Speaker 1: On this episode of This League, I have some words
Speaker 1: for Philly fans. We talk about how Kyle Cousan's production
Speaker 1: is down, but his value as a player has never
Speaker 1: been higher. We cover the feel good story of the
Speaker 1: year in Karis Lavert coming back from cancer, and we
Speaker 1: also get into a couple listener dms, please find me
Speaker 1: someone who gets ratioed on Twitter more for less than
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 2: Please find me find one.
Speaker 1: Find one person that has a blue check mark or not,
Speaker 1: that talks about anything any topic that gets ratioed for less.
Speaker 2: Reasons than men.
Speaker 1: I can have never seen anything like this in my life.
Speaker 2: It happened again, folks, Yes it did.
Speaker 1: Since I started talking about Ben Simmons, Sixers fans have
Speaker 1: been ravenous in my mentions, ravenous. I think we have beef.
Speaker 1: I think now it is a life long quarrel and
Speaker 1: it's all one sided. I don't hate Sixers. I like
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris, I like Darryl Moury, I like Doc Rivers.
Speaker 2: I love the whole concept of trust the process.
Speaker 3: You took embiid first in our All Star draft.
Speaker 2: Took embid.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned that. I'm glad you mentioned that
Speaker 1: and Embiid. Actually I have a funny story about him, Okay.
Speaker 1: So I interviewed him in the summer in the Upper
Speaker 1: West Side, I think at Rucker Park.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: It was like one hundred and.
Speaker 1: Five degrees out. It was so fun Have I told
Speaker 1: you this story before? Never one hundred and five degrees out.
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid has a white T shirt on right, and
Speaker 1: Joel Embie's big, big man, and there's music going right
Speaker 1: like there was when Drake's Nice for what was out right?
Speaker 1: So that was playing and Joel Embiid is body rolling,
Speaker 1: just straight body rolling in his chair waiting for the
Speaker 1: interview to start.
Speaker 3: Right, So it's like twenty eighteen ish, uh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, summer twenty eighteen. It was when Lebron had not
Speaker 1: chosen where he was gonna go. Ah right, ye, And
Speaker 1: so Joel Embiid had been tweeting about Lebron and basically
Speaker 1: pitching Lebron to come to Philly.
Speaker 2: And so I had never met Embiid, but he's one.
Speaker 1: Of obviously the funniest guys in the league, one of
Speaker 1: the best follows on Twitter, et cetera, et cetera. But
Speaker 1: he is sweating at this point through his white T
Speaker 1: shirt like I'm talking about uncomfort, like you're seeing And
Speaker 1: at this point, Joel Embiid hadn't gone on the Kanye's
Speaker 1: workout plan yet and so he his man his man
Speaker 1: chest was prominent, right.
Speaker 2: It was uh, it was.
Speaker 1: It was sweaty and it was kind of like there
Speaker 1: was there was like a little boob action going on,
Speaker 1: right and I'm like, oh man, I'm uncomfortable for Joel Embiid, Like, hey, Joel,
Speaker 1: you know what we could do? You know we could
Speaker 1: we could just shoot you like chest up and he
Speaker 1: was like why oh, And I'm like, what do you
Speaker 1: mean why? Like you're sweating through your T shirt. It's
Speaker 1: pretty hot, Like if you want, He's like, I love
Speaker 1: my body. I love my body, and I go, you love.
Speaker 1: He goes, I can take my T shirt off right now.
Speaker 1: We can do this topless. And I was like, we
Speaker 1: don't have we don't have to do that, and he's like,
Speaker 1: that's how much I love my body. And I never
Speaker 1: have forgotten it to this day. I love Joel six
Speaker 1: are fans. I love Joel Embiide. To be that confident
Speaker 1: in yourself when you are sweating through your white tea
Speaker 1: like it's fucking freaknick out there.
Speaker 2: Come on, now, come on now.
Speaker 1: I like a lot of things about the Sixers. You
Speaker 1: know what I don't like six are fans. They are
Speaker 1: the fucking worst, you guys. You guys have gotta be
Speaker 1: one of the most easily triggered, sensitive, delusional, hateful fan
Speaker 1: base this side of the LSU Tigers.
Speaker 4: Wait, come on, that's just that's just not fair or right.
Speaker 4: Come on, Marty delusional.
Speaker 1: Well LSU fans aren't delusional, but you're easily triggered in
Speaker 1: your mean and you're.
Speaker 3: Hateful, definitely mean.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we were both at that game where it was
Speaker 1: Oregon versus LSU. They called it back then, the Cowboy Classic.
Speaker 1: That's what they called that.
Speaker 3: Jerry's World.
Speaker 1: Jerry's World at and T Stadium, Yes, sir, one hundred
Speaker 1: and five degrees outside. I'm in my little green and
Speaker 1: yellow hungover at the time, and I'm walking the streets
Speaker 1: of Dallas and there's fucking LSU fans dragging a dead duck,
Speaker 1: multiple dead ducks, bloody.
