WEBVTT - Mark Cuban 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.560 Be Illuminati. I've had people over here and they talk 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:04.200 about the Illuminati. Do you believe in it? 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:08.959 No? Literally, people come on and think it's real. Yeah, 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:12.040 I'm Riches, I'm Jewish. Nobody asked me to join. None 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:17.640 of them secret societies, right, nobody. I'm like, Hello, Can 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:19.919 I at least get an invite to a cocktail party? 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:25.280 All my life, grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle, paed Price, 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:29.240 one slice got the bron Geis swap all my life. 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.600 I've been grinding all my life, all my life, grinding 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:37.800 all my life, sacrifice, Hustle, paed Price, one slice got 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.560 the bronic Geist swap all my life. I've been grinding 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:43.680 all my life. 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:47.760 Hello, welcome to another episode of Club Shah. I am 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:50.440 your host, Shanny Sharp. I'm also the propriud of Club 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:53.000 Shashe the guy that's stopping by for conversation on the 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.760 drink today. Is one of America's most famous and successful entrepreneurs. 0:00:56.960 --> 0:00:59.720 He created the world's first streaming platform. He's one of 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:02.320 the top ten Wall Street trades of all time. He's 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.400 in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.959 single e trade transaction, one of the most influential people 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:12.440 in cable and sports industry. Self made multi billionaire, savvy entrepreneur, 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:18.160 Internet pioneer, genius financier, highly respected businessman. A celebrated sports owner. 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:21.160 He helped the Dallas Mavericks win their first NBA title 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:24.919 in twenty eleven. Primetime television star, he was a Shark 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:27.960 on the award winning TV show Shark Tank, as an 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.800 executive producer for Academy Award winning movie It's best selling 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:33.959 author aviad philanthropists, humanitarian and mogul. 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:40.400 Here he is ladies and gentlemen, Mark Huban. When you 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:41.360 hear all those. 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:45.080 Things you like, damn, I was like, no more, no, no, 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:46.800 you're just telling me. I'm old. 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:48.559 That's all you drink? Mark? 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:50.120 Yeah, do I drink y'all? 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:50.280 See? 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:52.560 Okay, Well you know, hey, this is my own Kangyak 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:55.240 is called shade by Laportier. 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:55.680 Uh huh. 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:56.560 You don't men think about. 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:58.080 Kanyac ya a little bit. But I'm a simper right, 0:01:58.120 --> 0:01:58.480 I'm not like. 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:01.120 Yeah, yeah, ain't expecting you take this into the domemark. 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:05.160 I didn't say I never have. I'm just saying thanks 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:07.120 for having me on, thanks for coming on. Appreciate you 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:11.520 oh so much. 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:12.639 For being a Sipper. 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:15.760 Yeah shit, a tiny one. 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.720 So let's get ready to it. Your big acquisition this 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:23.200 offseason was Klay Thompson. Obviously you got Luca, we know 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:25.280 what Luke is. You have Kyrie, a guy that can 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.560 take make big shots, tremendous handles. How were you able 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.320 to convince Clay to come to Dallas when his dad 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:33.520 wanted him to go to LA He grew up as 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:35.799 a Lakers fan, Kobe was his idol. 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.400 How did you convince him join us in Dallas? 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:41.560 I mean credit goes to Nico and Kyrie and j Kidd, Right, 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.720 they know him, They've played with them, they understand him. 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.200 And that's literally why we brought Nico Harrison in because 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:50.040 of his relationships with players, and so they went out 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.120 and spend time with him, got to know him better. 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:56.000 And really, and I think Clay was ready for a move, 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:59.600 you know all the degreef he got last year, particularly 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.240 the way it is, so the timing was right, and 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.960 you know, kudos to Kate, to Clay for being willing 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:07.680 to make the move in, kudos to Nico, J Kidd 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:09.440 and Kai for making it happen. 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:12.200 Is it hard to convince players when they've had such 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:15.120 success in one locale and they've been there for the 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.800 extended period of time, and that's their identity. 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:18.359 They're known. 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:20.480 He's always going to be known as a warrior, no 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:22.560 matter what happens. If they win a title here, he'll 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:24.760 still be known as a warrior. Is it really hard 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.680 to convince players to join a new franchise when they've 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:29.400 been associated with one franch afflets? 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:31.160 All depends if they're the number one guy or number 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.359 two guy or number three guy. Okay, right, if you're 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.400 number one, like Stef's not going anywhere, right, right, you 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:38.840 could understand, you know, now the Brons moved around just 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:43.240 for different reasons. But the number two guy, if if 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:45.600 it's not going the way you want, then yeah, the 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:49.040 door is open. But it takes somebody who's special, somebody 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:52.440 who's got the confidence in themselves, somebody who's got the ambition, 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:55.000 and somebody who really has got something to prove, right, 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:56.560 and Clay's got a lot to prove, which is great 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:57.880 because those are the kind of guys you want to 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.400 the squad, right, because they're going to go they're gonna 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.080 work harder than ever to prove people wrong. 