Speaker 1: On this episode of the Heat Check, it's playing time.
Speaker 1: We've got two down, two to go. We're bringing in
Speaker 1: some heavy hitters to help us shake things out for
Speaker 1: the Sixers versus the Heat Game. We're joined by my guy,
Speaker 1: Spike Eskin, my former boss at WFAN in New York
Speaker 1: and currently the drivetime host on WIP in Philadelphia. I
Speaker 1: think he might be the only guy in Philadelphia who
Speaker 1: actually likes me. He also hosts the Reis to Ricky
Speaker 1: Sanchez Podcast, a very top NBA pod in the market.
Speaker 1: He'll also give you all the tea that you want.
Speaker 2: About the Sixers.
Speaker 1: We also grab my also guy, Lawrence Holmes, the top
Speaker 1: rated Bernstephen Holmes Rido show on WSCR The Score in Chicago.
Speaker 1: He will help us make sense of the Hawks versus
Speaker 1: Bulls game. So much to get into. Let's not fuck around,
Speaker 1: Anthony drop that motherfucker beat should be Well, the Western
Speaker 1: Conference just got a lot more clarity after the Tuesday
Speaker 1: night games. The Lakers took down the Pelicans in the
Speaker 1: seven eight game and what was an absolute awesome battle.
Speaker 1: Lakers ran off to a huge lead. Well first and foremost,
Speaker 1: it was very back and forth. Pelicans went up then
Speaker 1: the Lakers had a huge lead, up by thirteen fourteen points.
Speaker 1: Then Zion and the Pelicans battled back and made it
Speaker 1: tight down the stretch. We were fucking tied with under
Speaker 1: a minute ago, and then I don't know, it was
Speaker 1: like a phantom injury. Zion ends up going to the
Speaker 1: locker room, scored his fortieth point, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden goes to the bench and then I'm seeing
Speaker 1: him walk to the locker room. The Lakers did not
Speaker 1: look back. It took a four point win in New Orleans.
Speaker 1: They have booked a date for the second straight year
Speaker 1: with the Nuggets Night Night sleep mask Probably Nuggets in four,
Speaker 1: not gonna lie Lebron was incredible. Anthony Davis was pretty clutch.
Speaker 1: Delo looked like the best player on the court for
Speaker 1: long stretches.
Speaker 2: Who could have.
Speaker 1: Thought thought was gonna happen in the nine versus ten
Speaker 1: Also magic, we saw, not like the Orlando magic, but
Speaker 1: we saw magic. We saw the Warriors take on the
Speaker 1: Kings in a door die battle. Loser goes home and
Speaker 1: licks their wounds. Lots of people were hyping this Warriors
Speaker 1: team as if they played great basketball in the last
Speaker 1: of the season, but guess what, It's not one of
Speaker 1: those situations where it's the seven game series. Baby, Let's
Speaker 1: see how you play on a night to night basis,
Speaker 1: and let's see how you play at the Golden One Arena.
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson was fucking horrible, the worst adversity vibes I've
Speaker 1: ever seen in the NBA. Oh for ten maybe his
Speaker 1: last game in a Warrior's outfit Warriors uniform. Steph Curry
Speaker 1: was absolutely swallowed by Keon Ellison, Davion Mitchell, Keegan Murray.
Speaker 1: Keegan Murray came to Playboy hit eight threes. Kings turn
Speaker 1: a tight game at halftime into a runaway, laughingstock twenty
Speaker 1: four point win. Oh my goodness. The Kings exercise the
Speaker 1: demons and they now face a Pelican's team that they
Speaker 1: have not beaten all year. They're zero to five against,
Speaker 1: but they are reeling, and the chance is there is
Speaker 1: to take on the OKC Thunder, which is a team
Speaker 1: that I think the Kings can actually compete against and
Speaker 1: maybe even be if they continue to shoot like they're
Speaker 1: shooting right now.
Speaker 3: Unreal shit, unreal shit.
Speaker 1: This Wednesday, we see the Sixers and the Heat faced
Speaker 1: off and the Hawks and the Bulls, So I brought
Speaker 1: on Spike Eskin, who is my boss at WFAM for
Speaker 1: the past two plus years before he decided, Oh I'm
Speaker 1: coming home.