Speaker 2: On a string and saying.
Speaker 5: Tiger bait y'all ducks, just tiger bait yep to kill
Speaker 5: another life, to take a life for the sole purpose
Speaker 5: of trolling a fan base is fucking mentally insane.
Speaker 4: Okay, first off, I feel like they use those ducks
Speaker 4: for a different purpose after that, so it wasn't completely irresponsible,
Speaker 4: and I find that hilarious.
Speaker 1: Sorry, it's horrifying, Marty, It's horrifying.
Speaker 2: So outside of LSU, I mean, there was a bloody duck.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I'm like, am I? Next? Am I
Speaker 2: getting on the string? Next?
Speaker 1: We had Philly fans posting my address on Twitter?
Speaker 3: Oh damn, that's tough. I didn't know.
Speaker 2: Multiple times, like what did you want from that? What
Speaker 2: did you want? Did you want people to show up
Speaker 2: at my house? Was that? What that was? Did you
Speaker 2: want people standing outside my lobby.
Speaker 1: With the like peta with the bucket full of fake
Speaker 1: blood to go splash as soon as I leave? Like?
Speaker 2: What were you trying to do?
Speaker 1: Are you encouraging people to send anthrax to my crib?
Speaker 1: I had the craziest sweatshirt sent to me, Marty. It
Speaker 1: was it I'm gonna bring it in. I might wear it,
Speaker 1: but I'm afraid to wear it because I think like
Speaker 1: it may be a signal that that's her, like go
Speaker 1: kill it. It was it was like I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: it's the most insane streetwear hoodie that I've ever received.
Speaker 2: It was it was one person. It was like almost
Speaker 2: like a Roman. A Roman look.
Speaker 1: Two people, one person grabbing the other person's head like
Speaker 1: almost like justice. Just that person's dead. It's a decapitated
Speaker 1: head and it looks all like Roman. And there's like
Speaker 1: a gold chain around that person, the killer's neck, and
Speaker 1: on the back it says one eight seven. That's a
Speaker 1: police code for murder, oh for homicide.
Speaker 2: I did not order that fucking hoodie, oh lord.
Speaker 1: And that came the day after those tweets where my
Speaker 1: address was posted, so they had to have been sending
Speaker 1: that beforehand. Let's just say it's gotten to a new low, right,
Speaker 1: So this is what happened that caused this rift.
Speaker 2: You know, I have been saying that a lot. This
Speaker 2: is what happened. As it relates to Sixers fans.
Speaker 1: Jojo embiid my guide I Love my body went down
Speaker 1: with an injury.
Speaker 2: Look bad.
Speaker 1: I was watching it live. No one at this point
Speaker 1: knows if the injury is serious or not. And I
Speaker 1: was like, rot Row, that looks serious to myself. That's
Speaker 1: what I said aloud, rot Row, Holy shit, what's going
Speaker 1: on here? This is threatening to the title hopes of
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia seventy six ers fans. And I didn't mean
Speaker 1: it in a way that was a troll. I meant
Speaker 1: it like truthfully, rot Row, Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Fuck.
Speaker 1: I could have said uh oh, I could have said
Speaker 1: oh no, but I didn't. I just thought, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I just thought rot Row, Embiid. And you could think
Speaker 1: I was hating Philly because of what I said about
Speaker 1: Embiid and Ben Simmons and the haircut.
Speaker 2: Did you see, by the way, what Ben Simmons said about.
Speaker 3: His barber, Yeah, I did this morning. He said, uh uh.
Speaker 3: He sent me a text.
Speaker 4: He felt bad, but you know, it is what it is.
Speaker 4: It's a crazy time right now. He's still my barber
Speaker 4: for sure, because he's got those fresh lineups.
Speaker 1: Because he's got those fresh lineups and now the annibody
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons and now.
Speaker 2: The antibodies as well.
Speaker 1: That's the key piece really, Ben, is that he's got
Speaker 1: the antibodies for a good six months, so you're in
Speaker 1: the clear for those lineups.
Speaker 2: Fam So you may be.
Speaker 1: Thinking I was coming for Philly and shooting from the hip,
Speaker 1: and then I also quote tweeted it right, and it
Speaker 1: was like, you know, I wasn't trolling. I'm not meaning
Speaker 1: to hate on you. And people were like, oh, nice pivot.
Speaker 1: Way to turn around, way to flip it and try
Speaker 1: to recover. No, no, no, I don't do that. I
Speaker 1: don't recover. I don't pivot when.
Speaker 2: I am standing in my truth. Marty, I own it.
Speaker 1: Did you see my mister balloon Hans video after I
Speaker 1: made those comments? I will double triple, quadruple down. I
Speaker 1: never pivot.
Speaker 2: I never say ooh that was a bad look. Maybe
Speaker 2: I should try to get out of this.
