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Speaker 1: The volume. The Colin Coward Podcast presented by FanDuel Sports Book.

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Speaker 1: Get started now, sign up promo code Colin so they

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Speaker 1: know we and I sent you. The Colin Coward Podcast

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Speaker 1: presented by the Fan Duel Sports Book. Hie everybody, and

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Speaker 1: welcome into the Monday Morning Podcast. My buddy Chris Mannox

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Speaker 1: who does all things NBA, been covering it for years.

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Speaker 1: Boxing two. We're talking pro hoops today though, about ten

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Speaker 1: minutes of thoughts before we start. So the local TV

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Speaker 1: ratings for all the NBA teams are out, and something

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Speaker 1: that really stood out to me the top four ratings

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Speaker 1: locally for NBA teams Warriors number one by a landslide,

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Speaker 1: calves seventy sixers bucks. That's interesting. Bottom four teams included

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Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Nets and the Clippers. Now think about that.

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Speaker 1: I want you to think about that. Brooklyn nets and

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Speaker 1: the Clippers have stars. See, this is what really matters

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Speaker 1: if you want to attract people. Community and connection matter.

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Speaker 1: The Warriors, Steph Clay Draymond soaked into the local community,

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Speaker 1: great stories, people know them, have been rooting for them,

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Speaker 1: the ups and downs, They've lived through it together. We'll

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Speaker 1: call on What about Cleveland, Yes, believe it or not,

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Speaker 1: Cleveland's local ratings. Lebron left their number two in the league.

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Speaker 1: How a group of young, ascending core players. Cleveland says, Hey,

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Speaker 1: the last star bailed on us twice. Let's grow with

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Speaker 1: these ascending young players. Also, big Milwaukee Bucks, not just

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Speaker 1: the championship overwhelmingly the same cast of players, Not an

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Speaker 1: overly mobile team, not coming and going rooted in Janie

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Speaker 1: and Chris Middleton. This matters to fans. We us team.

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Speaker 1: I mean, think about college basketball. The quality is not great.

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Speaker 1: It's a revolving door for the truly talented high school

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Speaker 1: one year of college off to the NBA. But the

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Speaker 1: reason college basketball works and I watched a lot of

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Speaker 1: it the last two weeks when football ended and there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of packed arenas is because you feel like

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Speaker 1: you're part of the team, your longtime season ticket holder.

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Speaker 1: They wear that Kansas jersey, they wear that Missouri jersey,

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Speaker 1: they wear that Kentucky jersey. You feel like you're part

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Speaker 1: of the collective that really matters. It's not just about

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Speaker 1: getting stars. The Lakers have the biggest brand in the

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Speaker 1: NBA and their middle of the pack in NBA ratings.

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Speaker 1: Why Mellow Westbrook, Anthony Davis, Lebron. They feel like visitors.

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Speaker 1: Lebron's not nearly as popular as Kobe, Magic or Shack.

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Speaker 1: It's the Bucks, It's the ascending young Calves, It's the

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Speaker 1: long road, the journey of the Warriors, the lands with

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Speaker 1: people a lot of different report It's out there about

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Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers wanting fifty million dollars and people saying, wow,

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Speaker 1: I mean Aaron, Aaron denyingen. This is just listen. First

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Speaker 1: of all, the best quarterback won every division last year. Increasingly,

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Speaker 1: the rules are telling you if you don't have a

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Speaker 1: star quarterback or the second best quarterback in your division,

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Speaker 1: you're not going to be a playoff team. Things that

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Speaker 1: are interesting in noteworthy, though, People tell you what they

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Speaker 1: care about by their decisions. If you go back the

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Speaker 1: last twenty years in the NFL. Think about this, Unless

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Speaker 1: you have a quarterback named Brady or Manning, you're not

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Speaker 1: winning a Super Bowl if your quarterback is a top

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Speaker 1: five cap hit the exception Brady Peyton, Eli Manning, Matt Stafford.

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Speaker 1: This year was the ninth biggest cap pit. So if

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Speaker 1: you start looking at the players this year, that we're

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Speaker 1: one through eight in cap hits, Russell Wilson fourth place,

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Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins disappointing Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan, Jimmy Gee, Big Band,

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Speaker 1: Derek Carr, Carson Wentz. What does it mean you can't

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Speaker 1: have that third great receiver, you can't have that second

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Speaker 1: top pass rusher. Maybe you're a week at center. Listen,

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Speaker 1: I'm for guys making whatever they can. Well, Colin, Aaron's

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Speaker 1: not married to a supermodel. But Aaron also doesn't need

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Speaker 1: a forty million dollar house in a big expensive city.

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Speaker 1: He spends a million dollars probably to buy a little

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Speaker 1: place in Green Bay, not married, no kids. All the

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Speaker 1: money is his. Listen, we can make excuses. I'm for

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Speaker 1: pro athletes getting what they want, but I've said this

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Speaker 1: about Russell Wilson. People show you what they really need.

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Speaker 1: Or care about by their decisions. Hey, I love Troy

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Speaker 1: Aigman and I'm happy for him. And I text him

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Speaker 1: when he left, and he text me back. WAS liked him,

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Speaker 1: but he wanted to get paid more. He's not going

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Speaker 1: to get consistently as good at games leaving Fox. We

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Speaker 1: know that I worked at ESPN Monday Night Football. If

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of dogs in those games, and I

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Speaker 1: don't think he's going to have a broadcast partner nearly

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Speaker 1: as talented as Joe Buck. I don't hold it against

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Speaker 1: Troy Aikman. He's like, hey man, I've been doing this

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Speaker 1: a long time. It's time to go look around the league.

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Speaker 1: Look at what Amazon offers Jean McVay, look at what

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Speaker 1: Tony Romo makes on to make some bank. I got

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Speaker 1: no problem with it. People tell you what they want

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Speaker 1: by their choices. And if Aaron Rodgers wants to make

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Speaker 1: fifty million, god love you. But last twenty years, that

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Speaker 1: kind of cap hit. It's not a super Bowl team.

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Speaker 1: Also saw a really interesting story Ali Marpet, a top five,

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Speaker 1: maybe better guard for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He's retiring,

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Speaker 1: and I mean top five guard in the NFL, and

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Speaker 1: he's twenty eight years old, excellent player. And what it

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Speaker 1: shows you is two things. The power of guaranteed Bunny.

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Speaker 1: Those guys in the trenches. Now after they wrap up

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Speaker 1: that second contract thirty forty million, if they're elite, they

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Speaker 1: don't need to play any longer. Ali Marpet's body wearing down.

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Speaker 1: It all show shows you the power of Brady. Think

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Speaker 1: maybe he stays around one more year with Tom Gronk's

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Speaker 1: gonna leave. Ali Marpet's gonna leave. Remember after the Buccaneers won,

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Speaker 1: everybody came back, the coaches and the players. You know,

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Speaker 1: you talk about great players like Tom Brady. It's not

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Speaker 1: just the commitment he makes, but when Tom comes aboard,

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Speaker 1: players historically take less, become less mobile, want to stick

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Speaker 1: around for another year. Ali Marpet is a tremendous player,

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Speaker 1: has every right to retire. But there's part of me

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Speaker 1: that thinks if Tom Water run it back again, Ali

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Speaker 1: would have played one more year. All right, we have

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Speaker 1: him at the Volume. He's the host of Boxing with

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Speaker 1: Chris Mannox, the podcast on the Volume. He's spectacular and

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Speaker 1: also you get a lot of free money with him

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Speaker 1: in his boxing bets. But today we're talking NBA hoop

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Speaker 1: senior NBA writer for Sports Illustrated. So I've watched Harden

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Speaker 1: an mbad twice and I watched the whole game, or

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Speaker 1: I'd say about ninety percent of it today with the Sixers.

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Speaker 1: So my takeaway is it's much easier to bring one

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Speaker 1: talented player, albeit sometimes disengaged, one quality, high end Hall

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Speaker 1: of Flame player into a joyful chemistry and beats having

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Speaker 1: an MVP year. You know, Max, he's gonna have to

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Speaker 1: scoot over a little bit. But I mean it's a

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Speaker 1: good team, good chemistry, and I thought it would work

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Speaker 1: fairly quickly. Now I'm not gonna make I thought the

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Speaker 1: ball movement today was fantastic. It is the next I'll get.

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Speaker 1: I'll get to Brooklyn in a second. But I'll tell

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Speaker 1: you two games in and these aren't great teams. But

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Speaker 1: what I watched today, I felt like Harden was incredibly comfortable.

