Speaker 1: You're you're listening to the hottest, the hottest podcast out here.
Speaker 2: I said what I said.
Speaker 3: It's the heat Chet. It's just a crick.
Speaker 1: Probably no bigger news in an off season that saw
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, with four years left on his entire contract,
Speaker 1: tell the entire front office for the Nets to fuck
Speaker 1: right off and to provide an ultimatum to Josi, the
Speaker 1: owner of the Nets, to say it's either me or
Speaker 1: pretty much everybody below you. And then that standoff, and
Speaker 1: that standoff not be the biggest thing.
Speaker 3: The biggest news.
Speaker 1: By far was not Kevin Durant, it was not Kyrie,
Speaker 1: was not the Lakers, Boston Celtics suspending head coach e
Speaker 1: may You for the entire season for things we are
Speaker 1: not really clear about yet. To say that this news
Speaker 1: came out of nowhere would be an understatement. I saw
Speaker 1: Emi Udoka at summer League, asked him to come on
Speaker 1: the pod. He agreed to come on the pod in July,
Speaker 1: mid July, midway through this investigation, and no one knew
Speaker 1: he was walking around there, Freeman. No one knew what
Speaker 1: was going on. I saw Damon Stodamer, no hint anything
Speaker 1: was going on. I saw his assistant Aaron Miles, no
Speaker 1: hint anything was going on. I met with multiple people
Speaker 1: from the Boston TV cast.
Speaker 3: Nothing. That was.
Speaker 1: Two months ago. It was a beautiful September, full of tranquility.
Speaker 1: Boston looked great. They had pieces, Daniella Gallinari, Malcolm Brogden,
Speaker 1: They've got their entire rest of their team that they
Speaker 1: love coming back, Ema Udoka, reinvigorated, and then boo.
Speaker 3: This is the bomb. This is the sound of the
Speaker 3: Wojes bomb. And it's just like that, he was gone,
Speaker 3: Just like that, it's over. You saw the report.
Speaker 1: You saw the Boston Celtics come out with some random
Speaker 1: news conferences about how mad they were.
Speaker 3: That random women were being accused of being a part
Speaker 3: of this salacious scandal.
Speaker 1: And there are many details that have come out and
Speaker 1: rumors that I will not get into because I have
Speaker 1: no clue. I have done a little digging, but I
Speaker 1: don't know.
Speaker 3: I have no idea. I have like three people who
Speaker 3: have kind of clued me in on the general sort
Speaker 3: of scope and.
Speaker 1: Framework of how this went down, why it went down,
Speaker 1: why now, But I don't care to comment on that
Speaker 1: because it's a sad situation. And truthfully, I ride for
Speaker 1: my people from Portland, and I am not here to
Speaker 1: spread any dirty rumors about em Udoka because truthfully their
Speaker 1: second third hand and I don't know what is true.
Speaker 1: All I know is that Neilong is very messy going
Speaker 1: on TMZ saying that she was absolutely shocked and stunned
Speaker 1: and whatever other adjectives, going on.
Speaker 3: And doing full on one on one interviews.
Speaker 1: With TMZ in the middle of your husband or no,
Speaker 1: your fiance of seven years gang suspended for the year,
Speaker 1: probably his career getting just absolutely obliterated.
Speaker 3: So the whole situation is.
Speaker 1: Messy, but particularly Neolong getting involved very messy as well.
Speaker 1: What we do know though, is this Boston Celtics. I
Speaker 1: don't know that that many people are framing it like this,
Speaker 1: but they are on their third coach in three years.
Speaker 1: They become the first coach the first team since the
Speaker 1: Showtime Lakers who fired Jack McKinney after going to the
Speaker 1: finals when he had his bike accident, and then Paul
Speaker 1: Westhead got it was bad back then to not have
Speaker 1: the head coach that took them to the finals there
Speaker 1: to start the next season.
Speaker 3: Add that, and you add that to the fact.
Speaker 1: Rob Williams, who probably would have won Defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year last year if he was completely healthy. He's
Speaker 1: now out three months at the very least before he
Speaker 1: can return to basketball activities. Rob had another knee surgery
Speaker 1: on the same knee that kept him out of some
Speaker 1: of the playoffs. He didn't like the way that his
Speaker 1: knee felt. Had to get another knee surgery, just like
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, I think maybe last week.
