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Speaker 2: Welcome in What's Right? Would Nick write Episode two thirty
Speaker 2: three on a somewhat bitter sweet day? You know, we
Speaker 2: we got to see a great basketball game last night.
Speaker 2: We got to see Jamal Murray continue to write an
Speaker 2: NBA story that is without precedent, really, and we also
Speaker 2: got to see a guy who is doing his best
Speaker 2: to climb up the NBA pantheon. In Nikola Jokic show
Speaker 2: you how great players, truly historically great players, even in
Speaker 2: games where they don't seem to have it and are
Speaker 2: uncharacteristically sloppy, not that sharp. You're like, oh, he still
Speaker 2: had twenty five, twenty and nine as he climbs up
Speaker 2: the all time ranks, and it was against the backdrop
Speaker 2: of and this is the case with every playoff game
Speaker 2: Lebron plays in. At this point, what could be the
Speaker 2: final playoff game of the career of the great best
Speaker 2: player of all time. And so we will get into
Speaker 2: all of that. We will also do a draft recap. Also,
Speaker 2: shout out and happy, I can't believe it. Nineteenth birthday
Speaker 2: to one of my favorite co hosts, one of my
Speaker 2: three favorite children, and one of my four favorite human
Speaker 2: beings to ever live, Diora as she wakes up in
Speaker 2: sunny Santa Cruz, California this morning, nineteen years old. So
Speaker 2: a very happy birthday to my beloved daughter, Demonsey. If
Speaker 2: you would like before we start the show, there you
Speaker 2: go soon. No, I know you will, But if you
Speaker 2: wanted to get it on the record to the audience,
Speaker 2: that's fine too. Episode two thirty three. Here's what missed
Speaker 2: the cut not on today's show. The Prince gets his
Speaker 2: fifth year option picked up. The Celtics take a three
Speaker 2: to one lead on the Heat, but it's a costly
Speaker 2: as Porzingis seems a lot of cap injuries going around,
Speaker 2: and in a series watched by hundreds and hundreds of people,
Speaker 2: the thunder Do in fact sweep the New Orleans Pelicans.
Speaker 2: And this is the reward you get for being the
Speaker 2: one seed. You get a walk over in round one
Speaker 2: as you prepare for a Round two opponent that's gonna
Speaker 2: have just played a six or seven game war in
Speaker 2: the Clippers of the MAVs. But of course we must
Speaker 2: start demons with the news of the day, and that
Speaker 2: is the Nuggets complete the closest gentleman sweep in NBA history,
Speaker 2: four games to one. Go right ahead.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so they they did finish the close gentlemen's sweep.
Speaker 3: Lebron not too much to lose there. I think he
Speaker 3: had a lot to gain. But yeah, so Ham With
Speaker 3: that said, Ham is likely out. Ellie wants to re
Speaker 3: sign Lebron and sounds like they'd be open as signing
Speaker 3: or drafting Bronni.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So on the bright side of all these things, it's
Speaker 3: an improvement from last year.
Speaker 2: Correct, Well, okay, so I mean it's not getting swept,
Speaker 2: but last year was of course in the conference finals.
Speaker 2: This was in round one, and I will give the
Speaker 2: Nuggets and Yokichen murray their flowers, I promise, but that
Speaker 2: isn't where I want to start today's show. I want
Speaker 2: to start with the Lakers side of things, big picture,
Speaker 2: and then the Lebron James of it all. So this
Speaker 2: Lakers team had deep playoff run upside if everything fell
Speaker 2: right for them in relation to their aging superstars, health
Speaker 2: and productivity. And what makes this season so such a
Speaker 2: tough pill to swallow and so bitter sweet for and
Speaker 2: mostly just bitter for Laker fans is no matter what
Speaker 2: bill of goods Darvin Ham tries to sell you about
Speaker 2: health of the roster and about people being focused on
Speaker 2: rotations when it's about availability, the fact of the matter
Speaker 2: is this. The Lakers four best players played eighty two,
Speaker 2: seventy six, seventy six and seventy one games. They were
Speaker 2: remarkably healthy, and there are a lot of reasons why
Speaker 2: the Lakers got off to their twenty four and twenty
Speaker 2: five start. As The Athletic did a pretty good job
Speaker 2: of laying out in its article today, the total refusal
Speaker 2: to start your best players until the fifty game mark
Speaker 2: of the season shirt didn't help, which put them behind
Speaker 2: the eight ball. And as I said, the day of
Speaker 2: the trade deadline, because as much crap as Darvin Ham gets,
Speaker 2: fairly to a degree, to me, the main villain of
Speaker 2: this Lakers season is not the head coach, but is
Speaker 2: the front office that stood pat at the deadline, that
Speaker 2: didn't even make any moves around the margins for reasons
Speaker 2: that never made sense to me. And this isn't second guessing.
Speaker 2: This was first guessing when I saw a team like
Speaker 2: Dallas just make the minor ad of you know what,
Speaker 2: let's go ahead and trade for Daniel Gafford because we
Speaker 2: think he can give us some quality backup five minutes
Speaker 2: and folks said to me, are you nick, you're whining
Speaker 2: about not getting Daniel gafferd that's gonna make the difference. Well,
Speaker 2: when you're playing the defending champs in round one and
Speaker 2: games two, in games five literally come down to the
Speaker 2: final shot of the game, you do wonder if ten
Speaker 2: minutes from Daniel Gafford rather than ten minutes from Jackson Hayes,
Speaker 2: would that have been worth one possession? Would that would
Speaker 2: would the would that have been worth one possession in
Speaker 2: a couple of games? Maybe maybe not? And so I
Speaker 2: don't think it was a well coached team. I don't
Speaker 2: think it was a well put together team. And I
Speaker 2: think that, yes, right now, Jokic and Jamal are better
Speaker 2: than Lebron and Ad. That's not really deniable, but it
Speaker 2: is close enough that the difference in this series was
Speaker 2: supporting cast members. The difference in the series was Michael
Speaker 2: Porter Junior. Shout out to him being unbelievable under the
Speaker 2: backdrop of true family tragedy, under the backdrop of his
Speaker 2: brother being banned from the league and his other brother
Speaker 2: being sent to prison. Michael Porter Junior just played the
Speaker 2: best basketball of his life twenty three and eight a
Speaker 2: night on fifty five forty nine splits. So it's a
Speaker 2: great job by him. He deserves credit. Jamal Murray, who
Speaker 2: again i'll get to more in depth, not one hundred percent,
Speaker 2: not shooting great throughout the series, hits a walk off
Speaker 2: in Game two, and yesterday plays well throughout the entirety
Speaker 2: of the game on one leg and hits another semi
Speaker 2: walk off. And then of course there's Joker. But what
Speaker 2: once again is gonna be tough to swallow for Laker
Speaker 2: fans is as because Jokers so great. It's not like
Speaker 2: you're shocked by his production. You went into the series,
Speaker 2: probably anticipating about this level of production. He didn't hit
Speaker 2: those insane shot clock beating heaves like he did last year.
Speaker 2: He didn't have one like just absolutely steal your soul
Speaker 2: half like he did Game one last year. And it
Speaker 2: just wasn't enough. And now if folks want to say, well, look,
Speaker 2: you know Ad needed to be better, I guess AD
Speaker 2: did he wear down at the end of these games.
Speaker 3: Sure came down to one possession. I think they could
Speaker 3: hit some free throws. Lebron hit, he missed one after one.
