Speaker 1: The Dream Team Tapes Season two. Kobe Lebron and the
Speaker 1: Redeem Team is a production of Diversion Podcasts in association
Speaker 1: with I Heart Radio Diversion Podcasts. The players selected for
Speaker 1: the honor of representing the United States in the two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight Beijing Olympic Games are Kobe Bryant. We
Speaker 1: look forward to this for a while, you know it
Speaker 1: to be in this position out here, we don't represent
Speaker 1: our kuns especial special Lebron James. We look for an
Speaker 1: opportunity of weekend on a flam and being the best
Speaker 1: in the world. I guess the Redeem Team is because
Speaker 1: it is right. We're the best team in the world.
Speaker 1: We're the best team in the world. Where we put
Speaker 1: Basketball America, Basketball wheels beat, Which is that time? All?
Speaker 1: Welcome to Kobe, Lebron and the Redeem Team. This is
Speaker 1: the second part of a discussion that j Adandhie and
Speaker 1: I had with two notable hoops chroniclers, Jeff Van Gundi
Speaker 1: and Zach Low. We pick it up with j A
Speaker 1: talking about the season's crazy compacted NBA schedule. I want
Speaker 1: to go back, Zach. You talked about how the league
Speaker 1: or just how crazy it's going to be this year
Speaker 1: with the turnaround from finishing the finals to basically going
Speaker 1: ahead right over to Tokyo for for the Olympics. One
Speaker 1: of the reasons that they did go for the the
Speaker 1: schedule is the way it is this year is because
Speaker 1: they wanted to finish in time and they had to
Speaker 1: pack all these games in time to do the Olympics.
Speaker 1: But we've seen the price that's being paid and all
Speaker 1: these injuries and um, you could argue diminished quality of
Speaker 1: play as well. And Zack, I'm wondering the reporting and
Speaker 1: I know these type of things come up. What this
Speaker 1: means long term for the future, and are there any
Speaker 1: serious discussions about shortening the number of games. Obviously there
Speaker 1: would have to be a huge financial concessions to do so,
Speaker 1: but is it's starting to reach the point where the
Speaker 1: concerns about um, the physical toll being taken on bodies
Speaker 1: and improving the quality of the product would be worth
Speaker 1: it to make that financial sacrifice. I feel like that's
Speaker 1: been a semi serious discussion for ten years, but it
Speaker 1: never actually gets serious. Like I feel like we've had
Speaker 1: the same just like Oh, Adam Silver is like, you know,
Speaker 1: result he's open to it. You know, we're just going
Speaker 1: everything's on the table in the league office, and it's
Speaker 1: like and then all the money, the money, the money,
Speaker 1: the money and the money, and so we just sort
Speaker 1: of keep running the boulder up the same hill and
Speaker 1: nothing is gonna ever happen. I I still think I
Speaker 1: think it's a discussion worth having, and and there has
Speaker 1: to be some financial modeling that can show that scarcity
Speaker 1: would have some sort of power. Maybe you can increase
Speaker 1: ticket prices, maybe viewership increases if there are fewer games.
Speaker 1: But this season, you know, everyone wants to connect the
Speaker 1: trend line of you know, the compressed schedule to an
Speaker 1: increase in injuries. I mean, the league will tell you
Speaker 1: there is no increase in injuries, but you also see
Speaker 1: teams just holding guys out of games, you know, holding
Speaker 1: guys out of back to backs, trying to stop guys
Speaker 1: from playing four and five and through you know, three
Speaker 1: and four, whatever it is. So this season has been
Speaker 1: tough and it just we've just Donovan Mitchell just got
Speaker 1: hurt right before we came on this podcast. Thankfully, it
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be more than an ankle sprain, maybe
Speaker 1: a severe ankle sprain, but yeah, I think this discussion
Speaker 1: is going to keep going. And I if you put
Speaker 1: a gun to my head, I think in twenty years
Speaker 1: or fifteen years, the NBA is not going to be
Speaker 1: playing eighty two games. I just, I just but maybe
Speaker 1: I'm naive. I don't know. For me the answers, I
Speaker 1: don't care what the question is. In pro sports, the
Speaker 1: answer is money. So like if they're asked, if the
Speaker 1: owners are asked, or the players are asked, or the
Speaker 1: league is asked to take one less dollar, it's not happening.
