Speaker 1: Welcome in What's Right with Nick Wright Episode three thirty six,
Speaker 1: our finals preview edition. Apologies for kind of the underdressed
Speaker 1: nature if you're watching on YouTube. I had a nice
Speaker 1: fit on, but we're having the AC fixed at the
Speaker 1: house and so we had to turn all the AC
Speaker 1: units off in the house, so it is sweltering in here,
Speaker 1: so I can't wear what I was supposed to be wearing.
Speaker 1: You guys don't care about that. I also, one thing
Speaker 1: you guys seem to care about but you maybe shouldn't,
Speaker 1: is kind of internescing media beefs and man, there's a
Speaker 1: tangled web involving metal arc folks, ESPN folks, ringer folks.
Speaker 1: I'm tangentially involved. The whole thing is such a mess,
Speaker 1: so let me just address it in chronological order before
Speaker 1: we get to the show. So I went on Levatard show.
Speaker 1: He asked me about Pablo Torre and I said, basically, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not a recurring guest on Pablo's podcast. I
Speaker 1: appreciate him asking me on a bunch, but I you know,
Speaker 1: it was only so many hours in a day. I'm
Speaker 1: a recurring guest on Baumani's podcast Lebatards Dan Patrick's and
Speaker 1: Colin Cowherd. The latter three are my three kind of
Speaker 1: as a young person media idols. The first one is
Speaker 1: one of my best friends in the world. Everything else
Speaker 1: is kind of like, you know, I'll drop in but
Speaker 1: pop in here and there, but not regularly. Pablo Tuk
Speaker 1: didn't take that condly kindly, and he banned me. So
Speaker 1: I've now been banned from a show that I had
Speaker 1: no interest in going on again, So no problem. The
Speaker 1: sad part about that was he banned me with Mina
Speaker 1: sitting right there. And Mina and I have an odd
Speaker 1: relationship and by that I mean this. I call her
Speaker 1: a media arrival because she is. I say I will
Speaker 1: vanquish her because I'm being tongue in cheek in reality
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna pull the curtain all the way back
Speaker 1: in reality. I have massive risk not only respect for
Speaker 1: Mina Kimes, but I think she's excellent. I think she's excellent.
Speaker 1: I also think she is very regularly unfairly maligned in
Speaker 1: the media or really not in the media but by
Speaker 1: uh other by other by people on Twitter, and so
Speaker 1: I was I was ready to, uh let everyone know
Speaker 1: I'm calling off the media beef with Mina Chimes, especially
Speaker 1: after I heard for no reason whatsoever, when there's a
Speaker 1: hundred people to pick from, when Roussillo's making a joke
Speaker 1: about what inside the NBA is gonna do on ESPN,
Speaker 1: He's like, maybe the lad Mina Chimes. Now, maybe it's
Speaker 1: just a harmless joke. But it was to pick her
Speaker 1: of everyone when she is the most unfairly maligned person
Speaker 1: on that network. I think it's crazy. So I didn't
Speaker 1: love that. I don't know Ryan, but it was. I'm
Speaker 1: sure he didn't intend any harm, but I didn't love that.
Speaker 1: I agreed with me on that. And then I heard
Speaker 1: a clip where Mina compared me to brock Party, to
Speaker 1: which I say, feud back on to which I say,
Speaker 1: there is a you know what, I take back all
Speaker 1: the compliments. And then in the midst of all that,
Speaker 1: Simmons and Pablo now all of a sudden seem to
Speaker 1: have a real thing where Simmons called him a fake journalist,
Speaker 1: and then Pablo's like, actually, I'm glad to hear from you.
Speaker 1: I have a lot of questions I like to have answered,
Speaker 1: Like he's the district attorney, so stay tuned. I'm excited
Speaker 1: to hear it, Deman, say give your thoughts real quick.
Speaker 1: I think the dog's attacking the air conditioner, guys, so
Speaker 1: I gotta get him in here talk.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I wonder how they compared with a
Speaker 2: Rock Party's similar back.
Speaker 1: I had to put Dexter in the room. Those poor
Speaker 1: guys probably freaking out. Dexter things he's a guard dog.
Speaker 1: He is not a guard dog. He's just barking like crazy.
Speaker 1: So there's the catch up for everyone on all this.
Speaker 1: In short, I have no I have no beef with
Speaker 1: Pablo because the Pablo banned me from a show that
Speaker 1: I didn't want to have to keep turning him down
Speaker 1: to go on. So that's fine. I had a fake
Speaker 1: beef with me in a that is now a vehement
Speaker 1: real beef because she compared me to Brock Party. Come on,
Speaker 1: that's below the belt.
Speaker 3: Yeah what what similarities like? You know?
Speaker 1: I think she was I think in this context like
Speaker 1: she was Josh Allen and I was Brock Purty, or
Speaker 1: it was something like I'm punching above my weight, whatever
Speaker 1: it was. She was egged on by another person on
Speaker 1: the pod who was it. I don't want to get
Speaker 1: it wrong. I think David Dennis. I think it was
Speaker 1: who I don't know, but I actually like and it
Speaker 1: was mister irrelevant jokes is none of that. But then
Speaker 1: in the midst of all this man, oh man, this
Speaker 1: Jordan Hudson story, it's got a lot of tentacles, all
Speaker 1: of a sudden and very ominous sight. So now I'm
Speaker 1: plugging Pablo's podcast, which I didn't even want to do.
Speaker 1: So I guess you know what, Pablo and your Harvard
Speaker 1: degree maybe outsmarted me. Buddy, point to you the polatory show.
Speaker 1: But what did you say?
Speaker 3: I don't know why. I think you show I did it.
Speaker 1: I had to pay for my car there and car Beck.
Speaker 3: It's costing me money.
Speaker 1: He on your show costs me money. I'm not asking
Speaker 1: to get paid, but my goodness, but somebody can pick
Speaker 1: me up. Like it's just hey, hey, bully, like hey,
Speaker 1: I need you to I need you to drive me
Speaker 1: to the airport. And by the way, I go to
Speaker 1: the airport every two weeks, Like what a second? All right,
Speaker 1: all right here, what missed the cut? Timothy shallow May's
Speaker 1: playoff run comes to an end along with the New
Speaker 1: York Knicks. Saquon Barkley, named the Madden cover athlete and
Speaker 1: the biggest story in the sports world. The Royals call
Speaker 1: up Jeffrey Allen CAGLIONI. Kaglion is how they're gonna pronounce it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pronounce it CAGLIONI. They call Jack he's going
Speaker 1: to mash and the Royals, which have the best pitching
Speaker 1: staff in baseball, now, all of a sudden, are gonna
Speaker 1: stop losing games one nothing. They played consecutive games this
Speaker 1: weekend but that they won one nothing and then they
Speaker 1: lost one nothing. It's like the dead ball or at
Speaker 1: Kaufman Stadium right now. It's maddening.
Speaker 2: So are those the most exciting baseball games that ends
Speaker 2: one that n one zero? I've been told by an
Speaker 2: editor on the staff that those are the most exciting
Speaker 2: games as baseball watchers. Well, in the I mean, I
Speaker 2: know it means that, like the pitching was obviously phenomenal
Speaker 2: if the score was super low like that.
Speaker 1: But I would say one nothing is better than ten
Speaker 1: to eight. I do think that because ten to eight
Speaker 1: to just feel but on and one nothing in the
Speaker 1: playoffs is gripping, because you feel like you're in jeopardy
Speaker 1: at every moment. The flip side to that is, I
Speaker 1: think the best baseball game is probably four to three
Speaker 1: or three to two, like good pitching but with some
Speaker 1: big hits. Right, But that was a I don't know
Speaker 1: the editor that said that to you, and I don't
Speaker 1: want to get you, you know, weird work politics, but
Speaker 1: I feel like he was trying to like be like you,
Speaker 1: you're not.
