Speaker 1: Welcome to this League Uncut rule of twenty four hour
Speaker 1: NBA News.
Speaker 2: This's you, Chris Haynes.
Speaker 1: It's time, work's time, it's some time. This League Uncut
Speaker 1: is underway and on fire. This should be a good one.
Speaker 3: Welcome in, friends to another edition of this League Uncut.
Speaker 3: Mark Stein here with Chris Haynes from Turner Sports. We
Speaker 3: promised this in our last episode, which was Dame Heavy.
Speaker 3: October is here. We are officially back to two pods
Speaker 3: a week, so you will get your full fix of
Speaker 3: this League Uncut from now through July. You get us
Speaker 3: twice a week. I hope. I hope that's news. I
Speaker 3: hope that's welcome news at your house. He is back
Speaker 3: from Milwaukee after making his first trip of the season.
Speaker 3: Chris Haynes, you went to one of my favorite cities
Speaker 3: in the league. Yes, that is true. That is it.
Speaker 3: That is not exaggeration. That is a true statement, even
Speaker 3: in the winter time. I love going to Milwaukee. But
Speaker 3: I saw Dame Lillard say I actually use this quote
Speaker 3: in my media day piece today. I saw that, let
Speaker 3: me get let me get this quote. Seeing the sun
Speaker 3: out and being by the water and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: It made me smile a little bit. This might be
Speaker 3: all right, Dame says about his new hometown. You give
Speaker 3: give us the give us the vibe. What what was
Speaker 3: it like to uh to be there on the official
Speaker 3: first day of the Jannis and Dame era.
Speaker 4: Well, I guess it's good that he arrived in Milwaukee
Speaker 4: this past weekend because I don't know how long that
Speaker 4: sun is going to be out. It might have had
Speaker 4: a different story next week. It was really I'm playing,
Speaker 4: but it was really a beautiful weekend, Milwaukee, beautiful day.
Speaker 4: I spent the entire day with him, most of the
Speaker 4: day with him Saturday. Uh, they arrived as soon as
Speaker 4: they arrived on on Land in Milwaukee, went straight to
Speaker 4: the rally I was. I went in so soon as
Speaker 4: he touched down, he went, He walked through the rally path,
Speaker 4: you know, waved the fans. You know this video footage
Speaker 4: of that. And then what there was where there wasn't
Speaker 4: much footage is when we went into the arena and
Speaker 4: they had the Bucks had NBA employee, I mean, excuse me,
Speaker 4: Bucks personnel just standing throughout the arena holding big Dame face,
Speaker 4: uh Dick, you know big Dame faces. And you know
Speaker 4: there was posters there was. It reminded me like you
Speaker 4: just the a recruiting trip, like if you're you know,
Speaker 4: if you're a big time college recruit and they.
Speaker 3: Just got him already.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they had him already, Yeah, but they still gotta
Speaker 4: put on the show. Uh. And so you know, they
Speaker 4: walk all through the concourse of the arena, through the
Speaker 4: corridors of the arena, and you know, Dame time, welcome
Speaker 4: Dame and his family, you know, all over the video
Speaker 4: the video tron in the arena, and then as soon
Speaker 4: as you walk into the arena, they did the PA
Speaker 4: announcer did his intro and uh, you know it's just
Speaker 4: you know, it was a long, winning intro, just where
Speaker 4: he's from and all that, and then announcing him as
Speaker 4: the Milwaukee Bucks. Then we took a tour of the
Speaker 4: the locker room, took a tour of the practice facility,
Speaker 4: took a tour of the family room, and uh, it
Speaker 4: was a cool it was a cool set up. It's
Speaker 4: a cool setup. They did a really good job. But
Speaker 4: then he met with Gianni's met with Terry Stotts, who
Speaker 4: is his who was the assistant coach of the Bucks,
Speaker 4: but who was his coach for most of his career Portland,
Speaker 4: Adrian Griffin the head coach, and he just I remember
Speaker 4: steying like and okay before that, before I say that.
Speaker 4: And then the Bucks gave him at got him a condo,
Speaker 4: a condo in downtown Milwaukee, overlooking the river, overlooking the bridge,
Speaker 4: beautiful view on a on a high floor.
Speaker 3: So he's already sat where he was. He's gonna live
Speaker 3: because that was actually gonna be one of my questions. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we talked so much about the basketball adjustment and you know,
Speaker 3: moving to a new team, but but really, when you think,
Speaker 3: I mean, he's he's been so ensconced in that Portland
Speaker 3: community to move to just moving to Milwaukee, that's that's
Speaker 3: probably gotta be the the biggest difference of anything.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the That's that's the biggest transition that that's
Speaker 4: what he was worried about, you know, thinking about where
Speaker 4: he's going to have his kids, where his kids are
Speaker 4: going to go to school at and all that. But yeah,
Speaker 4: the Bucks got to have him a condo. This this temporary,
Speaker 4: but the condo was nice. They they fully furnished it
Speaker 4: with everything they had food, had the fridge filled up
Speaker 4: with drinks and everything, like they the Bucks went all out.
Speaker 4: But my my guess, you know, I'm giving, I'm giving
Speaker 4: a little real estate, uh real estate nugget. My guess
Speaker 4: is he'll probably end up taking the home of somebody
Speaker 4: who just vacated the Bucks and went elsewhere. That's that's
Speaker 4: my guess. But uh, he was at the end of
Speaker 4: that night. That's what I was getting to. At the
Speaker 4: end of the night, he text me. It was late
Speaker 4: at night, he had to take his physical. He didn't
Speaker 4: get in till like midnight. After that whole day. Uh,
Speaker 4: he text me, this is where I'm supposed to be.
Speaker 4: And so they they showed him a time, they showed him.
