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Speaker 1: Mmmm. Welcome to the State of the Lakers podcast. All

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Speaker 1: officially rebranded, all nice and special and official with the

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Speaker 1: new logo of Rogers on board. Now moving forward with everything.

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Speaker 1: He's got the keys to the car and everything moving forward.

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Speaker 1: I'm super stoked about that. Thank you guys for coming

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Speaker 1: to hang out with us on a Friday morning to

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Speaker 1: talk to some Lakers and some other NBA stuff. Rog

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Speaker 1: How you doing this morning, man dood well Man, beautiful

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Speaker 1: Friday morning. Yeah, stay to the Lakers now all new

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Speaker 1: branded and we got fans back. We got people in

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Speaker 1: the building. So um, new brand new fans a d

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Speaker 1: coming back. This is a a good week. Things are

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Speaker 1: going up. Yeah, exactly, they got we got to uh,

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Speaker 1: we've got to have fans in the building to watch

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Speaker 1: the Lakers get Humilia at It by Jalen Brown last night. Um,

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Speaker 1: so uh, you and I both watched the game last

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Speaker 1: night there. It was interesting in the sense that you know,

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Speaker 1: it was the classic archetype of a basketball team that

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Speaker 1: gives the Lakers problems that the big range e Wings,

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Speaker 1: because the Lakers kind of forego dies and athleticism on

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Speaker 1: the perimeter and favor of quickness and effort and guards

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Speaker 1: that are like kind of dirty work, blue collar type

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Speaker 1: of guards, usually kind of averaging around like six four

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Speaker 1: or six five type of size frame. And so you know,

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Speaker 1: a lot of what Jalen Brown did last night, in

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Speaker 1: my opinion, was more kind of head esteem getting to

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Speaker 1: the rim kind of thing, which is easier to shut

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Speaker 1: off just by getting back in transition and building a wall.

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Speaker 1: So some of that I thought was effort in focus.

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Speaker 1: But there were a handful of plays where he got

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Speaker 1: into the into that mid range area and shot little

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Speaker 1: push shots and floaters and scoop shots that you know,

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Speaker 1: shorter offensive players can't necessarily get off against the Laker defense,

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Speaker 1: and it is a good example all of where where

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Speaker 1: you can find some holes in that defense. Having a

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Speaker 1: lebron and Anthony Davis really helps that. Uh that said,

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Speaker 1: you would you would assume that in a playoff series

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Speaker 1: they kind of put them on different players so they

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Speaker 1: can roam around and save energy anyway. So it still

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Speaker 1: is something to keep an eye on. But what did

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Speaker 1: you think about the Laker defense in their attempt to

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Speaker 1: stop Tatum and Brown? Yeah, Like last night I thought

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Speaker 1: was a night for Drummond basically, like I know he

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Speaker 1: was out, but I thought that would have been a

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Speaker 1: perfect matchup for him. Uh with Boston, they run up,

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Speaker 1: They run a lot of places to get their guys

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Speaker 1: mid range pull ups. I think we talked about that

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Speaker 1: a lot. Jalen Brown hit a bunch in the beginning.

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Speaker 1: He had like three that rolled in. Tatum also looked

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Speaker 1: for that shot. Kemba looked for that shot, and we

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Speaker 1: had Marcosol dropping back because Mark can't switch onto those

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Speaker 1: wings um and then on the other on the other

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Speaker 1: end that we weren't attacking them either, so they were

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Speaker 1: just attacking us getting to the rim. We had no

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Speaker 1: rim protection. Really, Marcosol was the only one back there,

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Speaker 1: and they just kept hitting their shots. And you gotta

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Speaker 1: give Jalen Brown what nine for ten in the first half.

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Speaker 1: I mean, like you said, he got to the rim

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Speaker 1: a few times, but I thought a lot of them

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Speaker 1: were the mid range kind of pull up variety. Kemba

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Speaker 1: hit some tough pull up threes even when we switched

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Speaker 1: on him, and then Tatum had like a slow start

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Speaker 1: I think in the first half, and then he got

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Speaker 1: it going, So I got a credit to them. They

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Speaker 1: had everything going. I think they shot like fift like

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Speaker 1: the whole game, I think until that fourth quarter kind

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Speaker 1: of melt down. But yeah, I think the whole game

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Speaker 1: they pretty much dominated. Jalen Brown had like forty on

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Speaker 1: like twenty shots or some ridiculous efficiency number last night,

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I thought they played well. I thought last night,

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Speaker 1: again with a perfect time for Drummond, I would like

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Speaker 1: them to switch a lot more. I think Boston the

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Speaker 1: team got to switch against, but we just couldn't do that,

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Speaker 1: wouldn't have the personnel for it last night. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: agree switching is a little bit better in the sense

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Speaker 1: that for that specific team, just because of the fact that,

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Speaker 1: you know, I talked about this a lot before the

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Speaker 1: season in my Eastern Conference preview that I did with Tommy.

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Speaker 1: But like, the biggest concern that I had for the

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Speaker 1: Celtics moving forward is they were kind of going through

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Speaker 1: a transition period. You know, UH had been offloading a

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Speaker 1: lot of the playmaking and decision making to Kemba Walker

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Speaker 1: and to Gordon Hayward. And then basically what happened was

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Speaker 1: is Gordon got UH signed by Charlotte, and Kemba had

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Speaker 1: some knee issues to start the year, and I actually

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Speaker 1: predicted them to struggle this year, just because Tatum and

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Speaker 1: Brown are kind of always attacking in isolation, kind of

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Speaker 1: tunnel vision type of guys, and that that kind of

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Speaker 1: thing doesn't necessarily work unless you have someone that can

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Speaker 1: help you make decisions alongside them. And so predictably, they

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Speaker 1: struggled a lot this year, and then even when Kemba

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Speaker 1: came back, he wasn't really himself, But I expected them

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Speaker 1: to kind of go on a late season run when

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Speaker 1: Kemba kind of got his legs back underneath them, and

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Speaker 1: when Marcus Smart got his legs back underneath them. I

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Speaker 1: think they're every bit as good as as Milwaukee or

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Speaker 1: some of the other teams at the top of these

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Speaker 1: not as good as Philly and Brooklyn, but I think

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Speaker 1: they're every bit as good as Miami or or or

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Speaker 1: Milwaukee or some of those more flawed teams. Um, and

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Speaker 1: there their team that's gonna be a pain in the

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Speaker 1: butt to knock out in the playoff series, and good challenge.

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Speaker 1: I expected them to beat the Lakers last night, um

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Speaker 1: under the circumstances, But you're right. I mean, with with Marcusol,

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Speaker 1: like the with the with Marcusol is the only guy

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Speaker 1: around the rim, it was just driving lens all day long.

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Speaker 1: They uh and Marcusol. You know, he's a good positional defender,

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Speaker 1: but it only works when all of the other guys

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Speaker 1: are kind of on a string and if you can

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Speaker 1: continue to run head up into him. He just doesn't

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Speaker 1: have the athleticism anymore to to really protect the rim.

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Speaker 1: And so I thought I thought they did uh uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, I thought that it was kind of easy,

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Speaker 1: easy stuff around the rim for Boston to take advantage

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Speaker 1: of um as far as like you know, and it's

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Speaker 1: it's it's funny to just really quickly like the the

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Speaker 1: you you saw a lot last night too of Montrese

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Speaker 1: Harrold's weaknesses around the rim in the sense that he

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Speaker 1: just doesn't he just doesn't bother guys down there when

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Speaker 1: he's in any sort of like drop coverage around there.

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Speaker 1: And I think with a team like Boston, what you

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Speaker 1: have to do is really make them feel like they're

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Speaker 1: playing in a crowd and make them kick out the

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Speaker 1: shooters and make them live outside. I think is a

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Speaker 1: better option in that particular matchup. Yeah, I thought they

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Speaker 1: missed Keith last night too, And we kind of started small, right.

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Speaker 1: We had shrewder K c P West and Kuzma as

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Speaker 1: our front line along with Marc Gasol, and that they

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Speaker 1: really picked on that. Jayson Tatum got switches with Shrewder

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Speaker 1: and they had a trap double Jaylen Brown as well,

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Speaker 1: and then Tres He's just not equipped to take I mean,

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Speaker 1: Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum are two of the top

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Speaker 1: like what eight six wings in the league, Like they're

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Speaker 1: all star Wings, star level Wings, so that's not really

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Speaker 1: a matchup for him to play against as well. So

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Speaker 1: I thought they really took advantage of that. And again

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Speaker 1: on the other side, like Shooter does not look right,

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Speaker 1: like I don't know what I think his foot still

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Speaker 1: bothering or I think Vogo talked about that as well.

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Speaker 1: So we just didn't have him a hundred percent. He

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Speaker 1: wasn't able to defend at the level that he would

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Speaker 1: usually be able to and our side just wasn't there.

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Speaker 1: And they got to the room. J Len Brown got

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Speaker 1: comfortable early. You could tell once the first few jumpers

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Speaker 1: got down. He just had it going. You couldn't stop him.

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Speaker 1: And then Tatum started hitting step back threes, Marcus spark

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Speaker 1: pull up threes. They get like three pull up threes

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Speaker 1: as well. Um, I want to ask you if they're

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Speaker 1: like bench, I mean their third string is just not

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Speaker 1: or their second and third string is just not good.

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Speaker 1: In my opinion, like I feel like that's where they're

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Speaker 1: gonna have trouble beating a team like Milwaukee, because like

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Speaker 1: they have a really good top six, and then from there,

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Speaker 1: I feel like it really craters. Um. They go from

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Speaker 1: like Marcus Bart to the rookie that they play forgot

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Speaker 1: his name the kid? Yeah, yeah, pin picture. They go

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Speaker 1: to him and he had a good like he had

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Speaker 1: he had a few shots. But I feel like from

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Speaker 1: there that's when they kind of get hurt with their

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Speaker 1: talent level. They have like Nie Smith that's in the

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Speaker 1: rotation as well, So I think that's where their struggle.

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Speaker 1: They have a really good top six, I mean Smart,

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Speaker 1: Tatum Brown, UH can't compete with anyone including UH, including

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Speaker 1: Philly in my opinion, I mean, they swept Billy last year.

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Speaker 1: Even I know Ben Simons gonna play, but I mean

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Speaker 1: still like that's that's something that happened. So so they're

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Speaker 1: gonna be a tough out for sure. Yeah, you know

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Speaker 1: they there. If you listen to anybody who watches the

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Speaker 1: Celtics a lot, your your stereotypical Boston fans. The bench

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Speaker 1: is what what they've complained about the most this year.

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Speaker 1: They trust their starting Yeah, you know been when Kemba

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Speaker 1: was struggling. They talk a lot about how uh they

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Speaker 1: counted on it on him to eventually be able to contribute,

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Speaker 1: and he's he's kind of slid down into a lesser role.

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Speaker 1: I thought he had it going pretty good last night

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Speaker 1: and he only took like I think he only took

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Speaker 1: like twelve shots or something like that. So it's not

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Speaker 1: like he's super aggressive anymore. Um. But their bench has

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Speaker 1: been super inconsistent, always has been. That's been their weakness.

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Speaker 1: The thing that I always say is that, though, is

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Speaker 1: that the bench is much less important in the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: I mean, they think about the Clippers last year. People

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Speaker 1: were obsessed with their bench and and what they did,

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Speaker 1: and then literally they in the playoffs, they just, uh,

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Speaker 1: the bench was meaningless and if anything was was their

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Speaker 1: weak point just because of the fact that a team

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Speaker 1: shrink their rotation and all of a sudden, your bench

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Speaker 1: lineups aren't going against bench lineups are gonna be going

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Speaker 1: against starters more often and and they're just gonna get beat. Um.

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Speaker 1: But Yeah, Like I think I thought it was an

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Speaker 1: interesting test for them, just because it goes to show you.

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Speaker 1: It's it's an example of how they're gonna have to

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Speaker 1: be the Clippers, which is you. You you have to

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Speaker 1: make them feel like they're playing in a crowd, you know,

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Speaker 1: like Jalen Brown was too comfortable yesterday. Jalen Brown is

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Speaker 1: a decent ball handler. He had that behind the back

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Speaker 1: dribble going like crazy last night in the second half

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Speaker 1: he had too unbelievably nasty behind the back dribbles. But

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Speaker 1: he's not like a really really high level ball handler.

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Speaker 1: If you make him feel like he's playing in traffic,

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Speaker 1: he's gonna be sloppy, he's gonna make mistakes, You're gonna

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Speaker 1: get steals, you're gonna be able to to turn them over.

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Speaker 1: And the same goes for Tatum, who's generally considered, like

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Speaker 1: as far as wings go, an average to below average

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Speaker 1: ball handlers. So bottom line, like, I thought it was

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Speaker 1: a good challenge for them. I expected them to get beat.

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Speaker 1: But at the same time, like if they if they

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Speaker 1: have the eighties and the Lebrons to kind of add

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Speaker 1: a little bit more of a switching element, a little

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Speaker 1: bit more athleticism around the rim. It makes them significantly

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Speaker 1: better and ma more capable of making them play in

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Speaker 1: a crowd and making them struggle. I wouldn't worry about

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Speaker 1: that matchup. Boston's not coming out of the East anyway,

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Speaker 1: but I wouldn't worry about them in that matchup. I

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Speaker 1: just think it's an interesting like they're the Clippers of

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Speaker 1: the East, and it's an interesting just challenge for them

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Speaker 1: to kind of figure out, because that's what it's gonna be. Like,

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Speaker 1: There's gonna be a lot of Paul George coming off

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Speaker 1: screens and and and Alex Caruzo is not gonna be

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Speaker 1: able to bother him as much. And I think West

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Speaker 1: is really the only one of the smaller guards that

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Speaker 1: can really give some of those guys some trouble, particularly Kauai,

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Speaker 1: just because he tries to play so much with strength.

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Speaker 1: But it's just an interesting matchup for them. But I

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Speaker 1: wanted to transition to the injuries, so just so obviously

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Speaker 1: last night, Marc Gasol basically breaks his pinky on his

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Speaker 1: left hand. Uh. Andre Drummond gets his foot stomped on.

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Speaker 1: Uh Uh. Dennistrator has a foot infection, which I'm wondering

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Speaker 1: what that is. It could be a number of different things. Uh,

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Speaker 1: my guess is that it might be something like along

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Speaker 1: the lines of an ingrown ton ail kind of deal.

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Speaker 1: A basketball players deal with that a lot, where like

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Speaker 1: your toe just like so many times gets rammed into

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Speaker 1: the front of your shoe that that area just kind

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Speaker 1: of like swells up, and then when if there's any

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Speaker 1: sort of break in the skin, it just can get

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Speaker 1: infected um and that can be super painful. And then

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Speaker 1: obviously a d is gonna be dealing with minutes restrictions

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Speaker 1: when he comes back at some point in the next

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Speaker 1: few days. And then Lebron appears to still be a

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Speaker 1: couple of weeks out. So just what is your overall

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Speaker 1: like outlook on the Lakers in their health and what

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Speaker 1: it means for them moving forward. Yeah, so I feel like, again,

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Speaker 1: I feel like they're playing with house money right now

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Speaker 1: because they went went four and three on the road trip, right, Like, like,

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Speaker 1: if you do that, you can kind of go through

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Speaker 1: these games. I mean, Boston wasn't really winnable. These next

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Speaker 1: two against Utah are probably not very winnable, right, and

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Speaker 1: like if you can split these great and then you

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Speaker 1: have it. I think you have two games against Dallas

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Speaker 1: as well coming up, So if you can just get

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Speaker 1: a split in any of that, I think they're fine.

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Speaker 1: Their injuries that are starting to pile up, it is

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Speaker 1: kind of crazy, um, everyone who coming. Drummond's been here

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Speaker 1: like three weeks and he's already had two injuries is

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Speaker 1: just pretty insane. Markie Morris is out. I don't know,

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Speaker 1: I forgot what he's out for, um, but yeah, he's

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Speaker 1: also out. He was a big part of why they're

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Speaker 1: four and three on that road trip, Like, he was

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Speaker 1: a big part of their offense, be able to give

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Speaker 1: it to him, scoring the post and things like that.