Speaker 1: Add that to Danilo Gallinari, one of their pickups who
Speaker 1: they were very excited about. He's out for the entire season.
Speaker 1: Acl taar just like that, add insult to injury. So
Speaker 1: Brad Stevens he gets asked to come back and coach,
Speaker 1: which would have been an absolute disaster, by the way,
Speaker 1: unmitigated disaster. I hear Jason Tatum ma Asden to come
Speaker 1: back and he was like.
Speaker 3: Hmmm, no.
Speaker 1: Tries to get laren Naga, Jay Larenega to come back.
Speaker 1: This is how toxic things are being perceived. Brad Stevens
Speaker 1: personally reaches out to Jay Larenega, the former assistant who
Speaker 1: is the runner up to get Udoka's job, to come
Speaker 1: in be the interim head coach.
Speaker 3: I would imagine ask them, hey, would you leave the
Speaker 3: Clippers to be the.
Speaker 1: Interim head coach and return back to Boston to settle
Speaker 1: some of the shit down.
Speaker 3: And his answer, I quote, I prefer to stay in
Speaker 3: La Nah. I'm good.
Speaker 1: That's like when it really reminds me, because I would
Speaker 1: prefer to stay in La is about as classy as
Speaker 1: of an answer as you're gonna get, as gentle and
Speaker 1: and like, you know, I would prefer means that there's
Speaker 1: some sort of ambiguity about whether you have control of
Speaker 1: your decision.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: It's like when the TSA agent I've got my little
Speaker 1: dog in her carrier and they want to see whether
Speaker 1: there's enough space inside the carrier for her. And they
Speaker 1: see her and they're like, she's growling at the TSA agent.
Speaker 3: She's snapping at the.
Speaker 1: Actual at her through the material and she's like, hey,
Speaker 1: could you open up the zipper and let her out
Speaker 1: so I could see her. I'm like, bitch, she will
Speaker 1: bite your face off. And I'm like, you know, I
Speaker 1: really prefer not to. I'd rather not. I'd honestly rather not.
Speaker 1: And for you, I think you should rather not too,
Speaker 1: Like that's the kind of I'd rather not.
Speaker 3: That was add.
Speaker 1: Another telling detail. Interim head coach to take em spot
Speaker 1: Joe Missoula, a Brad Stevens hold Over, one of the
Speaker 1: only ones left from his regime. Not Damon Stodemyer, not
Speaker 1: Aaron Miles, not any of Udokah's assistants that he's known
Speaker 1: his entire life, who has come over to help him build.
Speaker 3: A championship caliber team in two seconds flat.
Speaker 1: No, No, both were passed up in favor of a
Speaker 1: Brad Stevens Holdover. That about tells you everything, folks, that
Speaker 1: you need to know about what's about to happen to
Speaker 1: emy Udoka and the rest of his fucking crew. And
Speaker 1: I hate to say that, I don't want to make
Speaker 1: light of it. I mean, these are my guys. I
Speaker 1: am fucking heartsick over it. Just when we get some
Speaker 1: good things in Portland, just like twelve months, I could
Speaker 1: only get one season of Portland Pride. I was gonna
Speaker 1: get some Boston Celtics gear. Good thing I didn't. Good
Speaker 1: thing I didn't. Rumors are that obviously Emay Udoka's done
Speaker 1: done coaching, probably for a long time. Missoula has promised
Speaker 1: to keep the schematic stuff the same, to try to
Speaker 1: instill some level of concentsistency for a team that was
Speaker 1: one of the best defensive groups in the league. Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown said this after his first practice with Missoula. I
Speaker 1: think from day one, Joe has set a standard. All
Speaker 1: of our guys are setting the standard, taking care of
Speaker 1: the ball, getting to our spots, playing the right way,
Speaker 1: just setting an expectation level that we've got to be
Speaker 1: accountable every single day. Truth is, the Celtics still need
Speaker 1: to add a coach and are scouring the woods for
Speaker 1: an experienced assistant to help take the burden off this brand.
Speaker 3: New I don't know thirty four year old head coach.