Speaker 4: He was impressed, and you know, he's all in.
Speaker 3: Because it's interesting. Didn't he say that he plans to
Speaker 3: living He plans to keep living in Portland in the
Speaker 3: off season.
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, because he just had a crazy matching built.
Speaker 4: It just completed about two months ago. Crazy. I haven't
Speaker 4: even got the He was supposed to have a housewoman
Speaker 4: party there, but he never did because this situation was
Speaker 4: up in the air. But yeah, that that place he's keeping,
Speaker 4: that place, that's that's going to be his off season home.
Speaker 4: And you know he's gonna he's gonna stay there after
Speaker 4: his career is over.
Speaker 3: That's interesting. Well, look, I mean, let's let let us
Speaker 3: talk about the I have a feeling. You know, I
Speaker 3: know your answer, and I've basically written this already. I
Speaker 3: still say Milwaukee is the slight favorite in the East,
Speaker 3: even after what Boston did, and what Boston did was
Speaker 3: Milwaukee's worst nightmare. Milwaukee has to give up the beloved
Speaker 3: Drew Holliday to Portland to get Dame, and what happens
Speaker 3: Portland trades Drew Holliday to Milwaukee's biggest rival. But even
Speaker 3: saying so, I'm still giving Milwaukee the edge, And it
Speaker 3: kind of makes me laugh because like when Milwaukee, when
Speaker 3: the Bucks make the trade for Dame, you hear a
Speaker 3: lot of oh this is you know, they didn't improve
Speaker 3: that much. You know their perimeter defense is going to
Speaker 3: be so much weaker with Dame that you know this
Speaker 3: doesn't really improve them. And then the same thing with
Speaker 3: the Celtics. You know they got true Holiday, but yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, now their front line is so weak, they've
Speaker 3: got no depth, and it's like there's no trade that
Speaker 3: just makes you an automatic champion and you're you know
Speaker 3: that you have no weaknesses. I mean, if that was
Speaker 3: the case, we'd really be miserable as a collective, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, basketball public, because we don't want this thing
Speaker 3: to be decided in October. I mean, these teams are
Speaker 3: supposed to have some flaws and some things wrong with them.
Speaker 3: But I just my feeling on it is that what
Speaker 3: Dame is going to bring Milwaukee offensively is really what
Speaker 3: they've lacked, and it's gonna give them a dimension they
Speaker 3: haven't had in they honest era. I think Milwaukee they
Speaker 3: have enough defensive minded players without Drew Holliday. Okay, none
Speaker 3: of them are locked down guards, but they have enough
Speaker 3: defensive minded players that they're still going to be a
Speaker 3: good defensive team. And again, Dame addresses their number one
Speaker 3: biggest weakness, which is in playoff basketball. They're now going
Speaker 3: to have something dynamic in the half court to ease
Speaker 3: Jannis's burden, and for the first time in both of
Speaker 3: their lives, Jiannis and Dame are really going to get
Speaker 3: to co share the burden of trying to carry a
Speaker 3: team to a championship. Boston's top six is incredible. Drew
Speaker 3: Holliday and Derek White are going to be sensational in
Speaker 3: the backcourt together. I'm rooting for Chris tops Porzingis. I'm
Speaker 3: fond of the guy. I just but they're asking a
Speaker 3: lot of him now to not just stay healthy, but
Speaker 3: be super mobile on defense, maybe move more than he's
Speaker 3: ever had to unless they change their skin, you know,
Speaker 3: I guess they could go you with the drop coverage
Speaker 3: with Porzingis as being their their main rim protection. But
Speaker 3: they're asking a lot now of Chris stops Porzingis and
Speaker 3: Al Horford, who is you know, getting up there? So
Speaker 3: both teams have questions. I'm going to give the Bucks
Speaker 3: a slight edge. Tell me, tell me how you view
Speaker 3: the top two in the East right now?
Speaker 4: I agree, I'll give the Bucks the edge. And you know,
Speaker 4: I'll give the Bucks the edge just for not just
Speaker 4: for but their continuity. They know each other, they've been there,
Speaker 4: the championship pedigree. Then you add Dame who is going
Speaker 4: to be that difference maker of five minutes left in
Speaker 4: the game, playoff type basketball when you really need a bucket.
Speaker 4: You know, that's where he's going to change the trajectory
Speaker 4: up the Bucks on that side of the ball. Defensively.
Speaker 4: You know, he's not a Drew Hollday defensive player. But
Speaker 4: you know, Dane addressed that at media days, like when
Speaker 4: you have a great team defensively, a lot of times
Speaker 4: that can rub off into you. And he talked about
Speaker 4: you know, listen, yeah you can say I wasn't a
Speaker 4: great defender in Portland. He did say he got better
Speaker 4: each year, but he had to show the so much
Speaker 4: of the load on the offensive end, so he had
Speaker 4: to give up something on one side of the ball,
Speaker 4: and a lot of times it was on the defensive end.
Speaker 4: But you know he's ready for that challenge on that
Speaker 4: end the floor. But what I would say to Boston
Speaker 4: is they still lack. They still leave a lot to
Speaker 4: be desired in the interior. You know, that's where Milwaukee
Speaker 4: can still feast in the interior. And you are asking
Speaker 4: Chris stat Pazingers to do a lot something he hasn't
Speaker 4: done really in his whole NBA career and been successful
Speaker 4: at a high rate and at a consistent rate. So
Speaker 4: I still think that's where the Bucks have the upper hand.
Speaker 4: And then yes, Derek White, Drew Holliday, they're going to
Speaker 4: be a force, you know, arguably the best defensive backcourt
Speaker 4: in the league. You're not stopping Dame. You know, you're
Speaker 4: not stopping Dame, you know, and I think that that's
Speaker 4: what the bucks.
