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Speaker 1: price guaranteed. Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and boy, do we
Speaker 1: have a special show for you tonight. It's an episode,
Speaker 1: another episode of Nightcap. I am your favorite on Shunning
Speaker 1: sharp bottom left. He's your favorite number eighty five. He's
Speaker 1: a route runner extraordinary. He's a single Ring of Fame honoree.
Speaker 1: He's a pro bowler, he's an all pro. Yeah, Liberty City,
Speaker 1: y'all knowing Chad O Jo Sinko, Risotto Johnson in the
Speaker 1: bottom right wagon at six foot four and thirty seven pounds.
Speaker 1: He's the Lady Hoyer herself. Y'all saw it this morning.
Speaker 1: She's trendy, she's a she's a Georgetown Hoyer alum. She
Speaker 1: played at the WNBA, and she's the one that you
Speaker 1: need to go to all things basketball.
Speaker 2: Women, young women, ball men. Y'all see her.
Speaker 1: Monica McNutt, thank you for joining us for another episode.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys so much for joining us. Please make
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Speaker 1: We have an interview special with bad boys Martin Lawrence
Speaker 1: and Will Smith that's coming up later in the show.
Speaker 2: Show.
Speaker 1: But as I said before, we're joined by Monica McNutt.
Speaker 1: Please go follow her on a social media McNutt Monica.
Speaker 1: I guess somebody told Monica McNutt you can pay one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty bucks Monica and get the name back,
Speaker 1: but you say no, I'm just gonna flip it around.
Speaker 4: There we go, There we go. I like that last name.
Speaker 4: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: No, thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Monica joining us. Hopefully
Speaker 1: not the last time, Monica. We had this A very
Speaker 1: healthy that's the term I'd like to use. Our health
Speaker 1: they discussion this morning, you said, Shannon, I knew I
Speaker 1: was in trouble because you normally called me when you
Speaker 1: called me Shannon, here we go, Shannon Stevin, Ay, this
Speaker 1: deserves a more nuanced conversation. You know how television work.
Speaker 1: You got the top of the hour, you got the
Speaker 1: bottom of the hour. You gotta get in and out,
Speaker 1: and you got a lot of people I wanted to
Speaker 1: get Because we reached out of you earlier today asking
Speaker 1: could you come on, you said yes, So I want
Speaker 1: to give you an opportunity to what you want to say,
Speaker 1: Oh Joe.
Speaker 5: Before y'all go being at we all have a better
Speaker 5: knowledge of the game of basketball, whether it be NBA
Speaker 5: or w NBA. As someone on the outside looking in
Speaker 5: that was able to watch y'all this morning, I want
Speaker 5: to tell you that was peak elite sports journalism. As
Speaker 5: far as conversation is concerned, They're going to be so
Speaker 5: many different opinions.
Speaker 2: Where the wrong?
Speaker 4: Where the right?
Speaker 2: Monica?
Speaker 5: I didn't know you could cook. I ain't know you
Speaker 5: was a chef. Honey, you was cooking this morning. You
Speaker 5: hear me, you was cooking. You had your points. But
Speaker 5: the passion, yes, the passion and authenticity Monica that you
Speaker 5: spoke with today, well, I'm talking about man bruh. I
Speaker 5: was on the edge of my seat had you made
Speaker 5: your points and then Monica, you and Stephen they going
Speaker 5: back and forth, and I'm sitting on the edge of
Speaker 5: my seat, like, man, what is going on? That was Listen.
Speaker 5: That was peak elite. I'm talking about elite television. So
Speaker 5: anytime that's any type of NBA topics w NBA topics,
Speaker 5: if the execs at the ESPO knew what they were doing,
Speaker 5: they need to make sure they had that same trio
Speaker 5: and all along with Molly.
Speaker 2: Because that was great. That was fabulous.
Speaker 5: I'm just saying, like I'm not saying it because you
Speaker 5: on the goddamn show tonight, because you see I'm cursing
Speaker 5: that sh That shit was fucking fabulous.
Speaker 2: That was a good TV. Well.
Speaker 1: The thing is that Oho, that when you do television,
Speaker 1: and Monica attested this, you never know what you're gonna
Speaker 1: get because you have so many you have sometimes two, three,
Speaker 1: maybe even four people, and it's an opinion based show. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Monica had her opinion, I had mine, Steve and they
Speaker 1: had had his, And so Monica says a topic like
Speaker 1: this deserves a more nuanced conversation that we don't have
Speaker 1: to worry about getting into a break. So if Monica
Speaker 1: needs to talk fifteen minutes straight, we can allow Monica
Speaker 1: to do that. Monica, the topic came up basically, it's
Speaker 1: Kaitlin Clark is the NBA? Are some of the players
Speaker 1: in the w NBA have a personal vendetta? Are the envious?
Speaker 1: Are they yeller? Are they? Is their resentment? I think
Speaker 1: the term resentment, even though show it in showed his
Speaker 1: head up into the conversation. So I want to turn
Speaker 1: the flow over to you. What point do you want
Speaker 1: to reiterate? What point did you didn't get an opportunity
Speaker 1: to make that you would like to make? Now the
Speaker 1: floor is yours.
Speaker 4: Well, so I'm gonna take y'all. Two things happened to me.
Speaker 6: I actually went to the Liberty game on Friday, and
Speaker 6: this episode sort of speaks to the growth of the game.
Speaker 4: My fiancee, I know, we just take the train home
Speaker 4: because it's easiest. We're in New York and there are
Speaker 4: a couple of white boys. One of them went to Auburn,
Speaker 4: his brother went to University Missouri. His girlfriend was with them,
Speaker 4: another another young white man. They're playing their late twenties.
Speaker 6: One of the might have been in the early twenties,
Speaker 6: and it was a black woman that clearly just left
Speaker 6: the Liberty game.
Speaker 4: That's not across from them, and they just spark up, y'all.
Speaker 6: This spontaneous conversation about women's basketball.
Speaker 4: And yes, it was about this particular.
Speaker 6: Play, and it was a little bit about the sky
Speaker 6: and Angel, and it was kaitlynar It was about the
Speaker 6: Liberty And I'm looking at my fiance like this is crazy,
Speaker 6: Like we're just on a train and books that you
Speaker 6: might think are watching the WNBA pop into this converse.
Speaker 6: They't both engaged, and they started talking about Arburn and
Speaker 6: the Tuskegion. I was peak ear hustling for the record,
Speaker 6: but they were.
Speaker 1: But I say that to say and I get that
Speaker 1: we are at a.
Speaker 6: Special place when it comes to women's basketball and the
Speaker 6: growth of.
Speaker 4: The game and all of the eyeballs.
Speaker 6: I think what I was frustrated by in our conversation
Speaker 6: earlier is that we can hold more than one truth, y'all.
Speaker 6: Like the idea of some players being jealous, yes, step
Speaker 6: that probably exists. But I think in Caitlyn's debut, since
Speaker 6: or since she has made her debut, there's been a
Speaker 6: large and loud family or push. Yes, that is Caitlyn
Speaker 6: versus the way, and that is unfair to me. Yeah jealous, sure,
Speaker 6: I mean would you be ye if somebody got twenty
Speaker 6: money you know whatever before your step footing the pros right.
Speaker 4: I just need us all to do a better job
Speaker 4: of holding room for multiple truth.
Speaker 6: Jordan has a rookie Joe right, Lebron as a rookie
Speaker 6: like Wemby as a rookie. When you look at guys
Speaker 6: that have gone on to be great, I'm sure they
Speaker 6: would not say their rookie years were Kate walks. Now
Speaker 6: in the case of Lebron and if we use Wemby's
Speaker 6: this year, they have physically dominant and powerful statues, and
Speaker 6: so maybe that has allowed them to skirt some of her.
Speaker 6: Kaelin is the guard coming from college, she got get
Speaker 6: away out. The W has to continue to allow her
Speaker 6: to be one of the leaders of this platform, as
Speaker 6: angel Rees has also been.
Speaker 4: Because I know that's gonna be a hot topic tomorrow,
Speaker 4: and so my thing is it doesn't have to be
Speaker 4: either or it can be.
Speaker 6: But the prevailing idea that it's the W versus Kaitlyn,
Speaker 6: and that these women don't understand the power of the
Speaker 6: eyeballs and the audience that she's helped grow the league too.
Speaker 4: That's just unfair and that's what bothers me.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, O Joe, listen again.
