Speaker 1: On this episode of This League, it is the playboy.
Speaker 1: Marty Flugame, my producer, has pulled a muscle in the
Speaker 1: snow in New York City. We also talk about why
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard deserves an MVP, why he should break the
Speaker 1: mold and pull a Russell Westbrook, why the Lakers are
Speaker 1: in serious trouble with this whole Anthony Davis issue and
Speaker 1: his injury. We also break down, we get into a
Speaker 1: little nerd talk why the Utah Jazz are the best
Speaker 1: bet in all of basketball and why, and we continue
Speaker 1: to answer the backlog of dms from our listeners. Marty,
Speaker 1: I know you go to bed early, Homie. I know,
Speaker 1: I know you do. I know you're in bed night
Speaker 1: night at nine thirty pm. But tell me, please tell
Speaker 1: me you stayed up to watch Damian Lillard cook the
Speaker 1: Pelican Oh I did?
Speaker 2: I mean I live with Ben min so best believe
Speaker 2: I was watching the Pelicans game last night, and that's
Speaker 2: usually just Sundays. Second, I go to sleep early, but yeah,
Speaker 2: definitely watched it. What a game.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that was maybe one of the best
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard performances I've ever seen in my life. Why
Speaker 1: because it was like we were up. We my team
Speaker 1: new Portland Trailblazers were up, and we're up pretty much
Speaker 1: the entire game, and then all of a sudden, the
Speaker 1: Pelicans just kept hitting threes after threes after threes, and
Speaker 1: it didn't really matter what happened. Damien himself would not
Speaker 1: allow them to come back. And even when the Pelicans
Speaker 1: did come back, it was like he had an answer
Speaker 1: every single time when he really should not have been
Speaker 1: the answer.
Speaker 2: Yep, they were.
Speaker 1: All scheming for him that last second lay up as
Speaker 1: everyone has swarmed around him and he still got the
Speaker 1: an one. Oh my god. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And they were trying everything too. They were trying to
Speaker 2: throw everyone at him and then sometimes trying to you know,
Speaker 2: lay off of him, let other people create, and he
Speaker 2: just it didn't matter. He just cooked it And shout
Speaker 2: out to Gary Trent Junior. He played awesome time.
Speaker 1: I love Gary Trent Junior. And Dame has been to
Speaker 1: me this entire season. He's been balling. And the problem
Speaker 1: though with like we've talked about small market teams in
Speaker 1: the past, like when you're balling and you're playing for
Speaker 1: a team that is not a huge market, it doesn't
Speaker 1: get a lot of national attention unless you're doing something
Speaker 1: incredible like Russell Westbrook did in twenty seventeen. So no
Speaker 1: one has been talking about it until right now. Stephen
Speaker 1: A Smith, I think two days ago, three days ago,
Speaker 1: had to apologize. He went on the air and for
Speaker 1: all of national media, him himself, Mark Spears, he named
Speaker 1: like ten guys. He had to say, listen, we're not
Speaker 1: talking about Damian Lillard nearly enough. We watch him, we're
Speaker 1: impressed by him, but for some reason, we don't give
Speaker 1: him his love. And that ends right now. This is
Speaker 1: what stephen A had to say. What did this say
Speaker 1: about Damian Lillard.
Speaker 3: What it says is that we owe him an apology,
Speaker 3: and the number one person on that list would be me.
Speaker 3: I am a huge fan of Damian Lillard, Dame Tom.
Speaker 3: I believe in it. I always have. The NBA reporters,
Speaker 3: we all know how great Damian lild is. We just
Speaker 3: don't talk about it enough, and we don't talk about
Speaker 3: it so much that we have taken this month for granted,
Speaker 3: and as a result, we find ourselves in a situation
Speaker 3: where it's Lebron, it's Joel Embiid, it's even Steph Curry
Speaker 3: that's in the conversation now, et cetera, et cetera. But
Speaker 3: we lose our way, and I'm gonna put myself at
Speaker 3: the top of the list blaming myself. I'm putting myself
Speaker 3: at the top of the list because I have this platform.
Speaker 3: I have first take two hours every day, and I
Speaker 3: got steven A's World, and I got the NBA with
Speaker 3: steven A and all of this other stuff. And I
Speaker 3: haven't talked about Damian lilland enough number one in the
Speaker 3: NBA since twoenty twelve with clutch points, that is, clutch points.
Speaker 2: Last five seconds of the game.
Speaker 3: Don't get me started with the last five minutes. Don't
Speaker 3: get me started with Dame Tom. Don't get me started
Speaker 3: with him averaging twenty nine and how he's been doing
Speaker 3: that for the last three, four five years, right, and
Speaker 3: he's got Portland fifth in the West, and there is
Speaker 3: no game you know it, No yer, kid, it doesn't
Speaker 3: he does. I don't even know who the hell.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter, doesn't matter, just brother.
Speaker 3: Damian Lillard.
Speaker 1: Tell me.
Speaker 3: And it's a rhetorical question, but I challenge anybody out
Speaker 3: there to tell me who strikes more fear in you
Speaker 3: when crunched Tom arrives to the ball being in his hands.
Speaker 1: I know he said it was a rhetorical question, but
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask it again, and it's not rhetorical in
Speaker 1: this particular state. Who strikes more fear in you in
Speaker 1: the last few seconds of the game other than Damian Lillard.
Speaker 1: I mean, the answer is no one. Maybe maybe Lebron
Speaker 1: maybe maybe, because he's so big and he can go
Speaker 1: to the rack and you know someone's probably going to
Speaker 1: foul him. But when you're down three with three seconds
Speaker 1: left on the clock, it's only dame time. It's only daytime.
Speaker 2: Yeah easy. I don't want anyone else tecond Yeah no.
Speaker 1: And I know for a lot of people they say,
Speaker 1: you know, Tristy, you're homer, and I am a homer,
Speaker 1: but this isn't me as a homer talking at all.
