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Speaker 1: Good morning, Swirl and welcome to the Nodunks Podcast, presented

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Speaker 1: by Fan Duel. It's Tuesday, February twenty fourth, twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 1: I'm Jay Skeetz here in the Classic Factory and alongside me,

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Speaker 1: as always tast.

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Speaker 2: Millis podcast listeners, this is for you and Ben.

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Speaker 1: Next to him, it's my top shot hot Boy, Trey Kirby,

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Speaker 1: he Ayo and over Yonder making the magic happen. Super

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Speaker 1: producer jd. Hello, there he is, and we have a

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Speaker 1: returning champion. He's a national NBA writer and co host

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Speaker 1: of the Greatest of All Talk pod. He's also the

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Speaker 1: author of bubble Ball and he just launched his very

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Speaker 1: own substack. I'm attracted to his work like a magnet

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Speaker 1: to a fridge. It's Ben Golliver. What's up, Ben?

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Speaker 3: Not too much, guys. I'm so glad you started with

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Speaker 3: the magnet stuff because I was listening to yesterday's show

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Speaker 3: and you're calling me magnet Man, which I really appreciate.

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Speaker 3: You're calling me bubble Ben, which I really appreciated. But

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Speaker 3: I have a bone to pick, Skeets, because you were

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Speaker 3: making it sound like I just go really niarly buying

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Speaker 3: every single magnet, like I have no self control when

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Speaker 3: I go to these National Park stores and look, I'll

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Speaker 3: be honest, I have hundreds and hundreds of magnets, So

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Speaker 3: you're not lying. But there's a method to my madness.

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Speaker 3: I would be glad to explain it to you and

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Speaker 3: clear my good name so people don't think I'm just

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Speaker 3: you know, nuts walking in the store just cleaning them

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Speaker 3: out every single time, like it's supermarkets sweep. It's not

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Speaker 3: supermarket sweep skeets.

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Speaker 4: Well, okay, we'll talk me through it. Then what's the

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Speaker 4: decision making behind all these magnets.

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Speaker 3: Well, look, every destination you go to, you want the

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Speaker 3: gaudiest one. It doesn't have to be the biggest one,

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Speaker 3: but it has to be the most distinctive, the most colorful,

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Speaker 3: the most unique. So you start with that one, right,

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Speaker 3: So if you're at Arches National Park, you're getting the

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Speaker 3: one that's just bright orange and it's going to look awesome.

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Speaker 3: But my secondary rule is if I see a particular

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Speaker 3: animal that's unique to that area, or it's not super

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Speaker 3: easy to find just in your everyday life, I'm going

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Speaker 3: to look for a magnet that specifically has that animal

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Speaker 3: as well. Now, if there happens to be a special

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Speaker 3: waterfall and you know another you know side note of

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Speaker 3: interest at that particular park. Well, I want to remember

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Speaker 3: that too. So do I come home with three, four

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Speaker 3: or five? Sometimes if it's a really good wildlife trip,

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Speaker 3: maybe so. But it's not like I'm taking thirty down.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I'm a one magnet for one place type of household.

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Speaker 1: But I respect what you do with each attraction at

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Speaker 1: said place.

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Speaker 2: I want to hear that if you approve of this nickname,

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Speaker 2: the magnet magnate, are you cool with that? I mean,

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Speaker 2: great alliteration. You seem to have some influence.

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Speaker 3: No, it makes me sound like an entrepreneur. I love it. Look,

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Speaker 3: I'll take any nickname that has been given to me

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Speaker 3: because on my podcast I have to give myself nicknames

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Speaker 3: like the Oracle from Oregon. And you know sometimes, as

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Speaker 3: you guys know, the best nick nates are ones you

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Speaker 3: earn not give yourself. So I'll take whatever you've got.

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Speaker 1: We've earned that, one man, And before we move off,

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Speaker 1: the magnet talk here, what do you do with all

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Speaker 1: of them?

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Speaker 3: Like?

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Speaker 4: Do you just shore them?

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Speaker 1: Or what do you do?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? No, it you were speculating about that yesterday too.

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Speaker 3: Really glad to clear that up for you guys. The

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Speaker 3: most pressing news of the day in the NBA. So

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Speaker 3: here's the funny fact. I have one magnet actually on

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Speaker 3: my refrigerator, and it's to commemorate in Michigan Football's national championship.

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Speaker 3: So that's the only one that makes the refrigerator go blue. Now.

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Speaker 3: I have a wall that has sort of like a

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Speaker 3: magnetized backdrop in one of the hallways of my house.

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Speaker 3: It's not super prominent, but I can put about fifty

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Speaker 3: sixty of my most recent minds on there and you

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Speaker 3: could rotate those out. The rest of them all be honest,

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Speaker 3: and I'm not a hoarder, but the rest of them

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Speaker 3: are just being stored very carefully in huge toughware containers

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Speaker 3: in my garage. The dream one day is to, like,

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Speaker 3: you know, be cool enough to have a basement. Right,

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Speaker 3: maybe I can buy a Trey's old house in Illinois.

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Speaker 3: Don't know if that's still on the But if I

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Speaker 3: can ever go myself a basement or a real garage,

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Speaker 3: I will just display all of them and it will

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Speaker 3: blow everyone's mind. And we're talking a hundred it's maybe

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Speaker 3: close to one thousand, but for now, it's just the memories.

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Speaker 4: Man, that's incredible.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I do want you to have, yeah, like a

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Speaker 1: like a man cave or obviously in the garage. I'd

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Speaker 1: like to picture you having like eight beer fridges just

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Speaker 1: for your magnets.

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Speaker 4: Though I don't even know.

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Speaker 1: I don't even think you're a heavy drinker, but I

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Speaker 1: just want you to have a bunch of fridges so

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Speaker 1: you can put them up.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it sounds like a great idea. I mean, let's

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Speaker 3: just skip the fridge part. Let's just have a giant

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Speaker 3: wall of magnet on the magnet magnetes sense. So I

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Speaker 3: think that's what it's going to take, because honestly, like

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Speaker 3: you need a lot of square footage. I used to

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Speaker 3: have little magnet boards in my living room, probably like

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Speaker 3: eight to ten of them that could each hold maybe

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Speaker 3: twenty magnets, and it wasn't nearly sufficient, you know, and

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Speaker 3: it gets frustrating because you're like, oh, this amazing trip,

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Speaker 3: you know, gets overlooked at the exp you have to

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Speaker 3: make choices. You don't want to make choices. They're like children,

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Speaker 3: you know. You want to honor all them. One day,

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Speaker 3: I'll get the basement.

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Speaker 2: Okay, since we're talking about layouts of houses. I see

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Speaker 2: a treadmill behind you. If you're watching on YouTube here,

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Speaker 2: it's the far bottom left corner. Is that a walking treadmill?

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Speaker 2: Because I've always wondered if that's really fun. You know,

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Speaker 2: that's a thing.

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Speaker 3: I mean, you know, probably about three times four times

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Speaker 3: a year it dips below seventy two and sunny here

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Speaker 3: in Los Angeles, so you know, I don't want to

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Speaker 3: brave the elements. I'm sorry to anyone who's been dealing

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Speaker 3: with tough snowstores back east. But yeah, you know, you

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Speaker 3: watch some games, get on the hop the walking treadmill.

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Speaker 3: Is it fun? Absolutely not. You know, I'm not like

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Speaker 3: a juicehead gym guy like you, Tad. I just try

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Speaker 3: to burn a few galleries so I don't, you know,

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Speaker 3: get too fat during the season.

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Speaker 4: Oh you're looking great, man.

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Speaker 2: That's what they call me at the gym, jumping juice

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Speaker 2: head man.

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Speaker 1: Had some big news recently in your life. Ben You

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Speaker 1: were I guess what you were there seven years at

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Speaker 1: the Washington Post and they suddenly decide to shut down

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Speaker 1: their sports department. You did tweet your final score, which

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Speaker 1: I enjoyed. Fifteen hundred plus stories fifty plus million page

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Speaker 1: US to Olympic, one Bubble, seven NBA Finals, one book,

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Speaker 1: and countless incredible colleagues and editors. I'm gonna put you

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Speaker 1: on the spot here. Did you have a favorite of

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Speaker 1: your fifteen hundred plus stories or maybe even just one

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Speaker 1: of the events that you went to and got to

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Speaker 1: cover working at the Post.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I think the big highlights would be people

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Speaker 3: know me for a Kaitlin Clark profile I did during

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Speaker 3: her junior year at Iowa. It was just perfectly timed

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Speaker 3: because it was right before the huge tournament run where

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Speaker 3: you know she has the controversy with Angel Reset at

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Speaker 3: the end of it. And so I would say for

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Speaker 3: me as a reporting highlight, going to the middle of Iowa,

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Speaker 3: which you know, just never been to Iowa City before.

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Speaker 3: I'm going to like the Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum on

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Speaker 3: the way there. Yes, I did buy a magnet big time.

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Speaker 4: I bought twenty nine magnets from the Hoover Y.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, right, well done. So I would say that

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Speaker 3: was a big time highlight just because you felt like

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Speaker 3: you were on a huge, huge story a little bit

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Speaker 3: before everybody else. The gold medal game, and even the

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Speaker 3: semi final for the Pair Olympics with Steph Curry just

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Speaker 3: going bombers. I mean, he saves the US basketball dynasty twice.

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Speaker 3: I could hear the Canadians kind of roll their eyes

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Speaker 3: to this.

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Speaker 4: Guy said, no, it was amazing. It was amazing.

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Speaker 3: Those were big games, super high stress games, incredible crowds,

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Speaker 3: and just the kind of things that you're like, well,

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Speaker 3: it's kind of all downhill from here. But to me,

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Speaker 3: it's always the high level games that gets me the

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Speaker 3: most excited. You know. I was at every NBA final

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Speaker 3: since I started with the Post, and including the Bubble,

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Speaker 3: which of course was a crazy experience ninety three days

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Speaker 3: ending with the Lakers Championships. So I would say those

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Speaker 3: were some of the best moments for sure.

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Speaker 1: And how much of a shock was this with the

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Speaker 1: Washington Post sports department shutting down, Well.

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Speaker 3: It was weird, you know, there's no question about it.

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Speaker 3: I always said like, they pretty much gave us free

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Speaker 3: reign whatever we wanted to do for six plus years,

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Speaker 3: and so in a lot of senses, it was a

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Speaker 3: dream job. I don't come away from this like super

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Speaker 3: bitter or angry, because they literally were just like, oh,

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Speaker 3: you want to go to I want to write about

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Speaker 3: Kaylin Clark, Oh, you want to write about Cooper Flagg. Oh,

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Speaker 3: you know, whatever story I might have had. Let's follow

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Speaker 3: Wemby around for the first two weeks of his NBA

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Speaker 3: career and how that goes like It was always just yes, yes, yes.

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Speaker 3: And then in true sports fashion, though, they just decided

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Speaker 3: to do a tear down rebuild right in the middle

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Speaker 3: of the season and I did. I didn't make it

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Speaker 3: to the trade deadline, guys, unfortunately, and you know, it

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Speaker 3: was blind siding for sure, but there was some rumors

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Speaker 3: and trickles, you know, in the months and really dating

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Speaker 3: back to the twenty twenty four election. I don't know

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Speaker 3: if people would be super surprised to hear that. So

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Speaker 3: it was disappointing and definitely a jolt, But I felt

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Speaker 3: like I did the best work of my career at

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Speaker 3: the post that so many incredible editors and got to

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Speaker 3: read just unbelievable writers. We really did have a dream

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Speaker 3: team that was disassembled, unfortunately. So we'll see where everybody

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Speaker 3: kind of eventually lands and how it all shakes out.

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Speaker 3: And it's unsettling kind of in the interim, right as

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Speaker 3: you're trying to figure out what the next moves are.

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Speaker 3: But it's a chapter I'm going to look back very

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Speaker 3: fondly on, and it's going to be you know, we

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Speaker 3: always hear those stories all like Sports Illustrate in the

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Speaker 3: nineties or the eighties, it was so crazy, like that's

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Speaker 3: kind of how I felt, just a little sliver of

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Speaker 3: that with the post here the last seven years.

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Speaker 1: Well, you're the hottest free agent name this summer, no doubt.

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Speaker 1: Where will Ben Gulliver land. But in the meantime, we

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Speaker 1: got the substack going obviously have the podcast as well.

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Speaker 3: Keep telling everybody that excuse you're my street team you

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Speaker 3: come across, keep saying that that means a lot and

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Speaker 3: it could help. No, the substack's been crazy though. I

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Speaker 3: think you guys know, I've got the podcast community. A

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Speaker 3: lot of what we've tried to do with the greatest

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Speaker 3: of All Talk has been modeled off what you guys

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Speaker 3: have done for you know, almost twenty years I think,

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Speaker 3: or more than twenty years now, you know, just building

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Speaker 3: the community, and they've really stepped up and helped supported

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Speaker 3: the sub stack. And I was blown away the opening

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Speaker 3: week and I was number two on the New Charts

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Speaker 3: for every new writer any category. So that said, the

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Speaker 3: power of our podcast community for sure, how much people

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Speaker 3: love basketball, which is always great to see at a

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Speaker 3: time when a lot of people like talking down on basketball.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, I was off to a good start there,

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Speaker 3: feeling good about it right, and all sorts of crazy

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Speaker 3: stuff too, by the way, National Parks. We're getting into

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Speaker 3: like stories behind the stories of some of my reporting

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Speaker 3: journeys over the years. Of course, I had to lead

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Speaker 3: off with Lego because everybody knows me as the Lego guy,

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Speaker 3: so it's it's a poepri it's not just NBA stuff,

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Speaker 3: and so far people have enjoyed it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and that link is in our show notes, so

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Speaker 1: make sure you subscribe to Ben Gulliver's new substack. Well

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Speaker 1: let's talk some hoops here. We've done enough preamble there

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Speaker 1: and enough magnet talk. We had an awesome game last night, Ben,

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Speaker 1: I'm excited to hear your thoughts. Wemen Yama twenty one

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Speaker 1: point seventeen boards, six blocks, and Devin Masell was on fire.

