Speaker 1: Curious to know what it's like to be in Michael
Speaker 1: Malone's huddles in Denver. This podcast can tell you exactly
Speaker 1: what it's like. And we've also got pulse checks of
Speaker 1: the Phoenix Suns of the Boston Celtics, highlights from all
Speaker 1: of Chris haynes travels this week through the Rocky Mountains,
Speaker 1: and to review, regrettably of all the injuries that are
Speaker 1: stacking up across the association. All that's next here on
Speaker 1: this edition of This League Uncut.
Speaker 2: Welcome to This.
Speaker 3: League Uncut in rule of twenty four hour NBA news,
Speaker 3: this news, you'll Chris Hans, it's so time, works time,
Speaker 3: it's so time. This League Uncut is underway and on fire.
Speaker 3: This should be a good one.
Speaker 1: Everyone, Welcome in to another edition of This League Uncut.
Speaker 1: Mark Stein here with Chris Haynes. I'm a little rattled.
Speaker 1: I have to admit, did a radio interview earlier today.
Speaker 1: We're taping this on a Friday, and they kept calling
Speaker 1: the pod the League Uncut instead of this League Uncut.
Speaker 1: So that has me shaken up.
Speaker 2: Then you just stopped you just stopped them in that track.
Speaker 4: Now, correct.
Speaker 1: I was too polite, even though it was twice I
Speaker 1: was too polite. And then you know, even though I'm
Speaker 1: on the run and traveling and running around and.
Speaker 4: It's been a crazy week, but then I see that.
Speaker 1: What Chris Haynes reported on this pod days ago about
Speaker 1: the Nuggets not being able to go to the White House,
Speaker 1: but it's on TV and then it causes a national firestorm.
Speaker 4: So I'm just I'm shaking by all this.
Speaker 2: Man, the aggregators, they dropped the ball on that episode
Speaker 2: last week. I don't know aggregators a day. Usually up
Speaker 2: to the time, they're usually on point. Sometimes I want
Speaker 2: them to tone it down sometimes but most times.
Speaker 1: But in that case, you know what, it's actually my fault.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe now that now that I think about it,
Speaker 1: I probably should have put it. I probably should have
Speaker 1: written it after the pod, which I do sometimes when
Speaker 1: you when you drop some gems on here, and then
Speaker 1: I'll put it in my next notebook and say, hey,
Speaker 1: you should have listened to our episode. And Chris Haynes
Speaker 1: said a b or C. I did not do that
Speaker 1: this week, and so maybe that's my fault.
Speaker 2: And we didn't. I don't think we tweeted that tweeted
Speaker 2: out that we didn't tweet that tip bit out. Also, well,
Speaker 2: you know why promoting the pod, So it's ultimately Ryan's uh, Ryan,
Speaker 2: Ryan's not in charge of.
Speaker 1: It's not Ryan's fault. I'm just I'm just trying to
Speaker 1: go at him. I'm just trying to go at him
Speaker 1: and get him rolled up since he blamed you for
Speaker 1: the whole Aaron Haynes incident.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. Well that's fine. Didn't go ahead. You
Speaker 2: well within your right to do so. But yeah, Ryan.
Speaker 1: The tweet tweeting the notes, Well, how are you man?
Speaker 4: You had four days in Denver.
Speaker 2: I'm tired.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: You did two games, you had a one on one
Speaker 1: with Kevin Durant, you did a live stream with KCP.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there were multiple large breakfast consumed like tell
Speaker 1: us about your Yeah, tell us about your trip to
Speaker 1: the Rocky Mountain.
Speaker 2: I'm exhausted. I just got home not too long ago.
Speaker 2: But that KCP interview I had with the Bleacher, the
Speaker 2: Bleacher Report live stream stein I had it scheduled to
Speaker 2: do that at twelve pm Pacific time. So new and Denver,
Speaker 2: Denver all week. I was there Monday through Friday. Denver
Speaker 2: all week was great. The weather was excellent and you know.
Speaker 2: That's one of the reasons why I don't like going
Speaker 2: to Denver, because I don't like I don't like the
Speaker 2: snow and all that stuff. I'm not a fan of it.
Speaker 2: I lived in Cleveland for two years, been there, done that.
Speaker 2: But the weather was good. But Friday morning, snow is
Speaker 2: popping off. So I'm like, damn, all right, But my
Speaker 2: flight was supposed to land back here in California at
Speaker 2: ten thirty am, which I'm like, that's fine. It takes
Speaker 2: me thirty minutes to get home. I'll have an hour
Speaker 2: before I got to sit down with KCP. But you
Speaker 2: know what, due to snow delays, another delay, another delay,
Speaker 2: stein And not only that, my flight didn't have Wi Fi,
Speaker 2: so my flight was scheduled to touch down at noon.
Speaker 2: So I'm like, fuck, man, damn, like what I'm what
Speaker 2: I'm gonna do. So right before my flight took off,
Speaker 2: I text my producer a tell KCP, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna be about ten minutes behind. I don't want to cancel.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be about ten minutes behind, and I'm going
Speaker 2: to do it at the airport. I don't think she.
Speaker 2: I don't think she told them I'm gonna do it
Speaker 2: at the airport. I just told him justa be ten
Speaker 2: minutes behind. My plan was to find a lounge in
Speaker 2: the airport, a quiet lounge, but of course no such thing.
Speaker 2: And so I'm in the food court area. I pick
Speaker 2: a table way in the back and starn. There's just
Speaker 2: people on the intercom. Hey gate, see six thirty seven,
Speaker 2: your gate chains going to LA going all through.
Speaker 1: You thought the airport should just stop functioning because you
Speaker 1: had a live stream.
Speaker 2: I thought, I don't know what I was thinking. I
Speaker 2: thought I could find a quiet.
Speaker 4: Attention all Southwest customers.
Speaker 2: Chris B.
Speaker 4: Haynes a Bleacher Report needs thirty minutes of quiet for
Speaker 4: his live stream. We will delay all updates.
