Speaker 1: Welcome in We'll Driving the Great Episode four fifty five.
Speaker 1: This episode of What's Right with the Great is presented
Speaker 1: to you by the great people at Boost Mobile. Another
Speaker 1: excellent night in the NBA Playoffs since we last met
Speaker 1: the The Lakers got just systematically beaten by the Thunder.
Speaker 1: Such an interesting box score because the Thunder one one
Speaker 1: of the quarters by three points, one by four points,
Speaker 1: one by five points, one by six points. And that's
Speaker 1: how a game where it felt like the Lakers were
Speaker 1: actually surprisingly competitive ends up being an eighteen point loss.
Speaker 1: Just lose every quarter by two or three baskets and
Speaker 1: you lose the game by eighteen points. That happened. The
Speaker 1: Calves continue to me to look pretty unimpressive this postseason,
Speaker 1: and that was two nights ago, and then last night
Speaker 1: the Spurs got an absolutely critical, gotta have it, must
Speaker 1: win game, which we will get into momentarily, and the
Speaker 1: Knicks gotta got an important game to victory will potentially
Speaker 1: at the cost of og A Nanobi, So we'll get
Speaker 1: into all of those things. Also, Draymond Green I I
Speaker 1: think Draymond Green may have this week have had his
Speaker 1: media jumping the shark moment, So we will discuss that first.
Speaker 1: I will introduce Demanse and how's it going? Good to
Speaker 1: see you? I got it? When is so if you're
Speaker 1: just listening and you're not watching on YouTube, if you
Speaker 1: this is a great reason, like subscribe, rate review. When
Speaker 1: is the last time you had a shapeaved head?
Speaker 2: This slow?
Speaker 3: Probably the last time that I got a haircut, Like
Speaker 3: the first time I got a haircut in Houston. You remember,
Speaker 3: you took me to the barbershop. I lined it up
Speaker 3: after it had already grown. But before then. I feel
Speaker 3: like I got buzz cuts a lot when I was
Speaker 3: a kid.
Speaker 1: But you're talking about first time in Houston.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was probably like eleven or twelve years old
Speaker 2: or something like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, so you're talking about a like junior
Speaker 1: high school. It was the last time you had a
Speaker 1: shaved head? Yeah, I can barely remem. I don't let
Speaker 1: me say this. I think this is the first time
Speaker 1: you've ever had no hair on your head while having
Speaker 1: hair on your face. I think the last time.
Speaker 2: Oh that's yeah, that's fair.
Speaker 1: You had a shaved head. You weren't able to really
Speaker 1: facial hair. The chat is saying a lot of wimby
Speaker 1: comps all of a sudden in the chat when Wimby
Speaker 1: showed up all of a sudden at the after with
Speaker 1: the monks and shaving his head. I think you look great.
Speaker 1: It was disorienting almost a bit. And I'm sure it
Speaker 1: through your Is she six months today?
Speaker 2: She's six months? No, she's six months of two days.
Speaker 1: In two days? Oh right, November ninth is her birthday,
Speaker 1: so that would of course it would be on her birthday,
Speaker 1: so six months. And I'm sure it disoriented your six
Speaker 1: months soon to be six month old daughter. All of that,
Speaker 1: and real quick before we get to the sports, just
Speaker 1: ninety seconds here, and this is a note for demands.
Speaker 1: This is a note for Victor. This is the most
Speaker 1: important thing we'll do on this podcast for months. Anyone
Speaker 1: listening who is in a relationship, and this is the
Speaker 1: first mother where your significant other is a mother. Do
Speaker 1: not fall into that trap of she ain't my mom,
Speaker 1: that's don't do that and whatever. And if you're on
Speaker 1: a budget, whatever, you know, again, take my advice on this,
Speaker 1: as bad as it sounds. If you've got to cheap
Speaker 1: out on one of the presents, this one year, cheap
Speaker 1: out on the present for your own mother, take care
Speaker 1: of take care of the present for your significant other
Speaker 1: who it's her first Mother's Day. The infant can't do
Speaker 1: it now added bonus points if you give a card
Speaker 1: from the infant's perspective, like a card from you and
Speaker 1: then also a card from the baby. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: this is I truly mean it. Also. Now this is
Speaker 1: specifically for Demansay because Demanse is a great and thoughtful
Speaker 1: gift giver. He also is first team All American at
Speaker 1: spending nearly as much on the overnight shipping for the
Speaker 1: present as he did on the present. Because it's last minute,
Speaker 1: your mom will not be here on Mother's Day. She'll
Speaker 1: be traveling and she is going to be in La
Speaker 1: seeing you guys here in a few days. So do
Speaker 1: not waste one hundred and forty dollars overnighting a package.
Speaker 1: Just keep it with you and you can give it
Speaker 1: to her. You could get it there, but she won't
Speaker 1: be here. So if it's something you want to send,
Speaker 1: send it regular. She's going to be out of town
Speaker 1: until next week anyway, and if not, just handed to her. Okay,
Speaker 1: producers say, come for the take stay for the advice,
Speaker 1: all right, Straight to voicemail brought to you by Boost Mobile.
Speaker 1: Bryson D. Chambeau is going to focus on you Tube
Speaker 1: if Live folds, okay, whatever, rustabating between TV and the Jets.
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, it would be stunning to me
Speaker 1: if Russell Wilson's compelling on television. It would really I'm
Speaker 1: not saying he can't be, but it would take a
Speaker 1: real personality shift. Like his whole career, he has been
Speaker 1: intentionally bland in Vanilla. Now maybe that's just like, well,
Speaker 1: that's because I was the quarterback of a team. But
Speaker 1: now I can out here, I can be out here
Speaker 1: giving opinions.
Speaker 2: But that would be awesome.
Speaker 1: It would be awesome if he turned out and he
Speaker 1: was like, no, I was just playing a character because
Speaker 1: that's who I needed to be to be a quarterback.
Speaker 1: But that who he's the personality shown as a quarterback
Speaker 1: would not work on TV and Rick Flair hip whatever, man,
Speaker 1: I'm not even talking about this. Shut up, Rick Flair,
Speaker 1: honest to god, stopping like the Rick Flair's like, get
Speaker 1: out there, Luka, donci shut up? All right? Like rate
Speaker 1: subscribe review demons, Let's talk, Let's talk Spurs, Timberwolves.
Speaker 3: Yeah, after loosening a close one in game one. The
Speaker 3: Spurs rided the ship with the Timberwolves. In game two, uh,
Speaker 3: they kind of stopped him, and it just seemed like
Speaker 3: Minnesota didn't have it. Last night, you talked on Simmons
Speaker 3: Pot about your about your Wolves future bit. How are
Speaker 3: you feeling after that game last night?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well listen if you didn't listen to simmons Pot.