Speaker 1: No, I don't like Sixers fans, I don't like mister
Speaker 1: balloon hands, and you know what, I really like Joel
Speaker 1: Embiid and the rot row. Maybe he didn't like the
Speaker 1: way it sounded. Maybe you thought it was sarcastic. But
Speaker 1: I am sorry. But I am not someone who's going
Speaker 1: to pivot, not once. I never run from the smoke,
Speaker 1: not once, not never, No way, ratioed ratio.
Speaker 2: Did you see the tweet?
Speaker 1: I did four hundred and sixty seven comments, two hundred
Speaker 1: and ninety seven quote tweets, fifty two likes, surprising that
Speaker 1: there were even fifty two likes. Truthfully, between the two
Speaker 1: tweets over a million impressions.
Speaker 2: That's Philly fans for you.
Speaker 1: One of the things that was said to me was
Speaker 1: that you're the worst kind of humans. That was one
Speaker 1: of the nicest things said. So I'm sorry, King Simmons
Speaker 1: won two three seven nine two one. But when you
Speaker 1: put another man's name in your handle, King Simmons, that's
Speaker 1: your Twitter handle, maybe you are the worst kind of human.
Speaker 1: Maybe if you call someone a cunt and tell them
Speaker 1: to put a bullet in their brain, you, King Simmons
Speaker 1: seven two three four seventeen, are the worst kind of human.
Speaker 2: Maybe when you post a.
Speaker 1: Woman's address on social media implying that someone should go
Speaker 1: out and hurt her, cause harm to her, find her,
Speaker 1: stock her, maybe you, Philly native, are the worst kind
Speaker 1: of human. I talked to a Philly native, one of
Speaker 1: the guys working in the sports world, and he said
Speaker 1: this to me.
Speaker 2: He texted this as this was going on.
Speaker 1: First of all, he was like, yo, I think that
Speaker 1: people are taking us way out of context, out of hand,
Speaker 1: so fucking sensitive.
Speaker 2: So yeah. The update on Mbd's injury is that it's
Speaker 2: going to be a couple of weeks. It's nothing serious.
Speaker 1: He's probably out of the MVP race, but that really
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. I mean, this is what you need. You
Speaker 1: need him in order to go deep. So better to
Speaker 1: have this happen in March than in May. And remember
Speaker 1: Philly fans when you said I didn't know basketball because
Speaker 1: I said Ben Simmons was being poorly used as a
Speaker 1: point guard and he was really more of a power forward.
Speaker 1: If you think that that was a hot take, you
Speaker 1: think that was a bad one. Like take a listen
Speaker 1: to Washington Wizard's announcer Justin Kutcher and what he recently
Speaker 1: had had to say during a Wizard's Wizard Sixers broadcast.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I've said it before, and I know
Speaker 6: I'll take flack Ford as Westbrook gets of the free
Speaker 6: throw line as the call on the floor stood the
Speaker 6: challenge by Doc Rivers. I think Ben Simmons is one of,
Speaker 6: if now, the most overrated players in the NBA, and
Speaker 6: he's gotten so much love and attention that people aren't
Speaker 6: paying attention to what Tobias Harris is actually doing.
Speaker 1: On the floor.
Speaker 2: We'll cover that later.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Justin Kutcher, I am a fan, especially
Speaker 1: after he followed that by doubling down.
Speaker 2: I like a man that doubles down, he said. He
Speaker 2: tweeted this.
Speaker 1: Yes, I said that Ben Simmons is one of the
Speaker 1: most overrated players in the NBA, and I stand by it.
Speaker 1: I didn't say he was bad, just not as good
Speaker 1: as everyone makes him out to be. Great defender, potential
Speaker 1: defensive Player of the Year. But I think he made
Speaker 1: All League All Star teams based.
Speaker 2: On hype and good night Wow. Listen.
Speaker 1: He must know that hating Ben Simmons gets you a
Speaker 1: little get you a little law. I don't know something
Speaker 1: in the ether, Ben Simmons had a great clapback, he said.
Speaker 1: When I asked his comments, Ben Simmons says, isn't he
Speaker 1: like a five to five comments er for the Wizards.
Speaker 2: I don't give that too much attention.
Speaker 3: Is that a good clapback?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Like funny, Yes, it's funny.
Speaker 2: It's funny. What would be a better clapback?
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know. Yeah, he probably had to
Speaker 3: go there.
Speaker 2: By the way. By the way.
Speaker 1: As an aside, I don't know if you know this, Marty,
Speaker 1: but Ben Simmons's sister, the one who tweeted at me, she.
Speaker 2: Deleted her account.
Speaker 3: Oh, I didn't know that she deleted her account.
Speaker 2: I bet you.
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons had a little talk with Live and was like,
Speaker 1: what the fuck are you doing on Twitter right now?
Speaker 2: Like delete your account? This is insane.
Speaker 1: You can't be going after people in the media. Let's
Speaker 1: say negative things about me anyway. Listen, say whatever you
Speaker 1: want about me. I only call Ben Simmons overrated when
Speaker 1: he's on the court. This guy, justin Kutcher. Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: isn't even playing at this point. He's in a COVID
Speaker 1: protocol and he brings up his name for no reason.
