0:03

On this episode of Magic Pod Squad, we

0:05

catch up with former Magic Man marchin

0:07

Gortont. The Polish Hammer stopped

0:10

by to catch up with myself, George Galante,

0:12

and Jake Chap before the Department of Transportation

0:15

reminds you the fans.

0:16

Don't let fans drive drunk. If you've been drinking,

0:18

don't get behind the wheel. Instead, find a sober

0:21

driver or catch a ride service. Remember,

0:23

drive sober or get pulled over. Have a

0:25

great night and drive safe.

0:27

Lots of cover in this episode of Magic

0:29

Pod Squad with March and gor Tot, including

0:32

that great day when he first showed

0:34

up in City Beautiful. What he

0:36

thought is he was driving around town, and then that

0:38

first quote unquote press conference

0:40

where he was introduced as a

0:42

member of the Orlando Magic then his

0:44

time here in City Beautiful, what it meant to him

0:47

to be a part of this magic organization,

0:49

and the incredible bond that he had

0:51

with his father figure Brendan Malone,

0:54

an incredible man, great assistant

0:56

coach and the guy that marchin

0:59

Gortont credits for.

1:00

His NBA success.

1:02

So a great story on Brendan

1:04

Malone and what Marching is up to now

1:06

Tons to cover.

1:07

Are this edition of Magic Podsquad? Those

1:10

fawns long enough they Orlando Magic. This is

1:12

Cole Anthony, mister Jennings Suggs. This is Paulo

1:14

man Carroll of the Orlando Magic And you're listening

1:17

to the Pods Squad.

1:20

And what who everyone to Magic Pods Squad?

1:22

Dante Marctelli, George Delante, Jake

1:24

Chapman and the Polish Hammer

1:27

Martin Gort Todd kind.

1:28

It up to join us.

1:29

That never gets old, by the way, March, I love

1:31

it.

1:31

I love the Polish Hammer.

1:33

He played twelve NBA seasons

1:35

three plus right here in City Beautiful, the fifty

1:37

seventh overall pick in two thousand

1:39

and five. He was in Orlando from

1:41

two thousand and seven till twenty ten.

1:45

How is it almost twenty years

1:48

since you were drafted to the NBA? March

1:50

that I all tell me.

1:51

That because that thought that's real? Almost

1:53

twenty years?

1:54

Is that? How is that possible? Man?

1:57

I don't know. I'm still obviously

1:59

living my dream. I

2:03

literally remember the first days

2:06

when I arrived in Orlando. I

2:08

was walking on this old

2:11

carpet in Orlando Airport

2:13

and literally,

2:17

you know, I went to Maitland to the

2:19

RDV Sport Flex Facility and

2:21

after that, after practice, I remember

2:23

I went but for the first time to Disney

2:26

Downtown and I was enjoying

2:28

everything I see and it was just it

2:32

was just it was a dream, man, I honestly

2:34

it was a dream. Now I live here twenty

2:36

years and you know, thank

2:39

God that you guys are in the team. Seriously, thank

2:41

God that you are. You guys are still in the organization.

2:44

So at least I know people, because the players

2:46

that are joining the league right now I had

2:49

I don't know anybody. I mean, I literally

2:51

don't know anybody. Even the rookies

2:54

that play with me right now, they are like,

2:56

oh geez, Like there are team fifteen

2:58

year years of veterans in the team

3:01

in the league. So I'm telling

3:03

you, man, the only people that and the

3:05

best and the last memory that there

3:08

are left in the NBA are the actually people

3:10

work in the organization like you guys and sid

3:12

and and and a few other

3:14

girls in the organization.

3:17

Well, we we love in March and we're big fans and

3:19

always will be. But you got to tell everybody,

3:22

uh, the story, my favorite story about

3:24

when you got here. George Galate arranged

3:26

for you to come here and have a big, big

3:28

media gathering and

3:32

welcome you, to welcome you properly tour.

3:35

And it was literally, uh

3:37

one guy from the organization actually uh

3:39

photo photographs for for the organization.

3:42

So hey, listen, just hold that jersey. You were just

3:44

going to take a picture. And and the

3:46

jersey didn't even have a number on. You know. It

3:48

was like I'll mean listening,

3:51

you know, it was it was it

3:53

was great, man. I mean I had this

3:56

this super fancy shirt. Uh.

3:59

You know today we are laughing that, you know, people

4:01

asking me like, hey, where you got this shirt from?

4:03

Man, it was like did you did you? Did you get it

4:05

from Lost and Feld? You know, from the airport

4:07

because this thing was just bad

4:11

and and just my look,

4:13

you know the hair I was I had,

4:15

and just just the young luke

4:17

I had back then. But

4:20

listen, honestly, I didn't

4:22

really care, like of course, of all,

4:24

I didn't know how it's

4:27

supposed to be. Like first of all, like

4:29

I didn't know that I supposed to

4:31

have you know, whatever three

4:33

four or five you know, media reporters

4:36

or whatever, you know, three cameras or four cameras.

