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Speaker 1: Hey, what up. Welcome in. I'm Doug gottlie Ben. You

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Speaker 1: are listening to all Ball, all Basketball all the time.

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Speaker 1: With this pod, it's kind of like, do you talk

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Speaker 1: about whatever you want as long as it's basketball or

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Speaker 1: life revolving around basketball. And because we do it once

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Speaker 1: a week, sometimes it is in generality. Sometimes we get

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Speaker 1: to react to one game or one big moment. Right

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Speaker 1: by the way, just kind of side note. You can

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Speaker 1: listen to the Doug Otlip Show three to six Eastern

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Speaker 1: Total three Pacific every day, or download that podcast wherever

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Speaker 1: you download podcasts on the or listen on the I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio app series x M two seventeen or two

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Speaker 1: oh three. We talk all sports and of course, um

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Speaker 1: some basketball, a lot of football this time of year.

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Speaker 1: But um we get to react on a daily basis

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Speaker 1: to the big stories. This pod it's just about basketball,

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Speaker 1: but oftentimes we don't get to react to one game.

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Speaker 1: I want to talk with the Lakers and Clippers and

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Speaker 1: the interesting things I saw from the first game of

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Speaker 1: the NBA season, and I want to talk about the Pelicans,

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Speaker 1: et cetera, and to the Zion Williamson thing. So let's

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Speaker 1: let's not bury the lead Lebron James has a new teammate.

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Speaker 1: His name is Anthony Davis, and Anthony Davis was terrific,

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Speaker 1: with the exception the fourth quarter where he only got

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Speaker 1: two shots, didn't score a point. And some of it

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Speaker 1: is on Anthony Davis. He settled for a pull up

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Speaker 1: jump shot he wasn't able to get open. Some of

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Speaker 1: it's on his teammates. Lebron James turned it over two

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Speaker 1: or three times trying to throw it into him late

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Speaker 1: in the game, and some of it is based upon

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Speaker 1: how they are playing right now. Essentially without a point guard.

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Speaker 1: Lebron James started at the point and the numbers were

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Speaker 1: I think he got credit for five turnovers, but by

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Speaker 1: my account there was nine. So friendly l a Lebron

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Speaker 1: scorekeeper happens. Happens. You'll be on the road sometimes and

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Speaker 1: you'll get, you know, couple of extra generally works out

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Speaker 1: over the season. But Lebron was not great. Let me

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Speaker 1: let me start with Lebron James. He's one of the

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Speaker 1: greatest players to ever play basketball. We can do the

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Speaker 1: debate on a podcast if he's the greatest ever or whatever,

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Speaker 1: but that's not what this is about. And this is

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Speaker 1: a really hard thing for some people to conceptualize. I

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Speaker 1: want to talk about Lebron today, right I don't. I

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Speaker 1: don't want to. I don't care right now about Lebron

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Speaker 1: Cleveland first time when we scored twenty five in a row,

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Speaker 1: you know, for against the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about Lebron in Miami and

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Speaker 1: the failures are really in success late and I don'tanna

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Speaker 1: talk about Lebron. I wanna talk to Lebron two late

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Speaker 1: in the in you know, middle of November, after his

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Speaker 1: first game. It is not blasphemy to say Lebron James

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Speaker 1: is not a top five player in the NBA anymore,

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Speaker 1: just not now. Does he have a top five mind?

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Speaker 1: Of course? Is he one of the greatest players of

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Speaker 1: all time? Yes? No, one's arguing other eyes like he's

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Speaker 1: a great player, and he may go down as the

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Speaker 1: all time leading scorer, Like there's there's records still for

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Speaker 1: him to be set which are remarkable, and he could

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Speaker 1: when another title with the Lakers. They're not that far

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Speaker 1: off from being a championship team. If we would all

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Speaker 1: agree that the Clippers are right there in the discussion, right,

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Speaker 1: like that's a lot closer game, then the final score

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Speaker 1: may lead you lead you to believe. And I know

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Speaker 1: that the Clippers didn't have Paul George, but the Lakers

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Speaker 1: didn't have Kyle Kuzma, and the disparity between bench and

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Speaker 1: starters was so great, so massive that when you consider

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Speaker 1: the Kuzma likely to play with the second unit, a

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Speaker 1: guy who averaged nineteen a game and has gotten better,

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Speaker 1: not worse, should shoot the three better not worse. KU's

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Speaker 1: you're plugging in twenty points a game. Um, I don't

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Speaker 1: know if you're plugging in twenty points a game for

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Speaker 1: the Clippers, And you're like, wait a second, you just

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Speaker 1: said the same thing about Kuzma. The difference is that

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Speaker 1: Paul George is still going to average over twenty. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: you're that's going to be to the detriment of some others,

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Speaker 1: right to the detriment in terms of the shots of

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Speaker 1: Mo heartless and to the you know, I kind of

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Speaker 1: go through the different guys, and he's going to get

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Speaker 1: his and it's going to cut some of the minutes

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Speaker 1: of some of the other guys depending on where he plays,

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Speaker 1: how he plays. The same will be said for Coup's

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Speaker 1: only like, look Jared Dudley is not going to be

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Speaker 1: in the rotation. UM, I don't know what they're gonna

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Speaker 1: do with the backup point guard situation. I have a suggestion,

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Speaker 1: which is pretty obvious one, but I think it's it's

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Speaker 1: a much bigger addition offensively for the Lakers than Paul

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Speaker 1: George's And that may be hard to conceptualize, but I

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Speaker 1: think if you kind of go through it and go

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Speaker 1: through the lineups, you'll understand Lebron James in two thousand

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Speaker 1: nineteen does look leaner, is moving well and and this

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Speaker 1: is weird, like what happens when you say this is

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Speaker 1: people who don't really understand the sport kind of lose

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Speaker 1: their mind. But Lebron James head has never been really

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Speaker 1: a guy who's a great perimeter defender. There was this

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Speaker 1: series against the Bulls where he shut down Derek Rose,

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Speaker 1: but some of that was a lot of that was

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Speaker 1: the way in which Rose played right at the time.

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Speaker 1: Rose was mid range and driver and get to the

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Speaker 1: bucket guy, and it allowed Lebron to give him space

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Speaker 1: and recover and challenge every shot you fast forwards. Now

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Speaker 1: and Lebron is not only not really a perimeter defender,

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Speaker 1: if you look when Anthony Davis was playing the five,

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Speaker 1: the guy that Kawhi Letter would prefer to go at.

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Speaker 1: If he had Anthony Davis, he had Lebron James, and

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Speaker 1: he had Danny Green, he wanted to go at Lebron.

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Speaker 1: Lebron is the weakest of those three defenders. It doesn't

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Speaker 1: mean that he doesn't and people are all, yeah, that

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Speaker 1: Chase down block. It doesn't mean that he doesn't play

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Speaker 1: any defense. But his attention to details not great. He's

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Speaker 1: never really been a box out guy. There's a really

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Speaker 1: really big turn late in the fourth quarter where they

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Speaker 1: found Montres Harold. He makes the first, misses the second,

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Speaker 1: and Lebron doesn't doesn't even offer to try and box

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Speaker 1: out Patrick Beverley. Beverly gets the offensive rebound, passes it

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Speaker 1: to Harold, who gets an A and one makes a

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Speaker 1: free throw. So it's a four point because of four

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Speaker 1: point trip, and the Lakers should have been a one

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Speaker 1: point trip, and the Lakers would have had the basketball

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Speaker 1: and I think they'd be down five. Instead they were

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Speaker 1: down eight, and that was essentially the game. So when

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Speaker 1: you say these things, you become a Lebron hater to

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Speaker 1: fandom and TV guy who doesn't really really no ball.

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Speaker 1: But all of you are downloaded this podcast because you

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Speaker 1: really no ball. I would hope or wanted to learn

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Speaker 1: about ball. And Lebron just has things that he's never done.

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Speaker 1: He's never played without the basketball, so he doesn't move

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Speaker 1: without the ball well, he doesn't defend off the ball

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Speaker 1: well in terms of guarding a shooter, it's never been

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Speaker 1: who he's been, right, um, and he doesn't really box out.

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Speaker 1: He did take a couple of charges last night, which

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Speaker 1: is great, which I mean, I can't remember the last

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Speaker 1: great player to to step in and take two charge.

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Speaker 1: So I'm not saying he's a bad teammate or a

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Speaker 1: bad guy. I'm saying there are things that he's never

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Speaker 1: had to do because you've been able to get away

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Speaker 1: on pure athletic ability for so long, and now as

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Speaker 1: you get a little less athletic and guys are playing

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Speaker 1: harder than you. Pat Beverley steels that ball. That's a

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Speaker 1: big one. But if you watch Kawhi Leonard, who had

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Speaker 1: thirty in when we're recording this last night's game, the

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Speaker 1: guy who he most wanted to go at, who struggled

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Speaker 1: to contain him latterly, and challenge shot was Lebron James.

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Speaker 1: So it's not crazy to say Lebron was the third

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Speaker 1: best player on the floor last night. Right. If he's

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Speaker 1: the third best player on the floor and those aren't

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Speaker 1: all the top five guys, here we go. I don't

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Speaker 1: think he's a point guard. Actually I know he's not

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Speaker 1: a point guard. And what happens is we start to

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Speaker 1: get into this, Well, gotlib, you're non shooting Rondo before Rondo,

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Speaker 1: true point guard? What do you know about this? This

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Speaker 1: point guard as opposed to scoring port card. That's not

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Speaker 1: what I mean. There are little things that point guards

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Speaker 1: do in the NBA that he has never been asked

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Speaker 1: to nor will he ever do. Like when you're thirty

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Speaker 1: five years old, there just things you're not gonna do.

