Speaker 1: Our reactions to how the in season tournament is landing
Speaker 1: league wide. Indiana's Tyres Halliburton in Minnesota's Anthony Edwards. Can
Speaker 1: they force their way into this season's MVP race and
Speaker 1: the sixty five game threshold? Lebron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant?
Speaker 1: Will those thirty somethings all play at least sixty five
Speaker 1: games to get themselves into the various award races they
Speaker 1: want to compete in. All that's next here on this
Speaker 1: League Uncut.
Speaker 2: Welcome to this League Uncut.
Speaker 3: Can you rule a.
Speaker 2: Twenty four hour NDIA News. This's you Love, Chris Hans.
Speaker 2: It's go time, work's time, It's some time. This League
Speaker 2: Uncut is underway and on fire. This should be a
Speaker 2: good one.
Speaker 1: Everyone. Welcome in and Happy Thanksgiving from the whole this
Speaker 1: League Uncut squad. Mark Stein here with Chris Haynes, producer
Speaker 1: Ryan Music. We are recording on Wednesday afternoon. What time
Speaker 1: is it on the East coast? After five on the
Speaker 1: East coast. So the Milwaukee Boston Showdown that Chris Haynes
Speaker 1: couldn't wait to see is almost here. That's just a
Speaker 1: couple hours away. Also less than a day away now
Speaker 1: for the hotel Haynes to be invaded by countless family members.
Speaker 1: So a lot going on at the Haines Hotel in Sacramento.
Speaker 1: I'm in La. I was man. I still want to
Speaker 1: call it Staples every time I was at Thecrypto dot
Speaker 1: Com arena last night, saw the Lakers dismantle the Jazz,
Speaker 1: saw Lebron James score his thirty nine thousandth career point.
Speaker 1: But even in Farrow, we're both in CALIFORNI on you
Speaker 1: right now, even way out here, I think the talk
Speaker 1: of the NBA as we woke up today was what
Speaker 1: happened Indiana Atlanta, one fifty seven, one fifty two scoreboard overload.
Speaker 1: Everyone around the league is going nuts about what Tyres
Speaker 1: Halliburton is doing, and we will get to that in
Speaker 1: a moment. But let us really we conceived doing this.
Speaker 1: We don't normally tape at this afternoon hour, but we
Speaker 1: did it Monday. We're doing it again today and this
Speaker 1: way the pod will be out during Wednesday nights overloaded
Speaker 1: slate of games. Fourteen games tonight, but nobody Chris Haynes
Speaker 1: is playing tomorrow on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is off in the NBA,
Speaker 1: So We're gonna start with a trivia question. Once the
Speaker 1: regular season begins. This season, it began on October twenty fourth.
Speaker 1: The season typically lasts about one hundred and seventy days.
Speaker 1: That's that's the ballpark figure. How many days from start
Speaker 1: of the regular season in to end of the regular season?
Speaker 1: Is there zero NBA basketball? An avid reader of my
Speaker 1: sub stack like yourself should know this one, because I
Speaker 1: actually put this in my substack recently. Since you read
Speaker 1: every issue every since you read every post cover to cover,
Speaker 1: I know you know this answer. How many days? How
Speaker 1: many days out of those one seventy is there no
Speaker 1: NBA basketball?
Speaker 3: Since I didn't read your latest yet.
Speaker 1: Or the one five or five six issues ago when
Speaker 1: I actually wrote about this, I don't want to keep
Speaker 1: calling it. They're not episode. These are episodes. Those are
Speaker 1: just those are just plain old stories.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna take an educated guess, we have hold on
Speaker 3: answer this question real quick. Is alection they accounted for?
Speaker 1: Yeah? That's one of them?
Speaker 3: All right, Okay, two, that's two. I'm going to say four.
Speaker 1: Very good guests, had you read the steinline cover to cover,
Speaker 1: you would know that the answer is actually five. There
Speaker 1: are five. There are only five. Once the regular season
Speaker 1: clock starts ticking, there are only five days on the
Speaker 1: calendar that there are no NBA games. Election Day, as
Speaker 1: you said, which was November seventh this season, Thanksgiving Christmas Eve,
Speaker 1: April eighth, which is the Monday that the NCAA Division
Speaker 1: One Men's Basketball Championship is contested. That Monday night where
Speaker 1: the Final four wraps up, there is no NBA games, sorry, Ryan, Three,
Speaker 1: let me do it again, three two one, That Monday
Speaker 1: night when the Final four wraps up with the championship game,
Speaker 1: there are no NBA games that night, and then the
Speaker 1: final day before the regular season April thirteenth. In this case,
Speaker 1: because all thirty teen the way the NBA does it now,
Speaker 1: all thirty teams play on the final day of the
Speaker 1: regular season. So four, sorry, Ron, I got a cough
Speaker 1: three two one, So four, I must say, was a
Speaker 1: pretty good guess.
Speaker 3: So I've been covering ly with th this of my
Speaker 3: thirteenth year. Now. I don't think I've ever recognized that
Speaker 3: NBA games that have never been played on Christmas Eve.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't yeah that.
Speaker 1: It actually was not always so that there were no
Speaker 1: games on Thanksgiving. The one that stands out in my memory.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there was more than one Thanksgiving that I
Speaker 1: actually covered an NBA game, but the one that I
Speaker 1: really remember my first year at ESPN was two thousand
Speaker 1: and two, two thousand and three. That season I moved.
