? You're very close. Who? Nick Saban.

Wow! What is he doing there? He is Eberflus' former coach at Toledo. Eberflus does look more like a coach. I would not rule out Nick Saban coaching again in the NFL. Everyone's talking about Belichick, and maybe he goes to Philadelphia, maybe he goes here, maybe he goes there. I'm telling you, the one thing Nick Saban hasn't done throughout his coaching career is had success at the professional level. And I would not be surprised if...

If the right situation popped up, a good roster, a Super Bowl-ready roster pops up, if Nick Saban takes that job. Lewis, do me a favor, please. What can our video crew do to isolate the Stugatz hot take hand? Because you would have gotten full sausage fingers thrown in your face there because Stugatz, if you did not notice what just happened,

We were talking about hard knocks. We were talking about Jessica's team. We were talking about things that Jessica was interested in. And you opened up the portal to him giving an opinion on Nick Saban, and he snuck in there with just unbelievable vigor. It was like seeing... Make sure I say it first. It was like seeing...

Going back to our honeymoon, the original Stugatz 20 years ago, eyes light up. I can give an opinion on a college coach never having done it in the pros. In a negligee. Can I give you some insight into why this happened? It's because I will not indulge this on God Bless Football because he's tried this a number of times. You're right. Stugatz.

He was disastrous in the NFL the last time that he was there. He's now retired and people are considering him the greatest coach of all time. If not one of, if not the greatest coach of all time. If he goes to the NFL, all he's going to do is mess that up. There's no way that he can build on his resume by going to the NFL. It makes no sense.

Because he can just jump from one team to another. He can do this thing. He can be savior Nick Saban, come in and talk to people, and he will retire. Well, he's retired already, but he will live the rest of his life as one of the greatest coaches of all time. Why would he mess that up? You think Nick Saban is happy that he's one of the greatest coaches of all time? And you know why he's called one of the greatest coaches of all time and not the greatest coach of all time? It's because of Bill Belichick.

And if Saban goes and he goes to the NFL and he has success, he wins a Super Bowl with a team that's ready right now. He becomes, without any sort of discussion, the greatest head coach in the history of football. With one Super Bowl, one, Billy, why not take the chance? Because even if he goes there and fails, right, no one's going to walk away and say, oh, Nick Saban, not a great coach. They're never going to say that about him. He's always going to be one of the greatest coaches of all time.

This is a chance to be the greatest coach of all time. So what team is that? Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia. Chicago's Super Bowl ready. Buffalo. They're a Nick Saban away from winning the Super Bowl. I will tell you this. The Bears' Caleb Williams, he has more pressure on him than any rookie quarterback in the history of the NFL. I'm telling you that right now. That team was built to win this season or next season. Caleb Williams, if he's good, I said this on God Bless Football last week, and I'll say it again right here.

If Caleb Williams is good, the Bears are making it to the Super Bowl. Video, get better at the hot take hand, please. You guys are all over the place and you can't keep up with the master. Video, I need you to speed up your shit and get better at keeping up with the sausage fingers as they fly all over the place because he is in his element right now, being able to tell you what Nick Saban needs to do to make the giant leap from sausage.

among the best ever. Best ever according to Stugatz who will then make a different argument if Belichick returns. The whole thing also is so ironic if you watch the episode and listen to what Nick Saban specifically is saying about how rookie quarterbacks get harmed by the media hype machine around them and how you can't take too much stock into that

sort of thing and like you just have to like go through it and do the reps and actually you know go through the practices and not pay attention to that sort of stuff because that is the ultimate killer and so Stu Gatz is just like playing the hits right now I hope this is in the next episode of Hard Knocks they had Mina in there using her voice Pat McAfee's voice I need Stu Gatz's voice in there that's a good idea say things that will get you on Hard Knocks I love it you want to try Dan I mean

Stu Gatz here for my friends over at SimpliSafe. If you're like me, you're constantly thinking about the safety of the people and things you value most. After a friend told me about a break-in in his home in which many of his most valuable possessions were stolen, I knew I needed to secure my home with the best. I've trusted SimpliSafe to protect my home for six years now, and the level of security and customer care has been incredible. I sleep better every night knowing SimpliSafe's 24-7 monitoring agents are standing by to protect me

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Protect your home this summer with 20% off any new SimpliSafe system. When you sign up for Fast Protect Monitoring, just visit simplisafe.com slash DLB. That's simplisafe.com slash DLB. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. Don Levitard. Smart. Stugatz. More smart. This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz.