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Speaker 1: He plays too slow. The first thing that happens when

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Speaker 1: you go from college to the pros is you realize

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Speaker 1: the second shot clock changes everything. Now, keep in mind,

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Speaker 1: when I was playing professional basketball, we did play a

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Speaker 1: lot like Lebron likes to play, which is, get the

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Speaker 1: ball in the front court, get to one action, maybe

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Speaker 1: a second action or a ball screener, ice O, and play.

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Speaker 1: But that's not how the NBA. The NBA is more

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Speaker 1: like Europe. Now, where you advanced the ball or advance

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Speaker 1: pass the ball, you get into multiple actions and then

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Speaker 1: maybe at shot clock after moving the ball side to side,

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Speaker 1: now we have the set what we want the third

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Speaker 1: or fourth action, ball screen lift on and everything's kind

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Speaker 1: of moving, and you'll have an open shooter, and it's

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Speaker 1: kind of it's like poetry. It's very much more like soccer.

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Speaker 1: Like the NBA is become much more like soccer. And

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Speaker 1: when you don't get the ball, watch Lebron on a

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Speaker 1: maid shot or a miss shot. He doesn't get a

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Speaker 1: deep outlet pass, he doesn't play the great pace. A

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Speaker 1: lot of times he crosses the mid court line with

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Speaker 1: eighteen seconds left in the shot clock. By the time

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Speaker 1: he gets in the scoring zone, it's like sixteen seconds. Okay,

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Speaker 1: Now you set everything up fourteen seconds and you come

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Speaker 1: off and now you're into end of shock clock time.

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Speaker 1: It may not seem like a lot to you, but

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Speaker 1: that ball needs to be in the front court, in

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Speaker 1: the scoring zone with twenty on the clock, in the

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Speaker 1: scoring zone at latest nineteen on the clock. The his

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Speaker 1: seconds are incredibly valuable. It makes the defense sprint back.

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Speaker 1: It gets everybody in position. It allows multiple actions to occur,

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Speaker 1: and multiple actions mean multiple closeouts. Multiple closeouts give you

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Speaker 1: openings within the defense, and so the way the pace

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Speaker 1: by which he's playing makes it harder or not easier

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Speaker 1: to play offense. Secondly, because he always when he's playing

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Speaker 1: the point, initiates the offense, it's not really where you

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Speaker 1: want Lebron with the ball, Like the Lakers only really

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Speaker 1: have two players who play going downhill. You want Lebron

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Speaker 1: after the ball is reversed, get it to him. Now

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Speaker 1: he's attacking, going towards the basket like he's a freight train.

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Speaker 1: He may not move crazy well laterally, but for one

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Speaker 1: step the Euros using his shoulders like he's ridiculous. But

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Speaker 1: because he's coming down and either initiating the offense or

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Speaker 1: starting with the sideball screen or starting with the high

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Speaker 1: ball screen, it doesn't have the same one. Attacking without

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Speaker 1: a pass doesn't do this, doesn't have You don't have

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Speaker 1: the defense moving and having multiple closeouts, and then two

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Speaker 1: you're you're not tired. But it's just a lot of

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Speaker 1: Lebron and that's not really how basketball has played anymore.

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Speaker 1: Now it's get it up, attack, get it to the

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Speaker 1: other side attack. You know, uh, you know, get it

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Speaker 1: to it, get it to a ball handler, played downhill attack,

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Speaker 1: and that's not how the Lakers were able to play

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Speaker 1: with him at the point. So that leads us to

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Speaker 1: how I think they need to fix it. I could

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Speaker 1: not believe that Alex Caruso didn't take off his sweats.

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Speaker 1: Alex Caruso to to those of you who have been

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Speaker 1: paying attention to Lakers undrafted out of Texas A and M,

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Speaker 1: his dad actually is the color voice of Texas and M.

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Speaker 1: And full disclosure, my dad coached his dad at Craig

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Speaker 1: Crazy Right up. Cruso is a very good athlete. He's big,

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Speaker 1: he's six four, so he and switch on Kauai for example. Um,

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Speaker 1: he's an improved he was not a good shooter early

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Speaker 1: on his professional career, and that's what kept him in

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Speaker 1: the G League. He's become a guy that can make shots.

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Speaker 1: He's a very very good athlete. He's a very good defender,

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Speaker 1: and he's a true point guard, and so all of

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Speaker 1: these things are made easier. But instead you you have

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Speaker 1: Vogel playing. I mean, I don't know his I don't

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Speaker 1: understand that. I'll get to the contagious co pop. But

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Speaker 1: you're playing Quinn Cook. Who Quinn Cook's a two guard.

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Speaker 1: He's not a point guard. And I pointed this out

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Speaker 1: last year on this and on my radio show that

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Speaker 1: one of the things least discussed with the Warriors. They

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Speaker 1: were like, well, look at the disparity of Warriors when

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant sits out or when Steph Curry sits out.

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Speaker 1: Well that that was only pointing out how Quinn Cook

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Speaker 1: is kind of a borderline G League player, Like he's

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Speaker 1: so little, he can't really switch defensively. He's only a shooter.

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Speaker 1: He doesn't create for others. And it's hard to be

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Speaker 1: five eleven and play in the NBA. It's even harder

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Speaker 1: when you're not really a point guard and you're not

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Speaker 1: a dynamic pick up full court defender. Right, So he

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Speaker 1: just out there trying to get buckets. And that's a

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Speaker 1: hard role that you gotta be. You don't want to

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Speaker 1: be good, you have to be, but you have to

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Speaker 1: be Isaiah Thomas, you know when he was with the Celtics,

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Speaker 1: in order to be super effective that way, because you're

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Speaker 1: so ineffective at the defensive end. So the first thing

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Speaker 1: is that Lebron James. He doesn't defend like a point

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Speaker 1: guard picking up full court. He doesn't get back defensively

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Speaker 1: like a point guard. He doesn't push the ball like

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Speaker 1: a point guard. And I think it takes away from

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Speaker 1: many of the things he does like to do offensively.

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Speaker 1: And it's the common misconception that coaches have a lot

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Speaker 1: of coaches that didn't play have is they're like, well,

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Speaker 1: we have Lebron James in a high pick and roll.

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Speaker 1: What's the difference that he brings it up or doesn't

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Speaker 1: bring it up? Completely different way of attacking a defense,

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Speaker 1: and the challenges for him without the basketball are completely different.

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Speaker 1: And it's it's things that Crusoe can do, and I

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Speaker 1: don't think the team will get will live up to

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Speaker 1: their potential if they play is currently designed. And here's

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Speaker 1: the last thing I know. There are people saying, well,

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Speaker 1: what about Rondo. I look look at advanced stats, look

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Speaker 1: at traditional stats. Gen Rondo has been washed up for

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Speaker 1: five years. Two thousand nine was a decade ago. It

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean he wasn't a fantastic player in two thousand nine,

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Speaker 1: but he's had uh an a c L injury, he's

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Speaker 1: had normal wear and tear. He's never been a good shooter.

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Speaker 1: He hasn't been a good defender, hasn't been a good defender,

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Speaker 1: let alone a great defender in years in five years,

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Speaker 1: and I think the Lakers are living on the reputation

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Speaker 1: of Rondo, which which which will only which will only

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Speaker 1: cut undercut the likelihood they they're successful, Like it's they're

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Speaker 1: not gonna win that way. Um. And then the Contavious

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Speaker 1: call Well Pope thing is, Look, I don't know why

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Speaker 1: they resigned him, but I do think he has some

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Speaker 1: value if he's at the very end or slightly out

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Speaker 1: of your rotation. Right, But here's a great way to

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Speaker 1: look at Contavious Coalpope. This, this is really important. It's

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Speaker 1: been in the league, I think seven years, and all

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Speaker 1: of the teams he's played on haven't one. Now it's

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Speaker 1: fair to go like, hey, dude, Anthony Davis was on

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Speaker 1: teams that didn't win. Okay, he was the best player

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Speaker 1: on teams that didn't win. That that's fair. They did

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Speaker 1: get to the playoffs a couple of times. He did

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Speaker 1: have some injuries. Cantavious Coal Pope plays like seventy some

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Speaker 1: odd games a year. He doesn't get hurt Okay, So

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Speaker 1: he's been a starter on different teams for like seven

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Speaker 1: years and none of them have won. What does that

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Speaker 1: tell you. It doesn't mean he's sting. It just means

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Speaker 1: he's not really a starter. If you want to win

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Speaker 1: in the NBA, he'll they place Charlotte on Sunday. I'm

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Speaker 1: sure he had four threes. But when they play real teams,

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Speaker 1: he gets exposed. He makes bone headed plays on in

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Speaker 1: bounced classes like last year against the Bucks for last night,

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Speaker 1: he gets lost offensively, and he doesn't make shots that

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Speaker 1: he's just Look, there's four fifty NBA players. He's absolutely

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Speaker 1: one of them. You know, he's one of the top

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Speaker 1: three guys. But the idea that he's a top fifty

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Speaker 1: or hundred guy, I mean, the the the data doesn't lie.

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Speaker 1: How many years does he have to play a major

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Speaker 1: role on bad teams before you go like, hey, he's

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Speaker 1: part of the problem, not part of the solution. So

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Speaker 1: I think the Lakers, I think Anthony Davis is terrific.

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Speaker 1: They guy to find a way to get him the ball.

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Speaker 1: I think that um Frank Vogel was a little rusty

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Speaker 1: as a head coach. I think they're infatuation with Rondo

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Speaker 1: is going to come back to bite them if they

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Speaker 1: don't go to Caruso, who's younger and can get after defensively. Um,

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Speaker 1: and look, I think they're a good team. Danny Green

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Speaker 1: played out of his mind last night. They need to

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Speaker 1: play every Bradley Moore, Cal Kuzma will solidify their bench.

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Speaker 1: They're going to be a really good team. To be

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Speaker 1: a great team, Lebron can't be the full time point.