Speaker 3: But you know what, you know what people are going
Speaker 3: to say. People are going to say. People are gonna say, first, oh,
Speaker 3: you guys, just you love Dame. You're this is a
Speaker 3: pro Dame podcast. Of course you're going to say that.
Speaker 3: And the other thing they're going to say is, remember
Speaker 3: what happened in twenty eighteen when New Orleans played Portland
Speaker 3: and Drew locked Dame up.
Speaker 4: So I mean, I you know, okay, I mean you
Speaker 4: can look I mean, you can say that, but look
Speaker 4: at I mean, that was okay, let's talk about that.
Speaker 4: Let's let's talk about this stun. Let's go back to
Speaker 4: that playoff series against the Pelicans years ago. Dame didn't
Speaker 4: have help, you know, so they it was a boxing
Speaker 4: one they played majority of the of the time in
Speaker 4: that series. It wasn't no one on one defensive, you know.
Speaker 4: The the goal was to get the ball out of
Speaker 4: his hands, which for most for the most part, that work,
Speaker 4: and then Dame had to rely on others who didn't
Speaker 4: step up. And then when Dame wanted to try to
Speaker 4: get going, he had to force it because they were
Speaker 4: getting the ball out of his hands. Look just look
Speaker 4: at the look at the two games against the Bucks
Speaker 4: last year, the year before that. You're not stopping Damn.
Speaker 4: He was second in scoring last year, you know. So
Speaker 4: that I'm not saying anything Drew would tell you that.
Speaker 4: So we're not saying anything that nobody knows. But yes,
Speaker 4: you know you have to give Drew how they are
Speaker 4: the credit in the world in a defensive end. But
Speaker 4: you're not stopping Dame. And Dame provides the spacing, not
Speaker 4: traditional spacing, not traditional spacing that most players do or
Speaker 4: just stand one foot behind the line. Nah, Dame is
Speaker 4: back three four feet behind the line. That's going to
Speaker 4: give so much space and allowed Gianna's so much room
Speaker 4: to Rome and there's so much spacing where you can
Speaker 4: start to pick and rolls for so far out. And
Speaker 4: then you got Chris Middleton on the opposite side of wing.
Speaker 4: You know, that's that's that's a dynamic they've never had.
Speaker 4: That's a dynamic that only about two teams. Half is
Speaker 4: Portland and go.
Speaker 3: Chris Middleton is going to be so much Chris Middleton
Speaker 3: will be so much better served being the third best
Speaker 3: player on Milwaukee's team rather than the second no.
Speaker 4: Question, he told me Stein Chris told me yesterday he
Speaker 4: expects all three to have a career year. That's say
Speaker 4: in a lot.
Speaker 3: And look, let me just say this about Boston. You know,
Speaker 3: I like what they did. I really do, even though
Speaker 3: we're gonna raise questions about their depth beyond the top six,
Speaker 3: even though we're gonna raise questions about can Porzingis and
Speaker 3: Al Horford counter Milwaukee's front line, because Boston has had
Speaker 3: a very good run of success, but many many years
Speaker 3: in a row of not getting it done. They haven't
Speaker 3: won a championship with their start twosoon. But this approach
Speaker 3: that they've taken is we're not gonna break up Jason
Speaker 3: Tatum and Jalen Brown, no matter what the outside noise is. No,
Speaker 3: we are not breaking up those two guys. We're gonna
Speaker 3: change everything else around them, but we're not going to
Speaker 3: break that up. And and so you know, I I
Speaker 3: do think these are bold swings that Brad Stevens has taken.
Speaker 3: And it's fascinating because you know, as a coach, Brad
Speaker 3: Stevens was not associated with bold. You know that just
Speaker 3: that wasn't his rep. He was seen as this conservative coach,
Speaker 3: but as a as a front office guy, he is
Speaker 3: just taking these home run swings and there's no getting
Speaker 3: around it. I mean, Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, Rob Williams,
Speaker 3: I mean they've they've made major changes to their team,
Speaker 3: but to bring in Porzingis and Drew Holliday, I mean,
Speaker 3: the you know, they've they've attacked this as aggressively as
Speaker 3: they can. I think the Celtics basically are trying to
Speaker 3: tell us they know their time is now and they've
Speaker 3: got to win. They've got to win here, and so
Speaker 3: they're going for it, and you have to I applauded.
Speaker 4: Plauded also started on the flip end. I know it's
Speaker 4: not involving these two teams Milwaukee and Boston, but you
Speaker 4: got to get credit to what Portland was able to
Speaker 4: do and getting getting done the DAMI little trade and
Speaker 4: what they got in return. Like they they pulled out
Speaker 4: something that many not many foresaw them doing. And uh
Speaker 4: now they're still in position to add more assets with
Speaker 4: with Malcolm Brogden still being over there, so they still
Speaker 4: got a chance to add to their their haul that
Speaker 4: they've that they've retrieved and so you know, Joe Cronin
Speaker 4: did did a did an unbelievable job. Unbelievable job. You
Speaker 4: got to give them props for that for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know you mentioned Brogden, who I left
Speaker 3: out at I mean, so, I mean the four key
Speaker 3: guys from Boston's team. They've surrendered smart Malcolm Broggen, Rob Williams,
Speaker 3: Grant Williams to bring in Holiday, to bring in Porzingis.
Speaker 3: And you know, you're right, Portland has done better than
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people were expecting. All summer long.
Speaker 3: There was this assumption that it was inevitable that they
Speaker 3: were finally in a cave and just send Dame to Miami.
Speaker 3: And you know, you had such a great story, which
Speaker 3: we talked about at length in the last episode detailing
Speaker 3: just how Frosty had got between Portland and Team Lillard.