Speaker 5: From the outside looking in, I have come to enjoy
Speaker 5: Washington WNBA now as a new fan. I had the
Speaker 5: opportunity Monica to see the Dream play the Wings. I
Speaker 5: mean yeah, yeah, Dallas, right, Dallas Wings and uh in
Speaker 5: Atlanta maybe two or three weeks ago, and I have
Speaker 5: never been in an atmosphere like that, from the game
Speaker 5: to the enthusiasm with the crowd, the DJ, everything was
Speaker 5: jumping from first quarter the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: The halftime show was phenomenal as well.
Speaker 5: So the engagement and the experience that I had at
Speaker 5: that w NBA game when the Dream played the Wings,
Speaker 5: that's what I'm expecting.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 5: I have a chart with the Missus where we're starting
Speaker 5: on the East coast and we're working our way up
Speaker 5: to the West coast.
Speaker 2: I'm starting with I'm going to another Dream game.
Speaker 5: Then I'm gonna make my way to Dallas, and from Dallas,
Speaker 5: I'm going to Chicago to see the sky from the
Speaker 5: sky that I'm going to La to see the Sparks
Speaker 5: and then we're going to Phoenix, and then we're gonna
Speaker 5: We're gonna finish off in Vegas.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 5: Now, I'm hoping based on the experience I had in
Speaker 5: Atlanta and that in that stadium, I'm hoping the rest
Speaker 5: of the atmospheres are like that too. Obviously, the game
Speaker 5: of basketball is good. I've come to learn all the players. Now,
Speaker 5: I have a bunch of jerseys that I that I
Speaker 5: bought them for my road trip. I'm hoping I'm not
Speaker 5: sure how that I don't know them personally, I'm hoping
Speaker 5: they'll signed my jersey so I can put up here
Speaker 5: in a man cave and like I'm locked in now,
Speaker 5: I'm locked in and watching y'all this morning solidifies everything
Speaker 5: because obviously I'm a new fan, I'm new eyeballs to it,
Speaker 5: and I.
Speaker 2: Think I think after this year.
Speaker 5: They will almost I'm not saying they're gonna be able
Speaker 5: to compete with the NBA, they will almost. From an
Speaker 5: exciting standpoint, what's going to happen next?
Speaker 4: Okay, let me ask you this, because this is where
Speaker 4: all turned the shining for me this morning. Give you
Speaker 4: a hypothetical.
Speaker 6: Take it back to your playing days right, Okay, okay, okay,
Speaker 6: boom this new corner. He he all this big fact
Speaker 6: you about the.
Speaker 4: Square up with him? Ochoue, what are you.
Speaker 6: Gonna do with a squaring up against a crosses from
Speaker 6: somebody who was supposed to be all this and all
Speaker 6: that for the future of the league.
Speaker 5: Oh, he's finna get his work, right, So, honey, he's
Speaker 5: gonna get his work.
Speaker 4: You hear me.
Speaker 2: He's gonna get this work when you stay there.
Speaker 6: So yeah, All of a sudden, something in the media
Speaker 6: have allowed this idea of roll off the yellow brick,
Speaker 6: rolled off the red carpet because this is your cash cow.
Speaker 6: Why that idea has caught so much steam.
Speaker 4: Blows my moment.
Speaker 6: Okay, we're talking about competition, which is a beautiful thing
Speaker 6: that y'all both have made millions.
Speaker 1: I'm let me ask your question, Joe. To Monica's point,
Speaker 1: that's a hot shot corner. He's the top five pick.
Speaker 1: Let's just say for the sake of argument, he's standing there,
Speaker 1: you're gonna roll up in the back of his legs.
Speaker 2: Oh, I see see, I see where hes going.
Speaker 1: No, don't see what I'm saying. Just like you fired
Speaker 1: off with monicat needs you to fire off. Would you
Speaker 1: roll up in the.
Speaker 4: Back trying to use my technique? No, we're trying to die,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know you know I don't. I'm not. I
Speaker 2: don't take no chief shots, you know that. So I'm stay.
Speaker 6: With Shannon's example because now you're back to Shannon because
Speaker 6: you get on my nurse.
Speaker 4: Now, O Joe, you're not gonna do that.
Speaker 6: And tell me what percent of the league you probably
Speaker 6: think would probably.
Speaker 4: Agree with you.
Speaker 2: As far as not doing that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, no, nothing dirty.
Speaker 5: Probably probably about ninety eight percent because there's there's a
Speaker 5: two percent chance that's something that really don't give to
Speaker 5: you know what, and they'll do it.
Speaker 4: Okay, So I hate math.
Speaker 6: In fact, my parents said last time, he calls me
Speaker 6: a mathematician all the time. But lets grow with me
Speaker 6: for a second. Got eleven games, Yeah, we got one incident.
Speaker 6: I think that's a little less than ten percent of
Speaker 6: the events so far in.
Speaker 4: Which since happened to have a conversation.
Speaker 6: So I just I just want us to hear out
Speaker 6: that competing because you have been deemed the next stuff
Speaker 6: is a part of competition, man or women. Right, we
Speaker 6: all agreed that Kennedy Carter had a bad look. We
Speaker 6: all agreed that look for her, and.
Speaker 4: I'm not make an excuse for that.
Speaker 1: I think the thing is also Monica, who did the look,
Speaker 1: given her track record, and who the look happened to?
Speaker 1: Oh cho, I used the argument this morning Trent Green
Speaker 1: got hit in the pocket in his knee, and they
Speaker 1: didn't train the rules. Eleven years later, eight years, nine
Speaker 1: years later, Tom Brady got hit in the knee.
Speaker 2: Whether they do to the rules about hitting the quarterback
Speaker 2: below the waist ojo, they changed the rule right away.
Speaker 1: So I think Monica, to your point, had it not
Speaker 1: been had it been someone else that doesn't have the
Speaker 1: track record of miss Carter, and if it wasn't on
Speaker 1: the person who she did that to, I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I don't believe the outcry would have been what it was,
Speaker 1: but it was because of who it was.
Speaker 6: And I'm gonna actually add this, I think the fact
Speaker 6: that it wasn't called a flagrant on spot is probably
Speaker 6: what helped elevate this conversation.
Speaker 4: Baciating across the NBA and w you know what I mean.
Speaker 6: So literally we get to call this morning that we're
Speaker 6: gonna leave the show with this and I'm like, this
Speaker 6: is the most non story story I.
Speaker 4: Think we've ever let a show with because to me,
Speaker 4: it's just not that big of a deal.
Speaker 1: Hey, that's not what Twitter, that's not what we're treated.
Speaker 2: That is saying. And you know how t Maniga, you've
Speaker 2: been in TV long enough.
Speaker 1: You know what what leads man all y'all do is
Speaker 1: talk about the cowboys. The cowboys. People want to talk
Speaker 1: about the Cowboys. People want to talk about Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, to a large a larger percent
Speaker 1: want to talk about the w NBA, which is good.
Speaker 2: What is bad is that they're not talking about.
Speaker 1: The WNB and a positive when you're looking at it
Speaker 1: in this situation and I get what, I get what
Speaker 1: you're saying. You're like, yeah, this's a nuanced conversation, and
Speaker 1: two things can be true.
Speaker 2: People want to compete. This was an isolated incident.
Speaker 1: There's not a whole lot of incidents where people are
Speaker 1: clotheslining Clayland Clark, tripping or shoving or and doing petty
Speaker 1: things of that nature.
Speaker 2: So let's look at this. This is what it was.
Speaker 2: This happened.
Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you a questions, tell you and
Speaker 1: I we talked about it like, damn, we're a teammates.
Speaker 1: Y'all saw the girl get clocked in the back like that,
Speaker 1: Oh Joe, you know in football you do something to
Speaker 1: one I got especially one of our main guys. Oh
Speaker 1: we got this. We got to get your back, Monica.
Speaker 1: But we gotta make it look like it's a part
Speaker 1: of football, okay.
Speaker 4: Right, And I think making it look like a part
Speaker 4: of the game is a huge thing. But I'm gonna
Speaker 4: tell y'all story.
Speaker 6: In college, we played Louisville and we actually got the
Speaker 6: rule change in women's college basketball because Louisville used to
Speaker 6: take a lot around the.
Speaker 4: Court, around the whole court.
Speaker 2: We were going up in your home stadium, in your home.