Speaker 2: A further note, so if if you could go to
Speaker 2: go to bleacher Report or even YouTube, believe that the interview,
Speaker 2: the full interview is up on YouTube, bleacher Reports on
Speaker 2: bleacher reports page. So you could see me interviewing KCP
Speaker 2: TA say, people sitting right behind me talking, chatting, and
Speaker 2: I'm just muting, unmuting, my my, my, Mike the whole time. Mutant,
Speaker 2: I'm muting, mutant, I'm muting. It's just a whole bunch
Speaker 2: of chaos going on. The back and I had to
Speaker 2: apologize to the to the viewers for that, for that display.
Speaker 4: Or was he just rolled?
Speaker 2: He was? He was laughing. He was laughing at all.
Speaker 2: He was he was laughing. He rolled, He rolled with it. Man,
Speaker 2: I couldn't.
Speaker 1: Well, he should be laughing because the Nuggets look fantastic.
Speaker 1: They just took care of Boston in the supposed NBA
Speaker 1: Finals preview. That Jokic guy is a problem, breaking news.
Speaker 1: He's a major problem.
Speaker 2: He is. He is a problem. Stein. Let me tell
Speaker 2: you this. I was gonna say this story since we're
Speaker 2: talking about the Nuggets. You know, I get to listening
Speaker 2: to I've listened in and heard almost every coach in
Speaker 2: the NBA as far as how they conduct their timeouts
Speaker 2: and their huddles. Mike alone, if he's not number one,
Speaker 2: he's definitely one of the top two as far as
Speaker 2: far as inspiring, motivating coaches in those timeout huddles. Coach
Speaker 2: Malone is cussing people out in those huddles. He's like
Speaker 2: he is just but he does it in a way.
Speaker 2: It's a loving cussing out way. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: If that makes any sense, It's a loving cussing out
Speaker 2: way that you're just motivated and you just like he
Speaker 2: just he has the words to galvanize a team and
Speaker 2: starting so the way the Nuggets in their break before
Speaker 2: they go into you know, go back into the game,
Speaker 2: they'll go one two three together, one two three together.
Speaker 2: And so I'm listening, I'm in the back listening to
Speaker 2: Malone and he's just going off, inspiring his guys, encouraging them,
Speaker 2: going off of them again. And then he's like, all right,
Speaker 2: let's go one two three. And I said, I said,
Speaker 2: silently together. I thought I was part of teams. Don
Speaker 2: I did? I said it. I said it silently. I
Speaker 2: was together, like I was in it. He had me
Speaker 2: transformed like I was about to get in there and
Speaker 2: helped him doing this five minute stress side side. I
Speaker 2: kid you not, I said together, I.
Speaker 1: Said, I'm the guys are from what you see, their
Speaker 1: guys are locked in.
Speaker 4: They're not tuning him out. They're not rolling their eyes.
Speaker 2: They oh no, no, no no. And he's one of
Speaker 2: the rare as you know, he's one of the rare
Speaker 2: few coaches who can be himself and do that. No
Speaker 2: he does. They're not tuned out. They listen or another
Speaker 2: thing too. So I asked him about his approach after
Speaker 2: the game because I was just curious cause I'm telling
Speaker 2: he had me ready to go to war. And he
Speaker 2: was like, you know, he said, all I can do
Speaker 2: is be myself. He said, it's definitely helped that I've
Speaker 2: had success and I won a championship and I got
Speaker 2: I have some tenure, So that definitely gives you confidence
Speaker 2: that you could continue to be yourself, he said. But Chris,
Speaker 2: another thing that I do. He says that when I'm
Speaker 2: in those huddles, I touched the players. I may touch
Speaker 2: them on the knee, pat him on the leg, pat
Speaker 2: him on an arm, and the players will look up,
Speaker 2: look up at you. And he told me who. My
Speaker 2: mind is kind of gone now, but he told me
Speaker 2: who he got that from. But he said, that's like
Speaker 2: a personal that's a personal touch, a personal interaction they have.
Speaker 2: And when the players look up, and he said, it
Speaker 2: does something, just a tap on the leg when he's
Speaker 2: in that time of huddle and Stile, I'm telling he's
Speaker 2: one of the best motivating these guys, getting them ready.
Speaker 2: I said together, I was with them for that two seconds.
Speaker 2: He's really good.
Speaker 1: Well, look, the Nuggets know exactly who they are. They
Speaker 1: have ultimate belief at the toughest times, and that's something
Speaker 1: that the Celtics frankly can't say they have.
Speaker 4: The Celtics have been the most.
Speaker 1: Dominant team in the league this season, but what are
Speaker 1: they lost for thirteen games? Amid those fourteen losses, there
Speaker 1: have been no shortage of games that crunch time. Didn't
Speaker 1: just look bad, it looked ugly, and they are still
Speaker 1: a team that generates a lot of skepticism and questions.
Speaker 1: Whereas you know, that's why as stacked as the West is,
Speaker 1: I just don't see how you can pick against Denver
Speaker 1: because they have a level of belief now and that's
Speaker 1: what winning a championship does. And I'm glad Mike Malone
Speaker 1: admitted to you that the championship is a factor. Michael Malone,
Speaker 1: let's say it properly, because I'm sure that gives him
Speaker 1: the confidence to coach the team exactly the way he
Speaker 1: wants to, which is doesn't happen in every city. Not
Speaker 1: every coach in the NBA can coach his team exactly
Speaker 1: the way he wants to with as much freedom as
Speaker 1: Michael Malone surely has. So I mean, it's just yet
Speaker 1: another element of what makes the defending champions from Denver dangerous.
Speaker 4: But they've got a great duo. I mean, Jokic is
Speaker 4: Jokic is the MVP.
Speaker 1: To me, at this point, teams are basically down to
Speaker 1: their last eighteen to twenty games. I think Jokic is
Speaker 1: at the top of the MVP charts. I guess we
Speaker 1: can argue about that if anybody wants to, and SGA
Speaker 1: is up there, Yannis and Luca I think a little
Speaker 1: bit further back, But the MVP award, to me, it's
Speaker 1: Jokic's to lose now Oklahoma City. If they win the
Speaker 1: West or the number one seed, that's certainly going to
Speaker 1: help SGA's case. But I mean, whether you know what,
Speaker 1: it doesn't even matter whether Jokic wins the MVP Award
Speaker 1: or not. He's the best player in the world. I
Speaker 1: think if you polled the NBA, if you polled thirty
Speaker 1: front offices, and if you pulled players, and if everybody
Speaker 1: was telling the absolute truth, they would say that Jokic
Speaker 1: is the best player you're in the world. So they've
Speaker 1: got a star at the peak of his powers, a
Speaker 1: tag team partner in Jamal Murray who plays off him,
Speaker 1: so well, they function so well as a duo. They've
Speaker 1: got role players who know exactly what their their roles are.