Speaker 1: I kind of alluded to it on this podcast, but
Speaker 1: and I didn't expect Bill to ask me to tell
Speaker 1: the story, but he did. And I don't often talk
Speaker 1: about gambling amounts with you guys, but I played poker
Speaker 1: on TV. You guys, see, you know what my risk
Speaker 1: tolerance is. And the too long, didn't read version of
Speaker 1: the story is Saturday morning, I was in Vegas. I
Speaker 1: was in Vegas like twenty four hours to see the fight,
Speaker 1: and I was gonna bet the fight the Kentucky Derby.
Speaker 1: And then I saw that Timberwolves were two hundred to
Speaker 1: one to win the championship, and I thought that was absurd.
Speaker 1: I thought Anthony Edwards could come back. Turns out I
Speaker 1: was right. I thought the Timberwolves had a very good
Speaker 1: shot against uh San Antonio. I think I was right there,
Speaker 1: and so I was gonna make a bet just myself.
Speaker 1: Then I texted someboddies. They agreed with me that that
Speaker 1: was way miss priced, way undervalued, and YadA, YadA, YadA.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, I for myself and on the
Speaker 1: behalf of a few friends and making accumulative ten thousand
Speaker 1: dollars to win two million dollar bet on the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Timberwolves to win the championship. That they were down to
Speaker 1: thirty to one before yesterday's game. They are now fifty
Speaker 1: to one after yesterday's game on hard Rock, and which means,
Speaker 1: by the way, that bet, that ten thousand dollars ticket
Speaker 1: is now worth forty thousand dollars. Like it's still way
Speaker 1: up in what the perceived value of it is. But
Speaker 1: obviously last night stung, and so let's so there's the bet,
Speaker 1: you know, context of it. We'll get to more on
Speaker 1: that if we need to, as the as this season
Speaker 1: and series evolves. I think the biggest thing to come
Speaker 1: out of yesterday's game actually was that Io left the
Speaker 1: game with a heel injury, which to me means his
Speaker 1: season's over. He is a young player who has not
Speaker 1: yet been paid, who had a calf injury, a calf strain,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden it migrated down to
Speaker 1: the heel. And you don't have to be Bill ny
Speaker 1: the science guy to know, Hey, what is between the
Speaker 1: calf and the heel? What is that one? Oh, it's
Speaker 1: the achilles so io, I don't think we'll play again,
Speaker 1: which no, Devincenzo, no io. It makes them even thinner.
Speaker 1: And you saw yesterday that when Clark's in the game,
Speaker 1: it just kills them on offense, and when Bones is
Speaker 1: in the game, it kills them on defense. And so
Speaker 1: it really demands a lot out of Anthony Edwards, who
Speaker 1: yesterday looked more hampered by the injury than he did
Speaker 1: in Game one, and of Terrence Shannon Junior, who has
Speaker 1: been a revelation and awesome, but it's hard to rely
Speaker 1: on him night in night out. With that said, at
Speaker 1: no point did I think Minnesota was gonna win both
Speaker 1: in San Antonio, And had they won both in San Antonio,
Speaker 1: the series would just be over. The Spurs were not
Speaker 1: gonna lose both at home and then come back and
Speaker 1: win that. I think they knew that, and I think Minnesota,
Speaker 1: who yesterday was a good reminder for them, that, particularly
Speaker 1: given Devincenzo's injury, given Io's injury, given Anthony Edwards not
Speaker 1: being anywhere close to one hundred percent, if we don't
Speaker 1: come out absolutely hair on fire, we're gonna get beat.
Speaker 1: We have to. We always have to be the more
Speaker 1: desperate team anytime we want to win one of these games,
Speaker 1: and yesterday they weren't. The offense was awful. The that
Speaker 1: third quarter was one of the longest, most miserable slogs
Speaker 1: of basketball I've ever seen through. By the way, through
Speaker 1: thirty six minutes through three quarters last night, there were
Speaker 1: forty one combined fouls. Think about that, a foul every
Speaker 1: forty five seconds for which is why the third quarter
Speaker 1: took like fifty five minutes. But the Spurs had to
Speaker 1: have it, and the Spurs got it. Now does it
Speaker 1: change my opinion that I had after Game one that
Speaker 1: Minnesota is gonna win the series. It doesn't do. I
Speaker 1: think Minnesota's margin of error just got a lot smaller. Yes,
Speaker 1: of course, but I I will if if I'm wrong
Speaker 1: about Anthony Edwards being able to ramp up his minutes
Speaker 1: and being able to get closer to being Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: then I'm gonna end up being wrong about the series
Speaker 1: and just flatly But I think yesterday was a combination
Speaker 1: of a lot of factors that led to the Timberwolves
Speaker 1: just not being locked in, and the Timberwolves defensively being dreadful,
Speaker 1: and the Spurs everybody getting involved because it wasn't he listen,
Speaker 1: Wimby was super active setting the tone early and then
Speaker 1: didn't do that much and didn't have to do that
Speaker 1: much on the offensive end the rest of the game.
Speaker 1: He still is struggling, at least somewhat with his jump
Speaker 1: shot now that you could argue is a little concerning
Speaker 1: for Minnesota that when if Wimby starts hitting his threes
Speaker 1: he was two of seven in yesterday's game. He once
Speaker 1: again for the second straight game, didn't get to the
Speaker 1: free throw line a ton. So they're guarding Wimby fine.
Speaker 1: It's the fact that outside of San Antonio was fourteen
Speaker 1: for thirty two from three shot thirty three free throws,
Speaker 1: hit the league's first ever ali oop three, one of
Speaker 1: the coolest plays of the season to beat the shot clock.
Speaker 1: Champenney had a stretch of time where he went on
Speaker 1: an individual twelve zero run and honest to God, I
Speaker 1: don't know if anyone on the Timberwolves feels like they
Speaker 1: played well. Here's one other piece of it before we
Speaker 1: get demonds to some of the bigger picture stuff that
Speaker 1: is just patently obvious for the rest of this series.
Speaker 1: Jaden McDaniels cannot get in foul trouble the way he is.
Speaker 1: Like Jaden McDaniels yesterday, in a game that Minnesota lost
Speaker 1: by thirty eight, was only a minus six in his
Speaker 1: twenty minutes, like he he has been defensively and with
Speaker 1: the burst he gives you offensively and his length. He's
Speaker 1: so important, and this entire series he's been in foul
Speaker 1: trouble and so he's got to be better on that front.
Speaker 1: I'm not listen. Mike Conley's games are gonna ab and
Speaker 1: flow because, as Aunt so eloquently told us, Mike's old
Speaker 1: as hell. Mike is the It's the Greg Odin Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant draft class. That two through five from that draft class,
Speaker 1: Demons are all still playing. It's Durant, Conley, Al Horford,
Speaker 1: and Jeff Green from the seven draft class. Uh, and
Speaker 1: so all playing you know, varying levels, but you can't.