Speaker 1: My first year at ESPN, they they made me live
Speaker 1: in Connecticut, so I had just left Dallas. What happens
Speaker 1: I leave Dallas and the Mavericks start the season fourteen
Speaker 1: and oh, best start in franchise history. On that Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: they played at Indiana and they lost. That was their
Speaker 1: first loss of the season on Thanksgiving. So I do
Speaker 1: remember that one. But it's more reason than that that
Speaker 1: the NBA finally said, you know, we're going away from
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving games. But yeah, so no Thanksgiving, no Christmas Eve. No,
Speaker 1: they don't want to go head to head with the
Speaker 1: final four championship game. And then they want everybody resting
Speaker 1: on the last day before the regular season because they
Speaker 1: want all thirty teams playing stein.
Speaker 3: But hold on, what I gatthered from that, What stuck
Speaker 3: out to me is you spent an entire year in Bristol,
Speaker 3: you actually had to move there.
Speaker 1: You really want that whole story right now? And I've
Speaker 1: told you this story.
Speaker 3: No, I didn't know what I know you ever lived
Speaker 3: in Bristol.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so my first year there, I was told that
Speaker 1: I got the job, which obviously I was. You know,
Speaker 1: it was career changing to get that job. And it's interesting.
Speaker 1: I hope Steve Weish doesn't mind me telling this story
Speaker 1: because Steve Weisch, who you probably know, outstanding reporter for
Speaker 1: the NFL network. Steve Weisch and I went head to
Speaker 1: head for two straight jobs the Washington Post. We both
Speaker 1: interviewed for the Wizard's job to replace Rick Bucker, and
Speaker 1: I had interned at the Post and Weysh beat me
Speaker 1: out for that job, and I was crushed because having
Speaker 1: interned for the Post, I badly wanted to be a
Speaker 1: staff writer there. But Weysh beat me out for that one.
Speaker 1: And then a few years later we both ended up
Speaker 1: going for this ESPN dot com job, and this time
Speaker 1: the fortune smiled upon me and I got it, and
Speaker 1: I had been I had been freelancing for ESPN. It's funny.
Speaker 1: In the early days of ESPN dot com, they didn't
Speaker 1: have a full time NBA writer, so what they did
Speaker 1: was David Aldrich was working on the TV side, and
Speaker 1: then Buker ended up for them on the magazine and
Speaker 1: they would both write for ESPN dot com. But they
Speaker 1: were you know, Aldrich was ESPN's TV reporter on the
Speaker 1: NBA and Rick Buker was a magazine staff writer. So
Speaker 1: what they genuine what they did in the early days
Speaker 1: of ESPN dot com, they filled, they would they it
Speaker 1: was so small time back then that they basically they
Speaker 1: only wrote on They only had a fresh new piece
Speaker 1: on weekdays Monday through Friday, and it was basically one
Speaker 1: new piece. And in those days there were only four divisions,
Speaker 1: so they had freelancers from each of the four divisions
Speaker 1: and then Aldrich would write once a week and that
Speaker 1: was ESPN dot COM's coverage for years like that. So
Speaker 1: so Mike Monroe, who I know, you know as well,
Speaker 1: who's been in San Antonio for the last I don't know,
Speaker 1: twenty odd years. After many many years in Denver, Mike
Speaker 1: was the Midwest Division correspondent. He was covering the Nuggets
Speaker 1: then for the Denver Post and covering the league for
Speaker 1: the Denver Post. He got a job at Fox Sports
Speaker 1: and that opened up a freelancer spot at ESPN on
Speaker 1: the Midwest Division, and I started I got that, and
Speaker 1: I started doing one Midwest Division column a week, so
Speaker 1: that kind of got me in with ESPN. And then
Speaker 1: when they finally had a full time opening, knock on Wood,
Speaker 1: I get it. But the catch was we had to
Speaker 1: move to Connecticut, and so we leave Dallas. I had
Speaker 1: just gotten married, missus Stein was pregnant with our first born,
Speaker 1: Alexander the Greatest, who was actually officially born in Hartford,
Speaker 1: because that one year we lived there. And after year one,
Speaker 1: I was like, guys, I'm two hours from the Nets,
Speaker 1: I'm two hours from the Knicks, I'm two hours from
Speaker 1: the cell I'm an outsider at all these places, and
Speaker 1: it's so hard to get to Please let me go
Speaker 1: back to Dallas.
Speaker 3: And they said, yes, all right, okay, I know, we
Speaker 3: go get to basketball, but hold on, we'll get to basketball.
Speaker 3: I promise we will. You just got married. Yeah, how
Speaker 3: in the hell did you convince your wife to after
Speaker 3: just getting married, to move to Bristol, Connecticut? Was it
Speaker 3: was that easy?
Speaker 1: It was not easy. But missus Stein, she's the greatest.
Speaker 3: Oh she's a keeper. Oh you knew you had some.
Speaker 1: She is a very very impatient and brave woman.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: No, literally literally and that was also that late late
Speaker 1: in that summer we got married and the Foeba what
Speaker 1: is now known as the FEBA World Cup, the World
Speaker 1: Championships were in Indianapolis that September. So that like my
Speaker 1: first assignment for ESPN, if I if I'm remembering this
Speaker 1: right was doing the Feeble World what what now is
Speaker 1: the Feeble World Cup. So it's like right away, had
Speaker 1: to just jump right into it. Then the season started,
Speaker 1: move move to Connecticut and one year in central Connecticut.
Speaker 1: Let's just say that was that was plenty.