Speaker 1: With KCP and Aaron Gordon at the top of the list,
Speaker 1: they've got a great home court advantage.
Speaker 2: Probably the best home court advantage.
Speaker 4: Do you when you're walking the sidelines, do you feel
Speaker 4: it at all?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I lose I lose breath.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you've got to hustle between the benches or
Speaker 1: run after something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, run after it. And I know no, and I
Speaker 2: know people may think you're exaggerating, and you might be exaggerating, but.
Speaker 1: There are times as the sideline reporter that you have
Speaker 1: to actually run and get somewhere. You could be on
Speaker 1: the opposite side and the team at the far bench
Speaker 1: there's an injury. You got to run over there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you lose you lose your breath. It is
Speaker 2: definitely an adjustment, even walking up the stairs, you know,
Speaker 2: walking up the stairs, if you if you're see there
Speaker 2: is like when when I was when I was on
Speaker 2: the beat, our immediate seats would be probably about twenty
Speaker 2: seats up and you have to walk up the stairs
Speaker 2: to get to it in Denver, and now you feel it.
Speaker 2: It's definitely a factor. That's why I said it might
Speaker 2: be the best home court advantage. Although I will say Stein,
Speaker 2: I've never experienced road fans that traveled like the Celtics
Speaker 2: did last night. I don't know if you heard the
Speaker 2: game or saw the game from I genuinely did not, Stein,
Speaker 2: they had less go Celtics chance And if you close
Speaker 2: your eyes and heard it with the sheer amount of
Speaker 2: people there, you would have thought you were in a
Speaker 2: Celtics arena like they they travel it was that loud.
Speaker 2: But I still will argue that Denver, because of that
Speaker 2: altitude factor, probably has the best home court advantage.
Speaker 1: Well, look, the other big story of the week, and
Speaker 1: you know, obviously we're going to focus I know we've
Speaker 1: been talking about the Nuggets a lot on here lately.
Speaker 1: But if you if if half of this podcast, if
Speaker 1: this podcast franchise player spends the whole week in Denver,
Speaker 1: we're gonna we're gonna obviously talk about the Nuggets.
Speaker 4: So there's no way around that.
Speaker 1: But I mean, the other big, really the big not
Speaker 1: the other the big story in the week in the
Speaker 1: NBA this week is just the injuries, injuries, the lore
Speaker 1: and you know, let's I think because the West is
Speaker 1: what we need to focus on, we should.
Speaker 4: You know, Evan Mobley.
Speaker 1: With a out and definitely with an ankle injury is
Speaker 1: obviously a significant injury for the Cavaliers, who've had numerous
Speaker 1: significant injuries to deal with this season. And then the
Speaker 1: Nets announced that Ben Simmons would be shut down for
Speaker 1: the rest of the season because of the back issues
Speaker 1: that have limited Simmons to fifteen games. But we're gonna
Speaker 1: put those injuries aside and focus on the West because
Speaker 1: Devin Booker was already playing with an injury he sustained
Speaker 1: last week. This week, Karl Anthony Towns in Minnesota likely
Speaker 1: out for the rest of the regular season with a
Speaker 1: torn meniscus. Lebron James, shortly before you and I got
Speaker 1: together to start recording this podcast, ruled out of the
Speaker 1: Lakers game against Milwaukee because of this ankle injury that
Speaker 1: has been bothering him since leading up to the All
Speaker 1: Star Game. And then Stephan Curry sustains an ankle injury
Speaker 1: Thursday night. The word is it's not necessarily serious, but
Speaker 1: I would counter and say that any Stephan Curry injury,
Speaker 1: even if it rules him out only a game or
Speaker 1: two is a massive deal for the Warriors who are
Speaker 1: fighting for their lives. And look, all these teams in
Speaker 1: the West are fighting for their lives. I mean, not
Speaker 1: playing zone is ridiculous. The Sons have gotten themselves into
Speaker 1: the top six, but the fact that they have only
Speaker 1: been able to have their star trio together for twenty
Speaker 1: three games this season, I think is a major concern.
Speaker 1: But I mean, Denver just has to be just feeling
Speaker 1: so confident because of all this injury chaos happening around them.
Speaker 1: And again just that there's no team in the league
Speaker 1: that knows its identity better than the Nuggets.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and what I will tell you Stein about the
Speaker 2: Nuggets again again, I know you don't want to spend
Speaker 2: too much more time on them, but everybody's been talking
Speaker 2: about their bench, their bench, and that's that definitely is
Speaker 2: a concern. But Stein, Peyton Watson that if people don't
Speaker 2: know who Peyton Watson is, if you've been watching these
Speaker 2: the Kolakis commercials and you have that one kid that's
Speaker 2: always with him in these commercials, that's Peyton Watson, that guy.
Speaker 2: He was the one that jumped over the kola Hey
Speaker 2: yesterday to block Jalen Brown's shot. Peyton Watts guys athletic,
Speaker 2: He's long plays, he could defend multiple positions. He's going
Speaker 2: to be a stud. He's going to be a stud.
Speaker 2: Now will he be able to will he have the
Speaker 2: maturity to really help them out in the playoffs? I
Speaker 2: don't know, but they're they're banking on him and they're
Speaker 2: trying to give him a significant role to see if
Speaker 2: he can to help help them out, because that, as
Speaker 2: we know, the bitch is probably going to is probably
Speaker 2: the weakness of the duggets. But if Peyton Watson could
Speaker 2: come of age pretty pretty quickly and he's he's looking
Speaker 2: really good in spurts, there'll be a problem.