Speaker 1: Conley is gonna if you get two more solid games
Speaker 1: out of Conolly this series. It's a huge win. But
Speaker 1: the Jalen I think the Spurs are just totally fine
Speaker 1: with not guarding Jalen Clark, and the Spurs are totally
Speaker 1: fine with bones Hiland getting as many minutes as the
Speaker 1: Timberwolves want to give them. And on the flip side,
Speaker 1: the Aaron Fox had a bit of a bounce back game,
Speaker 1: which is critical for San Antonio.
Speaker 3: What go ahead, No, I mean a great bounce back game.
Speaker 3: Consider the first one.
Speaker 1: And it was early on, like he finished with sixteen,
Speaker 1: but I think he had eleven in the first quarter,
Speaker 1: Like that's probably more than he had, but it felt
Speaker 1: like he got going early and that was, you know,
Speaker 1: to steady himself. So I still think Minnesota is fine.
Speaker 1: Like they just wanted the split in San Antonio and
Speaker 1: they got it. I believe their worst case scenario is
Speaker 1: now it's two to two going back to San Antonio,
Speaker 1: and because I don't think they're losing both at home,
Speaker 1: and I think there's a real chance they win both
Speaker 1: at home and it's three to one going back to
Speaker 1: San Antonio. But they are getting thinner and thinner, and
Speaker 1: they are going to have to have Anthony Edwards be
Speaker 1: flatly considerably better if they're gonna win this series, all right,
Speaker 1: you have some follow ups here.
Speaker 3: Wimby only played in twenty six minutes in this game.
Speaker 3: Does it worry you moving forward? Him playing in a
Speaker 3: long series, his ability to do it.
Speaker 1: Well, his ability to play big minutes. So that's that
Speaker 1: is the one of the taxes of Minnesota getting just annihilated.
Speaker 1: Is Wimby got a quick night. Yeah, if they had
Speaker 1: just been able to keep it somewhere from twelve to
Speaker 1: eighteen and you can put more more minutes on Wimby
Speaker 1: that accumulate over the course of the series, I think
Speaker 1: that would have been valuable. Instead, he doesn't have to
Speaker 1: play it all in the fourth quarter, I do. I
Speaker 1: ain't listen. I thought Winby looked absolutely worn out at
Speaker 1: the end of Game one. Zach Lows said it was
Speaker 1: the third most minutes he's ever played in any game
Speaker 1: in his career. And I ain't get showed up at
Speaker 1: the end of that game. He should probably now be
Speaker 1: fresher for game three. And he came out, you know,
Speaker 1: guns blazing last night, as he's supposed to. But it
Speaker 1: is every other game, every other day until we get
Speaker 1: to Game six, and I just don't know if he's
Speaker 1: built up the endurance over the course of the season
Speaker 1: because of how they've used him. All right, let's talk
Speaker 1: a little Ants here, Demonse. I know that you know
Speaker 1: he's gonna be the key to the series.
Speaker 3: H So Ant came off the bench a game and
Speaker 3: Fince said that he could possibly be seeing more minutes.
Speaker 2: Do you think that it'll be too late by the
Speaker 2: time that comes.
Speaker 1: No, listen, I think Anna will start Game three. That's
Speaker 1: the other I kind of has to kind of has
Speaker 1: to the idea of being able to have an Ant
Speaker 1: come off the bench. Is a nice curveball to throw,
Speaker 1: but they need energy and execution offensively to start the game.
Speaker 1: And the other thing is and isn't is a superb defender.
Speaker 1: So he's just you know, he's not their best defensive player,
Speaker 1: but he's far and away their best offensive player. And
Speaker 1: when he's out on the court, you can put out
Speaker 1: really good defenders, you know, at almost every spot with
Speaker 1: Jaden and Rudy and when Nas is out there, So
Speaker 1: it just gives you a lot of options in verse ssatility.
Speaker 1: So I listen, They're not gonna win the series with
Speaker 1: him playing twenty five minutes a game. But I don't
Speaker 1: think if you could play twenty five minutes on May fifth,
Speaker 1: I think he'll be able to play more, Or May fourth,
Speaker 1: I think you'll be able to play more minutes on
Speaker 1: May eighth and May tenth and May twelfth. Uh, all right,
Speaker 1: I want to get to the Knicks game in just
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Speaker 1: A reminder of the audience to please like, rate, and
Speaker 1: subscribe and review the podcast. Again. I'm gonna be totally honest.
Speaker 1: I don't really care if you review it or like it.
Speaker 1: It's nice, but the or rate it. I just really
Speaker 1: want you to subscribe to it. Those other things are cool,
Speaker 1: but I don't I don't know whether or not I
Speaker 1: would review a podcast. I don't. I think I've clicked
Speaker 1: five stars, but I don't think I've ever written a review.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, I think just liking it and
Speaker 1: or just subscribing to it, you know, I have not.
Speaker 1: I do understand it's important for small businesses, uh, but
Speaker 1: I'm just not the review type. So I just appreciate
Speaker 1: if everybody just subscribes. That's why Oh boy, hold on
Speaker 1: breaking news from my life. This is, I guess speaks
Speaker 1: to I don't know the power of Simmons pod. Something
Speaker 1: I don't know there is. I just got a message.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say who, uh it's regarding, but I
Speaker 1: just got a message from Fox pr that, uh, a
Speaker 1: newspaper wants to do a write up on my Timberwolves
Speaker 1: future a right of story on the Timbrels future local.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna have to Here's the thing. I am
Speaker 1: a public person. The folks I'm sharing the bet with
Speaker 1: maybe are not quite as public as me. All Right,
Speaker 1: we'll see. I just got that text while I was
Speaker 1: talking about liking ratings subscribing review to the podcast. All right,
Speaker 1: let's talk Nick sixers.
Speaker 3: So the Knicks won, and they had a close one
Speaker 3: for the first time in a while in these playoffs.
Speaker 3: Yesterday during the tiers, you said that the Knicks are
Speaker 3: playing almost too well. Is this more like what you're
Speaker 3: expecting from them moving forward?
Speaker 1: Well, no, Listen, I thought yesterday as a really solid
Speaker 1: win by them, and they're not gonna We talked about
Speaker 1: this a lot, but they were the first team in
Speaker 1: the history of the NBA to win three straight playoff
Speaker 1: games by twenty five points. Just blowing teams out every
Speaker 1: single night in the playoffs is not really a thing,
Speaker 1: as evidenced by the fact nobody had done what the
Speaker 1: Knicks did, and so yeah, it it is not surprising
Speaker 1: that they finally actually had a close game and a
Speaker 1: game that it looked like at various times Philly might steal.
Speaker 1: It's also not surprising at all, Demons that Philly ran
Speaker 1: out of gas. They were a thin team with Embiid
Speaker 1: without him. They're so they're starters with EMBIID. Their starting
Speaker 1: lineup is EMBIID, obviously, Paul George Ubre, Maxi Edgecombe. Those
Speaker 1: four guys, their regular non EMBIID starters played forty three minutes,
Speaker 1: forty minutes, forty minutes, and forty seven for Maxi, And
Speaker 1: so when that happens, you're just gonna be on fumes.
