Speaker 1: Welcome to the best of the week for What's Right
Speaker 1: with Nick Right the best takes and moments from this
Speaker 1: week on the show. Enjoy Tim McMahon, who is as
Speaker 1: plugged into the MAVs as anyone with respect to Mark Stein.
Speaker 1: Telegraph this a bit yesterday on The Great Hoop Collective podcast,
Speaker 1: with he and Wendy and my pal timbon Temps talking
Speaker 1: that Nico Harrison could be fired and Nico Harrison, Now,
Speaker 1: I don't want to incorrectly report this as we record
Speaker 1: live or we broadcast live at ten thirty four am Eastern,
Speaker 1: Nico Harrison has not yet been fired. In a truly
Speaker 1: mortifying end to a truly indefensible nine month reign of terror.
Speaker 1: Nico Harrison has a meeting with MAVs ownership in twenty
Speaker 1: five minutes where he will be fired. I gotta tell you,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I'd show up to that. Meaning if
Speaker 1: Shams has it and the whole world knows that, you
Speaker 1: know what guys with, this can be assumed. So the
Speaker 1: impacts and implications of this are far reaching. Most notable
Speaker 1: is the following. And this might sound shocking, this might
Speaker 1: sound drastic, but I believe this to be true. Teams
Speaker 1: around the league should immediately call Dallas and ask about
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis's availability. Certainly teams around the league that would
Speaker 1: be interested. And this probably is going to have to
Speaker 1: be something far later once you see him if he
Speaker 1: returns pre trade deadline, should ask about Kyrie Irving. And
Speaker 1: that is because the Dallas Mavericks are now in total
Speaker 1: build around Cooper Flag try to rebuild our draft capital.
Speaker 1: To keep in mind, they do not either have they
Speaker 1: either don't have well, they either don't have a pick
Speaker 1: or don't have their own pick. In the next four drafts,
Speaker 1: they had gone all in around historically great superstar Lukadancic,
Speaker 1: and then, because of ego and hubris, Lukadanciic was traded
Speaker 1: in the middle of the night in the type of
Speaker 1: move that if there were ever cause for a fan
Speaker 1: base to file a class action lawsuit against management, this
Speaker 1: would be it. You had one of the greatest players
Speaker 1: ever at the very beginning of the prime of his career,
Speaker 1: and I said it at the time and I will
Speaker 1: say it again, And because of nothing more than power
Speaker 1: and ego, you lit the franchise on fire. Power and ego.
Speaker 1: Everyone was searching for why Nico would have done this,
Speaker 1: and the only logical and it's not logical, but the
Speaker 1: only reasonable explanation was he did. I didn't like the
Speaker 1: fact that someone within the organization had more power than him,
Speaker 1: and that someone was Luca, So we got him out
Speaker 1: of there. And it will go down in the annals
Speaker 1: of sports history as one of the single greatest gaffs
Speaker 1: in a front office has ever made. That is not
Speaker 1: an overreaction, that is not an overstatement. That is simply
Speaker 1: what it was the moment it happened, and now is
Speaker 1: being exacerbated night in, night out as Luca instead of
Speaker 1: coming off an injury as he was last year, reminds everyone. Yes,
Speaker 1: I am the guy who dragged a Dallas Mavericks team
Speaker 1: to the conference finals when I was twenty two and
Speaker 1: to the NBA Finals when I was twenty four, And
Speaker 1: now I'm twenty six, and I have more first team
Speaker 1: All nbas under my belt than Steph Curry does, and
Speaker 1: you got rid of me and I don't. I also
Speaker 1: don't think this is an overstatement. Nico Harrison will never
Speaker 1: work in an NBA front office again. He's gonna have
Speaker 1: to work for Nike or an agency or something. But
Speaker 1: this is you cannot recover from something like this and
Speaker 1: the arrogance that less than you know. We are a
Speaker 1: dozen games into this season and Nico after they spun
Speaker 1: a one point eight percent lottery ball chance into Cooper Flag,
Speaker 1: the fact that he said do you see the vision
Speaker 1: now was one of the most tone deaf, ludicrous statements.