Speaker 1: When you look at Minnesota, the expectation is I think
Speaker 1: that at least their hope is that they get Karl
Speaker 1: Anthony Towns back for the playoffs. I mean, they look,
Speaker 1: they've got nas read there. In the short term, they
Speaker 1: can probably survive this. I would still wouldn't I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be shocked if the Wolves still.
Speaker 4: Found a way.
Speaker 1: To hang on to the number one seed in the West.
Speaker 1: Is certainly not going to be easy, but they've got
Speaker 1: three games against the Nuggets though, three games left, I believe.
Speaker 4: So that's that's going to be a huge deal for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that all that all goes back to Denver,
Speaker 2: you know, skipping the White House for that that matchup
Speaker 2: in Minnesota on March nineteenth. They're going for it. They're
Speaker 2: going forward. And yeah, and I think stein Towns is
Speaker 2: an All Star player, but you know Na's over there.
Speaker 2: He's no joke that that guy probably the best backup
Speaker 2: big in the league, stretch big. So they're definitely still
Speaker 2: going to be a force. And Anthony Edwards probably just
Speaker 2: going to even this is the opportunity for him to
Speaker 2: even take his game to another level because I do
Speaker 2: believe he has another level to go. He probably is
Speaker 2: going to have to carry this team a little bit
Speaker 2: more offensively, but I think he's up for the task,
Speaker 2: you know. So, So March nineteenth, dismiss of Minnesota.
Speaker 1: March nineteenth, Denver, Minnesota. That's the game where the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: as first reported on the This League Uncut podcast and
Speaker 1: subsequently reported on TNT, reported by the same guy, though
Speaker 1: in both cases Chris the Nuggets the invite to the
Speaker 1: White House was the seventeenth, Is that right?
Speaker 4: And they felt like.
Speaker 2: The eighteenth They know it was the eighteenth.
Speaker 4: They play on the seventeenth.
Speaker 1: They could have gone to the White House on the eighteenth,
Speaker 1: but they felt like they needed to go straight to Minnesota.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 4: First March twenty ninth and April tenth, those two games
Speaker 4: are in Denver.
Speaker 2: So it's going to get really interested. But this is
Speaker 2: this is why this part of the season is so
Speaker 2: great because you you know, teams are going for it
Speaker 2: right now. This is this is the coaches start shortening
Speaker 2: up their rotations, getting their rotations ready for the playoffs. Uh,
Speaker 2: there's not much experimentation during this junction of the season.
Speaker 2: It's you playing your guys. Playoff is you know, just
Speaker 2: like you know, these last couple of games last I'll
Speaker 2: probably already say the last three games have been for
Speaker 2: that I've covered have been playoff atmosphere type games. Sons
Speaker 2: at the excuse me, Different Nuggets playing the heat, Denver
Speaker 2: Nuggets playing the Suns. Nuggets and Celtics been really good atmosphere,
Speaker 2: you know, playoff atmosphere type game. So I'm ready, stin,
Speaker 2: I'm ready for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Are you doing two games a week basically from here
Speaker 1: till the playoffs or no producer Ryan shaking his head.
Speaker 1: He's memorizer.
Speaker 4: Producer. Ryan has memorized schedule.
Speaker 2: Producer Ryan is on top of it.
Speaker 1: We should bring on Charlotte Haynes and we should quiz them.
Speaker 1: Who knows your schedule better? Ryan Music.
Speaker 2: All my money will be on Ryan. She has Charlotte's
Speaker 2: beauty supply of stuff on her mind. She's not worried
Speaker 2: about my schedule. No, I I have for the rest
Speaker 2: of the rest of the calendar. I only had three
Speaker 2: games left for the rest of the season, the regular season,
Speaker 2: that is three but a game each week, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: two weeks.
Speaker 1: Well, as tired as you are today, maybe that's good.
Speaker 1: Maybe we maybe we got to dial you back to
Speaker 1: one game a week.
Speaker 2: I need that because it's going to get Last year,
Speaker 2: I think I didn't come home really until, I want
Speaker 2: to say, until the conference finals.
Speaker 1: The producer Riots keeping it real in the group chat,
Speaker 1: which I forgot.
Speaker 4: March madness is coming, and that's.
Speaker 2: Why that's why I'm on my Yeah, my high madness.
Speaker 4: Is going to bump you down.
Speaker 2: Yeah, That's why I'm on my hiatus.
Speaker 1: You had a little chat with Kevin Durant. Give us
Speaker 1: the state of Durant at this point.
Speaker 2: Caught up with k D very optimistic about what this
Speaker 2: team can accomplish. You know, he was very reflective and
Speaker 2: talking about his background because I asked him, like, you know,
Speaker 2: how long can you keep going? What? What still what
Speaker 2: motivates you at this age? And he was like, man,
Speaker 2: I still feel like I'm great at this game. And
Speaker 2: I love being great, you know, KD. I love the
Speaker 2: way Kat talks about himself. He said, I love being
Speaker 2: great and uh, he said, and I wake up enjoying
Speaker 2: the process every day of being great and being town.
Speaker 2: And they talked about like, you know how you know,
Speaker 2: there were people in his neighborhood, in his community that
Speaker 2: kept him away from the streets, that told me, you know,
Speaker 2: focus on ball. And he said, as he gets older,
Speaker 2: he appreciates still more and more because he loves his
Speaker 2: life and love loves what he what he does. And
Speaker 2: then he also, you know, you know what to talked
Speaker 2: about the people who criticize or critique him, stating that
Speaker 2: he's not a leader or he doesn't have a competitive drive.
Speaker 2: And you know, he said, listen, I don't listen to them.
Speaker 2: He said, everybody needs something to talk talk about. He said,
Speaker 2: my focus is on his team, and my my concern
Speaker 2: is what everybody within my organization think. He said, And
Speaker 2: they see me, they know me, and so they know
Speaker 2: how bad I want to win. And he said he
Speaker 2: puts them. He said, if they're going they're going healthy.
