Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of Unplugged, brought to you
Speaker 1: by DraftKings Man. I love basketball right now. I mean
Speaker 1: men's game is going crazy obviously with the playoffs, got
Speaker 1: a chance to catch a court side, sparse game this weekend.
Speaker 1: But joining us is none other than one of my
Speaker 1: best friends, Rachel Nichols.
Speaker 2: Welcome back, mister, mister Matt Barnes.
Speaker 1: How are you?
Speaker 2: How much fun is it watching Kelsey Plumb?
Speaker 1: Kelsey's the shit, right. I remember how dope she was
Speaker 1: in college, but obviously she fell into her role. But
Speaker 1: we'll obviously get to that a little bit later. But yeah,
Speaker 1: as a spark, just.
Speaker 2: You said you went to the game. I didn't realize that. Like,
Speaker 2: plus she talks her shit.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely, I love it. I just I'm gonna
Speaker 1: break her down later because this is the first time
Speaker 1: I got to see her play in person in a
Speaker 1: while for the Sparks, and it's just a different But yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll get to that. But anyway, let's get to UH
Speaker 1: Eastern Finals. You were in the building, ye baby, game
Speaker 1: one Madison Square Garden. I said, I didn't even care
Speaker 1: if I went to the game. I just want to
Speaker 1: feel the energy in New York right now, because I
Speaker 1: know it's insane, but you witnessed a choke.
Speaker 3: First of all, going into that series, going into the
Speaker 3: Eastern Conference Finals first time twenty five years against the Pacers.
Speaker 3: Every old Nick is in the building, every pace you know, Reggie,
Speaker 3: Reggie's there. All the shit you walk around New York
Speaker 3: that day, right, The Knicks were not only going to
Speaker 3: win that series in four, they were going to sweep
Speaker 3: in four. They were after beating the Celtics, they were
Speaker 3: going to sweep the finals in four, and they were
Speaker 3: somehow going to win two titles.
Speaker 2: By some they're gonna win next year, next year's title.
Speaker 3: That's what you couldnot tell Knicks fans nothing.
Speaker 2: And by the way, I think you still couldn't. Maybe
Speaker 2: even after Game three, they're like, we're.
Speaker 1: Bad, baby, It's all happening Nicks and Sick, right, they're wild.
Speaker 1: I saw. I just love the ambiance again, every single
Speaker 1: former Nick players courtse I think that shit is dope.
Speaker 1: And there's a mob, Dylan, what's that ship called? The
Speaker 1: mob of just the crazy fans that talk shit to everyone?
Speaker 1: Is there like a New Yorkers Yeah, mayn right. They
Speaker 1: are nuts with no filter, Like I just love. I
Speaker 1: said early on, I just think it would be great
Speaker 1: for just the ecosystem, would be the NBA if the Knicks
Speaker 1: were able to win. But let's get down to why
Speaker 1: I don't think they they're going. I just I love
Speaker 1: what they're doing. I have the team run a ton
Speaker 1: of numbers, say, because I just kind of want to
Speaker 1: figure out like what things look like and what the
Speaker 1: vibe is. But let's talk Game three. TIBs Surprise, Surprise,
Speaker 1: dipped into the bench a little bit shamming and and
Speaker 1: Wright got a little bit of time. There's been a
Speaker 1: switch with Josh Hart going to the bench and Mitchell
Speaker 1: Robinson's starting now talk to us a little bit about
Speaker 1: kind of the shake up and TIBs at this point.
Speaker 1: And I was saying before we started, like I'm looking
Speaker 1: at the guy's minutes now and all the guys are
Speaker 1: in like low thirty, So it means he's dipping into
Speaker 1: the bench. But the bench hasn't really got no burn
Speaker 1: all year, So how are they supposed to on the
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference final stage perform? But go ahead, what are
Speaker 1: your thoughts with kind of a little bit of shake
Speaker 1: up in him using a little bit more.
Speaker 3: Depth, I think it was Kenny Smith, righty read the
Speaker 3: line so far as the series where he's like, TIBs
Speaker 3: won't even use nine guys baseball game?
Speaker 2: What was he shows us tonight?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: That was kind of insane. Whether you play guys a lot,
Speaker 2: whether you don't. I mean, it really depends on the day.
Speaker 3: People go back and forth, right because when the Knicks,
Speaker 3: you know, when we saw Cleveland, for example, right fall
Speaker 3: apart against the Pacers, people were like, oh see the
Speaker 3: Pacers have played their guys. They're used to running up
Speaker 3: and now they're used to heavy minutes in Cleveland. That
Speaker 3: made this huge show all year of like we're not.
Speaker 2: Going to wear guys out rolling a player starter a
Speaker 2: certain amount of time.
Speaker 3: The criticism was they weren't ready when it was time
Speaker 3: to go. The TIBs criticism we always know is he
Speaker 3: plays guys into the ground, and yet if you look
Speaker 3: at some of the numbers, it doesn't always back that up. Look,
Speaker 3: I asked you before we started if you had played
Speaker 3: for Carlisle or TIBs before, which I can't kind of
Speaker 3: believe you haven't, considering how many teams they've both been
Speaker 3: in and you've been at. But it's interesting to me
Speaker 3: that Rick Carlisle has largely out coached Tom Thibodeaux in
Speaker 3: this series. And then I think what you saw on
Speaker 3: what you're asking about is tips sort of feeling around
Speaker 3: for what else might work. And when we saw Brunson
Speaker 3: on the bench, I am in no way one of
Speaker 3: these people who was like.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, June Brunson, they're better without him. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's just insanity.
Speaker 3: However, the fact that Brunson and Kat weren't playing together
Speaker 3: and the defensive weakness, yes, when they're both on the floor,
Speaker 3: that that creates wasn't there. That's what I thought was
Speaker 3: most interesting.
Speaker 1: About all those Yeah, there's numbers obviously, and analytics, you
Speaker 1: guys can get that somewhere else, But when they're able
Speaker 1: to stagger their minutes, and let's be real, I mean,
Speaker 1: Mikal Bridges hasn't necessarily been the lockdown guy he's been
Speaker 1: known to be og has kind of been inconsistent when
Speaker 1: it comes to defense. You know, Kat with his size twenties,
Speaker 1: he's not really moving them puppies as as they would say.
Speaker 1: And then Brunson is doing so much heavy lifting on
Speaker 1: the offensive. Man, it's just like, how much do you
Speaker 1: expect from him, So you know, I wanted to just
Speaker 1: My whole thing is obviously being a former player like
Speaker 1: you had, you can't, first of all, simulate game reps,
Speaker 1: especially at this point with all the adrenaline, Like you
Speaker 1: can't just all of a sudden get in shape, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And that's why I always tip
Speaker 1: guys that with you know, we look at Indiana and
Speaker 1: we look at Okay. See their guys have got a
Speaker 1: taste of this shit the whole season. So now when
Speaker 1: it's here, whether it's a little bit longer than normal
Speaker 1: sport or a quick spurt, they're ready and they're here.
Speaker 1: You give guys opportunities that hasn't necessarily played. And I'm
Speaker 1: not sure what you're expecting because I'm always thinking Rachel
Speaker 1: on the playoffs. Every you know, a couple of games
Speaker 1: are serious, someone from the bench is going to go
Speaker 1: off and really help you get through this. But it's
Speaker 1: almost like the Knicks don't even have that opportunity. I mean,
Speaker 1: we said early sham at some guy that can get
Speaker 1: four to three's. You know, Delawn Wright is great at
Speaker 1: getting downhill and drawing fouls, and he does some stuff
Speaker 1: on the defensive end. But it's just like these guys
Speaker 1: haven't really got an opportunity the whole time, so and.
Speaker 2: The pressure is then on more too.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, if you know this is your only shot,
Speaker 3: I don't care how highly conditioned, highly trained, mentally tough
Speaker 3: for pro athlete you are.
Speaker 1: It's tough.
Speaker 2: It's tough.
Speaker 1: People have no idea how especially with the lights being
Speaker 1: so bright. This is the Easterns, not the first round.
Speaker 1: Like this is the Eastern Everyone's expecting to win two.
Speaker 2: Championships in the one today exactly.
