Speaker 1: Welcome to this week Uncut in the world of twenty
Speaker 1: four NBA news. This Chris Hanes works time. It's some time.
Speaker 1: This Liguncut is underway in that fire. This should be
Speaker 1: a good one. Everyone, Welcome to another edition of this
Speaker 1: League Uncut. Mark Stein here with Chris Haynes, coming to
Speaker 1: you one day later than we anticipated. Some scheduling curveballs
Speaker 1: fired at us. We're working on a really, really tasty
Speaker 1: surprise that I don't want to spoil, I don't want
Speaker 1: to jinx, but as we're getting that situated, that caused
Speaker 1: us to kind of move some things around. But I
Speaker 1: think I think it's okay that we're going on a
Speaker 1: Tuesday instead of the usual Monday. Tons of stuff happening
Speaker 1: in the league. As usual, there were no games Monday,
Speaker 1: as the NBA gave the floor to the men's championship
Speaker 1: game in the college ranks. But look, lots of news,
Speaker 1: and I think I think we're gonna focus on news.
Speaker 1: There's obviously, you know, we're entering the last week of
Speaker 1: the regular season, so there's a lot of talk about
Speaker 1: playoff positioning, but that stuff seems to change by the night.
Speaker 1: So I think we're gonna both Chris and I posted
Speaker 1: Newsy stories on Monday, so you know what, let's let's
Speaker 1: dig in to some of those things. The first thing
Speaker 1: I think, Chris, and this is obviously maybe it's not
Speaker 1: the most entertaining podcast topic, but I do think it
Speaker 1: is the most important thing that has happened in the
Speaker 1: NBA in twenty twenty three. They have a labor deal.
Speaker 1: It happened in the wee hours of Saturday, April Fool's Day.
Speaker 1: They missed their midnight deadline, and that was after pushing
Speaker 1: that deadline back twice. But at around three am on
Speaker 1: Saturday morning, the league and the union jointly announced that
Speaker 1: they have a tentative deal. There's a lot of details
Speaker 1: that have not been written in permanent inc We don't
Speaker 1: have a term sheet to look at yet, but just
Speaker 1: the most important thing, there will be labor piece in
Speaker 1: the NBA through at least twenty eight twenty nine. You
Speaker 1: will be seeing Chris Haynes in his beautiful custom suits
Speaker 1: through at least the twenty eight twenty nine season. No
Speaker 1: work stoppage, because look the way this season started back
Speaker 1: in October, when the NBA was pushing for a hardcap.
Speaker 1: You know, I wrote a long story about how they
Speaker 1: wanted an upper spending limit, which was basically their way
Speaker 1: of trying to introduce a hardcap without calling it a hardcap.
Speaker 1: But in twenty twenty three, pretty much once the NBA
Speaker 1: backed off that push, I think behind the scenes there's
Speaker 1: kind of been this belief that they would get a
Speaker 1: deal done and it took lawnger maybe than they anticipated. Again,
Speaker 1: they had to move that deadline back twice, but they
Speaker 1: did get the deal done in the end, and we
Speaker 1: will learn much more about it in coming weeks and months.
Speaker 1: But that, you know, the big thing is there is
Speaker 1: there is labor peace in the NBA, and that you
Speaker 1: can't understand how huge that is. Yeah, I you know,
Speaker 1: you can say, you know, they they extended the deadline.
Speaker 1: I think people might have assumed that this was going
Speaker 1: to be a contentious set of negotiations, and from what
Speaker 1: I heard, it didn't really get to a boiling point
Speaker 1: where there was a lot of frustration. You know, we've
Speaker 1: we've covered a lot of we cover a lot of
Speaker 1: these situations where things got bad. You know, So you
Speaker 1: got to give Tamika the Players Association give her credit.
Speaker 1: You got to give Adam Silver credit for coming, you know,
Speaker 1: coming to terms and getting something done out the way.
Speaker 1: Now they can kind of move forward toward looking towards
Speaker 1: the future. And that's going to be on the NBA side,
Speaker 1: the TV landscape and stide. That's going to determine if
Speaker 1: I'm still wearing some suits not on TV, you're gonna
Speaker 1: be fine. Bold predictions, You're going to be just because
Speaker 1: that's the thing this. And look, the NBA and the
Speaker 1: Players Association. No league gets along with its union better
Speaker 1: than the NBA. It is a very close relationship. I
Speaker 1: think some might even say too close, you know, in
Speaker 1: certain situations and among certain personalities. But really, since the
Speaker 1: bubble and how closely the league in the union had
Speaker 1: to work together to get the twenty nineteen twenty season
Speaker 1: back on track after four months off and to make
Speaker 1: the bubble happen, and just kind of what came out
Speaker 1: of that season and being able to salvage it and
Speaker 1: crown a champion. There is just a stronger relationship between
Speaker 1: these twoes than we see in the other sports leagues.
Speaker 1: But you would also have to say the NBA has
Speaker 1: rebounded from the bubble and is an overall such a
Speaker 1: good place a work stoppage would have been the dumbest
Speaker 1: in league history and maybe any league's history, because there
Speaker 1: is a massive new media rights deal looming in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five twenty six. We just saw the Phoenix Suns
Speaker 1: sell for four billion dollars expansion. We know that the
Speaker 1: league will start thinking about expansion after finalizing this labor
Speaker 1: agreement and after getting that TV deal done, so after
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five twenty six, expansion becomes a real thing.
Speaker 1: And now we're talking about more billions pouring into this
Speaker 1: league if it grows from thirty teams to thirty two.
Speaker 1: So there is so much money. Last season, the NBA
Speaker 1: recorded its first ever ten billion dollars season and revenue.
Speaker 1: If I'm citing the figure correctly, if I'm not, apologies
Speaker 1: to Tim Reynolds, who he's the one who always points
Speaker 1: that out. I'm pretty sure it was the first ten
Speaker 1: million in revenue season last year. I will try to
Speaker 1: double check that as we go here. But that's there's
Speaker 1: so much money that is pouring in. It would just
Speaker 1: it would have if there was even a day in July,
Speaker 1: a one day lockout, it would have been foolish and disastrous.