Speaker 1: And I'm not a MAVs fan. Hell, I'm an adopted
Speaker 1: I guess Laker fan because that's who Bron plays for.
Speaker 1: So the Lakers getting Luca, who's my second favorite player,
Speaker 1: was and he and Bron playing together was a true dream.
Speaker 1: And I'm still mad about this trade on behalf of
Speaker 1: mav fans. I can't imagine what this is. This was
Speaker 1: a sports felony inflicted upon a fan. And yes, now
Speaker 1: the villain has been captured and is facing justice, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't change the havoc he reeked and the long
Speaker 1: term impact on your fandom. So I I want to
Speaker 1: just revisit before we get to last night's game, before
Speaker 1: we get to football, what I set off the top,
Speaker 1: and credit to Tim Bond, TIMPs. He's been talking about
Speaker 1: this for a while, but now it is to me
Speaker 1: a more because it was never gonna happen with Nico
Speaker 1: in charge, but the Dallas Mavericks have to consider a
Speaker 1: fire sale the so let me, let me. I want
Speaker 1: to give everyone the actual draft pick situation for Dallas.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty six, they have their pick, so my apologies,
Speaker 1: I said that wrong. Twenty twenty six, they have their pick.
Speaker 1: This year, they have their pick, and maybe that's good
Speaker 1: because right now they're terrible. In twenty twenty seven, their
Speaker 1: pick basically totally unprotected, protected only for spots one or two,
Speaker 1: so unprotected goes to Charlotte. In twenty twenty eight, Jesus,
Speaker 1: the rich get richer. The Thunder can swap with them.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty nine, their pick goes somewhere in a
Speaker 1: swap and they do have the Lakers pick. And in
Speaker 1: twenty thirty, my god, the Spurs can swap with them.
Speaker 1: So first of all, in twenty twenty eight and twenty thirty,
Speaker 1: the Mavericks first round pick is gonna go to the
Speaker 1: Thunder and then the Spurs. Holy shit. In twenty twenty nine,
Speaker 1: their pick goes somewhere. I can't figure it out. It
Speaker 1: says two most favorable of Dallas, Houston, Phoenix to Houston
Speaker 1: and then other to Brooklyn via Dallas and Phoenix to
Speaker 1: Brooklyn via Dallas, or Phoenix to Houston via Houston. Swap
Speaker 1: for Dallas or Phoenix. I don't get it, but whatever,
Speaker 1: the MAVs will not after this coming year's draft. They
Speaker 1: do not have control of their their first until twenty
Speaker 1: thirty one until Cooper flag is in the midst of
Speaker 1: his second contract, so they need to recoop picks they
Speaker 1: need to figure out like Klay Thompson's contract is fully underwater.
Speaker 1: Kyrie's an interesting one, and I it's just and by
Speaker 1: the way, they're three and eight and I think, let
Speaker 1: me check. I think they have literally the worst offense
Speaker 1: in the NBA. I know, so let's just check in
Speaker 1: real quick defense wins championships, because that's all we heard
Speaker 1: from this this guy. All we heard from him. Their
Speaker 1: offense is, oh, is it no longer dead last? The
Speaker 1: hold on? Let me, I had it. I thought they
Speaker 1: were dead last. Maybe I'm wrong because that says they're
Speaker 1: fourteenth right now, so oh that's last year. I'm looking
Speaker 1: at last year. It's like, hold on a second, this
Speaker 1: can't be correct. They can't be the Mavericks having the
Speaker 1: fifteenth offense. No chance, All right, here we go? Oh no,
Speaker 1: if fair's fair, they don't have the worst offense in
Speaker 1: the basketball. They have the second worst offensive basketball to
Speaker 1: the Pacers. Who's best player Torre's Achilles in Game seven
Speaker 1: of the finals and second best or third best player
Speaker 1: left the team. Now, I mean this is just perfect,
Speaker 1: just chef's kiss. Perfect defense wins championships. The Dallas Mavericks
Speaker 1: are three and eight. They fired Nico Harrison. They currently
Speaker 1: have the third best defense in basketball. Maybe that was
Speaker 1: a miscalculation because you have the second worst offense in basketball.
