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Speaker 1: I'm in trouble again. Nobody at the house is speaking

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Speaker 1: with me. We went to my grandson's basketball game today,

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Speaker 1: and apparently the rules have changed now. When I was

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Speaker 1: a kid, if you're playing ball and you missed your

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Speaker 1: free throws, the crowd would boo you and get on

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Speaker 1: your ass. When my kids were kids, if you missed

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Speaker 1: your free throws, the crowd would bow you and get

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Speaker 1: on your ass. Apparently it's frowned upon for you to

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Speaker 1: heckle the little kids now, so you can't tell a

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Speaker 1: child you suck and boo them.

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Speaker 2: Oh you g.

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Speaker 1: Baby, you missed your free throws. Them the rules I

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Speaker 1: didn't make them.

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Speaker 3: Good Morning's sword then. Welcome to the No Dunks podcast

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Speaker 3: on the Athletic Network. It's Thursday, May sixth j E.

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Speaker 3: Skeets along with my top Shaw Hotboy, Trey Kirby. Hey, Hey,

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Speaker 3: the International Man Mystery taking it to the Max leellis

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Speaker 3: Friendly making the magic happen. JD. Hello, There he is

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Speaker 3: and today, as you can see here on the stream

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Speaker 3: team joined by a very special guest. He's the author

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Speaker 3: of the brand new book bubble Ball Inside the NBA's

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Speaker 3: Fight to Save a season. He might be the only

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Speaker 3: guy who actually does more podcasts than we do here

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Speaker 3: at No Dunks from the Washington Post, It's Ben Culliver.

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Speaker 3: What's up, Ben?

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Speaker 4: What Up? What Up? I wish I came with a catchphrase.

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Speaker 4: I should have thought it would.

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Speaker 3: That's all right, we'll figure it out as we do

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Speaker 3: this podcast here. Ben going to be joining us for

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Speaker 3: the entire show. We are going to get to Ben's

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Speaker 3: new book. A bunch of questions about this fantastic book,

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Speaker 3: bubble Ball, and his experience down there in the crazy

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Speaker 3: Disney World complex. But we're gonna talk a little hoops

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Speaker 3: with Ben. Two shout out to the stream team joining

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Speaker 3: us live live right now on YouTube. Smash that like button,

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Speaker 3: leave your comments, subscribe, email us your questions and comments

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Speaker 3: for the next beach step in podcast No Dunks. At

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Speaker 3: the Athletic dot Com, we hit the beach yesterday had

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Speaker 3: a blast as always. Uh. We discussed the Lakers path

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Speaker 3: to the finals. Should they actually consider falling into the

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Speaker 3: play in tournament? Is that insane? We got into that.

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Speaker 3: We talked about our favorite legendary players who have flamed

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Speaker 3: out quickly, guys like Keon Clark and Ben Gordon and others,

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Speaker 3: and we debated just how many times we ate poutine

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Speaker 3: on live television? Ben, Have you ever had poutine? Do

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Speaker 3: you even know what it is?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's pretty sad. The first time I ever had

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Speaker 4: pooch is actually with one of your fellow Canadians, Holly McKenzie,

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Speaker 4: in Las Vegas during lumber League. I had no idea

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Speaker 4: what it was. It was probably like a two am

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Speaker 4: trip at a hotel restaurant. It was incredible. There's actually

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Speaker 4: this eight poutine place just outside Dearborn, Michigan. I go

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Speaker 4: to watch the University of Michigan play football every year.

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Speaker 4: They've got like a Mexican poutine where they also on

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Speaker 4: top of it, they've got all these different flavors Indian

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Speaker 4: poutine with a little curry twist, so you know, it's

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Speaker 4: not the classic Canadian. You guys are probably snubbing your noses,

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Speaker 4: but man, I'll any way you put it together with awesome.

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Speaker 3: Well that's fantastic to hear. I'm happy you even know

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Speaker 3: what it is. Let alone have tried it. So again,

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Speaker 3: we're gonna get to your book, Ben, I loved it.

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Speaker 3: I just finished it actually this morning. But we had

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Speaker 3: some games on last night. We had a whole bunch

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Speaker 3: of blowouts, if I'm being completely honest. But we'll go

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Speaker 3: quickly through some of the more notable games. And the

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Speaker 3: first one, Ben, we had Capella and the Hawks pull

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Speaker 3: away late to take the one thirty five one oh

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Speaker 3: three victory over the Phoenix Suns. And in related news,

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Speaker 3: on Tuesday, Draft Kings reported that a better in Colorado

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Speaker 3: placed a twenty thousand dollars bet on the Hawks to

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Speaker 3: win the NBA title one hundred to one odds. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: the same better placed another twenty k on Atlanta to

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Speaker 3: win the East at forty to one odds. And then

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Speaker 3: we had someone else like out in Vegas reportedly putting

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Speaker 3: a five thousand dollars bet on the Hawks to win

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Speaker 3: it all. I don't know what's going on here, Ben,

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Speaker 3: But what did these people know that we don't about

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Speaker 3: the red hot Atlanta Hawks? Here?

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Speaker 4: Are they?

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Speaker 3: I don't know? Are they title contenders? We'd be considering

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Speaker 3: them in the bunch of these other elite teams.

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Speaker 4: That just sounds like actroductible charity donations. I don't know

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Speaker 4: why you're handing your money away to these because seas

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Speaker 4: for no reason, I don't see it. Look for an

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Speaker 4: interesting team. They're going to give somebody a problem in

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Speaker 4: the first round because they can't put up a lot

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Speaker 4: of hodsight they did last night. There's no question, and

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Speaker 4: I think that Clint Cappella has started to get a

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Speaker 4: little buzz in terms of his overall defensive impact. It's very,

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Speaker 4: very warranted. I think my question though, is when you're

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Speaker 4: playing elite teams in the postseason, is Capella is still

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Speaker 4: going to hold up defensively, right, because he's one of

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Speaker 4: those guys who's been picked on in previous years and

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Speaker 4: he would actually go away from him a lot of

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Speaker 4: postseason because you know, he'd get out there and switches

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Speaker 4: and guards would kind of go to work on him.

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Speaker 4: He's not the most versatile defensive player in terms of

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Speaker 4: covering ground. Obviously incredible cheer defender, but you know, and

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Speaker 4: also offensively, he's kind of a one trick pony in

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Speaker 4: terms of being a finisher. So to me, that's kind

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Speaker 4: of a question, like their whole defense is going to

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Speaker 4: fall apart if he can get picked on in the postseason,

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Speaker 4: if God were able to kind of exploit him, similar

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Speaker 4: to some of what we've seen from the tai Jazz

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Speaker 4: and Rudy Gobert in past year, so I would say

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Speaker 4: terrible bet. Those guys should feel a shamed of themselves

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Speaker 4: and better luck next year.

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Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, maybe the Hawks winning the title even the

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Speaker 3: East is a little far fetched. But if they were

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Speaker 3: to play the Knicks in a first round matchup, where

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Speaker 3: would you lean right now?

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Speaker 4: Ben?

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Speaker 3: Because the Hawks are on fire. I mean, I know

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Speaker 3: we're joking around here with these bets, but yeah, since

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Speaker 3: Nate McMillen's coming in there, since they've gotten healthy, they

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Speaker 3: basically have their full squad back. No DeAndre Hunter still

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Speaker 3: I think Cam Reddish also still out, but yeah, a

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Speaker 3: lot of guys back in this lineup. Would you favor

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Speaker 3: the Knicks or a Hawks in a four or five

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Speaker 3: matchup in the first round?

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Speaker 4: But this is an easy choice for me, Skates. All right,

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Speaker 4: if you're telling me, I can come on here and

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Speaker 4: hate on the Knicks and get all your engagement and

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Speaker 4: your views up, or I can just maybe express some

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Speaker 4: doubts about the young Ox and no one's going to care.

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Speaker 4: No one for hating on the Knicks, all right. I

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Speaker 4: still think that he's got These guys are a cute story, right,

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Speaker 4: I mean, Julius Randall obviously playing way above his you know,

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Speaker 4: typical expectations for this season. He should win most of

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Speaker 4: Improved Player of the Year. He got a real taste

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Speaker 4: of what the MVP conversation looked like last night against

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Speaker 4: Niko le Jokic. I don't understand exactly how Julius Randall's

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Speaker 4: name has been floated, even in proximity to that thing.

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Speaker 4: But Jokic served him up pretty good. And that's been

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Speaker 4: happening all year, you know, for Yokic and his opponents.

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Speaker 4: But to me, I think that I will take Atlanta's

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Speaker 4: kind of two way balance. I think their defense is

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Speaker 4: gonna be good enough to get through that series. I

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Speaker 4: just questioned the Knicks offense. Are they going to be

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Speaker 4: able to generate enough points when everybody's playing hard in

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Speaker 4: the postseason. Is Julius Randall really going to be this

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Speaker 4: one man army who carries you through a series? I

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Speaker 4: say no, And let's go ahead and hear in the

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Speaker 4: comments from you know, Big Apple twenty two and Walt

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Speaker 4: Walt Fraser sixty three.

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Speaker 5: You know, it's fine, getting busy, you can.

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Speaker 2: Tell, but hang on, Ben, Julius Randall's putting out numbers

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Speaker 2: similar to what Larry Bird put up during his MVP season.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you don't give any sort of weight to

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Speaker 2: that there. I mean, it's been a great story that

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Speaker 2: really because you know Tiboeau coming in there, you know

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Speaker 2: Julius Randall playing and really you know, playing a significantly

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Speaker 2: important role here for the Nicks and getting them into

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Speaker 2: the playoffs. You don't think there's any sort of buzz there.

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Speaker 2: I mean, do you think he can finish in the

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Speaker 2: top five in the MVP voting?

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Speaker 4: The ls I want to hear young Lee Ellis lecture

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Speaker 4: you about not comparing current players legends like Larry Bird.

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Speaker 4: Come on, now, I don't do that. Oh no, hey,

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Speaker 4: I here. Season's been incredible. I never saw this from

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Speaker 4: Julius Randall. I mean two years ago, I was writing

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Speaker 4: him off as kind of a deadweight contact. I mean,

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Speaker 4: even look at how the NBA treated him in terms

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Speaker 4: of what kind of a deal he was able to get.

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Speaker 4: There was some close to a max off his free agency,

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Speaker 4: and he was coming out as highlightery pair with big stats.

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Speaker 4: I think people just thought he was an empty number guy.

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Speaker 4: He's improved in so many different ways. Obviously, the shooting

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Speaker 4: has been incredible, he's a much better playmaker. He early

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Speaker 4: in his career, he just put his head done, goes

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Speaker 4: straight into the paint, and it was like, well, that's

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Speaker 4: gonna be a turnover or a mislay up. Like every

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Speaker 4: single time he just had that one spin movee. It

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Speaker 4: was his only thing in his bag. So give him

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Speaker 4: a lot of credit for expanding. You know, I understand,

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Speaker 4: you know he's observed All Star this year for sure,

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Speaker 4: but past that, we need to just pump the brakes

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Speaker 4: a little bit. You know, it's gone a little too

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Speaker 4: out of control. And I don't want to hear that

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Speaker 4: rebird comparison for anybody except Luka Dungeitch and Nikola Jokic.

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Speaker 4: Those are the only two people right now who you

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Speaker 4: can put into that conversation. Lay, I'm ashamed of you, man,

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Speaker 4: I remember you watching those All Star videos back in

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Speaker 4: the eighties.

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Speaker 5: Are better than that league bens have changed. Ben Lee

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Speaker 5: is the biggest Nicks homer you've ever met.

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Speaker 3: At this point. Really weird.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, he used to be a fan of all thirty teams.

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Speaker 5: Now he's only a fan of the most famous team

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Speaker 5: in the league. But you've been around on the internet

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Speaker 5: for a while you've been doing basketball stuff for a

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Speaker 5: eight and a half. At this point, you know you

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Speaker 5: can't just be a good player. You can't just be

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Speaker 5: a most improved player. If you have a good season,

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Speaker 5: you're automatically in the MVP conversation. You're either an MVP

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Speaker 5: or you should be out of the league. That's the

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Speaker 5: Lee Ellis way, Especially now that he's bigging up his knicks.

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Speaker 5: Next thing, you know, he's gonna be one of the

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Speaker 5: guys saying a Manuel quickly has the best floater in

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Speaker 5: the league.

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Speaker 3: Well, here's the thing too, with the Hawks Knicks series, Lee,

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Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know if you're ever gonna get

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Speaker 3: down to the Fortress again this season to actually watch

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Speaker 3: games in person, but you know you're gonna have a

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Speaker 3: Hawks jersey on, and underneath it, you're gonna have your

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Speaker 3: Knicks T shirt and you're just gonna be going back

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Speaker 3: and forth game to game, quarter to quarter for the

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Speaker 3: which team you're cheering for.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is true, but honestly, honestly, you guys know

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Speaker 2: from down here Atlanta, the only time they sell out

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Speaker 2: is basically when the Knicks or the Lakers play. So actually,

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Speaker 2: that first round series would be great for business here

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Speaker 2: for the Atlanta Hawks because they would be at capacity

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Speaker 2: whatever that capacity is right now, which would be great,

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Speaker 2: But it would be a pretty fascinating first round. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I'm not sure who would be the favorite going into that.

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Speaker 2: I guess has home court probably slightly ahead, but both teams,

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Speaker 2: particularly the Atlanta Hawks, since Nate McMillan took over, I mean,

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Speaker 2: that's another story there, Ben, Like, did you see this

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Speaker 2: resurgence coming when they fired Lloyd Piers?

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Speaker 4: Well, I'll say this, I was pretty careful in terms

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Speaker 4: of my criticism of that decision to fire Lloyd Pierce,

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Speaker 4: because I think he's been an incredible communicator, He's a

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Speaker 4: great guy. He's always been very donerous had with his time.

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Speaker 4: But you look at all the investments they made coming

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Speaker 4: into this season, I definitely expected more than sort of

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Speaker 4: what they got early. And I know injuries were kind

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Speaker 4: of a problem, but I mean even things just like

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Speaker 4: body language and engagement with some of the players during

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Speaker 4: games and also how they closed games, it didn't surprise

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Speaker 4: me that they got a little bump after they moved

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Speaker 4: on from him. Now, did I think they were going

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Speaker 4: to completely turn their season around? And Nate McMillan is

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Speaker 4: some of like on the fringes of the Coach of

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Speaker 4: the Year race, even though he's only coached at this season.

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Speaker 4: I have you know, I did not see that part coming.

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Speaker 4: But Nate has been rock solid. I was he was

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Speaker 4: the coach of the Blazers actually when I first got

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Speaker 4: my start back in Portland. You know exactly what you're

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Speaker 4: gonna give them. Unfortunately, the Knicksons might count and say,

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Speaker 4: you know what you're going to get from Nate McMillan,

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Speaker 4: a playoff trip, first round exit. I mean, that's typically

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Speaker 4: been the standard for his teams, and so maybe that's

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Speaker 4: gonna happen again for or theyking buck that trend. We'll see.

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Speaker 3: Well, you brought up Yokic there and the Nuggets. They

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Speaker 3: reclaimed the number three seed last night, that huge win

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Speaker 3: over the next one. Yokich have twenty four in the

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Speaker 3: first quarter. It was something insane like that. It was

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Speaker 3: pretty impressive. I know you're on record as Yokic has

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Speaker 3: basically the runaway MVP favorite. There are the guys in

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Speaker 3: the conversation. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to

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Speaker 3: like disminish what they've done, but Yokich is your MVP pick?

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Speaker 3: Do you still though, consider the Nuggets like a title

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Speaker 3: contender after the Jamal Murray injury and Hayes out for

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Speaker 3: the season, Because I tell you in reading this book, man,

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Speaker 3: look at this synergy. I was like geeking out remembering

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Speaker 3: you reliving the Jamal Murray bubble explosion right in those

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Speaker 3: games in that series he had, especially against Donovan Mitchell.

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Speaker 3: But what do you think about Denver here moving forward?

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Speaker 3: Because they're winning still.

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Speaker 4: In the book, I call it Jamal the MVP, the

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Speaker 4: most bubble player. He boiled everything that was the bubble

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Speaker 4: down into his own self right like he was incredibly

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Speaker 4: like whimsical and fun and carefree on the court. And

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Speaker 4: yet it's all those interviews breaking down Breonna Taylor and

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Speaker 4: having some really challeeging moments as well, and everybody remembers

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Speaker 4: him back in the tunnel kind of doubled over, and

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Speaker 4: it was a classic moment where in the bubble, the

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Speaker 4: cameras were always on you, they were always watching. There

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Speaker 4: was that big brother vodyeat even have a moment to

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Speaker 4: collect itself in the tunnel. Otherwise somebody's you know, you're

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Speaker 4: on national TV. You might not even note, right, it

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Speaker 4: was a huge hit for them. At the same time,

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Speaker 4: Jokic is not getting enough hype. Guys. Look, the conversation

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Speaker 4: about him right now has focused on he's the clear

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Speaker 4: cut MVP. What that implies. It's sort of like he's

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Speaker 4: had the best season, he's the best guy for this year.

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Speaker 4: I think we need to expand that a little bit

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Speaker 4: and say he needs to be in the conversation as

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Speaker 4: just the best player in basketball period. Now. I do

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Speaker 4: the rankings every year. For me, it's been as like Lebron,

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Speaker 4: Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Jannis has typically been

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Speaker 4: my group that I'm kind of decided from who should

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Speaker 4: be the number one player in this sport. Jokic has

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Speaker 4: got to be in this category right now. Man, He's

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Speaker 4: a bigger impact on his team and his teammate's success

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Speaker 4: than anybody beside le Bron in the entire league. Think

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Speaker 4: he gets that level of love nationally, and I think

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Speaker 4: it's time. You watch how he's carried these guys through

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Speaker 4: a tough reseason stretch. You watch how well they played

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Speaker 4: when they were healthy for like you know, I don't

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Speaker 4: know it was through or four weeks, and now he's

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Speaker 4: done out Murray. It's incredible. I mean, Michael Porter Junior

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Speaker 4: is probably going to get a max contract. He should

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Speaker 4: have to tie fifteen percent of that too, Jokic as

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Speaker 4: a thank you for how well his life is set

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Speaker 4: up playing with the big guy. And another thing I

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Speaker 4: love about the Joker, the playoff Joker is a real deal.

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Speaker 4: He goes to a different level in the postseason. People

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Speaker 4: like to say playoff Pete. I mean, playoff Joker is

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Speaker 4: the exact opposite, where he will just set his game up.

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Speaker 4: He's got that beautiful mid range that he can hit

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Speaker 4: over anybody. He's been stepping out to three pointer or

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Speaker 4: shooting that he can beat you in the post. I mean,

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Speaker 4: he absolutely worked Zubach and for his last week, and

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Speaker 4: I mean it was a humbling, kind of an embarrassing

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Speaker 4: situation for la big guys. And so when I look

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Speaker 4: at them in the West, Okay, the liquors are Jokic's kryptonite,

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Speaker 4: right like Anthony Davis and those guys have kind of

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Speaker 4: figured out they can limit him. But nobody else in

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Speaker 4: the West has done a great job consistently. And so

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Speaker 4: you're saying, you know, Denver versus Phoenix, the series, I'm

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Speaker 4: taking Denver. If you're saying Denver versus the Clippers in

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Speaker 4: this series, I'm taking Denver. If you say Denver versus

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Speaker 4: Utah in a series that one's really close, I might

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Speaker 4: still barely favor Utah just because of Murray's absence, but

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Speaker 4: you know, they're still in the mix there. So I

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Speaker 4: do think that Denver should be viewed as a contender,

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Speaker 4: even if it's not like a top tier tenders point.

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Speaker 4: If somebody else takes care of the Lakers for them,

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Speaker 4: they've got a path to the finals, in my opinion.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the unfortunate part right now though as of today,

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Speaker 3: and this changes every twenty four hours the playoff standings,

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Speaker 3: but the Nuggets would have the Lakers leally in a

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Speaker 3: first round series, and that is the one team yeah,

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Speaker 3: been sort of conveniently left out there when going through

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Speaker 3: the Nuggets chances against some of these elite squads, I

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Speaker 3: don't think many people would be taking the Denver nugget,

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Speaker 3: especially without Jamal Murray in a first round series versus

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Speaker 3: Brian A. D and the Lakers. Would you be one

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Speaker 3: of them?