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Speaker 1: He was happy, not always the case, you know, and

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Speaker 1: Beads a remarkable player. But it might Esthetically, I'm like,

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Speaker 1: kind of works now. Tobias Harris isn't doing much. Is

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Speaker 1: he the odd man out? But it kind of works, right,

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Speaker 1: I think it works. I think it will work extremely

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Speaker 1: well this season. It might even work to the point

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Speaker 1: where they win a championship. Because you use the word

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Speaker 1: happy with Harden, and with him, that's always kind of

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Speaker 1: the operative term. You know, when he's happy, he plays

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Speaker 1: really well. Like you know, there were times during his

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Speaker 1: partnership with Russell Westbrook that they look dynamic together. You

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Speaker 1: go back to last season, in the brief whatever two

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Speaker 1: hundred minutes that Durant, Irving and Hardened played together, they

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Speaker 1: worked really well, and a big reason was because Harden

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Speaker 1: came into that situation determined to make it work, like

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Speaker 1: he was going to find a way to make sure

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Speaker 1: he fit in opposite Kyrie Irving, to make sure he'd

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Speaker 1: become more of a playmaker. He saw his shots per

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Speaker 1: game go down in that first season in Brooklyn, and

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Speaker 1: I expect him to do that over the course of

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Speaker 1: this season. Not only you know again and you're right,

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Speaker 1: it's you know, Minnesota and the Knicks, and we'll see

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Speaker 1: when they play one of the top tier teams, but

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Speaker 1: I expect him to be deferential to Joel mb to

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Speaker 1: try to be the one A to his one. I

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Speaker 1: expect him to do everything he can do to make

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Speaker 1: sure that Tyrese Maxie doesn't skip a beat. What I

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Speaker 1: worry about with Harden is year two and year three

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Speaker 1: and what happens if MB goes down with an injury

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Speaker 1: Like this is the risk of James Harden, Like, if

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Speaker 1: you're going to tie yourself to a player and commit

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Speaker 1: two hundred and seventy million dollars to him, he's a

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Speaker 1: risky guy to do that with because he's proven in

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Speaker 1: back to back stops that when he doesn't get his way,

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Speaker 1: regardless of contract situation, he could throw the kind of

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Speaker 1: tantrum that'll get him kind of pushed out of town.

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Speaker 1: So look, I think they're going to be excellent this year.

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Speaker 1: Maybe maybe they don't win a championship. I can see

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Speaker 1: that team in the Eastern Conference finals and with a

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Speaker 1: lot of momentum going into next year. But next year

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Speaker 1: worries me. Year three worries me. How this player operates,

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Speaker 1: you know, once he gets a little more comfortable in

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Speaker 1: the surroundings, that decides he wants to be the guy

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Speaker 1: once again. That would worry me. Yeah, you know, it's interesting.

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Speaker 1: He's obviously a high maintenance guy. And I mean, listen,

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Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. I mean, look at his NFL career. There's

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Speaker 1: a lot of drama, you know, calling out front office people,

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Speaker 1: weekly press conferences, stirring people up with his vaccination status.

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Speaker 1: But I also think, I mean, I can live with

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Speaker 1: a lot of that maintenance. Here's where I would defend

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Speaker 1: Harden over a Kyrie Irving. The Houston situation was untenable,

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Speaker 1: but it was kind of a mess. I don't think

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Speaker 1: Harden's the easiest guard to play with if you're a guard,

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Speaker 1: but I would make the argument that and Bead's the

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Speaker 1: first great center he's played with, like he shouldn't have

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Speaker 1: been deferential to Clint Capella, like you know. And so

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Speaker 1: when I look at Harden, I'm like, like, I get

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Speaker 1: him looking at and beat and saying okay, shit, I

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Speaker 1: got shack okay, because I think he sees himself and

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Speaker 1: rightly so like an Aaron Rodgers sees himself as sort

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Speaker 1: of you know above about ninety eight percent of the players,

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Speaker 1: I think Brooklyn would have worked. I always felt Kyrie

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Speaker 1: was the issue. I mean, when you started staying the

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Speaker 1: world is flat, your vaccination status going, you know, sage

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Speaker 1: in the locker room, you could have reported that somebody

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Speaker 1: reports that I don't feel Harden's weird. I feel James

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Speaker 1: is high maintenance and I can live with a little

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Speaker 1: bit of that. I mean, that's my takeaway that Kyrie's

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Speaker 1: a different bird altogether here, Like I'm not sure Kyrie's

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Speaker 1: workable anywhere. Well, you might be right about that, and

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Speaker 1: you know, we'll get to the nets. But if this

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Speaker 1: season goes off the skids, he's gonna bear the blame for,

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Speaker 1: you know, detonating the championship hopes of maybe three franchises

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Speaker 1: through Cleveland and Boston into that mix where where I

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Speaker 1: worry about Harden. And maybe you're right that, you know,

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Speaker 1: you play with a big like Joel Embiid and all

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Speaker 1: of a sudden he sees his shack and he sees

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Speaker 1: the opportunity to win championships. But he can be Kobe.

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Speaker 1: He could be. But I'm old enough to remember Colin

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Speaker 1: last year when you know, he was saying, you know,

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Speaker 1: I understand it's not just about you know, numbers. For me,

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Speaker 1: it's about you know, winning at the stage of my

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Speaker 1: career and my problem with Brooklyn. And maybe you can't

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Speaker 1: foresee what is now happening in New York where the

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Speaker 1: mayor is all but saying that after March seventh, Kyrie

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Speaker 1: will be able to return, but he didn't really give

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Speaker 1: it much of a chance. I mean, you know, Kevin

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Speaker 1: Durant goes down, the going gets tough, and James Harden

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Speaker 1: like quite literally gets going like that's he decided he'd

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Speaker 1: had and that that's my big issue. Like and again,

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Speaker 1: I don't think it happens this year, Like I think

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Speaker 1: this year is great. All smiles, I mean, hell, at

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Speaker 1: one point, Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiad were all smiles.

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Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons were all smiles. Like you

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Speaker 1: can work in the short term, But what about like

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Speaker 1: next January, like a game against yeah, Minnesota, playing Minnesota

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Speaker 1: again this time next year, And what about when Joel

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Speaker 1: Embiad sees hard and dribble eighteen seconds off the shot

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Speaker 1: clock to go to the basket and fling something at

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Speaker 1: the rim like you know, and bead like a demonstrative guy,

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Speaker 1: Like you think he's just gonna kind of put his

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Speaker 1: head down and run back. He's in a way, he's

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Speaker 1: like Shack in that respect. He's not going to keep

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Speaker 1: his opinions or his feelings to himself. That's what worries

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Speaker 1: me when those two clash and I just believe it's inevitable.

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Speaker 1: I mean, on paper, five years of James Hard and

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Speaker 1: Joel Embiid that should guarantee you deep playoff runs and

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Speaker 1: it at least one championship during that stretch. But you know,

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Speaker 1: year two when these guys start to these two and

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Speaker 1: I forget where they are rank in the NBA, but

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Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting, so U. One of the hardest things, Chris,

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Speaker 1: for pro athletes is when you're a dominant player, you're

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Speaker 1: not quite as dominant and understanding and buying into that.

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Speaker 1: There's the old Carmelo Anthony laughed at the suggestion four

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Speaker 1: years ago that he could come off the bench, and

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Speaker 1: that's kind of what he was. Westbrook's going through that now. Now.

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Speaker 1: The difference is Lebron is still great. But let me

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Speaker 1: talk about that in terms of power, not Lebron's game,

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Speaker 1: because I think Lebron knows he can't give you forty

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Speaker 1: four minutes a night. He's gonna miss fifteen games. That knee,

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Speaker 1: you know, hit lower extremity injuries, These things are happening now.

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Speaker 1: Lebron's a smart cat, but power is different. So he's

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Speaker 1: unhappy his guy's clutch. They want to move at the

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Speaker 1: All Star break and Genie Buss is like, hey, I

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Speaker 1: moved off Shack. We wanted Buddy healed. It was a

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Speaker 1: done deal. You wanted Westbrook. I own the team that

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Speaker 1: she's your mess. Get it done. And they link some

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Speaker 1: stuff to let it know, let it be known to

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Speaker 1: people like me, I mean, you're were tied than me,

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Speaker 1: but let guys like me a conduit to the public.

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Speaker 1: I'm not moving Lebron. This was your mess. And for

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Speaker 1: the first time ever, Lebron and Clutch they leak stuff

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Speaker 1: to say we didn't say that, and I thought, now

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Speaker 1: that was symbolic. They got pushback, right, pat Riley pushback

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Speaker 1: a little, they bolted, there was This was really interesting

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Speaker 1: to me, Chris, is that the Lakers went public, put

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Speaker 1: Lebron's name on it. Hey didn't like it, and the media,

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Speaker 1: overwhelmingly myself included, said it's La You're missing twenty games

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Speaker 1: a year. It is your mess. Bill Plashkey, people in

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Speaker 1: the LA media, I think it's time to trade him.

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Speaker 1: And I think it was a little comeuppance for Lebron.

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Speaker 1: It was a whoa, whoa, whoa, this is an Ohio.

