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Speaker 1: This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up?

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Speaker 1: Straight Fire? Fam, it's your boy, Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire

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Speaker 1: for Friday June. If you're listening to this early on

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Speaker 1: Friday morning, you can tune into The Dan Patrick Show

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Speaker 1: and check me out with Doug Gottlieb, probably sparring over

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Speaker 1: something or other. Um. If you're listening late, you missed

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Speaker 1: it too, damn bad. I want to start the podcast here.

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Speaker 1: We're not gonna do too much on Game six, Bucks

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Speaker 1: beat the Nets handily. I told y'all after Game five

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Speaker 1: I like the Bucks to bounce back, and they did

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Speaker 1: so pretty handily. You gotta give it up to Mr

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Speaker 1: Chris Middleton. Much maligned Middleton, we could just call him

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Speaker 1: as a nick. Game dropped thirty eight points, probably his

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Speaker 1: best career playoff performance ever, and Janice did not attempt

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Speaker 1: a three pointer. Well done, your honest way to go

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Speaker 1: not not taking threes, and um, the Bucks win handily.

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Speaker 1: Everybody wants to quickly spend it to game seven. I'm

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Speaker 1: just gonna point out two things quickly from game six.

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Speaker 1: Number One, Kevin Durant was clearly gassed okay in Game five.

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Speaker 1: His forty nine point game, he attempted six team free throws.

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Speaker 1: In Game six, he attempted to Now that's not Budenolzer's defense.

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Speaker 1: That's not really p J. Tucker. That's Kevin Durant settling

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Speaker 1: for the mid range instead of attacking. Kevin dury did

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Speaker 1: play well fifteen and thirty thirty two points, but he

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Speaker 1: only dished out three assists, not even close to the

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Speaker 1: triple double. So when you're looking to do less on

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Speaker 1: the move, less passing and creating, less attacking the basket

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Speaker 1: and getting free throws, yeah, you're not gonna be as efficient.

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Speaker 1: And folks, I don't care what anybody says. The Bucks

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Speaker 1: are going to be seriously live underdogs or member favorites.

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Speaker 1: We haven't seen the line yet in Game seven. And

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Speaker 1: I told you guys, Bucks can still win this series.

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Speaker 1: I did tell a buddy this over text message late Thursday.

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Speaker 1: I said, the Bucks have the worst coach here. Budenholzer

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Speaker 1: is bad. We don't really know if Steve Nash is

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Speaker 1: a bad coach. Um, you know it's he. It's early,

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Speaker 1: He's had stars. We do know Budenholzer has struggled in

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Speaker 1: every big postseason spot in his life. Okay, dating back

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Speaker 1: before the Bucks. Okay, and we know that the Bucks

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Speaker 1: have the worst superstar, no disrespect, to be honest, but

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Speaker 1: he ain't Kevin Durant, and the Nets are at home,

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Speaker 1: so like everything lines up for the Nets. But I'm

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Speaker 1: telling you guys, and again I'm not giving out a

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Speaker 1: pick this early. We gotta check the hardened status. I'm

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Speaker 1: almost certain Kyrie has done for the series. James Harton,

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Speaker 1: by the way, he played better forty minutes UM sixteen

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Speaker 1: point seven assist, actually made some shots, which was nice.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't a traffic cone like he was in Game five.

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Speaker 1: And I'm leading towards the Bucks. You just have to

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Speaker 1: keep it locked, uh you know, on my Instagram feed

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Speaker 1: or whatever for for the official pick, but I'm looking

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Speaker 1: at the Bucks. I do want to mention right now

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Speaker 1: that we have a tremendous guest coming up. Tom Haberstrow

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Speaker 1: former ESPN guy, filmer, Bleacher Report guy, he was at

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Speaker 1: NBC Sports. He's now with Dan Lebotard's outfit. UM really intelligent,

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Speaker 1: NBA analytically driven mind. And we totally agree on one

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Speaker 1: superstar player. We very much disagree on another young superstar player.

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Speaker 1: You'll have to stick around for that but before we

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Speaker 1: get to Tom Haberstrow and the interview, I don't know, guys,

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Speaker 1: I I feel bad that I've been pumping up Luca

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Speaker 1: don chech at nauseum down your throats for the last month.

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Speaker 1: Probably excessive. But it is undeniable that there is a

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Speaker 1: massive situation in Dallas swirling around Luka done. They fire

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Speaker 1: the GM two days ago and yesterday the head coach,

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Speaker 1: Rick Carlin, who won a title taking down Lebron in

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Speaker 1: the heatle when Carlisle was coaching the MAVs about a

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Speaker 1: decade ago, decided him and Mark Cuban didn't see eye

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Speaker 1: to eye, and he said, I'm out, and you can't

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Speaker 1: tell me that things are going well for Mark Cuban.

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Speaker 1: When your GM is canned, possibly because he leaked that

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Speaker 1: Luca story to the Athletic, your coach says, I'm out.

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Speaker 1: Then he doesn't think Luca don chich in his little

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Speaker 1: like what do they call that iPad iPhone notes? Uh? Goodbye?

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Speaker 1: Is that what that is? I mean? Like basically he

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Speaker 1: wrote like a little note and and what Narowski put

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Speaker 1: it out did not thank Luca. Thank you know, Jason

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Speaker 1: Kidd who did win the title with in Dallas way

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Speaker 1: back when Um, Derek and several others no mention of Luca,

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Speaker 1: and then it came out from a gentleman named Tim

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Speaker 1: McMahon that there were simmering tensions between Luca and Carlyle

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Speaker 1: that was a concern in the organization out It is

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Speaker 1: odd and Rob, I'm just gonna say, I always find

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Speaker 1: it very odd that anytime someone's fired or booted out

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Speaker 1: of the front office, or they step aside or parting

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Speaker 1: of ways, all of a sudden we have all this. Oh,

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Speaker 1: it was turmoil. They did not live each other, simmering tension, Like,

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Speaker 1: where's the reporting on that as it's happening, Because I

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Speaker 1: think it's safe to say that as soon as there

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Speaker 1: is an unconscious uncoupling, which is what Gwyneth Paltrow referred

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Speaker 1: to as a divorce, Um, you know, one side starts

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Speaker 1: spilling to the media to like win the spin cycle

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Speaker 1: so they can land. Carlisle is gonna land somewhere? Does

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Speaker 1: he land in Milwaukee if boot boot and Holzer gets

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Speaker 1: fired if he doesn't win Game seven? Maybe does he

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Speaker 1: land in Portland or Damian Lilla will have to sign

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Speaker 1: off on it. Does he go away bottom Dweller and say,

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Speaker 1: you know what, I just want to start from the bottom.

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Speaker 1: I personally don't see that. UM. I will check in.

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Speaker 1: I know someone who knows Carlile well um, and someone

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Speaker 1: put me in touch with the Dennis Smith Carlile beef.

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Speaker 1: I think I broke that on Twitter and so many

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Speaker 1: Dennis Smith fans. I don't know, this was like three

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Speaker 1: years ago. We're killing me. Oh, there's no issues between

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Speaker 1: Dennis Smith and Carla none. I mean at practice they

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Speaker 1: were beefing. Dennis Smith doesn't want to listen, doesn't run,

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Speaker 1: and we're on the offense. He just wants to show

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Speaker 1: boat and Duncan ballhog and Carlisle and him what. But

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Speaker 1: it had from like the first month they were together.

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Speaker 1: Dennis Smith was like a lottery pick out of I

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Speaker 1: think NC State. I think I tweeted that out around

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Speaker 1: like Thanksgiving, and I'm almost certain within six months Dennis

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Speaker 1: Smith was going and they traded him, I think to

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Speaker 1: New York. And you know, sometimes you could just see

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Speaker 1: it early that coaches and stars don't click. I personally

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Speaker 1: can't say I saw anything with Luca and Carlisle. UM.

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Speaker 1: I think carl is a really good coach. I think

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Speaker 1: because a really good player, and I think if they

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Speaker 1: don't face the Clippers in the first round these last

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Speaker 1: two years, they win a round or war despite having

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Speaker 1: an inferior roster. I you know, I'm not going to

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Speaker 1: go in on this hardlabab guy who clearly has Cubans

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Speaker 1: ear really curious to see who's coming in there to

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Speaker 1: be GM and coach Rob. I'm gonna say this, be

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Speaker 1: careful thinking. This is an attractive job. You're going into

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Speaker 1: a young ish new money owner in Mark Cuban, who's

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Speaker 1: very impetuous. You're going into his analytics guy who is

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Speaker 1: allegedly shadow GM, who's a former Gambler. You've got a

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Speaker 1: undeniably top five player in the league, scattered shot roster.

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Speaker 1: Nobody seems to like Porzingis. We'll see what happens with

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Speaker 1: Hardaway played out of his mind against the Clippers. Can

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Speaker 1: he duplicate that? Probably not. This is a tough job

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Speaker 1: because you are going to be the coach kind of

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Speaker 1: in name only, right. I don't think you're coming in

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Speaker 1: and gonna be called the shots with Cuban the Gambler

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Speaker 1: and Luca Donte john Board. Essentially, they're looking for a

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Speaker 1: UM and this is not to denigrade Damon Jones guy Tyler,

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Speaker 1: but they're looking for a Tyler. When Lebron was sick

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Speaker 1: of David Blatt and they got rid of David Blatt,

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Speaker 1: they bring on Lebron's guy tylu who again, did he

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Speaker 1: have the coaching chops? Probably not. He was a young guy,

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Speaker 1: only been out of the league several years. Um. I

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Speaker 1: don't think he had any head coaching experience, and he

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Speaker 1: was kind of a go between. He was a perfect

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Speaker 1: liaison between Lebron and the front office and the rest

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Speaker 1: of the team, and like it worked well until of

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Speaker 1: course him and Kyrie got into beef. And you know,

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Speaker 1: Kyrie allegedly threw the ball at practice and said, don't

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Speaker 1: ask me to run the offense. It's Lebron's team, you

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Speaker 1: do it, or something along those lines. I believe wind

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Speaker 1: Horse had that story, but it was very memorable because

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Speaker 1: you knew from that moment Kyrie was one of those guys.