Speaker 3: Wow, I understand I spent man. I would go there
Speaker 3: when when I was at ESPN, I probably went to
Speaker 3: Bristol twelve about twelve times a year, and uh, I
Speaker 3: couldn't imagine being there three hundred and sixty five days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is great when you fly in, stay at
Speaker 1: the hotel for three days, do a bunch of TV,
Speaker 1: high five everybody, and then you're off to the airport.
Speaker 1: That that's great, that's fine. But yeah, that was a
Speaker 1: missus Stein I mean, because I mean we got married
Speaker 1: and a year later had our had our first had
Speaker 1: our firstborn. It was a lot. It was a lot.
Speaker 1: There was a lot going on.
Speaker 3: I'd just like it. I just like I hope people
Speaker 3: appreciate that too. Just just the stories you know, here
Speaker 3: in the here, in the flight of getting up there,
Speaker 3: and what it takes, the chances you have to take
Speaker 3: just to.
Speaker 1: Put a bow on all that. Then you know, Steve
Speaker 1: Weish swiftly move over to the NFL and became an
Speaker 1: NFL reporting superstar. So he he, he did just fine
Speaker 1: without the NBA in his life. So shout out to
Speaker 1: Steve Weish.
Speaker 3: Awesome story, awesome story.
Speaker 1: And then Chris Haynes takes me miles off course.
Speaker 3: Let the spirit move you. Nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1: So Chris Haynes, now it's my turn to ask some questions.
Speaker 1: We've seen a lot of n Season Tournament basketball, and
Speaker 1: last night everybody got so excited about the in the
Speaker 1: Atlanta game. So now that we've I mean, you know
Speaker 1: where the crotchety old man stands. Tell me what you're seeing.
Speaker 1: How is the nd season tournament winning you over to
Speaker 1: any degree? Are you more into it than you were?
Speaker 3: Talk to me. I wouldn't know that it's winning me over.
Speaker 3: Can I tell that there's a difference. I'm gonna tell
Speaker 3: you that the slight difference that I can tell and play.
Speaker 3: It's towards the end of the game, and I'm going
Speaker 3: to point to a Milwaukee Bucks Charlotte Hornet's game. Adrian
Speaker 3: Griffin left his starters in longer in the game that
Speaker 3: they had already. You know, they had it won, but
Speaker 3: they left them in longer than usual because you know
Speaker 3: the point differential that plays a factor into it. You know,
Speaker 3: if there's a tiebreaker, then it goes by the point differential.
Speaker 3: And I think cliff I didn't notice at the time,
Speaker 3: but I guess Steve Clifford had a problem and Adrian
Speaker 3: Grifford had to talk to Clifford and tell them, hey,
Speaker 3: nothing per You know, I wouldn't ordinarily do this, but
Speaker 3: you know, this is the way this n season tournament
Speaker 3: is set up. So we're trying to win it, uh
Speaker 3: by as much as possible. And stein I love that.
Speaker 3: I love it. You know, I'm not one of those
Speaker 3: ones that that that talks about. Hey, you know there's
Speaker 3: a rule, there's an unwritten rule you don't shoot the
Speaker 3: ball when you're okay, I get it. Yeah, all right,
Speaker 3: it'd be nice if they did, But you know what
Speaker 3: else you can do. You can play defense to the end.
Speaker 3: You can do that. So I kind of like, you know,
Speaker 3: leaving guys in a little bit longer, especially you know,
Speaker 3: you know, sometimes guys just need a rhythm and you
Speaker 3: want to you know, you want you wanted to try
Speaker 3: to flow into the next game. But so that's that's
Speaker 3: the only difference, you know, just in strategy that I've
Speaker 3: seen noticeably seen. But now as we get into the
Speaker 3: later rounds of this end season tournament, you know, I
Speaker 3: think that's where we're going to really because players, players
Speaker 3: and coaches they're still trying to figure out like how
Speaker 3: significant this is. They know it's something different, but I
Speaker 3: think it's going to take to the latter stages of
Speaker 3: it until we really see a true difference maker.
Speaker 1: What about yourself, Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I've been such a loud skeptic, so I don't want
Speaker 1: to keep harping on the same stuff because I mean, look,
Speaker 1: the natural question after a game last night, like we
Speaker 1: saw Indiana one fifty seven Atlanta one fifty two, the
Speaker 1: natural question that people are gonna pose is was that
Speaker 1: because of the n season tournament where these teams more
Speaker 1: dialed in, because the Pacers were trying to clinch their
Speaker 1: spot atop the group. And you know, last night we
Speaker 1: did get the first two teams. The Pacers and the
Speaker 1: Lakers are the first two of the eight quarterfinalists, and
Speaker 1: the eight and the quarterfinals, that's when this thing becomes
Speaker 1: a knockout competition. But look, I I'm just not buying that.
Speaker 1: And again, people, presumably people at the league off will say, Stein,
Speaker 1: You're just you're never gonna give this thing a chance.
Speaker 1: There's nothing we could do to convince you. But I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm sorry. I'm old enough to remember an early
Speaker 1: season game. In this case, it was early December, but
Speaker 1: of course starring Steve Nash against Jason Kidd, Phoenix against
Speaker 1: Brooklyn oh six oh seven range, So you know, a
Speaker 1: good fifteen years ago. But okay, December two thousand and six,
Speaker 1: says producer Ryan Suns won sixty one nets one fifty seven. Yes,
Speaker 1: that went to double overtime, but that was the same
Speaker 1: kind of crazy game. And you know, so was last
Speaker 1: night's score line and intensity inspired by the n season tournament.