Speaker 4: I'm coming home.
Speaker 1: To take the two to sixth spot on WIP along
Speaker 1: with his friend Ike Rease. Spike has the highly rated
Speaker 1: rights to Ricky Sanchez pod on the Sixers. He breaks
Speaker 1: down everything about the team and their chances against the Heat.
Speaker 1: Spike joined my other show bet MGM tonight, which airs
Speaker 1: seven to eleven Eastern on the radio in most major
Speaker 1: markets and live on YouTube and switch Let's get dragging.
Speaker 2: Into seventy six ers four and a half point favorites
Speaker 2: against the Heat total in that game two to eight
Speaker 2: and a half to talk about that and the new
Speaker 2: show afternoons over on ninety four WIPI we welcome on
Speaker 2: now Spike asking Spike, thanks so much for giving us
Speaker 2: some time tonight. How you bet man?
Speaker 5: I'm great? How are you?
Speaker 1: We're good man, probably uh, not as good as you.
Speaker 1: Congratulations on the new show. What are you going to
Speaker 1: miss the most about leaving or what are you gonna
Speaker 1: miss the most about New York?
Speaker 5: New York the city?
Speaker 6: Not much I was I've lived in New Jersey man.
Speaker 6: Like my experience in New York the city was mostly
Speaker 6: just driving through the Hollandune and then driving home. I
Speaker 6: will miss the camaraderie of the people that I've you.
Speaker 5: Know, build a relationship with New York. And it's a boring,
Speaker 5: like sort of personal answer.
Speaker 6: But but that's what I'll miss most.
Speaker 5: That and whining Jet fans and whining met fans. I
Speaker 5: think probably our top.
Speaker 1: Yeah, those are those are fun. Totrol over to the Sixers.
Speaker 1: I took back and I gave this out in February
Speaker 1: and then took it about a week ago. Sixers to
Speaker 1: win the East in right around the Super Bowl was
Speaker 1: fifteen to one. It's plus eight point fifty now I
Speaker 1: am look right.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: Third, I've been scrolling through your Twitter. The excitement level
Speaker 1: from you, as I think a chronic pessimist as about
Speaker 1: as high as I've ever seen. Like, where are you at?
Speaker 1: Why are you so stoked about this team versus the
Speaker 1: other teams that we've seen in the past.
Speaker 5: So I think I'm getting older and I don't want.
Speaker 6: To be pessimistic anymore. It is just like is part
Speaker 6: of it, is genuinely part of it. But I would
Speaker 6: say two things. One, when Joel has played this year,
Speaker 6: they're the best version of a Joel team that we
Speaker 6: have seen. I think numbers like numbers show that. I
Speaker 6: think they're thirty one and eight, but also they won handily,
Speaker 6: like they look really good when he played. I think
Speaker 6: the second thing is normally when they go into the
Speaker 6: playoffs and he gets hurt, it's a lot closer to
Speaker 6: the playoffs, so when he comes back, there's this sort
Speaker 6: of like you're getting sixty percent of him, and you
Speaker 6: just sort of know how it's going to go in
Speaker 6: your mind. But this time he got hurt like two
Speaker 6: and a half three months ago, and he was out
Speaker 6: the entire amount of time. They said six to eight weeks.
Speaker 6: He was out for more than eight weeks, and he
Speaker 6: came back and he looked good. So I think, you know,
Speaker 6: it's not optimal to be in the play in obviously,
Speaker 6: But I think the reality is is that you look
Speaker 6: at them as a forty six or forty forty seven wins,
Speaker 6: whatever it was, forty seven win team, that's not really
Speaker 6: what they are. I think if Joel plays sixty or
Speaker 6: sixty five games, they're probably a fifty to five win
Speaker 6: team or fifty four win team and they're the second
Speaker 6: seed and a clear second seed. I think they're a
Speaker 6: clear you know, Boston's probably minus one fifty and the
Speaker 6: Sixers are probably plus two point fifty to win the
Speaker 6: East something like that. So I think that's genuinely what
Speaker 6: we're dealing with now. They've been they've been favorites going
Speaker 6: into the playoffs before, but they've always had a giant
Speaker 6: question mark aside from Joel giant question mark, Ben giant
Speaker 6: question mark Hardon. In the playoffs, there's no giant.