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Speaker 1: He had twenty eight as the Spurs beat the Pistons

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Speaker 1: one fourteen, one oh three in a potential maybe NBA

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Speaker 1: Finals preview. The Spurs of one, a season high nine

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Speaker 1: games in a row. Ben this matchup had some intensity

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Speaker 1: of a playoff game. It was a lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: I like that it was on like a night in

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Speaker 1: the NBA where there wasn't a lot of games on.

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Speaker 1: This was the marquee game. So if you're an NBA fan,

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Speaker 1: you were probably watching it. What were your big takeaways

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Speaker 1: from the Spurs beating the Pistons last night.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's also cool that's such a great game was

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Speaker 3: on America's like nineteenth largest streaming network. I think that

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Speaker 3: was a real cool twist, just for to surprise everybody.

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Speaker 3: I say that after going to Lakers Celtics on Sunday

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Speaker 3: where NBC, you know, just like the entire farm they're

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Speaker 3: covering it. Not quite as high level of a game,

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Speaker 3: I will say in Los angeless. So here's how I

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Speaker 3: look at these kind of final previews games. It's just

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Speaker 3: a top down version. I always look at the four

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Speaker 3: units right, offense, defense for both teams, and we tend

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Speaker 3: as analysts are just like the public at large. We

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Speaker 3: always focus on the best units, right. So I'm looking

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Speaker 3: at Santa Todio, I'm looking at Detroit, and I'm saying

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Speaker 3: they're going to have elite defenses. Right, That's that's really

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Speaker 3: what's going to drive the discussion. If they were to

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Speaker 3: meet in the finals, it would be pitted as like

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Speaker 3: this defensive battle. But what I tend to do is

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Speaker 3: look for what I think is the weakest unit, and

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Speaker 3: in this case, I would have said the Pistons offense

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Speaker 3: was the weakest of those four units. And I think

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Speaker 3: a lot of times, especially in the playoffs, that weakest

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Speaker 3: unit is what winds up to siding the series. And

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Speaker 3: I think if these two teams were to meet in

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Speaker 3: the finals, I don't think the Pistons have enough offense

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Speaker 3: to keep up. You know, obviously Caide struggled, but you know,

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Speaker 3: from an efficiency standpoint, but that's going to happen when

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Speaker 3: the Spurs have all these guards who are incredible defenders,

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Speaker 3: who are going to harass him, and they've got Wemby

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Speaker 3: patrolling the paint like crazy. Didn't that game turn in

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Speaker 3: the third quarter with that Spurs just defensive push, Wemby's

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Speaker 3: blocking shots like crazy. Everything's just going nuts, and Detroit's

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Speaker 3: looking around saying, Tobias Harris, Duncan Robinson, you guys are

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Speaker 3: not built for this. I'm sorry, it's not going to

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Speaker 3: be enough, and so it makes me wonder should Detroit

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Speaker 3: have considered doing something at the deadlines, loading up a

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Speaker 3: little bit, getting another weapon, because I think they have

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Speaker 3: enough offense to get through the East. I don't think

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Speaker 3: they have enough offense to win a championship. And if

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Speaker 3: you guys want to just you know, like go Gaga

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Speaker 3: over Wenby for the next twenty minutes, I'm glad to

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Speaker 3: do that too. But I thought the hardcore basketball analysis

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Speaker 3: takeaway was Detroit is really awesome. They've had a dream season.

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Speaker 3: They don't have enough juice on offense.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, seven May threes for the Pistons last night. Devin

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Speaker 5: Vessel and Jullian Champenne combined hit twelve together. I think

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Speaker 5: Vaselle hit seven himself, And you're exactly right, Ben, It

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Speaker 5: was kind of like a shock to the system, it

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Speaker 5: felt like to me for the Pistons trying to figure

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Speaker 5: out how to attack Wemby while also having to deal with,

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Speaker 5: in particular, Cad being defended by Stefan Castle. Castle was

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Speaker 5: all over it, man like getting over screens, pressuring the

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Speaker 5: ball ninety four feet. They threw everything at Detroit. Caid

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Speaker 5: couldn't really crack the code. They couldn't hit from the outside,

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Speaker 5: and you look around and the only move they did

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Speaker 5: make at the deadline was getting Kevin Hurder. I didn't

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Speaker 5: even play last night, and not like they really are

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Speaker 5: missing out on anything Jade and Ivy is feeling like

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Speaker 5: he might retire after the season with the balls, but

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Speaker 5: it felt like they to me watching it last night,

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Speaker 5: it's like, ooh, this does make you a little concern

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Speaker 5: for the high end outcomes for the Pistons, because where

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Speaker 5: do they get offense if Caid's not able to be

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Speaker 5: an efficient player. It was basically like, Duran, can you

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Speaker 5: grab an offensive to get it back up before Wenby

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Speaker 5: shuts it down? But you know, they talked a lot

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Speaker 5: after the game about looking at the tape and figuring

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Speaker 5: out how to attack San Antonio. They play again pretty

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Speaker 5: quickly here, so that'll be a huge game to me

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Speaker 5: once again to see how they adjust and figure out

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Speaker 5: any way to have an offense that makes sense because

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Speaker 5: last night it was pretty ugly, especially in that second half.

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Speaker 2: They needed some contributions from a lot of guys. That's

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Speaker 2: the thing with the Pistons. You don't have a number

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Speaker 2: two guy in general. Jalen durn did his thing in

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Speaker 2: this one, but because it is so sparse, the other

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Speaker 2: guys are just going to have to all contribute a

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Speaker 2: shot here or there. And you saw even though Ron

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Speaker 2: Holland was awesome in this game playing his defense, you know,

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Speaker 2: he goes over from three. Javonte Green also over from three.

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Speaker 2: Usar Thompson, We've all wondered this coming into the season,

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Speaker 2: could he be the guy? And he did have a

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Speaker 2: few shots in this game, but honestly, his energy level

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Speaker 2: wasn't high, so they yanked him after eighteen minutes.

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Speaker 4: They got benched.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, which has happened with Jami Bickerstaff before. I wonder

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Speaker 2: if he yawned. Honestly, it looked like there was a

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Speaker 2: yawn in there that he covered up with a towel

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Speaker 2: real quickly. Yeah, what up with that? But honestly, it

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Speaker 2: also showed on the floor he was standing out behind

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Speaker 2: the three point line and just not moving and not crashing. Again,

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Speaker 2: he makes a few shots, but somebody needed to make shots.

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Speaker 2: The Duncan Robinson who has been there in place of

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Speaker 2: the guy Malik Beasley who made all those three point shots.

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Speaker 2: You know, he made a few in this one, but

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Speaker 2: literally open shot after open shots, so three for eleven

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Speaker 2: for three from him. They just missed too many shots.

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Speaker 2: Caro Slovert was just stepping on the sideline. That guy

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Speaker 2: had four turnovers. A couple of them were literally stepping

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Speaker 2: on the sideline. So was it just the big lights

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Speaker 2: for this supporting Pistons team at home and just not ready.

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Speaker 2: But also, yeah, the Wemby factor was a big as

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Speaker 2: you said in the third quarter, Ben, when the Wemby

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Speaker 2: factor picked up, the Pistons literally were rushing shots and

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Speaker 2: missing shots and were unable to counter the Wemby And

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Speaker 2: that's what it kind of came down.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, talk talk about Wemby, Ben for sure, because man,

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Speaker 1: this guy like he was getting pushed around, he was

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Speaker 1: getting bullied, and this was the game plan, of course,

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Speaker 1: and I assume it's going to be the game plan

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Speaker 1: for a lot of teams. But he weathered the storm

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Speaker 1: and then started to realize, I'll just draw all the

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Speaker 1: extra defenders as well and start setting up other guys

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Speaker 1: in addition to like shutting down the paint with every blockshot.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I start with the defense because I really felt

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Speaker 3: like the defense there was a lot of swings where

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Speaker 3: the broadcast kept being like five point swing, six point

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Speaker 3: swing because Webby would e raised something on one end,

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Speaker 3: they would go straight down and score the other end.

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Speaker 3: And that's winning basketball. That's potentially championship basketball if you're

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Speaker 3: a Spurs fan, so you get super excited about that.

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Speaker 3: On the SR. Thompson point, we've all heard about their

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Speaker 3: incredible development storyline growing up. They had the checklist of

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Speaker 3: all the things that they wanted to do to kind

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Speaker 3: of make it to the NBA and get a shoe

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Speaker 3: deal and all this stuff. How did nobody put make

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Speaker 3: a jumper on the checklist. It's the single most important

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Speaker 3: part of modern basketball, and neither one of them can shoot,

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Speaker 3: and neither one of them are going to be able

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Speaker 3: to really hold up in big time playoff games if

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Speaker 3: they can't shoot. That's especially true against San Antonio because

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Speaker 3: Womby already screws up every team spacing just by standing

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Speaker 3: on the court right, You're spacing is screwed up. You

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Speaker 3: really cannot play two non shooters at the same time

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Speaker 3: against San Antonio and get away with it, because they

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Speaker 3: will just crunch the court on you. Your offensive efficiency

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Speaker 3: will go down so far and so you're almost obligated

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Speaker 3: to put whatever shooters you have on the court just

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Speaker 3: to kind of open things up so you can even

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Speaker 3: breathe on offense. And then typically in the NBA, the

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Speaker 3: shooters of the guys who can't play defense, right, so

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Speaker 3: you go down the other way and now all of

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Speaker 3: a sudden, it's a field day for everybody on San Antonio.

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Speaker 3: What I love about how the Spurs have developed this

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Speaker 3: thing is that even though Wemby is an extraordinary offensive

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Speaker 3: talent as well, I mean, he's an A plus defensive

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Speaker 3: player at a to a plus offensive player, already at

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Speaker 3: this stage of his career, he has gotten away from

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Speaker 3: feeling like he has to do everything, which was part

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Speaker 3: of the problem earlier in his career, because they've got

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Speaker 3: the other guards, because they have really good spacing for

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Speaker 3: themselves on offense, and because they trust the pass, you know.

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Speaker 3: And it was a big question that I had when

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Speaker 3: they went to get Fox, wasn't going to be too

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Speaker 3: much pound pound pound. Castle is not the world's mostditional

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Speaker 3: point guard, so sometimes you worry is he going to

398
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Speaker 3: be able to keep the flow moving? But they have

399
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Speaker 3: just bought in together with passing the basketball Wemby's been

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Speaker 3: a big part of it. And then man, when he

401
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Speaker 3: can finish plays after a couple of passes at the rim,

402
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Speaker 3: or he can step out to shoot the three pointer,

403
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Speaker 3: or he can hit the mid ranger if the entire

404
00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:18,760
Speaker 3: thing breaks down. There's so many different ways Wemby can

405
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Speaker 3: beat you as an offensive player. It's kind of like

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Speaker 3: good luck. And I want to tip my hat to

407
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Speaker 3: Jalen Durant. I've thought, not only did he fight hard,

408
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Speaker 3: you know, as the Pistons always do, you know, looking

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Speaker 3: for a little scrap here and there. I mean he

410
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Speaker 3: was pushing back and given some offense in the second

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Speaker 3: half too, But it just doesn't matter. You know, Wemby

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Speaker 3: was too much for them, and the Wemby effect was

413
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Speaker 3: too much for them. This San Antonio team means business

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Speaker 3: to me. This is not a mirage at all. I

415
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Speaker 3: think we have to start thinking about they could go

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Speaker 3: from the lottery to the finals. We basically never see

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Speaker 3: that in the NBA. It's definitely possible for these guys.

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Speaker 1: And what do you think about Wemby's chances at MVP

419
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Speaker 1: here too? If he can obviously hit the games played quota,

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Speaker 1: you think that's a realistic opportunity.

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Speaker 3: Well, like I said, I called my self the Oracle

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Speaker 3: from Oregon. That was my preseason pick. So I've got

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Speaker 3: my fingers cross he could stay healthy because it would

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Speaker 3: be a pretty wild one. I don't know if he's

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Speaker 3: going to be able to do it, you know, I

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Speaker 3: think there's gonna be the opportunity as we get into

427
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Speaker 3: the dregs of the season. Maybe you're resting him here

428
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Speaker 3: and there, you know what exactly is the motivation. But

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Speaker 3: I hope he continues to gun for it. And I

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00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:21,879
Speaker 3: you know, he showed us an All Star weekend like

431
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,520
Speaker 3: he cares about the games, He cares about his reputation.

432
00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:26,680
Speaker 3: He cares about the awards that he didn't win last year.

433
00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:28,600
Speaker 3: But he's robbed of a Defensive Player of the Year

434
00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,280
Speaker 3: last year because he got the blood clot And so

435
00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:33,520
Speaker 3: I hope he sprints in the finished line and makes

436
00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:36,080
Speaker 3: himself a real factor. But I always do the top

437
00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:39,960
Speaker 3: one hundred rankings, you know, every single year before the

438
00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:43,160
Speaker 3: season going into next year, Wemby can't be below three.

439
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:46,240
Speaker 3: He's won two or three, And so then the question becomes,

440
00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:48,720
Speaker 3: all right, well him or Shae him or joker? Like

441
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:51,600
Speaker 3: to me, That's that's where the conversation starts. And that's

442
00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:53,520
Speaker 3: crazy for a guy who's only in his third season

443
00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:53,840
Speaker 3: right now.

444
00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:56,119
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great point. It's almost like a conundrum.

445
00:19:56,119 --> 00:19:58,119
Speaker 1: I feel like with Wemby and the Spurs having to

446
00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:01,000
Speaker 1: play the Pistons again. On one hand, awesome, like let's

447
00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:03,920
Speaker 1: run it back. But if I'm the Spurs, I'm maybe like, yeah,

448
00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:07,640
Speaker 1: let's not play Wemby again in a very physical sort

449
00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:11,000
Speaker 1: of obviously like playoff intensity game. Just any concern of

450
00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:12,920
Speaker 1: him getting injured. How many times did he fall over

451
00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:13,720
Speaker 1: again last night.