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Speaker 1: This market moves off. I mean, Chris, right now justin

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Speaker 1: Herbert's the eighteenth biggest star in town. Lincoln Riley now

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Speaker 1: is at USC So my takeaway, I'm long winded here,

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Speaker 1: but it was a really interesting theater to watch, and

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Speaker 1: I feel like Lebron for the first time got a

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Speaker 1: little blowback and the Lakers don't feel like budging and

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Speaker 1: they won't. Yeah, And where it's different for Lebron than

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Speaker 1: when he was in Miami or his time in Cleveland

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Speaker 1: is that he didn't give himself the leverage with the

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Speaker 1: player option. Like the player option was always, you know,

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Speaker 1: kind of a gun he had ship that he could

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Speaker 1: pull at any time and say, all right, you do

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Speaker 1: what I say, or else I opt out and leave.

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Speaker 1: Now he is, you know, he is eligible for an extension.

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Speaker 1: He can decide not to sign that this summer. That

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Speaker 1: would be a blow for the Lakers, but he can't

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Speaker 1: go anywhere till after the twenty twenty three seasons. So

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Speaker 1: if the Lakers, who I think, by the way, smartly

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Speaker 1: looked at the landscape of this trade deadline, did not

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Speaker 1: see a move that would make them measurably better and

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Speaker 1: realize that if they go into this offseason with their

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Speaker 1: whatever's left or their draft capital intact, they can deal

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Speaker 1: the twenty twenty seven pick the twenty twenty nine pick. Now,

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Speaker 1: we can have a separate argument about the insanity of

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Speaker 1: a team that could be in the toilet in a

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Speaker 1: few years trading a twenty twenty seven or a twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty nine pick, But that does give them real capital,

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Speaker 1: you know, a real chance. You can then turn around

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Speaker 1: and do that Taylor Horton, Tucker Kendrick Nunn poop poo

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Speaker 1: platter that they were dangling across the league, you know,

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Speaker 1: and add something to it, add like a sweetener to it,

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Speaker 1: and that makes sense. So, you know, what the Lakers

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Speaker 1: did the deadline was effectively waved the white flag on

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Speaker 1: this season. Even before the Ad injury, they said, look,

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Speaker 1: it's not going to happen this year. What we might

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Speaker 1: be able to do is if somebody big but comes available,

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Speaker 1: we might be able to throw two unprotected future first

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Speaker 1: round picks into the mix. And those picks, I mean,

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Speaker 1: given the state of the Lakers, if I'm a team

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Speaker 1: and let's just throw the hypothetically, even though he's a

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Speaker 1: free agent of Bradley, beal right, If I'm the Wizards

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Speaker 1: and I'm looking around, going all right, what's my best

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Speaker 1: offer here? Late two twenties Laker picks? That could be gold.

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Speaker 1: You know that that could be real capital to have

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Speaker 1: in a trade. So I think what they did was smart.

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Speaker 1: Lebron didn't like it. He created it. You know, to

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Speaker 1: this day, I don't believe Rob Polenka thought it was

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Speaker 1: a good idea or would have given total control and

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Speaker 1: autonomy that he would have done the Westbrook trade over

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Speaker 1: the Heeled trade. They made this mess Lebron in company,

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Speaker 1: and now the Lakers are gonna for the rest of

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Speaker 1: this season. Make them kind of deal with it. You know,

359
00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:46,360
Speaker 1: twice Lebron is ditch Ohio for the more glamorous aqua

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Speaker 1: water of Miami in LA And now they've got these

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Speaker 1: really good young players. I mean, Darius Garland's been sensational.

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Speaker 1: They made a nice move to get Jared Allen Lavert,

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Speaker 1: They've got Sexton was hurt, but he had It's like

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Speaker 1: twenty three twenty four last year. You start looking at

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Speaker 1: their young players and you're like, man, this is an

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Speaker 1: ascending team. They're like fun And I said the joy,

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Speaker 1: I said, I'm Dan Gilbert, I'm a GM. When Lebron

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Speaker 1: came out and said, hey, I haven't closed the door

369
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Speaker 1: on Cleveland, and I said, who said it was open?

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Speaker 1: I do not believe. And I their ratings, Chris are

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Speaker 1: the second highest locally in the league. This city loves

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Speaker 1: these young players, like if Lebron's camp calls it, I'll

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Speaker 1: come back. I'm like, how many? How many times can

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Speaker 1: you get burned? I don't believe they make a move,

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Speaker 1: like I think the doors closed. I think Cleveland next

376
00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:43,600
Speaker 1: to the Warriors. They are the most watched local basketball

377
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Speaker 1: team professionally in America. I don't think they take Lebron's calls. Again,

378
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Speaker 1: I sound like a loon, But what do you make

379
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Speaker 1: of it if they didn't? They are crazy, unequivocally crazy.

380
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Speaker 1: You know this is that? This so I experienced this

381
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,399
Speaker 1: right living in Boston, I cover a lot of the

382
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Speaker 1: Celtics games. What was it the eighteen playoffs when they

383
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Speaker 1: had that magical run Gordon Hayward goes down in his

384
00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:14,800
Speaker 1: first year seventeen playoffs. Think it was Gordon Hayward goes down.

385
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Speaker 1: They rattle off eighteen wins in a row. Whatever it was.

386
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Speaker 1: After the injury, Kyrie Irving goes down and Terry Row's year.

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00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:26,359
Speaker 1: Jason Tate ofm Jalen Brown teenagers early twenties somethings pushed

388
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Speaker 1: the Cavaliers, you know, to seven games in the conference

389
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Speaker 1: finals and everybody's like, wow, this young team is great.

390
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Speaker 1: It's gonna be great for a long time. That was

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Speaker 1: the honeymoon year. That's what Cleveland's in right now. The

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Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers and the Charlotte Hornets are in the honeymoon

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Speaker 1: year where they can do no wrong. You know, if

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Speaker 1: they get bounced in four games in the playoffs, nobody

395
00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:52,479
Speaker 1: will care because wow, wasn't that team fun to watch?

396
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:57,800
Speaker 1: Everybody's watching in year two, expectations are ratcheted up. So

397
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Speaker 1: great year this year, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Jared Allen

398
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Speaker 1: do it and then some next year. You better get

399
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Speaker 1: to the second round of the playoffs. Next year, you

400
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:10,520
Speaker 1: better get to the conference finals. And that's hard to

401
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:12,960
Speaker 1: do and it's going to be hard to do for

402
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Speaker 1: the next three or four years. As long as Milwaukee's

403
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:19,920
Speaker 1: at the top, Philadelphia is at the top, Brooklyn is dynamic. Look,

404
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:24,520
Speaker 1: I love all those Calves you mentioned. I wouldn't put

405
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Speaker 1: them as favorites to beat any of the teams that

406
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Speaker 1: I just mentioned. Now you add Lebron into that mix,

407
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Speaker 1: even with all the baggage he brings with him, all

408
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,840
Speaker 1: the drama he brings with him, you become a championship

409
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:42,000
Speaker 1: contender where the Calves have a different level of power

410
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 1: here is that they're not the seller dwellers they were

411
00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:48,399
Speaker 1: back when Lebron came back the first time. They can

412
00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:52,080
Speaker 1: dictate some of the terms that Lebron James comes back

413
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:55,080
Speaker 1: on in a way they you know, he needs them

414
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:58,040
Speaker 1: more than they need him in that situation, but they

415
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,720
Speaker 1: do need him. They do because you go into next

416
00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:02,840
Speaker 1: year and this team goes on like a four or

417
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:05,560
Speaker 1: five game losing streak, and all of a sudden, it's, oh,

418
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:07,720
Speaker 1: maybe Garland was kind of a fluke. Maybe it wasn't

419
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,280
Speaker 1: that good. Maybe Jared Allen Evan Mobley don't work together.

420
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:14,760
Speaker 1: Maybe two seven footer doesn't work. Maybe this lowry marketing experiment,

421
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:17,080
Speaker 1: which I can't believe has actually worked for them this year.

422
00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:19,880
Speaker 1: Maybe it's not good to have three seven footers basically

423
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 1: on your front line. That's when the criticism comes in.

424
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:27,280
Speaker 1: So you know, it's perfume and roses around the Cavaliers.

425
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,000
Speaker 1: Right now, it's all good what Cleveland's doing right now.

426
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,800
Speaker 1: But next year, if they don't make that jump, the

427
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:37,040
Speaker 1: criticism will come. And if you have an opportunity, whether

428
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:39,360
Speaker 1: it's via trade next season, which i'd love to see

429
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,200
Speaker 1: them do, I'd love to see them try to package

430
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 1: Colin Sexton, draft capital, lowry marketing, whatever it is to

431
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:50,520
Speaker 1: try to extract Lebron from LA. But if it's next

432
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:55,520
Speaker 1: season or after that, they better aggressively pursue Lebron James.