Speaker 1: I do love Damian Lillard, but this is one of
Speaker 1: those situations where because it is my hometown, I'm like
Speaker 1: the father of a baseball team, and like my team
Speaker 1: is basically like my son, and I won't I won't
Speaker 1: glorify the Blazers. Ever, I always underrate my team and
Speaker 1: the players on my team because I don't want to
Speaker 1: seem bias and I believe in my heart maybe that's
Speaker 1: what my love and my appreciation is coming from. So
Speaker 1: I mean, I love Damian Liller as a human being.
Speaker 1: I think he's the best player ever to be on
Speaker 1: our franchise. And that's saying a lot with Brandon Roy
Speaker 1: and with Clyde the Glyde, but Dame's gonna go down
Speaker 1: as the greatest Blazer in history. And still with all
Speaker 1: of that, he's underrated. That's crazy. That's crazy. That is
Speaker 1: the truth bomb of it all. Damian Lillard bawling this
Speaker 1: year more than ever, not getting any national attention until now,
Speaker 1: and now it's spilled over to the podium to the
Speaker 1: point where Damian Lillard is saying, hey, guys, Hey, hand up, guys.
Speaker 1: I am I am an MVP candidate. I am playing
Speaker 1: just as good as you would expect from someone who
Speaker 1: wins that award. And here's all of the reasons why.
Speaker 4: The best players win MVP.
Speaker 5: Uh. You know, And I think what you see is
Speaker 5: those players have a heavy load. You know, they they
Speaker 5: take a lot of responsibility and wins and losses for
Speaker 5: their team. And you know, they're the players that are
Speaker 5: showing up night after night, you know, the games that
Speaker 5: are on TV, the game is not on TV. Dealing
Speaker 5: with injuries, you know, all those things, and just putting
Speaker 5: together performances and playing at that level, but also empowering
Speaker 5: the team, you know, giving it, giving the team that's sparking,
Speaker 5: you know, pushing the team to win.
Speaker 4: And I think this year, everything that we've been dealing.
Speaker 5: With with injuries and also playing through my own injuries.
Speaker 4: So I think that's what what what you see in MVPs.
Speaker 4: And you know, obviously I think, you know, I see
Speaker 4: myself as the top of the delete. You know, I'm
Speaker 4: one of the best players in this league, and I
Speaker 4: feel like I'm I'm on that level, and the way
Speaker 4: our team is playing, given our circumstances, makes it even
Speaker 4: more obvious to me.
Speaker 1: That's about as blatant as you're gonna get from Damian Willard.
Speaker 1: I would say he's one of the most humble guys
Speaker 1: in the league, and yet he's like, hey, uh, everyone
Speaker 1: on my team is hurt. Three fifths of our starting
Speaker 1: five are gone, three fifths c J McCollum, Yusuf Nurkic,
Speaker 1: and Zach Collins all. Zach Collins hasn't been around all season,
Speaker 1: hasn't even played one game. Nurkic went out really fast,
Speaker 1: and CJ's missed a ton of games, and still you
Speaker 1: would think at that point, oh my god, Portland should
Speaker 1: have fallen off of Cliff. Portland should be like eleventh
Speaker 1: in the West with just Damian Lillard. And we're not
Speaker 1: gonna call I'm not even gonna say what the rest
Speaker 1: of the players are. I love this team. I think
Speaker 1: it's a very complete team. But you can't miss sixty
Speaker 1: percent of your roster and still be number four in
Speaker 1: the West unless you have an MVP on your team.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 1: That's big facts. Like so I went and looked at
Speaker 1: how much they were all averaging those three guys to
Speaker 1: the tune of fifty five points missing on a night
Speaker 1: to night basis without them just from the starting lineup,
Speaker 1: and you know what, Portland hasn't missed a step there.
Speaker 1: We are fourth, fourth in the West, fifth in the
Speaker 1: league in scoring at one hundred and fifteen points a game.
Speaker 1: Offensive rating is up there with only the Jazz Box
Speaker 1: Nets and Clippers. Incredible, largely because of how good Damian
Speaker 1: Lillard is as shooting the three. This team is third
Speaker 1: in the league and three pointers taken third in the
Speaker 1: league and three pointers made, fifth highest three point percentage
Speaker 1: in the league, fifth highest free throw percentage in the league. Folks, Folks,
Speaker 1: that is all Damian Lillard. That is him. He is
Speaker 1: giving the rock to Carmelo when he's hot. He's facilitating
Speaker 1: and being a leader in big moments. That is what
Speaker 1: you want from your MVP, averaging thirty eight thirty a game.
Speaker 1: But as as Stephen Haso poignantly pointed out, he is
Speaker 1: lethole at the end of games, more clutch points than
Speaker 1: any other player in the NBA since twenty twelve. Did
Speaker 1: you know that, Marty?
Speaker 2: I did not. That's a pretty it's pretty cool stat
Speaker 2: to have.
Speaker 1: That is a I mean ice water, ice water. Four
Speaker 1: seconds are left on the shot clock and averages fifty
Speaker 1: three percentage from the field and forty eight percent from deep.
Speaker 1: Can we just step back and appreciate that for a second? Sure, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you are not giving my man enough respect.
Speaker 2: I am I actually have him twelve to one to
Speaker 2: win MVP.
Speaker 1: How much money did you put on it?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 5: Not?
Speaker 2: Killer? Yeah you weren't.
Speaker 1: You didn't have enough faith. But it made a big
Speaker 1: difference if he wins it, right?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Okay, So here's the problem with MVPs and Damian Lillard
Speaker 1: playing at an MVP level. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: know this, Marny, but I went and did a little
Speaker 1: dig and did a little nerd shit.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Since two thousand and four, eleven MVPs have had the
Speaker 1: best record in basketball. Okay, thirteen MVPs have come from
Speaker 1: the best team in their conference, three from the second
Speaker 1: best team in their conference. And only one player since
Speaker 1: two thousand and four did not fit that mold. Who
Speaker 1: was that player?