Speaker 1: And um, that's just how it is. It's it's you know,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day. Um, And I agree
Speaker 1: with Zach, like this schedule is insane this year. It's
Speaker 1: it when you can't physically practice. You don't have any days. Um,
Speaker 1: the they call protocols or whatever they call it, but
Speaker 1: the rules of testing. You you land at two am,
Speaker 1: you have to be back to test at ten. You know, uh,
Speaker 1: you know we were talking about sleep doctors, you know,
Speaker 1: three years ago. Now no one cares about sleep because
Speaker 1: of money, and so the whole, the whole thing. It's
Speaker 1: been one miserable experience this year. It really had all
Speaker 1: in the name of money. And the problem going forward
Speaker 1: is next year is going to be impacted too, because
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a shorter off season, Like they're gonna
Speaker 1: have to start at the right time, and only after
Speaker 1: next season are they going to be able to get
Speaker 1: back into a normal rhythm of draft Summer League September,
Speaker 1: you know, starting October and play a normal lady two
Speaker 1: game schedules. So um, I feel for these players, you know,
Speaker 1: and I am the biggest anti load management. Play every
Speaker 1: game you're healthy to play. But this year, I completely
Speaker 1: understand why teams are doing what they're doing. Now. Some
Speaker 1: players and teams overdo it and they just don't like playing.
Speaker 1: I've never seen more personal days ever taken an NBA.
Speaker 1: I don't know what's happening, but like, there was never
Speaker 1: a personal day taken like in my time coaching in
Speaker 1: the NBA, Like not like maybe it would be called
Speaker 1: personal day if a guy missed for the birth of
Speaker 1: his child. But now like we had guys who would
Speaker 1: go to the birth of their child on the same
Speaker 1: day and come back and play. Now that doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot more personal days too, and they're
Speaker 1: not you know, you don't know what what the personal
Speaker 1: issues are. Well, and to the point of this podcast,
Speaker 1: can you imagine making the NBA Finals, Like, all right,
Speaker 1: we won the championship. Yes, I gotta get out of
Speaker 1: plane to Japan right now because my international team meets.
Speaker 1: I mean it's gonna be and then I get back
Speaker 1: from the Olympics. It's like, oh my god, training camp
Speaker 1: starts in three three weeks. No, it will happen. Whoever
Speaker 1: wins the finals, if they decided to take people from
Speaker 1: that last round, will at most have twenty four hours.
Speaker 1: I would say, I think we can all agree that,
Speaker 1: Um it's you know, Jeff alluded to it in the
Speaker 1: beginning that it's really different coaching national team Chuck Daily.
Speaker 1: Let's face it, I love check Chuck the great late
Speaker 1: Chuck Daily, but coaching a dream team a little bit
Speaker 1: of a vacation, it got harder. Mike Sachowski had to
Speaker 1: Mike make some changes. So I wondered, Jeff and both
Speaker 1: you and Zach can reflect on this back when they
Speaker 1: were choosing a coach, and this was maybe this wasn't
Speaker 1: interesting to anybody else, but a couple of people mentioned
Speaker 1: right away that it was more natural to get a
Speaker 1: college coach to coach that team, and back then it
Speaker 1: was either gonna be Stowski or Pop we're talking about
Speaker 1: two thousand five. This is that it was more natural
Speaker 1: to get a college coach because the pro coach would
Speaker 1: bring too much recrimination. Hey, something happened invariably he called
Speaker 1: one of the guys that's gonna be playing a punk
Speaker 1: or something happened between there. Yeah, god man. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: I found that interesting because it was the exact opposite
Speaker 1: when it first started, this idea of pros and international play,
Speaker 1: which was, oh my god, they're not gonna listen to
Speaker 1: a college guy. So bringing it to Pop it could
Speaker 1: have just been specific to Pop because he's said, let's
Speaker 1: just say a strong personality. But it was a little
Speaker 1: bit counterintuitive to many people when Mike Schofsky got picked
Speaker 1: over uh, Gregg Popovich. So any thoughts on that, does
Speaker 1: Zach or or Jeff Well, I would say that, um,
Speaker 1: you couldn't go wrong. I always say when you get
Speaker 1: into these debates of who do you want who would
Speaker 1: you start a team with, Like you can go first,
Speaker 1: I'll go second. I'll be fine with whoever else it is.