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Speaker 1: So like it's tough. I feel like I feel like

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Speaker 1: when Adi gets back though, it'll really put everyone in

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Speaker 1: the correct role, like no matter who was there, I

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Speaker 1: guess because he can play the five, play the four,

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Speaker 1: even when the minutes of restriction, it gives like a

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Speaker 1: it gives a clarity to the offense where the ball

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Speaker 1: should go. Um and just give them some more structured

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Speaker 1: you could tell last night even like there's just no structure,

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Speaker 1: especially because the team like Boston, who has the capability

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Speaker 1: to be a good defensive team, they really took them

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Speaker 1: out of their their place. KCP really struggled. I think

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Speaker 1: the four starters not including Gasoul were like three for

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Speaker 1: nineteen in the first half, and that's just because of

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Speaker 1: the shot selection they were taking. It was awful shots.

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Speaker 1: Kuzma shooter, all taking contested three pointers trying to get

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Speaker 1: those to go. So that, like the injuries, that's part

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Speaker 1: of the season. But again, you have like a month

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Speaker 1: to get healthy here. I feel like these are all

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Speaker 1: pretty minor, right. I think the market Saul one is

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Speaker 1: like a week for his pinky um the drum, and

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Speaker 1: one I think the toe is just pain management. He

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Speaker 1: said he got stepped on again. Markis Morris doesn't seem

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Speaker 1: like he'll be out too long. And then a d

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Speaker 1: obviously it should be back by Monday or something like that.

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Speaker 1: So they're not huge injuries, but they do pile up

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Speaker 1: on a team was already shorthanded already, you know, playing

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Speaker 1: all these games in a short amount of time. I

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Speaker 1: think they played like I think the broadcast said they

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Speaker 1: played thirty five games in like sixty days, which is

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Speaker 1: just insane for the schedule that's going on. So like

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Speaker 1: that's where they I am with the injuries. How about

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Speaker 1: you what do you what do you feel about? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: none of them are major, which is significant in the

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Speaker 1: sense that like a d and in his shoot around

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Speaker 1: stuff that I see, he looks more or less like

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Speaker 1: he used to. I mean, I expect him to have

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Speaker 1: a slow start as he kind of gets to see

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Speaker 1: legs in basketball shape kind of thing. And then Lebron

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Speaker 1: same exactly the same exact type of vibe. But the

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Speaker 1: bottom line is, like any you can attribute a lot

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Speaker 1: of these injuries to wear and tear, right, like a

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Speaker 1: lot of I mean, some of them are just bad luck,

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Speaker 1: like the drumm and getting his tonnailed ripped off, that's

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Speaker 1: bad luck. Marcosol breaking his pinky, that's bad luck. Like

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Speaker 1: Lebron ankle injury, that's bad luck. Some of the stuff

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Speaker 1: that was wear and tear. Anthony Davis, that's wear and

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Speaker 1: tearor injury like Dennis Shrewder. I know we don't really

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Speaker 1: know the details, but I would he's been kind of

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Speaker 1: banged up lately. I would imagine that that's probably wear

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Speaker 1: and tear. You know, you can tribute it to that.

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Speaker 1: So the question then becomes like in a playoff series,

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Speaker 1: when the schedule gets stretched out, you're never playing it

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Speaker 1: back to back. Anytime you travel, usually they give you

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Speaker 1: a second day off in that travel day. Uh, it's

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Speaker 1: going to be more of a traditional playoff schedule. You're

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Speaker 1: never in any city for more than three or four

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Speaker 1: days at a time. You're always you're getting to go

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Speaker 1: back home. And then just just in general, it's a

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Speaker 1: much more manageable basketball schedule. And so as long as

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Speaker 1: as long as everybody gets healthy by then, I have

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Speaker 1: I generally believe that they're going to be able to,

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Speaker 1: you know, uh like kind of do a better job

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Speaker 1: of just maintaining and avoiding the wear and tear type

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Speaker 1: of injuries that can cause them problems moving forward. But

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Speaker 1: it's just that this is where their depth is an advantage. Like,

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Speaker 1: the truth of the matter is is the Lakers have

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Speaker 1: never really been this season. They've never really been a

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Speaker 1: rim protection team. Last year they were in the playoffs,

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Speaker 1: are going to be but this year, because of Drummond

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Speaker 1: not being here for the most part, you know, Marcosol

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Speaker 1: basically being their only center because Anthony Davis has been out,

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Speaker 1: they've been thriving defending without that size. So I they

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Speaker 1: should be able to do a better job than they

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Speaker 1: did last night. I just thought it wasn't their best

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Speaker 1: defensive effort. I thought they let Jalen get too comfortable

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Speaker 1: and then he just started taking off on them. But theoretically, uh,

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Speaker 1: they they their depth is an advantage here. They should

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Speaker 1: be able to Like Mark Keith is out, you don't

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Speaker 1: even really notice in the rotation because there's just so

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Speaker 1: many guys that can play. You know, the Drummond's out,

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Speaker 1: you don't even notice because there's so many guys that

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Speaker 1: can play. So their depth is an asset. You take

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Speaker 1: their they should take their Like Dennis should not have

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Speaker 1: played last night. That's kind of my opinion on it.

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Speaker 1: Like he's got a foot infection. What's he doing out there?

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Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Right? Yeah, some someone told me,

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Speaker 1: like I think I was critical of Dennis, and they

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Speaker 1: said he has an injury. I was like, well, I mean,

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Speaker 1: if you're playing, I'm gonna treat you as if you're playing,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like, I understand people are hurt,

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Speaker 1: but like, if we're gonna play, I expect a certain

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Speaker 1: standard of play, like or just sit out. I'd rather

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Speaker 1: him sit out than look how we did last night,

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Speaker 1: at least like he looked really slow. He couldn't get

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Speaker 1: by Tristan Thompson on switches. Boston was switching a lot,

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Speaker 1: and he just could not get by him. So I'd

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Speaker 1: rather those guys just take out and rest. And you

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Speaker 1: can never be too careful. I mean, we saw what

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Speaker 1: happened with Jamal Murray recently, right I'm drewing Murray just

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Speaker 1: like towards his a c L that, which is really sad,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, you could see what could happen if you

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Speaker 1: rush back. So I would like those guys to kind

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Speaker 1: of sit out now. People say that injury isn't really

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Speaker 1: connected to anything, but like I feel like some kind

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Speaker 1: of wear and tear or over compensation of his I

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Speaker 1: think he had his right knee hurting and then he

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Speaker 1: tore his left knee a c L or you know.

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Speaker 1: I'm not a doctor, but I feel like those two

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Speaker 1: things are kind of connected. So you want people to

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Speaker 1: sit out and wait until they're good enough to come back,

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Speaker 1: so right now they can fight through it. In Dallas,

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Speaker 1: I think, I mean, Luca just hit a ridiculous shot

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Speaker 1: I think recently to give Dallas a win, but they're

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Speaker 1: not waiting at an incredible pace right now. I think

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Speaker 1: the three games back, Um, Denver, I think you're expecting

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Speaker 1: them to fall a little bit. So I feel like

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Speaker 1: the Lakers are pretty pretty much gonna be locked into

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Speaker 1: that five seed in my opinion. Like, I don't think

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Speaker 1: Portland's catching them. I don't think Dallas is catching them.

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Speaker 1: Denver might fall, but I think the top three is

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Speaker 1: pretty clearly gonna be Utah, Clippers and Phoenix. On this

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Speaker 1: something miraculous happened. So I don't think they have to

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Speaker 1: worry about standings anymore. I'm tired of standing watching. It

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Speaker 1: is not fun, Like it is not fun to have

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Speaker 1: to root against all these West teams every night. Um.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, so I don't want to do that anymore.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, Like I think they'll be fine. I don't

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Speaker 1: think the injuries, uh will stop anything like that. And

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Speaker 1: they're all minors, so all these guys can get back

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Speaker 1: in time and be ready for the playoffs. Their schedule

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Speaker 1: two gets like ridiculous, a crowded here. Over the next month,

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Speaker 1: there's like, if I remember correctly, there's like four stretches

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Speaker 1: of back to backs in their next like twelve games.

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Speaker 1: So it's like even if Lebron came back in a

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Speaker 1: week you're still looking at uh like a d on

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Speaker 1: a minutes restriction. Lebron will probably be on some kind

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Speaker 1: of minutes restriction. They probably will take a bunch of

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Speaker 1: these games off and back to back. So it's not

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Speaker 1: like they're really cute up to go on some crazy

401
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Speaker 1: run in the standings anyway, because they're dealing with the

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Speaker 1: simple fact that they that the schedule is working against them. So,

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Speaker 1: you know, I agree with you, like Portland, Portland's not

404
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Speaker 1: good enough to to let them drop back past number

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Speaker 1: six in my opinion, And and the Lakers always have

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Speaker 1: that extra gear they can get to playing guys. If

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Speaker 1: it push comes to shove and it's like we're one

408
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Speaker 1: game back of of getting to lock down this particular seed,

409
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Speaker 1: they can go on a run in the last couple

410
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Speaker 1: of weeks of the season. My guess is they will anyway,

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Speaker 1: just for the simple fact of trying to build some

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Speaker 1: sort of rhythm and consistency going into the playoffs. But

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Speaker 1: I think they're I think they're in good shape. I mean, we, uh,

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Speaker 1: what were the things that we really were looking forward

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Speaker 1: during this run. We wanted to see if they could

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Speaker 1: still defend. We wanted to see if they could rediscover

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Speaker 1: their jump shooting. We wanted to see, you know, if

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Speaker 1: there was any other uh guys that could kind of

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Speaker 1: find their sea legs in the middle of the season.

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Speaker 1: Guess what, Dennis, even though he struggled, as you know,

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Speaker 1: the guy who was receiving the vast majority of the

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Speaker 1: defensive attention, he succeeded in the sense that he did

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Speaker 1: so in a way that allowed the Lakers to win games.

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Speaker 1: They won six of these games. That's awesome. They he

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Speaker 1: defended extremely well. He did show against specific matchups that

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Speaker 1: he can still attack the rim against centers and do

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Speaker 1: the things that the Lakers will need him to do

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Speaker 1: in a playoff series. Kyle Kuzman had a few moments,

429
00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:14,639
Speaker 1: which is impressive because he has been dealing with some

430
00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:19,000
Speaker 1: nagging stuff with his calf. Mark Kith Morris is legitimately

431
00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,440
Speaker 1: better than he was last year. He's a better basketball

432
00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:23,520
Speaker 1: player than he was last year. He's more thin, he's

433
00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:25,600
Speaker 1: more mobile, He's got a lot more of an in

434
00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:27,399
Speaker 1: between game. Last year he was kind of more of

435
00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:29,199
Speaker 1: just a spot up shooter. He's a guy you can

436
00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:31,159
Speaker 1: throw down to on the block and he can make plays.

437
00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:34,159
Speaker 1: Alex Cruso's jump shot is like a revelation that's a

438
00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:36,960
Speaker 1: huge deal. And and and there's and then and then

439
00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:39,800
Speaker 1: Ben McLamore, even though he's been dealing with the lack

440
00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,280
Speaker 1: of shot quality, is still an incredible option for the Lakers.

441
00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:45,320
Speaker 1: So they're they're in a really good shape. And and

442
00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:47,520
Speaker 1: you know, the most important thing to keep in mind

443
00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,080
Speaker 1: is the Lakers have fallback lineups they can go to

444
00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:51,879
Speaker 1: if things don't work, Like if Lebron and n A

445
00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:54,280
Speaker 1: D come back and the drum and fit just isn't

446
00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,080
Speaker 1: really there and and you know, for whatever reason, like

447
00:19:57,400 --> 00:19:59,560
Speaker 1: the shooter is not vibein with Lebron and a D.

448
00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,000
Speaker 1: They all always hint can go to a lineup that

449
00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,600
Speaker 1: consists of A D at the five, Lebron at the four,

450
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:09,320
Speaker 1: and KCP and Alex Crusoe and you know, Wesley Nazis

451
00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:11,760
Speaker 1: or something, and they'll have chemistry that they've built up

452
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:13,760
Speaker 1: over a year and a half. And so they have

453
00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:16,800
Speaker 1: like backup lineups so they can go to. I I

454
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:18,960
Speaker 1: would say that this stretch without Lebron and a D

455
00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:22,360
Speaker 1: has been revealing in a good way. And as long

456
00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:24,800
Speaker 1: as Lebron and a D are healthy, I would be

457
00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:29,120
Speaker 1: just as optimistic as I was before the season. Yeah,

458
00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:31,040
Speaker 1: and I feel like this, uh, if there's any silver

459
00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:33,119
Speaker 1: lining to the Drummond injury, it kind of got Marcus

460
00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:35,240
Speaker 1: Salt going as well. You could tell it like lit

461
00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:37,639
Speaker 1: a fire under him. Um. I always call him a

462
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:39,680
Speaker 1: release valve, like when shooter has nowhere to go. He

463
00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:41,800
Speaker 1: got a kick to him and he was taking the threes.

464
00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:44,000
Speaker 1: I think he had like five threes last night or something,

465
00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,240
Speaker 1: and he was aggressive. Um, he was even rolling to

466
00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,520
Speaker 1: the ram shooting that little mid range shot. I want

467
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:50,360
Speaker 1: him to shoot more like. I don't think he ever

468
00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:52,560
Speaker 1: shoots enough. Um, he'll never be that kind of like,

469
00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,359
Speaker 1: uh selfish kind of player. Will he'll shoot like crazy.

470
00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:56,960
Speaker 1: But I just he just needs to on this team

471
00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:59,200
Speaker 1: for right now. And I love that he's aggressive. He's

472
00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:01,320
Speaker 1: in a rhythm. You a tell, Um, it sucks that

473
00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:04,560
Speaker 1: he broke his pinky or dislocated or however, however painful

474
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,560
Speaker 1: that must have felt. But how he it's great that

475
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:09,800
Speaker 1: he's kind of he's kind of gotten going and hopefully

476
00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:12,160
Speaker 1: this doesn't kill his rhythm because he was willing playing well.

477
00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:14,720
Speaker 1: Um he was. He was playing okay defensively, Again, that's

478
00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:16,800
Speaker 1: not a game for him. To be playing out there

479
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:18,560
Speaker 1: and switching. But it's just good to see him in

480
00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:21,560
Speaker 1: a rhythm offensively. Looked like the old Marcusol. You know,

481
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:23,800
Speaker 1: he gets to the rim, he finishes at the basket,

482
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,320
Speaker 1: he's taking his little midrange. I think the Lakers first

483
00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:28,439
Speaker 1: points last night was a post up to him and

484
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:30,520
Speaker 1: he hit like a fade away jumper. Um. I think

485
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:32,560
Speaker 1: that got them going. And again he just kept pulling

486
00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:35,520
Speaker 1: from three because they left him open. That's exactly what

487
00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:37,240
Speaker 1: they did in the playoffs as well. If you talked

488
00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:39,520
Speaker 1: to any um Toronto Raptors fan, they'll tell you that

489
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:42,320
Speaker 1: Marcusol kind of got played off the floor against Boston

490
00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:44,159
Speaker 1: because he wouldn't shoot, he wouldn't take that three, and

491
00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:45,680
Speaker 1: they would play off him. And they did the same

492
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:47,960
Speaker 1: thing last night. Now you can see his defensive problems

493
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:49,480
Speaker 1: as well, but he's gonna need to take that shot,

494
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:51,680
Speaker 1: especially even when a d gets back, Like I need

495
00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:53,719
Speaker 1: him pulling from there because he's too good a shooter

496
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:55,919
Speaker 1: to pass these up and try to find guys in

497
00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,000
Speaker 1: back cuts when the centers already in the paint, like

498
00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:00,159
Speaker 1: it's really tough to kind of create from there. He

499
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,199
Speaker 1: had a couple of wild passes last night, but he

500
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:04,320
Speaker 1: was pretty much the point guard because Shrewder couldn't do

501
00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:07,040
Speaker 1: anything yesterday, so he was the one orchestrating getting guys

502
00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:09,159
Speaker 1: around screen. So if there's only Super lining to uh

503
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,320
Speaker 1: Drummond's toe being uh have pulled off or whatever you

504
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:14,560
Speaker 1: wanna call it, I think it's Marcus All getting going

505
00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:17,200
Speaker 1: and including all those guys you listed. I thought Alec

506
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,679
Speaker 1: Cruso was really good last night. He was probably the

507
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:22,760
Speaker 1: best player other than th Ht in the fourth quarter.