452
00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:14,399
Speaker 4: To get pushed over?

453
00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:16,399
Speaker 1: You know, he took like a sort of an elbow

454
00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:17,919
Speaker 1: in the back. I thought that was a little bit

455
00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:20,160
Speaker 1: of a cheap shot. I think was that Javonte Green

456
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:24,520
Speaker 1: or anyway hit him, Cade hit him?

457
00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:28,359
Speaker 5: Yea, Cad was playing a little extra physical. They totally

458
00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:30,960
Speaker 5: brought it to him. And Wemby's missed what fourteen games

459
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,960
Speaker 5: this season, so it's pretty close. So it's a war

460
00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:38,480
Speaker 5: chopping up there. But I mean, he's clearly the best

461
00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:41,880
Speaker 5: defensive player in the league. It was like he needs

462
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,640
Speaker 5: like a halo block or like a force field block,

463
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,520
Speaker 5: where like you saw Duncan Robinson like, good luck, why

464
00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:49,440
Speaker 5: would he ever try and shoot in the lane? Cad

465
00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:51,760
Speaker 5: was passing up shots in the lane, took him completely

466
00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,320
Speaker 5: out of his rhythm. Went one for fifteen in the

467
00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:56,960
Speaker 5: second half, and Wenby didn't even have like an efficient

468
00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:00,199
Speaker 5: offensive night at all, but still just completely dominated by

469
00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:03,760
Speaker 5: doing like traditional big man dirty work Jared Allen kind

470
00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:06,360
Speaker 5: of play. But he's seven foot five. He's got Caid

471
00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:09,639
Speaker 5: calling him in the eight footer afterwards, Ben, do you

472
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,640
Speaker 5: have any concern that this is how teams are going

473
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,199
Speaker 5: to play Wemby. They're going to try and rough them

474
00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:16,960
Speaker 5: up once they get into the playoffs.

475
00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:17,240
Speaker 3: Yeah.

476
00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:19,920
Speaker 5: Seven games of this guy falling down every three minutes, right.

477
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:21,960
Speaker 3: Well, I think you want to rough him up, and

478
00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:23,920
Speaker 3: you also want to, you know, go after the ball

479
00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:25,520
Speaker 3: when it's in his hands. You want to double, you

480
00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:27,440
Speaker 3: want to try to force turnovers. You want to try

481
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:29,879
Speaker 3: to speed him up. He's so good at speeding up

482
00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:32,159
Speaker 3: other teams on the when he's playing defense, but he

483
00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:34,760
Speaker 3: can get sped up offensively. We saw that a little

484
00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:36,520
Speaker 3: bit earlier in the season when teams were you know,

485
00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:38,840
Speaker 3: really you know, trapping him hard when Fox was out

486
00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:42,160
Speaker 3: and he struggled to handle that pressure. I think really

487
00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,600
Speaker 3: for your guys standpoint, it just creates an incredible opportunity.

488
00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:47,840
Speaker 3: Though it's like, he needs a bodyguard, and who is

489
00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,400
Speaker 3: that bodyguard? You know, it seemed like maybe Sohand would

490
00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:52,880
Speaker 3: have been that guy, but it just didn't materialize there

491
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:55,080
Speaker 3: in San Antonio. I look around at the team. He's

492
00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:57,280
Speaker 3: got a lot of running mates, but does he truly

493
00:21:57,359 --> 00:21:59,440
Speaker 3: have the bodyguard, like the guy who's willing to take

494
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,000
Speaker 3: the ten game suspension? You know, if anybody messages with

495
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,800
Speaker 3: Wemby because they need Charles Oakley, don't they? I mean

496
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:07,439
Speaker 3: they need a Charles Oakley on his team so badly,

497
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:09,800
Speaker 3: and whoever that guy is will be the second most

498
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:13,040
Speaker 3: popular Spur. I promise they're gonna so crazy Jerseys. So

499
00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:15,840
Speaker 3: memo o Brian, right, go find your Charles Oakley. It

500
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:17,440
Speaker 3: will be incredible. We will all love it.

501
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,600
Speaker 1: We don't think it could be a big body Calton Johnson,

502
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,280
Speaker 1: he steps a kid, And then Duran went back at

503
00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:25,040
Speaker 1: Keldon Johnson.

504
00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:27,800
Speaker 5: I think he's the guy right now at least, and

505
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:28,880
Speaker 5: you know he's big.

506
00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:32,200
Speaker 3: I was gonna say it, does the hair make him shorter?

507
00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:36,480
Speaker 3: I don't know his head and all of a sudden,

508
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:37,360
Speaker 3: he's not as imposing.

509
00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:39,000
Speaker 4: We weren't just around him.

510
00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,520
Speaker 1: In Austin, we were at the Cassa to Spurs and

511
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:44,000
Speaker 1: he was doing a fireside chat the night before and

512
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:45,399
Speaker 1: we were in the same room and he got up

513
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,520
Speaker 1: and he walked by Trey Kirby and we all were like, oh, yeah,

514
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:51,480
Speaker 1: he is actually maybe a little bigger than we thought.

515
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:53,000
Speaker 1: We were trying to determine his height and all. That

516
00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:56,560
Speaker 1: doesn't look as wide when you're just by him in

517
00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:59,120
Speaker 1: a place. That's because he's usually next to Wemby. So yeah,

518
00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 1: it looks pretty wide. But I was impressed. He seems

519
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,160
Speaker 1: like a guy that actually underestimates his height. Like he's

520
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:05,680
Speaker 1: listed at six to five. I think he could easily

521
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:06,160
Speaker 1: be six six.

522
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 4: That's what we were saying for sure.

523
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,680
Speaker 3: Interesting. Interesting, all right, you're you'reploying my mind, all right, job,

524
00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,920
Speaker 3: Maybe I feel like maybe it's because he's standing next

525
00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:18,680
Speaker 3: to Wemby, is why short, And so maybe any bodyguard

526
00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:20,359
Speaker 3: is going to look short next to Webby. Maybe it

527
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:22,840
Speaker 3: has to be somebody who's like young Hanson or something

528
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,280
Speaker 3: like that. You know, you got to get somebody who can, uh,

529
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:27,280
Speaker 3: you know, look at Webby almost eye to eye to

530
00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:29,920
Speaker 3: be the one who gets his back. But uh yeah,

531
00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:31,800
Speaker 3: I also I feel like killing Johns is like a

532
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:33,639
Speaker 3: real player. You know. Part of what I'm looking for

533
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,720
Speaker 3: here is like just you know, mashing the glass, rebounding

534
00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:39,960
Speaker 3: and you know, at hard fouls. That's all I want

535
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:40,840
Speaker 3: from the bodyguard.

536
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:44,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, but Wemby's too modern for that. I think Wemby

537
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,480
Speaker 2: will say, no chance I need a bodyguard. I'm going Io,

538
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:50,520
Speaker 2: it's modern basketball. We're all taking care of our own

539
00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:54,400
Speaker 2: body especially it's moderny basketball that yes, there's some physical play,

540
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:57,680
Speaker 2: but there's not a ton of physical play. And honestly,

541
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:00,720
Speaker 2: it kind of did in the Pistons yesterday a little

542
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,880
Speaker 2: bit first possession, Cade was guarding Vasel, but here comes

543
00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,240
Speaker 2: Vassell on a pick. Wemby's flying by, So I'm going

544
00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:09,159
Speaker 2: to go tag Wemby. Vasel wide open splash and that

545
00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:12,920
Speaker 2: got him going because see what he was incredible. But yeah,

546
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,919
Speaker 2: the guys you mentioned in Kelton Johnson, they all contributed

547
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:18,080
Speaker 2: to this team. So that was very impressive. I do

548
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,399
Speaker 2: wander speaking of the modern d NBA and how we

549
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,120
Speaker 2: have the sixty five game rule, Ben, do you think

550
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:25,919
Speaker 2: they do away with that rule? Even as early as

551
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 2: next season.

552
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 3: Well, what I want to do is change the focus

553
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:31,480
Speaker 3: from the small things to like, oh it is sixty

554
00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:33,359
Speaker 3: five the right number, and put it down to sixty.

555
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,160
Speaker 3: Let's take step back and just be honest. The NBA

556
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 3: has an absolute injury crisis. You know, if you look

557
00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:40,480
Speaker 3: at all the number of stars who have been injured

558
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,040
Speaker 3: this season, the percentage of games they've missed, it's absolutely nuts.

559
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,639
Speaker 3: I ran an analysis back in like November, and only

560
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,480
Speaker 3: the top thirty players, the highest paid players combined, were

561
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:53,920
Speaker 3: on track to cost their teams. I think it was

562
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:58,359
Speaker 3: like five hundred million dollars in salary for games they

563
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 3: don't play. So it's a half a billion dollars just

564
00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 3: being wasted on thirty guys because they're missing so much

565
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,560
Speaker 3: time due to injuries. If you flashback three or four

566
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,080
Speaker 3: years ago, the question was, oh, it's just load management,

567
00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:11,159
Speaker 3: you know, these guys don't want to play. Now, what

568
00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:13,280
Speaker 3: we're seeing is the style of play in the NBA.

569
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:16,200
Speaker 3: It's not manageable. They can't handle these loads. It's too much.

570
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,479
Speaker 3: Bodies are breaking down to cap strains, achilles. I mean,

571
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,480
Speaker 3: we're seeing all sorts of different muscle issues, and even

572
00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 3: guys who were basically indestructible. Joker Shade Yannis earlier in

573
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,199
Speaker 3: his career are having injuries now that are sidelining them

574
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:32,720
Speaker 3: for real amounts of time during the season. And so,

575
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:34,719
Speaker 3: rather than get caught up in the minutia of an

576
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,600
Speaker 3: MVP debate about sixty versus sixty five or should we

577
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,120
Speaker 3: get rid of the ruler or whatever, let's take take

578
00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:41,920
Speaker 3: a step back and figure out what the heck is

579
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 3: going on and are there changes to the game that

580
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:47,800
Speaker 3: can protect these guys. Has it gotten too fast? Right?

581
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:51,200
Speaker 3: You know, the scores are incredible. Everybody gets excited. You know,

582
00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:53,680
Speaker 3: somebody hits one hundred and fifty points, It's like, you know, wow,

583
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:57,280
Speaker 3: this is crazy. But you know, are the bodies able

584
00:25:57,320 --> 00:25:58,879
Speaker 3: to hold up to that strain of getting up and

585
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:01,040
Speaker 3: down and playing that fast? I don't think they are,

586
00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:03,760
Speaker 3: and so I don't know. I think, to me, it's

587
00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:05,879
Speaker 3: something the NBA needs to really look at, is style

588
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:09,480
Speaker 3: of play modifications so that guys can be healthy enough

589
00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:12,520
Speaker 3: to be out there and play, because guys like Joker

590
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:14,920
Speaker 3: and Shay are not ducking just to duck. They want

591
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:16,960
Speaker 3: to be out there, and they're suffering real injuries, and

592
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 3: everybody is and I don't want us to get numb.

593
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:23,800
Speaker 2: To that isn't the only answer. Fewer games where they

594
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:25,680
Speaker 2: don't have to play three or four times a week

595
00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:28,920
Speaker 2: versus twice a weekend, as you said, because it's costing

596
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:31,879
Speaker 2: teams so much money. Maybe you can go to the

597
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,879
Speaker 2: table with that and say, hey, your guys will be

598
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:38,280
Speaker 2: playing more and you don't have to have eighty two

599
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 2: games sold for each and every franchise.

600
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:43,160
Speaker 3: Well, I feel like there would be a financial tipping

601
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:45,119
Speaker 3: point at some point. I'm not sure we're there yet.

602
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 3: I mean, the NBA is making so many billions, I

603
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:49,480
Speaker 3: guess they have a half a billion to write off

604
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,639
Speaker 3: as an expense here in terms of the injured stars. Right,

605
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:55,920
Speaker 3: but if it continues to worsen and all the trends

606
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:57,800
Speaker 3: are saying injuries are up, you know, over the last

607
00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:59,920
Speaker 3: five to six years compared to where they were previously.

608
00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:02,800
Speaker 3: The other concern that I have, and this is a

609
00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:05,600
Speaker 3: bigger picture one, a lot of these star players who

610
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:09,720
Speaker 3: are getting drafted really high are no longer developing into

611
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,359
Speaker 3: their primes in their late twenties. They're sort of hitting

612
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:14,920
Speaker 3: a wall with recurring injuries in their mid twenties. That

613
00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,359
Speaker 3: makes me nervous because we want a lot of faces

614
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 3: of the NBA. We want a lot of guys vying

615
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:21,720
Speaker 3: for that title. Right. What you're seeing big time you

616
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,080
Speaker 3: know prospects Zion Williamson, John Moran, LaMelo Ball with the

617
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:28,600
Speaker 3: recurring injuries, Trey Young in their mid twenties, and I

618
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:32,200
Speaker 3: even Luca you could say, is physically not really where

619
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,440
Speaker 3: I would have expected, you know, at this stage of

620
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,000
Speaker 3: his career, even though he's having a phenomenal, you know,

621
00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:40,080
Speaker 3: top five, top six MVP type season, you know, he

622
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,119
Speaker 3: doesn't move like somebody who's his age like you would expect, right,

623
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:45,480
Speaker 3: And so I think the wear and tear stuff, the

624
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:47,800
Speaker 3: amount of games, how many games they play before they

625
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 3: get into the NBA, and just their rigorous style of

626
00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,040
Speaker 3: play is really chewing through some of these guys, and

627
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:55,840
Speaker 3: it's potentially going to be shortening careers or at least

628
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,040
Speaker 3: shortening primes. And you know that makes me nervous as

629
00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:01,560
Speaker 3: somebody who loves bass, because you know, I, just like

630
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,400
Speaker 3: everybody else, the draft's coming up, everyone's tanking, like I'm

631
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 3: getting excited for this next crop of guys. And you

632
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:08,879
Speaker 3: look at Darren Peterson and it seems like he's already

633
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:11,600
Speaker 3: load managing in college. Right, It's like, what's going on here?