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Speaker 2: Leere No, I think I'd still take Lebron just because

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Speaker 2: we know he's done it, and we know he elevates

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Speaker 2: his game in the playoffs. Certainly, maybe in that first

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Speaker 2: game he takes a bit of a look, but then

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Speaker 2: he sort of puts the foot down, and you know,

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Speaker 2: that's another thing.

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Speaker 4: Ben.

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Speaker 2: You know, you're out there in la I don't know

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Speaker 2: if you're around the team as much at the moment,

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Speaker 2: but what are you feeling like, you know, just with

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Speaker 2: the way that the things have been going for the Lakers,

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Speaker 2: do you think right now they're concerned at all that

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Speaker 2: it looks like they probably won't have home court advantage

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Speaker 2: at all in that probably at all for as long

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Speaker 2: as they're in the playoffs, if everyone sort of wins out.

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Speaker 2: I mean, do you think though they can just you know,

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Speaker 2: when Lebron's saying he might not be healthy for the

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Speaker 2: rest of the season, the rest of his career. At

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Speaker 2: some point Anthony Davis was clearly significantly hurt with that

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Speaker 2: achilles strain. I think they called it. Do you think

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Speaker 2: they can just sort of flip that switch and be

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Speaker 2: the dominant team again or do you think maybe this

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Speaker 2: year it's not going to work out for them.

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Speaker 4: The MoU here in La is you know, clouds are

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Speaker 4: crashing out of the sky. The sky is falling. People

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Speaker 4: are freaking out about the Lebron ankle thing, and I

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Speaker 4: think it's justified. I mean, look, if the ankle's not right,

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Speaker 4: the Lakers aren't right, and they're a real threat to

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Speaker 4: go early in this postseason. Both Lebron and ad played

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Speaker 4: at an A or an A plus level in last

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Speaker 4: year's playoffs. That's why they rolled through everybody. The competition

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Speaker 4: and the path to the title this year will be

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Speaker 4: more challenging than it was last year, and they're they're

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Speaker 4: very good likelihood they're going to widen the play into me.

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Speaker 4: I think that if Lebron keeps missing a couple of

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Speaker 4: games here and there, they have a couple of head

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Speaker 4: to head matchups with really good teams right in the

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Speaker 4: same vicinity with them in the Western Conference, they could

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Speaker 4: easily slip the seven. I think that's why you saw

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Speaker 4: Lebron's comments about, hey, you know, we got to fire

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Speaker 4: the play in guy. This isn't fair, because I think

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Speaker 4: he's looking at the schedule and thinking, man, like, this

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Speaker 4: really could be our fate.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 4: I'm not going to against Lebron in a do or

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Speaker 4: die game in the play in absolutely, and I actually

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Speaker 4: think if they can draw Phoenix to s that is

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Speaker 4: their best case scenario at this point. I think if

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Speaker 4: I were them, I would rather play a slow down,

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Speaker 4: controlled pace Lebron versus CP head to head. Maybe could

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Speaker 4: throw Anthony Davis on Devin Booker a little bit like

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Speaker 4: they did with Jimmy Butler last year's playoffs. Just throw

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Speaker 4: a wrinkle at some of those guards and just count

385
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Speaker 4: on DeAndre Ayd and be not being ready for prime time.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I think that's the formula if you're the

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Speaker 4: Lakers in the first round. But I think it's going

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Speaker 4: to be very challenging them to repeat. And I wouldn't

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Speaker 4: have said that even before, Like I was giving the

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Speaker 4: Lakers all of the benefit of the doubt until Lebron

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Speaker 4: came back and immediately had more problems with the ankle

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Speaker 4: because they're out of time to ramp up here. You know,

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Speaker 4: they also don't have shrewder and so even when Lebron

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Speaker 4: does come back from the ankle here in the next

395
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Speaker 4: couple of days, they really have a deficit making and

396
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Speaker 4: ball handling for backcourt when Lebron's off the court. So

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Speaker 4: I think it's tough for them I understand why there's

398
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Speaker 4: so much anxiety and fret right now in LA. This

399
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Speaker 4: season has just been a seat of setbacks anybody they

400
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Speaker 4: didn't expect, and so I guess I'm kind of bracing for,

401
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Speaker 4: you know, this thing to go sideways. But you know,

402
00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:53,440
Speaker 4: sometimes we overreact to this stuff right before the playoffs.

403
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Speaker 4: That's an annual tradition, I think, But in this case,

404
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Speaker 4: I think it's warranted because you know, Lebron's quotes to

405
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Speaker 4: me are you know a little bit scary?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

407
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Speaker 4: True.

408
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Speaker 5: I remember people saying that Lebron was slowing down last

409
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Speaker 5: year in the playoffs in the second round, He's getting tired.

410
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Speaker 5: Is he gonna have enough left for the finals?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

412
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Speaker 4: He did.

413
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Speaker 5: It's fun to get worked up about Lebron especially, but

414
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Speaker 5: I would not put it against him to drop down

415
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Speaker 5: to the tenth seed, win two games in the play

416
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Speaker 5: and tournament, and go to the championship. Sure it's worth

417
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Speaker 5: being worried about it. This title feels very open right now.

418
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Speaker 5: You can talk yourself into eight or nine teams, and

419
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Speaker 5: that's why I think the Nuggets definitely still got to

420
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Speaker 5: be considered in the mix because jokis, like you're saying,

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Speaker 5: Ben he's having a season that once we're a few

422
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Speaker 5: years removed from this, we're gonna be like this guy's

423
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Speaker 5: at twenty six a game, eleven rebounds, eight and a

424
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Speaker 5: half assists, basically fifty forty ninety from the field as well.

425
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Speaker 5: Incredible stuff. Not dissimilar to Dirtnoviski twenty eleven, where he's

426
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Speaker 5: just on fire for an entire season that continues into

427
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Speaker 5: the playoffs. We saw it last year, We've seen it

428
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Speaker 5: in previous playoffs as well. Jokic is a clutch player,

429
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Speaker 5: man like, he hits clutch, buzzer beating shots. He can

430
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Speaker 5: get them over basically anybody, just like Dirk did back

431
00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,880
Speaker 5: in the day. It'll be tough for the Nuggets, no doubt,

432
00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,400
Speaker 5: especially with Murray. You saw that game against the Lakers

433
00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:10,720
Speaker 5: where I think there was fifty one points score between

434
00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,399
Speaker 5: Yokich and MPJ. They ended up with eighty three. And

435
00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:15,879
Speaker 5: that's where you're really really missing Jamal Murray. When the

436
00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,560
Speaker 5: game gets into an ISO situation. Porter's a decent ISO player.

437
00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:21,840
Speaker 5: Jokic is a good ISO player, but you gotta have

438
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:23,520
Speaker 5: a guy on the perimeter who's handling the ball and

439
00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:26,320
Speaker 5: able to break people down without Murray, it's gonna be tough,

440
00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:28,480
Speaker 5: but I can see enough driveway Dad dirks.

441
00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:31,679
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's so weird. With all these Western Conference teams.

442
00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:34,040
Speaker 3: I can convince myself they'll lose in the first round,

443
00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:36,560
Speaker 3: depending on the matchup, and then I can convince myself

444
00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,080
Speaker 3: they'll go to the finals because they are a lot

445
00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:41,159
Speaker 3: of really good teams, Like, like you said, the Nuggets

446
00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,359
Speaker 3: are still there, the Jazz, the Suns, the Lakers are

447
00:19:43,359 --> 00:19:45,320
Speaker 3: one of these teams. Hell even the Blazers and the

448
00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:47,239
Speaker 3: Mavericks and like it just goes on and on and

449
00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:49,760
Speaker 3: on the Clippers. I mean, I could see all of

450
00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,560
Speaker 3: those teams again, depending on who they played, one injury

451
00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:55,280
Speaker 3: here or there, losing in a first round series or

452
00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:56,879
Speaker 3: going to the finals. Is that crazy?

453
00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:57,080
Speaker 4: Ben?

454
00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:59,760
Speaker 3: Is it that wide open like TK saying to you,

455
00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:00,280
Speaker 3: is well?

456
00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:00,600
Speaker 4: Or is that?

457
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:02,879
Speaker 3: Is it a smaller group of teams now?

458
00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:05,080
Speaker 4: Typically I'm like a guy who says, there's three teams

459
00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:07,320
Speaker 4: who can really win the title in any given year, right,

460
00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:09,200
Speaker 4: But this year you've got the Lakers with the jury

461
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:11,720
Speaker 4: only for Lebron. But Anthony Davis has been kind of

462
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:13,919
Speaker 4: up and down since he's been coming back, and the

463
00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,240
Speaker 4: energy level there has been a little bit you know,

464
00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:18,920
Speaker 4: concerning I would say for some Lakers fans, but also

465
00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:20,520
Speaker 4: the heart and injury with Brooklyn. You know, I would

466
00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:24,040
Speaker 4: take Brookby comfortably if they were at strength in the East.

467
00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,000
Speaker 4: But right now, I think you've got to say all

468
00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:27,440
Speaker 4: three of the teams in the top East have a

469
00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:30,000
Speaker 4: real shot to win that conference. So I do think

470
00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:32,200
Speaker 4: it's completely wide open, and I think in Birds it's

471
00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:35,240
Speaker 4: a bubble hangover. Right, you had short off seasons who

472
00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:37,720
Speaker 4: had you know, weird off seasons where guys weren't maybe

473
00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:39,399
Speaker 4: able to do their typical thing to go ay and

474
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:41,879
Speaker 4: come back. You didn't have the real ramp up for

475
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:43,800
Speaker 4: the young players, so teams were trying to figure it

476
00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:45,879
Speaker 4: out earlier in the year. And you also had just

477
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:48,239
Speaker 4: guys in and out of lineup constantly with these hel

478
00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:52,160
Speaker 4: protocol violations and contact tracing. So for sure, it's been

479
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:54,800
Speaker 4: a much more unpredictable season. And you can look at

480
00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,000
Speaker 4: them two ways. You could say, hey, I love the chaos,

481
00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,040
Speaker 4: that'satly fun, or you can kind of snub your note

482
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,200
Speaker 4: out and to be like, well, so this doesn't really

483
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,080
Speaker 4: quite feel like a typical, normal, real season, especially with

484
00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:06,760
Speaker 4: no fans in the building. I'm kind of a traditionalist.

485
00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:08,639
Speaker 4: I've been a little bit down by the quality of

486
00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:11,000
Speaker 4: play during this regular season, but I think the last

487
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,159
Speaker 4: couple of weeks it's definitely stepped up as teams have

488
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:16,240
Speaker 4: gotten into these chases for the playoff spots, and so personally,

489
00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:21,800
Speaker 4: I'm expecting a really competitive, really intense, really unpredictable postseason

490
00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:24,040
Speaker 4: for sure, and I think that the fact that they

491
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,080
Speaker 4: have to travel again and go through those typical things

492
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,920
Speaker 4: will actually again just at another element that we didn't

493
00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:32,000
Speaker 4: see in the bubble, where guys just go to these

494
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:33,760
Speaker 4: grooves and the best players were able to kind of

495
00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,000
Speaker 4: win out. I think, you know, getting back into this

496
00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,600
Speaker 4: normal situation after a tough year, it's more of a

497
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,119
Speaker 4: leveling factor and a lot of teams can talk themselves

498
00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,000
Speaker 4: into having a shot. I do think it's eight or

499
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:45,200
Speaker 4: nine teams. I probably have five in the West, three

500
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,280
Speaker 4: in the East. So you guys have that that's eight, right, yeah,

501
00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:49,040
Speaker 4: I think so. Yeah.

502
00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:51,960
Speaker 5: But just to confirm here, you're not including the Hawks

503
00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:54,359
Speaker 5: because I just dropped forty k on a couple of backs.

504
00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:57,080
Speaker 5: Nervous here.

505
00:21:57,520 --> 00:21:59,440
Speaker 4: We got some charities. I mean, there's probably some good

506
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:01,320
Speaker 4: fishing chair. He's out there in Georgia that could have

507
00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:04,040
Speaker 4: used that ruddy tray. Come on now, you know? Yeah? Yeah.

508
00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:06,560
Speaker 2: Also, Ben, just to confirm, you're saying that like the

509
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:09,440
Speaker 2: Phoenix Suns, as great at seasons they've had, could be

510
00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:12,080
Speaker 2: vulnerable against the team like the Lakers in that first round,

511
00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:15,000
Speaker 2: simply because outside of Chris Paul, you know, Ayton and

512
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,000
Speaker 2: Devin Booker, of those guys have never been to the place.

513
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:18,120
Speaker 2: So that was that what you say. I just want

514
00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:20,840
Speaker 2: to notice, because I've said that a few times, Suns

515
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:22,200
Speaker 2: fans are going to come at you. They're going to

516
00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:24,960
Speaker 2: come at you hot, they want you basically saying they're

517
00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:25,960
Speaker 2: gonna win the championship.

518
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:28,560
Speaker 4: Bring it up. I've actually been impressed by the Phoenix

519
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:30,280
Speaker 4: Suns media. Look, I know there's going to be some

520
00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:32,080
Speaker 4: wing nuts on the internet who are like, we're the

521
00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:34,240
Speaker 4: best team in the league. Paul for MVP. I get that,

522
00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:36,320
Speaker 4: all right, And you asked to have your day. You've

523
00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:39,200
Speaker 4: certainly earned it after eleven years of you know, playoff

524
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,840
Speaker 4: absences and let's not even go down the track record

525
00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,240
Speaker 4: of the Marquise Chris era and the Dragon There era.

526
00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:47,280
Speaker 4: But we don't wanted to bring up old wounds. But

527
00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,200
Speaker 4: I've actually been impressed by the composure from the Phoenix

528
00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:53,160
Speaker 4: media and people I've talked to down there, because they're

529
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:55,760
Speaker 4: just riding high on this dream season. Chris Paul starts

530
00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:59,119
Speaker 4: into town, makes everybody look better. It's a completely different

531
00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:01,920
Speaker 4: organization was from top to bottom compared to two years

532
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,359
Speaker 4: ago in terms of how functional it's been. And I

533
00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:06,640
Speaker 4: think that there is a desire not to get ahead

534
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:08,600
Speaker 4: of themselves, at least in some of the conversations that

535
00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,360
Speaker 4: I've had, And I think that's the right mentality, because look,

536
00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:13,840
Speaker 4: there is absolutely no shame if you get the worst straw,

537
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,720
Speaker 4: you get that landline first round series against the Lakers

538
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:19,160
Speaker 4: and Lebron comes through and you know, puts up crazy

539
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:21,800
Speaker 4: playoff Lron numbers like that. Doesn't miss a bad season.

540
00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,040
Speaker 4: This has been a completely incredible season. To me, Phoenix

541
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:27,840
Speaker 4: in New York are the two biggest quote hunquote overachievers

542
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 4: or teams that surprise me more than anybody else. And

543
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 4: so like some people might say, oh, they lost in

544
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,080
Speaker 4: the first round, that would be a disaster, absolutely not.

545
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:38,840
Speaker 4: I feel like this about this Suns team like that

546
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:40,480
Speaker 4: I did about the Nuggets. A couple of years ago.

547
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:42,600
Speaker 4: Do you remember when Jokic first got into the playoffs

548
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 4: and they were like a really trendy upset pickin San

549
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,760
Speaker 4: Antonio in the first round. They barely survived that series.

550
00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:50,520
Speaker 4: But that's kind of how I feel about Phoenix too.

551
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 4: Let's keep in mind, it's the questions don't just start

552
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,159
Speaker 4: with their role players, they start with us Paul, and

553
00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:58,040
Speaker 4: this is a guy who's got to handle more minutes

554
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:00,639
Speaker 4: in the postseason, heavier low, He's going to need to

555
00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:04,120
Speaker 4: continue to execute in late game situations when defenses are

556
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,919
Speaker 4: ramped up, and he's generally hit the wall, you know,

557
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,240
Speaker 4: by the second round, you know, usually in his career,

558
00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 4: with one exception making the conference finals in Houston. So

559
00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:15,320
Speaker 4: he's got a lot to prove as well. But I

560
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:17,680
Speaker 4: think he's had an amazing season. I put him All

561
00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,120
Speaker 4: NBA Second Team. I was one of those guys screaming

562
00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:21,480
Speaker 4: that he had to be an All Star, even though

563
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:23,960
Speaker 4: his numbers weren't that great early this year. And I

564
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:26,680
Speaker 4: don't want to take away anything from them, but you know, look,

565
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 4: that's your lot in life. You've got to prove it.

566
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:31,080
Speaker 4: That's okay in Phoenix Suns if you guys do improve it,

567
00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:33,040
Speaker 4: the fans will get the dance on the internet. That's

568
00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:33,600
Speaker 4: how this game.

569
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,560
Speaker 3: Works, exact sactly. And back to before we move on

570
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,119
Speaker 3: to a couple other games. Just to the Lebron comments

571
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:42,680
Speaker 3: about his ankle, because I thought that was interesting Jake

572
00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:46,520
Speaker 3: and the stream team he writes in everything Lebron says

573
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,159
Speaker 3: to the media is so calculated. He's just setting the

574
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,840
Speaker 3: table for another Can he still do it run in

575
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:55,280
Speaker 3: the playoffs? And that's all it is? Jake might be right,

576
00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:57,560
Speaker 3: there could be some truth to that, because those comments

577
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,600
Speaker 3: TK about the ankle were a little like basically saying

578
00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:05,200
Speaker 3: like I'm I'm never gonna be like one hundred percent,

579
00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,560
Speaker 3: not paraphrasing, of course, but like real concern for it.

580
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,120
Speaker 3: But is that just Lebron doing a classic like, oh,

581
00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:14,879
Speaker 3: trying to turn himself somehow into an underdog.

582
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:18,200
Speaker 5: Here, Yeah, exactly, because I feel like Lebron was turning

583
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,840
Speaker 5: himself into an underdog last season too, by saying it's

584
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,199
Speaker 5: a major problem for the one seed to have to

585
00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:26,040
Speaker 5: sit and wait for this play in tournament to be

586
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:28,280
Speaker 5: done so we can play our first round playoff series.

587
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:30,959
Speaker 5: There's always something the guy knows how to play the games,

588
00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:33,520
Speaker 5: and maybe his ankle is bugging him because you know,

589
00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:35,439
Speaker 5: this isn't a guy that ever missed his time. He

590
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,240
Speaker 5: actually sat out for a long long time, so surely

591
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:43,080
Speaker 5: he's dealing with a longer healing recovering process. But yeah,

592
00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:45,200
Speaker 5: I don't know. I mean, like, it's crazy to think

593
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,919
Speaker 5: back that people really thought Lebron was slowing down in

594
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,120
Speaker 5: the playoffs last year, and they're gonna get tricked into

595
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:53,720
Speaker 5: it again. I think Lebron is gonna be fine this time.

596
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:54,439
Speaker 5: Come again.

597
00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:56,479
Speaker 3: Okay, we'll find out, all right, two more games from

598
00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,600
Speaker 3: last night, the Grizzlies overcome Anthony Edwards huge night and

599
00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:03,520
Speaker 3: they climbed back into the eighth seed. That's Memphis going up.

600
00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:03,720
Speaker 4: There.

601
00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,720
Speaker 3: A few questions off this game for you, Ben, whe

602
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:08,720
Speaker 3: where do you stand with the Rookie of the Year race?

603
00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:12,359
Speaker 3: You know, Anthony Edwards buckets in April obviously improved the

604
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,320
Speaker 3: Wolves actually somewhat of a half decent team, you know,

605
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,240
Speaker 3: like a five hundred like team after a brutal start

606
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,119
Speaker 3: to the season. Has Edwards done enough here? With LaMelo

607
00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,399
Speaker 3: Ball missing time there, I know he's back now to

608
00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 3: sort of sort of snatch that ROI from him? Or

609
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:27,879
Speaker 3: do you still have LaMelo as the front runner or

610
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 3: are you still waiting to even fill out your belt.