Speaker 2: At all, no reason.
Speaker 1: Justin my best friend just content to ricochet shot Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons from across the floor anytime, any place, that, folks,
Speaker 1: that is the guy.
Speaker 2: Ah.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the Lakers for a little bit. Tons
Speaker 1: of information coming out on the Lakers. They deserve their
Speaker 1: own segment. I almost did something on Lebron as well,
Speaker 1: but it would have just been too long, so we'll
Speaker 1: do that later. First off, Anthony Davis news is out,
Speaker 1: just as I thought, Just as I said, Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: isn't playing anytime soon, folks. Every time it's okay in
Speaker 1: two weeks. We're gonna reassess again in two weeks. The
Speaker 1: only thing that Anthony Davis is doing right now is
Speaker 1: lifting weights.
Speaker 2: He's not running, he's not jumping, He's not doing shit.
Speaker 1: And I talked to people in the soft tissue business
Speaker 1: when this injury went down, and they said, it's not
Speaker 1: happening folks until May. He's not playing games until May.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: That means he's got two three weeks before playoffs.
Speaker 2: Get him ramped up, get him ready to go. Who
Speaker 2: fucking cares?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean at this point, but they're making it
Speaker 1: like on ESPN, David mcmanhamhon my favorite Spin Zone analyst
Speaker 1: who's like on Lebron James's Jock Hard Hard.
Speaker 2: He moved from Cleveland to LA to be with Lebron.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we already know what's going on there. The
Speaker 1: headline was Anthony Davis progressing well, and underneath it was like,
Speaker 1: nothing's happening.
Speaker 2: Reevaluate in two weeks? He do? We know that he's
Speaker 2: progressing well?
Speaker 1: Like it made it seem like he was about to
Speaker 1: get on the court Like now, I was like, oh okay.
Speaker 2: David mcmannimon, got it, got it.
Speaker 4: I see that's such the easiest like report to make. Yeah,
Speaker 4: like an injured player when there's no news, he's progressing.
Speaker 2: Well, progressing well.
Speaker 3: You could say that about literally anybody.
Speaker 1: Update, progressing well, closer to closer to getting back on
Speaker 1: the court.
Speaker 2: So I know everyone's excited to.
Speaker 1: See Ad again because he is a baller, and the
Speaker 1: Lakers are better with him for sure on the court,
Speaker 1: and they're slipping and sliding all over the place down
Speaker 1: the standings.
Speaker 2: But it's gonna be a while. That's the way of
Speaker 2: the world.
Speaker 1: And if the Lakers can keep Ad on ice until
Speaker 1: he's ready and hold the bleeding off, stay in the
Speaker 1: top tier, they'll be fine.
Speaker 2: They'll be fine.
Speaker 1: The next news in Laker world is from our friend
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma. Hit the drop on the the intro for Kuzma,
Speaker 1: Oh yes, oh yes at six eight from Flint, Michigan,
Speaker 1: representing the Los Angeles Lakers taking his first moderna shot.
Speaker 2: It's Kyle Kuzma, goos good.
Speaker 1: Is there a better quote out there than Kyle Kuzma.
Speaker 2: There is not. There is not. In what world do
Speaker 2: you find a human being? I don't know where.
Speaker 1: One one night after the game, he's like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: fuck my teammates to give me.
Speaker 2: The ball, very sexual, very sexual. I I fuck him.
Speaker 2: And then the next you drop a quote about Jesus
Speaker 2: play the clip.
Speaker 3: Was that a set play?
Speaker 5: Did you?
Speaker 3: Did you think Lebron had a passing lating to you there?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 6: I mean, I mean we were looking at each other.
Speaker 3: The entire possession.
Speaker 6: You know, I was was pretty much a pretty much
Speaker 6: high fuh. You know he found me.
Speaker 1: And makes Oh my god, nobody's progressed more with the Lakers, thanks,
Speaker 1: but he still makes comments like this one. At any
Speaker 1: point in time, when you see a guy like Bull
Speaker 1: Bull in front of you, is there any doubt At
Speaker 1: what point did you know that ball was going up
Speaker 1: from ar where you were out when you got it?
Speaker 3: I think Jesus could be in front of me on
Speaker 3: out rod still.
Speaker 6: Shooting, so.
Speaker 2: Matter me pretty sure.