Speaker 2: He likes their chances against anybody and so, but he
Speaker 2: did say there is an adjustment period, you know, trying
Speaker 2: to blend, blend, blend all their games together with Bradley
Speaker 2: Booker and dev A, Bradley Booker, Bradley Booker, Bradley Bill
Speaker 2: and Devin Booker. So he says it's an adjustment, but he's
Speaker 2: he's enjoying the process of learn and he said he
Speaker 2: feels like the team is forming some cohesion, and you know,
Speaker 2: he credit the coach staff. So this is a very
Speaker 2: optimistic and positive KD with twenty games before we hit the.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna read two of the quotes for your piece.
Speaker 1: The first one was quote, I just love this game.
Speaker 1: I love the challenges, the obstacles that come with it.
Speaker 1: I enjoy the process. So that was pretty standard stuff.
Speaker 1: But then this is the I think this is the quote.
Speaker 4: You're referring to.
Speaker 1: I just enjoy getting up every day to do this shit.
Speaker 1: Durant said, there are going to be days where it
Speaker 1: to struggle, and there have been great days. I could
Speaker 1: be doing a lot of other shit with my life.
Speaker 1: I'm talented at this shit, and I enjoy being talented.
Speaker 1: I enjoy the camaraderie and the brotherhood that comes with
Speaker 1: this game.
Speaker 4: It's that simple.
Speaker 2: I enjoyed being talented. I love KD. Man, I love
Speaker 2: that guy. Love KD. Did I tell you my KD story? Stein,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure? Okay, I'll explain it. Me and KD.
Speaker 2: We we you know. That's my guy. I will always
Speaker 2: I will always have him in high regard because of
Speaker 2: what he did for me six seven years ago something
Speaker 2: almost probably about six years ago. And no matter if
Speaker 2: we have semi rifts in between, because we've had we had,
Speaker 2: we had semi rifts in between, that I will always
Speaker 2: hold him in high regard for this six years ago.
Speaker 2: So it is he's with the Warriors at this time,
Speaker 2: and this was I was at Yahoo. I had just
Speaker 2: signed with Yahoo, and Yahoo gave me my my podcast.
Speaker 2: It was the post it up for Chris Haines's podcast.
Speaker 2: First time I ever had my own podcasts. They gave
Speaker 2: me a podcast, and so I asked KD, would you
Speaker 2: be my first guest on my podcast? And he was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I got you. Cool. I'm like great, great, So I
Speaker 2: tell Yahoo, I tell my production crew and everything, and
Speaker 2: that's when we were traveling. When I had my podcast,
Speaker 2: we would travel camera crews to go like we did
Speaker 2: it really legit, legitimate, So everybody knows. Everybody's pumped up.
Speaker 2: I'm pumped up. Kdi's about to be my first guest.
Speaker 2: Like great, great. So two days later, the incident happens
Speaker 2: where Draymond goes off on him in LA It says,
Speaker 2: we don't need you. We can we won before you,
Speaker 2: we don't, we don't need and you know, like when
Speaker 2: kd's mad, when KDE gets into his mode, like he'll
Speaker 2: just shut you out, he'll cut everybody off. And so
Speaker 2: that happened, and KD didn't speak to media for that
Speaker 2: whole week after that Dremond incident. Katie refused to talk.
Speaker 2: He did not speak that whole week. Meanwhile, our podcast
Speaker 2: episode was supposed to record probably like in another four
Speaker 2: or five days. So I'm like, oh shit, damn, he
Speaker 2: is not speaking to media and not just not speaking
Speaker 2: to media. You know how KD is sometimes Like even
Speaker 2: when you see him walk into the locker room, he
Speaker 2: ain't gonna look. He's not gonna look at you. You
Speaker 2: will clearly tell he doesn't want to be bothered. So
Speaker 2: I'm like, damn man, So my podcast is on a Monday.
Speaker 2: Now it's Thursday. He hasn't spoken all week, and I'm
Speaker 2: trying to be sensitive. I don't want to be texting
Speaker 2: him like hey, you're still doing it. I'm trying to
Speaker 2: be Since then, so the Warriors are on the road
Speaker 2: trip and they ended up in Houston over the weekend.
Speaker 2: I wasn't going to attend that game, like this will
Speaker 2: be the last time I get to see him before Monday,
Speaker 2: when we're supposed to do this pod. So I go
Speaker 2: to Houston, fly to Houston and before the game, pre game,
Speaker 2: he's over there in the corner. Nobody is talking to him.
Speaker 2: He's at his locker stall. You can tell he doesn't
Speaker 2: want to be bothered, has his earphones on. But I'm like,
Speaker 2: I gotta go say something, and not just go say something,
Speaker 2: I have to bring it, bring up that we got
Speaker 2: this pod scheduled in two days. So I go over there,
Speaker 2: tap on the shoulder, which forces him to take his
Speaker 2: headphones off his ear ears. He just looks up to me,
Speaker 2: looks up at me. I'm like, how you doing, bro,
Speaker 2: I'm all right, what's up? I'm like, eh, nothing much. Uh.
Speaker 2: I just want to know if you're still gonna be
Speaker 2: able to do the pod in a couple of days.
Speaker 2: He said, Man, what the fuck? Man? I got a game.
Speaker 2: I ain't worried about that shit. Man, I got a
Speaker 2: fucking game to play. Man, leave me alone. Chris. I'm like, okay, well,
Speaker 2: you know, good to see you too. So I walked.
Speaker 2: I walked away in So I walked away not knowing anything.
Speaker 2: He didn't give me any confirmation or clarification nothing. That
Speaker 2: was it. So I'm like, fuck man. So I told
Speaker 2: the company, I said, well listen. KD hasn't responded. He
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't I don't think it's happening.
Speaker 2: So Monday comes around, and it was supposed to we
Speaker 2: were supposed to record Monday after go to State Wars.
Speaker 2: Practice was probably around noon. He's still and to this
Speaker 2: point he's still hasn't spoken to media. I'm talking about
Speaker 2: basic media, like answer a question after a game. He
Speaker 2: did none of that the whole week, and so I
Speaker 2: hit him up Monday morning, just the last ditch text
Speaker 2: because also my camera crew was already at the They
Speaker 2: rented a hotel suite so we can do the recording.