Speaker 5: Question mark aside from him.
Speaker 6: It's just him, So some sort of at peace with
Speaker 6: he'll either play well enough for them to win or
Speaker 6: he won't. But at least I won't have to worry
Speaker 6: about James Harden disappearing in a deciding game. I want
Speaker 6: to put my head throw a wall, you know, Like, what.
Speaker 1: Version of Joel health wise do we need in order
Speaker 1: for them to make a deep run? Do you think
Speaker 1: because we saw him look a little ding the last game.
Speaker 1: He was limping, He played through it wasn't wasn't going
Speaker 1: up for rebounds, wasn't as aggressive as he normally is.
Speaker 1: So I'm a little concerned about his health.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think.
Speaker 6: I think the hard thing that we can't know is
Speaker 6: whether he was being cautious in the second half because
Speaker 6: he was nervous about hurting his knee, or whether it
Speaker 6: wasn't stable, you know, and I'm playing you know, like
Speaker 6: TV doctor or whatever, but he.
Speaker 5: Was grabbing it.
Speaker 6: But then when he's walking to the locker room afterwards,
Speaker 6: he's walking normal, you know. So so I really and
Speaker 6: he's a bit of a drama queen. So so it's
Speaker 6: very hard to tell how much it hurts. What do
Speaker 6: they need health wise?
Speaker 5: That's tough.
Speaker 6: Eighty five ninety percent. I mean, you got to win
Speaker 6: the NBA title, right, I mean, and they even if
Speaker 6: they beat New York and they beat let's say Milwaukee,
Speaker 6: and they still run into Boston or something so and
Speaker 6: then Denver. So you're not doing those sorts of things
Speaker 6: with you know, Joelle at sixty or seventy percent, what
Speaker 6: do you.
Speaker 2: Think about this matchup for MAXI Obviously it's a playing game.
Speaker 2: It's a little total in the game two oh seven
Speaker 2: and a half two o six and a half, but
Speaker 2: he's averaged just twenty one against Miami. His point prop
Speaker 2: twenty three and a half. He's going to win Most
Speaker 2: Improved Player. You really can't even bet that market right now.
Speaker 2: How do you feel about this matchup for him tomorrow
Speaker 2: night against the Heat.
Speaker 6: Well, they have guys, there's actually it's funny. We just
Speaker 6: taped a podcast with Daryl Moray for a podcast that'll
Speaker 6: be out later tonight, and he not in a bragging way.
Speaker 6: He was just like, there's nobody that can guard Max
Speaker 6: He one on one anymore. Like he's elevated to that
Speaker 6: sort of level where he can just sort of score
Speaker 6: whenever he or get to the rim whenever he wants to.
Speaker 6: And he's definitely, I would say, different in the last
Speaker 6: month of the season than he was in the first
Speaker 6: three months of the season. He in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 6: he has become much more reliable and he he knows
Speaker 6: he can get there. So I don't Miami is a
Speaker 6: tough defensive team and they've got they've got tough defensive players,
Speaker 6: and they're a son of a bitch to play in
Speaker 6: the playoffs.
Speaker 5: But I'm I'm not worried about him anymore.
Speaker 6: I think I think him in the playoffs is a
Speaker 6: twenty five point a game guy, you know.
Speaker 5: I think he is that and I think if they go,
Speaker 5: if they have a.
Speaker 6: Full series or two or three or whatever, you will
Speaker 6: see games where he you know, he leads them, he
Speaker 6: scores forty points or something like that. So I'm pretty
Speaker 6: optimistic about him in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Who's that other guy, like, other than Tobias Harris, Is
Speaker 2: it Kelly Ubray? Like that has to step up and
Speaker 2: score the basketball, not only in this game, like if
Speaker 2: they're going to make a run though, other than MAXI
Speaker 2: and Embiid.
