Speaker 1: The prospect of an NBA Finals preview later this week
Speaker 1: when the Boston Celtics visit the Denver Nuggets, the increasing
Speaker 1: presence of a certain Chris Haynes in Denver. We're gonna
Speaker 1: explain that too, as well as take a look at
Speaker 1: the latest injury woe in Phoenix, and that crazy stacked
Speaker 1: potential Western Conference playing round which gets more daunting every
Speaker 1: time you look at the standings. All that's next here
Speaker 1: on the latest edition of This League Uncut.
Speaker 2: Welcome to this League Uncut. In the rule of twenty
Speaker 2: four hour NBA News.
Speaker 3: This you'll.
Speaker 2: Chris Hanes. It's go time, works time, It's so time.
Speaker 2: This League Uncut is underway and on fire. This should
Speaker 2: be a good one.
Speaker 1: Everyone. Welcome in to another edition of This League Uncut.
Speaker 1: We are recording on a Monday before Chris Haynes makes
Speaker 1: a mad dash to catch a plane to Denver. He's
Speaker 1: going back to Denver to see the Nuggets twice this week.
Speaker 1: One game on the sidelines in Denver last week wasn't enough.
Speaker 1: He's moving into Denver for the whole week. We will
Speaker 1: talk about the Nuggets, we will talk about the Celtics,
Speaker 1: we will talk about the Suns. We will talk about
Speaker 1: the Warriors. But my first question, Chris Haynes, why on
Speaker 1: earth it is March fourth as we record this. Why
Speaker 1: are you still wearing a Kansas City Chiefs T shirt
Speaker 1: that the listeners can't see but I most definitely can see.
Speaker 3: Very simple answer is loudry day. I didn't have anything
Speaker 3: much to put on here, so this was one thing,
Speaker 3: one shirt that was clean, So I say, hey, why not?
Speaker 3: But yeah, I haven't warned this shirt since the super Bowl,
Speaker 3: and we've seen what happened at the super Bowl. Chiefs
Speaker 3: were victorious, so I expect something good.
Speaker 1: Why, though, why do we I never see you in
Speaker 1: a Fresno Pacific shirt. I never see you in a
Speaker 1: Fresno State shirt? Like the only team gear I've ever
Speaker 1: seen you wear.
Speaker 3: Is this?
Speaker 1: And you know me like when I get together, you
Speaker 1: know when I get when we get together for these,
Speaker 1: I got Fullerton hats galore. You've commented about some of
Speaker 1: my tennis apparel, like, I got all kinds of I
Speaker 1: think I have some versatility when we show up to
Speaker 1: do these. Why the only team gear I've ever seen
Speaker 1: you wear? Producer Ryan? Am I wrong on that? Do
Speaker 1: you remember him? Wearing any other team branded stuff.
Speaker 3: I actually had multiple Fronough State sweaters.
Speaker 1: The only thing I can remember this team related but
Speaker 1: you've wore. Did you wear something for one of your
Speaker 1: daughter's universities?
Speaker 3: Yeah, the only one I can remember. My dad I
Speaker 3: rocked the h p c U for sure. But I
Speaker 3: have multiple friend on state switters. I do do that
Speaker 3: and hats frontal stage hats uh frest Pacific. I don't
Speaker 3: have any Friend of Pacific gear. They always they always
Speaker 3: reach out to me to come to certain alumni events
Speaker 3: and want me to ask me to come play in
Speaker 3: a game alumni versus the current team games. But I'm
Speaker 3: just my schedule is always a scheduled conflicts.
Speaker 1: You're in seven rec leagues, but you can't.
Speaker 3: It was during the week. They have it during the week,
Speaker 3: the rerect leagues during the WEEKNDH. That's that's that's more
Speaker 3: open to my schedule in my rec league.
Speaker 1: Hold, speaking of that, Saturday.
Speaker 3: You open you open it up, you open it up.
Speaker 3: As you know, I'm in two rec leagues. On Saturday
Speaker 3: is the Filipino League and on Sunday is the rec League,
Speaker 3: the Sacramento League and West Sacramento and so in this
Speaker 3: Filipino League were we made it to the final four.
Speaker 3: So this Saturday is the final four if we win
Speaker 3: our first game. We played that championship game, uh two
Speaker 3: hours from there. From there, so I'm looking.