Speaker 3: But look, the Blazers, they got a lot back. Their
Speaker 3: position was vindicated. They not only were able to do
Speaker 3: this before training camp starts, so they could start over,
Speaker 3: really start over, and Scoot Henderson. The Scoot Henderson era
Speaker 3: begins with clarity and not some trade saga cloud hanging
Speaker 3: over the franchise. But you know they waited and Milwaukee
Speaker 3: surfaced as a real trade partner. And maybe in mid August,
Speaker 3: you know, Milwaukee was not a real trade partner, but
Speaker 3: by mid September, Milwaukee became very real. You know, what
Speaker 3: about the heat? Where did the heat go from here?
Speaker 3: I know you were in Milwaukee all day Monday, but
Speaker 3: I'm guessing you you saw Jimmy Butler at training camp,
Speaker 3: and everybody wants to talk about his Everybody wants to
Speaker 3: talk about his Halloween costume. But I'm I'm more fixated, frankly,
Speaker 3: on Jimmy. Jimmy is saying, see you guys in the finals.
Speaker 3: This is our year. We're winning this one. And you know,
Speaker 3: the man is oozing stubborn confidence. It's hard to look
Speaker 3: at Miami's team and say, they didn't get Bradley Beal,
Speaker 3: they didn't get Damian Lillard, they lost Max Strus, they
Speaker 3: lost Gabe Vincent. How are they gonna win? How are
Speaker 3: they gonna how are they gonna get out of the East?
Speaker 3: But good luck trying to tell good luck trying to
Speaker 3: convince Jimmy Butler that they had a bad summer.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's the ultimate competitor. So I give him props
Speaker 4: and I give him credit for taking on that stance
Speaker 4: and saying that and saying it with conviction. But I
Speaker 4: don't see it. I don't see it. It was a tough
Speaker 4: summer for the Miami Heat, very tough summer. I don't know.
Speaker 4: You know, I don't scroll through Twitter or x whatever
Speaker 4: it's called nowadays. I don't scroll through as much as
Speaker 4: I used to. And uh, you know, I used to
Speaker 4: be on it a lot.
Speaker 3: And you're trying to make yourself sound so old. Come on, man,
Speaker 3: I am old.
Speaker 4: So we're getting up there, Stan, Come on, I'm right
Speaker 4: there with you. Stan.
Speaker 3: If you're old, I'm finished. If you're old, I'm done.
Speaker 3: I'm washed.
Speaker 4: Some people get old somebody. Some people get old faster.
Speaker 4: I think that's just what's happened to me. I wasn't
Speaker 4: old this time last year, but it's starting to hit.
Speaker 3: Me by the way. You just remind me a rival
Speaker 3: reporter who we're both fond of. I'm not going to
Speaker 3: say his name. He heard your speech about how you
Speaker 3: know you you're having all these knee issues, but that
Speaker 3: that you still put up twenty three and five at
Speaker 3: your last pickup game, and he and I have to say,
Speaker 3: I kind of I'm with him question the five assists, like, oh,
Speaker 3: we buy the twenty three points, we buy, We're not
Speaker 3: sure about the five assists.
Speaker 4: Well, tell Tim McMahon he got he got another thing.
Speaker 4: Tell him that, Tell him that he got another thing coming.
Speaker 4: Tell you if I'm playing against him, yeah, you might
Speaker 4: not see those five assists. The points are just going
Speaker 4: to go up. Yeah, if you're playing against him, don't
Speaker 4: don't tell him coming me like that, don't come.
Speaker 3: You know what, props props because he clearly, he clearly,
Speaker 3: he cly, he clearly questioned you directly to you, So
Speaker 3: props to him.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Okay, Well I still get up and if he's
Speaker 4: anywhere near the paint anywhere in the vicinity, I'm taking
Speaker 4: him along for the ride up upwards.
Speaker 3: So okay, we have to bring back the media game.
Speaker 3: We we have to bring back the game.
Speaker 4: We have to.
Speaker 3: I will not be I will not be playing. I
Speaker 3: will not be playing, but I will be I will
Speaker 3: be court side observing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I will be there. Look at you. See how
Speaker 4: I guess your guess, your little anonymous veteran NBA reporter,
Speaker 4: I guess who was Like.
Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying, That's what I'm saying, he must
Speaker 3: have he must have said something directly to you which
Speaker 3: I got was always talking ship because I didn't. I
Speaker 3: did not give up. I did not give that up.
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, he always talking ship, But Tim, I got you.
Speaker 4: But what was I saying? I'm old? Oh yeah, I
Speaker 4: don't look at Twitter as much, and so I usually,
Speaker 4: like a lot of times, I go scroll and just
Speaker 4: check out what different fans of teams are saying, saying
Speaker 4: with the narrative is seeing, you know, And I did
Speaker 4: a little bit of that from the Miami standpoint when
Speaker 4: it went down, and there was a lot of you know,
Speaker 4: as soon as the Bucks got dag, there was a
Speaker 4: lot of finger pointing, you know, finger point that pat
Speaker 4: the Miami heat. Did they offer enough? Were they aggressive?
Speaker 4: Did they what was the other where they arrogant? Did
Speaker 4: they just think that there wasn't a market for them
Speaker 4: so they didn't put forth their best offer? You know,
Speaker 4: I saw all the all those things. You know. All
Speaker 4: I can say is that, you know, from what I
Speaker 4: was told, you know, they they did everything they could
Speaker 4: to try to get into the Andy, try to get
Speaker 4: into the Dame Sweet stakes, but uh, it just didn't.
Speaker 4: It just didn't happen. So but yes, Stein, I'm with you.
