Speaker 1: From the King of sports Books comes the Key sports
Speaker 1: podcast Unleashed, presented by bet MGM. Here's your host, Jerry
Speaker 1: Ferrara and Olivia Harlan Decker. Welcome to Unleashed, where Today
Speaker 1: Thursday is the ever Sports Equinox, which means all four
Speaker 1: of the major sports leagues have games today. There's so
Speaker 1: much to bet, so little time. Jerry, are you a
Speaker 1: bit overwhelmed with the Sports Equinox? You know, I am.
Speaker 1: Typically I'm well prepared for this, but I think it's because,
Speaker 1: like usually, the Giants are almost out of it already,
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm not really as excited about them.
Speaker 1: I'm excited about the Knicks, but no, I'm um, there's
Speaker 1: too much going on. The Yankees are in the plant.
Speaker 1: It's catching me off guard. I'm not fully prepared. But
Speaker 1: oh what a wonderful time to be alive. Oh what
Speaker 1: a wonderful time of year. And the NBA obviously started
Speaker 1: on Tuesday night, and we've got a pretty cool guy
Speaker 1: to break it down today, Kevin Garnett. The big ticket
Speaker 1: is here and Jerry, last week I tea s the
Speaker 1: end of the show with that I knew the story
Speaker 1: and the guy who named him the big tickets. Are
Speaker 1: you ready to hear it? Are you going to give
Speaker 1: that to the audience and me right now, because yes,
Speaker 1: I've been waiting for this. Yeah. So, my dad Kevin
Speaker 1: Harlan to play by play announcer and he kind of
Speaker 1: got his big break in the industry being the Timberwolves
Speaker 1: play by play announcer when he was like twenty nine
Speaker 1: something like that. He was super young and I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: and KG was a rookie and their names are both Kevin,
Speaker 1: and they were both young guys. Obviously KG much younger,
Speaker 1: and they kind of became quick friends and have a
Speaker 1: lot of history together, and I'll kind of bring that
Speaker 1: up when KG gets on here. But you know, the
Speaker 1: Wolves were so bad, and my dad was young and
Speaker 1: at all this energy and was kind of crazy. And
Speaker 1: if you YouTube Kevin Harlm Timberwolves, you will hear the
Speaker 1: funniest play by play calls. It's rich. But yeah, one
Speaker 1: night he just names in the big ticket and it
Speaker 1: has stuck ever since. And my dad laughs, He's like,
Speaker 1: I never thought in a million years that one would
Speaker 1: catch on, Like it was just kind of pulled it
Speaker 1: out one night. And what a great nickname though, right,
Speaker 1: it's a great nickname, and it really does suit him
Speaker 1: because he played in the place where before he came
Speaker 1: there in Minnesota, attendance was not record setting, but the minute,
Speaker 1: you know, he came on the scene, that arena was
Speaker 1: filling up. It did feel like a big ticket. And
Speaker 1: then when he goes on throughout his career, you know,
Speaker 1: all the playoff games with the Celtics and that style
Speaker 1: and battles with the Lakers. Any game that Kevin Garnett
Speaker 1: was involved in, it was in fact a big ticket,
Speaker 1: great nickname. I mean, I just love that. And yeah,
Speaker 1: my dad talks about when he was a teenager obviously
Speaker 1: he went straight to the league, that the team brought
Speaker 1: some of his friends, like on the charter, playing with
Speaker 1: them on the buses, let him travel with them to
Speaker 1: make the transition easier because he was a kid. And
Speaker 1: even said one night that they brought McDonald's on the
Speaker 1: plane after a game for him one night. You know,
Speaker 1: he's just he's a teenager. He just wanted to McDonald's.
Speaker 1: So totally unique situation. Obviously, there have been few guys
Speaker 1: as successful to go right out of high school into
Speaker 1: the NBA. And I'm curious now if he thinks that
Speaker 1: should still be a thing. Now the world is so
Speaker 1: different than when he was a rookie, and there are
Speaker 1: so many different paths going pro and that's a few
Speaker 1: skip college, which we've seen that now, So it's it's
Speaker 1: a it's a totally different time in the NBA, and
Speaker 1: I'm very curious what he thinks about this generation. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I just remember too, come when he came
Speaker 1: into the league being excited because you know, something I
Speaker 1: never really thought about was high school players coming in,
Speaker 1: you know, and then obviously being a big New York
Speaker 1: fan and the Knicks were good during this time period
Speaker 1: when KG was a rookie coming in and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: But then when he got to play with Marbury, which
Speaker 1: every Knicks fan in New York fan was gonna root
Speaker 1: for Marbury no matter where he went. So that's kind
Speaker 1: of one of the greatest like almost like unanswerable questions,
Speaker 1: like what would have happened if those two could have
Speaker 1: really worked it out, because they were starting to get
Speaker 1: that pick and roll going, you know, players now years
Speaker 1: later after the facts say that that pick and roll
Speaker 1: was starting to get scary. So but yeah, I love KG.