433
00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:59,159
Speaker 1: To me, it's basketball malpractice if they don't aggressively pursue

434
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,960
Speaker 1: Lebron James. So I'll throw this out to you. So

435
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 1: the Lakers brand could withstand trading Lebron. And if Cleveland

436
00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,639
Speaker 1: was a suitor, you say, okay, we want Evan Mowbley

437
00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:14,040
Speaker 1: played at USC We're taking him. At that point, if

438
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:18,960
Speaker 1: you have Garland Jared Allen, you have size with Garlands

439
00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:20,919
Speaker 1: and Garden, but you have size with Jared Allen. I

440
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,720
Speaker 1: want Evan Mowbley your next three number one picks. I

441
00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,400
Speaker 1: throw somebody else in and make it ake. I can

442
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,520
Speaker 1: make it a salary. Wise, I'd have to make it

443
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,080
Speaker 1: a three team deal. I'd have to get some veteran

444
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 1: right hope, maybe in a expiring contract, whatever it is.

445
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:37,720
Speaker 1: But my takeaway is I think the Lakers would deal

446
00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:41,040
Speaker 1: him back to our initial Lebron story. I don't think

447
00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 1: this city is desperate. I don't think the Lakers. You know,

448
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:48,160
Speaker 1: I heard this years ago about Peyton Manning. Jim Ursay

449
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:52,080
Speaker 1: loved him, but he's like when you get a quarterback

450
00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:56,000
Speaker 1: as big as Peyton or Farv or Brady, they take

451
00:26:56,040 --> 00:27:00,760
Speaker 1: the franchise from you, like Genie Buss. There's a sense,

452
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,280
Speaker 1: and you know the contacts I have with the Lakers,

453
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:06,359
Speaker 1: they're not going to do that. They're not giving Lebron

454
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,600
Speaker 1: this franchise. And I do think if you gave them

455
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:14,760
Speaker 1: Mobley multiple picks some other high a breaker, do you

456
00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:18,280
Speaker 1: I'm not, No way are they getting Evan Mobley? Okay,

457
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:20,840
Speaker 1: because that to me, that's where I'd make the deal. Yeah,

458
00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 1: but I wouldn't make the deal if I was Cleveland,

459
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:26,159
Speaker 1: if I'm asked to throw Evan Mobley at the mix.

460
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,560
Speaker 1: I mean Evan Mobley like you can see kind of

461
00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:33,159
Speaker 1: the twenty five game. By next year, Say what, I

462
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,520
Speaker 1: think he could be a twenty five gay? Oh yeah,

463
00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:37,639
Speaker 1: like next year he's a D. Like he's a D.

464
00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:39,919
Speaker 1: He's the second coming of a D and maybe in

465
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:43,119
Speaker 1: a weird way, potentially a little bit better defensively. I

466
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:45,879
Speaker 1: mean his his contest numbers. No, you could get kind

467
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:48,199
Speaker 1: of in the weeds with advanced stats sometimes, but the

468
00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:50,800
Speaker 1: shots he contest on the perimeter for a seven foot

469
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,800
Speaker 1: or are wild, Like he gets to everything defensively and

470
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:56,320
Speaker 1: changes shots from everywhere in the floor. I wouldn't do that.

471
00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:58,439
Speaker 1: I would say to the Lakers, like, you can get

472
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:01,040
Speaker 1: a couple of first round draft picks. Sure, Colin Sexton's

473
00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,320
Speaker 1: only what like twenty three years old, has been a

474
00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:06,560
Speaker 1: twenty point per game score. Lowry marketing is just filler

475
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:10,200
Speaker 1: takes set. I look, it's not calling, it's it's not good.

476
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,320
Speaker 1: But you know, the Lakers can't just, you know, put

477
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 1: Lebron out there on the trade block. I mean, I

478
00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:17,960
Speaker 1: guess they could, but there's only a finite number of

479
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:20,119
Speaker 1: teams he's really going to accept a deal. To you,

480
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,720
Speaker 1: like Denver would one hundred percent make a run at

481
00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 1: him if the Lakers tried to deal him. But outside

482
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:27,919
Speaker 1: of a couple of teams, they're not going to trade

483
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:30,439
Speaker 1: for Lebron because of everything that kind of comes with

484
00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:33,199
Speaker 1: Lebron Cleveland. You know they would, or at least you

485
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:35,879
Speaker 1: think they would, and it would make sense for both sides.

486
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:39,480
Speaker 1: But you can't. Evan, if I'm Kobe Altman, I hang

487
00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:42,080
Speaker 1: up the phone. I don't even touch back. I don't

488
00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:45,040
Speaker 1: reply to the email. I don't are they still faxing nowadays?

489
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:47,560
Speaker 1: I don't set a facts back. Nothing I do nothing

490
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 1: that involves Evan Mobiley playing for another team. Well, it's

491
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:57,080
Speaker 1: so funny. So two years ago it was his last

492
00:28:57,160 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 1: year at USC the East at USC one or two

493
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:05,480
Speaker 1: years one one year, so it was around Christmas or January.

494
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:07,720
Speaker 1: It was about the midway point of the college basketball

495
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,400
Speaker 1: season in Andy Endfield. I run into Andy Endfield at

496
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 1: the Manhattan Beach workout Club and I had seen them

497
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 1: play once. I said, boy, Mobley is good, and he goes,

498
00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:24,040
Speaker 1: he goes. He's He's getting better faster than any player

499
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:27,600
Speaker 1: I've ever been connected with, he said, And Andy said this,

500
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:30,400
Speaker 1: he goes, he is going to be a ten time

501
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,440
Speaker 1: All Star in the NBA. He goes Colin. In the

502
00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:36,479
Speaker 1: last six months, he's gone from late first, middle first

503
00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:39,680
Speaker 1: to top five pick. So to me, if I'm if

504
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,880
Speaker 1: I'm the Lakers, I think Mobley is. I'm glad. I

505
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,680
Speaker 1: mean it's not. I mean I've watched him six to

506
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 1: seven times this year with the Calves. I think he

507
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:50,320
Speaker 1: is unbelievable. I think he's a sensation. He's gonna win

508
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:52,400
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year. Right, we know that with sports

509
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 1: betting taking off, you can trust my health and make

510
00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 1: some money. Check out the favorite sports betting podcast, Power

511
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,239
Speaker 1: Only on the Volume podcast my buddy Chad Milman pro

512
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:05,560
Speaker 1: better Simon Hunter from the One Year from Now twice

513
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,240
Speaker 1: a week Trading Deadline just parts because I think we

514
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:10,800
Speaker 1: both believe the Lake and Thrisday. Chad and Simon break

515
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:15,800
Speaker 1: down strategies professional sports ones. They write games and Time

516
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:20,640
Speaker 1: to Bet podcast Only on the Volume a podcast. Let's

517
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:23,840
Speaker 1: say we're a day or two after the NBA trade deadline,

518
00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:27,120
Speaker 1: Lakers next year, at this time, what do you think

519
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:33,120
Speaker 1: the roster best guest kind of looks like, well, they'll

520
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:35,760
Speaker 1: be able. They'll move off Westbrook before the end of

521
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 1: next season, Like yeah, some way, somehow, they'll they'll find

522
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:42,960
Speaker 1: a way to make it work. Um, who takes him?

523
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,400
Speaker 1: And what you have to do, Like you're gonna have

524
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:48,240
Speaker 1: to clean the books of somebody to to get off

525
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:51,760
Speaker 1: Westbrook's contract, that you're gonna have to take bad contracts

526
00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:55,440
Speaker 1: back in return. That's why I always believed there was

527
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:58,280
Speaker 1: a lot of fire to the talks with the Knicks,

528
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,280
Speaker 1: Like it's not just smoked there, Like the Knicks badly

529
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,440
Speaker 1: need an injection of something. Have had point guard problems

530
00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:08,040
Speaker 1: that go back like decades at this point, and they've

531
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 1: got some crappy contracts there. So you can take Evan

532
00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,640
Speaker 1: Fournier off their books, you can take what's left of

533
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 1: Kemba Walker off their books, you can take Alec Burks

534
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 1: off their books, and maybe they'll take Westbrook without any

535
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,959
Speaker 1: draft capital being attached to it. So that, to me

536
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:27,080
Speaker 1: is is one of the more likely things where they

537
00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:29,480
Speaker 1: they make a deal and let's just say it is

538
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:31,800
Speaker 1: New York and they see if the pieces like a

539
00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:34,640
Speaker 1: Fournier just being a spot up shooter, like a Kemba

540
00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:39,400
Speaker 1: Walker having far less ball handling responsibilities on him Alec

541
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,360
Speaker 1: Burk's doing what he does. I can see a scenario

542
00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 1: like that playing out. Now, will it make them measurably better?

543
00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:50,920
Speaker 1: Doesn't make their defense better? Like that's remarkably that would

544
00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:53,600
Speaker 1: actually get worse in a trade like that that I described.

545
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,400
Speaker 1: But it'll be something like that where they get a

546
00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:59,920
Speaker 1: couple of pieces that are so so with bad contra

547
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:02,080
Speaker 1: tracks from a team that's just looking at Westbrook and saying,

548
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 1: all right, a little phrase, close your eyes and think

549
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:06,520
Speaker 1: of England. It's like, you know, we're to close our

550
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:08,760
Speaker 1: eyes for three months and say when we wake up.