Speaker 1: I don't know that there's any way to prove it.
Speaker 1: I just want this thing to get to the knockout point.
Speaker 1: And you know my initial quarrel with it, and I
Speaker 1: know this is not easy to do. What I'm asking
Speaker 1: for is not easy. It cannot be just like soccer,
Speaker 1: where in these the soccer tournaments that the ND season
Speaker 1: Tournament is modeled after, it is not just single elimination,
Speaker 1: but it has teams from other divisions. We don't have
Speaker 1: that model in North American major team sports. It's not
Speaker 1: easy for the NBA to just bring in two extra
Speaker 1: teams from the EuroLeague or the G League or whatever.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just not logistically easy to do. But
Speaker 1: what I think people are gonna really love is when
Speaker 1: this thing gets to the final four, especially when we
Speaker 1: get to Vegas, there are four teams. There are real
Speaker 1: knockout games eventually down the road. What I really hope,
Speaker 1: because I'm sorry, these group games just don't do anything
Speaker 1: for me. And the courts. It's not about the courts.
Speaker 1: The courts. There's very mixed opinions about the courts. Some
Speaker 1: people hate them, some people grudgingly like them. Whether you
Speaker 1: hate them or like them, they get us talking. But
Speaker 1: that's just cause medic nonsense. That's not that people. People.
Speaker 1: People are not gonna watch even if they love the court.
Speaker 1: They're not gonna watch a bunch of games because they're
Speaker 1: not gonna go, oh, yes, this is Game three with
Speaker 1: our awesome court. It's just that's not gonna happen.
Speaker 3: But it's just a differentiate from the regular season games,
Speaker 3: that's all people.
Speaker 1: Well, the reason they need that is because these four
Speaker 1: group games that everybody plays are regular season games that
Speaker 1: count twice. And that's the part that I just I
Speaker 1: just don't like that, and I just hope that in
Speaker 1: the future down the road, you know, is this something
Speaker 1: they can actually carve out of the eighty two games?
Speaker 1: Can they? Because they don't want to add to eighty two.
Speaker 1: They certainly don't want to make the season longer than
Speaker 1: it is. So you're not you can't add games to
Speaker 1: eighty two. It's already too long. But can they take
Speaker 1: out a week or two of the regular season? And again,
Speaker 1: all thirty teams and all of us know it all,
Speaker 1: and all of us, the old men like me, we
Speaker 1: all go to Vegas for a week or two and
Speaker 1: just play a thirty team knockout tournament. Put all the
Speaker 1: teams in a hat, mix it up, mix up East
Speaker 1: and West. That's another thing that drives me nuts about this.
Speaker 1: East and West are kept apart until the championship game.
Speaker 1: Why we do that in the playoffs? It would be
Speaker 1: better if East and West were mixed up here too,
Speaker 1: so we could just have some variety, something truly different
Speaker 1: besides courts and uniform. So I just hope down the
Speaker 1: road that's where we go, because I you know, I
Speaker 1: know you'll be in Vegas. I'm trying to get myself
Speaker 1: to Vegas. I do want to see what happens in
Speaker 1: Vegas when it's neutral site, true knockout. And you know,
Speaker 1: I do think players are more excited about the idea
Speaker 1: of winning five hundred grand each then we probably realize.
Speaker 1: I think I think guys do care about that, but
Speaker 1: only the winning team gets that much.
Speaker 3: So with your suggestion in carving out another week or
Speaker 3: two throughout the regular season to do this, right, would
Speaker 3: those stats go into the regular season stats or it
Speaker 3: would be separate because if I if you say no,
Speaker 3: players would not go for that.
Speaker 1: Hey, and you just raised a tremendous counterpoint because I say,
Speaker 1: I would say it should be completely separate. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: a tournament should be separate. But you're absolutely right. Even
Speaker 1: if you could do this thing in a week, And
Speaker 1: I don't think you could do it all in one week.
Speaker 1: I think it would have to it would have to
Speaker 1: stretch into a second week because otherwise you'd have you'd
Speaker 1: have back to backs. So I don't think you want
Speaker 1: to just do it in one single week. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's four, five, six games or I guess
Speaker 1: if you if I mean, if it's true single elimination,
Speaker 1: you might only play one game. Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it needs to be separate. And again it's not
Speaker 1: that's not easy to do either. You just raised a
Speaker 1: great point, and then there's other logistical issues. What happens
Speaker 1: to the team that lose, you know, six you know,
Speaker 1: if you have a thirty team tournament, Let's say you
Speaker 1: give buys to the top two seeds and then twenty
Speaker 1: eight teams play in the first round, So fourteen teams
Speaker 1: are only going to play one game. Then a bunch
Speaker 1: of teams will only play two games. I mean, it
Speaker 1: does create a whole bunch of issues. But my point is,
Speaker 1: if we don't have teams from other leagues competing, we
Speaker 1: have to emphasize the knockout portion of the show. That's
Speaker 1: the part that will make it truly different and get
Speaker 1: people excited if there's a knockout competition, if the Boston
Speaker 1: Celtics get a terrible draw and have to play a
Speaker 1: really good team early and then the Celtics are knocked
Speaker 1: out and that opens it up for somebody else, Like
Speaker 1: that is more of a true tournament than what this
Speaker 1: is in year one.