Speaker 1: It's the same with that coaching. Uh, decision. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, think about the greatness of Mike Shavski, that
Speaker 1: Jerry Colangelo would even consider a college coach to do that,
Speaker 1: and then think about the greatness of Great Popovich to
Speaker 1: be bypassed for that long um for a national team honor,
Speaker 1: to coach the team, be such a great representative of
Speaker 1: the NBA through winning and his comportment and his you know,
Speaker 1: all the things he brings, and to still be honored
Speaker 1: and humbled two assumed that role. Uh when Mike Shachofski,
Speaker 1: you know, stepped down. So you know what what it
Speaker 1: shows me is that since let's start with the from
Speaker 1: the dream team, you know, Chuck Daily, I mean, we've
Speaker 1: had these incredible coaches. I think the one that gets
Speaker 1: overlooked as much as any is Rudy tom Janovic and
Speaker 1: and the and the job he did in the World
Speaker 1: Cup when he had no NBA players, and then the Olympics.
Speaker 1: I mean, we have just been with amazing, amazing national
Speaker 1: team coaches. It's the interesting thing about the pop is um.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously there's gonna be NBA players on Team USA,
Speaker 1: but the more NBA coaches there are on the staff,
Speaker 1: and the more NBA trainers there are on the staff
Speaker 1: and health people, you said, and this is very relevant
Speaker 1: for the Redeemed Team. From at least the players side,
Speaker 1: you start to hear the grumbling from other people around
Speaker 1: the NBA who aren't there, being like, well are they
Speaker 1: are those guys getting a competitive advantage? Like they're getting
Speaker 1: to know the star players are getting cushy with the
Speaker 1: best plot that guy is gonna be a free agent
Speaker 1: in two years? Is this gonna matter? And people start
Speaker 1: connecting dots, even if the dots aren't really there, they're
Speaker 1: just kind of hazy little spots. But you know, the
Speaker 1: sort of mythology of the Redeemed team leading to the heatles.
Speaker 1: I think that the heat players will tell you that's
Speaker 1: been a little overblown, but it's never gonna go away. Hey, look,
Speaker 1: if I somehow end up in the NBA and I'm
Speaker 1: in Japan this year, you can bet my ass is
Speaker 1: gonna be well, I don't know what your word is
Speaker 1: cozy enough to all the star players, like you're gonna
Speaker 1: take advantage of every advantage that you have in competition,
Speaker 1: every legal advantage. And you know, people said the same
Speaker 1: thing about Mike Trochowski. Did he have a uh uh
Speaker 1: an innate recruiting advantage because he coached these national teams.
Speaker 1: Well maybe he did, but I don't begrudge that. You're
Speaker 1: gonna take advantage of anything you have. So and you're
Speaker 1: gonna take Mason Plumbly on Team USA every damn time,
Speaker 1: no matter what. Hey, You're gonna do what you gotta do.
Speaker 1: And I guess what if Curry's on the national team
Speaker 1: and he was I don't know, is he a free
Speaker 1: agent coming up? Not that potentially after next season, but
Speaker 1: he's he's extension eligible. Now, Okay, guess what if James
Speaker 1: Barrego was on the staff because he was, you know,
Speaker 1: Pop's assistant at one time, He's gonna be sucking up
Speaker 1: to Steph Curry like, no, get out, that's just how
Speaker 1: it works. Come home, come back to Charlotte, your hotel,
Speaker 1: already done everything in the Bay Area. Come on, man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you were with pat Riley staff in the nineties,
Speaker 1: when he certainly would have been under consideration for a
Speaker 1: Team USA, why why did pat Riley He's one of
Speaker 1: the great coaches that did not coached the men's national team.
Speaker 1: Do you know why that dated? Why they did not
Speaker 1: have him? I mean they had Chuck Daily, so you know, um,
Speaker 1: and I think if if I'm just guessing here, but
Speaker 1: I would think, um, back then, Um, it wasn't the
Speaker 1: commissioner pretty much in charge of picking who the coach
Speaker 1: it was, it was Stern And I guess, yeah, Roth Thorne,
Speaker 1: we had a little bit of like some animosity going on.