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Speaker 1: So I don't know, Rob, I personally don't know that

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Speaker 1: I would be clamoring to get the Dallas Mavericks coaching job.

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Speaker 1: I'm being serious here. There is something that you gotta

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Speaker 1: be careful what you wish for that's wild considering that

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Speaker 1: you've been a ball washing Luca don Chech for about

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Speaker 1: a month and a half now, you know, since the

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Speaker 1: playoffs started. So that's interesting to hear that come from

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Speaker 1: your opinion. Um, let me just say this, You and

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Speaker 1: I have been very pro player empowerment, pro taking your

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Speaker 1: career into your own hands, pro having the player flex

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Speaker 1: his muscles to ensure that the front office is doing

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Speaker 1: right by that star player. This is going to be

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Speaker 1: the case study to see whether or not you and

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Speaker 1: I had the right opinion, because, uh to McMann, who

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Speaker 1: not only did he tweet out that there was simmering

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Speaker 1: a tension which you mentioned, he was on Zach los podcast.

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Speaker 1: Zach lows a great NBA reporter. We both listen to

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Speaker 1: his pod regularly, and a few of the highlights that

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Speaker 1: he mentioned in that podcast. This was even before the

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Speaker 1: Carlisle firing had had become official. This was I think

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Speaker 1: like two three hours before that. Some of the money

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Speaker 1: quotes at one point during time out of a close game,

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Speaker 1: who's in charge? You or Bob yelled at at Rick

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Speaker 1: Carlisle early on in the pod quote. There was built

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Speaker 1: up resentment on Luca's end from the way Rick treated people.

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Speaker 1: Later on, Mark Cuban makes all the basketball decisions. So

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Speaker 1: with the way this is all shook out in the

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Speaker 1: last what is this seventy two hours? With the front

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Speaker 1: office shake up, now the coach being gone, all signs

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Speaker 1: point to we are doing everything in our power to

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Speaker 1: keep Luca Dodges happy. We are installing an offense that

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Speaker 1: caters to him where he has the ball more than

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Speaker 1: almost I think anybody in the NBA. We're getting rid

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Speaker 1: of the coach who used to butt heads with We

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Speaker 1: are getting rid of the general manager who had in

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Speaker 1: idea of how to build a roster that wasn't Luca centric.

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Speaker 1: And now we're gonna see very very quickly if empowering

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Speaker 1: your superstar is the right way to go. Well, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I don't think there's any disagreement. You have to build

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Speaker 1: around your guy and make him happy so he stays.

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Speaker 1: We saw that with Lebron in Cleveland when he was

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Speaker 1: a young guy. We saw that with Kevin Durant in Okay. See. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, trading James Harden has to go down as

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Speaker 1: one of the worst player personnel moves of the of

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Speaker 1: the century. I'm not even I mean after you get

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Speaker 1: to the finals unloading Harden. I don't know how that

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Speaker 1: guy still has a job, but they love him whatever. Um,

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Speaker 1: you gotta keep him happy. Now. Carlisle is interesting because

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Speaker 1: he is one of these old school dudes, right. Um.

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Speaker 1: I think he's from New York and he was on

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Speaker 1: like a really good uv A team with Ralph Sampson,

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Speaker 1: and then he played for those eighties Celtics, like you

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Speaker 1: know Danny Yane kind of like a hard ass Larry Bird,

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Speaker 1: one of the great trash talkers of his generation. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, these weren't soft dudes. Eighties NBA had some

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Speaker 1: hard ass dudes, Charles Oakley and Anthony Mason and Bill

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Speaker 1: Lambier and like I'm not saying Carlisle is one of

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Speaker 1: these dirty guys who delivered cheap shots. But Carlisle don't play.

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Speaker 1: He's not gonna put up with your ship. And you

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Speaker 1: know when you got like a sixty year old coach

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Speaker 1: and this twenty one year old European guys coming in

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Speaker 1: trying to call the shots, yeah, there's gonna be It's difficult.

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Speaker 1: We just saw stan Van Gundi in New Orleans. Stan

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Speaker 1: Van Gundi, old school, older guy, defensive centric Brandon Ingram

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Speaker 1: didn't like him. Zie Williamson didn't like him. He gone, like,

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Speaker 1: you have to find that coach, Rob, who's gonna thread

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Speaker 1: the needle of you can be tough while also being

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Speaker 1: like not hated. And I don't want to draw too

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Speaker 1: large of a parallel here, but you know, having kids,

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Speaker 1: you know, Rob, you got a little kid not quite

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Speaker 1: old enough to to realize when your dad's not cool. Um,

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Speaker 1: but I'm at the stage where, trust me, there are

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Speaker 1: moments where you try to thread the needle in front

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Speaker 1: of your friends, your kids friends, while you're disciplining, but

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Speaker 1: not to the point that you're kind of a major prick.

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Speaker 1: But you're you know, you're you're your friend, but also

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Speaker 1: you're their father and you're trying to teach them. And

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Speaker 1: there is something to that with this new generation look.

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Speaker 1: Lloyd Pierces was even a young coach in Atlanta. Black guy,

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Speaker 1: supposed to get along great with all the Hawks, and

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Speaker 1: then all of a sudden what happened. I mean, Lloyd

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Speaker 1: Pierce was hyping this Hawks team in the offseason. Oh,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be awesome. We had those bonding. There's all

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Speaker 1: these stories about how the Hawks came out here in

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Speaker 1: l A and played together and um and all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden, the season starts happening and Lloyd Pierson tree

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Speaker 1: young butt heads. Who's gonna win that battle? No, which

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Speaker 1: is ever gonna survive over a young star that was

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Speaker 1: taken in a lottery rob It's just not happening. And

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Speaker 1: I mean, I don't even know that it's a case study.

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Speaker 1: Like Okay, Luke, they find a coach who's gonna appease Luca,

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Speaker 1: but they don't win a championship. That doesn't matter. You're

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Speaker 1: still keeping Luca like he's a foundational piece. You're never

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Speaker 1: giving up on him. And I don't know. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I to me, this one's easy. You know. You you

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Speaker 1: get a guy who's gonna be able to hopefully thread

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Speaker 1: the needle, and that if finding that is extremely difficult.

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Speaker 1: Like Steve Nash was extremely curious higher but he had

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Speaker 1: a history with Kevin Durant and Golden State. He was

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Speaker 1: one of the great point guards of the early two thousand's.

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Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving's the point guard the trade for James Harden.

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Speaker 1: Can you imagine what Steve Nash was going into a

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Speaker 1: hornets test there? But he's got like this, this way

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Speaker 1: about him, this chill, this demeanor that's very laid back.

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Speaker 1: He's almost like too cool. I don't know if being

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Speaker 1: Canadian matters here, but nothing seems to rattle him. You know,

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Speaker 1: Nash is always under control. I don't think he had

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Speaker 1: many like tough moments in the NBA was fighting people.

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Speaker 1: I know obviously people get heated in the in the

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Speaker 1: heat of battle, but I don't know, Rob, Do you

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Speaker 1: have any outside the box names? And I'll give you

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Speaker 1: one that I keep hearing is Chauncey Billups. And I

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Speaker 1: know for a fact that there are people that would

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Speaker 1: love people, no matter influential, people that would love Chauncey

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Speaker 1: Billops in New Orleans. The problem is he might get

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Speaker 1: the Boston job offer. Right he played for the Celtics.

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Speaker 1: I think he was there like the fourth overall pick

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Speaker 1: of the Celtics. UM, and like we know the racial

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Speaker 1: stuff in Boston. It would be pretty cool to have

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Speaker 1: a black coach. Casey Jones obviously was an awesome coach

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Speaker 1: for the Celtics in the eighties. Um Billips has turned

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Speaker 1: down multiple jobs, and he's gonna be in high demand.

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Speaker 1: Is he gonna want to Is he going to be

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Speaker 1: the guy that goes to Dallas to deal with Mark

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Speaker 1: Cuban gambling analytics guy and Luca don Chech. I mean,

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Speaker 1: do you know what kind of Bermuda triangle that is

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Speaker 1: rob that that's not gonna be easy. I think it's

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Speaker 1: almost easier to go to New Orleans because guess what,

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Speaker 1: you can swing for the fences. And we both know

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Speaker 1: that Zion is probably not long for New Orleans. So

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Speaker 1: you go crazy hope it works. If it doesn't, you know,

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Speaker 1: Zion was probably gonna leave anyway. We can agree on that, right.