Speaker 2: It sounds a lot like Russell Westbrook twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: That's it. And do you know why?
Speaker 2: I mean, do I know why he won it?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I mean the average triple double took over the story
Speaker 2: pretty much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the storylines. Yeah. The reason why is exactly that
Speaker 1: when you have forty two triple doubles in a year,
Speaker 1: that gets a lot of attention from the national media,
Speaker 1: doesn't it. It became one of those situations where it
Speaker 1: dominated the storyline at night after night after night for months,
Speaker 1: where it was like, oh my god, is this guy Superman?
Speaker 1: And let's be real, Russell Westbrook was stealing rebounds from
Speaker 1: Steven Adams, like stealing them Steven Adams has gone on
Speaker 1: the record and said, I mean sometimes it would be
Speaker 1: both he and I grabbing the ball and he would
Speaker 1: just take it out of my hands to get the rebound.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: So okay, people start talking about it. They can't help it.
Speaker 1: Steven A's doing it. And then that trickles over to
Speaker 1: Colin Cowherd and then onto undisputed, and you know how
Speaker 1: it goes, right, and then the sheeple effect starts to
Speaker 1: click in and then the public starts to be like, yeah, Ross, Russ, Russ,
Speaker 1: and then that's how you get Russell Westbrook winning MVP.
Speaker 1: But the truth is given how the MVP voting usually goes.
Speaker 1: James Harden should have won that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was Team Harden that year.
Speaker 1: He was the lone All Star on one of the
Speaker 1: most efficient offenses in the three point era. He led
Speaker 1: the league in win shares, assists, and points generated by
Speaker 1: his assists. He carried Houston to the NBA's third best record,
Speaker 1: second rank offense, and top ranked three point attack. But
Speaker 1: yet Russell Westbrook, dominating the story lines, finished forty seven
Speaker 1: and thirty five, sixth in the West, tenth best team overall.
Speaker 1: As an anomaly, Why because of just media.
Speaker 2: So Andy brooke a stat that people said forever like, oh, no,
Speaker 2: one's ever gonna do that again.
Speaker 1: That's facts.
Speaker 4: Yea.
Speaker 1: I don't think Dame is going to be able to
Speaker 1: break any anybody's like long standing stat for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well there's not many out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean where they say stats are meant to
Speaker 1: be records are meant to be broken. Yeah. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like that. So, no matter how much the Blazers and
Speaker 1: Dame ball out, Dame has to essentially will this team
Speaker 1: to number two in the West in order for him
Speaker 1: to get consideration. That is brutal. It's going to be very,
Speaker 1: very hard for him to take snatch the MVP trophy
Speaker 1: out of Lebron's hands because Lebron is now back into
Speaker 1: the mix of being in vogue. Of course, I mushed
Speaker 1: that by saying he would never win it prior to
Speaker 1: the season starting. Of course, it doesn't really matter how
Speaker 1: many points, how many forty point games Dame has, or
Speaker 1: if he comes around a screen with two seconds left
Speaker 1: on in the game to win it against the Bulls
Speaker 1: or whoever, unless we keep Dame's name in front and
Speaker 1: center of the media every single Blazer game and that
Speaker 1: is Trista Criok's job from now on out. I am
Speaker 1: going to be insufferable about this because if anyone deserves
Speaker 1: an MVP like Russell Westbrook got it, it's Dame. And
Speaker 1: to be honest, I don't know if you're gonna believe
Speaker 1: me or agree with me about this, Marty, but this roster,
Speaker 1: this Portland Trailblaze twenty twenty one roster, without NRK, without
Speaker 1: Zach Collins, without CJ. McCollum, is significantly worse than the
Speaker 1: OKC roster that Russell Westbrook was playing on. Let me
Speaker 1: just give you some of the names, some guys that
Speaker 1: you might be familiar with. Jeremy Grant was on that team.
Speaker 1: Victor Oladipo was on that team, Demontis Sabonis was on
Speaker 1: that team, and his canter on that team. Steven Adams
Speaker 1: was on that team. So Dame is doing more because
Speaker 1: he's fourth in the West, not sixth in the West,
Speaker 1: doing more with a lot less. What Dame does for
Speaker 1: his team in this small ass market that would never
Speaker 1: ever ever attract him unless we drafted him is something
Speaker 1: that I think every fan, casual or not, should take
Speaker 1: notice of, appreciate, and really say, you know, Portland, you
Speaker 1: really just don't deserve this. Be happy with what you get.
Speaker 1: You're probably never getting a championship, but that's okay because
Speaker 1: you have Damian Lillard. Who does that remind you of Marty?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 2: Doesn't remind me of really anyone right off the top,
Speaker 2: So why don't you tell me yours?
Speaker 1: I think it's Kevin Garnett KG. All right, loyal drafted
Speaker 1: by a small market team that was never gonna win
Speaker 1: a chip, put up MVP numbers on the regular, didn't
Speaker 1: get the respect. But then when the Wolves didn't put
Speaker 1: winning pieces around and he was like, yeah, I gotta
Speaker 1: I gotta go.
Speaker 2: He gave him a lot of time.
Speaker 1: He gave him a lot of time, a lot of time,
Speaker 1: and he was sick. Oh, oh my god, was he sick.
Speaker 1: But the difference, and this is why Damian Lillard is
Speaker 1: is my probably my favorite player in the NBA is
Speaker 1: because Damian Lillard is no KG. He is going to
Speaker 1: stay in Portland for his entire career unless Portland pulls
Speaker 1: a snake move and trades him.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: He was just on the Million Dollars Worth the Game podcast,
Speaker 1: which is in the Barceol Network as well, here's what
Speaker 1: he said. It was just phenomenal.