Speaker 1: It's crazy. But you know, Kat showed up game two,
Speaker 1: excuse me, game three with twenty points. He had just
Speaker 1: as many as the Pacers had in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: played really well, carried him Brunson, I want to say,
Speaker 1: what six for eighteen from the field. Scored well, but
Speaker 1: not a typical game for these playoffs. What what is
Speaker 1: Cat at twenty one and eleven and bruns is at
Speaker 1: what thirty four and thirty four at six? Shoot only
Speaker 1: thirty percent from the three point line? I was My
Speaker 1: argument earlier was that Cat's numbers are very solid. Brunson's
Speaker 1: numbers are above average. Cat's numbers actually above average in
Speaker 1: this series you look at Og, you look at You,
Speaker 1: look at Heart, and you look at Bridges. All their
Speaker 1: numbers are solid and where they're at. But that's it.
Speaker 1: You know now that Mitchell Robinson is getting a chance
Speaker 1: to play, I don't. I don't really know TIV, but
Speaker 1: it's just like when he's with you, he's with you,
Speaker 1: and I think as a player, you love that. But
Speaker 1: like you now he's in serty metro Robinson, but he'll
Speaker 1: play him the entire first quarter and then his numbers
Speaker 1: drastically drop the rest of the game. I love him
Speaker 1: as an energy spark, someone who can change the momentum.
Speaker 1: Someone get you three offensive rebounds and a kickout for
Speaker 1: it through like that kind of shit. But then he's
Speaker 1: playing these consistent whole entire quarters and then his numbers are,
Speaker 1: you know, very average the rest of the game. So
Speaker 1: I mean, going into tonight's game, what do you feel
Speaker 1: like is the knixt game plan trying to go here
Speaker 1: and even up the series on Indiana's court.
Speaker 2: I think they kind of have to, right, no question.
Speaker 1: You go down three to one. They've shown what they
Speaker 1: can do at home. They're nasty at home. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: The greatest environment.
Speaker 3: That's been well, First of all, I don't know if
Speaker 3: I'm quarter vantage even matter to any of these playoffs anymore.
Speaker 2: At this point, we've seen so many crazy things.
Speaker 3: Everyone keeps saying, oh, you get them to the garden
Speaker 3: in the game seven.
Speaker 2: These pacers don't care.
Speaker 3: By the way, Tyres Albert is just as happy to
Speaker 3: score his game winning.
Speaker 1: Shots more in the garden. It's more legendary. Great exactly, So, Rachel,
Speaker 1: you were in New York on behalf of Draft Kings
Speaker 1: and you've got a chance to win this in amaze
Speaker 1: seen Game one Tyrese Halibert and the hero or one
Speaker 1: of the heroes. Let's take a look at what he
Speaker 1: had to say.
Speaker 2: The ball goes up? How long did it take for
Speaker 2: that ball to go down?
Speaker 1: Man? Felt like forever hoping it was a three. You
Speaker 1: know obviously it wasn't. But proud of our groups. You know, fight, resilience,
Speaker 1: and you know it's winning overtimes a big deal. So
Speaker 1: just really proud of the group.
Speaker 2: What was it when you were a kid?
Speaker 3: What did you count down in your head that you're
Speaker 3: so good at these last second shots?
Speaker 2: Was a Game seven of the NBA Finals? Like, what
Speaker 2: was it in your.
Speaker 1: Driveway High School state championship. I want to go to
Speaker 1: the NBA, but more than anything, I want to win,
Speaker 1: to stay champions in high school. So that's more more
Speaker 1: I would think of, have.
Speaker 2: You used the Reggie Miller thing?
Speaker 3: You can't use it again, you feel or you feel
Speaker 3: like you might bring it out again.
Speaker 1: It's all spur of the moment. It was spur of
Speaker 1: the move. I wasn't plottin on that.
Speaker 4: It just happened.
Speaker 1: So I don't think you'll see it again. I don't
Speaker 1: think you'll see that. Yeah, we see. We haven't been
Speaker 1: on since that. But I mean, how fucking he big? Toady?
Speaker 1: Kdat it he big? But Rachel, can you imagine if
Speaker 1: that was the game winner?
Speaker 2: Can you imagine if they didn't win the overtime?
Speaker 1: Afterward?
Speaker 2: We think about the swaggy pe meme right where they'll like.
Speaker 3: Throw it turn around, and that is like, that is
Speaker 3: literally the symbol in the NBA.
Speaker 2: How long has that been? Has that been ten years?
Speaker 2: It feels like a fucking decade.
Speaker 3: And that is still the symbol of all the ship
Speaker 3: that is the symbol of right.
Speaker 2: And yet if ty had choked, had done the.
Speaker 3: Choke sign and then quote choked the game away or
Speaker 3: whatever it was. That image of him with the word
Speaker 3: choker underneath would have lived for And that is why
Speaker 3: give him a lot of credit, by the way, for
Speaker 3: doing all the shit that he does, because he puts
Speaker 3: it up. That's all we want, right, put yourself out there.
Speaker 1: Yes, and he is doing that, and he does it.
Speaker 3: So anyway, he's happy to win a game seven on
Speaker 3: the road if it comes to that. But I don't
Speaker 3: know if it's going to come to that. I feel
Speaker 3: like with the Knicks Pacers series, it's pretty evenly matched.
Speaker 3: I feel like anyone could Neither one of these are
Speaker 3: perfect teams, right, Either one could come out with the
Speaker 3: big night. The problem is the Knicks are in too
Speaker 3: much of a hole now, yes, right, because the Knicks
Speaker 3: have to win four out of five games. After you
Speaker 3: lose the first two, you've got to win four out
Speaker 3: of five.
Speaker 2: By the way we've seen it.
Speaker 3: We've seen an NBA Finals not that long ago, right,
Speaker 3: So it's not like it can't happen.
Speaker 2: It is hard.
Speaker 3: You have to be the better team, and I'm not
Speaker 3: sure the Knicks are that much of the better team that,
Speaker 3: even though they got one, I don't know if in
Speaker 3: total they can win four out of five, and whether
Speaker 3: they win tonight or not, I'm not sure it matters
Speaker 3: so much in the long term of whether they're gonna
Speaker 3: win the series and they gonna make it fun. I
Speaker 3: have a question for you about Jaylen Brunson being your
Speaker 3: best player.
Speaker 2: Though you're talking about one, A, Y, one B, all
Speaker 2: the stuff.
Speaker 3: Well, my question to you, having played, because you played
Speaker 3: such you were such a two way player, which is.
Speaker 2: A hysterical term to me, by the way basketball, because
Speaker 2: we are everyone's supposed to be a two way player.
Speaker 3: But anyway, to have a guy who just not because
Speaker 3: of his heart, not because he doesn't try, but because
Speaker 3: of the size he is, who can never be anything
Speaker 3: but average defensively and often something of a liability.
Speaker 2: Can you have that be your best player?
Speaker 1: That was my thing. I can he'd be your best
Speaker 1: player and win a title. I think he's shown at
Speaker 1: times he's been the most unguardable guy in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: He's been incredible. They can throw different defenses at him,
Speaker 1: He's still doing what he does, but with that load.
Speaker 1: And then you look at everything that makes him great offensively,
Speaker 1: his pace, playing off two feet, his IQ, all that
Speaker 1: he doesn't have any of those natural attributes as like
Speaker 1: the normal superstars we think that are carrying teams that
Speaker 1: can go ahead and flip around and lock in on
Speaker 1: the other side. So when you look at him on defense,
Speaker 1: you look at kat on defense, someone who else scores
Speaker 1: the ball really well, but doesn't necessarily play defense. As
Speaker 1: I said earlier, Bridges hasn't necessarily locked down as we're
Speaker 1: accustomed to. Maybe he's a little tired.
Speaker 3: Only one guy, right, you kind of would need a
Speaker 3: team of Bridges, mean.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you need at least two guys and maybe one
Speaker 1: guy off the bench, and then a team that plays
Speaker 1: team defense. We're gonna get to Okac. Yeah, I'm so
Speaker 1: in love with the way they're just on a string.
Speaker 1: Can Brunson be that guy? And I mean we're seeing
Speaker 1: it right now, right, like Jokic said, like last series,
Speaker 1: if we could have won, if we could, if we
Speaker 1: could have won, we would have won, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. So I'm still interested in and I don't
Speaker 1: want this to be a knock on because I think
Speaker 1: he's been absolutely incredible in these playoffs. But that was
Speaker 1: my question a while ago. Can he be the guy
Speaker 1: to on your team and help and you guys win
Speaker 1: a championship with that. So we're gonna have to see and.
Speaker 3: Always it's hard to because the guy implies that like
Speaker 3: he's not tough enough, he's not good enough, he doesn't
Speaker 3: have enough swag, like he's got all of that.
Speaker 2: He can be the guy in that way.