Speaker 1: So to get this deal done now and ensure free
Speaker 1: agency will start on time, Summer League with mister wembon
Speaker 1: Yama will start on time. Like that's these are you know,
Speaker 1: it's important, it's important just for the for the overall
Speaker 1: health of the league. And I echo what you said initially,
Speaker 1: you have to start in the pot is that I
Speaker 1: want to wait until I see all the details of
Speaker 1: the term sheet before we go into who got the
Speaker 1: best of who. I've seen some reaction. I've seen some
Speaker 1: reaction from some players off of the you know, the
Speaker 1: little details that's out there already. So I want to
Speaker 1: hold judgment as of right now full of grass. What
Speaker 1: exactly was agreed to before I wigh in. You know, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you have to I think, well, you don't
Speaker 1: have to be I think you don't have to style
Speaker 1: because most people don't. No, you're right, but I think
Speaker 1: it is the let me rephrase that. I think it's
Speaker 1: the wise move because there we're just getting this stuff piecemeal.
Speaker 1: We don't like, you know, a key element of this
Speaker 1: that that And I didn't do a great job of
Speaker 1: discussing of kind of explaining this in my Monday piece,
Speaker 1: even though I preach caution and said let's wait until
Speaker 1: these deals are all written in final and we can
Speaker 1: really dig into them. But not just that they're going
Speaker 1: to be phased in. All these changes will not go
Speaker 1: immediately into this offseason because you know, they've they've made
Speaker 1: a provision, you know, reportedly they've made a provision, for example,
Speaker 1: for smoothing it anticipation of the new TV deal that
Speaker 1: hasn't happened yet. Smoothing, of course, didn't happen the last
Speaker 1: time there was a huge TV deal and it led
Speaker 1: to the huge cap spike in the summer of twenty
Speaker 1: sixteen that you know, made salaries crazy for that one
Speaker 1: summer and basically enabled Golden State to have enough cap
Speaker 1: space to sign Kevin Durant. So we've heard that there's
Speaker 1: going to be some form of smoothing in this new CBA,
Speaker 1: but the specifics of how that's going to work, we
Speaker 1: don't know them yet. So I think there are still
Speaker 1: many many details to learn and digest wise words, wise words,
Speaker 1: and we gotta stick with that. Now. With that being
Speaker 1: say it, stun, you have some news today, I asked,
Speaker 1: let's jump into the Yeah, I wanted to get that.
Speaker 1: I wanted your news is I wanted to well, if
Speaker 1: my first question is how many MAVs beat writers do
Speaker 1: we have on this podcast? At this point, You're putting
Speaker 1: out a notebook today and you got you have like
Speaker 1: two MAVs items in there. Like now, I feel like
Speaker 1: my next piece I got to come back with some
Speaker 1: Dame news because I gotta. I don't know how I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get it, but I need to come up with
Speaker 1: something to to counter you. I get mass nuggets twice
Speaker 1: a year. Sty do you getting on me about that? Star?
Speaker 1: Let me get Let me get my two times a year.
Speaker 1: Come on, stun, don't don't haul the mask all season long. Man,
Speaker 1: Be careful, Just be careful. You never know when I'm
Speaker 1: gonna drop a Dame Lillard exclusive on you. So you
Speaker 1: you reported in your piece today you had around the
Speaker 1: league notebook, and I did as well. But let's let's
Speaker 1: we're gonna start with yours, because I think you had
Speaker 1: some some really good stuff in there. You wrote that
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving intends to he does intend to go all
Speaker 1: the way to free agency. He will be eligible for
Speaker 1: an extension with the Mavericks. He is eligible today for
Speaker 1: an extension with the Mavericks all the way up till
Speaker 1: the end of June. But you reported he does want
Speaker 1: to actually go to free agency, and I think that's
Speaker 1: not a huge surprise because he can get a larger
Speaker 1: deal by waiting until the summer. But um, you know, obviously,
Speaker 1: even just a suggestion, and you didn't even suggest it,
Speaker 1: you wrote it very factually, but even the suggestion that
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving might be going somewhere else naturally gets fans
Speaker 1: in Dallas pretty nervous. And they're already living on the
Speaker 1: edge because the Mavericks, as we talked about last week,
Speaker 1: are if not mathematically done, they are they know they're done.
Speaker 1: You said they were done? Was it last week? I
Speaker 1: did last Monday and got to this point, and they
Speaker 1: have with their last week they were one in three
Speaker 1: on a four game trip East. So their chances to
Speaker 1: make me look stupid are dwindling. I mean they are.
Speaker 1: They are one in seven since the Max, since the
Speaker 1: Moxi Kleiba three pointer at the buzzer that beat the
Speaker 1: Lakers one and seven. Not exactly a playoff drive. But Kyrie,
Speaker 1: I mean, what you know, he you know, Kyrie has
Speaker 1: said please don't ask me about my future. I don't
Speaker 1: you know? That was his message on the day he
Speaker 1: was introduced to the local media in Dallas that he
Speaker 1: doesn't want to talk about his contract, but something tells
Speaker 1: me that at some point this week it's going to
Speaker 1: be getting contract questions because again, the season in Dallas
Speaker 1: is nearly over. What get out your crystal ball. What
Speaker 1: do you think happens? Well, I do think the Dallas Mavericks,
Speaker 1: we'll for sure. I know that they they want to
Speaker 1: resign him. I don't know what that would look like, though,
Speaker 1: and that is the questionable part. That's where things can
Speaker 1: kind of go sour because we've seen what happened in
Speaker 1: Brooklyn when Kyrie wanted to get an extension done and
Speaker 1: how Brooklyn came back with terms that were not guaranteed
Speaker 1: and they were heavily laced with incentives. And then we
Speaker 1: know that was a straw that broke the Chemil's back
Speaker 1: as far as Kyrie was concerned, and that's what led
Speaker 1: him him to request the trade. So you know he's
Speaker 1: going to go into free ac too. For the point
Speaker 1: that you mentioned as well, he can get more, he can,
Speaker 1: He's he's elgible for more if he goes that route.
