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Speaker 1: This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre, Tuesday, August eighteen.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Straight Fire. I am Jason McIntyre, very geeked

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Speaker 1: over a pretty thrilling Monday in the NBA. Obviously we

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Speaker 1: had the amazing game that went over time. We had

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Speaker 1: a pretty good Celtic Sixers game. I have a take

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Speaker 1: on that one you're gonna like. And obviously the late game,

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Speaker 1: the Marquee game, the Clippers benefiting from some garbage calls

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Speaker 1: by the referees. I mean, listen, if you watch that game,

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Speaker 1: it it felt kind of bogus, honestly, I mean the

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Speaker 1: Porzingis ejection. Will get to all of it, but first

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Speaker 1: I need to say, coming up later in the podcast,

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Speaker 1: I cannot say enough about talking to Brian Winhorst, the

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Speaker 1: great author, the podcaster, the TV guy, he does radio.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there isn't anything Brian Winhorst does and do.

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Speaker 1: He covers the NBA for ESPN, and he was pretty phenomenal.

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Speaker 1: I mean, he covered we covered everything his career, NBA

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Speaker 1: problems that are currently arising future of Janice. It's great.

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Speaker 1: Definitely stick around for that, and I want to quickly

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Speaker 1: remember remind you guys subscribe rate and review. Give me

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Speaker 1: that five star rating. If you like the cut of

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Speaker 1: my jib, drop in a comment. I'm tinkering with the idea.

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Speaker 1: I will broach it. Rob g has not heard, does he? Uh?

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Speaker 1: The great producer of this podcast. I'm thinking of doing

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Speaker 1: some kind of great comment giveaway where some whoever leaves

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Speaker 1: a great comment, maybe more than one person will get

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Speaker 1: some sort of giveaway from me. I don't know. Maybe

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Speaker 1: we'll do T shirts for the for the podcast. I

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Speaker 1: have no idea books, I'll give away something. But I

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Speaker 1: just want you guys to be part of this too.

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Speaker 1: And we are gonna debut a listener something where you

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Speaker 1: guys are gonna be part part of the podcast. We're

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Speaker 1: still tinkering with ideas. Hey, it's only week two, all right,

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Speaker 1: let's quickly get to the games. And I gotta start

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Speaker 1: with the Clippers. Who got I'm gonna call it lucky

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Speaker 1: to overtake the MAVs. They really went through the motions.

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Speaker 1: Not an impressive performance, However, they got lucky because the

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Speaker 1: Revs bailed him out. Chris steps Porzingis, in his NBA

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Speaker 1: playoff debut, was ejected in the third quarter. The MAVs

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Speaker 1: were leading by five. It was a wild first half

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Speaker 1: and the MAVs came out on top. And then in

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Speaker 1: the third quarter, Porzingis got his second technical. Now, the

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Speaker 1: first technical was a joke. He blocked a shot, got

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Speaker 1: upset and it was a quick technical foul. Okay, so

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Speaker 1: I mean the replace they slowed it down. It was

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Speaker 1: a one hundred thousand percent blocked by poor Zingis. He

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Speaker 1: had every right to be ticked off. The second tech

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Speaker 1: was even worse. Okay. Morris one of these goons on

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Speaker 1: the Clippers, and yeah, they they got goons, Okay. Patrick

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Speaker 1: Beverley is a goon. And and Morris, who has a

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Speaker 1: cheap shot history go back, going back to Kansas where

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Speaker 1: he tried to fight the Kansas football team when he

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Speaker 1: was on the Kansas basketball team. I'm not even making

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Speaker 1: this up. You could go look it up yourself. Morris. Basically,

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Speaker 1: he's getting humiliated by Luca Donchet, who had forty two

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Speaker 1: points in his playoff debut, and Morris just grabbed Luca,

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Speaker 1: just straight up grabs him and you know, kind of

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Speaker 1: tosses him a little bit, and lucas like, dude, what

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Speaker 1: are you doing? And they kind of there's some jaw

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Speaker 1: jack and going on, and Porzingis steps in somebody on

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Speaker 1: the Clippers. I can't tell, rob G. Maybe you could

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Speaker 1: make it out. Somebody puts his hand around Luca, around

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Speaker 1: Porzingis throat. You can actually see it. There are screen grabs,

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Speaker 1: so Porzingis pushes the guy. They go double text and

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Speaker 1: Porzingis is ejected and that changed the entire game. Dallas

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Speaker 1: had no chance. They don't have depth. We know that.

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Speaker 1: No Dwight Powell, no Jalen Brunson, those guys are in

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Speaker 1: the rotation. They're done for the season. So listen, Clippers

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Speaker 1: fans will crow here. We got the win, but it

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Speaker 1: really robbed G. Maybe I'm going overboard, but it felt

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Speaker 1: to me like a total ref bailout night on opening

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Speaker 1: night for the Clippers, who were not impressive. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: would agree with you. I was a little disappointed, to

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Speaker 1: say the least, that the referee decided to take the

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Speaker 1: aim out of the player's hands. I think that both

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Speaker 1: of the technical fouls on Porzingis were terrible calls. Just

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Speaker 1: to be honest with you, I mean, Steve Javy tried

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Speaker 1: to defend it during the telecat. I don't know if

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Speaker 1: you were on Twitter at that moment he was getting

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Speaker 1: ratio to death. After that. I mean, he's probably the

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Speaker 1: only guy in history to not be on Twitter and

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Speaker 1: still get ratioed. But I mean the MAVs hung tough.

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Speaker 1: I mean I I we talked last week Luca was

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Speaker 1: gonna ball out in this series. We both kind of

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Speaker 1: expected it, whether it was gonna be they were gonna

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Speaker 1: one oh, or they're gonna go up to one and

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Speaker 1: then they were gonna switch Kauai on him, and that

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Speaker 1: was going to be like the end of it. They

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Speaker 1: tried everybody on Luca in this game, and it didn't

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Speaker 1: really matter once he kind of got settled in after

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Speaker 1: that quick five turnovers or whatever in the first three

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Speaker 1: minutes and he kind of twisted his ankle once he

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Speaker 1: got settled in. From there, he was the best player

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Speaker 1: on the floor, no doubt about it. And he was

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Speaker 1: gonna object to that, but he was. He was better

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Speaker 1: than Paul George. Paul George looked good. I don't know,

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Speaker 1: Kauai was so invisible. Did you notice that he went

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Speaker 1: long stretches where I'm like, is he on the court.

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Speaker 1: It was a very quiet twenty nine and twelve. Rob

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Speaker 1: g Here's where the non home court advantage really kills

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Speaker 1: the MAVs. They nearly stole that game, and if they

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Speaker 1: were going back to Dallas, let's say they're down oh two.

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Speaker 1: From what I saw, I think this team could definitely

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Speaker 1: hang with the Clippers. I thought it would be potential

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Speaker 1: for a sweep because Luca struggled against the Clippers during

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Speaker 1: the regular season. But I don't know. I mean, that's

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Speaker 1: got to be disheartening. Maybe they come back strong in

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Speaker 1: Game two. We just don't know how teams are gonna

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Speaker 1: do with basically one day of rest. Nobody's on the road,

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Speaker 1: everybody's in in like you know, Disney World there. So

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Speaker 1: we'll see what happens. But do you think the mask

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Speaker 1: can get one or two in the series. I think

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Speaker 1: that this would have been the one for them to

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Speaker 1: get to really make it a series. I think they're

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Speaker 1: down in five. I don't see them being able to

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Speaker 1: to extend it any further beyond that. And I think

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Speaker 1: this was the game that the three ball was falling early,

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Speaker 1: and I don't know if Luca can duplicate that level

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Speaker 1: of control over a game again against that defense, They'll

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Speaker 1: be good. I don't know if will be as good

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Speaker 1: as he was tonight. They're a player away, right, we

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Speaker 1: would agree they need I think Porzingis is a great

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Speaker 1: number two. Luca obviously in Alpha, and they need a

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Speaker 1: number three. Seth Curry is a nice player. He's like

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Speaker 1: a great complimentary guy. I don't know that he's at

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Speaker 1: the level of a three, but Dallas definitely a player away.