4:38

I didn't know anything about that that's one.

4:40

Two. I was just excited

4:43

and I was drafted the NBA.

4:45

That's that's it. That was just the biggest

4:47

thing. And I didn't really care back

4:49

then. But obviously later when I made

4:51

a team and I start learning

4:54

how everything works in the NBA, and you

4:57

know, I start next year and

4:59

next couple of years forward, I've seen

5:01

I've seen how how teams are welcoming

5:04

their their draft picks. I was like, damn.

5:07

I think I was like damn. I

5:11

said, well that'd be

5:13

I mean, I kind of understand. I was fifty seventh

5:15

pick, Like, hey, listen, you know, don't bring everybody

5:17

on board, you know, like, we don't

5:19

need so much offense to.

5:21

This guy, George fold On.

5:22

Know that not only not only not only

5:24

fifty seventh pick, but I think we weren't

5:27

even sure if you were coming over at the time, right

5:29

right, right right, I mean, because let's not put

5:31

off. Put this all on the pr right.

5:35

No, that's the whole point of it.

5:37

That's what we can tell the story however we want.

5:39

Yeah, because I mean we weren't even sure. I mean,

5:41

fifty fifty seventh pick. Here comes

5:43

March and Gortat and I'm like, well,

5:45

is he is he coming?

5:46

Is he? Here?

5:47

Is he even in America? And next thing I know, here comes

5:49

March right through, right through the doors. He's like, I'm

5:51

ready for my press like you were.

5:54

Probably you were probably about to leave, you

5:57

know, go go home, off to work, because

5:59

like, hey, hey, there's one more coming in. He just landed.

6:01

We sent a driver to pick him up.

6:03

He's about to come to the so just

6:06

just hang on for a couple more minutes. So

6:09

but you know what, back then, I remember,

6:11

I remember, and I actually think

6:14

that just the whole attention

6:16

about fran Vascus that was

6:19

drafted I think it was a year before me or

6:22

the same year he was drafted with eleventh

6:24

pick. Uh. Just

6:26

the whole attention about friend,

6:29

uh, and people say, oh, were waiting for

6:32

friend, friend is gonna be amazing.

6:34

I'm still waiting for him.

6:35

By It

6:38

kind of pushed me. It kind

6:40

of pushed me to work harder, you know, honestly,

6:43

And I think it was a great uh.

6:46

It was. I think it was a great uh situation

6:48

for me because obviously, you know, it was an

6:50

open spot for me. That's one and two. It

6:53

was always in the back of my mind, like, hey, I

6:55

gotta work extra hard because there's this guy

6:58

coming in. And I remember after my I

7:00

think it was a second year in Orlando, I

7:02

went back to Europe to play national team and

7:04

I had to play against him, and may

7:07

I destroyed this guy. I was like, no, I

7:09

worry about this guy anymore. I'm like, come

7:11

on, man, I'm an NBA player. Now wait

7:13

a second.

7:14

I think guys, I think we know why Frand

7:16

never came.

7:17

I think I just I think they

7:19

just got.

7:21

Found out. I want to be part of that.

7:23

Pod squad exclusive right there, exactly,

7:26

Sparty.

7:27

When you think about that time, you

7:29

know, we've talked a lot about sort of you

7:32

getting to the point where you knew you belonged. Was

7:35

there a moment a person who

7:38

wasn't Dwight every day in practice?

7:40

Was it stand lighting the fire under you? What

7:43

kind of guy did what kind of clicked it

7:45

into place like, oh, yeah, I'm where I'm supposed to be and

7:47

I could have a pretty long and successful career here.

7:50

Well, first of all, I was very I

7:52

was very lucky. I made it to very

7:55

good organization. And

7:57

you know, I'm not gonna I'm not

7:59

trying to, you

8:02

know, kiss anybody now, but I'm

8:05

saying that we had professional people

8:07

in the weight room, in and coaching

8:09

staff, PR people, people

8:12

from organizing trips and everything.