Speaker 3: Yes, but he's only as tall as he is as
Speaker 3: tall and so either you need to have such defensive
Speaker 3: stalwart presence around him, yes, And I don't know if
Speaker 3: the Knicks have that. I don't know if it's possible
Speaker 3: to build a team like that in this era. Yeah right,
Speaker 3: where if that is your best player and he's worthy
Speaker 3: in every other sense that he's just not four four
Speaker 3: inches taller.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, I just don't know.
Speaker 1: I think like if for just hypothetis real, coud you
Speaker 1: throw him on the Oklahoma City raw Sure, with the
Speaker 1: depth of defense they have and you can hide him,
Speaker 1: But then is he from that stamp? I mean, it's
Speaker 1: a whole nother conversation. I still think there's nothing you can.
Speaker 3: Do if you him on ok Yeah, are you putting
Speaker 3: him instead of Shae?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, You're going to excuse me if I was
Speaker 1: removing Shaye and putting him in there in summer you
Speaker 1: can hide because there's so much, great, much talent on
Speaker 1: that team. But I mean, I guess it's you know,
Speaker 1: this is something we're going to have to see. To
Speaker 1: your point, even if they get tonight, do we see
Speaker 1: them still getting another two out of three? And I
Speaker 1: just don't. But one thing is is going to be
Speaker 1: a big hit for Indiana if it happens tonight. His
Speaker 1: Nie Smith is questionable. This guy is nearly at seventeen
Speaker 1: points a game, fifty from the field and seventy three
Speaker 1: percent from the three point line. He was single handedly
Speaker 1: went nuts game one. At the end of Game one.
Speaker 1: He's been the primary defender on Brunton although Brunts in
Speaker 1: that thirty four game, nothing has been easy, absolutely nothing,
Speaker 1: but he makes him work for everything. In good offense
Speaker 1: is always a great offense is always going to beat
Speaker 1: good defense, you know what I mean. I ran into
Speaker 1: that in my like, I just made them work. But
Speaker 1: they still got numbers. So he's definitely making him do
Speaker 1: his things. So if they lost him, that could be
Speaker 1: big depending on how long. But again they do have
Speaker 1: that's the one thing you keep And I had to
Speaker 1: say this is all due respect, Like they're bringing guys
Speaker 1: off the bench that I haven't heard of, but they're
Speaker 1: out there doing the thing, like they're out there playing well.
Speaker 1: Carlile has those guys ready. One thing I'm happy about
Speaker 1: is big John, how long you got ran stated before
Speaker 1: I did. Congratulations man. He gets to be in the
Speaker 1: building tonight game four, and I really want to sit
Speaker 1: and talk to him because I've talked to people around
Speaker 1: him and it's he's just so proud to be a
Speaker 1: fucking dad and a black dad with all the narratives
Speaker 1: and stigmas that have been in the past, but he's
Speaker 1: just happy to be out there. They showed edit to
Speaker 1: him at a bar still tripping when he couldn't go
Speaker 1: to the game and he was doing his day. So
Speaker 1: I absolutely again as a passionate dad, John, I fuck,
Speaker 1: we need to have a beer together. But happy he
Speaker 1: he'll be back in the building. He missed eight games.
Speaker 1: It's crazy we're even talking about it, like as a player.
Speaker 1: He missed eight gays because of the Yana shit back
Speaker 1: on April twenty ninth. But he will be back in
Speaker 1: the building. We saw our boy stat at game go ahead.
Speaker 2: Well, I just say one more thing about that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, go ahead, Like I'm thrilled, I've been saying for
Speaker 3: the last week or two, like, Okay, we have gotten
Speaker 3: to the point where the punishment has outweighed the crime. Right,
Speaker 3: your son is doing things that, literally, by the way,
Speaker 3: no human has ever done in the game of basketball,
Speaker 3: and certainly Tyreese has never done. And it's not an
Speaker 3: insult to say he might not ever do it again.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of time and place, and I mean
Speaker 3: it's literally never happened before. So the idea that he'd
Speaker 3: have to miss all of that again punishment outweighed the crime.
Speaker 3: To me, that we need to be creative about thinking
Speaker 3: about how we make.
Speaker 2: These decisions for people.
Speaker 3: Yes, because the argument that I've gotten thrown back to
Speaker 3: me over this last week, that I've said, you know,
Speaker 3: come on, let him back in the building is okay,
Speaker 3: but what he did was so out of pocket. And
Speaker 3: the answer is yes, But there are other ways to
Speaker 3: say you can't do this. And I believe they're going
Speaker 3: to have him in a swing for the next rest
Speaker 3: of the way keep and that is the way.
Speaker 2: To say you can't do this.
Speaker 3: It's kind of like, you know, to the player participation
Speaker 3: issue to tie it into the awards Vuning.
Speaker 2: That's bullshit to me.
Speaker 3: Yes, there's other ways you can say you can't do this.
Speaker 3: That doesn't have to be the way. Keeping John out
Speaker 3: of the building does not have to be the way
Speaker 3: you said you.
Speaker 2: Can't do that.
Speaker 1: Son uncharted territories with the ship John did on the court.
Speaker 1: But again, I'm glad he's.
Speaker 2: Well, he's lucky he rolled up on honest.
Speaker 1: Man, That's what I said. We were having a conversation.
Speaker 1: You would pop that shit in front of someone else,
Speaker 1: you might have got smacked. But I'm glad it might
Speaker 1: have go there. It didn't have to go there. The
Speaker 1: guys in the league, yeah, it didn't have to go there.
Speaker 1: But he's back tonight, so I know Tyresee and the
Speaker 1: rest of the Indiana Yeah, I can appreciate that. Moving
Speaker 1: out West. I haven't been excited about the way a
Speaker 1: team plays defense in a long time because it's not
Speaker 1: something that's necessarily focused on. But I remember one to particular,
Speaker 1: the player where Edwards ran down through the middle. He
Speaker 1: had dort Island on him, and then he got screened
Speaker 1: and he was switched to Jay's Jalen Williams, which is
Speaker 1: so he had a first team All defender on him,
Speaker 1: he got he ran off a screen, a second team
Speaker 1: All defender went on him, and he went off another screen,
Speaker 1: and someone who should be on the All Defensive Team,
Speaker 1: Caruso gar like, switched out and denied him. I'm like,
Speaker 1: there's no other team out there that can do it.
Speaker 1: Not only do they have individual lockdown defenders, but they're
Speaker 1: a great defensive team. Like for all the young people
Speaker 1: out there, college kids, even NBA guys, just watch how
Speaker 1: they are on a string and they're moving and they're
Speaker 1: making that second and third effort on top of the
Speaker 1: way Shay scoring the ball, on top of the way,
Speaker 1: Jalen Williams is scoring the ball. I think Jalen Williams
Speaker 1: after a tough second round series, he's kind of flourishing.
Speaker 1: And we know stars are born in the playoffs. What
Speaker 1: are your thoughts. We haven't even touched on Ants not
Speaker 1: playing well and Randall disappearing, but what are your thoughts
Speaker 1: in this series? As Minnesota Trail's.
Speaker 3: Three one, I've been talking about Game four and this
Speaker 3: speaks to how, first of all, the playoffs are good. Man.
Speaker 2: When you sat down and you were like, oh, I
Speaker 2: like basketball out right now.
Speaker 3: It's so fun. There's a couple of clunker games that we've.
Speaker 2: Seen over the past few weeks. But when games like
Speaker 2: the last.
Speaker 3: Couple that we see, as we say here today, where
Speaker 3: it's just shot making after shot making as opposed to
Speaker 3: sucking after sucking.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just to see the elite level right now.
Speaker 2: And this is what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: Hold your point one second and what I want to
Speaker 1: say with that, because I think, Rachel, we've seen a
Speaker 1: passing of the guards in these particular playoffs. Again, smaller markets,
Speaker 1: none of our traditional old stars that are unfortunately on
Speaker 1: their way out. It's new stars, small markets and just
Speaker 1: again shot making. There's been some blowouts, but guys are
Speaker 1: playing at a high level. This is I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know what the TV numbers are, and obviously when
Speaker 1: Lebron's not in and all that, I just know there's
Speaker 1: been some really good basketball and it's all new young
Speaker 1: players and stars doing it.
Speaker 2: It's fun.
Speaker 3: Man, Go ahead, well no, but to your point, right,
Speaker 3: So this is what Minnesota Timberwolves did, right And I'm
Speaker 3: reading from John Krasinski is a great beat writer from
Speaker 3: the Athletic who was covered the team for a long time.
Speaker 3: They shot it better from the field fifty one percent.
Speaker 3: They shot it better from three point range than Thunder
Speaker 3: forty four percent.
