Speaker 1: All right, welcome in. We'll driving the Cred episode three
Speaker 1: eighty two. Kind of a weird show because twelve hours
Speaker 1: ago the show was gonna be vast majority football. Ten
Speaker 1: hours ago, the show was gonna be vast majority Holy shit,
Speaker 1: what did Victor Winmanyama just do? And thirty minutes ago
Speaker 1: it changed to this breaking news about Terry Rogier, Damon Jones,
Speaker 1: and Chauncey Billups, rigged poker games, prop bet fixing and
Speaker 1: all of that. And I am I am stunned by
Speaker 1: the allegations here on one's front side of it. I'm
Speaker 1: not stunned at all by the allegations on a different
Speaker 1: side of it. And I'm gonna try to unpack it
Speaker 1: because I actually we just had I think it's I
Speaker 1: want to get the guy's name right. What us attorney
Speaker 1: Joe Junior talk about high dollar poker games in Manhattan,
Speaker 1: the Hamptons in Vegas, and my ears perked up when
Speaker 1: they talked about what was going on. So I think
Speaker 1: I can oddly give you some real insight here on now.
Speaker 1: Listen credit to Pablo Torri who, when it comes to
Speaker 1: the Terry Rogier prop betting, all that stuff, he's been
Speaker 1: all over it. The poker stuff, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: is jarring. And well, I'll explain, but I wanna this
Speaker 1: is all like happening in real time. They're literally doing
Speaker 1: a press conference as we speak. I was watching it
Speaker 1: right before we went on the air, and so we'll
Speaker 1: get into all that. I wanna demand. Welcome in. This
Speaker 1: is gonna be a weird show for you, but it's
Speaker 1: no problem. We'll get to football and we'll get to
Speaker 1: our picks in a bit and we'll talk. Uh Wimby,
Speaker 1: let me get to straight to voicemail. Brought to you
Speaker 1: by boost Mobile, and this show is always brought to
Speaker 1: you by our friends of boost Mobile. Uh Megan the
Speaker 1: Stallion Sports Oh so funny. Klay Thompson. Labooba la boo boo,
Speaker 1: la boo. I think it's lab boo boo. Guys, I
Speaker 1: don't think it's a A. I think it's la boo boo.
Speaker 1: I also had never seen a la boo boo in
Speaker 1: my life in person until last night when your big
Speaker 1: sister sent your little sister, not your bit, your old
Speaker 1: the oldest, but your oldest oldest sister sent your youngest
Speaker 1: sister what is almost assuredly a knockoff fake La Boo
Speaker 1: Boo for her birthday, and she was very excited. Uh.
Speaker 1: Travis Kelcey uh trying to help out six Flags and
Speaker 1: JJ McCarthy with what is pretty clearly a soft pinching.
Speaker 1: Uh still out on Thursday night football. Okay, so here's
Speaker 1: what we know now. I'm going to tell you I
Speaker 1: have a healthy skepticism of the way the way media
Speaker 1: typically reports arrests and news is what law enforcement sources
Speaker 1: tell the media they treat as gospel. I try not
Speaker 1: to do that, Okay, that is that's you. No matter
Speaker 1: whether it's local cops, the Feds, no matter who's in
Speaker 1: charge of the DOJ. I always feel like the slanting
Speaker 1: it's unfair to the accused. And so I am not.
Speaker 1: And so I read all these stories with I come
Speaker 1: into come into it with some skepticism. I had even
Speaker 1: more when I saw the ABC News headline from the
Speaker 1: when this story first broke and it said Portland Trailblazer's
Speaker 1: head coach has been charged in the illegal poker operation
Speaker 1: tied to the law enforcements. Versus told ABC News, and
Speaker 1: that's because the mafia is not like and they even
Speaker 1: capitalize mafia a specific entity like there is organized crime,
Speaker 1: and the Mafia is known as like Italian organized crime,
Speaker 1: but I've never seen like in a real news article
Speaker 1: the Mafia be used as as if it were a
Speaker 1: specific entity. So I initially was here's what I thought
Speaker 1: this news was going to be when I saw it,
Speaker 1: Terry Rosier, There's been a lot of smoke, and Pablotory
Speaker 1: has done a good job around that story for the
Speaker 1: last year. That ah, some of his player prop bets
Speaker 1: sure seem fishy and there's fishy action on them, and
Speaker 1: we talked about the fact that it'd be it's very
Speaker 1: easy for guys to try to make their friends or
Speaker 1: themselves ten twenty grand on these individual player props, and
Speaker 1: clearly some guys have not been able to resist the temptation.
Speaker 1: That's what I assumed the FEDS were arresting Terry Rogier
Speaker 1: for I didn't know what Damon jones necessary involvement was,
Speaker 1: except for the fact that he had been a coach,
Speaker 1: so maybe would have inside information on hey, this guy's
Speaker 1: not gonna play or this guy's dinged up. I also,
Speaker 1: full disclosure, have known Damon Jones for more than ten years.
