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Speaker 1: Welcome to tonight, presented by fan Duel here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Monday, everybody. I hope all of you guys had
Speaker 1: an awesome weekend. Today. It was NBA Media Day and
Speaker 1: it was good to see all of the players in
Speaker 1: their jerseys. Getting their picture taken, interviews, all the good
Speaker 1: stuff to Twitter. Timeline was full of NBA basketball. Felt good.
Speaker 1: That is the day that kicks off nine months of
Speaker 1: NBA basketball going through mid June, and I could not
Speaker 1: be more excited. Here's the plan for this week. Today,
Speaker 1: We're going to cover Media Day, but inevitably I'm gonna
Speaker 1: miss some stuff because there's just hundreds of different quotes,
Speaker 1: some pieces of information that we're gonna get today. Tomorrow
Speaker 1: we're gonna focus on the Warriors Media Day as well
Speaker 1: as anything that I missed today. Today it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of Lakers, a lot of nets will also hit,
Speaker 1: some sixers will hit, some suns will hit, some Pelicans.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow is gonna be Warriors and anything else that I missed.
Speaker 1: We're also going to continue our Power rankings this week.
Speaker 1: Number four will be tomorrow, and then three to one
Speaker 1: will go on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Then a week from today,
Speaker 1: we'll have eight games worth the preseason basketball to react to,
Speaker 1: so we'll be back into our game breakdowns at that point.
Speaker 1: But today is gonna be NBA Media Day, largely focused
Speaker 1: on the Lakers and the nets. You guys know, the
Speaker 1: drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube
Speaker 1: channel so you don't miss any more of our videos.
Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt so you
Speaker 1: guys don't miss any show announcements. Last, but not least,
Speaker 1: if you miss one of these shows and you can't
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Speaker 1: always find them wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops
Speaker 1: tonight quickly before we get started. As you gear up
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Speaker 1: your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. And on
Speaker 1: that note, let's talk some basketball. We're gonna start with
Speaker 1: the Lakers, and we're gonna start with Russ. But it's
Speaker 1: gonna be quick because, as you guys know, I have
Speaker 1: a rule. We'll get to that in a second. So
Speaker 1: there were two quotes in particular that stood out to
Speaker 1: me from not just this media David, also from this
Speaker 1: weird article that came out from ESPN. I think it
Speaker 1: was last night or the night before that was kind
Speaker 1: of like an interview from him going over this offseason. So,
Speaker 1: first of all, the quote from Media Day, he said,
Speaker 1: whether they want me here or not doesn't really adder.
Speaker 1: My job is to be a professional and show up
Speaker 1: to work as I've always done. Emphasis there on as
Speaker 1: I've always done. End quote. In the WOAE article, he
Speaker 1: had a very similar quote, responding to a very similar question.
Speaker 1: He said, quote, I think the most important thing is
Speaker 1: that I show up for work and I do the
Speaker 1: job like I have always done it. Be professional and
Speaker 1: go out and play my ass off and compete. End quote.
Speaker 1: So before we go any further this season, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have a one minute rule for Russ. And we don't
Speaker 1: actually have that little timer things set up yet, but
Speaker 1: it's just I can. He's a very frustrating basketball player
Speaker 1: for me, and I coached the game, and so I
Speaker 1: my job is to pay extra close attention to the
Speaker 1: little details of the game of basketball, and those specific
Speaker 1: things are things that Russ struggles with mightily, and so
Speaker 1: I find him to be a very frustrating basketball player
Speaker 1: to cover. So I could spend a lot of time
Speaker 1: complaining about him this season, but I really don't want to.
Speaker 1: It takes away from the show. I think it's actually
Speaker 1: a bad thing. I'm not interested in that. So we
Speaker 1: have a rule this year. When Russ stuff comes up,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go for a minute and then it's dead
Speaker 1: and we're not allowed to talk about him for the
Speaker 1: rest of the show, at least not in a focused way.