Speaker 4: They did it everywhere. They did it at Georgetown in
Speaker 4: McDonald Arena. We were on our side. Woman up. I'm
Speaker 4: not gonna name any of my teammates because I still
Speaker 4: love them dearly.
Speaker 6: Somebody tripped up somebody from Louisville and a brawling suit.
Speaker 4: We made it.
Speaker 6: We make it the Sports Center in a little done
Speaker 6: like now, Monica, it's.
Speaker 4: Not a fighter. Do you know what I did in
Speaker 4: that moment?
Speaker 6: You scrap now, I grabbed the basketball and said, y'all
Speaker 6: stop got.
Speaker 2: Y'all hang to you.
Speaker 6: What I'm saying to you is, if your DNA is
Speaker 6: not I'm a gooing, I'm enforced. I'm finish scrap. That's
Speaker 6: not a switch that you can just turn over if
Speaker 6: I have. If I was on the baseline and we
Speaker 6: were I was actually in the tussle that I had
Speaker 6: the fight or fight right, but I was.
Speaker 4: Shooting a jump shot. I looked down they was scrapping,
Speaker 4: and I was like, oh no, we can't do this right.
Speaker 6: And this idea that the personality is on the fever
Speaker 6: squad on turning to enforce her.
Speaker 4: It's unfair to who they are.
Speaker 6: They go pick their teammate off the ground, they grab her,
Speaker 6: they encourage her to calm down and take a deep breath.
Speaker 6: We're not in there practice. I don't think that this
Speaker 6: is Oh they must not love her. I think we
Speaker 6: might be reading a little bit too deep playing. And y'all,
Speaker 6: they've won two games out of the eleven they played.
Speaker 6: They got some real things worry about in terms of
Speaker 6: trying to win versus.
Speaker 2: Trying to play. But let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1: Could it be a situation if they were had a
Speaker 1: better winning record. It's like, man, y'all talking about this team.
Speaker 1: Y'all talking about this person and she's shooting forty percent.
Speaker 1: They only won two games, y'all talking about it like
Speaker 1: she's stewing. Y'all talking about them like they the Connecticut
Speaker 1: Son or the Aces or somebody.
Speaker 2: Come on, now, do as as women? Do you, guys?
Speaker 1: Because I know, look, y'all keep talking about this and
Speaker 1: they ain't done anything. Do y'all do you hear that
Speaker 1: and get fed up? Like, hold on, bro, there are
Speaker 1: other people out there playing the game too. Now come
Speaker 1: on now.
Speaker 6: I know that this is not journalism one on one,
Speaker 6: oh show, but I'm gonna slip it right back to you. U.
Speaker 6: You were competing at a high level. If somebody was
Speaker 6: appointed next up and their team was not, if the
Speaker 6: needle was moving in the W column and you felt
Speaker 6: like you were better than and then it had earned
Speaker 6: more accolades and attention, then what.
Speaker 4: How was your one response?
Speaker 1: I'm trying to me anybody, anybody that had a name,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to embarrass them because I'm trying to elevate
Speaker 1: my name. Yeah that's the way, that's the way I
Speaker 1: that's the way I That's the way I went about it, Monica,
Speaker 1: is that I wasn't gonna do now. All I needed
Speaker 1: to know, and I told can attest to this. All
Speaker 1: I needed to know.
Speaker 2: Are we playing snap the whistle or snapped the after
Speaker 2: the whistle? I just know.
Speaker 1: I so I just need to get in the right
Speaker 1: frame of mind how we gonna do it, because if
Speaker 1: we're being nasty, I just need to know at the
Speaker 1: start of the game.
Speaker 2: Okay, we're gonna be some nasty more folds for four quarters.
Speaker 2: I'm down.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, listen, even even though even though the
Speaker 5: Fever have only won two games, we have to we
Speaker 5: have to understand. Uh, the Cowboys they haven't won what
Speaker 5: thirty some years, they still moved the needle. The Lakers
Speaker 5: they haven't won well, I mean I'm not I'm not
Speaker 5: sure if we count.
Speaker 2: There's an astra behind that. But again, the Lakers, they
Speaker 2: moved the needle.
Speaker 5: The Yankee they haven't won the World Series, I'm not
Speaker 5: sure and how long, but they moved the needle. Caitlyn Clark,
Speaker 5: she moves the needle. Angel Reese, she moves the needle.
Speaker 5: I mean that just that, just the makeup of it,
Speaker 5: and that's the way it will always be going to
Speaker 5: be like that for a long time. I wish people
Speaker 5: would get comfortable with that and that that's the way
Speaker 5: it's gonna be. And you created, you created a different demographic,
Speaker 5: a different set of eyes, and and they're going to
Speaker 5: enjoy the game. And now I'm excited to watch the
Speaker 5: w n b A because I want to see what's
Speaker 5: going to happen next, because I don't.
Speaker 2: I have no idea, I have no clue.
Speaker 4: So oh tra I love that.
Speaker 6: And this is where I continue to say more than
Speaker 6: one thing can be true. They have absolutely moved the needle.
Speaker 6: And I think Caitlin Clark and Andrews both are going
Speaker 6: to be all stars and superstars in this league. They
Speaker 6: are both rookies, right and so I quite frankly the
Speaker 6: idea that she would see less than true compet Again,
Speaker 6: obviously we are excluding non basketball and dirty plays. It's
Speaker 6: not only disrespectful to the rest of the league, but
Speaker 6: it's disrespectful to her. She We talked to her two
Speaker 6: years ago in Dallas at the NCAA Championship game, and
Speaker 6: you guys are probably all seen the features at this point.
Speaker 6: Grew up playing with the brothers with the ultimate competitor,
Speaker 6: and so as a competitor, you'll look a body square
Speaker 6: up across from you and take it lightly.
Speaker 4: You're trying to go through yourself.
Speaker 6: And so for me, the fact that we've lost that
Speaker 6: at the root of this thing, we are talking about
Speaker 6: competition and women competing at a high level. That is
Speaker 6: the part that bothers me the most. And then there's
Speaker 6: twenty eight years of this league being established and in
Speaker 6: the last five the needle has moved, the charter thing
Speaker 6: has been in motion. You got to shout out Mark Davis,
Speaker 6: the Vegas owner, Joe and Clara Ci the liberty owners,
Speaker 6: like people that have really helped to put the pressure
Speaker 6: on these women receiving professional level of treatment. Has calen
Speaker 6: expedieted the process, Yes, but there's also been a groundwork
Speaker 6: that has been laid.
Speaker 4: And so I just encourage all the new faults like you,
Speaker 4: Oh Joe, come on in, Come on in and watch it.
Speaker 2: Come one, come on.
Speaker 4: You, but take some notes. Well you start bumping them gums,
Speaker 4: That's all I asked.
Speaker 1: So let me because when I look at Kaitlyn Clark
Speaker 1: and people look at her and they're like, well, what
Speaker 1: about all that trash talking she was doing in college.
Speaker 2: What about all the stuff that she was shoving people
Speaker 2: down in college?
Speaker 1: They saw that, And so now her talking trash in
Speaker 1: college might intimidate some folks.
Speaker 2: You come to the w these are grown women.
Speaker 1: These women got kids, These women twenty five day, twenty eight,
Speaker 1: they're thirty years of age.
Speaker 2: They don't care.
Speaker 1: Hey like and like I said, Monica, you oh you
Speaker 1: got the name. If I tear you up on the court,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be talking about me.
Speaker 5: You know what, I think, there's a there's a learning
Speaker 5: curve as a rookie. My rookie year, I was talking
Speaker 5: trash in college. My rookie year in the NFL, I
Speaker 5: ain't say nothing't I didn't say nothing. I ain't even
Speaker 5: talk to the media until I got acclimated to the game.
Speaker 5: I understood the game, and the game started to slow down,
Speaker 5: slow down for me. So when your two came and
Speaker 5: I started talking, once I figured it out it was
Speaker 5: a rap. I'm sure at some point Angelice already talking
Speaker 5: since sister she she she letting it fly. As soon
Speaker 5: as Caitlin Clark gets acclimated to the game and it
Speaker 5: starts to slow down for and she and she picks
Speaker 5: it up. I guarantee you she gonna be back to
Speaker 5: her talking her talking ways. I'm sure based on what
Speaker 5: we saw at Iowa, I think.
Speaker 4: Oh Joe, you spot your spot on right.