Speaker 3: You don't know what you're talking about. That's his that's
Speaker 3: his scheme, that's his.
Speaker 1: That's okay, well, okay, well that's the maybe a step
Speaker 1: far all right. By the way, reminder, like rate subscribe
Speaker 1: review YouTube channel. The First Thing's first YouTube channel, by
Speaker 1: the way, seven thousand away from a million. Wow, what's
Speaker 1: right with Nick?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: YouTube channel seven hundred and ninety three thousand away from
Speaker 1: a million, So First Thing's First gonna beat us there.
Speaker 1: Mister Bees just hit four hundred million, so that's probably solid.
Speaker 1: But you can also like rate subscribe review on Spotify
Speaker 1: and on iTunes and everything. And by the way, if
Speaker 1: I seem extra amped up, it's for two reasons. One
Speaker 1: is I don't know why, but this morning I just
Speaker 1: I no one else has drank coffee in the house today.
Speaker 1: I made a pot of coffee, which is twelve cups
Speaker 1: worth on the thing, and right before the show, I
Speaker 1: went to pour myself a cup and there it's all gone.
Speaker 1: So I somehow drank a pot of coffee this morning.
Speaker 1: I don't know why, but I have. But the other
Speaker 1: reason is because I fly to Vegas tonight for the
Speaker 1: World Series of Poker. I could not be more excited.
Speaker 1: And so I am amped and ready to go. And
Speaker 1: we have an NBA finals. Let's get rolling, demanday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the finals are officially set after the Pacers
Speaker 2: took care of business.
Speaker 3: The other day and set the tip off on Thursday.
Speaker 2: Okay, see is minus seven hundred to win it all,
Speaker 2: while Indiana's plus five hundred. Are you giving the Pacers
Speaker 2: any chance here?
Speaker 1: Not? Really? I will. I will make so here. I
Speaker 1: don't think it is. It would only be disrespectful to
Speaker 1: Indiana to not give them a chance if I didn't.
Speaker 1: Also think Oklahoma City is in the midst of an
Speaker 1: all time season. So if I thought Oklahoma City was
Speaker 1: just a good team and I'm not giving Indiana a chance,
Speaker 1: that's disrespectful. But I think Oklahoma City, in the current
Speaker 1: construct of the NBA is really really smartly built knows
Speaker 1: exactly who they want to be can Aside from Tasha,
Speaker 1: I believe with stand an injury if it were to happen.
Speaker 1: It hasn't happened yet this postseason, but they did deal
Speaker 1: with it in the regular season. They dealt with it well.
Speaker 1: And they have just a bunch of different ways to
Speaker 1: beat you. And over the course of NBA history, the
Speaker 1: formula of what if the team with the best defense
Speaker 1: in the league and the team with the leading scorer
Speaker 1: in the league, what if that were the same team,
Speaker 1: That's a pretty tough formula to beat. Where you have
Speaker 1: the guy who is most certain to get you thirty
Speaker 1: and the rare off night that that guy has the
Speaker 1: defense can win the game for you. That's historically speaking,
Speaker 1: a very tough formula to beat. And so here is
Speaker 1: how the Pacers would win. Okay, the and again I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give better the Year here in a minute, and
Speaker 1: it's gonna indicate that I don't think the Pacers are
Speaker 1: going to win, and I don't think the Pacers really
Speaker 1: can win. But here's how they would win. Okay, they
Speaker 1: would win by their pace being such that Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: is not able to get it to their set defense
Speaker 1: with regularity the way they want to. Now, Oklahoma City's
Speaker 1: defense is so good de Monse they have great transition
Speaker 1: defense as well, and so the Pacers aren't gonna be
Speaker 1: able to just dominate the transition the way they did
Speaker 1: against the Knicks. Go ahead.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's exactly the exact thing that I was saying,
Speaker 2: because that was what was getting the Knicks is how
Speaker 2: fast pace they were playing. But okay, see as defense,
Speaker 2: young guys, and I feel like they could stick with
Speaker 2: him somow easiest.
Speaker 1: Correctly, certainly better than the Knicks did. But the Pacers
Speaker 1: is still going to try to run, and you're still
Speaker 1: going to have fewer possessions with your set half court
Speaker 1: defense than than you've had in any of your previous series.
Speaker 1: Because Denver wasn't trying to get out and run, Minnesota
Speaker 1: just felt like was drawing dead. The Grizzlies oddly did
Speaker 1: want to get out there and run, but the Grizzlies
Speaker 1: just were not good enough. And certainly, once Jah got
Speaker 1: hurt like that series they blew a forty point lead
Speaker 1: or whatever, thirty point lead whatever they blew like that
Speaker 1: series was never gonna be competitive. So obviously the Pacers
Speaker 1: are gonna have to get out and run. I do think,
Speaker 1: and this isn't an insult to Dagonaal, that the Pacers
Speaker 1: have the coaching edge. Carlisle is a really great coach
Speaker 1: who adjusts and changes his style and will adjust on
Speaker 1: the fly as much as just about anybody. So I
Speaker 1: think that part is, you know, one of the few
Speaker 1: check marks the Pacers have. I also think that oddly
Speaker 1: this could be a series, well I shouldn't say oddly,
Speaker 1: for the Pacers to have a chance. And this is
Speaker 1: gonna surprise you because of what I've said about Shay's
Speaker 1: free throws and stuff. They need this to be a
Speaker 1: very tight whistle. And the reason they need it to
Speaker 1: be a tight whistle is because tight whistle, loose whistle,
Speaker 1: regular whistle. I almost added train whistle on there because
Speaker 1: I'm a dad joke. Shay's gonna get his free throws.
Speaker 1: What they need is for the for them to have
Speaker 1: a real chance, for the refs to early on be like, no, caruso,
Speaker 1: We're not allowing you to play rugby out here, and
Speaker 1: I'm not taking I think Oklahoma City is brilliant with
Speaker 1: how they defend, but what they and someone else made
Speaker 1: this analogy or used this example, so it's not mine,
Speaker 1: but they have a similar style to the Legion of
Speaker 1: Boom Seahawks, which was if we fail you every play,
Speaker 1: you can't be like, we're gonna set the template early
Speaker 1: that we are gonna be that physical as I do that. Uh,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna set the template early. Uh. That is
Speaker 1: that we're gonna play and we're gonna make sure the
Speaker 1: game is officiated on our terms. It I think the
Speaker 1: they need the refs to kind of disallow that, so
Speaker 1: to speak, right, So that's so that has to go
Speaker 1: their way. Siakam's gotta be awesome, and this was something
Speaker 1: that I think some people have forgotten. It's worth referencing.
Speaker 1: Siakam in his one career NBA Finals was excellent in
Speaker 1: the series. And the I'm pulling it up right now
Speaker 1: what his full series line was for the series. He
Speaker 1: was twenty points, eight rebounds, four assists. But what jumps
Speaker 1: at you is he had two spectacular games. First game
Speaker 1: of those finals and that was obviously Durant wasn't back
Speaker 1: yet for the brief time he was back. But what, yeah, Durant,
Speaker 1: what game did Durant come back for those finals? I
Speaker 1: think it was Game two that Durant came back. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna double check that. Uh when maybe that hold on,
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm wrong. Let me just double check when Durant
Speaker 1: came back. It doesn't matter. It wasn't that game. Maybe
Speaker 1: it was game I don't remember what game it was.
Speaker 1: Maybe it was game five. Uh, I don't know why.
Speaker 1: I don't remember. But regardless, someone in the chat or
Speaker 1: the producers tell me which game Durant came back, It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. Point is game one of that series. Uh.