Speaker 1: On the floor with you.
Speaker 3: Aaron Haynes is back on the floor with us Sunday.
Speaker 3: He actually played with us yesterday. We won. That's the
Speaker 3: story in itself. How we won that, that's a whole
Speaker 3: other story. Style. Let me say that for another part
Speaker 3: was there.
Speaker 1: Was a lot of drama that U fold yet you
Speaker 1: know what, Let's get Let's get Yes, I'm steering the
Speaker 1: ship back to the end because.
Speaker 3: Let's hold on, steinn, hold on before we get to
Speaker 3: the NBA style, before we get to the n b A.
Speaker 3: I feel like we you know we we we just
Speaker 3: at least need to acknowledge the passing of Chris Morton's
Speaker 3: and I didn't get a chance to I've never spoken
Speaker 3: to them, but I think you know you spent a
Speaker 3: lot of time at ESPN there. Did you have any interactions,
Speaker 3: Did you guys have any communication at all?
Speaker 1: It was an absolute legend, and as you've heard in
Speaker 1: all the tributes that everybody's giving, just an absolutely beloved
Speaker 1: figure on the campus of ESPN, and as an old
Speaker 1: school journalism guy, you know, I was aware of him
Speaker 1: even before he went to ESPN and became a TV star,
Speaker 1: because you know, in my college years, it was just
Speaker 1: monstrous when The National started, and The National, for those
Speaker 1: of you who don't know, was the first and really
Speaker 1: only attempt that I can remember where a publisher tried
Speaker 1: to launch a national, a true national newspaper, and what
Speaker 1: they discovered. Unfortunately, it met with a very quick demise.
Speaker 1: It only last did a year. But when The National
Speaker 1: started as a daily newspaper that was trying to cover
Speaker 1: the whole United States, Chris Mortenson was one of the
Speaker 1: first writers that they went after to cover the NFL
Speaker 1: because Chris at that time was a hugely well known
Speaker 1: NFL reporter with the Atlanta Journal Constitution and he actually
Speaker 1: started in Southern California at the Daily Breeze because he
Speaker 1: is a native of Southern California. And so, I mean,
Speaker 1: I've been hearing stories about Chris Mortenson really my whole
Speaker 1: career and just again a beloved figure and a true
Speaker 1: titan of the industry, and you know, one of the
Speaker 1: guys who really made the job that we do. You know,
Speaker 1: he you know, there was that, you know, like Pete
Speaker 1: Vessi in the NBA, you know, the this initial wave
Speaker 1: of writers who made the jump from newspapers to TV,
Speaker 1: and then David Aldridge did it as well, and it
Speaker 1: was just it was such you know, now it's com
Speaker 1: you know, it's commonplace now for reporters to go, for
Speaker 1: sports writers to go from newspapers to TV. I mean,
Speaker 1: but it was not when Chris Mortensen did it. It
Speaker 1: was still a relatively new thing. And so there's a
Speaker 1: reason why you hear so many ESPN people talking about
Speaker 1: him with such reverence and such sadness when the news
Speaker 1: of his passing started to circulate Sunday, because he was
Speaker 1: a true giant.
Speaker 3: In most respect. Never never, never got to interact with
Speaker 3: him my two years at ESPN, but like you said,
Speaker 3: heard nothing but good things about him. So Mike and
Speaker 3: Thollis's to his family and no question.
Speaker 1: About it, no question about it. There is no graceful
Speaker 1: way to try to move back to the league we
Speaker 1: cover every day, but you are, We're trying to hustle
Speaker 1: this one before you have to go to the airport
Speaker 1: and make your way to Denver. For the rest of
Speaker 1: the week two games with the Nuggets. And I wrote
Speaker 1: this on my sub stack. Is the first Monday in
Speaker 1: March too early to start thinking about the NBA Finals.
Speaker 1: If it is, I'm guilty because the way the Nuggets
Speaker 1: are playing. They won six straight games since returning from
Speaker 1: the All Star Break, and just went to LA and
Speaker 1: spoiled the Lebron James forty thousand point party. And then
Speaker 1: in the East, what Boston is doing eleven straight wins.
Speaker 1: They obliterated the Warriors by fifty two on Sunday. And look,
Speaker 1: Boston is not gonna win seventy three games. They're not
Speaker 1: gonna make a run at the all time regular season
Speaker 1: record that the Warriors achieved in twenty fifteen to sixteen.