Speaker 1: Good luck, MAVs fans. I feel sick for you. Today's
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Speaker 2: Yeah, so, as you know, we don't usually get too
Speaker 2: deep into basketball until Christmas, but we got to talk
Speaker 2: about some things going on in the NBA. Wimby yesterday
Speaker 2: apparently was crazy. I didn't catch this one, but I
Speaker 2: saw the highlights. Is it possible that this guy is
Speaker 2: already the best player in the league.
Speaker 1: I mean, here's the thing. Demon's eight. No, no shame
Speaker 1: in not catching it live Oh yeah.
Speaker 2: I was watching vij edge Combe welcome himself to the NBA.
Speaker 1: Oh you were watching? You were watching a different game.
Speaker 2: I was watching.
Speaker 1: Okay, Oh that's I thought. I assumed you meant you were.
Speaker 1: Oh good for you, buddy. Yeah, yeah, that's a VJ.
Speaker 1: Edgecombe all time record for points. Take you and the
Speaker 1: Sixers won that game despite him being.
Speaker 2: Show and the almost got bad for VJ with him
Speaker 2: missing those two free throws at the end of the
Speaker 2: Celticspense pulled through. That would have been a damn That
Speaker 2: would have been a.
Speaker 1: Great win for them. Yeah. Yeah. And and Maxie, our
Speaker 1: guy Maxie had forty cooked, but someone else had forty
Speaker 1: and he's a seven foot five problem. So I I
Speaker 1: was a gog at what I saw last night from
Speaker 1: Victor WindMan Yama. So he is the best defensive player
Speaker 1: in basketball. We knew that was going to be the case.
Speaker 1: And he had three blocks, but that doesn't really explain
Speaker 1: it because he just dissuaded so much action because of
Speaker 1: his length that I don't know what the advanced stat
Speaker 1: is for, like shots not taken because you're scared this
Speaker 1: guy's gonna swat it into the first row. But he
Speaker 1: crushes in that so we had. So here's a good
Speaker 1: comp we had on the show yesterday, A kim Olajuan
Speaker 1: all right, and A Keem was never the best offensive
Speaker 1: player in the league. But there was a two year
Speaker 1: period when Jordan was a year and a half when
Speaker 1: Jordan was retired, and the those two years when A
Speaker 1: Keem was the best player in the league because he
Speaker 1: was far and away the best defensive player. And those
Speaker 1: couple of years probably like the fifth or sixth best
Speaker 1: offensive player, and those two things can combine to make
Speaker 1: you the best player. He usually goes in the other direction,
Speaker 1: the best player in the league. Joker is far and
Speaker 1: away the best offensive player, and then just for average defensive. Right,
Speaker 1: And to deal with it with you know, it's very
Speaker 1: rare you get prime. I shouldn't say it's very rare.
Speaker 1: It's just special prime Giannis prime, Bron prime, Jordan, prime,
Speaker 1: Kobe Kawhido. Also, I think was never the best offensive offense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm talking about a guy who can win the scoring
Speaker 1: title while being the best defender in the league. Right,
Speaker 1: it's only a handful of guys. If Wimby's gonna give
Speaker 1: you forty let me put it like this. Here's why
Speaker 1: it's so scary Tomanse and I loved that he only
Speaker 1: took two threes, that he is stronger, his handles better.
Speaker 1: I think Wimby. If Wimby averages twenty five points a game,
Speaker 1: he might be the best player in the league like
Speaker 1: that because of what he is defensively and if he's
Speaker 1: gonna put up thirty. I I'm sorry to Joker and
Speaker 1: I'm sorry to Shay, but I just I am. I'm
Speaker 1: ready to have the conversation that this guy might just
Speaker 1: be the best, like the best player in the league
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 2: In the beginning, well, here's what I was probably more
Speaker 2: on the injury side.
Speaker 1: It was two things. It was two things. One was
Speaker 1: the injury stuff, which still anybody that size it worries me.
Speaker 1: But that's about it. Was my skepticism on Wimby. I
Speaker 1: guess was here were the three different levels of it.
Speaker 2: I think it was him shooting too.
Speaker 1: Yes, so I didn't like the style he was playing.