Speaker 5: I think that's why you see a lot of players
Speaker 5: jumping teams, teaming up with other players because the pressure
Speaker 5: of the media and like the standard that they putting
Speaker 5: out there, like oh, this person don't got a ring,
Speaker 5: and like how they talk crazy to Charles Barkley on
Speaker 5: TV like he ain't Charles Barkley because he didn't win
Speaker 5: a ring, so like you would like that. It's forcing
Speaker 5: dudes to be like, well, I'm gonna go play with
Speaker 5: this person or if I get with this person. But
Speaker 5: to me, like, if that's what they want to do,
Speaker 5: then I'm I don't got no problem with it, like
Speaker 5: it's whatever. But for me personally, that's just not something
Speaker 5: I can do. Like I'd rather go out there and
Speaker 5: put my best foot forward and lose before I do that,
Speaker 5: because I know I can win if I do that.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, we're supposed to win.
Speaker 5: If we all get on the same team and we
Speaker 5: the best players, like, we supposed to win, So you
Speaker 5: would never do it. I would never do that. I mean,
Speaker 5: now I don't control like if the team decide to
Speaker 5: trade me somewhere, and you know what, I'm saying I
Speaker 5: can't control that, but it ain't. It ain't for me
Speaker 5: to just be like, all right, I.
Speaker 1: Want to go fine, so wow, Dame's never gonna chase
Speaker 1: a ring. He's never gonna run from the grind like
Speaker 1: Paul Joey George Ricochet shot to Paul George. He's never
Speaker 1: going to form a super team. He's going to stay
Speaker 1: in Portland and grind it out. He's gonna do as
Speaker 1: much as anybody can in the league to try to
Speaker 1: win a title. But he knows that there's a great
Speaker 1: chance he's probably never going to and he knows it's
Speaker 1: going to affect his legacy, and he knows people are
Speaker 1: gonna shit talk him when he leaves the league because
Speaker 1: he never won a ring most likely. And you know what,
Speaker 1: he doesn't care. This dude is solid. Is there anyone
Speaker 1: more solid? I don't know, unwavering, unbreakable, not going to
Speaker 1: succumb to the storylines in the way of the new
Speaker 1: wave of the NBA, and what everybody's doing doesn't matter
Speaker 1: if he's playing with fans, no fans on National TV
Speaker 1: on a Tuesday, on a Saturday night in the bubble.
Speaker 1: Out of the bubble, this dude is unflappable, unreal and
Speaker 1: all the time on time, Dame time. And so if
Speaker 1: there was this is my point to all of this,
Speaker 1: to there's Damian Lillard's soliloquy, if there was ever a
Speaker 1: year where you would step outside of the traditional bubble
Speaker 1: no pun intended, and the traditional way of giving out
Speaker 1: an MVP and actually give the award to the player
Speaker 1: who's truly the most valuable to their franchise, lifts them
Speaker 1: and elevates them, not just the best player on the
Speaker 1: best team. It's got to be twenty twenty one, and
Speaker 1: that's got to be Damian Lillard. I know I'm biased,
Speaker 1: but I think Dame should be this year's MVP. I've
Speaker 1: had I've torn my achilles before, I've torn my calf before.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not good. Yeah, I'm injury. I've got
Speaker 1: some injuries. Playing basketball is a dirty game.
Speaker 2: Achilles sounds horrible. That sounds like the most painful thing
Speaker 2: I could imagine.
Speaker 1: You know what's crazy about an achilles pop? It was
Speaker 1: a partial tear, So I'm not like a real hard
Speaker 1: rock I've got my achilles tear in a pair of
Speaker 1: Kobe's which is very very funny, Like two years before
Speaker 1: Kobe tour his his achilles. So it's painful. The pop comes,
Speaker 1: you hear the pop, you don't feel anything, and then
Speaker 1: your whole body goes hot and cold, you get nauseous,
Speaker 1: and then the pain floods in. Right, Oh, it's bad.
Speaker 1: So I've had tendonitis. I've never ever ever had tendonosis though,
Speaker 1: And there's a huge difference between tendonitis and tendonosis. This
Speaker 1: is a nerd episode. This is a nerd episode, all right,
Speaker 1: So let's get get it. Let's break it down. I'm
Speaker 1: really really interested and fascinated with soft tissue and how
Speaker 1: the body moves and how that actually translates into guys
Speaker 1: getting injured and how guys end up being have longevity
Speaker 1: of the league, like like you know, Lebron. So the
Speaker 1: difference is this, Tendonitis is inflammation of the tendon right right.
Speaker 1: Tendonosis is a degenerative condition in the tendon, meaning it
Speaker 1: breaks down over time, often irreversible and involving some sort
Speaker 1: of loss of function. Right. So it's something that doesn't
Speaker 1: get better, It only gets worse. You can manage it,
Speaker 1: but you will never fully recover. Film me. Yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: So Anthony Davis has tendonosis. He has a degenerative problem
Speaker 1: in his achilles tendon that he's had for a while now.
Speaker 1: He had it in the playoffs, you know for sure,
Speaker 1: he missed some games. You could see that he was
Speaker 1: struggling with it. He also has a little bit of
Speaker 1: an issue near his heel and that's where there's like
Speaker 1: a strain. This is according to some soft tissue experts
Speaker 1: that I spoke to. And now what we know is
Speaker 1: that Ad also has a calf strain. He has a
Speaker 1: calf strain and an achilles issue, two different parts of
Speaker 1: the body conflicting against one another, putting a lot of
Speaker 1: strain on the achilles itself. Does that remind you of anyone,
Speaker 1: oh God, who left the playoffs with a calf strain
Speaker 1: and their team doctor said, you can play. We just
Speaker 1: have to manage it and nothing is going to happen
Speaker 1: as a result.
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant, Oh right, Yeah, And what.
Speaker 1: Happened He went out there too early, yep, and popped
Speaker 1: his achilles out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, to the delight of Toronto Raptors fans.