8:15

We were really on top of the

8:17

game. And the reason why I know

8:19

that is because when I went to a different

8:21

teams later on it was a Phoenix, it

8:23

was Washington and the Clippers. I've

8:26

seen how unorganized

8:28

our teams in a certain areas,

8:30

and we as a Rolatto Magic, we

8:32

were outstanding. I gotta I gotta

8:35

say, and uh, of

8:38

course we had few stuff coming

8:40

out to the media, but you know, obviously

8:43

at the end of the day, you couldn't stop stand or Dwhite

8:45

going to the media playing certain things. You

8:47

know, obviously I pop accidentally a few

8:49

things, but at the end of the day,

8:52

we had guys coming in and telling

8:54

me, hey, listen, come down, relax, you

8:56

know, go talk to stand Go talk to the coaches,

8:59

go go talk to the players. You know, everything

9:01

will be fine. You know, in one two

9:03

days, everything's going to come back to normal

9:05

situation and you're going to continue to practice

9:08

and play hard. But

9:10

that was the time when I realized after my first

9:13

and obviously second year, after second

9:15

year, when we made it to the NBA Finals, and

9:17

I made a name for myself. I knew

9:20

it that, you know, I have a big opportunity

9:22

to be in the league at least ten years if

9:25

everything's gonna obviously from the physical standpoint,

9:28

everything's gonna go well with me. So

9:30

that was the time when I understood that,

9:33

Yeah, I have a big chance. And like I said,

9:36

I would say, the biggest reason why is because we

9:38

just had outsending people in the organization, you

9:40

know, coaching staff, the

9:43

strength conditional coach who was working with me extremely

9:46

hard, and the right people, you

9:48

know, and the right people.

9:51

Marshan.

9:52

One of the guys that worked with you specifically

9:55

was was Brendan Malone, who

9:57

obviously passed away here recently

9:59

talked about your relationship with Brandan, how

10:02

he pushed you. I mean he really, he

10:04

really took you under his wing the

10:06

minute you walk through the door here in Orlando,

10:09

right.

10:10

Well, I mean he's like

10:12

I said, you know, he's like my dad. You

10:15

know, we recently went to his funeral

10:19

and there was this quote, actually stay and

10:22

use it, and I'm trying to find

10:24

that quote that that quote is actually

10:27

outstanding. I mean, he that

10:29

that quote exactly described Brandon

10:34

is that the quote goes, if your president doesn't

10:36

make an impact, your absence won't make a difference.

10:39

And and that's

10:42

that's how Brandon was, you know, that's

10:44

how Brandon was. I mean, Brendon was more than

10:47

just a coach. Uh. You know, you

10:49

you go to practice with Brendan and then you go

10:52

work on your right hook, left hook,

10:54

You're gonna work on your you know, mid jump

10:56

shot. Then you're gonna work on the picker rolls and

11:00

to that. You know. When we're down with practice,

11:02

we're about to sit down, and and

11:04

he, you know, he sits next to me. He

11:06

said, okay, young man, So tell me, so

11:09

what did you do with the with the with the

11:11

money the first check that came in, you know. And

11:13

I started telling him, Oh, I went and buy a car, you

11:15

know, for the one hundred thousand dollars car. You know, It's

11:17

like, have you lost him? Smart? Yes?

11:20

Right, He's like, have you lost your mind? Like why

11:22

can't you just buy you know, a cheaper car,

11:24

you know, thirty forty thousand dollars card

11:26

just a good solid car that you can go to

11:29

practice, you know, and

11:31

and and just work hard on your game. And

11:33

and I said, did you, did you buy a

11:35

house. I'm like, no, I'm actually renting right now. Good

11:38

good, that's good, you know. And he was actually

11:40

teaching me what to do

11:43

out of the basketball court also, you know, how

11:45

to manage everything. Then you

11:47

know, at the end of the season, we have

11:49

exit meetings. He said, young man, come to me

11:51

after practice, after after meeting with stant

11:54

please come to my office. So I went to his office.

11:56

You know, I said, Dad, what's going on? He said, Okay,

11:58

I need you to go home. I want you to forget about

12:01

basketball for about you three weeks and then you're going

12:03

back to work. And don't forget right

12:06

now. When you're gonna go back to you, I need you

12:08

to go to your mom, your dad, buy

12:10

them something nice, buy them something they're gonna

12:12

make feel It's gonna make them feel good.

12:14

You know. Just just thank them for everything

12:17

they've done for you. That they raise you as a good

12:19

man, and they raise you as a you know, strong

12:21

human being, and and just thank them

12:23

for everything they've done for you. And

12:25

after two three weeks, come back to tow Or

12:27

like, no, we're gonna work hard. And I was

12:30

like, all right, coach, that's what I'm gonna do. So

12:32

the first thing I did is go back home, you

12:35

know, buy you know, buy a car to that, buy

12:37

a you know, buy something to mom.

12:40

And and that's how Brandon right.

12:42

And that's how Brandon was, you know, and he

12:44

was he was extraordinary. Man.