Speaker 1: But their regular season has everything else. I mean, they
Speaker 1: are smoldering teams. They are now the only team in
Speaker 1: league history, I believe if I have this right to
Speaker 1: post three fifty point wins in a single season. Their
Speaker 1: last game before the break, they beat the Nets by fifty.
Speaker 1: They just beat the Warriors by fifty two over their
Speaker 1: last six games, so five since the break and the
Speaker 1: game right before the break. Just those six games, Boston
Speaker 1: has won those six by a ridiculous one hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy nine points. So, you know, last season, to me,
Speaker 1: the big buzzword was parody. And when we went into
Speaker 1: the playoffs, there was this feeling that the NBA was
Speaker 1: as wide open as it's maybe ever been and everybody
Speaker 1: had a chance. And Miami making the finals as a
Speaker 1: number eight seed it kind of slammed that point home.
Speaker 1: But right now, the NBA does not feel very wide
Speaker 1: open to me. I don't know how you see it.
Speaker 1: You can tell me now here, but I mean, Denver
Speaker 1: and Boston have separated themselves. In my humble opinion.
Speaker 3: I agree. I agree, though those are the two teams
Speaker 3: that I have the most faith in going to the playoffs.
Speaker 3: I still would say this, I still believe that it's
Speaker 3: still pretty wide open. What I mean by pretty wide open,
Speaker 3: you know, I still give the Bucks of fighting chance.
Speaker 3: I you know, Philly, like Joel Embiid is the wild card.
Speaker 3: You know, I probably has less confidence and if he
Speaker 3: can get back to form at the you know, with
Speaker 3: enough time to actually make a legitimate run, Miami is
Speaker 3: always a threat. We talked about them in our last episode,
Speaker 3: you know, so I feel like Miami has a chance
Speaker 3: against anybody. But no, definitely, you know, Boston's the cream
Speaker 3: of the crop and Denver's the cream of the crop.
Speaker 3: But still I feel like, hey, you know, there are
Speaker 3: some teams that can challenge Denver out there. As bad
Speaker 3: as you know, as bad as the Warriors and the
Speaker 3: Lakers are, nobody wants to see them in the playoffs.
Speaker 3: Nobody wants to see them in the first round period
Speaker 3: because they have experience on their side. So you know,
Speaker 3: there's still teams out there that can make some you know,
Speaker 3: some of these playoffs series interesting. But for sure Denver
Speaker 3: and Boston, for sure. They don't get me.
Speaker 1: Wrong, there are threats. We can easily make a list
Speaker 1: of threats. But I just think the difference is last
Speaker 1: season just it was harder to pinpoint clear cut favorites.
Speaker 1: And you know, Denver, we just look at them different
Speaker 1: now because the Nuggets have gone all the way, because
Speaker 1: they've done it. Yes, there are concerns about their bench,
Speaker 1: they're not as deep as they were a year ago,
Speaker 1: but just what we saw them just do against the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and the reason these performances against the Lakers are so
Speaker 1: significant and they've done it now on Opening Night, they
Speaker 1: did it on Kobe Statue Knight, and now they just
Speaker 1: have done it again on the night that Lebron James.
Speaker 1: It should have been his night cracking the forty thousand
Speaker 1: point barrier. But it's always significant when the Nuggets do
Speaker 1: this against the Lakers, because the Lakers have Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis is supposed to be one of those
Speaker 1: big men who can keep up with Nikolay Jokic. And
Speaker 1: you know, the Nuggets just looked it looked so clear
Speaker 1: on set Saturday night. Their identity is very well established
Speaker 1: at this point. And I remember the last time we
Speaker 1: got together to do a pod, you had just seen
Speaker 1: Denver and Jamal Murray tweaked his ankle late in the
Speaker 1: Thursday night game that you did sideline on, and at
Speaker 1: that point when we did the pod, it was still
Speaker 1: kind of unclear how serious the Jamal Murray injury was.
Speaker 1: But I remember you saying the vibe you got from
Speaker 1: being around the Nuggets was not a huge amount of concern.