Speaker 3: But overall, I think we have to wait until we
Speaker 3: get to the knockout stage to see just because I
Speaker 3: think that's where we're really going to see the intensity
Speaker 3: picked up. Because again, you know that these the group
Speaker 3: play and these different divisions, nobody really knows who's in
Speaker 3: what group you know, nobody has that memorize yet exactly.
Speaker 1: I don't even know. Yeah, I mean it's really hard
Speaker 1: to keep track of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's that's that's why I'm saying, like when
Speaker 3: it gets to a lot of stages, like that's where
Speaker 3: you're really going to be able to tell, Okay, this
Speaker 3: is serious. This is And then I forgot Producer Ryan.
Speaker 3: I don't want to stop taping, but Producer Ryan, if
Speaker 3: you can find there was a player who suggested I
Speaker 3: think was some star level player this past week suggested
Speaker 3: that the n season tournament winner should get a free
Speaker 3: birth to the playoffs, so by him, whoever this individual
Speaker 3: is they said this past week, I think it was Halliburton.
Speaker 3: I think it was I believe it was Halliburton. And
Speaker 3: if if they're suggesting that Stein, that would lead me
Speaker 3: to believe that most probably don't think five hundred thousand
Speaker 3: is enough to be on board and fully, you know,
Speaker 3: engulfed in this end season tournament. So if they're still
Speaker 3: coming up with different suggestions, it was Halliburton, Thank you producer, Brian,
Speaker 3: Thank you Stein. So I don't know, I don't think.
Speaker 3: I don't like that, you know, because then you just
Speaker 3: and the ain't like, why are you even playing the
Speaker 3: rest of the regular seasons if you are already got
Speaker 3: to automatically.
Speaker 1: And that's that's probably too much. And you know, then
Speaker 1: there was the you know, whoever wins should get draft
Speaker 1: compensation for their team, and then you know, why would
Speaker 1: the players care about getting their team draft picks so
Speaker 1: they can replace someone who's already on the current roster.
Speaker 1: So look, you just did it very well where I
Speaker 1: throughout my scenario and right away you came up with
Speaker 1: what happens to the stats and that is a big deal.
Speaker 1: And so whatever format we propose, whatever changes are thrown
Speaker 1: out there, there will always be counter arguments to it
Speaker 1: and logistical problems that the NBA is going to have
Speaker 1: to smooth over. And I think that's a big reason
Speaker 1: why they chose this format for year one, because by
Speaker 1: choosing the way they've done it, by making four group
Speaker 1: games essentially be regular season games that count twice, the
Speaker 1: only schedule gymnastics they have to do. Now there's you know,
Speaker 1: the week in early December where they've got to come
Speaker 1: up with games for the team. You know, teams that
Speaker 1: don't advance to the quarterfinals have to add a couple
Speaker 1: of games to their schedule because teams were only given
Speaker 1: eighty games at the beginning of the season rather than
Speaker 1: eighty two. But this NBA, the format the NBA has chosen,
Speaker 1: it only adds one extra game to the schedule for
Speaker 1: the two teams that make the championship game on December ninth.
Speaker 1: So I think what really appealed to them was that
Speaker 1: they could go through this whole experiment in year one
Speaker 1: without causing a lot of disruption. What I'm proposing would
Speaker 1: cause more option because even if you go to Vegas
Speaker 1: for a week and a half. There will be teams
Speaker 1: that lose home dates. They will not like that. They
Speaker 1: don't want to give up. The teams that do well
Speaker 1: at the gate especially, are not gonna want to forfeit
Speaker 1: home games because now they're losing revenue. And there will
Speaker 1: be scheduling nightmares that the NBA would have to confront
Speaker 1: because with true single elimination, obviously only two teams make
Speaker 1: the finals, and so all the teams in the tournament,
Speaker 1: all thirty, are playing a different number of games, and
Speaker 1: that causes its own share of problems. So I do
Speaker 1: get all that, But again, to me, why did they
Speaker 1: ask ll cool Jy to redo? Mama said, knock you out?
Speaker 1: Because the knockout part that's the good stuff, you know.
Speaker 1: That's like group games that aren't really group games, regular
Speaker 1: season games disguised as group games. They just again, like
Speaker 1: you said, it's too hard to follow. Who's an A B?
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, that's and let me let me elaborate
Speaker 3: just so people understand what I'm talking about. With players,
Speaker 3: most players wouldn't go for not having their stouts their
Speaker 3: stats accounted for. No player wants to play five games
Speaker 3: and say that they're on a hot streak in that
Speaker 3: five games earlier in the season. They don't want those
Speaker 3: stats just wiped away. Don't count, you know, you know,
Speaker 3: don't it matters. You know, it matters. You know, they
Speaker 3: all you know, their their time and you know, so
Speaker 3: I know, you know, I spoken to a few players
Speaker 3: about that already, and that was that was one of
Speaker 3: their concerns before the season tournament was even implemented. So
Speaker 3: I know that would be something that they will probably
Speaker 3: push back on. You know, playoffs that's a different story,
Speaker 3: you know, playoffs of the playoffs stats, you know, their
Speaker 3: stats for the playoffs. But that that is that is
Speaker 3: something else that they would have an issue with. They
Speaker 3: tried to just say the stats would not wouldn't go
Speaker 3: into the regular season numbers.
Speaker 1: Now, though, I'm going to pay a compliment to the
Speaker 1: n season Tournament because I do think this is somewhat
Speaker 1: of a factor. To me, there's been less MVP chatter
Speaker 1: in November, which always strikes me as a little too
Speaker 1: early to get too deep into it. But look, the
Speaker 1: reason one of the main reasons that this inn season
Speaker 1: tournament was conceived by the NBA. Obviously it's about money
Speaker 1: and about creating content and a product that they can
Speaker 1: offer up to potential partners in a new media rights
Speaker 1: deal to maybe sell the tournament separately to a rights holder.