Speaker 1: I mean he's he's literally younger than Al Horford. This guy,
Speaker 1: I mean, Al Horford's fucking old, but he's very young too.
Speaker 1: All a work in progress, and still with all of
Speaker 1: this drama, the Celtics are the odds on favorite to
Speaker 1: win the title.
Speaker 3: Can you believe that plus five hundred?
Speaker 1: Do they not know all this stuff? All the players
Speaker 1: were shocked. They heard the news when we did on
Speaker 1: social media. So to recap, top center out for the
Speaker 1: out for half the season, a guy who is critical
Speaker 1: for the defensive identity of this team. Another key rotation
Speaker 1: player out for the year, a new point guard who
Speaker 1: has a history of always being injured and kind of
Speaker 1: feeling like if he hurts a toenail, he's going to
Speaker 1: sit out a few games. A starting power forward who's
Speaker 1: just shy of forty so a lack of depth hurts
Speaker 1: him quite a bit. A scandal and controversy looming over
Speaker 1: a franchise over a head coach having a sexual relationship
Speaker 1: with a member of the team who has gone for
Speaker 1: at least the entire year, but probably more. And a
Speaker 1: new head coach interim who has his own little stuff
Speaker 1: that isn't great. Sounds right to me plus five hundred Yeah.
Speaker 1: Willing to put my money on this team to win
Speaker 1: it all, folks, I would totally do that.
Speaker 3: That makes all the sense in the world. Is it not.
Speaker 1: Start getting ring sizes for Rob Williams, Like, figure it out,
Speaker 1: Malcolm Brogden, get your banner, get your championship party entourage ready.
Speaker 1: In all seriousness, I think it's gonna take a while
Speaker 1: for this team to get things together. I think that's
Speaker 1: saying a lot that they will get things together. Things
Speaker 1: couldn't have gone much worse than last year Towards the
Speaker 1: until the All Star break when they were one game
Speaker 1: shy of five hundred in January.
Speaker 3: But boy, is there gonna.
Speaker 1: Be tumult and a lot of questions And as more
Speaker 1: news reports come out, who knows what kind of shit
Speaker 1: continues to brew. If anyone rivals the Celtics for off
Speaker 1: season drama and organizational dysfunction, probably the Phoenix Suns, right,
Speaker 1: they set a record in the off season for a
Speaker 1: most amount of tweets by their fan base that just
Speaker 1: sent gifts of flaming dumpster fire at them. Let's face it,
Speaker 1: like you look up dumpster fire in the dictionary and
Speaker 1: Robert Sarver's.
Speaker 3: Photo will be staring right at you.
Speaker 1: The NBA suspends Phoenix Son's owner Robert Sarver one year
Speaker 1: after he gets accused by dozens of employees and former
Speaker 1: employees for every ism under the sun, every racial slur,
Speaker 1: every bit of sexual misconduct, every bit about Hey, how
Speaker 1: about you see my Michael Pennix junior. And he gets
Speaker 1: the same level of suspend as Eme Udoka is That
Speaker 1: does that feel weird to anyone?
Speaker 3: Because it does every ism under the sun under the
Speaker 3: Sun's get it, And I don't know.
Speaker 1: My first thought is shit, that's that's wild. That is
Speaker 1: not gonna fly though, folks in today's day and age,
Speaker 1: Adam Silver, what you doing, baby, what you're doing? I
Speaker 1: reached out to some friends like, hey, uh, what's going
Speaker 1: on in Phoenix? You hear anything about this Sarver suspension?
Speaker 1: How are people taking it? Had some very trusted media members,
Speaker 1: and they said, oh, and they live in Phoenix. Oh no,
Speaker 1: this is not the end. There's not even close to
Speaker 1: the end. And yet they said.
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, Sarvar's not gonna survive this.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, really, it feels like he's got this
Speaker 1: audacity to stay put, even after Braun came out against him,
Speaker 1: even after Chris Paul came after it out against him,
Speaker 1: even Draymond Green, who had an amazing soliloquy about forcing
Speaker 1: the owners to take a vote.
Speaker 3: Hey, y'all, let's see where you guys are at on it.
Speaker 3: Let's take a vote, see how you.