508
00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,520
Speaker 1: But I thought Crusoe was awesome. I thought him he

509
00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:27,360
Speaker 1: kind of changed the game. The game was getting out

510
00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:29,320
Speaker 1: of hand and he brought it back close again, and

511
00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:31,240
Speaker 1: then the Celtics went on another run before the half.

512
00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:33,000
Speaker 1: But those two guys I think really had to go

513
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,440
Speaker 1: in last night, and then all those other dudes really

514
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,040
Speaker 1: played well during the road trip. Um, So yeah, that's

515
00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:40,520
Speaker 1: I mean, all these guys seemed to be going at

516
00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:42,320
Speaker 1: the right time, right, the team seems to be rolling

517
00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 1: at the right time, and then when the stars get

518
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:46,480
Speaker 1: back you can kind of get a full picture. But

519
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:48,400
Speaker 1: right now you're just trying to see guys play well.

520
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:50,560
Speaker 1: On the scoreboard. To me, isn't really important in these

521
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:53,880
Speaker 1: next few games, Utah is destroying teams. Utah we played

522
00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,199
Speaker 1: them twice and then Dallas again twice, So if you

523
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:58,360
Speaker 1: can just split any of those games, I think that's

524
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:00,440
Speaker 1: a win. But yeah, Boston was m be a tough

525
00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:03,640
Speaker 1: one yesterday. Yeah, I don't think Marcus All is gonna

526
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,600
Speaker 1: sit out that long. It's his non shooting hand, it's

527
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:10,480
Speaker 1: his pinky um. You know, generally speaking, when it comes

528
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:13,560
Speaker 1: to him throwing his passes, his like a little bounced

529
00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:15,639
Speaker 1: passes on backdoors and his lobs over the top, he

530
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,400
Speaker 1: generally uses his right hand and he palms the ball

531
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:21,720
Speaker 1: a lot of the time, and so I don't necessarily

532
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,840
Speaker 1: think it's going to impact him all that much. Um. Also,

533
00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:28,560
Speaker 1: I think, like as Drummond's dealing with his toe thing,

534
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:31,280
Speaker 1: that I think he's gonna want to play. Like, my

535
00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:33,760
Speaker 1: guess is he's gonna be lobbying with the training staff

536
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,280
Speaker 1: to play. Um. A big part of it's gonna be pain.

537
00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:38,600
Speaker 1: I mean, if it's just so incredibly painful, then yeah,

538
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,280
Speaker 1: it might be a problem. But but we'll see. UM.

539
00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean you're right, like they're going into

540
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,720
Speaker 1: a ridiculously tough stretch of their schedule. If they get

541
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,280
Speaker 1: like one or two of these, that's nice. And guess what,

542
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:50,800
Speaker 1: like Anthony Davis playing fifteen minutes in a game isn't

543
00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:52,879
Speaker 1: going to be enough to really swing the tide of

544
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:55,240
Speaker 1: these games in my opinion. And it's not like they're

545
00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,639
Speaker 1: gonna be playing him in crunch time anyway. Generally speaking,

546
00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:02,040
Speaker 1: when coaches have players on on minutes restrictions, they don't

547
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:05,080
Speaker 1: play him in crunch time specifically because they don't want

548
00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:07,560
Speaker 1: them to play in the most intense basketball to start.

549
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:09,399
Speaker 1: Like I think it would be if he started playing

550
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,000
Speaker 1: in their next game, I think he'd probably be another

551
00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:15,560
Speaker 1: week or two before they start playing him in crunch time. Um,

552
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:17,840
Speaker 1: but yeah, I think I think. I think, like you said,

553
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:19,200
Speaker 1: they're in they're in good shape, and Brown and a

554
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:21,640
Speaker 1: d should be really easy plug ins because no one

555
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,119
Speaker 1: really got too far outside of their role. Like all

556
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,159
Speaker 1: of them did a little bit more than they used to,

557
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:27,800
Speaker 1: but it was a lot of shrewder, it was a

558
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 1: lot of Kuzma. And guess what, those guys are going

559
00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 1: to still be relatively aggressive when Lebron and they d

560
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,199
Speaker 1: come back anyway, So I think I think it's an

561
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,000
Speaker 1: easy natural fit. Did you have any other Laker stuff

562
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:38,639
Speaker 1: that you wanted to touch on before we move into

563
00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 1: some of the league wide stuff. Uh, not really. I

564
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:43,399
Speaker 1: think that was pretty good. I think a lot of

565
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:44,960
Speaker 1: people think last night you can just top up to

566
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,480
Speaker 1: the starters just played awful. I mean they were three

567
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:49,280
Speaker 1: for nineteen the first half. I don't know what you

568
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:51,159
Speaker 1: can do with then. Jay Len Brown just had a

569
00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,000
Speaker 1: pretty awesome night. So I think I think that pretty

570
00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:57,040
Speaker 1: much covers the Lakers week. I guess they played was

571
00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:59,919
Speaker 1: they beat Charlotte, And I think I don't know if

572
00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:02,840
Speaker 1: we talk since then, but yeah, I think that was it. Well,

573
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:04,720
Speaker 1: they had a big Brooklyn one, right, but we talked.

574
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,960
Speaker 1: We talked about that one in the Monday. Yeah. Yeah,

575
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,920
Speaker 1: I think I think that was it. Yeah. Yeah, And

576
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,359
Speaker 1: and uh one of the other things I was thinking

577
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:15,560
Speaker 1: about is what I think would be fun to try

578
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 1: and we can you and I can talk about this

579
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 1: a little bit more off the air, but um, I

580
00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:22,680
Speaker 1: was thinking about last night for you know, I don't

581
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:24,720
Speaker 1: think we'd relea sit as a podcast, but it'd be

582
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:26,520
Speaker 1: fun to do. You know, how you have access to

583
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:30,040
Speaker 1: that spaces that's on your Twitter, y, it'd be fun

584
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,560
Speaker 1: to do one of those just during a game and

585
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,480
Speaker 1: just happen where we just talked through the game. I

586
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:37,000
Speaker 1: think that'd be fun to try it and at least

587
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:39,439
Speaker 1: give it a shot. Really stupid. We could never do

588
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:42,240
Speaker 1: it again, but it's worth they be talking about anyway.

589
00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,200
Speaker 1: So I recorded so they wouldn't have no one would Yeah,

590
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,520
Speaker 1: we can totally butcher and it would be Yeah. So

591
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:53,439
Speaker 1: I wanted to touch on a few um league wide things.

592
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:55,600
Speaker 1: The first thing I was gonna talk about was this

593
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:58,200
Speaker 1: markets all dredge thing, and I was curious to see

594
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,119
Speaker 1: what you thought. So the the alert came across my

595
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 1: phone and Sham's. You know, I like Sham's He's my guy,

596
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,760
Speaker 1: have his tweet notifications on It's It's fine, but he

597
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 1: did something that was pretty messed up yesterday. He uh quote,

598
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:16,000
Speaker 1: he didn't quote tweet. He just tweeted out news that

599
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:18,720
Speaker 1: had already been broken literally by the Marcus Aldridge himself

600
00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:21,959
Speaker 1: provided no context. And my first thought that came My

601
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:23,600
Speaker 1: first thought that came to my mind when I saw

602
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,840
Speaker 1: shams tweet when it came across my phone was like,

603
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 1: I wonder if it was kind of like a Carmelo

604
00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,639
Speaker 1: Anthony with the Houston rockets thing where like like he

605
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,480
Speaker 1: started playing there had some big offensive games, but then

606
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:39,680
Speaker 1: clearly Darryl Morey like sat down with him and was like, hey,

607
00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:42,959
Speaker 1: we're gonna stop playing you. And then and then he

608
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,399
Speaker 1: was just like, well, I'm I'm leaving the team, you know.

609
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 1: I was one that was that was where my wine

610
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:50,960
Speaker 1: my mind went first was like, I wonder if like

611
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 1: he's been so bad defensively in his first few games

612
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 1: that like the staff or the front office basically was

613
00:26:57,119 --> 00:26:59,600
Speaker 1: like we're done with you. Uh, and maybe that was why.

614
00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,960
Speaker 1: And then imediately after it comes the hard stuff and

615
00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:05,920
Speaker 1: which is really sad. It's it's sad because my guess

616
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,479
Speaker 1: is he picked Brooklyn because he wanted to win the title,

617
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,560
Speaker 1: and uh, it's it's it's a shame that he's not

618
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:14,719
Speaker 1: going to get his chance. Um. But it's the actual

619
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:18,080
Speaker 1: condition itself that's really interesting to me. And the reason

620
00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:21,040
Speaker 1: why is because I personally have dealt with this on

621
00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 1: a couple of occasions. It's been a while, um, but

622
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,240
Speaker 1: there were a couple of occasions. Once at a Pima practice,

623
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:28,280
Speaker 1: which was the first junior college that I played at,

624
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:31,920
Speaker 1: and then there was a time in Charlotte more recently

625
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:33,879
Speaker 1: in like two thousand and seventeen, where I was playing

626
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:36,639
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, like my heartbeat shifted and

627
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:40,160
Speaker 1: it went from you know, like usually when I'm playing hard,

628
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 1: it will beat it about a hundred and seventy beats

629
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 1: per minute. It's like my I'm really playing hard type

630
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:48,400
Speaker 1: of heart rate, which is pretty typical, um, but it's

631
00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:51,080
Speaker 1: like it's a strong heartbeat that just happens to be

632
00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:55,080
Speaker 1: going fast. Well, there were these in these random occasions,

633
00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:57,479
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, like it was like a lumpy

634
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,480
Speaker 1: like there was like a distinct lumpiness to the heart rate.

635
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: It was inconsistent. It would go super fast and then

636
00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:04,480
Speaker 1: it would like skip a beat. It was doing all

637
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:07,480
Speaker 1: this really funky stuff. And at one point, I remember

638
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:09,800
Speaker 1: I was just playing pick up in Charlotte when it happened.

639
00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:12,199
Speaker 1: But I like sat on the floor in between games,

640
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,439
Speaker 1: and I remember just sitting thinking to myself like I'm

641
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 1: gonna like drop dead here any second. Like I remember

642
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,080
Speaker 1: sitting there, I was literally thinking because it was I mean,

643
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:23,240
Speaker 1: like I could tell that my my my body was

644
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,000
Speaker 1: was weird. I was almost in like a little bit

645
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:27,240
Speaker 1: of shock. And I remember just sitting on the floor

646
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,919
Speaker 1: like any minute now, like it's gonna happen. But I

647
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:31,520
Speaker 1: was in like so much shock that I like, I

648
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:33,320
Speaker 1: like stayed. I stayed for like one more game and

649
00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:36,239
Speaker 1: it still felt weird. And I went home and I

650
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:38,280
Speaker 1: was sitting on the couch and my my hearpie was

651
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,480
Speaker 1: still going crazy. So I've been like twenty five minutes

652
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,440
Speaker 1: and like I was completely cooled down in my hearpeet

653
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:45,240
Speaker 1: was going like a hundred and thirty beats per minute,

654
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:47,760
Speaker 1: just like pounding, and it was super weird. And then

655
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,640
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, like almost like a reset, like

656
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:54,720
Speaker 1: like a click, my heart reaches. Heart rate just restored

657
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:58,080
Speaker 1: to normal. And I was super freaked out about it,

658
00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 1: and so I talked to my doctor and remember he

659
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 1: said to me, he goes like, he's like almost every

660
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:05,640
Speaker 1: patient that I have, at some point in their life

661
00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:09,280
Speaker 1: brings up something along these lines, whether it's associated with

662
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,640
Speaker 1: working out, or it's, uh, you know, you're just sleeping

663
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 1: and you feel like your heart rates a little lumpy

664
00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:17,360
Speaker 1: or whatever it is. And he goes, he was like, basically,

665
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: your heart has a built in defibrillator. It's an electrical

666
00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 1: system that's in your heart that's already there, and basically

667
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,720
Speaker 1: it takes a while for your body to become aware

668
00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:30,720
Speaker 1: of the fact that that your heart is out of rhythm.

669
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 1: But when it is, when it finally identifies that, it

670
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:38,000
Speaker 1: just shocks it with like its own little personal defibrillator

671
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:40,440
Speaker 1: and resets the heart rate. And he's like, so, what

672
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:42,440
Speaker 1: will happen is you'll have like some sort of lumpy

673
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 1: thing going on and then uh and then uh, it'll

674
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:49,720
Speaker 1: it'll eventually reset and it's weird when it happens, and

675
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:52,000
Speaker 1: it can be scary. He's like, but don't be scared.

676
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 1: He's like, if you went to a cardiologist, I'd be concerned,

677
00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,200
Speaker 1: because he was like, the one thing that's actually concerning

678
00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:01,600
Speaker 1: with cardiac stuff is fatigue, like if you just can't

679
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:04,760
Speaker 1: get your energy up, like if you just go to

680
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:08,680
Speaker 1: exercise and there's just nothing there. That's usually has to

681
00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:12,640
Speaker 1: do with a problem with your circulation and the fact

682
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,040
Speaker 1: that you're just not getting enough oxygen to your muscles.

683
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:17,840
Speaker 1: And so what's funny about that is he said in

684
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 1: his tweet, his little message, he said, I'm fine now.

685
00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:27,760
Speaker 1: So I wonder if the doctor's told him, like, hey,

686
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:30,560
Speaker 1: this is normal, You're fine. We ran any KG, everything

687
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:34,320
Speaker 1: looks fine, and he just doesn't want to do it,

688
00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,440
Speaker 1: and which is his decision. He's a grown man and

689
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:39,960
Speaker 1: I get that, and I can relate to how scary

690
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:43,080
Speaker 1: that moment was. But I'm curious to see if he's

691
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 1: actually healthy and he's just spooked, or if the doctors

692
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 1: looked at him and said, like, your high risk for

693
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:51,640
Speaker 1: X y Z. You know what I mean. What was

694
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,520
Speaker 1: your takeaway from that whole thing? Yeah, it's kind of crazy.

695
00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:56,960
Speaker 1: I mean I don't think I've ever had any regular heartbeat.

696
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,520
Speaker 1: That sounds like just just looking at that, that sounds

697
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:01,280
Speaker 1: very pain full, you know. I mean just the word

698
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 1: of irregular heartbeat. You never want to have an irregular

699
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,160
Speaker 1: or anything, let alone a heartbeat. So I thought that

700
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,280
Speaker 1: was kind of scary. I think my favorite thing about

701
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:10,800
Speaker 1: the SHAMS like part of this is like go to

702
00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:13,320
Speaker 1: any shams tweet, right, and then my favorite thing is

703
00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:16,760
Speaker 1: someone replying with like the press release that comes out

704
00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:19,560
Speaker 1: like a minute before his tweet, right, So like he'll

705
00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:22,320
Speaker 1: he'll like say this person signed on a two way

706
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:24,880
Speaker 1: or whatever, and someone will just reply with the press

707
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:26,880
Speaker 1: release from the actual team. So I think that that's

708
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:28,880
Speaker 1: kind of funny. But shams. His shams is not in

709
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:31,480
Speaker 1: chamses in the business of scoops, right, That's his business

710
00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:33,560
Speaker 1: is being first. That's what he's paid for. And I

711
00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:35,720
Speaker 1: mean he's also a really good reporter and all that,

712
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:38,160
Speaker 1: but he's paid to be first. That's what he's paid for. So,

713
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:40,640
Speaker 1: I mean it's not surprising when this is kind of

714
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:42,720
Speaker 1: the out The outlook of that is that you get

715
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:45,080
Speaker 1: a guy who's trying to be first and everything. So, um,

716
00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:47,320
Speaker 1: he didn't lie. He said Alge was retiring, which is

717
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,760
Speaker 1: a fact. He just didn't give the context of it.