Speaker 1: So I mean, there's all kinds of financial incentives for
Speaker 1: potentially doing it, but also something that is long concerned
Speaker 1: the NBA is trying to make the regular season more meaningful.
Speaker 1: And one of the reasons we've talked about this before
Speaker 1: on this spot, and this is one of my favorite
Speaker 1: things to kind of remind everyone about, is the reason
Speaker 1: the NBA never pushes back on heated NBA debate or
Speaker 1: NBA debates that start really early in the season, probably
Speaker 1: earlier than they should. It's because, again, winning the regular
Speaker 1: season MVP Award probably the highest individual honor that there
Speaker 1: is in the sport that gives the regular season meaning
Speaker 1: and the league's hope was that the n season tournament
Speaker 1: could add to that and become something else that gets
Speaker 1: people excited in November and December when normally all the
Speaker 1: focus is on the NFL and college football. But one
Speaker 1: of the benefits this season, I think, and maybe it's
Speaker 1: an unintended benefit, or maybe there's no correlation and I'm
Speaker 1: just inventing a correlation but I feel like there's been
Speaker 1: so much focus from the league on marketing the n
Speaker 1: season tournament and working on n Season tournament awareness that
Speaker 1: there's somehow been less MVP chatter than we normally get
Speaker 1: this time of year. And then I kind of violated
Speaker 1: my own rule to an extent by writing about the
Speaker 1: MVP race on Tuesday and my substack. But the point
Speaker 1: really wasn't to say who is or isn't leading the chase,
Speaker 1: or you know, it's way too soon for that kind
Speaker 1: of talk, but really just to kind of bring home
Speaker 1: the point as something to discuss, something to monitor, something
Speaker 1: to keep our eyes on, because again, it is amazing
Speaker 1: that no American player has won the MVP, the regular
Speaker 1: season MVP award in the NBA. No American has won
Speaker 1: that since a former Houston Rocket I'm sure you remember,
Speaker 1: named James Harden in twenty seventeen eighteen. Since then, it's
Speaker 1: been Yannis twice, it's been Jokic twice. EMBIID last year,
Speaker 1: Luka Doncic widely considered a future MVP, he doesn't have
Speaker 1: one yet. Canada Shay Gilgess, Alexander he ended up on
Speaker 1: the All NBA First Team last year, so you got
Speaker 1: those five foreign players having accounted for the last five MVPs,
Speaker 1: and Doncic and Sga as contenders to join that club
Speaker 1: in the future. So there's not a lot of room
Speaker 1: for new competition. But I wanted to just throw that
Speaker 1: out there because it's been interesting at the start of
Speaker 1: the season just to see the various guys who are
Speaker 1: off the good starts. Jason Tatum is off to a
Speaker 1: huge start in Boston, and this brings me back to Halliburton,
Speaker 1: who is you know, if the Pacers can make a
Speaker 1: run at fifty wins, I mean, Halliburton is gonna He's
Speaker 1: gonna be in this discussion.
Speaker 3: And again, you know this is we're early in the season.
Speaker 3: With that being said, let me look at some of
Speaker 3: the players, American players who have a shot. I still
Speaker 3: think you have to put Joker up there. You gotta
Speaker 3: put in Bead up there, Johannis for sure, like those
Speaker 3: are probably the three favorites, the three top favorites to
Speaker 3: win the award. But what American has a legitimate shot?
Speaker 3: Tatum possibly Boston got off to a pretty quick quick start.
Speaker 3: I still think that's an uphill battle. You know, Kim Minnesota,
Speaker 3: b is this sustainable, you know, will they remain a
Speaker 3: top of the West, And if so, Anthony Edwards definitely
Speaker 3: has to be considered.
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed I should have mentioned him, That's my bad.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But aside from that stunt, I mean, ty Pacers,
Speaker 3: I gotta see more. I gotta no question.
Speaker 1: But that's why it's too early to get into specifics,
Speaker 1: like what's Haliburton's chances? But he's played so well and
Speaker 1: look Maxie too, Tyrese Maxie's now is he going to
Speaker 1: Is MAXI gonna be able to keep his production where
Speaker 1: it's been in Philly? And is he ever gonna be
Speaker 1: able to beat out Joel Embiid on his own team?
Speaker 1: But you said it. If Minnesota continues to live at
Speaker 1: the top of the West, the upper tier of the
Speaker 1: Western Conference, Anthony Edwards is going to be in this discussion.
Speaker 1: And if Indiana can make a run at fifty wins,
Speaker 1: I do think Caliburton will at least get a mention
Speaker 1: and then then it's you know, but these thirty somethings
Speaker 1: are just amazing. Lebron turns thirty nine in December, Stephen
Speaker 1: Curry turns thirty six in March. Kevin Durant just turned
Speaker 1: thirty five in September. All three of them are playing
Speaker 1: at an MVP level. Now, will their teams win enough
Speaker 1: for them to get in the top five. That's something
Speaker 1: to watch. But there, you know, it's it's just it's
Speaker 1: I just threw it out there yesterday. Is just something
Speaker 1: to monitor and to keep in your mind. It's an
Speaker 1: interesting thing. It's a fun game to play. Who is
Speaker 1: the next slash, first American who can and this dominance
Speaker 1: of international stars and for many of our colleagues, fellow pundits,
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum was a very popular preseason pick to be
Speaker 1: the guy and win his first MVP. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think you said it. I mean, the conversation still
Speaker 1: starts with Joker, Jannison Embiid and I think you know,
Speaker 1: Luca not far off depending on how many games the
Speaker 1: MAVs win and the Thunder have been spectacular early. So
Speaker 1: I mean, that's certainly going to help SGA's case. And
Speaker 1: there is a lot of international stardom at the top
Speaker 1: of this race.