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:06.720 You come off one of your best seasons. Since you 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.960 won the NBA title, you get to the NBA Finals. 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.240 Luca had an outstanding gear. I think he finished top 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.520 three in the MVP. Kyrie was sensational. Why weren't you 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.080 guys able to get over that hump against the Boston Celtics. 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:18.920 You lose that series? 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.720 For one, Celtics are good, right, I mean they didn't 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.640 have a lot of weaknesses and so, and in order 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:27.719 to beat them, we had to make a lot of 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.400 threes and we just didn't. You know, our three point 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:33.440 shooting wasn't up to par where it was during the 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.039 playoffs for the regular season. We couldn't get stops like 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:38.760 we needed to, and we couldn't get the rim to 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:40.640 the rim the way we needed to. When when Jaylen 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:42.400 Brown is blocking shots at the rim and being a 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.080 rib protector, you know it's not your day. So you know, 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:48.120 credit to them. But you know, adding Clay, adding Nause, 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:51.159 I mean we got better, right you are. 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.839 This the following the previous off season, you added Kyrie. 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.360 You know you trade and make the trade for him, 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.440 but you sign him, re signed him in free agency. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.200 How did you know that he and Luca would play 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.720 a play so well together because Luca needs the ball. 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:07.600 Kyrie needs the ball to do with he stuff, but 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:09.800 he can play off the ball. How did you know 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:11.880 that they'll work together. 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:14.840 Because they're both basketball savants, but they understand the game, 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:16.320 they know how to play, they know what it takes 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.839 to win. They compliment each other in a lot of ways. 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.800 You know, Luca's big, strong, not so quick, where Kyrie's 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:25.640 quick handles. I mean they both got handles right out 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:27.600 of the world handles, but just plays the game a 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:30.480 little differently. And when you have a back court that 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:35.720 can compliment each other and both are willing to let 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:37.960 the other guy lead when the time is right, that's 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:39.679 when it's going to work. Like when we first traded 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.000 for him, they couldn't figure each other out because they 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:44.840 hadn't had a preseason together. And then you know, last 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.200 year it took a little time. I mean we didn't 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:49.200 get it right at the beginning, but by the end 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.360 of the year they were playing off each other great 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:54.480 and it was like, because you know, Luca just loves 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:56.760 to start a game by taking over, and then Kai 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.320 is fourth quarter, Kai right, and if Kay is rolling, 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.560 Luca's like here you go. And if guy's not rolling, 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:03.680 goes give me the ball, it's my turn, right, And 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.160 when they got that respect in that relationship, that's when 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:06.880 everything changed. 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:09.880 But you know, Kyrie had a history of what transpired 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.120 him in Cleveland and it was boffed in and it 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:14.640 didn't work out with the nass and the head. So 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:17.280 how do you deal with a player that you know 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:19.640 it might not have worked out over here, It might 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:21.359 not have worked out over there, It might not have 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:24.080 worked out over there, but you know what, I believe 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:26.000 in this player and it's going to work out over here. 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:27.640 How do you how do you assess that mark? 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:30.200 You talk to them, and you talk to people around them. 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.000 You watch what happens. You know how their actions are. 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.520 When you watch Kyrie before he came to the Mavsie, 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:37.560 when you watch Kyrie after the game, you know, you 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.039 see you know football, right, these guys will swap jerseys, 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:42.279 slap each other right, and walk out the door and 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:44.800 never talk to each other again. Kyrie is one of 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.480 those guys like he's gonna hug you, and yeah, he's 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:49.559 gonna hug you like he's known you for twenty years 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.719 and you guys are first cousins, yes, right, And that 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.360 says something when guys are getting that close to each other. 