Speaker 1: Guys feel about Robert Sarver continuing to be an owner
Speaker 1: of this league. But then sponsors start pulling their dollars.
Speaker 1: Then other owners of the Suns start coming forward. Then
Speaker 1: you've got the head, the new head of the NBPA,
Speaker 1: the union saying I speak for all players that this
Speaker 1: man cannot stay around this league and in a few
Speaker 1: short days could put Robert Sarver capitulates and he announces
Speaker 1: he's selling the team.
Speaker 3: Since it's pr season.
Speaker 1: Here is Robert Sarver's statement, and we'll decide whether it
Speaker 1: gets any comment.
Speaker 3: As a man of faith, oh God, let me just
Speaker 3: let's start again.
Speaker 1: As a man of faith, I believe in atonement and
Speaker 1: the path to forgiveness. I expected that the commissioner's one
Speaker 1: year suspension would provide the time for me to focus,
Speaker 1: make amends and remove my personal controversy from the teams
Speaker 1: that I and so many fans love. Really, but in
Speaker 1: our current unforgiving climate, oh it's cancel culture, it has
Speaker 1: become painfully clear that that is no longer possible. That
Speaker 1: for whatever good I have done, Oh baby, Oh you
Speaker 1: think this is like a like a balance sheet, like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'd have done, so we'll continue.
Speaker 2: Whatever good I have done or could still do is
Speaker 2: outweighed by the things I have said in the past.
Speaker 1: For those reasons, I am beginning the process of seeking
Speaker 1: buyers for the sun Sons and Mercury.
Speaker 3: This is a man who seems.
Speaker 1: Riddled with contrition, doesn't he He seems broken up about
Speaker 1: the whole thing. He seems ready to do the work,
Speaker 1: doesn't he. He seemed like he was ready to take
Speaker 1: the next year to really peel back the layers of
Speaker 1: why he's so racist, why he feels he can speak
Speaker 1: to women however he wants.
Speaker 3: But he's not gonna do that now. He's just gonna
Speaker 3: sell the team. So it's us that lose.
Speaker 1: It's us that lose because we try to cancel Robert
Speaker 1: Sarverar and instead he will not be canceled.
Speaker 3: He's not gonna do the work. He's just gonna sell
Speaker 3: the team.
Speaker 1: By the way, he's gonna sell team for like three
Speaker 1: billion dollars, so he'll be fine.
Speaker 3: I'm sure he'll put all those dollars to work on.
Speaker 1: Himself and bettering the communities that he has harmed. This
Speaker 1: is the third team in the last eight years, by
Speaker 1: the way, due to some sort of racial issues, have
Speaker 1: had to be sold.
Speaker 3: It's almost like there's a it's like the problem, like
Speaker 3: there's a systemic thing.
Speaker 1: It feels like maybe we should start peeling back the onion,
Speaker 1: start lifting up the hood on the rest of these guys.
Speaker 3: See if anything else shakes out.
Speaker 1: See if any rats come open, if you pick up
Speaker 1: those two by fours and see what starts scurrying out.
Speaker 3: I think it's the best thing for everyone.
Speaker 1: Honestly, you cannot tell me that this investigation didn't have
Speaker 1: a cloud over the Suns. I don't care that they
Speaker 1: were the number one seed. They started out slow, they
Speaker 1: went out with a bang to this Dallas Mavericks the
Speaker 1: beginning of their season had that cloud of Baxter Holmes's
Speaker 1: article looming over them and his problematic.
Speaker 3: Behavior of Robert Sarver.
Speaker 1: So turns out Sarver also still reaping the benefits or
Speaker 1: we are still reaping the benefits of him and DeAndre Ayton.
Speaker 1: Apparently Robert Sarver is the reason that DeAndre Ayden didn't
Speaker 1: get his max deal. Remember the Suns did everything but
Speaker 1: kick eight and out out the door until just snatching
Speaker 1: him back by matching the extension sheet by the NBA
Speaker 1: and Pacers. Eight, and of course was outraged, as you
Speaker 1: might imagine. A report dropped though today from Mark Spears
Speaker 1: and Ramona Shelburne that said the following.
Speaker 3: I was told that it was Robert Sarver.