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Speaker 1: I don't know that Dallas is like a uh not

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Speaker 1: a destination. You know, Dallas, Dirk Davitsky stayed there. They

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Speaker 1: want a championship. UM. Dallas is one of those Texas

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Speaker 1: states where there's no income tax. Like you, you you live

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Speaker 1: a really nice life in Dallas. In Dallas, Texas. It's

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Speaker 1: not quite the coastal um l A or Florida where

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Speaker 1: you're in the water. But I don't think Luca is

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Speaker 1: imminent to leave. I I think New Orleans is is

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Speaker 1: a job that if you really have the balls to

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Speaker 1: try try some gradical outside the box stuff. And we'll

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Speaker 1: get to this with Tom Hapberstroll. I think New Orleans

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Speaker 1: is a better um Petrie dish for that than Dallas,

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Speaker 1: where it's basically Okay, Luca, you're the man, you know, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I could see your line of thinking. And

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Speaker 1: the one name I would think of as a replacement

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Speaker 1: for Rick, Carlisle and Dallas this is no sourcing, This

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Speaker 1: is just reading the two leaves kind of thing, will

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Speaker 1: be Jason kidd Um. He took his name out of

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Speaker 1: the Portland Trailblazers contention. He is a big guard and

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Speaker 1: that's what Luca dodges. So if you're looking for someone

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Speaker 1: to run that kind of guards centric offense that's heavy

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Speaker 1: on what particular set of skills, then maybe he might

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Speaker 1: be the right guy. But just to put a bowl

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Speaker 1: on that whole discussion about Luca and and the Cuban

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Speaker 1: and the Bob say his last name triangle that they're

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Speaker 1: walking into, my only concern would be the difference between

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Speaker 1: what Lebron James has done in Miami and Cleveland and

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Speaker 1: now in Los Angeles, what Kevin Durant and Kyrie and

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Speaker 1: James Harden are doing in Brooklyn. Is that those guys

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Speaker 1: were seasoned veterans by the time they wielded that kind

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Speaker 1: of power. Luca has never won a playoff series. Luca

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Speaker 1: does not know yet what it's like to win or

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Speaker 1: how hard it is to win at that level, to

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Speaker 1: keep crashing your head against the ceiling because you can't

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Speaker 1: get through, either because a lack of talent or lack

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Speaker 1: of coaching or what have you. Luca is being, for

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Speaker 1: lack of a better word, you know, told, or he's

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Speaker 1: telling them this doesn't work. I can tell you, and

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Speaker 1: after only two three season in the NBA, this is

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Speaker 1: not gonna work. I know the better way to do it.

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Speaker 1: And I don't know if if he has the the

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Speaker 1: the the skins on the wall yet to be flexing

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Speaker 1: that kind of power. Okay, but what exactly is this

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Speaker 1: doesn't work? Like all it is is they ran into

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Speaker 1: a better Clippers team each of the last two years.

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Speaker 1: That's the only problem here. I really think it's a

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Speaker 1: colossal overreaction by the MAVs. I know they were up

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Speaker 1: to oh you know, I know they were up three too,

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Speaker 1: but they went into a better team with better players.

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Speaker 1: Luca was the best player on the maps by a mile.

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Speaker 1: Was I mean, was Reggie Jackson and Morris better than

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Speaker 1: the second best maps player. You could argue that looking

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Speaker 1: at the stats. So I don't I I feel like, uh,

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Speaker 1: Carla might have made a bad decision, but he might

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Speaker 1: have seen the writing on the wall. All right, real quick, Rob,

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Speaker 1: I did just see the odds pop up for Game seven,

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Speaker 1: Bucks nets Milwaukee favored by one and a half. Okay,

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Speaker 1: is this one of these vaguus nose moments. I'm sure

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Speaker 1: a lot of people are like, wait, Milwaukee's favorite on

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Speaker 1: the road again? Before we just quickly previd the other

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Speaker 1: two games again to Tom happerstrow Um, just remember, if

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant does not go absolutely postal, this series is over.

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Speaker 1: And can he do that again? Can Jeff green hit

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Speaker 1: seven of eight threes? Again? I mean, by the way,

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Speaker 1: where was Jeff Green um in game six? Oh? Two

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Speaker 1: of nine shooting one or four from three? Yeah, so

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Speaker 1: it took an otherworldly performance to win Game five. I

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Speaker 1: don't see it happening in game seven. All right, quickly, Rob,

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Speaker 1: Big Game six is tonight Milwalk, Sorry Philadelphia at Atlanta.

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Speaker 1: The Sixers are favored by three. You could argue what

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Speaker 1: I just said about Milwaukee in Brooklyn if you really

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Speaker 1: look at that last game, Atlanta thoroughly outplayed for three quarters,

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Speaker 1: deep pantst for three quarters before a historic comeback. Are

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Speaker 1: the Sixers shook? Just Tobias Harris take off his warmups?

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Speaker 1: Does Ben Simmons attempt to shot at the fourth quarter? Rob?

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Speaker 1: He hasn't attempted his shot in the fourth quarter of

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Speaker 1: last two games. There's no way the Sixers are that

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Speaker 1: bad again. I know the Hawks are good at home,

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Speaker 1: but I I thought, I kind of I'm leaning towards

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Speaker 1: the Sixers. I want to see where that line goes.

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Speaker 1: And then the other puzzling one Utah at the paper Clips.

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Speaker 1: The paper Clips, we know they've struggled at home in

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Speaker 1: the playoffs. They are one point underdogs at home, but

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Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley are questionable. Rob, what do

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Speaker 1: you got in your game? Six? Is Philly at Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: Jazz at paper Clips and both home teams are dogs. Alright, Philadelphia,

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Speaker 1: I think they've been the better team the entire series,

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Speaker 1: and say for some meltdowns, which I think is unlikely

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Speaker 1: that they'll mount down a third consecutive game. I just

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Speaker 1: I think that the odds would be in my favorite

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Speaker 1: in that one, and I've picked you taught to win

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Speaker 1: the series. I don't want to go back on it.

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Speaker 1: Everything tells me I should go back on it, but

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Speaker 1: I gotta. I gotta stick with it. I gotta stick

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Speaker 1: with the Utah getting this when of force into game seven.

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Speaker 1: It's it's just so weird. Every time you want to

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Speaker 1: trust the Clippers, they lose, and every time you feel, okay,

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Speaker 1: Clippers got it together, they got this. You know what happens. Um,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, Rob, I'm I don't. I want to

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Speaker 1: take the Jazz, but I just I don't. I didn't

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Speaker 1: like what I saw in Game five, Like that was

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Speaker 1: the game and they needed that game. I mean they

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Speaker 1: were on fire from three and they barely could lead

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Speaker 1: the game. Um, I guess if I had to lean,

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Speaker 1: I I would lean towards the seventies sixers and I'll

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Speaker 1: make an official pick later today on social media. UM

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Speaker 1: I think I, oh God, I think I'm gonna take

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Speaker 1: the Clippers. Um, yeah, I don't know. By the way, money,

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Speaker 1: I mean literally within the last five minutes, bucks open

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Speaker 1: one and a half, already down to one, so Brooklyn

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Speaker 1: money coming in. People want to back Kevin Durant, all right,

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Speaker 1: without further ado Let's get to our guest, Tom haberstro

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Speaker 1: Jason likes to think he knows everything when it comes

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Speaker 1: to sports. I know what sports stands want, but for

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Speaker 1: everything he doesn't. He knows a guy who does. Let's

399
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Speaker 1: just say I know a guy who knows a guy

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Speaker 1: who knows another guy. Let's welcome into straight Fire. A

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Speaker 1: guy you know. If you're even follow the NBA, marginally

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00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:34,879
Speaker 1: you know him. He's been at NBC, ESPN for a decade,

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Speaker 1: Bleacher Report. He's now at Dan Lebotard's new company. Uh,

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Speaker 1: he's been there for about a month. Tom haberstro Tom,

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Speaker 1: welcome to straight Fire. How are you man? Thank you.

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Speaker 1: That is exactly how it felt in my stomach. Last

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Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, I ate or Carolina Reaper,

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Speaker 1: the hottest pepper in the world on the meadow lark

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00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:56,280
Speaker 1: Lebottart shows Freedom twenty four hours show and I read

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Speaker 1: money for charity. But man, that Carolina Reaper. I felt

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Speaker 1: like straight fire all the way I had done a

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Speaker 1: ghost Reaper or ghost Pepper or whatever it's called. And

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Speaker 1: then I got it from my family and I've just

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Speaker 1: put a dab on a piece of chicken and my

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Speaker 1: kids were like, never again, Dad, Are you crazy? But

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Speaker 1: I'm that kind of dad you've got. By the way,

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Speaker 1: do you have kids? Tom? I have to um, oh nice.

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Speaker 1: After we record this, I'm taking my four year old

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Speaker 1: to a swim class, um, and so I will be

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Speaker 1: I'll be hoping for straight fire out on the water

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Speaker 1: as well. To Yes, of course, you gotta get them

422
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:31,680
Speaker 1: in the water early. Uh. You know we looked out

423
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:33,280
Speaker 1: getting you this week. We've been trying to get Tom

424
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,880
Speaker 1: for a while. He's a big time NBA guy, and

425
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:37,600
Speaker 1: this is kind of one of the busiest weeks of

426
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,080
Speaker 1: the year. Uh, as luck would have it. Um, I

427
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:42,080
Speaker 1: don't know. Would you rather start with the craziness in

428
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:45,520
Speaker 1: the playoffs or the off court drama which the NBA

429
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:49,120
Speaker 1: fans cannot eat up enough of? Uh? From Luca don

430
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:52,800
Speaker 1: Chez to Zion Williamson to Scotty Brooks, who I guess

431
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,560
Speaker 1: will count? Um, where do you want to start? Tom?