718
00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:51,520
Speaker 1: So that's part of the Chances part. Yeah, the Algres part.

719
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:53,120
Speaker 1: It's sad. You want to see players go out on

720
00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 1: their own terms, right, You want to see players decide

721
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:57,600
Speaker 1: when they leave. You don't want to see them like

722
00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 1: have to leave because of a health condition in or

723
00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:02,440
Speaker 1: and all. Just you know, he played a great career

724
00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:05,080
Speaker 1: fifteen years. Um. I think it's funny you had the

725
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:07,600
Speaker 1: Carmelo kind of comparison because I think those two are

726
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,440
Speaker 1: really similar. Um, their their leagues are kind of their

727
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,400
Speaker 1: games are kind of outdated today, right, two guys want

728
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,040
Speaker 1: to shoot fade away mid range jumpers when that shot

729
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:18,360
Speaker 1: is pretty much being taken out of the league, especially

730
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 1: when you're not a superstar like all Drogen Carmelo are

731
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:23,160
Speaker 1: right now, But they still take that kind of shot

732
00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:25,360
Speaker 1: and it can drive their teams crazy. And he was

733
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:26,720
Speaker 1: on a winning team. I don't think he would have

734
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,280
Speaker 1: left if it wasn't something that he was really traumatized by.

735
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,800
Speaker 1: Obviously he was. Um, So, I guess my question to

736
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,040
Speaker 1: you is that, like, how what kind of pain is that?

737
00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:37,640
Speaker 1: Is that like a chest Do you feel like a

738
00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,320
Speaker 1: chest pain with that or is it just you could

739
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:42,480
Speaker 1: you you knew right away it was your heart or

740
00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:44,960
Speaker 1: like my chuestion? What kind of pain is that? Is

741
00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:47,360
Speaker 1: my question because I get chest pains all the time,

742
00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 1: but I like I don't I don't associate that with

743
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:52,520
Speaker 1: like a regular heartbeat. I just associate that would like

744
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:55,360
Speaker 1: fatigue or um, you know, things happened in your body

745
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 1: and you just get tired or whatever. So, like my

746
00:32:57,480 --> 00:32:59,280
Speaker 1: question is, like, what kind of pain is as like

747
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: really painful where you can't sit kind of thing, or

748
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 1: is it just like you just feel yourself in a

749
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,120
Speaker 1: rush even though you're not doing anything. Your your your

750
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:09,840
Speaker 1: body has like a high amount of energy, your stamina

751
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,360
Speaker 1: what does that pain feel? Like, It's not a pain,

752
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:15,959
Speaker 1: to be honest, And and I don't think he he

753
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:20,440
Speaker 1: didn't say it was painful in his thing, like it's

754
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:24,480
Speaker 1: you just know something's wrong, Like you feel your heart

755
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:27,800
Speaker 1: beat like going crazy, and like like I would like

756
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:30,600
Speaker 1: feel my pulse and my pulse would just be outrageously

757
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,560
Speaker 1: fast and then and uh, and I just remember like

758
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:37,760
Speaker 1: being unsettled just because you know something's wrong, Like you

759
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:42,280
Speaker 1: just you just know something's wrong, and uh, and like

760
00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,200
Speaker 1: like it's it's I can just I relate to that

761
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:50,280
Speaker 1: feeling because like in those situations, for in college, it

762
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 1: was at a practice and then the other time it

763
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:55,600
Speaker 1: was pick up, but like the game had no stakes,

764
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:57,640
Speaker 1: so I would I could kind of like I could

765
00:33:57,720 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 1: kind of like float around in the sense that like

766
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:01,880
Speaker 1: I knew something was up and it didn't matter if

767
00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:03,640
Speaker 1: I didn't get back on defense once because I was

768
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:05,240
Speaker 1: just kind of like feeling out what was going on

769
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:08,200
Speaker 1: with my body. But like I feel bad for LaMarcus

770
00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,839
Speaker 1: because he's in like this nationally televised huge game where

771
00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:14,120
Speaker 1: the Lakers are kind of taking it to him, Drummonds

772
00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:16,720
Speaker 1: pounding it down his throat and literally like he's getting

773
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:20,399
Speaker 1: slandered on Twitter. Meanwhile, in his head, he's completely preoccupied

774
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:22,799
Speaker 1: by the fact that his heart is acting up. And

775
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:24,520
Speaker 1: so I can see how that would have been kind

776
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:27,439
Speaker 1: of a jarring experience. And and that's the other thing too,

777
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:28,960
Speaker 1: is like, you know, at the time, I didn't have

778
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:32,960
Speaker 1: a wife or or really a family, so like other

779
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:34,960
Speaker 1: than my you know, my immediate family that I grew

780
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:36,640
Speaker 1: up in, and so like it just was I can

781
00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 1: imagine he just had a fear like what if I

782
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:39,920
Speaker 1: don't get to go home to my kids, you know,

783
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:43,719
Speaker 1: Like it's just it's sketchy. But I'm I'm happy for

784
00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,719
Speaker 1: him that he's retiring. I wouldn't be completely shocked if

785
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:49,040
Speaker 1: he came back at some point, because I think he's

786
00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:51,160
Speaker 1: still I said before that I thought he was the

787
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:54,480
Speaker 1: best buyout guy that was available, and I was like

788
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:58,200
Speaker 1: upset that the Lakers didn't get him. And the truth

789
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:02,080
Speaker 1: of the matter is that he like he's got good

790
00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:06,239
Speaker 1: basketball remaining. And if his heart is clean, if there's

791
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:08,120
Speaker 1: a good clean bill of health, if they do e

792
00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:12,000
Speaker 1: kgs and and uh and look at his heart and

793
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:14,400
Speaker 1: it appears to be in good health, my guess is

794
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:17,920
Speaker 1: the fear will fade at some point, And if the

795
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:21,359
Speaker 1: fear fades, then I could see him coming back next

796
00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:24,520
Speaker 1: year and playing basketball again, because but I would just

797
00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:26,440
Speaker 1: be interested. Like I said, I don't have any intel

798
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:29,520
Speaker 1: on this. My heart thing that I experienced could be

799
00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:33,200
Speaker 1: completely different than what LaMarcus experienced. But I do wonder

800
00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:36,440
Speaker 1: if I do wonder what happened in that meeting, and

801
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:38,640
Speaker 1: if it was one of those things where the doctors like, oh,

802
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:40,920
Speaker 1: you're fine, like this happens to people and then you're

803
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:42,719
Speaker 1: and then you just calm down and you're good, or

804
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 1: or if it was if it was a little bit

805
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:46,520
Speaker 1: of an issue. And the other thing too, is it

806
00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:50,640
Speaker 1: is contact related. So he claims that he got bumped,

807
00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:53,760
Speaker 1: and when he when he got bumped is when it happened.

808
00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:56,799
Speaker 1: Well that the it happened the same way to me,

809
00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,360
Speaker 1: Like I did like a really aggressive drive to the

810
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,120
Speaker 1: basket and dude kind of like knocked me down and

811
00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:04,799
Speaker 1: that's when it started. And like if you think of

812
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:06,799
Speaker 1: your heart as like this muscle that's kind of like

813
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:10,000
Speaker 1: going in rhythm, and if there's a bump that knocks

814
00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:12,440
Speaker 1: it out of rhythm and then suddenly it's just kind

815
00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:15,600
Speaker 1: of going at a different pace. It requires a full

816
00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:18,600
Speaker 1: reset for it to kind of get back into into gear.

817
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:20,880
Speaker 1: But like, dude, it's not like your heart's not beating,

818
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:23,279
Speaker 1: because if it's stopped beating, you die, Like your your

819
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,240
Speaker 1: heart's just your heart's just out of rhythm. And and

820
00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:28,080
Speaker 1: and that's the thing. Like la Marcus was still playing

821
00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:30,880
Speaker 1: an NBA basketball game, so it's not like his his

822
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:34,600
Speaker 1: heart was completely not functioning, you know. Like it anyway,

823
00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:36,080
Speaker 1: it's super interesting And I'm not a doctor. I just

824
00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:38,560
Speaker 1: think this stuff is super fascinating. And I just remembered

825
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,120
Speaker 1: when he said when I read his thing, I was like, dude,

826
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:44,040
Speaker 1: I know exactly how you felt in that moment. And

827
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:46,759
Speaker 1: I did think that's interesting. But the only thing is

828
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,120
Speaker 1: he's like thirty five, right, so I'm guessing you were

829
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:52,200
Speaker 1: a lot younger when that when that happens so or

830
00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 1: something like that. Yeah, And also he's probably more at

831
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:57,200
Speaker 1: peace with his career his life, you know. I mean,

832
00:36:57,320 --> 00:36:59,719
Speaker 1: I don't think retiring is easy for any player, right,

833
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:02,160
Speaker 1: That's that's like a huge decision, that's to put away

834
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:04,880
Speaker 1: what you've been doing for the last forget NBA twenty

835
00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:08,279
Speaker 1: what since he was fifteen, probably was playing basketball. So um, yeah,

836
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:09,920
Speaker 1: that's a tough decision. I don't think he would get

837
00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:12,839
Speaker 1: to retirement without you know, weighing all the options there.

838
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,160
Speaker 1: He's also giving up a good sum of money as

839
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:17,759
Speaker 1: well that he already gave up like seven million to

840
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 1: get go to Brooklyn from San Antonio. Right, that wasn't

841
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:22,680
Speaker 1: an easy I think gave back like six million or

842
00:37:22,719 --> 00:37:24,959
Speaker 1: something like that. Whatever it was um to be bought

843
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:26,680
Speaker 1: out and go to Brooklyn. So it's a big decision

844
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:29,480
Speaker 1: for him to stop playing and and to retire. So

845
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:31,279
Speaker 1: I feel like that's a big decision. Maybe he comes

846
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:33,799
Speaker 1: back next year, you never know, but he seems at

847
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:36,240
Speaker 1: peace with it. So I'm happy for him, and uh,

848
00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:38,480
Speaker 1: I hope his careers, remember, because he's one of the

849
00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:42,440
Speaker 1: old old school dudes that uh isn't really uh played

850
00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:44,920
Speaker 1: like the modern game is now. It's kind of again

851
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:48,560
Speaker 1: like the Carmelo Anthony comparison. I like that one. So yeah,

852
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:50,080
Speaker 1: I hope he's I hope he's fine. But if he

853
00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:52,239
Speaker 1: wants to come back next year, that'd be that'd be great.

854
00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:53,920
Speaker 1: I think he'll be welcome. He will have a lot

855
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:57,319
Speaker 1: of suitors. Um, But yeah, that's it's it's interesting. You're right, like,

856
00:37:57,320 --> 00:38:00,120
Speaker 1: it's a really scary thing, especially but when you put

857
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,240
Speaker 1: it that way, I guess because you make a sound

858
00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 1: at least a lot more calm. But I feel like

859
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:05,879
Speaker 1: in that moment it was probably a little bit more,

860
00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:08,600
Speaker 1: a little bit more shaky, a little bit more nervous.

861
00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:12,440
Speaker 1: But yeah, hopefully he uh he, he feels better about it,

862
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:14,879
Speaker 1: and maybe maybe he can come back. Who knows. Yeah,

863
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:17,440
Speaker 1: I'm not saying he should come back. I'm just saying like, like,

864
00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:19,360
Speaker 1: if if his doctors told him what he told me,

865
00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:23,160
Speaker 1: then there's a chance that like the fear will fade,

866
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:26,000
Speaker 1: because I would imagine like in the immediate future it's

867
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,160
Speaker 1: still like a little sketchy and like he's still a

868
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,760
Speaker 1: little scared. Um. So let's move on to this MVP stuff.

869
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:38,520
Speaker 1: So basically, you know, uh, Tim Bontemps does the straw pole,

870
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:40,279
Speaker 1: he does it twice a year. He doesn't you know

871
00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:41,719
Speaker 1: a third of the way through the season that he

872
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:43,680
Speaker 1: does it two thirds of the way through the season,

873
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:46,959
Speaker 1: pulls actual voters. They do an actual m VP vote

874
00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 1: gives you a really good idea of what the you know,

875
00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:54,240
Speaker 1: the kind of the status of that debate is and

876
00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:56,880
Speaker 1: I think I think we all expected Yogis to be

877
00:38:56,880 --> 00:38:59,000
Speaker 1: the favorite. He's definitely more of a favorite than he thought.

878
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:02,120
Speaker 1: But I happen to be one of the people who

879
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:04,719
Speaker 1: thinks that Embia deserves it. And the reason why I

880
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:06,799
Speaker 1: think can Be deserves it is really simple. I just

881
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:11,319
Speaker 1: think that I would rather punish or not punish, but

882
00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:13,960
Speaker 1: I would rather error on the side of rewarding a

883
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:17,080
Speaker 1: guy who's in a top seed, and the Sixers are

884
00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:19,480
Speaker 1: going to be most likely the top seed in the

885
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:22,080
Speaker 1: East when it's all said and done, and you know,

886
00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:25,200
Speaker 1: as great as has been and he's been amazing, I

887
00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:27,360
Speaker 1: don't you know. I I look back at the Westbrook

888
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:29,680
Speaker 1: MVP as a mistake. And so basically wind to Horse

889
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:33,000
Speaker 1: gets into debate with with bon Temps and they get

890
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:35,800
Speaker 1: arguing and there's some cursing and there's some other stuff,

891
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:38,080
Speaker 1: but basically win to Horse was saying like, I don't

892
00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:42,240
Speaker 1: understand why Embad who basically missed a handful of games

893
00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:45,560
Speaker 1: before and then missed six games with a with a

894
00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:48,440
Speaker 1: knee issue or whatever it was, that I don't understand

895
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:52,520
Speaker 1: why he's disqualified, just like outright disqualified even though he's

896
00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:54,239
Speaker 1: been on a better team. Than every bit as good

897
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:59,480
Speaker 1: offensively and Arguabli even better, significantly better defensively. Um and

898
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,719
Speaker 1: so my I I guess like my question to you

899
00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:05,680
Speaker 1: is off the bat is, do you think it's just

900
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:08,880
Speaker 1: over and the m v P do you think and

901
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,840
Speaker 1: bead has a chance? How much should we weigh injuries

902
00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:14,799
Speaker 1: in this debate? Yeah? So this is kind of a

903
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:17,719
Speaker 1: strange season. And I think like they were talking about

904
00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:19,680
Speaker 1: the previous kind of winners, right, and I ever stand

905
00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:21,759
Speaker 1: in all those dudes who won while missing a bunch

906
00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:24,040
Speaker 1: of games. But this year, with the amount of players

907
00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 1: that rests that take out right, Like the whole league

908
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,000
Speaker 1: is starting to do resting. I'm trying to take care

909
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,759
Speaker 1: of the players, trying not to make them play every game. Um,

910
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:35,120
Speaker 1: the schedules really compacted. I feel like at least this year,

911
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:37,960
Speaker 1: the amount of games miss shouldn't be as big of

912
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:41,360
Speaker 1: a like criteria that would take you out. Especially this

913
00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,520
Speaker 1: is like Lebron probably he missed too many games, Like

914
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:45,719
Speaker 1: that's that's not gonna happen. Lebron is not doing an

915
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:47,960
Speaker 1: m v P. But Yo Kitchen and beat, I feel

916
00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:50,120
Speaker 1: like I think Yokich has missed one like three games

917
00:40:50,200 --> 00:40:51,839
Speaker 1: or something like that. I don't think he's missed very

918
00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:56,320
Speaker 1: many and beads missed ten already. Actually, oh, maybe he's

919
00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:59,000
Speaker 1: not missed any Okay, so in beads missed and beads

920
00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:01,480
Speaker 1: missed ten, he's gonna miss a few more. I'm guessing

921
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:04,160
Speaker 1: going down, going down the line here. I just I

922
00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:07,200
Speaker 1: feel like that shouldn't be taken too much into account.