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Speaker 1: They gotta go with Crusoe or go trade for one

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Speaker 1: because Rondo is not the answer. Quinn Cook is not

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Speaker 1: the answer. Contavius called well, Pope is not the answer.

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Speaker 1: And all of those were exposed last night. And Lebron

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Speaker 1: at thirty five years old, doesn't defend the way he

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Speaker 1: used to. Um, I think he's better off the basketball

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Speaker 1: for the most part, in possessions that on the basketball

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Speaker 1: into shock clock. He's got some bad habits that he's

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Speaker 1: a clean up. He jumped up in the air with

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Speaker 1: nowhere to go and had some turnovers and deflected passes,

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Speaker 1: and they gotta figure out a way to get Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis the ball in important times. Let's welcome in to

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Speaker 1: Rick Buker from Bleacher Report. Um, you also of course

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Speaker 1: see him on Fox Sports One. You can hear his

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Speaker 1: work at radio dot com. He was at Staples Center

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Speaker 1: last night, Buke. I that felt like a playoff game,

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Speaker 1: did it not? It was? Yes, it was the the

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Speaker 1: energy and the effort. I mean, I got I got

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Speaker 1: tired watching. I was like, these guys are playing so

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Speaker 1: hard and so fast. This is how hard and fast

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Speaker 1: they were playing. Pat Beverley always looks out of place

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Speaker 1: he and he did at times, but everybody else kind

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Speaker 1: of played was playing with that same kind of frantic

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Speaker 1: energy that he always plays with. And yeah, for you know,

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Speaker 1: the whole one in you know, it's one out of

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Speaker 1: eighty two. That's not the way these guys approached this,

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Speaker 1: and it's it's gonna be a lot of fun watching

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Speaker 1: this back and forth, even being there in the building

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Speaker 1: and people talking about whether it's you know, there'll ever

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Speaker 1: be a Clippers town or whatever. The a a Lakers

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Speaker 1: chant went up and the Clippers crowd was able to

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Speaker 1: drown them out at one point. I don't know that

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Speaker 1: I've ever heard that before. I don't. I'm not saying

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Speaker 1: that it's going to become a Clippers town, but there

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Speaker 1: were some gains made by the Clippers in general. Uh

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Speaker 1: in in Staples Center last night. Alright, so far I've

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Speaker 1: gone through the Lakers and my take on Lebron and

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Speaker 1: the team. Give me kind of your your your overview

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Speaker 1: of what you saw from the Purple and Gold. I well,

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Speaker 1: Number one, it got me thinking, when was the last

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Speaker 1: time that we saw a Lebron statement game? And I

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Speaker 1: dare say it was Christmas Day last year and he

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Speaker 1: got hurt, and this was the opportunity to make a

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Speaker 1: statement game. And I've heard all about the rest and

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Speaker 1: a number of days that he's had off. And what

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Speaker 1: I found interesting was he was he was dominant early on,

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Speaker 1: he was taking it to the Clippers and successfully, and

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Speaker 1: he couldn't sustain it. He couldn't sustain it at other

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Speaker 1: at either end of the floor. Now, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: You know, there's times where Lebron will make a business

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Speaker 1: decision and say this game is not worth my all

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Speaker 1: out effort. I feel the way this game was in

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Speaker 1: the balance, this wasn't one of those games where he

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Speaker 1: would make that decision. I'm just not sure he's capable

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Speaker 1: in in big spots of sustaining it. Now to your

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Speaker 1: point about you know, utilizing all the other pieces. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think there's I think one, you're you can't anticipate

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Speaker 1: that you're going to get a performance like that Danny

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Speaker 1: Green every night or on a consistent basis. I think

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Speaker 1: we've seen that you're you're going to need to get

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Speaker 1: it from other places. But the other part was that

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Speaker 1: playing through Anthony Davis uh and and certainly they tried

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Speaker 1: to post him up a lot. He's not. He's not

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Speaker 1: a playmaker. He's not. I don't know that he gets

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Speaker 1: you great open shots for for other guys. And so

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Speaker 1: then it becomes a matter of, you know, this whole

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Speaker 1: idea of Lebron saying we're gonna play through him, I

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Speaker 1: don't know. He doesn't do He's not. Yeah, he doesn't.

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Speaker 1: And first of all, it's not the old days of

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Speaker 1: throwing the Patrick Ewing double team comes right, Nobody double

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Speaker 1: chames now because you want those as dominant as he

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Speaker 1: was in the post analytics tell you go ahead, take

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Speaker 1: it and we'll stay home. But that that was one

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Speaker 1: of my big things with this team, which is they

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Speaker 1: don't have shot creators like those aren't go through the list,

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Speaker 1: and that's why I cannot believe they didn't give Alex Caruso.

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Speaker 1: A look like that's a guy that can play downhill,

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Speaker 1: that can create shots for some people, that can take

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Speaker 1: Lebron off the ball. He's a very good defensive player.

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Speaker 1: Like I don't I don't understand. I don't understand what

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Speaker 1: Vogel was looking at um. I think he got caught

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Speaker 1: up in the Anthony Davis's dominating lopos. And by the way,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis only two shots in the fourth quarter because

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Speaker 1: that gets harder and harder to even get the ball

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Speaker 1: into him. Well, and this is the beauty of the Clippers,

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Speaker 1: and and they in a way they've taken a page

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Speaker 1: from from the Warriors. They got multiple bodies that they

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Speaker 1: can throw at you. And that's what they did with

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Speaker 1: with a d and he had, you know, he had

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Speaker 1: fresh body, Patrick Patterson, Montrez, Harold uh. They would switch

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Speaker 1: and there was times where Kauai was comfortable being on him.

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Speaker 1: To Michael Michael Green, I think wound up on him

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Speaker 1: a couple of times. I mean, they had three or

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Speaker 1: four fresh bodies they could put on him, and I

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Speaker 1: think that that's why by the time he got to

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Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, you know, he he would back down

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Speaker 1: to a certain point, and he was either taking a

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Speaker 1: fade or he was looking to please double team, come,

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Speaker 1: please double team come, because I don't have the energy

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Speaker 1: to beat this guy. Want on one to get to

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Speaker 1: a spot in the paint. And uh. And so there's that.

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Speaker 1: And that's that, to me, is the great distinction between

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Speaker 1: these two teams. The Clippers played good defense last night

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Speaker 1: and at times and and and I think they can

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Speaker 1: be much better. And that's without Paul George. I think

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Speaker 1: they can be much much better. And the Lakers, I

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Speaker 1: don't know. They didn't play good defense, and I don't

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Speaker 1: know is that group how they get better. I look

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Speaker 1: at the Clippers and I think they're gonna beat up

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Speaker 1: and they're gonna wear down a lot of teams this

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Speaker 1: year because they can just put the lamps on you defensively,

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Speaker 1: or at least they're going to be able to. Now

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Speaker 1: one other side, it was it was interesting. You know,

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Speaker 1: the modern NBA arena and locker room has all sorts

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Speaker 1: of places for guys to hide and for coaches and

426
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,920
Speaker 1: players to meet. And I was walking out of the

427
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:09,320
Speaker 1: locker the Lakers locker room last night, and the hallway

428
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:13,520
Speaker 1: that leads from the outside hallway into the into the

429
00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:18,560
Speaker 1: players actual locker room. Frank Vogel and uh and and

430
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:25,360
Speaker 1: a D. We're standing in that hallway having a a conversation,

431
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:33,560
Speaker 1: like a serious intimate conversation, and uh and I thought, wow,

432
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:39,160
Speaker 1: this is game this is Game one, and we're having

433
00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:43,119
Speaker 1: that kind of conversation at in this place, in the

434
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:47,200
Speaker 1: locker room and a little it's going to be interesting

435
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:51,440
Speaker 1: to see see where this goes. But clearly, clearly I

436
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:55,320
Speaker 1: just this is you know this, this is just my speculation.

437
00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,240
Speaker 1: I feel like Frank's going to talk a lot to

438
00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:01,479
Speaker 1: A D because know that he feels like he can

439
00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:05,240
Speaker 1: talk to Lebron. There there's there is a feeling around Lebron.

440
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:08,000
Speaker 1: You know when you talk to talk about his his

441
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:12,000
Speaker 1: nickname the King, you really get a sense. And unless

442
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 1: you're a strong personality, uh, he gets treated like a king.

443
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,199
Speaker 1: People people are afraid to approach him and tell him

444
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:23,680
Speaker 1: what's what. And for this team to go where it goes,

445
00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:27,080
Speaker 1: it needs to go. As you mentioned, there's some some elements.

446
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:28,600
Speaker 1: This is the other this is the other part. When

447
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:33,879
Speaker 1: it came to the uh, the Kauai Lebron comparison, Kauai

448
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:40,520
Speaker 1: gets into a rhythm a very familiar rhythm. Offensively, he

449
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 1: does not rush, He surveys, He's gonna go where he

450
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:49,040
Speaker 1: wants to go. Lebron is it's amazing for all that

451
00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:53,560
Speaker 1: he's done. He plays really erratic at times. But there

452
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:56,040
Speaker 1: was times last night where he was playing way too fast.

453
00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:00,960
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking, if anybody should be composed like Kauai. Yes,

454
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:05,359
Speaker 1: he's got that experience, but Lebron too, and and it

455
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:07,920
Speaker 1: just kind of shocked me, Like I thought I thought

456
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:09,119
Speaker 1: he played. There was a lot of times in the

457
00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:11,320
Speaker 1: second after he played too slow. You know, he's he's

458
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 1: playing the plant guard position. You've got to get the

459
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 1: ball into the front court, you know, in order to

460
00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:18,000
Speaker 1: get into your multiple actions. And he's like walking it

461
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:20,680
Speaker 1: up and trying. It's like it's a playoff game. Like, hey, dude,

462
00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:25,000
Speaker 1: that ain't how you play now, Well, Doug, there was

463
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:27,920
Speaker 1: a minute left and they were down by nine or ten,

464
00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,920
Speaker 1: and and he's pounding the ball at the top of

465
00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 1: the key, and I was sitting with the scouts and

466
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,840
Speaker 1: the scouts and I we looked at each other, We're like,

467
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:45,840
Speaker 1: what's he doing. It's I I just uh, I don't know.