611
00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:32,680
Speaker 4: I haven't made my official pick yet, but I think

612
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:35,080
Speaker 4: I'll be leading Lamello. I was actually having a lot

613
00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:38,120
Speaker 4: of consideration to Tyrese Haliburton and Sacramento because I thought

614
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:40,000
Speaker 4: he had an offseason and maybe it went a little

615
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 4: bit overlooked. I think with Anthony Edwards, the problem for

616
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,480
Speaker 4: me was just so inefficient and such a big defensive

617
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,040
Speaker 4: liability earlier in this season for months and months that,

618
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:51,639
Speaker 4: like the strong scoring push here at the end, just

619
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,159
Speaker 4: feels a little bit too much like recentcy correction. So

620
00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 4: when we're looking at LaMelo's overall impact seen in long

621
00:26:57,560 --> 00:26:59,600
Speaker 4: change in their culture, really to be Charlotte Booz, I

622
00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:01,920
Speaker 4: think I would probably lean that direction, and I think

623
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:03,680
Speaker 4: him coming back down the stretch is going to be

624
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 4: able to help him solidify. It just gets his numbers up,

625
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:08,320
Speaker 4: gets his games played up, It puts him back in

626
00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:11,760
Speaker 4: people's times. But Anthony Edwards is ridiculous. I mean, what

627
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:13,800
Speaker 4: a game that was last night for him, But also

628
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 4: John Moran, that was a really really fun game, and

629
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,080
Speaker 4: I'm just glad that we're seeing games like that because

630
00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,359
Speaker 4: that's kind of contest, you know, this late season. I mean,

631
00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:23,119
Speaker 4: you can kind of toss that away if you wanted,

632
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:25,720
Speaker 4: if you're in Minnesota. But they're trying to build something

633
00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:28,919
Speaker 4: there after a really injury playing season, not having Russell

634
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:30,440
Speaker 4: for a lot of the year, and so I'm glad

635
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,400
Speaker 4: they've been able to generate here a little more over

636
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:35,919
Speaker 4: the last couple of weeks, you know, relatively speaking, and

637
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,240
Speaker 4: especially against Utah, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I

638
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,199
Speaker 4: know they're all laughing about that up in Minnesota, like

639
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,640
Speaker 4: how they just have the Jazz's number in the last

640
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,199
Speaker 4: couple of weeks. But they need something to build on

641
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:48,400
Speaker 4: as they head to this offseason because they could lose

642
00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:50,800
Speaker 4: their draft pick. That's going to be a huge body

643
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:54,760
Speaker 4: blow if they do. They've got this ownership change situation looming. Obviously,

644
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:56,520
Speaker 4: you've got Carlon Towns. His name is going to be

645
00:27:56,560 --> 00:27:58,680
Speaker 4: building I think these next couple of years in terms

646
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 4: of stars who might potentially be available for trade or

647
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:03,520
Speaker 4: or want out and just gonna be one of those

648
00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:06,800
Speaker 4: narratives that picks up the deeper he gets into his contract.

649
00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:10,520
Speaker 4: So they need causes for hope over Linings and Anthony

650
00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 4: Edwards has absolutely been that.

651
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:15,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent agree. He said, John Moran had

652
00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:17,119
Speaker 3: a great game thirty seven points, ten assists. He had

653
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:18,840
Speaker 3: been struggling over the last little bit too, so he

654
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,080
Speaker 3: needed a monster game like that. He said recently, he's

655
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:26,040
Speaker 3: a top five NBA point guard and no, look, these

656
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:27,840
Speaker 3: guys are wow. Wow.

657
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 4: I love Joe.

658
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,160
Speaker 3: I would say, like, these guys are superstars. And when

659
00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:33,000
Speaker 3: they're asked these things, it's like, what do you expect

660
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,679
Speaker 3: them to say no or something like that. But you

661
00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:39,040
Speaker 3: are saying, Okay, John Moran, you're great, you're young, you're talented,

662
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:41,040
Speaker 3: you're on your way maybe to getting into that group,

663
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 3: but not yet. Slower role is that you're saying, Ben.

664
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,000
Speaker 4: Do not try to paint me as a John Moran hter.

665
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:47,400
Speaker 4: I love this guy. I just think, you know, I

666
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:49,440
Speaker 4: can say I'm top four on this show right now

667
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:56,200
Speaker 4: because there's four people right I don't know on this

668
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:59,360
Speaker 4: show right now. Hey, if there was five point guards

669
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:01,400
Speaker 4: in the league, top five, but there, come on, you

670
00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:03,840
Speaker 4: guys know that's not true. It's good to have goals. Though.

671
00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:05,320
Speaker 4: He's going to get there. I mean, I think he's

672
00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,320
Speaker 4: going to be an All Star next season. But come on, now,

673
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,120
Speaker 4: let's just we don't have to do that. You don't

674
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:12,120
Speaker 4: have to get it to proactive. I like the idea

675
00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:14,920
Speaker 4: of speaking things into existence, though for sure, I think

676
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 4: positive reinforcement self talk is really, really, actually hopeful get

677
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:21,959
Speaker 4: you through a challenging season like this. He had the

678
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:24,959
Speaker 4: injury early. They've been in dogfights, man, They've been playing

679
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 4: tough games, and they're a really, really strong willed team.

680
00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 4: I think Taylor Jenkins the most underrated coach in the league.

681
00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:33,440
Speaker 4: If Bud gets fired in man, they need to go

682
00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:35,560
Speaker 4: grab Taylor Jackins. I don't even know if that's legal,

683
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,440
Speaker 4: but they should do that. That would be my movie. Yeah, well, look,

684
00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:41,960
Speaker 4: we figure it out. I mean, they didn't get busted

685
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 4: for that, bogged on things, so maybe be careful in Milwaukee, right.

686
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:46,600
Speaker 3: Yeah.

687
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 4: I like what Memphis is building. It's been tough with

688
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:51,920
Speaker 4: dout Jaron because those twos fit so well together. And

689
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:53,800
Speaker 4: he's gotten back here a little bit. He hasn't really

690
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:55,760
Speaker 4: been the same guy. You can't expect that this late

691
00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:58,360
Speaker 4: in the season, but you know, circle Memphis for next year.

692
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,840
Speaker 4: In terms of being a legit playoff team. My opinion, Lee,

693
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:02,800
Speaker 4: you would have been happier.

694
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,400
Speaker 3: I assume with Jah Moran saying instead of he's a

695
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:07,600
Speaker 3: top five NBA point GUARDE right now, that he's maybe

696
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:10,040
Speaker 3: on the list, the top five list of must watch

697
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 3: guys league because you you know, you're always clipping his

698
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:16,240
Speaker 3: highlights and getting them up on Twitter. And I've said

699
00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:17,960
Speaker 3: it before too, I think he is on the short

700
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:19,640
Speaker 3: list of guys I would pay a lot of money

701
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 3: to go sit courtside if I could, Yeah, and to

702
00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:23,520
Speaker 3: watch it. I think he's that much fun. But you

703
00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:25,480
Speaker 3: don't have him a top five point GUARDE yet? Is

704
00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:25,840
Speaker 3: that fair?

705
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:26,520
Speaker 4: No?

706
00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:26,920
Speaker 3: Not yet.

707
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:29,360
Speaker 2: I mean, he's kind of probably more consistent than you

708
00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:31,440
Speaker 2: think he is. But yeah, I just I mean, when

709
00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:33,920
Speaker 2: you're thinking like Steph and Dame and those sort of guys,

710
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:36,240
Speaker 2: he's not in that group. Just yeah, but there's no

711
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:39,160
Speaker 2: question that he could get there, you know. And I've

712
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:40,040
Speaker 2: made the comparison.

713
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 4: Ben.

714
00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:42,080
Speaker 2: You know, I'm not sure what you think about this

715
00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:44,520
Speaker 2: is he kind of has that sort of Kyrie Irving

716
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,360
Speaker 2: like ability to finish around the rim, you know, either hand,

717
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,840
Speaker 2: his body sort of falling, looks like he's lost control,

718
00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:51,880
Speaker 2: but then all of a sudden he switches hands and

719
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:53,600
Speaker 2: he's able to finish around the rim. I think that's

720
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:55,400
Speaker 2: very important for a young guy to be able to

721
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:58,480
Speaker 2: do that because that shot, it's not the prettiest shot

722
00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:00,400
Speaker 2: that he's got in the world, and he didn't really

723
00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:02,240
Speaker 2: hit one outside the paint until late in the game

724
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 2: there last night, So that I think is the biggest

725
00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 2: area of his game that he needs to improve. Is

726
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,720
Speaker 2: like to have a consistent, reliable, mid to deep rain shot.

727
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:12,800
Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be the threes like Staff or

728
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:15,080
Speaker 2: Dame Lillard, but it's almost like a Chris Paul. You

729
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:17,640
Speaker 2: know that when Chris Paul gets to his spot, you

730
00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:19,720
Speaker 2: know that's going in. And I just don't think jar

731
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 2: Moran has got that in his bag yet. But again,

732
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:24,360
Speaker 2: he's only in his second season. Chris Paul couldn't really

733
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:27,320
Speaker 2: shoot in his first couple of seasons. Tony Parker, Derek Rose,

734
00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:29,560
Speaker 2: you know, it takes time. So I think he's got

735
00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:31,520
Speaker 2: all Yeah, I think he's got all the tools in

736
00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:35,040
Speaker 2: his kit. But like everybody, just needs to grow and

737
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 2: mature his game. But certainly as far as League Pass TV,

738
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:41,920
Speaker 2: if he's not playing, it's hard to watch the Grizzlies,

739
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:42,520
Speaker 2: I think.

740
00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:45,840
Speaker 5: Oh, you don't like Jonna's Valentiuna's putting, not those big beefs.

741
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:48,520
Speaker 3: He's great, There's no doubt.

742
00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:49,080
Speaker 4: Had a game.

743
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:49,960
Speaker 3: There's no doubt.

744
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:53,840
Speaker 2: Valentunis has been exceptionally good for the Grizzlies this season,

745
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:55,640
Speaker 2: and they need him if they are going to make

746
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 2: any noise in the playoffs at all, because he just

747
00:31:57,320 --> 00:31:59,360
Speaker 2: he's been really throwing his weight around this season like

748
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:02,800
Speaker 2: a big, strong gorilla out there. You know, he's just

749
00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:06,080
Speaker 2: like really really tough. So I think I think he's

750
00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:08,320
Speaker 2: been a great story too in Memphis. But you know,

751
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,600
Speaker 2: Morant is the one that makes him must watch TV.

752
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:14,400
Speaker 5: You say he doesn't need a three. I kind of disagree.

753
00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:17,480
Speaker 5: He's at thirty percent right now. And to really be

754
00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:20,440
Speaker 5: a top five point guard, you've got to shoot like

755
00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 5: thirty five to thirty seven percent at the minimum. Otherwise

756
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:25,200
Speaker 5: he's going to become John Wall. He's going to become

757
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:27,560
Speaker 5: the next John Wall, an incredible end to end player,

758
00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 5: a guy who can get to the rim all the time,

759
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:32,200
Speaker 5: and John Wall, definitely, I would say it was a

760
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:34,680
Speaker 5: top five point guard, or at least on the edges

761
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:36,960
Speaker 5: of that, you know, somewhere five to ten for sure.

762
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,480
Speaker 5: But he was never able to become a one, two

763
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:41,840
Speaker 5: or three point guard in the league, and that's where

764
00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,440
Speaker 5: Jaw is right now. To me, it's we just talked

765
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,560
Speaker 5: to Seth part now. He told us twenty points per

766
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:48,880
Speaker 5: game is really twenty three points per game these days,

767
00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 5: Jaw is not at twenty points per game yet, He's

768
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:53,000
Speaker 5: got to get at least to twenty three or to

769
00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,640
Speaker 5: ten assists per game, like, there are some benchmarks he

770
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 5: can hit here to really move up the rankings.

771
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would just real quick my point on Jaws.

772
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:02,640
Speaker 4: You know, I don't judge him as much by the

773
00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:04,760
Speaker 4: scoring compared to a lot of point guards because he's

774
00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 4: so good operating, facilitating in the hawart. He's great at

775
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:10,320
Speaker 4: keeping his dribble life, breaking you down off the dribble,

776
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:12,040
Speaker 4: fund the open shooters, and when you look at their

777
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:15,200
Speaker 4: scoring distribution as a team, it's so balanced, and so

778
00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:16,920
Speaker 4: I definitely think he has a lot of room to

779
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:19,400
Speaker 4: grow as a scorer, and I totally agree three point

780
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:21,520
Speaker 4: shot is going to be really important for him. But

781
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:24,680
Speaker 4: in terms of assessing him right now, I actually think

782
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 4: his impact on games night night is actually pretty consistent

783
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,720
Speaker 4: and pretty high because he's so good at orchestrating it

784
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:32,280
Speaker 4: and just kind of getting wherever he wants in the

785
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:35,400
Speaker 4: court and so slippery, and he has a really advanced

786
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:37,120
Speaker 4: feel for a player of his age in terms of

787
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:39,560
Speaker 4: where do you find shooters, how do you drop defensive attention,

788
00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:41,760
Speaker 4: and how do you find them? I think so many

789
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:44,840
Speaker 4: people focus on the crazy miss dunks and the levitating

790
00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:46,880
Speaker 4: layups and like, I mean, this guy is an incredible

791
00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 4: highlight player, but he's not just a high light player

792
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:51,440
Speaker 4: right Like, He's out there playing right way, playing at

793
00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:53,720
Speaker 4: a very high IQ style And so that's part of

794
00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:55,040
Speaker 4: the reason why I love him, And I do think

795
00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 4: there's a lot of room for him to grow really

796
00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:58,880
Speaker 4: really quickly. I think he's going to become a more

797
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:01,720
Speaker 4: consistent shooter in the next couple of seasons. But he's

798
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 4: special at this point his career already.

799
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:07,520
Speaker 3: He also does have like those leadership qualities, especially want

800
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:09,919
Speaker 3: in a point guard. For being really really young still

801
00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:12,880
Speaker 3: in the league. It just feels like that's his team.

802
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:15,280
Speaker 3: Everybody on the Grizzlies knows that, you know, they follow

803
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:17,360
Speaker 3: his lead. Yeah, he can get better. He knows he

804
00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:18,759
Speaker 3: can get better, and he's got to work on some

805
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:21,160
Speaker 3: facets of his game. But in terms of just being

806
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:23,719
Speaker 3: the face of a franchise and the leader of like

807
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,640
Speaker 3: a locker room already like has that down Patick. That's

808
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:29,600
Speaker 3: sort of where the Chris Paul comparisons to me. You

809
00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 3: do see like he had that as a young young

810
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:33,960
Speaker 3: player in the league. There's just like whatever reason, some

811
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:36,920
Speaker 3: of these guys just demand that respect. They're the biggest

812
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:37,600
Speaker 3: voice in the room.

813
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:39,319
Speaker 4: But well, let me ask you, is he top five

814
00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,920
Speaker 4: coolest players in the league. I would say yes. I mean,

815
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,040
Speaker 4: he seems like he's doing players in the entire league.

816
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:46,560
Speaker 4: So if he want wasn't being a bad title, I'll

817
00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:47,640
Speaker 4: give it to him.

818
00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:51,080
Speaker 3: A right, all right? And finally here I'm just gonna

819
00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:53,160
Speaker 3: throw some Eastern Conference games. Now, I know we have

820
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:55,839
Speaker 3: a Western Conference elitist here and Ben Gulliver he probably

821
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:59,040
Speaker 3: doesn't even watch these East games. But anyway, we had

822
00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,720
Speaker 3: dwell Embiid going for thirty four points in three quarters,

823
00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:03,520
Speaker 3: so seventy six ers beat the Rockets. We had the

824
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:06,360
Speaker 3: Bucks edging the Wizards close game, won thirty five one

825
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 3: thirty four to earn their fourth straight victory. And then

826
00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:11,440
Speaker 3: Kemba Walker returned from injury. He scored thirty two, as

827
00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,440
Speaker 3: the Celtics whipped the Magic, but they jumped up to sixth.

828
00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:17,320
Speaker 3: So from all of those games, I'm gonna show everybody

829
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,400
Speaker 3: here on the stream team the playoff picture right now.

830
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:23,440
Speaker 3: And the question, Ben is which potential playoff matchup has

831
00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:25,960
Speaker 3: you most heighted? And you know you can start with

832
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:27,399
Speaker 3: the East, so we can go to the West too

833
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:29,920
Speaker 3: if you want. But like it. If it stayed like

834
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:33,279
Speaker 3: this here again Thursday May sixth, it won't. But if

835
00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:35,279
Speaker 3: it stayed like this, you know which one intrigues you

836
00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:36,279
Speaker 3: most well.

837
00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,040
Speaker 4: I would go Milwaukee Boston just because I love watching

838
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 4: Giannis punk the Celtics. I mean, that is just always entertaining.

839
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 4: I'm weep he had to pay his dues earlier in

840
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,000
Speaker 4: his career to get through Boston, but I mean that

841
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:49,880
Speaker 4: Kyrie Irving series where he was trying to defend Giannis

842
00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:53,000
Speaker 4: was just such a funny meltdown. And you know, Boston's

843
00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,720
Speaker 4: interior core hasn't been the greatest news, but they're playing

844
00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:58,480
Speaker 4: better here, you know, as a team over the last month,

845
00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:00,840
Speaker 4: so there'd be some intrigue there. It's just tricky not

846
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:02,400
Speaker 4: knowing who's going to come out of those plans. I

847
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:04,360
Speaker 4: would love to see Brooklyn Washington. I think a lot

848
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,360
Speaker 4: of people would love that. One Probably can't happen, unfortunately,

849
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:09,239
Speaker 4: but that's where I'm dating right now.

850
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:12,480
Speaker 3: What about you guys, Yeah, go ahead, Treya, which one

851
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 3: has your eye the most? Well, I'm with you, Ben.

852
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:17,439
Speaker 5: I think that Bucks versus Boston looks like it would

853
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:21,000
Speaker 5: be a jewel of the first round, especially because it's

854
00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:23,760
Speaker 5: got some history. But it's fresh, right. We had Clippers

855
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:27,320
Speaker 5: versus the Mavericks last year. We had Nuggets versus Lakers

856
00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,160
Speaker 5: last year. I guess that Knicks Hawks will be exciting

857
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:32,800
Speaker 5: as well. But those are you know, middle card teams,

858
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:35,440
Speaker 5: Whereas coming into the season, the Bucks and the Celtics

859
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:39,000
Speaker 5: were certainly considered at least title contenders. Definitely, Boston has

860
00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:41,560
Speaker 5: fallen off at this point, but they've also made three

861
00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:43,799
Speaker 5: Eastern Conference finals in the past four years. If this

862
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:47,000
Speaker 5: was the early two thousands Pistons, that would be an accomplishment.

863
00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:49,279
Speaker 5: People don't care about that right now. It feels like

864
00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:52,319
Speaker 5: the Celtics are falling apart this season more so than

865
00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 5: building towards something. But if they were able to somehow

866
00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:00,080
Speaker 5: pull off an upset against the Bucks, super unlikely to

867
00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:02,879
Speaker 5: need a huge series from Robert Williams and that one

868
00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:05,600
Speaker 5: good luck. But if the Celtics were able to do that,

869
00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:09,040
Speaker 5: you would see some drama, no doubt in Milwaukee there

870
00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:11,880
Speaker 5: would be. I think either team that loses that series,

871
00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,160
Speaker 5: Bucks or Celtics are gonna have a lot of questions

872
00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:15,239
Speaker 5: to answer come the off season.

873
00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:18,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's probably the case. Is that a difficult series

874
00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:19,880
Speaker 3: for you, Ben, because you got your guy Tatum that

875
00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:21,719
Speaker 3: you love so much, and then you've got Giannis and

876
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:24,879
Speaker 3: Jannis inc. As you're on the board for them. There's

877
00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:25,840
Speaker 3: some difficulty in that.

878
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,399
Speaker 4: No, that's pretty one sided. You know. Look, we're trying

879
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:31,600
Speaker 4: to build Giannis's reputation to back up here. It was

880
00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:35,879
Speaker 4: kind of a tough loball company, Yannisinc. Hearing last year's postseason,

881
00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:39,320
Speaker 4: here's the thing, Yiannis struggled being labeled as the favorite.

882
00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:41,640
Speaker 4: You know, they really felt the burden. I think of

883
00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:45,000
Speaker 4: that expectations coming up last regular season. We're so so

884
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:47,640
Speaker 4: good this series I want to see more than any

885
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:50,839
Speaker 4: other in the entire playoff brackets. Actually Milwaukee Berlyn and

886
00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:52,440
Speaker 4: it's looking like that's going to take place in the

887
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:55,000
Speaker 4: second round. I mean, that is just so juicy. You've

888
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,680
Speaker 4: got Jannis versus Kadie and Wannest was growing up, you'd

889
00:37:57,680 --> 00:37:59,640
Speaker 4: watch Tapa Katie and see the skinny guy on the

890
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:02,239
Speaker 4: YouTube and say, Wow, maybe I could play the NBA

891
00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:05,400
Speaker 4: like it someday. You know, Katie's this pure shooter. Yannis

892
00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:07,760
Speaker 4: more of a physical player, trying to develop that shot.