Speaker 6: And but I think part of what has made this
Speaker 6: such a hot topic is that when a goat like
Speaker 6: Ryl Stoops, who was a multi time gold medalist, a
Speaker 6: four time w NBA champ, and unteen time w NBA
Speaker 6: all started a woman I have her first, the first
Speaker 6: woman to have a signature shoe for Nike. When she
Speaker 6: said there was a curve, it was she was hated.
Speaker 6: When Diana ta Rossi said yeah, the curve at the
Speaker 6: Women Final.
Speaker 4: Four, she was hating.
Speaker 6: And I think for the new fans, I get it,
Speaker 6: y'all rolling with y'all girl, you protected whatever, whatever.
Speaker 4: But that wasn't hey.
Speaker 6: That was people that have came here and watched this league.
Speaker 6: Those were truths, and that is okay. That's part of
Speaker 6: all of our journeys.
Speaker 2: You're gonna hit a curve at some point, especially for
Speaker 2: a guard.
Speaker 1: See people look at I say, bro y'all expecting her
Speaker 1: to be Cannas Parker when she comes out as rookie
Speaker 1: of the whin Rookie of.
Speaker 2: The Year and MVP.
Speaker 1: Cannas is six ' four, Caitlyn Clark might be what
Speaker 1: six foot Monka, So you're asking a guard to do
Speaker 1: something that is dominant big in college, Hey, Candas Parker
Speaker 1: was legit. She could rebound, got you double digit rebounds
Speaker 1: where she was a nineteen ten, she was a defensive
Speaker 1: Player of the Year. She was tremendous. And I think
Speaker 1: everybody you look at Caitlyn, she led the nation in
Speaker 1: scoring at about thirty two points a game, led the
Speaker 1: nation of an assist. So automatically people automatically think, what
Speaker 1: she's gonna come in and do an NBA then women
Speaker 1: dog will not let that happen. You play harder against someone.
Speaker 1: It's just nature because you know they can embarrass you.
Speaker 2: You're nothing embarrassed me. You're nothing to have me on
Speaker 2: Sports Center.
Speaker 1: Especially now, and I know EFP really covering the WNBA.
Speaker 2: Are you.
Speaker 1: I'm nothing to be your highlight package. It ain't gonna happen, Monica,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, it's not I when.
Speaker 4: It's comments, they should come back up and I'm not around.
Speaker 6: I just want you to keep that same energy because
Speaker 6: and to me, that is beautiful. That is the point
Speaker 6: of competition and it should be celebrated.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Angrew Revees had some comments today. Take a listen
Speaker 1: to the sound what Angel Reaves had to say today.
Speaker 7: It all started from the National Championship game. And I've
Speaker 7: been dealing with this for two years now and understanding like, yeah,
Speaker 7: negative things have probably been said about me, but honestly,
Speaker 7: I'll take that because look where women's basketball is. People
Speaker 7: are talking about women's basketball. You never think that we
Speaker 7: talking about women's basketball. People are pulling up to games.
Speaker 7: We got celebrities coming to games sold at arena's like
Speaker 7: just because of one single game, and just looking at that, like,
Speaker 7: I'll take that role.
Speaker 4: I'll take the bad guy role.
Speaker 7: And I'll continue to take that on and be that
Speaker 7: for for my teammates and if I want to be that,
Speaker 7: and I know I'll go down to history. I'll look
Speaker 7: back in twenty years and be like, yeah, the reason
Speaker 7: why we're watching women's basketball is not just because of
Speaker 7: one person.
Speaker 4: It's because of me too. And I want you to
Speaker 4: realize that a lot of us have done so much
Speaker 4: for this game.
Speaker 7: And Kennedy has been here before obviously, but there are
Speaker 7: so many great players in this league that have deserved
Speaker 7: this for a really, really long time, and luckily it's
Speaker 7: coming now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, talk yo, track what you talk about? Man? You
Speaker 2: watching the game because of me? And she ain't laugh
Speaker 2: because I'm one of them.
Speaker 1: You talk about thoughts on our comments, Monica, I love it.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 6: But and this is where we talk about, You're not
Speaker 6: gonna turn into somebody different overnight.
Speaker 4: Andres has never shot away from the mic.
Speaker 6: She's willing to wear that villain label, however unfair.
Speaker 4: It may be, but she gets it in the Macro.
Speaker 6: And what I love about Angel, even when she announced
Speaker 6: she was going pro and Vogue, she speaks about the Macro.
Speaker 4: And she does that deliberately.
Speaker 6: That is not just oh, I'm going to just throw
Speaker 6: in the women that have come before me, right, And
Speaker 6: I think that is important in what makes and what
Speaker 6: is endearing about watching her.
Speaker 4: But she's absolutely right. The girl, I'm sorry, I don't
Speaker 4: know her name, but.
Speaker 6: The girl streamed a Sky's preseason game on her phone, y'all.
Speaker 4: And had unteen tens of thousands of viewers that way.
Speaker 2: It was like she wasn't it like an over a million?
Speaker 2: It got, It got over a million but.
Speaker 4: You know what I mean, So there is a demand.
Speaker 6: She absolutely has been a part of creating that that demand.
Speaker 4: She's a huge part of this rookie class as well.
Speaker 2: Well, we can't. We can't let Pat McAfee.
Speaker 1: I guess he watched us this morning, and lord he
Speaker 1: was he had some coffee, he probably had an energy drink.
Speaker 2: Do we have this sound? We can't play side?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 2: Monica?
Speaker 1: Well, I know you. I know you've heard it by now.
Speaker 1: I think Pat got a little bit too amp. He
Speaker 1: forgot like, man, this live this. You know, normally we
Speaker 1: have a conversation like this, Monica, you and I, you
Speaker 1: and your girls off air. But we got a microphone
Speaker 1: and we got a camera with a red dot going.
Speaker 1: So what what what did you think when you heard
Speaker 1: p Matt start going?
Speaker 6: So I didn't actually watch it, but I read the
Speaker 6: transcript and all articles that came down. Honestly, y'all, my
Speaker 6: first thought was, Okay, here we go with this not
Speaker 6: being about race from a person who is right, and again,
Speaker 6: this is where I say, and I'm speaking honestly, clearly, concisely,
Speaker 6: this is where I say, multiple things can be true.
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 6: I wonder what this would look like if Kaylyn Clark was.
Speaker 4: Back, she's proud of who she is. That's fantastic, right.
Speaker 6: But this is where all the layers of this conversation
Speaker 6: come in, right, the two The NBA is a predominantly
Speaker 6: black women's league. It's also largely a queerly right and
Speaker 6: the gender sexuality race.
Speaker 4: It's hard to parse.
Speaker 6: This out of that conversation, at least for me as
Speaker 6: a woman, because I can't walk away from any part
Speaker 6: of who I am.
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, and.
Speaker 4: So his point about the other white chicken in the
Speaker 4: league that I have been bucket.
Speaker 6: Sure, Stuart's the MVP, he is one championships with the
Speaker 6: Las Vegas DT. Obviously we had a conversation about her
Speaker 6: as a go, right, But to act as if there
Speaker 6: is no space to sit back and just wonder again,
Speaker 6: all I'm asking for folks that have just joined is
Speaker 6: to open your mind. Ultimately, you may disagree, and that's fine,
Speaker 6: but you should be able to be able to hold
Speaker 6: space to evaluate all the pieces that seem to be
Speaker 6: at play. Now, if you decide to pick up three
Speaker 6: instead of six, that's on you. But you got to
Speaker 6: be able to sit back and acknowledge all the pieces
Speaker 6: at play. Just out of out of respect for humanity
Speaker 6: at large.
Speaker 1: I would say, Monica, you said something very interesting and
Speaker 1: you would know better than I, but I was. I
Speaker 1: was thinking this, but I never said it. But since
Speaker 1: you brought it up, let's go here. How much do
Speaker 1: you think the predominant black queer helps or hurt the
Speaker 1: w NBA.
Speaker 4: That's a loaded question, Shannon.
Speaker 6: I think the w in the last few years has
Speaker 6: done a great job of leaning into who they are.
Speaker 6: They are not hiding who the who these women are
Speaker 6: and are hiding who they are. One thing about this
Speaker 6: rookie class has been their willingness to share their lives.
Speaker 6: But I had a chance to catch a great documentary
Speaker 6: this summer courtesy of w n B A p A.
Speaker 6: And I'm blanking on the name of the documentary and
Speaker 6: I apologize, but it highlighted John Cuel Jones, Brianna Stewart,
Speaker 6: and Unka A Guomak right and as veterans in this league.