Speaker 1: So here's my quick, like two cents on this Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook Media Day and article from last night. What I've
Speaker 1: always done, which is the keyword or key phrase from
Speaker 1: those two quotes that I gave you What I've always
Speaker 1: done means that he still hasn't acknowledged the problem. All
Speaker 1: of the other quotes from Media Day, quotes about his role,
Speaker 1: whether or not he's gonna start or come off the bench,
Speaker 1: conversations he's had with Lebron James and Anthony Davis, conversations
Speaker 1: he's had with Darvin Ham, friendship with Patrick Beverley, any
Speaker 1: of that doesn't mean anything unless Russell Westbrook acknowledges the
Speaker 1: acknowledges the problem, and he has not done. So he
Speaker 1: is in denial in that aspect. He was in the
Speaker 1: season ending press conference to end last year, and he
Speaker 1: was this year in the season starting press season starting
Speaker 1: press conference as we expected him to be. What does
Speaker 1: that mean. I do not expect him to change. I
Speaker 1: expect this year to be more of the same. I
Speaker 1: think he thinks that if he makes more of his layups,
Speaker 1: or if he makes more of his pull up jumpers
Speaker 1: and he has fewer turnovers, that means that he's fixed
Speaker 1: the problem. That is not the case. The problem went
Speaker 1: so much deeper than any of that, and I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna get into it here because, like I said, the
Speaker 1: time limit. So the bottom line is he has not
Speaker 1: acknowledged the problem. Therefore, I don't think there will be change.
Speaker 1: If he does change, it will be because he's acknowledged
Speaker 1: that problem. And that's all I'm gonna say about us
Speaker 1: for right now. Um we're gonna move on to Rob
Speaker 1: Polinka because he was the one I was most interested
Speaker 1: in hearing from today, mainly just because he he's the
Speaker 1: he's the guy in the chair, he's the guy holding
Speaker 1: the steering wheel, guiding this thing down the road. And
Speaker 1: he had a job this summer, and that job was
Speaker 1: to get better role players around Lebron James and Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: which he has done a little bit of, and to
Speaker 1: get Russell Westbrook off the roster, and he did not
Speaker 1: accomplish that goal. And so I was really curious to
Speaker 1: hear what he would say today. And we're gonna get
Speaker 1: into that right now. So a couple of quotes quick
Speaker 1: quickly about the Russell Westbrook thing from Rob Polinka. He said, quote,
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook is a great part of our team, one
Speaker 1: of the greats to ever play the game, and I
Speaker 1: think Coach Ham is going to bring another level out
Speaker 1: of him. End quote. That is a continuation of that
Speaker 1: denial of reality on Rob's part. If you're banking on
Speaker 1: things like Russ figuring it out or Kyrie Irving coming
Speaker 1: next summer to fill up your cap space, that's a
Speaker 1: severe case of wishful thinking. Yes, they both might happen,
Speaker 1: and if they do, you'll be in great shape. Like
Speaker 1: if if Russ does figure it out this year, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's gonna solve a lot of the Lakers problems. If
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving comes and signs next year for whatever cap
Speaker 1: space they have, that's gonna solve a lot of their problems.
Speaker 1: But what is the more likely scenario. Is it more
Speaker 1: likely that those things happen, or is it more likely
Speaker 1: that Russ is more of the same this year and
Speaker 1: that Kyrie ends up resigning with the Nets or with
Speaker 1: somebody else who will be able to offer him more
Speaker 1: money next summer. That's far more likely. So you're banking,
Speaker 1: You're putting all your chips in the middle for two
Speaker 1: very unlikely variables, and to me, that's just bad management.