Speaker 1: I like Damon Jones and I was sad to see
Speaker 1: his name in this. When I saw there was Chauncey
Speaker 1: was being charged in the illegal poker operation, my initial
Speaker 1: thought process was, a man, they're really going after these
Speaker 1: illegally raked poker games. Because we saw Gilbert get himmed
Speaker 1: up by the FEDS about some thing, what I thought
Speaker 1: was similar. So before I get to the actual details here,
Speaker 1: because I really want the audience to understand this. It
Speaker 1: is not that I know it's gonna sound I'm gonna
Speaker 1: sound like I'm giving myself a pass here or something,
Speaker 1: but I want to be very clear. The card games
Speaker 1: that I play in are totally legal. And it's not
Speaker 1: because they're in Vegas. Those obviously are. Those are in
Speaker 1: regulated casinos. And it's not because they're not for you know,
Speaker 1: a ton of money, because sometimes they are. The way
Speaker 1: it works is this, and I want to put demons
Speaker 1: on the screen because I want to make sure he
Speaker 1: understands it. Because if he understands, everyone understand it. I
Speaker 1: am allowed to have no I mean when I that
Speaker 1: wasn't an insult on your intelligence. I just meant because
Speaker 1: you're not a poker player like you're you are. If
Speaker 1: I were to say, hey, I am hosting a poker
Speaker 1: night at my house for friends, family, or even just hey,
Speaker 1: join my poker club and come play. We could play
Speaker 1: for ten dollars a person, one hundred dollars a person,
Speaker 1: or a million dollars a person, and that is legal.
Speaker 1: That is legal as long as the house, the host,
Speaker 1: the person putting it on is not taking a cut
Speaker 1: of the money. So do you understand. So, like if
Speaker 1: we if I invited seven guys over and everybody brought
Speaker 1: ten grand with them, so there's eighty thousand dollars involved.
Speaker 1: As long as at the end of the night, when
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, you you know you lost your tin.
Speaker 1: You lost your tin, he won tenny. As long as
Speaker 1: everyone the net net of what everyone came with they
Speaker 1: leave with collectively, that's legal. It's not legal if it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: since I'm hosting the game, every hand, I'm gonna take
Speaker 1: twenty dollars out of the pot and drop it in
Speaker 1: this little box here, and at the end of the
Speaker 1: night the house has made two grand. That's what makes
Speaker 1: That's the line that makes poker games legal or illegal.
Speaker 1: Is the house taking a cut? Okay, It's as simple
Speaker 1: as that. So when I was on with Lovetard last
Speaker 1: week talking about that huge card game I was going
Speaker 1: to that was a bunch of guys who've been playing
Speaker 1: with each other forever. And there is no there is
Speaker 1: no rake. That's called the rake. Taking money is the rake. Okay.
Speaker 1: So Gilbert got in trouble because they were hosting up again.
Speaker 1: He had rented a house that was being used according
Speaker 1: to the FEDS for it was basically an illegal casino
Speaker 1: because the house became not only where the card games were,
Speaker 1: but that they were probably taking in rake taking the money,
Speaker 1: and that rake can be huge, like ten twenty thousand
Speaker 1: a night in rake and money off the table. Okay.
Speaker 1: So that is that that's the distinction between private, legal
Speaker 1: and illegal poker. When I saw the Chauncey thing, I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: I can't believe they're going after this, these illegal card games,
Speaker 1: because that is pretty prevalent, the idea of hey, we're
Speaker 1: gonna do a private game, but a person who's hosting
Speaker 1: it those things, he's gonna they're gonna take a cutter.
Speaker 1: That's their business. That we we one of how do
Speaker 1: I put this? Someone you know really well, don't That
Speaker 1: is one of my buddies that is his business. He
Speaker 1: hosts all you know, a weekly or semi weekly game
Speaker 1: and that, and so those are those are illegal technically,
Speaker 1: but usually people like as long as there's no drugs,
Speaker 1: there's no violence, no anything, people don't mess with them. Okay,
Speaker 1: yeah that is not though. What the feds are alleging.
Speaker 1: Chauncey was a part of what the feds are alleging
Speaker 1: is that the end this, if this is true, this
Speaker 1: is for me, as someone who plays in real card games,
Speaker 1: this is a cardinal sin. They're alleging these were games
Speaker 1: that they had rigged shufflers, that they had rigged rfi
Speaker 1: D devices which allowed people to know what cards other
Speaker 1: people had, That they had rigged communication devices like tiny earpieces,
Speaker 1: and that folks were like, hey, seat six has kings
Speaker 1: and aces coming on the turn, get your money if
Speaker 1: that go ahead?
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was wondering, like, how does this type of
Speaker 2: information get out? Is somebody getting bamboozled and they'd speak
Speaker 2: out to the fence because I was thinking like, wow,
Speaker 2: whose benefit would it be?
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean yeah, or somebody. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: there's a bunch of Yeah, there's a bunch of ways
Speaker 1: this could happen. Somebody gets in trouble and then they're like, hey,
Speaker 1: let me out of trouble. I'll tell you about something bigger.
Speaker 1: Somebody is in the game and thinks they've been cheated
Speaker 1: and then decides to kind of go on their own
Speaker 1: and investigate it or whatever it is. But the allegation
Speaker 1: here is organized crime recruited Chauncey to be the draw.