12:48

I definitely miss him and makes me feel

12:50

even more bad because when I

12:52

was in Washington, I actually gave him a call. I

12:55

gave him a call and I I asked him,

12:58

can I there was a situation Washington

13:00

when Tommy Shepherd

13:03

GM he's not with the Wizards,

13:05

he's not with Washington anymore. But the

13:08

GM that was there, he

13:10

told me, like March, if you want to fly to New York

13:13

with the team, I was kind of like a part

13:15

show, kind of like a temporary

13:18

coach, maybe not temporary, but like a just

13:20

assistant, you know, helping

13:23

out with the Biggs. But I wasn't traveling

13:25

with the team. And he

13:28

said like, hey, if you want to go to New York, just let

13:30

us know, just let us know. We will we

13:32

will arrange the whole trip for you. Also,

13:35

and I gave a call to Brenda. I

13:37

said, listen, Brenda, I have an opportunity to go to

13:39

New York. I will go to New

13:41

York if you allow me to come and visit you. And

13:44

back then he said, no, now I

13:46

don't want to really do that. I

13:48

really appreciate it, I really you

13:50

know, I definitely thank

13:52

you for this opportunity, but I

13:55

don't feel good. I don't look good. I don't

13:57

want you to see me this way and that

13:59

just you know, stay on the phone and just

14:01

you know, keep in touch on the phone with me. I was like,

14:04

I said, Brendan, you are you're literally breaking

14:07

my heart right now, Like, come on, man, I can I

14:09

don't even have to enter the house. I'm just gonna

14:11

be standing in front of the window. Just come

14:13

to the window, let me talk to you. So

14:16

he was like, nah, no, you know, marine

14:18

doesn't feel good and and we just don't

14:20

feel like this is the right time to to

14:22

to to make a visit like that. And

14:25

literally two months later,

14:27

uh Stan went to see him and

14:29

a couple of days or whatever week two weeks

14:32

later he passed away. So it

14:34

was it was devastating. It was devastating.

14:36

I was crying, and you

14:40

know, it was devastating because there was a man that

14:42

made me, you know, he was a man that made me Uh,

14:45

in every possible way, you

14:47

know, basketball as as a man. He

14:49

raised me also as almost as

14:51

he saw every time when I see Michael

14:54

Malone, I was literally saying to him,

14:56

was up broader, you know, like and not like just

14:59

just a laying like a broader. I really treat

15:01

him like my broader because Brandon was our

15:04

fodder. You know. That's so that's how I

15:06

act with him. So yeah,

15:09

it was, it was. It was unbelievable

15:11

to have Brandon around me, uh

15:13

for so many years.

15:15

March.

15:15

Where does that? Where does that come from? I mean You've always

15:17

been that way. You're incredibly loyal and you

15:20

have never forgot where you came from. You never

15:22

forgot the people that helped you along the way, and

15:24

you still do incredible things now

15:26

to help everybody that you come in contact with.

15:28

That guys, right, I mean that that has

15:30

always mean you.

15:32

What what this is saying? What comes around?

15:34

Go? Uh? What go there?

15:38

There? You go? There you go? Thank you?

15:41

You know good guys. You guys are the same

15:43

way, you know. I mean every time when I ask Orlando

15:45

Magic Organization, I'm receiving so much love

15:47

from you guys, and and not only

15:49

we've been through a lot. You know, we know each other for

15:52

twenty years now. You

15:54

know we've been NBA Finals together. We won't

15:56

met a playoff games. We went through ups

15:59

and downs, we went to through you know, hell

16:01

and the media. And also you went through you

16:03

know, beating bustles and coval

16:06

years in the playoffs, you know, and it

16:09

was fun. You know, those those moments,

16:11

those bottles create incredible bond. And

16:14

what I'm receiving from Orlando Magic Organization,

16:16

from you guys, you know, the help and the camps,

16:18

you know, all the all the support with

16:20

the kids when they coming here to the United States, the

16:22

opportunities to watch the game,

16:25

the opportunities to visit the facility.

16:27

This is something that you know, I

16:30

look like a god back at Poland just to let

16:32

you know, you know, because when kids coming

16:34

here, they seek the facility that looks

16:37

like a literally a shopping center

16:39

because this is so huge. I

16:41

mean, you know, this is this is

16:43

unbelievable. So uh, I'm

16:46

just giving my love back to the organization that

16:48

is supporting me so much, you know. Uh.

16:51

And and and that's just how I feel. If

16:53

if if you treat me well and you give

16:55

me love, I give you you know, even

16:57

more love. You know, I give you back even more law

17:00

And and that's how I feel about Orlando.

17:02

I'm excited that Orlando is finally in the

17:04

playoffs. I'm excited that the

17:06

team is building something

17:09

special. I think, you

17:11

know, there's a couple of guys, a couple of pieces

17:13

in the team that like uh Powlo

17:16

Banchera that is extremely

17:18

great player, and I think he's going to be a start

17:20

in this league for many, many years. I'm

17:23

just hoping that we're gonna make finally

17:26

a big moves free agency moves like

17:28

we did back back in the time with with

17:30

Russhard Lewis. I think there's going to be a time

17:32

we will have to throw some money at somebody and

17:35

and finally build a team that's going to compete

17:37

in this league for the next three, four five

17:39

years. You know, and.

17:40

Martin, think about when you first got to the playoffs,

17:42

right that first taste. Obviously you get your first start,

17:44

and you have a double double, four steals, and

17:46

and you help eliminate the Sixers. So the Sixers

17:49

aren't feeling a whole lot of love for you from

17:51

that. If you

17:53

got you got a bunch of guys on this magic team.

17:55

Po is one of them.

17:56

Frowns is one of They never bet at the playoffs? What

17:58

did What are they going to experience

18:01

that they couldn't possibly imagine right now? What

18:03

is that first taste of the playoffs?