Speaker 1: I think that would be one And I think second
Speaker 1: Day might worry that, which I think was unfounded that
Speaker 1: he he would work the players too hard. You know,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't be out golfing with them. Um, you know so, uh,
Speaker 1: but I think it was probably you know, they had
Speaker 1: other great options obviously, Chuck Daily, Man, what a great coach. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's still one of the great lines ever. Is his
Speaker 1: job as a coach is to coach, is to land
Speaker 1: the plane through turbulence. You know, that's his job. And
Speaker 1: like like he was great, But I think the animosity
Speaker 1: was real. You forget, Rod Thorne used to work out
Speaker 1: in our weight room at the next Like, think about this,
Speaker 1: the head of discipline used to because he lived right
Speaker 1: next to our very close to our practice facility. Back then,
Speaker 1: he had a key to our work. You know, like
Speaker 1: you know, these weren't like spacious or spectacular workout rooms. Either.
Speaker 1: This is like you know, early nineties, he used to
Speaker 1: work out there and then when Riley came in, Uh,
Speaker 1: that was closed off, right, So no more team Nick,
Speaker 1: we're all in it together. We weren't in it together.
Speaker 1: And so there was some you know, there was a
Speaker 1: little bit of uh, let's just say animosity um that
Speaker 1: continued on through that next decade. Um. So it was
Speaker 1: real and and you know, I know they think they
Speaker 1: were objective, but you know, in some cases we thought
Speaker 1: they may be lacked objectivity. Well that was a and
Speaker 1: so Chuck Daily, Chuck Daily got the job, even though
Speaker 1: he coached the most hated team, the most hated team
Speaker 1: of that era. And only Chuck could have waited his
Speaker 1: way through that maelstrom of hatred toward you know, Isaiah
Speaker 1: and Ricky mchorne and Lamb Beer and those guys. It's
Speaker 1: one of the great machiavelli and if we can put
Speaker 1: it on that one of the great feats political feats
Speaker 1: of of all time. And then skirt the issue of
Speaker 1: Isaiah not being on the team also, but this is
Speaker 1: completely old news. Go ahead, Yeah, you were gonna say something, Jack,
Speaker 1: I was just gonna say that that those hard feelings
Speaker 1: followed pat Riley down to Miami and the infamous Juwan
Speaker 1: Howard case when they signed Juwan Howard and then the
Speaker 1: league avoided that free agent contract because they said that
Speaker 1: they had underestimated the amount of solder cast space they had,
Speaker 1: and then pat Riley on a conference call came up
Speaker 1: with the all time classify. He says, the only thing
Speaker 1: we underestimated was the extent of the league's animus towards us.
Speaker 1: Never forget that one. We're gonna take a break for
Speaker 1: a minute, and we'll be right back with Kobe Lebron
Speaker 1: and the redeem team. We'll close on this note a
Speaker 1: little bit more serious note as we head toward and
Speaker 1: look forward to to the Tokyo Games, and we we've
Speaker 1: seen social justice and speaking out on on on the
Speaker 1: racial issues in our country interwoven with the n B
Speaker 1: A for the bubble certainly throughout the bubble with Black
Speaker 1: Lives Matter on the court throughout the current season. And
Speaker 1: it's interesting to think that there could be the potential
Speaker 1: for something if you team, sayd Win, were to win,
Speaker 1: would there be some type of statement made during during
Speaker 1: the playing of the national anthem for example. Um, and
Speaker 1: it's it's it's a very delicate road in Jeff, again,
Speaker 1: given your experience with teams, a coaching internationally and the
Speaker 1: time you've spent around the NBA, and I'm wondering if
Speaker 1: all so you can speak to your brother has been
Speaker 1: very outspoken Stan Van Gundy on these issues currently the
Speaker 1: coach of the New Orleans Pelicans. How do you think
Speaker 1: that would be navigated? We we've seen the outspokenness of
Speaker 1: these players, We've seen how much it matters to them,
Speaker 1: and what do you think would how would that play
Speaker 1: out given the international environment that you're familiar with from
Speaker 1: coaching Tmosa as well. Yeah, first of all, I think
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of stand and those other coaches, Gregg Popovich,
Speaker 1: Steve Kerr, many others. Right, they were way before. But
Speaker 1: this this wasn't a Johnny come lately this year. This
Speaker 1: has been ongoing. UM and so um. People can have
Speaker 1: their own opinions. You know, you read the Twitter. I'm
Speaker 1: not a Twitter guy, but like Stan has some supporters,
Speaker 1: some people come at him hard, but I love that
Speaker 1: he's unafraid of taking a stand. Same with the other coaches.
Speaker 1: I do think with the national team, it's a little different. UM.