Speaker 1: To the delight of Toronto Raptors fans, this is a
Speaker 1: big time problem. This Anthony Davis issue is not only
Speaker 1: an issue right now for this team, but it's also
Speaker 1: an issue down the road. I know I've said some
Speaker 1: things about Anthony Davis before about him being soft. I
Speaker 1: know that I would never, though ever, ever, ever disparage
Speaker 1: what he can do elite in every way. When he
Speaker 1: decides to show up as a dog, there's no one
Speaker 1: He's typically unguardedle at that point. And of course I'm
Speaker 1: I'm heartbroken that he's staring this degenerative issue down. But
Speaker 1: this is a problem Laker Land. You should be terrified.
Speaker 1: And now you're hearing from the Lakers organization that they're
Speaker 1: going to potentially get him back right after the All
Speaker 1: Star break, which is six weeks, four weeks. I am
Speaker 1: hearing that this is a situation that should be a
Speaker 1: three month minimum, three month minimum to get him back,
Speaker 1: which puts us in May May eighteenth, May nineteenth, right
Speaker 1: around the middle of the playoffs at best.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So, boy, I tell you what, the news on AD
Speaker 1: doesn't seem good.
Speaker 2: No, everything that I've read just seems like it's pretty.
Speaker 1: Horrible, which obviously probably will make Lebron's MVP case look better,
Speaker 1: but the Lakers don't look nearly as good. Obviously without
Speaker 1: their marquee center, power forward, whatever you want to call them,
Speaker 1: positionless basketball. So I would ship my pants if I
Speaker 1: was Lebron James. And the new news is that they're
Speaker 1: gonna probably go out and get Mobamba. They're looking into
Speaker 1: Blake Griffin, They're looking into big men, which to me
Speaker 1: signals them fearing the worst. Actually, I think I was
Speaker 1: watching the Orlando Magic game. Was it last night? Two
Speaker 1: nights ago? They just played the Knicks. Yeah, they just
Speaker 1: played the Knicks and they blew the Knicks out, and
Speaker 1: Bomba was looking good. And when you focus in on Bomba,
Speaker 1: he sort of has some ad like movements to him.
Speaker 1: Stretch stretch four, stretch five, can shoot the rock, can
Speaker 1: go down low.
Speaker 2: I'd be excited to see what Lebron could do with him,
Speaker 2: but not to get sidetracked.
Speaker 1: So, but that's the that's the thing, right, So if
Speaker 1: you're going out to get more Obamba, what's going on? Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: for sure, because you know Mobamba is a key piece
Speaker 1: of the Magic organization moving forward in the future. They're
Speaker 1: not going to want to give him to you for free.
Speaker 1: That means to me, this is a troubling long term issue.
Speaker 1: Potentially regarding Anthony Davis regarding the Lakers, and you're at
Speaker 1: a push pull juxtaposition. On one hand, you've got Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: who just got paid about to get twenty eight million dollars,
Speaker 1: and you've got Lebron James thirty six, staring down Father Time,
Speaker 1: chasing literally chasing Kobe and Michael Jordan's ring count to
Speaker 1: try to get five and to try to get six.
Speaker 1: And you know he's going to try to get seven
Speaker 1: if he can, right, because then it's like you have
Speaker 1: no real argument.
Speaker 2: If he passes Michael, There's really not much.
Speaker 1: You could say, right, Yeah, So Andre, Drummond, Blake Griffin,
Speaker 1: possibly Wayne Ellington, Mobamba, the world is. It's crazy. The
Speaker 1: Lakers are now making moves and it's gonna be fascinating.
Speaker 1: I have no inside scoop other than the fact that
Speaker 1: this could really end bad and the Lakers have to
Speaker 1: take this shit very seriously or they could end up
Speaker 1: in another Kevin Durant situation like the Warriors did only
Speaker 1: have to pay him for the next four years. So
Speaker 1: the league is much better obviously with Ad and Lebron
Speaker 1: in it. I think we all want that. I think
Speaker 1: Ad brings the best out and Lebron and Bron brings
Speaker 1: out the best in ad. But yeah, this is a
Speaker 1: developing situation and a little nerd talk, so get well
Speaker 1: soon Anthony Davis, and I hope the Lakers go and
Speaker 1: get Mobamba. But also the West is now wide open
Speaker 1: without Anthony Davis this league, Oh my god, what a track.
Speaker 1: Shout out to the game for that track. What can
Speaker 1: we be talking about other than money? We're talking about
Speaker 1: the Utah Jazz, folks. We've talked about Shaq versus Spider.
Speaker 1: We've talked about Donovan Mitchell going cold during very important moments,
Speaker 1: and whether the Utah Jazz can actually win a title,
Speaker 1: which I don't think that they can, even though this
Speaker 1: new Anthony Davis news makes me very confused. Not a
Speaker 1: lot of love for Utah so much this year, but
Speaker 1: we have this is a love for Utah segment, so
Speaker 1: that changes right now. Utah may be the most fun
Speaker 1: team to watch in the league because they are free money.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, easy money sniper. The Jazz are a gambler's
Speaker 1: wet dream, like an ATM machine. You don't even have
Speaker 1: to put your card in. They just spit out money
Speaker 1: to you. Doesn't matter who they play, when they play,
Speaker 1: where they play, how much the spread is money, free money,
Speaker 1: Just like, go and get them. You don't even need
Speaker 1: to watch the game. You don't need to sweat it.
Speaker 1: They're like up at seven, up seven at halftime, up
Speaker 1: twenty by the end of the game in Milwaukee, in
Speaker 1: La at home, doesn't matter. Just lay on the beach,
Speaker 1: get a massage, and collect your Utah Jazz money rints. Repeat.
Speaker 1: So how good have they been for gamblers? I mean
Speaker 1: enough that I'm making a gambling segment in the show
Speaker 1: that's not about x's and o's, not about nerd shit.