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Speaker 1: But they're gonna be contenders soon, uh quickly. On the

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Speaker 1: Utah Jazz Nuggets thriller, I just I know there's like

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Speaker 1: eight listeners to the podcast who are fans of the

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Speaker 1: Utah Jazz. A guy who used to be a producer

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Speaker 1: on a show I was on on FS one huge

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Speaker 1: jazz fan. Donovan Mitchell was phenomenal. At fifty seven points.

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Speaker 1: I think that's and Rob G correct me if I'm wrong,

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Speaker 1: the third most of any player in NBA playoff history.

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Speaker 1: That sounds correct. Yeah, Jordan obviously sixty three verse Boston,

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Speaker 1: but then there was someone else and then Mitchell put

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Speaker 1: up fifty seven. Donovan Mitchell was incredible. But I didn't understand,

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Speaker 1: and again this is some x is and knows only

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Speaker 1: eight people will care. I didn't understand why they didn't

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Speaker 1: move Joe Ingles off Jamal Murray. Murray was torching towards you.

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Speaker 1: He was flammable. I mean, Joe Ingles got lit up

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Speaker 1: so badly in the fourth quarter in overtime, and Quinn

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Speaker 1: Sider did nothing. Very curious move there. I personally think

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Speaker 1: the Nuggets can can sweep this team because it's Donovan

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Speaker 1: Mitchell and nobody else. Jordan Clarkson doesn't even try defensively.

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Speaker 1: So Nuggets with a nice win. Your boy went two

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Speaker 1: and one. In gambling, I will have a best bet

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Speaker 1: of the day. I'm sorry I didn't have one on Monday. Disappointing.

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Speaker 1: There's one game I really like. I will note this,

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Speaker 1: Favorites on Monday went four and oh. Usually there's gonna

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Speaker 1: be some regression the next day. You're not gonna see

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Speaker 1: Favorites go four and oh again. Could be bad news

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Speaker 1: for the Lakers. Uh So, tread cautiously, but wait for

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Speaker 1: the best bet at the end of the podcast. Now,

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Speaker 1: the game I was really in love with was Jason

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Speaker 1: Tatum going against the Sixers. And you know, I got

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Speaker 1: a little gushy to Rob g and I'm watching Tatum

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Speaker 1: take over. First of all, he had three blocks. Okay,

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Speaker 1: the entire Sixers team had three box Tatum could not

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Speaker 1: be stopped. His floater game was filthy. I mean he is,

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Speaker 1: He's on another level. And I texted Rob I said, listen,

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum to me is a top ten player in

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Speaker 1: the NBA already. And obviously you know when you then

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Speaker 1: you fire off an excited text like that, then you

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Speaker 1: go look at the stats and you're like, oh, did

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Speaker 1: I forget anybody? And I forgot two guys who kind

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Speaker 1: of matter a little bit. Um. Clay Thompson didn't play

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Speaker 1: this season, so he didn't have stats. When you look

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Speaker 1: at the point per game leaders, he assist leaders, and

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Speaker 1: Curry didn't qualify because he missed so many games. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: Steph Curry is a top ten player. But I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: go through my top ten no order, and Rob G

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Speaker 1: tell me if if if Jason Tatum cracks the list.

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Speaker 1: Obviously Lebron obviously, Janice Luca don Chech is in there,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, James Harden, Damian Lillard. That's six, Kawhi Leonard seven,

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Speaker 1: Paul George eight, Steph Curry nine. So the battle for

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Speaker 1: the tenth spot unless you think, Rob G, do you

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Speaker 1: think I totally brick something there, and yeah, I guess

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Speaker 1: this is my fall as a producer for not texting

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Speaker 1: you this earlier when I mentioned Stephen Clay, another anthony,

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Speaker 1: another former Warrior that you forgot. Oh gosh, yes, Kevin Duray. Dang,

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Speaker 1: it's all right, that's fine. Listen. Okay, Hey, that's the

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Speaker 1: beauty of a podcast that just happened in real time.

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Speaker 1: You could hear my voice go dang it. I mean,

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Speaker 1: Duran hasn't played in the year, so forgive me. So, yes,

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Speaker 1: that makes it difficult for Tatum to crack the top ten.

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Speaker 1: But okay, let me counter with this. Paul George was

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Speaker 1: an alpha in Indiana, got the Pacers into the conference finals.

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Speaker 1: He went toto toe with Lebron and lost. I personally

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Speaker 1: think Jason Tatum can be a number one on a

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Speaker 1: team and get a team to the finals. Now it's

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Speaker 1: early in his career. I know some people are like, Jay,

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Speaker 1: what about Kyrie Irving. Listen, he's the perfect number two.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, he just is. He was perfect next to Lebron.

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Speaker 1: He thought he could be the number one in Boss

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Speaker 1: and he alienated the young guys. I personally don't see

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Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving as a leader. I don't think this NETS

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Speaker 1: experiment is gonna go well. You guys know, I'm a

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Speaker 1: big fan of Kevin Durant. I had some friendly d

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Speaker 1: M Instagram history with him a couple of years ago,

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Speaker 1: and um, you know, He's probably gonna hear this and

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Speaker 1: think I'm crazy. I personally, I don't know that Kyrie

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Speaker 1: Irving as a leader. I see Jayson Tatum as a leader,

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Speaker 1: and I just from what I've seen from Tatum as

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Speaker 1: an all around talent, I just think he does it

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Speaker 1: at both ends. He's quiet about his business and he

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Speaker 1: gets everybody involved. I don't know, Rob g I saw Tatum.

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Speaker 1: I think he's better than Joel Emide. I would start

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Speaker 1: a team around Tatum over even my guy Ben Simmons,

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Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, Yokich. I'm sure people are gonna flame me

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Speaker 1: when they hear this. Uh listen, Devin Booker is amazing.

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Speaker 1: Rob Is Devin Booker a one or two? He's a two.

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Speaker 1: I think his time in Phoenix has proven that he's

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Speaker 1: definitely not a one, because if he was, he would

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Speaker 1: have won more than thirty games in his career. I

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Speaker 1: think I've done it one time. So Bradley Beale you

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Speaker 1: sent me Bradley Beale and he's an amazing, incredible player,

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Speaker 1: probably an All NBA player this year. Again, is he

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Speaker 1: Is he a number one? I don't. I don't think

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Speaker 1: he can be. Well, here's the problem with the Jason

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Speaker 1: and I think Jayson Tatum again potentially is top ten potential.

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Speaker 1: I think right now it's a little premature to say,

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Speaker 1: only because we haven't seen him have to be a

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Speaker 1: number one on a team like Washington, like Bradley bal

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Speaker 1: where the team around you was terrible and it's you

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Speaker 1: and a bunch of guys and you just got to

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Speaker 1: see what happens. He's been fortunate enough, and this is

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Speaker 1: no fault of his own to be surrounded by talent

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Speaker 1: since he's got into the league and good coaching. Thirty

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Speaker 1: two points, thirteen rebounds. Now, the only thing is he

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Speaker 1: only had one assist. We know about Rob g is

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Speaker 1: in the tank for Kobe, humongous Kobe Bryant fan and

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum has that Mama mentality. He worked with Kobe

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Speaker 1: back in the day, and you know you could see

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Speaker 1: it with Tatum one on one. He's like a Luca unstoppable.