551
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,280
Speaker 1: Russell Western will be off our team and we'll have

552
00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:14,000
Speaker 1: forty seven million in cap space to play with in

553
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:16,720
Speaker 1: the summer of twenty twenty three. It is amazing. For

554
00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:21,120
Speaker 1: as smart as Lebron is, the Westbrook move was really

555
00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:23,680
Speaker 1: it was just a bad fit and everybody knew it.

556
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:26,000
Speaker 1: Like It's not like we in the media get a

557
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:28,200
Speaker 1: lot wrong, no question about it. I just said the

558
00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:30,560
Speaker 1: Knicks bet bad. Sorry to all the people that paid

559
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,000
Speaker 1: attention to me, you know, four months ago on that one.

560
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:37,560
Speaker 1: But everybody knew that Westbrook was the wrong move. Everybody

561
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:41,000
Speaker 1: knew he was not going to become a spot up shooter.

562
00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 1: Everybody knew he was a net negative without the ball

563
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,920
Speaker 1: in his hands. He doesn't change like he tweaks a

564
00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:50,480
Speaker 1: little bit, and to his credit, has done that with

565
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,920
Speaker 1: James Harden, with Bradley Beale. Has made efforts. Those coaching

566
00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:56,520
Speaker 1: staffs they have told me he's made efforts to do that.

567
00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:00,320
Speaker 1: But he's not going to become Jason Kidd at later

568
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:03,080
Speaker 1: stage of his career, become this high level shooter that

569
00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:05,600
Speaker 1: can play off the ball. Everybody knew that. Meanwhile, Buddy

570
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,680
Speaker 1: healed for all of his wartz forty plus percent three

571
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:12,920
Speaker 1: point shooter built to play off Lebron James. Colin named

572
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:17,440
Speaker 1: me one shooter who has struggled playing off Lebron James

573
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:20,440
Speaker 1: in history. I mean, Kyle Korver got like three more

574
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:24,360
Speaker 1: years on his career because he tolf of Lebron James.

575
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:27,040
Speaker 1: Like how much money is this guy made? It's just incredible.

576
00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:29,400
Speaker 1: So like it's one of those things where when when

577
00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:31,600
Speaker 1: when everything kind of came out and the Kings were

578
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:32,960
Speaker 1: the first I talked to people in Sacker about it,

579
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,000
Speaker 1: be Like I thought we had a deal, like this

580
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:37,800
Speaker 1: was done. This was eleventh hour without Buddy Heald was going,

581
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:42,200
Speaker 1: Kuzma coming back, like it was all said. It's one

582
00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:44,120
Speaker 1: of those things when I realized all the things that

583
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:46,240
Speaker 1: were in play, I'm like, what am I missing here?

584
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:49,000
Speaker 1: Like where am I going to look stupid? Like at

585
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,720
Speaker 1: one point I'm like, ah, that's what I missed there.

586
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: Polanka was right, Lebron was right, Rus can do this.

587
00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 1: Nothing nothing told me that. I talked to Frank Vogel

588
00:33:57,520 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 1: about this. I was like before the season, I'm like Frank, like,

589
00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,840
Speaker 1: you know, why why am I wrong? Why is everybody wrong?

590
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 1: If this is gonna work? He just believed you know,

591
00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:09,000
Speaker 1: Russ take pressure off Lebron. He's gonna be a better

592
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,239
Speaker 1: shooter than you think. Like it just none of it

593
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:15,040
Speaker 1: made me sense then and it makes even less sense now. Yeah.

594
00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 1: Well listen, man, Personnel's hard for Danny Ainge. Personnel's hard

595
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:26,520
Speaker 1: for the best gms in this league. Players aren't built

596
00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:29,719
Speaker 1: for it, you know, I mean, seriously, It's It's so

597
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,239
Speaker 1: I've always said, if I didn't do this, I'm not qualified.

598
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:36,640
Speaker 1: But if I had a given football as much effort

599
00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:39,200
Speaker 1: for forty years as I have broadcasting and could be

600
00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:41,960
Speaker 1: an NFL GM, it's my dream job beyond what I do.

601
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:48,640
Speaker 1: I have missed the Bill Polian, the legends you whip

602
00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:52,480
Speaker 1: constantly in personnel. So it's just one of those things

603
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,760
Speaker 1: where you think, you know, like Brady knows that Gronk

604
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,799
Speaker 1: would fit in Tampa. They work together, but man, you

605
00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:02,880
Speaker 1: just do don't know. And the other thing is Hardened.

606
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 1: Westbrook was loved by Harden, He's loved by Lebron. You

607
00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:10,360
Speaker 1: ever notice all those guys they all love each other.

608
00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:12,799
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean they can play together. I never bought into

609
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,120
Speaker 1: Westbrook and Hardened Their boys. They love each other, their

610
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:20,400
Speaker 1: games don't work at all worked in Oklahoma City, but

611
00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:25,160
Speaker 1: an entirely different situation and an entirely different James Harden.

612
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,680
Speaker 1: It just was never it was never going to happen

613
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:31,279
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, and to this day, like I want,

614
00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 1: I want to either write or read like a detailed

615
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:38,440
Speaker 1: TikTok of everything that happened, like a oral history of

616
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:41,680
Speaker 1: those like two days in LA where where this all

617
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,600
Speaker 1: kind of came together, where a deal with Healed was

618
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:48,560
Speaker 1: vetoed and a deal with Westbrook seemed like like the

619
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:52,080
Speaker 1: right thing to do. You're right, personnel, It's tough. I mean,

620
00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:55,440
Speaker 1: I look, I spent months clappering Brad Stevens for some

621
00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:57,640
Speaker 1: of the deals that he made. I should should have

622
00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:00,279
Speaker 1: traded Marcus Smart I thought he should have. It's the

623
00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:02,600
Speaker 1: offer Devin Fournier. I thought he shouldn't have given up

624
00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,719
Speaker 1: a first round pick with Kemba Walker. That all worked out.

625
00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:09,920
Speaker 1: So oftentimes gms know what they're doing, but this was

626
00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:12,239
Speaker 1: one of those situations where it's like, there's no way

627
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:14,719
Speaker 1: this is going to work. Everybody knows it, but you

628
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,600
Speaker 1: why are we why and what are we missing in

629
00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:21,759
Speaker 1: this dynamic? Yeah? I think players really really like Westbrook.

630
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:26,759
Speaker 1: They like him they do. He's an excellent teammate and

631
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:30,560
Speaker 1: more than that with Lebron. You watch Westbrook from Afar,

632
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,040
Speaker 1: you go up against him in the playoffs, and you

633
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:35,360
Speaker 1: see how hardy plays, and I gotta believe somewhere in

634
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:38,640
Speaker 1: Lebron's mind, like the Lebron's going, all right, I can

635
00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 1: work with that, like, I can mold that like. And

636
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:42,799
Speaker 1: you saw in the offseason he was working out with

637
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:45,680
Speaker 1: Westbrook all the time. This had to have been a

638
00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:47,440
Speaker 1: part of Lebron that's saying, look, I can be the

639
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:50,360
Speaker 1: one that helps him make that turn, that makes that

640
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:53,360
Speaker 1: evolution to a different form of game. I think they

641
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:55,799
Speaker 1: maybel was a bit too much arrogance on the part

642
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:59,520
Speaker 1: of Lebron to believe that, because it clearly hasn't worked out.

643
00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:03,320
Speaker 1: It's like when people have affairs, they choose the opposite

644
00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:06,879
Speaker 1: of what they're married to. So Anthony Davis shows up

645
00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:10,799
Speaker 1: out of shape, not really committed, doesn't really give you

646
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:14,439
Speaker 1: up great minutes regularly. I think Lebron looked at Ad

647
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:17,840
Speaker 1: and thought, Okay, Westbrook will fill in on the passion

648
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:22,000
Speaker 1: side and the commitment side. He's flawed, but I got

649
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,840
Speaker 1: a d He's the worst kind of flawed. I'm not

650
00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:27,200
Speaker 1: even sure if he's there every night. And I do

651
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:29,799
Speaker 1: think part of Lebron was like, Okay, this star is

652
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:32,239
Speaker 1: not working. That guy will fill the gaps. Like there's

653
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:34,719
Speaker 1: part of the psychology Lebron smart. Part of it is

654
00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:37,640
Speaker 1: he was trying to put a band aid or solve

655
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:43,440
Speaker 1: his other costars issues. Yeah, you know what's what he

656
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:46,040
Speaker 1: probably thought. And look, this is something I've been kind

657
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:48,360
Speaker 1: of working on and looking into the last couple of

658
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:52,440
Speaker 1: months off and on, like, like, why Westbrook hasn't become

659
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:55,840
Speaker 1: a better shooter is one of the most bizarre stories

660
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:58,279
Speaker 1: I can think of, because he is a guy that

661
00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:02,240
Speaker 1: works like he does work hard in the off season.