Speaker 1: To me, he was trying to be Durant, and it's like, bro,
Speaker 1: you're a half foot taller than Durant and Durant is
Speaker 1: one of the greatest pure shooters ever. You're like the
Speaker 1: So I didn't love that. The injuries potential concerned me
Speaker 1: because literally every player in the history of the league
Speaker 1: seven four or taller has dealt with injuries, and I
Speaker 1: don't consider the blood clot an injury. I do, though,
Speaker 1: I I'm gonna say it's.
Speaker 2: Really I feel like that they're more prone to though,
Speaker 2: just because they're larger guys.
Speaker 1: I was about to say that exact same thing. I
Speaker 1: was like, maybe this is dumb. Maybe a doctor's listening
Speaker 1: is like, that's not how that works. But in my head,
Speaker 1: that's how it works. It's like, I don't know, there's
Speaker 1: more there's more error, you know, mileage for there to
Speaker 1: be clots, like I don't know. But so that part,
Speaker 1: and then the other part was I just thought we
Speaker 1: were setting him up to be a disappointment by saying
Speaker 1: if he's not better than a Chema LaJuan, he's underachieved.
Speaker 1: I'm like, jeez, Louise Man, like he walks into the
Speaker 1: league and it's if you're not one of the ten
Speaker 1: greatest players of all time, you've you have failed. Yeah.
Speaker 1: With that said, I mean I kind of get it.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is fascial. This is really really special
Speaker 1: and I don't know what you're gonna do with him,
Speaker 1: and it does. He has become after one game Demanse
Speaker 1: must watch every night and it makes me at least
Speaker 1: with Len leaving, well, yeah, there's that, but yeah, but
Speaker 1: also and so a couple things. It makes me take
Speaker 1: the Spurs seriously. I mean, they obviously didn't even have
Speaker 1: Fox and they beat the third and well, so that's
Speaker 1: the other piece of it. If you were to ask
Speaker 1: me going into yesterday, okay, if you are if you
Speaker 1: can have any player in the league to try to
Speaker 1: slow down Wimby on the defensive end, who is your
Speaker 1: number one draft pick? It would have been a d.
Speaker 1: Like that's the other problem, Like the is there anyone
Speaker 1: in the league demands a better in theory equipped to deal.
Speaker 2: With Wimby on the Celtics. I think it's the last
Speaker 2: name is Vet someth Vet.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, you're I don't I don't know who
Speaker 1: you're talking about, and you're being ridiculous. There is the
Speaker 1: the I mean, maybe you're not the I don't know.
Speaker 2: Nobody's guarding the van. Nobody can go the He's a
Speaker 2: freak of nature.
Speaker 1: Hold on, who are you talking about you're talking about Queta. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, yeah, okay, you were being silly. Uh No,
Speaker 1: I'm just saying like a d is seven feet can
Speaker 1: play on the perimeter, can play down low. It has
Speaker 1: been one of the of his era. Yes, and Wmby
Speaker 1: made him look silly. I don't so so, like who
Speaker 1: is the Spurs? What's the Spurs next game? So the
Speaker 1: Spurs next game is? Their next three games are New Orleans, Brooklyn, Toronto.
Speaker 1: The hell is anybody gonna do? Like? Who on New
Speaker 1: Orleans is gonna be? Like it's Trey Murphy It I
Speaker 1: don't think New Orleans. I guess MESI I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: this is so I do think. I do think Demonde.
Speaker 1: It's on the board that he's the best player in
Speaker 1: the league this year, and that would.
Speaker 2: Be mind is right too, Like I just don't see
Speaker 2: it's like he's going to do everything possible to stay afloat.
Speaker 2: I see him taking care of his body, taking care
Speaker 2: of himself and the.
Speaker 1: Off Yeah, oh yeah, we haven't had a guy be
Speaker 1: in the argument for there's only been I just want
Speaker 1: to make sure I get this right. The only no
Speaker 1: one since Broun has had a real argument that they
Speaker 1: were the best player in the league. In year three,
Speaker 1: like Broun in your was second in MVP voting. He
Speaker 1: had a real argument. Tim Duncan in year three might
Speaker 1: have been the best player in the league, but he
Speaker 1: was a four year college player. Shack in year three
Speaker 1: was I think, let me, I want to see if
Speaker 1: I have this, had an argument he was second in
Speaker 1: MVP voting and Jordan was retired, and they made the
Speaker 1: finals but lost to a team those are best player
Speaker 1: in the league argument? By year three, it's just the
Speaker 1: holy grail of NBA guys, really, and this is this
Speaker 1: is something else. This is really really something else. I'm
Speaker 1: amazed by it, and I I I'm lost of words.