Speaker 1: Our guy, Quinton Grimes had a bit of a rough game.
Speaker 1: He's got to listen. They're asking a lot of them,
Speaker 1: but he had you know, he had a decent look
Speaker 1: at a three with twenty five seconds left down five
Speaker 1: didn't hit it. And Drummond's just not gonna be able
Speaker 1: to give you a ton of productive minutes. Bona is
Speaker 1: not gonna be able to give you a ton of
Speaker 1: productive minutes, which means you are going to be playing
Speaker 1: small with Paul George as your biggest guy on the court.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be playing an undrafted guy Dominique Barlow, who
Speaker 1: actually was okay last night, probably a few more minutes
Speaker 1: than you would like. Meanwhile, the Knicks going into the
Speaker 1: game are fully healthy. And because it's not the Tibbs Knicks,
Speaker 1: it's the Mike Brown Knicks, their bench guys are used
Speaker 1: to playing. And so Carkson and Sham and Alvarado and
Speaker 1: Hucked Porty pardon me.
Speaker 2: Really do anything this scene in this game?
Speaker 1: No, but he gave the guys rest. No, you're the
Speaker 1: bench didn't do much, but you can just it allows
Speaker 1: It allows Towns and Bridges and Og all those guys
Speaker 1: to not play forty some They're still playing huge minutes.
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong, Josh Hart played massive minutes. But
Speaker 1: they can get breathers when they need them. Now. I'm
Speaker 1: scared of hamstring injuries, and OG seemed to hurt his hamstring.
Speaker 1: He has had hamstring issues before. OG has been having
Speaker 1: the playoffs of its life. Man, yea, this even going
Speaker 1: out with injury yesterday. This postseason, OG and Nanobi is
Speaker 1: playing thirty five minutes a game averaging twenty one point
Speaker 1: seven rebounds on here is splits sixty two percent from
Speaker 1: the field, fifty four percent from three. He has been
Speaker 1: just on fire for two and a half weeks now,
Speaker 1: I I am anxious about what his actual status is
Speaker 1: for the rest of the series. Hamstring injuries scare me
Speaker 1: and they tend not to just go away, So that is,
Speaker 1: you know, that is the primary concern for the next
Speaker 1: coming out of this game Philly. It's really hard to
Speaker 1: handicap Philly because I have no idea what Imbeds health
Speaker 1: is gonna be. And in Game one it looked like
Speaker 1: he got his knee hurt a couple times, but he
Speaker 1: missed this game with ankle and hip injuries, so I
Speaker 1: don't so I don't really know, you know, what his
Speaker 1: status is With a healthy Embiid, particularly if Og is out,
Speaker 1: I think Philly can win both the games in Philly,
Speaker 1: and it can be too two going back to New York.
Speaker 1: I think Philly has Guy for Guy the talent to
Speaker 1: match the Knicks, even if they're not as deep as
Speaker 1: the Knicks. But without Embiid, I don't think Philly has
Speaker 1: the horses. And that then gets me to something I
Speaker 1: just want to say big picture about EMBIID. I don't
Speaker 1: know if there's a player who I feel worse for
Speaker 1: as far as where it looks like his career is
Speaker 1: going to go because of injury. And we have had
Speaker 1: plenty of guys demons who have had career altering or
Speaker 1: ending injuries, but in a very odd way, this seems
Speaker 1: a different type of cruel. Like listen, Derek Rose blew
Speaker 1: out his knee and his career was never the same.
Speaker 1: It was one moment, a specific thing. Bill Walton, who
Speaker 1: will be the EMBID comp destroyed his foot and his
Speaker 1: career was never the same. Grant Hill had, you know,
Speaker 1: basically a botched ankle surgery and his career was never
Speaker 1: the same. That is, the career altering or the career
Speaker 1: ending injury is something that we have seen throughout sports history.
Speaker 1: EMBIID is so different, and to me it would be
Speaker 1: if it were me, it would be a different type
Speaker 1: of frustration because it's so many despair it and seemingly
Speaker 1: unrelated ailments. He's number three pick of the draft. He
Speaker 1: missed the first two years of his career dealing with
Speaker 1: foot problems. He then throughout his career dealt with various
Speaker 1: knee issues. He then won year in the playoffs, got
Speaker 1: elbowed in the final seconds of a game and got
Speaker 1: I think a broken eye socket. It was either it
Speaker 1: was either skull or eye socket, but it was just right,
Speaker 1: like he had nothing to do with his previous injury.
Speaker 1: He then in one postseason got Bell's poulsy and half
Speaker 1: his face collapsed and he could he was like squinting,
Speaker 1: he couldn't open his eye. This year he gets a
Speaker 1: pin to Sited's. It just feels so random and unfair
Speaker 1: that he likely is going to It's one thing to
Speaker 1: injure your career and be like, you know what, I've
Speaker 1: got it. This sucks and I've just got to eat it.
Speaker 1: But I wasn't good enough to get over the hump. Instead,
Speaker 1: he might end his career saying and I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know it. You know what it was going
Speaker 1: to be. And that's why it was so exciting when
Speaker 1: they had to comeback against Boston because they were the underdog.
Speaker 1: He had the appended is I think most people have
Speaker 1: chalked up all, right, another brutal luck year, and then
Speaker 1: it's like, holy shit, is this the year they break through?
Speaker 1: And then he gets banged up hip and ankle in
Speaker 1: game one and he's out for Game two. It's just
Speaker 1: it just.
Speaker 2: Sucks to get through.
Speaker 3: It seems like he tries to come back every single
Speaker 3: time as soon as he possibly, trying.
Speaker 1: To do everything he can, and it might just be,
Speaker 1: you know, his body is not built for this. Just
Speaker 1: he's too big and it's too And again I'm not
Speaker 1: early in his career. He could have done more to
Speaker 1: stay in better shape and to you know, take care
Speaker 1: of himself better. I understand that he oddly, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you know this demands. He was like famous
Speaker 1: for having like an insane Shirley Temple habit, like like
Speaker 1: a dozen like just just with yeah, I think and
Speaker 1: so like we're good the yeah, but drinking your calories
Speaker 1: is never a good way if you're a peak, you know, athlete. Yeah,
Speaker 1: uh and so and so he would be a little
Speaker 1: heavy and that would, you know, wear on him. It'd
Speaker 1: be harder for him stay in shape, all those things.
Speaker 1: I get that. I'm not saying he has handled everything perfectly,
Speaker 1: but man, he does not deserve this level of bad luck.
Speaker 1: And the Sixers can't win the series without him.
Speaker 3: Go ahead, Yeah, just on the Philly side. Like I mean,
Speaker 3: it's also shout out to him for sticking with him
Speaker 3: through it all.