893
00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:11,400
Speaker 4: You've got big market, small market, the ring Baisers versus

894
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:14,040
Speaker 4: the loyal Guy and Yannis. You've also got you know,

895
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:16,920
Speaker 4: the the Glitz of Brooklyn and the Schlitz of Milwaukee.

896
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,799
Speaker 4: So that's a nice little matchup, you know, GLITZA. I

897
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:23,879
Speaker 4: figured my I figured mind up Midwest guy train might

898
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:27,040
Speaker 4: like that one. So these stories write themselves. We need

899
00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:29,120
Speaker 4: this matchup, and so I got to have Yanna's get

900
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:31,680
Speaker 4: through Boston first so we could see the really good stuff, right.

901
00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:35,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, And like, who are you favoring in the Eastern

902
00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:36,120
Speaker 3: Conference right now?

903
00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:36,399
Speaker 4: Ben?

904
00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:39,160
Speaker 3: I mean Philly. That's big having the number one seed

905
00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:41,239
Speaker 3: and they got an easy schedule from here on out,

906
00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:43,440
Speaker 3: so they really that's theirs for the taking if they

907
00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:44,960
Speaker 3: just like take care of business against a lot of

908
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:46,880
Speaker 3: these crappy teams that they have left on their schedule.

909
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:49,880
Speaker 3: But is it still the Nets to you, despite not

910
00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:52,440
Speaker 3: having you know, their big three playing a whole lot together.

911
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:55,160
Speaker 3: What is it seven games? Still is it? Obviously the

912
00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:59,319
Speaker 3: Bucks who maybe without with lowered expectations, that actually helps

913
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:01,000
Speaker 3: them in a weird way now with Chris Middleton and

914
00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:03,520
Speaker 3: Drew Holiday helping out. Honest like, who's the favorite to

915
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:06,080
Speaker 3: you to come out of there? If it is Philly one?

916
00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:09,000
Speaker 3: And then you know, hypothetically a Bucks Nets in a

917
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:09,640
Speaker 3: second round.

918
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:12,319
Speaker 4: So I predicted the James Harden trade to the Nets

919
00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:14,440
Speaker 4: about two months in advance, and I gave myself the

920
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,640
Speaker 4: nickname the Oracle from Oregon because of that. Now, look,

921
00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:20,239
Speaker 4: that's a little tacky, I understand, but I think I

922
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:21,880
Speaker 4: have to be all in with the Brooklyn Nets on this.

923
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:25,319
Speaker 4: I will be James Harden's last defender, even if he

924
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:27,719
Speaker 4: goes down in flames again this year's postseason. I'm gonna

925
00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:29,560
Speaker 4: come right back next year and say, no, it's gonna

926
00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:31,680
Speaker 4: be fine. He'll be able to turn it around. I

927
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:34,160
Speaker 4: just think that there till presents so many matchup issues

928
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:37,520
Speaker 4: for both Philly and Milwaukee, right. I mean, Milwaukee looked

929
00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:41,440
Speaker 4: great against Brooklin. Giannis in particular, looked incredible against Brooklyn

930
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:43,800
Speaker 4: this past week. But the trick is when you're inserting

931
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:45,200
Speaker 4: Harden and now you've got to match you up with

932
00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:48,040
Speaker 4: him with like a Dante Conchazo or a Pat Connatant,

933
00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:49,960
Speaker 4: where you've got to use a lot of Drew Holliday

934
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,239
Speaker 4: on him defensively. Now, all of a sudden, it's gonna

935
00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:54,479
Speaker 4: be a lot more opportunities for Kyrie Irving, and he's

936
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:57,600
Speaker 4: had his success against Milwaukee as well. So to me,

937
00:39:57,680 --> 00:39:59,759
Speaker 4: I just think it's three tough covers for them. I

938
00:39:59,840 --> 00:40:02,239
Speaker 4: like Brooklyn's depth. I think that they were also rope

939
00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,000
Speaker 4: hoping on defense against Giannis. I think that they were

940
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,280
Speaker 4: trying to play him in single coverage, make him confident,

941
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:09,399
Speaker 4: dare him to shoot, and then they're going to show

942
00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:11,600
Speaker 4: him more advanced schemes once they get to the playoffs,

943
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:13,880
Speaker 4: and he'll probably you have to adjust to that. So

944
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:16,480
Speaker 4: to me, I like Brooklyn over Milwaukee in that series,

945
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:18,560
Speaker 4: and then Philly they still need to prove it. To me,

946
00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:21,280
Speaker 4: I think probably because I was up closer personal watching

947
00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:23,799
Speaker 4: their meltdown, their flame out in the bubble, But that

948
00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:26,480
Speaker 4: was pretty humiliating, man, I mean four games right, they

949
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:30,680
Speaker 4: were out so quickly. Tatum completely outplayed Embiid in that series,

950
00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:32,560
Speaker 4: even though he'd got his numbers. I mean, in the

951
00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:36,600
Speaker 4: impact stuff really favored Boston's wings. So I'm still in

952
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:40,320
Speaker 4: the skeptical of Doc Rivers, skeptical of Embiids, skeptical of Simmons,

953
00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:43,400
Speaker 4: skeptical of Tobias Harris Camp and I would love to

954
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:45,880
Speaker 4: be proven wrong because it would be an amazing turnaround

955
00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:48,400
Speaker 4: story for that group. But I think Brooklyn's offense is

956
00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:50,840
Speaker 4: just so much better than Philly's, especially in kind of

957
00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:54,200
Speaker 4: playoff situations, that I'm still going to take the nets.

958
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:58,160
Speaker 3: Well, let's talk a little bit about that bubble. I've

959
00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:00,520
Speaker 3: showed it a couple times here on the show Ulliver's

960
00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:02,400
Speaker 3: bubble Ball. You can go get this now inside the

961
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:04,880
Speaker 3: NBA's Fight to Save a Season. You'd obviously get this

962
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:06,960
Speaker 3: thing on Amazon because you can buy everything on Amazon,

963
00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:09,560
Speaker 3: but I highly encourage you to go check your you know,

964
00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:13,239
Speaker 3: your local bookstore and support them if you can. Ben

965
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:16,080
Speaker 3: first question with this, I just want to know like

966
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:19,000
Speaker 3: sort of how it came about, what inspired you to

967
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:21,480
Speaker 3: write it, and like really when did you decide you

968
00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:23,400
Speaker 3: were going to write this, Like was this something you

969
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:27,279
Speaker 3: knew like before going to the Bubble midway through the bubble, like,

970
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:28,080
Speaker 3: talk me through.

971
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:29,759
Speaker 4: That before I answered that, I need to tell you

972
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:32,200
Speaker 4: a story about a near death experience. Is that okay?

973
00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:34,040
Speaker 3: Absolutely?

974
00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:36,120
Speaker 4: Please. So I was walking around in my bird park

975
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:38,879
Speaker 4: about two months ago and you guys were discussing Jared

976
00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:42,319
Speaker 4: Dudley's Bubble book. You know it was. You were talking, Oh,

977
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:44,520
Speaker 4: it's only forty pages long. I think, Skates you were

978
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:46,600
Speaker 4: kind of a key part of that. You asked Ja.

979
00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:49,279
Speaker 4: You asked JD would you read the Bubble Book? And

980
00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:50,600
Speaker 4: he was like, heck no, I'm not going to read

981
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:53,120
Speaker 4: a forty page book. He was really going off. And

982
00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:54,319
Speaker 4: then Jay he called it.

983
00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:56,920
Speaker 3: Like a PDF attachment or something like that.

984
00:41:57,360 --> 00:41:59,799
Speaker 4: I'm here. He was going hard on Jared Dudley's book.

985
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:03,480
Speaker 4: And this is typical JD, right because anytime basketball comes up,

986
00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:05,640
Speaker 4: it's like he is the last guy who's ever going

987
00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:08,600
Speaker 4: to be positive. And then Skeets. You made my heart stop,

988
00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:11,239
Speaker 4: You made my blood turn cold. I almost fell over

989
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:13,759
Speaker 4: because you threw it back to JD and you said, well,

990
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:16,239
Speaker 4: you know, Ben Golliver's not a bubble Ball book coming out.

991
00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:19,040
Speaker 4: Are you going to read bubble Ball? And I am

992
00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:21,200
Speaker 4: just in there thinking I have put my last year

993
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:24,120
Speaker 4: of my life into this book, blood sweat, in tears.

994
00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:27,600
Speaker 4: You're now asking a guy who hates basketball, even though

995
00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:30,480
Speaker 4: he's been doing a basketball show for fifteen years. I've

996
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:32,080
Speaker 4: been listening to you guys since you were in the

997
00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:35,239
Speaker 4: pool room at your apartment building, right. I've heard JD

998
00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:38,239
Speaker 4: say maybe three or four positive things about basketball in

999
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:43,320
Speaker 4: this entire time. And JD came through in the clutch

1000
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:47,120
Speaker 4: like John Paxson in the finals winning shot, and JD says,

1001
00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:50,160
Speaker 4: out of nowhere, oh, I'm looking forward to Ben's book.

1002
00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:52,600
Speaker 4: And here's the thing, JD, I don't care if you

1003
00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:56,280
Speaker 4: were lying. I appreciated so much. I was so worried

1004
00:42:56,320 --> 00:42:58,200
Speaker 4: about trying to build buzz for this book. I was

1005
00:42:58,239 --> 00:43:00,319
Speaker 4: so paranoid You're going to be like, yeah, me, three

1006
00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:02,880
Speaker 4: hundred pages about the bubble whatever. The fact that you

1007
00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:05,399
Speaker 4: were at least able to fake the excitement about it

1008
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:07,000
Speaker 4: it meant so much to me. I know you guys,

1009
00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:10,040
Speaker 4: do you guys do like week winds and Losers or

1010
00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:12,080
Speaker 4: worst of the week, Ast of the week. JD was

1011
00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:14,440
Speaker 4: the best of the year. Please put a banner up

1012
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:16,960
Speaker 4: because he brought me back to life. I was sitting there,

1013
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:19,160
Speaker 4: scared out of my mind that he was about to

1014
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:20,600
Speaker 4: kill my entire promo cycle.

1015
00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:25,960
Speaker 3: Well, I'm happy to hear that JD was on board.

1016
00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:28,080
Speaker 3: JD's gonna read it. I've just finished it, so JD,

1017
00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:31,560
Speaker 3: I'll obviously get this in your hands next. It's fantastic, JD.

1018
00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:33,759
Speaker 3: Will you be reading this? I will be reading it.

1019
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:35,479
Speaker 3: But I'm going to go buy it. Man, I gotta

1020
00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:38,040
Speaker 3: go down the local bookstore to pick it up. And

1021
00:43:38,120 --> 00:43:40,080
Speaker 3: uh yeah, it'll be the first.

1022
00:43:40,239 --> 00:43:42,760
Speaker 1: No, it'll be the second basketball book I've ever read.

1023
00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:46,040
Speaker 3: What was the first one? Ethan Sherwood Strausses.

1024
00:43:46,120 --> 00:43:52,000
Speaker 4: But all right, respect Victory Elite Company, j D. Don't

1025
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:54,279
Speaker 4: forget Mother's Day, Father's Day coming up, you know, so

1026
00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:57,040
Speaker 4: you can get as many copies as you need. Just

1027
00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:00,160
Speaker 4: to answer your question, yes, I've been waiting to tell

1028
00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:02,520
Speaker 4: you guys. That store sets it up where like the

1029
00:44:02,600 --> 00:44:07,440
Speaker 4: blood went rushing out of my fig at moments. So

1030
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:11,120
Speaker 4: I went down to the bubble terrified about the health friend.

1031
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:12,840
Speaker 4: I mean, I was talking to all these different doctors.

1032
00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:15,320
Speaker 4: I get myself in the right spot. So a book

1033
00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:16,719
Speaker 4: was like the last thing in my mind. I was

1034
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:18,239
Speaker 4: just thinking, like how long are we going to be

1035
00:44:18,239 --> 00:44:20,480
Speaker 4: down there? What's going on? As soon as I got

1036
00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:22,160
Speaker 4: down there, there was just so much interest, and you

1037
00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:24,680
Speaker 4: guys are was putting those goofy videos of myself walking

1038
00:44:24,719 --> 00:44:27,000
Speaker 4: back and forth and in the hotel room during the

1039
00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:28,920
Speaker 4: quarantine period and all that, and it was just like

1040
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:31,600
Speaker 4: intense interests. Within a couple of weeks, I heard from

1041
00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:34,480
Speaker 4: an agent and a published company was interested in the idea.

1042
00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:37,200
Speaker 4: So I scrambled together a pitch, and within about I

1043
00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:39,759
Speaker 4: think three weeks of being down there, we had kind

1044
00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:43,160
Speaker 4: of the incleman in place. So from there on I knew, look,

1045
00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:44,839
Speaker 4: this is going to be something that you're working on.

1046
00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:47,080
Speaker 4: But I made a deal with my bosses at the

1047
00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:49,520
Speaker 4: post basically, don't write it until you're out of the bubble, right,

1048
00:44:49,560 --> 00:44:52,560
Speaker 4: focus all your efforts on covering the bubble for the newspaper,

1049
00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:55,279
Speaker 4: which turned out to be great because you know, that

1050
00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:57,239
Speaker 4: gave me a real living record. I think that was

1051
00:44:57,239 --> 00:44:59,120
Speaker 4: happening while I was going, so I could look back

1052
00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:01,759
Speaker 4: on my stories, my tweets, the videos and pictures that

1053
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:03,840
Speaker 4: I took and all of it. And then once I

1054
00:45:04,040 --> 00:45:05,959
Speaker 4: actually got out of the bubble, I took one week

1055
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:08,439
Speaker 4: off and then pretty much just wrote for two months

1056
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:11,560
Speaker 4: straight out, five hours every single day, get this thing together.

1057
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:15,080
Speaker 4: The in sort of the third manuscript, and of course

1058
00:45:15,120 --> 00:45:16,920
Speaker 4: there was an editing process after that as well, that

1059
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:19,759
Speaker 4: went into January and February, and we're so glad to

1060
00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:21,440
Speaker 4: get it out before the place just tried to like

1061
00:45:21,520 --> 00:45:24,480
Speaker 4: tee it up, you know for this postseason. But it's

1062
00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:27,080
Speaker 4: been a total labor of love. I think ultimately it's

1063
00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:29,200
Speaker 4: kind of a time castle for one of the craziest

1064
00:45:29,239 --> 00:45:31,439
Speaker 4: years that we've all lived through. I don't know about

1065
00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:33,600
Speaker 4: you guys. I think twenty twenty with the biggest NBA

1066
00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:35,920
Speaker 4: season that I covered period, you know, when you're looking

1067
00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:40,279
Speaker 4: at Hong Kong controversy, Kobe Bryant's tragic death, David's death,

1068
00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:44,040
Speaker 4: the shutdown, the pandemic, and this crazy you know, Disney

1069
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:46,520
Speaker 4: World restar proposal. I mean, this is the most memory

1070
00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:48,400
Speaker 4: year I've been you know, doing it ever since I

1071
00:45:48,440 --> 00:45:51,000
Speaker 4: started in two thousand and seven. So it felt like

1072
00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:53,759
Speaker 4: the right time to write a book. And I was just,

1073
00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:56,400
Speaker 4: you know, let's be honest, like neck deep in the bubble.

1074
00:45:56,400 --> 00:45:58,480
Speaker 4: I think my entire heart and soul into it, and

1075
00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:01,600
Speaker 4: I felt like I was the right, metsug For a

1076
00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:04,560
Speaker 4: book project like this where you're really getting all lady gritty,

1077
00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:07,680
Speaker 4: you're touching on all the different storylines, whether it's business,

1078
00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:12,280
Speaker 4: social justice, activism, the presidential politics out of it of course,

1079
00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:14,600
Speaker 4: the basketball of it, which is the centerpiece of the book,

1080
00:46:15,120 --> 00:46:16,960
Speaker 4: and as well as the biside for the NBA too.

1081
00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:19,719
Speaker 3: Yeah. I will say I've read more basketball books than

1082
00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:23,000
Speaker 3: JD's two, And what impressed me most because of what

1083
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:25,640
Speaker 3: you just said, this is like four or five books

1084
00:46:25,680 --> 00:46:29,000
Speaker 3: in one, because of all the different things, the social activism,

1085
00:46:29,120 --> 00:46:31,960
Speaker 3: the actual basketball itself, the health and safety protocols of

1086
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:33,760
Speaker 3: it all. I mean, you put a lot of yourself

1087
00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:35,799
Speaker 3: into this bend too, which I thought was really cool.

1088
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:38,520
Speaker 3: It's like you're not just like as like as like

1089
00:46:38,560 --> 00:46:41,200
Speaker 3: a stand back sort of like taking it all in,

1090
00:46:41,239 --> 00:46:44,520
Speaker 3: like you really like are talking like sometimes very personally

1091
00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:47,239
Speaker 3: about the effects that the bubble was having on you

1092
00:46:47,680 --> 00:46:49,680
Speaker 3: and what else was happening of course in America at

1093
00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:52,360
Speaker 3: the time. So kudos to you. I just think the

1094
00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:57,000
Speaker 3: structure of this was really impressive, just the way you

1095
00:46:57,120 --> 00:46:58,960
Speaker 3: laid it out, because I think with all that stuff

1096
00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:02,239
Speaker 3: it can get very very quickly too jumbled and confusing.

1097
00:47:02,480 --> 00:47:04,760
Speaker 3: You did an unbelievable job on that, so I'm sure

1098
00:47:05,040 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 3: well you talked about it like that was a conscious

1099
00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:09,600
Speaker 3: decision there to like, okay, try and make this like

1100
00:47:09,680 --> 00:47:12,000
Speaker 3: as clear as possible, like there will be like one

1101
00:47:12,080 --> 00:47:14,799
Speaker 3: chapter on the Milwaukee Bucks, like Boycott, and I thought

1102
00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:16,279
Speaker 3: that was a fantastic chapter. I want to do a

1103
00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:18,960
Speaker 3: little deeper dime on that. But awesome work on it, man,

1104
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:21,160
Speaker 3: because that is a lot of stuff happening, like you said,

1105
00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:23,120
Speaker 3: over the span of a couple of months in the

1106
00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:26,000
Speaker 3: bubble and then in America at that time, and you

1107
00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:27,280
Speaker 3: laid it up brilliantly.

1108
00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:29,680
Speaker 4: I think I had a couple of goals. I mean,

1109
00:47:29,719 --> 00:47:32,200
Speaker 4: I really wanted to humanize the players. And you know,

1110
00:47:32,239 --> 00:47:34,239
Speaker 4: they would talk a lot about how challenging it was

1111
00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:37,520
Speaker 4: to say, oh, come on, millionaires in Disney World getting

1112
00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:40,080
Speaker 4: paid to play a kid's game, how cut tough could be.

1113
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:42,480
Speaker 4: And so I wanted to put myself in on that

1114
00:47:42,480 --> 00:47:44,520
Speaker 4: spot and say, look, I'm not even playing these games.

1115
00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:47,160
Speaker 4: I'm just down there writing. But I probably I was

1116
00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:50,440
Speaker 4: sleeping terribly. My anxiety was up. I was feeling isolated

1117
00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:52,960
Speaker 4: from my parents, the outside world. It was hard like

1118
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:54,880
Speaker 4: and I thought I was mentally prepared. I talked to

1119
00:47:54,920 --> 00:47:56,680
Speaker 4: a whole bunch of doctors before I went down there

1120
00:47:56,680 --> 00:47:58,960
Speaker 4: and had to get myself focused for what it was

1121
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:01,720
Speaker 4: going to be. Like. It was just really really tough,

1122
00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:04,799
Speaker 4: grinding experience day after day, no leap, you know, it

1123
00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:08,240
Speaker 4: was complete sensory overload. Now that was the challenging side,

1124
00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:09,960
Speaker 4: the flip side. And the second point that I want

1125
00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:12,160
Speaker 4: to get across is like, look, I got the golden

1126
00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:15,239
Speaker 4: ticket here. This was Willie Wonka's basketball factory. You know,

1127
00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:18,319
Speaker 4: like everyone would like to be able to see every

1128
00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:21,200
Speaker 4: single playoff game from a court side seat like Rihanna

1129
00:48:21,320 --> 00:48:24,600
Speaker 4: or Jack Nicholson, up close and personal, hearing the trash talk.