Speaker 1: I think I'd be surprised if any coach or player
Speaker 1: UM refrain from speaking about the issues that UM they
Speaker 1: believed in strongly, But if they took some stand UM
Speaker 1: at the Olympic Games. UM, I would be surprised, UM,
Speaker 1: because I think you know, when you're playing for your team. UM.
Speaker 1: I think it's it's just different. So not that they
Speaker 1: don't have the right, not that USA Basketball would ask
Speaker 1: them not to do something. I don't think they would,
Speaker 1: they would do that, but I would be surprised if
Speaker 1: the focus is off is on other things other than
Speaker 1: the Olympic Games and the spirit of the Olympics. But
Speaker 1: I'm very proud that our players and our coaches and
Speaker 1: were importantly many of our owners are encouraging UM the
Speaker 1: expressions of or the freedom of expression, to take stands
Speaker 1: and to even take criticism from others, you know. Like
Speaker 1: I really am impressed with the owners now and UM,
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of conservative owners that are
Speaker 1: still allowing, you know, this freedom of expression. So, like
Speaker 1: I said, the bubble was great, I was even more
Speaker 1: proud of the people that came before that and led
Speaker 1: the fight. UM. Even before the bubble. So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's been good and I'll be interested to see what
Speaker 1: happens with the national team, but I think the focus
Speaker 1: there will be just on the Olympics and the Olympic
Speaker 1: spirit in the competition. Zach, Where do you think the
Speaker 1: owners are at now? Jeff? Jeff brought that up, and
Speaker 1: and we we have seen you know who they've donated
Speaker 1: to politically, and and uh, they might not be outspoken,
Speaker 1: but follow the money and you can see where where
Speaker 1: their beliefs lie. Um. And yet there's this you know,
Speaker 1: the players are tugging them in a different direction. And
Speaker 1: so where do you think the ownership and the power
Speaker 1: structure of the league stands on these matters? To me,
Speaker 1: that's that's gonna be the most interesting moment, if it
Speaker 1: ever happens, is when a player who plays for a
Speaker 1: team who's governor is publicly on the other political side. Um,
Speaker 1: happened in the w n B A w n B
Speaker 1: A for sure, you know in Atlanta. Well, well they
Speaker 1: on the that's right, she's not there anymore. Will that
Speaker 1: will will something like the Kelly Loffler thing ever happened
Speaker 1: in the NBA. I guess it happened with Donald Sterling,
Speaker 1: but that was a whole I mean, Donald Sterling brought
Speaker 1: that upon himself and and it reached the point of
Speaker 1: such disgustingness that it was sort of unavoidable. But I
Speaker 1: agree with the Jets as far as one of the
Speaker 1: ers are. I think they're just sort of you know,
Speaker 1: even even if I'm sure there are still some governors
Speaker 1: who would prefer that the players keep politics. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's not even politics, it's basic human rights in decency,
Speaker 1: but we call it whatever you want. Would would would
Speaker 1: would prefer the players just focus on basketball and sports.
Speaker 1: But also no, on a pragmatic level, it's a losing
Speaker 1: battle for them to try to keep the players to
Speaker 1: focus just on sports and best all that they'll end
Speaker 1: up looking so bad anyway. But there are some I think,
Speaker 1: who are you know, Hey, it's it's there, right. I
Speaker 1: might disagree with it, but we're built on freedom expression
Speaker 1: of ideas. And then there are a lot who are
Speaker 1: fully supportive of everything that the players are talking about.
Speaker 1: And I think, zactly the one thing I'll be interested in.
Speaker 1: You you said, um, you know, does it ever come
Speaker 1: to pushing a governor out or an owner out? I
Speaker 1: forget what the politically correct term is right now. But um,
Speaker 1: I think what I'm interested in does it ever become
Speaker 1: the deciding factor in a free agency like, um, you
Speaker 1: know I have Owner A and Owner B, and I say,
Speaker 1: you know, I picked Owner A even though he was
Speaker 1: offering less money because I couldn't go. I couldn't do
Speaker 1: this because, like you said, Jaf, I followed the money.
Speaker 1: He may not be outspoken, but it goes so counter
Speaker 1: to my beliefs that I just can't do it. I am.
Speaker 1: I'm very interested to see if that ever comes about,
Speaker 1: or if it just continues to be all about legacy
Speaker 1: and money. To me, it doesn't. It doesn't even have
Speaker 1: to come to to that or to forcing an owner out.