923
00:41:07,239 --> 00:41:09,239
Speaker 1: Like maybe if you want to give Yokich like the

924
00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:11,319
Speaker 1: if there, if it's a tie, give it to Yo

925
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 1: Kitchen that kind of way, but I wouldn't really look

926
00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:15,600
Speaker 1: at it from that way. I feel like it beats

927
00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:18,480
Speaker 1: still right there. I feel like those two Denver is

928
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:20,560
Speaker 1: only three games back of the Sixers, Like, so I

929
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,040
Speaker 1: know the Sixers have the one seed I guess technically

930
00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:25,040
Speaker 1: in the East, but I mean Denver is only three

931
00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:27,000
Speaker 1: games back, and plus yr Kich is gonna play without

932
00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:29,520
Speaker 1: Murray and all that. So I feel like if he

933
00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:31,200
Speaker 1: can get a few wins here, he would probably be

934
00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:33,480
Speaker 1: my he's still my lead m VP. But and he's

935
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:35,560
Speaker 1: not out of it at all for me, Like I

936
00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:37,600
Speaker 1: know what they're arguing about, Like when I think Wendy

937
00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:39,879
Speaker 1: is saying that the game's missed is probably too much

938
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:42,160
Speaker 1: for embeid, right, I think that was his argument. But

939
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:45,239
Speaker 1: I wouldn't take it into this type of season where

940
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:48,319
Speaker 1: everybody's resting guys, everybody's trying to take care of the

941
00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:52,200
Speaker 1: legs for the playoffs. Um, this isn't that kind of way. So, UM,

942
00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:54,600
Speaker 1: I feel like that's that would be my take on it.

943
00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:57,400
Speaker 1: How about you. Yeah, So there are a couple of

944
00:41:57,400 --> 00:41:59,759
Speaker 1: things that I think are interesting to this, Like, you're right, then,

945
00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:05,040
Speaker 1: gets theoretically are not um that far behind in the standings.

946
00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:07,680
Speaker 1: But my thing is, you know, if the if the

947
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:10,920
Speaker 1: Nuggets end up with the let's call it the eighth

948
00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:13,600
Speaker 1: best record in basketball, and the Sixers end up with

949
00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:17,120
Speaker 1: the third best record in basketball, why shouldn't we count

950
00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:19,399
Speaker 1: that regardless of the gap. You know, the goal isn't

951
00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:22,080
Speaker 1: to finish close to the top, It's to finish at

952
00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:24,600
Speaker 1: the top. You know, Like it's a there's a that

953
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:27,319
Speaker 1: would be like the akins of saying that you know,

954
00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:30,040
Speaker 1: just because you lost the basketball game by one point,

955
00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:34,160
Speaker 1: you deserve like a bigger participation trophy and and for

956
00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:38,799
Speaker 1: the record, like if you know, if Yoki finishes, you know,

957
00:42:39,239 --> 00:42:41,279
Speaker 1: third in the standings, I feel like it's a little

958
00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:43,839
Speaker 1: bit more of a of a you know, clean cut

959
00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:46,040
Speaker 1: finish because he is so available. But my thing is

960
00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:48,960
Speaker 1: availability is just one small part of the story. And

961
00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 1: you know, this the huge thing with Yoki's case that

962
00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:55,160
Speaker 1: gets pounded pounded down everybody is this idea that he's

963
00:42:55,200 --> 00:43:00,279
Speaker 1: having this historic offensive season. And to me, if there's

964
00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:04,799
Speaker 1: one year to maybe not weigh that so much, it's

965
00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:08,800
Speaker 1: this year because this year defenses are struggling at a

966
00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:14,760
Speaker 1: historic level. This year. Uh uh, this year you're seeing

967
00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:19,239
Speaker 1: like outlier offensive production from everybody. You know, like like

968
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:22,040
Speaker 1: the big Yokich thing is like always averaging eleven and

969
00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:24,480
Speaker 1: eight or whatever it is, and it's like, that's awesome.

970
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:27,440
Speaker 1: But Zach Levine has giving me twenty eight you know,

971
00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:31,279
Speaker 1: like you know, just pick pick pick a star on

972
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:34,760
Speaker 1: a team. They're giving you twenty five plus and they're

973
00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:37,280
Speaker 1: doing it pretty efficiently. That's just kind of the nature

974
00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:39,520
Speaker 1: of the way basketball. This year is this year because

975
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:42,880
Speaker 1: there's a ton of inconsistency in lineups, which has caused

976
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:46,480
Speaker 1: defensive problems, and there's a lack of practice time and

977
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:48,960
Speaker 1: there's there were shorter training camps and all of these

978
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:50,920
Speaker 1: different things that are leading into that. So that's not

979
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:54,560
Speaker 1: to say that yokich isn't still incredibly impressive offensively. I

980
00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:57,319
Speaker 1: just think you when you're doing these sorts of things,

981
00:43:57,320 --> 00:43:59,800
Speaker 1: you have to weigh all of the cases. And to me,

982
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:02,719
Speaker 1: a big thing that's in Yoki's favor is his playmaking

983
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:07,200
Speaker 1: and his availability. But but his scoring is right about

984
00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:09,520
Speaker 1: where embiad is, and if I look at him beat

985
00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 1: his edge is his team is better and he's significantly

986
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:16,319
Speaker 1: better defensively. So to me, the cases are a little

987
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:18,480
Speaker 1: bit closer when you actually start to weigh them against

988
00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:21,480
Speaker 1: each other. And if embiid plays the majority of the

989
00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:23,719
Speaker 1: rest of the game, and if they convincingly get the

990
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:26,600
Speaker 1: one seed, and if Yokis finishes in the you know,

991
00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:28,319
Speaker 1: the fourth or the fifth seed, my guess is they'll

992
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:30,799
Speaker 1: finish fifth or sixth because they do have a little

993
00:44:30,840 --> 00:44:32,680
Speaker 1: bit of a talent disadvantage now in some of these

994
00:44:32,719 --> 00:44:35,959
Speaker 1: games coming up. Um, but I think that embead should

995
00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:37,920
Speaker 1: should have a chance. And unfortunately, with the way that

996
00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:40,240
Speaker 1: this works, as you saw with a straw poll, everybody

997
00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:42,520
Speaker 1: seemingly has already kind of turned in their award. It's

998
00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:44,759
Speaker 1: hard turning their ballot for young Ki. So it's it's

999
00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:47,919
Speaker 1: hard to imagine him getting to turn it around quickly enough,

1000
00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:50,600
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Yeah, he said, Levine also

1001
00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:52,360
Speaker 1: gives you twenty eight, but that's a different kind of

1002
00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:54,319
Speaker 1: twenty eight, right, I mean, Yoki is winning at an

1003
00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:58,520
Speaker 1: incredibly higher rate than Levine is, and all the all

1004
00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:02,279
Speaker 1: of Denver's often goes through Yokis, right, Like, I mean,

1005
00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:04,520
Speaker 1: it's not just like one play, every single thing runs

1006
00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:06,239
Speaker 1: through him. I mean it was it was still Murray

1007
00:45:06,239 --> 00:45:08,640
Speaker 1: and Yoki, but it was pretty much a Yoki style offense.

1008
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:11,520
Speaker 1: That he's running point guard and he's playmaking the whole time,

1009
00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:13,760
Speaker 1: I think, and Beat is more going to the post.

1010
00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:17,160
Speaker 1: His playmaking is not as much of a factor for Philly,

1011
00:45:17,239 --> 00:45:20,880
Speaker 1: and I think exactly a team's double team him and

1012
00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:23,400
Speaker 1: he can't create the same kind of way. And like,

1013
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:25,480
Speaker 1: he definitely anchors their defense, no doubt, But he has

1014
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:27,920
Speaker 1: another defensive Player of the Year candidate rennext to him, right,

1015
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:30,080
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons might win Defensive Player of the Year. So

1016
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:32,080
Speaker 1: I know Joe b has been great defensively, but I

1017
00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:35,240
Speaker 1: mean Ben Simmons is right right there next to him, Yoki. Obviously,

1018
00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:37,759
Speaker 1: his defense isn't a you know, positive for him, But

1019
00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:39,640
Speaker 1: I feel like those two are right there though, Like

1020
00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:42,760
Speaker 1: I think the game's missed uh Like, I think Yoki

1021
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:44,759
Speaker 1: has an advantage on that obviously, But I don't think

1022
00:45:44,760 --> 00:45:47,680
Speaker 1: it's a huge kind of waving thing that should decide

1023
00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:49,160
Speaker 1: the m v P race. I think you should see

1024
00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:51,440
Speaker 1: who's you know, whose team played better. I think Yokich

1025
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:53,759
Speaker 1: has Murray out and if he wins still with this,

1026
00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:55,600
Speaker 1: I don't know how you can't give it to him.

1027
00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:58,680
Speaker 1: The narrative is obviously has already taken over Yoki m VP.

1028
00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:00,560
Speaker 1: You could see everywhere in the d and all that

1029
00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:03,200
Speaker 1: is already casting him as NAMVP. But e beat is

1030
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:05,680
Speaker 1: right there for sure. At ten games is nothing to

1031
00:46:05,719 --> 00:46:08,839
Speaker 1: me in a season where everybody's resting, everybody's getting letting

1032
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:12,760
Speaker 1: people stay out, not play back to bags um, etcetera, etcetera.

1033
00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:15,239
Speaker 1: So I don't think it's a huge deal. But I

1034
00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:17,279
Speaker 1: think if it's a tie, then yeah, tie goes to

1035
00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:19,080
Speaker 1: the guy who played the more games. I think that's

1036
00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:22,040
Speaker 1: just how how it will go. That's fair for this season.

1037
00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:24,160
Speaker 1: I don't have a problem with him getting the award,

1038
00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:26,760
Speaker 1: to be clear, I just as I consistently have complained

1039
00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:28,680
Speaker 1: about over the years. I just hate this it's over

1040
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:32,160
Speaker 1: type of attitude. That's that's always that's always been an

1041
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:34,359
Speaker 1: issue for me. One last thing with the thing before

1042
00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:39,839
Speaker 1: we move on to he speaking of narratives, he kind

1043
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:41,880
Speaker 1: of took on this narrative this year that he was

1044
00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:45,239
Speaker 1: kind of doing it by himself. Yeah, And and that

1045
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:47,640
Speaker 1: was because Murray got off to a slow start, which

1046
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:49,200
Speaker 1: had a lot to do with the bubble, and then

1047
00:46:49,239 --> 00:46:51,560
Speaker 1: historically he's gotten off to a slow start in these seasons.

1048
00:46:51,719 --> 00:46:55,000
Speaker 1: I'm not sure why. There's there's no real point getting

1049
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:57,520
Speaker 1: into why. Um, but the truth of the matter is

1050
00:46:57,960 --> 00:47:00,720
Speaker 1: for the last half of the season, Uh, Murray's actually

1051
00:47:00,719 --> 00:47:02,960
Speaker 1: been better than he was in the bubble, like literally

1052
00:47:03,120 --> 00:47:08,080
Speaker 1: unbelievably just every bit as good as as as Yoki.

1053
00:47:08,680 --> 00:47:11,120
Speaker 1: That's how good offensively he was. Basically was like a

1054
00:47:11,640 --> 00:47:14,600
Speaker 1: fifty five forty ninety five type of guy here over

1055
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:16,239
Speaker 1: the over the last half of the season, averaging like

1056
00:47:16,239 --> 00:47:18,720
Speaker 1: twenty nine points a game. I don't know the exact numbers,

1057
00:47:18,719 --> 00:47:20,120
Speaker 1: I have to look it up, but he's been Jamal

1058
00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:22,280
Speaker 1: Murray has been incredible here the last half of the season.

1059
00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:24,680
Speaker 1: And if you look at the Denver Nuggets, and the standings.

1060
00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:26,680
Speaker 1: In the first half of the season, when Jamal Murray

1061
00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:29,640
Speaker 1: was struggling, they were roughly a five hundred team. And

1062
00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:32,640
Speaker 1: then when Jamal Murray got it going, suddenly they started

1063
00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:34,440
Speaker 1: to crawl up the standings and get into the into

1064
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:37,120
Speaker 1: the uh, the mix of things. And so the point

1065
00:47:37,239 --> 00:47:39,960
Speaker 1: is is the way that the Yoki story needs to

1066
00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:41,680
Speaker 1: be told, because the way you'll always see is like

1067
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:44,160
Speaker 1: Lebron has Anthony Davis, even though Anthony David has been

1068
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:46,920
Speaker 1: outmost of the r E Bead had Ben Simmons or

1069
00:47:46,960 --> 00:47:49,200
Speaker 1: whatever it is that you're you're painting the you know,

1070
00:47:49,600 --> 00:47:52,000
Speaker 1: James harden At, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Well, the

1071
00:47:52,040 --> 00:47:54,520
Speaker 1: reality is is no one out here is playing without

1072
00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:56,919
Speaker 1: star help. I mean, if anybody, it's Dame. And even

1073
00:47:56,960 --> 00:47:59,840
Speaker 1: c J is really really good. And before his injury

1074
00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:02,440
Speaker 1: here c J was every bit as good as name,

1075
00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:04,879
Speaker 1: if if not better. So the point is is that,

1076
00:48:05,280 --> 00:48:08,680
Speaker 1: like everyone is, that there's such a depth of talent

1077
00:48:08,760 --> 00:48:12,239
Speaker 1: in the league right now that to me, that supporting

1078
00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:15,600
Speaker 1: cast argument gets a little fuzzy. Uh And and and

1079
00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:17,759
Speaker 1: that narrative with Yokich kind of just kind of took

1080
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:19,600
Speaker 1: on a mind of its own. The truth of the

1081
00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:23,920
Speaker 1: matter is is Yokich is also on a very good team,

1082
00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:28,160
Speaker 1: and Yokich is very good team hasn't been as successful

1083
00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:31,279
Speaker 1: as some of the other really good teams even with

1084
00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:35,000
Speaker 1: him being more available, and so to me, it just

1085
00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:36,799
Speaker 1: shouldn't be as big of a gap as it is.

1086
00:48:36,920 --> 00:48:39,040
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean he can't get the award, doesn't mean he

1087
00:48:39,080 --> 00:48:41,560
Speaker 1: won't deserve it if he gets it, but I think

1088
00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:43,239
Speaker 1: it should be a little bit closer and a little

1089
00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:46,839
Speaker 1: bit more competitive. Yeah, and he can be. It's all contextual, right,

1090
00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:48,600
Speaker 1: this is not black and white at all. You can

1091
00:48:48,640 --> 00:48:51,000
Speaker 1: also say Yo plays in the West, right, and and

1092
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:52,680
Speaker 1: Philly plays in the East, and they play a lot

1093
00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:56,440
Speaker 1: of more tougher opponents, right, the US is a dog fight. Well, um,

1094
00:48:56,480 --> 00:48:58,520
Speaker 1: the East is gonna have some five team make a

1095
00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:00,600
Speaker 1: five seed. I mean, it's just that you can even

1096
00:49:00,640 --> 00:49:01,920
Speaker 1: go with that as well. There's a lot of things

1097
00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:04,040
Speaker 1: to go with that. But again, like the the argument

1098
00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:07,360
Speaker 1: that Windy and Bontamps were having about like, oh is

1099
00:49:07,400 --> 00:49:10,520
Speaker 1: this right criteria? I mean again, it's all contextual. Like

1100
00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:13,360
Speaker 1: you think the rest of Westbrook um m VP was

1101
00:49:13,400 --> 00:49:15,160
Speaker 1: a mistake, right, I mean I feel like it was

1102
00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:18,000
Speaker 1: the first time we saw someone, you know, average trouble double. Like,

1103
00:49:18,040 --> 00:49:19,840
Speaker 1: I think that was a big deal. Plus the story,

1104
00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:22,600
Speaker 1: right m VPS about the story about the narrative. Kevin

1105
00:49:22,640 --> 00:49:25,759
Speaker 1: Durant left, Westbrook had this awesome season, Like, I think

1106
00:49:25,760 --> 00:49:27,359
Speaker 1: it was fine for him to win it that year.

