WEBVTT - #thisleague UNCUT: The NBA at Thanksgiving 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.000 Our reactions to how the in season tournament is landing 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:09.160 league wide. Indiana's Tyres Halliburton in Minnesota's Anthony Edwards. Can 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:14.200 they force their way into this season's MVP race and 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:19.840 the sixty five game threshold? Lebron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant? 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.200 Will those thirty somethings all play at least sixty five 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:27.840 games to get themselves into the various award races they 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:30.840 want to compete in. All that's next here on this 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:31.640 League Uncut. 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:34.640 Welcome to this League Uncut. 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:35.800 Can you rule a. 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:40.920 Twenty four hour NDIA News. This's you Love, Chris Hans. 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:49.320 It's go time, work's time, It's some time. This League 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:53.720 Uncut is underway and on fire. This should be a 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:54.400 good one. 0:00:55.040 --> 0:01:02.279 Everyone. Welcome in and Happy Thanksgiving from the whole this 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:07.360 League Uncut squad. Mark Stein here with Chris Haynes, producer 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:14.319 Ryan Music. We are recording on Wednesday afternoon. What time 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.640 is it on the East coast? After five on the 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:22.360 East coast. So the Milwaukee Boston Showdown that Chris Haynes 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:24.440 couldn't wait to see is almost here. That's just a 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:29.480 couple hours away. Also less than a day away now 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:33.759 for the hotel Haynes to be invaded by countless family members. 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:38.040 So a lot going on at the Haines Hotel in Sacramento. 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:41.200 I'm in La. I was man. I still want to 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:45.399 call it Staples every time I was at Thecrypto dot 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.440 Com arena last night, saw the Lakers dismantle the Jazz, 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:56.160 saw Lebron James score his thirty nine thousandth career point. 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.240 But even in Farrow, we're both in CALIFORNI on you 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.360 right now, even way out here, I think the talk 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.560 of the NBA as we woke up today was what 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:12.040 happened Indiana Atlanta, one fifty seven, one fifty two scoreboard overload. 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:16.480 Everyone around the league is going nuts about what Tyres 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:19.120 Halliburton is doing, and we will get to that in 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.560 a moment. But let us really we conceived doing this. 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:26.080 We don't normally tape at this afternoon hour, but we 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.600 did it Monday. We're doing it again today and this 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:34.440 way the pod will be out during Wednesday nights overloaded 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:39.480 slate of games. Fourteen games tonight, but nobody Chris Haynes 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.360 is playing tomorrow on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is off in the NBA, 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:46.640 So We're gonna start with a trivia question. Once the 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:51.280 regular season begins. This season, it began on October twenty fourth. 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.720 The season typically lasts about one hundred and seventy days. 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:59.280 That's that's the ballpark figure. How many days from start 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.280 of the regular season in to end of the regular season? 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:06.800 Is there zero NBA basketball? An avid reader of my 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.920 sub stack like yourself should know this one, because I 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:14.080 actually put this in my substack recently. Since you read 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:18.440 every issue every since you read every post cover to cover, 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:22.600 I know you know this answer. How many days? How 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.120 many days out of those one seventy is there no 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:26.200 NBA basketball? 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.440 Since I didn't read your latest yet. 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:34.480 Or the one five or five six issues ago when 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:36.080 I actually wrote about this, I don't want to keep 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.760 calling it. They're not episode. These are episodes. Those are 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:40.560 just those are just plain old stories. 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:47.800 I'm gonna take an educated guess, we have hold on 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:51.120 answer this question real quick. Is alection they accounted for? 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:53.520 Yeah? That's one of them? 0:03:53.680 --> 0:04:02.720 All right, Okay, two, that's two. I'm going to say four. 