Speaker 1: And Jamal Murray has already shaken that off and is
Speaker 1: already back and they're fine. And again they lost three
Speaker 1: games right before the All Star break. They looked like
Speaker 1: a team that was bored and that wanted to get
Speaker 1: on vacation, and now they just look really dialed in
Speaker 1: back from the break they are they are really dialed in.
Speaker 1: And that's probably why TNT has you go in there
Speaker 1: twice in a week, because they're gonna be popping on
Speaker 1: that national TV schedule more and more and more now
Speaker 1: for the rest of the season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, rightfully. So this this is a team that you know,
Speaker 3: they they play the right way. They're the defending champs,
Speaker 3: so definitely they should get the respect anyways, but you know,
Speaker 3: they're they're a good team, they're well balanced, and they're
Speaker 3: you know, they're fun to watch. So again, you know,
Speaker 3: I mean say this, I said I didn't like you know,
Speaker 3: Denver is not one of my favorite stops, and it
Speaker 3: is the city is not one of my favorite stops.
Speaker 3: But they had some nice restaurants downtown that I that
Speaker 3: I was pleasantly surprised to come across. You know. I
Speaker 3: had a nice, big breakfast. And I'm sure your son's
Speaker 3: tying because he follows me on ig you know, I
Speaker 3: post my meals. Pretty sure he can vouch for the bomb.
Speaker 1: He did not mention it. But now I am going
Speaker 1: to follow up with it. I mean, I'm actually gonna
Speaker 1: tell him to start paying closer attention because I mean,
Speaker 1: please don't take offense this. It's my technical adaptitude. I
Speaker 1: cannot keep up with Instagram. So you could. You could
Speaker 1: post a screed on Instagram about how much you hate
Speaker 1: your podcast partner, and I'm sure that will someone will
Speaker 1: tell me, but I will not see it on my
Speaker 1: own like I will. I will, like I am, I
Speaker 1: am lost on trying to keep up with Instagram.
Speaker 3: So sty So when you know it was the initial
Speaker 3: stages of when we first started our podcast. You know,
Speaker 3: I will post our pod or new episodes on you know,
Speaker 3: on Instagram or Instagram story, and I would tag you.
Speaker 3: I will consistently tag you. And then I realized, I'll
Speaker 3: go to your activity. You haven't done anything since you
Speaker 3: opened up an ig account, and I'm like, man, I'm
Speaker 3: tagging this guy for no reason at all. He's not
Speaker 3: even seeing it. So I don't even tagg you. I
Speaker 3: just post the pod.
Speaker 1: I'm useless on Instagram and I'm trying. Like the problem
Speaker 1: is my son is so busy because what you know,
Speaker 1: even he was like, hey dad, when you do rankings,
Speaker 1: like you need to post your top five on Instagram
Speaker 1: and in bio, and I'm just like, I don't know
Speaker 1: how to make so he two ranking I only do
Speaker 1: rankings monthly on my sub stack, but he two rankings ago.
Speaker 1: He did a beautiful top five graphic for me, and
Speaker 1: he was happy because I used it on ig But
Speaker 1: then the next time I did it on a Thursday,
Speaker 1: and he's in school. He's too busy and like the
Speaker 1: moment was gone, and I'm like, I told him, I said, listen,
Speaker 1: I would love to just pull you out of school
Speaker 1: so you could run my socials. But I don't think
Speaker 1: mom's gonna make I don't think Mom's gonna let that happen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you got to get somebody to you know,
Speaker 3: there's always people reaching out about doing graphics, you know,
Speaker 3: for some of your stories or even you know, your
Speaker 3: list like that. You know, so you can always find
Speaker 3: people that's willing to do that. So that's that's on you.
Speaker 3: Stein But you're definitely when it comes to getting your
Speaker 3: content out, you're definitely leaving a lot of meat on
Speaker 3: the bones done. You are not utilizing social media.
Speaker 1: I look at Twitter so much. I can't imagine having
Speaker 1: another social so do you look at Instagram as much
Speaker 1: as you look at Twitter.
Speaker 3: I've over the last two years, I've started looking at
Speaker 3: Instagram more than Twitter. Twitter is can I say.
Speaker 1: Say whatever you want to be whatever you want there?
Speaker 3: No, let me say it. It's not a it's not
Speaker 3: a story, but it's kind of is is a story.
Speaker 3: This is my thing about social media style people, Ryan, producer, Ryan,
Speaker 3: you weigh in as well, how old are you? Producer? Ryan?