Speaker 1: Historically good. We haven't seen a run like the Utah
Speaker 1: jazzer having in thirty years. That's how good. No, like
Speaker 1: take pleasure in that, because this shit is not coming
Speaker 1: around all that often. Nineteen and two against the spread
Speaker 1: in twenty one games, Holy shit, it's nuts one ten
Speaker 1: and oh stretch, one eight and oh stretch, which is
Speaker 1: where we currently are right now, folks, in the middle
Speaker 1: of this hot streak. What is going on in Salt
Speaker 1: Lake City?
Speaker 2: I think it's just a lack of weaknesses, Like when
Speaker 2: you look at this lineup, like they're not weak anywhere,
Speaker 2: and every single player is good and like deserves to
Speaker 2: be getting minutes on an NBA team. They're just yeah,
Speaker 2: they've got it.
Speaker 1: All the immersions of Jordan Clarkson. Yeah yeah, he has
Speaker 1: taken that. He was like a quote unquote six man
Speaker 1: for them, signed that deal and he put forty on
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons head forty. They are a top five offensive team,
Speaker 1: top five defensive team. I'm not gonna bore you with
Speaker 1: the numbers, but they're incredible on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: And when they decide it's beat down time, like they
Speaker 1: did a couple of nights ago against the Clippers, it's clamps.
Speaker 1: Like you can't even get a shot off, like you
Speaker 1: are running around like a fifth grade boys basketball team,
Speaker 1: like trying to shoot from your hip, and like you've
Speaker 1: got that one big kid on and he can just
Speaker 1: block the shit out of you. That's the Jazz. They
Speaker 1: just clamp. They are a buzzsaw. The Clippers were tied
Speaker 1: going to the fourth quarter, and then the Jazz decided,
Speaker 1: you know what, it's time for us to stop playing
Speaker 1: around with these fools. Ten oh run. They never even
Speaker 1: got close. I mean, you would think that a buzzsaw
Speaker 1: like that would get all of the attention from gamblers, right,
Speaker 1: that would inevitably balance things out, and then Vegas would
Speaker 1: change the lines, and then things would not be so
Speaker 1: good for us, increase the spread, making us impossible for
Speaker 1: us to beat the line. But no, no, no, that's
Speaker 1: not what's happening. The biggest reason for that is crazy.
Speaker 1: What do you think The biggest reason for that.
Speaker 2: Is Ooh, that's tough. I don't know. Why don't you
Speaker 2: tell me?
Speaker 1: Sleep? Okay, the reason why is sleep. The majority of
Speaker 1: our country's population lives forty five percent of them live
Speaker 1: on the East Coast. Fifteen percent of our country's population
Speaker 1: live in the Pacific time So when the Jazz play
Speaker 1: the Clippers, that's at ten thirty pm our time. And
Speaker 1: we know our boy Marty likes to get his sleep
Speaker 1: on a Sunday night. So there's a lot of folks
Speaker 1: like you. And that is even more weighted towards the
Speaker 1: sports fans of the world. So I've been more than
Speaker 1: forty five percent of folks who watch the NBA or
Speaker 1: on the East Coast, fifteen percent of sports fans or
Speaker 1: less in that Pacific West Coast time zone. Who knows
Speaker 1: how many of those people are gamblers, so that East
Speaker 1: Coast gambling biased is real.
Speaker 2: This is a trash area time zone to watch sports in.
Speaker 1: It is maybe the worst time zone to watch sports in.
Speaker 1: I have to go to bed at one one thirty
Speaker 1: am just to watch the Jazz. And then since West
Speaker 1: Coast teams play more games within their conference and then
Speaker 1: their division than anywhere else, that translates into a ton
Speaker 1: of weekday games that start at bedtime, right right, Folks,
Speaker 1: If you don't have a flexible sleep schedule, flexible work schedule,
Speaker 1: or just a degenerate gambler, you're probably not gonna catch
Speaker 1: a lot of these marquee matchups that the Jazz are in.
Speaker 1: On top of that, the Jazz, as we know, I've
Speaker 1: slandered them enough times, they're not a sexy team. They're
Speaker 1: not a traditionally sexy market. Like what's going on in Utah,
Speaker 1: Like Mormonism, right yeah, and mountains and like some wacky
Speaker 1: woman who's putting on a referee outfit and like creating
Speaker 1: these little bills for Donovan Mitchell. So if this was
Speaker 1: the Lakers or the Clippers or the Celtics for example,
Speaker 1: that were hot hot, oh, I mean, this line would
Speaker 1: have closed up like, yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Mean the Utah Jazz will always have a boring connotation
Speaker 2: on them, whether it's fair or unfair.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think it's very very unfair. Now that's
Speaker 1: the branding of it all. So this is so crazy.
Speaker 1: This is a couple of examples of how crazy this is.
Speaker 1: On February ninth, Celtics slumping went to Utah Jazz four
Speaker 1: point favorites. At that point, Utah fifteen and two against
Speaker 1: the spread in their last seventeen, so they were pretty
Speaker 1: fucking hot. We'll say fifty five percent of the public
Speaker 1: money went to Boston then, and of course Jazz won
Speaker 1: by fourteen. The next game, February twelfth, Bucks went to
Speaker 1: Salt Lake City and Utah was a two to two
Speaker 1: and a half point favorite, and you know what, sixty
Speaker 1: percent of the money went to Milwaukee. Holy shit. And
Speaker 1: you know what happened then, And at that point that
Speaker 1: Utah was a team that was sixteen and two in
Speaker 1: their last eighteen and straight up and against the spread,
Speaker 1: and again Utah one by fourteen. And yet these lines
Speaker 1: are still tiny. Doesn't make any damn sense. So no
Speaker 1: one believes in them, because why, as Nate Robinson would say,
Speaker 1: they're Utah trash trash. Utah, Yeah, Mormon capitol of the US,
Speaker 1: like one of the worst arenas to be a fan
Speaker 1: in rampant polygamy. You know whatever. Utah not a state
Speaker 1: that you're thinking about when you're looking for an exciting,
Speaker 1: sexy basketball team. So don't sleep, folks. I don't care
Speaker 1: if you're a casual fan or not. If you want
Speaker 1: free money until things start to level themselves out. If
Speaker 1: you want as close you can get to a sure thing,
Speaker 1: bet the Utah Jazz. Cash it this league responsibly, of course,
Speaker 1: this league are we got? I think we're about to
Speaker 1: the tail end of some of these dms. Let's get
Speaker 1: into it. What do you got?