Speaker 1: It's a dangerous gamble. After that, he did he went
Speaker 1: on his long, kind of meandering rant, talking about how
Speaker 1: Lebron James and him recommitting to the franchise via the
Speaker 1: extension for three years was the signaling of their partnership
Speaker 1: and how the two of them were in this together
Speaker 1: and that there was a mutual trust. Any In that rant,
Speaker 1: elaborated about how he understands the pressure of having Lebron James,
Speaker 1: one of the greatest basketball players of all time, under
Speaker 1: roster control, and he talked about how that implied that
Speaker 1: he inevitably is willing to spend the draft picks, but
Speaker 1: he said he's going to hold back and wait to
Speaker 1: do so until the right deal comes around, and that's
Speaker 1: that's been the company line all summer, we won't give
Speaker 1: up the picks unless we become a contender. You know,
Speaker 1: we're waiting for the right deal. We we we don't
Speaker 1: like the Indiana deal, we don't like the Jazz deal.
Speaker 1: We think we're gonna get something better if we wait.
Speaker 1: I've even heard untel from people who were involved in
Speaker 1: those trade negotiations that the Lakers seeming that seemed to
Speaker 1: believe they can get Kyrie Irving via trade during this season,
Speaker 1: and which again, is that's just that's a really pie
Speaker 1: in the sky type of mentality. But the reality is
Speaker 1: is the pursuit of the perfect deal is costing the
Speaker 1: Lakers elsewhere for starters. The pursuit of the perfect deal
Speaker 1: is unrealistic because Russell Westbrook is involved, and that actively
Speaker 1: hurts your negotiation position. The Lakers are desperate, and that
Speaker 1: actively hurts your negotiation position. The Lakers don't have the
Speaker 1: leverage to get a great deal, to get great value
Speaker 1: for those two draft picks. It's the reality because those
Speaker 1: two draft picks are attached to a negative asset in
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, a player that none of the other twenty
Speaker 1: nine teams want, it would likely buy out or send home.
Speaker 1: If they got him in a trade, that takes away
Speaker 1: from the value of the draft picks. You know everyone
Speaker 1: talks about, like, oh boy and Pagdanovich. He ended up
Speaker 1: going to the Detroit Pistons and they didn't even send
Speaker 1: a draft pick. Yeah, that's right, because Boyan mcdonovits Boyan
Speaker 1: Bogdanovitch's market value is very different from what the Lakers
Speaker 1: prices because there's two different things that set the price.
Speaker 1: Market value helps set the price. How good the players are,
Speaker 1: that's that sets the price. But your leverage also sets
Speaker 1: the price. Sometimes market value is different from leverage. I've
Speaker 1: been dealing with this. I don't work in real estate anymore,
Speaker 1: but that's what I did before this, and I worked
Speaker 1: in real estate during the crazy boom over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years, and the market value of a house
Speaker 1: might have been to fifty But if there are fifteen
Speaker 1: people negotiating and the leverage is in the hand of
Speaker 1: the seller because he's got fifteen offers, then it's going
Speaker 1: to inevitably bid things up above what market value is.
Speaker 1: And the truth of the matter is the Lakers, because
Speaker 1: they were desperate, because they have Lebron James in your
Speaker 1: twenty and because they're offloading Russell Westbrook, those three things
Speaker 1: undercut their leverage and made it so the market price
Speaker 1: for these deals is different for them than it is
Speaker 1: for other teams. And that's why they can't get boy
Speaker 1: On mcdonovitch for the same price that the Detroit Pistons can,
Speaker 1: and that's why they might have to include their draft
Speaker 1: picks in order to get a deal. But that's the
Speaker 1: only one side of this. Let's say that there is
Speaker 1: a better deal in the future. Let's say that around
Speaker 1: the deadline there's a better deal or next summer they
Speaker 1: think they can get more for some combination of picks
Speaker 1: or cap space or whatever it is. Whatever you view
Speaker 1: in the future as the better outcome. Opportunity cost still
Speaker 1: plays a role here. Losing training camp as an opportunity
Speaker 1: to build continuity with your players that hurts you. That
Speaker 1: is a loss of value. There's not a lot of
Speaker 1: practice during the regular season. If you make a deal
Speaker 1: at the deadline, you might get four or five practices
Speaker 1: the rest of the season to sort things out. So
Speaker 1: not getting the deal done this summer cost you in value.