468
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 1: People say smarter than everybody else, there are times where

469
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:53,560
Speaker 1: clearly he's smarter than me, because I had no idea

470
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,080
Speaker 1: at times what he was doing, and I was surprised

471
00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:58,399
Speaker 1: by some of the things that he did. Yeah, he

472
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:00,960
Speaker 1: did a big, big miss box that Patrick Beverley got

473
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,639
Speaker 1: an offensive rebound was a uh end up being instead

474
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:05,399
Speaker 1: of a one point trip, a four point trip to

475
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,840
Speaker 1: the Clippers. That was kind of the death nil um

476
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 1: And yeah, I'm all right, so I guess we haven't

477
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 1: seen the rest of the league. But the the other

478
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:18,639
Speaker 1: point that I was, I want to get to your

479
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:22,239
Speaker 1: thoughts on Zion in a second, but there there's two

480
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 1: other parts. One, let's get to the Clippers. Um does

481
00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,200
Speaker 1: what does like? What do they look like? With Paul George?

482
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:33,920
Speaker 1: I know more is usually more. Does Paul George screw

483
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:38,920
Speaker 1: him up in anyway? It will be interesting to see,

484
00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:44,359
Speaker 1: just because like I I it's for all the platitudes

485
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 1: that I gave Kauai, I think I think Kauai can

486
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:51,280
Speaker 1: be more efficient. I think there were times where he

487
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,240
Speaker 1: forced it a little bit where if you have a

488
00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:56,480
Speaker 1: Paul George on the floor, if they have somebody else

489
00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:02,920
Speaker 1: that he well, hopefully uh trusts that he's going to

490
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 1: get to a certain place. He's gonna see that it's

491
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:08,080
Speaker 1: not there, swing it and allow Paul to go and

492
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,680
Speaker 1: and even in certain situations, allow uh Paul to be

493
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:16,480
Speaker 1: a playmaker. I feel as if the Clippers can use

494
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:21,800
Speaker 1: one more playmaker, and you know, Docs, Doc has has

495
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:24,520
Speaker 1: the experience. I mean, that's that's a big distinction between

496
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:27,600
Speaker 1: these teams. To these two teams too, is that Docs

497
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:31,080
Speaker 1: dealt with superstars before, and multiple superstars, and I think

498
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,720
Speaker 1: he's going to find a way to give both of

499
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:38,320
Speaker 1: those guys the opportunity to shine. And you've both of

500
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,560
Speaker 1: these players have had a recent experience where they've had

501
00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:46,080
Speaker 1: to play with another UH ball dominant type player and

502
00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 1: and have done so successfully. So I'm I'm expecting that

503
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 1: they're going to find a way to make it work.

504
00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:57,920
Speaker 1: And I'm just I'm just laughing because there was at

505
00:28:57,960 --> 00:28:59,920
Speaker 1: one point I'm getting who had the ball? I think

506
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,440
Speaker 1: with lou Williams head the ball at the top and

507
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,320
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley. I was watching him in warmups and he

508
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,680
Speaker 1: could not not only could he not miss shooting threes,

509
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:13,160
Speaker 1: but he was wearing all the swag of not missing

510
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 1: three like he would hit one and he'd do a

511
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:18,680
Speaker 1: little backstep shimmy and then he get ready and he'd

512
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,200
Speaker 1: take the next one and he'd hold his form and

513
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,400
Speaker 1: it was like Patrick, I was like, Wow, might have

514
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:27,000
Speaker 1: a game tonight. And then he he could not hit

515
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:28,800
Speaker 1: one in the game. And there was at one point

516
00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 1: where Lou Williams pat was wide open on the right

517
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:37,400
Speaker 1: wing and Lou looked right at him and went, no,

518
00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:41,280
Speaker 1: I'm not doing that, only the ball the other way. UM.

519
00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 1: My point being, I just I think that Paul's gonna

520
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:50,400
Speaker 1: add another good set up decision maker on the floor

521
00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 1: and uh and it's going to ultimately going to make

522
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:57,200
Speaker 1: them better and defensively, Oh my god, you asked you

523
00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:59,680
Speaker 1: had Paul George. If you're giving me the Paul George,

524
00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:03,360
Speaker 1: the laid healthy and okay, see last year and the

525
00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:07,360
Speaker 1: way he went after it, they are going to be scary.

526
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,840
Speaker 1: This is gonna be Kauai and Paul George can approach

527
00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:14,880
Speaker 1: that that Jordan's Pippen plateau of the Doberman's and being

528
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,200
Speaker 1: able to really put pressure on you when you try

529
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,240
Speaker 1: to get into your offense. Um. Another team that you

530
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:24,560
Speaker 1: know a ton about that has been discussed a bunch

531
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 1: is by the way I have to ask you, Doug,

532
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:33,160
Speaker 1: am I being overly exuberant as a result of seeing

533
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:38,560
Speaker 1: what I saw last night? You know, I think no,

534
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:42,720
Speaker 1: um I would say, like, we haven't even mentioned Mantrez Harold.

535
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,400
Speaker 1: Who want talk about a junkyard dog like he He

536
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:50,560
Speaker 1: is tireless, he is tough, he is the size of powerful,

537
00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 1: but can play the center like he's he's dynamic, those guys.

538
00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:57,160
Speaker 1: You know, the thing about about Anthony Davis is you

539
00:30:57,200 --> 00:30:59,440
Speaker 1: want Anthony Davis to play some five. He wanted no

540
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 1: part of myne Tres Harold the boards, none, none, he

541
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:04,960
Speaker 1: wanted no part of that. That's that's a man's game.

542
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:06,560
Speaker 1: Ball goes up and he wanted no part of it.

543
00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:11,680
Speaker 1: And Lebron's not really into that either, right, um So

544
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,600
Speaker 1: I think it's a really and I love how they

545
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,920
Speaker 1: you know, like Landry Shammont as opposed to Quinn Cooker,

546
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:23,760
Speaker 1: Cantavious Callwell Pope, and Andry Shammon's better. He's he's much younger,

547
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,440
Speaker 1: but but he's experienced and playing the playoffs more than anything,

548
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,840
Speaker 1: like he knows what he is, whereas Cantavious Callwell Pope

549
00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:34,080
Speaker 1: is trying to be a starter when you know that's

550
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 1: what he's been his whole career. But he's not. He

551
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:38,880
Speaker 1: should be a he should be playing fifteen minutes a game.

552
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:41,400
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, so I like Landry Shammont better

553
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:44,560
Speaker 1: than what they have. Obviously, lou Williams never seems to age.

554
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,080
Speaker 1: He's kind of a walking bucket. Um. There are gonna

555
00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 1: be some nights when he takes some bad shots and

556
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:51,160
Speaker 1: he shoots the out of a game. But I like

557
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:52,840
Speaker 1: a lot of the things. I like a lot of

558
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:55,320
Speaker 1: the things that you like. And I was interested because

559
00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:57,400
Speaker 1: I talked to some of the Clippers guys, like, well,

560
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,400
Speaker 1: we might not be that good early because you know,

561
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,120
Speaker 1: we're adding quiet so different and we might not be

562
00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:06,880
Speaker 1: that good in the middle because we're gonna add Paul

563
00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:08,920
Speaker 1: George and it's so differently like. But by the end

564
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:10,440
Speaker 1: of the year, we should be really good. Like damn,

565
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 1: by the end of the year, you look pretty good

566
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:16,080
Speaker 1: at night one. Um, Whereas I would have thought the

567
00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:18,880
Speaker 1: Lakers were further ahead even though they didn't have Kuzma,

568
00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 1: and I was a little I was a little disappointed.

569
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:24,920
Speaker 1: I'm not I just I don't think that. And I'll

570
00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:27,000
Speaker 1: give I'll give Frank a little bit of pass because

571
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:28,720
Speaker 1: he hasn't coached this team before in the real game,

572
00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 1: and uh, he hasn't coached in a year and a

573
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:34,480
Speaker 1: half and hasn't coached at a high level in the

574
00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,560
Speaker 1: NBA in five years or so, and so maybe he's

575
00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:39,640
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out. But if he hadn't figured

576
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:41,840
Speaker 1: out that Cantavious Cobo Pope is not the guy late

577
00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:45,120
Speaker 1: in a big game that I can't really well and

578
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:50,320
Speaker 1: injury wise, preseason, I mean they didn't play, they didn't

579
00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 1: play those guys long stretches and no, no, but you

580
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:57,320
Speaker 1: got to know what you're looking at Ron in particular,

581
00:32:57,560 --> 00:32:59,360
Speaker 1: I mean playing against the Warriors. I don't know that

582
00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,400
Speaker 1: that's really much preparation because I want to ask you

583
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 1: about against against the Warriors. I want to ask you

584
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,920
Speaker 1: about the Warriors. Um. I feel I feel like even more,

585
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:11,880
Speaker 1: even even more strongly that this is a gap year

586
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,440
Speaker 1: when Steve Kerr kind of lowered expectations. Hey, we don't

587
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:18,840
Speaker 1: expect Clay to play this year. UM. I don't know

588
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:23,440
Speaker 1: if people understand how much turnover that roster has had.