662
00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:04,520
Speaker 1: I would talk to Oklahoma City people about this because

663
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:08,319
Speaker 1: not only is he not improving as a shooter, he's

664
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:11,359
Speaker 1: getting worse in many areas, Like look at his free

665
00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:13,799
Speaker 1: throw numbers over the last four or five years. They

666
00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:16,160
Speaker 1: start to dip into that kind of sixty percent range.

667
00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:18,520
Speaker 1: You just don't see that from players. Like as they

668
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:22,359
Speaker 1: go on and they get better coaching and they work

669
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:26,440
Speaker 1: on specific things their skills, they improve in those areas.

670
00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:28,200
Speaker 1: What somebody in Oklahoma City said to me, and this

671
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:30,799
Speaker 1: stuck with me was that when you look out on

672
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:34,880
Speaker 1: the floor and see Russell Westbrook, you see this ball

673
00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 1: of energy, hyper athletic guy that can do anything when

674
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:40,680
Speaker 1: he's out there. It's remarkable, even at age what thirty

675
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:42,400
Speaker 1: two now, that he can do all the things that

676
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:44,960
Speaker 1: he can do. They would say, you have no idea

677
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,080
Speaker 1: how much work he does right up until the opening

678
00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:50,480
Speaker 1: tip to make sure his body's able to do that,

679
00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:52,920
Speaker 1: and that continues in the off season. He spends so

680
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:56,200
Speaker 1: much time working on his body, making sure his body

681
00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:59,799
Speaker 1: is able to do the things that he wants it

682
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:04,319
Speaker 1: to do, that it comes at the cost of improving

683
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:06,480
Speaker 1: your skill level of doing the things you need to

684
00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:09,840
Speaker 1: do to get better in those key areas. So I

685
00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:12,279
Speaker 1: thought that was interesting that, like he's just he just

686
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:16,080
Speaker 1: spends so much time, you know, all the things you

687
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:19,360
Speaker 1: do before a game, like stretching and different weight workouts

688
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:21,680
Speaker 1: and everything before a game to get ready and go

689
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:24,560
Speaker 1: out there between the lines, that he just hasn't been

690
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:26,920
Speaker 1: able to commit as much as he should have on

691
00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:31,400
Speaker 1: improving his outside shot. Make sure to check out The

692
00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:35,280
Speaker 1: Draymon Green Show. I brought Draymond Green into the volume

693
00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:38,360
Speaker 1: because one of the more entertaining voices in sports, unique

694
00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:42,560
Speaker 1: perspective understands behind the rope, also chops up with guests

695
00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:46,720
Speaker 1: like Gary Payton, Zach Levine, Tracy McGrady. Make sure download

696
00:39:46,719 --> 00:39:50,920
Speaker 1: The Draymond Green Show wherever you get your podcasts, only

697
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:58,040
Speaker 1: on the Volume Podcast Network. So I read the Coach

698
00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:02,360
Speaker 1: k Ian O'Connor book, really really enjoyed it. Finished it

699
00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:05,840
Speaker 1: today and there was toward the end of the book

700
00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:09,080
Speaker 1: kind of a chapter which included a lot about Zion Williamson.

701
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 1: His family. It was noted in the book is very,

702
00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:17,560
Speaker 1: very private when he committed to Duke Chris. Duke didn't

703
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:22,160
Speaker 1: know until he like put the hat on, so pretty

704
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:24,880
Speaker 1: covert operation with he and his family, and you know,

705
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,959
Speaker 1: families are different. He really leans on his mom Zion does,

706
00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:31,560
Speaker 1: and what I watch, I'm gonna throw out my take

707
00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:36,440
Speaker 1: and please bat it around. I said, the NBA worries

708
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:42,360
Speaker 1: about players tanking, but I think I wonder if Zion's tanking.

709
00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:46,120
Speaker 1: Zion saying, Okay, I don't like the doctors, I don't

710
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:47,879
Speaker 1: like the city, I don't like the vibe, I don't

711
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:51,960
Speaker 1: trust the organization. I'm not taking the extension. I'm going

712
00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:54,440
Speaker 1: to break that historic trend. I'm not taking it. I

713
00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:57,320
Speaker 1: made my money on shoes five year, seventy five million.

714
00:40:57,360 --> 00:41:02,000
Speaker 1: I don't need it. Okay, So I am going to

715
00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:05,080
Speaker 1: go to Portland and rehabits what he's doing. I'm gonna

716
00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:06,759
Speaker 1: appear not to be in great shape. I'm gonna be

717
00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:10,279
Speaker 1: totally disconnected. So they have to trade me, and when

718
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:15,960
Speaker 1: they do, it doesn't gut the team. I go to. Okay,

719
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:17,879
Speaker 1: I'm not averaging third. I mean, this kid was doing

720
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:22,319
Speaker 1: Wilt Chamberlain numbers, and what are you going to get

721
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:26,880
Speaker 1: for him now? I'm like, we know he's smart. We

722
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:30,720
Speaker 1: watched him at Duke. I mean he really that blown

723
00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:35,680
Speaker 1: up shoe thing, his injury, I mean, he handled that brilliantly,

724
00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:40,640
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking he's not coming back and he is

725
00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:43,640
Speaker 1: going to control this situation. Okay, am I out of

726
00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:48,399
Speaker 1: my mind? I don't know that you're out of your

727
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:53,000
Speaker 1: mind with that idea, and I'm sure that's something that's

728
00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:56,239
Speaker 1: crossed his mind at some point over the last year

729
00:41:56,320 --> 00:42:01,080
Speaker 1: or so. My my problem with with that perspective is

730
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:05,160
Speaker 1: it's just such a massive risk. I mean to yeah,

731
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:08,600
Speaker 1: he's get the sneaker money, but to turn down a

732
00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:12,600
Speaker 1: max level extension and just accept the qualifying offer and

733
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,560
Speaker 1: roll the dice that your foot is going to be fine.

734
00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:19,040
Speaker 1: When you had unrestricted free agency in two years. I

735
00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,719
Speaker 1: remember when Porzingis was in that position, When Porzingis was saying, like,

736
00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:25,520
Speaker 1: I'll never sign a max contract with the Knicks. I'm

737
00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:28,000
Speaker 1: his team was his camp was leaking that he might

738
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:31,560
Speaker 1: take the qualifying offer. Ultimately didn't took the full max,

739
00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:34,360
Speaker 1: and that's in part because he was nervous about his

740
00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:37,440
Speaker 1: own physicality, his own physical health. I just think when

741
00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:40,680
Speaker 1: push comes to shove and it's it's more forecast than

742
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:44,000
Speaker 1: than really anything I've heard from Zion's camp about this topic.

743
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:48,160
Speaker 1: But if he gets presented a legitimate MAX contract, I

744
00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:51,319
Speaker 1: can't see him turning it down. And nowadays, Colin, you know,

745
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:53,880
Speaker 1: guys you mentioned Carmelo earlier. He kind of set the

746
00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:56,279
Speaker 1: trend on this. Guys, like you know, they just say

747
00:42:56,320 --> 00:42:58,239
Speaker 1: it hard and do the same thing. They're Sarah, well,

748
00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:00,480
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take the money and then I force my

749
00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:02,120
Speaker 1: way out if I has to have to, I'll just

750
00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:04,680
Speaker 1: play poorly, I'll sulk, I'll find my way out of town.

751
00:43:04,680 --> 00:43:06,800
Speaker 1: I mean, it's worked for every player in the league

752
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:10,040
Speaker 1: that's done it, It's worked, so I can see Zion

753
00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:12,600
Speaker 1: going that route. I think what's going to be interesting though,

754
00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:16,799
Speaker 1: is how does New Orleans structure a max extension. You

755
00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:20,920
Speaker 1: go back to Embiad's first extension with Philadelphia, where the

756
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:25,759
Speaker 1: Sixers included some language in there that protected them in

757
00:43:25,800 --> 00:43:28,960
Speaker 1: case Mbad's foot problems became chronic in case he never

758
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:31,960
Speaker 1: got to become the player that he was. Like, what

759
00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:34,200
Speaker 1: kind of games does New Orleans try to play and

760
00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:36,560
Speaker 1: they should like they should protect themselves. What kind of

761
00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:39,680
Speaker 1: games do the Pelicans play to try to protect themselves?

762
00:43:39,680 --> 00:43:41,799
Speaker 1: And how does Zion take that? Like does he take

763
00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:44,279
Speaker 1: it where? You know, if I get hurt? Am I

764
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:47,560
Speaker 1: not going to get X y Z. That's to me

765
00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:50,200
Speaker 1: the most interesting part of the Zion negotiations not whether

766
00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:53,520
Speaker 1: he takes an extension from New Orleans. I think he will,

767
00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:56,680
Speaker 1: It's just how strong an offer do the Pelicans come

768
00:43:56,719 --> 00:43:59,520
Speaker 1: to the table with. What are you hearing on him?