Speaker 1: So I just think the Mavericks. You know, and this
Speaker 1: is a better question for you, Stein, because you know
Speaker 1: the DNA of this team, the history and the track
Speaker 1: record you have with that franchise. Is that the question
Speaker 1: I have. Yes, there's interests, Yes they want to resign him.
Speaker 1: But Stein, considering how things ended with Jalen Brunson losing
Speaker 1: him for nothing, then what they gave away to get Kyrie,
Speaker 1: or do you feel like they're in a position where
Speaker 1: they just cannot lose Kyrie or do you feel like no,
Speaker 1: there there still should be boundaries. There should be still
Speaker 1: should be a limit on what you're willing to offer
Speaker 1: this guy in order to keep him a part of
Speaker 1: the club and franchise. And that's what I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you about. I think the truth is they want
Speaker 1: it all like Kyrie Irving's eligible for a five year
Speaker 1: deal with the Dallas Mavericks. The Dallas Mavericks, I would
Speaker 1: be stunned if they're going to be presenting Kyrie with
Speaker 1: the five year offer now. But because of what you said,
Speaker 1: they lost Jalen Brunson for nothing, and all Jalen Brunson
Speaker 1: has done is gone to New York and improved as
Speaker 1: a player for the fifth successive season and didn't get
Speaker 1: an All Star. Berth might not get an All NBA spot,
Speaker 1: but has a case for both. He has been absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 1: He has gone to a new level in New York.
Speaker 1: Under the supposed pressure of playing in the Gotham spotlight,
Speaker 1: it hasn't bothered him a bit. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: on one hand, the Mavericks absolutely positively cannot lose Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving after losing Jalen Brunson without compensation. But the Mavericks
Speaker 1: also can't give him a five year deal or I
Speaker 1: don't even know if it's me, I've said it. You know,
Speaker 1: if it's me, I would want to offer one plus one,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure Kyrie Irving has zero interest in that
Speaker 1: kind of deal. But from the Mavericks perspective, I'm sure
Speaker 1: they want to make They want to do a deal,
Speaker 1: you know, as as team friendly as they can. Kyrie's
Speaker 1: aiming for a deal that's as close to the five
Speaker 1: year max as he can get. The question will be
Speaker 1: what leverage can he generate? Will Coo out there wants
Speaker 1: to bid on Kyrie in free agency, And to this
Speaker 1: point in my searching, I have not been able to
Speaker 1: find a team that's interested. I wrote this two weeks ago.
Speaker 1: I think it was when I did a piece on
Speaker 1: Kyrie's first six weeks as a Maverick. The Lakers and
Speaker 1: the Suns are the teams that are most frequently mentioned
Speaker 1: in league circles as potential Kyrie suitors, but we have
Speaker 1: no tangible indications that I know of from either team
Speaker 1: that they planned to act on that and actually make
Speaker 1: a bid for Kyrie. Erie. Maybe there is a team
Speaker 1: or two out there that is planning to make a
Speaker 1: free agent run at Kyrie that we don't know about,
Speaker 1: but to this point, I haven't been able to pinpoint one.
Speaker 1: I don't know where his external interest is coming, and
Speaker 1: so he's going to have to generate that to get
Speaker 1: the offer he wants. And I think it's a little
Speaker 1: bit too early to tell as of right now what
Speaker 1: is for him. You know, we've heard the teams that
Speaker 1: the teams that were he was tied to in previous seasons,
Speaker 1: the Lakers, Phoenix, Suns. I just don't know how feasible
Speaker 1: that is from a cap situation, going into free agent
Speaker 1: and trying to pursue Kyrie Irving. But one thing I
Speaker 1: will say Stein, you mentioned the one in one. My
Speaker 1: fear is that you're you're really asking for problems. If
Speaker 1: a one and one that is presented to Kyrie, that
Speaker 1: is my fear. And I think we're back at okay.
Speaker 1: Where does Kyrie go from here? And I will say this,
Speaker 1: I remember when Brooklyn let me see was it last?
Speaker 1: Was it last offseason? Had to be last offseason? There
Speaker 1: was a threat that Kyrie will opt out of his
Speaker 1: player option. It was before the off season started, a
Speaker 1: threat that he will opt out of his player option
Speaker 1: and potentially sign with the Lakers or some team for
Speaker 1: the minimum, the veteran minimum or something like that. And
Speaker 1: I think it was a bluff, But I will say,
Speaker 1: if there is a player that would I don't know
Speaker 1: that he has to go down this road, but if
Speaker 1: there's a player that would think about, Okay, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: not getting the offer that I feel I deserve from
Speaker 1: my home team. You know what, if I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: a one in one or do a one year deal,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go do it somewhere where I want to
Speaker 1: play at and build up my market value for the
Speaker 1: next summer. If it's somebody that I would do that,
Speaker 1: Kyrie would do that. I don't know that he will
Speaker 1: have to. But I just think that if if an
Speaker 1: offer is presented that he feels is a low ball pitch,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't discount. Well, excuse me, I wouldn't be surprised
Speaker 1: if he were to take that type of approach. Now,
Speaker 1: just to be clear, though, the one plus one idea,
Speaker 1: that is what mark Stein would do if he was
Speaker 1: in charge. I'm not in charge. So you will start
Speaker 1: a whole summer frenzy of Kyrie watch because you made
Speaker 1: him that offer and and star and star. Let's get okay,
Speaker 1: one and one is one thing, But what are you
Speaker 1: offering or is he getting his max doing that one
Speaker 1: and one? Yeah, I would offer him. I would offer
Speaker 1: him max at least. But again, this is just what
Speaker 1: I would do. If you're asking me what I think
Speaker 1: the Mavericks will do. I think the Mavericks will make
Speaker 1: a multi year offer. It will be better than the
Speaker 1: offer that I would be presenting. I don't know the
Speaker 1: specifics yet. I don't know how many years, but my
Speaker 1: instinct is my early read, and again it's still way
Speaker 1: too early. I that would be my expectation of some
Speaker 1: sort of multi year deal. Is it going to be
Speaker 1: long enough and rich enough to make Kyrie happy. I
Speaker 1: can't answer that question. I genuinely don't know, but I guess.