589
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,840
Speaker 1: I think what happens is you see Steff and you're like, well,

590
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:30,160
Speaker 1: STEP's gonna give you thirty five. Maybe, Like we got Draymond,

591
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,240
Speaker 1: so you can still play small, right, you had D'Angelo

592
00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:36,760
Speaker 1: who's gonna average, right, and they just they just they go,

593
00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:38,880
Speaker 1: they do the box score thing, and then you get

594
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:41,720
Speaker 1: Clay back, and that's another twenty. Like you're fine. Like,

595
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:45,000
Speaker 1: I don't know if people understand that. And I know

596
00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:48,320
Speaker 1: that Andrea Goodala was not a regular season player, but

597
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:53,640
Speaker 1: you lose Andrea Goodala, Sean Livingston, Kevin Durant, Like the

598
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:57,880
Speaker 1: team was built on versatility and on defense as much

599
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,080
Speaker 1: as it was the shooting and the shot making. And

600
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,400
Speaker 1: oh yeah, by the way, like one of the great

601
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,800
Speaker 1: things about k D and about more importantly about Clay

602
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:10,320
Speaker 1: is what they do at the defensive end. With no Clay,

603
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,080
Speaker 1: you can only lose the absolute lights out shooting. Clay

604
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:16,560
Speaker 1: takes a man and maybe a man and a half

605
00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:19,120
Speaker 1: away from the defensive end, but he's also a great

606
00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:22,520
Speaker 1: defensive player. You lose all of that for at least

607
00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:25,480
Speaker 1: half to three quarters of the season. Like I I

608
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:27,359
Speaker 1: think they'd be very fortunate to be a playoff team.

609
00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,320
Speaker 1: I think you're right as of right now. If and

610
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:35,560
Speaker 1: there was a lot of talk again at the game

611
00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:39,240
Speaker 1: last night with people with personnel from other teams about

612
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:42,000
Speaker 1: you know, okay, See's gonna be better than you think.

613
00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:44,920
Speaker 1: A big question is whether CP three buys in. But

614
00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:48,120
Speaker 1: if if, if Oklahoma City is in the playoff picture.

615
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 1: I can name eight teams right now that are definitively

616
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:56,759
Speaker 1: better than than the Warriors, and you're absolutely right. I

617
00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:59,680
Speaker 1: just I think people just look at the names or

618
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:02,440
Speaker 1: they get the It's so hard to imagine that the

619
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:09,400
Speaker 1: Warriors go from perennial champion or NBA finalists to not

620
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:12,839
Speaker 1: being in the playoffs, but it is. It looked they

621
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:17,560
Speaker 1: You said that they were built on versatility and depth,

622
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:21,400
Speaker 1: and that's what they originally were built on. But the

623
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,800
Speaker 1: reason that Kevin Durant was such a saving grace is

624
00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:29,320
Speaker 1: that they went from that depth to that absolute, you know,

625
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:35,400
Speaker 1: top heavy power house. And you had four great players

626
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:40,960
Speaker 1: and Steph K d Clay and Draymond and now you're

627
00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:42,920
Speaker 1: trying now you're trying to now you're trying to go

628
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:47,279
Speaker 1: back to the versatility. But those guys, these guys have

629
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,360
Speaker 1: all not been proven, haven't played an NBA game together.

630
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:54,120
Speaker 1: And when you had that versatility, you had you know,

631
00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:59,320
Speaker 1: veterans like a Maurice spakes, You had veterans like Andre

632
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:02,360
Speaker 1: Goodali Attrians like a Sean Livingston, like a Leandro Barboza.

633
00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:06,239
Speaker 1: Like we've completely forgotten what made the Warrior special before

634
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:09,480
Speaker 1: they added k D. And we assume, hey, let's just

635
00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:11,839
Speaker 1: go back to the versatility, strength and numbers thing Like yeah,

636
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:14,440
Speaker 1: but steps the oldest guy in the team. They go

637
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 1: with super young guys. They're gonna figure out who they

638
00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:18,759
Speaker 1: like out of this group. But I even think the

639
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:23,279
Speaker 1: Warrior's own expectations are this is a gap year. Yeah, well,

640
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:27,320
Speaker 1: and that's that's going to be the real battle is

641
00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:33,200
Speaker 1: they're in a brand new arena which is gorgeous and inexpensive.

642
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:36,960
Speaker 1: And I think if you if you got Bob Myers

643
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:43,759
Speaker 1: and and Steve Kerr alone, and they would tell you, look,

644
00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:47,239
Speaker 1: there's no reason for us to you know, beat our

645
00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:49,480
Speaker 1: heads against the wall to make the playoffs this year,

646
00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:53,440
Speaker 1: like we shouldn't. Let's not run Staff and Draymond ragged,

647
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:56,640
Speaker 1: trying to get this done for you know, trying to

648
00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:59,440
Speaker 1: prop up the Angelo Russell and and make him look

649
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,839
Speaker 1: either like he belongs as part of the nucleus here

650
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,720
Speaker 1: or that you know, to bump up his trade value.

651
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:09,279
Speaker 1: Let's let's approach it the way we always have and

652
00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:11,160
Speaker 1: and see where it goes. And if this, if this

653
00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:14,440
Speaker 1: season goes sideways, then so be it. And we get

654
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:16,920
Speaker 1: a lot of repick and now we add a legitimate

655
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,520
Speaker 1: quality player, and we bring Clay back next year, and

656
00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:22,399
Speaker 1: now we've got something to build off of because they're

657
00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:24,399
Speaker 1: capped out. So you're not you know, the the whole

658
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:26,960
Speaker 1: free agency things not it's not gonna work for you.

659
00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:32,520
Speaker 1: But try telling that to Joe Lacob, because Joe Lacob

660
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,920
Speaker 1: has this, you know, he's he's still determined to live

661
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,200
Speaker 1: up to the light Years comment. And that's why they,

662
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:42,719
Speaker 1: you know, signed a Willie, Collie Stein, D'Angelo Russell. It's

663
00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:44,960
Speaker 1: like we're you know, we're smarter than everybody else. And

664
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:49,120
Speaker 1: they've added so many guys, even from what I've heard about,

665
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:51,560
Speaker 1: like Jordan Pool and I don't know him. I just

666
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:56,840
Speaker 1: it was kind of a passing remark, like they've lost

667
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:01,200
Speaker 1: that they built such a great culture, are such a unique,

668
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:06,400
Speaker 1: dynamic culture in terms of the not just the talent,

669
00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:10,680
Speaker 1: but the kind of guys that they had. And Steph

670
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,920
Speaker 1: and Draymond are of the mind we can infuse this

671
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:16,640
Speaker 1: in you know, we know what it's like, we know

672
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:19,960
Speaker 1: what it feels like. You bring us guys and we

673
00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:24,319
Speaker 1: can draw them into the culture. Well, I'm not gonna

674
00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:27,600
Speaker 1: say that they can't, but I think that that's a

675
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:30,520
Speaker 1: a very tall order for the guys that they added.

676
00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:35,320
Speaker 1: And so there's gonna the real battle here is not

677
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:37,880
Speaker 1: going to be the Warriors with the rest of the

678
00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:43,320
Speaker 1: Western Conference. It's going to be between the coaching staff

679
00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,920
Speaker 1: and the front office and ownership in terms of what

680
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:50,880
Speaker 1: direction they should go and really how hard they should

681
00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:54,520
Speaker 1: be pushing to make the playoffs and and try to

682
00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:57,479
Speaker 1: be a force in the postseason, because I just don't

683
00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:00,040
Speaker 1: think they have it. If they make the playoffs, I

684
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:03,359
Speaker 1: don't think there're a threat. Uh. And I think that's

685
00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:06,640
Speaker 1: what was behind Steve, Like Steve talking about Clay, you know,

686
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:09,920
Speaker 1: probably not gonna play this year and then having to

687
00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:12,600
Speaker 1: walk it back. I can't help but think that was

688
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:17,480
Speaker 1: you know, somebody in ownership going, hey, We're like, we

689
00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:19,840
Speaker 1: don't want to talk that way, Like, we don't we

690
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,239
Speaker 1: don't want to put out the possibility that Clay comes

691
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:24,839
Speaker 1: back and we make a run. We like, we want

692
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:28,000
Speaker 1: to approach things different. And uh, And I think Steve's

693
00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:31,120
Speaker 1: I think Steves and I don't. I just you bought

694
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:33,960
Speaker 1: the goodwill of the Bay Area. You have this great arena,

695
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 1: which by the way, I went to and like it's

696
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:41,200
Speaker 1: it's it's an attraction in and of itself. Trying like

697
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,920
Speaker 1: killing yourself to make the playoffs this year just doesn't

698
00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:50,439
Speaker 1: seem like years ahead. It seems imprudent because you're gonna

699
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,920
Speaker 1: wear Step out, You're gonna wear Draymond out, and then

700
00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:56,799
Speaker 1: when you do have and and lose out the opportunity

701
00:39:56,840 --> 00:40:00,920
Speaker 1: to add a legitimate young talent and for what so

702
00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 1: you get Clay back and what like, even with Clay

703
00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:10,600
Speaker 1: and de Angelo Russell, that's that's duplicative. I don't. I

704
00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:13,720
Speaker 1: just I don't see any reason. I think the smart

705
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:16,920
Speaker 1: play for them really is to not make the playoffs

706
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:18,839
Speaker 1: this year as you as you call it a gap year,

707
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:20,600
Speaker 1: I think that would be that that would be the

708
00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:22,080
Speaker 1: light years ahead and then you get the do you

709
00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 1: get the longer off season? You know, you know Steps

710
00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:27,279
Speaker 1: gonna play in the Olympics, right, so you don't want

711
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,919
Speaker 1: him to play, you know, and I don't you don't

712
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:31,960
Speaker 1: necessarily have to. I don't even know if it's intentional,

713
00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:34,120
Speaker 1: like we can do this thing where it's intentional. I

714
00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:36,439
Speaker 1: don't think they had to be intentional. I just don't

715
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:38,799
Speaker 1: think like there's a bunch of teams we we don't

716
00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:42,600
Speaker 1: even discuss. I mean obviously Portland, Utah, Denver at the top,

717
00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:44,839
Speaker 1: but then in the middle you mentioned, Oklhomas City will

718
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:47,279
Speaker 1: see what they look like. The Pelicans will see what

719
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:49,719
Speaker 1: they what they look like. We'll see what the timberwoolves,

720
00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:52,680
Speaker 1: what they look like, you know, the Mavericks. I'm excited

721
00:40:52,719 --> 00:40:55,239
Speaker 1: to see what they look like. Um, you know, like

722
00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:58,520
Speaker 1: we're we're going deep here in this in this side, Okay,

723
00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:01,440
Speaker 1: let me let me get to the The other topic

724
00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:03,880
Speaker 1: is Zion and you and I have discussed him, and

725
00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:07,640
Speaker 1: I've tried to paint him, tried to lower some expectations there.