Speaker 3: Austin Reeves took a turnaround mid range as like one
Speaker 3: of the last shots.
Speaker 2: He also, I know that killed me the.
Speaker 3: He missed. He didn't. But like I'm saying, it came
Speaker 3: down to a possession, Austin Reeves missed two with three
Speaker 3: free throws on a on a foul three point shot.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's right. That and then Dinwiddie, who's an
Speaker 2: eighty eight percent free throw shooter in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 2: missed two. Yeah it does of course. So it's there
Speaker 2: are things the Lakers could have done, there's and there's
Speaker 2: no excuses here, and it just that the Nuggets are
Speaker 2: the better team. Do I think there are worlds that
Speaker 2: exist where right now it's three to two Lakers. Sure
Speaker 2: do I think in the majority of basketball universes right
Speaker 2: now it's three to two Nuggets. Yeah, I do. I
Speaker 2: think a four to one Nugget series win is not
Speaker 2: an outlier result, but an unlikely result given how these
Speaker 2: these games were played. But it's what happened and so
Speaker 2: and the other factor of it is, I do wonder
Speaker 2: how much the Lakers would have left in the tank
Speaker 2: even if they were to get past the Nuggets in
Speaker 2: this round with a rested, young, hungry, ferocious Timberwolves team
Speaker 2: waiting for a week, and Denver is more likely to
Speaker 2: be up to that challenge. So all that's, you know,
Speaker 2: I think that is a fair sober minded commentary. Now,
Speaker 2: I do want to talk about what we just saw
Speaker 2: from Lebron James, because what's going to happen on television
Speaker 2: today my show included, is there's going to be the
Speaker 2: micro on the game. There's going to be the nugget
Speaker 2: side of things well deserved, and then there's going to
Speaker 2: be looking out, way out in the distance at Lebron's
Speaker 2: future and there's not going to be a hell of
Speaker 2: a lot of this. It is unfathomable and historically unprecedented
Speaker 2: by a factor of ten that the oldest player in
Speaker 2: the league just played in that series at that level,
Speaker 2: for those number of minutes, at that efficiency. The oldest
Speaker 2: guy in the league, who has played more minutes than
Speaker 2: anyone ever, who has played more playoff games than anyone ever,
Speaker 2: who has more wear and tear than anybody in the
Speaker 2: history of the sport, just played a series against the
Speaker 2: defending champs, playing forty one minutes a night, giving you
Speaker 2: twenty eight seven to nine on fifty seven percent from
Speaker 2: the field, fifty seven percent. That that guy this season,
Speaker 2: in year twenty one, when the entirety of basketball history,
Speaker 2: pardon me, combined in year twenty one scored like twelve
Speaker 2: hundred points and had a few hundred rebounds put together.
Speaker 2: All of them. This year played seventy one games in
Speaker 2: the regular season seventy two actually because the play in
Speaker 2: tournament FI I'm sorry, the n season tournament final doesn't count.
Speaker 2: Then you had the play in tournament, so we're now
Speaker 2: at seventy three. Five playoff games gave you seventy eight
Speaker 2: games of basketball at twenty six seven and eight on
Speaker 2: fifty four percent from the field and forty one percent
Speaker 2: from three that in this series led the whole series
Speaker 2: in the newly in vogue stocks categories steals and blocks combined.
Speaker 2: Played for the most part, B plus A minus defense,
Speaker 2: a level offense, and show no signs of slowing down again.
Speaker 2: This is where I will I don't think Lebron is done,
Speaker 2: but Lebron is deeper into his career than any of
Speaker 2: the other all time legends. So if he were done,
Speaker 2: he played longer than everybody else. So how did everybody
Speaker 2: else look? At the end? Kareem ten points four rebounds
Speaker 2: a game. That's how it ended for Kareem. Michael Jordan
Speaker 2: as a wizard twenty points five rebounds, forty four percent
Speaker 2: from the field. Kobe Bryant at the end, how did
Speaker 2: it look? Seventeen points for his exists on thirty six
Speaker 2: percent from the field. Tim Duncan, how did it look?
Speaker 2: Tim Duncan nine points, seven rebounds on forty nine percent
Speaker 2: from the field. He's deeper into his career than any
Speaker 2: of those all time legends got and still performing at
Speaker 2: this level. And it's that the only reason you can't
Speaker 2: say it's unprecedented across sports is because to his credit
Speaker 2: what we just saw Tom Brady do. But it is
Speaker 2: brady esque in that regard, and except somehow the athleticism
Speaker 2: is still there, the ability to impact winning while not
Speaker 2: at the level Lebron. This is something I got it
Speaker 2: in argument with Brew about a few weeks ago, and
Speaker 2: I kind of want to spend time on it here.
Speaker 2: Then we'll talk future, then we'll talk Jamal Murray. There's
Speaker 2: no question Lebron does not impact winning as much as younger,
Speaker 2: younger Lebron or peak Lebron. But let's ask it in
Speaker 2: a different way. How many guys in the league right
Speaker 2: now impact winning more than Lebron James. Does he impact
Speaker 2: winning more than Kevin Durant does? Yes? Does he impact
Speaker 2: winning more than Kawhi Leonard does? Yes? Does he impact
Speaker 2: winning more than Steph Curry does? Yes? Now does he
Speaker 2: impact winning more than Joker? No? Does he impact winning
Speaker 2: right now more than Luca? I don't think so. Does
Speaker 2: he impact winning more than a healthy Yiannis?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Does he impact winning more right now than Shay? Probably not?
Speaker 2: Does the impact winning right now more than Anthony Edwards?
Speaker 2: Maybe not? But that's five guys there, and demon's I
Speaker 2: see a little does he twinkle in your eye? Is
Speaker 2: there someone you think I'm leaving out? If there is,
Speaker 2: it's fair like, go ahead, like I'm just doing them
Speaker 2: off the top my head.
Speaker 3: Oh no, I mean I was thinking about guys on
Speaker 3: my team, but Tatum and Brown it's it's it's more
Speaker 3: of a collective.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's close, right, Like, do I
Speaker 2: think do I think? I mean this might sound I'm
Speaker 2: maybe I'm wrong. Maybe people will disagree. And some of
Speaker 2: this just has to do with history and understanding out
Speaker 2: of control games and all of that. But do I
Speaker 2: think the Celtics would have a better, worse or the
Speaker 2: same championship chance if you switched Jason Tatum and Lebron James.
Speaker 2: I don't think it worse. I don't. I don't think
Speaker 2: they take a step backwards under that scenario. Now, can't
Speaker 2: like that? I mean, maybe you disagree Tatum on that.
Speaker 2: I'm sinking. I'm saying, if you if right now you
Speaker 2: took Tatum off the Celtics and put Lebron in his place,
Speaker 2: does the team have a better chance of winning the championship,
Speaker 2: a worst chance of winning the championship, or the same.
Speaker 2: My answer is I think it's about the same. I
Speaker 2: don't think they get worse. Certainly, if you switched out
Speaker 2: Jalen Brown for Lebron, that team gets better. So again, like,
Speaker 2: who are the guys who have? Are there ten guys
Speaker 2: in the league? Devin Booker is a perennial All NBA
Speaker 2: guy who has a bigger impact on winning thirty nine
Speaker 2: year old year twenty one Lebron James or Devin Booker.