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, come to the Hamptons, come to New
Speaker 1: York whatever, and play. We've got a card game. Chauncey
Speaker 1: Billups plays in that, and then they bring in people
Speaker 1: with a bunch of money that they are then stealing from.
Speaker 1: Now again, I have so much respect for Chauncey Billups,
Speaker 1: and he has earned to me so much of the
Speaker 1: benefit of the doubt that what I would like to
Speaker 1: believe here is that he had no idea. He thought
Speaker 1: he was playing in a poker game on the level.
Speaker 1: But they you know that they were rigged games. What
Speaker 1: the insight I can give the audience is this one
Speaker 1: of the reasons folks take the time and effort to
Speaker 1: travel all the way to Las Vegas to play in
Speaker 1: card games. The reason I unless I'm going to one
Speaker 1: of my two buddies places that I've known for a
Speaker 1: long time. In trust go all the way to Philadelphia
Speaker 1: is there's You're always worried that it's not on the level.
Speaker 1: You're worried that someone's dealing from the bottom of the deck.
Speaker 1: You're worried that guys are colluding. You're worried that you
Speaker 1: might get cheated. That is always a concern in I
Speaker 1: had a buddy I don't want to give again give
Speaker 1: too many details here, but one of the greatest in
Speaker 1: my opinion, card players in the world, who is a
Speaker 1: man of intense, intense honor. UH played got cheated out
Speaker 1: of in one game, got cheated out of three quarters
Speaker 1: of a million dollars and was able to retroactively prove
Speaker 1: that they were doing stuff like this, that that it
Speaker 1: was the card you had card readers. You know you
Speaker 1: guys were cheating you. The whole poker game existed to
Speaker 1: cheat me out of my three quarters of a million
Speaker 1: dollars and UH refused to refuse to pay it. And
Speaker 1: then it became a real, like dangerous situation. Like so
Speaker 1: that there is a level of protect yourself at all times.
Speaker 1: You know this stuff could be happening in the high
Speaker 1: stakes poker world. It is utterly jarring to me that
Speaker 1: the FEDS are alleging that Chauncey knew these games were
Speaker 1: rigged and was playing in them anyway, because that to
Speaker 1: me that if that's true, that's stone cold theft. That
Speaker 1: is that there is no wiggle room around it. If
Speaker 1: you are if you are inviting people to come play
Speaker 1: in a card game that you know they can't win
Speaker 1: because other people in the game are going to know
Speaker 1: what cards they have and play accordingly. I that's real,
Speaker 1: dirty man. And now again I don't want to believe it.
Speaker 1: And in fairness, during this press conference, one of the
Speaker 1: people talking one of the FEDS did say this involves
Speaker 1: the NBA team, the Toronto Rangers, so they might not
Speaker 1: be totally buttoned up, but uh, these are uh shocking allegations.
Speaker 2: Chauncey.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and listen, Chauncey is considered one of the best
Speaker 1: guys in one of the best people associated with the league.
Speaker 1: And again, if it were he was just playing in
Speaker 1: a card game where they took a rake, I would
Speaker 1: I was prepared to get on here and say this
Speaker 1: is an absolute nothing burger, like there are there's that
Speaker 1: there is not only is that barely illegal. It is apps.
Speaker 1: There is no ethical for me issue with it. Like there,
Speaker 1: it's simply saying I'm playing.
Speaker 2: In a people games.
Speaker 1: Everybody, right, we're all saying we'll pay this percentage now
Speaker 1: where that can. And really the only reason the government
Speaker 1: typically cares about those things is because nobody's paying taxes
Speaker 1: on it, because the it's like the nobody's like paying
Speaker 1: right exactly and so but you again, you are allowed
Speaker 1: to play high stakes private poker games as long as
Speaker 1: like helm Youth talks about it all the time. Helmuth
Speaker 1: plays for tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars at
Speaker 1: it at his own house in the Bay Area with
Speaker 1: a bunch of the Silicon Valley guys. But you just
Speaker 1: have to report your wins as gambling winnings on your
Speaker 1: taxes and pay taxes and help you doesn't take a
Speaker 1: vic or you know, doesn't take a raak. But haven't
Speaker 1: And they I watched the press conference Demanse. They have
Speaker 1: a picture of a what they say is a rigged shuffler.
Speaker 1: They have a picture of a computer that is reading
Speaker 1: out the cards everyone has.
Speaker 2: I mean, they they raided the place and found all
Speaker 2: like the paras.
Speaker 1: Seems like it man, And oh boy, I really thought
Speaker 1: we were gonna start today talking NBA. I didn't think
Speaker 1: it was gonna be that. I want to let me
Speaker 1: just see one more thing. So but oh the I
Speaker 1: don't know if I finished my sentence before before it
Speaker 1: gets to wimby that. Maybe I did, so maybe I'm
Speaker 1: repeating myself.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: But this is why people some people prefer to do
Speaker 1: all of their poker playing in a casino because a
Speaker 1: casino is taking a rake. It's much smaller usually than
Speaker 1: the private game rake, but it's on the level. Like
Speaker 1: the cheating that can happen in a casino is two
Speaker 1: of guys at the table communicating to each other. That's
Speaker 1: called colluding, like hey, you raise all re raise and
Speaker 1: then this guy will fold like that. That is that's
Speaker 1: that's one level of cheating. But you don't have to
Speaker 1: typically at a casino. Worry, Wait does are Is this
Speaker 1: a setup via shuffler? And a setup via shuffler would
Speaker 1: be to give people an example, you have one hundred
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in front of you. I've got one hundred
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in front of me. They intentionally give you
Speaker 1: pocket aces and give me pocket queens. I go all
Speaker 1: in preflop. You have the best hand, you have no
Speaker 1: t but to call, and then a queen comes and
Speaker 1: it's like, oh man, eighty twenty unlucky. Like setting hands
Speaker 1: up like that is stealing? All right? Crazy? I am.