432
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:58,199
Speaker 1: What do you? I guess this is your house. I

433
00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:00,200
Speaker 1: am just a guest here, So why don't you you

434
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,760
Speaker 1: prepare the dinner and I will eat whatever you prepare

435
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:06,600
Speaker 1: and I will probably be delicious. All right, So how

436
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:09,840
Speaker 1: about this? I've been beating this drum forever that Zion

437
00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:14,160
Speaker 1: Williamson should not sign his rookie extension in New Orleans

438
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:17,240
Speaker 1: in a couple of years. And lo and behold, Thursday

439
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:21,080
Speaker 1: morning comes the story from the Athletic that Zion's family

440
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,439
Speaker 1: members are not happy with things in New Orleans. We

441
00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:27,200
Speaker 1: just saw stan Van Gundy get the boot this week. Uh.

442
00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,200
Speaker 1: I think you know him from being a lebatar guy.

443
00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:32,280
Speaker 1: You guys are in that orbit often. Um David Griffin,

444
00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 1: everybody loves to champion his trade for Anthony Davis. He

445
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,400
Speaker 1: got all the draft picks. You know, Tom, how much

446
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,320
Speaker 1: can he cuddle with the draft picks at night? When

447
00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:43,720
Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram's not happy with the coach they just fired.

448
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:47,119
Speaker 1: Zion's unhappy. What do you see unfolding this summer in

449
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:49,920
Speaker 1: New Orleans? Look, Lebron dealt with this too, just about

450
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:53,440
Speaker 1: every number one pick in a bad organization. Because bad

451
00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:56,639
Speaker 1: organizations get the top picks right, they have a lot

452
00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:58,560
Speaker 1: of growing pains in the first few years in the league.

453
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving did the same thing in Cleveland with Byron

454
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,600
Speaker 1: scott Um and that organization. When when you look at

455
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:10,040
Speaker 1: this particular scenario, it's David Griffin did an amazing job

456
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:13,120
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, in and in Phoenix and his previous two

457
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:16,960
Speaker 1: stops before New Orleans. But now he's dealing with Zion

458
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:21,040
Speaker 1: Williamson who came in with such an appeal and it

459
00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:25,320
Speaker 1: was almost a circus. The Zion Williamson effect was huge.

460
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:28,080
Speaker 1: I mean, you remember that video Jason of when they

461
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:31,160
Speaker 1: got the number one pick and the sales department with

462
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 1: the Pelicans went bonkers, right. They had a live cam

463
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,560
Speaker 1: when they won the lottery and which meant they got fanned.

464
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:42,320
Speaker 1: But we've learned that like Zion isn't as much of

465
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,399
Speaker 1: a home run as you'd say from a physical standpoint,

466
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:50,120
Speaker 1: the mechanics that the health and conditioning hasn't been strong,

467
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,200
Speaker 1: and they're trying to get him to get in better shape.

468
00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:56,680
Speaker 1: They're trying to get Zion Williamson to achieve that kind

469
00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:59,760
Speaker 1: of durability that it takes to become a superstar in

470
00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:01,199
Speaker 1: this age. And it's not just gonna be one year.

471
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:04,760
Speaker 1: It's been getting everything right, and if you're taking cues

472
00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 1: from Zion Williamson's family, I'm not so sure that's gonna

473
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:10,840
Speaker 1: be a smart strategy for you do. And you could

474
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:14,240
Speaker 1: appease the family, you can just like any other star

475
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,320
Speaker 1: player in today's league. You're gonna have to call pick

476
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,199
Speaker 1: up the phone when the father calls, or when the

477
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 1: mother calls, or when the agent calls. Right, that's part

478
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 1: of the job. But it is not the part of

479
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:27,479
Speaker 1: the job to pacify Zion Williamson or the whims of

480
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:31,320
Speaker 1: his his camp, so to speak, his family. That's not

481
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 1: the job. The job is to make sure that you're

482
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:36,800
Speaker 1: making the best decisions for the future of your your organization.

483
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,160
Speaker 1: And at nineteen years old and twenty years old, maybe

484
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,280
Speaker 1: sometimes they don't know what's best for them. So I

485
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:44,680
Speaker 1: think of myself, Jason, when you were nineteen or twenty

486
00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 1: years old. I don't think I knew exactly what was

487
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:49,919
Speaker 1: best for me, or my future, or my career or

488
00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,480
Speaker 1: to get the max out of me. And I can

489
00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:55,440
Speaker 1: imagine that David Griffin is dealing with a lot of

490
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,720
Speaker 1: criticisms from every corner. But my my point with this

491
00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:03,240
Speaker 1: is he made a decision to keep Alvin Gentry and

492
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:06,960
Speaker 1: then fire Alvin Gentry higher standing Gundy, and then they

493
00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,040
Speaker 1: cut ties a year later. For me, it looks like

494
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:13,440
Speaker 1: spinning in the wheels a little bit. Where David Griffin

495
00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:16,639
Speaker 1: has this amazing opportunity to build around Zion Williamson, and

496
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:20,920
Speaker 1: he's just not sure how to do it. So it'll

497
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,119
Speaker 1: be interesting to see who they hire or bring into

498
00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:27,880
Speaker 1: this because that Limpson's production is undeniably amazing. But it's

499
00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:30,640
Speaker 1: the other stuff. Getting him to eat right, getting him conditioned,

500
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:33,719
Speaker 1: getting him uh to play defense. These are things that

501
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:36,879
Speaker 1: he has not been willing or able to do up

502
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:39,080
Speaker 1: to this point, and until he does that, then I'm

503
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:41,520
Speaker 1: not gonna care what his camp says. So Tom, yeah,

504
00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:43,960
Speaker 1: I would agree with almost all that. The only thing

505
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,120
Speaker 1: that's amplified now that Lebron didn't have to deal with

506
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,400
Speaker 1: was a social media was not really a thing when

507
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:52,440
Speaker 1: Lebron was in his first two years and he missed

508
00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:56,200
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Be a podcast? I mean, I do a podcast,

509
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 1: you do one. There's a million NBA podcasts, you know,

510
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,960
Speaker 1: between social media, a podcast, and then the TV aspect.

511
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,240
Speaker 1: You know, we've got multiple TV networks talking about Lebron

512
00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,560
Speaker 1: every single day. Do you think there is way more

513
00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:13,160
Speaker 1: pressure now on Zion to make a decision on whether

514
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:15,680
Speaker 1: he wants to pooper get off the pot uh now

515
00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:17,520
Speaker 1: as opposed to when Lebron was a young guy back

516
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:19,600
Speaker 1: in you know, two thousand and six seven. You know,

517
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:23,000
Speaker 1: it was like things are just different and almost more difficult.

518
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,920
Speaker 1: And I should add um, JJ Reddick had a weird

519
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:28,960
Speaker 1: ending there in New Orleans. He uh is a c

520
00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:31,880
Speaker 1: A guy. I'm a CIA guy. Ziah Williamson a CEE

521
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,200
Speaker 1: A guy. And you know, JJ had some issues with

522
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 1: David Griffin. I don't know, it just all adds up

523
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,920
Speaker 1: to a bit of a cluster. I feel like, you know,

524
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,520
Speaker 1: David Griffin has to go like six for six in

525
00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 1: in this offseason with draft picks free agents. Um, the

526
00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,120
Speaker 1: pressure really seems to be on right Yeah, and he's

527
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 1: delivered before, so can you do it again? I don't know,

528
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:55,120
Speaker 1: but um, look, be careful what you wish for Zion

529
00:29:55,280 --> 00:30:00,640
Speaker 1: because biggest market among thirty NB eight teams in the

530
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 1: NBA is is New Orleans. Like, New Orleans is a

531
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,120
Speaker 1: tiny market compared to the rest of the NBA. So

532
00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 1: if you're gonna try to pry your way out of

533
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:09,280
Speaker 1: New Orleans and get to a bigger city, good luck.

534
00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:11,800
Speaker 1: Like if he wants to make a trade demand or

535
00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,680
Speaker 1: get somewhere else with brighter lights and become a bigger

536
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 1: star than he is in New Orleans good luck because

537
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:20,719
Speaker 1: they they handled their start the NBA team. Maybe it's

538
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,920
Speaker 1: different for the Saints, but like it's not a Pelicans town,

539
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,720
Speaker 1: Like it's not a big marquee city, and so if

540
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:31,200
Speaker 1: he thinks that like a bigger stage or a different

541
00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:34,240
Speaker 1: scenario is going to solve everything. I actually think his

542
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:37,920
Speaker 1: personality Zion, if you've ever met him before, he's he's

543
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,000
Speaker 1: kind of not sheltered, but he likes he likes to

544
00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:44,160
Speaker 1: stay out of the spotlight and if he makes a

545
00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:47,200
Speaker 1: trade demand. It reminds me of when I was covering

546
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:52,760
Speaker 1: in eleven in I was covering the Miami Heat in Miami, Lebron, James,

547
00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:56,680
Speaker 1: Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, all of the expectations all over them.

548
00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,760
Speaker 1: I remember a conversation I heard about out with Eric

549
00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 1: Spoelstra and Lebron where it was like Eric Spoelster was

550
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:07,479
Speaker 1: hearing it from the media. There were reports that Lebron

551
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:11,560
Speaker 1: wanted a new coach, and Eric Spoelstra had told Lebron

552
00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,520
Speaker 1: in a meeting and said like, look, man, if you

553
00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:18,360
Speaker 1: fire me tomorrow, it's all gonna be on you. It's

554
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:20,440
Speaker 1: all gonna be on me, on you. The media can

555
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:23,160
Speaker 1: come after me. I can be your shield, but as

556
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:26,920
Speaker 1: soon as you appear to be firing the coach or

557
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:30,160
Speaker 1: firing the GM, then now it's gonna be all on

558
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,800
Speaker 1: you from here on out. I can be your scapegoat,

559
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,280
Speaker 1: like I can take the heat from the media and

560
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:38,320
Speaker 1: and first take and whatever it is if we don't succeed.