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:09.839 Very good guests, had you read the steinline cover to cover, 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:14.000 you would know that the answer is actually five. There 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.640 are five. There are only five. Once the regular season 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.960 clock starts ticking, there are only five days on the 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:25.480 calendar that there are no NBA games. Election Day, as 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:30.680 you said, which was November seventh this season, Thanksgiving Christmas Eve, 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.160 April eighth, which is the Monday that the NCAA Division 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:39.479 One Men's Basketball Championship is contested. That Monday night where 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:43.520 the Final four wraps up, there is no NBA games, sorry, Ryan, Three, 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:48.599 let me do it again, three two one, That Monday 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:53.000 night when the Final four wraps up with the championship game, 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:56.600 there are no NBA games that night, and then the 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:01.400 final day before the regular season April thirteenth. In this case, 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.360 because all thirty teen the way the NBA does it now, 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.640 all thirty teams play on the final day of the 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:11.240 regular season. So four, sorry, Ron, I got a cough 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:17.960 three two one, So four, I must say, was a 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:19.160 pretty good guess. 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.200 So I've been covering ly with th this of my 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:26.560 thirteenth year. Now. I don't think I've ever recognized that 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:30.280 NBA games that have never been played on Christmas Eve. 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:32.279 I wouldn't yeah that. 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.840 It actually was not always so that there were no 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:40.719 games on Thanksgiving. The one that stands out in my memory. 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:43.880 I'm sure there was more than one Thanksgiving that I 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:46.080 actually covered an NBA game, but the one that I 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:50.000 really remember my first year at ESPN was two thousand 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:55.280 and two, two thousand and three. That season I moved. 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:59.320 My first year at ESPN, they they made me live 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:04.279 in Connecticut, so I had just left Dallas. What happens 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:07.680 I leave Dallas and the Mavericks start the season fourteen 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:11.960 and oh, best start in franchise history. On that Thanksgiving 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:17.920 they played at Indiana and they lost. That was their 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.480 first loss of the season on Thanksgiving. So I do 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:24.359 remember that one. But it's more reason than that that 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.160 the NBA finally said, you know, we're going away from 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:31.200 Thanksgiving games. But yeah, so no Thanksgiving, no Christmas Eve. No, 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:34.000 they don't want to go head to head with the 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:38.279 final four championship game. And then they want everybody resting 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.280 on the last day before the regular season because they 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.880 want all thirty teams playing stein. 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:46.840 But hold on, what I gatthered from that, What stuck 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:50.839 out to me is you spent an entire year in Bristol, 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:52.960 you actually had to move there. 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:55.920 You really want that whole story right now? And I've 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:56.839 told you this story. 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:58.560 No, I didn't know what I know you ever lived 0:06:58.600 --> 0:06:59.080 in Bristol. 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:05.560 Yeah, so my first year there, I was told that 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:08.599 I got the job, which obviously I was. You know, 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:13.239 it was career changing to get that job. And it's interesting. 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:15.520 I hope Steve Weish doesn't mind me telling this story 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:19.480 because Steve Weisch, who you probably know, outstanding reporter for 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:23.160 the NFL network. Steve Weisch and I went head to 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:28.160 head for two straight jobs the Washington Post. We both 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:32.840 interviewed for the Wizard's job to replace Rick Bucker, and 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:36.880 I had interned at the Post and Weysh beat me 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:40.960 out for that job, and I was crushed because having 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:44.080 interned for the Post, I badly wanted to be a 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:47.840 staff writer there. But Weysh beat me out for that one. 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:50.920 And then a few years later we both ended up 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:55.239 going for this ESPN dot com job, and this time 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.080 the fortune smiled upon me and I got it, and 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:02.920 I had been I had been freelancing for ESPN. It's funny. 