Speaker 2: It's hands down Lebron. It's not even a question at
Speaker 2: least my opinion.
Speaker 3: So top ten timp ten guys that at the game
Speaker 3: the most.
Speaker 2: Yes, that is what I'm saying. That is exactly That
Speaker 2: is exactly what I'm saying. What I am saying is
Speaker 2: that we've done this weird thing this year where instead
Speaker 2: of comparing Lebron to other players that we think are
Speaker 2: great right now, we're comparing Lebron to older versions or
Speaker 2: younger versions, previous versions of Lebron. And he doesn't pass
Speaker 2: that test, But does he pass the would I rather?
Speaker 2: Would I rather have him right now than Tyrese Haliburton,
Speaker 2: the best player on a team that's gonna be in
Speaker 2: Round two? Yes, I would would I rather have him
Speaker 2: right now? More? Than Donovan Mitchell. Guy who's gonna be
Speaker 2: the best player on a team in round two? Yes,
Speaker 2: I would what like the there And you know what,
Speaker 2: I should have included Jalen Brunson in that first category
Speaker 2: because of what Brunson is doing is remarkable, It's absolutely remarkable.
Speaker 2: He deserves credit, but you can't get to ten guys.
Speaker 2: And he's the oldest player in the sport. Last do
Speaker 2: you know who the oldest player in the sport was
Speaker 2: last year to Monsey, And I'm not going to include
Speaker 2: he was basically a coach for three years. So not
Speaker 2: including Dedonna's Hassel. The oldest player in the NBA last
Speaker 2: year Andrea Guadala. Andrea Gala, he scored seventeen points on
Speaker 2: the season, played in eight games. That was the oldest guy.
Speaker 2: Like the history of when you're the oldest guy in
Speaker 2: the league, you're it's not that you're not doing this,
Speaker 2: it's that you're not doing anything within ten standard dvs
Speaker 2: of this. So what do I want Lebron to do next?
Speaker 2: I mean, I'd like him to come to the Knicks. Personally, Yes,
Speaker 2: that's a little selfish because I live here. It also
Speaker 2: would be an unbelievable final act are you getting because
Speaker 2: I don't think the Knicks are gonna.
Speaker 3: If he goes to New York.
Speaker 2: Well they have to sell a kidney. But yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean next season tickets already through the roof. You get
Speaker 2: Lebron James, but they need a power forward. And I
Speaker 2: mean that you're seeing what they're doing without Julius Randall.
Speaker 2: I know, you know, Julius Randall. Good regular season, bad
Speaker 2: playoff guy. It is an iconic franchise that has not
Speaker 2: won in fifty three years, and as great as this
Speaker 2: season is going, they're not winning the title this year.
Speaker 3: You think Tims would be smart with his usage.
Speaker 2: Well so I do. I do wonder that.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: There's there's a lot of reasons that's not gonna happen. There's,
Speaker 2: you know, some not a great history between Worldwide West
Speaker 2: and Leon Rose and Rich and Lebron, and there's you
Speaker 2: know and Lebron's comments about Jim Dolan, all those things.
Speaker 2: I understand why it's not likely, but that's where he
Speaker 2: could win a championship. He would help get them over
Speaker 2: the top. It's an iconic franchise and it would truly
Speaker 2: add to his legend. Obviously. I mean, I've gone through
Speaker 2: it before. The Sixers, who have a ton of cap space,
Speaker 2: makes sense. The Calves are an interesting one. They could
Speaker 2: make sense. But what do I think is gonna happen.
Speaker 2: I think he's gonna stay with the Lake. I think
Speaker 2: he's going to leverage his spot with the Lakers to
Speaker 2: get them to draft Bronnie in the second round, to
Speaker 2: get a three year full max with a no trade clause,
Speaker 2: and see if they can make a few moves and
Speaker 2: he can stay at this level and they can be
Speaker 2: back in it again. That's what I think is going
Speaker 2: to happen. Is that what I want to happen. No?
Speaker 2: Is that what I think is his single best chance
Speaker 2: at winning a championship? No? But do I think lebron
Speaker 2: James owes anybody anything when it comes to his basketball
Speaker 2: future at this point, of course not. The guy has
Speaker 2: literally given more to the game than any player ever.
Speaker 2: He has played more than any player ever. He has
Speaker 2: entertained us for longer than any player ever. He can
Speaker 2: do whatever he damn well chooses.
Speaker 3: YEA happens if somebody ends up drafting Bronnie before the Lakers, though.
Speaker 2: So that is where that that is actually a conversation
Speaker 2: We're gonna have on first things first today, which is
Speaker 2: should a different team draft Bronnie for the fifty to
Speaker 2: fifth pick, And it's it's worth a discussion, it really is.
Speaker 2: If you are like, let the let's just go to
Speaker 2: the second round. See, I don't think the Spurs it
Speaker 2: makes sense. And I don't think the Spurs uh well no,
Speaker 2: but they do have a second round pick. They have
Speaker 2: the thirty fifth pick. The I don't think the Spurs
Speaker 2: make sense because they want, you know, it to be
Speaker 2: a Wimby based development that.
Speaker 3: But slow grow that one.
Speaker 2: The Knicks are drafting at thirty eight, The Sixers are
Speaker 2: drafting at forty one. The Heat are drafting at forty three.
Speaker 2: The Clippers are drafting at forty six. Now the Clippers
Speaker 2: have no money, so take them out of it. The
Speaker 2: Warriors are drafting at fifty two. If I were running
Speaker 2: any of those teams, would I at least have a
Speaker 2: conversation about, Okay, hey, if we like, if we draft him,
Speaker 2: are you coming here? And if so? I now the
Speaker 2: you said you said ransom, Like, that's that's a different thing,
Speaker 2: which is like we're not having a conversation, We're just
Speaker 2: drafting him and if you want to play with him,
Speaker 2: I guess you're coming here. I don't think that's going
Speaker 2: to happen. I don't think a team is going to Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't the I think that there is
Speaker 2: too much I I think there is too much league
Speaker 2: wide respect and appreciation for it. Yeah, then all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, And also it would seem like this is
Speaker 2: it'd be one thing if there, if they're now, if Bronnie.
Speaker 2: This is an odd spot because if Bronnie were a
Speaker 2: better prospect, right if he were a guy that if
Speaker 2: his name was Bronnie Jamison instead of James, that a
Speaker 2: team's like, hey, we have a late round one, early
Speaker 2: round two grade on him, then it would be totally
Speaker 2: legitimate for a team to say, we're not consulting with
Speaker 2: lebron James. This is a player we like who we
Speaker 2: think can come in and help us. We're drafting him.
Speaker 2: It doesn't appear that that's the case. What appears to
Speaker 2: be the case right now is there are some NBA
Speaker 2: teams that look at him as a long term developmental prospect.
Speaker 2: A lot of NBA teams that right now look at
Speaker 2: him as undraftable. And if he were to be drafted.
Speaker 2: It would be because of the family connection, right, and
Speaker 2: so if he were a great, you know, a potential
Speaker 2: lottery pick, then a team would just take him because
Speaker 2: they want him, right. So I think the whole thing
Speaker 2: is it's.
Speaker 3: For a team that could win a chip next year
Speaker 3: or like it's like trying to win a championship.
Speaker 2: Exactly right, a team that thinks they're a piece away
Speaker 2: and would want to see if that would sway Lebron.