Speaker 1: Very excited to talk to him, and he's like a
Speaker 1: great actor, nizing one of my favorite movies Uncut Gems, which, yeah,
Speaker 1: and he's great in the movies, So I want to
Speaker 1: talk to him about some of that stuff too. No,
Speaker 1: I know, industry man. Now you guys are in the
Speaker 1: same industry. You can pick his brain on that. But no,
Speaker 1: this is great. What were your takeaways though from Tuesday
Speaker 1: night opening NBA? Look, it's it's so easy to overreact.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of fun to overreact because we have
Speaker 1: nothing to react to other than you know, these everyone's
Speaker 1: game one from it really is scary. If I'm a
Speaker 1: Laker fan, I'm not jumping the gun yet. I know
Speaker 1: their playoff odds are kind of decreasing and that's becoming
Speaker 1: a popular bet. But it really Anthony Davis looked great.
Speaker 1: So if you're gonna focus on something positive, you gotta
Speaker 1: focus on the fact that A d looks great, he
Speaker 1: looks fit, He's got to stay healthy. So but I
Speaker 1: do think it's a play in tight situation for them
Speaker 1: and they got to just survive and get there. So
Speaker 1: very worried. From a Lake fan, I'm a Warrior fan,
Speaker 1: it's like, just make it through the season. Healthy, and
Speaker 1: you'll be fine. It's to me, it's gonna be like
Speaker 1: a whole hum Warriors year. Make it through the year healthy,
Speaker 1: developed the younger guys further, and just get ready for
Speaker 1: your run because they look great. Warriors look great. You're
Speaker 1: so right, especially after the Draymond Pool punch and the
Speaker 1: video leak and all the drama that we were talking
Speaker 1: about just last week, and the team looks great. I I,
Speaker 1: like everyone else was watching. Okay, Draymond and Pool are
Speaker 1: going to be like, buddy, buddy, are they going to
Speaker 1: try to make a point that all is well? And
Speaker 1: I think that was underwhelming. We didn't get any confirmation
Speaker 1: that all was well, and they played together fine an
Speaker 1: eleven man rotation. I like this with the Warriors. Steve
Speaker 1: Carr was mentioning that they're really deep this year and
Speaker 1: he wants to go deep in the bag and he did,
Speaker 1: and then obviously Steph Curry thirty three points. He was fantastic.
Speaker 1: The Lakers, let's elaborate on that because I was following
Speaker 1: the story of who's the starting lineup and one of
Speaker 1: their preseason games, Westbrook came off the bench and then
Speaker 1: he hurt his hamstring and he blamed it on coming
Speaker 1: off the bench. He said, my whole career I started,
Speaker 1: I didn't even know what to do with my body
Speaker 1: to how to stay warm. And he was pretty vocal
Speaker 1: that he didn't like that experimental lineup change from new
Speaker 1: coach Darvin Ham. Darvin Ham said he's not sure what
Speaker 1: group he'll consistently start moving forward, so it's interesting. At
Speaker 1: halftime of that game, Charles Barkley was very candid that
Speaker 1: he thinks Russell needs to move, he needs a change
Speaker 1: of sceneries, not happy Lakers don't need them. He's kind
Speaker 1: of lost his mojo, his exuberance, and since they're not
Speaker 1: a championship contender, you know, let's just move on. Let's
Speaker 1: let's get him out of here. So I'm curious your
Speaker 1: thoughts on that and how the Lakers are going to
Speaker 1: probably ultimately blow this thing up, Like I would not
Speaker 1: be surprised if they tried to trade a D by
Speaker 1: trade deadline and get rid of Lebron obviously the summer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's so complicated because I do love Russell Westbrook the
Speaker 1: way he's played the game. I think that that's always
Speaker 1: what you want out of one of your best players.
Speaker 1: I would have even said years ago, someone would maybe
Speaker 1: you would have a hard time transitioning to a different role,
Speaker 1: would be Russ because he's just played the same way
Speaker 1: and he's been very one of the most successful players
Speaker 1: doing it on a personal level. So they get him
Speaker 1: the change, it's gonna be hard. It never quite fit.