Speaker 1: That's not the first time I've heard Kyle Kuzma say that,
Speaker 1: because when I heard that quarter, I was like, I
Speaker 1: feel like that was said eighteen months ago. Kyle Kuzma
Speaker 1: will shoot over Jesus himself. That's the type of confidence
Speaker 1: that Kyle Kuzma has in his own abilities, folks. He
Speaker 1: believes he is the best laker all in the court
Speaker 1: at any given time. That's what he said. I'm not
Speaker 1: even the only one who knows that he thinks he's
Speaker 1: better than Ad, than Lebron. He even thinks he's better
Speaker 1: than the goat himself, Alex Crusoe. That is the kind
Speaker 1: of confidence that has a potential of blowing a team
Speaker 1: completely up. But instead, what are we talking about. We're
Speaker 1: talking about Kyle Kuzman, his growth and his development and
Speaker 1: how good he's become. And that's because his confidence has
Speaker 1: been rained in from one of the great skills developers,
Speaker 1: mentors and Phil Handy. He is now very much outperforming
Speaker 1: the contract that everybody was like, what.
Speaker 2: The fuck are we paying Kyle Kuzma forty million dollars?
Speaker 2: Why on the eve of this season after his contract
Speaker 2: was announced.
Speaker 1: So usually it's like, cuz, you know, that's when the
Speaker 1: celebrations come, right, But instead, here's what one article had
Speaker 1: to say. Kuz was expected to They said Kuzma Kuzma
Speaker 1: was expected to develop into a serviceable starter alongside Ad
Speaker 1: and Lebron, and that hasn't exactly happened.
Speaker 2: This is so fucked up.
Speaker 1: He's a player coming off the bench and not exactly
Speaker 1: a key component to the title run.
Speaker 2: He also doesn't I mean, is there anything positive about him?
Speaker 2: Is there?
Speaker 1: He's also shown he doesn't shake off criticism very well
Speaker 1: and that has impacted his game. He hasn't been paid
Speaker 1: much and going to coast to another championship. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: he's before he's overpaid by a bad team, complaining that
Speaker 1: he's not in LA anymore.
Speaker 2: Holy shit.
Speaker 1: If I could construct an article to help this argument,
Speaker 1: there would be no better article than that. Folks, the
Speaker 1: world was saying, Kyle Kuzma, all you are is a
Speaker 1: guy that looks like Cisco out here with your gold
Speaker 1: fucking hair showing up on league fits.
Speaker 3: He does get fits off. He does get fits off.
Speaker 2: He does. Yeah, he kisses fits off, boy. But that's
Speaker 2: what he's known for.
Speaker 1: He has been a laughingstock in some ways based around
Speaker 1: all of his antics. But guess what now he's a
Speaker 1: key piece on the team. We can think, of course,
Speaker 1: Lebron James, but really we can thank Phil Handy. According
Speaker 1: to an article in The Athletic, Handy says that Kyle
Speaker 1: has worked his ass off, and he he has worked
Speaker 1: his ass off to get Kuzma to buy in to
Speaker 1: Frank Vogel's scheme and his new role to be a
Speaker 1: role player when he had been prior the second leading
Speaker 1: scorer on the LA Lakers before Vogel got there. That
Speaker 1: is an ego death. That's why I chose that song
Speaker 1: ego Death to Kyle Kuzma. This is what Handy had
Speaker 1: to say about how Kuzma fits into the scheme.
Speaker 2: Can you read that quote, Marty?
Speaker 4: Sure, phenomenal talent. That kid has all the attributes to
Speaker 4: be an All Star in the NBA very very soon.
Speaker 4: I think what people don't understand when there's a shift
Speaker 4: in the dynamic of the team, a lot of things happen.
Speaker 4: The Lakers went from a team that was rebuilding and
Speaker 4: they go to a team that's competing for a championship overnight.
Speaker 4: Those are two different teams, So that required that Kyle's
Speaker 4: role changed as well. He's really taken on the mindset
Speaker 4: that it's not all about scoring. Those are hard adjustments
Speaker 4: to make. People don't understand how tough it is to
Speaker 4: go from maybe taking fifteen to sixteen shots a game
Speaker 4: and now he might be taking eight to nine shots
Speaker 4: a game cases and have to be really efficient with that.
Speaker 4: Kuz has really been putting in the effort day in
Speaker 4: and day out to make sure he's successful.
Speaker 1: Before his role change, kuz was averaging nineteen points a game,
Speaker 1: second leading scorer. Now he's averaging twelve. But the interesting
Speaker 1: thing is that he's averaging seven rebounds a game now,
Speaker 1: almost three more than last year, including twice as many
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds, just crashing the boards. And he's shooting thirty
Speaker 1: seven percent from three, up from thirty one percent last year.
Speaker 2: I would say that's development.
Speaker 1: Let's look at Kuzma's last five games, because that gives
Speaker 1: you a snapshot of what he's called to do and
Speaker 1: how different it is every night. Five points, four points,
Speaker 1: twelve points, twenty five points, twenty four points. Some games
Speaker 1: he is not even close to.
Speaker 2: A focal point of the offense.
Speaker 1: Other games he has to hit a game winner and
Speaker 1: go off, and he does back in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2: This is phenomenal.
Speaker 1: This is what tells you how much he's changed. Luke Walton,
Speaker 1: who in his own right is not very good, called
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma selfish.
Speaker 2: He said he's a player that only.