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Speaker 1: He doesn't have the vision of Luca the vision of

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Speaker 1: harden Um. But yeah, I mean, I'm super impressed with

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum. There's nobody on Philly that can match up

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Speaker 1: with him, and we're gonna see Pascal Siakam. I'm sure

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Speaker 1: there's some Toronto Raptors fans getting upset that he didn't

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Speaker 1: get mentioned. I don't know, Rob g. I don't put

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Speaker 1: him in the top ten or fifteen. He's a top

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Speaker 1: twenty guy, right right, he's the top twenty. I think

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Speaker 1: Toronto is one of those teams that has nobody in

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Speaker 1: the top ten, probably no one in the top fifteen,

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Speaker 1: but like four or five guys in the top forty,

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Speaker 1: and I think that's where they make their hand. Um.

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Speaker 1: So a really fun opening Monday. I will drop my

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Speaker 1: best bet at the end of the podcast. But now,

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Speaker 1: without further ado, here is Brian Wynhorse, the great ESPN reporter.

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Speaker 1: Jason likes to think he knows everything when it comes

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Speaker 1: to sports. I know what sports stands want, but for

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Speaker 1: everything he doesn't. He knows a guy who does. Let's

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Speaker 1: just say I know a guy who knows a guy.

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Speaker 1: He knows another guy. All right, everybody a special guest

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Speaker 1: joining straight Fire. Now he is Uh, one of the

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Speaker 1: you know, foremost NBA reporters, columnist, podcasters, authors, pretty much

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Speaker 1: in sports media. He's covered Lebron forever. You know him well.

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Speaker 1: Brian Windhorst joining the podcast. Brian, how are you? Man?

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Speaker 1: So the foremost? So who are the other three? There's me,

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Speaker 1: I would say, Woes is in there? Guy I've known

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Speaker 1: for a while, and um, Jackie, I think Zach Lowe

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Speaker 1: has to be in there. Chris Broussard has covered the

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Speaker 1: league for five years. Uh, you know it listened, man,

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Speaker 1: you're up there, certainly. I was doing my research on

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Speaker 1: you last night and uh, you know, before we get

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Speaker 1: to the games, Brian, I just wanted to ask, how

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Speaker 1: are you doing and holding up during COVID and how

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Speaker 1: do you think the bubble has held up so far

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Speaker 1: with no positive tests yet? Yeah, you know, I actually was.

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Speaker 1: I was on vacation last week, and so I was

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Speaker 1: going back through some some podcasts that I had download

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Speaker 1: a month ago, and I'm listening to them and it's

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Speaker 1: funny to sort of go back in that time capsule

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Speaker 1: with some of the way people were talking about the bubble.

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Speaker 1: Because there was a bunch of positive tests at the

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Speaker 1: NBA individual sites, a whole bunch of teams didn't bring

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Speaker 1: their full teams because players had UM had the virus,

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Speaker 1: a bunch of players who were well known within the

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Speaker 1: NBA that had the virus but didn't go public with it.

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Speaker 1: And you know, in the media we elected not for

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Speaker 1: the most part, we elected not to report on those guys.

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Speaker 1: Some of them were you know, star players. UM. And

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Speaker 1: so now listening back to where we were a month ago,

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Speaker 1: there was a lot of skepticism this would work. And

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Speaker 1: so the fact that we haven't had a positive test

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Speaker 1: for weeks when we were wondering how many positive tests

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Speaker 1: would it take to get them to stop, it's a

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Speaker 1: tremendous accomplishment for the NBA. UM. I don't know. UM.

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Speaker 1: You know that the ratings have been flat or slightly down,

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Speaker 1: and that has been surprising, and there's been um some

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Speaker 1: concern about that. However, the fact that we have games

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Speaker 1: and you know, there are millions of people every day

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Speaker 1: watching basketball, UM where there could have been none, and

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Speaker 1: that the league probably saved between a billion and a

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Speaker 1: billion and a half dollars by doing this, not to

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Speaker 1: mention engage of the fan base, and we will probably

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Speaker 1: build a crown champion. I think it's, you know, one

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Speaker 1: of the great accomplishments that the NBA has ever put together.

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Speaker 1: To be honest with you, I don't know. I may

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Speaker 1: maybe having recencly bias on it, but I'm trying to

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Speaker 1: to to be honest with it. It feels very strange

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Speaker 1: to me, Jason, because I am not in the bubble,

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Speaker 1: I'm not in Orlando, and to enter a playoff cycle

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Speaker 1: a time where there's usually incredible amount of intensity. Um,

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Speaker 1: it's it's a little it's it's different from me at

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Speaker 1: a personal level, but at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: that doesn't matter. What matters is the is the game

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Speaker 1: and the fans engagement in it, and and hopefully we'll

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Speaker 1: be in for a month of months, six weeks of

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Speaker 1: great stuff here. Yeah, I'm surprised the ratings. I hadn't

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Speaker 1: really looked at them. Are they down? As you know,

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Speaker 1: you said, there's some concern. Do you think that's at

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Speaker 1: the NBA level, your personal or like the social media,

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Speaker 1: because you know, when you've got games on at ten

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Speaker 1: thirty a m. Pacific as there are Monday and Tuesday

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Speaker 1: and for the next couple of weeks, I can't imagine

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Speaker 1: that those were expected to be big ratings draws. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, but I think that there was

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Speaker 1: an expectation that getting live sports back on would feed

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Speaker 1: this ravenous appetite for sports. I mean, the Jordan documentary

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Speaker 1: did so well. The first baseball game that came out

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Speaker 1: of the shoot, that National's Yankees game on ESPN got

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Speaker 1: four million viewers. And the NBA has just not seen that.

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Speaker 1: And there's there's various reasons for it. You mentioned that, UM,

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Speaker 1: you know, but this has been a longer term problem

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Speaker 1: for the NBA. UM. The ratings have been flat or

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Speaker 1: down the last few years. And when you talk to

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Speaker 1: the NBA about they say all of their their tools

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Speaker 1: and all of their metrics UH for them to measure

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Speaker 1: UH their fan base says that their fan base, especially

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Speaker 1: their year young fans, have never been stronger. But it

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Speaker 1: is not translating to ratings, and maybe ratings are an

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Speaker 1: outdated way of judging your fan base. But the teams,

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Speaker 1: but the league's primary income is based on television. So UM,

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Speaker 1: I don't you know that this will be AH something

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Speaker 1: to deal with. UM well after the bubble, even after

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Speaker 1: things hopefully returned to normal. But I think the UH

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Speaker 1: the idea that this was going to be a massive

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Speaker 1: television event has not yet come to fruition. Having said that,

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, if you're an NBA fan,

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Speaker 1: you don't really care. Yeah, you know, if you're if

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Speaker 1: you're watching the games. Um, most of these games, many

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Speaker 1: of these games have been terrific. The level of play

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Speaker 1: from Okay, you know, there were teams that were shutting

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Speaker 1: down a little bit at the end, but there have

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Speaker 1: been a lot of high level games. There probably hasn't

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Speaker 1: been a day it's gone by where there hasn't been

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Speaker 1: at least one great game. And considering we are going

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Speaker 1: to have, um, eight days at least of four games

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Speaker 1: a day. UM, probably the chances that will be longer,

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Speaker 1: but eight at least eight consecutive days in August of

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Speaker 1: all day long basketball. You know, I don't know what

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Speaker 1: else you could want if you like the game. If

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Speaker 1: you like the game, this is what you do. This

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Speaker 1: is sort of a dream scenario. Yeah, I I do

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Speaker 1: wonder the only time the ratings you know, flat or

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Speaker 1: downward matter would come to the you know, basically the

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Speaker 1: new TV deal and UM, then it could impact the

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Speaker 1: salary cap, right, but overall, Yeah, I'm with you, like,

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Speaker 1: if you like the NBA you're watching, and I guess

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Speaker 1: the problem is the lack of urgency. Right. Basketball is

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Speaker 1: never going to be football where there's only six team

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Speaker 1: games and they matter. I mean, you know, eighty two

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Speaker 1: games you gotta I mean, Brian, two months of NBA

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Speaker 1: playoff games, like you could miss out on the first round.