Speaker 6: Well, it's not Tobias Harris. Let me let me just
Speaker 6: clear everything up. I've I've lost faith. God bless him
Speaker 6: if it is. We were just saying if Tobias, if
Speaker 6: Tobias shows out in these playoffs and they win a title,
Speaker 6: he can have another Max contract, you know, like I
Speaker 6: don't care sure or whatever. So I think it might
Speaker 6: depend on the game as we've seen it from a
Speaker 6: bunch of different players. I think if you were to
Speaker 6: be hopeful Healed playing with Embiid, Heal's not creating any offense,
Speaker 6: but Healed playing with Embiid should create a bunch.
Speaker 5: Of open shots.
Speaker 6: But they've I know it sounds nuts, and I was
Speaker 6: not a believer for the first three quarters of the season.
Speaker 6: But Kelly Ubray has been has been pretty awesome and
Speaker 6: he's won me over and I think sometimes mentally, like
Speaker 6: it takes a while for your brain to catch up
Speaker 6: with what you can do physically. And Kelly Ubray had
Speaker 6: been selfish in other places, played selfishly. He played selfishly
Speaker 6: in Charlotte, they didn't like playing with him. In Golden State,
Speaker 6: he played selfishly out there, you know he but something
Speaker 6: happened and he has kind of figured it out and
Speaker 6: he goes to the rim with reckless abandon He is
Speaker 6: unafraid to shoot.
Speaker 5: Even though he's not a great shooter.
Speaker 6: He competes defensively, so scary enough. I would say that
Speaker 6: the third guy on the team, if they need a guy,
Speaker 6: is a minimum contract guy, Like I think it's probably Ubra,
Speaker 6: And I'm sure my guess would be he loses US
Speaker 6: a game and he wins US a game in the
Speaker 6: playoffs is probably what all happened. But the wins US
Speaker 6: a game night will be fun.
Speaker 1: There'll be a big d Anthony Melton game too. We've
Speaker 1: seen him come up for Memphis. Is he healthy though,
Speaker 1: Like it feels like there's kind of some opacity in
Speaker 1: terms of like where he is health wise.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm not optimistic. I'm not optimistic.
Speaker 6: He's had a back thing for months now, and this
Speaker 6: is twice that they've tried to bring him back.
Speaker 5: They brought him back once, he was.
Speaker 6: Out again for two weeks or a week afterwards, and
Speaker 6: then when they brought him back against Orlando, we played
Speaker 6: five minutes and then didn't play the next game, and
Speaker 6: Nurse was not optimistic. So I'm not optimistic about Mountain though.
Speaker 6: I do think, you know, Kyle Lowry is not cooked.
Speaker 6: You know, I thought he was cooked. I thought that's
Speaker 6: why Miami let him go. He's not cooked at all.
Speaker 6: And I think it's not like you're going to see
Speaker 6: him score twenty five points. But I think there's a
Speaker 6: twelve point six assist game that if you're watching it,
Speaker 6: you're like, he's the reason they won the game.
Speaker 5: I think that could happen though.
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially in this playing game. Kyle Lowry revenge spot
Speaker 1: obviously gets waved by the heat. It seems like that
Speaker 1: story didn't end the way that they wanted. Now, say
Speaker 1: you're playing against the Knicks. Obviously, the Knicks have been
Speaker 1: looking really, really good when they got ogn Andobi no
Speaker 1: Julius Randall for the rest of the season, but they've
Speaker 1: got Mitch Robinson back Hartenstein. Hartenstein has been much better,
Speaker 1: not just coming off the bench, but as a starter
Speaker 1: as well. What do you think about that matchup, because
Speaker 1: I feel like you're more confident than I've heard many
Speaker 1: Sixers fans in terms of that matchup.
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, I understand why they wouldn't be confident, right, Like,
Speaker 6: they compete very hard. They will be a tough out
Speaker 6: the Knicks, for sure, and Jalen Brunson's really good, and
Speaker 6: they beat the Sixers senseless in all but one game
Speaker 6: this season. But I guess I've just feel like I've
Speaker 6: seen this kind of team before that has a small guard,
Speaker 6: a small high usage guard who dominates during the regular season,
Speaker 6: and a team that tries harder than everybody else during
Speaker 6: the regular season. But then when the playoffs comes hard,
Speaker 6: it comes around and everybody else is trying hard. All
Speaker 6: of a sudden, the advantage that they had during the
Speaker 6: regular season doesn't exist in the same way. And I
Speaker 6: just I think Jalen Brunson's really good, but he works
Speaker 6: hard for those points.
