 I promise you Julius Irving Dr. J and let me just tell you before we bring Julius in the nets and Marvel Present the Dr. J inspired by Black Panther bobblehead to the first 10,000 fans in attendance on Friday, March 6 When the next play the Spurs as part of Marvel Superhero night and here is the the bobblehead I'm showing you on your it really is beautiful and It's Dr. J in a black Nets Jersey and rip to always rip He's got to be very happy with that now He will be in attendance at the March 6 game watching his first ever Brooklyn Nets game in person at Barclay Center for those that don't remember and you should he played with the New York Nets of the ABA and He led them to two ABA titles The Nets are going to host an exclusive pregame meet and greet with the dock Which includes a lower level game ticket and a dr. J inspired by Black Panther bobblehead for 250 bucks So Brooklyn Nets comm is where you go for more information and tickets are still available for March 6 that Brooklyn Nets Dot-com and we bring in Julius Irving Dr. J. It's Michael Don and Peter. How are you? I'm doing great guys. How are you guys doing? We're doing great? Have you seen this bobblehead because it's pretty impressive? I'd show it a couple of days ago and And I compared it to one of my old bobbleheads. It was it was like night and day Now I've got to tell you this I play this game a lot and I wonder if you do as well What would have happened if they didn't deal you to Philadelphia? What I mean with the Nets still be in New York? That game yeah game that game. Well, you know that the sad irony of that is the Roy Bowell and Dave de busher Kevin Lockery and Rod Thorn. I mean, I you know, I had great relationships with those guys particularly Kevin Lockery at rock dawn and You know, sometimes when you move on and do something that you and your agent are feeling your best interests you know, somebody else suffers right and Just like leaving college, you know back in the day after I left my junior year. There's the next year wasn't that good For the class so, you know, you have to make decisions though. They're only bad decision to notice it You know, in fact, you make these decisions that you want. I think they went out. They got tiny archibald Got George Johnson and he's a seven footer and good shot blocker And whatever and probably probably would have had a pretty good team there in New York in 7677 as opposed to, you know joining the new franchise and plan for the series Six was made the finals that year, but we were a very very Interesting study in basketball that that particular group you know, particularly moving from the camaraderie we have with the Nets and you know the success that we had to Move into another state another city another team and and really another journey and I and I ended up, you know, stand there the rest of my basketball career So it just goes to show that that probably was the right place to be because I was able to play 11 more seasons Whereas the Nets, you know moved over to the sky the way For a while played over and you know, the college gym In that hard floor and I remember I remember when these felt after playing as a visitor I would imagine if that was my home court, you know I probably would have already played five or six years as opposed to 11 just because of that so I look back on it maybe a little differently than a lot of other people and You know the fact that you know things do have a way of coming full cycle I mean, I always always pull for the four ABA teams, you know I pull for the sixes and I pull for the Nets and the Pacers and the Spurs and The Spurs of all the ABA teams have won all the championships But but I still pull for the other three and I feel like it's only a matter of time, you know When you look at the other sports, there was the alternative league the AFL in football the WHA in hockey How did you view yourself in the ABA? Did you view yourself as a Rebel League? I think when the ABA first started, I think that mantle probably would have been appropriate But as we moved on and you know, suddenly there were nine teams in the ABA There were 14 teams in the NBA and you know, guys are making decisions or what which way are you gonna go? ABA and NBA, you know, there was the feeling that you know, there was the experience was going to be comparable in either league and And you know, I played in the last five years of the ABA So I missed the first four, but I heard a lot of stories about the first four It was part of creating stories in the next five and Felt like You know when we got to the off-season and all you know The ball players were gonna play in the summer league, play in the Rucco League and played in DC and played in Chicago It's all the same guys, you know, I mean it's the same game I think just that the feeling there was probably maybe a little more depth on the NBA teams and You know, but the NBA was up there. It's kind of like the slow down brown ball league, you know Where's the ABA was, you know, red, white and blue America, you know forever and And I think when you got publicity in the ABA Everybody reveled in it, you know, we all enjoyed supporting one another in that capacity and that wasn't where the NBA was run Dr. Jay is our guest here on the Michael K. Show. I gotta ask you this I don't know if you realize but I did ten years of the Yankees with John Sterling and John was your play-by-play guy with the New York. Now. What was he like back then, Don? Absolutely. Absolutely, you know John was John was it was awesome. You know, we knew on channel nine and channel 11 Yeah in the day WPI X and Bobby Goldshaw worked with him and You know Steve Albert, I think too. Yeah So, you know, they're quite a few guys who are You know Hall of Fame quality Analysts and announcers and commentators because they always did their homework they always showed up for work and And and we got to know one another I mean your players in the and the media, you know Always had an amicable relationship because you know, that was what helped float the ship You know, it's one for all and all for one. Was he a good as good a tennis player as he says, doc? I Remember the tennis No, but he tells me these great stories that he was really good before his knees got shot Doc what are you? How do you feel about the league right now? How much are you enjoying this version of the NBA that we're getting in in 2020? Well, you know the league has been empowered by having an international audience having the economics go through the room for me, you know, it's 24-day dollar enterprise and And it's driven by partnerships and And I think the players are you know getting a fair share of the the equity With the way contracts