Speaker 1: I didn't understand what I was watching last night. And
Speaker 1: we'll see how it continues. Oh wow, what's the MVP Hodds.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he climbed the top two in MVP odds
Speaker 2: at plus two seventy five, and he was around plus
Speaker 2: twelve hundred in the preseason. So do you see you
Speaker 2: see after these three games him potentially being the favorite?
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't see.
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe here's the thing. The thing is this,
Speaker 1: I just, in principle, if yesterday I could have gotten
Speaker 1: to bet at twelve to one. I can't bet it
Speaker 1: today at less than three to one.
Speaker 2: And here's a lot of those tickets out there. I
Speaker 2: feel like one us. Yeah, I feel like there's a
Speaker 2: lot of those out there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. And I would have told you. I would
Speaker 1: have told you one day ago those are dumb tickets,
Speaker 1: just because I would have said, you know this injury Fling, Well,
Speaker 1: he's coming off an injury. He might not play enough games,
Speaker 1: and it's so hard to win MVP if you're not
Speaker 1: a top three seed and you know how many games
Speaker 1: are the Spurs really gonna win. By the way, if
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Speaker 1: course do apply Lebron's back and I have a lot
Speaker 1: of takes. So no athlete in my lifetime has generated
Speaker 1: more idiotic and immediately self refuting opinions than Lebron. And
Speaker 1: it's because I think it's because he's been for basically
Speaker 1: as long as daily sports television has existed, Lebron has
Speaker 1: been one of, if not the main character, and because
Speaker 1: he has played, you know, throughout the entirety of this medium,
Speaker 1: and because he has been at the eye of the
Speaker 1: NBA storm, which while the NBA has never in his
Speaker 1: career been the country's most popular sport, but it has
Speaker 1: been at various times in his career the country's most
Speaker 1: talked about sport. When it comes to sports debate and
Speaker 1: sports TV and sports talk radio, Lebron is the Lebron
Speaker 1: commentariot has spawned just some truly ridiculous and upon reflection,
Speaker 1: hilarious moments. And these are for me, friends and foes alike.
Speaker 1: I mean, we are twelve twelve? Is that right? No,
Speaker 1: it's not right. Eighteen years ago, my dear pal Dan
Speaker 1: Lebtard announced Lebron was on the downside and Miami had
Speaker 1: gotten the best of him. That was thirteen years ago.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna talk about guys that I love an adore,
Speaker 1: so it doesn't seem like I'm trying to take cheap
Speaker 1: shots here. Famously, the owner and founder of this company,
Speaker 1: my mentor Colin, eight years ago said Lebron hanging up
Speaker 1: whenever you want. We've got the NBA's got it from here.
Speaker 1: It was actually nine years ago, and that's an all
Speaker 1: time clip. A because Lebron would go on to win
Speaker 1: multiple championships after that, but b because he was saying
Speaker 1: that Ben Simmons is gonna take over. I listen, Colin,
Speaker 1: I was as high on Ben Simmons just about anybody.
Speaker 1: I have to hold that l as well. And there,
Speaker 1: of course is all the skip stuff with the clutch
Speaker 1: and then the latest stephen A stuff with the real
Speaker 1: personal I don't like that guy so much of it
Speaker 1: just outright silliness. And then we got an unexpected dose
Speaker 1: of it in the week's leading in the week or
Speaker 1: so leading up to Lebron making his debut, which was
Speaker 1: Hey Will Lebron be able to fit in with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: even though we saw Luca and Lebron and Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: play together last year. Hey, will Lebron actually make the
Speaker 1: Lakers worse? Will he screw up what they have going on?