Speaker 2: They out rebounded Oka.
Speaker 4: See.
Speaker 3: They scored more points in the paint. They scored more
Speaker 3: points in transition, more points than Okaysey off second chances,
Speaker 3: had eight more assists, three more points off turnovers. They
Speaker 3: made six more three throws, and Minnesota's bench outscored the
Speaker 3: Thunders bench. And by the way, the Thunders bench is
Speaker 3: Sam Good. Minnesota's bench outscored the Thunders sixty four to
Speaker 3: twenty seven. The guess who won the game? And not
Speaker 3: even like by a little bit. It didn't feel I
Speaker 3: know it got close at the end, but didn't feel
Speaker 3: to you. Yeah, the older brother the kind of like
Speaker 3: just holding it up a little in front of them.
Speaker 1: But I think the two things you mentioned is their
Speaker 1: stars didn't play well. I think you know you look
Speaker 1: at Devincenzo seven for eleven from the field, five for eight,
Speaker 1: twenty one points. I love Alexander Walker's cousin.
Speaker 2: Did you know that their cousins, because they haven't mentioned
Speaker 2: it at.
Speaker 1: All, because I talked about it. I think because this
Speaker 1: he's finally on a big enough stage, he's showing his shit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: But he goes for twenty three five for right from
Speaker 1: the end, plays tough defense, you know. McDaniels goes for
Speaker 1: twenty two, Gobert nearly a double double, thirteen to nine.
Speaker 1: But then you look at sh our Aunt five for
Speaker 1: thirteen six points or sixteen points, one for seven form
Speaker 1: the three, and then Randall, who's been incredible during these playoffs,
Speaker 1: but he's been kind of bottled up against this team
Speaker 1: twenty eight minutes, one for seven, five points. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: you can't your two best players can't have those kind
Speaker 1: of night, especially on the same night in the Western Finals.
Speaker 2: I agree, And you can't win when that's the case.
Speaker 3: But you were playing against a defense that is designed
Speaker 3: to get this incredible And so when people are like, oh,
Speaker 3: aunt Ann had a bad night, and then Aunt comes
Speaker 3: out and said I wouldn't say I was struggling, and
Speaker 3: that got a lot of attention.
Speaker 2: I think he's right.
Speaker 3: Look, the defense is designed to suffocate him and take
Speaker 3: the ball out of his hands, and is he making
Speaker 3: good decisions or not? And he was generally making good decisions.
Speaker 3: He's still twenty three years old. Yes, right, but this
Speaker 3: is the Western Conference playoffs. I just think we are
Speaker 3: such a like either your gold or your trash society
Speaker 3: now that we forget in our breakdowns in some of
Speaker 3: these games, like oh man, he didn't show up, he
Speaker 3: was trash. Julius Randall, I thought he was good again,
Speaker 3: and now like, oh look, he's shown his true colors.
Speaker 3: Guess what they're playing against a historically good defense, and
Speaker 3: this is what happens. And he has played really well
Speaker 3: up until now in these playoffs, and he is having
Speaker 3: some not great games against one of the best defenses
Speaker 3: to do it.
Speaker 2: And this is what happens when you have this level
Speaker 2: of might versus might.
Speaker 3: This is like evengel Civil Warship, Right, You've got like
Speaker 3: this team of people and this team with people. Not
Speaker 3: everyone's gonna win all the time. So I think that's
Speaker 3: what we're seeing a little bit is okay, see is
Speaker 3: that good? You sit here and you say they've got
Speaker 3: this defense like it's seven on five out there half
Speaker 3: the time.
Speaker 2: It's what it feels like.
Speaker 1: The one thing I would say, and obviously you're right,
Speaker 1: but still stars have to play better. The one thing
Speaker 1: I'll say about Anthon, I just don't like he hasn't
Speaker 1: taken enough shots for me. Five for thirteen again, and
Speaker 1: I think this is the second time he's taking thirteen shots.
Speaker 1: I'm from an era of gunners with Kobe, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So, but that's what at this point,
Speaker 1: I feel like, like, if we're going to go down,
Speaker 1: it's going to go down because he went three for twenty.
Speaker 2: But then are we all going to sit here and
Speaker 2: be like I.
Speaker 1: Would rather, but I would rather rather he's that good?
Speaker 1: Yeah right, I would rather have no question, but I
Speaker 1: would rather Aunt has to be in the eighteen to
Speaker 1: twenty three attempts a game for this team to have
Speaker 1: any and I don't think they have a chance. And
Speaker 1: I say that with all due respect. I think they've
Speaker 1: done very well. But I think, okay, see with the
Speaker 1: way their defensive playing and then the way Shay is
Speaker 1: still scoring, whether he's baiting fowls or not, he's getting
Speaker 1: those buckets. And then again Jalen Williams, for Shay to
Speaker 1: be able to go sit on the bench and him
Speaker 1: to carry the team offensively, that was that very impressive. Interest. Rachel, Well,
Speaker 1: you know what's weird to me is like they have
Speaker 1: two guys that can really go out and get it,
Speaker 1: but they also have a really good ball movement. It's nuts,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean there's times obviously where Shay will
Speaker 1: do with things and then last night when Jalen was
Speaker 1: doing this thing. But on top of the guys that
Speaker 1: are really two guys going to get it, the ball
Speaker 1: still moves around.
Speaker 2: They do need Jaalen Williams to play the way he played. Oh,
Speaker 2: he was incredible and that is not a gimme.
Speaker 3: And we will still see, by the way, and whether
Speaker 3: it's Western Conference finals, whether it's in the finals, if
Speaker 3: they make it, we will see a couple of bad
Speaker 3: games from him and people will be like, see that
Speaker 3: when I'm a second star, they can't do it. He's
Speaker 3: not there yet, but he's showing enough that he could
Speaker 3: be that.
Speaker 1: I'm interested absolutely, First time All Stars, second Team All Defense,
Speaker 1: and again for him to carry the offensive load. As
Speaker 1: you know, the way he did was was really impressive
Speaker 1: and only had four points going into the second quarter,
Speaker 1: only took two shots in the first half of the game,
Speaker 1: thirteen for the game, sixteen points, six rebounds, excuse me,
Speaker 1: six assists, four rebounds. What do you need to see this?
Speaker 1: Game for them, which is going to be tomorrow night
Speaker 1: for them to have a chance to try to get
Speaker 1: one more maybe.
Speaker 3: Look, I mean it'd be very hard, first of all,
Speaker 3: to walk into that environment in Oklahoma City.
Speaker 2: You know what it's like, nasty, crazy.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: If y'all out there have not seen the video of
Speaker 3: them coming back to the airport at three am, crazy,
Speaker 3: it was crazy, and this is something they do in
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City.
Speaker 2: But I love that, right.
Speaker 3: I mean, they sit and wait for those guys after
Speaker 3: road trips, especially during the playoffs. It was a madhouse
Speaker 3: at like three point thirty in the morning in Oklahoma,
Speaker 3: which was just so much fun.
Speaker 1: To see anything else to do.
Speaker 3: I love it, right, It's going to be a crazy environment.
Speaker 3: I think that's going to be hard for them. Look,
Speaker 3: Anthony Edwards is a couple of years behind Shay, right,
Speaker 3: both in terms of years in the league, age, all
Speaker 3: of that stuff.
Speaker 2: He will get there.
Speaker 3: Yes, we all know it, we all see it. Dylan
Speaker 3: and I had this conversation going into this series. Dylan,
Speaker 3: you were saying, I think Ant's ready, He's ready to
Speaker 3: be the face of the league.
Speaker 2: He's star, And that's true.
Speaker 3: He's ready to do a lot of the star things,
Speaker 3: but you still have to go on the basketball court
Speaker 3: first and foremost, but also learn right just we are
Speaker 3: so in a culture. The commercials are the best.
Speaker 2: In the in the NBA.
Speaker 3: Right, So I think he's got the best commercials in
Speaker 3: the NBA, and he's got the best star power. He
Speaker 3: gives it, the best press conference, he's he's great on
Speaker 3: the court, walks down the street in LA after fucking
Speaker 3: de throning, right, King Slayer, Right, He's he's sitting there
Speaker 3: calling the Gobert Dragon and calling himself the King Slayer
Speaker 3: and got the whole nine. But he's still twenty three
Speaker 3: years old, and he is going to get better enough
Speaker 3: in the next two years that he would walk into
Speaker 3: a situation like he is about to walk into an
Speaker 3: Okac and tear the house down. I just don't know
Speaker 3: if he's there yet.