1130
00:48:24,719 --> 00:48:26,560
Speaker 4: I mean some of these days I would see eight

1131
00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:29,120
Speaker 4: Hall of Famers over the eight hours, right, I mean,

1132
00:48:29,200 --> 00:48:31,719
Speaker 4: it's just absolutely nuts. And as I point out in

1133
00:48:31,719 --> 00:48:33,960
Speaker 4: the book, I went to every playoff game from the

1134
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:36,840
Speaker 4: second one, so I was able to cover every single

1135
00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:38,960
Speaker 4: series as it was going. So you guys can imagine

1136
00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:41,640
Speaker 4: Jimmy Goldstein with a private jet in a normal year,

1137
00:48:41,719 --> 00:48:46,960
Speaker 4: even Jimmy Goldstein can't get to every single playoffs legitically possible.

1138
00:48:47,040 --> 00:48:50,440
Speaker 4: So it was this amazing once kind efficient opportunity from

1139
00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:53,239
Speaker 4: a coverage standpoint. So again I was in my mind,

1140
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:55,359
Speaker 4: I was doing it for all the diehard basketball fans

1141
00:48:55,360 --> 00:48:56,719
Speaker 4: out there, and I know you guys have the time

1142
00:48:56,719 --> 00:48:58,359
Speaker 4: to listening to you, but it was sort of a book.

1143
00:48:58,800 --> 00:49:00,520
Speaker 4: I was the one who happened to win the lottery

1144
00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:02,040
Speaker 4: to go down to this thing. So I'm going to

1145
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:04,440
Speaker 4: try to tell that story to the world for you know,

1146
00:49:04,480 --> 00:49:06,920
Speaker 4: the basketball fans who are diehards now, but maybe also

1147
00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:09,320
Speaker 4: the fans who come along in ten, fifteen to twenty

1148
00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:11,000
Speaker 4: years who are like, wait a minute, wait a minute,

1149
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:14,200
Speaker 4: wait a minute, Lebron with the title in Disney World,

1150
00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:16,960
Speaker 4: how did that happen? Why did that happen? Right? I

1151
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:19,320
Speaker 4: want to make sure that kind of got documented for history,

1152
00:49:19,320 --> 00:49:19,799
Speaker 4: you know what I mean?

1153
00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:21,680
Speaker 3: Ye did you find it? Though?

1154
00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:24,120
Speaker 2: You know you have you're so close to everything, and

1155
00:49:24,200 --> 00:49:27,200
Speaker 2: you know the media there is basically only the media

1156
00:49:27,239 --> 00:49:29,680
Speaker 2: that was allowed in. But you weren't actually allowed to

1157
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:32,080
Speaker 2: go up to the players during shoot rounds and practices,

1158
00:49:32,120 --> 00:49:33,759
Speaker 2: Is that right? I remember that was one of the

1159
00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:36,160
Speaker 2: things that was basically there was a wall between still

1160
00:49:36,680 --> 00:49:39,520
Speaker 2: the players and the media. So in that sense, even

1161
00:49:39,520 --> 00:49:41,520
Speaker 2: though you were so close how much more difficult and

1162
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:43,680
Speaker 2: challenging was it for you to do your normal sort

1163
00:49:43,719 --> 00:49:45,840
Speaker 2: of job and getting little tick bits of information and

1164
00:49:45,880 --> 00:49:49,359
Speaker 2: having those little extra conversations that you don't necessarily make

1165
00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:52,080
Speaker 2: it into your articles and when you're covering the games.

1166
00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:54,440
Speaker 4: Well, I would say they tried to create a bubble

1167
00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:57,160
Speaker 4: within the bubble to protect the players as much as possible.

1168
00:49:57,160 --> 00:49:59,239
Speaker 4: But I would also say, compared to what we've done

1169
00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:01,960
Speaker 4: this year with the virtual interviews, the access down there

1170
00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:04,360
Speaker 4: was so much better because you could use your senses.

1171
00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:07,319
Speaker 4: You can watch, you can listen, you can observe, and

1172
00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:09,520
Speaker 4: so you know, we could watch them practice. For sure,

1173
00:50:09,800 --> 00:50:12,280
Speaker 4: we were able to get one in one sit down interviews.

1174
00:50:12,280 --> 00:50:13,920
Speaker 4: I had a long interview with Rudy Gobert in the

1175
00:50:13,960 --> 00:50:16,360
Speaker 4: book where I thought he was very reflected handed about

1176
00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:18,799
Speaker 4: his experience. And you know, that was a situation where

1177
00:50:18,840 --> 00:50:21,319
Speaker 4: we could sit down after practice, and so there was

1178
00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:24,040
Speaker 4: you know, relatively access there. But they did want to

1179
00:50:24,120 --> 00:50:26,759
Speaker 4: keep it confined to the official time periods, right. What

1180
00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:29,640
Speaker 4: they didn't want was like us going to the restaurant

1181
00:50:29,719 --> 00:50:32,040
Speaker 4: stumbling you know, there's like one restaurant down there, right,

1182
00:50:32,280 --> 00:50:34,880
Speaker 4: stumbling on the Lakers and then like, hey, how you

1183
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:37,680
Speaker 4: guys doing, and like bothering the coaches like, oh man,

1184
00:50:37,719 --> 00:50:39,880
Speaker 4: what's your game for adjustment going to be like they

1185
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:42,560
Speaker 4: wanted to kind of, you know, protect the players privacies

1186
00:50:42,560 --> 00:50:44,000
Speaker 4: to a certain degree and then just give them some

1187
00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:45,960
Speaker 4: time off so they didn't feel like they were constantly

1188
00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:49,120
Speaker 4: being you know, kind of bombarded with interview requests because

1189
00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:50,560
Speaker 4: you know how that go, right, Like if you see

1190
00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:53,160
Speaker 4: Lebron riding a bicycle down Disney World, you're probably going

1191
00:50:53,200 --> 00:50:55,200
Speaker 4: to flag him down and be like, hey man, there's

1192
00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:56,640
Speaker 4: two points last night. How do you know?

1193
00:50:56,880 --> 00:50:58,600
Speaker 3: You know, like, oh, That's why there was no way

1194
00:50:58,600 --> 00:51:04,200
Speaker 3: they would ever let Lee Ellison. I'm such a.

1195
00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:07,000
Speaker 2: Past Yeah, I would be bothering him for questions. I'd

1196
00:51:07,080 --> 00:51:08,200
Speaker 2: just be seeing if I can go ahead and have

1197
00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:10,799
Speaker 2: a few shots with him on the court. You gotta

1198
00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:11,839
Speaker 2: get a shut off if he can.

1199
00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:16,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, because there are anything I was gonna say no forget.

1200
00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:19,480
Speaker 4: They used to you know, clean the courts completely so

1201
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:21,279
Speaker 4: you would not be allowed to shoot because then they'd

1202
00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:24,719
Speaker 4: have to go dish the basketball at the rim and

1203
00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:27,759
Speaker 4: everything else. So yeah, I mean, you your drinks are

1204
00:51:27,760 --> 00:51:30,600
Speaker 4: gonna be dashed pretty quick in the bubble Is.

1205
00:51:30,560 --> 00:51:33,759
Speaker 5: There anything Ben that sticks out to you along the

1206
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:37,320
Speaker 5: lines of, you know, just seeing Lebron ride a bicycle

1207
00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:40,360
Speaker 5: by that You're like, Okay, I will never see something

1208
00:51:40,440 --> 00:51:42,360
Speaker 5: like this happen again. Like something that stands out to

1209
00:51:42,400 --> 00:51:44,120
Speaker 5: me that I'm always going to remember from the bubble

1210
00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:47,200
Speaker 5: that has like zero influence on the bubble is Ben

1211
00:51:47,239 --> 00:51:49,279
Speaker 5: Simmons catching that bass and trying to throw it back

1212
00:51:49,320 --> 00:51:51,120
Speaker 5: and he can't even get it to the water, like

1213
00:51:51,160 --> 00:51:54,640
Speaker 5: it bounces off the thing into the lake. So is

1214
00:51:54,640 --> 00:51:57,800
Speaker 5: there anything like that that You're like, this is so weird,

1215
00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:00,080
Speaker 5: This is so weird to be seeing this happening, and

1216
00:52:00,120 --> 00:52:01,680
Speaker 5: I'm thrilled that I'm actually here.

1217
00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:05,080
Speaker 4: One percent it was mailroom guys. I want you to

1218
00:52:05,120 --> 00:52:09,719
Speaker 4: picture a giant Costco size facility own for millionaires, right, So,

1219
00:52:10,080 --> 00:52:12,920
Speaker 4: I imagine you've got three hundred and fifty NBA players

1220
00:52:13,000 --> 00:52:15,480
Speaker 4: who are stuck in Disney World, away from the comforts

1221
00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:19,640
Speaker 4: of home, with basically unlimited spending power. Right. So I

1222
00:52:19,640 --> 00:52:21,759
Speaker 4: would go down every day and just tour around and

1223
00:52:21,800 --> 00:52:23,840
Speaker 4: be like, what the heck are these guys even buying?

1224
00:52:24,040 --> 00:52:27,759
Speaker 4: There would be palettes of flat screen televisions, giants or

1225
00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:33,000
Speaker 4: extra large mattresses, arcade games, ten foot tall basketball hoops,

1226
00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:37,040
Speaker 4: every type of Xcise equipment imaginable. There were Peloton bikes

1227
00:52:37,080 --> 00:52:38,920
Speaker 4: when they were basically sold out in the across the

1228
00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:41,919
Speaker 4: country because of the pandemic, just sitting there collecting dust

1229
00:52:41,960 --> 00:52:43,880
Speaker 4: because you know, whoever it was was like, oh, what

1230
00:52:43,960 --> 00:52:46,080
Speaker 4: a hass I don't even really want to set somebody

1231
00:52:46,239 --> 00:52:48,480
Speaker 4: get up for me. So we're all sitting there thinking

1232
00:52:48,520 --> 00:52:50,680
Speaker 4: like well, because it was like a sixers Peloton bike,

1233
00:52:50,719 --> 00:52:53,200
Speaker 4: We're like, well, after they're eliminated, like you think, maybe

1234
00:52:53,200 --> 00:52:55,160
Speaker 4: we could just borrow that for the next month or two.

1235
00:52:55,239 --> 00:52:58,360
Speaker 4: Just got to stick that into utum. On top of that, though,

1236
00:52:59,040 --> 00:53:03,279
Speaker 4: there was an unbelievable treasure trove of cleaning supplies. So

1237
00:53:03,320 --> 00:53:05,080
Speaker 4: back at the time you couldn't member, you couldn't order

1238
00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:07,759
Speaker 4: anything off Amazon, right, Like all the disinfecting wipes all

1239
00:53:07,800 --> 00:53:10,760
Speaker 4: sold out everywhere. It was the Fort Knox of Clorox.

1240
00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:14,320
Speaker 4: I mean I'm talking like ten feet tall Clorox wipes,

1241
00:53:15,120 --> 00:53:17,759
Speaker 4: stack up probably sixty feet long. I would say one

1242
00:53:17,800 --> 00:53:20,279
Speaker 4: hundred thousand dollars worth of Clorox wipes maybe as just

1243
00:53:20,320 --> 00:53:23,000
Speaker 4: a rough estimate, just sitting there waiting for us to

1244
00:53:23,080 --> 00:53:25,280
Speaker 4: you know, use them over the course of multiple months.

1245
00:53:25,480 --> 00:53:27,480
Speaker 4: I mean there was liquor, cigars, all the kind of

1246
00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:29,840
Speaker 4: stuff that people would order. And I just kept thinking

1247
00:53:29,840 --> 00:53:32,120
Speaker 4: in my mind, like where else in the world would

1248
00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:35,440
Speaker 4: you have this kind of a concentration of Amazon deliveries,

1249
00:53:35,480 --> 00:53:38,840
Speaker 4: Because the you guest truck would roll up, unload every

1250
00:53:38,880 --> 00:53:41,200
Speaker 4: package for the Bubble, and then go back to the depot,

1251
00:53:41,320 --> 00:53:44,040
Speaker 4: like every package in the entire truck was for the Bubble. Right,

1252
00:53:44,200 --> 00:53:46,759
Speaker 4: We're talking hundreds of thousands of packages over the course

1253
00:53:46,760 --> 00:53:49,720
Speaker 4: of the summer, millions of dollars of value, of course,

1254
00:53:50,080 --> 00:53:53,040
Speaker 4: and like you know again, I mean even Buckingham Palace, right,

1255
00:53:53,080 --> 00:53:55,640
Speaker 4: They're not going to get that much loot, right Kardashian

1256
00:53:55,880 --> 00:53:58,320
Speaker 4: like would imagine like the centers of you know, to

1257
00:53:58,440 --> 00:54:01,160
Speaker 4: Bezos's house, Right, all these are not going to be

1258
00:54:01,200 --> 00:54:03,680
Speaker 4: spending as much money on a daily basis as three

1259
00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:06,319
Speaker 4: hundred and fifty NBA players who are trapped at Disney World.

1260
00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:07,440
Speaker 4: So it was just crazy, man.

1261
00:54:07,880 --> 00:54:10,480
Speaker 2: I can just imagine the Queen scrolling her Amazon app

1262
00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:10,799
Speaker 2: this day.

1263
00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:17,480
Speaker 3: Damn the Queen Queen on a peloton. But let me

1264
00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:20,800
Speaker 3: do the photo shop. What was your what's your personal

1265
00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:24,239
Speaker 3: favorite chapter? Uh, from this book, and again it's a

1266
00:54:24,280 --> 00:54:26,080
Speaker 3: lot longer than Jared Dudley. This is a good three

1267
00:54:26,120 --> 00:54:28,960
Speaker 3: hundred page book. This was a real book. Dudley at

1268
00:54:28,960 --> 00:54:31,120
Speaker 3: that forty page crap. But what's your favorite chapter?

1269
00:54:32,200 --> 00:54:34,279
Speaker 4: The Bucks chapter? I think you mentioned it earlier. I

1270
00:54:34,320 --> 00:54:36,439
Speaker 4: tried to go through that minute by minute. I wanted

1271
00:54:36,480 --> 00:54:38,120
Speaker 4: to sort of be like a TikTok, you know, the

1272
00:54:38,160 --> 00:54:41,040
Speaker 4: old school newspaper TikTok account, not the new app TikTok

1273
00:54:41,040 --> 00:54:44,399
Speaker 4: where everybody's dancaking. I just wanted that to be beat.

1274
00:54:44,400 --> 00:54:46,319
Speaker 4: I beat, because that was history, right. I was from

1275
00:54:46,360 --> 00:54:50,560
Speaker 4: page to the newspaper that was every you know news,

1276
00:54:50,960 --> 00:54:53,640
Speaker 4: nightly news show. I mean, they had stopped the sports world.

1277
00:54:53,680 --> 00:54:56,080
Speaker 4: All these other athletes were getting in on the protest afterwards.

1278
00:54:56,080 --> 00:54:58,400
Speaker 4: So I take you from like the bullet Too, with

1279
00:54:58,480 --> 00:55:00,680
Speaker 4: the night before with Doc River and some of his

1280
00:55:00,800 --> 00:55:04,160
Speaker 4: comments about race relations, the players immediate reactions to the

1281
00:55:04,239 --> 00:55:07,879
Speaker 4: Jacob Blake police shooting, and then of course the day

1282
00:55:07,960 --> 00:55:10,120
Speaker 4: of when the Bucks just don't show up on board,

1283
00:55:10,320 --> 00:55:14,000
Speaker 4: everybody's super confused. I'm kind of eavesdropping and peeking into

1284
00:55:14,040 --> 00:55:17,120
Speaker 4: the Orlando Magic locker room. I can see Vucevich looking

1285
00:55:17,160 --> 00:55:18,879
Speaker 4: back at me like, what the heck is going on?

1286
00:55:18,960 --> 00:55:21,359
Speaker 4: We have no idea, no one up happening, and then

1287
00:55:21,440 --> 00:55:24,640
Speaker 4: just folded. It was a good old fashioned stag man.

1288
00:55:24,680 --> 00:55:27,280
Speaker 4: We were outside that locker room for assaulid three hours.

1289
00:55:27,280 --> 00:55:29,240
Speaker 4: Guys were coming in and out going to the bathroom

1290
00:55:29,239 --> 00:55:31,520
Speaker 4: because there was no private bathroom in the locker room,

1291
00:55:31,760 --> 00:55:33,759
Speaker 4: So that add an element of weirdness to it and

1292
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:36,800
Speaker 4: just unpredictability in terms of, you know, these guys trying

1293
00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:38,840
Speaker 4: to figure out what they wanted to say to the world,

1294
00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:41,480
Speaker 4: and then that led to a three day shutdown where

1295
00:55:41,480 --> 00:55:44,240
Speaker 4: they you know, the players are calling Obama, Michael Jordan's

1296
00:55:44,239 --> 00:55:45,799
Speaker 4: getting involved, and they're trying to put the whole thing

1297
00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:48,680
Speaker 4: I could get so to me, I needed that art

1298
00:55:48,719 --> 00:55:51,000
Speaker 4: to be as detailed as possible because there should be

1299
00:55:51,040 --> 00:55:53,440
Speaker 4: an official calent of how that went down and hopefully

1300
00:55:53,480 --> 00:55:54,359
Speaker 4: I accomplish that goal.

1301
00:55:54,719 --> 00:55:57,160
Speaker 3: Oh, you absolutely did. It's by far my favorite chapter

1302
00:55:57,200 --> 00:55:59,920
Speaker 3: in the book, and it's cool, like, am I mistake

1303
00:56:00,200 --> 00:56:02,839
Speaker 3: Ben that you were literally the first, at least in

1304
00:56:02,880 --> 00:56:04,960
Speaker 3: the sports world, the NBA world, to sort of break

1305
00:56:05,239 --> 00:56:07,319
Speaker 3: what was happening, because you write about it like you

1306
00:56:07,360 --> 00:56:10,560
Speaker 3: were there at this game, this bucks Magic game, where

1307
00:56:10,560 --> 00:56:12,520
Speaker 3: a lot of your other reporters are like, Wow, we'll

1308
00:56:12,520 --> 00:56:14,440
Speaker 3: come to the later games, more important games. I think

1309
00:56:14,440 --> 00:56:16,400
Speaker 3: it was the Lakers had one right that night, and

1310
00:56:16,440 --> 00:56:18,680
Speaker 3: like you're sort of like one of very few people there,

1311
00:56:19,040 --> 00:56:21,000
Speaker 3: and you figured out what the heck's going on here,

1312
00:56:21,040 --> 00:56:22,879
Speaker 3: because where are the Bucks? Why aren't they out here?

1313
00:56:22,880 --> 00:56:25,160
Speaker 3: And then yeah, you're back into the hallway or that

1314
00:56:25,239 --> 00:56:27,960
Speaker 3: holding pen, like you called it, trying to break this story,

1315
00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:29,839
Speaker 3: like you were tweeting it out, Like am I crazy

1316
00:56:29,880 --> 00:56:31,720
Speaker 3: to think like you sort of broke that news?

1317
00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:33,759
Speaker 4: Well, there were Yeah, there was three writers who were

1318
00:56:33,800 --> 00:56:34,960
Speaker 4: at the game, and I think that all of us

1319
00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:37,279
Speaker 4: were trying to be careful to not overstate what they

1320
00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:39,400
Speaker 4: were doing because like at the moment, it's like, you know,

1321
00:56:39,440 --> 00:56:41,319
Speaker 4: maybe they're just coming out late, maybe they're having a

1322
00:56:41,320 --> 00:56:43,439
Speaker 4: team meeting. So I was kind of trying to break

1323
00:56:43,480 --> 00:56:45,880
Speaker 4: it bit by bit to make sure it was completely accurate.