Speaker 1: I didn't even mean to apply that. I just meant that,
Speaker 1: like if you played, I mean just name a team
Speaker 1: you played for, the Orlando Magic, you could start a
Speaker 1: dialogue any time you wanted about the divorce family and
Speaker 1: what they stand for me any any at any game
Speaker 1: you wanted, you could just you could start that dialogue.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just sitting there waiting to happen. And again, Jeff,
Speaker 1: I mean we even saw there were all these what
Speaker 1: the situation you talked about Will Will. I think we'll
Speaker 1: hear rumblings of that at some point. For sure, we're
Speaker 1: gonna take a break for a minute and we'll be
Speaker 1: right back with Kobe Lebron and the Radeem team. I
Speaker 1: just gotta ask all three of you one more question,
Speaker 1: because this morning, uh, I invariably get one of my friends.
Speaker 1: You know, I watched Portland's Denver game last night. They
Speaker 1: shot ninety two threes, they made seventeen of them. Why
Speaker 1: the hell am I watching? So the the effect of
Speaker 1: the Curry effect. I guess I'm just asking in general
Speaker 1: the state of the game, because everybody always asked me
Speaker 1: because I go back to I mean, people were thinking
Speaker 1: I was watching Dolf Shay's hit the overhead set shot.
Speaker 1: Actually I did see some of that, by the way,
Speaker 1: but I just yeah, you know, I used to see
Speaker 1: the Syracuse and NATS and a doubleheader at the at
Speaker 1: Convention Hall. Nevertheless, uh, I watched the skin. I keep
Speaker 1: saying the skill level of the players today is a joke.
Speaker 1: It is so high, but it doesn't always translate to
Speaker 1: something that traditional fans want to see, which is, you know,
Speaker 1: the the game. So just briefly, if you can all
Speaker 1: three of you the state of the game as you
Speaker 1: as you see it now and why it's still a
Speaker 1: great game, just to wait the argument one way or
Speaker 1: the other. Zack, I think the game is really fun. Um.
Speaker 1: I think the idea that NBA teams don't play defense
Speaker 1: is absolutely ridiculous. Playing defense in the NBA is really
Speaker 1: really hard right now with how how much ground you
Speaker 1: have to cover, let alone all the rule changes and
Speaker 1: emphasies that Jeff talked about before that are meant to
Speaker 1: benefit perimeter offensive players and all that. I do think
Speaker 1: we are approaching a saturation point, or may already be
Speaker 1: there where for some fans and maybe not for younger fans,
Speaker 1: maybe where all of us here are too old to
Speaker 1: really feel how a twenty two year old process is
Speaker 1: the league. But where there are, the game is too
Speaker 1: much just about who made more threes, who was hot
Speaker 1: that night, you know, But you look at every box
Speaker 1: of where seventeen of whatever from three, nine of whatever
Speaker 1: from the seventeen team one, that's it. That's the whole game.
Speaker 1: And you know, we could go off on a million
Speaker 1: tangents about and people have proposed lots of different solutions
Speaker 1: or ways you could tweak the rules to make sure
Speaker 1: that the game isn't all about threes. But three is
Speaker 1: just fundamentally so much more than two that I don't
Speaker 1: see an end in sight for teams evolving in that direction.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it presents challenges for defenses, and it's it's
Speaker 1: to see how they respond to it. But it's every
Speaker 1: game now a three on one is ending in a
Speaker 1: pull up three instead of a dunk. And and there
Speaker 1: are no there are three guys in the league who
Speaker 1: can post up with any sort of efficiency that that
Speaker 1: Trump's just driving and kicking to Like pick a random
Speaker 1: average three point shooter, this Solomon Hill shooting it above
Speaker 1: the break three is a better option than that, like
Speaker 1: LaMarcus Aldridge doing anything God bless him on the left
Speaker 1: elbow or something. But that that saturation point has probably
Speaker 1: already been breached. And and I don't think we're going
Speaker 1: I don't think it's it's the reversing of that trend
Speaker 1: is happening without some engineering of the rules by the NBA.
Speaker 1: Mark Jackson always says styles make fights. Different styles, and
Speaker 1: Darryl Moray said the other day UM that the GM
Speaker 1: of the seventies sixers UM you need to look at
Speaker 1: a system where there's only one way to win, and
Speaker 1: that's you know, shooting threes. And I think he nailed that. Um.