Speaker 1: You're losing a season of Lebron's prime, especially if you
Speaker 1: wait into the end of this if you wait into
Speaker 1: this summer, or if you wait to the deadline, and
Speaker 1: it hurts your seeding so much that you lose in
Speaker 1: the first round series against the Warriors because you're seven
Speaker 1: seed or an eight seed and you didn't take this
Speaker 1: regular season seriously with an eye towards the future. That's value.
Speaker 1: You're twenty of Lebron, your twenty one of Lebron, and
Speaker 1: your twenty two of Lebron will experience significant declines in
Speaker 1: all likelihood. That's just father time. That's just how it works.
Speaker 1: That's part of the value. And you waiting, how much
Speaker 1: does that counteract the value proposition of an alleged deal.
Speaker 1: If I factor in Lebron's age and continuity and all
Speaker 1: of those things, it hurts you. So maybe you can
Speaker 1: get something better than Boyan Magdanovitch, or let's just say
Speaker 1: Myles Turner because he's gone. Now, let's just say Miles
Speaker 1: Turner and buddy he Maybe you can get something that's better,
Speaker 1: but you're gonna lose in value in Lebron aging and
Speaker 1: continuity and all of those things. That's what I don't
Speaker 1: understand about this approach. And the bottom line is I
Speaker 1: think it's because they want to start. I think as
Speaker 1: they think that a star is going to fix their problems,
Speaker 1: and for whatever reason, they've never been able to wrap
Speaker 1: their brains around the concept that Lebron James, Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: and good role players equals a basketball team that has
Speaker 1: a chance to win an NBA championship. It's always been
Speaker 1: that simple. The one year it all worked out was
Speaker 1: the year they didn't chase after Well. They tried, and
Speaker 1: they literally tried to. They tried to go after Quiet
Speaker 1: and it didn't work out, and as a result, they
Speaker 1: had Lebron James, Anthony Davis, a bunch of role players,
Speaker 1: and they won an NBA Championship. Ever since then, they've
Speaker 1: been looking for the third guy. First it was Schroeder,
Speaker 1: then it was Russell Westbrook, now it's Kyrie Irving. Their
Speaker 1: endless pursuit of that in the face of evidence that
Speaker 1: is to the contrary, is why they're in this predicament.
Speaker 1: So the whole thing surrounding Rob Polinka's in his strategy
Speaker 1: with these trades does not make any sense to me,
Speaker 1: and I think it's actively hurting their prospects moving forward.
Speaker 1: One last note on the Rob Polinka front. There was
Speaker 1: a little a little moment where him and Darvin Hammer
Speaker 1: talking about shooting, which is, you know, look, in the
Speaker 1: Lebron James Anthony Davis era, the Lakers have never had
Speaker 1: good shooting. You know. This past season they had some
Speaker 1: good shooters, but they still didn't actually perform to that
Speaker 1: extent because of the fact that they often had to
Speaker 1: divert to defensive players. Right this this year is gonna
Speaker 1: be worse than all of them. This is gonna be
Speaker 1: the worst shooting roster in the NBA this year. This
Speaker 1: is gonna be the worst shooting roster that the Lebron
Speaker 1: James Anthony Davis era has ever had. This is probably
Speaker 1: the worst shooting roster that Lebron James has ever played
Speaker 1: with a player that has consistently played well alongside good
Speaker 1: three point shooters. And this was Rob Polinka's answer when
Speaker 1: he was asked that he said that he expects players
Speaker 1: on the roster to grow and improve. Well, okay, then
Speaker 1: I hope they do, because if they don't, it's going
Speaker 1: to be a problem. Darvin Ham, when he was asked
Speaker 1: the same question, said quote, We're not trying to find specialists.
Speaker 1: We want basketball players. End quote. You know what's funny,
Speaker 1: I percent believe in that. That basketball ideology is one
Speaker 1: that I believe in very strongly. You know, especially as
Speaker 1: the game has gone towards five out and driving kick
Speaker 1: has been the best way to get good shots, It's
Speaker 1: been more important ever to have guys that are well rounded.