18:05

Like, oh, there's good they got, especially

18:07

in France who is on the ball a lot, and obviously

18:09

Paulo that that's the main player in the team.

18:12

They gotta be ready because they get they're gonna get

18:14

hit. They gonna get hit, They're

18:16

gonna get a lot of hard, strong

18:19

files and they got to keep their composure.

18:21

That's number one. They can lose their head

18:24

and they can, you know, start fighting

18:26

or start throwing you know, stupid files

18:28

around. They can't do that. They got to focus

18:30

on the basketball game. I'm hoping there

18:32

are other guys in the team that will they will

18:34

come in and give a good, strong foul in

18:37

order to protect the stars from the team.

18:39

But uh, a's

18:42

their moment. This is it. This is that,

18:44

that's what you're working for, you know, seven

18:46

eight, nine months a year to

18:48

come in and play these games

18:51

at the top the best

18:53

possible level. You know that you

18:55

can, I mean, there's no

18:58

excuses there's no uh

19:00

oh, I thought this. I thought that there's no

19:02

miscommunication. Dude, you have eighty

19:04

two freaking games to learn

19:07

your communication. There are eighty two games to learn

19:09

your places, to to to know your

19:11

spots. If you

19:13

didn't build that chemistry

19:16

until now, man,

19:19

we gotta stand in. Brandon

19:21

told me, Man, we gotta find somebody else who

19:23

can help us with bottom line.

19:25

That's a bottom line. You gotta you

19:28

gotta perform. That's what we pay you to

19:30

to perform. Right now. This is uh,

19:33

this is a I would say, maybe

19:35

not Christmas, but I would say it's a uh

19:38

it's a special time for the fans.

19:41

Playoffs are here finally and we

19:43

have a chance to go further than the first round.

19:46

And uh yeah, and

19:48

hopefully these guys understand that you

19:50

know that or done, Jake, I think March,

19:52

I think Martin wants in. I think you want to look it's

19:55

just a playoff action, right, I will I start

19:57

talking about that. I had a goosebomb on my back.

19:59

You know, listen, I

20:01

get see him in your stuff, right start right,

20:03

Hey, listen, I didn't get one of these.

20:05

Let me just finish. Let me just finish my coffee

20:07

and I'm about to go.

20:09

Man, I don't think coffee right.

20:11

Oh no, well listen,

20:13

I get I can get you good strong

20:16

eighteen to twenty minutes, literally eighteen

20:18

point two. That's a lot of it. It's

20:21

hardly just give me

20:23

a day off tomorrow, all right, But

20:26

but I give you twenty good minutes, and I promise

20:28

you I keep I keep. Uh.

20:31

The main statistic that will follow me,

20:34

uh follow me my entire life,

20:36

which means rebound every

20:38

three minutes. That's something

20:41

I didn't care about. I mean, okay, I

20:43

did care about points to our life. If

20:45

I say I didn't.

20:46

I was gonna say you're a liar.

20:48

Yeah, but they were, they were. They were less

20:50

important than my rebounds. The

20:52

rebounds kept me in the league.

20:54

Does somebody break it down to you that simple

20:56

where somebody told you, like, listen, every two to three

20:58

minutes around the floor, you better be grabbing one readount

21:01

like random.

21:04

That was the guy who h I think

21:06

I told you got I told you, I told

21:08

you this story a couple of times. Already went

21:11

after before the game,

21:13

we have a shoot around, I mean we we before

21:15

the game, we have the warm up, and obviously my warm

21:17

up was like four hours before the game,

21:19

not two hours, but like four hours before

21:22

the game. Not the cheaters

21:24

were not even in the building yet, you know, like I

21:27

was already getting warmed up, and

21:30

and after warm up, we were sitting

21:33

at the chairs at the bench

21:35

of it there, and he would come

21:37

to me with a piece of paper,

21:39

you know, two three papers. He printed

21:41

it out and he was like, read

21:44

it, you know. And the first time, obviously I

21:46

folded and put in my back pocket. So

21:48

he comes back to me fifteen minutes later it's

21:50

like, did you read it? I was like, yeah, yeah,

21:52

I read it. Okay, So what was there? Like

21:55

ow, you know, just like like obviously

21:57

I didn't read it. But he was like he

22:00

looks at me, He's like, hey, man, like

22:02

why are you wasting my time? Why did I print

22:04

this? Why did I why? Why did I find that article?

22:07

And I was looking for this, uh put

22:09

this article in the internet for you know, for

22:11

many minutes, for a couple of minutes, like come

22:14

on, read it. This is this is your homework. I'm like, all

22:16

right, coach, apologize for that. Give me ten minutes.

22:19

I'll come back to you. So I read all that stuff

22:21

and it was about Dennis Rodman and He's

22:24

and his ability to rebound, his passion

22:26

for rebounding, So

22:29

obviously I read the whole article, came to him.