I can't believe the amount of pressure that Caleb Williams is under. And I would not want to work under the conditions, no matter how talented I were. I don't, I'm not tough enough in any way to be an athlete to have to do all the learning that that position requires and then have to be ready for the speed of the pro game. It's just not a job I would want.

because we have now fast-forwarded. It's super interesting to me, Stu Gatz. We just talked about Deion Sanders. The way that we're doing this to what are still kids, even though they look like they're in adult bodies, where in college football we're just making it big business and we're dispensing with any of the nonsense that involves, like,

the illusion of these kids having to be students because it's the big business of football. You got to get in there. And if you're not good enough, fast enough, get the hell out. You lose your scholarship. You lose your education. You lose your opportunity. Get out. We don't want you anymore to now have Caleb Williams be a player and

who was great last year, but was crying on the sidelines when they would lose game because so far what you have with Lincoln Riley and USC is a failure in a season of great expectations. Now the expectations get even bigger than that. Hey, kid, go to Chicago, which really cares about football, and bail everyone out because they've been bad for years. They haven't mattered for years. They haven't had a quarterback. The best they got is...

is Jay Cutler. That's like best ever. Rex Grossman's the one who took him to the Super Bowl. No one has ever had in Chicago these kinds of expectations at that position, and I just wouldn't want that on someone who's not fully formed as an adult if he's crying on the sidelines of games last year because everything up there is really hard.

Yeah, I think that he is like a fully formed adult. I wouldn't go that far. Like he's obviously last season for USC was really upsetting because he was putting up these crazy numbers on offense, but then their defense would give up so many points that they were in these like shootouts every single week. And so to go from like a play away from the playoff the year before to finishing the season with six losses last year, I think you just saw how much

He really, really cared about that team and about making the playoffs finally. And so it was just an incredibly disappointing season for the Trojans. And so I actually don't like I don't take anything negative away from that. Like he cared a lot about winning with that team and it just obviously did not work out for them. But I will say one other thing. And I'm wondering if you guys noticed this. I feel like the Hall of Fame game and the Hall of Fame enshrinement this year.

way overshadowed by the Olympics. I was looking through the Hall of Fame enshrinees. Is that what we call them? Half of them I didn't even realize were getting enshrined this year. I was just locked in, laser focused on the Olympics. And I found myself getting really into these kind of non-mainstream events. Like last night, the 1500 meter run. Did you guys watch this?

Yeah, the upset, the giant upset. They just ran. He hunted the underdog who won from the United States. I don't know his name. Cole Hawker, I believe. Chased everyone down who ran out of gas because the shorter races are all fast twitch muscle fiber and the longer races, you better have stamina at the end because you will get hunted down by the...

Femke Bowles of the world. She's incredible, by the way. And I think the 400 meter hurdle final is today, I want to say. But last night they were replaying the 1500 meter, which is like just under a mile. So they're running it in like three and a half minutes. And the NBC, I love this because they set up this huge showdown between the runner from Great Britain and the runner from Norway, who are both like prodigies in this event. And they were like, this is an ultimate competition.

competition like is the Norwegian guy going to defend his gold medal and like they've been going back and forth like jawing at each other for years over who's better 1500 meter runner and stuff like that and then like the last 100 meters the American just comes out of nowhere up the side and wins the gold medal and both of them lost the gold medal and it was

like the Norwegian guy didn't even get on the podium and another American who actually went to Notre Dame Jared Naguse he won the bronze by like he was almost in silver so both of these guys were like this close away from not even getting silver or gold the other guy didn't get anything it was freaking bananas to Stugatz's point was that yesterday was that today was that in the morning was that last night it was yesterday at like 3 o'clock and then they replayed do you watch do you watch Prince of Persia like in the afternoon it was like a

main one of the main events there's there's games and matches and things that happen to like four o'clock in the morning I don't even know what it is and then they play them tomorrow when I watch the people chase I want to know I'm watching it for the first time that's all I'm saying I watched it last night the one who the the

the runner who won the gold medal four years ago was defending the gold medal. She had a big lead. She got caught. She didn't defend her gold medal. She won silver and someone new won gold. I'd like to know I was watching that for the first time. Well, you were because you didn't know what had happened to it already. But I'll give you a little...

I'll give you a little cheat sheet, Stugatz. I don't know what time you get home from work, but what I've been doing, I get home in the afternoon, I turn on Gold Zone, and when you turn on Gold Zone after 2 or 3 o'clock, you're getting the primetime events, like the stuff like USA Men's Basketball yesterday, which was on in primetime in France, so it was 8 o'clock at night, which is, I guess, 2 o'clock here or 3 o'clock here. So you're watching the prime events in the afternoon live, but then after

They curate the best events from the day and replay them on NBC starting at 8 o'clock, hosted by Mike Tirico. And they'll add in certain different elements. Like this thing with the 1,500-meter race. They added this package that they made about these two runners going at it and hating each other, even though they already knew the American guy was just going to come out of nowhere. So they had him go...

and the other American that won come in the studio and do an interview afterwards. So it was great. Honestly, I've been enjoying, and I will watch things twice if they're good. I don't give a shit. So I watched that two times and it was just as good the second time. - Regarding Femke Boll, Stugatz, I don't know if you have seen her, but in the relay, she just hunted down incredibly fast people from unfathomable distances.

