6.8.23 - JR Interview with Earl Boykins

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That's BetterHelp.com positive. We got to talk to someone who is on the line with us right now. I just told you about the finals. It's time to have a conversation with a 13-year NBA veteran, someone who was looked upon as why is he here in the NBA until he started busting everybody up.

It's a Nuggets legend, former assistant coach here with UTEP Men's Basketball, Earl Boykins. Earl, how are you, man? I'm doing great. How you doing? I'm excellent.

Thank you for taking the time to hop on. Man, we know about your time in Denver. I feel like that's really where you made your bones and really got the attention. Your first big contract in the NBA after being undrafted. I know you spent a lot of time in Denver before moving on to the college coaching ranks. Are you at all surprised over what the Nuggets have grown into over the past few years?

No, I'm not. It's funny that you ask that question because four years ago when I was staying in Denver and I was doing Denver radio there and it was a question that was a prediction of did I think the Nuggets would be in the finals in three years and I said absolutely. The reason that I felt that way was because the way their team was built was organically. They do a great job of drafting and develop players.

I just thought that even then I could see Jokic developing into the you know the player that he is now and I always thought Jamal would be a great second piece to it and so you know I'm one of the few that actually saw this coming in the NBA. Nuggets legend Earl Boykins is joining us here. CBS Sports Radio, the chair of our sport brief show. Calvin Booth, he started off as an assistant.

He's now the full-time GM, has been in that spot for a few years now. We don't hear his name a whole lot. I remember when Calvin was out there playing.

I certainly know that that you know him. How big of an impact has he had on this team because he doesn't get mentioned a whole lot. Calvin's been unbelievable in his you know recognition of talent. You know he does a great job of getting pieces that I think fit what the Nuggets are trying to do from the basketball standpoint but also you know fit their culture. You know you don't hear about a lot of the Nuggets players getting in trouble off the court at all you know if any and so you know he's done a great job of you know not only recognizing talent on the court but also off the court and I think you know he doesn't get the recognition that he deserves because you know it's Denver.

It's not a huge media market and you know when you're in the smaller market that's what happens. Well I think in in due time I think sooner than later I think he's going to start getting a lot of attention for what he's been able to contribute to over the the past few years. Well let me ask you this Earl like the NBA is in such an interesting place right now. We got a seven-foot point center guard whatever you want to call him putting up 30, 20 and 10 type games. When you played people looked at you at five foot five and said how is he going to go out there and do damage and that's exactly what you did and this was was was 15 plus years ago. What are your thoughts on how the NBA has changed and it doesn't matter how big or small you are it's like we're getting things on the extreme right now. Yeah I think the game has definitely evolved into a faster paced game. It's more entertaining for the fans and you know Jokic is just you know he's he's part of the way that the game is played especially in Europe.

I had an opportunity to play in Italy in 09 and when I was there you realize very early on you know when you're overseas is everyone is skilled and the development of USA players is starting to develop the same way to Europeans. For instance Europeans when you're young it doesn't matter how tall you are whether you're gone or big you do the exact same drills. Whereas when we were growing up bigs went to one end and guards went to another end.

That's right. And so everything was separate and you know the game is definitely becoming a game where you know you have to be able to do everything on the court if you want to be you know one of the great players now. It's not a game where you could just you can make it to the NBA with one elite skill but in order to become an NBA type player you have to be able to do multiple things and you know Jokic with his size he's a matchup problem. He's definitely a matchup problem because you know when you look at the NBA now there are only two centers. It's Embiid and Jokic. That's it. Everyone else a power forward is parading the centers.

Yeah. And so when you have a real big man who's skilled he has an unbelievable advantage and you know he's just he's taking advantage of it. He's showing that you know great BAM is a great defender but at the end of the day BAM is too small to check him. He just is.

You know BAM is too small. Even Anthony Davis in the Lakers series. There's just the NBA has become so small that when you have a big man who's actually skilled it's like watching Wilt score. If Jokic wanted to he could score 50-60 points every game. Every game. But there's no one as big as he is on the court and you know he just does an unbelievable job of being patient and letting the game come to him. But I really believe if he wanted to he scores 50 every game.

Easy. I mean he's handing out beat downs and he's doing everything out on the court which is pretty much. Nuggets legend Earl Boykins is joining us here.

CBS Sports Radio the JR Sport Brief Show. When you look at the rest of this series does Miami do they get one more game or what are your thoughts on what's going to be left here? I think Miami maybe gets one more game but I don't see it going seven. You know I think they've had an unbelievable season. This series sort of reminds me of the bubble when they ran against the Lakers with LeBron and AD. It's just at some point the Nuggets talent is just overwhelming. They're just a better team.

They're a deeper team. At this point they have the two best players in the series with Jamal and Jokic. You know it's hard to be successful in a playoff series where the opposing teams have the two best players. I think game two was a wake-up call for the Nuggets in terms of the mentality that every night you have to be focused. I don't think there was this focus as game two and I thought that that contributed more to Miami winning than anything else. It was a lack of focus and urgency on the Nuggets part in game three.

They came out with the right mental state and you saw the results. Yeah I think like you they're gonna they're gonna walk away with their their first championship. Earl Boykins is here with us. Earl you were on the Nuggets when it seems that they were kind of brought back into relevance and deeper competition deeper into the playoffs with with Carmelo Anthony and yourself you coming off the bench. Man we see Carmelo decided to just hang him up and and call it quits now to spend more time with his boy watching him grow. What are your thoughts and memories from playing with him and ultimately what his legacy is? I have nothing but great memories from from playing with Carmelo.