634
00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:15,440
Speaker 3: So hopefully there's some people who are smarter than me

635
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,640
Speaker 3: and more powerful than me, who are, you know, kind

636
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,639
Speaker 3: of steering the game in a slightly better direction here,

637
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:23,080
Speaker 3: so we can kind of stop this trend.

638
00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:26,040
Speaker 1: To go back to the game last night there spurs Pistons.

639
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:28,119
Speaker 1: I know we brought him up a couple times. But Castle,

640
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,520
Speaker 1: that job that he did on Kate Cunningham, and yes,

641
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:33,000
Speaker 1: Wemby's roaming and he's changing shots and he gets in

642
00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 1: the back of your mind, and that's a big part

643
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:35,399
Speaker 1: of why Kate.

644
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,919
Speaker 4: Only went what missed twenty one of his twenty six.

645
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 1: Shots, But Castle Ben was all over this guy and

646
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 1: Kate Cunningham got into foul trouble too. Maybe that played

647
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:48,000
Speaker 1: a part. But you know Lemby, Yes, defensive Player of

648
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,120
Speaker 1: the Year. If he hits obviously games played, he's gonna

649
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,239
Speaker 1: win it every freaking year. Is Castle the best one

650
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,400
Speaker 1: of the best point defenders already in this league at

651
00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 1: his young age because with the effort he gives, the balance,

652
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,480
Speaker 1: he plays with, the intelligence I think he plays with

653
00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:03,480
Speaker 1: with not reaching and stuff like that. What do you

654
00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 1: think of Castle's not only game last night, but his season,

655
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:06,880
Speaker 1: his progression.

656
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:09,720
Speaker 3: Here. I remember traveling down to the islands and sometimes

657
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:11,840
Speaker 3: they do like the crab fights, Like they put the circle,

658
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:13,640
Speaker 3: you know, on the on the sand, and it's like

659
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,200
Speaker 3: the Crab's going at It's like putting Castle in caseon

660
00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:18,720
Speaker 3: Wallace and the Thunderguards and the spur Guards in that circle,

661
00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:22,880
Speaker 3: and it's like, who's who's coming out alive? Right, It's

662
00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:26,480
Speaker 3: crazy how hard those guys play. Well, here's a good

663
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:30,479
Speaker 3: point on Castle. Though you always hear basketball guys, it's

664
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 3: like cliche. It's like you have to make people work

665
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:34,920
Speaker 3: on the other end, right, So like you could be

666
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:37,280
Speaker 3: this like great defensive player, but like if you're only

667
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,040
Speaker 3: a defensive guy like Chris Donne, you know, it's like

668
00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:41,760
Speaker 3: you kind of get the night off on the other end.

669
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:45,720
Speaker 3: If Chris Dun's out there, Castle is so relentless with

670
00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:47,920
Speaker 3: the basketball as well when he has it, So it's

671
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,480
Speaker 3: like whatever his matchup is, you're feeling him defensively and

672
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,840
Speaker 3: you're exhausted and you're like, Kate, you just want to

673
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 3: shove them to the court, get out of my space.

674
00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:58,200
Speaker 3: I'm sick of you. Right, But then on the other end,

675
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:00,920
Speaker 3: somebody is responsible for try to keep Castle out of

676
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:02,720
Speaker 3: the paint and away from the rim. And he is

677
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,240
Speaker 3: coming downhill like a young Russell Westbrook whenever he gets

678
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,440
Speaker 3: the opportunity right. So he makes you feel it both ways,

679
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:10,720
Speaker 3: and I think that's why he's become such a valuable player.

680
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,360
Speaker 3: He's not perfect, Like the shot isn't necessarily where you

681
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:15,920
Speaker 3: want it. Sometimes the vision stuff, you know, it leaves

682
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:19,200
Speaker 3: a little bit to be desired. But just that jolt

683
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,080
Speaker 3: of electricity that just goes through him forty eight minutes

684
00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:25,160
Speaker 3: a game is such a game changing impact for san Antoni.

685
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:27,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he had one of those you already alluded

686
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:28,960
Speaker 1: to it because they said on the broadcast one of

687
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:30,880
Speaker 1: those five point swings, if you want to call it.

688
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:32,600
Speaker 4: I think it was in the third quarter there.

689
00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 1: Cade was tired of his shit, started body him, threw

690
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:39,160
Speaker 1: him a nice big elbow to try and dislodge Castle

691
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:41,760
Speaker 1: under the rim. He goes up with it, Castle still

692
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:44,560
Speaker 1: blocked it, somehow saved it. They went the other way,

693
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:46,320
Speaker 1: and I think it resulted in a corner three so

694
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,400
Speaker 1: big window there. I just love how poised this guy is.

695
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:51,360
Speaker 1: He's like, he's sort of You're right, Ben, He's like

696
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:52,920
Speaker 1: he's gonna be one of these guys if he's not

697
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,800
Speaker 1: already where like the star player on the other team

698
00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:57,600
Speaker 1: or guard player on the other team is like, oh

699
00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:01,360
Speaker 1: god damn it, like not not here tonight. It's gonna

700
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:03,920
Speaker 1: be like forty minutes of hell on both ends. And

701
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 1: then Kessel is paired with Wemby, so it allows him

702
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:09,680
Speaker 1: to be super aggressive out there when you know you

703
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,400
Speaker 1: got that guy roaming behind you and even attacking because

704
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 1: he's always like, well, worst case scenario, just chuck it

705
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,040
Speaker 1: up by the rim and that guy will go slam

706
00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:19,600
Speaker 1: it home on the lup. But like these two they're

707
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:21,280
Speaker 1: gonna be a I mean, they're a problem already. Like

708
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:24,880
Speaker 1: you said, you have him as a potential championship contender.

709
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:26,600
Speaker 4: This year level and moving forward.

710
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:26,880
Speaker 3: Yeah.

711
00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's funny because I feel like we talk about

712
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 5: fit on the offensive end pretty much exclusively, Like how

713
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:35,440
Speaker 5: can you play and pick and roll with Victor Wembenyaman

714
00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:38,320
Speaker 5: actually is a nice fit, Like Castle's crossover is sickrit Yeah,

715
00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:41,360
Speaker 5: like he's so quick getting to it. Russell Westbrook is

716
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:45,320
Speaker 5: a good comparison because it's all speed and getting downhill

717
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:48,600
Speaker 5: which you know opens everything up. But Wemby plays outside,

718
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 5: but the fit on the defensive end is perfect as well.

719
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,360
Speaker 5: The way he's able to pressure high up on the ball,

720
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,560
Speaker 5: move his feet with basically whoever. Now he's quicker than

721
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:58,560
Speaker 5: Kate is for sure, but he's also strong enough to

722
00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:00,920
Speaker 5: take Caid's bumps, which is here huge. And then when

723
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,160
Speaker 5: you know that a guy's taking away the entire lane inside,

724
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:06,560
Speaker 5: you're able to play with some risk out there.

725
00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:08,160
Speaker 3: So I don't know.

726
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:10,800
Speaker 5: I thought maybe he won a Rookie of the Year

727
00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:12,640
Speaker 5: last year because it's kind of a down draft, But

728
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:14,920
Speaker 5: this guy looks like a multi time All Star and

729
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:16,960
Speaker 5: part of it is playing with Wemby. But guess what,

730
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:19,400
Speaker 5: he smart moved by the Spurs drafting him to play

731
00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:20,560
Speaker 5: with Wemby. He's awesome.

732
00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:21,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.

733
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,880
Speaker 1: Let's get to some big picture questions here for you, Ben,

734
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:27,360
Speaker 1: talk to Pistons here with that game last night. Is

735
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,320
Speaker 1: there a team you have the most faith in in

736
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:32,960
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference? Maybe it's the Piston still or is

737
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,520
Speaker 1: there another team in terms of like ranking the best

738
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:36,880
Speaker 1: of the best there that you think could go all

739
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:37,160
Speaker 1: the way?

740
00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:39,800
Speaker 3: I'm not sure faith is the word I would use

741
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 3: for anybody at the Eastern Conference. You know, I am

742
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:45,320
Speaker 3: a Western Conference leaders. Hey, coming off that Boston game

743
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,920
Speaker 3: in LA though, I'll tell you what, those guys play hard.

744
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:51,880
Speaker 3: Those guys play together. Trey's point on defensive fit not

745
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:56,440
Speaker 3: getting talked about is excellent. Boston has some great defensive pieces,

746
00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:58,640
Speaker 3: some question marks coming into the season, but man, do

747
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:02,400
Speaker 3: they play together defense? And then you know, Payton Pritchard

748
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:05,400
Speaker 3: just can't miss. You know, whatever rule is available for me,

749
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,680
Speaker 3: he's going to step in. Derek White, I thought he

750
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:09,120
Speaker 3: should have been an All Star. I thought he was

751
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,720
Speaker 3: a snub based on his impact both ends of the

752
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:14,960
Speaker 3: court and the fact that their track record in the

753
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,680
Speaker 3: playoffs is just phenomenally. It made the playoffs like seventeen

754
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 3: to the last eighteen seasons, all these deep Eastern Conference

755
00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:23,160
Speaker 3: finals runs. I wonder if in the back of our minds,

756
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:25,400
Speaker 3: we should just be thinking, like, yeah, I mean, Tatum's

757
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 3: been out, but like, is this still just their conference? Right?

758
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:28,960
Speaker 5: They do?

759
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:33,040
Speaker 3: They have enough experience in those moments, enough collective basketball IQ,

760
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:38,280
Speaker 3: enough organizational stability, the right culture, the right poison big moments,

761
00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 3: the right home court advantage at TD Garden. Like I

762
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:43,360
Speaker 3: don't know I had Boston's probably the team that I

763
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:45,400
Speaker 3: would want to play the least of all these teams

764
00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 3: in a playoff series, especially if they're getting Tatum back.

765
00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 3: So I don't know if that qualifies as faith necessarily,

766
00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:53,719
Speaker 3: because that's a big if in terms of when does

767
00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:55,640
Speaker 3: he come back, what does he look like? But I'll

768
00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:58,480
Speaker 3: tell you what his body language during that Lakers game.

769
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,240
Speaker 3: And granted they're beating the Lakers by twenty on pat

770
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:03,680
Speaker 3: Riley a statue Knight, so they're feeling pretty good there

771
00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:08,360
Speaker 3: the Celtics are. But Tatum looked real happy, very engaged,

772
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,200
Speaker 3: very excited. I mean he looked not like a guy

773
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 3: who was just trying to buy time and get through

774
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:16,359
Speaker 3: a long rebuild or a long rehab. I should say,

775
00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:18,120
Speaker 3: he looked like a guy who was gearing up.

776
00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:23,200
Speaker 1: Which team do you think improved the most at the

777
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:25,680
Speaker 1: NBA trade deadline? Is it another team in the Eastern

778
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:28,279
Speaker 1: Conference in the Cavaliers. There's no squad of overlooking who

779
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:28,760
Speaker 1: do you think.

780
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:31,520
Speaker 3: Oh, you're a pro, you know how to teamy tell

781
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,400
Speaker 3: me the answer. Yeah, No, it was Cleveland. I mean

782
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:38,480
Speaker 3: they were kind of stuck, you know, Garland and Mobley.

783
00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,520
Speaker 3: To me, that was their young core, and those guys

784
00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:44,560
Speaker 3: have not developed in the way that I thought they would. Right,

785
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:46,840
Speaker 3: you make the Mitchell trade and you're really kind of

786
00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:49,320
Speaker 3: hitting fast forward. If you're Cleveland, you're feeling like everything's

787
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,120
Speaker 3: gonna come together. You have this dream season last year,

788
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,400
Speaker 3: but those two guys have just not gotten better enough. Right.

789
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:58,840
Speaker 3: Moldley's good, but he's not great. Garland was good, but

790
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 3: he was a liability a lot of situations, including last

791
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:04,280
Speaker 3: year's playoffs. I thought it was a savvy trade because

792
00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:06,120
Speaker 3: you don't want to you know, the definition of insaying

793
00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:08,040
Speaker 3: any doing the same thing over and over again. I

794
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 3: think this exact same thing would have happened if they

795
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,200
Speaker 3: tried to run an injured Garland into the playoffs this year.

796
00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:14,040
Speaker 3: They would have just probably gone down in round two

797
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:17,040
Speaker 3: and everybody would have been, you know, screaming, what's going on?

798
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:19,400
Speaker 3: What's wrong with us? What happened to our amazing sixty

799
00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,640
Speaker 3: plus win season? Right, Areden not a perfect option, but

800
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:26,000
Speaker 3: Manny's still got some good basketball in him. There's a

801
00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:29,200
Speaker 3: chance they could reach the finals. The big takeaway from

802
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 3: the trade deadline, though, and hopefully people understand this. Now

803
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:34,680
Speaker 3: you're asking who improved the most. You know, the trade

804
00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,359
Speaker 3: deadline used to be about buyers and sellers in terms

805
00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:40,160
Speaker 3: of the good teams being buyers, bad teams being sellers.

806
00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:42,920
Speaker 3: That's how it's worked, like our entire lives these last

807
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 3: couple of years. Because of the Second Apron it's not

808
00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:48,440
Speaker 3: about good teams and bad teams anymore. It's about expensive

809
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:51,720
Speaker 3: rosters and less expensive rosters. And almost all the trades

810
00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:55,440
Speaker 3: that happened were financially motivated first and foremost, as opposed

811
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:58,239
Speaker 3: to gearing up for the playoffs. That's a little bit frustrating.