Speaker 1: Who didn't want to give him that fifth year, he
Speaker 1: wanted to save money.
Speaker 3: Oh baby.
Speaker 1: My understanding from talking to people close to DeAndre is
Speaker 1: he thinks that this was Robert Sarver's decision as well
Speaker 1: the whole bizarre situation surrounding the team's treatment of Aton.
Speaker 3: But it feels like it's starting to make a little
Speaker 3: more sense now.
Speaker 1: Cheap owner who's probably gonna be forced to sell the
Speaker 1: team doesn't want to make any big.
Speaker 3: Moves, so they decide we'll just see what everybody else
Speaker 3: wants to pay him.
Speaker 1: Add this to the fact that Ayton has not, according
Speaker 1: to him, spoken to Monty Williams, the head coach, since
Speaker 1: Game seven. If you don't think that's weird, and I
Speaker 1: know people are trying to tell us this is the
Speaker 1: part of the gas lighting that exists. Like people are
Speaker 1: trying to tell us that's not weird. Oh yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like totally normal. As soon as you end the season,
Speaker 1: we just never speak again, not like hey, buddy, how
Speaker 1: you hold it up?
Speaker 3: How is your summer going?
Speaker 1: I don't know, like when summer League is happening, Hey,
Speaker 1: you want to grab dinner?
Speaker 3: None of that.
Speaker 1: They're trying to tell us that's not weird that I
Speaker 1: have to tell you. If that's normal, then the entire
Speaker 1: league is a little weird. Here's what Ayton said. You
Speaker 1: can just hear it for yourself. How you and Monni
Speaker 1: has kind of been have spoken?
Speaker 3: Mooss? Have you and MONI been able to move?
Speaker 1: Cuts him off. I haven't spoke to MONI looks at
Speaker 1: him dead in his face. Nope, continue you, No, I haven't.
Speaker 3: Spoke him at all, never since the game. Nope, haven't
Speaker 3: spoke to him at all ever since that game.
Speaker 1: So not even hoping that you're very good? I'm here.
Speaker 3: Are you hoping that that changes? I'm here, You're happy
Speaker 3: to be here. I'm all right, I'm in between those lines.
Speaker 1: And now I just works. You know, I'm not playing
Speaker 1: for myself.
Speaker 3: You know I'm a hoping his iss across my chest.
Speaker 1: I didn't go back and half you.
Speaker 3: I'm just here to work.
Speaker 1: Man. This sounds like a guy who's like, listen, I've
Speaker 1: got generational wealth come in my way.
Speaker 3: Life's not that bad.
Speaker 1: I grew up in Phoenix, but I can't stand these
Speaker 1: motherfuckers truthfully. And I know in January, when I get
Speaker 1: to choose whether I want to be traded or not,
Speaker 1: I can ask them to get me the fuck out
Speaker 1: of here if I want to. We'll see if Chris
Speaker 1: Paul wants to grind me down to dust between now
Speaker 1: and January, maybe I get my dipset mass out of here.
Speaker 1: You know what, I get that Sometimes you work for
Speaker 1: someplace and you get paid well, and you're like, it's
Speaker 1: they're so lucky. I get paid well because I can't
Speaker 1: stand it here. I can't stand my teammates. I can't
Speaker 1: stand my bosses. I can't stand being having them on
Speaker 1: top of me all day long. Yeah, I mean run
Speaker 1: down the full video. Look on Aton's face. It just
Speaker 1: comes off so much worse. His body language, his facial expressions,
Speaker 1: his energy. In other words, the season could not have
Speaker 1: started worse for the Phoenix Suns. Lots of teams with
Speaker 1: talent have had their seasons go down like the Titanic
Speaker 1: due to chemistry issues and with the locker room overflowing
Speaker 1: with frustration about the cyber situation, an unhappy big man.
Speaker 3: And now you've got Jay Crowder, the glue of.
Speaker 1: This team, sitting out of training camp until he is
Speaker 1: traded because his starting role was in jeopardy. Safe to
Speaker 1: say there is a ton of murkiness about how good
Speaker 1: this Phoenix team can actually be the season, especially early
Speaker 1: on in said season. So now we have two playoff
Speaker 1: teams with serious dysfunction and serious ambiguity about what happens next.