561
00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:41,120
Speaker 1: But if you are gonna fire me, or if you're

562
00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:43,440
Speaker 1: gonna fire Pat or whatever you don't like the moves

563
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 1: that we're doing, then it's gonna be on you. The

564
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,400
Speaker 1: same way with Zion is Look, if he's not happy

565
00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:50,160
Speaker 1: with the coach or the GM, or if he wants

566
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:53,040
Speaker 1: to get out of this situation, he better make sure

567
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,440
Speaker 1: that he can handle that pressure after that because it's

568
00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,320
Speaker 1: gonna come. And in New Orleans there's not much pressure

569
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:02,360
Speaker 1: from the local met compared to the rest of the NBA,

570
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:04,800
Speaker 1: and certainly not from the national media. I don't think

571
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:08,280
Speaker 1: it's even comparable Zion Williamson the national coverage that he

572
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:10,760
Speaker 1: gets in New Orleans right now to what Lebron was

573
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:12,520
Speaker 1: dealing with in those first two years. I think it's

574
00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:16,440
Speaker 1: night and day. That's an interesting convo that Spoilstra would use,

575
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,040
Speaker 1: because I mean listen, Tom, You've covered the NBA forever.

576
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:20,960
Speaker 1: You know this is a star league. You know, Uh,

577
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:23,080
Speaker 1: spoister can say, hey, I'll sit on the grenade, I'll

578
00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:25,760
Speaker 1: take the heat. But like nobody's going after Spoilstra you know,

579
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:29,120
Speaker 1: like nobody went after Lloyd Pearson Atlanta. It's like, hey, man,

580
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:31,120
Speaker 1: it's Trey Young. That good. Oh they fired the coach

581
00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,480
Speaker 1: Trey Young all of a sudden is incredible. You know

582
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:37,360
Speaker 1: this Luca Donte situation unfolding uh in Dallas, you know

583
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,880
Speaker 1: where where there's you know, the analytics guy, Harla Bob uh.

584
00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:43,560
Speaker 1: You've got the front office people unhappy and at Donnie

585
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:45,760
Speaker 1: Nelson all of a sudden out And now Zion's like, wow,

586
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:47,400
Speaker 1: that sucks. I was a fan of him, you know,

587
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 1: Rick Carlisle try you know what's gonna happen with him.

588
00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:52,800
Speaker 1: It just is a tough sell for me. These stars

589
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 1: right now are under so much pressure, Tom, it almost

590
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,640
Speaker 1: feels a little bit unfair. And I guess my last

591
00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 1: angle of Zion for you is should we expect them to,

592
00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 1: uh like make the playoffs next year? I had them

593
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:07,480
Speaker 1: in the playoffs this past year. I know a lot

594
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:09,880
Speaker 1: of the numbers thought that they should be there. Um

595
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:13,000
Speaker 1: do you think that that's a reasonable expectation, especially when

596
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 1: you see John Morant carrying the Grizzlies uh into the playoffs.

597
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,000
Speaker 1: They have a better roster obviously, but um, you know, Pelicans,

598
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:20,880
Speaker 1: they better be in the playoffs next year, right, Yeah?

599
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 1: They They absolutely under underachieved this season, and Staving Gunny,

600
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:27,480
Speaker 1: being the defensive maestro that he that he usually is,

601
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:29,600
Speaker 1: was not able to do that or reach the players

602
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:31,760
Speaker 1: this year to put together any sort of top five,

603
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,200
Speaker 1: top ten defensive far far from it. I mean, it

604
00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 1: was one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

605
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:39,640
Speaker 1: So obviously the Bayan wasn't there. They were not listening

606
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 1: to whatever he was trying to teach, and they didn't

607
00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:43,800
Speaker 1: have any practices. But guess what, either the Tom Tibodeau

608
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:45,480
Speaker 1: on he had the top four defense with that type

609
00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:48,600
Speaker 1: of roster. That's crazy, and that they're from the same

610
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:51,400
Speaker 1: Van Gundy tree, like Stay van Gundy and Tom Thibodeau

611
00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:55,200
Speaker 1: same roughly the same age, same background, with Jeff Van

612
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:58,840
Speaker 1: Gunny being assistants there um, and yet Tom Thibodeau was

613
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:01,720
Speaker 1: able to reach New York players are j Barrett and

614
00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:04,920
Speaker 1: Mitch Robinson. In New Orleans. Nowell and Emmanuel quickly, but

615
00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,719
Speaker 1: the same messages from Van Gundy were not reaching them

616
00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,319
Speaker 1: in New Orleans. I think it's premature to say whether

617
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:13,319
Speaker 1: they deserve they're gonna be in the playoffs or not.

618
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:15,520
Speaker 1: We don't know what they're gonna do this offseason. We

619
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:18,120
Speaker 1: don't know who the head coaches um. But I'll tell

620
00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:20,520
Speaker 1: you this, anytime you have Zion Williamson on your team

621
00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:22,960
Speaker 1: where he's shooting just about seventy percent from the floor

622
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,799
Speaker 1: on twenties six points per game, you're gonna have a

623
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:28,720
Speaker 1: shot at being UH in the playoffs. But he needs

624
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:32,760
Speaker 1: to dedicate himself to getting in shape and dedicating himself

625
00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 1: to the defensive end, because we saw that at Duke.

626
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:39,719
Speaker 1: We saw his defensive potential there at Duke, but we

627
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:42,000
Speaker 1: haven't seen that in the NBA. And maybe that's just

628
00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:45,640
Speaker 1: he's a young player figuring it out. But I expect

629
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:47,640
Speaker 1: more from Zion Williamson on that end of the floor.

630
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:51,120
Speaker 1: I want to spend it to Hawks sixers. Tom. Somebody

631
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:54,960
Speaker 1: sent me a text with the complete list of postseason

632
00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:59,080
Speaker 1: um screw up should I say for Doc Rivers and

633
00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:02,600
Speaker 1: it is ugly okay, dating back to his time in

634
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:05,640
Speaker 1: Orlando and then in Boston, and I know he has

635
00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:08,120
Speaker 1: a title thanks to Danny Angel. I think we could argue,

636
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:12,080
Speaker 1: you know, delivering KG and Ray Allen, but I mean, listen,

637
00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:14,760
Speaker 1: Sam van Gutti got fired after nine months. Doc Rivers

638
00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,680
Speaker 1: now down three two, has to go to Atlanta for

639
00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:21,120
Speaker 1: Game six? Can Doc Rivers survived this? After that Game

640
00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:24,080
Speaker 1: five collapse at home? And where's Ben Simmons getting traded

641
00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:28,040
Speaker 1: to in the off season? All right? Well, first things first,

642
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:32,239
Speaker 1: Jason doc Rivers wasn't Darryl Morey's higher. It was a

643
00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:36,680
Speaker 1: weird sequence of events this past offseason where Doc Rivers

644
00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:39,120
Speaker 1: was hired as the head coach and then they brought

645
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:42,359
Speaker 1: in GM Darryl Morey, one of the top gms in

646
00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:45,520
Speaker 1: the in the n B A from Houston, and so

647
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:48,759
Speaker 1: that was not Darryl Morey's pick. Now, they made nice

648
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:50,839
Speaker 1: and Darryl Morey said all the right things about Doc

649
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:54,680
Speaker 1: being such a seasoned NBA coach, a champion and you know,

650
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:57,160
Speaker 1: Lob City and all that. Like, he said all the

651
00:35:57,239 --> 00:35:59,560
Speaker 1: right things. But let's make no mistake about it, Darryl

652
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:02,680
Speaker 1: Moore did not pick Doc Rivers. It was very much

653
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:06,920
Speaker 1: this is the hand of cards that I've been dealt.

654
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:10,359
Speaker 1: So I do think that that is interesting is if

655
00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:13,920
Speaker 1: Daryl Morey is not pleased with Doc rivers performance, he

656
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:18,680
Speaker 1: has a lot more um I think autonomy or bullets

657
00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:21,880
Speaker 1: to burn here because this wasn't his hand picked choice

658
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:26,280
Speaker 1: to be the coach Doc Rivers. Um. I was sitting

659
00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:30,160
Speaker 1: on my couch last night watching the game Jason, and

660
00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:32,520
Speaker 1: I was just trying to remember the last time Ben

661
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,640
Speaker 1: Simmons scored in the game from the field goal, from

662
00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:39,400
Speaker 1: the from you know, the floor, and so I pulled

663
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:43,920
Speaker 1: up the official NBA box score and I scrolled down

664
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:46,120
Speaker 1: to just the second half. I just wanted to see

665
00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:48,839
Speaker 1: how many baskets that Ben Simmons made in the second half,

666
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:52,200
Speaker 1: and it was zero, and I was like, Wow, Ben

667
00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:58,200
Speaker 1: Simmons all star uh at home, had the opportunity to

668
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 1: win this game and go up three two and was

669
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:05,120
Speaker 1: being hackers shocked to go to the free throw line

670
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:07,719
Speaker 1: but still not able to score. That's amazing. And then

671
00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:12,080
Speaker 1: I saw Tobias Harrison didn't score either, and Howard didn't

672
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:17,560
Speaker 1: score either, and she oh, oh my god, no sixer

673
00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:20,640
Speaker 1: outside of Joel Embiide and Seth Curry scored in the

674
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:23,440
Speaker 1: second half period. So I tweeted that out and I

675
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:25,440
Speaker 1: was like, I can't believe this, Like, I don't think

676
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:27,919
Speaker 1: I've ever seen that in an NBA game that two

677
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:31,719
Speaker 1: players on the floor score field goal the entire second half.