769
00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:03,760
Speaker 1: I mean again almost nothing like he is he is private,

770
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,680
Speaker 1: like I mean, and the Pelicans are kind of afraid

771
00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:08,600
Speaker 1: of him, like they don't want to be the ones

772
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:11,600
Speaker 1: that are putting stuff out there about Zion. You remember

773
00:44:11,719 --> 00:44:14,600
Speaker 1: Colin like you know, David Griffin showed up at media

774
00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:17,759
Speaker 1: day back in September and just announced that Zion at

775
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,640
Speaker 1: foot surgery, like nobody knew in the offseason, like nobody

776
00:44:20,719 --> 00:44:22,600
Speaker 1: knew what was going on. They kept that so close

777
00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:25,480
Speaker 1: to the vest. And it's basically what Zion wants out there.

778
00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:28,360
Speaker 1: They'll do it if when he doesn't, they doesn't. And

779
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:31,200
Speaker 1: you know, David Griffin one of those media friendly general

780
00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:34,000
Speaker 1: managers kind of in the NBA. It's almost shocking that

781
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:37,360
Speaker 1: that news didn't get out when when Zion had the surgery.

782
00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:40,160
Speaker 1: So it's really mums the world. I know. When I

783
00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:43,279
Speaker 1: talk to people there, I mean, they're hoping. They like

784
00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:45,919
Speaker 1: their team, they like what CJ adds to the mix,

785
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:49,359
Speaker 1: they like what Brandon Ingram's doing. Um, they love her Jones.

786
00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:51,759
Speaker 1: Probably the steal of the draft this year, the kid

787
00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:54,640
Speaker 1: win in the second round. They think they've got more

788
00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:56,839
Speaker 1: than a chance of getting in the play and then

789
00:44:56,840 --> 00:44:59,759
Speaker 1: getting into the real playoffs after that. So their ho.

790
00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:03,080
Speaker 1: But nobody down there is saying we expect Zion to

791
00:45:03,080 --> 00:45:07,600
Speaker 1: come back because they just don't know the Brooklyn story.

792
00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:11,560
Speaker 1: I'm not a huge fan of Kyrie. Kevin Durant is

793
00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:16,560
Speaker 1: such a fascinating guy. So and I said it at

794
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:20,560
Speaker 1: the time. If Patrick Mahomes says, I'm gonna leave Andy Reid,

795
00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:26,200
Speaker 1: Travis Kelsey, Tyree Hill, the Hunt family, I'm gonna leave

796
00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:29,600
Speaker 1: it and I'm gonna go to play for the Jets

797
00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:32,640
Speaker 1: because I have a really, really good friend is a

798
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:35,200
Speaker 1: wide receiver there and I love him. You would literally

799
00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:40,080
Speaker 1: say you're out of your mind. But Kevin Durant leaves

800
00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:43,759
Speaker 1: the Warriors, the ownership group, the most selfless star in

801
00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:47,080
Speaker 1: the league staff, he didn't have to carry the team

802
00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:51,240
Speaker 1: every night. It's a smart franchise with a former NBA

803
00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:54,360
Speaker 1: player as a coach. He goes to Brooklyn and I

804
00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:56,680
Speaker 1: kind of felt the media in the NBA gave him

805
00:45:56,719 --> 00:45:59,520
Speaker 1: a little bit of a pass. I'm like, you're choosing

806
00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:05,600
Speaker 1: Kyrie over Steph. You're choosing the second most popular franchise

807
00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:09,360
Speaker 1: in the city over perhaps since the erosion of the

808
00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:13,680
Speaker 1: Spurs and Popovich and Duncan, like the best franchise in

809
00:46:13,719 --> 00:46:17,080
Speaker 1: the league. I didn't think the media was hard enough.

810
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:21,160
Speaker 1: It was almost like in the NBA, you don't want

811
00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:24,880
Speaker 1: to ruin access to stars, and everybody kind of walked

812
00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:26,840
Speaker 1: on eggshells around that. But I look at it now

813
00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:30,640
Speaker 1: and I think, if can you imagine the Jordan Pool pick,

814
00:46:31,400 --> 00:46:35,760
Speaker 1: they would have gotten k D, Steph Clay, Jordan Pool,

815
00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:38,560
Speaker 1: Draymond Like, I look at it and I thought, the

816
00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:43,279
Speaker 1: hell's he doing? Do you think the media was tough enough?

817
00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:46,959
Speaker 1: I guess you know. My takeaway is we treat Kevin

818
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:51,440
Speaker 1: Durant sometimes with these kid gloves and I can't quite

819
00:46:51,480 --> 00:46:55,760
Speaker 1: figure it out. Yeah, I mean maybe because he'll tweak

820
00:46:55,800 --> 00:47:01,960
Speaker 1: back at you with something doesn't like or DM you.

821
00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:05,960
Speaker 1: You know, I having seen the Kyrie Boston experience up close,

822
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:09,480
Speaker 1: I absolutely at the time had written and said that

823
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:12,680
Speaker 1: this was a big roll of the dice. I also know, though,

824
00:47:13,080 --> 00:47:16,440
Speaker 1: from talking to people around Durant that, just like with

825
00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:19,880
Speaker 1: Lebron's decision to go to LA going to Brooklyn was

826
00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:22,839
Speaker 1: about more than just basketball, Like he wanted to be

827
00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:27,760
Speaker 1: in New York, where his manager Rich Kleman is based,

828
00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:32,760
Speaker 1: where he does a lot of business ventures with thirty

829
00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:35,080
Speaker 1: five ventures, with board Room, with all the things he's

830
00:47:35,120 --> 00:47:39,040
Speaker 1: doing outside the corner. I mean. His relationship with Kyrie

831
00:47:39,080 --> 00:47:43,120
Speaker 1: back then, of course rock solid. He definitely believed that

832
00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:46,440
Speaker 1: he was putting himself in a position to win championships

833
00:47:46,440 --> 00:47:50,000
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn, but it had the added appeal of giving

834
00:47:50,080 --> 00:47:52,400
Speaker 1: him something else. And that's what we're seeing with Lebron

835
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:55,879
Speaker 1: and how it's manifested itself with his time in la

836
00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:58,799
Speaker 1: on a lesser and turn Lefs talked about scale. I

837
00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:01,719
Speaker 1: think that is a reason why Durant to booklets. So

838
00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:04,760
Speaker 1: knowing that and going into that and knowing that Durant

839
00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:07,239
Speaker 1: really had but he had nothing left to prove, Like

840
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:09,440
Speaker 1: he could climb all time lists, he could get on

841
00:48:09,680 --> 00:48:14,080
Speaker 1: the Mount rushmore. But he was almost inarguably the best

842
00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:18,360
Speaker 1: offensive player in the NBA, a two time champion. Like

843
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:21,920
Speaker 1: it wasn't like him leaving Oklahoma City, for leaving Russ

844
00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:24,360
Speaker 1: for Kyrie would have been certainly, I would have been

845
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:26,319
Speaker 1: a great debate for a long time. Actually, Like when

846
00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:28,440
Speaker 1: you think about it, like going from Russ to Kyrie.

847
00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:31,520
Speaker 1: This was going from a situation where he was impossibly

848
00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:36,279
Speaker 1: successful in Golden State, where he was viewed as you know,

849
00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:39,320
Speaker 1: if he didn't get hurt in those finals, the Warriors

850
00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:42,840
Speaker 1: wrap up another championship, win three in a row, and

851
00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:45,839
Speaker 1: he's one of the best playoff performers of all time.

852
00:48:45,880 --> 00:48:49,359
Speaker 1: He wanted to do more in this move than just

853
00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:51,680
Speaker 1: win basketball games. He wanted to be in New York.

854
00:48:51,719 --> 00:48:56,000
Speaker 1: And that's why I considered that when you know, when

855
00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:59,319
Speaker 1: my reaction came time for Durant. By the way, the

856
00:48:59,440 --> 00:49:03,440
Speaker 1: least surprising mess this year has to be the Knicks,

857
00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:06,800
Speaker 1: where you knew they had to keep Julius for yourself,

858
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:10,440
Speaker 1: speak for yourself, like so I did. On I said,

859
00:49:10,960 --> 00:49:12,840
Speaker 1: you know, this is one of those Yeah, we were

860
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:15,560
Speaker 1: talking about my boxing gambling picks being great, my basketball

861
00:49:15,640 --> 00:49:17,920
Speaker 1: ones not good. At the start of the year, I

862
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:23,239
Speaker 1: was in Vegas at Caesar's Sports Book and the so

863
00:49:23,560 --> 00:49:26,279
Speaker 1: the over under the Knicks before the season started was

864
00:49:26,320 --> 00:49:28,800
Speaker 1: forty one and a half. They won forty one games

865
00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:31,359
Speaker 1: last year in the short and seventy two games season.