Speaker 1: I am thirty one, thirty one.
Speaker 3: You're thirty one. Okay, so for the for the most part,
Speaker 3: Ry may ask you. No, let me ask you Ryan,
Speaker 3: for the most part, like, do you feel your upbringing?
Speaker 3: Do you feel most of your upbringing involve social media?
Speaker 1: Uh? Yeah, definitely. I mean it like, ok first started
Speaker 1: to become a thing like kind of in high school,
Speaker 1: but all throughout college. Definitely, social media was very much
Speaker 1: a part of it.
Speaker 3: Okay, then let's use Ryan as a barometer. Ryan is
Speaker 3: thirty one. So for people thirty one years of age
Speaker 3: and younger, they grew up in the social media right Okay, Okay,
Speaker 3: so people above that, I'm forty, so people above that, no, stin.
Speaker 3: This is this is the way I came up and
Speaker 3: This is the way I interacted as a boy, and
Speaker 3: I still interacted like this as a man. Say you
Speaker 3: went to school, you know there were certain dudes you
Speaker 3: just didn't mess with. You didn't mess with, and if
Speaker 3: you chose to say something foul, if you chose to
Speaker 3: behave in contact, that could be detrimental to you. If
Speaker 3: you chose to do that, there were consequences, and usually
Speaker 3: those consequences meant this dude's gonna whoop your ass and
Speaker 3: or or you you have to be prepared to fight. Right.
Speaker 3: So that was the way we always live life, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean? Well that was it. If you
Speaker 3: were about it, you didn't care, and you were just
Speaker 3: a person that always got into something. But whatever. So
Speaker 3: that's the way you live life. And so social media
Speaker 3: comes around and you have the Ryan's age group, who
Speaker 3: they constantly I'm not gonna say all of them, I'm
Speaker 3: not doing that. My stereotyping. It stereotyping, y'all. What I'm
Speaker 3: saying is you have a lot of them who you know,
Speaker 3: say some foul stuff, say say whatever to you on
Speaker 3: social media with no consequences. They're not going to see you,
Speaker 3: and I give them a pass. I don't condone it.
Speaker 3: Stein or Ryan. I don't condone those actions because I
Speaker 3: think you're punk, but I understand it because y'all came
Speaker 3: up in that era. Y'all came up in the era
Speaker 3: where there was no accountability, where you could say type,
Speaker 3: tweet or whatever, and you know there was no repercussions.
Speaker 3: The problem I have, Stein is with the people in
Speaker 3: our age or older, because y'all know better. Y'all know better.
Speaker 3: Y'all grew up in the area where y'all mouth y'all
Speaker 3: kept y'all mouths shut. Y'all didn't say shit because you
Speaker 3: knew you get your head knocked off. I have a
Speaker 3: problem with y'all thirty five and up who are on
Speaker 3: social media. I don't know. Listen. I don't condone I
Speaker 3: don't condone Ryan them Aaron. I don't condone the behavior,
Speaker 3: but I understand it because they came up in it.
Speaker 3: The problem I have with the people who knew they
Speaker 3: couldn't do this. They didn't conduct themselves like that. And
Speaker 3: the thing is I would never start, if you know,
Speaker 3: whether I was considered somebody or not, I would just
Speaker 3: never get on Twitter and no celebrity or anything. Just
Speaker 3: talk shit. I would never degrade, insult, disrespect. I wouldn't
Speaker 3: do that because as a man, I don't carry myself
Speaker 3: like that, because I was taught as a young at
Speaker 3: a young age, you treat everybody with respect. Don't say
Speaker 3: anything to anybody, don't tweet anything, don't email anybody, don't
Speaker 3: write a to anybody that you wouldn't say to their face.
Speaker 3: So that's the problem I have with social media. So
Speaker 3: over the last couple of years that I say that
Speaker 3: to say, I've been off Twitter for the most part,
Speaker 3: Like I don't really look at my mentions like that anymore.