But I read that her time in the 400 hurdles would have qualified for the 400 without hurdles that she's beating. What? Yeah. That I said that.

I said earlier in these Olympics, like, it's just super rare when you see a Connor McDavid or a Tyreek Hill or a Simone Biles. When you're watching the world's athletes and one of them is so clearly better than everyone else doing it, you don't see these margins there.

of somebody's on the ninth hurdle and she's finished the race. Like everybody else is at the ninth hurdle and she's done with the race already. You're not that much better ever than the rest of the world, but she is. She's really good, but the American Sydney McLaughlin-

Lavroni is the one that is the favorite to win. She won the gold in Tokyo. And I think they're racing tonight or like today in the afternoon. You might be able to get it's either tonight or tomorrow. I'm not 100% sure. I didn't look at the schedule. But there is a schedule. Yeah. Have you made any effort to look up the schedule? Because it's there. It's there. You can...

find it very easily online. I turn on my TV, I hit Channel 6, and that's it. I mean, that's the effort I'm making. iTunes. He goes to iTunes. Oh my God, on Channel 6 the other night, one of the reporters, they sent them to Paris and they went to that store that has like 150 different types of butter. Have you guys heard of this place? Oh my God, no. It's in France. They have like 150 different types of butter, and you can go there if you're a tourist, and they'll be

buy whatever butter you want and they'll vacuum seal it so you can bring it home. It's crazy. Wow. There's so many different types of butter. 150 types of butter, like different animal butters? Different flavors, like everything. It's too much. Give me a stick of butter. The excitement in Jessica's voice at the idea of having 150 choices for butter, you can hear her mouth watering. Is it all butters or margarine? Like, what's the deal? No, it's

butters. Apparently it's illegal to sell butter in France that's under 82% milk fat or something like that. So their butter is like super creamy. We have an entire state dedicated to making dairy products and yet I don't think Wisconsin has a single store that sells 105

50 different types of butter. They need to get on that. Circling back around Stugatz on hard knocks, I am not intending to infantilize Caleb Williams. I simply don't think of any rookie entering sports to be a fully formed adult because I'm

I believe that people who get that far, top 1% of the top 1%, kind of have to be lopsided all of their life in order, obsessive compulsive, to be that good. You can't do it without caring in a way that's unreasonable, and all sorts of other things are going to fall by the wayside that you're going to learn later in life. So I did not mean to suggest that Caleb Williams is any kind of weak. I just don't think of rookies ever as obsessive

adults thrown into a piranha pool, I think of rookies as still being kids, even though they're of age to be adults. He's 22 years old, Dan, so I would say that he's a kid. He's a kid. He's a young adult, okay? And so I agree with you because...

When you graduate college, you're 22 years old. You don't have this type of pressure on you, at least not right away. Eventually, you'll have some pressure in life, but you won't have it the second you graduate or the second you leave the university that you decided to attend. The reason he has so much pressure is combination of market and

It's a fan base that is starving for a quarterback, and the team is ready now. They were 7-10 a year ago. The defense is good. They have good wide receivers. They picked up Keenan Allen, and their coach has a beard now. Oh, my gosh.

I mean, they are built to win now. You're absolutely right about that. I think you're right, Dan. He's very young, and young people will make mistakes, especially when they have a huge spotlight on them. I just think that a lot of people took that crying thing as something that he was a mistake that he made. That's something that we should...

make fun of him for was like a knock on him. And I think that that's where I was kind of disagreeing was like, I don't see that as like him being him making a mistake. I see that as like him caring a lot about his football team. But there's a ton of pressure on a 22 year old

because of that place, that organization, that team, and that fan base, he went to Chicago and Chicago was built to win. They needed a quarterback. They drafted him to be that quarterback. This isn't going to Carolina where if you're bad, eh, we'll make fun of you a little bit. And that's about it. You know, you don't have to hear about it every day. This is different. It's Chicago. It's the bears. I, uh,

I will say of crying in general, because I know in male worlds that tends to be something that is viewed as a weakness. And I will tell you as someone who has been repressed all his life, that I've done more crying in the last five years that has been healing

because I'm not like stuffing it all down, that when I saw Caleb Williams crying on the sidelines, I didn't see it as a weakness. I saw, oh, he cares that much and caring that much. If you fail with pressure, we'll ravage your youth.

Like, this is going to chew kids up the way that we're doing it in college football, the way that we're covering high school football. And you have to be really strong to be in the position of Caleb Williams. But when failure arrives is when I worry about just ruining people like that because they're not given the three years Aaron Rodgers was given to sort of figure out how fast all that shit moves out there. I don't want to be that guy with a $25 million signing bonus. He's fine. Ha ha ha.

Stugatz, women's 400-meter hurdle today, 1525. Wow. What does that mean? 325.