Speaker 6: JJ has been an MVP, Nkamke has won a title
Speaker 6: and been an MVP studio. It has been a multi
Speaker 6: time MVP and one championships. As veterans, they talked very
Speaker 6: honestly about opening up their lives right, because that was
Speaker 6: a big choice for them. And one of the commentators,
Speaker 6: Lindsay Gibbs and that at Peace talked about being able
Speaker 6: to enjoy this league and celebrate these women even more
Speaker 6: when you get to know them, right, And I think
Speaker 6: that star power of this rookie class growing up with
Speaker 6: social media, uh, Kaitlin has two million, Angel has three million. Right,
Speaker 6: They've already been used to sharing their lives right, And
Speaker 6: so I think the w has leaned on who they are.
Speaker 6: But as new audiences are getting to know these women,
Speaker 6: hopefully they find a way to strike a chord with
Speaker 6: them beyond just being basketball players. And so candidly, I'm
Speaker 6: not one hundred percent sure what happens in marketing meetings
Speaker 6: when you begin to look at who you want to
Speaker 6: partner up with with the WM BAY because, like we
Speaker 6: started this conversation, gender, racist, sexuality are parts of conversations
Speaker 6: that you just cannot.
Speaker 2: Escape, can't.
Speaker 1: The documentary you're talking about is called Shattered Glass NBAA story.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you have this conversation because at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, you're like people like, well, go market,
Speaker 1: go market, but at certain times, you know certain certain
Speaker 1: demographics you're trying to market too, because like when we
Speaker 1: go out, okay, we have to pitch, Okay, who are
Speaker 1: you trying to who are you trying to reach?
Speaker 2: Mhm, we Club, Shay Shape, Nightcap.
Speaker 1: We might not be able to reach who an advertiser
Speaker 1: or a sponsor try to reach. So it doesn't make
Speaker 1: sense for them to give us money if the people
Speaker 1: that they're trying to reach are not watching Nightcap, not
Speaker 1: watching Club. And so what you're saying, Monica, is like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we got to appeal to the people that you're trying
Speaker 1: to reach. But to say that game and queer people
Speaker 1: don't buy health and don't buy auto insurance, it's just not.
Speaker 2: True to say it.
Speaker 1: To say they don't go grocery shopping or buy cars,
Speaker 1: it's just not true.
Speaker 2: So they're people they might have.
Speaker 1: Chosen an alternative life and just outside of the norm,
Speaker 1: whatever norm is.
Speaker 2: There's a new definition of norm now.
Speaker 1: But I believe that you can reach people because everybody
Speaker 1: that watches television.
Speaker 2: They're consumer.
Speaker 1: You buy something, whether it's food, whether it's auto insurance,
Speaker 1: with this, whatever the clothing, whatever the case may be,
Speaker 1: you'll purchase something.
Speaker 5: And when it comes to marketing and branding and w
Speaker 5: NBA and those that are queer are part of that
Speaker 5: community in general. That community to always sticks to, always
Speaker 5: sticks together and support each other. So the marketing on
Speaker 5: that end should be easy anyway. It's common sense, especially
Speaker 5: when to come to the higher ups and execs that
Speaker 5: are sitting in positions of power. That's a no brainer
Speaker 5: as far as going to come to marketing and branding
Speaker 5: and doing it that way. Now, if they if they
Speaker 5: want some ideas, you know, from the true number one
Speaker 5: marketing and brander.
Speaker 2: Himself, I can.
Speaker 5: I can guide them in which way to go and
Speaker 5: on how to do it.
Speaker 6: That's what I did to get some boardroom tables out.
Speaker 6: Joe Manica.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this because you know a lot
Speaker 1: of times black we used to have like who is
Speaker 1: in that room?
Speaker 2: Why are you talking?
Speaker 1: You're trying to monitor, you know, market the blacks, and
Speaker 1: there's no blacks in the commercial.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't hell if.
Speaker 1: There were queer gay in the rooms that could say, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: they have perch power.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm in California, man, they shut down. We hope gay
Speaker 1: Pride is a big thing day. So somebody drinking beers,
Speaker 1: buy cocktail and buy clothes. Mark, I'm just saying somebody
Speaker 1: doing that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and listen, the marketing has improved, right, But if
Speaker 6: we wanted to get into the weeds and gosh oh man,
Speaker 6: I should have pulled up on our research because there
Speaker 6: was a wonderful article done I want to say, about
Speaker 6: two seasons ago that looked at what demographic still in
Speaker 6: terms of representing the WNBA still got the lion's.
Speaker 4: Share of marketing opportunities and it was largely straight white women.
Speaker 6: Now in two years, I do believe that there have
Speaker 6: been improvements made in that area, right, And like I said,
Speaker 6: the WBA has leaned into who they are. These women
Speaker 6: are leaning int who they are. There's a number of
Speaker 6: queer athes out of w that I can think of
Speaker 6: that have had commercials and are currently in commercials that
Speaker 6: are still airing, and it's.
Speaker 4: Beautiful to see. And so I do think that things
Speaker 4: are changing.
Speaker 6: But just like in society, y'all, as painful as it is,
Speaker 6: right when we start having conversations about this societal totem pole,
Speaker 6: people especially women that sit at identities shout out to
Speaker 6: doctor Alfie, my girl that have intersectional identities often don't
Speaker 6: have privilege, and so they're minimalized a little bit or
Speaker 6: not a little bit, they become minimalized.
Speaker 4: And so that again, that's a whole nother loaded conversation.
Speaker 6: And I'm not trying to tell anybody that they can't
Speaker 6: be a fan of this player or that player.
Speaker 4: But as you join this WNBA fanfare, welcome. It's room
Speaker 4: for everybody.
Speaker 6: There have been twenty eight years of groundworking and there
Speaker 6: have been numbers of opportunities of research, right, and then
Speaker 6: when you look at the demographics of this league, like
Speaker 6: just keep your mind open to what is the reality
Speaker 6: of someone else's experience that may not look like That's
Speaker 6: the part that's frustrated to me in this conversation y'all.
Speaker 4: Like one to hear ex athletes say, oh.
Speaker 6: Just let her do whatever, and two folks that aren't
Speaker 6: taking the time to just do a little bit of
Speaker 6: digging about what the w NBA. Then how powerful these
Speaker 6: women have used their voices what they stand for, because.
Speaker 2: It's beautiful it is, and thank you for opening up
Speaker 2: and sharing that with us.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you being around the game, you
Speaker 1: playing the game, you being a woman yourself, you're better
Speaker 1: to speak to this in Oho than I because you're
Speaker 1: in that situation. There's no better person to speak to
Speaker 1: about a woman than a woman, And so sometimes you know,
Speaker 1: as men, we try to sit back and try to
Speaker 1: I don't know what it's like to have a baby,
Speaker 1: never had one, Dade, I don't want them kind of problem.
Speaker 2: So I like women when women talk about women issues.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can have an opinion, but I'm just speaking
Speaker 1: at it from a man's point of view. And sometimes
Speaker 1: we only see things through the prism in which we are.
Speaker 1: You know, if I'm looking from a mountaintop, I don't
Speaker 1: know what it's like in the valley because I'm on
Speaker 1: top of the mountain looking out. You being a woman
Speaker 1: playing basketball, playing in the WNBA. Who better to speak
Speaker 1: to issues like this than a person like yourself? But
Speaker 1: how often do how often when things like this do
Speaker 1: the DOUBLE, the NBA, the PA, do they have you
Speaker 1: speak to the women that's coming into How many times
Speaker 1: do you go out and speak the women's group? Being
Speaker 1: who you are, being the platform that you do have,
Speaker 1: are you giving those opportunities to speak speak up for women?
Speaker 6: So I was gonna let you rock with this, but
Speaker 6: I gotta I gotta check you. One thing on my resume.
Speaker 6: I decided that I was done after college and wasn't
Speaker 6: a dab onw I did not playing the w Okay. Also,
Speaker 6: I'm gonna have to give with the chad Ocho Seco
Speaker 6: Agency to get me some more speaking engagements.
Speaker 5: Whatever you need, listen, listen. I have a marketing firm,
Speaker 5: a brand in firm. So anything you need, just just
Speaker 5: holler at me.
Speaker 2: I can. I can get the ball rolling. I got ya.
Speaker 4: All jokes aside.