22:31

We started talking back and forth, and he told me from

22:33

now on, from now on, I

22:36

need you to rebound the basketball every

22:38

three minutes. If you're gonna rebound every

22:40

three minutes, you're gonna be the best

22:43

rebounder in the league. Well, he

22:45

forget to mention. There was one guy named Dhight

22:47

freaking Howard. It was rebounding every

22:50

like two minutes twenty seconds, and I

22:52

was like, I was like, that's the possible

22:54

to do, you know, Then up with this guy. I'm

22:57

like, keep up with that guy. You know, I'm like, that's impossible

22:59

to do. But but's still by

23:02

the minutes, and you know,

23:04

by all these statistics coming off the bench,

23:06

playing those ten twelve

23:08

minutes, I was averaging three three and a half

23:11

three about I was right there around that

23:13

three minute mark, which was great.

23:15

That's such a good story, though, because Dennis

23:17

Rodman is a perfect example of

23:20

how much in between the ears matters, right,

23:22

I mean, the greatest rebounder arguably of

23:24

all time. Physically, he was no Dwight

23:26

Howard, but not the way that ball

23:29

was coming off the rim, and he played the angles

23:31

and that was all he wanted to do when he was on the floor,

23:34

was defending rebound. Marge, you've worked

23:36

with with young Biggs and obviously you're not

23:38

very far removed from the league. You played during

23:40

a very interesting time where the back

23:42

to the basket post offense sort

23:44

of died. But then biggs are

23:46

kind of reborn. Now we have guys like nicolea jokicch

23:49

In Towns and MB who play a lot differently

23:52

than than your style of play. What

23:54

what is your state of the of the

23:56

young NBA big man, young biggs entering

23:58

the league right now? What are

24:00

they not being taught? What are

24:02

some characteristics of them? Just give me

24:05

your sort of overall view of young begs. I

24:08

think first we have a we need to have

24:10

big that uh have

24:12

the will and the right

24:15

mindset. And if we're gonna get these

24:17

guys, and if we're gonna find these.

24:19

Guys, then these

24:22

guys need to continue to prove

24:25

that they can do stuff with the back to the basket

24:27

that they need to demand the ball. I

24:31

understand to follow the rules, follow the coach

24:33

what he wants to do. I understand that, But there's

24:35

gonna be a time in a game when

24:38

guy is catching six offensive free bounds

24:40

around the rim and he's kicking those

24:42

six basketballs. You know, he's kicking

24:44

them to the point guard. Come on, man, you are three

24:47

feet from the basket. Give me a putback,

24:50

right back. You know what I'm saying. Muscle the muscle

24:53

up the guy to the basket. You know, do a move, do a

24:55

shake, whatever finished left right hand, Give

24:57

me something, you know what I'm saying. I understand

24:59

not every offensive freeball

25:01

needs to be a bucket for you. At least

25:04

give me half and half. People don't want

25:06

to do that. People don't want to do that. And

25:09

listen, that shows me that you don't want to play

25:11

I'm literally speaking like Brandon right now.

25:14

You should. That shows me you don't

25:16

want to play basketball. And if you're not gonna

25:18

do that, then

25:20

don't expect we're gonna have bigs around

25:22

the league that only running and setting screens and

25:24

rolling to the basket.

25:25

Bottom line, what would

25:27

your game look like? Mark, that's a great breakdown, by the

25:29

way that that's phenomenal, terrific insight. But

25:32

how would you have adapted your game.

25:34

Obviously we know the work. The thing

25:36

that's amazing to me, and you guys know this,

25:39

But you know, March in eighty one games,

25:41

eighty games, sixty six games during

25:43

a walkout, played all sixty six, eighty one,

25:45

eighty two, eighty eighty two, eighty

25:47

two and

25:50

if you're healthy, you were play it right.

25:51

What would you mean that was two biggest That was

25:53

the biggest thing, you know, uh, while

25:56

also GM said the biggest, the

25:58

biggest, uh being available

26:01

available, availability is

26:03

the biggest, the biggest reason I was also

26:05

in the league for twelve years. You know, I'm

26:11

quite sure I'll be doing the same thing in

26:13

the league what I was doing back in the day

26:15

I was at great screens. I'm quite

26:17

sure I will come up with two more extra

26:20

screens that people haven't seen. And

26:22

I think I'm not gonna tell this to

26:24

anybody, but now that I'm trying to sell

26:26

myself and sign a contract right now, that's

26:28

not about that. But I'm saying

26:31

I see things that I could do on the court

26:33

that other bigs are not

26:35

doing it. Right now. I could do those things,

26:37

and I worry about my physicality.

26:40

I wear about my skills around the rim.

26:43

I could definitely shoot the ball to you know, sixteen

26:45

seventeen feet. I'm definitely not gonna

26:47

shoot threes, even that I can make three

26:49

in the practice, I will not shoot threes

26:52

because that's not my job.