It's a meters? 15, 25 meters? No, that's the time. What time is that? 325. How many hurdles? 325. Oh, okay. 15. You go to 12, but then you, yeah. Then you add three. Put it on the poll, please, Juju. Does the person who begins a thought with, I don't want to be that guy, immediately become

Well, I don't want to be that guy. I'm telling you, I didn't want to be that guy. You had the choice. Did you see the reaction to that sign when he announced it? Did you see the reaction that everybody had his team into this signing bonus? That's crazy. You did want to be that guy because no one stopped you. You could have stopped yourself. No one made you be that guy. I'm journalism.

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The Smell Not Company, New York, New York. Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age. Don Libetard. We are crazed right now. You are pathetic, Chris. What are you doing? Sue Gantz is a liar. I'm not saying. He's keeping this act over there. Jets has been right the entire time about the Miami Heat. And Amin here is getting buried by Heat Nation. He's been telling you. He's been keeping it real. You're praising Struess. He was 0 for 9. Struess keeps shooting. What is that? What are we doing? When Struess goes to the cup, he's going to be the one to shoot.

Stugatz. This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugatz.

Look at this guy. He was going to make us so happy in 2017. We had a banner outside of the arena. He was going to play in Miami. We all were ready for him, and instead he betrayed us, and we're happy for him, though. No, not so much. Like, respectfully, piece of shit move, Gordon. Whoa, that's not how you start. Welcome. Thank you for everything you've done, but come on. What were you doing down here in Miami? That's not what you do. You lie and you say you're happy for him. That's part of the direction you guys are going.

What an amateur. That is not how you start a piece of shit move, Billy. I didn't say he was a piece of shit. I just said it was a piece of shit move. After 14 seasons with the best haircut in the NBA, playing for the Jazz, the Celtics, the Hornets, the Thunder, not the Heat, he is here for an exclusive exit interview because he's retired. His production company, Whiskey Creek, has a movie coming out on September 27th. It's called Notice to Quit.

and Gordon Hayward is with us and while we kid Gordon we did want you down here in Miami we were very excited about that so thank you for joining us how close were you to coming here can you take us through sort of what the process was that broke our hearts down here yeah you know thanks thanks for having me on guys that was a super tough decision you know I

I basically visited three teams. I started with Miami, then did Boston, then finished, you know, with Utah meeting with all those teams. And I remember vividly telling my agent after each meeting, like I started with Miami and I'm like, I want to go to Miami. We don't even need to do the other meetings like that.

Miami's the place I want to be, you know, and he kind of was like, well, we got to hear everyone out. The Heat have always been a first class organization. So I was really, really close to signing there. I feel like Spolstra is one of the best coaches in the league. And obviously Pat Riley is legendary in his own his own right. And I was very close. You know, also my wife, my brother in law lives in Miami. My wife would have loved living there and then the beach and everything. But

I ultimately decided to go to Boston. Well, take us through how your mind changed after each meeting. What was happening? Because the Heat brought you Riley, Spoh, Zoe, Juwan Howard, Udonis. Like, they put on a full-court press. They did, yeah. You got all the inside information, huh? Yeah.

I mean, they really wanted you here. That's how they do it. In fact, you kind of represent when they started swinging and missing on the big names they were going after because they know how to do that. They're very good at luring people. So what changed over the process? They got LeBron. Yeah. Well, you know, it was reuniting with Brad. I mean, Brad was the one that sold it. You know, I've

it's hard to compete with, you know, somebody that I played under at Butler and had a huge, he had a huge impact on my life, you know, not just as a player, but also a person. So, you know, it was, that was kind of the key thing was, you know,

being able to go play for him again. Stugatz, do you remember that time, the excitement in Miami? It was July 4th weekend. It was Gordon Hayward mania down here. People were going insane. And then there was no way to lose him. The godfather made a speech. Did Riley throw his rings on the table? Did he do the move? Classic move. Did he do the move to you that he did in 2010 to get LeBron? No.

Yeah, he did all the moves. It was nothing. Nothing. The Heat did it all right. Like I said, I was ready to join after that meeting. It was three. It would have been three great choices, honestly, with either of those teams. The person to blame is the agent here, Dan, because he was ready to sign with Miami. The agent insisted that he go to Boston.