Speaker 3: And suppose another question too, Stein, So say we do
Speaker 3: have an American born MVP coming up, will it be
Speaker 3: a retread or will it be somebody new? So let
Speaker 3: me rephrase that. Do you think the chances are higher
Speaker 3: that the next American MVP is retreat or a new
Speaker 3: MVP winner?
Speaker 1: I think new. And the reason I say that is
Speaker 1: because we also have to factor in the sixty five
Speaker 1: game rule. And the reality is Lebron, what he's doing
Speaker 1: right now is at his at you know, at almost
Speaker 1: thirty nine has never been seen before. I mean, what
Speaker 1: the stat came out today's shooting like sixty six percent
Speaker 1: in fourth quarters. Steph was playing lights out until he
Speaker 1: had the knee injury that knocked him out for a
Speaker 1: few games. And Durant is playing second or third most
Speaker 1: minutes in the league. They haven't even seen Bradley Beal
Speaker 1: yet and Durant's been out of this world. So the
Speaker 1: question the question for those three guys, it's twofold A.
Speaker 1: Are their teams gonna win enough for them to get
Speaker 1: up the ladder? Up the MVP ladder? And b will
Speaker 1: will those three guys play sixty five games?
Speaker 3: Because now, correct me if I'm wrong, sty the sixty
Speaker 3: five game is required even for all NBA teams. Correct, yes,
Speaker 3: they will if they if they're healthy, They're not a lot. Look,
Speaker 3: Lebron KD. They're not gonna waste the season, not trying
Speaker 3: to steal accumulate awards. That that's that's not gonna happen.
Speaker 3: So if they are healthy enough, they're going for that.
Speaker 1: Believe me, those guys it's championship or BUS. So you're
Speaker 1: telling me they're gonna.
Speaker 3: It's still They're still added to their legacy. No, it
Speaker 3: still matters. It still matters. Lebron is not if he
Speaker 3: has a chance to add another All NBA to his resume,
Speaker 3: he's adding it. Kevin Durant, same thing. They are not
Speaker 3: wasting season. Yes, championship BUS, but no, they're adding to
Speaker 3: their legacy right now. That is very important. So I
Speaker 3: guarantee you whatever maintenance plan they have, intact resting plan
Speaker 3: or whatever it is taken into consideration on how, you know,
Speaker 3: how they can get that rest and still get the
Speaker 3: sixty five games. Now, you can't account for injuries that
Speaker 3: happen and things like that. But no, Stein, No, they're
Speaker 3: still trying to add to their resume.
Speaker 1: See this is good you on multiple occasions in this
Speaker 1: festive Thanksgiving pod, you took this conversation into directions that
Speaker 1: I was not expecting. So kudos to you.
Speaker 3: The holiday season. Stein, That's what happens, you know.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because it's so funny because obviously we
Speaker 1: can see each other as we're recording this, and our
Speaker 1: audience cannot. But it's been funny in this You in
Speaker 1: this episode, you are the calm. You are the calm
Speaker 1: one trying to, you know, be the wise old head.
Speaker 2: Stein.
Speaker 1: Just calm down, let's see. You know you're trying to
Speaker 1: You're trying to bring a restrained, relaxed tone to the conversation.
Speaker 3: Well, I have about twenty five other family members arriving today,
Speaker 3: so I'm trying to prepare myself.
Speaker 1: They're all, it's all today, they're getting today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and most of them get in today. I have already,
Speaker 3: I got a household of fifteen right now in the house.
Speaker 3: So it's amazing that you haven't heard any noise, you know,
Speaker 3: in anything right now.
Speaker 1: So I guess my point is, I think you've enjoyed
Speaker 1: taking the role of the old head in this one.
Speaker 1: Letting me go off on my on my little n
Speaker 1: season tournament tangents and well.
Speaker 3: Listen, I mean it comes with age. That's what happens,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying, Stein, so I wouldn't you know,
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say this is the new me. You know,
Speaker 3: I'll probably go back to my old self in the
Speaker 3: next episode, but it is what it is right now. Stein,
Speaker 3: I'm feeling good right now. You know. Sweet potato pie
Speaker 3: is my favorite pie, my favorite dessert of all time.
Speaker 3: You got to have your some, Stein, if you've never
Speaker 3: had any sweeptail pie. Anyway, my mom is down there
Speaker 3: and I smell it right now. I smell it coming
Speaker 3: out the oven right now. So I'm in a good mood, Steyn,
Speaker 3: So you are.
Speaker 1: And you so all this food is being prepared at
Speaker 1: the Hotel Haynes as we speak.
Speaker 3: The desserts right now being made, Yes, and.
Speaker 1: You are not going to touch it until tomorrow. You're
Speaker 1: not going to touch anything till tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Oh no, I'm stealing a pie. My mom makes about
Speaker 3: seven sweep until pies. I'm still in one and I'm
Speaker 3: hiding it in my room and so I'll be eating that. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm eating that tonight. Yes, you see, I'm trying to
Speaker 3: try to whisper.