1107
00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:28,840
Speaker 1: I I don't remember who the other m v P

1108
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:33,960
Speaker 1: kind of cases, it was quite okay. Yeah, So I mean, like,

1109
00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:35,800
Speaker 1: I think it was fine. Like, I mean, the average

1110
00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:38,399
Speaker 1: triple double. That was something we haven't seen right now.

1111
00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:41,719
Speaker 1: It's just ordinary Westbrook. Westbrook does that everywhere, even if

1112
00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:44,279
Speaker 1: he's not winning. So but yeah, I think I think

1113
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:46,680
Speaker 1: it was fine. And then the story, obviously with Katie leaving,

1114
00:49:46,719 --> 00:49:49,200
Speaker 1: it really pushed up that narrative. I think he won

1115
00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:52,200
Speaker 1: the MVP as the four seed that year, I remember correctly,

1116
00:49:52,560 --> 00:49:54,399
Speaker 1: and then they got out of the first they got

1117
00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:56,279
Speaker 1: out on the first round or something like that. They

1118
00:49:56,360 --> 00:49:59,000
Speaker 1: lost to Houston. I think it was. I think they

1119
00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:03,239
Speaker 1: were the five I've seen. I don't I don't remember,

1120
00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:06,120
Speaker 1: but they were. They were roughly in the same position

1121
00:50:06,160 --> 00:50:09,640
Speaker 1: of the standings as Yeah, exactly so, but I think

1122
00:50:09,640 --> 00:50:11,960
Speaker 1: that was understanding. Every year has its own kind of story.

1123
00:50:12,040 --> 00:50:14,120
Speaker 1: Every year has its own kind of narrative thing that

1124
00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:16,920
Speaker 1: goes into the m v p UM And I just

1125
00:50:16,960 --> 00:50:18,840
Speaker 1: don't think the game's miss should be that big a

1126
00:50:18,880 --> 00:50:21,040
Speaker 1: deal in the season. Again that we talked about that

1127
00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:26,279
Speaker 1: everybody's kind of uh not really priority prioritizing the regular season, right,

1128
00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:28,520
Speaker 1: This is a playoff This is a get ready for

1129
00:50:28,560 --> 00:50:31,040
Speaker 1: the playoffs type of season. And you could tell teams

1130
00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:33,640
Speaker 1: like Utah they're blowing through teams because they obviously cared

1131
00:50:33,640 --> 00:50:35,400
Speaker 1: about the regulaty. They obviously went through it with a

1132
00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:38,359
Speaker 1: mindset that we're gonna try every try hard, every single night.

1133
00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:40,560
Speaker 1: You see these other teams, especially the ones that were

1134
00:50:40,640 --> 00:50:42,760
Speaker 1: late in the bubble kind of thing, really starts slow

1135
00:50:43,120 --> 00:50:45,840
Speaker 1: and really worked themselves through this season and start to

1136
00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:47,960
Speaker 1: pick it up now. So I don't mind the miss

1137
00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:49,319
Speaker 1: games thing. It could be a part of it. It It

1138
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:51,160
Speaker 1: doesn't need to be the whole conversation. I think we

1139
00:50:51,239 --> 00:50:53,840
Speaker 1: both kind of agree on that. Yeah, for sure that

1140
00:50:54,000 --> 00:50:55,800
Speaker 1: we do. And and I mean the end at the

1141
00:50:55,880 --> 00:50:57,520
Speaker 1: end of the day is gonna end up winning and

1142
00:50:57,600 --> 00:50:59,839
Speaker 1: it'll be fine. It's just I'm just you know, com

1143
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:03,160
Speaker 1: anding about the process um so real quickly before we

1144
00:51:03,200 --> 00:51:04,839
Speaker 1: get you guys out of here. I wanted to get

1145
00:51:04,880 --> 00:51:10,400
Speaker 1: your opinion on this Steph Curry thing because I so basically, Uh,

1146
00:51:10,760 --> 00:51:14,120
Speaker 1: Steph recently lit up a couple of bad defenses. He

1147
00:51:14,320 --> 00:51:17,040
Speaker 1: lit up the Rockets in the Thunder who are bottom

1148
00:51:17,080 --> 00:51:19,480
Speaker 1: half defenses, and then he lit up the Nuggets, who

1149
00:51:19,520 --> 00:51:22,399
Speaker 1: are a below average to average defense on any given

1150
00:51:22,480 --> 00:51:24,399
Speaker 1: night depending on when you catch him right now. There

1151
00:51:24,400 --> 00:51:26,800
Speaker 1: I think sixteenth or seventeen the defensive rating in the

1152
00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:29,759
Speaker 1: league if if I remember correctly, Um, but I mean

1153
00:51:29,760 --> 00:51:33,160
Speaker 1: step has been dominant all season, and if if you

1154
00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:35,520
Speaker 1: go back to what I said in my Western Conference

1155
00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:38,640
Speaker 1: preview podcast, which is in this same feed, I said

1156
00:51:38,640 --> 00:51:41,759
Speaker 1: before the season that Steph season was going to go

1157
00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:44,080
Speaker 1: one of two ways. That he was either going to

1158
00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:47,680
Speaker 1: be like two thousand eighteen Lebron or like two thousand

1159
00:51:47,800 --> 00:51:51,439
Speaker 1: nineteen Lebron. Uh. You know, a team a season where

1160
00:51:51,480 --> 00:51:53,920
Speaker 1: he is dominant and they don't really have any real

1161
00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:56,600
Speaker 1: chance to win, or a season where he gets hurt

1162
00:51:56,680 --> 00:51:58,960
Speaker 1: and he's really good when he plays, but you know

1163
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:01,239
Speaker 1: it ends up and cost them a playoff run. And

1164
00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:05,439
Speaker 1: I was right because he's been healthy for the most part,

1165
00:52:05,840 --> 00:52:09,719
Speaker 1: and in his healthiness he's been extremely dominant individually and

1166
00:52:09,760 --> 00:52:11,320
Speaker 1: the team is not very good now. The difference in

1167
00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:14,640
Speaker 1: the standings between that team and the UH the two

1168
00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:17,439
Speaker 1: thousand eighteen Calves is that the two eighteen Calves played

1169
00:52:17,440 --> 00:52:19,759
Speaker 1: in a week at Eastern Conference. They were able to

1170
00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:21,919
Speaker 1: go on some crazy wind streaks and wind streaks playing

1171
00:52:21,920 --> 00:52:24,680
Speaker 1: against a week Eastern Conference schedule, and Lebron was able

1172
00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:27,200
Speaker 1: to parlay that into a finals run based on the

1173
00:52:27,200 --> 00:52:30,400
Speaker 1: fact that they He played some inferior opponents in the

1174
00:52:30,480 --> 00:52:32,680
Speaker 1: in the in the in the playoffs, but he never

1175
00:52:32,719 --> 00:52:34,640
Speaker 1: really had any real chance of winning the title that year.

1176
00:52:34,680 --> 00:52:36,799
Speaker 1: I mean, even if Houston had gotten through a full

1177
00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:40,080
Speaker 1: strength I think they would have gotten beat. But the

1178
00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:45,240
Speaker 1: debate has become what version of Steph is the best

1179
00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:49,439
Speaker 1: version of Steph, whether it's two thousand sixteen staff or

1180
00:52:49,719 --> 00:52:52,000
Speaker 1: two thousand one Staff. And I think this is an

1181
00:52:52,040 --> 00:52:56,480
Speaker 1: interesting debate regardless of any you know, private machinations going

1182
00:52:56,480 --> 00:52:58,839
Speaker 1: on with this fan base, because I actually think it's

1183
00:52:58,840 --> 00:53:01,760
Speaker 1: really fascinating to talk about when you know, a physical

1184
00:53:01,840 --> 00:53:05,120
Speaker 1: prime matches up with a mental prime, when you start

1185
00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:07,840
Speaker 1: to see the game at an extremely high level, but

1186
00:53:07,960 --> 00:53:10,640
Speaker 1: you still have something in the tank athletically. I've always

1187
00:53:10,680 --> 00:53:13,160
Speaker 1: thought that's super fascinating. It's why I think two thousand

1188
00:53:13,239 --> 00:53:15,920
Speaker 1: eighteen Lebron was the better version of Lebron than two

1189
00:53:15,960 --> 00:53:19,040
Speaker 1: thousand thirteen Lebron because he was most of the same

1190
00:53:19,080 --> 00:53:22,799
Speaker 1: athlete that he was, and he was this incredible basketball

1191
00:53:22,840 --> 00:53:24,839
Speaker 1: savant just with his brain and what he was able

1192
00:53:24,880 --> 00:53:27,200
Speaker 1: to do the game. So I think Steph in the

1193
00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:32,920
Speaker 1: version is the best version of Steph. Now, most Warriors

1194
00:53:32,960 --> 00:53:34,600
Speaker 1: fans that you talked to would tell you that it's

1195
00:53:34,600 --> 00:53:37,560
Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen stuff. And the reason is is because

1196
00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:41,000
Speaker 1: they set up some rules. They set up some rules

1197
00:53:41,040 --> 00:53:43,759
Speaker 1: for how we evaluate basketball players, and these rules were

1198
00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:48,880
Speaker 1: basically Steph's winning. So Steph is the best because Steph

1199
00:53:48,920 --> 00:53:50,799
Speaker 1: fans think Steph is the best player in the world.

1200
00:53:50,800 --> 00:53:53,399
Speaker 1: Now I disagree. You can make a case I would

1201
00:53:53,440 --> 00:53:56,840
Speaker 1: disagree with you, but that's their case. Their cases. Mainly

1202
00:53:57,400 --> 00:54:01,480
Speaker 1: we won and because we on step is the best.

1203
00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:04,720
Speaker 1: Now all of us critical thinking, you know, honest, people

1204
00:54:04,760 --> 00:54:07,319
Speaker 1: could have been like, like, there's some context. They're like

1205
00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:10,080
Speaker 1: the guy you were trying to pass, he had passed

1206
00:54:10,120 --> 00:54:13,040
Speaker 1: him by adding the dude who's also everything as good

1207
00:54:13,080 --> 00:54:15,600
Speaker 1: as you guys. Yeah, like there's some obvious context there.

1208
00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:18,640
Speaker 1: But the problem is that Steff is now not winning,

1209
00:54:18,880 --> 00:54:21,400
Speaker 1: you know, even with as amazing as he is, He's

1210
00:54:21,520 --> 00:54:24,919
Speaker 1: a fringe playoff guy. Like if the season ended today,

1211
00:54:25,040 --> 00:54:27,719
Speaker 1: the Warriors would be out of the playoffs. So they're

1212
00:54:27,760 --> 00:54:30,480
Speaker 1: having kind of a reckoning with their own rules that

1213
00:54:30,520 --> 00:54:33,359
Speaker 1: they set up, you know, And so it makes more

1214
00:54:33,400 --> 00:54:36,040
Speaker 1: sense for them to push this narrative that Steph used

1215
00:54:36,080 --> 00:54:38,880
Speaker 1: to be better and that this is some different phase

1216
00:54:38,960 --> 00:54:41,600
Speaker 1: of his career because it's how they can rationalize the

1217
00:54:41,640 --> 00:54:44,640
Speaker 1: difference between the two outcomes, when the reality is is

1218
00:54:45,080 --> 00:54:47,840
Speaker 1: basketball is a team sport and the only reason the

1219
00:54:47,880 --> 00:54:50,960
Speaker 1: Warriors are struggling right now is because their team is worse,

1220
00:54:51,200 --> 00:54:54,400
Speaker 1: which is basically just a product of injuries, which is

1221
00:54:54,440 --> 00:54:56,880
Speaker 1: just really bad luck, and it doesn't have anything to

1222
00:54:56,920 --> 00:54:59,560
Speaker 1: do with Steph. In my opinion, if this version of

1223
00:54:59,600 --> 00:55:02,400
Speaker 1: Steph was swapped for the two thousand sixteen version of

1224
00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:04,960
Speaker 1: Steph and played that NBA Finals, even with the same

1225
00:55:05,040 --> 00:55:08,080
Speaker 1: knee issues, he would have won that series because he

1226
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:10,520
Speaker 1: has such a better command of the game now, He

1227
00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:12,840
Speaker 1: sees the floor so much better, he has such a

1228
00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:15,160
Speaker 1: better feel for the moment when to be aggressive when

1229
00:55:15,200 --> 00:55:16,960
Speaker 1: not to be aggressive, how to better take care of

1230
00:55:16,960 --> 00:55:21,080
Speaker 1: the basketball. Steph just is better now. And I think

1231
00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:23,760
Speaker 1: it's just been really funny to watch that fan base

1232
00:55:24,160 --> 00:55:27,719
Speaker 1: kind of like reckon with their own, you know, kind

1233
00:55:27,760 --> 00:55:30,680
Speaker 1: of bad logic that they used for so long, and

1234
00:55:30,880 --> 00:55:32,759
Speaker 1: and to see how they kind of put they kind

1235
00:55:32,760 --> 00:55:36,200
Speaker 1: of tied themselves into this into this not yeah, they're

1236
00:55:36,200 --> 00:55:38,960
Speaker 1: they're reckoning with mortality, right, That's basically what's happening here,

1237
00:55:38,960 --> 00:55:41,040
Speaker 1: Like after you win so much and then you're reckoning

1238
00:55:41,040 --> 00:55:43,959
Speaker 1: with like, hey, it's not that easy, right, you don't

1239
00:55:44,000 --> 00:55:47,560
Speaker 1: just win sixty games every year. The Warriors reminded me

1240
00:55:47,640 --> 00:55:50,759
Speaker 1: so much of the Lakers after their three pt where

1241
00:55:50,760 --> 00:55:53,120
Speaker 1: it was just Kobe, right and then it was Kobe

1242
00:55:53,120 --> 00:55:55,120
Speaker 1: and like oh five oh six, and Kobe was averaging

1243
00:55:55,160 --> 00:55:57,600
Speaker 1: thirty five at night, he was having like thirty five

1244
00:55:57,719 --> 00:55:59,960
Speaker 1: and like eight assists. But they were a fringe play

1245
00:56:00,040 --> 00:56:02,000
Speaker 1: off team similar to the Warriors right now. They were

1246
00:56:02,320 --> 00:56:04,719
Speaker 1: finishing at five hundred. Kobe was never going to touch

1247
00:56:04,719 --> 00:56:06,400
Speaker 1: an m v P in those years, but he was

1248
00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:08,879
Speaker 1: just going off. And Steph is kind of in that

1249
00:56:08,960 --> 00:56:11,520
Speaker 1: mode to me right now. It's where like he's mastered

1250
00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:13,919
Speaker 1: the game. At a level where his teammates just can't

1251
00:56:13,920 --> 00:56:15,960
Speaker 1: catch up. I mean, his teammates just aren't at that

1252
00:56:16,040 --> 00:56:18,000
Speaker 1: level right now. It's kind of where Kobe was after

1253
00:56:18,040 --> 00:56:21,560
Speaker 1: the three P and obviously Kobe wasn't. Uh, Kobe was

1254
00:56:21,640 --> 00:56:24,480
Speaker 1: better during that time. Just because Kobe was winning titles

1255
00:56:24,560 --> 00:56:26,799
Speaker 1: during the three P doesn't mean he was better than

1256
00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:29,000
Speaker 1: where he was in his later career when he turned Like,

1257
00:56:30,400 --> 00:56:32,600
Speaker 1: I know, STEP's thirty three, but Steph also came into

1258
00:56:32,600 --> 00:56:34,400
Speaker 1: the league later, right, So I'm kind of using that

1259
00:56:34,440 --> 00:56:37,040
Speaker 1: progression as well. So when Kobe was like thirty three

1260
00:56:37,080 --> 00:56:39,200
Speaker 1: step when Steff is thirty three, Kobe was like thirty

1261
00:56:39,239 --> 00:56:41,120
Speaker 1: or something, some kind of comparison when they got into

1262
00:56:41,120 --> 00:56:43,880
Speaker 1: the league. Steve step state a lot. Steff went to

1263
00:56:43,920 --> 00:56:46,320
Speaker 1: college obviously, so he just looks like he has a

1264
00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:48,200
Speaker 1: master of the game. He's averaging thirty and night on

1265
00:56:48,600 --> 00:56:52,560
Speaker 1: two from three. It's absolutely ridiculous. Um And Yeah, like

1266
00:56:52,640 --> 00:56:55,200
Speaker 1: that comparison just keeps going to me. Like James Wiseman

1267
00:56:55,239 --> 00:56:57,560
Speaker 1: reminds me of Andrew buying him when the Lakers Japan.