Speaker 4: It's hard for me to look at that roster right
Speaker 4: now of the Miami Heat and think that they're anywhere
Speaker 4: near a favorite to be in the East Side. There'll
Speaker 4: be a championship content I mean, excuse me, there'll be
Speaker 4: a playoff contended team. They'll definitely be a hard out,
Speaker 4: because Eric Sposier coach teams are always a hard out.
Speaker 4: But they're not above the Bucks. They're not above the Celtics.
Speaker 4: I don't think they're even above the Sixers, even if
Speaker 4: James Harden is there or not. And so they got
Speaker 4: a ways to go. But stop. As you know, in
Speaker 4: the playoffs, a lot of times it's largely about where
Speaker 4: you're placed to see the path you have to get
Speaker 4: to the finals. So we'll see.
Speaker 3: Okay, we're gonna move on to the Sixers in a
Speaker 3: minute here, but before we do, I don't know if
Speaker 3: you saw this, since since you're so old now and
Speaker 3: you don't look at you don't look at Twitter anymore.
Speaker 3: In Milwaukee, one of our listeners he only goes by
Speaker 3: at Bucks two three, three four, so he didn't leave
Speaker 3: us a name, but he clearly heard last week when
Speaker 3: I was jealous of your impending trip to Carson's for
Speaker 3: a stake, and he says, hey, you guys need to
Speaker 3: check out Carnivore.
Speaker 4: Carnivore Milwat says, I was told that last night.
Speaker 3: And then he says, we also got to go to
Speaker 3: Harbor House slash Oddly, which I hope I pronounced that right.
Speaker 3: Looks like a Greek place, and Giannis is apparently a
Speaker 3: part owner there.
Speaker 4: I heard about that too, So I went out with
Speaker 4: I went out to dinner with Spears, Spears and uh
Speaker 4: Vincent Goodwill and a few other friends and Spears new
Speaker 4: in Milwaukee area. And one of the brothers who is
Speaker 4: with us at dinner, he.
Speaker 3: Brought up that and take you guys all out.
Speaker 4: No, he did not pay for my own tab. No, no,
Speaker 4: so yeah, no, So this I wonder if this brother
Speaker 4: who I went to dinner with, is this guy that's
Speaker 4: tweeting at you because he brought up last night at dinner,
Speaker 4: he brought up Carnivores, and he brought up Jannis's place.
Speaker 4: It doesn't have a name, that's it, that's just what
Speaker 4: bucks whatever.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, there's no no, it's it's an anonymous
Speaker 3: it's an anonymous account.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't be surprised if that's him, But yeah, we
Speaker 4: got to do that. Stine hold On. I got hold
Speaker 4: on before we transitioned on STY before we transition on
Speaker 4: Stin have an announcement. So remember how I was supposed
Speaker 4: to be with the Lakers for media Day and then
Speaker 4: things change. A certain trade happened and I found myself
Speaker 4: in Milwaukee from medion Day. Well, on my schedule, I
Speaker 4: was supposed to have Sons Warriors opening night, which is fine,
Speaker 4: great great cities, Chris Paul playing against his former team.
Speaker 4: These two teams, you know, some somewhat of a history
Speaker 4: right there, KD going against the Wars. Love it right
Speaker 4: down the street from my house, an hour drive. You know, hey,
Speaker 4: cool well Stein, I have a different game opening night
Speaker 4: for T and T Milwaukee Philadelphia, so I would get
Speaker 4: to try out Carnivars and I might try out the
Speaker 4: other place. So I'm telling you this. Then my schedule
Speaker 4: could be changing periodically. Here, you know, my schedule is
Speaker 4: already out. They could be changing periodically, So you need
Speaker 4: to be ready and prepared to make that trick to Milwaukee.
Speaker 3: It's only a two I'm doing for you. You won't.
Speaker 3: You will not have to ask me more than once, because,
Speaker 3: like I said, I absolutely love Milwaukee.
Speaker 4: Let me tell you this. Let me tell you this
Speaker 4: time I put any places to go. Let me put
Speaker 4: this in your ear. Stein Live podcast hang Stein in Milwaukee,
Speaker 4: featuring a couple star guests. Come on, Stein, make it happen, Man,
Speaker 4: make it.
Speaker 3: Wait a minute, Wait a minute. You you think you
Speaker 3: think they will both come to our podcast?
Speaker 4: No think, ain't no think. I know, there's no thinking.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 3: The oldest guarantee, that is the boldest guarantee of Media
Speaker 3: Day week that I've heard yet.
Speaker 4: Make it happen, Stein, Well, that's happen.
Speaker 3: I will pay. I will pay my own way for that.
Speaker 3: I will happily.
Speaker 4: I want you to find a venue where we're doing
Speaker 4: to that, Stein, where we're doing to that?
Speaker 3: Yeah we know, we got it. Yeah we get we gotta.
Speaker 3: I am gonna. I'm on it. Let's find a venue.
Speaker 3: Let's come to Milwaukee, and let's Milwaukee give us some bucks, fans,
Speaker 3: give us some suggestions.
Speaker 4: Where's the venue, where do we have to where do
Speaker 4: we need to do it? Do it at Come on now,
Speaker 4: give us some suggestion.
Speaker 3: That would be incredible.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 3: So I mean, realistically, I know you don't know yet
Speaker 3: for sure, but you're gonna You're gonna be in Milwaukee
Speaker 3: more than just about anywhere else this season.
Speaker 4: Do you think I wouldn't say that that might be
Speaker 4: going a little bit too far. I don't know if
Speaker 4: I want to keep making a Milwaukee trip. That's that's
Speaker 4: hard on the brother from California. There is no direct
Speaker 4: flights from the from the from the Sacramento Bay area
Speaker 4: area to Milwaukee. You know, so I don't want to go.
Speaker 3: What do you what do you fly to Chicago first?
Speaker 3: What do you do?