Speaker 1: Do you think anyone coming to your house listens to
Speaker 1: our podcast?
Speaker 3: Uh? Yeah, they listened, but they listen. They'll they'll hear
Speaker 3: it like weeks later at that time.
Speaker 1: Cool, you know, missus Haynes won't hear this podcast.
Speaker 3: You hear it weeks later, you hear weeks later. Like, girl,
Speaker 3: I already said that. You know, I was just I'm like,
Speaker 3: that was just in a moment. Don't worry about it, girl,
Speaker 3: You know because I told her. I let her know, Hey,
Speaker 3: occasionally you come up occasionally, our relationship occasionally, you know
Speaker 3: the struggles we go through. Yeah, see she liked that one.
Speaker 3: That was cool. She got that way. She said, as
Speaker 3: long as you let them know that, you're the one
Speaker 3: to take most of the losses. I'm like, yeah, I
Speaker 3: told the truth. Yeah, you take all the laws. I
Speaker 3: told the truth. That's sure.
Speaker 1: You're playing for a tie. Everyone, thanks so much for
Speaker 1: joining us. I hope you have we Hope you have
Speaker 1: a tremendous Thanksgiving. Hope you get some good family time again.
Speaker 1: No NBA games on Thanksgiving, So hopefully if you have
Speaker 1: some NBA cravings or you find yourself in the midst
Speaker 1: of a hillacious holiday commute, bring us with you. Listen
Speaker 1: to us when you're on the man being here in
Speaker 1: La people. I mean, the talk about Thanksgiving traffic. It
Speaker 1: starts on Tuesday. The just shocking images of cars stacked
Speaker 1: on the freeway and nobody moving.
Speaker 3: I have to I have to go shout out to
Speaker 3: Carlos Garcia. You know, I like to shout out people
Speaker 3: who reach out and say they've listened to the pod.
Speaker 3: Carlos Garcia reached out to me on I G I'm
Speaker 3: showing you right here, Stein, and in it, he says,
Speaker 3: could I posted a picture? I posted a story of
Speaker 3: my ham that I purchased from the Honey Baked Ham
Speaker 3: company that you seem to have no idea about. He says,
Speaker 3: Mark didn't know nothing about that on the podcast, and
Speaker 3: he's just lot laughing, dying, laughing. You gotta you gotta
Speaker 3: check that. And Michael Wright, my colleague over there at
Speaker 3: NBA dot com, he sent me a picture. You listened
Speaker 3: to our pod, sent me a picture of his honey
Speaker 3: Baked ham that he purchased, and he says, Stein, gotta
Speaker 3: he gotta get on point. You gotta find out about
Speaker 3: that now, Stein, you probably don't eat ham? Am I safe?
Speaker 3: Is that? Is that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: It's not good?
Speaker 3: I got it, I get it. I wanted to make
Speaker 3: that clear.
Speaker 1: But but I've been, but as as uh as my
Speaker 1: dear high school friend Dave Casera's remind me. I've been
Speaker 1: to many holiday parties of his, back when we were younger,
Speaker 1: when they had when they had honey baked ham. So
Speaker 1: I've even been to events where it was served.
Speaker 3: I just didn't understood understood, so I would to Hey,
Speaker 3: I'm doing that for you, Starle, letting the listeners know
Speaker 3: there's a reason you probably don't not that all.
Speaker 1: That, so you already you already posted this IG.
Speaker 3: I posted my honey baked ham to IG yesterday on
Speaker 3: my story, so I want to give it.
Speaker 1: You know, I am hopeless. You know I am hopeless
Speaker 1: when when the initials IG come into the conversation.
Speaker 3: I can't wait. I can't wait. Hey, And I wish
Speaker 3: everybody out there again a non violent Thanksgiving holiday week
Speaker 3: and weekend, because we know where family gets together, Hey,
Speaker 3: it gets there's turbulence sometimes. So you know, I just
Speaker 3: hope that you know all you do is is have peace,
Speaker 3: love and good food and good companies.
Speaker 1: So that will have to get the report. We'll have
Speaker 1: to get the report next time we do one of
Speaker 1: these on how it went.
Speaker 3: Oh Stan, I'm gonna tell you right now that ain't
Speaker 3: going down over here. It's going to be Oh, I'll
Speaker 3: let you know. I'll give you the report. I'll have
Speaker 3: an update the post Thanksgiving episode on how everything went down.
Speaker 1: We need an exact count of how many guests there were.
Speaker 3: Yep, how I helped my tongue, didn't say anything, wanted
Speaker 3: to say something. How I looked at somebody crazy, but
Speaker 3: I didn't take it to the next level. Those things happen.
Speaker 3: It's family, you love them, It's family. It's all good,
Speaker 3: It's all good.
Speaker 1: I'm ready, all right, everyone that is going to do
Speaker 1: it for this Thanksgiving edition of This League Uncut. Chris
Speaker 1: and I will be back very early next week with
Speaker 1: our next episode. Of course, if you haven't already, please
Speaker 1: remember to rate, review, and subscribe to the show. Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: Spotify podcast, wherever, hashtag, wherever you get your pods. You
Speaker 1: could do it. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We are very thankful
Speaker 1: for everyone who listens and joins us every episode. Talk to.
Speaker 2: And That'll do it for us. See you next time.
Speaker 2: This League uncutage an iHeartRadio production Chris Haines and Mark
Speaker 2: Stein