Speaker 1: You know, I also wrote in that piece, and you know,
Speaker 1: Bobby Marks was the first one at ESPN who I
Speaker 1: kind of heard say this, and I've adopted the same
Speaker 1: of approach Kyrie. Talent wise, the dude is still a wizard.
Speaker 1: He just turned thirty one, same birthday as his coach,
Speaker 1: Jason Kidd, who turned fifty. I mean, Kyrie in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: second out of a back to back incredible Sunday. I mean,
Speaker 1: the guy can still score like few on this planet can.
Speaker 1: But you know, Bobby kind of threw out there that
Speaker 1: he's a MAX player one year at a time. If
Speaker 1: you can get that approach, and that again, that is
Speaker 1: you know, that is a that is a what's the
Speaker 1: word I'm looking for? It's a It's an approach that
Speaker 1: I have basically copied and swiped and agree with. But again,
Speaker 1: that's just me. I don't speak for the team. I
Speaker 1: don't know exactly what kind of contract they're going to
Speaker 1: offer Kyrie, but I suspect it will be longer than
Speaker 1: I'm suggesting. Yeah, I can pretty much know what to
Speaker 1: expect that if that type of offer is presented. But
Speaker 1: that's fine, get clarity. Let's make sure for the aggregators
Speaker 1: out there, this is Stine, not the Mavericks. This is Stine.
Speaker 1: Like Jake Fisher would say, please don't aggregate this, but
Speaker 1: I'm sure it won't work. Um. Yeah, So that so,
Speaker 1: look that those these are the two variables missing that
Speaker 1: we do not know what kind of offer exactly. We
Speaker 1: know the Mavericks want to keep Kyrie Irving. You had
Speaker 1: that in your piece today. What type of offer will
Speaker 1: it be? How long will the offer be? And then
Speaker 1: what kind of market can Kyrie generate? Can he get
Speaker 1: interest from elsewhere that forces the Mavericks to make an
Speaker 1: offer closer to what he wants. I mean, we'll see,
Speaker 1: we'll see what kind of market there is for Kyrie.
Speaker 1: Because you know, again at this point it's you know,
Speaker 1: we've we've just clicked into April free agency is still
Speaker 1: nearly three months away. But you know, may attacks to
Speaker 1: pinpoint what the Kyrie Irving market would will be not
Speaker 1: super successful to this point. Also, in your piece today
Speaker 1: you had Stephan Curry. You convinced Stephan Curry to share
Speaker 1: with you his mythical MVP vote. Steph does not have
Speaker 1: a ballot. He is not voting, but he said if
Speaker 1: he were a voter, he would be voting for Joel embiid.
Speaker 1: Were you surprised by that selection? I was surprised that
Speaker 1: it didn't take any pulling of the teeth for me
Speaker 1: to get that out of Steph. That's what I was
Speaker 1: surprised about. You know, Steph is real calculated, real calculated.
Speaker 1: If there's something he's not sure of, if there's a
Speaker 1: question he's not sure of answering, he will kind of pause,
Speaker 1: go into space, think about it for a minute before
Speaker 1: he responds, or even if he responds. It didn't take that.
Speaker 1: He went straight to Joel. He was with Joel, and
Speaker 1: he went on to talk about the lead that he
Speaker 1: feels Joel had this year and how he's pretty much
Speaker 1: carrying his team, And you know, I was surprised. I
Speaker 1: was surprised he had that. I was surprised he had
Speaker 1: that take. But I think it rings volumes because steps
Speaker 1: a two time MVP, no know what it takes to
Speaker 1: win that award. He's the only player in NBA history
Speaker 1: who's won that award unanimously. So I think from from
Speaker 1: what he sees and how he judges it and bases
Speaker 1: his MVP off of I think his I think that
Speaker 1: speaks volumes. But you know, I do look at occasionally
Speaker 1: look through skim through social media and see what fans
Speaker 1: are saying. You know, I like to get a pulse.
Speaker 1: Not all the time, but I like to get a pulse.
Speaker 1: And I started seeing there was a there was a
Speaker 1: little trend, a little minor trend of people saying, hey,
Speaker 1: what do you expect Steph to say? Him? And him
Speaker 1: and Joel Embi share the same Uh, they're both with
Speaker 1: under armor. And I forgot about that. I don't know
Speaker 1: that I know Steph pretty well. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know that that played a part. You know, he's
Speaker 1: really he's going to keep it real. I do genuinely
Speaker 1: that's his choice for MVP. UM, But I wouldn't you know,
Speaker 1: I was. I was surprised that it didn't take It
Speaker 1: didn't take really anything at all to get the answer
Speaker 1: out of him. Are you surprised by his answer? Stein?
Speaker 1: Um Na not. You know, I think I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people feel the same that you know, Joe
Speaker 1: is and look, he's come in second two years in
Speaker 1: a row, and a lot of people around the league,
Speaker 1: not just Steph, feel as though he's due that he
Speaker 1: should have one, you know, but that shouldn't decide Stein
Speaker 1: like I don't. I don't like that premise of Okay,
Speaker 1: he was robbed before, he should get it this year. No,
Speaker 1: it's a year of the Year award. Now, if you
Speaker 1: ask me personally who I think I will vote for,
Speaker 1: I think I will go for Joel. And let me
Speaker 1: just announce this real quick, because I told you I
Speaker 1: didn't I haven't told the public on this podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: actually I actually would not have a ballot of postseason
Speaker 1: ballot this year. I declined to vote last season for
Speaker 1: a reason and they forgot to take me off the
Speaker 1: non voting list. So I'm not I won't have a ballot,
Speaker 1: but as a right now, like I think I'm leaning
Speaker 1: towards MB, but I just don't agree on the premise
Speaker 1: of voters fatigue. I don't leave in the premise of
Speaker 1: all he shouldn't have got last year, So let's reward
Speaker 1: Joel now, like I'm going by year to year and
Speaker 1: so that I just wanted to interrupt and say that, well,
Speaker 1: that makes two of us because I haven't voted since
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, so that means this league, uncut, will be
Speaker 1: casting zero official ballots when it comes to year end awards.