26:56

And I definitely believe I could help the

26:58

team. I could help the team, and I could definitely

27:01

be a better pro in the locker room

27:04

that I was, you know, fifteen

27:06

years ago. I mean, obviously, because I'm an older

27:08

person now and I see things different, I

27:11

will definitely resolves

27:14

many situations in the locker room different way

27:16

than I was doing this, you know, fifteen

27:18

years ago.

27:20

So, Marsh, before we got on the air here, you were telling

27:23

us what you have going back on going host.

27:25

Let me try this again, what you have going home

27:28

in Poland. You have a lot of big things going on because

27:30

you spend half your time now in the

27:32

States in Orlando, and then half the time you head

27:34

back home. Tell everybody what you have going

27:36

on when you get back to Poland.

27:38

Here in a couple of weeks, so we're coming to the point

27:40

where, you know, all my

27:42

events, main events are starting

27:44

in Poland soon in the next three four months,

27:47

We're going to do basketball camps, we're

27:49

going to do basketball camps. In the winner of those camps,

27:51

the MVP from each camp is

27:53

actually coming to the United States and it's

27:55

coming to Orlando to watch m be

27:57

a game and

28:00

and then you know, see hopefully see

28:02

the facility, go to NASA,

28:04

NASA, go to Disney Downtown

28:06

and see couple parks. We're

28:08

also gonna have a big

28:11

celebrity game between we used

28:13

to have in the past ten years we had Poland

28:15

versus I mean, I'm sorry, a Gorda

28:18

team versus Polish Army. But

28:20

because this year we have twenty fifth anniversary

28:23

of joining NATO, we're

28:25

actually gonna have soldiers from NATO and

28:28

we're gonna have all from all nations we

28:30

we we're gonna have We're

28:32

gonna have a soldier coming in. The

28:34

funny story is I can tell you this one

28:36

last year we had the game against Polish

28:39

Army, but because we uh

28:41

the Court of Celebrities where

28:45

we we had three

28:47

Ukraine four Ukrainian soldiers

28:50

joining our team Gorda

28:52

celebrity team. And the reason why is

28:54

because they are not they

28:56

are not NATO yet, so

28:59

they couldn't join the army. But

29:01

in order but then we said, all right, just because

29:03

Ukrainian soldiers joined my team, let's

29:06

call a couple of American guys and let

29:08

them join the Polish Polish army.

29:11

So you ain't gonna believe

29:13

me. I had probably about

29:16

ten or fifteen different calls

29:18

to ambassadors, different

29:21

people United States. I spoke with some generals,

29:24

you know, like high rank officers. We

29:26

could not bring one soldier from

29:29

American soldier from Poland, and we had

29:31

probably about twenty five thousand of them

29:33

in Poland right now, we can. We

29:35

could not bring even one one soldier.

29:38

So we brought security

29:40

guard from embassy. And

29:44

right before, right before when

29:46

we had the you know, right

29:48

before the game, we we had to announce every

29:51

soldier the name and the rank, you

29:54

know, we have the We asked the soldier, We

29:56

asked the guy, the security guard. I was like, listen,

29:58

you know, how can we you know present

30:00

you he's his name is whatever. Mike.

30:03

I'm like, but are you like I don't know general

30:06

mayor colonel. He's like, uh, I'm

30:08

just security guard. I'm like,

30:11

hell, I'm like, listen, I said,

30:13

we got to come up with something. He

30:16

listen. So so I'm

30:18

like, we got to come up with something. Man, He's like,

30:20

all right, just call me a special agent. I'm

30:22

like, all right, man, let's see a special agent. You

30:25

know. So this this this thing was

30:27

hilarious. But yeah, but

30:29

this year is better. We we finally have a

30:31

contact and we're gonna have American soldiers

30:34

and we're gonna have different

30:36

soldiers from different countries and it's gonna

30:38

be outstanding, outstanding event. Uh.

30:42

And also after that event, we will finish

30:44

uh the season in

30:46

my schools. We I have five schools,

30:49

five sports schools in my country, in my in

30:51

Poland, and we're gonna finish a year

30:53

for them. So I do have a lot of responsibilities

30:56

now when I go back to Poland And and

31:00

there's a lot of work in front of me right

31:02

now, and then probably I

31:04

will go to front lines again

31:06

to help out a couple of weeks.

31:08

Yeah, March, I was gonna ask you about that. Let's let everybody

31:10

know it's it's phenomenal the work that you're doing. And I know

31:12

it's it's a it's big, it's a big passion of yours

31:15

and you've done it since you were a player here and even before

31:17

you came to the States. But uh, you

31:19

work with the Polish Army. I mean, you've done unbelievable

31:21

work with that, and I know what's happening in the Ukraine

31:24

is is gut wrenching for you as well and for

31:26

Infra AID, right.