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Speaker 1: You'll miss some good games, but in reality that the

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Speaker 1: next round should be incredible. So I don't think it's

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Speaker 1: huge that the ratings are down. I'm sure some people

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Speaker 1: will cite some of the China issues and you know,

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Speaker 1: the social media all that nonsense, But from my standp Wing,

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Speaker 1: I don't think it's a big deal unless the league

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Speaker 1: does that. You know. That's look, how can I look

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Speaker 1: at a rating and decide how many people are you know,

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Speaker 1: are thinking about the NBA relationship with China, The the

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Speaker 1: irony about the NBA's relationship, you know, the the you know,

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Speaker 1: and look, this is geopolitical stuff and I'm never going

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Speaker 1: to be in the geopolitical stuff. I will just say this,

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Speaker 1: the NBA's relationship in China is the worst that it's

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Speaker 1: been in decades. The NBA's business in China is the

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Speaker 1: worst that it's been in decades. So if the NBA

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Speaker 1: is is cow towing to China, uh, they're doing a

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Speaker 1: miserable job. Because Adam Silver's name is mud In China

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Speaker 1: right now, you can't even say the the word Rockets,

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Speaker 1: you know in media there, Uh they call them team

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Speaker 1: mosaic is the translation, but it's sort of you know,

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Speaker 1: I think the real translation would like team generic, you know. Um.

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Speaker 1: And like, by the way, the Rockets are the most

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Speaker 1: popular team in China. So just just you know, think of,

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Speaker 1: you know, by comparison, think of you had to talk about,

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Speaker 1: you know, Liverpool when we were talking about the English

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Speaker 1: Premier League. We were doing we were doing this, we

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Speaker 1: were doing the sports broadcast about you know, current sports,

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Speaker 1: and we couldn't say we talked about the Premier League

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Speaker 1: and we couldn't say Liverpool. We had to say, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, there's Team Generic and they're leading premierly. That's

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Speaker 1: what would be like. Um. So the NBA business in

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Speaker 1: China is terrible right now because the Chinese hated the

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Speaker 1: way that the NBA handled that crisis. Last fault, the

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Speaker 1: irony is the NBA is getting killed here for the

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Speaker 1: way they handled it with the assumption that they that

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Speaker 1: they somehow bent the need of China, when the reality

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Speaker 1: was the Chinese hated the way the end. The Chinese

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Speaker 1: were furious that Daryl Morey wasn't fired, They were furious

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Speaker 1: that there wasn't an apology. They were furious that that

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Speaker 1: Adam Silver didn't um come out and condemn the statement

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Speaker 1: and everything like that. And so the NBA is a

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Speaker 1: little bit damned if you do, damned if you don't.

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Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, it doesn't you know,

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Speaker 1: to to the fans sitting in sh Rgo or Houston

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Speaker 1: or Miami or l A. You want to see your

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Speaker 1: team play, or you want to see good basketball games

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Speaker 1: at night instead of watching Netflix. You will have that

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Speaker 1: opportunity here for a long time. Yeah, Brian, I want

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Speaker 1: to talk personally about you know, your history covering the league.

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Speaker 1: I get so many questions right now from young guys

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Speaker 1: on Instagram and Twitter like how do I get into

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Speaker 1: the media, And I was reading about your history. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you've written multiple books on Lebron, you actually went to

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Speaker 1: his high school. I'm just curious, did you how much

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Speaker 1: do you want to go into journalism? Back when you

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Speaker 1: were a young guy versus I don't know, something else

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Speaker 1: when you were growing up in Ohio and how much

423
00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:42,760
Speaker 1: of the Lebron factor kind of mattered? And listen, everybody

424
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,080
Speaker 1: has their reasons for going into sports. I was kind

425
00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:48,240
Speaker 1: of a failed youth athlete and and wanted to get

426
00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:51,480
Speaker 1: into sports. My parents nudged me into covering sports since

427
00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:53,240
Speaker 1: I loved it so much. But you know, what was

428
00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:56,159
Speaker 1: the impetus for your move to covering sports? Yeah, I

429
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,280
Speaker 1: mean me too. I was a baseball player and a golfer.

430
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,639
Speaker 1: I played highest goal golf, not particularly well, but I played,

431
00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:07,639
Speaker 1: you know, won some letters, what have you. Um Uh,

432
00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:10,359
Speaker 1: I was vastly interested in sports. I love sports and

433
00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,679
Speaker 1: um my mother was a softball coach and I kept

434
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:19,480
Speaker 1: her score book and statistics um for years, even before

435
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:21,000
Speaker 1: I was in high school. So I sort of got

436
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,919
Speaker 1: into that aspect of it. And by the time I

437
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:29,240
Speaker 1: had met Lebron James, um, even though I think I was,

438
00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:35,920
Speaker 1: how was I was maybe twenty maybe twenty or twenty

439
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:39,840
Speaker 1: one and he was fourteen, So I was. I had

440
00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:43,000
Speaker 1: already been working at a newspaper in Akron, Ohio for

441
00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:44,760
Speaker 1: five years at that point I started. There was a

442
00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:47,879
Speaker 1: part time when I was sixteen. So um, it was

443
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:53,119
Speaker 1: fortunate to come across this incredible life changing talent, and

444
00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:55,960
Speaker 1: it was it was incredible fortune that I became the

445
00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,440
Speaker 1: Cavaliers beat writer his rookie season. I would have been

446
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 1: the beat writer either way. I had worked my way

447
00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:04,360
Speaker 1: into position at the Acron Beacon Journal to do that,

448
00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:08,080
Speaker 1: um and um, but it just you know, it just

449
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:10,840
Speaker 1: so happened. A lottery worked out, you know. And so

450
00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:12,800
Speaker 1: even though I had covered him through high school, I

451
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:16,080
Speaker 1: could he could easily have gone to Memphis instead. That

452
00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,320
Speaker 1: was the final two Memphis in Cleveland, and I would

453
00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:20,240
Speaker 1: have lost track of them, and I would have written

454
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,080
Speaker 1: about him occasionally but not you know, every day. And

455
00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:24,679
Speaker 1: it just so happened that I got to do that

456
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,520
Speaker 1: for the next ten years as a daily beat writer.

457
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,080
Speaker 1: So um, you know, someone was fortunate, but I certainly

458
00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,159
Speaker 1: already was already headed down that path. But obviously Lebron

459
00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:37,040
Speaker 1: coming into my life was was a life changing in life. Uh,

460
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,600
Speaker 1: the opportunity of a lifetime and it's it's been a

461
00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:46,160
Speaker 1: great ride. He moves into I guess the seventeenth year

462
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,200
Speaker 1: of his career. Here, I don't want to say it

463
00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:51,080
Speaker 1: feels near the end when he was like basically going

464
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:52,480
Speaker 1: to be the runner up for the m v P.