Speaker 1: Siakam was fourteen of seventeen from the field, fourteen of
Speaker 1: seventeen his first career Finals game and had thirty two
Speaker 1: and in the closeout game in game six, he had
Speaker 1: twenty six and ten to win the title. So he's
Speaker 1: gotta be outstanding in that in this series. And it
Speaker 1: was game five that Durant came back in those finals.
Speaker 1: I knew it was. I knew the game was in Toronto,
Speaker 1: so it had to be game one, two or five
Speaker 1: because there was the you know, there was the time
Speaker 1: people were cheering, and it was after he got hurt.
Speaker 1: It was ugly, so that all has to happen. And
Speaker 1: then honestly, they've got to get a little lucky. To Manse,
Speaker 1: what were you about to.
Speaker 3: Say, get lucky?
Speaker 2: I was about to say, throw on, Shay, you should
Speaker 2: try to clog up the mid range.
Speaker 3: I guess, Okay at three, But but yeah, I feel
Speaker 3: like it.
Speaker 1: And make them shoot threes. I agree, and live and
Speaker 1: die with non Shay guys killing you. I I agree
Speaker 1: with all that, and nim hard should be an annoyance
Speaker 1: to Shay. But Shay has been so I mean, Shane's
Speaker 1: been so great against everyone all year. But then here's
Speaker 1: the last part. And and this is the part that
Speaker 1: makes when I'm about to give you a bet of
Speaker 1: the year, the only part of me that makes me
Speaker 1: a little nervous. Chet and Jadub have been excellent this postseason. Excellent.
Speaker 1: Will there be some finals butterflies for those guys specifically? Now,
Speaker 1: you might say, Nick, everyone who plays in this series
Speaker 1: except for Caruso and Siakam it's their first finals. Anybody
Speaker 1: can have finals, butterflies, got it? I understand the point.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to lay out how the Pacers would pull
Speaker 1: off the upset, and the answer is that Jadub has
Speaker 1: the type of series like he had against Dallas in
Speaker 1: Round two last year, and all those other things happen.
Speaker 1: So it's a you gotta hit a superfecta of perfect
Speaker 1: to be this Oklahoma City team four times in seven games,
Speaker 1: especially when you don't have anybody on your team that
Speaker 1: is just you can just pencil in for thirty and
Speaker 1: they can pencil Shay in for thirty. Now, Halliburton's a
Speaker 1: different type of player. I understand that, But still some
Speaker 1: of Halliburton's effectiveness relies on other guys hitting shots, and
Speaker 1: that's not necessarily the case for Shy. All Right, I've
Speaker 1: been teasing at demons, go ahead.
Speaker 3: With the dying to drop your bet of the year
Speaker 3: exced on TV.
Speaker 2: Okay, see minus one and a half games at minus
Speaker 2: two to seventy five.
Speaker 3: Let's hear your logic on this, all.
Speaker 1: Right, it's minus two seventy five. I get that that's
Speaker 1: laying a lot of wood, but that's also a thirty
Speaker 1: six percent return on your money. And here's how that
Speaker 1: bet doesn't come through. The Pacers win the series, no bro,
Speaker 1: or the series goes seven games. I just don't see it.
Speaker 1: So you win if OKAC wins in four or five
Speaker 1: or six, and the Daniel is asking is the Is
Speaker 1: this the perfect leg to throw in a parlay? I'm
Speaker 1: not sure. It's very hard. This is the type of
Speaker 1: bet you typically can't parlay with anything like it's oh,
Speaker 1: cross sport parlay. Oh I thought you made a different Well,
Speaker 1: it's no longer better the Year, can I It's no
Speaker 1: longer bet of the year if you're thrown into parlay.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, if you want to have, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: a great chance to have a thirty six percent return
Speaker 1: on your money in the span of two weeks, okay,
Speaker 1: se minus a game and a half is where I
Speaker 1: would be placing. It's it's it's how I would be
Speaker 1: you know, using again gamble responsibly. I always it's always weird.
Speaker 1: I don't know what the rules are because like what
Speaker 1: I'm this is I'm just giving you my opinion of
Speaker 1: and I'm just telling you how I am going to bet.
Speaker 1: But I'm also I think supposed to be like I'm
Speaker 1: not providing gambling advice, but like I call it bet
Speaker 1: of the year. So again, I don't know any of
Speaker 1: these rules here. Please nobody get mad at me. I
Speaker 1: don't need the Better Business Bureau coming after what's right?
Speaker 1: But this is just for me, how I think how
Speaker 1: I would play the series. Lay in seven hundred is
Speaker 1: too much. What'd you say, move of the year, bet
Speaker 1: of the year.
Speaker 3: I don't know, just for.
Speaker 1: A Also, I do think, let me think if this,
Speaker 1: if I have this right, if it's three two Oklahoma City. Now,
Speaker 1: because you're laying minus two seventy five, there's not gonna
Speaker 1: be a real like hedge opportunity. You're just gonna have
Speaker 1: to write with it. But and if you, I mean,
Speaker 1: if you think Okayc's gonna roll, you can get Okay,
Speaker 1: see minus two and a half games at like plus
Speaker 1: money or even money. But I think, to me, this field,
Speaker 1: here's how I think the beats of this series are
Speaker 1: going to go. Demonse, I think it is going to
Speaker 1: be Game one Oklahoma City and mark this. Let's see,
Speaker 1: I've gotten a lot wrong in these playoffs. My pre
Speaker 1: playoff bracket is a travesty, like a true travesty. I
Speaker 1: had Oklahoma City losing in Round one. I might have
Speaker 1: had Indiana losing because I'm sorry, I didn't have Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City losing in round I had Oklahoma City losing to
Speaker 1: the Lakers. But the team I had winning the championship
Speaker 1: the Lakers. They lost in round one. That's what I meant.
Speaker 1: So my champion lost in round one. And I was
Speaker 1: so confident that the Cavs would beat the Pacers or
Speaker 1: the Bucks. I might have picked the Buck just because
Speaker 1: I wanted to root for Giannis like so I might
Speaker 1: have had the Pacers out in round one. So my
Speaker 1: bracket's a disaster. So I need to get something right here.
Speaker 1: So here's what I'm going for. And this is another one.
Speaker 1: I I bet, I bet this bet exists. I didn't
Speaker 1: even look exact series, game by game result. Oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: So producers, see if our friends, uh are friends at
Speaker 1: DraftKings have that? Now I know. I think we have
Speaker 1: to put a little thing on the screen because I
Speaker 1: said DraftKings. But see see if see if they have
Speaker 1: the exact series, game by game rules or a game
Speaker 1: how how the game is gonna go? Game one? Okay?
Speaker 1: See game two? Okay? See game three? Pacers? Game four? Oh?
Speaker 1: Are we gonna have a series? Is it gonna be two? Two?
Speaker 1: Is it gonna be the best a three? No? Game four? Okay?
Speaker 1: See okc Ooh, this is a tough one because they
Speaker 1: haven't lost, they've been so dominant at home. You know what,
Speaker 1: give the okac takes their eye off the ball a
Speaker 1: bit Game five, Indiana Game six, Oka.
Speaker 2: See.
Speaker 1: I like that, and I also like exactly what I
Speaker 1: just laid out, with the Thunder winning in five, those
Speaker 1: would be the two series exactas that I would be
Speaker 1: interested in. All right, let's keep going, Demnsey.
Speaker 3: Which team do you think? Ohs Paul George a bigger
Speaker 3: thank you?