Speaker 1: But geez, I mean, he's He's one of the greatest
Speaker 1: scoring sinners of all time. He has multiple years averaging
Speaker 1: more than thirty points. He's won multiple scoring championships, He's
Speaker 1: won an MVP, and he just has such a hard
Speaker 1: time getting to the finish line. And it almost happened
Speaker 1: by default this year. And I'm a big proponent of
Speaker 1: teams not tanking, and the customers, you know, or they're
Speaker 1: paying customers, take the regular season seriously. All of that.
Speaker 1: I would almost put Embiid in a separate category. And
Speaker 1: if the Sixers next year, said Joel Embiid is not
Speaker 1: playing in a single game until game fifty five, and
Speaker 1: starting with game fifty five he is going to play
Speaker 1: twice a week ramping up to the playoffs, I would
Speaker 1: try it. I honest to god, I would like, see,
Speaker 1: is it.
Speaker 3: Possible, by right?
Speaker 1: Is it possible that the lesson for Embiid is he
Speaker 1: can give you at this point forty games. And if
Speaker 1: that's the case, do you need to save twenty five
Speaker 1: of those? You would hope for the postseason and ramp
Speaker 1: them up that way. I don't know what else you do.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, well it's Basketball Hall of Fame. So yes,
Speaker 1: first ballot, you win an MVP, you're a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 1: And but he has missed more games in his career
Speaker 1: than he's played. Okay, And it's just it's such a unique,
Speaker 1: such a unique career. All right, let's talk OKAC and
Speaker 1: then let's talk Lakers.
Speaker 3: So we'll get to the Lakers side of it in
Speaker 3: a second. But you had a bone to pick with
Speaker 3: the reigning MVP, and it just so happens that the
Speaker 3: internet agrees with you.
Speaker 2: We got a sweet for you, guys.
Speaker 1: Because of the we're saying. They agreed with me because
Speaker 1: of the numbers on it. Yes, so I said, call
Speaker 1: me old fashioned, but I think the soon to be
Speaker 1: two time MVP should drive to the basket with the
Speaker 1: intent to score instead of driving to the basket with
Speaker 1: the intent to trick the ref. And I guess it
Speaker 1: did good numbers. So I'm going to go kind of
Speaker 1: meta here for a moment because thunder fans. Demont's thunder
Speaker 1: fans are so on tilt about this specific criticism that
Speaker 1: there is a level of spiraling that is rare to see.
Speaker 1: I am. Of all the takes I've had in my
Speaker 1: whole career, this is the one that you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm getting hit with you racist for real? They're like,
Speaker 1: where where are you say? I had somebody say, oh,
Speaker 1: this coming from the guy who loves Joker, and I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: you guys are really on tilt right now. So and
Speaker 1: again that's a total you know what sidebar to the
Speaker 1: sidebar two. I have two points on the Lebron flopping stuff.
Speaker 1: One is the clip that that goes around everywhere of
Speaker 1: Lebron snapping his head back when he gets swiped at
Speaker 1: that angle, it looks like he doesn't get touched. And
Speaker 1: then if you actually remember that game or you see
Speaker 1: the non gift angle, he gets hit in the face,
Speaker 1: he gets stone hit in the face and be like,
Speaker 1: this is Lebron flopping? Now look what is here? Is
Speaker 1: what I tell me if you think I'm being If.
Speaker 3: This is different styles of whatever, it's so different.
Speaker 1: Fact we need different words for it. Like what what
Speaker 1: Lebron has done forever is if you actually touch his face,
Speaker 1: he will act like a sniper hit him like the
Speaker 1: and that and by the way, that's only if it's
Speaker 1: in the open court or after the play's completed. And
Speaker 1: that's where Lebron's been, you know, had some bad ones
Speaker 1: where he gets he's driving to the basket, gets hit
Speaker 1: on the head. The hit on the head clearly does
Speaker 1: not bother him. He tries to finish the layup, and
Speaker 1: then once the basketball part's done, he's grabbing his head.
Speaker 1: He's like, ah, like that. So and if you're out
Speaker 1: in the open court guarding him and you hit him,
Speaker 1: you know, hit him, graze his nose, He's gonna snap
Speaker 1: his head back. That that is.
Speaker 2: It's a little bit of embellishing.
Speaker 1: It's it's right. It is a and you can hate that,
Speaker 1: you can whatever. I'm not the I'm not defending it.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying it is a separate category of what
Speaker 1: Lebron has never done. And this is and I don't
Speaker 1: think and Luca is a flopper, but what those guys
Speaker 1: don't do is drive to the basket with the intent,
Speaker 1: with no intent whatsoever, of shooting the ball or making
Speaker 1: a basket. And I am not saying like it is.
Speaker 1: It is a different thing entirely, this specific thing that
Speaker 1: Shay was doing in that first quarter, that infuriates people
Speaker 1: the just random flail throw the ball to try to
Speaker 1: get a foul. And by the way, I am not
Speaker 1: arguing that Shae only does that. Shae is one of
Speaker 1: the most prolific drivers to the basket. He he does
Speaker 1: very often get actually fouled and still finish. He is
Speaker 1: a great player. But one of the clubs in his
Speaker 1: bag that he goes to more often than any other
Speaker 1: all time great player is the just cartoonish flailing about
Speaker 1: throwing his own self to the ground to get a call.
Speaker 1: And it's technical.
Speaker 3: It's a technical in theory it should be.
Speaker 1: And Thunder fans can't accept that winning a championship get
Speaker 1: you the championship and the bragging rights and the belt,
Speaker 1: but it does not get you necessarily love, and at
Speaker 1: times it doesn't even get you as much respect as
Speaker 1: you think you deserve. And oddly, you know the person
Speaker 1: who could have told thunder fans that a person that
Speaker 1: Thunder fans, many of them feel exactly that way about
Speaker 1: his championships. Former Thunder Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant left the
Speaker 1: Thunder went to Golden State, played ten out of ten
Speaker 1: ten basketball in those playoff runs. One championships yet Thunder
Speaker 1: fans and a lot of other people like, yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's like, what do you mean I'm Finals MVP.
Speaker 1: What do you mean I played great? What do you
Speaker 1: mean we won the championship? Yeah? But and Shay's historyonics
Speaker 1: particularly and I've talked to this a lot, along with
Speaker 1: Dort's rugby are yeah, but about how the general public's
Speaker 1: gonna feel about that team. It just is. And then
Speaker 1: you add to it, what I think is a really
Speaker 1: in The most interesting thing demon say about Game one
Speaker 1: of Lakers Thunder was the refs didn't get tricked and
Speaker 1: it really threw Shaye off. He had his worst game
Speaker 1: of the year. Terrible.
Speaker 2: Look, man, you came out a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 3: You're screaming at the crowd saying you don't need it,
Speaker 3: you need it, you need it a little bit, man,
Speaker 3: And it's like, how dare you come out and say
Speaker 3: you don't need it.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing. Do I think Shaye would be one
Speaker 1: of the five best players in the league if free
Speaker 1: throws were abolished?