726
00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:12,560
Speaker 1: But David Griffin comes out and now what he said was,

727
00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:15,480
Speaker 1: you know, anybody says he's not in shape, you know,

728
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:18,799
Speaker 1: But he didn't say what I've been saying, which is like, hey,

729
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:21,719
Speaker 1: he's got to lose some weight. Now I've seen guys

730
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:23,960
Speaker 1: on TV say he's not gonna lose weight, he's gotta

731
00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:27,200
Speaker 1: change his body type, you know, which again, like we're

732
00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:30,919
Speaker 1: all coding things up. But when you hurt your knee

733
00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:33,839
Speaker 1: in college, no matter how freak it was, he did

734
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:37,040
Speaker 1: not look And when you see him in person, you're like,

735
00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:38,920
Speaker 1: that dude looks like a football player, right, he just

736
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:41,880
Speaker 1: has a different build, which which is what? Which is

737
00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:44,520
Speaker 1: what they're saying and I agree with. But when you

738
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:46,239
Speaker 1: saw him get hurt in summer league, he didn't. He

739
00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:48,759
Speaker 1: didn't look nearly as fit as he had previously. And

740
00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:53,000
Speaker 1: though he's looked fit now, he's he's just you know,

741
00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:55,920
Speaker 1: to to jump like that. It's the landing and the

742
00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:59,360
Speaker 1: torque put on those knees. You know. We had a

743
00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:04,279
Speaker 1: guy at Oaklahoma State named Roy Canley. Roy Canley as

744
00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:08,320
Speaker 1: has since passed away. Big Roy he was, he was

745
00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:12,880
Speaker 1: He grew up in Louisiana and his um he was

746
00:42:12,960 --> 00:42:17,560
Speaker 1: so big and so d Louisiana. That was very well done. Yeah,

747
00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:21,080
Speaker 1: So he uh shack sent him shoes because he wore

748
00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:24,160
Speaker 1: like a size two shoo or whatever. And so Roy

749
00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:26,320
Speaker 1: showed up on our campus at a junior college and

750
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:30,640
Speaker 1: he was seven one seven to gigantic hands and he

751
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:35,000
Speaker 1: was like four bills four bills, and coaches like, look,

752
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:37,680
Speaker 1: you can't, you're not getting onto a basketball floor until

753
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:39,640
Speaker 1: you're I don't under three eighty or three sixty or

754
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:42,279
Speaker 1: something like that. I mean, he was just massive, and

755
00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:44,319
Speaker 1: it was always a fight, and he never I don't

756
00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:45,640
Speaker 1: think you ever played a game when I was there.

757
00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:48,000
Speaker 1: In the next year, at some point that that year

758
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:50,440
Speaker 1: he gotten they found him like he was like sneaking

759
00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:52,520
Speaker 1: twinkies and stuff like that. It was it was funny.

760
00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:53,960
Speaker 1: But he's passed away, and so I don't want to

761
00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:56,239
Speaker 1: get into it, right But the point is that I

762
00:42:56,400 --> 00:42:58,560
Speaker 1: almost feel like that's what the Pels should do, is

763
00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:01,040
Speaker 1: just draw a line in the sand. Go like a man. Look,

764
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:04,560
Speaker 1: Blake didn't play his first year. Ben Simmonson play his

765
00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:06,840
Speaker 1: first year. We want you to play, but let's figure

766
00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:09,520
Speaker 1: out a way in which you can get under. I

767
00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:14,239
Speaker 1: mean to sixty, don't he's he's six five. He's six five, right,

768
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:17,320
Speaker 1: six six was shoes on. He's six five. So you

769
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:19,960
Speaker 1: gotta get him under no matter how thick he is.

770
00:43:20,400 --> 00:43:22,840
Speaker 1: You've got to completely change his diet and change some

771
00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:25,320
Speaker 1: of his body and lighten him up. Otherwise it's just

772
00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:28,800
Speaker 1: too much weight with how he jumps and plays. I

773
00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:35,000
Speaker 1: get that, and I think that could alleviate some of

774
00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:38,880
Speaker 1: the problems, but the greater issue to me is something

775
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:43,480
Speaker 1: that you cannot change, and that's the foundation of his game,

776
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:52,879
Speaker 1: which is all explosive movement, lateral spinning, twisting like there's

777
00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:57,000
Speaker 1: it's it's it's dynamic, and it's amazing and it's breasttaking.

778
00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:01,120
Speaker 1: But I think about like he's Bill basically the way

779
00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:05,239
Speaker 1: Charles Barkley was built, and Charles played with a lot

780
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:09,759
Speaker 1: of weight. But Charles had a completely different game. His

781
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:14,960
Speaker 1: explosion was straightforward, it it was, it was, and and

782
00:44:15,120 --> 00:44:19,080
Speaker 1: he had uh, he had the ability to get himself

783
00:44:19,239 --> 00:44:23,400
Speaker 1: in places on the floor and then explode over you

784
00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:28,600
Speaker 1: or passed you with a step. With Zion, his game

785
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:31,880
Speaker 1: isn't as nuanced his And first of all, like you know,

786
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:36,320
Speaker 1: Chuck could Chuck just because he could shoot from range

787
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:39,239
Speaker 1: and he had a mid range step back, like he

788
00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:41,160
Speaker 1: could make you come up on you and then he

789
00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:44,160
Speaker 1: could just kind of blow by you almost on a

790
00:44:44,280 --> 00:44:48,040
Speaker 1: straight line, like Zion doesn't have that. Everything that he

791
00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:52,360
Speaker 1: has is I'm spinning laterally and I'm going in different directions,

792
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:55,640
Speaker 1: and to me, that's where the torque comes in. And

793
00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:59,839
Speaker 1: you know, short of saying we're gonna up your skin

794
00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:04,239
Speaker 1: and we're going to like fundamentally change the way you

795
00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:07,440
Speaker 1: attack the game. I think you're gonna run into the

796
00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:10,200
Speaker 1: same issues. It's a lot again. I think I mentioned

797
00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:13,360
Speaker 1: it when we talked about it, like Derreck Rose because

798
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:16,440
Speaker 1: when he came in, like the just the straight up

799
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:19,560
Speaker 1: pull up jump shooting wasn't quite there, Like he needed

800
00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:23,239
Speaker 1: all that dynamic spinning torque to do what he did.

801
00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:26,640
Speaker 1: I see his zion. It's just a bigger version than that.

802
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:30,480
Speaker 1: And you know, I would dare say that one of

803
00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:33,480
Speaker 1: the reasons that Derek has like being able to kind

804
00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:36,040
Speaker 1: of find his way the last couple of years and

805
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:41,120
Speaker 1: stay healthy is because he has changed the way he attacks.

806
00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:46,240
Speaker 1: He's he's become a little more methodical and straight line.

807
00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:49,000
Speaker 1: And that's where you know, everybody's kind of caught up

808
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:51,840
Speaker 1: in the weight and what kind of weight the condition,

809
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:56,080
Speaker 1: and I just I look at the fundamental way he

810
00:45:56,360 --> 00:46:00,759
Speaker 1: plays and the body that he has, and I'm thinking, man,

811
00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:04,960
Speaker 1: that's like a vault on casters like it's it's it

812
00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:08,280
Speaker 1: moves really fast moves and ways you would never expect

813
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:12,200
Speaker 1: something like that to move. And yet it's gonna tip

814
00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:16,800
Speaker 1: over at some point because It's just physics. It doesn't

815
00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:19,720
Speaker 1: allow you to to to torque that way. On ligaments.

816
00:46:19,760 --> 00:46:22,719
Speaker 1: You can, you can strengthen everything as much as you want.