Speaker 5: He's not particularly good at creating for other people.
Speaker 6: The way that the other sort of like heliocentric players
Speaker 6: are the Hardens, you know, Luca blah blah blah, and
Speaker 6: even those guys have trouble getting a team all the
Speaker 6: way because it's hard to do that as one player.
Speaker 6: And I just see him, like who else is scoring
Speaker 6: points on that team? You know, how are they getting
Speaker 6: to one oh eight or one ten every It sounds basic,
Speaker 6: but like, how are they scoring enough points to do that?
Speaker 6: And where's the offense coming from? And I just I'm
Speaker 6: skeptical of any team that does that. And Brunson is
Speaker 6: like a level below the Lucas and Hardens.
Speaker 4: Of the world.
Speaker 5: So I'm just I'm not worried. It would be a
Speaker 5: tough series, but I think the Sixers would do in it.
Speaker 2: Sixers and seventy says, I like it. Spike, Thanks so much, man,
Speaker 2: good luck on the new show will be glad Es
Speaker 2: Brother tomorrow afternoon two pm.
Speaker 5: Right, Yes, yes, yes, sir and them, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Thank you to Spike for this. We now turn to
Speaker 1: Lawrence Holmes from the show, co host of the Dan
Speaker 1: Bernstein co host with Dan Bernstein of The Bernstein Home
Speaker 1: Show on WSCR. The Score in Chicago again. Lawrence showan
Speaker 1: bet m Jim tonight he really got into the Weeds
Speaker 1: and the Bulls and what they need to do to
Speaker 1: win tomorrow night and in the future. Let's get right
Speaker 1: into him.
Speaker 2: Tomorrow night, the Bulls are three and a half point
Speaker 2: favorites over the Atlanta Hawks and the playing tournament to
Speaker 2: talk about that, maybe some bears as well. We welcome
Speaker 2: out now Laurence Holmes. You hear him ten to two
Speaker 2: on six seventy the score, Lawrence? What's going on? Man?
Speaker 4: What's up? Fam? How y'all doing?
Speaker 2: We got a playing game?
Speaker 1: It seems like the Bulls and Billy Donovan didn't want
Speaker 1: to rest a single soul against the Knicks to simulate
Speaker 1: a playing game. They are what three and a half
Speaker 1: point favorites, four and a half point favorites, the line
Speaker 1: keys moving all around?
Speaker 2: What you think?
Speaker 3: I think that we need to pay real close attention
Speaker 3: to the injury report tomorrow because Io Desumu has been
Speaker 3: on the injury report and he is Trey Young's kryptonite.
Speaker 4: When when he plays and.
Speaker 3: Guards Trey Young, Trey Young doesn't do all the magical
Speaker 3: stuff that we're used to him doing. So's that to me,
Speaker 3: is like one of the major factors of the game,
Speaker 3: as weird as it sounds, because Io's not really a
Speaker 3: player that you talk a ton about. But if he's
Speaker 3: not available tomorrow or he's limited, that could spell a
Speaker 3: lot of trouble for the Bulls.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how do you feel about tomorrow? Not only like
Speaker 2: player props tomorrow, because I feel like everybody's going to
Speaker 2: bet tomorrow Rosen, But I just I didn't understand and
Speaker 2: get I guess what they were doing against the Knicks,
Speaker 2: but he played forty minutes they go into overtime in
Speaker 2: that game. Any concerns about him, like, you know, I
Speaker 2: guess they've had a couple of days to rest here,
Speaker 2: but just his status going into this game after playing
Speaker 2: so many minutes.
Speaker 3: No, No, I mean they've done this all year with Tomorrow,
Speaker 3: he's leading the league in minutes. Yeah, which is ridiculous
Speaker 3: at his age. But have you guys heard the secret
Speaker 3: weapon is going to be in the house tomorrow. Who's
Speaker 3: that Dumar's daughter?