1324
00:56:45,920 --> 00:56:49,319
Speaker 4: So like, hey, your Lando Magic, I've taken the court,

1325
00:56:49,360 --> 00:56:51,600
Speaker 4: but the Bucks have it right then the Bucks are

1326
00:56:51,600 --> 00:56:53,120
Speaker 4: not coming out of their locker room. And then we

1327
00:56:53,200 --> 00:56:55,279
Speaker 4: get kind of, you know, confirmation not too long after

1328
00:56:55,320 --> 00:56:57,799
Speaker 4: that that this would because of a protest reasons you

1329
00:56:57,800 --> 00:57:00,760
Speaker 4: didn't want to ascribe a protest to this. They weren't

1330
00:57:00,800 --> 00:57:03,440
Speaker 4: actually doing it, and they were not trying to broadcast

1331
00:57:03,440 --> 00:57:06,600
Speaker 4: I think those immediate moments right instead, they were in

1332
00:57:06,600 --> 00:57:08,440
Speaker 4: the locker room just kind of working through these feelings.

1333
00:57:08,480 --> 00:57:10,880
Speaker 4: So yeah, it was really interesting because they had shuttle

1334
00:57:10,880 --> 00:57:14,280
Speaker 4: buses right coming between the hotels where the media stayed

1335
00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:17,200
Speaker 4: and the arena, and there was three writers there when

1336
00:57:17,200 --> 00:57:19,480
Speaker 4: the game started, and by the end of the stakeout,

1337
00:57:19,520 --> 00:57:22,080
Speaker 4: I think every single media member who was in BUBLE

1338
00:57:22,200 --> 00:57:24,200
Speaker 4: had all come over on those shuttles sort of like

1339
00:57:24,240 --> 00:57:26,400
Speaker 4: thirty minutes at a time to kind of get in

1340
00:57:26,440 --> 00:57:28,320
Speaker 4: on what was obviously a hute orian. By the end

1341
00:57:28,360 --> 00:57:30,120
Speaker 4: of it, it was the biggest media pack that I

1342
00:57:30,160 --> 00:57:33,600
Speaker 4: had seen at any single point because everybody involved, whether

1343
00:57:33,640 --> 00:57:37,240
Speaker 4: it was any ATV, t N, T ESPN, every writer

1344
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:40,680
Speaker 4: all kind of descended on that locker room. It was unforgettable. Man.

1345
00:57:41,120 --> 00:57:43,400
Speaker 4: I was writing my story on my iPhone, like sending

1346
00:57:43,440 --> 00:57:45,280
Speaker 4: it to my editor from SLAT because I didn't want

1347
00:57:45,280 --> 00:57:47,480
Speaker 4: to leave, like, you know, the immediate vicinity of the

1348
00:57:47,520 --> 00:57:50,080
Speaker 4: locker room in case they came out. We thought maybe

1349
00:57:50,120 --> 00:57:51,520
Speaker 4: for a while they were going to try to sneak

1350
00:57:51,560 --> 00:57:53,240
Speaker 4: up to the bus, but there was only one way

1351
00:57:53,240 --> 00:57:55,200
Speaker 4: in and one way out, and I don't think they

1352
00:57:55,200 --> 00:57:57,520
Speaker 4: wanted the optics of them, you know, not really answering

1353
00:57:57,520 --> 00:57:59,480
Speaker 4: these questions. So you know, I take it through in

1354
00:57:59,480 --> 00:58:02,320
Speaker 4: that kind of and I think it's a really interesting story.

1355
00:58:02,320 --> 00:58:04,000
Speaker 4: I thought they handled it great to the way and

1356
00:58:04,040 --> 00:58:07,360
Speaker 4: they put the bubble back together in very pragmatic fashion.

1357
00:58:07,360 --> 00:58:08,680
Speaker 4: I think they deserve credit for that too.

1358
00:58:09,200 --> 00:58:11,960
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, did you ever even go to the washroom

1359
00:58:11,960 --> 00:58:13,640
Speaker 3: when you were out there to the bathroom or did

1360
00:58:13,680 --> 00:58:16,000
Speaker 3: you just because I said, you said, like in the book,

1361
00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:18,560
Speaker 3: like your phone was dying, and yeah, like it was,

1362
00:58:18,880 --> 00:58:20,120
Speaker 3: you know, you didn't want to go back to even

1363
00:58:20,160 --> 00:58:22,440
Speaker 3: get your computer what you had left in the arena

1364
00:58:22,480 --> 00:58:24,360
Speaker 3: because you're like, well, who knows when they're going to

1365
00:58:24,400 --> 00:58:25,440
Speaker 3: come out and talk to the media.

1366
00:58:26,120 --> 00:58:28,680
Speaker 4: I can confirm no restroom pressure me, Skates, I was,

1367
00:58:28,920 --> 00:58:31,320
Speaker 4: I was holding it. Yeah, I mean that's a very

1368
00:58:31,320 --> 00:58:32,400
Speaker 4: detailed question for me.

1369
00:58:32,920 --> 00:58:36,520
Speaker 3: But I may I send her their hours. I mean,

1370
00:58:36,560 --> 00:58:38,520
Speaker 3: I know you like your well, your iced tea or

1371
00:58:38,560 --> 00:58:39,200
Speaker 3: something like that.

1372
00:58:39,760 --> 00:58:41,640
Speaker 4: No, we were, we were Look, it was a real

1373
00:58:41,680 --> 00:58:43,840
Speaker 4: stake out. I mean there's actually NBA TV video of me,

1374
00:58:43,880 --> 00:58:46,240
Speaker 4: and I'm on newspaper deadline, so I'm going like this.

1375
00:58:46,320 --> 00:58:48,479
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm holding my head. I'm freaked out because

1376
00:58:48,480 --> 00:58:49,800
Speaker 4: I don't know if they're going to come out, if

1377
00:58:49,800 --> 00:58:51,840
Speaker 4: I can get this story in. I mean, it was

1378
00:58:51,880 --> 00:58:54,480
Speaker 4: a nerve wracking experience. To say the leads.

1379
00:58:56,000 --> 00:58:59,000
Speaker 3: You wrote in the book. Andy Thompson, who shot a

1380
00:58:59,000 --> 00:59:01,960
Speaker 3: lot of the footage for the Last Dance, was on

1381
00:59:02,080 --> 00:59:04,760
Speaker 3: site there leading another behind the scenes project. And I

1382
00:59:04,760 --> 00:59:08,000
Speaker 3: remember that news leaking out right that this is being documented.

1383
00:59:09,920 --> 00:59:12,800
Speaker 3: Was it the same documentary crew that then caught you

1384
00:59:12,840 --> 00:59:16,120
Speaker 3: getting soaked by Lebron James in Champagne? Okay, you're nodding

1385
00:59:16,120 --> 00:59:19,480
Speaker 3: your head, yes, And did you do like a sit

1386
00:59:19,520 --> 00:59:21,840
Speaker 3: down interview with them or is that in the plans?

1387
00:59:21,920 --> 00:59:23,880
Speaker 3: Like again, I guess in the theory we're going to

1388
00:59:23,960 --> 00:59:28,200
Speaker 3: see a documentary about this bubble. And the second question

1389
00:59:28,280 --> 00:59:30,680
Speaker 3: to go with that is, like this book's release date,

1390
00:59:30,760 --> 00:59:32,760
Speaker 3: was it important to you to sort of like, let's

1391
00:59:32,800 --> 00:59:35,400
Speaker 3: get this out, let's be first with this account because

1392
00:59:35,800 --> 00:59:38,680
Speaker 3: you probably know that there's a documentary eventually coming who

1393
00:59:38,720 --> 00:59:40,720
Speaker 3: knows when, and then maybe other people writing about it,

1394
00:59:40,760 --> 00:59:42,400
Speaker 3: like yeah, how important was that to be first.

1395
00:59:42,960 --> 00:59:44,680
Speaker 4: So I think it was the publishers idea to have

1396
00:59:44,760 --> 00:59:46,880
Speaker 4: it come out quickly to get wanted to feel timely,

1397
00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:49,000
Speaker 4: and when it was such a capture the imagination of

1398
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:51,040
Speaker 4: the sports world, and so I think that they didn't

1399
00:59:51,040 --> 00:59:52,720
Speaker 4: want it to come out two years later when people

1400
00:59:52,800 --> 00:59:55,440
Speaker 4: maybe had moved on to whatever's next, and that's natural,

1401
00:59:55,480 --> 00:59:57,360
Speaker 4: I mean, society moved so quickly. I think that they

1402
00:59:57,400 --> 01:00:00,880
Speaker 4: just ranted on an accelerated timeline, in part because they

1403
01:00:00,920 --> 01:00:02,320
Speaker 4: knew this was going to be a book that was

1404
01:00:02,360 --> 01:00:03,640
Speaker 4: going to hold up for a long time. So I

1405
01:00:03,680 --> 01:00:06,760
Speaker 4: do think that there was a competitive element to it. Now,

1406
01:00:06,840 --> 01:00:08,840
Speaker 4: me personally, I was just naive. They were like, we

1407
01:00:08,840 --> 01:00:10,560
Speaker 4: want this by May. I was like, Oh, let's do it.

1408
01:00:10,560 --> 01:00:13,240
Speaker 4: And then I figured out halfway through the writing process,

1409
01:00:13,280 --> 01:00:15,800
Speaker 4: like wow, that's really aggressive. What did I agree to?

1410
01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:18,000
Speaker 4: But you know, it all worked out in terms of

1411
01:00:18,040 --> 01:00:20,600
Speaker 4: the documentary crew. Yeah, man, there's gonna be some embarrassing

1412
01:00:20,640 --> 01:00:23,040
Speaker 4: footage if they wanted to put it of me just

1413
01:00:23,080 --> 01:00:25,800
Speaker 4: standing there like a door with my cell phone, no

1414
01:00:25,920 --> 01:00:31,040
Speaker 4: protection whatsoever, no goggles, no poncho, nothing, and Lebron just

1415
01:00:31,080 --> 01:00:34,320
Speaker 4: absolutely unloading a high bottle of champagne, right I's right

1416
01:00:34,400 --> 01:00:37,120
Speaker 4: on my phone. I mean, you guys have seen the pictures.

1417
01:00:37,160 --> 01:00:41,240
Speaker 4: I look like a win rat afterwards. Uh, incredible, incredible moment.

1418
01:00:41,280 --> 01:00:43,200
Speaker 4: I had to share the video instantly. It's one of

1419
01:00:43,240 --> 01:00:45,520
Speaker 4: the things I keep hearing out from people almost every

1420
01:00:45,600 --> 01:00:47,720
Speaker 4: day months later, and so of course I had to

1421
01:00:47,760 --> 01:00:50,440
Speaker 4: include in the book. I think it's just very telling though,

1422
01:00:50,440 --> 01:00:51,960
Speaker 4: because they didn't have a lot of other people to

1423
01:00:52,000 --> 01:00:54,760
Speaker 4: celebrate with, right, I mean, it's just not your typical celebration.

1424
01:00:54,840 --> 01:00:57,840
Speaker 4: There's two hundred people in the building. I actually pulled

1425
01:00:57,880 --> 01:01:00,600
Speaker 4: from more fans when I was in sixth grade Beaverton

1426
01:01:00,720 --> 01:01:05,040
Speaker 4: Running Beaver's AAU team. What a name, right, running beaver

1427
01:01:06,240 --> 01:01:08,919
Speaker 4: out in eastern Oregon. We played the games right, and

1428
01:01:09,040 --> 01:01:10,760
Speaker 4: you know, we'd get fans that they had for the

1429
01:01:10,840 --> 01:01:13,160
Speaker 4: NBA Finals because of the health procaus. So it was

1430
01:01:13,200 --> 01:01:15,240
Speaker 4: one of those situations where I think everybody was in

1431
01:01:15,280 --> 01:01:17,360
Speaker 4: it together and it's just like whoever is around, you

1432
01:01:17,400 --> 01:01:19,920
Speaker 4: get targeted with the champagne. And it really felt like

1433
01:01:19,960 --> 01:01:23,440
Speaker 4: half New Year's Eve celebration, half college graduation. Because you'll

1434
01:01:23,440 --> 01:01:27,360
Speaker 4: remember Danny Greenhame and running down the hallway and he's screaming,

1435
01:01:27,640 --> 01:01:30,680
Speaker 4: we're free we're bleeping free. He's not saying we won

1436
01:01:30,720 --> 01:01:33,200
Speaker 4: the title. It's worth three. We get to go home,

1437
01:01:33,280 --> 01:01:35,120
Speaker 4: and that's such a unique experience. It's kind of a

1438
01:01:35,120 --> 01:01:36,440
Speaker 4: double win for the Lakers.

1439
01:01:36,200 --> 01:01:39,919
Speaker 3: Right, Oh man, I had forgotten about even the Miami Heat,

1440
01:01:40,080 --> 01:01:43,280
Speaker 3: like extending this finals a little bit, you know, Jimmy Butler,

1441
01:01:43,400 --> 01:01:45,720
Speaker 3: like going off in a couple of games. I got,

1442
01:01:45,960 --> 01:01:48,120
Speaker 3: I'll be completely loose. I forgot this thing went six.

1443
01:01:48,520 --> 01:01:51,440
Speaker 3: I know I really did. And you write about like

1444
01:01:51,440 --> 01:01:54,120
Speaker 3: a couple of the reporters unnamed reporters. That was very

1445
01:01:54,200 --> 01:01:57,480
Speaker 3: kind of you. Basically like after you know, Jimmy goes

1446
01:01:57,520 --> 01:02:01,280
Speaker 3: nuts in a couple of games, extending the inevitable of

1447
01:02:01,400 --> 01:02:03,520
Speaker 3: like my gods want to get the f out of here,

1448
01:02:03,680 --> 01:02:06,360
Speaker 3: Like at that point, you're ninety plus days in. You

1449
01:02:06,400 --> 01:02:09,600
Speaker 3: can understand why someone would think that, But did you

1450
01:02:09,680 --> 01:02:10,720
Speaker 3: ever feel like me?

1451
01:02:11,280 --> 01:02:13,400
Speaker 4: Jimmy made me change my flight twice? You know, after

1452
01:02:13,440 --> 01:02:15,439
Speaker 4: they lost the first two games, I booked my flow

1453
01:02:15,560 --> 01:02:17,680
Speaker 4: for a suitep and then they won one, so I

1454
01:02:17,720 --> 01:02:19,680
Speaker 4: pushed it back for you know, until after game five,

1455
01:02:19,720 --> 01:02:21,040
Speaker 4: and then they won again and I had to push

1456
01:02:21,080 --> 01:02:23,680
Speaker 4: my flight back yet. So that's just the ultimate Jimmy

1457
01:02:23,720 --> 01:02:26,760
Speaker 4: Butler grind from Mundo. Everybody else wants to go home,

1458
01:02:26,920 --> 01:02:29,800
Speaker 4: everybody else is ready to quit, and Jimmy and Spoe

1459
01:02:29,840 --> 01:02:32,240
Speaker 4: are like, Nope, we are going down with this ship

1460
01:02:32,320 --> 01:02:35,160
Speaker 4: no matter how long it takes. He was completely convinced

1461
01:02:35,200 --> 01:02:36,360
Speaker 4: by the way that they were going to still be

1462
01:02:36,400 --> 01:02:38,520
Speaker 4: that series when they were down to zero and all

1463
01:02:38,520 --> 01:02:40,880
Speaker 4: of his teammates were injured. So there's a lot of

1464
01:02:41,200 --> 01:02:43,520
Speaker 4: healthy respect for Jimmy Butler in this book. I hope

1465
01:02:43,520 --> 01:02:45,440
Speaker 4: that came across, because you know, he's a guy. I

1466
01:02:45,480 --> 01:02:48,520
Speaker 4: wrote his first cover story for Sports Illustrated in twenty fifteen,

1467
01:02:49,080 --> 01:02:51,640
Speaker 4: just an incredible personal story, and it really was the

1468
01:02:51,640 --> 01:02:53,400
Speaker 4: peak of his career. That finals. I mean to me,

1469
01:02:53,840 --> 01:02:56,520
Speaker 4: that's gonna boil Jimmy Butler down better than anybody else.

1470
01:02:56,560 --> 01:03:00,160
Speaker 4: Could everyone else quit and Jimmy's not even considering it?

1471
01:03:00,280 --> 01:03:02,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you will hard and be the man.

1472
01:03:03,040 --> 01:03:05,000
Speaker 5: That's what we say around here, and that's exactly what

1473
01:03:05,040 --> 01:03:07,560
Speaker 5: the bubble was. We got a great question from Naiare

1474
01:03:08,200 --> 01:03:10,240
Speaker 5: in the stream team who says, did you have a

1475
01:03:10,360 --> 01:03:12,560
Speaker 5: chance to buy Big Face coffee? Oh?

1476
01:03:13,520 --> 01:03:16,080
Speaker 4: No, I'm not a coffee guy anymore. I'm too wired

1477
01:03:16,240 --> 01:03:18,560
Speaker 4: enough as it is, I've switched over to black team.

1478
01:03:18,560 --> 01:03:20,640
Speaker 4: But look, he got a lot to run out of

1479
01:03:20,640 --> 01:03:24,240
Speaker 4: Big Face Coffee. There were some great branding opportunities for

1480
01:03:24,320 --> 01:03:26,880
Speaker 4: the players in the bubble, and certainly Jimmy took advantage.

1481
01:03:26,960 --> 01:03:29,480
Speaker 4: I also loved by the way his ability to break

1482
01:03:29,520 --> 01:03:32,320
Speaker 4: out random high school and college jerseys, like Sposed Jersey,

1483
01:03:32,680 --> 01:03:35,400
Speaker 4: Tyler Heroes jersey. He was probably getting that shipped in

1484
01:03:35,440 --> 01:03:37,400
Speaker 4: through the warehouse guys. You know, that's probably what I.

1485
01:03:39,040 --> 01:03:39,280
Speaker 3: Thought.

1486
01:03:39,280 --> 01:03:41,880
Speaker 4: That was so cool and a great example of his leadership. Look,

1487
01:03:41,920 --> 01:03:44,960
Speaker 4: he's been choppy and prickly in certain situations with teammates

1488
01:03:45,120 --> 01:03:48,120
Speaker 4: at various points. Everybody knows that. But when he loves you,

1489
01:03:48,160 --> 01:03:50,400
Speaker 4: he loves you deep right. That's kind of the Jimmy

1490
01:03:50,440 --> 01:03:52,600
Speaker 4: Butler way. And I loved how he showed respect for

1491
01:03:52,640 --> 01:03:53,720
Speaker 4: those guys with those jerseys.

1492
01:03:54,760 --> 01:03:56,520
Speaker 2: I was just gonna say, Ben, you're talking about the

1493
01:03:56,720 --> 01:03:58,920
Speaker 2: you know when the celebrations happening. You know, the Lakers

1494
01:03:58,920 --> 01:04:01,520
Speaker 2: have won the championship now been the finals for years

1495
01:04:01,560 --> 01:04:03,640
Speaker 2: and years I've been there was there a certain feeling

1496
01:04:03,960 --> 01:04:07,720
Speaker 2: when the season is over, a team celebrating they're the champions,

1497
01:04:07,720 --> 01:04:10,320
Speaker 2: They've proved it, did it feel the same way or

1498
01:04:10,480 --> 01:04:12,240
Speaker 2: was it were you feeling a bit like Danny Green

1499
01:04:12,280 --> 01:04:14,320
Speaker 2: as well, where you're just like, thank god it's over,

1500
01:04:14,520 --> 01:04:16,600
Speaker 2: you know, like it doesn't I mean, and certainly not

1501
01:04:16,640 --> 01:04:18,400
Speaker 2: taking anything away from the Lakers. You know, they have

1502
01:04:18,480 --> 01:04:20,720
Speaker 2: to win the championship, so it's a legit championship, no

1503
01:04:20,800 --> 01:04:23,760
Speaker 2: asterisk there. But did it feel like the end of

1504
01:04:23,760 --> 01:04:25,360
Speaker 2: a season or did it feel like more the end

1505
01:04:25,400 --> 01:04:27,880
Speaker 2: of a journey or something more than just just a

1506
01:04:27,960 --> 01:04:29,080
Speaker 2: championship series win.

1507
01:04:29,560 --> 01:04:33,040
Speaker 4: No, it felt like a major accomplishment. Nobody has positive.

1508
01:04:33,200 --> 01:04:35,240
Speaker 4: There was so much stress coming in on the health side.