Speaker 2: So they just went anyways, and so here I'll make
Speaker 2: a last ditch effort Monday morning before practice cinema text
Speaker 2: Katie Man, I'm sorry to bout you, bro, but I
Speaker 2: just got to ask. Man, we got the crew there,
Speaker 2: just got to ask, if you know you're gonna be
Speaker 2: able to do it, text you back right away. I'll
Speaker 2: be there. He came and delivered one of the spiciest
Speaker 2: interviews that he's ever delivered before and just revealing everything,
Speaker 2: you know, the Draymond stuff, everything, and you know, he
Speaker 2: was talking about retiring. That's a golden state war. He
Speaker 2: could tell his his mindset went another place later, but yeah,
Speaker 2: he was. He just it was just great. He gave
Speaker 2: me an hour or so and it was the first
Speaker 2: time he talked about the incident, first time he talked,
Speaker 2: and he was my first I was able to start
Speaker 2: my podcast with a bang first episode. So I'm forever
Speaker 2: grateful for him, regardless of whatever we get into to
Speaker 2: get into it about the future now whatever. Him doing
Speaker 2: that meant so much to me, man, So uh yeah,
Speaker 2: that's my KDE story.
Speaker 1: And I gotta go back and find that episode because
Speaker 1: I I sort of remember, but I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't remember all that backstory. Did ESPN credit you
Speaker 4: when they used the quotes?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Everybody, Yeah, everybody had to Yeah, that was he.
Speaker 2: That was the first time he addressed it. He did
Speaker 2: not talk to anybody the whole week. And he came
Speaker 2: and he sat there and we were We're in a
Speaker 2: hotel suite, me and him sitting down and what was
Speaker 2: cool too? Starve the day before that, The day before that,
Speaker 2: that episode, he had did something to a reff I'm
Speaker 2: not a cuss the reff out during the game or
Speaker 2: something like that, and I was able to break I
Speaker 2: got a clip of it and it's in the it's
Speaker 2: in that podcast too, But I gotta I was able
Speaker 2: to break that. He was being fine a certain amount
Speaker 2: of money. He was like seventy five thousand and something
Speaker 2: like that right there on the spot before you know.
Speaker 2: So I broke it before it got announced, and everything
Speaker 2: right on the spot to him. And it was funny
Speaker 2: because people were commenting about it, it was like, dang, look
Speaker 2: how Katie didn't even flinch when he found out he
Speaker 2: just lost seventy five thousand dollars, Like that must be nice.
Speaker 2: He's like, yeah, yeah, right, please please, but yeah, that's
Speaker 2: my Katie's story. And so he's always you know, I
Speaker 2: always hold him a high regard for doing that and
Speaker 2: keeping his word. Man.
Speaker 1: So when you were around the Suns, I mean, look,
Speaker 1: the Suns, to me, there are multiple issues.
Speaker 4: I mean, and you.
Speaker 1: Know, as great as Durant remains at thirty five, ridiculous,
Speaker 1: just ridiculously good. But again, the main three guys there
Speaker 1: are they gonna get third games in as teammates before
Speaker 1: the playoffs. I mean, I think thirty is is a
Speaker 1: pretty safe over under, considering it's only at twenty three
Speaker 1: and there's less than twenty games in the season to go.
Speaker 1: So let's see if they can get over thirty. But
Speaker 1: then the other thing is, you know, they're in the
Speaker 1: best case scenario. They're gonna be the five seed and
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to win. They're gonna have to win
Speaker 1: on the road in three straight rounds, and I just
Speaker 1: you know, just to get to the finals on the
Speaker 1: road three straight.
Speaker 4: Rounds without continuity.
Speaker 1: Questions about their depth, their bench, the reliability.
Speaker 4: I guess we'll see.
Speaker 2: I still maintain that they should have gotten a point guard.
Speaker 2: I will say this. I did report during the Sun's
Speaker 2: game and that they are looking to feel their last
Speaker 2: roster spot, that fifteenth roster spot. They're looking to feel
Speaker 2: fill that with a veteran player who has playoff experience.
Speaker 2: They're not they're not. They're not looking for a point
Speaker 2: guard or a wing or whatever. They want the best
Speaker 2: player available with some postseason experience, not somebody that's going
Speaker 2: to play a lot, but it's more of a locker
Speaker 2: room presence. So that's something to look out for as
Speaker 2: it pertains to the Suns.
Speaker 4: Well, Marcus Morris is out there, Isaiah Thomas is in
Speaker 4: the G League trying to get a look. Yeah, there's
Speaker 4: veterans out there.
Speaker 2: Isaiah makes a lot of sense. Sean Isaiah. I think
Speaker 2: he just scored like thirty something in his G League
Speaker 2: debut yesterday. Isaiah makes a lot of sense. He's a
Speaker 2: point guard, has playoff experience. Somebody who's going to come
Speaker 2: in and be a good locker room guy like Isaiah
Speaker 2: makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1: So I kind of said we were going to stay
Speaker 1: away from the East, but now I'm going back on
Speaker 1: that because you just saw this epic battle that so
Speaker 1: many of us were treating as a potential finals preview.
Speaker 1: And look, I mean, to me, if the Celtics don't
Speaker 1: make the final, I mean, the Celtics have to win
Speaker 1: at all to really validate their season. But you know,
Speaker 1: I would say, at a minimum, they've got to make
Speaker 1: the finals and win the East.
Speaker 4: What was their temperature after this game? What was it?
Speaker 4: You know, they blew that huge lead against Cleveland. Okay, fine,
Speaker 4: that happens.
Speaker 1: I mean they were forty eight and twelve and lost
Speaker 1: a big lead against Cleveland. Whatever, But to go into
Speaker 1: Denver after the Nuggets had gone to Boston and won there.
Speaker 1: And you know, Tatum went under the microscope this week
Speaker 1: and has not been a fun experience for him. Everybody's
Speaker 1: now questioning his ability in the clutch. And look, I
Speaker 1: never really saw Tatum as an MVP a huge MVP
Speaker 1: threat anyway. Even if Boston would have gone to Denver
Speaker 1: and won, and even if Tatum had played an amazing game,
Speaker 1: I just I And the reason why is just I
Speaker 1: just think again, I'm trying to step inside the head
Speaker 1: of voters. I just think Boston is so good and
Speaker 1: has so much high level talent around him, not just
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, but you got former All Stars, Drew Holliday,
Speaker 1: Christoph porzingis Al Horford, They've all been All Stars, Derek White.