Speaker 1: I find the proliferation of the three, Like you said, Jack,
Speaker 1: I think the skill is off the charts, the like
Speaker 1: just average players, what they can do with the ball,
Speaker 1: the range they can shoot with you know, you can
Speaker 1: make it a four point shot. I mean they it's amazing.
Speaker 1: And yet I don't find the three point shot um
Speaker 1: as exciting as plays at the rim. So going to zax,
Speaker 1: you know, three on one, three on two. I I
Speaker 1: love like when a guy challenges another guy at the rim,
Speaker 1: and you don't see that as much because they get
Speaker 1: in there and they spray it out, sometimes taking what
Speaker 1: as an outstanding shot and and making it into just
Speaker 1: a very good shot. Um, you know, because the layup
Speaker 1: and the free thrower still you know, the best shots.
Speaker 1: But um so I'm concerned with it. I don't find
Speaker 1: it at times like I think you're you're watching the
Speaker 1: same game no matter what the opponents are, and it
Speaker 1: just it takes away some of you know the variety
Speaker 1: of play that I always found um intriguing. And I
Speaker 1: agree with Za that it's going to be up to
Speaker 1: the rules and engineering it such that too, if you
Speaker 1: want to bring a little bit more balance and a
Speaker 1: little bit different styles to the game. I agreed. The
Speaker 1: aesthetics of it I'm not a fan of, but I'm
Speaker 1: a fan of the health of basketball because of the
Speaker 1: great talents and the array of talent, much more so
Speaker 1: than in any of the previous four decades that I've
Speaker 1: been watching it. And Uh, part of that is the
Speaker 1: legacy of the Dream Team and all the international talent
Speaker 1: that it created, and the interests in basketball around the
Speaker 1: world that that team created. And I love the fact
Speaker 1: that there's the Honest and Luca and Nicole, and so
Speaker 1: I love the state of the NBA from that regard,
Speaker 1: it's a very good, healthy place, I think, and I
Speaker 1: stay keeping those players healthy is the key, going back
Speaker 1: to our discussion about the schedule and what could be
Speaker 1: done about protecting player health and mental health as well. Um,
Speaker 1: you just wonder though, if and I think it will happen, coach, like,
Speaker 1: I think we'll have a player that that makes it
Speaker 1: zag right. We had Steph Curry come along. If and
Speaker 1: when another Shaquille O'Neil comes along, maybe it does tilt
Speaker 1: back to running the offense through the low post and
Speaker 1: a powerful inside player. There just hasn't been another thing
Speaker 1: like Shack, and there aren't a lot of Shacks out there,
Speaker 1: but there was a World Chamberlain, and you could argue
Speaker 1: Shack was his descendant, and maybe someone will descend from Shack,
Speaker 1: although his literally descendant is funny. I saw his son
Speaker 1: played from my high school where I went to high school,
Speaker 1: and he didn't go inside the pain at all. So
Speaker 1: even Shack's own offspring played the modern game of a
Speaker 1: perimeter game. But I think someone will come along to
Speaker 1: shift it. But until then, I do think the talent
Speaker 1: throughout the league keeps it in a pretty good well.
Speaker 1: We could have gone on forever, and j A and
Speaker 1: I can't thank Jeff Van Dundee and Zach Low enough
Speaker 1: for their opinions, observations and inside knowledge, not to mention
Speaker 1: their endurance and hanging with us for well over an hour.
Speaker 1: Part one of this discussion is available, as is the
Speaker 1: entire season of Kobe Lebron and the redeem Team. J.
Speaker 1: Dodney and I hope you've enjoyed listening to it as
Speaker 1: much as we've enjoyed recording it. I'm Jack McCallum. IM
Speaker 1: thanks again for listening. The Dream Team Tapes. Season two,
Speaker 1: Kobe lebron and the Redeem Team is a production of
Speaker 1: Diversion Podcasts in association with I Heart Radio. For more
Speaker 1: podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This season
Speaker 1: is written and hosted by me, Jack McCallum and j A. Dande,
Speaker 1: Executive producer Scott Waxman and Mark Francis for Diversion Podcasts
Speaker 1: and Sean ty Toone for I Heart Radio. Our editorial
Speaker 1: director is John Tuttle. Supervising producer Brian Murphy, legal producer
Speaker 1: Freddie Overstegen, Editing, mixing and sound designed by Mark Franz.
Speaker 1: Verna Fields is our technical producer, and our director of
Speaker 1: Marketing and business Development is Jacob Bronstein Diversion Podcasts