Speaker 3: I go to you know, ig is probably where I've
Speaker 3: been at, you know, the last two years. And it's
Speaker 3: because of that, because when I see a person in
Speaker 3: my age talking shit, because again, stein these people them
Speaker 3: sit they've seen me out in public. I've never had
Speaker 3: anybody come to me and say anything disrespectful because I'm
Speaker 3: not that dude, Like, don't get it twisted. I'm not
Speaker 3: that guy. I'm from the West side of Fresno. I'm
Speaker 3: not that guy. And so that shows me that people
Speaker 3: behave a certain way on social media that they wouldn't
Speaker 3: behave in person. So long story short, That's why I
Speaker 3: don't be on social on Twitter, and it's just gotten
Speaker 3: worse now that it's X It's just way crazy since
Speaker 3: Elon has gotten me.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to suggest that I enjoy Twitter, Believe me,
Speaker 1: I do not. But in the NBA, it is still
Speaker 1: the but it's gotten worse.
Speaker 3: But did it get worse?
Speaker 1: It is still the place where things are reported and
Speaker 1: circulated first. So my all I'm saying is I just
Speaker 1: can't imagine finding the time to look at another social
Speaker 1: media feed that is active because the NBA on Twitter
Speaker 1: is an I mean, NBA Twitter is a twenty four
Speaker 1: to seven, three hundred and sixty five world that never stops.
Speaker 1: So I'm just saying I never had time to figure
Speaker 1: out how you look at both. I just, you know,
Speaker 1: it's I'm too old. I guess I'm too old. I can't.
Speaker 3: I don't, I don't look. I don't look on Twitter
Speaker 3: like that anymore. I just don't, you know, I have notifications,
Speaker 3: that's it. But I'm not like my My Twitter usage
Speaker 3: just being dramatically reduced over the last couple of years.
Speaker 3: It's because of that, because of the Keyboard Warriors generation. Man,
Speaker 3: you want to call it. Yeah, I guess it is
Speaker 3: that that keyboard Warrior, like I just don't I don't
Speaker 3: approve of it. And I get it like you know
Speaker 3: you y'all like to I'm not gonna say y'all. See
Speaker 3: there I go, there I go. I'm not saying y'all.
Speaker 3: But the keyboard Warriors, they like they want to get
Speaker 3: her in a reaction. Cause first, I'm gonna tell you this,
Speaker 3: they would say something to me right, or they would
Speaker 3: tweet something to me like some disrespectful shit or something right,
Speaker 3: and I'll DM them. I remember, early early in the phase,
Speaker 3: I'll send them a DM. I'm like, what's up, bro?
Speaker 3: What you say? Oh I can't believe you? Responded, Oh,
Speaker 3: I can't believe you. And so that let me know,
Speaker 3: oh this is a game because I'm getting worked up.
Speaker 3: But but that's when I noticed start like it's a
Speaker 3: game to these people, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 3: they really don't like they just saying, but what about
Speaker 3: that's cool? But listen, listen, listen. You know how it is.
Speaker 3: You know how it is, like most times you pay
Speaker 3: attention to the negative more than you pay attention to positive.
Speaker 3: But I don't have a problem with critique it. I'm
Speaker 3: talking about the disrespect that goes on, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean. I don't have a problem with critiques. I
Speaker 3: don't have a problem with you know, praising, but it's
Speaker 3: just a disrespect that goes on, Like, don't say anything
Speaker 3: to anybody, man, woman, anybody that you wouldn't say to
Speaker 3: their face, period because there will be consequences, period. So
Speaker 3: that's that's my whole point, right.
Speaker 1: I don't know how we got him. I don't know
Speaker 1: how we got.
Speaker 3: You.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you a favor. I don't know how.
Speaker 3: I nah, no, Nah, you brought up Twitter and X. No,
Speaker 3: you're not getting any favors. The listener, Please listeners. I
Speaker 3: want the listeners again from thirty one and lord, I
Speaker 3: want the listeners thirty five and up because Ryan, I'm
Speaker 3: going for Ryan. Ryan's the cut off, Ryan's age to cutoff.
Speaker 3: He's the Keyboard Warrior era, his era. I want to
Speaker 3: hear from you because I know all the keyboard Warrior area. Yeah,
Speaker 3: all the keyboard Warrior ara. I know all of y'all
Speaker 3: are not keyboard Warriors. You just lumped into that era.