Speaker 1: They have so much high level talent around him. I
Speaker 1: think that's the kind of thing that really hurts Tatum's
Speaker 1: case more than anything, more than his clutch numbers, more
Speaker 1: than a game.
Speaker 4: Like last night.
Speaker 1: But this has not been a fun week for the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics. So, like, what was the vibe you took
Speaker 1: from your time around them?
Speaker 2: Jason Tatum told me that even though they haven't lost
Speaker 2: much this season, he said, this is the first time
Speaker 2: where each loss really hurts. He said, because they're they're
Speaker 2: far and few. And he said that you know, he
Speaker 2: hasn't he said, he hasn't felt that way about losses
Speaker 2: in other seasons, which I think speaks to the fact
Speaker 2: that this is a dominant team and they have high
Speaker 2: hopes and they've been there before and they believe this.
Speaker 2: You know, this is the best team that they've ever
Speaker 2: assembled since he's been there. But he also told me this.
Speaker 2: This group is great at getting over losses quickly and
Speaker 2: move it on to the next next game, and so
Speaker 2: they still feel good. Coach Missoula told me this. He said,
Speaker 2: who are we supposed to lose to? Like, you know,
Speaker 2: when you go through? He said, when you? When you?
Speaker 2: He said, how they say it? He said, when you
Speaker 2: look at the schedule, when the schedule first comes out.
Speaker 2: He said, we're not going undefeated. He said, so we're
Speaker 2: gonna lose some games. He said, who do you want
Speaker 2: to lose to? He said, we've lost the good teams?
Speaker 2: He said, what would it be better if we lost
Speaker 2: the bad teams? He said, you know what, what what
Speaker 2: would you expect? And so, yeah, we expect. I guess
Speaker 2: that's reasonable. Yeah, that's a reasonable TA.
Speaker 4: But you know what, you know what, you know what.
Speaker 1: The lesson out of this podcast is I like when
Speaker 1: you do two games a week, because now I'm just
Speaker 1: I've been I've asked you about the Nuggets, the Suns,
Speaker 1: the Celtics, and you just saw these teams.
Speaker 4: It's beautiful. I think you should. I think you should
Speaker 4: do two games every week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I would like to get to another city.
Speaker 2: I don't want to be well cases Miami. I'll stay
Speaker 2: in Miami for a week. Why don't you pitch that
Speaker 2: they took me off of my Miami assignment that I
Speaker 2: had April fourth. They switched it to a Atlanta at Dallas.
Speaker 2: Can you believe that's tun Atlanta at Dallas. But I
Speaker 2: was able to contact a hierarchy at TNT, and I
Speaker 2: found out that that game could possibly could possibly be
Speaker 2: moved as well because they assigned they reassigned me to
Speaker 2: that game, not just me, the whole broadcast crew. They
Speaker 2: reassigned us to that game. Thinking Trey Young, you know,
Speaker 2: before Trey Young went out with the injury, so I
Speaker 2: can get off. Most likely I might be off.
Speaker 1: Why are you rooting to get off a game that
Speaker 1: would send you to my city?
Speaker 2: Yes, Tine, you know Stein Listen, Dallas is nice, but
Speaker 2: Miami would that would have been my only time being
Speaker 2: in Mif.
Speaker 4: You're already off Miami. So why well, well, let me
Speaker 4: tell you're not gonna touch back in Miami.
Speaker 2: Hold on, hold on, hold on, now, hold on. Remember
Speaker 2: this game is April fourth, Miami. It was Philly at Miami.
Speaker 2: There's a chance Joel and Bed could be back by then.
Speaker 2: Why wouldn't they switch it back? And so I again,
Speaker 2: I contacted some hierarchies and they are I just want
Speaker 2: to let them know, Hey, let's not rule out.
Speaker 1: Are you saying you think there's a chance Joel Embid
Speaker 1: could be back in early April?
Speaker 2: Slight? Very slight, very slight. But listen, I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: I'm telling the hierarchy come on now, let's not you know,
Speaker 2: let's come on, let's give us time. Be patient. You
Speaker 2: know I don't just leave. Be patient. That could be
Speaker 2: a big game. Joelan Bid back with Philly. Miami is
Speaker 2: playing well, let's not get too hasty now.
Speaker 1: So are you basically telling me that you're you're not
Speaker 1: going to be in Dallas that night.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you I don't want to be in Dallas
Speaker 2: that night. I don't know what I will be. That's
Speaker 2: what I'm telling you.
Speaker 1: The last time came to Dallas, I sent him to
Speaker 1: an A plus steakhouse. Now he won't even come to
Speaker 1: my city. He's asking to be reassigned to avoid coming
Speaker 1: to the two one four.
Speaker 2: Stei Miami April fourth, that's around spring break in Miami. Stei.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, there's just no there's no competing
Speaker 2: against that man. Come on, now, you should You should understand,
Speaker 2: goodness sakes, you understand everybody else know where I'm coming from.
Speaker 1: All right, Chris Hanes, Before you say anything else, I
Speaker 1: think we're going to put a bow on this one.
Speaker 4: But we covered some good ground here.
Speaker 1: Unless I just want to am I my cutting this
Speaker 1: off too soon? Is there anything else that.
Speaker 4: You need to say or discuss before we go?
Speaker 2: M my team in my Filipino league, we made it
Speaker 2: to the final four. I actually set you my stats
Speaker 2: from the last game. I was Player of the week
Speaker 2: in the last the last weekend's game.
Speaker 1: Wait a second, Wait a second, wait a second. First
Speaker 1: of all, I misread what you said. I didn't realize
Speaker 1: that the twenty five next to your name was your
Speaker 1: point total and not your jersey. As our eagle eyed
Speaker 1: producer producer Ryan Music spotted a teammate of yours, Liam Mecdo.
Speaker 4: Is that his name? Yes, he had thirty four? So
Speaker 4: how did you win player of the week? Who's voting
Speaker 4: on this?