817
00:46:23,239 --> 00:46:27,480
Speaker 1: Your joints can only take so much, so buke. I

818
00:46:27,560 --> 00:46:30,920
Speaker 1: guess the question becomes if you're pointing out that this

819
00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:34,839
Speaker 1: is the way he plays, regardless of the way, I mean,

820
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:40,400
Speaker 1: at what point do you go, man might have a Lemon, right, Like,

821
00:46:40,800 --> 00:46:45,040
Speaker 1: everyone's had that car that no matter how even Lexus,

822
00:46:45,239 --> 00:46:49,280
Speaker 1: even Infinity, even you know, you pick your supposedly best

823
00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:51,840
Speaker 1: made cars, there is one that somebody drives off to,

824
00:46:52,200 --> 00:46:57,239
Speaker 1: like you know what the transition like, there has to

825
00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:01,080
Speaker 1: be legit here that they have a Lemon. Yeah, yeah,

826
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:06,920
Speaker 1: and and I mean there should be. And I understand

827
00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:09,840
Speaker 1: why David Griffin would tamp down any of that or

828
00:47:09,880 --> 00:47:13,480
Speaker 1: any talk of that because the number one pick, I

829
00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:15,560
Speaker 1: mean not just the number one pick. The only reason

830
00:47:15,640 --> 00:47:18,360
Speaker 1: the Pelicans were on opening night against the defending champions

831
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:21,560
Speaker 1: just because of Zion Williamson. Let's let's be honest. That's

832
00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:25,600
Speaker 1: and he wasn't there. That's why why they were there. Now,

833
00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:29,120
Speaker 1: the one plus that they have is I think they

834
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:31,160
Speaker 1: have a lot of depths and I think they have

835
00:47:31,239 --> 00:47:34,279
Speaker 1: a lot of versatility, and there's plenty of reason why

836
00:47:35,320 --> 00:47:39,440
Speaker 1: you wouldn't have to play Zion heavy minutes or a

837
00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:43,680
Speaker 1: heavy roll. You can find a way to incorporate him

838
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:49,799
Speaker 1: without having to over use him. And that's the way

839
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:52,560
Speaker 1: I would approach this season. I would be looking at

840
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:55,120
Speaker 1: you know, and again, now you've got the negotiation with

841
00:47:55,880 --> 00:47:58,759
Speaker 1: him and his people, like, don't worry about Rookie of

842
00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:04,080
Speaker 1: the year. You know, we're gonna play you minutes a night,

843
00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:07,840
Speaker 1: and we're gonna we're gonna put you in action that

844
00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:10,759
Speaker 1: allows you to go to the rim but doesn't ask

845
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:15,520
Speaker 1: you to do you know too much, and and see

846
00:48:15,560 --> 00:48:17,560
Speaker 1: if that I meanwhile try to develop the rest of

847
00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:22,000
Speaker 1: his game. But I do think like with a car

848
00:48:22,239 --> 00:48:24,720
Speaker 1: that you drive off the lot and it has issues,

849
00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:28,120
Speaker 1: like you need to immediately begin You can't. You can't

850
00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:31,120
Speaker 1: just it'll it'll work itself out. We just need to

851
00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:33,279
Speaker 1: We need to get the oil hot and let it

852
00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:36,200
Speaker 1: run through the system and it will be okay. It's like, no,

853
00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:38,880
Speaker 1: you know what, we need to take a fundamental approach.

854
00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:42,720
Speaker 1: We're just driving this car in town. We're not taking

855
00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:47,000
Speaker 1: any long trips, We're not taking any windy roads. We're gonna,

856
00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:50,960
Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna keep it under forty five speed

857
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:53,960
Speaker 1: limit as much as we can and kind of coax

858
00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:56,560
Speaker 1: this thing through the season. I think, honestly, I think

859
00:48:56,640 --> 00:48:59,439
Speaker 1: that's the approach you have to take until Zion gets

860
00:48:59,480 --> 00:49:03,200
Speaker 1: to a point where his game becomes less physically dyna

861
00:49:03,440 --> 00:49:07,000
Speaker 1: dynamic and he begins to be able to use the

862
00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:10,279
Speaker 1: mental skills that he has because I do think that

863
00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:12,600
Speaker 1: he sees the floor well. I do think that he's

864
00:49:12,640 --> 00:49:15,880
Speaker 1: a for for all the hoop law um. He seems

865
00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:19,880
Speaker 1: like a good kid who wants to play, you know,

866
00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:23,520
Speaker 1: within the team confine and and so I think there's

867
00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:26,120
Speaker 1: a way to get there. But they need to approach

868
00:49:26,200 --> 00:49:28,279
Speaker 1: it with the idea that we're trying to extend the

869
00:49:28,880 --> 00:49:31,359
Speaker 1: shelf life of this guy right from the start, which

870
00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:34,040
Speaker 1: seems kind of crazy being a rookie and and all that,

871
00:49:34,320 --> 00:49:36,279
Speaker 1: but I think that's the way they have to approach it.

872
00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:41,919
Speaker 1: Last thing, Um, is this the year the Sixers finally

873
00:49:41,960 --> 00:49:50,719
Speaker 1: figured out? I'm I'm still I have my reservations. I

874
00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:54,840
Speaker 1: just if it's not this year, then they're in trouble

875
00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:59,560
Speaker 1: because of like the Al Horford. Al Horford signing to

876
00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:03,839
Speaker 1: me is a lot of money for a guy who

877
00:50:03,960 --> 00:50:07,960
Speaker 1: doesn't really solve your problem. And to me, it all

878
00:50:08,040 --> 00:50:11,719
Speaker 1: comes down to Ben Simmons and what he is. And

879
00:50:11,840 --> 00:50:14,879
Speaker 1: it's a little bit I see a little too much

880
00:50:15,080 --> 00:50:18,080
Speaker 1: of a d in him in terms of is he

881
00:50:18,239 --> 00:50:22,040
Speaker 1: that guy who's going to impose his will and is

882
00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:25,440
Speaker 1: he a guy who's going to take on the challenge

883
00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:29,640
Speaker 1: every night? Ben Simmons has to be that. He can't.

884
00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:33,800
Speaker 1: He can't be the Knights where he differs or he

885
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:38,720
Speaker 1: decides the you know, my scoring is not there whatever,

886
00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:41,640
Speaker 1: and I'm I believe I'm beat is the best player

887
00:50:41,719 --> 00:50:44,200
Speaker 1: on that team. But Ben Simmons is the guy who's

888
00:50:44,239 --> 00:50:47,320
Speaker 1: going to have the ball in his hands. And I

889
00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:50,000
Speaker 1: just don't see a way in which you win a

890
00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:56,440
Speaker 1: championship when your point guard can't shoot. That sounds like

891
00:50:56,520 --> 00:51:01,040
Speaker 1: an oversimplification. And Ben has a lot of other things

892
00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:04,239
Speaker 1: that are plus, but that is such a minus in

893
00:51:04,360 --> 00:51:08,520
Speaker 1: today's game that all those other pluses I don't see

894
00:51:08,560 --> 00:51:12,560
Speaker 1: them overcoming it. HM, Well, you still have plenty of

895
00:51:12,640 --> 00:51:16,240
Speaker 1: time to check out Houston. We haven't discussed uh Portland.

896
00:51:16,680 --> 00:51:18,520
Speaker 1: You know, Denver is trying to do it in numbers

897
00:51:18,600 --> 00:51:22,359
Speaker 1: and through Ki I'm not. I'm not buying that. I'm

898
00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:26,799
Speaker 1: not buying that. So I look, I Toronto showed why

899
00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:30,600
Speaker 1: I believe that people have undervalued who they are because

900
00:51:31,600 --> 00:51:35,560
Speaker 1: they learned. So they learned so much last year. They're

901
00:51:35,560 --> 00:51:37,200
Speaker 1: gonna win. I look, I don't know what they're gonna

902
00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:40,520
Speaker 1: be in the postseason. That's where they're really gonna miss Kauai.

903
00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:46,320
Speaker 1: But there there there's going to be no situation that

904
00:51:47,120 --> 00:51:50,600
Speaker 1: is uncomfortable for them. They know how to execute under pressure.

905
00:51:50,840 --> 00:51:53,879
Speaker 1: That's going to win them a lot of games this year.

906
00:51:54,440 --> 00:51:58,640
Speaker 1: They just have an institutional knowledge of how to play

907
00:51:59,520 --> 00:52:02,160
Speaker 1: in LA There's not going to be a situation that

908
00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:05,960
Speaker 1: that that that phases them. And meanwhile, you've got a

909
00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:08,680
Speaker 1: lot of teams around the league that are are going

910
00:52:08,760 --> 00:52:10,879
Speaker 1: to be trying to figure it out and figure out

911
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:13,640
Speaker 1: how they want to play with the game on the line.

912
00:52:13,719 --> 00:52:16,160
Speaker 1: And I think that's gonna end up giving the giving

913
00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:19,680
Speaker 1: the Raptors a lot of wins against teams that we

914
00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:23,560
Speaker 1: might look at and say, on paper, are are actually better.

915
00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:29,520
Speaker 1: The most fascinating, Um, it's gonna happen in two places. Right,

916
00:52:29,680 --> 00:52:32,239
Speaker 1: it's D'Angelo going to the Warriors little bit, But to me,

917
00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:37,279
Speaker 1: Kyrie playing for the Nets considering how the Nets have played, Like,

918
00:52:37,440 --> 00:52:40,839
Speaker 1: I don't know if this hasn't been this hasn't been

919
00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:43,000
Speaker 1: discussed enough. And you and I have both worked at

920
00:52:43,880 --> 00:52:47,000
Speaker 1: uh at at at both at these places talking about

921
00:52:47,480 --> 00:52:50,440
Speaker 1: covering the NBA games, But I haven't heard anybody on

922
00:52:50,600 --> 00:52:53,400
Speaker 1: TV say, like, do we not realize that here's a

923
00:52:53,480 --> 00:52:57,320
Speaker 1: team that was a pick and roll, total analytics, great

924
00:52:57,400 --> 00:53:00,839
Speaker 1: culture team and you're bringing a guy who he can

925
00:53:00,840 --> 00:53:02,799
Speaker 1: play pick and roll, but like Kyrie is an ice

926
00:53:02,840 --> 00:53:05,960
Speaker 1: oh guy, and he is not an analytics guy. He

927
00:53:06,080 --> 00:53:07,600
Speaker 1: is not at the rim. He's a great he's an

928
00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:10,160
Speaker 1: unbelievable finisher, he can make threes, but he's not like

929
00:53:10,239 --> 00:53:14,000
Speaker 1: a pure analytics player. Like meshing those two styles and

930
00:53:14,239 --> 00:53:17,560
Speaker 1: his personality with the just the the great feelings they

931
00:53:17,640 --> 00:53:21,319
Speaker 1: had last year, I think that's going to be fascinating. Yeah. Well,

932
00:53:21,400 --> 00:53:24,239
Speaker 1: and I was just I was looking at the the

933
00:53:25,440 --> 00:53:29,360
Speaker 1: Las Vegas and the first coach to be fired lift