Speaker 1: And I was thinking, do we need to do We
Speaker 1: might need to do a pod? Where should we do
Speaker 1: a pod next week where after the regular season's over
Speaker 1: we go through our mythical choices and say who we
Speaker 1: would have voted for in every category. I don't know
Speaker 1: if no problem, I don't know if people would be
Speaker 1: interested in that. I am still leaning Yokich and I'm
Speaker 1: with you. I came into the season. I don't want
Speaker 1: to hear about voter fatigue. I don't want to hear
Speaker 1: about But now he'll have three in a row and
Speaker 1: only Bill Russell and Will and Larry Birder at three
Speaker 1: in a row, and we can't put Yoki on the
Speaker 1: three in a row list. I'm with you. It is
Speaker 1: a season two season award. The way that I've always
Speaker 1: voted has been who has the best season? Every season?
Speaker 1: Is a story unto itself. I think the combination of
Speaker 1: Denver leading the West wire to wire with only one
Speaker 1: All Star, and then all the numbers that Yoki has
Speaker 1: stacked up along the way. That's why I think he
Speaker 1: has a slight edge. But I have to say, you know,
Speaker 1: and Beat is right there, and I continue to be marvel.
Speaker 1: I continue to marvel at how little mentioned Yannis is
Speaker 1: getting because the Bucks are going to have the best
Speaker 1: record in the league. Chris Middleton will not be playing
Speaker 1: even forty games this season due to all the injury
Speaker 1: woe he's had. Yes, he's still as Drew Holiday as
Speaker 1: a teammate. Yes, Broke Lopez is born again. The Bucks
Speaker 1: have a lot of good vets who know what they're doing.
Speaker 1: But Jannis has had another MVP caliber season that we
Speaker 1: really don't discuss. So I think you could make a
Speaker 1: case for any of the three that is and it
Speaker 1: is the correct one. They all have a real strong case.
Speaker 1: You know. If I were voting, I would wait till,
Speaker 1: you know, the season end Sunday. Ballots are not due
Speaker 1: back to the league office till Monday. I would not
Speaker 1: turn my ballot in until Monday, because the choice is
Speaker 1: that hard and that important. But like I don't as
Speaker 1: long as your choice is Yoki or Joe or Janie,
Speaker 1: you know, do you As long as it's one of
Speaker 1: those three, I'm fine with it. You can make a
Speaker 1: case for any of the three. So okay, you can
Speaker 1: say that, but you know good and Wales Stein, there's
Speaker 1: gonna be somebody out there who gets a first place.
Speaker 1: There's my dog again. Oh boy, your dog's name is Prince. Correct,
Speaker 1: my dog's name is Prince. So does Prince. Do you
Speaker 1: think that's because he doesn't like our performance or he
Speaker 1: just wants to be known. I can tell you exactly
Speaker 1: what it is. Our neighbors just got a dog two
Speaker 1: weeks ago, a male dog, and so every time they come,
Speaker 1: oh man, it's it's brutal. It's I told you the
Speaker 1: origin of Prince. How we how we got him? No,
Speaker 1: I don't if you did, I've already forgotten, which is
Speaker 1: no surprise because my memory sucks. I don't think you have.
Speaker 1: I don't remember that. So boy, I'm dreading. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry everybody. If I'm saying that, yes, this this
Speaker 1: is not my pet, it's my daughter's pet, I should
Speaker 1: say that this is their dog. So when I got
Speaker 1: called to go into the bubble, it was three days before.
Speaker 1: It was three days before they wanted me to go.
Speaker 1: So they wanted me to go in the bubble for
Speaker 1: spending spend, spend three and a half months in the bubble.
Speaker 1: Leave Monday, but they informed me on Friday and I
Speaker 1: had to make the choice within two days. So my kids,
Speaker 1: my two my two youngest daughters, who were like ten
Speaker 1: to eleven at the time, I told them, Hey, I
Speaker 1: gotta go in the bubble. I gotta be going for
Speaker 1: three and a half months. And they just broke down, cry,
Speaker 1: broke down, crying, and I knew they wanted a dog.
Speaker 1: So I said, baby, so just to just to make
Speaker 1: this a peaceful transition for me leaving the house all
Speaker 1: that time, I said, girls, girls, don't cry, I be
Speaker 1: a dog. I'll give you a dog. And they just
Speaker 1: tears dried up. What okay? So I was happy, happy.
Speaker 1: It was a peaceful transition me going into the bubble.
Speaker 1: And then I didn't have to deal with the dog
Speaker 1: for three and a half months because I was in
Speaker 1: the bubble. And then when I got here, oh boy,
Speaker 1: it's it's another it's another. It feel like another human
Speaker 1: I'm taking care of. And so I get the dog,
Speaker 1: get the dog barks. They they're asking me to walk
Speaker 1: the dog, and I'm like, no, this is your dog.
Speaker 1: You should walk the dog. So there's there's a lot.
Speaker 1: I love the dog, really good. Dog barks a whole
Speaker 1: lot because there's other dogs around. That's the origin of
Speaker 1: how we became a dog family. You one bazillion percent
Speaker 1: did not tell me that story before, because I would remember.
Speaker 1: I remember, I would have remembered if it. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's an NBA story. It's it's I mean the bubble. Man,
Speaker 1: I was there fifty three days, and you were there
Speaker 1: twice as long as me. I mean like you were
Speaker 1: there over you were there more than one hundred days,
Speaker 1: and like I'm a born traveler, but that number still
Speaker 1: staggers me because after fifty three days, I was ready
Speaker 1: to be done, and I can't believe that you had
Speaker 1: to basically go another fifty plus days. I believe it
Speaker 1: was in nine I believe. I believe it's one hundred
Speaker 1: and nine days and there. I mean, yeah, I really
Speaker 1: don't know how you did it. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: it was a you know, it was it was hard,
Speaker 1: it was real. I'll tell you right now, Stu, I
Speaker 1: feel like going back in that bubble right hearing this
Speaker 1: dog bark right here right beside me. Man, I will
Speaker 1: say this like I'm so glad I went, Like, I
Speaker 1: love that I can say that I was there for that,
Speaker 1: Like that was. Yeah. I mean I think we'll always
Speaker 1: remember being you know, I mean living living on planet NBA.