Speaker 1: He's not. And I think it's it's just mentality too.
Speaker 1: I don't even think it's skill set. I think it's
Speaker 1: the mentality to say, fuck everything else, if we're going
Speaker 1: to sink, we're going to sink on my back. I
Speaker 1: think that's what kind of talent he has.
Speaker 3: That's what kind of talent he needs to learn how
Speaker 3: to do it, and by against again a historically good defense.
Speaker 1: But I mean, if we look at it, what has
Speaker 1: he done. He's got his team to the Western Finals
Speaker 1: the last two years, like no one thought he was
Speaker 1: going to make it this year.
Speaker 2: And by the way, yeah again.
Speaker 1: The King Slayer. He's he beat all the legends, all
Speaker 1: the legends of my time that are you know, on
Speaker 1: the back side of their career. So again, I think
Speaker 1: you made a great point. It's all or nothing with
Speaker 1: sports media now and fan bases that don't know shit.
Speaker 1: Our peanut gallery downstairs crazy as hell, Like it's just
Speaker 1: all or nothing. You cannot falter period, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. But again, if you're a real head of
Speaker 1: the game, you know his trajectory is where it needs
Speaker 1: to be. Perk said something about he needs to be
Speaker 1: a family man. I didn't read the whole thing, But Park,
Speaker 1: you're tripping. You just got a hoop and keep getting better.
Speaker 1: He will be the face of the game.
Speaker 3: But Dylan's right, He's going to be everything we think
Speaker 3: he's going to be.
Speaker 1: He is going to be more.
Speaker 3: You just gotta what he can't skip steps right.
Speaker 1: Well, we had conversation and I don't know if this
Speaker 1: is are the chat for this show that they were saying,
Speaker 1: if Tyres wins a chip, is he ahead of Reggie?
Speaker 1: If if Ant wins, if is he had a a KG,
Speaker 1: If Brunson win, is he the greatest? And and if
Speaker 1: Shaye wins the ahead a KD or Russ And it's
Speaker 1: just like it to me, it's not enough under the belt,
Speaker 1: like you gotta consistently do it. And granted, some of
Speaker 1: those guys that I mentioned, the O G guys that
Speaker 1: I played with didn't win rings in those particular spaces,
Speaker 1: or the legends didn't win rings. But it's consistency over
Speaker 1: a number of years of what makes you jump. I mean,
Speaker 1: Kg put what sixteen years or how many years in
Speaker 1: thirteen years in Minnesota and all the shit he did,
Speaker 1: and Reggie put a lifetime in there, and then you
Speaker 1: know you're looking at Patrick Ewan and some of the
Speaker 1: other guys. Although Brunston I think has a chance if
Speaker 1: he can win it to become the greatest Nick. And
Speaker 1: I say that with all the respect Brunton. Yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's a level of consistency through through a
Speaker 1: year in you're out that gets you to the top
Speaker 1: of these franchises in my opinion, I have.
Speaker 3: A question for you that goes across a bunch of
Speaker 3: NBA discussions I'm having right now.
Speaker 2: How much is winning?
Speaker 3: Because you know, there's winning and there's misery, right, that's
Speaker 3: pat Riley.
Speaker 2: Winning is the only thing blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 3: But we're talking about the y Honest conversation. Should they trade Giannis?
Speaker 3: What's the value of having Yannis on your court as
Speaker 3: a buck even if you can't win. I would argue
Speaker 3: for that franchise, you're not getting another Honest anytime soon,
Speaker 3: so they're you know, just being in a hurry to
Speaker 3: tear it down and rebuild.
Speaker 2: Doesn't make a ton of sense to me.
Speaker 3: Like when you talk about who's the greatest Timberwolf player
Speaker 3: to ever be there, or who's the greatest nick or
Speaker 3: who you know? When we talk about the Lakers, right,
Speaker 3: who is the greatest player to wear a Lakers uniform
Speaker 3: is a very different conversation than who is the greatest Laker?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 3: And like, how much is does a ring get you
Speaker 3: everywhere in that discussion? Or is it no?
Speaker 2: Everything else you do but the.
Speaker 1: Bar moves in every situation? Unfortunately, and Rachel, you came
Speaker 1: up in the air, and I grew up in an
Speaker 1: air watching and playing and where stars didn't move like
Speaker 1: they would go through spec what Kobe go through a
Speaker 1: five year drought where they were fucking dog shit, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? But he rode that ship, and
Speaker 1: you give that respect. KG rode the ship for thirteen
Speaker 1: years until he finally jumped off and went to Boston.
Speaker 1: So we live in an era where it's it's instant
Speaker 1: gratitude in it, and you see it in sports in general.
Speaker 1: You think about it, and I'll flip to football. Some
Speaker 1: of the great quarterbacks came in and Aaron Rodgers came in,
Speaker 1: and Soath what three years four years behind Brett Farb
Speaker 1: and was able to learn and develop. Now because everyone
Speaker 1: is making some much money in all sports, you get
Speaker 1: thrown in the firepan right off the rip, and if
Speaker 1: it doesn't pay in your dog shit, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, or whatever people want to call you, instead
Speaker 1: of allowing that time to develop to your point, you're
Speaker 1: definitely not getting another Giannis. You're not getting no big
Speaker 1: free agents. Dame was a huge move, but it wasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily free agency. It was coming to play with Giannis.
Speaker 1: But if you move him and try to rebuild, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know what you're getting rid of and you know
Speaker 1: you're not gonna get nothing back. But again, we live
Speaker 1: in a society now where you know you you do
Speaker 1: you credit or you get mad at Lebron where he
Speaker 1: was the first superstar to really kind of start moving
Speaker 1: and guys see that, and he moved with success. Ron
Speaker 1: moved and went and got three more championships. Now do
Speaker 1: you in the in the in the hierarchy of the game,
Speaker 1: do you look down on him when you're when you're
Speaker 1: when you're talking at the end, because he has a
Speaker 1: bunch of numbers, But if he would have stayed in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: how many chips would he have won? You know, Kobe
Speaker 1: stayed with the Lakers and rode those nasty seasons and
Speaker 1: in won five chips. So it's just I feel like
Speaker 1: the goalpost moves when it comes to player movement these days,
Speaker 1: and who is the best and what route they took.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's all.
Speaker 3: Subjective to me, and also a lot of its chance, yeah.
Speaker 1: Kind of luck, kind of luck, Like.
Speaker 3: It's who gets hurt win, right, it's Jayson Tatum gets
Speaker 3: injured or not. And by the way, I know the
Speaker 3: Knicks we're winning that game anyway. I know, I get it.
Speaker 3: But Jason Tatum being injured changes the trajectory of the
Speaker 3: Boston Celtics going forward. It's the bracket. Who do you
Speaker 3: get in the bracket? I think the La Clippers local
Speaker 3: here would have done better if they hadn't run into
Speaker 3: the Nuggets.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: So, there's just so much throughout any postseason that is
Speaker 3: just damn luck. And then we sit there twenty years
Speaker 3: later and say, well, he didn't win a title there, right,
Speaker 3: KG didn't win a title there, so blah blah, blah blah.
Speaker 2: It's just I don't know.
Speaker 3: I am reevaluating a little bit when I have all
Speaker 3: these conversations of I get I'm not saying championships aren't important.
Speaker 3: Winning isn't important, But if you get a little new,
Speaker 3: more nuanced under than that, like, is it such a
Speaker 3: big deal that it's the only deal? And I do
Speaker 3: not think it is. As someone who grew up in Washington,
Speaker 3: DC and whose team has not been to the third
Speaker 3: round of the playoffs in forty six years, I can
Speaker 3: tell you that it would have been nice when I
Speaker 3: was a kid to go see a Yanni Senta Takupo
Speaker 3: on my.
Speaker 2: Team wearing my jersey. Even if we're weren't in a
Speaker 2: fucking win a title, it would have been nice. Yeah,
Speaker 2: lovey muxy Boks, but not the same.
Speaker 1: It's interesting and obviously that's a hot topic because you
Speaker 1: think any team Yannis goes to, as long as I
Speaker 1: have to trade the whole team for him, is it
Speaker 1: going to be a contender. So we shall see a
Speaker 1: lot's been made of, you know, with Indiana and OKC
Speaker 1: or most likely don't want to jinx either of them
Speaker 1: going to end up in the finals. And how both
Speaker 1: these teams through Paul George trades have been built and
Speaker 1: crazy And here's a little bit of a little bit
Speaker 1: of how this is broken down. Actually, yo, I saw
Speaker 1: someone break this ship down. And it started with the
Speaker 1: Rashard Lewis trade.