678
00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:35,359
Speaker 1: And sure enough, there was a stat from stats Inc.

679
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:38,000
Speaker 1: Said that that's the first time that's happened in the

680
00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:40,239
Speaker 1: last fifteen post seasons. I don't know whether that was

681
00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:44,640
Speaker 1: because there's someone in that sixteenth postseason sixteen years ago

682
00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:48,200
Speaker 1: that did it, or they just didn't have the data right,

683
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:51,160
Speaker 1: because I've never I've never seen that before. And I

684
00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:52,759
Speaker 1: do think that a lot of that falls on DC

685
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:56,880
Speaker 1: rivers is and viewing the confidence in Ben Simmons to

686
00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:00,240
Speaker 1: attack the basket, forget about the fouls, just to atack

687
00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:03,359
Speaker 1: the basketball, live with the results, or you take him

688
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:06,759
Speaker 1: out and you don't have his confidence wrecked. And in

689
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:10,360
Speaker 1: that situation, I think Ben simmons Is confidence is wrecked

690
00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:14,279
Speaker 1: at the free throw line. Um, he's you know, we

691
00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:16,560
Speaker 1: want to handle with kid gloves here with the whole

692
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:20,240
Speaker 1: three point shooting and Doc Rivers backing him all season

693
00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:23,319
Speaker 1: long about hey, he's amazing at everything else. I don't

694
00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:25,680
Speaker 1: need him to shoot threes. We got Seth Curry, we

695
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:27,879
Speaker 1: got Tobias hairs. Don't worry. We don't need this guy

696
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:31,279
Speaker 1: to shoot threes. But at some point, ma'am, he's got

697
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:34,480
Speaker 1: to get over this hunt. Ben Simmons has to has

698
00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:37,040
Speaker 1: to work on this mental side of the game, which

699
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:40,239
Speaker 1: is clearly like Dwight Howard in practice is like a

700
00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:43,520
Speaker 1: n free throw shooter. When he goes into games, it

701
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:46,240
Speaker 1: all falls apart. Same thing with Ben Simmons shooting jumpers

702
00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:50,280
Speaker 1: before the game. Seems completely comfortable to shoot threes before

703
00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:51,960
Speaker 1: the game and warm ups or shoot at the free

704
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:54,200
Speaker 1: throw line. But there's gotta be something. And if you're

705
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,320
Speaker 1: gonna say umbuntwo Doc Rivers has a way to reach

706
00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:01,000
Speaker 1: superstars like he did in Boston, Well here here's the test.

707
00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:03,719
Speaker 1: Can you get Ben Simmons to maximize his potential? And

708
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,920
Speaker 1: if that's not on the coach, what is it like

709
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,560
Speaker 1: to maximize your superstars? That's his job. And so why

710
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,920
Speaker 1: would not be surprised if if they get um kicked

711
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:15,719
Speaker 1: out of this this series against the Atlanta Hawks. I

712
00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:18,000
Speaker 1: would not be surprised if Darryl Morey the GM decides

713
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:19,799
Speaker 1: to go in a different direction and find his own

714
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:25,200
Speaker 1: coach um in in in Philadelphia. Well, Morey also rumored

715
00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:27,800
Speaker 1: to have tried to trade Ben Simmons for James Harden

716
00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:29,560
Speaker 1: or that may or may not have been on the table.

717
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:31,680
Speaker 1: I don't know if Houston was saying we're not dealing

718
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,759
Speaker 1: with Morey, but apparently Morey was into trading. Uh Ben Simmons. Now,

719
00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:37,480
Speaker 1: let me ask we We had a guy named John

720
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:39,759
Speaker 1: Gonzalez here on the podcast, and we did think Ben

721
00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:42,960
Speaker 1: Simmons trades. Um. You know, I think I put foth

722
00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:47,640
Speaker 1: Um the Celtics and Washington just to you know, toss

723
00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:51,200
Speaker 1: out crazy ideas. I started looking at every team and

724
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:54,120
Speaker 1: the team that is interesting to me and maybe just

725
00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:55,960
Speaker 1: me and call me an idiot. I don't It's not

726
00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:59,120
Speaker 1: won't be the first time. What about Portland, Damian Lillard

727
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,759
Speaker 1: wanting out? Um, apparently you know he wants to hand

728
00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:04,960
Speaker 1: pick his coach. But if you want to press reset

729
00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:09,200
Speaker 1: and you wanna start over in Portland and just I mean,

730
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:11,880
Speaker 1: is Ben Simmons an option? Like there's a really talented player,

731
00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:14,600
Speaker 1: all the defensive guy. Um. I think he got all

732
00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:16,279
Speaker 1: NBA votes. He may have been all NBA and his

733
00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:20,320
Speaker 1: career already once. Um, Where where do you send Ben Simmons?

734
00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:21,840
Speaker 1: Like his stock is at an all time loads, so

735
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:24,920
Speaker 1: you're selling it the worst time. But you, I mean,

736
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,840
Speaker 1: you pair Damian Lillard with Joel Embiid. That's crazy. Obviously

737
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:29,920
Speaker 1: the Sixers would need to give up more than just

738
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:33,080
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons. But where do you see Darryl Morey looking

739
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:35,279
Speaker 1: this offseason to unload Simmons, Give me, give me a

740
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:38,200
Speaker 1: sexy team. Well, I I don't. I don't know if

741
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:40,759
Speaker 1: we're there yet. I mean we're they're down three two

742
00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:43,440
Speaker 1: in this series. I don't think if they go to

743
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:45,600
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals, if they rally back and go to

744
00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals, I don't think they're gonna make any

745
00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:50,600
Speaker 1: sort of sort of wholesale changes. But let's just say,

746
00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:53,160
Speaker 1: for the sake of argument, that they lose against the

747
00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:55,960
Speaker 1: Atlanta Hawks in this first year of the Darryl Morey era,

748
00:40:56,280 --> 00:41:00,399
Speaker 1: what does he do Ben Simmons? Despite being ling low

749
00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:04,360
Speaker 1: at this point, there's still teams always in small markets

750
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:07,200
Speaker 1: like Charlotte, UH New Orleans. You can throw in there,

751
00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:11,600
Speaker 1: um Memphis that will take a chance at Ben Simmons

752
00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:13,960
Speaker 1: because guess what, you're not signing Ben Simmons as a

753
00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:16,319
Speaker 1: free agent, and so this is the opportunity to get

754
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:20,799
Speaker 1: a superstar potential player and be able to deliver and

755
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:23,320
Speaker 1: be like, hey man, we're not gonna sign Ben Simmons

756
00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:25,480
Speaker 1: and free agent, let's try to get a trade. So

757
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:28,400
Speaker 1: the other side of that coin is what is portlandly

758
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,959
Speaker 1: gonna offer that's gonna get Ben Simmons. Is Darryl Moorey

759
00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:35,880
Speaker 1: interested in c J McCollum next to Um, next to

760
00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:38,600
Speaker 1: Joel and be an elite three point shooter? I think

761
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:41,200
Speaker 1: he would be, But is that gonna be enough? Um?

762
00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:45,080
Speaker 1: Zack Collins a young player, Maybe maybe that works with Portland,

763
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:47,319
Speaker 1: but he's always been hurt. So the question is what

764
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:49,760
Speaker 1: is this team? It's not enough to say, oh, Portland

765
00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:52,080
Speaker 1: could use Ben Simmons. I hate that in the NBA

766
00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:53,799
Speaker 1: where it's just like, hey, trade him to New York.

767
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:55,799
Speaker 1: Well what it was New York gonna pay? Like what

768
00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:58,360
Speaker 1: is New York gonna have? Like? Hey, how how is

769
00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:00,319
Speaker 1: New York gonna get the next superstar? Will have to

770
00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:02,560
Speaker 1: have assets that other people are interested in. Daryl Morey,

771
00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:06,560
Speaker 1: he's as I'm happy with the with the trade machine

772
00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:10,400
Speaker 1: as anybody in NBA history. He loves making trades the

773
00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:12,520
Speaker 1: team that interests me, and I don't know if they're

774
00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:15,080
Speaker 1: gonna have the young assets to pull it off. But

775
00:42:15,239 --> 00:42:18,279
Speaker 1: I always thought Bradley Beale Ben Simmons swapped made a

776
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:21,520
Speaker 1: lot of sense before UM, But I don't know if

777
00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:25,080
Speaker 1: Washington does that without Bradley Beal saying I'm out. Like

778
00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:28,279
Speaker 1: if Bradley Beal says I'm out, I want out, this

779
00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:30,520
Speaker 1: isn't working out, then I could see a Ben Simmons

780
00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:33,080
Speaker 1: for Bradley Beal swap, because Bradley Beal is the next

781
00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:35,600
Speaker 1: coming to James Harden in my opinion, he is an

782
00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:38,520
Speaker 1: amazing who hold hold on, hold on, Tom. You can't

783
00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:42,040
Speaker 1: just drop that the next coming of Hearten. If you

784
00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:44,160
Speaker 1: look at their free throw rates and their free and

785
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:47,000
Speaker 1: the dude scored average thirty points a game, I mean,

786
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,520
Speaker 1: how much of it leap? Is that? Okay? So Bradley

787
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:52,120
Speaker 1: Beal um has the ability to get to the free

788
00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:56,200
Speaker 1: throw line and play like UM, play like a magician

789
00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:59,040
Speaker 1: trying to get you off balance, and he get takes

790
00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:01,400
Speaker 1: advantage of that and gets the rat He's an elite,

791
00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:05,400
Speaker 1: elite scorer. UM. The difference between James hard and Bradley

792
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:07,120
Speaker 1: Beale is the passing. He's not as good as a

793
00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:09,600
Speaker 1: pastor as James Harden, but in terms of efficiency and

794
00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:12,160
Speaker 1: ability to get to the line and do that at

795
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:14,600
Speaker 1: a high level, there's only a few players who do

796
00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:16,799
Speaker 1: it as good as Bradley Beale and James Harden. So

797
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:20,680
Speaker 1: I could see Darryl Morey uh calling up Tommy Shepard

798
00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:23,239
Speaker 1: there in Washington and saying, look, if Bradley Beal is

799
00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:27,360
Speaker 1: not thrilled, I've got a superstar in the making for you.