Speaker 4: Fly Chicago or Denver? Chicago or Denver?
Speaker 3: So you're reunited guy?
Speaker 4: No? Oh, I'm the Southwest? Guys?
Speaker 3: Was I?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: That's right, that's right? Was my prediction correct? Remember remember
Speaker 3: when you were listing all the teams that NBA TV
Speaker 3: was supposed to be at for Media Day and they
Speaker 3: had to they had to get rid of one because
Speaker 3: because of Milwaukee. Was I correct? Was Sacramento out?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 4: They they kept Sacking. Oh, hold on, I didn't see
Speaker 4: anybody from Sack. You might be right, I didn't see
Speaker 4: anybody from Sack. Well.
Speaker 3: The only reason I asked you, because I figured by
Speaker 3: now you would have heard from an angry Mike Brown.
Speaker 4: No. I didn't hear from Mike. No. I didn't see
Speaker 4: anybody from Sack. I think you, I think you were
Speaker 4: a proven correct.
Speaker 3: All right, well let's let's let's uh, let's move on
Speaker 3: to uh the Philadelphia seventy six Ers, because by all accounts,
Speaker 3: James Harden is going to report. But you know it,
Speaker 3: it looks and just sounds like a mess. And I'm
Speaker 3: I mean, you tell me what I mean, Joel Embiid. Look,
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess the good news from the Sixers
Speaker 3: perspective is Joel Embiid says, you know, he didn't add
Speaker 3: any pressure, he didn't foist any more pressure on the organization.
Speaker 3: You know, he's still saying, at least for public consumption,
Speaker 3: that he believes the Sixers can compete for a championship
Speaker 3: as is. But I mean, the reality with Philadelphia is
Speaker 3: they're just beyond the Clippers. There does not appear to
Speaker 3: be a trade market for James Harden, and the Clippers
Speaker 3: know this. And the Clippers are not throwing tons of
Speaker 3: trade assets at Philly because they know they're not bidding
Speaker 3: against anyone. So Philly does not want to trade Harden
Speaker 3: based on what's on the table, which means they have
Speaker 3: to convince him to come back and play. And yes,
Speaker 3: he'll be back in the training camp fold, But does
Speaker 3: that mean, you know, he's ready to play for an
Speaker 3: organization that he publicly announced the world I will never
Speaker 3: play for an organization again that employs Darryl Morey? I mean,
Speaker 3: is he Is he really gonna live up to that claim?
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess we're gonna find out.
Speaker 4: It's it's a dangerous situation for the Sixers because Okay, yeah,
Speaker 4: he'll come back, But is he going to be engaged guy?
Speaker 4: Is he going to be a motivated guy? Is he
Speaker 4: going to be a guy that's really there to try
Speaker 4: to maximize each and every day of his talent along
Speaker 4: with his teammates. We've seen how that kind of unfolded
Speaker 4: with Houston when he went to camp and you know,
Speaker 4: he said what he had to say and people within
Speaker 4: the organization could see that, could see that he wasn't
Speaker 4: given his all, He wasn't really there even though he
Speaker 4: was there. So is that going to be the same
Speaker 4: scenario this time around? And if it is, is that
Speaker 4: really conducive to Is his presence really conducive to winning
Speaker 4: or even just providing the right type of mentality and
Speaker 4: vibe around the rest of your teammates and the organization.
Speaker 4: So I don't know, it depends on how James handles this.
Speaker 4: But if he handles this like he did in Houston,
Speaker 4: I don't see much point in having them around.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I don't want to guess because I can't guess.
Speaker 3: You know, We're all we don't know when we know
Speaker 3: how hard how Harden is going to handle this. But
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, now that these trades have happened,
Speaker 3: now that Damian Lillard has been traded and Drew Holliday
Speaker 3: has been traded, really the overriding story of national interest
Speaker 3: is what happens next in Philadelphia? It can they get
Speaker 3: James Harden back on side. Me being the international basketball
Speaker 3: nerd that I am, you know, this story's gotten very
Speaker 3: little play over here. But the French Basketball Federation they
Speaker 3: have issued an October tenth deadline, which is basically one
Speaker 3: week from today as we're taping this podcast on a
Speaker 3: Tuesday afternoon. They've given Joel Embiid a deadline of October
Speaker 3: tenth to tell them that he is either playing in
Speaker 3: the Olympics for France next summer or not. And you know,
Speaker 3: this is a story that I've been tracking for a
Speaker 3: year now and it fascinates me because Joel Embiid, of
Speaker 3: course born in Cameroon, but he also holds a French passport,
Speaker 3: a US passport. France and the United States have been
Speaker 3: staging this behind the scenes battle to try to get
Speaker 3: Joel Embiid to make commit his international future to one
Speaker 3: or the other. And Cameroon is in last chance qualifying
Speaker 3: next July, so Joel Embiid, who has never played for Cameroon,
Speaker 3: Pascal Siakam, they has never played for Cameroon. If those
Speaker 3: two were to join forces, they should be able to
Speaker 3: lead Cameroon to an Olympic berth themselves. But in those
Speaker 3: last chance tournaments, it's certainly you know, it's four sixteen
Speaker 3: groups and only the four group winners advance, and crazy
Speaker 3: things happen in international basketball. So I know Joel Embiid
Speaker 3: wants to go with someone where he that would assure
Speaker 3: he's going to be in next summer's Olympics. That's something
Speaker 3: that he's made it clear means a lot to him.
Speaker 3: But again, I say all of that, and I run
Speaker 3: through that whole scenario knowing that I'm probably one of
Speaker 3: very few who cares about that because with the Sixers,
Speaker 3: everything right now is are they going to trade James Harden?