812
00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 3: I like the iod trade for Minnesota. I definitely think

813
00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:03,239
Speaker 3: they got better. I like the Utah trade for Jared

814
00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:05,520
Speaker 3: Jackson Junior, but they didn't get better because they immediately

815
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 3: shut um down with the surgery and got themselves fine

816
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:11,880
Speaker 3: for tanking. Right, So, I think some of the biggest

817
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:13,919
Speaker 3: trades that were happening at the deadline that we won't

818
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,840
Speaker 3: really see the fruits until next season. And that's different

819
00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:19,279
Speaker 3: because the tradeline deadline used to always be about let's

820
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:21,880
Speaker 3: sprint to these finals. But it's been a major shift

821
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:23,640
Speaker 3: here in the Second Apron era for the NBA.

822
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:27,160
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, literally, the Pacers, Wizards, and Jazz got the

823
00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:30,080
Speaker 5: best players. Yeah, at the deadline, which is just weird

824
00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:33,120
Speaker 5: to see things that completely flipped like the summer. Now,

825
00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:35,520
Speaker 5: free agency isn't that big of a deal. It happens

826
00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:38,840
Speaker 5: at the trade deadline, and that's what those losing teams

827
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:41,480
Speaker 5: were trying to make their moves for. We're talking about

828
00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:44,320
Speaker 5: faith in the Eastern Conference. How do you square it?

829
00:36:44,719 --> 00:36:47,320
Speaker 5: The Calves deciding that the way to get over the

830
00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,320
Speaker 5: hump in the playoffs is James Harden. That is a

831
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 5: little odd, right, Like, I mean, he's kind of our

832
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:55,640
Speaker 5: biggest playoff failure of the past fifteen years.

833
00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:59,760
Speaker 3: He's definitely up the Yeah, he's definitely notorious. The funniest

834
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:01,680
Speaker 3: thing about this, though, is that, you know, I kind

835
00:37:01,719 --> 00:37:03,960
Speaker 3: of look back and I've been at James Harden defender

836
00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:06,080
Speaker 3: at times because I do feel like people pile on

837
00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:08,800
Speaker 3: you can't deny some of the playoff shortcomings. I'm not

838
00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:10,359
Speaker 3: trying to do that. I just say, hey, let's give

839
00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:12,279
Speaker 3: him credit for when he does play well. But one

840
00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:14,440
Speaker 3: of the interesting trends of his career is he's been

841
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:17,920
Speaker 3: paired a lot with guys who haven't been able to

842
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:19,800
Speaker 3: get it done in the biggest moments when he was

843
00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:22,800
Speaker 3: their teammates. Right, So you go to Brooklyn, Irie gets injured,

844
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,160
Speaker 3: You're back in Houston, Chris Paul gets injured, he goes

845
00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:28,400
Speaker 3: to Philly. Joel Embiid was honestly worse than hard It

846
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:30,840
Speaker 3: was in the playoff moments. You go to the Clippers,

847
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:33,439
Speaker 3: why had some no shows and some injuries, and Paul

848
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:37,600
Speaker 3: George wasn't necessarily up to snuff, you know, alongside James Harden.

849
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:41,120
Speaker 3: And now he goes to Cleveland where Donovan Mitchell has

850
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:43,480
Speaker 3: never made the conference finals, right, And so like no

851
00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:46,839
Speaker 3: matter where hearted goes, he's always paired with another star

852
00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:50,319
Speaker 3: who also has playoff questions, and so one of them

853
00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:51,839
Speaker 3: is going to be the scapegoat. I think it's going

854
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:53,400
Speaker 3: to be one of these things where they're both pointing

855
00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:55,160
Speaker 3: at each other by the time it's over. No, it's

856
00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:57,640
Speaker 3: Mitchell's fault. No, it's Harden's fault. But I think there

857
00:37:57,680 --> 00:37:59,680
Speaker 3: could be some blame to go around there with that group,

858
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:03,600
Speaker 3: because ultimately you're seeing so many of these big wings

859
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:05,719
Speaker 3: and you know, big point forwards kind of driving this

860
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:10,080
Speaker 3: playoff basketball, the interchangeability aspect, the versatility aspect, and they're

861
00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:12,880
Speaker 3: just built differently right, Like they've got guards, they've got bigs,

862
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:16,120
Speaker 3: they don't really have that wing position handled out a

863
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:18,040
Speaker 3: high level. It's going to make for some really you know,

864
00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:22,000
Speaker 3: challenging matchup issues for that team. I like to fit though,

865
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:24,840
Speaker 3: Like I definitely think they got better conference finals finals.

866
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:27,640
Speaker 3: It's not impossible for that Cleveland team. But to me,

867
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:30,319
Speaker 3: it does kind of feel like a taking time bomb,

868
00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:31,960
Speaker 3: and not just because James is there.

869
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:35,960
Speaker 1: By the way, when we were talking about wemb you

870
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,719
Speaker 1: said that was your preseason pick to win MVP. So,

871
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:41,920
Speaker 1: like us, you make a lot of preseason predictions. Was

872
00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:46,839
Speaker 1: there a team you just were completely wrong about? From

873
00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:48,360
Speaker 1: one side of the other you thought we're going to

874
00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:50,960
Speaker 1: be amazing and have failed, or obviously you thought we're

875
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:52,520
Speaker 1: gonna stink and have sort of impressed it.

876
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:56,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean obvious kind of on both sides. But Orlando,

877
00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:58,560
Speaker 3: you know, I was pretty high on after the Bain move,

878
00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:03,719
Speaker 3: and boy Pallo is probably the number one recipient of

879
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:07,320
Speaker 3: slander across basketball Twitter this year. Possibly not where you

880
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:09,520
Speaker 3: want to be, especially when you're a former number one pick.

881
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,480
Speaker 3: You know, it's still pretty young, so I didn't necessarily

882
00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:15,000
Speaker 3: see all that coming. And I'm a really big Fronz guy,

883
00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:17,000
Speaker 3: and it just doesn't feel like, you know, maybe we've

884
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:19,560
Speaker 3: gotten peak Franz either. So it's not all Palo's fault,

885
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:22,160
Speaker 3: and I do feel like Pallo takes most of the

886
00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:24,400
Speaker 3: heat for that group. I thought they were going to

887
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:26,839
Speaker 3: be really good though, and you know, like fifty plus

888
00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:29,520
Speaker 3: wins and sailing and just really hasn't been the case.

889
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:32,040
Speaker 3: The other one, though, is I was all in on Okay,

890
00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:34,439
Speaker 3: see seventy plus wins. I did a big story about

891
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:36,520
Speaker 3: it when they were twenty four and one. I was,

892
00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:39,320
Speaker 3: you know, going through history trying to compare them defensively

893
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,319
Speaker 3: to all these other teams. And you know, of course,

894
00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:44,719
Speaker 3: you can't always predict the injury bug. And maybe I

895
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:46,960
Speaker 3: should have because they had such a long and grueling

896
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,920
Speaker 3: playoffs last year, and they took last regular season really

897
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,120
Speaker 3: seriously too. You know, there wasn't a lot of nights

898
00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:54,480
Speaker 3: off for them last year. But it feels like it's

899
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:57,440
Speaker 3: all really caught up with them. And doesn't that seventy

900
00:39:57,600 --> 00:39:59,719
Speaker 3: seventy four win talk feel like an awful long time

901
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,560
Speaker 3: ago at this point, even though we're we're still in February.

902
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:05,800
Speaker 3: But man, I was pumping that thing as recently as November,

903
00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:08,000
Speaker 3: and boy it went poof pretty quick.

904
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:13,360
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite solution ben to fixing tanking,

905
00:40:13,640 --> 00:40:16,080
Speaker 1: which has been obviously you know, in the media here

906
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:17,719
Speaker 1: over the last couple of weeks, a whole lot of

907
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:19,520
Speaker 1: tanking talk, and everybody's got an idea.

908
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:20,440
Speaker 3: Do you have one?

909
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:22,799
Speaker 1: We're like, yeah, let's try that, or that, or even

910
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:24,400
Speaker 1: a drastic one. We were like, you know what, that's

911
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:25,520
Speaker 1: so crazy, let's give it a go.

912
00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:29,080
Speaker 3: Well, I love the Jay Skeetz take on tanking. The

913
00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:31,279
Speaker 3: best fixed for tanking is to never talk about it.

914
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:37,040
Speaker 3: Revolutionary podcasting work. And I can't believe you're trying to

915
00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:39,840
Speaker 3: run back the tanking talk gates. You're violating your own principle.

916
00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:42,200
Speaker 4: I think we're overreacting, I do.

917
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:45,480
Speaker 3: But it was a great take. Look, I think a

918
00:40:45,520 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 3: lot of the tanking stuff is being driven by the

919
00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:51,200
Speaker 3: gambling implications, right, Like everyone's like, what's changed last year

920
00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:53,439
Speaker 3: to this year? Like the Raptors shut down Scottie Barnes

921
00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:55,680
Speaker 3: laden games, but now Utah is getting fined for doing

922
00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:58,560
Speaker 3: the same thing. Well, what happened was n C Phillips

923
00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:01,920
Speaker 3: and Terry Rogier got arrested. That's what happened, right. I mean,

924
00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:05,120
Speaker 3: you cannot play games late in the season with lineups,

925
00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:07,960
Speaker 3: are guys going to be in or out with not

926
00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:11,440
Speaker 3: adhering to the NBA's injury like reporting protocols, because it

927
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:15,040
Speaker 3: just creates too much opportunity for exposure for bad actors

928
00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:17,279
Speaker 3: to get their hands on information, and then all of

929
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:20,520
Speaker 3: a sudden, the NBA games are not a fair gambling

930
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,120
Speaker 3: exercise for everybody who's out there. They have to have

931
00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:26,680
Speaker 3: the appearance of propriety here so that the entire business

932
00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:29,680
Speaker 3: machine of sports gambling goes along. And so I think

933
00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:31,919
Speaker 3: that's a big factor in terms of why Adam Silver

934
00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:34,520
Speaker 3: felt the need to kind of step in here, like

935
00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:38,320
Speaker 3: you can't have this unusual, erratic stuff with guys in

936
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:41,240
Speaker 3: and out of lineups, because you know, it just creates

937
00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:44,680
Speaker 3: a lot of problems long term. In terms of solutions

938
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:47,920
Speaker 3: for tanking, I mean, I've read them all. I think

939
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:50,279
Speaker 3: flattening the lottery odds actually kind of shot themselves in

940
00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:52,440
Speaker 3: the foot a little bit. I would give better odds

941
00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:55,400
Speaker 3: to the teams who are really bad, and then I

942
00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:58,640
Speaker 3: would also consider that rule they're talking about not allowing

943
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:00,879
Speaker 3: a team to pick in the top four multiple years

944
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:03,120
Speaker 3: in a row. I think they're really trying to go

945
00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:05,160
Speaker 3: hard for parody, and I don't love that either. I

946
00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:08,720
Speaker 3: love dynasties, you know, that's my favorite aspect of the NBA.

947
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:11,520
Speaker 3: But they're going down this parody route very hard, and

948
00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:13,600
Speaker 3: so it does kind of feel like, well, you know,

949
00:42:13,719 --> 00:42:16,400
Speaker 3: San Antonio, do they even really need Harper to be

950
00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:20,440
Speaker 3: a championship contender? Know, with somebody like Utah or Washington,

951
00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:22,640
Speaker 3: use Harper a little bit more and we'd flatten the

952
00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:25,439
Speaker 3: talent out and everybody would benefit. I think that there's

953
00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:28,880
Speaker 3: an argument there, So I think those would probably be

954
00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:33,439
Speaker 3: my preferred solutions. But people get way way too deep

955
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:35,479
Speaker 3: into this, you know, and there's so much talk about

956
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:37,279
Speaker 3: the ten worst teams in the league. You got a

957
00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:40,319
Speaker 3: championship race right now with ten great teams who all

958
00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:43,560
Speaker 3: have a shot to some degree, and unfortunately it's a

959
00:42:43,640 --> 00:42:47,000
Speaker 3: huge distraction. So I kind of wonder, should Adam Silver

960
00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:49,200
Speaker 3: take your advice here and just talk about it less?

961
00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:53,160
Speaker 3: You know, you know, it's just because he put a

962
00:42:53,239 --> 00:42:55,839
Speaker 3: huge microscope on it for all start weekend, it's all

963
00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:58,040
Speaker 3: anybody talked about. It's like, wait a minute, this is

964
00:42:58,080 --> 00:42:59,800
Speaker 3: what we've got going. It just looks bad for the

965
00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:00,719
Speaker 3: I don't know.

966
00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:03,920
Speaker 5: Maybe they should keep the schedule open for like the

967
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:05,800
Speaker 5: last third of the season so we can just have,

968
00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:07,600
Speaker 5: like the Grizzlies and the Kings, you have to play

969
00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:10,400
Speaker 5: each other every single night. Somebody's gonna win, and if

970
00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:11,920
Speaker 5: you care about those teams, you can watch it. But

971
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,479
Speaker 5: the rest of us, we'll seek to our twenty teams

972
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:15,920
Speaker 5: that are gonna make the postseason.

973
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:16,120
Speaker 3: Here.

974
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:19,839
Speaker 5: Adam Silver's changed a lot of things ben in his time,

975
00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:24,319
Speaker 5: from the flattening of the lottery odds to the play

976
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:27,600
Speaker 5: in tournament. But one thing that you saw firsthand was

977
00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:31,720
Speaker 5: NBA coaches started wearing basically warm ups during the bubble

978
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:35,359
Speaker 5: and have continued to wear warm ups. Pat Riley said

979
00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:37,000
Speaker 5: he thinks people should go back to suits.

980
00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:41,760
Speaker 3: Do you agree, Well, so, I don't get why media

981
00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:45,040
Speaker 3: guys wear suits if they're not on television to games,

982
00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:47,600
Speaker 3: if the coaches are wearing sweatsuits.

983
00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:48,560
Speaker 5: Right, So, great question.

984
00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:51,879
Speaker 3: I've been a quarter zip guy basically my whole run.