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.080 And so when you talk to players, they loved them. Yes, 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.000 nobody had a bad word to say about Kyrie that 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.120 ever stepped on the court. And so to me, that 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:06.680 was all we needed to know. And then from there 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:08.760 all the things you said, Okay, what what wrong in 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:11.800 Bossed and what went wrong in Brooklyn? A lot of 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.080 that is maturity, right, but a lot of it was 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:17.240 circumstances too right. How often is COVID going to hit right, 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.520 you know and lead to those circumstances. And what we 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.640 learned was you just like Kaybee Kai, you know, and 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:25.760 I love talking to the guy, and I say this 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:27.560 all the time, Like, you know, if you go back 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:29.480 to your college days and you're sitting in the dorm 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:31.920 and you're hanging out with friends, there's a couple guys 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:33.880 that just want to get trashed, right, There's a couple 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.160 guys that want to get trashed and talk about girls, right, 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:38.320 and then you all talk about sports. Kai is the 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:40.960 dude that's sitting there wanting to talk about world peace? Right, 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.080 Why aren't we fixing this? You know? How do we 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.960 end hunger? He's just got that, He's got a heart 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:48.400 of gold. He's got a huge heart and he wants 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:50.680 to help people, you know, and even if you look 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:53.200 at his social media, it's about his tribe, right, It's 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.240 about the people around him and how we can lift 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:59.240 people up right, his community, and that once we saw that, 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.240 I mean to me, it was easy to make that decision. 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.400 When you hear people like man, they're misunderstood. What was 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:08.960 your perception of Kyrie before you actually got around Kyrie 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:11.240 and found out what type of genuine person they. 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:13.560 Honestly, before I did the work, I thought he was 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:15.920 the team killer, Okay, right. I was just like, because 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:17.560 I never talked, there was no point. There was no 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:20.240 reason for me to talk to people about him. Right, 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:21.920 It's just like, hey, if he doesn't want to play 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:24.240 when the mass comes to town, great, Right, things don't 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:27.360 work out on another team, great, But you know, when 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:29.800 the opportunity to trade for him came, it's like, okay, 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:32.280 let's do the work. And you know, Nico did the work. 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:35.240 Jay Kid knew him, Nico knew him for years and 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.360 it was like, okay, let me talk to folks, and 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:40.080 everybody loved him. And so then you looked at the 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:42.800 organizations he was at and you know. 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:44.800 That didn't help the situation. 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.640 Yeah, right, And so I mean I knew all these owners, right, 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.400 and I knew the circumstances, and so you know, it 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:51.760 wasn't a hard decision. 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:55.400 What when you sit down and talk to Kay and 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:57.280 you mentioned it earlier, like you look at the social 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:01.280 media feed and he's talking about things that normal guys, 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.679 he is a probably not talking about. But when he 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.959 got dropped by some of these major sponsors, what did 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:09.000 you what did you share with it? 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:11.960 I was like, can I help? And obviously you know 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:13.800 when it comes to shoes, which is big money off court, 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.600 we got Nico Harrison right there, right, and so Nico 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:18.520 gave him a lot of guidance and support. He had 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:20.440 talked to him and worked with him at Nike. So 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.400 Nico was great. And you know I talked to Kai 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:27.360 about business and he was just like Mark, I just 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:30.240 want to be myself, lead the way I want to 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:34.120 lead and be creative. And he found a great deal, right, 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:36.200 and he's been making it work. If you notice the 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:39.560 deals he signed since he came to us. There's no problems, right, 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.400 There's no issues because we just let Kai be Kai. 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.679 And when you do that, good things happened, right. 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.640 Now, Is it true that when Giannis was a free agent, 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:51.360 you did you want to silence try and because I'm 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:53.760 reading this like you passed on Yanis. 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:56.480 Okay, two different things, right, So when Giannis was getting 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.439 drafted right, right, that's when you passed. That's when we passed, 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.520 right because we had Dirk and this is like twenty twelve, 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:04.960 I think it was in twenty thirteen, and we would 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:08.200 just won the championship two years ago, and so some 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.320 of our people wanted to go for Gianni's I wanted 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.400 to trade down and we ended up getting Shane Lark 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.240 and not because so much of Shane who could play, 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:18.599 but we needed that cap room to go out and 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.679 try to sign somebody to propel Dirk. We wanted to 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:23.840 go for the gold againet another one, right, We wanted 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.120 to get another one, so you know, but it's just 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:28.120 the way it worked out. And had we gotten honest, 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:28.960 we never gotten Luca. 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:32.679 Wow. Yeah, So how do you make how do you 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:34.760 how do you do that mark? 