Speaker 1: Well, here's what I think I feel for Paul George
Speaker 1: these next couple of weeks, because that is going to
Speaker 1: be a very common discussion point, which is, the Pacers
Speaker 1: had Paul George, they then traded him to Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: for Ola Depot and Sabonis. Sabonis is then who they
Speaker 1: traded for Tyrese Halibert. Oklahoma City then traded Paul George
Speaker 1: to the Clippers for a bunch of stuff, but primarily
Speaker 1: Shay and the draft pick that became Jalen Williams. So
Speaker 1: that is that is the that is the reality of
Speaker 1: how these two teams were built. I would, however, like
Speaker 1: to defend Paul George also in this regard. When it's
Speaker 1: not an a popular it's not a popular stance. To
Speaker 1: have right now. So Paul George had a pretty awesome
Speaker 1: beginning of his career. He was deep in the in
Speaker 1: UH the postseason repeatedly in one of the forgotten series
Speaker 1: of our lives. That Pacers team took peak Lebron heat
Speaker 1: seven in the conference finals one year, and Paul George
Speaker 1: went from as a rookie eight points a game, second
Speaker 1: year twelve points a game, third year seventeen points a game,
Speaker 1: fourth year twenty two points a game. In year three
Speaker 1: he was All NBA Third Team, he was the most
Speaker 1: improved player. In year four, he was All NBA third Team.
Speaker 1: He finished top ten MVP and Defensive Player of the Year,
Speaker 1: and he was All Defensive Team first team. And in
Speaker 1: that summer he suffered one of the most horrific league
Speaker 1: injuries ever. It's just what happened at the Olympics, like
Speaker 1: practicing for the Olympics or whatever. It is, a compound
Speaker 1: fracture hitting the stanchion, just awful. And he's still, by
Speaker 1: the way, not only came back from that, but five
Speaker 1: years later another kind of forgotten season in the year
Speaker 1: before the Clippers traded for him. Demand here is how
Speaker 1: the MVP voting went that year. Yannis won Hardened two
Speaker 1: Paul George three. He was third in MVP voting in
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City that same year. Here's how Defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year voting went. Go Bear one, Yanna's two, Paul
Speaker 1: George three. So he came back from the leg injury
Speaker 1: and five years later at the best year of his career,
Speaker 1: and then that summer got traded to the Clippers. Now
Speaker 1: he has never been post leg injury, in particular a
Speaker 1: great playoff performer. His best playoff runs came as a
Speaker 1: kid in Indianapolis. I understand all of that. And he
Speaker 1: has some tough quotes, like the Dame Lillard series winner.
Speaker 1: He's like, I don't care what you say. That's a
Speaker 1: bad shot.
Speaker 3: And he's you know, he's not wrong there. It's a
Speaker 3: bad shot.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know it's not you know, he's a
Speaker 2: little bit of a sort. I don't want to call
Speaker 2: him a sore loser for that, But that's a bad shot.
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess it's Damian lillardy. It's those But
Speaker 2: like if you look at good shots on the shoe,
Speaker 2: here's the thing, it's.
Speaker 1: All that all that sounds good. He's just like you
Speaker 1: just can't say you can't. You just can't like and so,
Speaker 1: and then you know, damn near a decade later, another
Speaker 1: off quote when he's like, listen, I have an announcement
Speaker 1: to make. I'm shutting down the podcast to focus on
Speaker 1: a championship. And then the Sixers just disaster. And I
Speaker 1: don't know what happened to him this year. I mean
Speaker 1: he yeah, he was twenty three or twenty four a
Speaker 1: game for the last four years, went to Philly and
Speaker 1: was sixteen A game was terrible. And so again a little,
Speaker 1: just minor defense of Paul George because he's gonna be
Speaker 1: the butt of a lot of jokes or unintentional jokes
Speaker 1: this week. Uh, all right, ask me about TV ratings, please?
Speaker 2: Do you think the fans should care about the TV ratings?
Speaker 2: You know, these aren't big names.
Speaker 1: Well, it's not.
Speaker 3: Big big cities, big cities.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing, I this is a very odd phenomenon
Speaker 1: that is a social media thing, which is people like
Speaker 1: I don't even think it's concern trolling, but like, oh man,
Speaker 1: Adam Silver's gotta be upset like all these things about ratings,
Speaker 1: and I don't know how it affects anyone's individual life.
Speaker 1: That's not a television or an ad executive. Here's the
Speaker 1: other thing for the NBA. Of all the finals that
Speaker 1: we're going to have demons for the rest of our lives,
Speaker 1: this is probably the one where the TV rating matters
Speaker 1: the least to the league because they just signed a
Speaker 1: decade long television deal. So like there the ratings, the
Speaker 1: ratings matter for leagues because it's part of the negotiation process.
Speaker 1: They're not going to be in negotiation for years and
Speaker 1: years and years, and so if there was ever a
Speaker 1: year to have a couple small markets in the finals,
Speaker 1: it would be this year. And here would be the
Speaker 1: argument as to why this finals could be good for
Speaker 1: the league, other than the fact I think the basketball.
Speaker 1: If the Pacers can be competitive, the basketball should be
Speaker 1: really good. It forces the casual fan to get to
Speaker 1: know Shay and Halliburton, and Shaye and Halliburton each have
Speaker 1: a ten plus year runway moving forward as opposed to
Speaker 1: some of the older guys, so I don't I'm not
Speaker 1: as concerned about that as I think maybe some other
Speaker 1: people are. All right, NBA Finals here last chance to
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Speaker 1: Slash b ball. Yeah, I think the last fifty point
Speaker 1: finals game was Giannis and the Clincher in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: and I think the last one before that was Lebron
Speaker 1: Game one of twenty eighteen. There haven't been that many
Speaker 1: fifty point finals games. Uh so, yeah, that would be
Speaker 1: that would be Oh.
Speaker 3: So this is a seven total in history.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what, I'm not gonna try to do it.
Speaker 1: I say fun. It's fun for me. I don't know
Speaker 1: how fun it is for the audience for me to
Speaker 1: try to like go back and do it. That's not
Speaker 1: what we're doing a finals preview. All right, let's go.
Speaker 1: Let's focus in on the thunder and Shay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, with the way that you've been talking about Okay, see,
Speaker 2: you have thought the final has been over for a while.
Speaker 2: Now they've got one more round. Still got to play
Speaker 2: some good basketball. But for Oklahoma City, who do you
Speaker 2: think has the most to gain the most to lose
Speaker 2: in this series.
Speaker 1: Most of the games unequivocally, without a doubt, Shay, I
Speaker 1: mean Shae. Shae can argue. I won't necessarily agree with it,
Speaker 1: but Shae and his fans certainly could argue he holds
Speaker 1: the belt if they win that it not only because
Speaker 1: he's would be the league MVP. The finals MVP, there
Speaker 1: were a sixty eight win team scoring champ, but also
Speaker 1: I played the guy who has the belt and Joker
Speaker 1: and my team won and I played, they could argue
Speaker 1: played better than him. I don't actually think I agree
Speaker 1: that in that series Shay was better than Joker. I
Speaker 1: know Joker had a couple kind of uncharacteristic games. I
Speaker 1: still think Joker was the most impactful guy in that series,
Speaker 1: but it certainly would be a fair take to say
Speaker 1: if they win, to say Shay's the best player. It's again,
Speaker 1: it's not the take I would have, but you'd have
Speaker 1: to at least respect it. It also would be Bru
Speaker 1: and I were talking about this off the air, and
Speaker 1: I know Simmons has talked a lot about this. It
Speaker 1: also would be an all time Guard season, So like,
Speaker 1: if you remove Michael and Magic, what Guard would have
Speaker 1: had a better season than the one Shay is having
Speaker 1: right now. I think if they win the title, I
Speaker 1: think folks reflexively, I know I reflexively was like, well,
Speaker 1: all right, Michael had a bunch, Magic had at least
Speaker 1: a couple, and then of course Stest. Here's the problem.