Speaker 1: You know. A great example of this is like a
Speaker 1: andre I Guadala versus a Kyle Korver And I'm not
Speaker 1: even and I'm not even talking about the defensive end.
Speaker 1: On the offensive end of the floor, it helps to
Speaker 1: have a guy that can put the basketball on the
Speaker 1: floor and finish at the rim or driving kick two
Speaker 1: players and consistently make the right reads. I agree, it's basketball.
Speaker 1: You need basketball players. You need guys that are well rounded.
Speaker 1: Here's the problem. Not only does this team not have
Speaker 1: great shooting, they don't have great basketball players outside of
Speaker 1: Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Patrick Beverley, and Dennis Schroeder. The
Speaker 1: role players, the guys playing on the wing. Like I
Speaker 1: like Austin Reeves. I think he's gonna be a good
Speaker 1: fifth starter in this league for a long time when
Speaker 1: he figures out his shot that he's good there. But
Speaker 1: Troy Brown Jr. Want to Skano Anderson. If you're relying
Speaker 1: on those guys to be good basketball players, meaning consistently
Speaker 1: making the right decisions as driving kick players on offense,
Speaker 1: I don't. I think you're setting yourself up to be disappointed. Look,
Speaker 1: Austin Reaves is a great example of this concept. Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves did not shoot exceptionally well last year, but he
Speaker 1: was great attacking close outs and he always made the
Speaker 1: right read. That's being a basketball player. That's value. But
Speaker 1: you need that. If you're not looking for shooters, fine,
Speaker 1: but find more of those guys. That's why I wanted
Speaker 1: them to make the d whether it was the Utah
Speaker 1: deal or the Pacers deal, bring in some more basketball
Speaker 1: players that can come in and help you on the
Speaker 1: offensive end of the floor. The bottom line is is
Speaker 1: this team is not good enough. You had an opportunity
Speaker 1: to make them better. Rob Polinka did and they didn't.
Speaker 1: Even if your reasoning was sound, which I don't believe
Speaker 1: it is, this team is still not good enough. So
Speaker 1: that means you're punting. You are punting Lebron's age thirty
Speaker 1: eight season with Anthony Davis flanking him. Any perceived improvement
Speaker 1: by a more measured approach, by waiting for the future,
Speaker 1: and something that might be better is undercut by the
Speaker 1: opportunity cost of losing training camp, of potentially losing a
Speaker 1: season of Lebron James's career. Even if you get something
Speaker 1: a little better, it's undercut by the loss of time.
Speaker 1: So and this team has been set up to fail.
Speaker 1: And so I you know, it was a frustrating media day.
Speaker 1: I had a feeling Rob Blincoln would come out and
Speaker 1: say the things he did and he did, and you
Speaker 1: know what, like, maybe it all work out. Maybe maybe
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook will you've all of him become a winning
Speaker 1: basketball player. Maybe Kyrie Irving comes at the deadliner, comes
Speaker 1: next summer, and then everything works out. I just find
Speaker 1: it extremely unlikely there was a more likely outcome. Give
Speaker 1: me Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Patrick Beverley, Dennis Schroder, Austin Reeves,
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunn, Miles Turner, you know, Damien Jones, Buddy Healed.
Speaker 1: I can win a championship with that group, But the
Speaker 1: hypothetical of Kyrie, I can't take that to the bank.
Speaker 1: And that's why I didn't understand the approach one last note.
Speaker 1: On on D Day Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Lebron
Speaker 1: was asked about his most important thing coming into the season,
Speaker 1: and he said, quote unquote, availability is the most important
Speaker 1: thing in this league. End quote, Lebron James and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis is availability is going to be the thing that
Speaker 1: determines the outcome of this season, regard list of anything else.