Speaker 2: Yes, I did see.
Speaker 1: That. Wasn't that good? Yeah, that was really good. But
Speaker 1: Patiers trade Paul George for Victor Olidipo and Sabonis traded
Speaker 1: Sabonis for Halliburton, and we are where we are next page,
Speaker 1: Thunders trade Paul George and I remember this too. This
Speaker 1: was Doc Rivers almost didn't get Kawhi because Kawhi's demand
Speaker 1: was PG and Doc did not want to trade SGA.
Speaker 1: Doc did not go back. Doc did not want to
Speaker 1: trade SGA. He saw something in him. He t SGA
Speaker 1: and a ton of picks, and one of those picks
Speaker 1: is now Jalen Williams, first time All Star, second Team
Speaker 1: All Defense. Since we're talking about our guy, Paul and
Speaker 1: Paul you know, I love you, fuck with you, we
Speaker 1: need to get back on the golf course. His current team,
Speaker 1: Philly Rachel, I'm gonna give you the GM president role.
Speaker 1: Both you have both hats on. Do you build around
Speaker 1: MAXI and McCain or do we keep our fingers crossed
Speaker 1: that someday we might get a Joe LMB that's going
Speaker 1: to play a lot of games and lead his team,
Speaker 1: and a Paul George is gonna find the magic.
Speaker 2: He used to have a few things.
Speaker 1: You just said, third pick in the draft right this year,
Speaker 1: third picking the lottery.
Speaker 3: So we just have to remember the Paul George trade
Speaker 3: with the Clippers, and your DOCA is one hundred percent
Speaker 3: on the record, by the way, being like this is
Speaker 3: a mistake, yep, but it was for Paul George and Kawhi. Yes,
Speaker 3: and Sam Presty is a magician, and he was able
Speaker 3: to engineer and participate in and take advantage of a
Speaker 3: situation where the Clippers were over a barrel wanting Kawhi
Speaker 3: for reasons by the way, that had more to do
Speaker 3: than basketball and competing against the Lakers.
Speaker 2: That sort of large shadow.
Speaker 1: That he could have possibly went to the Lakers.
Speaker 3: He was going to go to the So you remember
Speaker 3: what was going on at the same time, right, because
Speaker 3: Lebron was clearly coming to La Magic supposedly had the
Speaker 3: supposedly Magic had the meeting with him, you know, midnight
Speaker 3: oh three. But where I put the supposedly in is
Speaker 3: its supposedly that was like some big sel job.
Speaker 1: That's the magic man, right.
Speaker 3: I love Magic. By the way, this is not a
Speaker 3: knock on Magic. But Lebron was coming to Lakers. I
Speaker 3: mean they could have sent me in a wheelbarrow like
Speaker 3: like Lebron was coming to the Lakers, that is who
Speaker 3: he wanted to come play for. He was going to
Speaker 3: come play for. And Lebron could have demanded they get someone.
Speaker 3: Lebron could have demanded they go out and get Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 3: Lebron could have played.
Speaker 2: With Kawhi on the Lakers.
Speaker 3: Lebron could have said, hey, go get this guy. He
Speaker 3: didn't do that, and there's pros and cons of him
Speaker 3: not doing that. Look what happened to the Clippers, But
Speaker 3: Kawai said it. He said I'm not coming, and he
Speaker 3: sort of played the Clippers and Lakers off each other.
Speaker 2: He said, well, you know.
Speaker 3: La, I could I could still come home to LA
Speaker 3: and just play for the Lakers instead and go play
Speaker 3: with Lebron and the Clippers.
Speaker 2: The idea for.
Speaker 3: Them of Kawhi and Lebron all across the hall in
Speaker 3: that Lakers locker.
Speaker 1: Room couldn't have It was.
Speaker 3: Just something that seems so deadly for the franchise that
Speaker 3: that's why they made that trade for Paul George, because
Speaker 3: I told, you know, asked them to and said that
Speaker 3: is how I am coming, and that's why they gave
Speaker 3: up so much. So I just when we sit back
Speaker 3: and tell the story of the Paul George trade, it
Speaker 3: was a Paul George for Kawhi swap in the Clippers minds,
Speaker 3: and San Presty only had to give up one of
Speaker 3: those guys.
Speaker 2: For only to give up Paul George to get to
Speaker 2: get all he got. I don't you know. Look, I
Speaker 2: think the sixers are deep in it enough.
Speaker 3: With Embiid, he's not in a kind of tradable position
Speaker 3: because when he's healthy, though he is scoring more than
Speaker 3: a point a minute at times.
Speaker 1: Credible, right, wasn't that when? But we keep saying if,
Speaker 1: though I know, what if everyone over there is drunk,
Speaker 1: if it was a fifth because he when he is
Speaker 1: healthy there there's absolutely no question. And I would even
Speaker 1: argue at times that people are gonna think I'm crazy,
Speaker 1: like I don't know if I'm taking joker Embiid. With
Speaker 1: Embiid is fully healthy because Embid moves around more on defense,
Speaker 1: he could switch out on the pick and roll like
Speaker 1: Embiid went healthy is a problem. We keep saying win
Speaker 1: or if, and it just hasn't. What are we your ten? Yeah?
Speaker 3: He had some freaky shit too though he broke his
Speaker 3: eye at one point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Bell's palsy at one point. That's not his fault.
Speaker 2: Like I mean, there's been some horrible love luck.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the dame, when we look
Speaker 1: at it, like I said, when we're looking twenty years,
Speaker 1: he just he wasn't out there is all and I'm
Speaker 1: a huge embiid as a monster. Then PG is making
Speaker 1: fifty to fifty five million until twenty twenty eight, so
Speaker 1: they're in deep with those two guys alone. Obviously. Maxie
Speaker 1: McCain third pick, I think.
Speaker 4: What do you do, Darrel?
Speaker 3: You think you're lucky stars the way the lottery worked out,
Speaker 3: because they could have lost that pick, by the way,
Speaker 3: if they were outside the top six.
Speaker 2: So it was just a huge win all the way around.
Speaker 3: And I think in the East that looks like it's
Speaker 3: about to maybe even get weaker. There's no Tatum next
Speaker 3: year if Jannis leaves the conference. And by the way,
Speaker 3: if I am the Bucks and I do trade you, honest,
Speaker 3: I'm sure as that the Drew Holiday.
Speaker 2: Lesson is real.
Speaker 1: People got to go to the West.
Speaker 2: Do not trade him within the conference.
Speaker 3: So if that happens the East is I mean again,
Speaker 3: you might be thinking about a comeback because.
Speaker 2: There are some Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 3: Right, I'm I'm one hundred percent if I'm Philly, there's
Speaker 3: no you're not getting the value you want from moving
Speaker 3: one of your big pieces right back.
Speaker 2: See if you.
Speaker 3: Can get if Joelle can now with all the rest,
Speaker 3: he's going to have had and the surgery he had
Speaker 3: and all the stuff. See if he can be more
Speaker 3: of the player you need him to be peek at
Speaker 3: the right time. Paul, George, you and I both think.
Speaker 1: He still got some in the tank. There's no absolutely
Speaker 1: does and he told me too, and I'm obviously not
Speaker 1: going to put his But he went through some real
Speaker 1: shit this season, like real because I would call and
Speaker 1: check on him every once in a while, and he
Speaker 1: went through some real shit this year. And people don't
Speaker 1: understand how heavy that stuff is. Trying to and again
Speaker 1: it's not an excuse, it's just that mental side of
Speaker 1: the athlete is ninety percent of the game, ninety percent
Speaker 1: of the game. So I expect Paul he still has
Speaker 1: something in his tank and something to prove. So would
Speaker 1: you possibly attached this third pick, which is a fairly
Speaker 1: deep draft with one of those stars I mentioned to
Speaker 1: move one of them.
Speaker 2: So again this I'm going to keep saying it.
Speaker 3: What kind of team do you want to see on
Speaker 3: the court? Am I tearing everything down all the time
Speaker 3: in the hope of maybe one day drafting someone as
Speaker 3: good as Joel Embiid. So we are just so quick
Speaker 3: right now to be like it's not working. Get rid
Speaker 3: of everyone, tear it down. Let's hope that we can
Speaker 3: get a bunch of picks. Picks don't play basketball. Picks
Speaker 3: do not put people in stands. They're just future things
Speaker 3: floating out.
Speaker 2: In the world.
Speaker 3: Like there is a point where you have to say,
Speaker 3: this is my team. These guys are good, my fans
Speaker 3: like them. Let's see if we can give it a go.