Speaker 2: That's what it would be. All right now, as promised,
Speaker 2: because we're gonna have a lot of time to talk
Speaker 2: about Nuggets Timberwolves later on Thursday because that that series
Speaker 2: don't start till Saturday. I do want to talk about
Speaker 2: Jamal Murray because I cannot find a cross sport comp
Speaker 2: for him. And by the way, if you're watching on
Speaker 2: YouTube and you can think of one in the NBA
Speaker 2: or in another sport, please send it my way. But
Speaker 2: Jamal Murray what never an All Star, never All NBA
Speaker 2: was you know, a mid lottery pick who in the
Speaker 2: regular season in his career has been a good player.
Speaker 2: I mean he was All Rookie second team, right, He's
Speaker 2: been a good player in the regular season. Injuries have
Speaker 2: you know, done things to him, But at no point
Speaker 2: and this isn't my take, this is the NBA voters take.
Speaker 2: At no point in his career at the end of
Speaker 2: a year have people said he is one of the
Speaker 2: six best guards in basketball. And no point in his
Speaker 2: career has he by the All Star break been considered
Speaker 2: whether because of injury or availability or play, an All
Speaker 2: Star level player. And he now is building a truly
Speaker 2: iconic postseason resume. All right, full list in NBA history
Speaker 2: of guys with more fifty point playoff games than Jamal Murray,
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Alan Iverson, that's the list. He
Speaker 2: has two. That's the full list of people with more
Speaker 2: than two. He was unbelievable in the playoffs, what the
Speaker 2: bubble playoffs, going to the conference finals. He then was
Speaker 2: hurt for two years and the team couldn't get out,
Speaker 2: couldn't get out of Round one one year, and couldn't
Speaker 2: get out of a round two the next year. He
Speaker 2: then came back, they never faced elimination and won the title,
Speaker 2: and the following year hit a buzzer beater to cemit
Speaker 2: a twenty point comeback in Game two, a damn near
Speaker 2: buzzer beater to win the series in Game five and
Speaker 2: is just getting started. I I've never seen a career
Speaker 2: like this for a guy who is a good player
Speaker 2: in the regular season.
Speaker 3: Is he not one of the like, the most mid
Speaker 3: range taking players right now? Like, he's also a guy
Speaker 3: that I feel like it's bread and butter in there
Speaker 3: for him. And you've always said like this, I mean,
Speaker 3: good at the mid range, but I mean, I don't know,
Speaker 3: he's just shooting everywhere.
Speaker 2: I don't know if yeah, I mean, like this year
Speaker 2: he took sixteen shots a game, six threes a game,
Speaker 2: So ten non threes. You gotta assume three or four
Speaker 2: of those non threes are at the ram or you know,
Speaker 2: in the paint. So what you know, maybe five mid
Speaker 2: range shots a game. But playoff career fifty eight games,
Speaker 2: twenty five points on forty seven forty ninety splits. Regular
Speaker 2: season career eighteen points on forty five thirty eight eighty
Speaker 2: seven splits. And even if you're like, well take out,
Speaker 2: let's just go his last five years, okay, since he
Speaker 2: became who he is in the regular season twenty points,
Speaker 2: five assists, forty six thirty nine splits in that same
Speaker 2: span in the postseason twenty five points six assists on
Speaker 2: forty seven forty splits. He's just a killer. Shout out
Speaker 2: to him, man, I it is in a lot of
Speaker 2: ways kind of the reverse Embeid sadly a guy who
Speaker 2: is so that's like a galaxy brain take that. I
Speaker 2: think in this unique circuit of the stance, maybe is yes,
Speaker 2: so teams never foul win tied, but if you are
Speaker 2: the if the circle, if you are the when when
Speaker 2: tied in the other team is gonna be able to
Speaker 2: take the last shot. Teams never fell if you're the
Speaker 2: older team and the team that is more likely to
Speaker 2: be on fumes and the team that is, you know,
Speaker 2: the underdog being in a situation where your best case
Speaker 2: is well, I actually think yeah, the the no time
Speaker 2: amounts to me thing was less relevant to the foul
Speaker 2: or not foul because Denver's gonna basically be holding for
Speaker 2: the last I guess it is relevant. But the the
Speaker 2: you're playing for a stop there is what you're doing
Speaker 2: there either way, Uh, there's an argument to be made
Speaker 2: foul and have the ball down two or down one
Speaker 2: if he misses one, and take your chances that way
Speaker 2: and just try to end it rather than play for overtime.
Speaker 2: It would be no one's ever done it on purpose.
Speaker 2: I think there are certain circumstances where it actually would be.
Speaker 2: Plus EV and a team playing a thirty nine year old,
Speaker 2: plus your other superstar can't raise his left arm above
Speaker 2: his head, plus you're at altitude and gassed. All of
Speaker 2: those things you can make.
Speaker 3: An Jamal Murray is the final shit. Like with everything
Speaker 3: that you were saying about Jamal Murray and how deadly
Speaker 3: is at that time of the game, they probably want
Speaker 3: to get a free throw line so you can give
Speaker 3: yourself a chance. But yeah, they put a bunch of
Speaker 3: Jamal Murray comps in here.
Speaker 2: All right. So here's the thing. So people brought up Eli,
Speaker 2: I don't think that's a that's actually a good comp
Speaker 2: because here's the thing. Here's the thing about Eli. Eli
Speaker 2: had two unbelievable playoff runs. As far as his team's success.
Speaker 2: He was awesome on the second one, He was decent
Speaker 2: on the pretty more than decent. He was very good
Speaker 2: on the on the first one. But he had four
Speaker 2: other postseason appearances where they lost their first playoff game.
Speaker 2: Eli made the playoffs six times and was one and
Speaker 2: done four of them and then won the two Super Bowls.
Speaker 2: That's not what we're seeing with Jamal Murray. Julian Edelman
Speaker 2: is maybe a decent one. But I don't think Julian Edelman.
Speaker 2: Let me look, I I think it was he was
Speaker 2: more about the reason he has those postseason records is
Speaker 2: the number of playoff games he played in the opportunities,
Speaker 2: not because he was this playoff juggernaut. And you know,
Speaker 2: I'll fact check myself on it. Edelman, Well, at the end,
Speaker 2: he did have some really monster playoff games, that is true.
Speaker 2: So maybe Edelman is there. Maybe the Edelman's not a
Speaker 2: bad one, I guess. And people say Robert Robert Ory
Speaker 2: wasn't all of a sudden some like, he wasn't great,
Speaker 2: like an all star level player in these playoff games.
Speaker 2: He just hit huge shots, and Murray's doing more than that.
Speaker 2: All right, let's move on. This is forty minutes on
Speaker 2: the opening topic. Uh, let we just keep going to Montay.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so Anthony Edwards is taking the league by storm.
Speaker 3: You mentioned if a few shows ago that this could
Speaker 3: be the NBA's torch passing is now Kevin Durant, Steph
Speaker 3: and Lebron are all in Cancun. Anthony Edwards just become
Speaker 3: the guy of the NBA.
Speaker 2: Well, so a couple things that I think is funny.
Speaker 2: Folks are real quick on the first piece of it.
Speaker 2: A thing that's going all around Twitter is oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: These are the first playoffs since two thousand and five
Speaker 2: that Lebron, Steph and Kad none of them are in.