I mean, if you're looking for someone to blame, blame them. Yeah, blame Mark. Blame Mark Bartleson. Yeah, that's why they exist, to absorb the blame on behalf of their prodigious talents. You were also a tennis prodigy. So how close, like explain to me how your life would have been different or how good you were at tennis if you had chosen that as the obsession instead of basketball. Yeah, you know, I think the tennis thing might have been a little overstated, but I was definitely better at tennis in high school than I was basketball.

um it's not saying too much i'm from indianapolis so it's that central indie tennis isn't necessarily the best in the country but um yeah i mean i i my height would have definitely helped me out you know playing like a guy like john isner i served i served in bali had a big serve uh still i'm getting more into tennis you know now um but you know i love basketball more basketball was my love um

You know, Hoosiers. Have you seen have you guys seen the movie Hoosiers? Like, you know, high school basketball in Indiana is like everything. So that I'm thankfully I grew to I was I was only 511 as a freshman in high school. So I'm sitting there thinking to myself, if I want to play a sport in college, you know, basketball might not be the route. My parents are both 510, you know, like 510 white guy here. I don't know if.

if basketball is going to be the ticket. But, you know, thankfully I grew and, you know, then my game kind of took off. But certainly was thinking about hanging it up for tennis. You weren't very good at basketball in high school. Who is that? Let's introduce us to who the dog is. What are the details of the dog? Sorry about that. That is our German Shepherd, Knight. He's an all-black German Shepherd. So somebody must not be taking care of him right now. Ha ha.

Uh-oh. Oh, somebody in the house is in trouble. Who's responsible? Who's responsibility is night? You weren't that good at basketball, though? Like, what were your dreams in high school? What were your dreams? You didn't think you could be an NBA player yet? I just was a late bloomer, you know? I was like, wasn't very recruited. Like, I actually only had offers from Butler and IUPUI.

had a really late offer from Purdue um so you know those are it's not like I was getting recruited everywhere um you know we won state in high school I had another player on my team um one of my good friends who played at Miami of Ohio so we won the high school championship but you know I like I said I wasn't on any I wasn't ranked like a five-star recruit or anything I wasn't didn't go to any of those camps that everyone else goes to so um just a late bloomer uh I

At the risk of upsetting you, this is not the intention to upset you because of the way Billy started, but I just want to play the call of what would have been different and how much haunting there is because you're playing against Duke and Gordon Hayward's about to beat him. Gordon Hayward can knock off Duke as the late bloomer. Let's play that call here. It's Hayward pulling it down, getting around Zubak. At midcourt, launches the shot. Almost let in.

Almost went in, and Duke is the king of the dance, 2010. Oh, it should have gone in. It should have gone in. You thought it was going in. You thought it was going in. Did you think it was going in? You know what? I didn't think that one was going in. So there was a shot before that I took a fadeaway over Zubek

We were down and it back rimmed. So from my vantage point, it looked like it was good. The half court shot, I wasn't trying to bank. So I thought that one was way off. And then, you know, it kind of like banked. And I think they did like a sports science on it. It was like three inches to the left or right. I needed to shoot it more. So that one was really close, but.

I mean, it's hard to hear that for sure. Did it haunt you at all? Like that specific shot, obviously losing a close game, you're that close to winning the championship. Everybody dreams of that stuff. But that particular shot and Stugatz's beloved game of inches, does that stay with you for a couple of days, just the shot or a couple of years or a couple of decades?

It certainly stayed with me for a short period of time after it happened. You know, you're thinking about what if, but to be honest, you know, then it was, you have such a whirlwind of an experience of deciding to, you know, leave college early and go to the draft. And then once you decide to do that, it's like, you're like constantly trying to get ready for that next level. So like I,

I haven't really even thought about it. I haven't had too much time to reflect. You know, you're always thinking about what's next in your career and trying to get better and trying to do different things. So, you know, now that I'm retired, I'll probably think about it. And you could actually you guys just started off that thinking. So maybe it's going to haunt me tonight. Would you have stayed in Utah if you had known that Donovan Mitchell was going to be that good? Or did you have any idea that Donovan Mitchell was going to be that good?

No, I had no clue. I mean, he's, you know, one of the best players in the NBA, especially at what he's able to do. And you never know. So it's hard to play the what if game. You know, you can play that game too. Like, you know, if I stay, do I get hurt? I mean, me getting hurt in Boston changed the course of my career. And so I don't play the what if game. You know, I have no regrets of my career and the decisions that I've made. I know it was one of the toughest decisions I've ever made. As we just talked about, Miami, Utah, Boston, all really good choices there.

So it's hard to make that decision. What do you regard as the most fun you've had playing basketball? Like what is the period that you look at and say that was the best time, that felt like the best time to be me? That was the most fun. It was least pressurized and more fun.

Yeah. High school basketball in Indiana, man. There's, I tell people this all the time. Like you just, you take it for granted because you just don't know when you're, when you're doing it, but being able to play with like your boys, there's nothing more fun. I feel like in whatever, whatever sport you do, or even whatever job you have, if you're able to do it with like your friends and like your best friends, you know, you're in school with them. You're going to class, you're going to parties, you're going to all this other stuff with, with your friends. And you're also playing basketball and, and,

Being from Indiana, like I told you, we had huge crowds. Our high school gyms in Indiana are huge. So playing in front of those crowds, too, is something special. So that was probably the most fun that I ever had playing basketball. Not to say that the other moments weren't fun, but there's nothing like it.

you know, high school basketball. That does seem crazy though, because most people I would think would think of the NBA, you know, hitting buzzer beaters in the pros. Those, those crowds are also very big. So what is the distinction that you're making and looking back at it more carefree? Because all of a sudden when you get to Boston, there's pressure as soon as you arrive, because it's a, it's a different experience. It's a business. I mean, it's, it is a business and it's different in the sense of, like I said, you're just, you're playing with your friends. You're going to class with these people.