Speaker 1: These were real conversations, real discussions about the most malleable,
Speaker 1: most uh flexible as far as how he can help
Speaker 1: your team player in NBA history, about arguably the only
Speaker 1: guy in the history of the league that can legitimately
Speaker 1: and has literally made an All NBA team at all
Speaker 1: five positions on the court. Check his Basketball reference for
Speaker 1: that was an All NBA center one year for the
Speaker 1: Lakers and an All NBA point guard the year after
Speaker 1: that for the Lakers. Late stage, Lebron was an All
Speaker 1: NBA shooting guard as a young player early and then
Speaker 1: obviously All NBA small forward and power forward throughout his career.
Speaker 1: That that guy that can play all five, and certainly
Speaker 1: the younger version of him, and to a degree the
Speaker 1: older version of him can guard all five, that that
Speaker 1: guy was gonna screw up a team. And then Lebron
Speaker 1: comes in keeps his double digit point streak alive, which
Speaker 1: is going to be a very fun and funny thing
Speaker 1: to watch this year because it's obviously an untouchable record
Speaker 1: and we'll get more on the Lebron untouchable record stuff
Speaker 1: in a moment, but he wants to keep it going.
Speaker 1: But he is, I believe, going to play a very
Speaker 1: different style this year. That game Tuesday Night, that's the
Speaker 1: fewest shots he's ever taken in a game he didn't
Speaker 1: leave with injury. And speaking of the double digit point streak,
Speaker 1: one of those games that he left with injury, because
Speaker 1: there's only been two games in his career he took
Speaker 1: fewer than seven shots, which is what he took Tuesday night.
Speaker 1: One he didn't play the second half because he took
Speaker 1: an elbow from to Kim Bae Matumbo, and one he
Speaker 1: left early when Solomon Hill fell into his ankle and
Speaker 1: derailed the Lakers title defense in the twenty twenty one season.
Speaker 1: But that game involves one of my favorite Lebron moments
Speaker 1: of all time, which is Solomon Hill falls into his ankle,
Speaker 1: Lebron recognizes he has suffered the first truly significant injury
Speaker 1: of his entire career up to that point and is
Speaker 1: going to be out months and his city at seven
Speaker 1: points and the streak is dead, and despite suffering an
Speaker 1: injury that is going to knock him out for the
Speaker 1: next two months, he pretends he's not hurt badly, stays
Speaker 1: in the game, gets the ball, takes a corner, three hits,
Speaker 1: it keeps the double figure point streak alive, and then
Speaker 1: is out for the majority of the rest of the season.
Speaker 1: But that's sidebar Lebron being dropped in as a team's
Speaker 1: ultimate Swiss Army knife and Lebron taking pride in that ability,
Speaker 1: and Lebron then saying after the game with a smile, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I heard what was being said. I've been a you know,
Speaker 1: you could put me on any team and I would
Speaker 1: make it work. Is just obviously true. And people's you know,
Speaker 1: people say that about Kevin Durant all the time, like, oh,
Speaker 1: you just drop him in anywhere, And yes, that's true
Speaker 1: about other players, great players, You drop them in and
Speaker 1: they would make any team better. The distinction is can
Speaker 1: you drop a player in and can they instantly do
Speaker 1: at a high level the exact thing that team needs
Speaker 1: them to do. This Lakers team right now might need
Speaker 1: Lebron to be more facilitator, cutter, screener than score unlike
Speaker 1: some of the other great players in this league, he
Speaker 1: has the skill set at forty in year twenty three
Speaker 1: to be excellent all at anything. Now, is he the
Speaker 1: best player in the league anymore? Of course not. Is
Speaker 1: he a top five player in the league anymore? No?
Speaker 1: But is he still have a legitimate shot at being
Speaker 1: right around top ten? And is he, assuredly when he's healthy,
Speaker 1: still a top fifteen guy in the league. Yes? And
Speaker 1: that guy with that malleyability helps any team in the
Speaker 1: history of basketball. Now, is it all right? Now a
Speaker 1: moot point for the whole NBA because of who and
Speaker 1: what OKC is. Maybe everybody might be playing for second
Speaker 1: this year, but we'll see things happen. And there's an
Speaker 1: element of, I don't want to say lack of appreciation,
Speaker 1: but numbness to what we are seeing at this moment.