Speaker 1: Looks out for himself, and look at him today. Just
Speaker 1: I fucking Lebron shooting over Jesus and doing everything that
Speaker 1: he can to get his team wins. If Kyle Kuzma
Speaker 1: continues to develop, folks, he continues to be what Phil
Speaker 1: Handy knows he can be. That is trouble, trouble for
Speaker 1: the rest of the week this league. Is there anything
Speaker 1: that makes you appreciate what you have more than seeing
Speaker 1: Karis Lavert all of a sudden come down with a
Speaker 1: terminal illness when he thought he was completely healthy.
Speaker 3: That was a crazy story.
Speaker 1: Twenty five years old. I mean, this is one of
Speaker 1: the best stories in the NBA in.
Speaker 2: A long time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a sad trade, a trade that everybody thought, like, wow,
Speaker 1: they got rid of Carris Lavert into a potential tragedy
Speaker 1: that ended up being a life saving occurrence.
Speaker 2: We're talking about Kris Lavert.
Speaker 1: Lavert was part of a four team James Harden trade
Speaker 1: January fourteenth that sent Victor Oladipo to Houston, brought Krris
Speaker 1: Lavert from Brooklyn to Indiana. And trust me, Brooklyn had
Speaker 1: no plans to trade Karris Lavert. They really wanted to
Speaker 1: trade Spencer Dinwitty. I know that because I was talking
Speaker 1: to friends, development coaches, etc. That work with teams and
Speaker 1: they were like, hey, we're out in LA and everybody
Speaker 1: on the nets is here in LA running everyone out
Speaker 1: of the gym. It was the Nets as currently constructed
Speaker 1: versus any team.
Speaker 2: In the NBA that you could assemble.
Speaker 1: It was a pickup game, Nets versus everybody, and they
Speaker 1: were blowing fools out. And you know who wasn't there.
Speaker 1: Spencer Dinwoodie was not there. He was nowhere near the team.
Speaker 1: So it was like, Spencer is on his way out right,
Speaker 1: he does not fit in with this crew.
Speaker 2: He does not want to be a six man. And
Speaker 2: then what happened.
Speaker 1: Spencer Dinwiddie like a few days into the season tore
Speaker 1: his ACL up and then he's like untradeable. So now
Speaker 1: you got to get rid of Carris Lavert. So if
Speaker 1: Dinwitty doesn't blow out his ACL, there's a good chance
Speaker 1: that Kearris Lavert might be on the road to a
Speaker 1: terminal illness and death.
Speaker 3: Uh. Yeah, it's heavy to talk about. I mean, that
Speaker 3: really is nuts that a trade could do that. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think it's probably the first time in history.
Speaker 4: Uh, Casino Mobiley had something similar happen. It was when
Speaker 4: he I forget what trade it was, but it was
Speaker 4: like Nuggets, Rockets something like that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, So how it happens is is you don't
Speaker 1: have to take a physical when you're on your current team.
Speaker 1: The only time you need a full physical is when
Speaker 1: you're getting traded. They have to do a complete work.
Speaker 2: Up on you.
Speaker 1: Players in the middle of their contracts don't normally do
Speaker 1: it until a new contract. So there's a possibility that
Speaker 1: Karis Lvert wouldn't have gotten a physical full physical unless
Speaker 1: he was doing it himself for twenty four months at
Speaker 1: that point.
Speaker 2: Who knows.
Speaker 1: So the doctor discovered in that physical a mass in
Speaker 1: Karis Lavert's kidney, and he felt completely healthy.
Speaker 2: It was a cancerous mass.
Speaker 1: He was discovered to have renal cancer in his left kidney,
Speaker 1: and he underwent emergency surgery on January twenty fifth. He said,
Speaker 1: I didn't have any symptoms. I felt one hundred percent healthy.
Speaker 1: I was playing in games. The trade revealed what was
Speaker 1: going on in my body. The trade saved my life.
Speaker 2: Holy moly, And just six weeks later he's back on
Speaker 2: the court, folks hoopin' what a story.
Speaker 1: I hope people really understand and watch Karris play because
Speaker 1: we could he so many things could have happened been
Speaker 1: He is a fucking bucket though. Oh yeah, for those
Speaker 1: not in the know on Kars Lavert, which I don't
Speaker 1: think there's any NBA fan, real NBA fan that doesn't
Speaker 1: know Karis, But for the casual fan, he is a
Speaker 1: fucking bucket. He was a key component for the Nets
Speaker 1: when Kyrie was out and obviously KD was out. Do
Speaker 1: you remember when the Nets beat the Bucks in the
Speaker 1: Bubble with the most historic of victory in turn, I
Speaker 1: think they were the largest underdog, biggest upset in twenty
Speaker 1: five years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they were laying like nineteen something like.
Speaker 1: That, nineteen and they were getting en Yeah, getting getting
Speaker 1: nineteen and they won outright. That was because of Karis Lavert,
Speaker 1: the guy that put up fifty one against the Celtics.