are structured now, so I mean it's everybody's happy Nobody has anything to complain about and I think from a fan standpoint, you know, maybe the You know guys sitting out what do you call it? There's something over load or whatever. Yeah, low management The load management situation. Yeah, that's earth to few people and I probably if I was you know Buy a ticket to one game a year and I wanted to see Kawhi Leonard And he's not playing that day because he's he's sitting out. I'd be a little pissed too But you're gonna get a better version of that player in the playoffs if they don't play all 82 games So so leagues in good shape, I like watching it, you know, I enjoy watching my teams When I come into Brooklyn and the Spurs are gonna be there, you know it's gonna be a little nostalgia there because I Was a net when we you know had the battle the Spurs To get to the ABA title and that last game was against the Denver Nuggets actually the last championship year For the Nets it was the Nets and the Denver Nuggets and and you know, a lot of Hall of Famers were in that game Dan Essel was in the game and David Thompson was in the game, of course, I was in the game and You know, that's three that I can remember I think it was some other guys who were who were maybe worthy Ralph Simpson comes to mind and Maybe more of a Western did some good things in the ABA and on our team We had Brian Taylor who hopefully will be up as a nominee You know one of these years to be able to recognize how good a career he had Now Doc, I've got to ask you this. I was enthralled by the all-star game dunk contest this year But I don't understand how you and Dominique Wilkins are in the building and they have Common and Chadwick Boseman judging the dunks. Why weren't you guys sitting there judging the dunks? We're not from Chicago They wanted to make it feel, you know Have some home cooking there and You know that I think You know these decisions are made behind closed doors. Yeah But if Dr. Jay's in the house, he should be judging the dunk contest. That would be a natural thing But I've done so many of them. I mean, I've got probably more than 20 and Gone to you know, 30 plus all-star games or whatever. So it's nice to take a break Did the guy who won deserve to win or did The guy from Orlando, I think as it turned out his his duck was probably better than the one jumping over the seven footer Because that was a little, you know, it wasn't smooth. It was it was a little shaky. It was a two-handed. So it's very safe dunk And the other from inside the foul line with a little twist in the trail I mean, it wasn't it wasn't as good as some of the fifties that had happened before by both the guys But you know, it was a 48 and it beat out of 47 so Close yeah, but I think the thing you probably have a little angst about and I do too You know, the contest went so well and it was neck and neck for so long You hated to see somebody have to lose. Yep You know, it was almost like if they gave two trophies who would be mad in the building? Nobody And That's what I thought about it. All right, how about your nets? So they're hanging in there for a playoff spot pretty much without Kyrie in the next year You hope a healthy Kyrie and then you added to rant, you know, is the sky the limit for this next team Can we talk championship in Brooklyn next year? Well, they automatically have to be contended if you can get those guys It's just if they played 60 games I mean each of them because they're probably gonna still go through the load management situation next year It seems to be a fixture in the league now. There's an 82 game schedule But I think the benefit of the load management is now you see what you got in the in the rotation in terms of the next guy And then now you go nine deep or ten deep, you know instead of eight deep and That's going to help you play off time too because you're going to know what you're going to get out of these guys I mean, you know, they've compensated you got 12 guys on the side of the taxi squad So, you know, you might have 14 or 15 guys available and When the when the stars Get on the first rest You can see what you got other than just in practice you get to get to play real games So for so for some guys, it's an opportunity and and and we all know what happened in baseball When the star sat out and somebody took his spot and then 35 years later or 20 years later or whatever was he still had his spot and how the guy never got back to the lineup Julius what what were your thoughts when Kobe passed? I would I was saddened by it, you know, I was moved From my relationship with his dad and his mom You know his dad played with me and Philly my first year there. You got traded in the second year And Kobe was born during a decade when now my wife and I had five children. So So I kind of you know, look at it at him like another another child, you know, I kind of never My my my processing of this whole thing in Monday and Tuesday Sunday and Monday, you know when it was happening You know, so many people say well, you know, Kobe is what Michael Jordan used to be what used to be and you know Guys used to be in the league and I I never looked at the ball player Comparison piece because I never related to him That way it kind of we always related to him is, you know, Kelly being son and His greatness was associated with you know the titles and they and you know the relationship with Shaq and You know the things we heard and saw Over over the course of his career But you know, this was personal. I mean, you know, suddenly a life has been lost and And you know his daughter With him and this is not something that you know should happen. This is not something that happens every day to people who you have feelings for and Or even have a distant relationship with I was you know, I was taken back by it and You know, I mean, I think it's something that I mean, we're not going to get over Cuz there's gonna be more discoveries just like You know, we learned that the pilot had a history of being a risk-taker So that doesn't enhance the story, I mean it just makes it more pitiful in terms of you know saying Why did this have to happen because it was something that probably was avoidable Doc we thank you for coming on March 6th You're going to be in Brooklyn for the first time to watch the the Nets and the bobblehead is outstanding and we thank you for Giving us some time today Awesome guys nice talking to you and take care. All right. Good luck. All right So you just go to Brooklyn Nets comm for more information and you could actually be part of an exclusive meet and greet with Dr. J So there are tickets still available for that March 6 game at Brooklyn Nets comm