1268
00:56:57,600 --> 00:57:00,440
Speaker 1: Andrew buying him at like two thousand seven. Draymond reminds

1269
00:57:00,480 --> 00:57:02,919
Speaker 1: me of like Lamar Odom who like stayed over. Um

1270
00:57:02,920 --> 00:57:05,239
Speaker 1: Shack left, He's like Kevin Durant. I'm kind of I'm

1271
00:57:05,280 --> 00:57:06,960
Speaker 1: not saying Kevin Duran is Shack, but you know, Kevin

1272
00:57:07,040 --> 00:57:09,839
Speaker 1: Duran has a dominant player, similar like when Shag left,

1273
00:57:09,840 --> 00:57:11,839
Speaker 1: and now Steph is kind of trying to carry that.

1274
00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:13,880
Speaker 1: Clay Thompson is like Clay Tops a lot better. But

1275
00:57:13,920 --> 00:57:15,879
Speaker 1: he reminds me of like that Derek Fisher, like, hey,

1276
00:57:15,920 --> 00:57:18,080
Speaker 1: we want titles together, Like, we gotta keep fighting this

1277
00:57:18,120 --> 00:57:20,880
Speaker 1: and I think they'll eventually come back. But again, they're

1278
00:57:20,920 --> 00:57:23,160
Speaker 1: fighting mortality right now. It's just like when the Lakers,

1279
00:57:23,240 --> 00:57:25,560
Speaker 1: you know, went through their terrible stretch and then now

1280
00:57:25,600 --> 00:57:27,640
Speaker 1: we're getting used to winning and getting you know back.

1281
00:57:27,720 --> 00:57:29,600
Speaker 1: It's just a circle of it. And now I think

1282
00:57:29,640 --> 00:57:32,800
Speaker 1: steps better right now, Like in my opinion, his athleticism

1283
00:57:32,880 --> 00:57:35,160
Speaker 1: isn't there, but he's still finishing at the rim um.

1284
00:57:35,280 --> 00:57:37,520
Speaker 1: His layout package is still just insane. He gets to

1285
00:57:37,520 --> 00:57:40,160
Speaker 1: the basket um and no one can guard him. I mean,

1286
00:57:40,200 --> 00:57:42,560
Speaker 1: the defense is only guarding him. And let's be honest,

1287
00:57:42,560 --> 00:57:45,600
Speaker 1: there's Andrew Wiggins on the floor. Um Juantiscanna answer is

1288
00:57:45,640 --> 00:57:48,080
Speaker 1: a nice player, but they're not guarding him. They're doubly

1289
00:57:48,120 --> 00:57:50,800
Speaker 1: tripling Step and he's still averaging thirty shitting for two

1290
00:57:50,840 --> 00:57:53,760
Speaker 1: percent from three on all the whole defense gear to him.

1291
00:57:53,800 --> 00:57:55,360
Speaker 1: So I think he's better now. I think it's a

1292
00:57:55,400 --> 00:57:58,400
Speaker 1: disservice that the Warriors just decided to punt this season

1293
00:57:58,520 --> 00:58:00,920
Speaker 1: is as well. I know Clay to Upson's injury like

1294
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:03,959
Speaker 1: really impacted that, but I mean still it's it's really

1295
00:58:04,080 --> 00:58:06,040
Speaker 1: sucks that we're gonna get I mean, STEP's probably gonna

1296
00:58:06,040 --> 00:58:08,040
Speaker 1: go into play in tournament. They're probably gonna be out

1297
00:58:08,040 --> 00:58:10,240
Speaker 1: in the first round. So but no, I think he's

1298
00:58:10,240 --> 00:58:12,080
Speaker 1: better now. And if that's the debate, I think he's

1299
00:58:12,120 --> 00:58:15,480
Speaker 1: better now. But I mean, you have a unitis MVP season.

1300
00:58:15,520 --> 00:58:17,760
Speaker 1: It's kind of hard to top that with your fans.

1301
00:58:17,800 --> 00:58:20,280
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think I think he's definitely. Uh, he's

1302
00:58:20,360 --> 00:58:22,040
Speaker 1: mastered the game to a level you could just tell

1303
00:58:22,120 --> 00:58:25,000
Speaker 1: he's comfortable. There's no defense that bothers him. He knows

1304
00:58:25,040 --> 00:58:27,840
Speaker 1: every coverage, every zone, how to play every screen, and

1305
00:58:27,880 --> 00:58:30,120
Speaker 1: he defended how they're how they're chasing him. He knows

1306
00:58:30,120 --> 00:58:32,520
Speaker 1: how to get him off him. That's that's how I

1307
00:58:32,520 --> 00:58:35,400
Speaker 1: see it. There's you know, first of all, like I

1308
00:58:35,400 --> 00:58:38,480
Speaker 1: don't necessarily think he's lost a step even really athletically.

1309
00:58:38,520 --> 00:58:39,880
Speaker 1: I think he looks more or less the same from

1310
00:58:39,880 --> 00:58:42,120
Speaker 1: a quickness. Same point, you know, you make a good point, like, Okay,

1311
00:58:42,120 --> 00:58:44,280
Speaker 1: how do you rationalize the fact that he wanted unamous

1312
00:58:44,360 --> 00:58:46,760
Speaker 1: m VP? Well, the same way I rationalized the fact

1313
00:58:46,800 --> 00:58:48,920
Speaker 1: that Lebron won back to back m vps and back

1314
00:58:48,920 --> 00:58:50,960
Speaker 1: to back finals MVPs. And I don't think he was

1315
00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:52,680
Speaker 1: as good as two thousand and eighteen Lebron. It's all

1316
00:58:52,680 --> 00:58:55,680
Speaker 1: about circumstance. The two thousand and sixteen Warriors were very good,

1317
00:58:55,800 --> 00:58:58,120
Speaker 1: you know, even though Clay wasn't quite what Clay was

1318
00:58:58,200 --> 00:59:01,080
Speaker 1: later on, Draymond was apt reolutely at his peak because

1319
00:59:01,080 --> 00:59:02,840
Speaker 1: he was every bit as good as he was defensively,

1320
00:59:02,880 --> 00:59:05,640
Speaker 1: but he was actually a decent offensive player that year,

1321
00:59:05,640 --> 00:59:07,760
Speaker 1: Like he shot the three really well. He you know,

1322
00:59:07,880 --> 00:59:11,680
Speaker 1: was capable of these playoffs, you know, the scoring outbursts.

1323
00:59:11,880 --> 00:59:14,919
Speaker 1: And then their bench was incredible, like the Warriors bench

1324
00:59:14,960 --> 00:59:19,800
Speaker 1: in two thousands sixteen with le Andrew Barboza and uh uh,

1325
00:59:19,960 --> 00:59:23,520
Speaker 1: Sean Livingston and Andre Guadalad. They were literally unbelievably good.

1326
00:59:23,880 --> 00:59:25,680
Speaker 1: And so the funny part is, like, you know, as

1327
00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:29,000
Speaker 1: as we look as we look back, it's it's circumstance.

1328
00:59:29,160 --> 00:59:31,920
Speaker 1: Like the reason why Lebron won back to back m

1329
00:59:32,000 --> 00:59:35,520
Speaker 1: vps and made it to the UH to the finals

1330
00:59:35,560 --> 00:59:39,000
Speaker 1: and won twice was because Kobe had kind of fallen

1331
00:59:39,000 --> 00:59:41,760
Speaker 1: off a little bit, not necessarily, but his team had,

1332
00:59:42,160 --> 00:59:45,520
Speaker 1: and Dirk lost Tyson Chandler and his team kind of

1333
00:59:45,520 --> 00:59:48,440
Speaker 1: fell apart. Derrick Rose tore up his knee. Kevin Durant

1334
00:59:48,520 --> 00:59:50,800
Speaker 1: was still too young, like all like kind of the

1335
00:59:50,800 --> 00:59:52,919
Speaker 1: Red Sea just kind of parted there at the same

1336
00:59:52,960 --> 00:59:55,360
Speaker 1: time that Lebron was peaking, you know, and so he

1337
00:59:55,480 --> 00:59:57,720
Speaker 1: kind of just slotted in there as this like like

1338
00:59:57,920 --> 01:00:00,320
Speaker 1: not default, but just he was way better than every buddy,

1339
01:00:00,320 --> 01:00:02,080
Speaker 1: Like he was on a tier and then there was

1340
01:00:02,120 --> 01:00:04,160
Speaker 1: like nobody on the next tier, and then the rest

1341
01:00:04,200 --> 01:00:06,880
Speaker 1: of everybody was like on tier three. Well you fast forward,

1342
01:00:06,920 --> 01:00:09,640
Speaker 1: it's not like Lebron's declined. It's just Kevin Durank got

1343
01:00:09,680 --> 01:00:11,440
Speaker 1: a hell of a lot better. Steph Curry got a

1344
01:00:11,480 --> 01:00:14,160
Speaker 1: hell of a lot better. James Harden, Kawhi, Leonard Yea,

1345
01:00:14,400 --> 01:00:16,880
Speaker 1: all these guys are now like climbing climbing climbing because

1346
01:00:16,880 --> 01:00:19,320
Speaker 1: the league is just so good that gets what in

1347
01:00:19,360 --> 01:00:21,640
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, even though he's every bit as good

1348
01:00:21,680 --> 01:00:23,240
Speaker 1: as he was, if not better than he was in

1349
01:00:23,280 --> 01:00:25,960
Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen, his team isn't as good as he

1350
01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:28,080
Speaker 1: had when he was playing with Ray Allen and Dwayne

1351
01:00:28,120 --> 01:00:30,480
Speaker 1: Wade and Chris Bosh and all those guys. He's playing

1352
01:00:30,520 --> 01:00:33,440
Speaker 1: with Kevin Love and then a bunch of role players,

1353
01:00:33,880 --> 01:00:36,400
Speaker 1: and the rest of the league is completely you know,

1354
01:00:37,120 --> 01:00:39,680
Speaker 1: like like you know, retooled into all of these really

1355
01:00:39,720 --> 01:00:42,400
Speaker 1: really competitive basketball teams and a bunch of these alpha

1356
01:00:42,520 --> 01:00:45,720
Speaker 1: dog superstars are peaking, and so you know, these more

1357
01:00:45,760 --> 01:00:48,240
Speaker 1: often than not, it's the circumstances. Like, you know, I'm

1358
01:00:48,240 --> 01:00:50,040
Speaker 1: a huge Lebron fan. I think he's the best player

1359
01:00:50,080 --> 01:00:51,320
Speaker 1: in the world. But you want to know why he

1360
01:00:51,320 --> 01:00:53,400
Speaker 1: won the title last year. He won the title last

1361
01:00:53,440 --> 01:00:54,959
Speaker 1: year because he was playing with one of the best

1362
01:00:54,960 --> 01:00:59,000
Speaker 1: defenses ever and Anthony Davis in the playoff run ascended

1363
01:00:59,040 --> 01:01:00,960
Speaker 1: to being one of the top three or four players

1364
01:01:01,000 --> 01:01:04,040
Speaker 1: in the world. Like that's part of the story. And

1365
01:01:04,080 --> 01:01:05,480
Speaker 1: you you never want to you never want to go

1366
01:01:05,560 --> 01:01:08,040
Speaker 1: too far. You never want to make it so that

1367
01:01:08,080 --> 01:01:10,600
Speaker 1: you know, winning doesn't matter because that's too far. But

1368
01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:14,360
Speaker 1: winning is only part of the story. There's a larger

1369
01:01:14,440 --> 01:01:18,160
Speaker 1: story to all of these players experiences and usually in

1370
01:01:18,200 --> 01:01:21,320
Speaker 1: their career, if they are a winner, they will win.

1371
01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:25,280
Speaker 1: Usually so at some point in their career you'll see

1372
01:01:25,320 --> 01:01:28,600
Speaker 1: where the things broke right and their impact on winning

1373
01:01:28,640 --> 01:01:30,240
Speaker 1: was enough to put a team over the top. It's

1374
01:01:30,240 --> 01:01:32,360
Speaker 1: not perfect. There are players who were on the short

1375
01:01:32,440 --> 01:01:34,560
Speaker 1: end of the stick there. But for the most part,

1376
01:01:35,040 --> 01:01:39,800
Speaker 1: winning is the best indicator, but there are other indicators

1377
01:01:40,240 --> 01:01:43,040
Speaker 1: of what a player does to impact winning. Chris Paul

1378
01:01:43,120 --> 01:01:46,640
Speaker 1: is a fantastic example that dude flat out impacts winning.

1379
01:01:46,920 --> 01:01:50,160
Speaker 1: But the stuff just hasn't broken right. And when you

1380
01:01:50,200 --> 01:01:53,520
Speaker 1: look at it, he's historically played with Blake Griffin, who's

1381
01:01:53,560 --> 01:01:56,800
Speaker 1: a bad playoff player, like just a bad playoff player

1382
01:01:56,960 --> 01:02:00,280
Speaker 1: who in addition to that has struggled with health. And

1383
01:02:00,360 --> 01:02:03,240
Speaker 1: then he played with James Harden, who might be the

1384
01:02:03,240 --> 01:02:06,600
Speaker 1: worst playoff player relative to his regular season success ever.

1385
01:02:07,600 --> 01:02:10,800
Speaker 1: And then he played with guil Just Alexander and so

1386
01:02:11,080 --> 01:02:14,480
Speaker 1: like there, the Chris Paul's story is more complicated than

1387
01:02:14,560 --> 01:02:17,920
Speaker 1: hasn't won a championship And I just this is just

1388
01:02:17,960 --> 01:02:20,560
Speaker 1: a downside of the way basketball this course has changed.