800
00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:30,320
Speaker 1: If you want to rebuild the whole John Wall, Bradley

801
00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:33,480
Speaker 1: Beal reset here he is Ben Simmons. I think that

802
00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:35,600
Speaker 1: would be a great move for both sides. But it's

803
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:37,799
Speaker 1: gonna take Bradley Beal getting on the phone with the

804
00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:40,959
Speaker 1: organization and saying I want out. The other team that

805
00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:45,000
Speaker 1: that that on my radar with Ben Simmons is the Celtics,

806
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:47,799
Speaker 1: like you mentioned, but it's gonna take Jalen Brown or

807
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:50,640
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum to get it done. They don't have they

808
00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:53,799
Speaker 1: don't have a piece that is gonna warrant that type

809
00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:55,840
Speaker 1: of caliber player. And Ben Simmons because remember he was

810
00:43:55,880 --> 00:43:59,680
Speaker 1: the youngest All Star uh if if not ever, but

811
00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:01,480
Speaker 1: he was one of the youngest All Stars we've ever

812
00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:04,200
Speaker 1: seen in the NBA, So there's still a lot of

813
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,680
Speaker 1: cash for him. I like that. Um. The only issue

814
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:10,440
Speaker 1: with Washington, you know, they just let go of Scotty Brooks,

815
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:14,840
Speaker 1: who was Westbrooks guy. Um, and you can't have westbrookn

816
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:17,040
Speaker 1: Simmons on the floor at the same time. Westbrook steal

817
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:20,440
Speaker 1: seems unmovable. Um. How about this one? What about the

818
00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:23,839
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors? They love to take chances? Do you

819
00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:28,560
Speaker 1: package that? Minnesota pick Kelly, you Bray and I don't

820
00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:32,120
Speaker 1: know what else? Um, probably not enough for Benonian doesn't

821
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:34,840
Speaker 1: work with doesn't work. Yeah, you need to find like

822
00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:38,120
Speaker 1: a third team to take Wiseman. But Ben Simmons and

823
00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:41,520
Speaker 1: Draymond are two of, in my opinion, the best defenders

824
00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:45,040
Speaker 1: in the league. You surround them with shooting, maybe you've

825
00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:47,319
Speaker 1: got something. But again it's tough for Simmons. Uh, this

826
00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:50,319
Speaker 1: is a really difficult decision. Uh. First, like you said,

827
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:52,600
Speaker 1: maybe they turn it around to win the series. Fox

828
00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:55,720
Speaker 1: Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.

829
00:44:56,040 --> 00:44:59,239
Speaker 1: Catch all of our shows at Fox sports radio dot com.

830
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:02,600
Speaker 1: Within the I Heart Radio app search f s R

831
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:06,760
Speaker 1: to listen live. Let's quickly go to the other series

832
00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:12,080
Speaker 1: of the Kawhite list, Um, Clippers somehow beat Utah And

833
00:45:12,120 --> 00:45:14,920
Speaker 1: I gotta say, Um, I've been down on the Clippers

834
00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:17,880
Speaker 1: tom the entire postseason. We don't know if Kauai is

835
00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:19,840
Speaker 1: out for the entire playoffs, but he's definitely out for

836
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:24,160
Speaker 1: this series. According to many people insiders, Um, do you

837
00:45:24,200 --> 00:45:26,440
Speaker 1: think the Clippers win this series and finally get to

838
00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:30,040
Speaker 1: the conference finals without Kawhi Leonard Well, Jason the other

839
00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:33,560
Speaker 1: team is missing Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell is basically

840
00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:36,920
Speaker 1: playing on one leg like he he can't burst jump

841
00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:39,799
Speaker 1: off of that ankle. So when we talk about whether

842
00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:42,359
Speaker 1: the Clippers are gonna make it without Kawhi Leonard, Well,

843
00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:45,000
Speaker 1: hold up, They're missing basically two all stars over there.

844
00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:48,080
Speaker 1: So it's fascinating. This is the conversation we have like

845
00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:51,480
Speaker 1: every day in the league, is like, man, can this

846
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:55,040
Speaker 1: team win without that superstar that star player? And it's like, well,

847
00:45:55,239 --> 00:45:57,919
Speaker 1: everyone else is battered and beat up too. So when

848
00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:01,360
Speaker 1: we talk about um, when we talk about k D

849
00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:03,759
Speaker 1: and the Nets, when we're like, are they gonna be

850
00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:07,000
Speaker 1: able to beat the Milwaukee Bucks without James Harden and

851
00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:10,040
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving. I always said, yes, you know why, because

852
00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:12,840
Speaker 1: they still got k d they still got Paul George

853
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:15,200
Speaker 1: in in l a right, and and what the Utah

854
00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:19,280
Speaker 1: Jazz being down, uh, Mike Conley. That puts everyone else

855
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:24,319
Speaker 1: on on edge because when you lose your starting point

856
00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:27,200
Speaker 1: guard like that, then Joe Ingles moves off the bench

857
00:46:27,239 --> 00:46:29,680
Speaker 1: and goes into the starting lineup. So it's not necessarily

858
00:46:29,680 --> 00:46:32,120
Speaker 1: whether Joe Ingles can fill the shoes. Who's going to

859
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:34,600
Speaker 1: fill the shoes for Joe Ingles, who is in my opinion,

860
00:46:34,719 --> 00:46:36,920
Speaker 1: a better six Man of the Year pick than than

861
00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:41,280
Speaker 1: his teammate Jordan Clarkson. So now everyone that that team

862
00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:43,960
Speaker 1: is paper thin right now, The Utah Jazz is paper thin.

863
00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:45,680
Speaker 1: So we want to talk about Kawhi Leonard and the

864
00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:48,040
Speaker 1: loss that they're having over there. We don't spend enough

865
00:46:48,080 --> 00:46:50,600
Speaker 1: time talking about the Utah Jazz missing Mike Conley and

866
00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:52,840
Speaker 1: not having Donovan Mitchell be at a hundred percent or

867
00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:55,960
Speaker 1: anywhere near it. So as long as Mike Connie's not playing,

868
00:46:56,680 --> 00:46:59,360
Speaker 1: and as long as Donovan Mitchell's ankle, and remember we

869
00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:01,719
Speaker 1: haven't seen the like amazing dunks that we saw last

870
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:04,440
Speaker 1: year and throughout the season with Donovan Mitchell just doesn't

871
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:08,560
Speaker 1: have that burst. Right. So with Paul George scoring at

872
00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:12,040
Speaker 1: least twenty points in every single playoff game and thirty

873
00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:15,560
Speaker 1: or more in his last three, he's delivering, and he's

874
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:17,279
Speaker 1: delivering on a level that I don't think a lot

875
00:47:17,280 --> 00:47:20,640
Speaker 1: of people had confidence in him doing. But again, in

876
00:47:20,719 --> 00:47:25,040
Speaker 1: today's NBA, where Anthony Davis is missing, Joel Embiid is

877
00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:28,120
Speaker 1: grabbing his knee every other play down the floor. Um,

878
00:47:28,239 --> 00:47:31,920
Speaker 1: we have nine County, Chris Paul, who's in COVID Protocols

879
00:47:32,160 --> 00:47:34,320
Speaker 1: nine all starts. We have missed at least one playoff

880
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:37,880
Speaker 1: game this postseason, the most in NBA history. Just because

881
00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:41,359
Speaker 1: you lose one star doesn't mean you're out. Everyone else

882
00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:43,640
Speaker 1: has beat up and battered right now. So even Chris Paul,

883
00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:46,560
Speaker 1: Chris Paul like had the shoulder issue and still they

884
00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:48,480
Speaker 1: were able to move on. And we'll see if that

885
00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:51,160
Speaker 1: barks back up again here in the next round because

886
00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:54,600
Speaker 1: everybody's hurting. But more so than ever, I think Kawhi

887
00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:58,680
Speaker 1: Leonard being out isn't the death sentence that it might

888
00:47:58,719 --> 00:48:01,560
Speaker 1: have seemed and originally be, because Utah Jazz or dealing

889
00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:04,000
Speaker 1: with that too. Alright, So Tom will wrap up on this.

890
00:48:04,320 --> 00:48:06,560
Speaker 1: I'm curious, like I like to spin things forward and

891
00:48:06,600 --> 00:48:08,840
Speaker 1: try to see what's next. I know, projecting the future

892
00:48:08,880 --> 00:48:11,960
Speaker 1: is very impossible, uh, and we all fail miserably at it.