465
00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,960
Speaker 1: But this is one of those pivotal postseasons for him, Brian,

466
00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:59,679
Speaker 1: no playoffs last year, they get the unfortunate draw with

467
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,040
Speaker 1: a pretty hot Portland's team, although I think the Lakers

468
00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:04,600
Speaker 1: blow him out here, but you could be looking at

469
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,960
Speaker 1: Portland's followed by Houston and then you know, the stacked

470
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:10,679
Speaker 1: Clippers and then be honest, this is gonna be a

471
00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:13,320
Speaker 1: difficult run. And I don't know, Brian, you know, I

472
00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 1: don't want to say there's a lot of pressure on

473
00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:17,720
Speaker 1: Lebron to deliver here, but thirty five years old, it

474
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:20,399
Speaker 1: ain't easy. We saw Michael Jordan really struggle. He had

475
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:23,199
Speaker 1: to retire once before that just to just to have

476
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 1: the legs it felt like to make another run. How

477
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:29,480
Speaker 1: how pivotal is this postseason for Lebron and as we

478
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:31,600
Speaker 1: move into the you know, the final back nine of

479
00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:35,439
Speaker 1: his career. Well, the thing about is is that he

480
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,720
Speaker 1: really had this team where he wanted it and the

481
00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:41,880
Speaker 1: season got short circuited. You know, he he had them

482
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,560
Speaker 1: in position with the number one seed, which was going

483
00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:46,920
Speaker 1: to end up being like one of the most valuable

484
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,000
Speaker 1: number one seeds ever, because you know, a lot of

485
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,000
Speaker 1: people believe that the championship this year will be who

486
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:55,359
Speaker 1: wins l A I don't know. I mean, Milwaukee would

487
00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 1: certainly square off with you, believing that the Raptors don't

488
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:01,160
Speaker 1: think anybody's go to beat him for out the seven,

489
00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,439
Speaker 1: and that maybe end up being true. But a lot

490
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:06,399
Speaker 1: of people believe that the Western Conference Finals will be

491
00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,280
Speaker 1: the real championship, and the Lakers were in position to

492
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,480
Speaker 1: basically have home court for every game. You know, that's

493
00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:15,600
Speaker 1: never happened before where the Lakers and Clippers have played

494
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:17,480
Speaker 1: each other in the playoffs, and here it was lined

495
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:19,720
Speaker 1: up for the Western Conference finals. And you know you've

496
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:21,879
Speaker 1: been the Clippers games, Jason, I don't know if you've

497
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,359
Speaker 1: been the Clippers Laker games, but it's like a Laker

498
00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 1: crowd now, you know. Steve Balmer again, he you know,

499
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,600
Speaker 1: Doc Rivers would square off with me about that one.

500
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:32,200
Speaker 1: But I would just tell you I've been to many

501
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 1: of them, especially this year, and they are Laker crowds.

502
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:37,920
Speaker 1: And so there was it was gonna be a huge

503
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,000
Speaker 1: home court advantage. And not only that, the Lakers were

504
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,040
Speaker 1: the league's best road team this year, and one of

505
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:45,960
Speaker 1: the reasons that were the leader's best road teams because

506
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:47,879
Speaker 1: they have the most fans, and they have fans in

507
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:51,760
Speaker 1: every city, and Lebron loves playing on the road. Lebron

508
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:55,760
Speaker 1: is arguably the greatest road performer in the playoffs in

509
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:59,480
Speaker 1: NBA history. Now, I'm sure that you know there's some

510
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:03,119
Speaker 1: stats from the Celtics back in the sixties. Um, you know,

511
00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:05,040
Speaker 1: and you know, you get into that stuff. It's hard

512
00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 1: to compare. And I'm sure that Jordan could say, well,

513
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 1: I'll give you road performances. How about six and oh

514
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 1: in the finals, big boy? Okay, that's that's fair. But

515
00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:16,280
Speaker 1: Lebron wont to won at least one road playoff game

516
00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:20,399
Speaker 1: in twenty five consecutive series. I was at all of

517
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:23,680
Speaker 1: those series. I can tell you that it was dan impressive.

518
00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 1: He won two game seven's on the road in his career. Um,

519
00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:30,080
Speaker 1: you know, one of them in the finals, one of

520
00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:32,439
Speaker 1: them in the conference finals. Go see how many guys

521
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 1: he's won his last five game seven um, and two

522
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:39,679
Speaker 1: of them are on the road, And go find that

523
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:42,040
Speaker 1: in the NBA record books. It's not easy to find.

524
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 1: He loves playing on the road in the playoffs. And

525
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 1: so he here, He's got his team the best road

526
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:49,040
Speaker 1: record in the league, one of the most valuable home

527
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,720
Speaker 1: court situations that they've ever had. He's got them totally

528
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,480
Speaker 1: on the runway. They're playing their best basketball in March,

529
00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,800
Speaker 1: and then the rug gets pulled out and now it's back,

530
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:02,040
Speaker 1: and it's back with out home or road. They're playing

531
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,920
Speaker 1: in an antiseptic arena. Lebron is talking about how difficult

532
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:07,640
Speaker 1: it is to get the same emotion for these games,

533
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,640
Speaker 1: although I'm wagering that he will have the emotion when

534
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:13,199
Speaker 1: it matters, but he struggled with it. The Lakers have

535
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,520
Speaker 1: struggled getting back to where they were. Um. So you know, yes,

536
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 1: it's there's pressure on him. And every year when you're

537
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,760
Speaker 1: this age, you know, I think it's just simple. Um.

538
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:26,640
Speaker 1: You know, in all of our lives. You know, there's

539
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,159
Speaker 1: only so many summers all of us have left in

540
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,639
Speaker 1: our lives, Jason, right, So you you know, you know,

541
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 1: I'm basically losing this summer. We're all losing this summer.

542
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,199
Speaker 1: My two year old, he doesn't care for me. How

543
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,600
Speaker 1: many summers do we have left? You know, how many

544
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,360
Speaker 1: playoff friends as Lebron have left? You know, it's it's

545
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 1: it's in the single digits. Maybe it's on one hand,

546
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:50,040
Speaker 1: maybe it's you know, I don't know, um, but things

547
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,480
Speaker 1: become more valuable as you get older. It's just it's

548
00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 1: just a rule of life. So the fact that he

549
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:56,960
Speaker 1: doesn't have many more left and also the fact that

550
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:01,000
Speaker 1: he had this team exactly in position to where they wanted,

551
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,920
Speaker 1: where he wanted it. And you know, the Warriors are

552
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,359
Speaker 1: out of the way for the first time and forever.

553
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:08,960
Speaker 1: There's some other teams out there that are rising up

554
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:13,040
Speaker 1: that are not quite there yet. Um. You know, I

555
00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:15,720
Speaker 1: firmly believe that Memphis will be an issue going forward.

556
00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:19,840
Speaker 1: I probably believe Dallas will be an issue going forward. Um,

557
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:21,879
Speaker 1: Denver may be an issue going forward. But none of

558
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:24,720
Speaker 1: those teams are quite there yet. Like he he had.

559
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,760
Speaker 1: This is a beautiful, uh path he had right out

560
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 1: laid in front of him. And so that's more than

561
00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 1: anything else, is that this was a great opportunity that

562
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,320
Speaker 1: you know, is he had a firm gret rip on

563
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,040
Speaker 1: that is now a little loose. Yeah, let me ask

564
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,320
Speaker 1: about another game that's uh, you know, on today on Tuesday,

565
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:46,840
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Bucks, they opened against or Orlando. They should smoke him.