Um, you're hanging out when it's not basketball season. Also all the students that are in the section, you see them too. And they're cheering you on. You've got the cheerleaders, the, the gyms are way more like, like in your face. Um,

And so it's, you kind of like know the region, the region or like the players around you. So you have these little rivalries and all this stuff. And, um, you know, certainly, like I said, hitting the buzzer read in the NBA too, is, is amazing. I mean, we, we won game seven in LA against the Clippers and that, that was awesome. You know, silencing the crowd is a feeling like no other, but, uh, for me that just high school basketball, I like, like for, here's a, here's a good example for you. So like we, when we won, I hit a last second shot to win the state title and, um,

Our whole town was there. I grew up in a suburb of Indy. So the whole town was there. They all like we had a police escort back to our home gym. The whole the whole town goes to the gym. We have a pep session. I actually turn. It's my birthday. Like when it strikes midnight.

And so the whole crowd sings happy birthday to me. So it was like special moments like that that you can never really have in the NBA. Can you take us through the early parts of your career and what some of the meanest things other players said in trash talk while playing basketball?

against you sort of, you know, it's, it's tough to start in the NBA. So when you have to earn your respect, who are some of the legends that are trying to diminish you? And you're like, I can't believe that person just said that to me. I just started out here. Yeah. There is the one that always sticks in my mind is we were playing in the garden and KG was, as everyone's already said, I mean, he's a legendary trash talker and,

He was guarding me and I got I got a switch and I like tried to attack him and I like couldn't go anywhere. So then he kind of like starts clapping and like getting like, you know, how he would get in his defensive stance. And I like backed it up and, you know, went back at him and scored. And then I was kind of barking at him down the court. And I think he respected me after that, because before, you know, he's.

I, you know, I'm just this little like white kid coming from suburban Indianapolis. Like there was a lot of trash talk that I probably can't repeat on here towards me. But when I kind of like barked back,

Adam, he like respected that. And it was good ever since then. Oh, but I got to imagine you've got all the stories about being underestimated as the white guy who has to make his way in this world. Like Nick Collison told us the story. He runs out on the court and it's always like shooter, shooter, shooter. He's like, I'm not a shooter. Like I'm not, I can't shoot. Why are you saying that? But you're, you're fighting your way through an ecosystem that offers all sorts of disrespect at the beginning that you have to overcome. Yeah.

Absolutely. Like I always say, like, no matter what, and even this, this happened throughout my career. It's like, for whatever reason, when you see the white guy guarding you, it's like, let's ISO him and go at him. And so you got, you got to like, hope that you get to stop that first time or else they're just going to keep going at you every single time. And I definitely wasn't the worst defender on the team, but for whatever reason, you know, checking the game and

Going at them. We're going right at them. That's the game plan? That's what you're saying? The advanced scouting is just ISO the white guy? I'm telling you, there's just some sort of stereotype. It's like people's eyes light up. I can tell you there's – I remember, and this probably didn't necessarily have to do with the fact that I was white, but maybe it was like my face and hair and everything. But when we played the Lakers, I think it was preseason –

one of the years and they had run our test and I checked in the game and he like looks at me and then looks back at Kobe and looks at me and he's like hey Kobe he's like pointing at me like just throw me the ball in the post man look who's guarding me I got Bieber guarding me and sure enough you know he just posted me up and this was really good and like had no chance guarding me I sat right back down like

I got Bieber. I got, I got Bieber guarding me. Yeah. Yeah. He's proud of it too. Telling that story. I don't know. I don't, he's saying it with a smile. I mean, what can you do? What am I going to do? What am I going to say to Ron Artest? You know what I mean? Like, I wasn't definitely not trying to fight that guy. Like,

You mentioned Kobe and I knew you drew some inspiration like many did from Kobe Bryant. What kind of impact did he have for you on the court and off the court? Yeah, I mean, Kobe was a mentor for me. I don't know if you guys heard. I went on Paul George's podcast and told a bunch of stories about him. But just having a chance to work, work out with him in the offseason, having him, you know, kind of in my phone for phone calls away, text messages away, emails away.

You know, that meant the world. And I think everyone saw his work ethic and just his mentality and inspired a lot of people and certainly inspired me as well.