934
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:33,879
Speaker 1: and not. I think Kenny Atkinson did a great job

935
00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:37,120
Speaker 1: last year, but he's got something that he has to

936
00:53:37,160 --> 00:53:39,080
Speaker 1: figure out this year, and he wasn't on that list

937
00:53:39,600 --> 00:53:42,520
Speaker 1: like like I was. I was really interesting. If you

938
00:53:42,600 --> 00:53:45,680
Speaker 1: got like Terry Stotts is on the list, Quin Snyder

939
00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:49,040
Speaker 1: is on the list. I'm thinking those guys don't have

940
00:53:49,239 --> 00:53:52,480
Speaker 1: the same issues. They don't face the same issues, and

941
00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:56,759
Speaker 1: they've had actually more success and uh and have a

942
00:53:56,840 --> 00:54:00,560
Speaker 1: better relationship with their star players. Like and I'm not

943
00:54:00,680 --> 00:54:02,879
Speaker 1: wishing anything on Atkinson, and I don't think he's gonna

944
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:05,560
Speaker 1: get fired. I think Brooklyn is smarter. I'm just saying,

945
00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:09,759
Speaker 1: if you're looking at coaches who are in difficult situations,

946
00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:16,000
Speaker 1: Kenny Atkinson is certainly on that list, no question. And

947
00:54:16,040 --> 00:54:17,640
Speaker 1: it's one of those that I don't I don't know

948
00:54:17,719 --> 00:54:20,360
Speaker 1: if people understand what what they're walking into. Maybe the

949
00:54:20,440 --> 00:54:22,680
Speaker 1: talent is so, but I they didn't win on talent

950
00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:26,520
Speaker 1: last year, right, They won on culture and on analytics

951
00:54:27,080 --> 00:54:30,400
Speaker 1: and and they beat up on the team and catching

952
00:54:30,719 --> 00:54:35,080
Speaker 1: and catching people by surprise. Nobody was you go out

953
00:54:35,080 --> 00:54:37,759
Speaker 1: the night before you're gonna play the Brooklyn Nets. Yeah

954
00:54:38,160 --> 00:54:40,880
Speaker 1: it was, it's I mean, and and for all that

955
00:54:41,200 --> 00:54:44,359
Speaker 1: they were forty two and forty they I mean, they

956
00:54:44,400 --> 00:54:46,759
Speaker 1: were they were a little bit like that Orlando Magic

957
00:54:46,840 --> 00:54:50,320
Speaker 1: team that Doc you know, went one, didn't make the playoffs.

958
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:52,080
Speaker 1: On the last day of the season and got a

959
00:54:52,239 --> 00:54:55,080
Speaker 1: Coach of the Year award for it. It's it's like

960
00:54:55,520 --> 00:54:57,960
Speaker 1: they were a nice team. They were greater than the

961
00:54:58,040 --> 00:55:01,600
Speaker 1: sum of their parts because they didn't you know, they

962
00:55:01,640 --> 00:55:03,920
Speaker 1: didn't have any stars. D'Angelo Russell ended up being the

963
00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:06,480
Speaker 1: All Star. Terris LeVert doesn't get hurt. He's probably the

964
00:55:06,560 --> 00:55:09,399
Speaker 1: All Star. I mean, they they they got it from

965
00:55:09,520 --> 00:55:14,920
Speaker 1: a multitude of places, and that's what Boston thought they

966
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:19,640
Speaker 1: were going to have last year, and then Tyrie upset that,

967
00:55:19,880 --> 00:55:23,680
Speaker 1: so that dynamic is going to have to change this year.

968
00:55:23,760 --> 00:55:26,840
Speaker 1: And I I just think everything that made them what

969
00:55:26,960 --> 00:55:28,600
Speaker 1: they were last year. You and I agree on this,

970
00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:31,680
Speaker 1: Everything that what they made that made them what they

971
00:55:31,719 --> 00:55:35,600
Speaker 1: were last year goes out the window the second that

972
00:55:35,760 --> 00:55:39,560
Speaker 1: you signed Kyrie Irving just by Verton, not not intentionally,

973
00:55:39,719 --> 00:55:42,319
Speaker 1: just by virtue of how he plays and the kind

974
00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:44,439
Speaker 1: of player that he is and the kind of person

975
00:55:44,520 --> 00:55:46,560
Speaker 1: that he is. He he wants to be. He he

976
00:55:46,680 --> 00:55:50,480
Speaker 1: so wants to be somebody who everybody likes and everybody

977
00:55:50,560 --> 00:55:53,279
Speaker 1: respects and leads, and he just hasn't shown himself to

978
00:55:53,360 --> 00:55:57,279
Speaker 1: be that guy. No matter how interesting his logic is

979
00:55:57,400 --> 00:56:00,279
Speaker 1: as to why he wasn't tally like his grand pot

980
00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:05,000
Speaker 1: dying whatever, Like, yeah, but before your grandpa died, people

981
00:56:05,040 --> 00:56:09,200
Speaker 1: didn't dig in Cleveland, right, like kind of who you are.

982
00:56:09,320 --> 00:56:11,719
Speaker 1: But maybe maybe you know, like all of us have

983
00:56:12,719 --> 00:56:15,120
Speaker 1: hit situations that we learned from in our life. And

984
00:56:15,680 --> 00:56:19,560
Speaker 1: you allow a guy who's not old to to to evolve. Um,

985
00:56:21,200 --> 00:56:24,480
Speaker 1: if his if his grandfather, if that whole personal connection

986
00:56:24,520 --> 00:56:27,520
Speaker 1: to Brooklyn makes him come to the team and say,

987
00:56:27,640 --> 00:56:30,920
Speaker 1: you know what, I just want to be a worker

988
00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:34,200
Speaker 1: among workers. I want to make the nets great in

989
00:56:34,560 --> 00:56:39,040
Speaker 1: in honor of my h of my grandfather. Then I

990
00:56:39,080 --> 00:56:42,560
Speaker 1: would say, Okay, now you got something, but I I

991
00:56:42,640 --> 00:56:44,960
Speaker 1: haven't heard that. I like I have. Like it's one

992
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:49,480
Speaker 1: thing to have the emotional personal story that sounds really

993
00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:53,600
Speaker 1: good and then there's one that turns it into something

994
00:56:53,840 --> 00:56:58,600
Speaker 1: that is uh definitive and operative and affects how you

995
00:56:58,719 --> 00:57:03,320
Speaker 1: approach your job. I haven't seen that those dots connected.

996
00:57:03,600 --> 00:57:06,520
Speaker 1: It's why he's in Brooklyn. It doesn't tell me he's

997
00:57:06,560 --> 00:57:09,480
Speaker 1: going to play a certain way in Brooklyn and that

998
00:57:10,160 --> 00:57:14,000
Speaker 1: is going to be the determining fact. Awesome appreciate you

999
00:57:14,040 --> 00:57:16,320
Speaker 1: popping on the pot radio dot com. You can get

1000
00:57:16,440 --> 00:57:18,960
Speaker 1: all of his audio stuff at radio dot Com, read

1001
00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:21,080
Speaker 1: his work at Bleacher Report, and of course see him

1002
00:57:21,120 --> 00:57:24,680
Speaker 1: on Fox Sports One and speak for yourself at All Undisputed.

1003
00:57:24,800 --> 00:57:27,080
Speaker 1: Colin cow heard all the different TV shows. He's the

1004
00:57:27,120 --> 00:57:31,439
Speaker 1: one and only basketball stage. Rick Buker, great stuff, Great

1005
00:57:31,720 --> 00:57:36,560
Speaker 1: being with you, Doug. So look, that's that's kind of

1006
00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:39,600
Speaker 1: an early take. Well we're gonna do next week. Okay,

1007
00:57:39,680 --> 00:57:42,640
Speaker 1: this is kind of a lot of people. Do your

1008
00:57:42,680 --> 00:57:45,400
Speaker 1: basketball preview. I want to have everybody see I wanted

1009
00:57:45,560 --> 00:57:48,920
Speaker 1: to see all these teams play, and then we'll have

1010
00:57:49,160 --> 00:57:52,040
Speaker 1: some guests on from who covered these teams and what

1011
00:57:52,160 --> 00:57:54,000
Speaker 1: they take. Now it's so different when you see a

1012
00:57:54,040 --> 00:57:57,800
Speaker 1: team actually play. In the meantime, you can always comment

1013
00:57:57,880 --> 00:58:00,720
Speaker 1: on the pot at Gottlieb Shows, the Twitter handle. We

1014
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:02,920
Speaker 1: have the Facebook page for the Doug Otlip Shop. Can

1015
00:58:02,920 --> 00:58:05,440
Speaker 1: listen Doug Ot Lip Show twelve to three Pacific Coast time,

1016
00:58:05,480 --> 00:58:08,600
Speaker 1: three to six Eastern Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Radio

1017
00:58:08,640 --> 00:58:11,760
Speaker 1: dot Com, I Heart Radio app series XM to seventeen

1018
00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:16,080
Speaker 1: or two oh three. UM. In the meantime, enjoy the hoops.

1019
00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:18,880
Speaker 1: I know there's baseball and this football, but this is

1020
00:58:18,920 --> 00:58:21,600
Speaker 1: a great place to just download, listen, don't subscribe, don't

1021
00:58:21,640 --> 00:58:24,800
Speaker 1: be afraid to rate us review it. It does actually

1022
00:58:24,880 --> 00:58:28,240
Speaker 1: help the podcast in the meantime. Hope you enjoyed the

1023
00:58:28,400 --> 00:58:30,960
Speaker 1: complete recap of the first Night in NBA Hoops and

1024
00:58:30,960 --> 00:58:33,160
Speaker 1: get your ready for the NBA season. I'm Doug Gottlieben.

1025
00:58:33,240 --> 00:58:34,160
Speaker 1: This is all ball