893
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:16,399
Speaker 1: That being said, you know, Lebron is thirties six. Now

894
00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:18,800
Speaker 1: he turns thirty seven. I believe in December he's clearly

895
00:48:18,840 --> 00:48:20,360
Speaker 1: at the end. You know, we love to have this

896
00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:23,239
Speaker 1: is who's this next face of the NBA discussion, And

897
00:48:23,239 --> 00:48:26,880
Speaker 1: there was talk about Janice, but his postseason failures probably

898
00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:30,080
Speaker 1: have stifled that. Zion is not there yet. I don't

899
00:48:30,160 --> 00:48:32,680
Speaker 1: know if it can be Luca don Chech. I'm curious,

900
00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:35,600
Speaker 1: who do you think takes us into the next into

901
00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:38,200
Speaker 1: the you know, deep into the twenties as the face

902
00:48:38,239 --> 00:48:40,520
Speaker 1: of the NBA or do they not really need one?

903
00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:42,440
Speaker 1: Because after Jordan, there was a lot of discussion, is

904
00:48:42,440 --> 00:48:45,400
Speaker 1: it Iverson, is it Shack? Is it Kobe? And there

905
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:47,120
Speaker 1: was like that's a window where the NBA was kind

906
00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:49,960
Speaker 1: of hurting, you know, for for a star after Jordan,

907
00:48:50,040 --> 00:48:52,879
Speaker 1: and Jordan had to come back to Bolster ratings. Who

908
00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:55,239
Speaker 1: who do you have as as really the next face

909
00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:59,799
Speaker 1: of the NBA. It's Luca times Luca Luca he still

910
00:48:59,840 --> 00:49:02,640
Speaker 1: has maybe fat on like he doesn't even I don't

911
00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:05,080
Speaker 1: know whether it's a diet thing or whether it's just

912
00:49:05,200 --> 00:49:08,160
Speaker 1: he's young. But the numbers that he puts up and

913
00:49:08,160 --> 00:49:12,240
Speaker 1: the fact that he hasn't had a qualified co pilot,

914
00:49:12,280 --> 00:49:14,480
Speaker 1: like you know, it was a crazy stat earlier is

915
00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:18,399
Speaker 1: uh this postseason, Rudy Gobert had a higher usage rate

916
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:22,680
Speaker 1: than Kristaps Porzingis, meaning he had more role of an

917
00:49:22,719 --> 00:49:28,520
Speaker 1: offensive role than Kristaps Porzingis. So think about what Luca

918
00:49:28,600 --> 00:49:31,719
Speaker 1: donches his supporting cast this year and last year and

919
00:49:31,719 --> 00:49:34,200
Speaker 1: what he's been able to do from an individual standpoint,

920
00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:36,520
Speaker 1: and leading that team to the playoffs at such a

921
00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:38,880
Speaker 1: young age, like that's crazy, what he did against the

922
00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:42,200
Speaker 1: Clippers last year, and dealing with Christaps Porzingis on you know,

923
00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:47,000
Speaker 1: a shell of himself, um, the individual, the youth, the

924
00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:49,879
Speaker 1: fact that he hasn't really gotten in shape yet, there

925
00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:52,160
Speaker 1: hasn't been you know, huge injury concerns like you have

926
00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:55,680
Speaker 1: with with Zion. I think he's the future of this league.

927
00:49:55,719 --> 00:49:59,760
Speaker 1: And also he plays a brand of basketball that kids

928
00:49:59,840 --> 00:50:03,640
Speaker 1: love off. He is the future. When it's stepbacks from

929
00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:07,480
Speaker 1: thirty five ft from thirty ft um off balance, just

930
00:50:07,680 --> 00:50:11,560
Speaker 1: crazy handle, crazy passes. I think he is the future

931
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:14,880
Speaker 1: of the league. And I think that he plays with

932
00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:17,480
Speaker 1: such a joy and a smile and he and he

933
00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:19,719
Speaker 1: and Boban and like, it's really fun to watch that

934
00:50:19,719 --> 00:50:23,120
Speaker 1: guy play. It's just gonna take the right pieces around him.

935
00:50:23,120 --> 00:50:26,360
Speaker 1: And for for all the questions about Janice and Zion,

936
00:50:26,760 --> 00:50:30,080
Speaker 1: I have much fewer questions about Luca don Chich as

937
00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:33,240
Speaker 1: a superstar in this league. I think he is legit

938
00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:34,719
Speaker 1: going to be the face of this league for the

939
00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:37,560
Speaker 1: next decade. Yeah, I totally am with you. I've been

940
00:50:37,640 --> 00:50:40,720
Speaker 1: touting Luca. The problem is when you say that out loud,

941
00:50:41,200 --> 00:50:43,920
Speaker 1: everybody says, the guy hasn't won a playoff series and

942
00:50:44,800 --> 00:50:48,279
Speaker 1: playoffs yeah, I know regards to the playoffs at this

943
00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:51,040
Speaker 1: age is but the kelendar is he lost to the

944
00:50:51,080 --> 00:50:53,440
Speaker 1: Clippers in the first round twice. And I'm like, people

945
00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:56,319
Speaker 1: just don't really understand that, Oh, Kauai maybe the best

946
00:50:56,320 --> 00:50:58,480
Speaker 1: two way player in the league, you know, and Luca

947
00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:00,399
Speaker 1: doesn't play any defense. These are the whole they try

948
00:51:00,440 --> 00:51:02,680
Speaker 1: to poke in Luca. I don't It could be a

949
00:51:02,719 --> 00:51:05,799
Speaker 1: cultural thing where people are not keen on you know,

950
00:51:05,840 --> 00:51:09,319
Speaker 1: a European dude being the face of the NBA. UM,

951
00:51:09,600 --> 00:51:11,560
Speaker 1: I don't know. Are you getting pushed back on Luca?

952
00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:14,080
Speaker 1: Are you? Most people mostly? I mean the people I

953
00:51:14,120 --> 00:51:16,800
Speaker 1: talked to in the league, they very much see Luca

954
00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:19,920
Speaker 1: done as as as qualified as anybody to take the

955
00:51:19,960 --> 00:51:25,040
Speaker 1: throne right. The questions about Luca are if if he is,

956
00:51:25,880 --> 00:51:29,040
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give it to you defensively, um, But we

957
00:51:29,120 --> 00:51:32,000
Speaker 1: never really asked that very much of like Stephen Curry

958
00:51:32,200 --> 00:51:34,760
Speaker 1: UM or Damian Lillard, Like we're never looking at Damian

959
00:51:34,800 --> 00:51:38,440
Speaker 1: Lillard being like great leader, great superstar, but when are

960
00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:40,759
Speaker 1: you gonna bring it defensively? We're putting Luca don Che

961
00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:42,840
Speaker 1: on a pedestal that I don't even think we put

962
00:51:43,080 --> 00:51:44,840
Speaker 1: on the rest of the stars like k D and

963
00:51:44,920 --> 00:51:47,319
Speaker 1: Lebron like they're at a class of their own. But

964
00:51:47,360 --> 00:51:50,600
Speaker 1: in terms of taking that next step and being the

965
00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:54,319
Speaker 1: face of the face of the league, I cannot tell

966
00:51:54,360 --> 00:51:56,520
Speaker 1: you how much it aggravates me when we pin the

967
00:51:56,640 --> 00:51:59,920
Speaker 1: first round losses on Luca as if we've seen anyone

968
00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:03,840
Speaker 1: average thirty ten and ten as a nineteen year old

969
00:52:04,160 --> 00:52:07,240
Speaker 1: in the playoffs and bringing two teams, bringing two teams

970
00:52:07,239 --> 00:52:09,280
Speaker 1: in the first two years of his of his career

971
00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:12,239
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. That almost never happens in the league.

972
00:52:12,320 --> 00:52:15,360
Speaker 1: Almost never happens in the league. So instead of tearing

973
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:17,680
Speaker 1: you down for losing in the first round, why don't

974
00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:21,800
Speaker 1: we build you up and say we never see nineteen

975
00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:24,520
Speaker 1: teenagers carry their team to the playoffs. Whatever they do

976
00:52:24,560 --> 00:52:27,799
Speaker 1: after that, I don't care. That's an incredible achievement by Luca.

977
00:52:27,880 --> 00:52:29,520
Speaker 1: But this is the this is the world we live

978
00:52:29,560 --> 00:52:31,600
Speaker 1: in where we have to build you up just to

979
00:52:31,600 --> 00:52:33,680
Speaker 1: tear you down, just to tell I know, I hate that,

980
00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:36,480
Speaker 1: all right, he is Tom haberstro great stuff. Hey, you

981
00:52:36,480 --> 00:52:38,000
Speaker 1: don't want to agree with me on Luca. Listen to

982
00:52:38,040 --> 00:52:39,920
Speaker 1: this guy. He has all the numbers and and I'm

983
00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:41,839
Speaker 1: telling you lucas a guy. You could find him at

984
00:52:41,920 --> 00:52:47,359
Speaker 1: Meadow Lark Media, Uh, Dan Lebotard Show, The Habers Show Podcast. Tom. Hey,

985
00:52:47,360 --> 00:52:50,120
Speaker 1: thanks a lot, man, and congrats on all your success.

986
00:52:50,600 --> 00:52:53,160
Speaker 1: Thank you Jason for having me and I appreciate you

987
00:52:53,239 --> 00:52:55,080
Speaker 1: for for bringing me on. And it's been a crazy

988
00:52:55,120 --> 00:52:57,040
Speaker 1: week but but hopefully we were able to get the

989
00:52:57,040 --> 00:52:59,799
Speaker 1: things you wanted today. Yeah, definitely, thanks man.