Speaker 1: Steph's best season by far. They lost the Chimp. They
Speaker 1: lost the finals, So the Steph's years get kind of
Speaker 1: fuzzy in our memory. But Steph's best year and one
Speaker 1: of the greatest years any player has ever had, when
Speaker 1: he scored thirty a game on I mean fifty forty
Speaker 1: five ninety splits. They lost to Lebron his other MVP year, Demons,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put you on the spot here, give me
Speaker 1: a guess how many points and assists Steph averaged his
Speaker 1: first MVP season.
Speaker 3: Thirty one and nine, twenty four and eight.
Speaker 1: Oh jesus, no that, But that's not us, because he did.
Speaker 1: He averaged thirty two later, and he averaged thirty the
Speaker 1: next year. So that's the point that I that I
Speaker 1: was making. That year, the team was unbelievable, and obviously
Speaker 1: he was great, but that's not like an all time
Speaker 1: individual season. The next year was the all time individual season.
Speaker 1: And then the year he had a year when he
Speaker 1: won the scoring title when they weren't that good in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one and they missed the playoffs like that,
Speaker 1: you know, So there's the his best year. They didn't
Speaker 1: win the title. And then people are gonna say, well,
Speaker 1: Kobe did, did Kobe have a better year than this
Speaker 1: Shay year? Because here's the thing, Kobe, and this is
Speaker 1: another one. People are gonna say this is true, but
Speaker 1: it is. Kobe averaged thirty a game three times in
Speaker 1: his career, and amazingly, none of the three did they
Speaker 1: win the championship, And in fact, two of the three,
Speaker 1: they didn't win a round of the playoffs, so he
Speaker 1: averaged thirty a game. The year they were going for
Speaker 1: the three peat, and that year they lost in did
Speaker 1: they lose in round two? Yeah, they lost in round
Speaker 1: two to San Antonio. I'm sorry. Not the year they're
Speaker 1: going for the three peat. They already had the three peat, obviously,
Speaker 1: the year they're going for the four pat and then
Speaker 1: his two insane scoring years thirty five a game and
Speaker 1: thirty two a game. They lost in round one both years.
Speaker 1: Both years that Laker team lost in round one, one
Speaker 1: year blowing a three to one leading round one. So
Speaker 1: those years are off the board. The next year, the
Speaker 1: year they got Pale, he won MVP. He averaged twenty
Speaker 1: eight six and five, and the Lakers that year won
Speaker 1: fifty seven games. It's hard to argue that year was
Speaker 1: better than this year by Shay D. Wade obviously never
Speaker 1: won an MVP. Isaiah Thomas, as great as he was,
Speaker 1: never won an MVP. Steve Nash won a couple, never
Speaker 1: made a finals. So there is and I don't want
Speaker 1: to do West and Koozie right now, but even West
Speaker 1: let me check, because poor Jerry West, I mean Jerry West,
Speaker 1: was one and nine in the finals, and the one
Speaker 1: year he won the championship he was not even close
Speaker 1: to his best individual season. Still pretty great. By the way, again,
Speaker 1: I don't do people want me to do a Jerry
Speaker 1: West thing. Okay, I'll do it real quick. Jerry West again,
Speaker 1: one to nine in the finals. And if that's not enough,
Speaker 1: here's Jerry West's MVP finishes fifth, fifth, fifth, third, second,
Speaker 1: didn't didn't quality, didn't get won for three years in
Speaker 1: a row, second, second, second. He finished second in MVP
Speaker 1: voting three straight years while losing the finals like every year.
Speaker 3: Just pretty voter voter fatigue must not existed at that time.
Speaker 1: No, Wilton Russell won, all of them, kept trading on.
Speaker 2: I feel like, once those guys are in second for
Speaker 2: a long time or get those second and third spots,
Speaker 2: it comes a year and they're like, all right, we're
Speaker 2: just gonna give it to him.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, and listen now, Jerry West did win finals
Speaker 1: MVP the first year they ever gave it out when
Speaker 1: they didn't win, when his team lost the finals, something
Speaker 1: but no during West demons, during West prime. Here's the
Speaker 1: here's the MVPs. Will Russell, Russell, Russell Oscar, Russell, Will
Speaker 1: Will Will and then unseld Reid Kareem Kareem. It was
Speaker 1: a big man's award. Oscar won it, but it was
Speaker 1: a big man's award again. So Jerry West, like, maybe
Speaker 1: point is this, if they win the championship, you can
Speaker 1: make the argument that only Magic and Michael as Guards
Speaker 1: ever had a better single season than Shay had this year.
Speaker 1: It's pretty remarkable. And for Okay, see, I don't really
Speaker 1: I don't really think there's too many guys that have
Speaker 1: a ton to lose, except let me all add this this.
Speaker 2: What'd you say, Jaylen Williams, don't you think it's probably
Speaker 2: it's really important for him to perform in these finals.
Speaker 3: Right, I think out of all the guys outside of Shade.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but do you think do you think any show
Speaker 1: like anybody's gonna kill Jalen Williams if he doesn't like
Speaker 1: I just don't. He's in that Goldilock zone that we've
Speaker 1: talked about of good enough to where he's gonna make
Speaker 1: a ton of money, but not so good to where
Speaker 1: he gets super scrutinized. Maybe though I think he's like
Speaker 1: the X factor, super important. I just don't think he's
Speaker 1: got you know, people are gonna kill him. I'll add
Speaker 1: one other person as far as who this person has
Speaker 1: the most anxiety right now, that's my that's the way
Speaker 1: to put it for Okay, see, and that's Sam Presty.
Speaker 1: So Sam Presty took over the Thunder when they were
Speaker 1: still in Seattle, Okay, and he draft like he took
Speaker 1: over right after the draft, right before he took over
Speaker 1: right or like the week they drafted Durant. I don't
Speaker 1: the I don't know, yeah, no, he he drafted Durant.
Speaker 1: Now that was a no brainer once Odin went one,
Speaker 1: Like whoever whoever didn't go one was gonna go to
Speaker 1: in the Odin Durant draft. But set that outside Westbrook
Speaker 1: was not a no brainer. Pick Harden was not a
Speaker 1: no brainer. Pick a Baca was not a no brainer pick.
Speaker 1: He just crushed, absolutely crushed after coming from the Spurs,
Speaker 1: and they are just set up that it's gonna be
Speaker 1: the you know, the Thunder out West for a generation.
Speaker 1: And they made the finals in twenty twelve and have
Speaker 1: not been back since and hardened they He then trades
Speaker 1: Harden probably not probably definitely his worst UH transaction as
Speaker 1: an executive. My guy Daryl got over on him and
Speaker 1: just been building, building, building, getting trying to get back
Speaker 1: to this moment. He knows as well as anyone that
Speaker 1: there these moments can be fleeting and you've got to
Speaker 1: take advantage. By the way, if you want to know
Speaker 1: more about Sam Presty, I don't even know if you
Speaker 1: know this, Demanse, but you know who wrote a book
Speaker 1: that Sam Presty is a central character of who Danny Parkins.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's what's it is that game Pipeline to the pros,
Speaker 2: Pipeline to the pros.
Speaker 1: Yeah, pipeline to the pros about you know, Division three,
Speaker 1: pipeline to NBA gm uh. That's a great book. People
Speaker 1: can get it on Amazon or wherever you get your books.
Speaker 1: Free plug for Danny's book. All right, let's go to
Speaker 1: Halliburton and the Pacers.
Speaker 3: Sneaky the coach. He probably has the most pressure on him. Huh.
Speaker 3: Like for okay, I said Jalen Williams.
Speaker 2: I'd say the coach over Jaylen Williams, just because I mean,
Speaker 2: everybody's expecting you to roll the Pacers right now.
Speaker 3: You have this good team. If you lose in the finals,
Speaker 3: that you know what nobody.
Speaker 2: Nobody sees that that that that's fair.