Speaker 2: And it's like, yes, that is true, but if I may,
Speaker 2: Lebron is doing a lot of that heavy lifting. Durant
Speaker 2: was not in the league until the eight playoffs. Steph
Speaker 2: was not in the league until the twenty ten playoffs.
Speaker 2: Those guys didn't make a postseason. Durant's first postseason that
Speaker 2: he played in was two ten. Curry's first postseason that
Speaker 2: he played in was was it twenty twelve? Was twenty thirteen. So, yes,
Speaker 2: it is true, this is the first playoffs without the
Speaker 2: three of them, but that is mostly a Lebron James Statt.
Speaker 2: Those guys are you know, it's nice that they get
Speaker 2: to be a part of it. But set that aside, man,
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards is so electric And I sounded a little
Speaker 2: like jingoistic on TV yesterday, but I'm you know, sorry,
Speaker 2: not sorry. There is a when I know it's become
Speaker 2: very in vogue to bleep on American born NBA players
Speaker 2: like ah All the MVPs are foreign born guys. They
Speaker 2: have more skill over there. They're taught the game better.
Speaker 2: There's never been like. Anthony Edwards is a vintage American
Speaker 2: NBA player and I love it. He is going to
Speaker 2: beat you from every single level and dunk on your
Speaker 2: face in a none of the none of as great
Speaker 2: as and they are the best players in the league
Speaker 2: right now. I give him credit. As great as the
Speaker 2: international players are, none of them were yet to see
Speaker 2: one with the best American born players full arsenal. Now,
Speaker 2: it doesn't mean they're not better, right, But like Jannis, Yeah, well,
Speaker 2: Yiannis has the athleticism, right, but he doesn't have the
Speaker 2: full rounded out game Jok can do and Luca can
Speaker 2: do everything offensively without the athleticism, right, Anthony Edwards is
Speaker 2: gonna ship talk you like Luca's got the two block
Speaker 2: you at the rim, stunk on your head. I know you,
Speaker 2: Luca annoys you. I know he does dunk on your face.
Speaker 2: I just love him, and he's demons. He's twenty two
Speaker 2: years old. Yeah, twenty two, So he's real quick. Guys
Speaker 2: full list last fifty years. Hold on, real quick, last
Speaker 2: fifty years. Full list of guys twenty two or under
Speaker 2: to lead a team, be the unquestioned best player on
Speaker 2: a deep playoff run, finals, conference finals, something like that.
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant, Lebron James. That's a complete list. That's it.
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards twenty two years old. Now, I'm not saying
Speaker 2: he's gonna do it, but if he were to do it,
Speaker 2: he enters hallowed ground. Luca did it at twenty three,
Speaker 2: Shaq did it at twenty three. Now, Kobe did it young,
Speaker 2: but that was and Kobe was unbelievable. That was Shack's team.
Speaker 2: You know, Shaq was the best guy. Uh. I'm excited
Speaker 2: to see how far Anthony Edwards can take this.
Speaker 3: All right, next, all right, so things aren't looking super
Speaker 3: Sonny In Philadelphia, Joel Embiid isn't like in the way
Speaker 3: that the playoff series has turned it out, and he's
Speaker 3: getting dirties, he's hitting people. Uh but uh, he's even
Speaker 3: calling out fans for not coming to the game at
Speaker 3: this At this point, do you think Joel Embiide has
Speaker 3: done irreversible damage to his image.
Speaker 2: I didn't see that. I don't what's going on there?
Speaker 2: What you didn't see? What go ahead?
Speaker 3: I didn't see him call it. I didn't see. I
Speaker 3: don't know if it was a tweeter, if he was
Speaker 3: like doing that in like a opress or the fans,
Speaker 3: the fans not coming to lam.
Speaker 2: Okay, So I was at that game in Philly on Sunday,
Speaker 2: and I don't know if you saw, Demonse that this
Speaker 2: was a good example of the difference. You know what,
Speaker 2: Let me tell a quick story. Let me hold on.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna interrupt myself as I often do. Remind me
Speaker 2: to tell a story about where I was sitting. Demonse, Okay,
Speaker 2: don'tkay forget to remind me that crowd did sound like
Speaker 2: MSG that the Madison Square Garden tickets are so expensive. Though.
Speaker 2: Let me give you an example, Demanse, I'm gonna those
Speaker 2: seats that you had for uh Clippers maps, right, those
Speaker 2: seats that you had for Clippers maps, which again it's
Speaker 2: Los Angeles, so it's like they are a super cheap ticket,
Speaker 2: but it is the Clippers. Those seats were four hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty dollars. They were sideline for two tickets fourhundred
Speaker 2: fifty bucks sideline call it sixteenth eighteenth row. Okay, those
Speaker 2: same exact two tickets at MSG tonight are fifty two
Speaker 2: hundred dollars side it is when I say it is
Speaker 2: x No, they're twenty six hundred seat for those seats
Speaker 2: demnse and those were good seats, but they weren't life
Speaker 2: changing seats. The cheapest ticket in the building, okay, right now,
Speaker 2: the cheapest fifty can't be right. The cheapest ticket in
Speaker 2: the building, it is sectioned three seventeen top bowl of
Speaker 2: MSG in the corner or four hundred and seventy dollars each. Okay.
Speaker 2: So what's happened is some of the most diehard Knicks
Speaker 2: fans who aren't corporate tickets, who don't have a ton
Speaker 2: of money, they figured out cheaper to go to Philly,
Speaker 2: cheaper to make the drive or take the train to
Speaker 2: Philadelphia in order to go to the game. And it
Speaker 2: was like a fifty to fifty Knicks sixers crowd. It
Speaker 2: was unbelievable. So that was Embiid's frustration. I will cut
Speaker 2: embeads slack in this regard. Man, he is playing on
Speaker 2: one leg, his half, his face has collapsed due to
Speaker 2: bells palsy. When he goes to the bench, the team dies,
Speaker 2: so he has to play the whole game and by
Speaker 2: the fourth quarter he's exhausted. What I was saying earlier
Speaker 2: when I said Jamal is the reverse Embiid, what I
Speaker 2: mean is is a good regular season player who in
Speaker 2: the playoffs is unbelievable. Embiid historically has been an unbelievable
Speaker 2: regular season player who in the playoffs is just good.
Speaker 2: And so that this postseason, I actually think he's played
Speaker 2: well under adverse circumstances. And also, man Jalen Brunson, like
Speaker 2: I'm excited for the game tonight. Jalen Brunton first player
Speaker 2: in NBA history to have eighty five points and twenty
Speaker 2: assists in consecutive playoff games. First player in NBA history,
Speaker 2: No one's ever done it. And that brings me to
Speaker 2: the story I wanted you to remind me to tell,
Speaker 2: which was I had. I was right next to demons
Speaker 2: the scorers table in the between the Knicks bench and
Speaker 2: the scorers table for this Sixers Knicks game. Okay, so
Speaker 2: the way of seats work is there's true court side
Speaker 2: feet on the wood where Michael Parsons and c. J.
Speaker 2: Stroud were sitting. There's that there's second row court side,
Speaker 2: feet on the wood, but there's a row of people
Speaker 2: in front of you, and then there's row one in
Speaker 2: the actual like stands. Right. I was row one in
Speaker 2: the stands, so not court side, but pretty unbelievable seats right,
Speaker 2: and I'm between the Knicks bench and the SCORESS table.