I did hear some of the stories you told with Paul George. I believe Derek Fischer and Rick Fox have told us stories as teammates of his where he would detest you to the point that you'd have to be willing to fight him before you got his respect. Like as a teammate, what do you regard as your best performance?

uh, basketball war story. Does it involve Kobe or does it involve somebody else? If you, if you had to show off one of the stories from your war chest that, you know, always is a hit at parties when people meet Gordon Hayward, because, because they want to hear about some of the stuff that happens inside that only you guys know about. Um, well, my Kobe stories are probably my go-to, um, which I've told before, but there was, um,

I remember when I was in Utah, I had this marketing scheme. I play League of Legends. I was talking to one of your guys, backstage guys, about it. But I put out a tweet or an Instagram or something about being the best. Like, I can beat anybody one-on-one in the NBA. Like, I can beat LeBron one-on-one. But I was teasing, saying, like, in League of Legends. And we happened to play them, like...

A week afterwards. And I got a text from somebody from Cleveland saying like, dude, why'd you do that? Like LeBron's talking about it. Like, why would you like piss him off out of all people? And we go and play the game. And I kind of went back and forth with them and ended up hitting a game winner against them.

at home in Utah. And so that was like, that was pretty cool. Pretty cool feeling. As we speak here, Lori Markinan has just signed a 230 some odd million dollar contract with Utah. You were born too early, Gordon, you got plenty of money, but when, when you see some of what it is that's happening in the NBA financially right now, your thoughts are generally what? Great time to be an NBA player for sure. Um,

I was extremely blessed with the time that I even came in with the contracts that I was able to get. So it's a good time to be an NBA fan, good time to be an NBA player. Game's definitely growing. So happy for everybody that gets these types of contracts. Laurie's a really good player. Yes, he is. We're going to put up a picture here of you in 2020, this mustache. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you look like the original Celtic is what the tweet is.

Like the first one? Yes, the very first one. The original one. You look like you were in a barbershop quartet as well. What is happening here? I mean, it just, it looks so good. You seem delighted by that look. What is happening here? You like that look? Oh, yeah. I mean, it's wonderful, but it's aggressively ironic, I'm assuming. You're doing this purposely to enrage the people who love you. Yeah, so, you know, the interesting thing about that is for whatever reason, all, like,

a bunch of guys are the ones that comment that they love it and all the women are like you look so stupid you look creepy like my wife hates that she hated that and i really was doing it to annoy her because this was

This was in the bubble that I had this. There was a bunch of people that just for whatever reason were skipping barbers and stuff. So that was certainly a unique look. That was one of my favorite looks. But what did your wife have to say about that? She hated it. She's like, I'm not kissing you with that. You know, like...

They always say that. They always say that. Then they come around, Gordon. My wife says the same thing when I have rocked the mustache. And then all of a sudden, two weeks later, she wants to give me a kiss. What do you want me to do? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. They'll come around, huh? It doesn't sound like she came around. It doesn't sound like... You had to shave it off? It sounds like... Yeah, I'm not rocking it anymore, so... It doesn't sound like your experience was the same as Tony's there. I have not heard you talk, and I don't wish to bring up a sore subject, but...

when you say your career was altered by that injury in Boston, I really was heartbroken for you to get five minutes into your career in Boston and suffer that injury, which just seemed horrific. Uh, and, and I don't imagine, I saw a photo of Alex Smith the other day in his leg. I don't assume that your career was the same after that, because I don't assume your body works the same after that, no matter the healing properties of youth. Uh,

What can you tell us about that heartbreak? Because to be betrayed by your body when your body has carried you to all sorts of confidence and it's just a random thing. I don't know how someone endures something like that. Yeah, that was tough. It was certainly a play that I did like once a game, me and Joe Ingles had a connection where he'd throw me an alley-oop and, you know, it was a play that I'd

Did for a long time. And it was just same type of play, play and freak accident and stuff like that. You know, it happens in basketball. So, you know, no ill will towards anybody on, on how it happened. But yeah, I mean, it was certainly tough. I mean, your, your body has to change and try to adapt. And, you know, I can't say for certain, but I've had, I basically was,

like almost 100% healthy through my first seven years with the Jazz and in my career. And then after that injury, it seemed like I had another injury like every year since. And a lot of them on that same side

Um, too. So, I mean, it's your body changes and tries to adapt and the doctors did a tremendous job just getting me back out on the court and able to run again. Cause you know, in the moment it's like, I'm thinking to myself, like, am I going to be able to run again? Like, am I going to be able to play with my kids? Like what? Just cause of my ankle is just dangling. Like it's just, it's just dangling there. And, uh, you know, I think just for me to be able to get out on the court again was, was, uh,

triumph for me in and of itself. But just had to put a lot of effort and work to try to just get back to where I was. When you watch Boston win the championship, are you happy for Boston? Because you know some people there? Or is it bittersweet because you also had dreams of doing that there? I think if you would have asked me the year I left, I would have been pissed off about it, rooting against them. But

I still have so many good relationships in Boston with the people that are there. So I was rooting for him. Joe Mazzullo was was an assistant when I was there. And he's he's awesome. Me and him were really close.