985
00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:53,920
Speaker 3: You know, I used to wear you know, suits for

986
00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:56,000
Speaker 3: like the first game of the year, maybe suits at

987
00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:58,560
Speaker 3: the finals, but I know the quarter zip tread really

988
00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:01,319
Speaker 3: took off on TikTok A couple ago. Those guys owe

989
00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:04,000
Speaker 3: me a royalty. Okay, I've been doing quarter zips way

990
00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:06,239
Speaker 3: before they thought it was cool. And actually I was

991
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:07,839
Speaker 3: doing quarter zips when it wasn't cool.

992
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:09,600
Speaker 2: Rights, Oh yeah, I remember that.

993
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:13,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, even if it has become cool. So keep it together,

994
00:44:13,719 --> 00:44:14,879
Speaker 3: trick now.

995
00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:17,960
Speaker 5: No, you're looking good at your quarters up. I'm dolliver

996
00:44:18,080 --> 00:44:19,520
Speaker 5: inspired to that as well.

997
00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:23,160
Speaker 3: You look you look wonderful. So yeah, I think the

998
00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:25,319
Speaker 3: coaches could step it up. I love pat Riley's old

999
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:28,759
Speaker 3: school philosophy, and I agree with him that often, you know,

1000
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:31,759
Speaker 3: leaders look great, you know, I think that's part of

1001
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:35,040
Speaker 3: the deal. You want to command respect, and you know,

1002
00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:37,560
Speaker 3: sometimes you see these coaches come out now pregame too

1003
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:40,040
Speaker 3: before they even get into the official group, and they're

1004
00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:43,520
Speaker 3: wearing like super baggy sweatsuits. I mean, they could just

1005
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:45,680
Speaker 3: be like a guy, you know, in the three hundred level.

1006
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:48,480
Speaker 3: And I'm looking around saying, it's only thirty of these jobs.

1007
00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:50,920
Speaker 3: Is this really what it's come to? But I know

1008
00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:52,880
Speaker 3: they they crunch a lot of tape, you know, not

1009
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:55,000
Speaker 3: a lot of sleep, so they probably feel good just

1010
00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:57,480
Speaker 3: being in the sweatsuits all day long. But I think

1011
00:44:57,520 --> 00:44:58,960
Speaker 3: it would be better for the league if they all

1012
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:01,120
Speaker 3: go back to suits, don't you one hundred percent?

1013
00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:03,520
Speaker 5: It's hard to imagine like a Mark daytonault statue of

1014
00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:06,960
Speaker 5: him squinting wearing his nipped up thunder. You know, pat

1015
00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:10,120
Speaker 5: Riley looks very cool with his in his statue, So

1016
00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:11,760
Speaker 5: they got to change it all for sure.

1017
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:13,680
Speaker 3: I think about it. I mean, if you're an NBA coach,

1018
00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:16,279
Speaker 3: you're getting like a budget for your clothing, right, it's

1019
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:19,320
Speaker 3: probably a pretty healthy budget. Why not use it? You know?

1020
00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:21,640
Speaker 3: That feels like I mean, if you guys got budgets,

1021
00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:23,359
Speaker 3: you know, so you could wear a different suit every

1022
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:24,920
Speaker 3: single day. On the show, you're telling me you're not

1023
00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:28,719
Speaker 3: down at some you know, Habitashery downtown Atlanta trying to

1024
00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:28,960
Speaker 3: get it.

1025
00:45:29,040 --> 00:45:29,160
Speaker 5: You know.

1026
00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:33,239
Speaker 3: Look, I mean you're definitely there, right, So it just

1027
00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:35,160
Speaker 3: feels like a wasted opportunity all around.

1028
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:39,759
Speaker 1: Look, we're calling a G League game tonight. We haven't

1029
00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:43,320
Speaker 1: talked amongst ourselves yet, but all courters, how suited and booted?

1030
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:44,080
Speaker 4: Are we getting to sight?

1031
00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:44,480
Speaker 3: Or yeah?

1032
00:45:45,719 --> 00:45:49,759
Speaker 4: Yeah, great? Look would be a great.

1033
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:49,920
Speaker 3: Look.

1034
00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:52,799
Speaker 2: We're talking just about head coaches, right, because I don't

1035
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:55,880
Speaker 2: think the assistant coaches are getting a budget. I'm just

1036
00:45:56,080 --> 00:46:00,640
Speaker 2: I'm but, but all coaches are doing different form of matching.

1037
00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:04,600
Speaker 2: The San Antonio Spurs all have Air Jordan ones on

1038
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:09,200
Speaker 2: their feet from Mitch Johnson, every single one, So maybe

1039
00:46:09,239 --> 00:46:09,560
Speaker 2: there's a.

1040
00:46:09,560 --> 00:46:12,440
Speaker 3: Bunch of Mitch. You like that well. I like the

1041
00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:14,840
Speaker 3: idea of the unity from the coaching staff, you know.

1042
00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:16,960
Speaker 3: I can also see, like, hey, the head coach does

1043
00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:19,080
Speaker 3: have to dress up, everybody else kind of looks the same.

1044
00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:21,560
Speaker 3: The Lakers actually do something similar. I noticed the Celtics

1045
00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:23,000
Speaker 3: did something similar, so I don't know if they were

1046
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:25,560
Speaker 3: all matching sneakers as well, but it was, you know,

1047
00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:28,080
Speaker 3: a very uniform look. I liked it togetherness. You know,

1048
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:30,959
Speaker 3: it sets a good tone. It also kind of helps

1049
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:33,319
Speaker 3: the assistant coaches stay in the background if you're watching

1050
00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:35,319
Speaker 3: on TV, right, because it's just sort of like one

1051
00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:39,160
Speaker 3: one like monochromatic look there from the bench. But think

1052
00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:41,360
Speaker 3: about how many times they cut to the solo shots

1053
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:44,000
Speaker 3: of the head coach during a game, arguing a review call,

1054
00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:47,320
Speaker 3: talking to the point guard, yelling out defense of coverages.

1055
00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:49,319
Speaker 3: You don't want them in that, you know, pat Riley

1056
00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:50,720
Speaker 3: ARMANI for those moments.

1057
00:46:51,239 --> 00:46:53,680
Speaker 1: Let's do Yeah, even like the more heated they get,

1058
00:46:53,760 --> 00:46:55,640
Speaker 1: they're getting pissed with the officials. Like, you know, a

1059
00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:57,920
Speaker 1: tie can get on loose in a jacket can come

1060
00:46:57,960 --> 00:46:59,760
Speaker 1: off like what what can you do with the quarters

1061
00:47:00,280 --> 00:47:01,560
Speaker 1: just a little.

1062
00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:06,200
Speaker 3: Bit more because you'll look super awkward.

1063
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:09,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, it doesn't come off easy, that's for sure.

1064
00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:12,480
Speaker 5: I also love the idea of coaches go back to suits,

1065
00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:15,040
Speaker 5: but it's only the head coach. Say it's Kenny Atkinson,

1066
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:16,560
Speaker 5: he gets tossed from the game, He's got to hand

1067
00:47:16,600 --> 00:47:19,479
Speaker 5: his jacket down. Who steps up for the last quarter

1068
00:47:19,600 --> 00:47:20,400
Speaker 5: of the game or whatever.

1069
00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:23,759
Speaker 1: That's the quarters zip are like this casual attire that

1070
00:47:23,840 --> 00:47:25,560
Speaker 1: they wear. It's like gotta be one or the other,

1071
00:47:25,719 --> 00:47:28,320
Speaker 1: is my point. I think it's like either go suits

1072
00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:30,359
Speaker 1: like pat Riley saying, go back to that the very

1073
00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:33,359
Speaker 1: professional looking suit, or go all the way the other

1074
00:47:33,440 --> 00:47:36,960
Speaker 1: way like a baseball manager and like Bickerstaff has to

1075
00:47:37,040 --> 00:47:39,400
Speaker 1: be in a jersey like his team, like a baseball

1076
00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:40,080
Speaker 1: manager in the dungko.

1077
00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:42,080
Speaker 4: Do you have to wear the team outfit?

1078
00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:42,440
Speaker 3: Don't you?

1079
00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:46,040
Speaker 2: You can't wearing jackets in general, they cover their.

1080
00:47:46,440 --> 00:47:48,719
Speaker 4: But they're wearing a jersey uniforms and pants.

1081
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:51,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you got you gotta have your cleats on

1082
00:47:51,520 --> 00:47:54,000
Speaker 2: so you can go kick some dirt over the empire.

1083
00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:56,799
Speaker 1: The NBA coaches then in full outfit with all these

1084
00:47:56,840 --> 00:47:59,200
Speaker 1: city edition jerseys. Bet, that's the only other option we

1085
00:47:59,239 --> 00:47:59,480
Speaker 1: can do.

1086
00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:04,640
Speaker 3: It sounds great. I mean, I don't know. I'm trying

1087
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:06,880
Speaker 3: to think, like, is there anybody else? Like? How far

1088
00:48:06,960 --> 00:48:09,840
Speaker 3: do we take it? Do you want staff member? There's trainers,

1089
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:13,680
Speaker 3: there's security guards. I mean, how coordinated and how deep

1090
00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:16,600
Speaker 3: down the bench should the outfit looks be going if

1091
00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:18,520
Speaker 3: they're really trying to maximize interest.

1092
00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:21,120
Speaker 1: Here, Hey, concession stance. I want everybody on the same

1093
00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:23,759
Speaker 1: outfit for sure. One other thing before we let it go,

1094
00:48:23,880 --> 00:48:25,440
Speaker 1: because this is sort of like one of your beats,

1095
00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:27,759
Speaker 1: and that is the Olympics, as I addressed, you've been

1096
00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:30,480
Speaker 1: to a couple of them. Kevin Durant yesterday said he

1097
00:48:30,520 --> 00:48:33,520
Speaker 1: plans to play in the twenty twenty eight Olympics in

1098
00:48:33,640 --> 00:48:36,760
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. Twenty eight, one of those years. That sounds

1099
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:39,120
Speaker 1: like forty years away to me still, but two years

1100
00:48:39,160 --> 00:48:42,080
Speaker 1: it'll be here. What was your reaction to Katie? He

1101
00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:44,000
Speaker 1: had a lot more to say too. I'm sure you

1102
00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:47,160
Speaker 1: read that, Ben, but his thoughts on wanting to play again.

1103
00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:48,080
Speaker 1: Are you surprised at all?

1104
00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:52,080
Speaker 3: Well, you know, watching him in the Olympics, he saved

1105
00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:54,080
Speaker 3: the team in Tokyo and didn't really get as much

1106
00:48:54,160 --> 00:48:56,680
Speaker 3: credit for that because it wasn't as talked about. There

1107
00:48:56,760 --> 00:48:58,320
Speaker 3: was no fans, and it was sort of like a

1108
00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:01,920
Speaker 3: bubble Olympics. But man, was he good during that Tokyo run.

1109
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:04,279
Speaker 3: His commitment to that program has been incredible for a

1110
00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:06,839
Speaker 3: really long time. I saw that he said he wanted

1111
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:09,000
Speaker 3: to earn the spot and he wanted to still be

1112
00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:11,360
Speaker 3: playing at a high level. I think he still is,

1113
00:49:11,520 --> 00:49:14,400
Speaker 3: you know, individually this year, Houston's been a little disappointing,

1114
00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:17,120
Speaker 3: but he's still definitely been a high, high level player.

1115
00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:19,600
Speaker 3: An easy All Star selection, so I think that he

1116
00:49:19,640 --> 00:49:21,960
Speaker 3: has a really good case just as a pure basketball

1117
00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:24,239
Speaker 3: player to make it. But I also feel like if

1118
00:49:24,239 --> 00:49:27,359
Speaker 3: anybody was going to be deserving of the honorary old

1119
00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:29,880
Speaker 3: guy gets a spot on the roster, it's Kevin Durant

1120
00:49:29,920 --> 00:49:32,400
Speaker 3: based on what he's done. And you look at some

1121
00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:34,239
Speaker 3: of these young players who may or may not want

1122
00:49:34,239 --> 00:49:36,239
Speaker 3: to play on USA Basketball, they had a problem, you know,

1123
00:49:36,360 --> 00:49:38,839
Speaker 3: kind of you know, attracting players there for a while

1124
00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:41,960
Speaker 3: I think, you know, having him there as the standard

1125
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:43,800
Speaker 3: of a guy who was fully committed as what it

1126
00:49:43,880 --> 00:49:46,640
Speaker 3: could be, you know, as cool of an experience as

1127
00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:49,040
Speaker 3: it can be to have these guys involved. You know,

1128
00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:51,160
Speaker 3: you could be like Kevin Durant. Is the message to

1129
00:49:51,200 --> 00:49:53,359
Speaker 3: somebody like Cooper Flagg, you know, come and represent your

1130
00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:56,239
Speaker 3: country four or five, six times, you know, because we

1131
00:49:56,320 --> 00:49:58,200
Speaker 3: could use you. I think it's a great message. So

1132
00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:00,560
Speaker 3: it would be saving him the spot no matter what.

1133
00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:02,400
Speaker 3: You know, you're not going to win or lose the

1134
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:05,200
Speaker 3: gold medal based on if Kevin Durant's on the roster

1135
00:50:05,719 --> 00:50:07,680
Speaker 3: and you know, nobody's earned it more than he has.

1136
00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:09,080
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's exactly right.

1137
00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:12,040
Speaker 5: He's our best Olympic player ever, probably the best Olympic

1138
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:15,600
Speaker 5: basketball player period. And we'll fit on any team. So

1139
00:50:16,760 --> 00:50:19,000
Speaker 5: assuming he's still good at forty, which I assume he

1140
00:50:19,080 --> 00:50:22,719
Speaker 5: will be, sign him up. But I do love the

1141
00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:24,800
Speaker 5: two things this guy loves are it's playing basketball and

1142
00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:27,120
Speaker 5: being on Twitter. And he's not on Twitter very much

1143
00:50:27,200 --> 00:50:30,600
Speaker 5: right now, but he is playing basketball, and I hope

1144
00:50:30,640 --> 00:50:32,680
Speaker 5: he's there for Team US. I wonder if he would

1145
00:50:32,680 --> 00:50:34,680
Speaker 5: be like their flag bearer. I know Lebron was the

1146
00:50:34,719 --> 00:50:37,200
Speaker 5: guy in Paris. You would think it would be a

1147
00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:40,920
Speaker 5: big name here in La so I wonder.