Speaker 2: Let me explain stot I mean, Lember reaching my stat
Speaker 2: line again? Twenty five points, eleven rebounds, eight assists, aight
Speaker 2: assists somebody's going to score off of those eight assists.
Speaker 4: And it was Liam Leon.
Speaker 2: Not yes, all those I can't say.
Speaker 4: It's well, the rebounds that assists were not in the
Speaker 4: box score that we saw. We only saw points.
Speaker 2: Yes, no, no, see Stein, that's why you don't be
Speaker 2: opening the message. Ryan, loose, Ryan, get on here, set
Speaker 2: them straight.
Speaker 1: Or maybe or maybe I just maybe I cannot read
Speaker 1: is the real the real message here?
Speaker 5: I was with you, Stein when I first looked at
Speaker 5: this graphic that he sent us. I only saw the
Speaker 5: twenty five points and the final score, and then it's
Speaker 5: at the very very bottom, twenty five points, eleven rebounds,
Speaker 5: eight assists, Player of the Week, Week six.
Speaker 1: Christy, Look up and look at the pride with which
Speaker 1: he is beaming right now.
Speaker 4: Just look at this man. Look at this man. Look
Speaker 4: at this man. The number he told a story about getting.
Speaker 1: He told a story about getting KD on his podcast,
Speaker 1: his first podcast ever, so good and so explosive that
Speaker 1: every other outlet that covers the NBA had to credit him.
Speaker 4: He wasn't smiling that big, not even close.
Speaker 1: When we were talking about close, We're talking about twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five eleven in ate in a rec League game,
Speaker 1: and he looks like he looks like the proudest papa
Speaker 1: in the world, like he just became a father or something.
Speaker 2: Stein people lie, numbers, don't That's all I'm showing you, right,
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, That's all I'm showing you. So we
Speaker 2: made we made it due to my performance player of
Speaker 2: the Week. We made it to the final four and
Speaker 2: we play at nine to twenty. We win that game.
Speaker 2: We playing the championship game at noon. So I'm I've
Speaker 2: got here back home today. I'm gonna take a nap
Speaker 2: after this pod. I'm tired. I'm gonna go to the gym,
Speaker 2: get some shots up, may run a few games here,
Speaker 2: but I'm gonna get ready.
Speaker 4: For you can't tonight. But if you get hurt, I'm.
Speaker 2: Not gonna play. I'm not gonna play hard. It's just
Speaker 2: like shoot around, you know, shoot around, shoot around.
Speaker 4: That's all shoot around. The shoot around shoot around is
Speaker 4: not playing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's you know, just mo I'll just roam around
Speaker 2: the floor. You know, I won't be a big factors.
Speaker 2: Just get some shots up, get a little cardio.
Speaker 4: So you got to play at nine in the morning
Speaker 4: the morning.
Speaker 2: And so by the time we do our next pot.
Speaker 2: I will either be a champion or I will be
Speaker 2: a chump.
Speaker 4: You guys have made the final four before in this league.
Speaker 2: No, this the first time we did this. You're talking
Speaker 2: about the Sacramento Rec League, not the Filipino League. The
Speaker 2: Philipino League. No a, Stein, we have a chance to
Speaker 2: make history because we had a really bad regular season.
Speaker 2: I missed like two or three games because of travel schedule.
Speaker 2: So we're the lowest seed. We're the sixth seed. So
Speaker 2: the sixth seed made it all the way to the
Speaker 2: final four. And the team that we're playing at nine
Speaker 2: to twenty Stein, we beat them during the regular season
Speaker 2: by twenty.
Speaker 4: So you're basically in the title game.
Speaker 2: I'm not see. That's what you don't do, Stein. You
Speaker 2: do not disrespect the opponent. You don't do that.
Speaker 4: That's what we do on this pod. We try to
Speaker 4: get you in trouble, lead.
Speaker 2: You, and you don't do that. You don't disrespect the opponent. Man,
Speaker 2: you'll know what can happen. The basketball guys will come
Speaker 2: for you. But no, we're feeling very confident about what
Speaker 2: we can accomplish if we all come together for the
Speaker 2: common goal. And I'm gonna deliver before the game a
Speaker 2: Mike Michael Malone type pregame speech to get us riled up,
Speaker 2: which means I'm cussing everybody out before the game because
Speaker 2: we got we gotta get as.
Speaker 4: Long as you end with one, two, three together whatever you.
Speaker 2: Say, Oh yeah, okay, wait.
Speaker 4: Well, Producer Ryan, I think we can truly say we
Speaker 4: covered many many bases today. Everyone. As always, please remember
Speaker 4: follow us, rate the show, review the show.
Speaker 1: We'd love a five star review from you on Apple
Speaker 1: podcasts or Spotify wherever you get your podcasts. Chris and
Speaker 1: I am producer Ryan will be back together again as
Speaker 1: soon as possible after.
Speaker 4: The playoffs. Do you even know the name of your team?
Speaker 4: I was gonna say, I don't know the name of
Speaker 4: your team. What's the name of your team? He's looking it.
Speaker 2: Up for why you ratting me out? Star? The name
Speaker 2: of my team is Genebra. I don't know what that means.
Speaker 2: And and uh.
Speaker 4: You're not curious. You didn't ask anybody like, hey, what's
Speaker 4: our team name?
Speaker 2: All I want to know is who's on my team?
Speaker 2: That's all. And then I'll take it from there.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, try to remember the speech because we
Speaker 1: might ask you to. If you guys win it all,
Speaker 1: we might ask you to like redeliver it to Ryan
Speaker 1: and I.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, I can't wait. I had to be
Speaker 2: a championship next part.
Speaker 1: All right, everyone, thanks for joining us, and again we
Speaker 1: will be back very very soon with yet another edition
Speaker 1: of This League Uncut.
Speaker 4: As we draw ever closer to the NBA. Thanks for
Speaker 4: being with.
Speaker 3: Us, and that'll do it for us. See you next time.
Speaker 3: This League uncutt is an iHeartRadio production Put a Suck
Speaker 3: a Locket Chris Hanes and Mark Stein