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:06.480 In the early days of ESPN dot com, they didn't 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:08.600 have a full time NBA writer, so what they did 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.800 was David Aldrich was working on the TV side, and 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:15.120 then Buker ended up for them on the magazine and 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:19.120 they would both write for ESPN dot com. But they 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:23.520 were you know, Aldrich was ESPN's TV reporter on the 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:27.440 NBA and Rick Buker was a magazine staff writer. So 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:31.520 what they genuine what they did in the early days 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.200 of ESPN dot com, they filled, they would they it 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:36.960 was so small time back then that they basically they 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:39.400 only wrote on They only had a fresh new piece 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:42.680 on weekdays Monday through Friday, and it was basically one 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:45.640 new piece. And in those days there were only four divisions, 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.559 so they had freelancers from each of the four divisions 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.240 and then Aldrich would write once a week and that 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:54.760 was ESPN dot COM's coverage for years like that. So 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:57.880 so Mike Monroe, who I know, you know as well, 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.800 who's been in San Antonio for the last I don't know, 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:04.120 twenty odd years. After many many years in Denver, Mike 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:07.960 was the Midwest Division correspondent. He was covering the Nuggets 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:09.760 then for the Denver Post and covering the league for 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:13.920 the Denver Post. He got a job at Fox Sports 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:17.800 and that opened up a freelancer spot at ESPN on 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.840 the Midwest Division, and I started I got that, and 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:24.360 I started doing one Midwest Division column a week, so 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.160 that kind of got me in with ESPN. And then 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:30.640 when they finally had a full time opening, knock on Wood, 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:33.280 I get it. But the catch was we had to 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:37.199 move to Connecticut, and so we leave Dallas. I had 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.520 just gotten married, missus Stein was pregnant with our first born, 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.040 Alexander the Greatest, who was actually officially born in Hartford, 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:53.520 because that one year we lived there. And after year one, 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:57.360 I was like, guys, I'm two hours from the Nets, 0:09:57.400 --> 0:09:59.640 I'm two hours from the Knicks, I'm two hours from 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.960 the cell I'm an outsider at all these places, and 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:06.520 it's so hard to get to Please let me go 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:07.240 back to Dallas. 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.679 And they said, yes, all right, okay, I know, we 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:12.880 go get to basketball, but hold on, we'll get to basketball. 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:18.320 I promise we will. You just got married. Yeah, how 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:22.520 in the hell did you convince your wife to after 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:26.800 just getting married, to move to Bristol, Connecticut? Was it 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:27.440 was that easy? 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:32.280 It was not easy. But missus Stein, she's the greatest. 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:35.520 Oh she's a keeper. Oh you knew you had some. 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.000 She is a very very impatient and brave woman. 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:39.280 Yeah. 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:45.600 No, literally literally and that was also that late late 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:50.560 in that summer we got married and the Foeba what 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:52.960 is now known as the FEBA World Cup, the World 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:59.200 Championships were in Indianapolis that September. So that like my 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:01.840 first assignment for ESPN, if I if I'm remembering this 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.560 right was doing the Feeble World what what now is 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.280 the Feeble World Cup. So it's like right away, had 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:10.000 to just jump right into it. Then the season started, 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:14.840 move move to Connecticut and one year in central Connecticut. 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:17.000 Let's just say that was that was plenty. 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:21.000 Wow, I understand I spent man. I would go there 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:22.880 when when I was at ESPN, I probably went to 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:27.200 Bristol twelve about twelve times a year, and uh, I 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.679 couldn't imagine being there three hundred and sixty five days. 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:32.720 Yeah, it is great when you fly in, stay at 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:35.160 the hotel for three days, do a bunch of TV, 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:37.840 high five everybody, and then you're off to the airport. 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:42.000 That that's great, that's fine. But yeah, that was a 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:47.959 missus Stein I mean, because I mean we got married 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:55.000 and a year later had our had our first had 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:57.000 our firstborn. It was a lot. It was a lot. 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:58.360 There was a lot going on. 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.040 I'd just like it. I just like I hope people 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:04.360 appreciate that too. Just just the stories you know, here 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:08.160 in the here, in the flight of getting up there, 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:12.000 and what it takes, the chances you have to take 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:12.920 just to. 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:14.760 Put a bow on all that. Then you know, Steve 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:18.280 Weish swiftly move over to the NFL and became an 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:22.720 NFL reporting superstar. So he he, he did just fine 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:24.640 without the NBA in his life. So shout out to 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:25.520 Steve Weish. 