Speaker 1: Even if they did make a deal and bring in
Speaker 1: better players, if Lebron and A d combined to play
Speaker 1: ninety games, they're gonna be a playing team or miss
Speaker 1: the playoffs. But if they both play seventy plus games,
Speaker 1: that covers a whole lot of stuff. It keeps Russ
Speaker 1: in an ancillary role, which gives him at least a
Speaker 1: better chance of becoming a better role player. It also
Speaker 1: demonstrates to the front office that this group is something
Speaker 1: that they can believe in and invest in more by
Speaker 1: making the trades. And the big guy I want to
Speaker 1: watch in this department is Anthony Davis. He said in
Speaker 1: the press conference that he plans to have a chip
Speaker 1: on his shoulder this season. I had him eighteenth than
Speaker 1: my player rankings. ESPN came out and had him twentieth
Speaker 1: in their player rankings. I think that's fair. He doesn't
Speaker 1: deserve to be above the players that are in front
Speaker 1: of him, not with the way he's played, even when
Speaker 1: he's healthy the last couple of years, and when you
Speaker 1: factor in health, you could argue he should be lower.
Speaker 1: This is the season that will define Anthony Davis's career.
Speaker 1: It's either go where you're either gonna look back at
Speaker 1: this as Anthony Davis, the guy who quickly became one
Speaker 1: of the best power forwards of all time, who had
Speaker 1: a dominant NBA Championship winning run in who then had
Speaker 1: a couple of bad years with injury, and then went
Speaker 1: right back to kicking everybody's ass, or the story is
Speaker 1: going to be he won the title in twenty and
Speaker 1: he never was the same player. This is the season
Speaker 1: where we find out, because once you've done that three
Speaker 1: times in a row, that's just who you are. If
Speaker 1: you don't take care of your body and you come
Speaker 1: into camp out of shape and you play overweight and
Speaker 1: you end up suffering a bunch of injuries and you
Speaker 1: do it, then that's who you are. But if he
Speaker 1: comes back this season and he kicks everybody's ass, he
Speaker 1: will categorically explain the previous two years as an outlier,
Speaker 1: and so the pressure is on a d to get
Speaker 1: it done. Moving on to the nets. So Kyrie said, quote,
Speaker 1: I didn't appreciate how me being unvaccinated came to be
Speaker 1: a stigma within my career that I don't want to
Speaker 1: play end quote. Said later on, I gave up four
Speaker 1: years and a hundred something million dollars to be unvaccinated
Speaker 1: end quote. And and this is just kind of more
Speaker 1: similar to the rest thing, just another example of a
Speaker 1: lack of self awareness. We were all here watching you,
Speaker 1: watching the team when you took two leaves of absence
Speaker 1: for personal reasons, when you were healthy during the season
Speaker 1: without telling Steve Nash, just off the face of the earth,
Speaker 1: forcing your coach to answer tough questions, forcing your teammates
Speaker 1: to answer tough questions, disrupting the continuity of the team,
Speaker 1: hurting them in seeding. All of those things are true
Speaker 1: that happened in you were healthy, when the bubble was organized,
Speaker 1: in you could have gone to play. You chose not
Speaker 1: to any one of those things. In a vacuum you
Speaker 1: get away with for instance, if he didn't play in
Speaker 1: the bubble, but he played through his contract the next
Speaker 1: two years. No one's gonna give a damn about They
Speaker 1: will explain it away. Hey, the bubble was weird, the
Speaker 1: nets weren't very good, Katie didn't want to play because
Speaker 1: he wasn't done rehabbing yet, you know what, it wasn't
Speaker 1: worth it. Cool, bam. You'll get the benefit of the
Speaker 1: doubt there. If you just did what happened in one,
Speaker 1: but you played in the bubble, and you played the
Speaker 1: entire season vaccinated in two, then everyone's gonna go like,
Speaker 1: hey man, he just had a rough year, mental health stuff,
Speaker 1: needed to spend some time with family. They'll get it.