Speaker 1: I mean it was. It's just so crazy to think about.
Speaker 1: Like I still, like I actually was going through my
Speaker 1: phone there day. I found some old pictures and like,
Speaker 1: I loved the beginning when there were twenty two teams
Speaker 1: in the Bubble and literally, um there were some teams
Speaker 1: that nobody was paying attention to, including at the time,
Speaker 1: the Phoenix Suns. I mean, you know, Phoenix went there
Speaker 1: with the longest odds of anybody to try to get
Speaker 1: into the playoffs, and that was kind of the start
Speaker 1: of Phoenix's success Undermany Williams, and and you know they
Speaker 1: went I think they went eight no the Bubble. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they missed by like a half game. But I remember
Speaker 1: going to the Sun's practices and being the only reporter there,
Speaker 1: like nobody was paying attention to them. Same thing. I
Speaker 1: remember going to a Washington Wizard's practice and Scotty Brooks
Speaker 1: was so happy to see me. I thought he was
Speaker 1: gonna let me jump in the layup lines because like
Speaker 1: they they were so happy that somebody was paying attention.
Speaker 1: I mean it was an incredible I mean, once in
Speaker 1: a lifetime experience for sure. But yeah, you doing you.
Speaker 1: I was happy with my feet three days, one hundred
Speaker 1: and nine, Man, one hundred and nine, you had Stein,
Speaker 1: That's that's that was a time where you you got
Speaker 1: to know your colleague is on a different level and
Speaker 1: a more personal level. And me and you always been tight.
Speaker 1: But just just seeing how you move was always common.
Speaker 1: I mean, just just to see like Stein would actually
Speaker 1: you know Stein, you know, he's a weird guy. Hold on,
Speaker 1: what's what's one? Hold on? Where do you think I'm
Speaker 1: going my writing habits? Yes, you're right, so Stein. You know,
Speaker 1: common folks, regular people. We tend to go on our
Speaker 1: laptops and write our stories that way, you know, the
Speaker 1: traditional way you go gather quotes, get your information. Then
Speaker 1: you go sit at a desk, sit at a desk,
Speaker 1: you know, go to your room. You know, common folks stuff.
Speaker 1: So I would say this though, my time working with
Speaker 1: working at ESPN and working alongside Stein, that was when
Speaker 1: so I got to ESPN. What year was that, probably seventeen, yeah,
Speaker 1: sixteen seventeen, So that year working with you. I started
Speaker 1: because I saw you. I started writing on my phone
Speaker 1: and so I would probably I'm being honest, probably seventy
Speaker 1: eight of the stories are right, or the reports that
Speaker 1: I that I report on. I write strictly from my phone,
Speaker 1: and that's from Stein. I just got better at it,
Speaker 1: and it's a habit. But Stein takes it to another level.
Speaker 1: So Stein writes his stories from his BlackBerry for the
Speaker 1: most most of the time. But not just that. Stein
Speaker 1: would walk in a circle for hour, maybe even longer
Speaker 1: than hour, just walk in a not a big circle,
Speaker 1: just walk in a circle. And he's writing and I'm like,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? And he was like, well, writing
Speaker 1: the story and I'm like, no, this walking around the
Speaker 1: circle we're doing. Oh, I'm just getting my steps in
Speaker 1: just just exercise. It's my way of getting my steps.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you are so weird, Like go sit down,
Speaker 1: I go see Like I get right in on the
Speaker 1: phone now because I do it. No, he will pace,
Speaker 1: pace around, just walk in a circle writing. He can
Speaker 1: do that, Like I'm I would be afraid that I'm
Speaker 1: gonna run into something. Stein That's how he gets down.
Speaker 1: So it's that that was just just seeing how you roll,
Speaker 1: just seeing how you get down with your job. That
Speaker 1: was pretty cool to see. You know, there's a couple
Speaker 1: of things. See what happened. The reason it was is
Speaker 1: because in kind of our wing of the bubble, the
Speaker 1: the you know what was that what was it called Disney.
Speaker 1: We were Coronado Springs. We were in the Coronado Springs
Speaker 1: Hotel in the bubble, and in our building where all
Speaker 1: the journalists were, and there were about twenty of us
Speaker 1: at one time. We're all basically in the same building.
Speaker 1: There was a courtyard, a circular courtyard, so I would
Speaker 1: just walk in that courtyard and right on my phone.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. In that Orlando humidity. You combine
Speaker 1: that Orlando humidity with the fact that we were I
Speaker 1: was eating less than I ever have because I could
Speaker 1: not stomach the food that was provided for. I basically
Speaker 1: only ate once a day because there was a very
Speaker 1: There was like a window from like four to ten
Speaker 1: where you could order delivery, so I would only eat
Speaker 1: basically once a day. You combine my lessoned eating with
Speaker 1: writing in the heat, and I came back from the
Speaker 1: bubble and I was down about twenty pounds. Is the
Speaker 1: best the best physical shape I've been in in ages,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately it didn't last. So that right was actually good. Man,
Speaker 1: It was like it was like an exercise course. Stein.
Speaker 1: Remember I got reprimanded in the bubble for coming over
Speaker 1: to your to your coming over to your hotel road
Speaker 1: while you were in quarantine. Oh my goodness, that's that's
Speaker 1: knocked on. You knocked on my door. And like the
Speaker 1: security guards were interviewing us, like, what did you what happened?
Speaker 1: They hear me up in THEIA ladd the bubble. Multiple
Speaker 1: security guards hit me up. I went through it. They investigated.
Speaker 1: Chris Haynes and Malika Andrews got to go to the
Speaker 1: bubble like ten plus days before the rest of us.
Speaker 1: So you two were already through protocol able to go
Speaker 1: out into the world and report everybody else who got there.
Speaker 1: The first thing you had to do was quarantine for
Speaker 1: seven to ten days. I can't remember it was seven
Speaker 1: or ten seven seven days. First seven days, you're just behind.