You know, JT and I also were really close. And so a lot of those guys, you're just obviously Brad moving to be the GM. You know, certainly I wish it would have happened when I was there. We had the talent to make it happen when I was there. But that's it's hard to win in the NBA and to get the right formula. Like there's just little things that have to go your way. And, you know, I think they're going to be.

obviously favorites for years to come. They just are there. They get up there in that window right now where everything's lining up. On the flip side, when you see the Heat win the Summer League Championship, you regret not coming here? More recent one. I

I didn't even know that he won the seat. You're doing a lot of stuff with your retirement. It can be very difficult to find your way after making your identity for as long as you have as an athlete.

It's a really hard thing, retirement. You've got a production company, as I mentioned, Notice to Quit is the film. It's from Whiskey Creek. It's in theaters September 27th. What are you doing with both your production company and your retirement?

Yeah. You know, I've always been interested in movies. And so we're, I'm looking forward to telling stories and making movies. As you mentioned, we got this movie notice to quit coming out, um, starring Michael Zegan case of Bella Suarez, um, Simon Hacker wrote and directed it. He actually was the guy who did my comeback, uh,

documentary for the Players Tribune. He's super talented. If you've ever seen Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the show, Joel Maisel, that's Michael Zekin. He's the lead. He's amazing. This film is about

kind of like, uh, it's about father daughter relationships, kind of like work balance relationships, something that I completely understand and kind of figuring out what's important in life and, um, takes place set in New York and in the summertime. And so everyone's got to go out and see it. Like you said, September 27th is when it comes out. So I'm super proud of the movie and,

you know, everything that we were able to accomplish. And so I'm looking forward to getting everyone a chance to see it. Did you have work-life balance as a player? To be as good as you were tends to take an obsessive compulsiveness that doesn't allow for many other things. You're exactly right. And I tried to do the best that I could. I think my wife is the real star, as I think every athlete would tell you, with the family, with kids, like she was

and allowing me to, you know, kind of do my thing. But what I did was I, and I kind of learned this from Kobe a little bit, was I got my work in super early. So I was working out at 5 a.m. so I could be done at 9. So then I could kind of have the rest of the day to hang with the family and be with them, especially in the offseason. And that's when you get the most time to kind of be with them. During the season, you're all over the place. And mentally, too, you're so locked in. That's what makes it tough about working

You know, you're just constantly thinking about the game you just played, thinking about the next game, you're traveling, all that, all that stuff. So that's I am looking forward to being more around with my kids and being more around with my family and getting a chance to do more with with the movie. You know, I'm going to go to Skywalker Ranch and do kind of some of the final sound editing with with Simon. And so getting a chance to do those things, I'm really looking forward to.

Notice to Quit, again, is the name of the movie from Whiskey Creek. It's in theaters September 27th. His wife is the reason for all his success. He thanks her with a mustache that she doesn't want to be anywhere near. By annoying her. Yes, that is correct. Gordon, thank you for being on with us. And no thank you for breaking our hearts in Miami on July 4th in 2017. I'm sorry that my producer started the interview by saying it was piece of shit behavior. Awesome.

Thank you, guys. Thanks for having me on. Appreciate you. See you later. Summer's the best time to run the way you want. Dial it up with new challenges and programs and bring your workouts with you to make the most of outside sunny days. Stugatz, guess what? What? You know what you can do with Peloton? What? Get the app, go outside, ride a bike. Well, I thought you ride Peloton inside. Well, you do. You can ride Peloton inside if it's a rainy day or if it's cloudy or you just don't want to get outside. Maybe it's too hot.

summertime, go outside. I record a lot from my office with you and you've noticed it's sitting there yet. It hasn't been used. Well, now's the time. Summer's the best time to start that push. Right. Can we do it together? Not on the same bike, but we could join a class together. I used to do that. We used to have Guillermo Tan. I'd invite people. We'd all take a class together. Okay. So I think you're starting to get concerned about my health and my age, Billy. I,

I sense that with you. We're beyond starting. Okay. Whatever road lies ahead, your training starts here with Peloton Tread and Tread Plus. It's not just a bike, a treadmill too. I'm going to go outside. I'm going to get in shape. I'm going to do it with Billy Gill. I want to be in your class. I want you to be my instructor. You know what? I won't be your instructor. You don't want to spend more time with me. No, I can schedule a class and we can ride together. I won't be the instructor of the class. We can have Camila could be our instructor. I like the Grateful Dead class. My daughter, she uses the Peloton. Mm-hmm.

She was on it once, and an instructor who was playing Grateful Dead tunes. Let's do that. Okay. Why don't we go for a run? Outside. Guided run. Peloton. Me and you. That's something we can do together. Okay. Turn on the app. Me and you. Go outside. Enjoy the summer. Call yourself a runner with Peloton at onepeloton.com slash running. All right. A musician with technical knowledge can play all the right notes, but one who cares enough to play from the heart gives music soul.

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