Speaker 1: But no, it's all of them. It's the bubble, it's
Speaker 1: the it's the first leave of absence, it's the second
Speaker 1: leave of absence, it's the vaccination thing, all of those
Speaker 1: combined to make your reputation. I have no doubt that
Speaker 1: he would have got his contract that he wanted had
Speaker 1: he just done the end, had he just gone unvaccinated
Speaker 1: last year. There are a lot of players around the
Speaker 1: lead did that. Jonathan Isaac did that. It's not like
Speaker 1: the Magic are trying to dump Jonathan Isaac, at least
Speaker 1: not not yet. And if if they do, it's gonna
Speaker 1: because of his knee injury. The reality is is his
Speaker 1: reputation is well earned and he doesn't see that. And
Speaker 1: that's that's the biggest thing that stands in the way
Speaker 1: of Russell Westbrook and Kyrie irving in their own self
Speaker 1: improvement in this league is acknowledging their own shortcomings. They're
Speaker 1: just they go down with the ship. They're in denial,
Speaker 1: you know, in general NETS training, our NETS media day.
Speaker 1: I was looking at the drama, the drama between Katie
Speaker 1: and Kyrie, right, and everyone said the right things. You know.
Speaker 1: They asked Steve Nash about it. He said the right things.
Speaker 1: You know, Katie and I are family. This kind of
Speaker 1: stuff happens with family. We sort it out. You know,
Speaker 1: Sean Marks, this is a partnership. If Katie wanted to
Speaker 1: be gone, he'd be gone. Kad I understand the dynamics.
Speaker 1: I have a ton of trade value. It was gonna
Speaker 1: be tough to move me. Everyone said the right things.
Speaker 1: But the reality is that damon was done. The Kyrie
Speaker 1: stuff caused damage, That Kevin Durant stuff caused damage. The
Speaker 1: ultimatum surrounding Shawn Marks and Steve Nash that caused damage.
Speaker 1: All of it's still there. How much damage, I don't know.
Speaker 1: They only know, but there's some amount of damage that
Speaker 1: was done there emotionally and and for the people involved.
Speaker 1: If they win right away and often these issues will
Speaker 1: sink under the surface. But if the losses start to
Speaker 1: pile up, everyone will immediately revert back to that damage
Speaker 1: and remember that damage. So the risk is not gone.
Speaker 1: Even though they say all the right things, even though
Speaker 1: everyone is allegedly bought back into this thing, the damage
Speaker 1: is not gone. If the losses pile up, everyone will
Speaker 1: circle back to this summer. So it's on the basketball
Speaker 1: players to erase this thing. If Ben Simmons, Kyrie and
Speaker 1: Katie come out and they beat everybody's ask, no one's
Speaker 1: gonna care about this summer. But make no mistake, the
Speaker 1: damage is still done and it is not gone. It
Speaker 1: just can be hidden as long as they're successful. So
Speaker 1: there were a couple of quick hitters I want to
Speaker 1: hit before we get out of here. Philly James Harden
Speaker 1: said he's been dieting and that he's lost a hundred pounds,
Speaker 1: said tweet that obviously he's joking, but I have been
Speaker 1: the first guy on the James Harden Revenge Tour take
Speaker 1: and I like what I'm seeing so far. Obviously we
Speaker 1: need to see real basketball, but I like what we're
Speaker 1: seeing so far. He did specifically mentioned dieting. He did
Speaker 1: specifically mention him being healthy and being able to work
Speaker 1: out this summer. I did think that was a little
Speaker 1: uh strange though, because the reality is is a lot
Speaker 1: of his health issues were associated with his weight, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, but I like what I'm seeing from James Harden.
Speaker 1: I think he's poised for a big season. And if
Speaker 1: it's true that he's lost weight, that's the first step.
Speaker 1: Speaking of losing weight, Zion Williamson looks good. It's got
Speaker 1: some muscle definition less Doughey, And for him in particular,
Speaker 1: it's important on a couple of different levels, specifically health,
Speaker 1: he's his body will continue to break down if he
Speaker 1: plays heavy. You know foot injuries like you had, that's
Speaker 1: associated with weight. That's your that's impact, that's you landing him.