Speaker 3: And if they can't trade James Harden, how is that
Speaker 3: going to impact Joel Embiid's contentment level in the City
Speaker 3: of Brotherly Love. But like I said, I do find
Speaker 3: it interesting that France, which has been trying to get
Speaker 3: this commitment from Joel Embiid, has issued this firm deadline,
Speaker 3: and Joel said it media Day that he he is
Speaker 3: going to make a decision here in the next few days,
Speaker 3: which means, you know, he's he's taking that deadline seriously
Speaker 3: and he's gonna heed that deadline. But yes, I know,
Speaker 3: I just rambled for five minutes about a story that
Speaker 3: people are not tuning in. The people are probably not
Speaker 3: tuning into this podcast for that update. Sorry, can help it.
Speaker 3: Let me get international hoops Nerd here.
Speaker 4: Let me get this straight. Stiin so mb has three
Speaker 4: different options of teams in which he can play excuse me,
Speaker 4: which he can play for for the Olympics. Has that
Speaker 4: ever been yes?
Speaker 3: Because that is that is.
Speaker 4: A pretty good free agency of market to have right there,
Speaker 4: going to the yeah and.
Speaker 3: Look and look. This is a controversial topic in the
Speaker 3: world of international basketball because in recent years there has
Speaker 3: been this free agency feel where we've seen multiple instances
Speaker 3: of players basically choosing where they're gonna play. And Joejoel
Speaker 3: Embiid has never played at senior level for any country,
Speaker 3: so that's why he has this ability to choose. And look,
Speaker 3: he's been in the United States a long time now,
Speaker 3: he has a US passport, and so my issue with
Speaker 3: that really is the United States is the most talent
Speaker 3: rich basketball country in the world. They shouldn't have to
Speaker 3: just sign Joel Embiid as a free agent because they
Speaker 3: did poorly at the World Cup. And one of the
Speaker 3: other news, one of the other big headlines out of
Speaker 3: media Day was how many top players in the league
Speaker 3: came out and said they want to play in the
Speaker 3: Olympics next summer. Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Kawhi, Leonard Lebron,
Speaker 3: James Bradley, Beal, Devin Booker, bam Adebio and I'm leaving
Speaker 3: out five, six, seven more. The United States is going
Speaker 3: to be plenty deep enough they don't need to beg
Speaker 3: Joel Embiid to play for them next summer. But you know,
Speaker 3: in France obviously already has Rudy Gobert, Victor weinbin Yama
Speaker 3: is gonna be on the national team next summer. And
Speaker 3: France has been until this past World Cup when they
Speaker 3: flamed out crazily in the first round. France has been
Speaker 3: the closest thing to a US rival at the last
Speaker 3: at the previous two major competitions. So again, I am
Speaker 3: speaking purely for me as a basketball romantic. I would
Speaker 3: love to see Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam team up
Speaker 3: play for Cameroon, try to win that last last chance
Speaker 3: qualifying spot and get Cameroon to the Olympics. I just
Speaker 3: think that would be an incredible story, not just for
Speaker 3: their homeland, but African basketball in general. I would Again,
Speaker 3: this is mark Stein basketball romantic speaking, and Beid's gonna
Speaker 3: do what he wants to do. It's his personal choice
Speaker 3: and he wants to be in the Olympics. He said it,
Speaker 3: yet he said it at media day. He really wants
Speaker 3: to play in the Olympics, and the risk for him
Speaker 3: is if he goes with Cameroon and he doesn't and
Speaker 3: they don't qualify. That might be his last shot. This
Speaker 3: might be his last shot at the Olympics as a
Speaker 3: twenty nine year old, you know, because he's already he'd
Speaker 3: obviously have to wait four more years. So I can
Speaker 3: I can see why it's a struggle for him.
Speaker 4: So the question I have Stean and I probably already
Speaker 4: know the answer, but just to get it confirmed. So
Speaker 4: somebody in joelnbie situation, who has three different scenarios in
Speaker 4: which he can choose from, say Joel was twenty one
Speaker 4: and he chose to play for Team France. There's no
Speaker 4: way later down the road in his thirties that he
Speaker 4: can choose a play with his hometown country. Is there
Speaker 4: any avenue for that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, and yes there is. And that's what That's what
Speaker 3: just happened with Eric Gordon. So Eric Gordon played, You know,
Speaker 3: people forget Eric Gordon plays for tusay as a twenty
Speaker 3: ten World Cup in Turkey. So he this summer he
Speaker 3: requested to switch allegiances and play for the Bahamas. I believe,
Speaker 3: if I have my facts right, eric Gordon's mom is
Speaker 3: from the Bahamas. If I hope, I'm remembering that correctly,
Speaker 3: maybe producer Ryan can double check us as I'm going
Speaker 3: through my answer. So basically, FEBA, the world governing body
Speaker 3: of basketball, they reserve the right that they can because
Speaker 3: when the rule and the rule book is once you've
Speaker 3: played for one country, even at junior level, but definitely
Speaker 3: at senior level, once you've represented one nation at senior level,
Speaker 3: you're not allowed to switch. Except FOEBA does reserve the
Speaker 3: right to let a player switch to another country in
Speaker 3: the best interests of basketball. And so basically what happened
Speaker 3: was Eric Gordon asked, USA Basketball, can you release me?
Speaker 3: You're not gonna call me back? Can I go play
Speaker 3: for the Bahamas now? USA Basketball said yes, So FOEBA
Speaker 3: said yes, So, yes, your scenario is correct that even
Speaker 3: Embiid could play for France or the United States now
Speaker 3: and theoretically down the road, FOEBA does have the right
Speaker 3: to let him switch and play for his native Cameroon.
Speaker 3: But if he played for France next summer at age
Speaker 3: twenty nine and wanted to switch to Cameroon at age
Speaker 3: thirty seven, France would have to surrender his international rights
Speaker 3: and then FOEBA would bless.