31:27

So yeah, I'm I'm certified

31:29

medic. A couple of months ago I've

31:32

done uh it was almost a year now,

31:34

I've done the whole training to

31:36

be a certified medic military

31:40

medic, so you know, I know everything

31:42

how to do ivs and injections

31:45

and you know basically how to rescue

31:47

people, you know, on the field. And hopefully

31:49

I won't have to do that. But uh,

31:52

yeah, I trained. I've been working

31:55

with the special forces uh from

31:57

Poland for many years now, and

32:00

and we finally

32:02

have opportunity to go and help out.

32:05

I've doubted already twice, didn't

32:07

really have too much action. Haven't seen

32:10

too much action yet. Hopefully I

32:12

will have to. But again, uh,

32:14

we still got to continue to support them.

32:17

Ukraine is in a very bad situation right

32:19

now, as everybody knows.

32:22

They kind of hanging out there now alone,

32:24

and Pauland is the

32:26

one of the lost countries that is actually helping Ukraine,

32:29

and we got to continue to do that because guess what

32:31

if they're going to go through Ukraine, we

32:33

are next.

32:35

Well we we we certainly continue to pray for

32:37

you and and everything that's going on over there, March

32:39

and keep up the great work and all the support

32:41

that you've done. And at some point, George,

32:43

we've got to get out there. We've got to visit marchin and

32:46

we got to see what. I just can't even imagine

32:48

what this guy's like back here.

32:49

You know, I expect if I go

32:51

over there that they're some like people are

32:54

literally going to carry me around, like literally

32:56

carry me around.

32:57

We're gonna we.

33:00

Gota people throwing flowers right in front

33:02

of you when you alter.

33:05

It's exactly right, grapes.

33:07

I picture them feeding the grapes.

33:10

Oh my god.

33:11

And then we'll go to the photo op and then the photo

33:13

op in the empty.

33:14

Room

33:17

bare we gonna have the pay baker.

33:20

Well listen, and the last thing we'll say Marching

33:22

is you're gonna be recognized in the arena on

33:24

March twenty ninth. It's gonna be against the Clippers

33:26

and other team that you're familiar with and that you played

33:29

for, and it'll be special. The fans

33:31

will love seeing you there. It'll be a great interaction.

33:33

And I know the fans mean so

33:36

much to you here and Central Fida from.

33:38

All your time here in Orlando. Yeah, I love

33:40

it. I'm excited, and I'm

33:42

looking forward and especially

33:44

to see the Clippers theme. Uh

33:46

and and hopefully obviously we're gonna get

33:48

a nice, juicy win. That's

33:52

that's That's what I'm hoping. And

33:54

and yeah, it's gonna be a special moment.

33:57

It's funny because the game is on Friday, and I should

33:59

leave Saturday, so it's gonna be uh,

34:02

you know, the last, the last, the

34:04

last event here in the States for me.

34:07

Uh, looking forward, I'm looking forward. I'm hoping

34:09

everybody is gonna play. Uh, everybody's

34:12

gonna play. I know how it works

34:14

that towards the end of the season, people

34:16

are coaches are resting their stars. But I'm

34:18

hoping everybody is gonna play.

34:20

All right, Always great to see Mark Joyce.

34:22

Hold on, is it isn't everything better when things

34:24

are juicy? Like, things are way better

34:26

when they're juicy, right, are down juicy

34:29

winds?

34:30

Everything better?

34:31

Remember that? And remember you always have to

34:33

take your shirt off in a wait throom. Just

34:36

it just grows, it grows

34:38

better. Man, don't George, don't you think

34:40

so you don't know how you do it.

34:43

I think that's my problem. I get my shirt on, it's

34:45

my never and you proud

34:47

of it.

34:48

And you probably do that with with the music

34:50

turned down. You gotta, I gotta,

34:52

I gotta go.

34:57

All be interested to know exactly what your work aut

35:00

team is these days.

35:01

George.

35:01

I think in the next episode, In

35:03

the next episode, I can

35:05

tell you what it's not juicy. I can tell you that. Sure,

35:08

I'm chick up, workout hard.

35:09

I love it. I still hope you guys have

35:11

my summer league jersey hanging in the

35:14

in the rafters something there. You know. I'm hoping

35:16

he's hanging somewhere at least in his office,

35:18

you know. I mean that is never.

35:20

You can't play nine summer leagues and not get it retired,

35:22

right right, And the best

35:24

thing is that you guys canceled there orlandose family

35:26

leagues, so summer league so nobody can beat

35:28

my record like this over

35:31

he's gonna stand over there for centuries,

35:33

you know, Like.

35:33

The first thing he says, the first thing we said when

35:36

we were in the meeting to cancel and we're like, well, Gore

35:38

Todd lives on forever.

35:41

That's how you build legends, man, that's how you

35:43

build legends of this. Just

35:46

because of this one decision, one call,

35:48

my legend will live forever, forever.

35:52

I love it. Margin you the best. Great

35:54

to see you, buddy, and we'll talk to you soon. Appreciate

35:56

you, guys, Thank you very much. That'll do

35:58

it for this edition.

35:59

Imagine Pod Squad will see you next time.