1509
01:04:35,280 --> 01:04:37,760
Speaker 4: So not only did they come the champion, saved the season,

1510
01:04:37,800 --> 01:04:39,840
Speaker 4: which is why that's in the sub battle of the book,

1511
01:04:39,880 --> 01:04:41,880
Speaker 4: you know, the fight to save a season. They really

1512
01:04:41,880 --> 01:04:44,560
Speaker 4: did save that right. Not only did they crown that champion,

1513
01:04:44,600 --> 01:04:47,400
Speaker 4: they got everybody out and it just felt like everybody

1514
01:04:47,400 --> 01:04:49,760
Speaker 4: had done it together and had been this real collective effort.

1515
01:04:49,800 --> 01:04:51,240
Speaker 4: I think a lot of people down in the bubble

1516
01:04:51,240 --> 01:04:54,320
Speaker 4: almost refer to each other as alumni rate where you

1517
01:04:54,320 --> 01:04:56,520
Speaker 4: do feel like you're in this club where like you survived.

1518
01:04:56,560 --> 01:04:59,360
Speaker 4: It's almost like a fraternity or a sorority or something

1519
01:04:59,400 --> 01:05:02,160
Speaker 4: like that. That's not a little hokey, but it's true

1520
01:05:02,200 --> 01:05:04,440
Speaker 4: to a degree. And I also think in terms of

1521
01:05:04,440 --> 01:05:07,080
Speaker 4: the celebration, it was definitely different. I mean, Lebron's on

1522
01:05:07,120 --> 01:05:09,600
Speaker 4: FaceTime with his mom. Normally that's going to be a

1523
01:05:09,680 --> 01:05:12,160
Speaker 4: nice big hug where everybody's crying, and instead he's got

1524
01:05:12,200 --> 01:05:16,240
Speaker 4: her on FaceTime. Just an unbelievable moment where he's asking

1525
01:05:16,280 --> 01:05:18,080
Speaker 4: his mother, are you proud of me? You know? And

1526
01:05:18,080 --> 01:05:19,680
Speaker 4: like I think everybody can relate to that, I can

1527
01:05:19,760 --> 01:05:21,400
Speaker 4: relate to with it. I sent a copy to my

1528
01:05:21,560 --> 01:05:23,400
Speaker 4: of my book to my mom, and she's my number

1529
01:05:23,400 --> 01:05:25,160
Speaker 4: one hater. I mean, she's harder on me than just

1530
01:05:25,200 --> 01:05:28,920
Speaker 4: about everybody, and I sent her that book and by

1531
01:05:28,960 --> 01:05:31,200
Speaker 4: the way, I dedicated the book to her and her mother,

1532
01:05:31,600 --> 01:05:33,600
Speaker 4: you know, I'm trying to get it to her good graces.

1533
01:05:33,760 --> 01:05:35,720
Speaker 4: And I had the same feeling, like Mom, are you proud?

1534
01:05:35,720 --> 01:05:37,200
Speaker 4: And she's like, of course I'm I mean, she gave

1535
01:05:37,240 --> 01:05:39,120
Speaker 4: me the exact same thing Gloria said, which is, of

1536
01:05:39,120 --> 01:05:42,680
Speaker 4: course I'm proud. So there's a really nice personal moment there.

1537
01:05:42,880 --> 01:05:45,280
Speaker 4: Lebron was killing it with the cigar, by the way.

1538
01:05:45,320 --> 01:05:47,320
Speaker 4: I mean, so my great photos of hit with the cigar,

1539
01:05:47,920 --> 01:05:51,200
Speaker 4: he had the champagne, you know, Markkeith Morris running around

1540
01:05:51,280 --> 01:05:53,360
Speaker 4: on everybody. You know what, you can call me a

1541
01:05:53,440 --> 01:05:55,920
Speaker 4: bleep and bleep and shamp bleep bleep, you know, like

1542
01:05:56,080 --> 01:05:58,520
Speaker 4: just telling everybody like he's a right. I mean, there's

1543
01:05:58,560 --> 01:06:00,800
Speaker 4: just so many things I'll never forget. I got celebration

1544
01:06:00,920 --> 01:06:02,880
Speaker 4: and it was different than all the rest, But in

1545
01:06:03,160 --> 01:06:05,400
Speaker 4: my opinion, it was the most memorable one I've covered.

1546
01:06:05,440 --> 01:06:08,280
Speaker 4: I've been at every final since twenty eleven. I would

1547
01:06:08,280 --> 01:06:10,320
Speaker 4: stack that one up a sort of the best night

1548
01:06:10,400 --> 01:06:13,160
Speaker 4: quote unquote, just because of all players that we're talking about.

1549
01:06:13,800 --> 01:06:15,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, wonder you not a Fried of the Knicks fans.

1550
01:06:15,760 --> 01:06:21,600
Speaker 2: And if your mom's your biggest height, I mean, so yeah, you're.

1551
01:06:22,120 --> 01:06:24,880
Speaker 5: You're the basketball media. John Moran, My first hater was

1552
01:06:24,880 --> 01:06:26,720
Speaker 5: my dad, is what he said. Prepared for all the

1553
01:06:26,760 --> 01:06:29,600
Speaker 5: hot texts coming up, It's obviously working out for you.

1554
01:06:29,600 --> 01:06:32,320
Speaker 5: You mentioned some great pictures, Ben and you've talked about

1555
01:06:32,680 --> 01:06:34,760
Speaker 5: you were there for the celebration. Your phone was getting

1556
01:06:34,760 --> 01:06:37,160
Speaker 5: all wet. Luckily we did get this picture out of

1557
01:06:37,240 --> 01:06:40,440
Speaker 5: the bubble, Anthony Davis peeking around. Is this the greatest

1558
01:06:40,440 --> 01:06:43,680
Speaker 5: picture you've ever taken? I know, usually it's birds or butterflies,

1559
01:06:43,680 --> 01:06:44,920
Speaker 5: but I really liked this one.

1560
01:06:45,320 --> 01:06:47,600
Speaker 4: That was my most shared piece of content in the

1561
01:06:47,720 --> 01:06:49,960
Speaker 4: entire bubble if you can believe that it was. I mean,

1562
01:06:50,000 --> 01:06:52,160
Speaker 4: it's been everywhere and it's been obviously a meme. I

1563
01:06:52,200 --> 01:06:53,760
Speaker 4: had to turn it into a book mark, you know.

1564
01:06:53,760 --> 01:06:54,800
Speaker 4: I think I might have sent one.

1565
01:06:54,880 --> 01:06:57,040
Speaker 3: It was just to say go to me JD. Because

1566
01:06:57,320 --> 01:06:59,720
Speaker 3: I was lucky fortunate to get one of these cent

1567
01:06:59,760 --> 01:07:03,440
Speaker 3: to me from Ben there. That's like a damn good bookmark.

1568
01:07:03,480 --> 01:07:06,800
Speaker 3: It's like perfectly you know, yeah, the vertical aspect of it.

1569
01:07:06,880 --> 01:07:09,680
Speaker 4: So some somehow I actually had to pay Geddy Image

1570
01:07:10,040 --> 01:07:12,040
Speaker 4: right to my own picture to put it in the book.

1571
01:07:12,200 --> 01:07:14,360
Speaker 4: But it all worked out so it's in the book too,

1572
01:07:14,560 --> 01:07:17,200
Speaker 4: and like to me, that was such a major victory.

1573
01:07:17,280 --> 01:07:19,240
Speaker 4: They had exclusive rights for all photos in the bubble.

1574
01:07:19,240 --> 01:07:22,680
Speaker 4: I think that's sort of however gotcha for me to

1575
01:07:22,720 --> 01:07:24,120
Speaker 4: be able to get that picture and some of the

1576
01:07:24,120 --> 01:07:27,080
Speaker 4: oceans I took of like Lebron celebrating, and just like

1577
01:07:27,120 --> 01:07:29,800
Speaker 4: even the facilities they were using. Here's what the gym

1578
01:07:29,840 --> 01:07:31,840
Speaker 4: looked like, here's what the press conferences looked like. To me,

1579
01:07:31,920 --> 01:07:33,880
Speaker 4: that was really important to again, from the whole idea

1580
01:07:33,920 --> 01:07:36,280
Speaker 4: this being a history book in the future. I want

1581
01:07:36,320 --> 01:07:38,720
Speaker 4: people to know how weird it was that they took

1582
01:07:38,800 --> 01:07:41,720
Speaker 4: ballrooms that were used for like sales conferences and kind

1583
01:07:41,720 --> 01:07:44,600
Speaker 4: of crappy weddings and turn that into hey, this is

1584
01:07:44,640 --> 01:07:47,560
Speaker 4: where the Milwaukee bus are prasing before the East Finals

1585
01:07:47,720 --> 01:07:49,520
Speaker 4: or the esetern Conference second round. Right.

1586
01:07:50,320 --> 01:07:52,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, you did an unbelievab job, not just with

1587
01:07:52,400 --> 01:07:54,440
Speaker 3: the book, but like we were following you on Twitter

1588
01:07:54,560 --> 01:07:57,320
Speaker 3: like the entire time, and you're good at that stuff

1589
01:07:57,520 --> 01:07:59,920
Speaker 3: of getting all these photos behind the scenes things that

1590
01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:03,040
Speaker 3: people want to see, videos, quirky things like that. Uh,

1591
01:08:03,280 --> 01:08:05,720
Speaker 3: even the what's your buddy? The what type of bird

1592
01:08:05,800 --> 01:08:06,840
Speaker 3: was it that you called Mikey?

1593
01:08:07,040 --> 01:08:10,600
Speaker 4: Well, there's like my best friend in the blek. Yeah,

1594
01:08:10,720 --> 01:08:12,840
Speaker 4: I would stop him almost every day. But don't forget

1595
01:08:12,880 --> 01:08:14,880
Speaker 4: about the legos skeets. Don't forget about.

1596
01:08:14,680 --> 01:08:17,360
Speaker 3: The leg that's I was going to wrap this up

1597
01:08:17,400 --> 01:08:19,080
Speaker 3: here soon because we could go for hours talking to

1598
01:08:19,080 --> 01:08:20,600
Speaker 3: you about this book. But again, I just want to

1599
01:08:20,680 --> 01:08:22,400
Speaker 3: encourage everybody just to go buy the damn thing and

1600
01:08:22,439 --> 01:08:25,639
Speaker 3: read it yourself. Bubble Ball, It's amazing. Yeah, we had

1601
01:08:25,680 --> 01:08:28,400
Speaker 3: you on I think we said what in July. You'd

1602
01:08:28,439 --> 01:08:30,080
Speaker 3: only been there a couple of weeks. In the bubbles,

1603
01:08:30,080 --> 01:08:32,160
Speaker 3: we had you on very very early on no dunks,

1604
01:08:32,640 --> 01:08:35,680
Speaker 3: and either at that time or soon after, Yeah, there

1605
01:08:35,720 --> 01:08:38,599
Speaker 3: was this talk that you were gonna be putting together

1606
01:08:38,680 --> 01:08:44,400
Speaker 3: this giant Lamborghini green like neon green Lamborghini Lego set.

1607
01:08:44,479 --> 01:08:46,639
Speaker 3: Is what I'm getting out here? Like how many pieces?

1608
01:08:46,640 --> 01:08:47,839
Speaker 3: I don't know, a thousand pieces?

1609
01:08:47,840 --> 01:08:50,160
Speaker 4: Been so? Well you did put it together, Well, it

1610
01:08:50,200 --> 01:08:52,240
Speaker 4: was at least three thousands. You'd get these numbers, right.

1611
01:08:52,560 --> 01:08:56,720
Speaker 3: Jess, Jesus, Jesus, my goodness. So you I mean like

1612
01:08:56,760 --> 01:08:58,400
Speaker 3: I was spoiled because I read the book, but I

1613
01:08:58,400 --> 01:09:00,439
Speaker 3: know the guys wanted to know did you put it together?

1614
01:09:00,600 --> 01:09:03,400
Speaker 3: Where is it now? What's the update on the Neon

1615
01:09:03,479 --> 01:09:04,880
Speaker 3: green Lamborghini Lego Set?

1616
01:09:06,000 --> 01:09:09,760
Speaker 4: Very positive update for you, thanks to JP again the MVP.

1617
01:09:09,880 --> 01:09:11,479
Speaker 4: I'm going to break out a little surprise if you

1618
01:09:11,479 --> 01:09:12,759
Speaker 4: guys will bear with me, Are you ready?

1619
01:09:14,960 --> 01:09:16,439
Speaker 3: Yes? I can't wait.

1620
01:09:16,880 --> 01:09:20,280
Speaker 4: Damn it's huge.

1621
01:09:20,560 --> 01:09:23,040
Speaker 3: That's sizable. Yeah I didn't think it was that big.

1622
01:09:23,560 --> 01:09:25,840
Speaker 4: Well, look, if you guys keep help me selling books,

1623
01:09:25,880 --> 01:09:27,840
Speaker 4: I'm going to buy a real one to match. Okay

1624
01:09:31,600 --> 01:09:32,280
Speaker 4: together though.

1625
01:09:32,320 --> 01:09:34,599
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was listening to the podcast Ben is showing

1626
01:09:34,680 --> 01:09:38,080
Speaker 3: us his gigantic Lamborghini lego thing that he put together.

1627
01:09:38,320 --> 01:09:41,720
Speaker 4: But wait, there's more. So to celebrate the completion of

1628
01:09:41,760 --> 01:09:44,120
Speaker 4: the book, I had to go Boogatti. Guys.

1629
01:09:51,520 --> 01:09:54,760
Speaker 3: Okay, these are cool looking. I mean, so, now what

1630
01:09:54,800 --> 01:09:56,679
Speaker 3: do you do with these? They's just live in your office.

1631
01:09:56,720 --> 01:09:57,519
Speaker 3: They live on the shelf.

1632
01:09:57,760 --> 01:10:01,080
Speaker 4: I don't have enough room to storm more. But guess what,

1633
01:10:01,439 --> 01:10:02,559
Speaker 4: But wait, there's more.

1634
01:10:03,320 --> 01:10:07,439
Speaker 3: Oh my god, this guy never leaves his house. All

1635
01:10:07,439 --> 01:10:08,920
Speaker 3: he does is right books and put together.

1636
01:10:09,640 --> 01:10:11,680
Speaker 4: If you guys never know when World War one might

1637
01:10:11,760 --> 01:10:13,960
Speaker 4: break out again. All right, we got the spitfires. Here

1638
01:10:14,000 --> 01:10:14,240
Speaker 4: we go.

1639
01:10:14,520 --> 01:10:18,760
Speaker 3: Does a Propellers been there?

1640
01:10:19,320 --> 01:10:20,800
Speaker 4: Just go up and down a little bit. Yeah, you

1641
01:10:20,800 --> 01:10:23,320
Speaker 4: could twist this thing like that. Yeah, there we go.

1642
01:10:23,600 --> 01:10:24,880
Speaker 3: Yeah we can fly that thing.

1643
01:10:24,960 --> 01:10:27,080
Speaker 2: All right, I've been well run.

1644
01:10:27,080 --> 01:10:28,960
Speaker 3: Like, are you a Star Wars fan at all?

1645
01:10:29,320 --> 01:10:31,280
Speaker 4: I'm not, which is hilarious because the book came out

1646
01:10:31,320 --> 01:10:34,960
Speaker 4: on May fourth, and so it was like, it's legs.

1647
01:10:38,240 --> 01:10:41,080
Speaker 4: So lead, let me ask you, is this an official admission,

1648
01:10:41,280 --> 01:10:45,000
Speaker 4: unconditional surrender by you that legos are better than puzzles?

1649
01:10:45,000 --> 01:10:47,599
Speaker 4: Because you have going back and forth on social media.

1650
01:10:47,920 --> 01:10:50,600
Speaker 4: You are trying to tell me like Team Ravensberger and

1651
01:10:50,640 --> 01:10:53,800
Speaker 4: all this not I'm sitting over here like a Danish king.

1652
01:10:53,960 --> 01:10:56,200
Speaker 4: You know, I got more here. I can put more

1653
01:10:56,240 --> 01:10:57,720
Speaker 4: sets if you want. We can go all day long.

1654
01:10:58,240 --> 01:11:04,519
Speaker 3: This is the weirdest guy. This is the weirdest missing.

1655
01:11:05,800 --> 01:11:08,120
Speaker 5: Okay, okay, okay, you've seen my fan house.

1656
01:11:08,200 --> 01:11:09,160
Speaker 4: You've seen my fan house.

1657
01:11:09,240 --> 01:11:10,839
Speaker 5: But look at this incredible creation.

1658
01:11:11,080 --> 01:11:16,960
Speaker 4: Man, man loving it. I feel like this is the wave.

1659
01:11:17,160 --> 01:11:18,960
Speaker 4: You know, not only are we going to sell books,

1660
01:11:18,960 --> 01:11:23,160
Speaker 4: but Lego stock to the Moon ready half gone on

1661
01:11:23,280 --> 01:11:24,680
Speaker 4: Lego right now.

1662
01:11:25,280 --> 01:11:27,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've got to I've got to admit, ben I

1663
01:11:27,400 --> 01:11:30,479
Speaker 2: remember we talked about Lego. I said, because I've got

1664
01:11:30,479 --> 01:11:31,840
Speaker 2: a nine year old in a four year old, say

1665
01:11:31,840 --> 01:11:32,920
Speaker 2: they're big Lego dudes.

1666
01:11:36,920 --> 01:11:38,200
Speaker 3: Hell's going on here.

1667
01:11:41,080 --> 01:11:42,120
Speaker 4: It's incredible what.

1668
01:11:45,760 --> 01:11:47,960
Speaker 3: He's going to find Another that he's put I.

1669
01:11:47,920 --> 01:11:50,120
Speaker 2: Will say it is it's a lot of fun to build,

1670
01:11:50,280 --> 01:11:51,880
Speaker 2: uh and and to play with and you know what,

1671
01:11:51,920 --> 01:11:53,639
Speaker 2: if I was in a bubble situation like that, I'd

1672
01:11:53,680 --> 01:11:54,280
Speaker 2: probably do both.

1673
01:11:54,280 --> 01:11:56,439
Speaker 3: I'd probably have a puzzle. But also because I.

1674
01:11:56,400 --> 01:11:58,880
Speaker 2: Know as well, now when you go down those Legos,

1675
01:11:58,920 --> 01:12:01,240
Speaker 2: you got there like they'd pretty complex and they take

1676
01:12:01,280 --> 01:12:03,320
Speaker 2: some while, take some time, so I would be in

1677
01:12:03,600 --> 01:12:06,240
Speaker 2: the lego is this this?

1678
01:12:06,240 --> 01:12:09,240
Speaker 5: This is my octopod from the Octo Knips. I honestly

1679
01:12:09,320 --> 01:12:11,280
Speaker 5: a little bit of shame to be showing this right

1680
01:12:11,320 --> 01:12:14,040
Speaker 5: now because some of the levers broke here.

1681
01:12:14,479 --> 01:12:15,240
Speaker 4: I came apart.

1682
01:12:15,360 --> 01:12:15,519
Speaker 2: Ben.

1683
01:12:15,560 --> 01:12:18,479
Speaker 5: I would be curious to know how you actually got

1684
01:12:18,479 --> 01:12:20,680
Speaker 5: your Lambbow home. I know you didn't drive it.