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:27.800 Awesome story, awesome story. 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:31.120 And then Chris Haynes takes me miles off course. 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.600 Let the spirit move you. Nothing wrong with that. 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.360 So Chris Haynes, now it's my turn to ask some questions. 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:47.000 We've seen a lot of n Season Tournament basketball, and 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.720 last night everybody got so excited about the in the 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:53.800 Atlanta game. So now that we've I mean, you know 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:58.840 where the crotchety old man stands. Tell me what you're seeing. 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:02.480 How is the nd season tournament winning you over to 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:06.640 any degree? Are you more into it than you were? 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:11.640 Talk to me. I wouldn't know that it's winning me over. 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:15.920 Can I tell that there's a difference. I'm gonna tell 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.200 you that the slight difference that I can tell and play. 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:24.360 It's towards the end of the game, and I'm going 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:31.000 to point to a Milwaukee Bucks Charlotte Hornet's game. Adrian 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:36.920 Griffin left his starters in longer in the game that 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:39.800 they had already. You know, they had it won, but 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.240 they left them in longer than usual because you know 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:45.920 the point differential that plays a factor into it. You know, 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.959 if there's a tiebreaker, then it goes by the point differential. 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.480 And I think cliff I didn't notice at the time, 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.959 but I guess Steve Clifford had a problem and Adrian 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.800 Grifford had to talk to Clifford and tell them, hey, 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:03.240 nothing per You know, I wouldn't ordinarily do this, but 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.280 you know, this is the way this n season tournament 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:10.280 is set up. So we're trying to win it, uh 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.800 by as much as possible. And stein I love that. 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:16.440 I love it. You know, I'm not one of those 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:20.280 ones that that that talks about. Hey, you know there's 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.800 a rule, there's an unwritten rule you don't shoot the 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:26.720 ball when you're okay, I get it. Yeah, all right, 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:28.600 it'd be nice if they did, But you know what 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:30.880 else you can do. You can play defense to the end. 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:36.000 You can do that. So I kind of like, you know, 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.160 leaving guys in a little bit longer, especially you know, 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:42.560 you know, sometimes guys just need a rhythm and you 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:44.320 want to you know, you want you wanted to try 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:47.240 to flow into the next game. But so that's that's 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:50.240 the only difference, you know, just in strategy that I've 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:52.760 seen noticeably seen. But now as we get into the 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.160 later rounds of this end season tournament, you know, I 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:59.440 think that's where we're going to really because players, players 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:01.760 and coaches they're still trying to figure out like how 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:05.680 significant this is. They know it's something different, but I 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:07.920 think it's going to take to the latter stages of 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:11.240 it until we really see a true difference maker. 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:13.960 What about yourself, Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, you know, 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:16.360 I've been such a loud skeptic, so I don't want 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:20.640 to keep harping on the same stuff because I mean, look, 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:24.120 the natural question after a game last night, like we 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:27.920 saw Indiana one fifty seven Atlanta one fifty two, the 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:31.480 natural question that people are gonna pose is was that 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:34.160 because of the n season tournament where these teams more 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:39.280 dialed in, because the Pacers were trying to clinch their 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:42.360 spot atop the group. And you know, last night we 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:44.440 did get the first two teams. The Pacers and the 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:48.280 Lakers are the first two of the eight quarterfinalists, and 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:51.000 the eight and the quarterfinals, that's when this thing becomes 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:55.600 a knockout competition. But look, I I'm just not buying that. 0:15:56.000 --> 0:16:01.360 And again, people, presumably people at the league off will say, Stein, 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:03.440 You're just you're never gonna give this thing a chance. 