Speaker 2: All right? First up, I've got what in God's name
Speaker 2: is going on with Kimba? Is he on his way
Speaker 2: out of Boston?
Speaker 1: What a tremendous, tremendous question. What is going on with Kemba?
Speaker 1: Is he on his way out of Boston? A two
Speaker 1: parter just trying to like squeeze out as much insight
Speaker 1: from me as they can possibly get. What is going
Speaker 1: on with Kemba? Kemba is is hurt, Kemba is not
Speaker 1: getting better, Kemba's knee is is. Unfortunately, he's falling victim
Speaker 1: to that Boston Celtics training staff, which pretty much almost
Speaker 1: got them sued because they mismanaged Isaiah Thomas's hip and
Speaker 1: made him made him play right, different training staff, same
Speaker 1: old tactics, a lot of rest, not a lot of
Speaker 1: strengthening around his tissues or muscles or ligaments, and Kemba
Speaker 1: has been up and down as a result. His play
Speaker 1: looks inconsistent at best. I would say he's just it's bad.
Speaker 1: He has missed I think he missed like all of
Speaker 1: February last year, and he's missed a ton of games
Speaker 1: this year. He just doesn't look the same. That marquee
Speaker 1: guy that you're paying money to is not the guy
Speaker 1: that you were wanting and expecting to have.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a third option.
Speaker 1: He is now your third option. And now I know
Speaker 1: everybody is. You know the whole Markus Smart thing, right,
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart is out too. The Celtics as a whole. Uh,
Speaker 1: the roster is just not what you would want it
Speaker 1: to be. Danny Ainge is finally falling on his fucking sword. Yep,
Speaker 1: thank god, Danny Ainge is taking some responsibility for how
Speaker 1: bad this roster construction is, which it's very bad. Tristan
Speaker 1: Thompson is very bad. Daniel Tice's mediocre at best. When
Speaker 1: you could have gotten Steven Adams, you could have gotten
Speaker 1: Serge Ibaka throw the bag at them, and you didn't.
Speaker 1: And is Kemba on his way out? Unfortunately, I don't
Speaker 1: know that there are many teams that are going to
Speaker 1: take Kemba Walker into trade because he's making what thirty
Speaker 1: million dollars are, Yeah, he's making a lot of twenty
Speaker 1: eight million, He's making a lot of money per year.
Speaker 1: I would love to see Kemba get right if I had,
Speaker 1: if I had my druthers, as we would call it,
Speaker 1: I would want to see Kemba go to LA either
Speaker 1: LA team fine, because that's where it doesn't matter, because
Speaker 1: I want to see him get healthy. And LA's the
Speaker 1: forefront of health and soft tissue and guys, when they
Speaker 1: get that LA son seventy two and Sonny three hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty five days a year, something just happens with that.
Speaker 1: You see you see Lebron, he's thirty six, he's playing
Speaker 1: like he's twenty six. Yeah, right, yeh, That's what I
Speaker 1: want for Kemba. But it's tremendously sad. He's probably going
Speaker 1: to be locked up there in cold, cold ass Boston
Speaker 1: for a long time, and what that translates to is
Speaker 1: probably not a lot of winning.
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, Next up, we've got what are your thoughts
Speaker 2: on the Pistons and secondary question, again, does Blake have
Speaker 2: any trade value with that contract?
Speaker 1: So I think this question came in like a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, before we knew that.
Speaker 2: The Pistols being sad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, before he was getting sad, and it was very
Speaker 1: clear that they were pursuing options to get him out
Speaker 1: of Detroit. He's gonna get bought out. So the answer
Speaker 1: is that there is zero trade value for Blake zero.
Speaker 1: I am hearing he might be a Brooklyn Net I
Speaker 1: am hearing he might be a Los Angeles Laker. I
Speaker 1: am hearing that he might be going there's another team
Speaker 1: that I heard.
Speaker 2: Do you remember I like him in Phoenix?
Speaker 1: Honestly, Phoenix would be great for him, kind of like
Speaker 1: an Amari Stodomeyer role.
Speaker 2: And he said on part of my take that he
Speaker 2: loves Phoenix.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he does. That was his number one Rushmore City.
Speaker 1: But what do I think about the Pistons? This is
Speaker 1: a team that should be a playoff team. This team
Speaker 1: can Did you see them just blow out the Bulls?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they play good against good teams too.
Speaker 1: They play great against good teams. They play up. I
Speaker 1: love Jeremy Grant.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's special.
Speaker 1: Josh Jackson has re emerged. I mean, you've got to
Speaker 1: be sad about that, right. He looks good. They have length, athleticism,
Speaker 1: they have youth. I love Sadiq bay Sadiq bay Is
Speaker 1: was slept on in the draft in a week draft,
Speaker 1: in a I mean, I think it'll be stronger. The
Speaker 1: draft will be stronger in hindsight than we thought it
Speaker 1: will be thought of at the time as a week draft.
Speaker 1: Dwayne Casey said, Jeremy Grant, I'm gonna take you from
Speaker 1: okay see, and I'm gonna give you all the confidence
Speaker 1: that you need to be a marquee Austar. And Jeremy
Speaker 1: Grant is a bad dude now he is. He went
Speaker 1: bucket for bucket with Lebron James in overtime and in
Speaker 1: double overtime. He was the guy that you could rely on.