Speaker 4: It got you got you.
Speaker 3: But see it is it isn't interesting, it is an
Speaker 3: interesting topic is it is only about these It's only
Speaker 3: about you know again, nobody in Philly is too worried
Speaker 3: about this right now because they got much bigger concerns.
Speaker 3: But I was really hoping that this was going to
Speaker 3: be addressed at media Day, and I got my wish.
Speaker 3: They went into it. Joel gave his most detailed answer
Speaker 3: on the subject yet.
Speaker 4: Well, the Sixers won't be fine without Joel Ebid and
Speaker 4: they need to make.
Speaker 3: Like I said, like I said, Sixers fans listening to
Speaker 3: this going, why you stein talking about this for ten minutes?
Speaker 3: We got real issues.
Speaker 4: You gotta let them go.
Speaker 3: I do I do you know? I you know what
Speaker 3: it is. I remember in my in about a decade
Speaker 3: ago at ESPN, Kevin Arnovitz, our former ESPN colleague, said
Speaker 3: something to the effect of, you can really tell when
Speaker 3: you're covering international basketball, like your your joy for the
Speaker 3: game really shines even more like and I I don't
Speaker 3: know why, I just I just love I love the
Speaker 3: international game. I always have. And the NBA has become
Speaker 3: such an international sport with one hundred plus guys every
Speaker 3: season from other countries. So when they go play for
Speaker 3: their countries, it it fascinates me.
Speaker 4: It does.
Speaker 3: It's a different on shorter game. I can't remember.
Speaker 2: You have not.
Speaker 3: You were you, you were gonna go to an Olympics,
Speaker 3: but you didn't, right like you you still last?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have not. I was supposed to do the
Speaker 4: last one. I can't remember what happened. I don't know
Speaker 4: if I was in a contract summer, I forgot something happened.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you will eventually do one. You'll do Paris in
Speaker 3: twenty four, you'll do La in twenty eight, and you're
Speaker 3: gonna do an international tournament and you're gonna and you're
Speaker 3: gonna come back and tell me you were right. I
Speaker 3: love this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean everybody, everybody who's covered this league for
Speaker 4: a significant amount of time who has also covered the
Speaker 4: Olympics say you have to cover one Olympics, you have
Speaker 4: to go. So yeah, I got to get that under
Speaker 4: under my belt.
Speaker 3: Yeah, knock on wood, I got to do three. I
Speaker 3: don't think I probably I don't foresee doing another Olympics,
Speaker 3: but I am grateful for the three of cover. All right,
Speaker 3: that should do it for this edition of this league
Speaker 3: uncut hopefully by the next time Chris and I get together,
Speaker 3: will have more clarity on the latest with James Harden,
Speaker 3: all thirty teams in the league back to work now.
Speaker 3: Everybody is on the practice floor, writers like Chris and
Speaker 3: I are. We're making our reservations at various hotels. We're
Speaker 3: plotting our travel. Although you do a hell of a
Speaker 3: lot more travel than me. I kind of live through
Speaker 3: you now on the travel front.
Speaker 4: But well, I wish I was going. You're where you're
Speaker 4: going next.
Speaker 3: I'll say that, Yes, I I am. I guess I can.
Speaker 3: I haven't reveal you don't have to. You know what
Speaker 3: I'm not.
Speaker 4: You don't have to.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna. I will reveal it. I will reveal
Speaker 3: it soon. But yes, my my next stop, my next
Speaker 3: stop is is one of my favorite cities in the world.
Speaker 3: And uh and it sure ain't bad star.
Speaker 4: This was not this league uncut. It was this world uncut.
Speaker 4: We we we we just stick to the NBA.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I wonder how many I'm really hoping we don't
Speaker 3: get a bunch of complaints talking.
Speaker 2: About man.
Speaker 4: This world for months.
Speaker 3: I can't help it, America, I love my hoops. Cannot
Speaker 3: help it. No, You're if you're old, I'm ancient.
Speaker 4: Okay, you can still dunk.
Speaker 3: You can still dunk, so so can what's it? So
Speaker 3: can my zero?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I was gonna say a media day, did you and
Speaker 3: Marcus Johnson talk about Dunky?
Speaker 4: I didn't see him. He wasn't there, all.
Speaker 3: Right, So so the next time you're the next time
Speaker 3: you're on assignment in Milwaukee, you have to check in
Speaker 3: with him and see because yeah, every year he throws
Speaker 3: one down, puts it on puts it on Twitter. I
Speaker 3: think you should dunk and put it on Twitter. I
Speaker 3: think I think the people would love to see that.
Speaker 4: Okay, all right, We'll.
Speaker 3: Got Tim McMahon to stand under. We'll get Tim McMahon
Speaker 3: to stand under the basket.
Speaker 4: Ooh, I would love that. I would love that. Now,
Speaker 4: he'll foul the ship out of me, Starle. He'll a
Speaker 4: foul of shit. He's already let me know about that.
Speaker 2: He is.
Speaker 4: I gotta catch him slip.
Speaker 3: Maybe the Celtics should sign him because he's six fouls
Speaker 3: for sure. He is six definite foul. All Right, we've
Speaker 3: blathered on enough. That's gonna do it for this edition
Speaker 3: of this league uncut. Please if you haven't already subscribe
Speaker 3: to the show, rate the show, review the show. Chris
Speaker 3: and I and producer Ryan will be back soon with
Speaker 3: another episode. Promise. Thanks for listening everybody.
Speaker 2: And that'll do it for us. See you next time.
Speaker 1: This league uncut it is and iHeartRadio production.
Speaker 2: Chris Haines and Mark Stein. I didn't care.