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:05.720 There's nothing we could do to convince you. But I mean, 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:09.480 I'm I'm sorry. I'm old enough to remember an early 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.440 season game. In this case, it was early December, but 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:18.040 of course starring Steve Nash against Jason Kidd, Phoenix against 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:22.880 Brooklyn oh six oh seven range, So you know, a 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:28.800 good fifteen years ago. But okay, December two thousand and six, 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:36.200 says producer Ryan Suns won sixty one nets one fifty seven. Yes, 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.040 that went to double overtime, but that was the same 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.880 kind of crazy game. And you know, so was last 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:48.560 night's score line and intensity inspired by the n season tournament. 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:51.240 I don't know that there's any way to prove it. 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:54.280 I just want this thing to get to the knockout point. 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:57.800 And you know my initial quarrel with it, and I 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.800 know this is not easy to do. What I'm asking 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:04.359 for is not easy. It cannot be just like soccer, 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:07.720 where in these the soccer tournaments that the ND season 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:11.720 Tournament is modeled after, it is not just single elimination, 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:14.760 but it has teams from other divisions. We don't have 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:18.639 that model in North American major team sports. It's not 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.719 easy for the NBA to just bring in two extra 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:25.520 teams from the EuroLeague or the G League or whatever. 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:29.000 It's just it's just not logistically easy to do. But 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:32.680 what I think people are gonna really love is when 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:35.560 this thing gets to the final four, especially when we 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.719 get to Vegas, there are four teams. There are real 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:42.920 knockout games eventually down the road. What I really hope, 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.240 because I'm sorry, these group games just don't do anything 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.200 for me. And the courts. It's not about the courts. 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:52.360 The courts. There's very mixed opinions about the courts. Some 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:56.399 people hate them, some people grudgingly like them. Whether you 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.240 hate them or like them, they get us talking. But 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:04.280 that's just cause medic nonsense. That's not that people. People. 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:07.560 People are not gonna watch even if they love the court. 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.280 They're not gonna watch a bunch of games because they're 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:12.119 not gonna go, oh, yes, this is Game three with 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:14.840 our awesome court. It's just that's not gonna happen. 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:20.440 But it's just a differentiate from the regular season games, 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:22.920 that's all people. 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:25.480 Well, the reason they need that is because these four 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.960 group games that everybody plays are regular season games that 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.840 count twice. And that's the part that I just I 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.479 just don't like that, and I just hope that in 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:38.280 the future down the road, you know, is this something 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:40.879 they can actually carve out of the eighty two games? 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:42.959 Can they? Because they don't want to add to eighty two. 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.160 They certainly don't want to make the season longer than 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:47.840 it is. So you're not you can't add games to 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.800 eighty two. It's already too long. But can they take 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:55.200 out a week or two of the regular season? And again, 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.840 all thirty teams and all of us know it all, 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.280 and all of us, the old men like me, we 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:03.959 all go to Vegas for a week or two and 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:07.359 just play a thirty team knockout tournament. Put all the 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:09.800 teams in a hat, mix it up, mix up East 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:11.760 and West. That's another thing that drives me nuts about this. 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:14.760 East and West are kept apart until the championship game. 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.080 Why we do that in the playoffs? It would be 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:21.280 better if East and West were mixed up here too, 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.680 so we could just have some variety, something truly different 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:28.199 besides courts and uniform. So I just hope down the 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.800 road that's where we go, because I you know, I 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:34.879 know you'll be in Vegas. I'm trying to get myself 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:36.840 to Vegas. I do want to see what happens in 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:42.320 Vegas when it's neutral site, true knockout. And you know, 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.560 I do think players are more excited about the idea 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:48.840 of winning five hundred grand each then we probably realize. 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:51.720 I think I think guys do care about that, but 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:53.560 only the winning team gets that much. 