Speaker 2: Into the first quarter, Jalen Brunson's dad, Rick Brunson, who
Speaker 2: is playing in the NBA for a long time, went
Speaker 2: to Temple, a Philly legend, and Nick's assistant coach sees
Speaker 2: me and his smiling He's like, hey, you owe my
Speaker 2: son an apology. And I'm like, yo, what do you
Speaker 2: What do you mean? He's like, you owe him an apology?
Speaker 2: And I think this is in relation to the flip
Speaker 2: of me after well, it was when the Knicks signed
Speaker 2: Jalen Brunson three years you know, we were still remote
Speaker 2: from the MAVs. So a couple of years ago, I
Speaker 2: was like, listen, he's a good player, but if you
Speaker 2: think he's going to be the best player on a
Speaker 2: you know, a high level team, you're out of your mind. Essentially,
Speaker 2: I thought of him what I think almost everyone thought
Speaker 2: of him. It's not like I was like this guy
Speaker 2: stinks this whatever it is. I was like, he's a
Speaker 2: good player, but he's not. If he's your best player,
Speaker 2: you're not a good team. And I was wrong, Like Flatley,
Speaker 2: he's been unbelievable. And so I what Rick didn't know
Speaker 2: was I have already you know, I don't know if
Speaker 2: i've said I'm sorry. I don't know that I need
Speaker 2: to apologize, but I have owned that I was wrong.
Speaker 2: And so I was like no, I was like I
Speaker 2: already did. He was like, no, you need to do
Speaker 2: it on TV. I'm like, no, I already did. I
Speaker 2: was like I had him fourth on my I AMVP ballot,
Speaker 2: which I didn't really explain to him. I don't actually
Speaker 2: have a ballot, but I pretend I have a ballot
Speaker 2: to release it anyway. But like on my fake MVP ballot,
Speaker 2: I had him fourth and he was like okay. And
Speaker 2: so now we're having like a cool back and forth.
Speaker 2: But you know how I talk, I talk with my hands.
Speaker 2: He does the same thing. And at this point he
Speaker 2: has walked, so he's kind of like between the person
Speaker 2: that's true court side and the person the score table
Speaker 2: is in charge of the Knicks challenges. I have stood
Speaker 2: up and I am right behind the person who's second
Speaker 2: row court side, and we are two feet apart, laughing
Speaker 2: or whatever, but talking with our hands. And the ref
Speaker 2: comes over and asks Rick if he wants me to
Speaker 2: be thrown out, to be ejected. And by the way,
Speaker 2: man shout out to Rick Brunton for being a good dude,
Speaker 2: because he told me. He's like no, no, no, He's like,
Speaker 2: we're cool. We're just talking, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: Everything's all good, We're having fun. But Rick Brunton could
Speaker 2: have really screwed me there. He could have been like, yeah,
Speaker 2: get him out of here. Like do you know how
Speaker 2: mortified it was? It was at the end, it was
Speaker 2: between the first and the second quarter. It would have
Speaker 2: been like it was right before they came back from commercial,
Speaker 2: Like can you imagine if on the Richard Jefferson broadcast
Speaker 2: they're like, oh, the referees kicking a fan out, and
Speaker 2: it's me like and so and again like I wasn't heck,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't do anything wrong. But the ref just saw.
Speaker 3: Rick's with what he thought was just a fan.
Speaker 2: He probably no, no, no, I think. I don't think the
Speaker 2: ref did know who I was. And it's fine, but
Speaker 2: he's just all a coach having a very demonstrative discussion
Speaker 2: with a fan and now they have both like stood
Speaker 2: and there we weren't not like you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: And again it was one hundred percent friendly. But it
Speaker 2: was so funny that the ref just saw it. And
Speaker 2: in that moment I was like, oh man, he really
Speaker 2: could have screwed me there. He could have been like, yep,
Speaker 2: get him out of here. He said my son was
Speaker 2: a bad contract. Yeah, no, it was great. Now one
Speaker 2: added piece of it, the funny Rick Brunton anecdote, and
Speaker 2: then we really gotta move on. Brew covered Rick in
Speaker 2: the NBA and mentioned him regularly in two context. One
Speaker 2: is whenever we talk summer league. He says, man, I
Speaker 2: was at a summer league once when Rick Brunson looked
Speaker 2: like Jason Kidd, and he uses that as an example
Speaker 2: as to why you shouldn't overrate summer league. But the
Speaker 2: other reason he mentioned Rick Brunson a lot is because
Speaker 2: Brew is just the right age where if you cut
Speaker 2: I heard somebody's dad and that kid's now playing, you're
Speaker 2: just gonna call the kid the dad's name. So basically,
Speaker 2: every time we have a jail in Brunson discussion, Bru
Speaker 2: calls him Rick Brunson and we just let it go.
Speaker 2: So if anything there we should be a beloved show
Speaker 2: in the Brunson household for father and son. But yeah,
Speaker 2: so that's that's my anecdote from Philly. Take a quick break,
Speaker 2: Come right back, play Private Investigator. All right, welcome back
Speaker 2: in What's Right with Nick Wright? Episode two thirty three, Demons,
Speaker 2: Let's get right to it. We're gonna play a game,
Speaker 2: Nick Right, Private Investigator lead us.
Speaker 3: Yes, we're playing Nick Right Private Investigator. Today. Life is
Speaker 3: full of mysteries. Who was dB Cooper? Our aliens? Real?
Speaker 3: Why couldn't the Lakers ever defend a back door cut
Speaker 3: by Aaron Gordon? I'll give you a hit. Oh luckily
Speaker 3: there's one man. Oh it's Gray Bear, old old man.
Speaker 3: Oh god, Luckily there is one man capable of solving
Speaker 3: the biggest mysteries in sports, Nick Right, Private Investigator. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 3: all right, So first off, we got this Falcons Pinis situation.
Speaker 3: The station has been blown up with calls of criminal
Speaker 3: activity involving the Falcons draft Atlanta selected Michael Pennocks junior
Speaker 3: at number eight, despite paying Kirk Cousins one hundred and
Speaker 3: eighty million, One of these moves has to be a waste.
Speaker 3: So detective, right, who is getting robbed?
Speaker 2: First and foremost, I think it's Michael Pinnox. I know
Speaker 2: people are like, ah, you gotta feel bad for Kirk.
Speaker 2: He didn't sign up for this. Listen, when you're a
Speaker 2: NFL financial mercenary, you all of a sudden put yourself
Speaker 2: in a position where a team might not have loyalty
Speaker 2: to you because you never played a snap for him.
Speaker 2: This can happen. So like, I don't I don't really
Speaker 2: feel for Kirk. Pinnix, on the other hand, is twenty
Speaker 2: four years old and now they're setting him up to
Speaker 2: where you know their alleged plan is for him to
Speaker 2: not play till lose twenty six. That's brutal. So I
Speaker 2: feel first and foremost, I feel bad for Penicks. Secondly,
Speaker 2: I feel badly for Atlanta Falcons fans, who, as I
Speaker 2: explained on Friday, their team has prioritized not bottoming out
Speaker 2: over trying to be great and win the first Super
Speaker 2: Bowl in the history of the franchise. And you cannot
Speaker 2: convince me that this was a coherent offseason, because first
Speaker 2: of all, they had thirty people in for pre draft visits.