Speaker 1: This guy was averaging nineteen a game last year. He
Speaker 1: can put up forty on any given night. And that's
Speaker 1: exactly what Indiana has missed as of late is some
Speaker 1: scoring in crunch time. And guess what first game back
Speaker 1: dog walk your team, Marty, I mean dog walked.
Speaker 2: One eleven.
Speaker 1: That game was not close late, Yeah, I know that
Speaker 1: is what the Pacers can be with Kris Lavert.
Speaker 2: He's going to add a new dimension.
Speaker 1: He's exactly the kind of player that Nate Bjorkren wants
Speaker 1: in his guys an upgrade over Oladipo on and expiring.
Speaker 1: And now you pair him with Brogden, and you've.
Speaker 2: Got a dangerous, dangerous backcourt.
Speaker 1: Adding Dougie Buckets, Sa Bonus, Miles Turner, TJ. Warren and
Speaker 1: Human Steel Machine TJ McConnell off the bench and the
Speaker 1: two Holiday brothers. Oh my god, this team is officially
Speaker 1: a problemo for the East. I don't know how good
Speaker 1: they can be, but I tell you what, they can
Speaker 1: be a lot better with Karris Lavert possibly scoring fifty
Speaker 1: on any given night than without him, certainly. How amazing
Speaker 1: is it that they discovered this so early that he
Speaker 1: didn't even have to undergo chemo and he could play
Speaker 1: in six weeks. That's crazy, all because Bencer Dinwitty, Tora's
Speaker 1: Aco and Tilman Furtada was so petty that he wouldn't
Speaker 1: trade Harden to Darryl Moury sixers. So in a weird way,
Speaker 1: Carris LeVert can thank Dinwittie and for Tita for saving
Speaker 1: his life.
Speaker 2: Just goes to show you how weird life.
Speaker 1: How random, unrelated events can affect you.
Speaker 2: And I think we can all agree on this. Fuck cancer,
Speaker 2: Ah just picture it. Picture it. I'm on my couch
Speaker 2: and every time.
Speaker 1: I open my Instagram DMS, that song comes on in
Speaker 1: the background like it's soundtrack. Ah God, all right, let's
Speaker 1: get into some dms. Marty read me something.
Speaker 4: Uh okay, uh coming out hot? Is Tobias Harris disrespected?
Speaker 2: Is Tobias Harris disrespected? What do you think?
Speaker 1: Do you think he's overrated, underrated, or properly rated?
Speaker 4: I mean, all questions like this, I kind of it
Speaker 4: all kind of depends on who you're talking to. Like,
Speaker 4: amongst casuals, he probably is underrated. But like any like
Speaker 4: smart person, you know, I mean, you always have people
Speaker 4: that like, Okay, I can talk hoops with this person,
Speaker 4: and I feel like they all know what the deal
Speaker 4: is and when he's able to actually do his thing,
Speaker 4: he shows it. But probably amongst your average NBA fan,
Speaker 4: he probably is a little underrated.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think for overshadowed.
Speaker 1: Overshadowed is a good way of putting it in the
Speaker 1: national media.
Speaker 2: For sure. Underrated. No one speaks.
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris's name. We're gonna speak about his name right now, Tobias. Tobias,
Speaker 1: for one, would say he's very underrated. He would say
Speaker 1: he's very disrespected.
Speaker 2: How underrated. This is what he said during the All
Speaker 2: Star break Listen if.
Speaker 1: Philly fans understand that I'm an All Star, these are
Speaker 1: the same fans that probably would have escorted me out
Speaker 1: my house last year.
Speaker 2: I don't know what that means. Me and Doc talked
Speaker 2: about it.
Speaker 1: I just told him, look, I got a bounty out
Speaker 1: for coaches that didn't vote for me.
Speaker 2: That's a murder threat.
Speaker 1: And the national media that skipped over me also threat
Speaker 1: So listen, I take murder threats a little seriously. Right
Speaker 1: now talking about bounties, let's just stop pause. Tobias does
Speaker 1: have a big chip on his shoulder because he's bawling
Speaker 1: and no one's talking about him. Really, he's putting up
Speaker 1: when I didn't even think about it until he said that.
Speaker 2: Let's dig into his stats. He's putting up.
Speaker 1: Twenty seven and a half and three and a half,
Speaker 1: and he's shooting fifty forty ninety. That is that's how
Speaker 1: you know you're a hooper. Fifty forty ninety. That's all
Speaker 1: you need to say. Yeah, and for his career, he's
Speaker 1: forty seven, thirty six and eighty two. That is a
Speaker 1: big jump. This year he is having a year. Tobias Harris,
Speaker 1: you talk about the Sixers being the number one in
Speaker 1: the East, Ben Simmons production slipping, Tobias Harris killing.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's not Ben Simmons. Maybe it's Tobias Harris. It's
Speaker 2: the reason. Sorry, sorry, Maybe Tobias.