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Saw that on a sleeperm page. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yes, Dumar's daughter is going to be in the house
Speaker 3: over at the United Center. So that get ready for
Speaker 3: this all the screeching and everything else that she does
Speaker 3: to disrupt people who are shooting free throw.
Speaker 4: So that'll be I think it'll be good. I'm looking
Speaker 4: forward to it.
Speaker 2: Lawrence, I'm kind of a hater because I feel like
Speaker 2: fans should just boycott the UC. Like every time I
Speaker 2: go home, I spend a tremendous amount of money on tickets,
Speaker 2: and I'm just I'm sick of like the playing tournament
Speaker 2: and I want to go back to the nineties, and
Speaker 2: I'm kind of like sick of this current roster. So
Speaker 2: what happens after this season. Let's say maybe they even
Speaker 2: win the play in, they sneak in into the NBA Playoffs,
Speaker 2: they're going to get bounced in the opening round. What's next?
Speaker 2: Because I don't know what's next for Lonzo Ball, happy
Speaker 2: that he's working out again, Zach Lavine, it seems like
Speaker 2: nobody wants to take on that contract or that trade. Like,
Speaker 2: what's the future for this team? Are they just going
Speaker 2: to keep running it back with this current roster and
Speaker 2: winning thirty seven thirty eight games every year?
Speaker 3: Well, Ryan fel like, you're on it, man, Like this
Speaker 3: is just kind of how they roll. And it's really
Speaker 3: disappointing because you could see what the vision was when
Speaker 3: Lonzo was healthy. Yeah, you can see that that that's
Speaker 3: what they were trying for, and to a certain extent,
Speaker 3: they got it that first half of the season that
Speaker 3: they were all together.
Speaker 4: Everything worked great. But it's been a long time.
Speaker 3: It's been basically three seasons the Bulls haven't had a
Speaker 3: point guard and that doesn't make any sense at all.
Speaker 3: It feels like they're very content as an organization to
Speaker 3: be leading the league in attendance, which is crazy. The
Speaker 3: ninth place team in the Eastern Conference is leading the
Speaker 3: league in attendance, and look the United Center be popping
Speaker 3: like it's a fun time.
Speaker 4: It's fun to go to a game.
Speaker 3: All of the end game stuff there is great, their
Speaker 3: stadium ops great, all of it. It would just be
Speaker 3: nice if the basketball caught up with the entertainment value
Speaker 3: of what they do, and it's it really does feel
Speaker 3: like they're going to run all of this stuff back
Speaker 3: that they're they're going to have DeMar back there with
Speaker 3: this this group and hope that Zach's healthy and hope
Speaker 3: that Lonzo can do something for them next year. We
Speaker 3: had LeVar on our station last week and Yeah, he
Speaker 3: was out.
Speaker 4: Here quoting the rock. I don't know if y'all saw it.
Speaker 4: He's calling the workhouse. He called the workhouse of the Bulls.
Speaker 3: Have Rudy Pooh, Rudy Pooh workhouse crazy.
Speaker 2: By the way, Yeah, everyone's like, damn, this guy's still
Speaker 2: around where.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was a big fan of that Score producers.
Speaker 3: Man, they'll find anybody especially you want to talk about
Speaker 3: Rudy Pooh workouts.
Speaker 1: No, that's crazy. How do we hold this team, this
Speaker 1: organization accountable?
Speaker 2: Obviously?
Speaker 1: Uh, the Score being the Home of the Bulls, you're
Speaker 1: obviously in contact with a k with Mark Eversley, with
Speaker 1: the folks that are in charge. Like when you when
Speaker 1: you speak to them, knowing that you are a part
Speaker 1: of the mouthpiece of the fan, what do you say
Speaker 1: to nudge them in the direction of being held accountable
Speaker 1: and going in a different direction? Or is it even them?
Speaker 1: Is this ownership that's just content with going in this direction.
Speaker 3: We had our show Bursting Homes or HEMI. We had
Speaker 3: Ak and Eversley in our studio for an hour.
Speaker 4: It was amazing. It was an amazing event.