Speaker 1: And this is something that you know I've said before,
Speaker 1: but I don't know that people like fully take it in,
Speaker 1: and especially because you know Steph is playing at such
Speaker 1: a high level at an advanced age. Durant is playing
Speaker 1: at such a high level at an advanced age. But
Speaker 1: see whether you want to focus on the age forty
Speaker 1: part or the year twenty three. Part the it being
Speaker 1: without precedent is such a wild understatement, Like Kobe Bryant,
Speaker 1: the late great Kobe Bryant. How old do you think
Speaker 1: Kobe was when he played in his final playoff game
Speaker 1: with the Lakers. I'm gonna give it a pause so
Speaker 1: you can actually think about it. How old was Kobe
Speaker 1: in his final career playoff game? Are you shocked when
Speaker 1: I tell you the answer to that is thirty two.
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant did not play in a playoff game with
Speaker 1: the Lakers after the age of thirty two. Like a
Speaker 1: little context to that, Lebron joined the Lakers when he
Speaker 1: was thirty four. So obviously, Jordan Fit, you know, stop
Speaker 1: what that was done with the Bulls at thirty five
Speaker 1: thirty six. Obviously, we've never seen a player play in
Speaker 1: a year twenty three, and the only one to get
Speaker 1: to a year twenty two was Vince It's I said
Speaker 1: this a couple of years ago and people laughed. I
Speaker 1: think we are now seeing it in real time. He'll
Speaker 1: simply never be bad and he could easily play at again,
Speaker 1: not an MVP level, but a high level throughout his forties.
Speaker 1: Barring again, barring, you're always at this age of a
Speaker 1: catastrophic injury away, but he's ducked that up to this
Speaker 1: point in his career, and people can have the argument
Speaker 1: about the greatest player of all time that is going
Speaker 1: to age so well on my end and so poorly
Speaker 1: for so many other folks, because it is when it
Speaker 1: does come to And this isn't the whole discussion, but
Speaker 1: it is at least a piece of it. The record books.
Speaker 1: With the way things are going right now as far
Speaker 1: as injuries, load management, guys not being able to make
Speaker 1: it through a full season, Lebron's longevity records are going
Speaker 1: to win. People look back on him in forty years.
Speaker 1: It's going to be like if you look at complete
Speaker 1: games in baseball right now and you're like, wait, a
Speaker 1: guy had forty in one year. Like all of these games, minutes, points,
Speaker 1: the playoff records are going to be Chamberlain esque, untouchable
Speaker 1: and farcical in the numbers to future generations. And I'm very,
Speaker 1: very interested to see the full role Bron takes on
Speaker 1: with the Lakers, because in Game one of year twenty three,
Speaker 1: he was like, Okay, I'll be late stage Magic Johnson,
Speaker 1: and that's pretty damn good. There's one other Bron adjacent
Speaker 1: thing I wanted to talk about, And this is one
Speaker 1: of those things that I imagine will do well on
Speaker 1: social media or YouTube or and might cause me a
Speaker 1: little grief, but I just I can't leave it unaddressed,
Speaker 1: and I don't. I'm not I'm not trying to start anything,
Speaker 1: but this is so it was maddening when I heard it.
Speaker 1: So the greatest sports podcaster of all time, the guy
Speaker 1: who in some ways invented the medium, and a guy
Speaker 1: I like a lot, Bill Simmons, brought the mail bag back,
Speaker 1: which is awesome. It's vented Simmons. It's part of the
Speaker 1: reason that he's who he is, and it's awesome, and
Speaker 1: because I'm a fan who's listening. And he gets asked
Speaker 1: about the biggest sliding doors moments in NBA history, and
Speaker 1: he goes to the Draymond Groin shot of Lebron in
Speaker 1: Game four of the twenty sixteen Finals, which is a
Speaker 1: legitimate sliding doors moment, there's no doubt about it. And
Speaker 1: he talks about how if the Warriors win that title,
Speaker 1: Durant can't go, you know, to Golden State. So then
Speaker 1: who wins the next two does Lebron ever win in Cleveland.