Speaker 1: You're in your room, you can't leave, and I'm in
Speaker 1: there for fifteen minutes and Chris Hayes is trying to
Speaker 1: break in, and man, I went not I took video
Speaker 1: of it. I don't know why I did that. I
Speaker 1: took video. I went to Stye because it's the quarantine area.
Speaker 1: So again Start is in his room. So I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go over there. I'm a knocking is doing run.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to see his star pokes his head out,
Speaker 1: so I go over there. I recorded it. So I
Speaker 1: go to his room, knocking is doing it. I run,
Speaker 1: So I run and hide around a quarter. I am
Speaker 1: about fifteen feet away, and I see stein head piece's
Speaker 1: head out. He's like, what are you doing? What are
Speaker 1: you doing? And from that point though NBA got a
Speaker 1: hold of the video, saw it, investigated me, interrogated me,
Speaker 1: talk to you star. Can you imagine if I had
Speaker 1: been kicked out of the bubble, if I had to
Speaker 1: I was at the New York Times. That if I
Speaker 1: had to call the New York Times and say, I've
Speaker 1: been here for an hour and I've already been forced
Speaker 1: I've been asked to leave because Chris Haynes, not Chris
Speaker 1: Haynes had the temerity to knock on my door. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: We you know, we've gone so long with bubble stories.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna next. I'm gonna figure out when to tell
Speaker 1: a bubble story about you. But we're not gonna do
Speaker 1: that now because we've gone too long. We need to
Speaker 1: get back to the NBA news. Let's let's let's do
Speaker 1: a little coaching before we go. The Nick Nurse situation
Speaker 1: in Toronto is fascinating. There have been rumblings about Nick
Speaker 1: Nurse and Toronto parting ways at season season's end. It's
Speaker 1: kind of been percolating. I think I heard it for
Speaker 1: the first time in February, but I didn't write it,
Speaker 1: and frankly, I wasn't sure how much credence to give
Speaker 1: it because the Raptors got off to that terrible start.
Speaker 1: They were twenty three and thirty. But since then they're
Speaker 1: sixteen and nine. They've you know, basically been you know,
Speaker 1: a much better team here since the trade deadline, and
Speaker 1: you know, all their main guys have been in trade
Speaker 1: rumors all season long. But the other night before a
Speaker 1: game in Philly, you know, Nick Nurse was asked kind
Speaker 1: of where his head's at about the future, and Nick,
Speaker 1: with his quotes basically gave gave some life to the
Speaker 1: idea that you know, yeah, you know, Nick said, I've
Speaker 1: basically Nick and I'm paraphrasing here, but Nick basically said,
Speaker 1: I've been with this team for ten years, five five
Speaker 1: as in assistant, five as the head coach, and at
Speaker 1: season's end, we're all going to step away and kind
Speaker 1: of evaluate things. And you know, the quotes have just
Speaker 1: kind of given life now to this storyline, and I,
Speaker 1: you know, I I tend to think we're going to
Speaker 1: be hearing a lot more about it between now and
Speaker 1: the end of the season, even though the Raptors, you know,
Speaker 1: have picked up their play and you know they're they're
Speaker 1: not going to get in the top six, but they're
Speaker 1: certainly in the mix for seven or eight and needing
Speaker 1: only one plan when to get to the playoffs. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, kind of what was your reaction hearing hearing
Speaker 1: where Nick Nick took the conversation the other day, Not
Speaker 1: really that surprise, because yes, I've heard those rumblings myself.
Speaker 1: It reminded me of a similar quote or comments that
Speaker 1: Nate McMillan had before he was let go from the Hawks.
Speaker 1: He said that he would take time after the season
Speaker 1: to decide his fate, and usually that's that's interesting to
Speaker 1: hear that when when a coach still has years left
Speaker 1: on his contract. You know, when the coach starts talking about, hey,
Speaker 1: i'll evaluate you know where I'm at. You know, when
Speaker 1: you when a coach has a year or two left,
Speaker 1: I'll let you know there's some trouble brewing behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: So with Nick Nurse situation, you know, we've been hearing
Speaker 1: this for a while. Toronto Raptors had a disappointing season,
Speaker 1: definitely for their standards, and you know, we've been hearing
Speaker 1: about players being disgruntled with their roles. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: there's other things behind the scenes that have happened that
Speaker 1: that hadn't seen the light yet. But I think, um,
Speaker 1: I think Nick's Nurse. I think Nick Nurse is a
Speaker 1: really good coach. You know, I used to talk to
Speaker 1: him a lot when he was a G League coach,
Speaker 1: when he was on the when he was just on
Speaker 1: the on the up, and you knew, you knew he
Speaker 1: would find his way. And so even if this is
Speaker 1: the last season with the Raptors, I it would be
Speaker 1: hard to imagine that he will not be a head
Speaker 1: coaching this league somewhere next season. So I'm trying to
Speaker 1: I'm trying to up segue that, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Try to lead people in the right direction here, but
Speaker 1: Nick Nurse is going to be Yeah, I mean, the
Speaker 1: reality is the talk has already started about Nick potentially
Speaker 1: surfacing in Houston. And then the other layer of this
Speaker 1: that I didn't mention. Uh, you know, Steve Bullpet and
Speaker 1: Doug Smith have both written this before I'm saying it.
Speaker 1: You know that that Emay Udoka's name is coming up
Speaker 1: in Toronto because I think it's pretty well known that
Speaker 1: Massiau Jerry is an Emay Udoka fan, and Emay was
Speaker 1: considered in Toronto's search previously when Nick Nurse got the
Speaker 1: job to replace Dwayne Casey. So it's it's it's just
Speaker 1: interesting that this Toronto talk has already started and it's
Speaker 1: really picked up here in the last week plus, when
Speaker 1: you know, Toronto's season is still very much alive again.