Speaker 1: Should have taken Ben Simmons spot on the All Star team.
Speaker 1: How about that for a thought? Huh, that would be
Speaker 1: incredible if he's being overlooked. At least Doc Rivers told
Speaker 1: him why. Me and Doc discussed that you make your
Speaker 1: name known in the playoffs. And I tell you what,
Speaker 1: if there's a player not named Joe El Embi that's
Speaker 1: gonna make their name known in the playoffs for the Sixers,
Speaker 1: that person is not named Ben Simmons. I promise when
Speaker 1: embiid gets double teamed, I promise you it's going to
Speaker 1: be the Tobias Harris show. That's the only way it
Speaker 1: can be. In the fourth quarter, everything's collapsing around Jojo
Speaker 1: Tobias time. Oh so is he disrespected and overlooked? I
Speaker 1: would say yes. Was he also big trash last year
Speaker 1: and over underperformed, and everyone was like, why did we
Speaker 1: pay him so much money? And why didn't we pay
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler also yes, but I tell you what, I've
Speaker 1: heard this phrase, and I love this phrase.
Speaker 2: It's better to walk.
Speaker 1: Into a room and be underestimated because you're the only
Speaker 1: one that knows what you're capable of. So when it's May,
Speaker 1: when May comes, that's when we find out what Tobias
Speaker 1: here is really capable of.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 4: Uh, okay, And now we're gonna go, uh, how bad
Speaker 4: is the Pistons front office?
Speaker 1: So I know what this means. It's not about Blake Griffin.
Speaker 1: How bad is the Pistons front office? Let's dig into it.
Speaker 1: Let's stig into it. So everyone was commenting on how
Speaker 1: Blake Griffin gave. They just generously gave thirteen and a
Speaker 1: half million dollars back to the Pistons to settle his
Speaker 1: contract so that he could sign in the open market
Speaker 1: with the Brooklyn Nets. What they conveniently forget to tell you,
Speaker 1: those same people, is that the Pistons had to pay
Speaker 1: sixty one and a half million dollars to Blake Griffin
Speaker 1: for him just to not play basketball.
Speaker 2: In Detroit anymore. Who got the better part of that deal?
Speaker 2: It's not Detroit.
Speaker 1: Sadly, this is not the first time that this organization
Speaker 1: has been fleeced in the open market.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, no it is.
Speaker 1: This is not the kind of If the Detroit Pistons
Speaker 1: were a person, they do not want to go to
Speaker 1: a country like Greece, to the plaka and start negotiating,
Speaker 1: you know, a ring or like a sherpa. You know,
Speaker 1: they would get completely hosed. They don't know what they're doing.
Speaker 1: They always are that person that comes back with no
Speaker 1: pants and like one little necklace. It's like, what happened
Speaker 1: to you? Let's talk about Tobias Harris, who we just
Speaker 1: talked about. He was part of the Pistons organization. People
Speaker 1: forget that he was part of the original trade to
Speaker 1: actually bring Blake to Detroit.
Speaker 2: Who won that trade, not the Detroit Pistons. Let's talk
Speaker 2: about Andre Drummond, who everyone wants. Everyone's just clamoring for
Speaker 2: drum and drumming. Where's he gonna go? Drum and drum
Speaker 2: and drumming.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they traded Drummond to the Caves for John Henson,
Speaker 1: Brandon Knight, and a second round pick. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you know this, because I didn't, but Henson and
Speaker 1: Knight are currently not playing in the NBA right now.
Speaker 1: If anyone knows their whereabouts, please let me know, because
Speaker 1: they are nowhere to be found on Google. Reggie Jackson
Speaker 1: signed an eighty million dollar contract in twenty sixteen. That, folks,
Speaker 1: is the same amount of money that the Warriors paid
Speaker 1: Draymond Green, an All star.
Speaker 2: Guess what.
Speaker 1: He was waived by the Pistons in twenty twenty. To
Speaker 1: recap all of that, Pistons front office managed to turn
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris, Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond, and Reggie Jackson into
Speaker 1: a single second round draft pick.
Speaker 2: Let that sink in.
Speaker 1: Fuck yikes. All of which to say, Jeremy Grant, you
Speaker 1: better hold on to that guy, better hold on.
Speaker 2: But would it surprise.
Speaker 1: Anyone if the Pistons actually traded him to the Celtics
Speaker 1: at the deadline for like Jeff Tigue and Grant Williams
Speaker 1: in a twenty twenty seven second round pick.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't surprise me? No, it wouldn't. That's all the time
Speaker 2: we have, Jesus Christ, Pistons.
Speaker 1: We have another this league bet in the Penn Barstool
Speaker 1: app this Wednesday. By the way, Milwaukee at Philadelphia. Who's
Speaker 1: gonna get the better of who? Sixers fans in my mentions,
Speaker 1: here's your chance to back your boy balloon hands, Drew
Speaker 1: Holiday versus Ben Simmons, points, rebounds, assists who you got.
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