1389
01:02:20,600 --> 01:02:23,160
Speaker 1: But I I do think that that that that is

1390
01:02:23,200 --> 01:02:25,560
Speaker 1: it is important to tell the whole story of what

1391
01:02:25,680 --> 01:02:27,600
Speaker 1: it takes to win a championship. And it's not just

1392
01:02:27,720 --> 01:02:29,760
Speaker 1: my alpha dog is better than your alpha dog. It's

1393
01:02:30,200 --> 01:02:32,840
Speaker 1: there's so many other things that go into it, right,

1394
01:02:32,840 --> 01:02:34,919
Speaker 1: And there's no one who watches Chris Paul, at least

1395
01:02:34,920 --> 01:02:36,160
Speaker 1: for me, Like, I don't know how you watch to

1396
01:02:36,160 --> 01:02:38,200
Speaker 1: watch Chris Paul and think like he's the reason his

1397
01:02:38,280 --> 01:02:40,680
Speaker 1: teams aren't winning. Like even in the playoffs, he's a

1398
01:02:40,760 --> 01:02:43,560
Speaker 1: killer playoff performer. You have just like twenty five and

1399
01:02:43,640 --> 01:02:46,120
Speaker 1: ten in the playoffs. He's just ridiculous. So that's part

1400
01:02:46,120 --> 01:02:48,040
Speaker 1: of the story as well. And winning is hard. I mean,

1401
01:02:48,080 --> 01:02:50,400
Speaker 1: unless you have Lebron or Curry or you know, one

1402
01:02:50,400 --> 01:02:52,600
Speaker 1: of those all time greats on your team, you're not

1403
01:02:52,880 --> 01:02:54,400
Speaker 1: like winning. I mean, look at the titles in the

1404
01:02:54,480 --> 01:02:57,200
Speaker 1: last decade. Lebron has been to what ten straight finals.

1405
01:02:57,240 --> 01:02:59,760
Speaker 1: I mean that's not an accident. That's because he's one

1406
01:02:59,760 --> 01:03:01,680
Speaker 1: of the greatest of all times. It's not by you know,

1407
01:03:01,720 --> 01:03:04,720
Speaker 1: it's not by coincidence that teams win titles. Kauai is

1408
01:03:04,760 --> 01:03:06,760
Speaker 1: one of you. I think his game kind of translates

1409
01:03:06,840 --> 01:03:09,080
Speaker 1: as well pretty well to the playoffs. But you look

1410
01:03:09,080 --> 01:03:10,120
Speaker 1: at that, if you don't have like one of the

1411
01:03:10,120 --> 01:03:13,640
Speaker 1: all time or a couple of superstars, probably not gonna win.

1412
01:03:13,680 --> 01:03:16,240
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just how it works in today's league.

1413
01:03:16,240 --> 01:03:18,160
Speaker 1: And I like the Chris Paul analogy. He's one of

1414
01:03:18,200 --> 01:03:20,480
Speaker 1: my favorite players ever. I think he's the second best

1415
01:03:20,520 --> 01:03:23,120
Speaker 1: point guard ever, um, and and all that kind of stuff.

1416
01:03:23,120 --> 01:03:25,440
Speaker 1: But again, like his team just aren't good enough. And

1417
01:03:25,560 --> 01:03:27,680
Speaker 1: if you watch him and you watch the context of

1418
01:03:27,760 --> 01:03:29,960
Speaker 1: his game, you're not gonna say he's the reason or

1419
01:03:30,080 --> 01:03:33,360
Speaker 1: give him rings culture or anything like that. So um, yeah,

1420
01:03:33,400 --> 01:03:34,960
Speaker 1: I agree. I think winning is all part of the

1421
01:03:35,360 --> 01:03:37,120
Speaker 1: context of it. And I don't know how you watch

1422
01:03:37,160 --> 01:03:39,800
Speaker 1: Steff this year and just not be still amazed at

1423
01:03:39,800 --> 01:03:41,800
Speaker 1: what he can do no matter what his team is doing.

1424
01:03:41,840 --> 01:03:43,680
Speaker 1: I mean, he's if you look at his cast two

1425
01:03:43,760 --> 01:03:45,960
Speaker 1: characters there, I mean, he's the only one really being

1426
01:03:46,000 --> 01:03:48,720
Speaker 1: able to do anything so and still averaging thirty and

1427
01:03:48,800 --> 01:03:51,080
Speaker 1: you know, be able to be this efficient, this good

1428
01:03:51,520 --> 01:03:53,720
Speaker 1: um and still at this m v P level, which

1429
01:03:53,760 --> 01:03:56,240
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure the Warriors knew step was still

1430
01:03:56,320 --> 01:03:57,840
Speaker 1: going to be at this level. I mean he was

1431
01:03:57,880 --> 01:04:00,560
Speaker 1: coming off an injury I think to his hand or

1432
01:04:00,600 --> 01:04:03,040
Speaker 1: something like that. So, and he's had like a tailbone

1433
01:04:03,040 --> 01:04:05,680
Speaker 1: injury recently, but he's he's been great, and he's obviously

1434
01:04:05,720 --> 01:04:08,080
Speaker 1: still at that top level. And I think the Warriors

1435
01:04:08,160 --> 01:04:10,120
Speaker 1: will kind of conduct their off season that way. I

1436
01:04:10,160 --> 01:04:11,959
Speaker 1: think they'll be able to build around him a little

1437
01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:13,960
Speaker 1: better than than last year. And they know what they

1438
01:04:14,000 --> 01:04:16,600
Speaker 1: have in all their players. So yeah, I mean the

1439
01:04:16,600 --> 01:04:19,480
Speaker 1: Steph conversation is is funny. I I think you kind

1440
01:04:19,480 --> 01:04:21,320
Speaker 1: of agree with that he's probably the second best player

1441
01:04:21,320 --> 01:04:24,760
Speaker 1: in the game. I mean, I get I get framed

1442
01:04:24,760 --> 01:04:27,320
Speaker 1: as a staff hitter. It's the most ridiculous. Yeah, I

1443
01:04:27,360 --> 01:04:29,520
Speaker 1: think that's all. Like again, I think we talked about this.

1444
01:04:29,520 --> 01:04:32,640
Speaker 1: When you get to the top five, you're splitting hairs. Really,

1445
01:04:32,760 --> 01:04:35,280
Speaker 1: I mean, you're going to Lebron's, deaph Katie, all those

1446
01:04:35,320 --> 01:04:37,520
Speaker 1: dudes impact waiting at such a high level. I mean,

1447
01:04:37,560 --> 01:04:39,720
Speaker 1: you can kind of split hairs on the top three.

1448
01:04:39,800 --> 01:04:42,920
Speaker 1: But um, going with that saying Steff is in that conversation,

1449
01:04:42,920 --> 01:04:44,920
Speaker 1: there's no disc to him. I mean, it's just he's

1450
01:04:44,920 --> 01:04:46,520
Speaker 1: one of the best in the whole game, and no

1451
01:04:46,560 --> 01:04:48,640
Speaker 1: matter what his cast is, he's going to impact winning

1452
01:04:48,640 --> 01:04:51,440
Speaker 1: at a at a super high level, so that I

1453
01:04:51,480 --> 01:04:52,880
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't think. I don't think that debate

1454
01:04:52,880 --> 01:04:55,560
Speaker 1: really wins anything. The Warrior fans obviously wants Steff to

1455
01:04:55,560 --> 01:04:57,560
Speaker 1: get a Foules m VP at some point, I'm sure,

1456
01:04:57,960 --> 01:05:00,120
Speaker 1: um so I feel like that's that's part of it.

1457
01:05:00,200 --> 01:05:03,000
Speaker 1: But yeah, that that's where I either debate is I

1458
01:05:03,040 --> 01:05:06,360
Speaker 1: think I think he'll win one if the team is right,

1459
01:05:06,440 --> 01:05:07,920
Speaker 1: but I don't know if they'll be able to build

1460
01:05:07,920 --> 01:05:09,800
Speaker 1: the talent with them, so we'll see they're they're in

1461
01:05:09,800 --> 01:05:11,800
Speaker 1: good shape. I mean what, your fans got way too

1462
01:05:11,800 --> 01:05:13,960
Speaker 1: attached to the season in a way that they shouldn't have.

1463
01:05:14,120 --> 01:05:16,560
Speaker 1: They should have just understood what it was from the beginning.

1464
01:05:16,600 --> 01:05:19,080
Speaker 1: I mean, like even even like your fans got two

1465
01:05:19,120 --> 01:05:21,680
Speaker 1: attached last year. And don't get me wrong, like I

1466
01:05:21,680 --> 01:05:23,480
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I think they would have made a

1467
01:05:23,480 --> 01:05:26,920
Speaker 1: deep playoff run had they been healthy. Um, but I

1468
01:05:26,920 --> 01:05:29,080
Speaker 1: mean they just they were How many times do you

1469
01:05:29,120 --> 01:05:31,880
Speaker 1: know where a bunch of young players can go win

1470
01:05:31,880 --> 01:05:34,400
Speaker 1: a championship which doesn't happen very often, and like Lebron

1471
01:05:34,440 --> 01:05:37,640
Speaker 1: can only do so much to to overcome that specific disadvantage.

1472
01:05:37,880 --> 01:05:40,720
Speaker 1: But the truth is they have two extremely good assets

1473
01:05:40,800 --> 01:05:43,080
Speaker 1: and James Wiseman, and in this draft pick that they

1474
01:05:43,080 --> 01:05:45,440
Speaker 1: have next year, they have Clay Thompson coming back, and

1475
01:05:45,480 --> 01:05:47,080
Speaker 1: they have the second best player in the world under

1476
01:05:47,080 --> 01:05:49,120
Speaker 1: contract who's still playing really, really well. So they're going

1477
01:05:49,160 --> 01:05:51,240
Speaker 1: to have a much better chance next year and they

1478
01:05:51,280 --> 01:05:54,280
Speaker 1: just need to relax. Um. But I my my phone

1479
01:05:54,320 --> 01:05:55,919
Speaker 1: is blowing up with some work stuff that I gotta

1480
01:05:55,960 --> 01:05:58,640
Speaker 1: deal with, So I've got to to cut it off

1481
01:05:58,680 --> 01:06:00,320
Speaker 1: at this point. But does there any thing else you

1482
01:06:00,320 --> 01:06:01,800
Speaker 1: wanted to add quickly before we get out of here.

1483
01:06:03,000 --> 01:06:04,920
Speaker 1: I think that's it. Uh. I think the only thing

1484
01:06:04,960 --> 01:06:06,960
Speaker 1: we didn't really touch on is that Jamal Murray got hurt.

1485
01:06:07,000 --> 01:06:09,240
Speaker 1: I think that kind of really changes this whole, uh,

1486
01:06:09,440 --> 01:06:11,280
Speaker 1: this whole playoff picture. We don't have to really go

1487
01:06:11,280 --> 01:06:13,040
Speaker 1: along on it. But that's really sad that he got

1488
01:06:13,120 --> 01:06:14,520
Speaker 1: kind of hurt because I think we both of us

1489
01:06:14,560 --> 01:06:17,360
Speaker 1: really like Denver write their new team with Aaron Gordon

1490
01:06:17,520 --> 01:06:20,640
Speaker 1: kind of putting everyone in the correct role and kind

1491
01:06:20,640 --> 01:06:22,160
Speaker 1: of sucks. And people are saying that a c L

1492
01:06:22,240 --> 01:06:24,479
Speaker 1: tear probably keeps them out until a lot of next

1493
01:06:24,480 --> 01:06:28,800
Speaker 1: season as well, so probably impactual, decent chunk. Yeah, that's

1494
01:06:28,840 --> 01:06:30,840
Speaker 1: that's just really tough and it's sad. So hopefully he

1495
01:06:30,880 --> 01:06:33,400
Speaker 1: gets rested up, but it's still Denver is a tough team.

1496
01:06:33,440 --> 01:06:34,920
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna be an easy out, but

1497
01:06:35,000 --> 01:06:37,840
Speaker 1: obviously without Murray it it's gonna be really tough for

1498
01:06:37,880 --> 01:06:39,640
Speaker 1: them to really make a lot of noise. So I

1499
01:06:39,640 --> 01:06:41,400
Speaker 1: guess that's the only thing is that's that's really sad

1500
01:06:41,440 --> 01:06:43,400
Speaker 1: to see around the league that he got hurt and

1501
01:06:43,560 --> 01:06:45,520
Speaker 1: that's why we're seeing Lebron and Adi take their time,

1502
01:06:45,600 --> 01:06:48,600
Speaker 1: Like that's that's why you don't want freak injuries like this,

1503
01:06:48,760 --> 01:06:51,120
Speaker 1: especially in this kind of compact. I think Denver played

1504
01:06:51,160 --> 01:06:53,760
Speaker 1: like six games and nine days or something something like that,

1505
01:06:53,840 --> 01:06:55,919
Speaker 1: So I yeah, that's that's the only thing. But yeah,

1506
01:06:55,920 --> 01:06:58,680
Speaker 1: that's pretty much it pretty much. Probably some of it's

1507
01:06:58,720 --> 01:07:01,840
Speaker 1: bad luck, like like Murray missed some time before that,

1508
01:07:01,960 --> 01:07:03,600
Speaker 1: Like it's not he wasn't actually one of the guys

1509
01:07:03,640 --> 01:07:06,200
Speaker 1: who've been playing all that much. It's just dude, like

1510
01:07:06,480 --> 01:07:10,240
Speaker 1: like people get a little bit over attached. Like don't

1511
01:07:10,240 --> 01:07:11,840
Speaker 1: get me wrong, the schedule has been really hard and

1512
01:07:11,880 --> 01:07:13,560
Speaker 1: it's been tough, but like a lot of people are

1513
01:07:13,600 --> 01:07:16,120
Speaker 1: too critical of Adam Silver, too critical of the understanding

1514
01:07:16,160 --> 01:07:18,360
Speaker 1: the situation. The players did agree to this. Guess what

1515
01:07:18,400 --> 01:07:20,919
Speaker 1: you can rest if you need to rest, and uh,

1516
01:07:21,080 --> 01:07:23,520
Speaker 1: statistics show that injuries are more or less what they've

1517
01:07:23,520 --> 01:07:25,240
Speaker 1: been in the last five years, and actually lower than

1518
01:07:25,240 --> 01:07:27,720
Speaker 1: they were last year. It's just perception is different from reality.

1519
01:07:27,760 --> 01:07:30,240
Speaker 1: We we panic anytime we see anything. It's no different

1520
01:07:30,240 --> 01:07:32,720
Speaker 1: than like, you know, one person dies from a blood

1521
01:07:32,720 --> 01:07:35,000
Speaker 1: clot from the vaccine, even though seven million people got

1522
01:07:35,040 --> 01:07:36,400
Speaker 1: the shot and we don't even know if the blood

1523
01:07:36,400 --> 01:07:38,800
Speaker 1: clot is what caused it. But you know, the perception

1524
01:07:38,880 --> 01:07:41,480
Speaker 1: is is it just causes that. That's just how it works.

1525
01:07:41,520 --> 01:07:43,360
Speaker 1: And you know, but at the end of the day,

1526
01:07:43,400 --> 01:07:45,440
Speaker 1: like it sucks because I actually thought the Nuggets were

1527
01:07:45,440 --> 01:07:47,160
Speaker 1: the second best team in the West behind the Lakers.

1528
01:07:47,480 --> 01:07:49,240
Speaker 1: I thought they were going I thought they were going

1529
01:07:49,280 --> 01:07:51,200
Speaker 1: to beat the Clippers like they were just if they

1530
01:07:51,200 --> 01:07:52,880
Speaker 1: saw the Clippers in the first or second round, like

1531
01:07:52,920 --> 01:07:54,360
Speaker 1: it was going to be the bet of the century

1532
01:07:54,440 --> 01:07:56,600
Speaker 1: in my opinion, and and and they and they lost

1533
01:07:56,640 --> 01:08:00,520
Speaker 1: that chance, which is which is really unfortunate. But um, anyway, yeah,

1534
01:08:00,560 --> 01:08:03,760
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna put the podcast version of this up shortly.

1535
01:08:04,560 --> 01:08:06,959
Speaker 1: Roche thank you as always, and we'll talk about maybe

1536
01:08:06,960 --> 01:08:10,000
Speaker 1: doing a locker room sometime next week. Yep, let's do it.

1537
01:08:10,520 --> 01:08:12,160
Speaker 1: Hi buddy, have a good weekend. I'll talk to you later.

1538
01:08:12,840 --> 01:08:14,360
Speaker 1: See everybody,