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:38.640 Because you're like, Okay, there's this guy here and we 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.679 have a superstar already on the team and we're trying 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:44.720 to maximize because he's not going to play another ten years, right, 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:47.320 so we want to maximize this. So how do you 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.040 really determine because you look at Young's like, damn if 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:51.160 we don't have you, Luke. 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:54.360 But remember remember so Yann's coming out, there were like 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:58.280 I vividly remember there were two VHS tapes of him 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:00.480 playing in the Greek League. That was Oh, they had 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.000 to show me, you know, you know, like the old 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:05.560 school tapes if you went into yards sale, right and 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:07.720 you find these days, you know when it's got lines 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:09.720 and everything and it looks like somebody, you know, someone's 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:13.040 mom shot it. That's what it was, right, And look 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:15.880 he got drafted at thirteen I think or something like that, 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:18.040 and so you know it wasn't like every other team 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.320 knew about it either. But you know, you have to 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:23.920 respect Dirk. You have to respect what he's done for us. 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:27.440 And I already know, like Dirk, if we had just, 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:29.640 you know, instead of going for it in free agency, 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:31.880 if we had just said, Okay, this rookie's going to 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:35.319 be great, it would be like what a shit show. 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:37.320 With all love? 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:40.240 Right, because Dirk's all love. But you know, so you know, 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:42.120 just out of respect to Dirk, it was my it 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.120 was my final decision and we went for it and 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:47.720 we didn't get the free agents we wanted, but that 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:48.280 was the plan. 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:52.920 Does the Buk have the buck always stop on Mark 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:53.400 Cuban's day? 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:55.840 Yeah, it's got to right. It was my team, you know, 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.480 it was my responsibility, my final decisions, for better or worse. 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.760 Because I heard Jerry say, Jerry says, no one can 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.080 run the Cowboys better than I can of the GM. 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:06.559 Is that how you feel? 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:08.719 You know, there's probably a lot of people who could 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:10.480 run it better, and obviously someone's going to get the 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:15.760 chance now. But Jerry, you know, Jerry and I had 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.280 and the difference is between us is Jerry saw the 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.520 whole thing as a business, right, right, And when he 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:25.280 talks about running this thing as a business and as 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:27.800 a football team, he's right, right. And they've gone twelve 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:29.800 and five like three straight years, right, So it's not 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:31.880 like they suck, right, And you know how hard it 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:33.920 is to get over the Hume, absolutely right. It takes 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:37.080 some luck. And you know you're playing against Mahomes, who's 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:39.800 like the Michael Jordan in some respects of quarterbacks, you know, 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:43.120 and then it was Brady before him, right, And so 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:46.400 I'm not disagreeing with Jerry. I just think you got 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:49.040 to get more credit to Luck because Luck has more 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.560 impact than probably anything I could do or anything Jerry 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:52.800 can do. OK. 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:56.160 So, have you had conversations with Jerry about with Jerry? 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:56.560 I don't know. 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:58.840 Maybe you let you know, let such and such, maybe 0:12:58.840 --> 0:12:59.680 it's a different eye. 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:03.040 No. I've had conversations with him in the past, but 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.280 not about players, right, because I don't know shit about 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.439 football players. I mean, I got my own fantasy football stuff. 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:11.640 My son Jake is just all about fantasy football, right. 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.120 But yeah, you've got to you've got to live it 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:16.640 to make those kind of decisions. But I've talked to 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.320 him in the past about coaching decisions and stuff. But 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:20.520 that was probably ten years ago. 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:25.360 Okay, this is Michael Finley, Grant William, They tell the story. 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:28.240 But I want to get to Luca. I believe if 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:30.679 Luca were to like train in the off season, get 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:34.320 himself in tip top shape. I don't think Luca realized 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:38.080 he's great. I'm talking about he he's transcending, he's historically great. 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:40.280 But I don't think Luca realized how great he can be. 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:45.440 Yeah, yeah, I mean, look, we all mature as we 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:48.640 get older, right, and this going into a sixth year, 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:51.200 he learned, he learned what it takes to get to 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.040 the finals for the first time, and that tells you 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.800 a lot. It's like with Dirk when we lost in 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.760 two thousand and six in the finals to Miami. Dirk's 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:03.400 had a to change completely. Yeah, Derk just became a 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:07.400 different human in terms of preparation. I mean literally, like 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:10.520 no alcohol during the season, which wasn't how we used 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:16.440 to be. Trust, no sweets, no fried food during the season, 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:21.640 just complete about face on how he approached his profession. 