Speaker 1: Does Lebron ever go to the Lakers. There's that is
Speaker 1: you know, what does it mean for death? Back to
Speaker 1: back championships? He and Lebron then at that moment would
Speaker 1: have been two to two. He would have had back
Speaker 1: to back league MVPs, including a unanimous There are it's
Speaker 1: He's Simmons talks about all of it, and he's correct
Speaker 1: about that being a sliding doors moment. But there's two
Speaker 1: pieces of that commentary that are just one is enraging
Speaker 1: and it's not about Bill, and the other one is
Speaker 1: I he just must talk to very different NBA people
Speaker 1: than me, because what Bill said was the conspiracy theory
Speaker 1: that people believe more than any other conspiracy is that
Speaker 1: the NBA suspended Draymond because they wanted Cleveland to win
Speaker 1: the title. And I've literally never heard that. Now. I
Speaker 1: certainly have heard the conspiracy that they suspended Draymond because
Speaker 1: they hoped the series would go longer than five. But
Speaker 1: the idea that in real time, anyone outside of the
Speaker 1: Calves locker room, me and Zach Lowe, we're all on
Speaker 1: the record during this, everyone's doing media, nobody else when
Speaker 1: that suspension came down said, oh, well, now I think
Speaker 1: the Calves are going to win. That Warriors team was
Speaker 1: considered the greatest team of all time and had dominated
Speaker 1: the Calves through the first four games of that series.
Speaker 1: So the first the first point is the idea that
Speaker 1: it is widely thought in NBA circles that the Draymond
Speaker 1: suspension was going to lead to the Calves winning the championship.
Speaker 1: We were all there in real time that was not
Speaker 1: a thing.
Speaker 3: And then and then to the opinion piece of it,
Speaker 3: nothing is more.
Speaker 1: Maddening for me as a Bron fan. Then the fact
Speaker 1: that when that happened, and then the Calves win Game
Speaker 1: five by fifteen and Lebron scores forty one points, the
Speaker 1: entire media asserts that would have never happened if Draymond
Speaker 1: was there. The Calves winning by double digits and Lebron
Speaker 1: scoring forty plus never happened if Draymond's there. And then
Speaker 1: in Game six, when Draymond is there, Lebron scores forty
Speaker 1: one and the Calves win by fifteen points. Game five
Speaker 1: of those finals, no Draymond Bron scores. Bron goes. I'll
Speaker 1: give you his exact stat line, just so we all
Speaker 1: are on the same page. Forty one, sixteen and seven
Speaker 1: on fifty five percent from the field, sixty three percent
Speaker 1: from three and the Calves win by fifteen. So again,
Speaker 1: forty one sixteen seven fifty five sixty three splits, fifteen
Speaker 1: point win. Game six of the Finals forty one eight
Speaker 1: eleven on sixty five seventy five splits and the Cavs
Speaker 1: win by fourteen Like, what are we talking about? What
Speaker 1: are we talking about? Oh? Hold on, I gotta do that,
Speaker 1: because I'm sure I have to fix that. I have
Speaker 1: to fix that. I apologize. I gave you the wrong
Speaker 1: field goal percentages. Let me let me do that again,
Speaker 1: because I want this to be accurate. I gave you.
Speaker 1: So Game five of the Finals, No Draymond forty one,
Speaker 1: sixteen and seven on fifty three fifty splits in a
Speaker 1: fifteen pl point When Game six of the Finals with
Speaker 1: Draymond forty one to eight to eleven on fifty nine
Speaker 1: fifty splits in a fourteen point win, it's just revisionist history.
Speaker 1: And it's the the only other reason that's relevant to
Speaker 1: me right now is that game happened ten seasons ago
Speaker 1: and this guy's still playing. It's just a a career
Speaker 1: that will never be even remotely approached. And it's if
Speaker 1: you're if you're listening to this right now and a
Speaker 1: sports fan of this era. The fact that we got
Speaker 1: to experience Tom Brady going more than twenty years of
Speaker 1: elite in the mix every single year, ten super Bowl
Speaker 1: appearances across multiple teams, while experiencing Lebron doing the exact
Speaker 1: same thing in the NBA, it's just unreal, just unreal,