Speaker 1: I I just don't think daggon Old's not like a
Speaker 1: celebrity coach, and so for maybe I'm just looking at
Speaker 1: this more from the prism of what we'll talk about
Speaker 1: on our shows, and I just don't think we're gonna
Speaker 1: you know, you're gonna see a topic bar Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Daggonault to blame fair. All right, Let's go to Halliburton
Speaker 1: and the Pacers.
Speaker 2: So nobody thought Indy would be here. You know, everybody's
Speaker 2: calling Halliburton overrated. Uh, but they are here. Everybody's you know,
Speaker 2: looking to write them off, such as yourself. Is there
Speaker 2: any chance that we're missing something here?
Speaker 1: Though?
Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like if the Pacers go out
Speaker 3: and win the first game, this flips the whole thing
Speaker 3: on its head.
Speaker 1: So that's interesting. What do we think if they're if
Speaker 1: they're plus five hundred right now to win, if they
Speaker 1: win game one, I still think they're like plus two hundred.
Speaker 1: I don't like it make the I mean they could listen,
Speaker 1: the Pacers have this year in the playoffs. They are
Speaker 1: one and oh in game or three and oh in
Speaker 1: game ones, three and oh in game two's oh and
Speaker 1: three in game threes, four and oh or three and
Speaker 1: oh in game four, and then two and one in
Speaker 1: game fives, and they've played one game six. I I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to write them off, even though I want
Speaker 1: to pay them their proper respect. And let me say this,
Speaker 1: the Pacers are following a formula that we have seen
Speaker 1: champions as of late follow where a clear cut identity,
Speaker 1: a deep team, two all stars rather than three, and
Speaker 1: have been building to this moment. And you can't call
Speaker 1: it a fluke because they made the conference finals last year.
Speaker 1: I just think, like, let's say, sorry, Daniel earmuffs lou
Speaker 1: Dort doesn't hit three straight threes in Game five against
Speaker 1: Denver and den clips the thunder. And then the Western
Speaker 1: Amage Finals was Denver and Minnesota. Against either one of
Speaker 1: those teams, I might pick Indiana given what I've seen
Speaker 1: from Indiana. It's and that's also I said this on
Speaker 1: TV and it sounds dumb, but I think it's true. Like,
Speaker 1: is the only thing standing between Anthony Edwards and being
Speaker 1: face of the league lou Dort catching fire from three
Speaker 1: in a game he wasn't playing in because Minnesota really
Speaker 1: gave Denver trouble the last couple of years and like
Speaker 1: all of it. But so I mean, which is also
Speaker 1: why some of these narratives we do are a little silly.
Speaker 1: But whatever, it is, what it is. So the point
Speaker 1: that I am trying to make is I don't want
Speaker 1: to be disrespectful of the Pacers. I just think that
Speaker 1: they are running up against a team that they're not
Speaker 1: gonna have a lot of answers for. Maybe, I mean maybe,
Speaker 1: but they're there. Another way to look at it is
Speaker 1: they're just been the best team a year. They're gonna
Speaker 1: win the championship. This is another way. You know, who's
Speaker 1: taking credit by the way, for knowing, Okay, C was
Speaker 1: gonna win the championship. He'll love this. Your mother, what.
Speaker 3: How is she even spinning that? What do you mean?
Speaker 1: Because we saw them the day after Thanksgiving in LA
Speaker 1: and she is claiming that she told me that I
Speaker 1: should go on TV the next day and say that
Speaker 1: I think they're the best team and they're gonna win
Speaker 1: the title. If she did say that, I you know,
Speaker 1: I think what I would have said as well, they
Speaker 1: do have the best record, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like that won't like be a unique take, but she's
Speaker 1: she is saying that she saw Thanksgiving though it's Giving,
Speaker 1: and that she was like, oh, yeah, they're the best team.
Speaker 1: And now she's also saying she's like, remember that used
Speaker 1: to be my team because Durant, Yeah, she loved him.
Speaker 1: So she's like claiming a little okay see fandom case.
Speaker 3: Nicks, Rockets Lakers, She's.
Speaker 1: Got a lot of she got a lot of as
Speaker 1: wild as say chips on the roulette wheel. All right,
Speaker 1: go ahead and ask before we get the finals MVP.
Speaker 2: So in a couple of games that Halliburton's played against, okay, see,
Speaker 2: this year, he averaged eleven three and five and a half.
Speaker 3: What do you expecting out of him this year?
Speaker 1: He's gotta be he's got to basically double those averages. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I mean that's the okay see, just has so
Speaker 1: many guys they can throw out at Halliburton and disrupt him,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna try to not let them get out
Speaker 1: and run. It's just it's a tough matchup for everybody.
Speaker 1: They're just a tough matchup for everybody. And I here's
Speaker 1: what I do wonder. I wonder if some people are
Speaker 1: going to wish they had a little bit of their
Speaker 1: harsh Anthony Edwards criticism back if Halliburton struggles, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, like what if Okac? This is
Speaker 1: just what they do to opposing guards in particular. All right,
Speaker 1: let's talk the award he didn't win, which is Conference
Speaker 1: Finals MVP.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Pascal Siaka won that award, and it seemed
Speaker 2: like Haliburton might have thought that he was winning it
Speaker 2: with his mannerisms and stuff before it for going up there.
Speaker 3: What about yourself? Do you think that he should have
Speaker 3: won it? Do you think Pascal rightfully won?
Speaker 1: I thought it was fine. I think that if it's close,
Speaker 1: the best players should get it. I also, you know,
Speaker 1: last last show, I vehemently dis agreed with Simmons leaving
Speaker 1: Lebron off his top fifteen players. I will give Simmons
Speaker 1: credit for this idea. I like the idea of if
Speaker 1: we're gonna have these conference MVPs things, the Larry birdon
Speaker 1: the Magic Johnson Award, have it be Eastern Conference Playoffs
Speaker 1: MVP and Western Conference Playoffs MVP. That way, it's not
Speaker 1: just that series, it's like those six weeks. I think
Speaker 1: that's a cooler idea, and it also probably would open
Speaker 1: it up to where theoretically, like like two years ago
Speaker 1: or three years ago, when Luca carried the MAVs to
Speaker 1: the conference finals, they lost to the Warriors, Like maybe
Speaker 1: he could you know, he could win win that award,
Speaker 1: Like you wouldn't have to necessarily be from the winning team.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the Halliburton thing though, because
Speaker 1: I have a question for you. Okay, do you remember
Speaker 1: when you your junior year at the basketball banquet when
Speaker 1: you got team MVP.
Speaker 3: Yeah, at what point?
Speaker 1: So going into that night, did you know you were
Speaker 1: like had anyone told you you you would want it? No?
Speaker 3: Definitely don't remember anybody telling me.
Speaker 2: Okay, I don't think I had like the thought of
Speaker 2: winning it, to be honest, I didn't, don't.
Speaker 1: Okay, So that's okay. So when they started describing the
Speaker 1: player who was gonna win it, did you at any like,
Speaker 1: I don't even know if you were paying attention. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember this as well as I do,
Speaker 1: Like what I don't?
Speaker 3: I ad No, I want to hear.
Speaker 1: No, you I do.
Speaker 3: I was just trying to think and I just wasn't
Speaker 3: trying to be vain, but I do.
Speaker 2: I do think for majority of like junior year into
Speaker 2: the like my senior year into high school basketball. I
Speaker 2: figured that I was the best player on the team.
Speaker 2: So I'm just trying to like imagine how like I
Speaker 2: would have been think of it thinking of it there,
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean I don't don't think that.