Speaker 1: I am super interested in this story. I don't know
Speaker 1: if the audience is. Let me say one other thing
Speaker 1: on because everyone else is gonna be for more folks
Speaker 1: on the rosier piece of it. And I say this
Speaker 1: understanding that a huge portion of our economy in my
Speaker 1: business is paid for by the gambling operators. Right we are,
Speaker 1: We are proud partners with hard Rock Bet and with that,
Speaker 1: But despite that, I I don't even think it's despite that.
Speaker 1: I regardless of who our sponsors are, I have to
Speaker 1: I owe the audience full transparency and honesty. And here
Speaker 1: is what I am going to say about the rogier thing.
Speaker 1: As long as player props are a big part of
Speaker 1: legal sports gambling, this stuff is gonna pop up. It
Speaker 1: just is. And there here is the the two sides
Speaker 1: of the legal sports gambling coin. Okay, the pro legal
Speaker 1: sports gambling coin is because gambling is legal and regulated
Speaker 1: and you know you there is a real catalog of
Speaker 1: bets and archive and data you can you can more
Speaker 1: easily find, prove and root out the guys doing you know,
Speaker 1: essentially insider training. Okay, that that if it was just
Speaker 1: all off you know, bookies and in the shadows, it's
Speaker 1: harder to find or prove who's doing this stuff. That's
Speaker 1: the pro side, if I'm being fair. The conside to
Speaker 1: it is this absent legal sports gambling when it was
Speaker 1: all through bookies. Such a thing as how many assists
Speaker 1: is Terry Rozier gonna get tonight? Was not a bet
Speaker 1: that existed. You couldn't call up the guy you have
Speaker 1: drinks with at the bar and be like, I know,
Speaker 1: I usually just bet the packers every weekend, but I
Speaker 1: got a real good feeling Terry Rozier is gonna get
Speaker 1: more than four and a half rebounds? Will you give
Speaker 1: me ten grand on it? So like that, Yes it is,
Speaker 1: we can see it better. But it also created markets
Speaker 1: that otherwise didn't exist. And so all right, the let's
Speaker 1: get to NBA opening. In fact, you know what, before
Speaker 1: we get to Wimby, I want to tell you guys
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Speaker 1: not gonna tell him yet, but at some point we
Speaker 1: will and it's going to be awesome. I am very excited.
Speaker 2: I have that book for two dollars. By the way,
Speaker 2: it is awesome. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Oh because Wayfair cent exactly. Wayfair sent Demanse a pretty
Speaker 1: sick gift card and then he got something he really
Speaker 1: needs that we'll discuss later for two dollars, two additional dollars.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, shout out Wayfair. All right, Demanse, let's
Speaker 1: talk about, uh, what the hell happened last night in
Speaker 1: the NBA.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, as you know, we don't usually get too
Speaker 2: deep into basketball until Christmas, but we got to talk
Speaker 2: about something is going on in the NBA. Wimby yesterday
Speaker 2: apparently was crazy. I didn't catch this one, but I
Speaker 2: saw the highlights. Is it possible that this guy is
Speaker 2: already the best player in the league.
Speaker 1: I mean, here's the thing. Demand's a no no shame
Speaker 1: in not catching it live.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I was watching VJ. Edgecombe welcome himself to
Speaker 2: the Oh.
Speaker 1: You were watching so you were watching a different game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was watching Celtics.
Speaker 1: Okay, oh that's I thought. I assumed you meant you were.
Speaker 1: Oh good for you, buddy. Yeah, yeah, that's a VJ
Speaker 1: Edgecombe all time record for points in a debut, all
Speaker 1: time record. And the Sixers won that game despite Embeid's scoring.
Speaker 2: And being a no show. Yeah, no show.
Speaker 1: And the and the second almost got bad.
Speaker 2: For VJ with him missing those two free throws, and
Speaker 2: the Celtics could have pulled through. That would have been
Speaker 2: that would.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Max see our guy Maxey had forty, but
Speaker 1: someone else had forty and he's a seven foot five problem.
Speaker 1: So I I was a gog at what I saw
Speaker 1: last night from Victor WindMan Yama. So he is the
Speaker 1: best defensive player in basketball. We knew that was going
Speaker 1: to be the case. And he had three blocks, but
Speaker 1: that doesn't really explain it because he just dissuaded so
Speaker 1: much action because of his length that I don't know
Speaker 1: what the advanced stat is for, like shots not taken
Speaker 1: because you're scared this guy's gonna swat it into the
Speaker 1: first row, but he crushes in that. So we had
Speaker 1: So here's a good comp we had on the show yesterday.