866
00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:34,720
Speaker 1: I'm looking at that number. I'm saying, Vegas, you finally

867
00:49:34,760 --> 00:49:39,040
Speaker 1: screwed up. You, you finally blew it. There's no way

868
00:49:39,560 --> 00:49:41,719
Speaker 1: that a Knicks team that I knew was going to

869
00:49:41,719 --> 00:49:44,640
Speaker 1: be at least good in the regular season and added

870
00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:48,680
Speaker 1: two offensive weapons in Kemba and Evan forty eight, there's

871
00:49:48,719 --> 00:49:51,640
Speaker 1: no way they're going to be the same or worse

872
00:49:52,239 --> 00:50:00,960
Speaker 1: than last year. So I lost some money, man, I

873
00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:02,840
Speaker 1: I was I was sure Colin that that bet was

874
00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:05,879
Speaker 1: going to come through, and I guess it. Technically it's

875
00:50:05,920 --> 00:50:08,960
Speaker 1: possible still, but it ain't happening with the nixt time. Well,

876
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:12,759
Speaker 1: I'm surprised Cleveland and Chicago are better than a lot

877
00:50:12,800 --> 00:50:15,640
Speaker 1: of people thought. Charlotte's better than people thought. I think

878
00:50:15,680 --> 00:50:18,480
Speaker 1: Milwaukee missus brook Lopez in the size, I think they'll

879
00:50:18,520 --> 00:50:21,319
Speaker 1: be fine. Best box out guy in the NBA. Brook

880
00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:24,080
Speaker 1: Lopez like doesn't always have the rebound numbers, but he's

881
00:50:24,120 --> 00:50:26,400
Speaker 1: the best box out guy. And not that create a

882
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:29,200
Speaker 1: lot of room for the Janniss the Portoises to just

883
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:31,600
Speaker 1: have it a little easier on the glass. I will

884
00:50:31,640 --> 00:50:36,000
Speaker 1: say this, though Julius Randall got the bag, he doesn't

885
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:38,839
Speaker 1: want to go battle night after night. Because here's the thing.

886
00:50:39,120 --> 00:50:43,000
Speaker 1: Tibbs works your ass off in practice. As Daryl Morey

887
00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:45,560
Speaker 1: said on my podcast about a week ago, two weeks ago,

888
00:50:46,520 --> 00:50:49,600
Speaker 1: unless you sit courtside, you have no idea how physical

889
00:50:49,640 --> 00:50:51,640
Speaker 1: it is within five feet of the basket in the league.

890
00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:56,400
Speaker 1: So Tibbs is asking these guys give me two hour practices. Hey, Julius,

891
00:50:56,400 --> 00:50:58,560
Speaker 1: I want you to battle on the glass as an

892
00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:01,719
Speaker 1: undersized bag. And I watched him play this year and

893
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:04,160
Speaker 1: Julius like, I'm gonna sell for three. I'm gonna take

894
00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:07,359
Speaker 1: another jumper. Like I understood it. It was like it

895
00:51:07,440 --> 00:51:09,720
Speaker 1: was his time to get paid. The Lakers had bailed

896
00:51:09,719 --> 00:51:13,600
Speaker 1: on him. He did. Even as a big, thick player.

897
00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:20,120
Speaker 1: His game is hard. It's a it's like Anthony masonish Oakley.

898
00:51:20,640 --> 00:51:23,440
Speaker 1: He's more offensively skilled than oak but like you can

899
00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:25,280
Speaker 1: see it like he's like, man, I got my money.

900
00:51:25,440 --> 00:51:28,040
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna hang on the glass for thirty seven

901
00:51:28,040 --> 00:51:30,279
Speaker 1: minutes a nine. I'm not gonna do it. That's that's

902
00:51:30,280 --> 00:51:32,640
Speaker 1: what I see optically when I watched the Knicks play,

903
00:51:32,800 --> 00:51:36,480
Speaker 1: He's moved out. Yeah, you know, when the Knicks gave

904
00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:39,799
Speaker 1: him back contract, there was a thinking in the organization

905
00:51:39,800 --> 00:51:43,359
Speaker 1: where it's like, all right, if he returns to kind

906
00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:47,520
Speaker 1: of the player we got before last year, it's not

907
00:51:47,719 --> 00:51:50,920
Speaker 1: gonna be great, but it's not a terrible contract, right,

908
00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:53,400
Speaker 1: Like he didn't get the full max to sign with

909
00:51:53,440 --> 00:51:55,959
Speaker 1: the Knicks. It's not I wouldn't got team friendly because

910
00:51:55,960 --> 00:51:58,319
Speaker 1: you're talking like twenty five thirty million dollars per year.

911
00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:03,399
Speaker 1: But it's not this you know, Westbrook like Albatross that's

912
00:52:03,440 --> 00:52:07,719
Speaker 1: kind of hanging around their necks. Some of it, I'm

913
00:52:07,719 --> 00:52:10,440
Speaker 1: sure is a lack of motivation, Like he was doubted

914
00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:13,440
Speaker 1: all last year, so he was motivated all last season.

915
00:52:13,719 --> 00:52:15,880
Speaker 1: He gets paid, and some of that fire that we

916
00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:19,120
Speaker 1: heard about I remember writing at the time, like Julius Randall,

917
00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:22,640
Speaker 1: the Knicks were not in the resumed season from the bubble,

918
00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:25,200
Speaker 1: he spent all this time in the gym, like he

919
00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:27,880
Speaker 1: was there working on his shot for like eight months straight.

920
00:52:28,200 --> 00:52:30,120
Speaker 1: He was working out. I don't think there was that

921
00:52:30,239 --> 00:52:34,080
Speaker 1: same fire in the belly this past offseason after he

922
00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:35,880
Speaker 1: got paid. But I think a bigger part of this is,

923
00:52:35,880 --> 00:52:37,520
Speaker 1: and I've talked to people in New York about this,

924
00:52:38,040 --> 00:52:42,399
Speaker 1: like what Atlanta did to Julius Randall in the playoffs

925
00:52:42,760 --> 00:52:45,799
Speaker 1: has been duplicated over and over again, and that is

926
00:52:45,920 --> 00:52:49,239
Speaker 1: pretty basic. Where when Julius Randall collects the ball on

927
00:52:49,239 --> 00:52:52,400
Speaker 1: the perimeter, not only is he staring down his defender,

928
00:52:52,680 --> 00:52:54,799
Speaker 1: he's staring down a guy behind him, like he's doing

929
00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:57,360
Speaker 1: what like the Spurs did this to James Harden a

930
00:52:57,440 --> 00:53:00,400
Speaker 1: lot in the playoffs, and you see smart defensive teams,

931
00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:03,600
Speaker 1: which are most teams nowadays are pretty smart, like start

932
00:53:03,640 --> 00:53:06,280
Speaker 1: to do a little bit more where in Julius Randall's

933
00:53:06,320 --> 00:53:09,839
Speaker 1: line of sight are two defensive players, so Randall's like

934
00:53:09,960 --> 00:53:13,279
Speaker 1: sometimes his default reaction is to pull up from mid range, like, well,

935
00:53:13,280 --> 00:53:15,239
Speaker 1: that's the easiest shot I'm gonna get. I go to

936
00:53:15,239 --> 00:53:17,120
Speaker 1: the basket, I'm running into a forest. I'm just gonna

937
00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:18,840
Speaker 1: shoot the mid range jump shot and do that. And

938
00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:22,160
Speaker 1: he's not an efficient mid range jump shooter. So a

939
00:53:22,160 --> 00:53:24,680
Speaker 1: lot of that's on TIBs, a lot of that's on Randall,

940
00:53:24,800 --> 00:53:28,719
Speaker 1: but it's it's been a perfect storm of bad in

941
00:53:28,719 --> 00:53:32,680
Speaker 1: that situation, New York. Chris Mannox, we took more time

942
00:53:32,760 --> 00:53:37,879
Speaker 1: than than you certainly probably had as Oah's love having

943
00:53:37,920 --> 00:53:41,640
Speaker 1: you part of the Volume, folks. His boxing stuff is unbelievable.

944
00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:43,759
Speaker 1: I bring him on a couple of times a year

945
00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:45,920
Speaker 1: to talk NBA because he's so good at it. He's

946
00:53:45,920 --> 00:53:50,120
Speaker 1: so connected his outrage to Westbrook. That's gonna make a promo.

947
00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:55,480
Speaker 1: That was funny. That's great seeing you, man. I was

948
00:53:55,520 --> 00:54:01,719
Speaker 1: always going, how good it was. Chris Mannox, his passion

949
00:54:02,040 --> 00:54:07,640
Speaker 1: all things Westbrook, his insight. Loved it at the Volume Sports,

950
00:54:07,680 --> 00:54:13,480
Speaker 1: Twitter and Instagram. Remember our YouTube page at the Volume Sports.

951
00:54:13,480 --> 00:54:17,759
Speaker 1: On YouTube, push that little subscribe button yes, there'll be

952
00:54:17,800 --> 00:54:22,040
Speaker 1: a brief electrical shock, but it's always worth it. The

953
00:54:22,160 --> 00:54:39,440
Speaker 1: contents too good. It is worth it. The volume