Speaker 1: I So I remember them describing like the because I
Speaker 1: was nervous on your behalf because I'm like, ah, he's
Speaker 1: a junior. I wonder if they're going to just give
Speaker 1: it to a senior. But then your coach said, he
Speaker 1: led us in points, rebounds, black, you led the team
Speaker 1: and everything but assists, and so he was listing, and
Speaker 1: so it was like, oh, it's they're giving it to
Speaker 1: demandset because I knew you had led the team and everything.
Speaker 1: I my when I played high school basketball, I did
Speaker 1: not lead the team in anything. And at the awards banquet,
Speaker 1: they were announcing an award for like leadership, hustle, toughness,
Speaker 1: and they were describing exactly what I provided to the Yeah,
Speaker 1: and right before they announced it, I pulled a Halliburton
Speaker 1: because it was not me.
Speaker 3: Wait, how did you pull you tap your chest?
Speaker 1: You know we weren't at it. I stood up to
Speaker 1: walk up to get the award and it wasn't me,
Speaker 1: and I had to pretend that I was standing up
Speaker 1: to like.
Speaker 3: To collect who got it? Yeah, I did that.
Speaker 1: Couldn't Team MVP. I couldn't even get mister Hustle.
Speaker 2: I mean, describe your practices and how you went about it.
Speaker 2: It seemed like that award. Yeah, I mean it up
Speaker 2: and stuff you think about it.
Speaker 1: I got snubbed, all right, guys. So you know what
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Speaker 1: them all the time. And I my lifetime spend on
Speaker 1: seat Geek. You know how some people show like their
Speaker 1: lifetime spin on Amazon. My lifetime spin on seat Geek
Speaker 1: has to be insane. Just because I go to a
Speaker 1: ton of games, I go to a ton of Broadway shows,
Speaker 1: which I love. Don't care if you guys make fun
Speaker 1: of me. I love the Broadway shows. Make fun of
Speaker 1: They're awesome and it's the to me, uh, the best
Speaker 1: and clearly the easiest and most intuitive way to get tickets.
Speaker 1: All right, demanse, let's talk future offseason stuff.
Speaker 3: You would not go to Broadway shows without your daughters.
Speaker 1: Well, hold on, that is true. So here's the thing.
Speaker 1: I would not have been exposed to them without them,
Speaker 1: but I love them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I get right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right. I wouldn't have I when I moved
Speaker 1: to New York, I thought seems ridiculous, and now it
Speaker 1: is absolutely my favorite things to do. It's like it
Speaker 1: all right, people are gonna make fun of me. I
Speaker 1: honestly don't care. It's like having courtside seats to an
Speaker 1: NBA game. In this regard, you are, you know, a
Speaker 1: few feet away from the best in the world at
Speaker 1: what they do, and it's a skill set that I
Speaker 1: can't imagine having. We went and saw Gypsy about a
Speaker 1: month ago. I mean that Audra McDonald I think is
Speaker 1: her name, her singing it was. It was as alien
Speaker 1: to me from what I could do as watching the
Speaker 1: Saquon backwards hurdle. It's like you're a different like you
Speaker 1: and so no, I think I think right, and so
Speaker 1: I I think it's great. All right, let's talk Nicks.
Speaker 2: So the Knicks couldn't even up the series. So now
Speaker 2: they're headed a cantcun What do you think New York
Speaker 2: should do? What should they make any moves? Letten say,
Speaker 2: people want to come at cat.
Speaker 1: If they just run it back. I think that's totally reasonable.
Speaker 1: Run it back and be like, hey, during the regular season, Tibbs,
Speaker 1: let's play the bench a little more, not for the
Speaker 1: reason everyone always says, which is because guys are exhausted,
Speaker 1: but so you can have more real tests of what lineups.
Speaker 1: Oh sham, it's better than pain. Oh we like this
Speaker 1: five man unit. That's useful. So like Tibbs, can you
Speaker 1: adjust there? Because Tibbs has hit this hard ceiling of
Speaker 1: the conference finals multiple times in his career. Now there's
Speaker 1: one bruns it ay Man, Well, everyone's been focused on
Speaker 1: Luca's diet. It might be that of the all the
Speaker 1: players on the twenty twenty two Dallas Mavericks, you were
Speaker 1: the biggest defensive liability, like moving forward, like, hey, the
Speaker 1: I know that and Brunson's awesome. He's awesome. He's a
Speaker 1: great player, legitimate superstar. But Game four for him was
Speaker 1: really rough on that side of the ball, and it
Speaker 1: was the biggest game of their season. So like, can
Speaker 1: you get a little bit better there? Kat, Can you
Speaker 1: watch the film from your Game three fourth quarter again
Speaker 1: and again and again and try to activate that more?
Speaker 1: If that, you know, McHale's just got to be a
Speaker 1: little better throughout the year. Josh Hart just just be
Speaker 1: passable from three. Mitchell Robinson nothing but free throws all
Speaker 1: summer like those you do those things with the Celtic Sorry,
Speaker 1: kind of off the chessboard. The East is wide open.
Speaker 1: That would be reasonable, I opt.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: As far as transactions, obviously, if you can get Yannis,
Speaker 1: you get Yannis. I do not think they have the
Speaker 1: best package to offer, so I think that would be tough. Now,
Speaker 1: maybe if he demands only New York, maybe Milwaukee will accommodate.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Let's talk about the Durant thing demonse,
Speaker 1: because I do think if you traded Cat for Durant,
Speaker 1: if you offered that, the Sons would say yes. Now,
Speaker 1: Durant is six years older, and that shortens your window considerably. However,
Speaker 1: the argument for it would be twofold one is it
Speaker 1: is a back door out of what is going to
Speaker 1: be a really tricky Cat contract situation because Cat's got
Speaker 1: three years left at fifty three fifty seven six. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you love that. Is he extension eligible?
Speaker 1: Let me look, no, hold on, sorry, I want to
Speaker 1: check that, because that's the other thing. If it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: and I also, yeah, he is extension eligible. So it's
Speaker 1: like you owe him sixty one and three years, and
Speaker 1: he might be like, and I'd like two more years.
Speaker 1: On the back end, it's sixty three and sixty five.
Speaker 1: Like that's that might be untenable. But the other reason
Speaker 1: you would do it is if you think Mitchell Robinson
Speaker 1: can play thirty minutes a game, and you think Durant
Speaker 1: would just add another layer to your offense, and and
Speaker 1: here's the critical piece, you think next year has massive
Speaker 1: additional value compared to other future years because of the
Speaker 1: Celtic situation. I might do it. You would still you
Speaker 1: would get better defensively better. I don't even know if
Speaker 1: you can say he'd be better shooting because Cat's such
Speaker 1: a great three point shooter. But better for mid range. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, like the I don't actually think Durant's a
Speaker 1: better three point shooter than Cat, like by the numbers
Speaker 1: and by the volume, but better three level. I I
Speaker 1: normally would let me check Kat's exact birthday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was about to say where we rank Katie's
Speaker 2: defense with Cats. I mean, I know Katie isn't known
Speaker 2: for his defense, but the way I see Cat moved around,
Speaker 2: sometimes Katie can get up and down the court faster
Speaker 2: than that.
Speaker 1: Katie's a much better Yeah.
Speaker 3: I was about to say, like.
Speaker 1: I said, six years older, it's actually seven years older.
Speaker 1: That's the Karl Anthony Towns turns thirty at the beginning
Speaker 1: of next season. Katie turns thirty seven at the beginning
Speaker 1: of next season. So that typically is not a move
Speaker 1: you want to make. But I guess here how I
Speaker 1: would look at it if they made that trade, demanse,
Speaker 1: I think for next year, I'd say the Knicks are
Speaker 1: the favorites in the East, and now I think KD
Speaker 1: might end up in Minnesota. I think there's real smoke there,
Speaker 1: but the East is so open, and I do think
Speaker 1: for a playoff run, even though we haven't seen Durant
Speaker 1: on a long playoff run in a very long time.