Speaker 1: A Keem Olajuan all right, and a Keem was never
Speaker 1: the best offensive player in the league. But there was
Speaker 1: a two year period when Jordan was a year and
Speaker 1: a half when Jordan was retired, and those two years
Speaker 1: when a Keem was the best player in the league
Speaker 1: because he was far and away the best defensive player,
Speaker 1: and those couple of years probably like the fifth or
Speaker 1: sixth best offensive player, and those two things can combine
Speaker 1: to make you the best player. He usually goes in
Speaker 1: the other direction, the best player in the league. Joker
Speaker 1: is far and away the best offensive player and then
Speaker 1: just average defensive. And you deal with you know, it's
Speaker 1: very rare you get prime. I shouldn't say it's very rare.
Speaker 1: It's just special prime Giannis, prime, Bron prime Jordan, prime,
Speaker 1: Kobe Kawido. Also, I think was never the best offensive player. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm talking about a guy who can win the scoring
Speaker 1: title while being the best defender in the league. Right,
Speaker 1: it's only a handful of guys if Wimby's gonna give
Speaker 1: you forty. Let me put it like this, here's why
Speaker 1: it's so scary. Demanza and I loved that he only
Speaker 1: took two threes, that he is stronger his handles better.
Speaker 1: I think Wimby. If Wimby averages twenty five points a game,
Speaker 1: he might be the best player in the league like
Speaker 1: that because of what he is defensively and if he's
Speaker 1: gonna put up thirty. I I'm sorry to joke and
Speaker 1: I'm sorry to shave, but I just I am. I'm
Speaker 1: ready to have the conversation that this guy might just
Speaker 1: be the best, like the best player in the league.
Speaker 2: You're a little skeptical of Wimby in the beginning, Well,
Speaker 2: here's what I like it was. It was probably more
Speaker 2: on the injury.
Speaker 1: It was two things. It was two things. One was
Speaker 1: the injury stuff, which still anybody that size it worries me.
Speaker 1: But that's about it was my skepticism on Wimby. I
Speaker 1: guess was here were the three different levels of it.
Speaker 2: I think it was him shooting to.
Speaker 1: Yes, so I didn't like the style he was playing
Speaker 1: to me, he was trying to be Durant, and it's like, bro,
Speaker 1: you're a half foot taller than Durant and Durant is
Speaker 1: one of the greatest pure shooters ever. You're like the
Speaker 1: So I didn't love that. The injuries potential concerned me
Speaker 1: because literally every player in the history of the league
Speaker 1: seven four are taller has dealt with injuries, and I
Speaker 1: don't consider the blood clot an injury. I do, though,
Speaker 1: I I'm gonna sound.
Speaker 2: Really dumb, it's an ailment. I feel like that they're
Speaker 2: more prone to though, just because they're a larger guy.
Speaker 1: So that's all I was about to say that exact
Speaker 1: same thing. I was like, maybe this is dumb. Maybe
Speaker 1: a doctor's listening is like, that's not how that works.
Speaker 1: But in my head, that's how it works. It's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, there's more, there's more error, there's more
Speaker 1: just mileage for there to be clots, like I don't know.
Speaker 1: But so that part, and then the other part was
Speaker 1: I just thought we were setting him up to be
Speaker 1: a disappointment by saying if he's not better than a
Speaker 1: chem Olajuan, he's underachieved. I'm like, jeez, Louise Man, like
Speaker 1: he walks into the league and it's if you're not
Speaker 1: one of the ten greatest players of all time, you
Speaker 1: you have failed. With that said, I mean, I kind
Speaker 1: of get it. I mean, this is special, this is
Speaker 1: really really special, and I don't know what you're gonna
Speaker 1: do with him, and it does. He has become after
Speaker 1: one game Demanse must watch every night, and it makes
Speaker 1: me at least.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, there's that too, but they're left with a phenom.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but also and so a couple things. It
Speaker 1: makes me take the Spurs seriously. I mean, they obviously
Speaker 1: didn't even have Fox and they beat the MAVs. Bike yeah,
Speaker 1: and well, so that's the other piece of it. If
Speaker 1: you were to ask me going into yesterday, okay, if
Speaker 1: you are if you can have any player in the
Speaker 1: league to try to slow down Wimby on the defensive end,
Speaker 1: who is your number one draft pick? It would have
Speaker 1: been a d Like that's the other problem, Like the
Speaker 1: is there anyone in the league demands a better in
Speaker 1: theory equipped to deal with Wimby?
Speaker 2: My big man on the Celtics who I think his
Speaker 2: last name is Vet?
Speaker 1: Okay, I don't I don't know who you're talking about.
Speaker 1: And you're being ridiculous. There is the the I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe you're not the I don't. Hold on, let me see.
Speaker 2: No, nobody's guarding the man. Nobody. He's a freak of nature.