Speaker 6: I have had the opportunity to speak not just to
Speaker 6: women's teams, but like last year, I had a chance
Speaker 6: to talk to rap with the.
Speaker 4: Los Angeles Rams, right and just offering a different perspective.
Speaker 6: As a member of the media, I do know that
Speaker 6: our friends and colleagues of China Robertson and that Gonke
Speaker 6: led a great media preparations for the rookies coming in
Speaker 6: this season. And so the w and the PA are
Speaker 6: about giving their players resources, as are the NBA, right,
Speaker 6: and so the.
Speaker 4: League is just continuing to grow.
Speaker 6: And when you talk about this male counterpart, it has
Speaker 6: a fifty year head.
Speaker 2: Start, right, Martica.
Speaker 1: I think the thing is a lot of times and
Speaker 1: people it's like, well, I think the thing what really
Speaker 1: got it trending at the end is that, well, Steve,
Speaker 1: you said stephen A, you had this platform and you're
Speaker 1: doing it now, but you probably should have done this
Speaker 1: a lot sooner.
Speaker 8: Me.
Speaker 1: I'm address that, but I have club shashape and people like, well,
Speaker 1: why did you have more women. I've reached out to
Speaker 1: women that play or played in the WNBA, and I
Speaker 1: get no returns. I've had one lady, she's not a
Speaker 1: professional basketball player. Two days before she's like, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have to reschedule, and now my team can't get a
Speaker 1: hold of her. So I tried to give women because
Speaker 1: I pay, I got a nice size platform. So I
Speaker 1: want to give you an opportunity to share tell whatever
Speaker 1: story that you want to tell. You want to talk
Speaker 1: about your upbringing, you want to talk about your life
Speaker 1: as a professional athlete, you as an entertainer, or the
Speaker 1: left have at it. But it's not as easy as
Speaker 1: you think, Monica, because a lot of time women say no,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna.
Speaker 4: Stop you right now. I believe you.
Speaker 6: But I'm gonna also say this because I had to
Speaker 6: think twice before.
Speaker 4: I said yes. Because I have seen some night cap clips.
Speaker 6: Okay, you have to ask yourself is this a space?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 6: And so I shouldn't I believe when you say you
Speaker 6: want to have that conversation, right, But I think because
Speaker 6: of the opportunities to brand for women are a little
Speaker 6: bit hold on, let me get my words right. The
Speaker 6: opportunities for women to build their brands are so heavily scrutinized,
Speaker 6: right that you probably think more dutifully before you say
Speaker 6: yes to an opportunity, depending on how it fits and
Speaker 6: make you feel that the.
Speaker 4: Space is safe. So I don't know why people are
Speaker 4: saying yes or no to you, But.
Speaker 6: Honestly, like, if we ain't had this thing this morning,
Speaker 6: like I would not have thought of myself as a
Speaker 6: nightcap gues just based on the clips that I've seen
Speaker 6: and I've met with one person.
Speaker 4: If I met you one person, I think y'all are
Speaker 4: great guys. But like, I'm not going to tell y'all
Speaker 4: what else goes down in my bedroom.
Speaker 6: Like, and so you do just wonder if spaces are safe,
Speaker 6: and so as you continue to grow your platform, I
Speaker 6: would encourage you maybe to offer the topics in events.
Speaker 4: And you may have done this already, right.
Speaker 1: I always ask any guests, is there anything that you're
Speaker 1: uncomfortable with? I ask a question you can You can
Speaker 1: also say with Shanna, you know that question that you
Speaker 1: asked Maryland I talked about can you not air that boom?
Speaker 2: We take it out? Yeah, heyb I.
Speaker 1: Want you to be most of the time when people come,
Speaker 1: they're speaking their truth. Now, if I ask you a
Speaker 1: question and you tell me what went down in your bedroom,
Speaker 1: how's that?
Speaker 2: How am I being messy? You could have say shaddy?
Speaker 2: Now you know.
Speaker 4: Now I am stappy. But I don't know. Yes, I
Speaker 4: might feel a little pressure to keep up with the
Speaker 4: Joneses on like some people. Now you I know y'all
Speaker 4: get a little following here.
Speaker 2: Yo. Yeah, we but see that's the thing.
Speaker 1: They come for the sports, they stay for the story,
Speaker 1: so you know, you know, it's it's kind of like
Speaker 1: Monica a game. Let's just stay for the sake of argument.
Speaker 1: I let you to an arena for free, but I
Speaker 1: charge you to get out.
Speaker 6: You see, now listen all jokes aside.
Speaker 4: I do want to address the end of that clip.
Speaker 6: I genuinely was surprised by the reaction, and I did
Speaker 6: not intend to make it personal.
Speaker 4: But when I look at steven A in my relationship
Speaker 4: with steven A.
Speaker 6: Hee, then not your ESPN as far as I'm concerned, Yes,
Speaker 6: and I hear in this woman's basketball space for so
Speaker 6: long and have been privy to many a conversation pushing
Speaker 6: and pitching and asking for space. So as from where
Speaker 6: I sit, if esay says let's talk about it, it's
Speaker 6: gonna be discussed right right. He and I had a
Speaker 6: conversation tonight. Okay, cool. There are things that play that
Speaker 6: maybe I did not consider when I made that statement,
Speaker 6: But what I do stand by is that the way
Speaker 6: that the WNBA is being covered in the last this
Speaker 6: season just started in May, this particular season is at
Speaker 6: a different fervor and tenor than it was three years ago. Now,
Speaker 6: whatever whatever factors go into that, be that as in May.
Speaker 6: But three years ago we were not having these conversations
Speaker 6: about the WNBA as we are now.
Speaker 4: And that is just a fact.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well we weren't having this conversation three months ago.
Speaker 1: But you said, Monica, it's never too late to do
Speaker 1: the right thing.
Speaker 6: Absolutely, And I think that some people be like, oh,
Speaker 6: nobody was talking about like you.
Speaker 4: I heard you at the end of that show you
Speaker 4: lucky Moley had to go to break. You're talking about Monica.
Speaker 6: You've proven his point because nobody was talking about Okayla
Speaker 6: Clark after three years ago.
Speaker 4: Your southern sass back there.
Speaker 6: Now, this is where this is where we have to
Speaker 6: really are you and tussle.
Speaker 4: With this idea of cart before the horse or horse
Speaker 4: before the cart, right?
Speaker 6: And I know we don't seev work Shanning just like
Speaker 6: you said, Ojo go talk about the Cowboys, can talk
Speaker 6: about the Lakers like there are these things that hit.
Speaker 6: And so I understand the idea that the WNBA may
Speaker 6: not have been drawing the same numbers that it is
Speaker 6: now three years ago.
Speaker 4: But again, two things can be true.
Speaker 6: That doesn't necessarily mean that those women prior to the
Speaker 6: arrival of this rookie class, we're still not worthy of coverage.
Speaker 2: Right, Let's transition w the NBA Finals.
Speaker 1: You got the Dallas Mavericks, Luca Kyrie, Boston Celtics, JT JB.
Speaker 1: Who you like and what matchup are you looking most
Speaker 1: forward to?
Speaker 4: I don't know who I like yet, y'all.
Speaker 6: I think we will get seven, seven and five really
Speaker 6: great games. Might be a couple duds in there, but
Speaker 6: I think we are really in for it in this series.
Speaker 6: I think one of the matchups that intrigues me most
Speaker 6: is obviously what is Christops.
Speaker 4: Person is going to look like?
Speaker 6: And I think of Derek Lively probably before I think
Speaker 6: of Daniel Gafford, but either one of them. In terms
Speaker 6: of christophs Frezeingi's ability to pull them away from the
Speaker 6: paint as their rum protectors, right and then okay, so
Speaker 6: after that, then I immediately go to clutch and Luke
Speaker 6: and Kyrie, Oh, when it's clutched time right now? We
Speaker 6: obviously had the Jaylen Brown three in the Indiana series
Speaker 6: that was big time.
Speaker 4: I can't I'm pretty sure we.
Speaker 1: Have THEO They were down with like eight with like
Speaker 1: two minutes ago, two and a half minutes to go, right, And.
Speaker 6: So I cannot say, and I should have pulled up
Speaker 6: the clutch numbers before we got on here, But I
Speaker 6: cannot say that I don't trust Boston in the clutch.