Speaker 3: I just think that people are so quick to tear
Speaker 3: down everything constantly.
Speaker 2: You're not getting.
Speaker 3: Value if you have to attach the number three overall
Speaker 3: pick to one of your biggest stars in the hope
Speaker 3: of what's a clearing salary to do what Presty.
Speaker 1: Makes it look so easy, though, Rachel, Well, they haven't,
Speaker 1: won't They haven't.
Speaker 2: And by the way, a lot of people haven't.
Speaker 3: If they do win, yeah, and they are the favorite.
Speaker 3: And I now the Boston's at Boston was my pick.
Speaker 2: I'm going freely. I'll say it over and over.
Speaker 3: But now that Boston's out, like I okay, see, he's
Speaker 3: the obvious pick right now. Like if they win, it
Speaker 3: will still be one title in a sea of how
Speaker 3: many years have we've been talking about this? It is
Speaker 3: hard to win everything has to go right. You have
Speaker 3: to have the team. You have to have the player.
Speaker 3: Your guy has to have a great series. The health
Speaker 3: has to break the right way. The bracket has to
Speaker 3: break the right way. To do all of this roster madness.
Speaker 3: If I am tearing everything up and throwing it out
Speaker 3: to start, hopefully five years from now we can be right.
Speaker 2: Back where we were.
Speaker 3: Right now is insane to be in this NBA. And
Speaker 3: I just I don't.
Speaker 1: Think it's just the era of sports in general. It's
Speaker 1: just what have you done for me lately? There's no hey,
Speaker 1: let's figure.
Speaker 3: It out or chantasy teams great the.
Speaker 1: Process and in Philly's words, like it just doesn't. People
Speaker 1: are too impatient, Teams are too impatient. Owners are wilder
Speaker 1: than ever, and money is crazier than ever. And the
Speaker 1: movement makes our game grow even more so. It's just
Speaker 1: it's it's not what we grew up on.
Speaker 3: I just I don't know. I think there's something too.
Speaker 3: I get it, we're in the era player movement.
Speaker 2: I get it.
Speaker 3: The kids now, I mean, your kids are fans of
Speaker 3: not even a team. I mean, do your kids even.
Speaker 2: Have a favorite team or just players? I know, but
Speaker 2: I know they watched it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they watched the team like the Warriors, Lakers,
Speaker 1: the teams I play for the teams. But those guys
Speaker 1: are on their way out because they.
Speaker 3: But do they still love watching Staff because the fact
Speaker 3: that the Warriors only only got to the second round
Speaker 3: this year, does that mean that they don't love watching Staff,
Speaker 3: that they don't love watching a war If the Warriors
Speaker 3: are on in November, November, you know whatever, November seventeenth,
Speaker 3: h they're going to still click that.
Speaker 2: Game on, right, yep?
Speaker 3: Like there has to be some value in that for
Speaker 3: fans and teams and teams to be like, we still
Speaker 3: have Jowel Embiid and Philly fans love to wearing that
Speaker 3: jersey with Embad's name on the back. And let's see
Speaker 3: what the big man can do when he's healthy. I
Speaker 3: just to tear it all down, tear it all down,
Speaker 3: tear it all down, give away your future to tear
Speaker 3: it down.
Speaker 1: I don't like man. Good luck to him be we're speaking.
Speaker 1: I would just love as a fan of him and
Speaker 1: how talented is I want him to be able to
Speaker 1: get some consistency out there. Rachel, thank you for stopping by.
Speaker 1: We will check back in before it's all said and done,
Speaker 1: have a good day. I've teamed up with DraftKings pick
Speaker 1: six for the Conference Finals Wednesday, Game five t Wolves
Speaker 1: first the Thunder. I think Sga will continue on his
Speaker 1: scoring hot streak and he'll have more points than the
Speaker 1: DraftKings pick six people have him marked four and for
Speaker 1: the t Wolves after a rough game, I think Julius
Speaker 1: Randall will rebound and have more points than the DraftKings
Speaker 1: picks pick have him slated at Thursday Game five Pacers
Speaker 1: versus the Knicks. I think Jalen Brunson, after a poor
Speaker 1: shooting performance, will have more points than the DraftKings pick
Speaker 1: six have him slated at. For the Pacers. After a
Speaker 1: big game, I think Pascal Siakam will have less points
Speaker 1: than the DraftKings pick six have him slated for Welcome
Speaker 1: back someone we haven't seen for a while because the
Speaker 1: Lakers have been in care and coon for what a
Speaker 1: month now? Gino Rose Sparks Davis, how are you bro?
Speaker 4: They calling me the Rock now?
Speaker 1: Baby? That's what someone said the chatter. Who the fuck
Speaker 1: is the Rock Rock without the row? Baby?
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Come on, that's what we have going on so Gino
Speaker 1: as a basketball fan, someone who's been spoiled with excellence,
Speaker 1: as a Laker fan, someone who is a gross exaggerator
Speaker 1: of life, would okay seeing the Pacers be a bad
Speaker 1: finals to watch.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's worse than the Cleveland OKAYC Finals that
Speaker 4: we were anticipating, right, Like, who thought the Pacers would
Speaker 4: be anywhere close to the finals this year? Come on?
Speaker 4: And to be honest with you, what do you mean, like,
Speaker 4: it's not haller Burton city if Indiana wins this.
Speaker 1: Year, I mean, it's going to be a city because
Speaker 1: he's a current player.
Speaker 4: They're not gonna remember Reggie Miller ever again. If haller
Speaker 4: Burton wins the fucking championship. Ye, that's the dumb ship.
Speaker 4: Is the reason why I brought you on. He say,
Speaker 4: so they can attack you and.
Speaker 1: Get them.
Speaker 4: Come on, no, but seriously, hold on, but seriously.
Speaker 1: Good basketball. We talked. I talked about it with Rachel.
Speaker 1: That's not the big names, it's not the big marks
Speaker 1: necessarily outside of New York. But I feel like, and
Speaker 1: I agree with you, I think it is going to
Speaker 1: be an OKAC Pacers final. And although it's not traditional,
Speaker 1: it's not I still Both those teams are playing really
Speaker 1: good basketball. Both those teams are deep. Both those teams
Speaker 1: coaches are out there doing their thing. One thing about Carlisle,
Speaker 1: He's been able to make adjustments on the fly and
Speaker 1: a lot has gone into the success of the Pacers
Speaker 1: and where they're at. But I still think, although it's
Speaker 1: not the box office we think of when we think
Speaker 1: of the NBA NBA Final, I think it's going to
Speaker 1: be a very competitive finals. I don't know what the
Speaker 1: numbers and the ratings will do, but it'll definitely be
Speaker 1: some good basketball.
Speaker 4: I mean for non casual fans, come on.
Speaker 1: You're right or OKAC as a whole, and the SGA
Speaker 1: is the m v P and then Halliburton's been Is
Speaker 1: that going to draw people? We shall see. We don't know.
Speaker 1: There's been a video going around of Luca, and Luca
Speaker 1: looks like he's in great shape. He heard you and
Speaker 1: the rest of the fans there he is. Look at him,
Speaker 1: slim thug. That's the one thing I said. And obviously
Speaker 1: he came in the midst of the season. LA is
Speaker 1: not a place that you're going to take so much
Speaker 1: heat and criticism about shit that you're going to work
Speaker 1: on whatever needs to be worked done. And obviously we're
Speaker 1: not even maybe a month away from when they last
Speaker 1: finished playing. And Luca looks in great shape. So when
Speaker 1: you see him in that type of shape after you
Speaker 1: said you should the team should trade him, what do
Speaker 1: you think?
Speaker 4: I mean, it's the first point of business for him. Yes,
Speaker 4: you know, because he's taking hell in the media for
Speaker 4: being chubby, you know what I mean, can't put down
Speaker 4: the plate drinking bud.
Speaker 1: He has a body frame like you. Yeah, Yeahhall, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 4: But I'm hot out here though, so but yes, it's
Speaker 4: a good start for the city to see him taking
Speaker 4: the shit serious. It's the first point of business and
Speaker 4: I'm looking forward to next season to see what he
Speaker 4: can really do. I think he saw the old video
Speaker 4: of himself at Dallas and really got inspired by that.
Speaker 1: When young Luca was looking and turn it out on people.
Speaker 1: Word is I saw something earlier today that Broun is
Speaker 1: most likely to opt out of his fifty two million
Speaker 1: dollar deal at this point in his career. Is this
Speaker 1: something where you see he'll opt out take less to
Speaker 1: hopefully bring other another talent in.