Speaker 3: So I'm not putting y'all all in in that group,
Speaker 3: But I want to hear from y'all, like, what do
Speaker 3: y'all let me know as a man, as a grown
Speaker 3: ass man, do y'all feel like, you know, talking shit
Speaker 3: and saying stuff that you wouldn't say in person? Do
Speaker 3: you think that's okay? You think it's okay, you think
Speaker 3: it's just trolling? And I want to hear from the
Speaker 3: thirty five and up, like, what do y'all think about
Speaker 3: this eraon? What do you think about the people that's
Speaker 3: thirty five en up who know better, who didn't act
Speaker 3: like that growing up, but now they feel they can
Speaker 3: do so and hide behind a keyboard? How do you
Speaker 3: feel about this? You know, let us know the feedback.
Speaker 1: Stein Stein's looking at you, going, don't let me know.
Speaker 3: I don't want this.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the Phoenix suns because my favorite,
Speaker 1: my favorite was to ask you on not just.
Speaker 3: Feels the same way, feels the same way.
Speaker 1: I was not. I was not trying to put you
Speaker 1: and Kate put you and KD together. What I was
Speaker 1: what I was curious. And this is not just a
Speaker 1: favor for me, This is a favor on behalf of
Speaker 1: all the listeners too. So you're you know, Thursday. You've
Speaker 1: got the game that I've now anointed a finals preview,
Speaker 1: and I'm certainly not alone in saying Boston at Denver
Speaker 1: on Thursday night has finals preview potential. But you see
Speaker 1: the Suns at Denver first, and just I'm really curious.
Speaker 1: You know, you'll be I know, you'll be taking their
Speaker 1: temperature just I mean, they've lost Devin Booker now, and
Speaker 1: it just it is to me one of the most
Speaker 1: astounding stats of the season. Let me quiz you how
Speaker 1: many games have Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: played in together this season? Ryan and or Chris, don't
Speaker 1: look it up? How many games have they played together
Speaker 1: this season?
Speaker 3: Actually?
Speaker 1: You know what, let me ask it a different way.
Speaker 1: What would you guess if you don't know, what's your
Speaker 1: guess on how many games they played this season?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, So it's going
Speaker 3: to be a guest. So the Big three, I was
Speaker 3: gonna say like fifteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's twenty three. Bradley Beal his first game
Speaker 1: back since mid February. He got ejected by the way,
Speaker 1: and Devin Booker tweaks his ankle. That was game twenty three.
Speaker 1: The Sons are fourteen and nine in those games, and
Speaker 1: so this is also something that I talked about in
Speaker 1: my sub stack. I guess that means, you know, Booker
Speaker 1: is expected to miss a week to ten days ish
Speaker 1: with this injury, but if it takes any longer, I
Speaker 1: mean we have are the basically, are these guys going
Speaker 1: to get thirty games in before the playoffs? Which is
Speaker 1: amazing to me that the answer might be.
Speaker 3: No, Yeah, yeah, so what they got twenty something left?
Speaker 3: Twenty one? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean you've been around this team a fair bit
Speaker 1: this season. How worried do you think they are that
Speaker 1: basically they're going into the playoffs with not even a
Speaker 1: half season of evidence of what this thing looks like
Speaker 1: with all three of them on the floor.
Speaker 3: Yeah, slide and I steel, Like I'll always thought they
Speaker 3: should have picked up a point guard, Like I've always
Speaker 3: felt that, and Devin Booker going out, you know, he
Speaker 3: was their league guard. Him going out now to a
Speaker 3: lot of those ball handler responsibility shifts to Bradley Build
Speaker 3: and then KD. But I just still feel like they
Speaker 3: needed a point guard. With that being said, this it's
Speaker 3: not good. I mean, they're talented enough to where they
Speaker 3: can still probably pull through, still probably end the season
Speaker 3: on a pretty good note. But you need continuity. You
Speaker 3: need continuity going into the playoffs. And this was the thing.
Speaker 3: You knew it the way that the way that the
Speaker 3: Sun's cap situation, the way is set up, you knew
Speaker 3: that injury was going to be what could what could
Speaker 3: derail them because they just didn't have the assets available
Speaker 3: to go out there and get quality depth.