Speaker 3: We got to find out more about them because most
Speaker 3: of us don't know a lot about those two guys,
Speaker 3: the very private dudes, So having them come in and
Speaker 3: do an hour was pretty spectacular. I think that those
Speaker 3: guys want to win, Like I don't get the sense
Speaker 3: that they're they're slacking to be slacking, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean? Like the basketball ops people to me don't
Speaker 3: seem like they're just content with being a playing team.
Speaker 3: I think they would prefer to not be a playing team.
Speaker 3: I think it goes a little bit higher. I think
Speaker 3: that they're all they're still reeling and they don't know
Speaker 3: how to pivot, and they they kind of the Zach
Speaker 3: Lavine thing. I was one of the only people in
Speaker 3: Chicago that was against giving him a max It's weird
Speaker 3: because I think that he's a player that deserved a
Speaker 3: max contract but wasn't a max player, if that makes sense,
Speaker 3: Like he had earned it, but you knew you kind
Speaker 3: of knew what was going to happen once he got money,
Speaker 3: and his health issues have been problematic. Damar is an
Speaker 3: incredible leader. I think that the guys really respond to him,
Speaker 3: they really respect him. But he's towards the end of
Speaker 3: his career.
Speaker 4: I still would.
Speaker 3: Probably what's the points prop on Damar for tomorrow.
Speaker 2: I think and a half is where it was.
Speaker 4: Go over.
Speaker 2: Three and a half.
Speaker 4: I still say go over it.
Speaker 3: He he's going to do everything that he can do
Speaker 3: to try to push them to win, and sometimes that's
Speaker 3: the best thing for the franchise and sometimes it's not.
Speaker 3: You know, Luckily, they've seen growth this year from Kobe White.
Speaker 3: He's turned into quite a player. He'll be in the
Speaker 3: most improved player conversation at the end of the season.
Speaker 3: But damar is that dude? And is it twenty nine
Speaker 3: and a half? Yeah, twenty nine and a half Now,
Speaker 3: I would still go over, just barely, but I would
Speaker 3: go over because he'll he's gonna get after it, and
Speaker 3: if there's any sort of problem or the Bulls are struggling,
Speaker 3: he will take it upon himself to try and fix
Speaker 3: the problem.
Speaker 1: If if Io is not playing in this game, or
Speaker 1: he's limited in this game, would you still go under
Speaker 1: on Trey Young's points, considering that he's just coming back
Speaker 1: from a finger surgery. Twenty three and a half is
Speaker 1: his points.
Speaker 3: If there's no Io or it's hobbled Io, I go
Speaker 3: over because the screen role game that they play with him,
Speaker 3: it's hard.
Speaker 4: The thing about Io is that Io's athletic and.
Speaker 3: Long, and he likes to get into an offensive players shirts.
Speaker 3: The only other player that can do that for the
Speaker 3: Bulls with Caruso. But he's going to be occupied. Like
Speaker 3: it's weird. He kind of has to play free safety
Speaker 3: for the Bulls a lot, and I'm sure that they'll
Speaker 3: switch him and they'll use a little bit of combination
Speaker 3: defense and put him on Trey Young. But what they
Speaker 3: would love to be able to do is say to Io,
Speaker 3: go out there and irritate this guy for forty eight
Speaker 3: minutes and give us an opportunity to win.
Speaker 5: Where are you at with Billy Donovan.
Speaker 2: I know you said you just expect them to run
Speaker 2: it back, and that's kind of where I'm at too.
Speaker 2: I thought there was a chance maybe that Kentucky would
Speaker 2: just wait interview Billy Donovan, he'd go back to the
Speaker 2: college game. You think he's a good coach, you think
Speaker 2: he's back next year most likely.
Speaker 4: I think he's good.