Speaker 1: I think Durant makes you a little bit better. Like,
Speaker 1: do you think that's crazy?
Speaker 2: No, I think that that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2: I think Durant should probably go to the go to
Speaker 2: New York as opposed to the East too, just to
Speaker 2: get the best possible chance the supposed to the West. Yeah,
Speaker 2: just to get another chip. But I mean still end
Speaker 2: up having to face those guys either way.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I like it. I think they should do it.
Speaker 3: It's a no brainer to me.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's got to at least be kicked around.
Speaker 1: That's the way. That's the way I look at it.
Speaker 1: All right, Reminder everyone like rate, subscribe, review, do all that.
Speaker 1: Let's let's jump down to some listener questions and then
Speaker 1: I can talk a little World Series of Poker if
Speaker 1: we have time. But let's do again. If you're watching
Speaker 1: on YouTube, we greatly appreciate it. If you're listening on
Speaker 1: the pod, oh, we greatly appreciate it. But either way,
Speaker 1: please subscribe to the channel, Please subscribe to the pod.
Speaker 3: All of that.
Speaker 1: It really does help us out quite a bit, all right,
Speaker 1: go ahead.
Speaker 2: Demnseley, Bobby says, the twenty four Celtics against the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five Thunder in a seven game series, who would win?
Speaker 1: I think it's tough. I think that's very close. If
Speaker 1: you are getting seven healthy games out of Porzingis, I
Speaker 1: would go boss. Yeah. If Porzingis is the way he
Speaker 1: was forget this postseason, even last postseason, where you know
Speaker 1: he was injured, then I that to me would tilt
Speaker 1: it to the Thunder. Does that seem fair?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Man, that's so unfortunate.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, I to me that that that's what
Speaker 1: I That's where I land on it, all right.
Speaker 2: Next Ryan, are the Pacers title hopes riding on game
Speaker 2: on a game one win?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I mean you could.
Speaker 1: Well. I let me put it like this again. You
Speaker 1: guys know how thin I think the Pacers are drawing
Speaker 1: in this. They have to win one of the first two.
Speaker 1: You can't go down two. Oh even though ah, the
Speaker 1: series wouldn't have started a home team had lost it.
Speaker 1: You gotta win one of the first two.
Speaker 2: Next Ohen Michael says, going into the twenty twenty four
Speaker 2: NFL season, I think there was I think there was
Speaker 2: a consistent consensus understanding that the AFC was better than
Speaker 2: the NFC. You think that that still holds.
Speaker 1: No, What I think is the quarterbacks in the AFC
Speaker 1: are way better than the quarterbacks in the NFC. But
Speaker 1: because of that, because the NFC quarterbacks are not as
Speaker 1: highly paid you are, you've been able to develop more
Speaker 1: well rounded teams. And you know the team right now
Speaker 1: last year that was you know, it gets to call
Speaker 1: themselves the best teams in the NFC. And the Lions
Speaker 1: were excellent too. Now the Lions I'm a little worried
Speaker 1: about and the Frank ragnow retirements not nothing, But no,
Speaker 1: I think it's far closer than it was. Let's keep going.
Speaker 3: Owen says love from Canada.
Speaker 2: Do you think SGA passes Steve Nash is the greatest
Speaker 2: Canadian player ever with a title win?
Speaker 3: Yes? I think he does.
Speaker 1: I think one MVP and one title and I think
Speaker 1: this year from SGA was better than any individual Steve
Speaker 1: Nash year. Yeah, I think he does pass him as
Speaker 1: the best Canadian player ever.
Speaker 2: Next, Luis says, hey, Nick, since the NBA season is ending,
Speaker 2: is there any plan to cover summer sports WNBA Cycling,
Speaker 2: Tour de France, F one tennis until September and the
Speaker 2: NFL comes back.
Speaker 1: So we'll definitely cover some WNBA will definitely cover tennis,
Speaker 1: you know that. And I have a confession. You know
Speaker 1: what I did this Sunday. I watched IndyCar in the
Speaker 1: Detroit Grand Prix because ever since I went to the
Speaker 1: Indy five hundred, I kind of gotten into open wheel
Speaker 1: racing a bit, and so I am now considering going
Speaker 1: back and watching that F one series on Netflix that
Speaker 1: I was so skeptical of, and US is really back
Speaker 1: the F one minute and doing all that. So maybe
Speaker 1: I'll get into F one because I thought the I
Speaker 1: thought the Indie Car stuff was really really cool. But
Speaker 1: we'll also have NBA Free Agency, the NBA Draft. We'll
Speaker 1: have a bunch of cool stuff, all right, Last.
Speaker 2: One Producers, but really, Gabe thoughts on the new Mission Impossible.
Speaker 1: I have a shameful confession. I haven't seen it yet.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: Part of that is I've been incredibly busy, and part
Speaker 1: of that is I haven't been ready to say goodbye
Speaker 1: to the greatest movie franchise ever. And so no spoilers, please.
Speaker 3: I've not seen an the Mission Impossibles.
Speaker 1: It's such a bad job by your job by you.
Speaker 1: Oh no, it's the greatest movie series ever. It's just
Speaker 1: so good. All right, I am heading to work and
Speaker 1: I'm going on a plane. I'm going to Vegas for
Speaker 1: the World Series of Poker this time tomorrow, well not
Speaker 1: this time, but tomorrow afternoon. I will be in the
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars Dealer's Choice. And this is what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say. And I'll try to I am not really
Speaker 1: on Instagram munch. I'll try to update people via Instagram stories.
Speaker 1: Is that what I do? Reels, stories, stories. I oddly
Speaker 1: have a really good feeling. The last time I had
Speaker 1: this kind of weird confidence going into a poker setting
Speaker 1: was when I went to play Helm Youth heads up
Speaker 1: for fifty thousand. Now I did lose that, but I
Speaker 1: played great for the better part of two hours, had
Speaker 1: a ninety minute lapse of concentration, and then clawed my
Speaker 1: way back to where I was in a great position
Speaker 1: to potentially win and got very very unlucky. But that's poker.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I just feel good about how these next
Speaker 1: five days are gonna go. So I'll keep you guys updated.
Speaker 1: I don't want to I don't want to say too
Speaker 1: much and obviously maybe I'm just gonna you know, below
Speaker 1: Demonte's inheritance. It's always on the board like Demante, I
Speaker 1: always is. Demante checks in on me more when I'm
Speaker 1: in Vegas than anywhere else. And part of that is
Speaker 1: because he's, you know, looking out for me. But the
Speaker 1: other part of that is he understands. I mean the
Speaker 1: I'm not the only the I mean, he checks in
Speaker 1: but you tell.
Speaker 3: Me you well, yeah, I mean I just know you're
Speaker 3: you're out there alone.
Speaker 2: You know, gotcha money in your pocket, and then you
Speaker 2: don't got your money in your pocket.
Speaker 3: I'm just checking it.
Speaker 1: I know, I get it. And event and the way
Speaker 1: this works is eventually all the literal or metaphorical money
Speaker 1: in my pocket, one third of that is to month.
Speaker 1: So like there's there's a he's looking out for me,
Speaker 1: but trust is all right, Everything's fine. So I'll keep
Speaker 1: everybody posted.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Thank you to Blue Dog, thank you to Draft Games,
Speaker 1: thank you to Seat Geek, thank you to the Volume.
Speaker 1: Oh we are doing Thursday show live from the World
Speaker 1: Series of Poker Ballroom. It's gonna be sick. I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna put some of our logos in the Giant
Speaker 1: monitors at the Horseshoe Casino. It's gonna be awesome. I
Speaker 1: can't wait, so it should be great. All right, everybody,
Speaker 1: have a great rest of the day. I'll see you
Speaker 1: guys on TV in a few hours. We'll try