1685
01:12:22,040 --> 01:12:26,240
Speaker 4: This is such an embarrassing story. So they finally opened

1686
01:12:26,320 --> 01:12:28,760
Speaker 4: up outbounds to us with like two weeks to go,

1687
01:12:28,840 --> 01:12:31,160
Speaker 4: because obviously everybody had to send their stuff home. So

1688
01:12:31,240 --> 01:12:34,160
Speaker 4: I had to walk across the entire Bubble campus, risking

1689
01:12:34,600 --> 01:12:38,960
Speaker 4: face to face encounters with NBA stars, coaches and everybody,

1690
01:12:39,479 --> 01:12:42,519
Speaker 4: to get over to the shipping department. And then I

1691
01:12:42,560 --> 01:12:44,880
Speaker 4: had to ask them for like thirty five hours worth

1692
01:12:44,920 --> 01:12:47,360
Speaker 4: of bubble wrap bubllle wrap that thing up into the

1693
01:12:47,360 --> 01:12:50,320
Speaker 4: biggest box we possibly had. I shipped home and it

1694
01:12:50,400 --> 01:12:52,760
Speaker 4: actually basically made it home in one piece. You'll never

1695
01:12:52,800 --> 01:12:55,960
Speaker 4: believe it. It was a very careful shipping thing. But

1696
01:12:56,200 --> 01:12:58,600
Speaker 4: it's all, I mean, embarrasing how it costs me to

1697
01:12:58,640 --> 01:13:01,160
Speaker 4: do that. I thought about leaving it and just saying

1698
01:13:01,160 --> 01:13:02,600
Speaker 4: like maybe they could just give it to like a

1699
01:13:02,640 --> 01:13:05,160
Speaker 4: local goodwill. But then ultimately I was convinced that like

1700
01:13:05,200 --> 01:13:07,880
Speaker 4: that was a relic from my experience that I would

1701
01:13:07,920 --> 01:13:09,680
Speaker 4: probably want for the rest of my life. So I

1702
01:13:09,880 --> 01:13:12,160
Speaker 4: still got it. Like I said, trying to get the

1703
01:13:12,200 --> 01:13:14,400
Speaker 4: matching one. Just have to sell a few more copies

1704
01:13:14,439 --> 01:13:16,559
Speaker 4: so you know, the stream team can help me out,

1705
01:13:16,560 --> 01:13:18,160
Speaker 4: and then I'll be rolling around in a real green

1706
01:13:18,240 --> 01:13:20,439
Speaker 4: Lambeau and I'll be impossible to book on the show.

1707
01:13:20,479 --> 01:13:21,759
Speaker 4: You guys will never hear from me again.

1708
01:13:22,680 --> 01:13:25,479
Speaker 3: I love it. I love it so good. Guys, go

1709
01:13:25,560 --> 01:13:29,479
Speaker 3: get bubble Ball inside the NBA's Fight to Save a

1710
01:13:29,520 --> 01:13:31,920
Speaker 3: Season again. It's available on Amazon. It's available in a

1711
01:13:31,960 --> 01:13:33,920
Speaker 3: lot of places, but highly encourage you if you can

1712
01:13:34,040 --> 01:13:36,599
Speaker 3: to see if you're a local bookstore has a copy

1713
01:13:36,680 --> 01:13:40,600
Speaker 3: of Ben's excellent bubble Hall. I am not kidding. You

1714
01:13:40,640 --> 01:13:43,400
Speaker 3: know you told me Ben that I think I was

1715
01:13:43,400 --> 01:13:46,040
Speaker 3: a couple of chapters in, and you know we were

1716
01:13:46,040 --> 01:13:47,479
Speaker 3: then booking you to come on. I was like, yeah,

1717
01:13:47,479 --> 01:13:48,599
Speaker 3: I got a lot of reading to do. I want

1718
01:13:48,640 --> 01:13:49,920
Speaker 3: to get through the whole thing before I have you on.

1719
01:13:50,000 --> 01:13:52,320
Speaker 3: You're like, it gets better. The second half gets better,

1720
01:13:52,600 --> 01:13:54,439
Speaker 3: and I was like, well, geez, first couple of chapters

1721
01:13:54,439 --> 01:13:56,519
Speaker 3: has been pretty damn good, so that's exciting. But you're right,

1722
01:13:56,560 --> 01:13:59,599
Speaker 3: it just gets better and better and better. So congratulations, man,

1723
01:13:59,720 --> 01:14:03,599
Speaker 3: Like this is an incredible accomplishment. And I don't say

1724
01:14:03,640 --> 01:14:05,639
Speaker 3: that just because you're a friend, but like the quick

1725
01:14:05,680 --> 01:14:08,479
Speaker 3: turnaround like you talked about in doing this is really

1726
01:14:08,520 --> 01:14:11,280
Speaker 3: remarkable and you would never know that you got it

1727
01:14:11,320 --> 01:14:14,479
Speaker 3: out that quickly because it's that well written. So congrats man,

1728
01:14:14,520 --> 01:14:17,080
Speaker 3: and everybody that is in the stream team right now

1729
01:14:17,080 --> 01:14:19,240
Speaker 3: we're listening to the podcast. You know, we always ask

1730
01:14:19,280 --> 01:14:21,160
Speaker 3: you not for much. I'd like to think here on

1731
01:14:21,200 --> 01:14:23,000
Speaker 3: the show, but do us a favor and go buy

1732
01:14:23,040 --> 01:14:25,120
Speaker 3: Ben's book Bubba Ball. We'd really appreciate it, and that

1733
01:14:25,320 --> 01:14:27,000
Speaker 3: Ben would so awesome work Ben.

1734
01:14:27,280 --> 01:14:30,120
Speaker 4: I appreciate you guys so much. That Lego segment just

1735
01:14:30,160 --> 01:14:32,479
Speaker 4: blew my mind. I'm gonna watch that back like that's crazy.

1736
01:14:32,560 --> 01:14:34,640
Speaker 4: You guys were pulling out by I didn't even know

1737
01:14:34,760 --> 01:14:38,640
Speaker 4: existed trade, So I'm blowing away on forever in your

1738
01:14:38,640 --> 01:14:40,840
Speaker 4: guys is dead. And also to JD, thank you so

1739
01:14:40,960 --> 01:14:42,679
Speaker 4: much for saving my life man, because I was about

1740
01:14:42,680 --> 01:14:44,479
Speaker 4: to pass out in that bird Park what we came

1741
01:14:44,520 --> 01:14:46,759
Speaker 4: through for me, So thanks again.

1742
01:14:47,600 --> 01:14:49,479
Speaker 3: He probably bought a book while we were doing this

1743
01:14:49,520 --> 01:14:53,200
Speaker 3: podcast right now, sick around here for a second, Ben,

1744
01:14:53,320 --> 01:14:55,160
Speaker 3: because we've got to get to lead tweeted the night

1745
01:14:55,160 --> 01:14:57,080
Speaker 3: and then pick them results. So let's go to tweet

1746
01:14:57,120 --> 01:14:57,759
Speaker 3: of the night.

1747
01:15:00,080 --> 01:15:00,640
Speaker 4: Overnight.

1748
01:15:01,400 --> 01:15:05,840
Speaker 3: Wow, Twitter, Twitter, what do you go?

1749
01:15:05,960 --> 01:15:06,080
Speaker 4: Man?

1750
01:15:07,680 --> 01:15:10,080
Speaker 2: So this one comes in from Andre good Dollar. He

1751
01:15:10,120 --> 01:15:12,960
Speaker 2: used to be a frequent tweeter but he's no longer

1752
01:15:13,080 --> 01:15:16,559
Speaker 2: and we saw Lebron calling out he wanted someone fired

1753
01:15:16,680 --> 01:15:19,840
Speaker 2: last week. Well, Andre Goudala apparently not happy with the

1754
01:15:20,120 --> 01:15:23,280
Speaker 2: drug testers in the NBA because he says, whoever created

1755
01:15:23,400 --> 01:15:25,240
Speaker 2: urine test in the A and for men dumb as

1756
01:15:25,320 --> 01:15:29,000
Speaker 2: shit and they need to be fired. Going on our four,

1757
01:15:29,400 --> 01:15:33,160
Speaker 2: so I have going I have some questions. I mean

1758
01:15:34,280 --> 01:15:35,760
Speaker 2: I would think, first thing in the morning, if you

1759
01:15:35,800 --> 01:15:37,599
Speaker 2: have to give you your own sample, is the perfect

1760
01:15:37,600 --> 01:15:39,120
Speaker 2: time to give it?

1761
01:15:39,160 --> 01:15:39,400
Speaker 3: Really?

1762
01:15:39,439 --> 01:15:42,000
Speaker 2: I mean you wake up, that's the first thing you do.

1763
01:15:42,040 --> 01:15:43,479
Speaker 2: You know, you don't have to sort of drink water

1764
01:15:43,479 --> 01:15:44,840
Speaker 2: and then wait for it to come. And then also

1765
01:15:45,200 --> 01:15:47,360
Speaker 2: going on our four, what is going.

1766
01:15:49,120 --> 01:15:52,960
Speaker 3: He's been that long he has now we know we know.

1767
01:15:53,160 --> 01:15:55,120
Speaker 2: You know if he couldn't peep. Ben can go for

1768
01:15:55,200 --> 01:15:56,960
Speaker 2: up to three hours without having to pee. We heard

1769
01:15:57,000 --> 01:16:00,920
Speaker 2: that earlier than show me. So maybe you know it's

1770
01:16:00,920 --> 01:16:04,639
Speaker 2: a performance thing with Andrea Goodalla, But I mean yeah,

1771
01:16:04,680 --> 01:16:06,840
Speaker 2: I was just thinking, like if someone came knocking on

1772
01:16:06,880 --> 01:16:09,280
Speaker 2: my door, you know, six thirty seven, I'd be like, yeah,

1773
01:16:09,560 --> 01:16:10,280
Speaker 2: give me a bucket.

1774
01:16:10,280 --> 01:16:11,680
Speaker 3: I can fill that one up. Well, you know, if

1775
01:16:11,680 --> 01:16:14,200
Speaker 3: they walk you up though to take a tak. Maybe

1776
01:16:14,200 --> 01:16:16,479
Speaker 3: that's what he's pissed about, Like maybe you were sleeping

1777
01:16:16,680 --> 01:16:18,800
Speaker 3: or he was sleeping and then someone's knocking on his door.

1778
01:16:18,880 --> 01:16:21,680
Speaker 3: Come on, get that that ur rainoe as you call it,

1779
01:16:21,840 --> 01:16:24,600
Speaker 3: you're in. I don't know.

1780
01:16:24,680 --> 01:16:26,560
Speaker 2: I just think I just think first thing in the

1781
01:16:26,560 --> 01:16:27,800
Speaker 2: morning is the best time. You don't want to come

1782
01:16:27,840 --> 01:16:29,160
Speaker 2: in late at night because then you have to drink

1783
01:16:29,200 --> 01:16:31,080
Speaker 2: water and if you break the seal then you might

1784
01:16:31,120 --> 01:16:32,479
Speaker 2: have to pee a few times throughout the night.

1785
01:16:32,520 --> 01:16:34,320
Speaker 3: That's all I'm saying. It would work better for me

1786
01:16:35,720 --> 01:16:40,439
Speaker 3: tweeter down first. Isn't it exciting? Okay?

1787
01:16:41,920 --> 01:16:43,680
Speaker 4: You didn't they do that for the official.

1788
01:16:44,960 --> 01:16:45,639
Speaker 3: Maybe they should.

1789
01:16:45,840 --> 01:16:48,000
Speaker 2: Maybe that was the sticking point that Andre didn't want

1790
01:16:48,000 --> 01:16:49,360
Speaker 2: to do that, and they're like, no, you have to do.

1791
01:16:49,640 --> 01:16:52,080
Speaker 3: I'm not mounting the toilet backwards like you got to

1792
01:16:52,080 --> 01:16:53,280
Speaker 3: do it. You're in.

1793
01:16:53,560 --> 01:16:55,360
Speaker 5: It's one of the regulations is you have to be

1794
01:16:55,400 --> 01:16:56,280
Speaker 5: facing forward.

1795
01:16:56,840 --> 01:16:59,960
Speaker 3: Sorry, and I don't think that it's possible. All right,

1796
01:17:00,000 --> 01:17:02,880
Speaker 3: Pick them results from last night Nicks Nuggets was the game.

1797
01:17:02,920 --> 01:17:04,599
Speaker 3: Denver was favored by three and a half. Pick them

1798
01:17:04,600 --> 01:17:08,439
Speaker 3: result Crotchy by Bett, MGM myself. I took Denver. Tray

1799
01:17:08,520 --> 01:17:11,360
Speaker 3: took Denver. That was a win. They you know, quite

1800
01:17:11,360 --> 01:17:13,639
Speaker 3: handily took care of the Knicks. And then Lee took

1801
01:17:13,720 --> 01:17:16,559
Speaker 3: the Knicks because he wants to lose every game here

1802
01:17:16,560 --> 01:17:19,479
Speaker 3: to give money to charity. Tas also said something similar,

1803
01:17:19,720 --> 01:17:21,840
Speaker 3: So congrats, guys, he took the Knicks and you lost,

1804
01:17:22,200 --> 01:17:24,400
Speaker 3: so good on you. I'm three and oho, Tray's two

1805
01:17:24,400 --> 01:17:26,680
Speaker 3: and one, Tass is one and two, and Lee is

1806
01:17:26,720 --> 01:17:29,640
Speaker 3: oh and three. Ken Leek keep his streak alive here.

1807
01:17:29,680 --> 01:17:31,640
Speaker 3: I'm not picking a correct game for the month of May.

1808
01:17:31,720 --> 01:17:35,839
Speaker 3: Let's find out tonight's game. Oh boy, the Wizards versus

1809
01:17:35,920 --> 01:17:40,360
Speaker 3: the Raptors. Washington favored by one and a half on

1810
01:17:40,400 --> 01:17:43,040
Speaker 3: the road. Washington played last night against the Bucks Toronto.

1811
01:17:43,080 --> 01:17:46,960
Speaker 3: Of course, in Tampa, Ley you start us off Man,

1812
01:17:47,000 --> 01:17:49,080
Speaker 3: you were You're the one trying to get this, you

1813
01:17:49,120 --> 01:17:51,320
Speaker 3: know wrong, So what's going to be the right one.

1814
01:17:51,560 --> 01:17:53,320
Speaker 2: This is a tough one because the Wizards lost a

1815
01:17:53,360 --> 01:17:55,240
Speaker 2: tough one last night, but it is a back to

1816
01:17:55,400 --> 01:17:58,839
Speaker 2: back and the Raptors, who have been playing Beta were rested.

1817
01:17:58,880 --> 01:18:01,920
Speaker 2: So I think the Raptors win. So I'm actually gonna

1818
01:18:01,960 --> 01:18:04,960
Speaker 2: take the Wizards. Okay, I'm trying to win by losing.

1819
01:18:04,960 --> 01:18:06,760
Speaker 2: This month self got the Wizards to win by at

1820
01:18:06,840 --> 01:18:09,439
Speaker 2: least two points. Okay, so I think the Raptors win.

1821
01:18:09,840 --> 01:18:14,760
Speaker 3: Okay, well you're taking Washington the Wizards. That's right, just

1822
01:18:14,800 --> 01:18:15,519
Speaker 3: to seeing the.

1823
01:18:15,520 --> 01:18:17,880
Speaker 2: Wizards because I think the Raptors are gonna win because

1824
01:18:17,880 --> 01:18:20,000
Speaker 2: I'm trying to pick by I'm trying to win by losing.

1825
01:18:20,040 --> 01:18:22,240
Speaker 3: So that's that's how good. Okay, we got it, we

1826
01:18:22,240 --> 01:18:24,880
Speaker 3: got You're taking Washington, TK. Who do you want today?

1827
01:18:25,479 --> 01:18:26,040
Speaker 5: The Wizards.

1828
01:18:26,080 --> 01:18:27,599
Speaker 3: I don't think the Raptors want to win.

1829
01:18:28,280 --> 01:18:31,839
Speaker 5: I think that they are. They're tanking guys, and nobody

1830
01:18:31,880 --> 01:18:34,320
Speaker 5: really notices that the Raptors are gonna lose this one.

1831
01:18:34,400 --> 01:18:38,719
Speaker 3: Give me the Wizards all right to win on purpose? Okay? Well,

1832
01:18:39,360 --> 01:18:41,840
Speaker 3: look I'm perfect right now I'm three and zero. But Ben,

1833
01:18:41,880 --> 01:18:43,439
Speaker 3: you're our guest, so I'm gonna let you pick for

1834
01:18:43,600 --> 01:18:46,160
Speaker 3: me again. Washington's got to win by two or more points.

1835
01:18:46,439 --> 01:18:48,920
Speaker 3: My Raptors are still trying to get in possibly to

1836
01:18:49,000 --> 01:18:51,559
Speaker 3: this playing tournament. Tk's right, maybe they don't even want to.

1837
01:18:51,640 --> 01:18:54,160
Speaker 3: But who you're taking tonight, Ben, you're picking for me.

1838
01:18:54,320 --> 01:18:56,320
Speaker 4: I'm gonna give you the Wizards just out of respect

1839
01:18:56,360 --> 01:18:59,559
Speaker 4: to the Washington Post, and you know they're incredible run

1840
01:18:59,680 --> 01:19:02,920
Speaker 4: up the Eastern Cowford standing. I wrote a really half

1841
01:19:02,920 --> 01:19:05,519
Speaker 4: hearted column about a month into their season of pre

1842
01:19:05,600 --> 01:19:08,200
Speaker 4: digging a turnaround, and sure enough, right on schedule, they

1843
01:19:08,400 --> 01:19:10,599
Speaker 4: made me look good. I didn't even believe it when

1844
01:19:10,600 --> 01:19:13,080
Speaker 4: I wrote. So you know I'm gonna have to keep

1845
01:19:13,160 --> 01:19:13,519
Speaker 4: riding them.

1846
01:19:14,640 --> 01:19:16,840
Speaker 3: Okay, So that's three picks for the Wizards to win

1847
01:19:16,880 --> 01:19:18,719
Speaker 3: by two or more and let's find out who task has.

1848
01:19:19,920 --> 01:19:22,280
Speaker 4: All right, let's try and keep this losing streak going.

1849
01:19:22,320 --> 01:19:23,800
Speaker 4: I said, I want to lose so I can give

1850
01:19:23,920 --> 01:19:28,000
Speaker 4: more money to charity. That's why I am taking the raps.

1851
01:19:28,920 --> 01:19:32,479
Speaker 3: Oh wow, jeez, look at that. A Raptors fan taking

1852
01:19:32,520 --> 01:19:35,440
Speaker 3: the Raps because he wants to lose. This is diabolical.

1853
01:19:35,479 --> 01:19:37,240
Speaker 3: This is getting sick the pick him. I gotta tell

1854
01:19:37,280 --> 01:19:39,400
Speaker 3: you man, all right, Guys like comment, subscribe to No

1855
01:19:39,479 --> 01:19:41,720
Speaker 3: Dunks on YouTube. Emails your MBA questions and comments for

1856
01:19:41,760 --> 01:19:44,400
Speaker 3: the next beach step in podcasts, grab your No Dunks

1857
01:19:44,439 --> 01:19:46,719
Speaker 3: merchover at No dunks dot com. Subscribe to the Athletic

1858
01:19:46,880 --> 01:19:50,040
Speaker 3: at the Athletic dot com slash No Dunks, and once again,

1859
01:19:50,160 --> 01:19:53,559
Speaker 3: go get Ben's book bubble Ball. Ben, it was so

1860
01:19:53,760 --> 01:19:56,040
Speaker 3: fun man to have you on for the entire podcast.

1861
01:19:56,800 --> 01:19:58,600
Speaker 3: We won't We will make sure not to wait like

1862
01:19:58,720 --> 01:20:00,400
Speaker 3: months in between to have you back because you're a

1863
01:20:00,400 --> 01:20:03,760
Speaker 3: fantastic obviously, NBA mind is great talking to you man.

1864
01:20:03,640 --> 01:20:05,719
Speaker 4: Thanks for having me. Just like I said, Luka, Doncic

1865
01:20:05,760 --> 01:20:07,680
Speaker 4: would play the bubble anywhere, whether it was on the

1866
01:20:07,720 --> 01:20:10,400
Speaker 4: moon or you know, in Disney World. I'd be on

1867
01:20:10,439 --> 01:20:12,040
Speaker 4: this show anytime. You guys ask you know that.

1868
01:20:13,200 --> 01:20:15,000
Speaker 3: Love it all right, Clipper bros. Take us home.

1869
01:20:15,200 --> 01:20:17,760
Speaker 4: You heard it here first, have a great time, turn up.

1870
01:20:17,960 --> 01:20:20,559
Speaker 4: Love you guys awesome. Thanks for joining us.

1871
01:20:20,400 --> 01:20:23,599
Speaker 5: And remember to go get Ben's book bubble Ball so

1872
01:20:23,640 --> 01:20:25,000
Speaker 5: we can buy a real lambo.

1873
01:20:25,720 --> 01:20:26,679
Speaker 3: Embrace the day people.

1874
01:20:28,080 --> 01:20:35,920
Speaker 1: You could stay every day and dad be happy every.

1875
01:20:35,400 --> 01:20:42,120
Speaker 4: Minute it's been so long with your Monna.

1876
01:20:41,800 --> 01:20:48,280
Speaker 5: Pay, it's having already. It's gonna be goody