Speaker 2: Pinnix wasn't one of them. That's odd. Second of all,
Speaker 2: they gave Kirk Cousins a no trade clause in his contract, Well,
Speaker 2: that doesn't make sense. Third of all, they structured the contract,
Speaker 2: so trading him, even if he were to waive the
Speaker 2: no trade clause in a year, is incredibly punitive to
Speaker 2: them cap wise, when they could have still guaranteed them
Speaker 2: all that money, but made it to where it's not
Speaker 2: punitive for them to trade him a year from now,
Speaker 2: which leads me to believe this was not their original plan,
Speaker 2: and that makes it unjustifiable because you had the college
Speaker 2: football season was over, you knew your cap situation, you
Speaker 2: knew the draft order before free agency started, so it's
Speaker 2: not like you got new information, and so they just
Speaker 2: don't want to ever have the Desmond Ritters situation at
Speaker 2: quarterback again. But you should have either had the courage
Speaker 2: of your convictions and took Pinnicks and used this hundred
Speaker 2: million dollars on defensive players to help the team and
Speaker 2: build a great team around him, or sign Kirk and
Speaker 2: use the eighth overall pick to draft the first defensive
Speaker 2: player off the board. Instead, they went quarterback quarterback with
Speaker 2: their two biggest offseason assets their cap space and the
Speaker 2: eighth pick. And so yes, that should prevent them from
Speaker 2: it being a total disaster, but it also puts a
Speaker 2: ceiling on them. So I feel most badly for Michael
Speaker 2: Pinnix and second most badly for Falcons fans.
Speaker 3: Next, Bradley Beal will be damned. What do you think
Speaker 3: this is a movie? Man? Phoenix tried to pull off
Speaker 3: a free but botch the whole operation. Detective right, who
Speaker 3: deserves the most blame for Phoenix being swept.
Speaker 2: Matt Ishbia. Matt Ishbia bought the team and then just
Speaker 2: couldn't help himself, bought the team and then immediately trades
Speaker 2: seventy of their future assets and picks and everything for
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant, and then this offseason trades the rest of
Speaker 2: it for Bradley Beal. And so listen, we can put
Speaker 2: it on Durant again, like, who are we comparing Durant to?
Speaker 2: Are we comparing Durant to Prime Durant? That's unfair? Are
Speaker 2: we comparing Durant to the rest of the league. He
Speaker 2: is still one of the fifteen best players in the league.
Speaker 2: He had a good series. He's thirty six years old.
Speaker 2: He's not going to be able to single handedly carry you.
Speaker 2: And honestly, that's never really been exactly who he is.
Speaker 2: Booker is. You know, he has a lot of A
Speaker 2: plus playoff games and a lot of D minus playoff games,
Speaker 2: not a ton of in the middle. And the roster
Speaker 2: was poorly built. Some of us saw it coming. Some
Speaker 2: of us said the Bradley Beal trade was insane and
Speaker 2: using all your remaining assets to add one piece, that
Speaker 2: is the piece you least need a perimeter scorer when
Speaker 2: you need a point guard and you need Biggs. We
Speaker 2: told you that was a problem to begin with. And
Speaker 2: now you don't control any of your own picks. You
Speaker 2: don't have any second round picks left. Even Beal's got
Speaker 2: a no trade, it's kind of a disaster for them next.
Speaker 3: So we've got a pretty big file on Katie leaving teams, Detective, right,
Speaker 3: do you suspect Katie will demand another trade?
Speaker 2: So that's tricky, man, You look great there to Marse Uh.
Speaker 2: That is it's tricky to say whether or not he'll
Speaker 2: demand another trade. I I would like to see him elsewhere,
Speaker 2: but a fifteen would be weird?
Speaker 3: Is there not?
Speaker 2: Can't trade go ahead?
Speaker 3: I don't. I guess I'm not a detective, but like,
Speaker 3: is there not? Like if any team that Katie has
Speaker 3: ever been on, is this not the situation that he
Speaker 3: should leave the most?
Speaker 2: No? I mean that's a great point, But you wonder
Speaker 2: if he's just gonna feel like I handpicked the situation
Speaker 2: to be. To be fair, Katie, he's only you know,
Speaker 2: demanded a trade. Well, I guess twice, but from the
Speaker 2: same team twice. Really out of one spot. He left
Speaker 2: Oklahoma City in free agency. He left the Warriors in
Speaker 2: free agency. Totally is right. But yeah, they are screwed.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's no question about it. They have to
Speaker 2: make and you probably would get more for Booker because
Speaker 2: Booker's younger. I know folks would love to see Durant
Speaker 2: go to Oklahoma City. I don't know if Oklahoma City wants.
Speaker 2: I don't know what they want to do. I mean,
Speaker 2: Durant's thirty six. Okay, SE's the one seed they're rolling now.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you a team that I could see. But
Speaker 2: then for Durant, it's weird. It's like, am I kind
Speaker 2: of copying Lebron? You don't want to do that, But
Speaker 2: Miami makes sense. The trade package that Miami was ready
Speaker 2: to offer for Damian Lillard finding a way to offer
Speaker 2: that for Kevin Durant. I mean, that's that one makes sense.
Speaker 2: But I don't know what he's gonna do, to be
Speaker 2: honest with you, all Right, Next.
Speaker 3: Jalen Brunson dropped the Knicks playoff record forty seven points
Speaker 3: on Sunday. Not even you, as who has been on
Speaker 3: their beat for decades, saw Brunson becoming the star he
Speaker 3: has in New York sides Rick Detective, Right, Ye, how
Speaker 3: do we all miss the clues?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: Because there's no I mean, there's not a lot of
Speaker 2: precedent in all of NBA history for a player his
Speaker 2: size dominating the way he does. Just isn't a guy
Speaker 2: as short as he is being this type of scorer.
Speaker 2: We saw it for a year with Celtics Isaiah Thomas,
Speaker 2: but we kind of knew that was smoking mirrors. We
Speaker 2: knew that wasn't real. You know, the original Isaiah Thomas
Speaker 2: obviously dominated, but it was more of a floor game
Speaker 2: him putting up these types of and I know he
Speaker 2: was great in his last playoffs with Dallas, but him
Speaker 2: carrying a team this way and it's not Keep in mind,
Speaker 2: he scored forty seven, the team scored ninety seven. He
Speaker 2: had forty seven and ten for a team that didn't
Speaker 2: break one hundred. So I don't. I don't think people
Speaker 2: really missed. I mean, I guess they did. But it's
Speaker 2: reasonable when in all of NBA history the only guy's
Speaker 2: under six six to be the unquestioned best player on
Speaker 2: a champion are Steph Curry and Isaiah Thomas. To think
Speaker 2: a guy who's not even six feet tall is gonna
Speaker 2: do what he's done, it's just it's it's hard to predict,
Speaker 2: it's hard to see coming. And so I mean, I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't know what to tell you.
Speaker 3: All right, Next, it's never too early for never too
Speaker 3: early for a mock draft or to bet on the draft.
Speaker 3: Something doesn't smell right though, Shadu Sanders is even money
Speaker 3: to be the number one pick, Detective, Right, is this
Speaker 3: the squarest beat you've ever seen?