1148
00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:43,920
Speaker 3: It's a real dichotomy trade. It's like, you know, the

1149
00:50:44,239 --> 00:50:48,080
Speaker 3: Twitter version hasn't been super cool lately. The USA Basketball

1150
00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:50,960
Speaker 3: version is the coolest version of Kevin Durant by far,

1151
00:50:51,080 --> 00:50:53,279
Speaker 3: and it's going to get left out of all the retrospectives,

1152
00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:53,800
Speaker 3: but it should.

1153
00:50:55,080 --> 00:50:58,280
Speaker 1: I thought this was perfectly timed here by Kevin Durant,

1154
00:50:58,400 --> 00:51:01,000
Speaker 1: with all of the twitter burn accounts and all the

1155
00:51:01,080 --> 00:51:02,680
Speaker 1: talk around that for him to come out and like,

1156
00:51:02,800 --> 00:51:05,680
Speaker 1: kin't I'll suddenly start talking about the twenty twenty eight

1157
00:51:05,719 --> 00:51:08,360
Speaker 1: Olympics and like, I didn't say I wasn't playing, Lebron's

1158
00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:10,480
Speaker 1: not playing, Curry is probably not playing. I didn't say

1159
00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:12,279
Speaker 1: I wasn't. I get a lot more to saying we

1160
00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:14,759
Speaker 1: can get into that later this week and firing.

1161
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:17,160
Speaker 2: All of the boardrooms employees, all those employees.

1162
00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:19,799
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, oh yes, that's.

1163
00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:20,640
Speaker 2: Kind of getting swept under the.

1164
00:51:20,640 --> 00:51:22,719
Speaker 1: Road before we let you go, Ben, any new uh

1165
00:51:23,520 --> 00:51:25,960
Speaker 1: hot new Lego sets dropping that we should be aware of.

1166
00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:29,720
Speaker 3: You know, I took it back even further, guys, this Christmas,

1167
00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:32,200
Speaker 3: I didn't go Lego. I feel like not that Lego

1168
00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:35,160
Speaker 3: is done, not that Lego has become too mainstream, none

1169
00:51:35,200 --> 00:51:37,200
Speaker 3: of that. But I wanted to go a little weirder.

1170
00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:41,120
Speaker 3: So I bought myself a model train old school. Now

1171
00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:43,480
Speaker 3: here's the thing with the model trains, and actually you'll

1172
00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:46,239
Speaker 3: be proud because it's a Canadian Pacific model train. I

1173
00:51:46,320 --> 00:51:49,280
Speaker 3: got all these different you know, I'm I'm hauling lumber.

1174
00:51:49,520 --> 00:51:55,759
Speaker 3: You know, I'm going across that great Canadian Bounty Christmas train.

1175
00:51:57,280 --> 00:51:59,399
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what. Model train's not a cheap hobby.

1176
00:51:59,480 --> 00:52:02,600
Speaker 3: I will know it's done. The attention to detailed. The

1177
00:52:02,640 --> 00:52:05,000
Speaker 3: model trains are incredible, and it's funny because they're one

1178
00:52:05,040 --> 00:52:08,040
Speaker 3: of these hobbies where they're like, we should probably update

1179
00:52:08,120 --> 00:52:10,120
Speaker 3: for the twenty first century, so like we're going to

1180
00:52:10,160 --> 00:52:13,200
Speaker 3: come in with like blue tooth activity and you can

1181
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:15,600
Speaker 3: run it from your phone. And as soon as they

1182
00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:17,440
Speaker 3: started saying that to me at the store, I was like, no,

1183
00:52:17,600 --> 00:52:20,000
Speaker 3: I'm going the other way. I want the lowest tech one.

1184
00:52:20,320 --> 00:52:23,000
Speaker 3: I have this like giant handheld like thing that looks

1185
00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:25,239
Speaker 3: like it could run like a spacecraft, like I could

1186
00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:27,320
Speaker 3: go to Mars. That's how I control it.

1187
00:52:28,160 --> 00:52:28,279
Speaker 5: You know.

1188
00:52:28,360 --> 00:52:31,200
Speaker 3: I got the lights button, I got a horn. I mean,

1189
00:52:31,280 --> 00:52:33,560
Speaker 3: it's just awesome. I even got myself a hat at

1190
00:52:35,680 --> 00:52:38,840
Speaker 3: no way, Like I said, man, hey, quarters have been

1191
00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:40,800
Speaker 3: a train conductor hall, what more do you need? This

1192
00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:44,400
Speaker 3: is the peak of fashion. Okay, no, but you know

1193
00:52:44,520 --> 00:52:46,840
Speaker 3: my grandpa had one, and you know, back to some

1194
00:52:46,920 --> 00:52:48,640
Speaker 3: more basement talk, but he used to run around his

1195
00:52:48,719 --> 00:52:52,120
Speaker 3: basement and it just brought back some good memories of childhood,

1196
00:52:52,120 --> 00:52:56,040
Speaker 3: you know, childhood Christmases, going to see theirs. And it's

1197
00:52:56,160 --> 00:53:00,239
Speaker 3: so personalizable, right like you can there's so many differenttions.

1198
00:53:00,280 --> 00:53:02,719
Speaker 3: You can make it exactly how you want it, which

1199
00:53:02,760 --> 00:53:05,279
Speaker 3: is pretty fun too. And so I was inspired to

1200
00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:09,359
Speaker 3: get the Canadian Pacific train actually because I went up

1201
00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:12,680
Speaker 3: to near Bampf. You know Moran's Curve. It's a famous

1202
00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:15,640
Speaker 3: Canadian landmark. They got it on the Canadian currency. I

1203
00:53:15,800 --> 00:53:17,480
Speaker 3: was at and they have a train kind of going

1204
00:53:17,520 --> 00:53:20,600
Speaker 3: around Moran's Curve on Canada's money. I stood right at

1205
00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:22,560
Speaker 3: that spot, waited for a train to come, took a

1206
00:53:22,640 --> 00:53:25,680
Speaker 3: picture just the same as the Canadian currency. And then

1207
00:53:25,840 --> 00:53:28,560
Speaker 3: I found that train online and that's my model train.

1208
00:53:28,719 --> 00:53:32,680
Speaker 3: So sorry to Lego, you know, I'm cheating on you. Briefly,

1209
00:53:33,239 --> 00:53:36,840
Speaker 3: it's a little fling here, but highly recommend it. So

1210
00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:38,920
Speaker 3: like if you're a real dork listening to this, I

1211
00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:41,040
Speaker 3: mean like a tier one dor like you've been in

1212
00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:44,000
Speaker 3: on this entire episode. You were cool with the magnet talk.

1213
00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:46,360
Speaker 3: You weren't lost, you were just locked in. Go for

1214
00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:47,719
Speaker 3: the model train if you don't have one.

1215
00:53:47,840 --> 00:53:50,920
Speaker 4: What what scale engage are we talking?

1216
00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:57,400
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm a home man, maho ho. Now they have

1217
00:53:57,640 --> 00:54:00,399
Speaker 3: lots of different gauges, but it is and to tell

1218
00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:01,280
Speaker 3: people you're at home.

1219
00:54:03,280 --> 00:54:06,200
Speaker 4: Perfect way to have this interview, Ben, go over train,

1220
00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:06,719
Speaker 4: home man.

1221
00:54:07,800 --> 00:54:10,759
Speaker 1: Ben, appreciate you jumping on very earlier time there on

1222
00:54:10,880 --> 00:54:13,600
Speaker 1: the West coast. That linked to your new sub stack

1223
00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:17,239
Speaker 1: in the show notes, everybody go click and subscribe and look,

1224
00:54:17,320 --> 00:54:20,080
Speaker 1: let's let's have you back now that you're you know,

1225
00:54:20,200 --> 00:54:23,080
Speaker 1: basically unemployed and just come on any day now, can't Yeah.

1226
00:54:23,239 --> 00:54:25,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll be up tomorrow morning, whether you guys have

1227
00:54:27,480 --> 00:54:30,040
Speaker 3: talking into this screen. But hey, in all seriousness, you know,

1228
00:54:30,360 --> 00:54:32,920
Speaker 3: I am known for the greatest ability as availability, one

1229
00:54:32,920 --> 00:54:35,960
Speaker 3: of my slogans. Nobody embodies that better than you guys do.

1230
00:54:36,040 --> 00:54:39,160
Speaker 3: At my respect level for your consistency is just off

1231
00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:41,279
Speaker 3: the charts. I hope nobody takes it for granted. How

1232
00:54:41,320 --> 00:54:43,080
Speaker 3: long you guys have been doing this at a high level.

1233
00:54:43,640 --> 00:54:47,120
Speaker 3: Bron gets all this love for all this, give me

1234
00:54:47,160 --> 00:54:49,440
Speaker 3: a bareak. Come on, it's about these three guys right

1235
00:54:49,480 --> 00:54:51,040
Speaker 3: here and JD. Don't let me forget.

1236
00:54:51,160 --> 00:54:52,640
Speaker 4: Yes, JD, that's a home man.

1237
00:54:52,719 --> 00:54:54,800
Speaker 5: He knows that somebody's got to make the trains run on.

1238
00:54:56,719 --> 00:54:59,799
Speaker 1: That's right, Ben, appreciate you as always, Buddy, we'll talk

1239
00:54:59,800 --> 00:55:02,440
Speaker 1: to you. Hit the like button subscribe for Ben Golliver

1240
00:55:02,840 --> 00:55:04,640
Speaker 1: if you haven't already. We got to take a quick

1241
00:55:04,640 --> 00:55:07,319
Speaker 1: break when we come back. Pick them who boy, all

1242
00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:08,279
Speaker 1: the staples here on.

1243
00:55:08,440 --> 00:55:09,279
Speaker 4: No dunks.

1244
00:55:10,840 --> 00:55:13,360
Speaker 1: Ever wanted to go to the NBA Finals, Well now's

1245
00:55:13,400 --> 00:55:16,120
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1246
00:55:16,280 --> 00:55:19,080
Speaker 1: is use your profit boost on an NBA Future and

1247
00:55:19,160 --> 00:55:21,680
Speaker 1: you'll be entered for a shot to win an NBA

1248
00:55:21,760 --> 00:55:27,400
Speaker 1: Finals trip for two. I heard Toronto in June is beautiful.

1249
00:55:27,800 --> 00:55:30,839
Speaker 1: That'd be a nice trip, wouldn't it. NBA Futures let

1250
00:55:30,920 --> 00:55:32,879
Speaker 1: you lock in your pick for who you think will

1251
00:55:32,920 --> 00:55:35,160
Speaker 1: go all the way, whether it's a team to win

1252
00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:39,320
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1253
00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:41,719
Speaker 1: dot com to get started play your game with fan Duel,

1254
00:55:41,760 --> 00:55:46,239
Speaker 1: the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right,

1255
00:55:46,280 --> 00:55:49,240
Speaker 1: that was fantastic hour or so there with Ben Golliver.

1256
00:55:49,480 --> 00:55:51,520
Speaker 1: So not much else to say about last night. We

1257
00:55:51,560 --> 00:55:53,359
Speaker 1: can touch on maybe the Rockets game when we get

1258
00:55:53,360 --> 00:55:55,000
Speaker 1: to Wo Boy, which is where we're at right now,

1259
00:55:55,040 --> 00:56:03,359
Speaker 1: and it's sponsored webly by No Dunks, fam Laou Layu

1260
00:56:03,520 --> 00:56:06,160
Speaker 1: probably brom or Brahm either, I'm not sure.

1261
00:56:07,120 --> 00:56:07,680
Speaker 4: Bram Leou.

1262
00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:12,520
Speaker 1: His sister Olivia just graduated high school. Your big bro

1263
00:56:12,640 --> 00:56:16,000
Speaker 1: and your family are so unbelievably proud of you, and

1264
00:56:16,080 --> 00:56:17,959
Speaker 1: we're excited to see the next chapter of your life.

1265
00:56:18,000 --> 00:56:18,480
Speaker 5: So there you go.

1266
00:56:18,920 --> 00:56:20,880
Speaker 1: That's your one Boy sponsor and it goes to Jabari

1267
00:56:20,920 --> 00:56:23,400
Speaker 1: Smith Junior scored a game high thirty one points in

1268
00:56:23,440 --> 00:56:27,239
Speaker 1: the Rockets blowout win over the Jazz. Smith Junior shot

1269
00:56:27,320 --> 00:56:29,839
Speaker 1: twelve to seventeen from the field, six of eleven from deep,

1270
00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:33,040
Speaker 1: nine boards, three steals, three blocks in thirty three minutes.

1271
00:56:33,080 --> 00:56:35,080
Speaker 1: I mean, Wemby had a great game, filled the box score,

1272
00:56:35,160 --> 00:56:39,359
Speaker 1: but Jabari Smith Junior coming through there really gross moment

1273
00:56:39,400 --> 00:56:42,959
Speaker 1: in this game or unfortunate moment. Vince Williams junior. Another

1274
00:56:43,080 --> 00:56:46,600
Speaker 1: junior in this one, appeared to have suffered a major

1275
00:56:46,719 --> 00:56:50,239
Speaker 1: injury after getting sort of bumped cleared out by Tarry

1276
00:56:50,280 --> 00:56:51,920
Speaker 1: Eason as they were coming up the floor.

1277
00:56:54,160 --> 00:56:57,040
Speaker 4: We're not even we're not showing you the clip because

1278
00:56:57,040 --> 00:56:57,800
Speaker 4: I don't know if you saw it.

1279
00:56:57,880 --> 00:57:03,719
Speaker 2: I was, which is a better sign than what could

1280
00:57:03,760 --> 00:57:05,200
Speaker 2: have been a worse scenario.

1281
00:57:05,320 --> 00:57:07,399
Speaker 4: I justosed to bend that way.