Speaker 3: I really enjoy him when he talks like I've been
Speaker 3: in a bunch of Billy press conferences pregame and I
Speaker 3: feel like that's some of the most basketball that I've
Speaker 3: learned over the last couple of seasons is sitting there
Speaker 3: listening to him talk about the game. Sometimes the problem
Speaker 3: is it feels like Billy is the color analyst for
Speaker 3: the team instead of the head coach. Yeah, like he
Speaker 3: knows some of the problems, but he doesn't realize, you know,
Speaker 3: you're the coach, you could actually do something about some
Speaker 3: of those problems. I think that he's he's he's not great,
Speaker 3: and he's definitely not terrible. He's kind of middle of
Speaker 3: the road. If you had a better team, i'd feel
Speaker 3: better about Billy being the coach of it. But with
Speaker 3: some of the personnel problems, and he's joked about having
Speaker 3: seventy million dollars on the bench, it's a lot to overcome,
Speaker 3: and you better be a special coach if you're gonna
Speaker 3: have to overcome all of this stuff. I thought that
Speaker 3: the flirtation with Kentucky was real, But when you really
Speaker 3: go back and listen to some of the things that
Speaker 3: Billy has said before this even came up, He's talked
Speaker 3: about the college game.
Speaker 4: He doesn't want any part of it.
Speaker 3: Like you can tell he he doesn't like all of
Speaker 3: the different levers that a college coach has to pull
Speaker 3: on now to be a college coach. He's got a
Speaker 3: great life, like he's making millions of dollars, he's got
Speaker 3: that NBA lifestyle, and the pressure.
Speaker 4: Isn't a lot.
Speaker 3: I mean, I hate to say that because it shouldn't
Speaker 3: be that way. In the third largest market in the country,
Speaker 3: the pressure should be really high for a winner, but
Speaker 3: people have just been kind of like, yeah, okay, when
Speaker 3: it comes to the Bulls, is that like.
Speaker 1: A Midwest thing to you? Or is that like a
Speaker 1: frog that's been just like slowly boiling in water.
Speaker 4: It's it's weird because even though Chicago is bigest A
Speaker 4: good question.
Speaker 3: I would say that when it comes to our sports team,
Speaker 3: we are not like it's ordinary, like we're we're pretty,
Speaker 3: We're pretty hardcore, and like Minnesota polite is like a
Speaker 3: real thing, like the passive aggressiveness of someone from Minnesota.
Speaker 3: People from Wisconsin are super nice. Indiana folks are like
Speaker 3: salts of the earth. And honestly, outside of Chicago, in
Speaker 3: the state of Illinois, everyone is very chill. But the
Speaker 3: state of Chicago is a very different place. So the
Speaker 3: pressure it's interesting because the Bulls and you go into
Speaker 3: that place, you see the Jordan statue.
Speaker 4: You see the banners.
Speaker 3: There's still an element of the Bulls as an organization living.
Speaker 4: Off of that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you wish that they could get over it
Speaker 3: and that they would start trying to win right now.
Speaker 4: But I'll just.
Speaker 3: Tell you, Trista, if you want to get a glimpse
Speaker 3: of how Chicago is not Midwest nice, talk to any
Speaker 3: white Sox fan.
Speaker 4: That you know, especially right now, especially right now.
Speaker 3: You will you will not hear nice from from white
Speaker 3: Sox fans right now.
Speaker 2: Lawrence, thanks so much, man. We'll be listening tomorrow. Head
Speaker 2: up to the Bulls. I kind of want him to lose,
Speaker 2: but we'll be watching the show.
Speaker 3: We'll best on the spot tomorrow because we got Don
Speaker 3: Staley on the show tomorrow.
Speaker 4: Y'all o'clock CRAL. We are gonna have Don on the show.
Speaker 2: Hell yeah, big year for.
Speaker 1: About Angel Reese and Kamela Cardos.
Speaker 4: Next time. Next time.
Speaker 2: We'll do it next time, girls. Thanks man. Lawrence songes
Speaker 2: ten to two six seventy to score that MS.
Speaker 1: You have the night.
Speaker 2: We'll take a quick break with the fact.
Speaker 1: That's all the time that we have for this episode.
Speaker 1: He checked many thanks to Spike and Lawrence comes back tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Come back tomorrow for an all new episode breaking down
Speaker 1: the playoff seedings, and check out the feed for past
Speaker 1: episodes and many episodes which drop unexpectedly, like the Golden
Speaker 1: Stake Warriors to the Sacramento Care Oh no, dumb.
Speaker 5: Oh no.
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