Speaker 1: Hold on, who are you talking about? Okay, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: you were silly. Uh No, I'm just saying, like a
Speaker 1: d is seven feet can play on the perimeter, can
Speaker 1: play down low. It has been one of the best
Speaker 1: defenders and Wimby made him look silly. I don't so so,
Speaker 1: Like who is the Spurs? What's the Spurs next game?
Speaker 1: So the Spurs next game is? Their next three games
Speaker 1: are New Orleans, Brooklyn, Toronto. The hell's anybody gonna do? Like,
Speaker 1: who on New Orleans is gonna be? Like, it's Trey
Speaker 1: Murphy it, I don't think New Orleans. I guess me, Si,
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, this is so I do think.
Speaker 1: I do think Demonte it's on the board that he's
Speaker 1: the best player in the league this year, and that
Speaker 1: would be.
Speaker 2: And his mind is right too, Like I just don't
Speaker 2: see It's like he's gonna do everything possible to stay afloat.
Speaker 2: I see him taking care of his body, take care
Speaker 2: of himself in the offseason.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we haven't had a guy be in the
Speaker 1: argument for there's only been I just want to make
Speaker 1: sure I get this right. The only no one since
Speaker 1: Bron has had a real argument that they were the
Speaker 1: best player in the league in year three. Like Bron
Speaker 1: in year three was second in MVP voting. He had
Speaker 1: a real argument. Tim Duncan in year three might have
Speaker 1: been the best player in the league, but he was
Speaker 1: a four year college player. Shack in year three was
Speaker 1: I think, let me, I want to see if I
Speaker 1: have this, had an argument. He was second in MVP
Speaker 1: voting and Jordan was retired and they made the finals
Speaker 1: but lost to a team those are best player in
Speaker 1: the league argument. By year three, it's just the holy
Speaker 1: grail of NBA guys, really and this is this is
Speaker 1: something else. This is really really something else. I'm amazed
Speaker 1: by it, and I I I'm lost of words. I
Speaker 1: didn't understand what I was watching last night. And we'll
Speaker 1: see how it continues. Oh wow, what's the MVP hnds.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he climbed the top two in MVP odds
Speaker 2: at plus two seventy five. Oh, he was around plus
Speaker 2: twelve hundred in the preseason. So do you see you
Speaker 2: see after these three three games him potentially being the favorite?
Speaker 2: I mean I don't see.
Speaker 1: I mean maybe here's the thing. The thing is this,
Speaker 1: I just in principle, if yesterday I could have gotten
Speaker 1: a bet at twelve to one, I can't bet it
Speaker 1: today at less than three to one.
Speaker 2: But and I feel like there's a lot of those
Speaker 2: tickets out there. I feel like the twelve MVP plus Yeah,
Speaker 2: I feel like there's a lot of those out there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. And I would have told you. I would
Speaker 1: have told you one day ago those are dumb tickets,
Speaker 1: just because I would have said, you know, the Spurs
Speaker 1: seal he's coming off an injury, he might not play
Speaker 1: enough games, and the it's so hard to win MVP
Speaker 1: if you're not a top three seed, and you know
Speaker 1: how many games are the Spurs really gonna win? All right?
Speaker 1: And by the way, I so I apologize for the producers,
Speaker 1: but this is I suppose kind of the cost of
Speaker 1: breaking news and stuff, we might this might actually just
Speaker 1: be an NBA show today, and then we do all
Speaker 1: our football stuff for the gambling show. So I know
Speaker 1: that's a lot of work everybody put into preparing the
Speaker 1: football stuff. But I think that this is more relevant
Speaker 1: and I would like to remind you guys. Today's show
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Speaker 1: opening eye of the NBA two nights ago with a
Speaker 1: classic and a concerning game.
Speaker 2: A couple of nights ago, we got to see how
Speaker 2: Katie's looking with those rockets against the thunder. They ended
Speaker 2: up not being able to pull out the wind and
Speaker 2: double o se Lakers faced Golden State Golden State came
Speaker 2: out victorious, but you've seen down on both of those teams.
Speaker 2: Why is that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's we'll do Lakers Warriors, then we'll do
Speaker 1: Rockets Thunder. Okay, So I watched the Lakers and Luca
Speaker 1: was obviously awesome, and I was like, yeah, so when
Speaker 1: Lebron comes back, you know what they need from Lebron
Speaker 1: for him to be their best perimeter defender. And that
Speaker 1: seems like a bad process for a guy who's gonna
Speaker 1: be forty one in year twenty three, because I look
Speaker 1: at the Lakers roster and I'm like, well, they don't
Speaker 1: have a ton of shooting and they don't really have
Speaker 1: any defense. Not sure how that's going to work in
Speaker 1: the modern NBA, even with a guy as great as Luca,
Speaker 1: and even when Bron comes back, so that I just
Speaker 1: think it's a for the modern league and oddly constructed roster.
Speaker 1: It's very like this is about Lua, not about Bron.
Speaker 1: It's very clear how to win with Luca. Get shooters
Speaker 1: and defenders and let him handle the entirety of the
Speaker 1: rest of the offense. It feels like the Lakers have
Speaker 1: none of that, and it's just like Jared Vanderbilt guard
Speaker 1: everyone Marcus Smart, God love him, is just not even
Speaker 1: close to the same guy. And so it also reminds
Speaker 1: you what a yeoman's effort Anthony Davis was making on
Speaker 1: that side of the ball, kind of carrying the entirety
Speaker 1: of that defense. So it just it was I just
Speaker 1: think that that is a really clumsily put together roster.