Speaker 1: We've been talking about it all season, how the Sons
Speaker 1: are all in with this team, the moves that they've
Speaker 1: made to add Bradley Beal and make it a super
Speaker 1: team trio with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. And you know,
Speaker 1: as we speak, as we're recording this before Monday nights games,
Speaker 1: I mean, man, I just the play in zone in
Speaker 1: the West is stacked. New Orleans and Sacramento occupied the
Speaker 1: fifth and sixth spots in the West in Monday morning
Speaker 1: standing So that meant Phoenix was seventh, Dallas eighth, Golden State, ninth,
Speaker 1: Lakers tenth. Imagined if it stayed that way and the
Speaker 1: array of stars who woke up Monday morning stuck in
Speaker 1: the play in zone, nobody wants to be stuck in
Speaker 1: the friend zone and nobody wants to be stuck in
Speaker 1: the play in zone. I mean Kevin Durant, Devin Booker
Speaker 1: and Bradley Been Phoenix, Luka, Doncic and Kyrie Irving in Dallas,
Speaker 1: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and Golden State
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis in Lakerland. Based on Monday standings,
Speaker 1: only two of those four teams are going to the playoffs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but those those teen are pretty much a lot
Speaker 3: in the Western Conference. It's just that the order is
Speaker 3: going to be a little bit different. But those ten
Speaker 3: Utah is not Utah and Houston. They're not jumping into
Speaker 3: that top ten.
Speaker 1: All right. I suppose I should let you go and
Speaker 1: sift through the laundry and get the actual gear that
Speaker 1: you will be wearing in Denver for Sons at Nuggets
Speaker 1: and Celtics at Nuggets this week two Marquee sideline assignments.
Speaker 1: Please remember pack two dress shirts since it's the two
Speaker 1: game trip. Yeah, I do not want to repeat of
Speaker 1: what happened yeah at one time that I will never
Speaker 1: let you forget about, wouldn't you?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I don't want that to happen either. Yeah, I'm looking.
Speaker 3: I'm still trying to figure out looking over my I
Speaker 3: gotta I got a bunch of suits lined up right here,
Speaker 3: so I'm trying to figure out which one.
Speaker 1: Two pairs of kicks or just one.
Speaker 3: It depends. I still I gotta figure out the suit.
Speaker 3: Like if one pair of kicks can match both suits,
Speaker 3: I might roll with that. But that's a tough part.
Speaker 3: Start like I forget oftentimes, like when's the last time
Speaker 3: I wore a suit? Because you know, if you wear
Speaker 3: a suit too close together from your last broadcast Twitter,
Speaker 3: as we've been talking about, they will let you know.
Speaker 3: They will let you know. So I have to often.
Speaker 3: So the good thing about it is I often take
Speaker 3: pictures on game days with Regimller. We take a picture
Speaker 3: before the game with the broadcast crew, me, Regi Miller,
Speaker 3: Kevin Harden. That's like a ritual, all the sideline reporters.
Speaker 3: We all do that, and so that I can look
Speaker 3: at my pictures and see, Okay, this is the last
Speaker 3: time I wore this. Okay, I wore this in late December.
Speaker 3: I think I can pull this out again. It's early March,
Speaker 3: so you know this is one of those situations.
Speaker 1: Well, I certainly do not want you to get any
Speaker 1: unneeded grief over a wardrobe decision.
Speaker 3: So well, Stian, let me tell you this. Even if
Speaker 3: I did, I wouldn't see it because I'm not on Twitter.
Speaker 3: I told you that.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that's true.
Speaker 3: I got some notifications. That's fine, that's good against we'll take.
Speaker 1: But I guess we'll take your word for it.
Speaker 3: That's good enough.
Speaker 1: All right. That's gonna do it for this edition of
Speaker 1: this League uncut. Remember, as always, please follow us, rate
Speaker 1: the show, review the show, Apple Podcasts, Spotify podcast, wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcast. We would love a five star
Speaker 1: review and thank you for your ongoing support. And like
Speaker 1: I said, we know that when Chris makes a trip
Speaker 1: on behalf of TNT, he always comes back with an
Speaker 1: array of goods. So the fact that he's got two
Speaker 1: games this week tells us we will be getting a
Speaker 1: double dose of interesting tales and notes from the road.
Speaker 1: Two games in Denver for mister Haynes, and we will
Speaker 1: be back with you to discuss those and everything else
Speaker 1: happening in this league very very soon. Thanks for being
Speaker 1: with us, and.
Speaker 2: That'll do it for us see you next time. This
Speaker 2: League Uncutage and iHeartRadio production
Speaker 1: Chris Haynes and Mark Stein