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 1: I think He's that skilled, Like if it was just
Speaker 1: like every time you get fouled, it's just side out
Speaker 1: and which would then make it to where there would
Speaker 1: be no incentive to ever flop. You'd just be like, well,
Speaker 1: you're just gonna have to start the possession over. I
Speaker 1: still think he would be a great player, and if
Speaker 1: free throws were abolished, I think the Thunder would still
Speaker 1: be the best team in the league. I do I
Speaker 1: believe that. But do I think he would have had
Speaker 1: it would have one hundred and forty consecutive games of
Speaker 1: twenty points?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: Do I think he would be fifty five percent on
Speaker 1: thirty to a game as a guard? No? And do
Speaker 1: I think Game one of this round was evidence to that? Yes,
Speaker 1: because what I think has happened a lot, and people
Speaker 1: can say, look at his free throw numbers, like Luca
Speaker 1: shoots more free throws. Luca is great at foul baiting,
Speaker 1: There's no doubt about it. And Luca can flop a
Speaker 1: bit too, But it is the what Shay does early
Speaker 1: in these games sets the precedent for you can't actually
Speaker 1: guard me if you get anywhere relatively close. I have
Speaker 1: mastered tricking the officials, and I will early in the
Speaker 1: game get to the line. You then will have no
Speaker 1: choice but to adjust how you guard me. Now, I
Speaker 1: can get to any spot I want on the court.
Speaker 1: I'm the best mid range player the league has seen
Speaker 1: in twenty years minimum, and now I'm unguardable. That doesn't
Speaker 1: work quite as well in the postseason, which is why
Speaker 1: over the last two years of basketball, Shay has scored
Speaker 1: twenty plus in one hundred and forty straight regular season
Speaker 1: games and in twenty eight of his playoff games. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: and in four of his playoff games of his twenty
Speaker 1: eight he hasn't. And so I don't. I don't know
Speaker 1: what thunder fans want me to say other than let
Speaker 1: me say, let me put it like this. It is,
Speaker 1: and maybe this will reach a few thunder fans who
Speaker 1: are also I'm sure NFL fans, whether they're Chiefs fans,
Speaker 1: owned remind me say something about the Chiefs thing. In
Speaker 1: a second, Chiefs fans or Cowboys fans or whoever they're,
Speaker 1: you know, because Oklahoma City doesn't have a team. It's
Speaker 1: a little tush pushy. Yeah, it's legal, it's effective, and
Speaker 1: you're the champ. Everybody ain't gonna like it, and everybody
Speaker 1: ain't gonna respect it, and you can, like, you can
Speaker 1: do it all you want, but it's not going to
Speaker 1: be as admirable as you would like. Here's the thing
Speaker 1: I want to say about the Chiefs, because here's another
Speaker 1: thing Thunder fans are high on me saying blaming the
Speaker 1: refs is for losers. When it came to the chief
Speaker 1: stuff and me talking about because the Chiefs are champs,
Speaker 1: everyone's now blaming the officials. I want to make something
Speaker 1: very clear. I stand by all of that, because the
Speaker 1: chief's equivalent of what the Thunder conversation is the lunatics
Speaker 1: on the internet who's like, hey, the head of officiating
Speaker 1: used to be a thunderfan, or hey, this ref is
Speaker 1: wearing Shay's shoes. That shit is stupid. I do not
Speaker 1: think there is a conspiracy to help Oklahoma City. I
Speaker 1: do not think the fix is in. I do not
Speaker 1: think the refs are doing this on purpose, that the
Speaker 1: narrative on Kansas City was the fix is in they
Speaker 1: need the Chiefs to be good for ratings. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying any of that. I'm saying something very different. Your
Speaker 1: star player is an actor some of the time, and
Speaker 1: I don't like it. That's what I'm saying, and so
Speaker 1: it is. I'm not blaming the refs. I'm simply saying
Speaker 1: I find it unsporting, and what happened in the first
Speaker 1: quarter of that game was pretty unbecoming of the MVP demonse.
Speaker 1: It looked like you wanted to say something.
Speaker 3: So you're not blaming the refs. I think the refs
Speaker 3: have a big, a big play in this, Like they
Speaker 3: can control it very easily, like SGA can do that
Speaker 3: all he wants to. I think the refs have so
Speaker 3: much control over the situation where it's like, hey man,
Speaker 3: maybe just not be bamboozled like this. You guys watch
Speaker 3: the games right like.
Speaker 1: It's so so I think that's a great point. So
Speaker 1: let me so. I think the refs could be and
Speaker 1: should be better on this. But when I say I'm
Speaker 1: not blaming the refs, what I mean is I am
Speaker 1: not saying, OKC one because of the officials. OKAC is
Speaker 1: winning because of a bad call. I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: like that. When the blame the refs to me is
Speaker 1: like the sorry Bills fans, but the Bills in the
Speaker 1: game against the Broncos, who were like, it was a catch,
Speaker 1: it was a catch, we win the like we would
Speaker 1: have won the game, but the refs cost us. That's
Speaker 1: the blaming the ref stuff that I don't like. I
Speaker 1: do think the league should enforce its anti flopping stuff,
Speaker 1: and the refs should be better at determining whether or
Speaker 1: not a there was real contact and b not rewarding
Speaker 1: guys who don't appear like they're actually trying to go score.
Speaker 3: In this shame of the other team getting a free
Speaker 3: throw because you flopped, I think would just knit that
Speaker 3: in the bud so fast.
Speaker 1: Oh, I like that. That's a good point. That's a
Speaker 1: good point.
Speaker 3: And then it's like your teammate is gonna be like,
Speaker 3: hey man, chill out.
Speaker 1: I hadn't even thought of that, but I think that's
Speaker 1: a good point. Just the embarrassment of that piece of it,
Speaker 1: all right. I do want to talk about the actual
Speaker 1: game here in a second, But first, boost Mobile is
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Speaker 1: everybody to please subscribe to the pod on YouTube, iTunes
Speaker 1: and or Spotify. All right, Demanda, let's talk about the
Speaker 1: actual game.
Speaker 3: Austree you have the worst playoff shooting performance in Lakers history.
Speaker 3: And Luca also confirmed a timeline on his healing that
Speaker 3: doesn't have him cod an eight week timeline, by the way,
Speaker 3: that doesn't have him coming back into the Western Conference finals?
Speaker 3: Is it time for Los Angeles to wave the wife.
Speaker 1: A listen if Luca's not coming back. There's not a
Speaker 1: lot paths you can find to winning this series. There's
Speaker 1: just it's and there's no shame in that I do. However,
Speaker 1: there are some interesting angles. The rest of the series
Speaker 1: is very important for Austin Reeves. He's been eaten up
Speaker 1: by the thunder this year and how many demand how
Speaker 1: often this year did I have to listen to Lebron's
Speaker 1: the third best player on the Laker.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot, a lot.
Speaker 1: To the point where if if I even said Lebron's
Speaker 1: the second best guy, people be like this Homer and
Speaker 1: I like Austin. I think Austin's an excellent player. I do.