Speaker 1: And you know that I was not as high as
Speaker 1: some on oh this will be the year DeAndre Ayton
Speaker 1: takes it serious. I just don't think that guy is
Speaker 1: a winning player. And I so and I was also bummed.
Speaker 1: This was a crazy stat I had, uh yesterday, what
Speaker 1: what is the marquee date demands on the NBA regular
Speaker 1: season calendar? Historically like the holiday where a lot of
Speaker 1: people look at it kind of the start of the season.
Speaker 1: That Christmas. Yeah, Christmas. The NFL's kind of tried to
Speaker 1: steal their corner, but the NBA made Christmas their holiday.
Speaker 1: So for the NBA in the regular season, there's Opening Night,
Speaker 1: which is a big, you know, celebration, the unofficial opening
Speaker 1: Night Christmas, and then there's obviously the postseason. Lebron James t.
Speaker 1: Tames prior to two days ago, had played in in
Speaker 1: his career three hundred and thirty two opening nights, Christmases
Speaker 1: and playoff games, and Lebron James had played in all
Speaker 1: three hundred and thirty two of them. He had never
Speaker 1: missed any of his two hundred and eighty two career
Speaker 1: playoff games, any of his twenty two opening nights, or
Speaker 1: any of the eighteen it's actually nineteen Christmas Day games.
Speaker 1: And you might say, if you're doing the math in
Speaker 1: your head, that adds up to three hundred and thirty three.
Speaker 1: But that's because one of the COVID year's opening night
Speaker 1: was Christmas. He's never missed a marquee moment in his career,
Speaker 1: and then he missed this one, and I was just
Speaker 1: like it was another piece of evidence of man, it's
Speaker 1: not a lot of time left here. Yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: a bummer, you know what I mean? Just a bummer,
Speaker 1: uh in that regard and so and the other bummer
Speaker 1: is he's he's not gonna fix what's wrong with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: So I think when you have Luca, you're going to
Speaker 1: be Luca guarant should guarantee a healthy Luca should guarantee
Speaker 1: you a playoff spot. Luca plus Brown plus Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: plus what should be a pretty sharp coach in uh
Speaker 1: Reddick should make you frisky. But I don't think that
Speaker 1: roster is well rounded enough. On the Warriors, I just
Speaker 1: think they're too old and the they don't have a
Speaker 1: a you know right now, Lakers Warriors. I don't even
Speaker 1: think it's a debate. The best player between the two
Speaker 1: teams is Luca and he's ten years younger than Steph.
Speaker 1: So I just don't think the Warriors have the legs
Speaker 1: for hunting him. Yeah, I just yeah, So I just
Speaker 1: think the Warriors that was a good win for them.
Speaker 1: I just don't take them real serious as a contender.
Speaker 1: Now to the Rockets Thunder something you wanted to.
Speaker 2: Say, uh oh, yeah, you didn't. You didn't like the Wait,
Speaker 2: did you want me to get into that. You didn't
Speaker 2: like how the fans reacted to Kevin Durant. Yes, So
Speaker 2: coming back to okay.
Speaker 1: See it is that so much that I didn't like it?
Speaker 2: And they cheered Steven Adams right before it was that
Speaker 2: there at the same time.
Speaker 1: So here's my question, Man, is Durant going to finish
Speaker 1: unless they win the title in Houston? Is he going
Speaker 1: to be the first all time great player to retire
Speaker 1: without a home, like if you if if, if you
Speaker 1: say bron it's the the Calves and Cleveland will love
Speaker 1: him forever. You know, Lakers some yes, some know, Miami
Speaker 1: mostly yes, some know, but the Calves, like will love
Speaker 1: him forever. Jordan obviously it's the Bulls. Kareem obviously it's
Speaker 1: the Lakers. Magic is the Lakers, Duncan is the Spurs.
Speaker 1: Those guys are one team guys. But you know, Kobe
Speaker 1: is Lakers. But even the guys who moved like Kevin
Speaker 1: Garnett has two cities that adore him Minnesota, Minneapolis with
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves and the Celtic Barkley. He's not an all
Speaker 1: time again no, but I mean he's a great player.
Speaker 1: Ro I'm talking about like top top you know. Berkley
Speaker 1: is still beloved in Phoenix. D Wade is obviously always
Speaker 1: going to be beloved in uh Miami. Moses Malone is
Speaker 1: beloved in Philly. If Oklahoma City Demons after winning a title,
Speaker 1: is still mad at Durant when he retires, where does
Speaker 1: he go and get universal love? It doesn't feel like
Speaker 1: it's Golden State. It's certainly not Phoenix. Or Brooklyn and
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City's booing him like I.
Speaker 2: Think they love him. I think they're just you know,
Speaker 2: they're they're bowling, they're talking their mess. I think, I
Speaker 2: honestly think that when he retires that he'll he'll get
Speaker 2: love from Okay. See, I don't know if they think
Speaker 2: of it, but I don't. I don't know, But yeah,
Speaker 2: they did just win a title. Like the other crazy
Speaker 2: nine years Adams.