566
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:49,600
Speaker 1: But Brian, I gotta say, you know, Milwaukee's defense was

567
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 1: the best in the league before the stoppage. They were

568
00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:54,240
Speaker 1: kind of I think they were eight out of twenty

569
00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:56,240
Speaker 1: two in the bubble. And again, I don't want to

570
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 1: go too much into you know, whether or not they

571
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,800
Speaker 1: had their full squad odd with bloods out with Covid

572
00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:05,000
Speaker 1: and Connaton, and you know whether or not Janice was

573
00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:07,440
Speaker 1: locked in. We saw him a head butt Moe Wagner.

574
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,360
Speaker 1: But I just wonder about Janice state of mind. He's

575
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:13,800
Speaker 1: a young guy. He's probably gonna win m VP Defensive

576
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,360
Speaker 1: Player of the Year, and oh yeah, the super Max

577
00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 1: offers coming whenever this offseason happens, you know, whether that's

578
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 1: you know, October or whatever. But Brian, there's a lot

579
00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:26,240
Speaker 1: of pressure on Janice here, right. I mean, I can't

580
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:28,760
Speaker 1: imagine if the Bucks don't get to the finals or

581
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,720
Speaker 1: win it, that he's not gonna have some offseason questions

582
00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:34,160
Speaker 1: about this team going forward. Or can Milwaukee just say,

583
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:35,960
Speaker 1: you know what, this was a unique season. We got

584
00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:38,120
Speaker 1: to throw it out the window. We'll be back next year.

585
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,760
Speaker 1: I mean maybe, I mean it reminds me a lot

586
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:46,080
Speaker 1: of Lebron and Durant. You know, Lebron got seven years

587
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:49,720
Speaker 1: in couldn't you know, had reached the one finals but

588
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:51,800
Speaker 1: was swept out of it. And in his last three

589
00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:56,160
Speaker 1: years in Cleveland couldn't get to the finals. Um, and

590
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 1: the perception was you can't do it there. And you

591
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:00,720
Speaker 1: know the last two years there he won m vps

592
00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:03,360
Speaker 1: that he had, they had the number one overall seed.

593
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,600
Speaker 1: I mean, I think the the challenge for the Bucks

594
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:09,600
Speaker 1: is that, um, in half court situations, when they have

595
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:12,720
Speaker 1: to get half court baskets, they no longer are the

596
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:14,720
Speaker 1: best team. You know, you know, you look at their

597
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:16,920
Speaker 1: stats and they are the best team in so many

598
00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 1: different things. Um. You know, they they incredibly efficient offensively.

599
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:26,800
Speaker 1: Their defensive numbers before the shutdown were historically great. Um,

600
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,560
Speaker 1: they do a brilliant job with their rotation where resting

601
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:32,680
Speaker 1: their players. You honest, is gonna win the m v

602
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:35,400
Speaker 1: P this year averaging like thirty two minutes a game,

603
00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:37,760
Speaker 1: and he still had numbers that beat everybody else. I mean,

604
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:42,160
Speaker 1: it's amazing. Um, when it comes to the half court offense,

605
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,080
Speaker 1: when you when the other team knows what play you're

606
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:48,480
Speaker 1: running and they can set their defense, you know, they

607
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:51,440
Speaker 1: have not proven that that they can get the two

608
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 1: points when they really need it. Your honest is not proven.

609
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:58,080
Speaker 1: And you know, uh, he'll either do it or he won't, Jason,

610
00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:01,520
Speaker 1: you know, and and if he doesn't, I can just

611
00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:04,280
Speaker 1: tell you. I know, I saw it with Durant. Durant

612
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,640
Speaker 1: felt that he needed more help and Lebron felt he

613
00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,080
Speaker 1: needed more help, and they made moves. And you know,

614
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:12,320
Speaker 1: you can talk to people in Milwaukee and they will

615
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:16,280
Speaker 1: say that Janice is not those two guys. Um, you know,

616
00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:18,720
Speaker 1: we have the super Max on our side, the extra

617
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:21,440
Speaker 1: you know, seventy million dollars. Of course, we don't really

618
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:23,480
Speaker 1: know how much it is because we have no idea

619
00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:26,760
Speaker 1: what the cap is going to be. But um, you know,

620
00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:29,360
Speaker 1: and that may be true, but I can just tell

621
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 1: you that, Um, you know, you can sit here and

622
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:39,560
Speaker 1: and make all kinds of projections and sources said and

623
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:43,160
Speaker 1: everything like that, all that really matters is where the

624
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,600
Speaker 1: player's heads at when the time for the decision comes.

625
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:48,560
Speaker 1: And so I have no idea where you honest's head

626
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: is going to be at in November. Uh, I will

627
00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 1: have to wait and see how it goes. Um, but

628
00:31:56,520 --> 00:32:00,280
Speaker 1: I can tell you that having Ben and see this

629
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,080
Speaker 1: happened before. It's it's a lot of stress for sure.

630
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,720
Speaker 1: And um, you know, when you're the number one overall seed,

631
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:10,320
Speaker 1: you know, you know year after year you've got to

632
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:15,640
Speaker 1: answer in the playoffs or otherwise. You know, changes happen. Yeah, listen,

633
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,320
Speaker 1: it's the tough part about Janice is projecting where he

634
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:22,720
Speaker 1: might go. Uh. Now, remember Kauai uh had his options

635
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:25,080
Speaker 1: went Clippers. Nobody thought Paul George would be in the mix.

636
00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,360
Speaker 1: I just have issues finding a landing spot for Yannice.

637
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:30,760
Speaker 1: We discussed on the on straight fire here. You know,

638
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:34,800
Speaker 1: possibly the Warriors with some trade with tossing and picks

639
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:38,280
Speaker 1: in a trade, and maybe the Knicks, but they seem

640
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:41,560
Speaker 1: so far away. And that's where you know, you talked

641
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:43,480
Speaker 1: to a lot of insiders around the league. Have you

642
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:47,800
Speaker 1: heard any interesting teams that you know, maybe fall outside

643
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:50,400
Speaker 1: the usual? Uh hey, he could go to one of

644
00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:53,520
Speaker 1: the three best teams in the league. Well, it's very different.

645
00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:55,960
Speaker 1: You know, back when Lebron was a free agent two

646
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:59,240
Speaker 1: thousand ten, you could see all of the teams getting

647
00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,600
Speaker 1: in line. You could see the knicks and the nets

648
00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 1: and the heat. Um they were telegraphing what they were doing.

649
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:08,760
Speaker 1: You could see you know, the Knicks, you know, might

650
00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,960
Speaker 1: as well have put a sign outside um massive square

651
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,080
Speaker 1: garden in the fall of two thousand eight that they

652
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:17,120
Speaker 1: were plotting for Lebron two thousand and ten. They seriously,

653
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:20,680
Speaker 1: you know, the heat the same thing, Um, you could

654
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:24,200
Speaker 1: see it happening. And so Lebron actually had an incredible

655
00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:28,680
Speaker 1: series of options. He had the Bulls, both New York teams, Um,

656
00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:31,560
Speaker 1: the Heat, the Clippers. Now back then the Clippers weren't

657
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,520
Speaker 1: you know that appealing? Uh, he could have gone to

658
00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:38,200
Speaker 1: the Mavericks maybe, So you know, he probably had the

659
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:41,480
Speaker 1: greatest menu of options that's ever happened. Um. I think

660
00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:43,840
Speaker 1: Kauai is close to that. He had both l A

661
00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,600
Speaker 1: teams and both New York teams. You know that would

662
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:48,920
Speaker 1: would have taken him. So both Kauai and Lebron had

663
00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 1: great options. And I think, you know, it's harder to

664
00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:54,600
Speaker 1: project because we don't know where the salary cap is

665
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,640
Speaker 1: going to be. But my feeling, Jason is that if

666
00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:00,840
Speaker 1: you honest does not extend. And again he tell it

667
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 1: to somebody of Milwaukee and down go the gloves and

668
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:05,520
Speaker 1: up come the fifth and they say, we honest loves it.