Speaker 2: It's all there, man, It doesn't get much squarer than
Speaker 2: making a bet at even odds that involves you essentially
Speaker 2: loaning a sportsbook your money interest free for three hundred
Speaker 2: and sixty three days. Like, hey, here you go, take
Speaker 2: my money. I get zero you know, return interest or investment,
Speaker 2: and I'll see if I can get you know that
Speaker 2: even money back. It's yeah, of all the post. If
Speaker 2: you're gonna do a long term futures bet, you have
Speaker 2: to incorporate the opportunity cost of the fact that that
Speaker 2: money is sitting there interest free for you. Meanwhile the
Speaker 2: sports book gets to invest it and make a return
Speaker 2: on it. Like that is just it's just an the
Speaker 2: I am not here to tell people not to gamble
Speaker 2: on sports, because I gamble on sports. But do not
Speaker 2: if you if you want to make this bet, find
Speaker 2: a human being you can make it with that you
Speaker 2: have good credit with that you just the loser pays
Speaker 2: up on you know, once it comes in, not that
Speaker 2: it's held an.
Speaker 3: Escort number one me and you, okay, get you one
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty bus you want it?
Speaker 2: No that okay? I didn't think so I was like,
Speaker 2: I don't think that's a good bet, buddy, All right,
Speaker 2: quick break answer your questions. Next, what's right? Wow? What
Speaker 2: a moment. Sometimes demanse hard work pays off dedication, hard work,
Speaker 2: just in How about this from the mock draft database,
Speaker 2: which graded every single public mock draft. There was all
Speaker 2: of it, across all hundreds of mock drafts. People that
Speaker 2: do this professionally, people that do this year round, My
Speaker 2: dear friend person. I did my first ever television appearance
Speaker 2: on FS one with Peter Schrager. He won the competition
Speaker 2: with an all time score of fifty two point five,
Speaker 2: which is really elite. It's one of their highest scores ever.
Speaker 2: He's totally plugged in and did a great job. I
Speaker 2: saw they posted their mock draft standings this morning and
Speaker 2: my mock appeared to not have been graded, and I
Speaker 2: was wounded by that demonse. It was like they didn't
Speaker 2: take me seriously as a mock drafter. So I messaged
Speaker 2: them and said, hey, guys, think you missed one. Not
Speaker 2: sure how I did. I don't think I beat Shraker,
Speaker 2: but I would appreciate it if you would tell me
Speaker 2: how I did. And they just got back to me.
Speaker 2: In the entire mock draft universe, your buddy Nick Wright
Speaker 2: eighteenth place of all the mock drafts, a top twenty
Speaker 2: finish in my debut season as a mock drafter. Let
Speaker 2: me see if I can get some context for some
Speaker 2: of the experts that I beat. Let me go here
Speaker 2: the find out more. I saw these earlier. Hold on
Speaker 2: a moment, I would really like to find where the rest. Okay,
Speaker 2: all right, here we go. So if I came in eighteenth,
Speaker 2: that means not to listen. I'm not calling people out.
Speaker 2: I would never do that. But Charles Davis got move
Speaker 2: the sticks. Daniel Jeremiah, the king of the industry. He
Speaker 2: came into Ben Solac, Oh from the Ringer post this
Speaker 2: on social Ben Solac, hold that ol the Ringer Draft Show.
Speaker 2: You do this year round? Oh my goodness, gracious. Dane
Speaker 2: Brugler The Beast, the greatest draft guide that has ever existed.
Speaker 2: Dame Brugler's The Beast thirty third place. My old friend
Speaker 2: Pete Brisco thirty fifth place. Oh my goodness, gracious, I
Speaker 2: beat Evan Silva, Benjamin Albright, Eric at Home, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: Florio Pro Football Talk fifty first place. How does that feel?
Speaker 2: Chris Condroth, he owned Pro Football Focus fifty fifth place.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, gracious, eighteenth place, with a final score,
Speaker 2: Hold on, what was my final score? Let me go
Speaker 2: ahead and check this real quick. This is this is
Speaker 2: really forty three point eight final score. Oh my goodness,
Speaker 2: two points behind mel Kiper. Oh, oh my goodness.
Speaker 3: I'm happy for you, Buf.
Speaker 2: I am so happy for me too. I decided this
Speaker 2: year that I was gonna broaden my expertise. I've never
Speaker 2: been a mock drafter. Last year, my entirety of my
Speaker 2: mock drafts were Chiefs only, and I just texted him
Speaker 2: to Brett Veach repeatedly, and people made fun of me
Speaker 2: about it. But then I saw Kevin Clark at a
Speaker 2: conference a couple months ago. He took a picture of
Speaker 2: us together, texted to Beach and Beach Tech. Clark said, hey,
Speaker 2: tell him to ask Nick where my mock drafts are.
Speaker 2: So he appreciated it. Now I left Veach alone this year.
Speaker 2: He had a lot of important things to trying to
Speaker 2: go for three P. Didn't want to mess with him,
Speaker 2: and instead I brought my horizons to the whole league
Speaker 2: top twenty. Oh my goodness, gracious move. Daniel Jeremiah, the Greatest,
Speaker 2: the guy who's a lot of people believe myself included
Speaker 2: teams based draft selections off his big board. Dane Brugler
Speaker 2: who created the greatest draft guid ever beat him? Florio,
Speaker 2: hold that l Florio, Tayte sticky, you take my pin
Speaker 2: my mock draft up right next to your Andy Reid's
Speaker 2: retiring articles. Oh my goodness, gracious. All right, demonse, what
Speaker 2: are the listener questions? Well? This is thrilling. I'm so excited.
Speaker 3: Richard Winston asked, do you think the Nuggets postseason success
Speaker 3: will allow Murray to get to get regular season awards?
Speaker 2: Well, I, listen, I think he was going to this
Speaker 2: year because of last year, but then he got hurt,
Speaker 2: and so I think that is that has worked against him.
Speaker 2: All right, let's go fast. Let's try to get a couple. Uh.
Speaker 3: Album asked, Well, the MAVs versus Clipper series go to
Speaker 3: a seven games, who wins?
Speaker 2: I think it does, and I think the MAVs win.
Speaker 2: I think it does go seven at this point, and
Speaker 2: I think the MAVs win. Uh. All right, let's keep
Speaker 2: going six.
Speaker 3: Niss says Nick is like a nineteen fifties car, nineteen
Speaker 3: fifties cartoon villain. They got dropped in the wrong time period,
Speaker 3: and I love it.
Speaker 2: I don't even know what that means, that seems, but
Speaker 2: I don't know what it means, all right, real.
Speaker 3: Quick, Reginald Pierre Nick, do you think that once again
Speaker 3: trolling Wild's with the unanswered call tweet while the Lakers
Speaker 3: were winning was the final bit of the hubris that
Speaker 3: the sports gods ultimately punished.
Speaker 2: No, I don't believe that I can impact the games
Speaker 2: from my couch. I don't believe those types of jinxes,
Speaker 2: and I don't think the sports gods will punish. The
Speaker 2: sports gods would not punished Lebron James and the Lakers
Speaker 2: because I wanted to mess with Kevin Wilds. Should be
Speaker 2: a fun TV show today. I'm on with Colin in
Speaker 2: just under ninety minutes. I am on TV in just
Speaker 2: over three hours. Wilds wanted to fight me on the
Speaker 2: area yesterday. For the first time ever. He lasted longer
Speaker 2: than anybody else I've ever worked with without wanting to
Speaker 2: fight me. Was bound oppen at some point. Today. Should
Speaker 2: be a great show. Talk to you guys, hey, thanks
Speaker 2: for watching. If you're still here, do me a favor.
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