Speaker 6: But recent history tells me that Luke and Kyrie are
Speaker 6: about the clutch.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna stay Boston for now because That's where I've
Speaker 6: been all season long. H And I do think that
Speaker 6: they have a unique ability to defend and make life
Speaker 6: a little bit more difficult for those guys.
Speaker 4: But I could he's so wrong, and I just think
Speaker 4: we are in for a really great series.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Do you think it's a narrative where people out there
Speaker 1: trying to put the media, you and I both in
Speaker 1: the media.
Speaker 2: I don't think we've done it.
Speaker 1: But maybe I'm wrong that we try to put JT
Speaker 1: and JB, try to pit them against each other.
Speaker 6: I think when something doesn't work, the media's job is
Speaker 6: to pick it apart, okay, And I think we all
Speaker 6: would agree. No, it feels like they're a little bit
Speaker 6: late to the party in terms of winning a championship, right,
Speaker 6: Like they were the better team in twenty twenty two
Speaker 6: as Steph when Stephan we got his Finals MVP right, right?
Speaker 6: And so I think when something when expectations are.
Speaker 4: Unmeat, the human nature is what will happen?
Speaker 2: Why? Right?
Speaker 4: And those two being your stars are the easiest target.
Speaker 1: Right, Because I think that, and I've said this, I
Speaker 1: believe that I could be wrong. You correct me, because
Speaker 1: you watch basketball, if not as much as I do,
Speaker 1: if not more. I believe JT is the better player.
Speaker 1: I believe Jale Brown has been the better player in
Speaker 1: the playoffs when you look at the entirety of the playoffs.
Speaker 1: If you look and I know jt average more in
Speaker 1: the finals in the West, in East Eastern Conference Finals,
Speaker 1: but I thought Jaylen Brown played better the big the
Speaker 1: big shot. Notwithstanding you look at the efficiency in which
Speaker 1: he played with I said, that's what I thought he
Speaker 1: was deserving of the lad Bird of lad Bird Trophy,
Speaker 1: which goes to the MVP of the Eastern Conference Final.
Speaker 2: What do you think.
Speaker 4: I think that's fair. I do think.
Speaker 6: And again, like I'm not naive, I know sports conversations
Speaker 6: don't have nuance, which is again why we started this podcast.
Speaker 4: Thank you for giving me the space.
Speaker 6: To have nuanced because if ever there was a conversation
Speaker 6: to have a little bit of nuance, it's this WNBA conversation.
Speaker 6: But when it comes to the Celtics, I think we
Speaker 6: got to stop.
Speaker 4: Moving the gold posts.
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 6: Okay, Jaylen Brown earned Finals Conference Finals MVP. He did that, right, Boston,
Speaker 6: Brad Stevens and company. They put together a team, right.
Speaker 6: The reason in my mind why Jason Tatum was less
Speaker 6: discussed in MVP and all of that stuff is because
Speaker 6: it was a team.
Speaker 4: League.
Speaker 6: Brian Winners has talked about how much of the loan
Speaker 6: one has to bear, and because Boston has a team,
Speaker 6: it looks like Jason Tatum has had to bear a
Speaker 6: little bit less.
Speaker 2: So for me, I do think the.
Speaker 4: Subjects have to get it done.
Speaker 6: I think Jason Tatum is still young in his career.
Speaker 6: He's an excellent ball player. I do not think he
Speaker 6: has to win finals MVP. I think that is the
Speaker 6: goalpost that continues to move because I'm not going to
Speaker 6: penalize him.
Speaker 4: If the guys around him.
Speaker 6: That were brought to the organization so they could finally
Speaker 6: win a title, hope to get it done.
Speaker 1: But you know that happens. You know that, and you
Speaker 1: know that happened. We saw, We saw with Steph, we
Speaker 1: saw with Kobe. You know, you know, you know that happens, Monica.
Speaker 1: When the supposed the best player and he doesn't win
Speaker 1: that finals MVP, they're like.
Speaker 4: The only guy.
Speaker 1: And this was before your time that I don't remember
Speaker 1: getting criticized for being the best player and not winning
Speaker 1: finals MVP was Larry Bird.
Speaker 4: That's way before my time.
Speaker 1: Tell me Coran, Brad Maxwell wonted And when they beat
Speaker 1: the when they beat the Rocket and he had eight
Speaker 1: points the last two games. If I'm not mistaken, Coran
Speaker 1: Brad Maxwell was Finals MVP, but he was the Rookie
Speaker 1: of the Year and he wont to have like thirty
Speaker 1: three votes. The Magic got three. But you know, I believe,
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I believe they need to win.
Speaker 1: If they don't win and he plays like he did
Speaker 1: against Golden State, Monica, you know it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: blood blad.
Speaker 5: You know that where it's gonna be a blood bath anyway,
Speaker 5: because I already told you mas and seven.
Speaker 2: Who oh shuck, I already already told I already.
Speaker 5: I already told you another Listen, there's no way to
Speaker 5: stop Luca and Kyrie, and it just it is.
Speaker 2: It is what it is. They had the clutch, Geen.
Speaker 5: If the Celtics have too many off nights shooting three
Speaker 5: and they're not efficient from the field, it's gonna be
Speaker 5: a long series.
Speaker 4: I really want to believe that they're not gonna trip
Speaker 4: over the three point line in that way, like there's
Speaker 4: enough basketball prowess that they would not be lowed to
Speaker 4: their own minds by shooting.
Speaker 1: But that's that's who they are, Modica. Then you know
Speaker 1: that's who they are. They take the most, they make
Speaker 1: the most.
Speaker 4: Oh, I just really want to believe though, y'all.
Speaker 6: Look, I love what I can do for a living,
Speaker 6: but this kind of stuff is actually very orgonizing, right,
Speaker 6: because you got one fan base that's gonna hate you,
Speaker 6: one fan base that is gonna love you.
Speaker 4: But like, I can see it go either way, y'all.
Speaker 1: I think I let me ask you a question, who
Speaker 1: do you think they start out on Luca? Because I
Speaker 1: don't think I think Holiday might be a Holiday and
Speaker 1: Derek White might be too small. You think they start
Speaker 1: go Jaylen Brown knowing that he's gonna have to give
Speaker 1: up something offensive because Luca is a Marston on the
Speaker 1: offensive end, So to try to neutralize some of what
Speaker 1: he does, you might have to give up some of
Speaker 1: the offensive load. And that's why jt uh Or and
Speaker 1: and Holiday and Derek White might need to be really
Speaker 1: big because there because if JB starts out on Luca,
Speaker 1: he gonna have his hands full.
Speaker 6: Well, here's the thing, right, Luca kept getting loose versus
Speaker 6: the wolves when them screens came and the switches came,
Speaker 6: so it didn't really matter who started. Primarily, I think
Speaker 6: Drew Holliday is such a versatile defender that I don't
Speaker 6: know if they started him on Luca. He was my
Speaker 6: first thought because I think Drew size is underrated, his
Speaker 6: strength is underrated as a defender the whole bit, because again,
Speaker 6: this thing is gonna be about making it.
Speaker 4: As difficult as possible.
Speaker 6: And so if you are playing ahead and thinking that
Speaker 6: the screen action is gonna if the screening action is
Speaker 6: going to come, especially if they end up doing the
Speaker 6: Luca kyrieguard to guard thing like, it don't really matter,
Speaker 6: you know what I mean. My first thought is still
Speaker 6: gonna be Drew. But I think at points we will.
Speaker 4: See Drew, Derek, Jason, and Jalen.
Speaker 6: I think they will all get a piece at some
Speaker 6: points and that and to me, that might be the
Speaker 6: X factor of what the Celtics have in terms of
Speaker 6: four guys that can make it difficult stop but can
Speaker 6: make it difficult.
Speaker 1: Luca is a guy that he also he'll go away
Speaker 1: from the screen. The Mavericks do a very good thing.
Speaker 1: They like to set the screen because they know if
Speaker 1: you put the screen in either corner, they can trap it,
Speaker 1: they can blitz it. They do a great job of
Speaker 1: setting the screens in the middle of the floor, which
Speaker 1: makes it a lot more difficult for you to blitz
Speaker 1: it or to trap that the trap that that that Uh,
Speaker 1: when Luca or Kyrie have the ball, So what do
Speaker 1: you think, what do you think is gonna happen when
Speaker 1: they try to run the slip because now Lively or
Speaker 1: Derrick Gaffert, they slide out.
Speaker 2: He passed them the ball and boom.