669
00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:07,600
Speaker 1: Here He's gonna put his name on that line, and

670
00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 1: that may happen. And this may be a mood conversation.

671
00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:12,560
Speaker 1: But you know, when you talk to people in the league,

672
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,760
Speaker 1: they think is going to have five or six tremendous options.

673
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:19,719
Speaker 1: They think he's you know, Miami is is trying to

674
00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:21,400
Speaker 1: line it up. Whether or not they can pull it

675
00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:24,440
Speaker 1: off depends on the salary cap. You know, you mentioned

676
00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:28,439
Speaker 1: Golden State and maybe um, you know, Toronto is got

677
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:32,799
Speaker 1: their cap you know, really really clear for the next uh,

678
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:36,080
Speaker 1: you know, for two years from now. At the moment,

679
00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:38,279
Speaker 1: I mean, if the cap drops by thirty million, it's

680
00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:41,280
Speaker 1: gonna be a different conversation. But at the moment, Toronto

681
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:44,520
Speaker 1: has its cap, you know, wide open um. The Mix

682
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:49,000
Speaker 1: have their cap wide open um. You know, uh, you know,

683
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:53,880
Speaker 1: he's probably you know, the Mavericks. I mean again, in theory.

684
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:56,719
Speaker 1: I have to say in theory, because you could listen

685
00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:59,000
Speaker 1: to this podcast again at six months and call me

686
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:02,200
Speaker 1: an idiot because you like didn't shoot you know. In theory,

687
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:05,560
Speaker 1: the Mavericks in two years before Luca don Chet signs

688
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:10,040
Speaker 1: his big extension, we'll have the money to go after

689
00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:14,960
Speaker 1: Janice Um. So he may have a set of terrific options.

690
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:17,759
Speaker 1: But he may, but there's no way to know for

691
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:20,080
Speaker 1: his head is gonna be at So that's the one

692
00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: thing that I've always said when it comes to Star

693
00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:25,880
Speaker 1: free agency, which Star free agency has to fined the

694
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:30,120
Speaker 1: NBA for the last decade. But I guess the last question,

695
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:33,640
Speaker 1: Brian uh pertains to you being like one of those insiders,

696
00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:36,200
Speaker 1: and and I've you know, I started out in journalism

697
00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:41,240
Speaker 1: at newspapers and just to watch how much things have changed.

698
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:45,160
Speaker 1: Obviously social media impacts a lot. I just I just wonder,

699
00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:48,640
Speaker 1: you know, the breaking news aspect of of sports, the

700
00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:54,560
Speaker 1: transactional nature lasts what three minutes before every every newspaper, website,

701
00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:57,319
Speaker 1: every blog has something up. I mean, I'm sure some

702
00:35:57,320 --> 00:35:59,640
Speaker 1: people will pull some stuff from this and say, Brian

703
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:02,719
Speaker 1: went says blah blah blah, Like how do you as

704
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:05,960
Speaker 1: a as a journalist handle that and and deal with it?

705
00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:09,640
Speaker 1: Because I'm sure it's happening on almost a daily basis. Well,

706
00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:12,080
Speaker 1: I have largely backed out of the breaking news business.

707
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:13,799
Speaker 1: You know, I did it for years. And I mean

708
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:15,880
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that if I don't come across something,

709
00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:19,640
Speaker 1: I won't do it, But I'm not chasing breaking news anymore.

710
00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:26,120
Speaker 1: I am now really really focused on on explaining what's

711
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:28,920
Speaker 1: going to happen in the future. And so, you know,

712
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:31,879
Speaker 1: in in April, I wrote a story. I don't remember

713
00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:34,239
Speaker 1: what day it was in April, but the the first

714
00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:36,080
Speaker 1: sentence of the story was, the NBA is gonna have

715
00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:38,400
Speaker 1: to build a bubble. And I broke down with an

716
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:40,640
Speaker 1: NBA bubble, what the India is gonna have to do?

717
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:43,480
Speaker 1: And then, you know, I think on May first, I

718
00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:45,480
Speaker 1: had done research for a month and I wrote a

719
00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:47,600
Speaker 1: big story about what the NBA bubble was going to

720
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:52,440
Speaker 1: have to look like. And and most recently, I wrote

721
00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:59,200
Speaker 1: a story about how NBA owners are hugely, massively cash strapped, um,

722
00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:03,040
Speaker 1: and that then you know that the Golden State Warriors

723
00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:05,479
Speaker 1: are lining up a two hundred and fifty million dollar

724
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,120
Speaker 1: loan just to start covering their losses that they're facing

725
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:10,920
Speaker 1: for next season, and how next season is facing a

726
00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:16,480
Speaker 1: you know, a massive cash flow problem. Um, and um,

727
00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:20,560
Speaker 1: you know I wrote about, you know, back in in June.

728
00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:25,120
Speaker 1: You know, I wrote about how Adam Silver, his relationship

729
00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,400
Speaker 1: with with Chris Paul is going to make this thing possible.

730
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,040
Speaker 1: And so I'm trying to write about you know, you

731
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:37,160
Speaker 1: know I was I think gambling UH passed in UM

732
00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:40,040
Speaker 1: in the spring of two thousand and eighteen, came out

733
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:42,600
Speaker 1: of the Supreme Court. Well. I had written a giant

734
00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:45,920
Speaker 1: piece in the late summer of two thousand seventeen talking

735
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:49,279
Speaker 1: about what it would mean in the NBA's you know,

736
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:51,719
Speaker 1: lobbying behind the scenes, try to get it done, like

737
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:55,200
Speaker 1: I am now looking more into looking into the future.

738
00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:59,080
Speaker 1: And it doesn't get as many retweets when you do

739
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:02,759
Speaker 1: a story like that, UM. But that's the journalism that

740
00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:06,040
Speaker 1: I'm focused on right now, is doing stuff where I'm

741
00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:08,960
Speaker 1: going to try to keep the people who choose to

742
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:13,360
Speaker 1: read me ahead of the game. UM. You know, Transactional

743
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:19,200
Speaker 1: reporting is UM. It's a tremendously difficult and challenging thing,

744
00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:23,799
Speaker 1: UH thing, and it's UM it's a style of reporting

745
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:26,880
Speaker 1: that I don't particularly find enjoyable. There are other people

746
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:31,440
Speaker 1: who are absolutely the best in the world at it. UM.

747
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:35,400
Speaker 1: Very rarely does a transaction happen, but I don't know

748
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:37,759
Speaker 1: is going to happen. I shouldn't say very rarely, but

749
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:41,279
Speaker 1: most of the time I'm aware of transaction is going

750
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:44,520
Speaker 1: to happen before it happens. Now it does it rise

751
00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:47,560
Speaker 1: to the level where I could report it. That's the problem, right,

752
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:51,000
Speaker 1: if you could, if you could nail down every single

753
00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:53,960
Speaker 1: piece of information that you hear, you know, that would

754
00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:56,760
Speaker 1: be great. And and and you know, nowadays you can't.