Speaker 1: Being slim will help in that department. And the big
Speaker 1: one is defensively, I never looked at Zion's weight is
Speaker 1: an issue on the offensive end of the floor. If anything,
Speaker 1: when you put on weight, you just become more difficult
Speaker 1: to keep away from the rim. But on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor, if he's gonna cover ground in rotation,
Speaker 1: containing on the perimeter, if he ever is going to
Speaker 1: be a good back line defender, and if he's gonna
Speaker 1: be able to hold up over the course of an
Speaker 1: eighty two game season and a playoff run, he needed
Speaker 1: to keep his weight down in order for him to
Speaker 1: be able to do that. He looks good again, say
Speaker 1: with James Harden when it comes his eye on and
Speaker 1: when it comes to James, it's not about the stories.
Speaker 1: It's not about what you see in media day. It's
Speaker 1: about what happens on the court. But I like what
Speaker 1: I'm seeing so far. Last, but not least Phoenix. Uh,
Speaker 1: there was this awkward moting moment where one of the
Speaker 1: reporters asked DeAndre Ayton what he thought when the Sun's
Speaker 1: matched the Pacers offer to him this summer, and he
Speaker 1: said the right thing, but he said it in kind
Speaker 1: of an awkward way. He's like, I'm glad, I'm glad
Speaker 1: it was over, glad to be here. And then the
Speaker 1: reporters like, z that all and he's like, yeah, just
Speaker 1: kind of like dead Pan, and there's kind of a
Speaker 1: weird energy hanging over the Phoenix Suns this season, and
Speaker 1: we talked about them in the in the Sea. In
Speaker 1: the season previews, I had them at seventh in my
Speaker 1: power rankings. All the talent is still there, you know,
Speaker 1: Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Michael Bridges, and Jold, Jake Crowder.
Speaker 1: I guess it's gonna be traded, Cam Johnson, whoever it
Speaker 1: is that slides into that spot in Deandreton. They're gonna
Speaker 1: kick a lot of people's asses. Are gonna win a
Speaker 1: lot of regular season basketball games, I believe, but there
Speaker 1: is a lot brewing under the surface. There's the lack
Speaker 1: of faith and Chris Paul in his weight or his health,
Speaker 1: excuse me, whether or not he can hold up over
Speaker 1: the course of the play out run. There's Devin Booker,
Speaker 1: who had another injury in the playoff run last year
Speaker 1: and he's been dealt with dealing with injuries over the
Speaker 1: course of his career. The DeAndre In situation, Jay Crowd
Speaker 1: are demanding a trade. There's a lot of just stuff
Speaker 1: underneath the surface, and it's very similar to Brooklyn. If
Speaker 1: they come out and they win it'll be fine. But
Speaker 1: that's another team to watch where if they start three
Speaker 1: and five, if they start five and ten, if things
Speaker 1: get ugly for whatever reason, which I don't think is likely,
Speaker 1: but if they get off to a rough start, everyone's
Speaker 1: gonna circle back to the summer. Everyone's gonna circle back
Speaker 1: to the issues. That's just what happens when things go bad.
Speaker 1: You look for reasons, you look for scapegoats, and you
Speaker 1: know what, if it's bad, everyone's gonna look at DeAndre
Speaker 1: and be like, he's not playing defense, he got paid now,
Speaker 1: he's not working hard, he didn't even want to be here.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be the kind of stuff that comes out
Speaker 1: when this kind of stuff starts to go south. So
Speaker 1: that's a team to keep your eye on. Alright. So,
Speaker 1: like I said before, any other Media Day stuff that
Speaker 1: I see today, we're gonna touch on tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll
Speaker 1: be covering Warriors Media Day and whatever else I see,
Speaker 1: and then we'll also in the evening have number four
Speaker 1: of our power rankings coming out. Keep an eye there,
Speaker 1: and then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday this week will be number
Speaker 1: three to one, and the next Monday we'll be starting
Speaker 1: our game breakdowns As always, I sincerely appreciate your guys
Speaker 1: to support. I'm super stoked for full NBA season. We
Speaker 1: got nine months of basketball on the horizon. I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to it. I will see you guys tomorrow. The
Speaker 1: Volume