Speaker 4: I mean, I would speak volumes of his character. I
Speaker 4: mean he has enough money. Man Like, I don't think
Speaker 4: it's a financial thing for him, but you know who,
Speaker 4: I can't talk about a man's pockets.
Speaker 1: As a fan. Do you hope that actually absolutely? Could do?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, and plus it will save his career, So should
Speaker 4: he make an adjustment to safe some more years of
Speaker 4: his career.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, you know what I think. And it's because we
Speaker 1: always know that Braun is in peak shape. He does
Speaker 1: everything he can do. The fact is the fact, though
Speaker 1: he's getting older, and we saw he just ran out
Speaker 1: of gas came come late in the season. So it's
Speaker 1: just like, I think, to your point, if there's any
Speaker 1: way to be able to add more, and we saw
Speaker 1: right off the rip Roblink came out and said there's
Speaker 1: been some demands made and we're going to go out
Speaker 1: and do our best to meet though. So it'll be
Speaker 1: interesting to see the way that situation shakes out. And
Speaker 1: you know, the Lakers always somehow, some way make something happen,
Speaker 1: So I'm definitely interested to see what can work out
Speaker 1: as the team is currently constructed, and again with Bron
Speaker 1: going into your twenty two next year or twenty three three,
Speaker 1: holy shit, twenty three going into year twenty three next year.
Speaker 1: The players you bring in moving forward are those to
Speaker 1: work around Luca or to work around Bron's last couple
Speaker 1: of years in the league.
Speaker 4: I think both can be true. Lebron still the guy
Speaker 4: for our team no matter how you look at it.
Speaker 4: What can we bring in though?
Speaker 1: To thank you? Guys need some dogs, some wing defenders
Speaker 1: that really get out there, possibly three and D.
Speaker 4: So a Giannis tre wouldn't help us.
Speaker 1: Gianni is going to your team would help anything, but
Speaker 1: it would help anything. But it's just you know, how
Speaker 1: does that work? Numbers wise? Has Austin reeves he's someone
Speaker 1: wins he up next year or the year after. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's on one of the most favorable deals you'll ever get.
Speaker 1: He's going to demand and I'm something people think I might.
Speaker 1: He might fuck around and get north of one fifty
Speaker 1: maybe two hundred million from another team the way he
Speaker 1: US have played. So is that an asset that you
Speaker 1: possibly look to move? There? Adamant about not moving him.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of ifs and what ifs. They're
Speaker 1: going to happen this season or summer, this free agency.
Speaker 1: So I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what happens The
Speaker 1: Bucks hope that Doc rivers presence will convince Giannis to
Speaker 1: stay longer. Reported by Mike stein Onto the Coop and
Speaker 1: Rivers are believed to have a strong working relationship. Is
Speaker 1: Doc Rivers the reason Jannis won't force a trade?
Speaker 4: I don't know if that's the case. I think that
Speaker 4: city is just in a bad situation. You know how
Speaker 4: it goes when you win a championship and then your
Speaker 4: expectations are so high afterwards, What could they do over there?
Speaker 4: Like Giannis is the only hope for that city for
Speaker 4: the next decade, Like, why would you want to move
Speaker 4: your star? Like, let's be honest, I wouldn't want to
Speaker 4: move our star.
Speaker 1: You got to be interesting to see if he and
Speaker 1: he's never been a guy that he's very been very
Speaker 1: loyal and hasn't even allowed conversation to really be brought up.
Speaker 1: He's always dead it, but he's not dead in it anymore.
Speaker 1: So it'll be really crazy to see him move to
Speaker 1: your point small market like Milwaukee. He's done everything he's
Speaker 1: done there and accomplished there. You know you're not going
Speaker 1: to get anything near the return of what he's been
Speaker 1: able to give you. But we live in a society
Speaker 1: of what have you done for me lately? And we
Speaker 1: live in a society of player moving and in particular
Speaker 1: superstar movement. So will he join the you know, the
Speaker 1: train to get to a bigger market and a situation
Speaker 1: to win? We will see uh Man. Moving ahead to
Speaker 1: the women's game. I got a chance to take Ava
Speaker 1: and one of her friends for eighth grade graduation to
Speaker 1: a sparse game the other day, bro and I was
Speaker 1: so impressed with kel Plumb. So obviously she ended up
Speaker 1: with what did she score that game? Third? Or twenty
Speaker 1: eight and eight and three? But it was a slow
Speaker 1: start for her. But it wasn't only how hot she got,
Speaker 1: but it's the way she moves and orchestrates the offense
Speaker 1: and it's always encouraging on. I hadn't seen her playing
Speaker 1: a while, and obviously I got a chance to see her
Speaker 1: playing person in Vegas, and obviously her role on that
Speaker 1: team was different with Asia and all the talent they
Speaker 1: had over Chelsea Gray and those ladies over there. But
Speaker 1: with this team that's kind of obviously Cameron brings coming
Speaker 1: back and what's her name's coming back to? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: not fully healthy. The way she's playing thinks she's averaging
Speaker 1: twenty five a game, but I was just really impressed
Speaker 1: with just the way she ran that team bro and
Speaker 1: and the big after big shot after big shots she hit.
Speaker 1: I'll also say that was the first time I got
Speaker 1: to see Angel Rees playing person. And no matter how
Speaker 1: much shit people talk about her, she has a huge
Speaker 1: fa Like in LA, there were people screaming her name
Speaker 1: and cheering for when she did good shit. She's got
Speaker 1: a lot of criticism lately with Caitlyn clarkshit. I'm not
Speaker 1: even going to get into that, but what I'll say
Speaker 1: is like she works her fucking ass off on the boards,
Speaker 1: whether she's rebounding her shot or not. She's rebounding and
Speaker 1: she plays with the motor, and I think there's a
Speaker 1: big debate about her and her she's leading league and
Speaker 1: rebounding I think it nearly fourteen points a game, and
Speaker 1: some people's offensive repertoire come in the league ready for
Speaker 1: that league. Whatever NBA or not or WNBA, she'll get
Speaker 1: her offensive. You know, it's situation down. But she's nearly
Speaker 1: at a double double consistently, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So I think the hate and criticism she takes is
Speaker 1: more from people that just just want to talk shit
Speaker 1: and don't necessarily watch the game and see that there
Speaker 1: is definitely potential there. But yeah, man, I had a
Speaker 1: good time. Ava had a good time. It was good
Speaker 1: to get to a Sparks game. I hadn't been one
Speaker 1: in such a long time. I was there with KD.
Speaker 4: I saw Katie.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was chilling. We had a good time, caught
Speaker 1: up a little bit, talked a lot of shit. Be
Speaker 1: interesting to see where he goes this off season. I
Speaker 1: heard the Spurs are ready to make a move for him.
Speaker 1: Where would you see who is more likely to move
Speaker 1: in your Opinionani, KD?
Speaker 4: KD for sure, he's up out of there.
Speaker 1: And three spots you wouldn't mind seeing KD.
Speaker 4: I mean, first spot for him would be going to
Speaker 4: Houston and get on with that team. Another spot would
Speaker 4: be OKAYC again, you know, depending on especially if they
Speaker 4: lose in the finals this year, if they even make
Speaker 4: it to the final, but if they lose in the finals,
Speaker 4: they'll be looking to change that team, maybe just a
Speaker 4: little bit, so you don't think so. And then my
Speaker 4: third team is Golden State, obviously interesting, but you don't
Speaker 4: think they'll be reade.
Speaker 1: The movie anybody too young, too young, and who you
Speaker 1: would have to give up to get a kd is
Speaker 1: Or would you give up Jayden, a young Jalen Williams.
Speaker 1: Would you give up a chet someone who's been huge
Speaker 1: for them offensively and defensively, Dort Island. Dort has shown
Speaker 1: in Knee he's a motherfucker. He's already shown, but in
Speaker 1: these he's with help. He's given at Edwards hell. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, they have a lot of pieces, but I
Speaker 1: just don't think this team is too young to do
Speaker 1: any kind of adjustments. I think Hardenstein needs to look
Speaker 1: to be a little bit more aggressive offensively. I think
Speaker 1: that would help their team. But outside of that, I
Speaker 1: think this team is a set for the next handful
Speaker 1: of years. But Gino, it's good to see you back.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. Rock is what they're calling you in
Speaker 1: the streets these days. Brick oh brick. Now all right, bro,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys. Absolutely. It's a wrap. You can
Speaker 1: catch us on all the Smokes productions, YouTube and the
Speaker 1: DraftKings Network. We'll see y'all next week.