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.640 And Luca's smart like that too. Now you know, I 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.400 haven't talked to him this offseason about all that kind 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:28.240 of stuff. What's that? 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:29.360 What about the hookah? 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:33.600 Hey, let me just tell you this. I know one 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:35.840 guy who's about seven foot and it is a Hall 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.520 of famer who introduced me to hookah. Right the one 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.440 time I've tried it, and he ain't slowing down and 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:44.920 he's like thirty seven, So I'm not going to judge there. Okay, 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:47.280 what do you think about hookah? 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:48.280 I have never tried it? 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:50.960 Yo, you never have I don't know what twice twice? 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:51.600 You like it? 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:53.640 Nah, no, if I've only done it twice, I tell 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:54.360 you where you go? 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:58.520 So tell us the story about Grant Williams. You sign 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:01.080 him in free agent from the Celtics, and I guess 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:03.840 he's Michael Fanny tells the story that he's trash talking 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:05.200 Luca in practice. 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:06.480 Were you there that day? 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:08.000 I wasn't there that day, but I heard all the 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:09.040 stories obviously, So. 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:11.400 What so what happened to the best? What were you? 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:12.720 What was relayed to you? 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:16.640 Oh? You know, Grant, Grant was trying to define himself. 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:18.600 Grant's a great guy, right, I still keep in touch 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:20.480 with him. I like him a lot. And he was 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.080 trying to define his role with the Mavericks. You know, 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:25.040 he wasn't going to be the best player, but he 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:27.000 was going to be a role player that that had 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:29.040 to fit in May threes. But he was kind of 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:33.040 like the enforcer, and he also wanted to be kind 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:36.040 of the adult on the court, you know. And and 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.440 with Luca it just did go over well at all. 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.680 When you start trash talking Luca, that's never going to 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.800 end well. Like if I've trash talked him like fun, 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:49.960 he gives me the stink eye. You know, you are 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.000 not doing that to Luca, and Grant found out the 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:52.360 hard way. 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:57.240 How did Dirt when you said, because like you said, 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.280 he's going, Luca's going into his sixth season, Dirt played 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:02.840 twenty season with you, the only franchise that he's ever 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:07.040 played with. You said, yeah, right now, lucas the best player. 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:10.880 You really believe that right now, that he's a better 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:11.800 player than Dirk's ever. 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:15.680 Yeah, yeah, I mean Dirk, Remember the league has changed, right, 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:19.680 you know, and Dirk the skills he brought, and even 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:24.200 more than his skills, the mindset. Dirk is mentally tougher 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:26.760 than any human I've ever met in my life. You know, 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:31.200 whether it's dealing with pain, because you know better than anybody, right, 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:33.360 it's what you do off the court, correct off what 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:35.840 you do off the field, that's more. That defines what 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:39.960 you do if you don't do it off you know, mentally, physically, intellectually, right, 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:41.920 learning all the things you need to do your football 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:44.920 iqu or basketball ceue. It doesn't matter how talented you are, right, 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:48.520 We've seen boasting talented guys just right through a flame 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.640 out in a minute. And so you know, Dirk had 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:55.160 that mindset that was stronger than maybe anybody other than 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:59.560 Michael Jordan, and that's you know, Luca. On the other hand, 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:04.480 in terms of actual skill and killer instinct, Luca can 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:07.800 handle the ball. Dirk needed somebody to get him the ball. 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:12.040 That's the only reason, right. If Dirk was Dirk came 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:15.159 out now right, and he'd have the skills and the 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:18.000 handles right because you know, like kids today, they watch 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:20.639 on Instagram, they watch on TikTok all the drills and 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:22.560 all the handles, and they see Steph and they see 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:24.439 Luca and Kyrie and so they all am. 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:26.600 Dirk would have been out with all those handles and 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:29.840 unfair a whole difference. So basically, he'd been Kevin Durant 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.239 before Kevin Durant. Kevin dur Red got handled to get 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:34.359 shooting the ball. The seven foot dog gets shooting the 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:37.720 ball like Dirk. So basically, exactly, you've been KD before KD. 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:41.280 He would have been right and and then some. And 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:43.920 that's no disrespect to KD who was that first person 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:50.440 to get me that Hookah. 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:56.560 When Luca's contracts up, he's going to have the biggest contract. 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.840 In NBA here, Sure do you believe we're going to get. 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.320 To a point in time, I don't know how soon, 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:03.639 probably because of the way it's going that we're going 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.640 to see an NBA player with a billion dollar contract. 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:10.119