Speaker 1: They're in the play in. Whether they finished eighth, ninth,
Speaker 1: tenth in the East is still to be determined, but
Speaker 1: you know, Toronto is going to be in the play
Speaker 1: in and could very well emerge from the plan with
Speaker 1: a playoff spot. So, I mean, their season is not
Speaker 1: necessarily even close to being over, and this stuff is
Speaker 1: already bubbling, So that that's the surprise, and then you know,
Speaker 1: Greg Popovich is another situation where Greg Popovich. Look, I
Speaker 1: don't want to sit here and act like I know
Speaker 1: what he's going to do, but if you ask me
Speaker 1: to look in my crystal ball, I tend to believe
Speaker 1: that Pop will be back next season, even though he
Speaker 1: just turned seventy four in January. And I think even
Speaker 1: I can say with even greater confidence, you know, he's
Speaker 1: not just gonna walk away before the draft lottery. The
Speaker 1: draft lottery is May sixteenth. What if San Antonio wins
Speaker 1: the lottery and wins the right to draft Victor wemban Yama.
Speaker 1: I would imagine that Pop would want at least one
Speaker 1: year coaching Monsieur Wemby, So you know, I don't you know,
Speaker 1: maybe Pop will decide that this is it, but I
Speaker 1: don't imagine that that's something that he would declare before
Speaker 1: the draft lottery. But just like Nick Nurse, Pop's own
Speaker 1: words here have kind of put some doubt into the mix.
Speaker 1: Because Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express News had
Speaker 1: a piece last week and there's the quote in there
Speaker 1: from Pop where Pop himself says their quote, there are
Speaker 1: those nights when I say, what the hell am I
Speaker 1: doing here? Do I need to do this? So when
Speaker 1: a coach says that publicly, it naturally makes muckrakers like you,
Speaker 1: and I wonder if he's trying to tell us something.
Speaker 1: And you know, again, I don't think we have a
Speaker 1: definitive steer one way or the other. You know, if
Speaker 1: I was forced to forecast, I still tend to think
Speaker 1: he comes back for one more. But let's see, let's
Speaker 1: see what's Let's see where that goes. Yeah, I understand
Speaker 1: why he would say something like that with the current
Speaker 1: team that he has. He doesn't have Victor on that roster.
Speaker 1: I think his team would change a little bit if
Speaker 1: they were to get that guy. He does not the Spurs.
Speaker 1: I'm actually assembling. We're taping this on a Monday night.
Speaker 1: I'm assembling my last power rankings of the season. The
Speaker 1: Spurs have eight losses by thirty five points or more
Speaker 1: this season. That is a league single season record. Have
Speaker 1: you had any Spurs games this season? If they've been
Speaker 1: on national TV? Have you had any Have you had
Speaker 1: any sideline interactions with Pop lately? No? The last Spurs
Speaker 1: game idea was for TNT. That was my last game
Speaker 1: when the NBA postponed the season when they stopped playing,
Speaker 1: I was, I was it was a Santonio Spurs. I
Speaker 1: forget who they were playing, but I was in San Antonio,
Speaker 1: so it was it was a Spurs game. And that's
Speaker 1: when it was Actually it was funny because they were
Speaker 1: NBA was trying to implement a you know that the
Speaker 1: distance or where you should stand back. So that was
Speaker 1: like the first game they were trying to implement some
Speaker 1: type of protocol. And then right after that game that
Speaker 1: was it. NBA, NBA stop. So I was in San
Speaker 1: Antonio when all that happened. That's the last time. So
Speaker 1: that's twenty twenty three years. Dan. Wasn't that your very
Speaker 1: first game or I'm not not that my first sideline
Speaker 1: assignment my first So yeah, my first sideline assignment was
Speaker 1: Lakers Spurs in LA. Yeah. But yeah, so I haven't
Speaker 1: had yet. So I haven't had a Spurs game since
Speaker 1: my first year UM as a sideline porter for TNT
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. All right, I think we're gonna put
Speaker 1: a on this one before that, well on before that,
Speaker 1: let me let me throw this just please tell me
Speaker 1: this is not another story about one of my bad habits. No, No,
Speaker 1: we'll say that we got more time. We'll say that, hey,
Speaker 1: I got another I had another mask, little minor masks, nugget,
Speaker 1: Let me rub it in your face, Stine an little
Speaker 1: little another man, as nugget, Jared Dudley's sources told me,
Speaker 1: will be coaching the Maverick Summer League team on his
Speaker 1: quest to game more experienced, to be coming a top
Speaker 1: flight head coach candidate, head coaching candidate in NBA. How
Speaker 1: you feel about that? Start? As soon as we finished
Speaker 1: recording this, I'm gonna call everyone I know in Portland
Speaker 1: to see what I can come up with. A congress
Speaker 1: to Jared Dudley, I'm done. Start, I'm done, No, Jared Dudley.
Speaker 1: Jared Dudley was, as you noted. You also wrote in
Speaker 1: your piece about how Kenny Atkinson wanted to bring him
Speaker 1: to Charlotte, had Kenny Atkinson taking the job that he
Speaker 1: initially accepted. Of course, he decided not to take that
Speaker 1: Charlotte job in the end, But yes, I you know
Speaker 1: Jared Dudley is He's had a very strong impact in
Speaker 1: his short time as an assistant coach in Dallas, and
Speaker 1: I do think I do think we're going to see
Speaker 1: him someday as an NBA head coach. I agree with you,
Speaker 1: that would be cool. That'd be really cool. Stun Just
Speaker 1: stay off my beat, though, I will. I'll look out
Speaker 1: for you next. I'm like I said, I'm hit. I'm
Speaker 1: hitting the phones as soon as we're done, seeing how
Speaker 1: many five or three numbers I can find in my phone.
Speaker 1: That does it for another edition of This League Uncut.
Speaker 1: Chris and I will be back in a matter of
Speaker 1: days with another episode. This week, we are still working
Speaker 1: on the aforementioned surprise. That's all I can tell you
Speaker 1: for now, but I promise everyone is going to like it.
Speaker 1: Everyone enjoy the final week of the NBA's seventy seventh
Speaker 1: regular season. And this is very important. Please rate, review,
Speaker 1: subscribe to This League Uncut, Stay with us. We'll be
Speaker 1: back with another episode of Careboy and that'll do it
Speaker 1: for us. See you next time. This League Uncut is
Speaker 1: an I Heart Radio production bosucka Loca Chris Hanes and
Speaker 1: Mark Steyn