Speaker 1: I do think it's fair to question whether or not
Speaker 1: if he is your second best player, are you a
Speaker 1: championship caliber team? I do? And that's I'm talking about
Speaker 1: like post Lebron Lakers stuff because a lot of the year,
Speaker 1: some la some folks who call themselves Laker fans but
Speaker 1: are actually just Kobe fans and actually not, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of anti Lebron, even though we brought him a championship,
Speaker 1: have been counting down the minutes till we can get
Speaker 1: this albatross off our books and start the Luke Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves era, move on from Lebron, Max out Austin, get cooking.
Speaker 1: I'm old enough to remember my pal Rich Paul saying, Hey,
Speaker 1: if the Lakers are serious about winning a championship this year,
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves might be the most valuable trade piece. He
Speaker 1: talked about. In Austin Reeves Jaron Jackson Junior Trade, he
Speaker 1: talked about using Austin in a package where Luke and
Speaker 1: Lebron can be your lead dogs on offense. Now that
Speaker 1: for this year, that would have been a moot point anyway,
Speaker 1: if Luca still suffered this injury. But so much of
Speaker 1: the Lakers moves the last few years have been as
Speaker 1: if they are at least a tiny bit annoyed that
Speaker 1: Lebron hasn't fallen off the cliff yet. And the moment
Speaker 1: this season it looked like, okay, okay, father times finally
Speaker 1: caught up posts Attica when his numbers were down. How
Speaker 1: many times did we fucking have to see Lakers Lebron
Speaker 1: on court, Lakers Lebron off court those numbers. Then the
Speaker 1: moment that started to happen, we get the long ESPN
Speaker 1: article with the reporting of yeah, Genie Buss is, you know,
Speaker 1: excited to get out of the Lebron business. They're excited
Speaker 1: to turn the page. And then fast forward to Sinko
Speaker 1: to Mayo twenty twenty six. Luca is out with a
Speaker 1: soft tissue injury. Austin has the least efficient shooting performance
Speaker 1: in a playoff game in the history of the franchise,
Speaker 1: and Lebron James thoroughly and comprehensively outplays the soon to
Speaker 1: be two time MVP is the best player on the
Speaker 1: goddamn court once again, and folks are talking about, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe we'd want him back, but only at a huge
Speaker 1: pay cut. Okay, I mean, y'all can have that opinion.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you've seen this postseason that makes
Speaker 1: you think Lebron James is still not one of the
Speaker 1: guys in the league that's worth the max. I certainly
Speaker 1: don't know what you've seen this postseason that would make
Speaker 1: you think, Yeah, listen, we love Lebron, and Lebron's an
Speaker 1: all time legend, but if we're trying to win a championship,
Speaker 1: like you know, Austin Reeves is just clearly more impactful. Really,
Speaker 1: and again, I really like Austin a lot, and I
Speaker 1: would be in the business of paying Austin a ton
Speaker 1: of money. But we just watched a forty one year
Speaker 1: old be the best player on the court in a
Speaker 1: series in a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and
Speaker 1: it wasn't near enough because the Lakers kind of paused
Speaker 1: going for a championship as far as team building to
Speaker 1: a post Lebron era. Meanwhile, Lebron's still the most reliable
Speaker 1: guy they got and Luke evidently is weeks away. It's
Speaker 1: been five now, by the way, somebody screwed up the
Speaker 1: reporting on this, or either someone screwed up the reporting
Speaker 1: or Lucas behind schedule because when he gotn't nobody yeah,
Speaker 1: well correct, And the original reporting I thought was three
Speaker 1: to five weeks, maybe it was four to six weeks.
Speaker 1: At no point did I hear six to eight weeks,
Speaker 1: And now Lucas saying no, it's just flat eight weeks
Speaker 1: two months.
Speaker 2: So I.
Speaker 1: The playoffs are always a fun little microscope to see
Speaker 1: who is and who isn't actually impactful, and again this
Speaker 1: is not. I want to make this incredibly clear. I
Speaker 1: really like Austin Reeves and I think he'll be better tonight.
Speaker 1: I also want to make this clear, Austin Reeves has
Speaker 1: done tremendous work, tremendous work honing his skills this offseason.
Speaker 1: He needs to do a little more work just getting
Speaker 1: physically stronger like that. One of the reasons he has
Speaker 1: such trouble against the Thunder is all those guys are
Speaker 1: just so much stronger than him, and I think he
Speaker 1: will and I think he's going to be a laker.
Speaker 1: I think they're probably gonna max him out, and you know,
Speaker 1: he's one of the best undrafted players ever, like literally
Speaker 1: one of the best undrafted players ever. But there was
Speaker 1: a lot of chirpin about folks being excited for the
Speaker 1: Lebron era to end, about needing to move off, about
Speaker 1: turning the page, and Luke all of a sudden's out
Speaker 1: two months. Austin is struggling mightily and Lebron's just there
Speaker 1: out playing Shay. All right, Demonse, let's talk Draymond for
Speaker 1: a second.
Speaker 3: I feel like all I have to say for this
Speaker 3: one is Draymond Green was on the inside the NBA
Speaker 3: show last night, then you but he might have ruined
Speaker 3: the expectations for Golden State fans. He said success might
Speaker 3: not be for us at this point, and at this
Speaker 3: point a championship. You also Cook Barkley, Barkley saying that
Speaker 3: the hopes are to just not look like you did
Speaker 3: in the Houston uniform. You wanted to talk about this,
Speaker 3: so let's go.
Speaker 1: I'm here, I'm just deciding how I want to phrase
Speaker 1: this and how harsh I want to be or not.
Speaker 1: I'm going to give Draymond Green some very friendly advice
Speaker 1: in the spirit of how close he is with some
Speaker 1: of my most respected friends and colleagues, and you know,
Speaker 1: one of my closest friends is a very close friend
Speaker 1: of his. If you want to be good on television, Draymond,
Speaker 1: you have to be able to laugh at yourself, particularly
Speaker 1: if you are going to be a harsh critic of others.
Speaker 1: Take it from me, buddy, like I get to be
Speaker 1: all somewhat arrogant, annoying chesty. I also three weeks ago
Speaker 1: put on a clown nose and rainbow wig, and I
Speaker 1: was the one that alerted the world. I picked an
Speaker 1: NBA finals where both teams got popped in round one.
Speaker 1: What used to be Turner Sports and now you know
Speaker 1: that's kind of gone. But inside the NBA has clearly
Speaker 1: been hoping and grooming you to one day takeover for
Speaker 1: Charles freaking Barkley, maybe the greatest sports television performer ever.
Speaker 1: And in that entire time, for as bright as you are,
Speaker 1: you have not realized Barkley's key to his broadcast brilliant
Speaker 1: is he relishes being the butt of the joke. He
Speaker 1: gives it and he takes it with a smile. And
Speaker 1: Draymond's total lack of any ability to laugh at himself,
Speaker 1: makes some of his TV clips peak curb your enthusiasm.