Speaker 1: They booed Durrant on ring night. You guys want a title.
Speaker 2: Like Durant did a lot for y'all. Durrant did a
Speaker 2: did a lot for y'all while he was there.
Speaker 1: I think he I think he deserves a statue there
Speaker 1: like So that that did make me sad, and I
Speaker 1: don't think And by the way, he didn't demand a trade.
Speaker 1: He didn't blow your team up, He didn't quit on anybody.
Speaker 1: He hit free agency and left, like wouldn't Harden the
Speaker 1: first one to go home? But no, they traded away
Speaker 1: hardened hard Harden was like an.
Speaker 2: He couldn't get his contract figure, but that was he
Speaker 2: didn't and so that you know the but they love
Speaker 2: Russ It's just I don't know.
Speaker 1: That made me sad. Okase, he's obviously awesome. I think
Speaker 1: Durant will be better than he was opening night. Dort
Speaker 1: gives a lot of people trouble and Shingoon man watch
Speaker 1: out for Shingoon, Uh, I mean Shingoon looks great and
Speaker 1: shout out to Wilds on that. I still I feel
Speaker 1: like the Fred van Vliet injury for the Rockets is
Speaker 1: really tough, but I really do like that team, and
Speaker 1: I think Durant's gonna be excellent. Daniel says maybe Seattle
Speaker 1: will claim Durant when they get a team. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I hope. So just made me sad and maybe it
Speaker 1: shouldn't have, but it just made me sad. Hey, are
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Speaker 1: All right, let's go to the listener questions.
Speaker 2: Demanse Sean says, Hey, Nick, saw you in Costa Rica
Speaker 2: in early March twenty twenty two. You were standing outside
Speaker 2: of a store. I didn't want to bother you on
Speaker 2: your vacation. Are you cool people saying hi to you?
Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, the show of course. The I mean, that's
Speaker 1: what a callback that March of twenty two.
Speaker 2: I was in Costa Rica.
Speaker 1: That is true, but yeah, of course, yeah, the only
Speaker 1: I had a guy, So yes, the ninety two percent
Speaker 1: of the time, it's great. And Saturday night, demanse I'm
Speaker 1: out with your mom and her sisters in Harlem at
Speaker 1: a bar club whatever, loud, packed and this guy's like, yo,
Speaker 1: you're Nick, right, And I'm like and I'm like yeah, man,
Speaker 1: And I go to shake his hand and we but
Speaker 1: again it's packed. We are six inches from each other,
Speaker 1: and he says with a smile, he's like, yo, man,
Speaker 1: I effing hate you, bro. And I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: but it was such a weird spot because I couldn't move.
Speaker 1: I then I am now I'm waiting to standing there
Speaker 1: almost touching shoulders with this guy who is now like
Speaker 1: still trying to talk to me, and he's like, no,
Speaker 1: it's not like that. But I'm like, buddy, this is
Speaker 1: that's just not a greeting.
Speaker 2: That's not a greeting that he drinks in.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, that's true. But no in general, So Sean,
Speaker 1: unless you were gonna be like, hey, I fing hate you,
Speaker 1: it would have been fine. All right, let's get some
Speaker 1: other listener questions.
Speaker 2: Dustin was wondering what you thought of Katie called it
Speaker 2: a time out when they didn't have any time out.
Speaker 1: They got away with it. I mean, that was the
Speaker 1: rest let him off the hook. That's that's tough one.
Speaker 1: That's a really tough one. All right, Let's go to Monsieur.
Speaker 2: Monsieur says Nick. All my friends say Herbert is better
Speaker 2: than Burrow. I disagree. Over the next five years, what
Speaker 2: quarterback would you rather have? I mean, you gotta say Herbert.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 2: Oh, I mean because he's available.
Speaker 1: Okay, fair, I mean I guess that's Herbert. No, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I mean if the answer is Burrows too much of
Speaker 1: an injury risk, I mean that's a respectable but no,
Speaker 1: that Burrows damaged goods. At this point, I just think
Speaker 1: I think those are two different questions. Who he's saying.
Speaker 1: My friends say Herbert's better than Burrow. Herbert definitively is
Speaker 1: not better than Burrow. If you're saying, but you know,
Speaker 1: who would you rather have over the next five years,
Speaker 1: that to me does play in injury stuff. I'd still
Speaker 1: rather have Burrow. For the record, Omar wants to know
Speaker 1: why I haven't covered the Clippers debacle. Honestly, I just
Speaker 1: think Pablo's and Mark Cuban have it covered and I
Speaker 1: haven't been. I don't know why I haven't been as
Speaker 1: interested in that as other people. I'm not that interested
Speaker 1: in the Clippers. I'm not that interested in Kawhi. I'm
Speaker 1: not I said they more money. Yeah, I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm I'm just I'm not as I feel like
Speaker 1: that story, while interesting to some is, I'm just not
Speaker 1: super into all Right, gambling show tomorrow do a bunch
Speaker 1: of NFL stuff. Reminder like rate subscribe review to the
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Speaker 1: with our week eight gambling show