755
00:38:57,440 --> 00:38:59,640
Speaker 1: You can't speculate on something like that, like you know,

756
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:03,040
Speaker 1: like like a week ago, you know, I was pretty

757
00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:05,520
Speaker 1: sure Alvin Gentry is getting fired. Okay, But if I

758
00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:07,839
Speaker 1: had come on your podcast, we could go and said, yeah,

759
00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:10,840
Speaker 1: there's you know, there's a pretty decent chance Elvin Gentry

760
00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:13,479
Speaker 1: is probably gonna get fired. You could have said something

761
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:16,400
Speaker 1: like that in two thousand and eight. Now you say

762
00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:19,200
Speaker 1: that and it's it's a headline and I have to

763
00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:22,239
Speaker 1: go explain it on Sports Center, and then you know,

764
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 1: you'd have the denials and everything like that. It becomes

765
00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:28,799
Speaker 1: a giant headache. So um, Basically, I try to use

766
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:31,840
Speaker 1: the inside information that I have about the league to

767
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:33,960
Speaker 1: inform the way I talked about the league, in the

768
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:37,360
Speaker 1: way I report the league, because the act of that

769
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:41,720
Speaker 1: transactional reporting, and not only that, it's not just transactional,

770
00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:47,200
Speaker 1: it's now incremental reporting, which is very very difficult. You know.

771
00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:49,920
Speaker 1: So for example, we have a big trade, Anthony Davis

772
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:52,720
Speaker 1: has trade of the Lakers. Right, Well, we have Anthony

773
00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:55,680
Speaker 1: Davis is thinking about asking for a trade. If Anthony

774
00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:57,920
Speaker 1: Davis is having a meeting, we have Anthony Davis has

775
00:39:57,960 --> 00:40:00,560
Speaker 1: asked for a trade. We have this offer, we have

776
00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:03,880
Speaker 1: that offered, that offers shot down. There's there's thirty seven

777
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:07,600
Speaker 1: different layers the ante Davis getting traded to the Lakers,

778
00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:10,440
Speaker 1: and every single one of those layers is you know,

779
00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:13,880
Speaker 1: is in a news cycle. And the problem is, um,

780
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:17,520
Speaker 1: the news cycle has happened so fast. Uh, you report

781
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,800
Speaker 1: something and then like eleven minutes later, three layers have happened,

782
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:24,080
Speaker 1: and you know, I it's just and like, by the way,

783
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 1: like I'm not saying that, I just I don't like it.

784
00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:29,719
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's it's I think it's a it's

785
00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:33,440
Speaker 1: an indication of the desire for news. It's a good

786
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:37,279
Speaker 1: thing that people wanted incremental reporting. And I've done lots

787
00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:40,200
Speaker 1: of incremental reporting. I'm not saying I haven't. You can

788
00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:42,279
Speaker 1: find story. You can find a lot of stories out

789
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:44,680
Speaker 1: there with me. For me, you know, moving the ball

790
00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:47,200
Speaker 1: six inches down the field, just like everybody else. I

791
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:50,560
Speaker 1: just don't particularly like those types of stories. I don't

792
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:54,120
Speaker 1: like chasing the six inches down field. I'd rather be

793
00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:57,680
Speaker 1: forty yards down the field doing a story down there.

794
00:40:57,760 --> 00:41:01,080
Speaker 1: Even if everybody's eyes are back at the twenty yard

795
00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:04,319
Speaker 1: line and I'm at the I'm at midfield. I'd rather

796
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:08,040
Speaker 1: be at midfield doing that work that I find more interesting.

797
00:41:08,719 --> 00:41:10,400
Speaker 1: I think that's a smart place to be, all right,

798
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:12,959
Speaker 1: Brian will end it there, Brian Winhorse. You can read

799
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:15,000
Speaker 1: his books go on Amazon. I mean, how many books

800
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:17,840
Speaker 1: have you written? Brian? Three? Five? I lost, I written

801
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:22,040
Speaker 1: for Okay, New York Times bestseller. He's got a podcast,

802
00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:24,120
Speaker 1: He's on TV all the time. I don't know how

803
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:26,440
Speaker 1: you do it with the family at home. I'm just

804
00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:28,439
Speaker 1: trying to stay on your level. Brian, thanks a lot

805
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:31,760
Speaker 1: for taking the time and enjoy the NBA playoffs. Okay,

806
00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:40,400
Speaker 1: thanks Jason, take care. The only thing better than sitting

807
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:44,160
Speaker 1: on your couch watching the game. He's making money while

808
00:41:44,239 --> 00:41:51,799
Speaker 1: you do it. Here's your best bet. It's time for

809
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,960
Speaker 1: the best bet here on straight fire. Your boy is

810
00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:58,600
Speaker 1: two and oh. Early last week I hit two. Didn't

811
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:00,560
Speaker 1: really make any bets later in the week, but I

812
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:04,719
Speaker 1: have a best bet for Tuesday's NBA game. So First

813
00:42:04,719 --> 00:42:07,560
Speaker 1: of all, Houston okay see, I don't see a line

814
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:10,839
Speaker 1: as of right now because of the Westbrook situation and

815
00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:13,560
Speaker 1: Lou Dort uh, don't laugh. Lou Dort kind of a

816
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:16,520
Speaker 1: factor for okay Ce defensively, we don't know his status either.

817
00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:21,120
Speaker 1: Another injury in the Portland games, Zach Collins has been

818
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:24,160
Speaker 1: ruled out four game one against the Lakers. I guess

819
00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:27,640
Speaker 1: that means possibly Hassan white Side starts next to nir

820
00:42:27,719 --> 00:42:29,400
Speaker 1: Kits or they moved Mellow to the four so they

821
00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:33,520
Speaker 1: got options. But I'm passing on that game. I have

822
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,839
Speaker 1: a feeling Indiana comes out with something to really prove,

823
00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:39,280
Speaker 1: having lost the last game to Miami, So I'm punting

824
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:41,640
Speaker 1: on that and I'm going Chalky. Folks, I hate to

825
00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:44,960
Speaker 1: do this. You know you never make money betting on

826
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:49,360
Speaker 1: double digit favorites, but I'm going with the Milwaukee Bucks

827
00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:54,040
Speaker 1: favored by twelve against Orlando. We thought we saw Toronto's

828
00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:58,880
Speaker 1: just stampede over Brooklyn easily winning by twenty plus on Monday,

829
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:02,520
Speaker 1: and I think the Buck handle business against Orlando. Remember

830
00:43:02,560 --> 00:43:05,000
Speaker 1: a lot of doubts about the Bucks with not a

831
00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:08,440
Speaker 1: great showing early in the bubble hit and miss with

832
00:43:08,480 --> 00:43:12,000
Speaker 1: Bledsoe Knat and Janice had an injection and you could

833
00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:15,600
Speaker 1: hear the doubt creeping in. I think Budenholzer gets them

834
00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:20,600
Speaker 1: really in line. And Orlando, it's basically if Aaron Gordon plays,

835
00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:22,759
Speaker 1: that's their only hope that he can slow Jannice, I

836
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:25,680
Speaker 1: don't see it happening. I like the Bucks favored by twelve.

837
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:28,880
Speaker 1: Please don't laugh at me for taking a double digit favorite,

838
00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:32,680
Speaker 1: so that's straight fire. Thank you for listening, subscribe, rate,

839
00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:35,720
Speaker 1: and review. We will be back tomorrow. Peace