Speaker 1: Uncomfortable to watch the clip of him yesterday. Keep in
Speaker 1: mind this is on the heels of him trying to
Speaker 1: go high school resume for high school resume with Austin Rivers,
Speaker 1: which I mean, like, what are we doing? And Austin Rivers,
Speaker 1: who obviously it was not twenty five percent of the
Speaker 1: pro that Draymond was, but is five hundred percent of
Speaker 1: the broadcaster. Austin Rivers in his response, was like, hey, buddy,
Speaker 1: here's where your facts were wrong. We weren't the same
Speaker 1: high school player. We weren't the same college player. But
Speaker 1: by the way, you have me clocked in the pros,
Speaker 1: I give it to you. Obviously you do, and immediately
Speaker 1: Austin Rivers eight miling is on NBA career. It removes
Speaker 1: any type of AMMO you have. And then he just
Speaker 1: kept killing you. But on the heels of that that
Speaker 1: clip yesterday when Draymond says the goal is to not
Speaker 1: look like Charles in Houston, and Charles, who I gotta think,
Speaker 1: knew what he was doing. Instead of lightening the tension
Speaker 1: by chuckling, just stared at him silently and then let
Speaker 1: Draymond continue to try to dig himself deeper. It was.
Speaker 1: It took me three instances to be able to get
Speaker 1: through it because it was such uncomfortable, awful television. And
Speaker 1: do you know how high the cringe factor has to
Speaker 1: be to make inside the freaking NBA uncomfortable television to
Speaker 1: the greatest sports TV show that or PTI the greatest
Speaker 1: sports TV shows ever. And Ernie was there, and Chuck
Speaker 1: was and Kenny was there. And it took forty five
Speaker 1: seconds of Draymond Green being delusional for me to be like,
Speaker 1: I can't ah like that, that feeling of like, oh
Speaker 1: god stop. And the worst part about it all demons
Speaker 1: seems fucking wrong. Chuck's first year in Houston was awesome.
Speaker 1: There is the idea and this is where this is
Speaker 1: a great example of where ring culture.
Speaker 2: It is tied to the heads.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Bro, Draymond Green's a Hall of Famer. He's one
Speaker 1: of the greatest defensive players of all time. I've said
Speaker 1: time and again I think he's the second most important
Speaker 1: warrior ever, not Klay Thompson. I believe all of those things.
Speaker 1: He also is not in the same room of greatness
Speaker 1: as Charles freaking Barkley an even old, out of shape
Speaker 1: Charles Barkley in Houston was doing work. And the idea
Speaker 1: that Chuck was some that Chuck with Houston was.
Speaker 2: He's like Shack with Phoenix. I feel like he was trying.
Speaker 1: To yes or shoot. He's trying to call him maybe
Speaker 1: Shack with the Celtics or with the Cats, like the
Speaker 1: late late Shack, or that it was Ewing with the Magic. No,
Speaker 1: it was not his first year there. They made the
Speaker 1: conference finals and he was awesome. He was for his
Speaker 1: four years there. He was sixteen and twelve. Do you
Speaker 1: know the last time Draymond Green? I understand their different
Speaker 1: players in not stats, guy, do you know the last
Speaker 1: time Draymond Green averaged sixteen points a game? Honest to god?
Speaker 1: The answer to that, uh no, Michigan State. That's the
Speaker 1: last time. So don't give And by the way, I
Speaker 1: don't have that. I'm pulling up as college debts now.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna check to make sure. I would imagine he
Speaker 1: averaged sixteen at Michigan State. Yeah, final year at Michigan
Speaker 1: State sixteen point two. I mean, give me a break, bro,
Speaker 1: and Charles can annoy the hell out of me. But
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna sit here and let you recreate history
Speaker 1: on who he was as a player. Yeah, even though
Speaker 1: Charles does kind of sometimes try to recreate history that
Speaker 1: he wasn't ring chasing there, that he didn't join a
Speaker 1: team that was a year removed winning back to back championships,
Speaker 1: and that he was joining a former MVP and a
Speaker 1: team and he was a former MVP. When he goes
Speaker 1: after Lebron, he's like, I was old and washed when
Speaker 1: I joined Houston. That's why it's okay that I joined
Speaker 1: him with Clyde in a team and then Scotty joined two.
Speaker 1: It wasn't that the Houston had beaten me in back
Speaker 1: to back playoff series, so then I teamed up with
Speaker 1: him to try to finally get over them, and I
Speaker 1: still couldn't despite all that. Here's the thing, here's why
Speaker 1: I think Draymond made a mistake. Charles has for so
Speaker 1: long downplayed how good he was when he went to
Speaker 1: Houston because he has wanted to criticize Kevin Durant for
Speaker 1: joining the Warriors and Lebron for joining the Heat. He
Speaker 1: has made people think, oh, when Charles joined Houston, he
Speaker 1: must have sunned. No, he did not, no, he did not.
Speaker 1: The year before Charles joined Houston, he was top ten
Speaker 1: at MVP voting. Three years before he won it, and
Speaker 1: two years before a Keeam won it, he was still awesome.
Speaker 1: I just I Charles' first year in Houston, he was
Speaker 1: nineteen and fourteen, nineteen and fourteen with five assists. They
Speaker 1: made the conference finals. His final year in Houston, when
Speaker 1: he's like, I was washed and I was terrible, he
Speaker 1: was fifteen and ten fifteen and ten. I mean again
Speaker 1: now that year, to be fair, he was injured and
Speaker 1: he wasn't like he was not Charles Barkley, but when
Speaker 1: he played, he was effective. I just I can't.
Speaker 3: I just can't come on look like legit, angry, ready
Speaker 3: to do something. When he said that.
Speaker 1: I had, I I can't. Again, folks, you don't nobody
Speaker 1: needs to take broadcasting advice from me. With that said,
Speaker 1: I've got an annoying voice, a ridiculous nose. I didn't
Speaker 1: play sports past high school, and I've done pretty well,
Speaker 1: so you know, take it for what you will. If
Speaker 1: you want to be a flamethrower, you've got to be
Speaker 1: totally fine with laughing with everybody when you're the one
Speaker 1: getting burnt and that is a pitch that Draymond's never learned,
Speaker 1: and unless he does, his peak broadcasting will be podcast
Speaker 1: by himself as opposed to the Diamond Studio show that
Speaker 1: has been desperately wanting to develop him for five years. So,
Speaker 1: you know, choose your own adventure free advice like all
Speaker 1: you know, if I ever need for some reason to
Speaker 1: learn how to play arguably the greatest help side defense
Speaker 1: in the history of the NBA, you owe me one.
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, take you know what, Take this
Speaker 1: one on the House Mailbag episode tomorrow. Talk to you
Speaker 1: guys then, Thank you Blue Dock, thank you Volume, thank
Speaker 1: you Hard Rock, thank you Boost. What's right