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of that comes down to
Speaker 1: Dwayne Casey's leadership and what he's been able to do.
Speaker 1: I love them. They are one of the most fun
Speaker 1: teams to watch in the NBA. Do you agree?
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I do enjoy watching them quite a bit. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't like playing them. They beat us certainly in
Speaker 2: the season.
Speaker 1: But they I mean, they're every great team's nightmare because
Speaker 1: they're one of the worst teams in the NBA. At
Speaker 1: one point, they were the worst team in the NBA
Speaker 1: and they could still beat you on any given night.
Speaker 1: So you can't take the night off because they have legit.
Speaker 1: They're so long, they can score at will, and if
Speaker 1: you're not on your game, you'll go down twenty in
Speaker 1: an instant. So I love the Detroit Pistons. They're on
Speaker 1: the rise. I think next year they'll be They could
Speaker 1: be like a six seed next year if they're not careful.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is a fun one. Who won the Russell
Speaker 2: Westbrook John walltrade?
Speaker 1: It's not close, right, Yeah?
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's close. Yeah, the Wizards are the
Speaker 1: worst team in the East, So I would say that's
Speaker 1: enough really for you to go and get a sense
Speaker 1: of where I'm going, right, I think with john Wall
Speaker 1: and Bradley Beal together, this would not be the worst
Speaker 1: team in the East. Let's take a little trip down
Speaker 1: memory lane. It's been seven hundred and fifty days since
Speaker 1: Bradley Beal and John Wall played together. That season, they
Speaker 1: were an eight seed and took the Toronto Raptors to six,
Speaker 1: were leading in the fourth quarter against Toronto Raptors in
Speaker 1: the in game six and blew that lead. So when
Speaker 1: you can and they were eight seed, plan a one seed,
Speaker 1: So I would say John Wall and Bradley Beal should
Speaker 1: have had a little more time together, and that organization
Speaker 1: should have had more faith that John Wall would perform.
Speaker 1: I know it had been seven hundred fifty days. You're like,
Speaker 1: our patience has run out. As soon as we even
Speaker 1: get an inkling the ear healthy, we're gonna move you
Speaker 1: because really we're not sure and we know that what
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook can do as like a guy who at
Speaker 1: one point got forty two triple doubles in a season.
Speaker 1: But the Rockets with Christian Wood and John Wall and
Speaker 1: all of those other pieces, I mean, next year, I
Speaker 1: know Christian Wood's been out, but next year they're gonna
Speaker 1: be pretty good. They can win on a night tonight
Speaker 1: basis too, So yeah, I think it's not close. I
Speaker 1: think you take Houston. They won the trade very very easily.
Speaker 2: Okay, moving on, I think this might be the last one.
Speaker 1: All right, Cool?
Speaker 2: We got is djokis making a case for MVP this year?
Speaker 1: Is Joker is the Joker and MVP candidate? This question
Speaker 1: was old too. You can tell this question was old.
Speaker 1: I mean, to be fair, two weeks ago, the Nuggets
Speaker 1: were much more relevant. They were winning. The Nuggets, though,
Speaker 1: are four and six in their last ten. They just
Speaker 1: lost to the Wizards when they were up by twenty.
Speaker 1: They gave that lead away. Disgusting, just gross the way
Speaker 1: that happened. They and I think that the Wizards are
Speaker 1: the worst defensive team in the league. So you can't
Speaker 1: get a bucket against them, then what are you doing really?
Speaker 1: Because they were I think they had the chance to
Speaker 1: win on a last second shot and whoever put the
Speaker 1: clamps on whoever. So yeah, that's not Djokich's fault. But
Speaker 1: like we talked about with the Damian Lillard thing, you
Speaker 1: can't be right now, the Nuggets are the eighth seed
Speaker 1: in the West. You can't be the eighth seed in
Speaker 1: the West and have your center be an MVP, no shot,
Speaker 1: not even close. He has nine as a game twenty seven,
Speaker 1: eleven and nine, So his stat line's great, And I
Speaker 1: love Djoks. I think he's probably the best healthy center
Speaker 1: in the league right now because mbid, let's just be honest,
Speaker 1: is not going to stay healthy this year. Sorry, he's
Speaker 1: been He's already missed twenty He's already missed twenty percent
Speaker 1: of the games. Yeah, so I could say very confidently
Speaker 1: that he's not particularly a healthy guy, and he's missed
Speaker 1: around twenty five percent of every single season since he's
Speaker 1: been an NBA player. So love him when he's on
Speaker 1: the floor. He's not always on the floor though, So Yeah,
Speaker 1: the end all be all is this makes Damian Lillard
Speaker 1: look even more like an All Star because the Nuggets
Speaker 1: have Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Junior, and Jokic and they're
Speaker 1: all balling, and you know what, they are all the
Speaker 1: way at the bottom of the Western Conference, and that
Speaker 1: is just not good enough for an MVP candidate.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's another player we just talked about. They could
Speaker 2: have maybe been using.
Speaker 1: Another player that they could have maybe been using.
Speaker 2: Who is that Jeremy Grant.
Speaker 1: Oh, that would have been a tremendous fit. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I don't know what these teams are doing. It's crazy
Speaker 1: how there are players who have one bad year and
Speaker 1: then they just get discarded. He was fantastic for them anyway. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that you get the point. You can't be
Speaker 1: an MVP unless you're at the top of the league,
Speaker 1: and if you do, you have to be doing tremendous things.
Speaker 1: And joke Itch is just not so don't blame Jokis,
Speaker 1: but he's not an MVP. That's all the time that
Speaker 1: we have margin. How is your flu game?
Speaker 2: Uh, my back is killing me. I'm excited to be
Speaker 2: done with the recording.
Speaker 1: Process, but the editing process is going to be really fun. Probably.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Yeah. That's all the time that we have
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