It's funny I just I ran into him two weeks ago. EYBO his son was playing and we we spoke we hadn't seen each other in a while but I think the most the most impressive thing about Carmelo is who he is who he is as a person who he is as a man. He's you know he even when he was a superstar with us you know he was always humble always respectful he's a great dude and you know it speaks value because you know he never put himself above any of us. You know he was a guy where you have family in town of course he was a star everybody wanted his autograph you know he would sign autographs for you whenever you asked he never he never said no for your family if they want an autograph and as a player you know he was unbelievable from day one he he came into the league and you know he averaged 20 as a rookie and it was easy for him and so you know I have nothing but you know respect for Carmelo Anthony as a person and a player and you know I'm just happy to see that he's doing he's at peace with his career and what's going on in his life. Well right now Earl we see you're an assistant coach with with UTEP why did you decide to to spend more time I guess full-time coaching and is this kind of a full stop for you you want to be on the bench or what's going on? Yeah you know I I decided to choose the the college route as a as opposed to the NBA because I really enjoy developing young basketball players I really enjoy developing you know young men and help and helping them grow not only as players but as people and you know this is this is where I want to be at the collegiate level and yes my goal to eventually you know become a head coach but I'm having a great great time here at UTEP you know the head coach is Joe Golden he's an unbelievable human being you know great guy great guy class a guy and he's an unbelievable unbelievable coach and I'm enjoying just just being here being a part of the staff and you know learning from coach Golden but yes my ultimate goal is to become a head coach. Earl Boykins is here with us CBS Sports Radio the JR sport brief show man it was unlikely you weren't supposed to be in the league at your size and you just talked about Jokic and and what he's able to do obviously at seven feet tall there's advantages from seeing the floor yourself at five five just out there still killing it in the league what was the most challenging aspect for you as a player and then if you were to play right now how do you feel the game would be different for you? I actually think you know a lot of people view it as a negative but you know because of my height I've always had an advantage on the court as a player for instance I played the same position my whole life you know most players as they as they get up you know levels junior high high school college they have to change positions I never had to change position I've always competed against taller guys or taller players and so I think whenever an opposing player played against somebody five five they had to adjust the way they played because of my size and my speed and you know for me I never made an adjustment I played the same way that I played in high school college I played the exact same way so you know for me I always used my I always viewed my height as definitely an advantage because you know I never I never changed my game as a you know go back to the question if I was to play in today's game you know I think today's game is more suited for the way that I played you know one of the biggest reasons I signed with the Denver Nuggets you know it's laughable now I go into the office in the summertime and ask KiKi Vandeweghe are you going to allow him to shoot pull-up threes and that was a big reason why I signed with the Denver Nuggets because he's one of the few GMs at that time that allowed he said no problem he'd shoot pull-up threes well I had other GMs told me no it's a bad shot so that's how much the game has changed but you know my game is definitely suited more for today's NBA than it was back then yeah Earl Boykins joining us final question for you are you making it out to Denver are you going to be there at the you know one of the final games you going into the parade I don't want to get too far ahead but you're going to be participating I have work to do okay I'll be recruiting exactly exactly I'll be recruiting but I will be rooting for them from a distance and enjoying the success that they've had and you know I wish I could be there and be part of the celebration but you know my heart is with the Nuggets and hopefully they'll get their first championship you know this year hey Earl I appreciate you taking the time to hop on and join us if you want if is there some place that people can follow and keep up with you are you just trying to keep a low profile no no I don't know my Twitter is at Boykins Academy and I'm on Instagram it's the Earl Boykins I had a big shout out say Earl good luck to you and everything that you do coach and wise I look forward to catching up with you soon okay okay thanks for having me on the show take care no doubt about it we just had a conversation with Denver Nuggets legend Earl Boykins oh yeah out there five foot five was busted ass in the NBA and now he's helping to lead a new generation as an assistant coach down at UTEP it is just the start for Earl Boykins and I appreciate him taking the time to join us here on CBS Sports Radio prepare for a righteous reckoning in the new season of the HBO original series the righteous gemstones when the spoiled gemstone children finally get their wish to take control of the church they discover leadership is harder than they imagined and that their extravagant lifestyle comes with a heavy price starring Danny McBride John Goodman Edie Patterson and Adam Devine watch the all-new season of the righteous gemstones streaming June 18th on max subscription required visit max.com for details t-mobile's network can help keep you connected to all your favorite podcasts when you're out and about whether you're an early bird looking to dive into a daily news podcast or a night owl who wants to catch up on the latest reality tv drama t-mobile will keep you connected on their strong and reliable network t-mobile covers more highway miles with 5g than anyone so if you need great coverage especially when you're on the go check out t-mobile find out more at t-mobile.com check out t-mobile find out more at t-mobile.com c-y that's s-e-e-w-h-y you realize we spend a third of our life sleeping i know stuck in traffic was a good guess too but now that you know you sleep so much why aren't you sleeping on the most comfortable mattress arguably made in america a brand new eye comfort eco by serta it's supportive and designed to keep you cool comfortable and feeling restored or check out serta's perfect sleeper for pressure relieving comfort and support while maintaining a balanced temperature serta mattresses made right here in michigan and they have been for over 110 years go to serta.com find a retailer near you that's serta.com betus.com is back for our 20th year of nfl action with the industry's biggest sign-up bonus of up to 200 bet us offers our members the chance to cash in on all your favorite sports sign up at betus.com or call 1-800-79-BET-US where the game begins