Speaker 6: This is where Porzenkis becomes a big deal because his
Speaker 6: length can at least disrupt long enough to you know,
Speaker 6: they sometimes they say hold it for a second, right,
Speaker 6: Like his link can disrupt long enough that either of
Speaker 6: those guys got to look to survey before they make
Speaker 6: a pass, and they certainly got to pay a stention
Speaker 6: if they make a play on the rim.
Speaker 4: But you're absolutely right in terms of the corners.
Speaker 2: They forgot rid the corner and.
Speaker 4: Luke on one's side, like.
Speaker 6: The space is just too much room. So I'm excited, though,
Speaker 6: I just think what game game one probably would look
Speaker 6: different from game two, and then you know, it's all
Speaker 6: the adjustments, Like Jason Kidd's been phenomenal, Joonazula has been
Speaker 6: great for this group. Like I cannot wait to see
Speaker 6: all the adjustments and the wrinkles, because even though we
Speaker 6: think we know.
Speaker 4: Aboulcohol, we have some stuff up.
Speaker 1: They sleep now, they do, they do, But eventually, you
Speaker 1: know one thing, Monica, You're gonna beat me with what
Speaker 1: I do best. I'm not out hey. I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you a wrinkle here and a wrinkle there. But I've
Speaker 1: got to get back to what got me here. This
Speaker 1: was the lady that brought me to the party. I
Speaker 1: know there's some other pretty ladies out there, but I
Speaker 1: got I gotta, I gotta dance with what got me here.
Speaker 4: Mark, This is why women don't want to be coming
Speaker 4: on a nightcap.
Speaker 1: You come, Mordica. We got a few more questions then
Speaker 1: we'll get you out of here. Kyrie reflected on this
Speaker 1: self tenure earlier today. Let's take a listen to what
Speaker 1: Kyrie had to say.
Speaker 8: You know, last time in Boston, I don't think that
Speaker 8: was the best uh you know, not this regular season,
Speaker 8: but when we played in the playoffs and everyone saw
Speaker 8: me flip off the birds and kind of lose my
Speaker 8: shit a little bit, that wasn't a great reflection of
Speaker 8: who I am. How I like to compete on a
Speaker 8: high level. You know, it wasn't a great reflection on
Speaker 8: my endswas the next generation on what it means to
Speaker 8: control your emotions in that type of environment, no matter
Speaker 8: what people are yelling at you. You know, I'm built
Speaker 8: for these moments to be able to handle circumstances like that,
Speaker 8: and I've been able to grow since then.
Speaker 4: So of course it's going to be a hectic environment.
Speaker 8: But I'm looking forward to it and I see it
Speaker 8: as a healthy relationship to have with the fans. You know,
Speaker 8: I almost think about Gladiator, just win the crowd over.
Speaker 8: You know, it's good to hear the TD Garden silent
Speaker 8: when you're playing well. They still respect great basketball. So
Speaker 8: regardless of you know, the attention that's being paid to
Speaker 8: what it's going to be like, on my end, I
Speaker 8: have a group to lead.
Speaker 2: You like Catrie's growth maturity.
Speaker 4: Listen, shout out to the insecure and I can't think
Speaker 4: of the actors's name. I played Kelly. But that's the growth. Okay,
Speaker 4: we got the growth. I love it.
Speaker 6: And look y'all, I mean, oh, so you had some
Speaker 6: moments with the media, right, like, you know what it is?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 6: I think again, and this is one thing that I try,
Speaker 6: I hope is attached to me in the face. I
Speaker 6: kind of come with the thing not forgetting the humanity
Speaker 6: of these elite athletes. Just because y'all can do and
Speaker 6: have done things that most of us can only hope
Speaker 6: and dream about. It doesn't mean that you are also
Speaker 6: not human people with emotions and feelings and pass entry
Speaker 6: to grow in right, And so for me, that is
Speaker 6: a fantastic demonstration of growth. But more than that press conference,
Speaker 6: what we saw in the last series, what we've seen
Speaker 6: the Maps be able to do to get to the finals.
Speaker 6: It's not just talk with Kyrie. There's real growth there.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 6: I will say, somebody sent me a hilarious screenshot that
Speaker 6: was like not the media talking about Kyrie like he
Speaker 6: wasn't asshole for the last five years. Okay, there's a
Speaker 6: psychotomy there, but we can't lean in.
Speaker 4: We're gonna lean into this growth.
Speaker 6: And so I think as much as he's grown as
Speaker 6: an athlete, he's also grown as a man.
Speaker 1: Yes, sir, marriage Natasha Natasha Rothwell is the act you
Speaker 1: talked about growth.
Speaker 4: She is hysterical.
Speaker 6: She should get a spin off, please, Eastern Ray, Can
Speaker 6: we just get a Kelly spinoff.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Which duo you, Tay, would you rather have in this theory? Luca, Kyrie,
Speaker 1: j t j B mm hmm.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Someone who's basketball ethos tends to lean towards the team
Speaker 6: that can defend better. The duo in this conversation that
Speaker 6: has a little bit more two way.
Speaker 4: Is a Celtics duo.
Speaker 2: Mmm, all right, we're gonna see.
Speaker 5: We're gonna see how how good that defensive pridess turns
Speaker 5: out when the mass.
Speaker 4: Sweet, you ain't lying, no, Joe, We're gonna find out, and.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get you out, get you out here on
Speaker 1: this with Monica. Whose legacy do you think will be
Speaker 1: more impacted with an out by this outcome?
Speaker 6: The Jordan brand because Jason Tatum is a Jordan athlete.
Speaker 1: Hey, this is gonna be big for Kyrie's own brand, Anthea,
Speaker 1: it is. Can you imagine Kyrie wins his second his
Speaker 1: second title, especially as you said, what he's gone through
Speaker 1: since he last played with Lebron twenty seventeen, so eighteen
Speaker 1: nineteen two, and you know, half of twenty three he
Speaker 1: was there and and and to see what he's become.
Speaker 1: As you, as we talked about the maturity the growth,
Speaker 1: the maturation, marriage, kids. He's he's at peace. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: the thing. And sometimes we fight. We fight demons that
Speaker 1: are not even there.
Speaker 4: Man, I'm a Maryland girl. I don't know if y'all
Speaker 4: said this down in the South, but my mom and
Speaker 4: I'm an honest to them. Just keep on living. Just
Speaker 4: keep on living. And you like, if you keep on living,
Speaker 4: you are going to be forced to grow.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, So you know what, Monica, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for joining us tonight.
Speaker 2: I wanted to have this conversation.
Speaker 1: I wanted you to give give you an opportunity on
Speaker 1: the space to have a nuanced conversation where we're not
Speaker 1: up against the clock, that we don't have to get
Speaker 1: to a commercial, we don't have to get to the
Speaker 1: top of the hour, we don't have to do anything.
Speaker 1: We just had a fifty five minute, fifty six minute
Speaker 1: conversation and I hope I'll viewing and listening audience enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on. You'll welcome back anytime. You
Speaker 1: know you well, you know what I'm trying to do.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm trying to do. So now we're
Speaker 1: gonna keep that post.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I got a.
Speaker 6: Little text alkay, listen, I shan that uncle. I'm going
Speaker 6: back and forth today.
Speaker 4: I really appreciate this.
Speaker 6: I think the internet went a blaze, and truly that
Speaker 6: was not my intention, and I walked away from our
Speaker 6: conversation not thinking that I had said anything earth shattering.
Speaker 6: It was just if you take a step back and
Speaker 6: look at the big picture, you know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Yes, Steven as our boy, We're good.
Speaker 2: Oh that's my day.
Speaker 4: And she's the more baketball coverage, like, let's get it.
Speaker 1: He definitely get He definitely getting to watch for me
Speaker 1: for for for Christmas with my.
Speaker 4: Watch it watch. I'm not on the contract yet. I
Speaker 4: need to watch.
Speaker 2: Oh what I got that new I got that new
Speaker 2: updated Apple Watch. You want it?
Speaker 4: I mean for the free. I don't turn down qualities.
Speaker 4: That's still.
Speaker 1: Monica. Thank you so much. I really really really appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. We know it's probably past
Speaker 1: your bed. It's eleven o'clock on the East Coast time.
Speaker 1: You're probably normally in the bed. So I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: keep you, oh your nine nine caps, I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: keep you any further from your fiance. Get to him
Speaker 1: and turn this camera off, Thank you Monica, Thank you guys.