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:58.760 So with your suggestion in carving out another week or 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:03.520 two throughout the regular season to do this, right, would 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:07.960 those stats go into the regular season stats or it 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:11.760 would be separate because if I if you say no, 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:13.440 players would not go for that. 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:17.080 Hey, and you just raised a tremendous counterpoint because I say, 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:20.840 I would say it should be completely separate. Yeah, that 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:24.520 a tournament should be separate. But you're absolutely right. Even 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:26.840 if you could do this thing in a week, And 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:28.840 I don't think you could do it all in one week. 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.000 I think it would have to it would have to 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:34.480 stretch into a second week because otherwise you'd have you'd 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:38.120 have back to backs. So I don't think you want 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:43.119 to just do it in one single week. But yeah, 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:50.119 I mean it's four, five, six games or I guess 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:52.400 if you if I mean, if it's true single elimination, 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:55.240 you might only play one game. Yeah, I mean, I 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:57.520 think it needs to be separate. And again it's not 0:20:57.680 --> 0:21:00.240 that's not easy to do either. You just raised a 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.439 great point, and then there's other logistical issues. What happens 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:05.439 to the team that lose, you know, six you know, 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:07.960 if you have a thirty team tournament, Let's say you 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.840 give buys to the top two seeds and then twenty 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:14.080 eight teams play in the first round, So fourteen teams 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:15.920 are only going to play one game. Then a bunch 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:18.040 of teams will only play two games. I mean, it 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:22.000 does create a whole bunch of issues. But my point is, 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:27.720 if we don't have teams from other leagues competing, we 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:31.879 have to emphasize the knockout portion of the show. That's 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:35.520 the part that will make it truly different and get 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:39.720 people excited if there's a knockout competition, if the Boston 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:42.760 Celtics get a terrible draw and have to play a 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:45.680 really good team early and then the Celtics are knocked 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:47.639 out and that opens it up for somebody else, Like 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:51.919 that is more of a true tournament than what this 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:52.880 is in year one. 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:57.399 But overall, I think we have to wait until we 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:00.399 get to the knockout stage to see just because I 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:02.840 think that's where we're really going to see the intensity 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:05.920 picked up. Because again, you know that these the group 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:10.399 play and these different divisions, nobody really knows who's in 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:14.080 what group you know, nobody has that memorize yet exactly. 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:15.720 I don't even know. Yeah, I mean it's really hard 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:16.520 to keep track of it. 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:18.920 Yeah, that's that's that's that's why I'm saying, like when 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:21.199 it gets to a lot of stages, like that's where 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:24.240 you're really going to be able to tell, Okay, this 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:27.760 is serious. This is And then I forgot Producer Ryan. 0:22:27.960 --> 0:22:30.679 I don't want to stop taping, but Producer Ryan, if 0:22:30.720 --> 0:22:35.720 you can find there was a player who suggested I 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:38.320 think was some star level player this past week suggested 0:22:38.359 --> 0:22:43.080 that the n season tournament winner should get a free 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:49.200 birth to the playoffs, so by him, whoever this individual 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:53.280 is they said this past week, I think it was Halliburton. 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:56.800 I think it was I believe it was Halliburton. And 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:02.520 if if they're suggesting that Stein, that would lead me 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:07.600 to believe that most probably don't think five hundred thousand 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:11.399 is enough to be on board and fully, you know, 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:15.119 engulfed in this end season tournament. So if they're still 0:23:15.119 --> 0:23:18.960 coming up with different suggestions, it was Halliburton, Thank you producer, Brian, 0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:23.120 Thank you Stein. So I don't know, I don't think. 0:23:23.200 --> 0:23:25.280 I don't like that, you know, because then you just 0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:28.480 and the ain't like, why are you even playing the 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:30.280 rest of the regular seasons if you are already got 0:23:30.359 --> 0:23:31.400 to automatically. 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:33.920 And that's that's probably too much. And you know, then 0:23:33.920 --> 0:23:36.359 there was the you know, whoever wins should get draft 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:39.920 compensation for their team, and then you know, why would 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:42.960