1282
00:57:07,640 --> 00:57:08,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1283
00:57:09,280 --> 00:57:11,919
Speaker 1: Tari Easton apparently did seek him out or the team

1284
00:57:11,960 --> 00:57:16,280
Speaker 1: out immediately. Like it was like I asteamed accidental little

1285
00:57:16,360 --> 00:57:17,280
Speaker 1: he was trying to hurt the guy.

1286
00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:19,000
Speaker 5: He wasn't trying to hurt it, and he was trying

1287
00:57:19,000 --> 00:57:21,840
Speaker 5: to knock him off his line. Yeah, for sure, which happens.

1288
00:57:22,360 --> 00:57:26,000
Speaker 5: An unnecessary play, but not a dirty play. I didn't think.

1289
00:57:26,040 --> 00:57:28,600
Speaker 5: There's also like a moment you can see Kante George

1290
00:57:28,680 --> 00:57:31,360
Speaker 5: come up and start chatting with Tari Easton, and just

1291
00:57:31,440 --> 00:57:35,280
Speaker 5: from Easan's reaction, you can tell that George is relaying

1292
00:57:35,320 --> 00:57:38,280
Speaker 5: the info like this guy is seriously hurting. Really bad

1293
00:57:38,360 --> 00:57:40,800
Speaker 5: timing for Vince Williams Junior. I think he's got a

1294
00:57:40,840 --> 00:57:43,800
Speaker 5: team option for next year. This seems to be like

1295
00:57:43,880 --> 00:57:47,760
Speaker 5: it'll be a serious injury, So hopefully, you know, hopefully

1296
00:57:47,920 --> 00:57:52,120
Speaker 5: he's able to recover and still make some money going forward.

1297
00:57:52,160 --> 00:57:54,320
Speaker 2: Because he was part of that deal and trading and

1298
00:57:54,360 --> 00:57:57,160
Speaker 2: getting trade from Memphis, they wanted him. It sort of

1299
00:57:57,200 --> 00:58:00,600
Speaker 2: made sense to be put around County George Market and

1300
00:58:01,400 --> 00:58:04,080
Speaker 2: Jared Jackson Junior. So hopefully he does get back.

1301
00:58:04,360 --> 00:58:09,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's if you're easily queasy. Do not watch that clip,

1302
00:58:10,160 --> 00:58:11,720
Speaker 1: one of those where the leg just goes the way

1303
00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:14,360
Speaker 1: you don't want to see it go. People are comparing

1304
00:58:14,400 --> 00:58:18,120
Speaker 1: it to when Giannis had that crazy injury in the

1305
00:58:18,160 --> 00:58:22,880
Speaker 1: finals and came back and something out played and played miraculously. Yeah,

1306
00:58:22,880 --> 00:58:26,320
Speaker 1: it sort of bends similarly. So maybe hopefully it's good

1307
00:58:26,400 --> 00:58:28,000
Speaker 1: like that. But that does not look good. That feels

1308
00:58:28,040 --> 00:58:29,360
Speaker 1: like he could be done for the season. But we'll

1309
00:58:29,360 --> 00:58:31,680
Speaker 1: find out Tonight's pick them task.

1310
00:58:31,720 --> 00:58:32,200
Speaker 4: Where we're going.

1311
00:58:32,280 --> 00:58:34,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, we got a good Tuesday night in the NBA.

1312
00:58:34,240 --> 00:58:37,120
Speaker 2: We got eleven games, and so I saw a couple

1313
00:58:37,200 --> 00:58:42,200
Speaker 2: of goodies Knicks, Calves. Well, I'll skip that one. Washington Hawks.

1314
00:58:42,200 --> 00:58:43,800
Speaker 2: Are we going to see Trey Young play the Hawks

1315
00:58:43,840 --> 00:58:46,360
Speaker 2: for the first time? No one that's not happy he's out.

1316
00:58:47,040 --> 00:58:50,400
Speaker 2: So I went with, uh, just one close to home.

1317
00:58:50,520 --> 00:58:56,320
Speaker 2: The Toronto Raptors hosting okay See. Tough pick because okay

1318
00:58:56,360 --> 00:58:59,240
Speaker 2: See definitely looks good coming out of the All Star

1319
00:58:59,360 --> 00:59:04,080
Speaker 2: break with Chay and went out Jalen Williams here. The

1320
00:59:04,200 --> 00:59:06,640
Speaker 2: Raptors are getting Scottie Barnes back. Didn't have him in

1321
00:59:06,680 --> 00:59:08,760
Speaker 2: his first game, but he will be here. Is he rusty?

1322
00:59:09,080 --> 00:59:11,520
Speaker 2: Has he not played in long enough? Well, I'm fine

1323
00:59:11,600 --> 00:59:14,360
Speaker 2: taking him just to give us a bit of a

1324
00:59:14,720 --> 00:59:16,640
Speaker 2: race here, because you guys are both at six and six.

1325
00:59:16,720 --> 00:59:19,080
Speaker 2: I'm at seven and five. We got four nights remaining,

1326
00:59:19,160 --> 00:59:22,040
Speaker 2: so if you guys take this one, we're all tied

1327
00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:23,160
Speaker 2: up with three nights left.

1328
00:59:23,280 --> 00:59:23,680
Speaker 3: Exciting.

1329
00:59:23,720 --> 00:59:24,320
Speaker 4: That'll be fun.

1330
00:59:25,400 --> 00:59:29,800
Speaker 1: Raptors favorites here, little surprise. I mean it's basically a

1331
00:59:29,840 --> 00:59:32,360
Speaker 1: pick him, but I was a little shocked by that. Yeah,

1332
00:59:32,480 --> 00:59:33,920
Speaker 1: hopefully cheddar Cheese plays.

1333
00:59:35,480 --> 00:59:37,960
Speaker 5: Yes, he's the only one that's like, really, will he

1334
00:59:38,080 --> 00:59:41,400
Speaker 5: actually play tonights in me? Because you know Cruso likely out,

1335
00:59:41,480 --> 00:59:44,000
Speaker 5: aj Mitchell out, Shay out, Jalen Williams out.

1336
00:59:44,080 --> 00:59:45,240
Speaker 2: Does he go by cheddar Cheese?

1337
00:59:46,400 --> 00:59:49,400
Speaker 5: Heard of like three people call him cheddar Cheese. I

1338
00:59:49,480 --> 00:59:52,840
Speaker 5: don't really call him Abe Lincoln right, vampire Slayer?

1339
00:59:53,040 --> 00:59:55,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, I went, I went, okay, see, because the Raptors

1340
00:59:55,080 --> 00:59:57,320
Speaker 1: have struggled against good teams this year. But then this

1341
00:59:57,480 --> 00:59:59,160
Speaker 1: is a weird one because all the main guys are

1342
00:59:59,200 --> 01:00:01,600
Speaker 1: not playing for see, but they still are a good team,

1343
01:00:01,680 --> 01:00:03,200
Speaker 1: as we just saw in the win against Calves.

1344
01:00:03,720 --> 01:00:04,280
Speaker 4: It's tough here.

1345
01:00:04,320 --> 01:00:07,880
Speaker 1: And I think the Spurs are in Toronto tomorrow night,

1346
01:00:07,960 --> 01:00:10,560
Speaker 1: I want to say. And then I think, okay, so

1347
01:00:10,640 --> 01:00:12,120
Speaker 1: he might have a big game coming up. It could

1348
01:00:12,160 --> 01:00:13,920
Speaker 1: be a trap game. Is maybe you're looking at it

1349
01:00:14,000 --> 01:00:14,360
Speaker 1: like that, but.

1350
01:00:14,480 --> 01:00:17,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, the double header on Peacock tonight is mixed Calves

1351
01:00:17,960 --> 01:00:21,160
Speaker 2: and Wolves Blazers. And I do want to say, as

1352
01:00:21,320 --> 01:00:24,480
Speaker 2: as Ben mentioned, not as big a game with the

1353
01:00:24,560 --> 01:00:29,720
Speaker 2: Peacock cast with Grady Hummel and Austin Rivers, but I

1354
01:00:29,760 --> 01:00:32,520
Speaker 2: thought they're really solid last night, and Austin Rivers making

1355
01:00:32,640 --> 01:00:35,520
Speaker 2: jokes like like our man Ben Golliper was making. He

1356
01:00:35,600 --> 01:00:38,080
Speaker 2: said when somebody was getting the hands he getting physical.

1357
01:00:38,160 --> 01:00:40,960
Speaker 2: He said, usually you gotta go on a couple of

1358
01:00:41,160 --> 01:00:45,920
Speaker 2: dates before you get all handsy, say pushing the boundaries.

1359
01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:49,040
Speaker 2: He's pushing the batteries a little bit, commenting on the

1360
01:00:49,160 --> 01:00:50,800
Speaker 2: bling behind him in the crowd.

1361
01:00:51,280 --> 01:00:53,000
Speaker 5: Well done, I thought he called the game like he's

1362
01:00:53,040 --> 01:00:57,680
Speaker 5: on a podcast. Yes, yeah, for sure, Jalen Duran Shorts.

1363
01:00:57,840 --> 01:01:01,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And it's a nice comparison for me, Humbles

1364
01:01:01,920 --> 01:01:06,760
Speaker 2: a SERI series analysts. You know, I like the difference.

1365
01:01:06,920 --> 01:01:08,760
Speaker 4: I just like how like they were into the game.

1366
01:01:08,840 --> 01:01:12,240
Speaker 4: They're like, this is yeah the house, all three of us.

1367
01:01:12,320 --> 01:01:15,080
Speaker 2: More importantly than the style was. Yeah, they're just bringing

1368
01:01:15,120 --> 01:01:15,480
Speaker 2: in Yeah.

1369
01:01:15,480 --> 01:01:18,880
Speaker 1: Really some news in one of the games tonight, Pelicans

1370
01:01:18,920 --> 01:01:21,880
Speaker 1: guard to Jontey Murray is set to return spending more

1371
01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:24,760
Speaker 1: than a year rehabilitating a ruptured right achilles tenants. He's

1372
01:01:24,760 --> 01:01:26,280
Speaker 1: supposed to be back for the Pels tonight, So that's

1373
01:01:26,320 --> 01:01:28,439
Speaker 1: something to watch in that one.

1374
01:01:28,360 --> 01:01:29,080
Speaker 4: A little bit later on.

1375
01:01:29,240 --> 01:01:33,200
Speaker 1: But yeah, okay, see raps. Me and Trey excuse me, Yeah,

1376
01:01:33,240 --> 01:01:34,080
Speaker 1: me and Trey have the thunder.

1377
01:01:34,120 --> 01:01:35,000
Speaker 3: You have the reps. That's right.

1378
01:01:36,040 --> 01:01:37,560
Speaker 4: I already said it when we were talking to Ben.

1379
01:01:38,160 --> 01:01:41,680
Speaker 1: We do have a College Park Skyhawks game to night

1380
01:01:42,960 --> 01:01:46,720
Speaker 1: at seven o'clock in College Park Gateway Center.

1381
01:01:47,040 --> 01:01:49,080
Speaker 4: Come on out if you're in the area. Cheap tickets,

1382
01:01:49,200 --> 01:01:49,720
Speaker 4: great time.

1383
01:01:50,520 --> 01:01:53,640
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's fun basketball with these guys competing,

1384
01:01:53,640 --> 01:01:55,200
Speaker 1: and the Raptors are good. Sky talks about a bit

1385
01:01:55,240 --> 01:01:57,360
Speaker 1: of a down year, but they do score a lot

1386
01:01:57,400 --> 01:01:59,800
Speaker 1: of points, so we'll see how many Ray J Dennis

1387
01:02:00,200 --> 01:02:02,600
Speaker 1: can go for tonight. Asa Newell is going to play.

1388
01:02:02,880 --> 01:02:05,080
Speaker 1: Thanks for the Skyhawks Tonight's so sort of good timing

1389
01:02:05,160 --> 01:02:07,720
Speaker 1: for us coming back or being reassigned to the g

1390
01:02:07,840 --> 01:02:09,439
Speaker 1: LEA team from the main Hawks team.

1391
01:02:09,480 --> 01:02:11,000
Speaker 4: So seven o'clock tonight.

1392
01:02:11,440 --> 01:02:14,280
Speaker 1: That link I also shared in the show notes for

1393
01:02:14,400 --> 01:02:17,320
Speaker 1: you to watch it online and hear us on the broadcast,

1394
01:02:17,560 --> 01:02:20,200
Speaker 1: So check that out at seven o'clock tonight. Otherwise, back tomorrow.

1395
01:02:21,080 --> 01:02:23,200
Speaker 1: Huge thanks to Bengal for jumping on and talking to

1396
01:02:23,320 --> 01:02:25,680
Speaker 1: us this morning. Till then, Clipper bros.

1397
01:02:25,920 --> 01:02:28,440
Speaker 5: You heard it here first, have a great time turn up.

1398
01:02:28,640 --> 01:02:31,560
Speaker 2: Love you guys awesome, thanks for joining us, and remember

1399
01:02:31,800 --> 01:02:33,800
Speaker 2: if you don't want to watch eleven NBA games, you

1400
01:02:33,840 --> 01:02:36,960
Speaker 2: can watch a g League game that we will be on. Also,

1401
01:02:37,080 --> 01:02:41,600
Speaker 2: I wanted to give some credit for the Magnet Magnate.

1402
01:02:43,480 --> 01:02:47,360
Speaker 2: That great nickname was brought to us by Full Metal

1403
01:02:47,600 --> 01:02:49,960
Speaker 2: HT on the stream team, so I wanted to shut

1404
01:02:50,040 --> 01:02:50,320
Speaker 2: that up.

1405
01:02:50,400 --> 01:02:52,560
Speaker 4: He sponsored Boboy once maybe twice.

1406
01:02:53,080 --> 01:02:53,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think.

1407
01:02:55,000 --> 01:02:57,640
Speaker 4: He does it all. Appreciate you guys, Brace today people

1408
01:03:00,160 --> 01:03:00,200
Speaker 3: K