Speaker 1: Even when that acquisition happened. I wondered, okay, because him
Speaker 1: and Lebron sort of do the same things. They need
Speaker 1: the ball to be effective, and I'm sorry, if you
Speaker 1: have to give the ball to someone, gonna give it
Speaker 1: to Lebron James to have eight percent of the time,
Speaker 1: So it's always a question mark. Yeah, maybe new scenery
Speaker 1: helps him change with the role he might have to
Speaker 1: be faced with. I do think, you know, his presence
Speaker 1: on the young team could be good. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but he just wants to win, So I don't know
Speaker 1: what You're gonna send them to the Detroit so he could,
Speaker 1: you know, what's gonna help usher in the young guys.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that works. But if I'm the Lakers,
Speaker 1: to me, I don't know. They know. I'm just a
Speaker 1: fan talking here. There's only one out, and I really
Speaker 1: do think it's to trade a d and it's probably
Speaker 1: not this year, and you can't trade Lebron this year.
Speaker 1: But I mean, god, if I really was thinking about
Speaker 1: this in context to even like the Russell Wilson trade,
Speaker 1: and we'll talk about that later if you want, But
Speaker 1: if you are the New Orleans Pelicans, I cannot think
Speaker 1: of a team that's been better position maybe since the
Speaker 1: Celtics fleeced the Nets with like no offense. I don't
Speaker 1: we're talking about KG, but you know they got all
Speaker 1: the all Brooklyn's picks for you know, years and years,
Speaker 1: and they ended up turning into Tatum and Brown. You know, well,
Speaker 1: part of that was the Sixers deal. The Pelicans they
Speaker 1: have the Lakers picks and like a swap, like they
Speaker 1: are so set up people wanted David Griffin's job like
Speaker 1: a year ago. I can't think of a team that's
Speaker 1: better set up for the future than the Pelicans other
Speaker 1: than that name that I think needs to change. It
Speaker 1: just shows you the NBA is so exciting because year
Speaker 1: to year can have a quick change, where I feel
Speaker 1: like in football it takes a touch longer, you know.
Speaker 1: Here I say that, and now the Jets are like
Speaker 1: actually doing well and I mean, there are clearly teams
Speaker 1: who can have almost a one year turnaround. You could
Speaker 1: argue Jets has been two years in the making, But
Speaker 1: I don't know. I feel like the n b A
Speaker 1: is give him next year. You only need a couple
Speaker 1: of guys, and you only need a couple of stars.
Speaker 1: Well yeah, and with those with those one and two
Speaker 1: picks coming in this year, you know, I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that that's going to end up being the Laker pick,
Speaker 1: but if you're the Pelicans, you know you might be
Speaker 1: one Anthony Davis injury away from that Laker pick lottery odds.
Speaker 1: Just being he's like, having a swing at the top
Speaker 1: two picks would be insane. If you have Zion Ingram McCollum,
Speaker 1: you know, herb Jones and that young Core, it would
Speaker 1: be insane. So gosh, the Pelican wasn't just can't think
Speaker 1: of a situation working out better then the situation has
Speaker 1: for the Pelicans. You mentioned the Celtics. No, we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about the Pelicans today. Sorry, Yeah, no, I'm glad
Speaker 1: you brought him up because it's the start of the
Speaker 1: season and we talked about parody so much this season
Speaker 1: in the NFL, which is really fun, especially for people
Speaker 1: who talk about it like we do in the NBA.
Speaker 1: From a betting angle, this is the most wide open
Speaker 1: the odds have ever been. And Tuesday night didn't really
Speaker 1: change anything. The Celtics and Warriors. They both win. They're
Speaker 1: still the favorite side edge to the Celtics. That plus
Speaker 1: five hundred when I checked this morning, plus six hundred
Speaker 1: Warriors and the longest that's the longest odds for a
Speaker 1: favorite in thirty five years, thirty five years. Jerry, like,
Speaker 1: the favorites are five to one, six to one. And
Speaker 1: also it's the first time since two thousand nine that
Speaker 1: preseason favorites it doesn't have Katie or Lebron on the roster.
Speaker 1: Like that blow your mind. A lot of things have
Speaker 1: blown my mind this year. That tells me, though. One
Speaker 1: thing with basketball is we might be getting a touch
Speaker 1: of the parody the NFL has, like just a touch.
Speaker 1: I mean, NBA is always gonna be top heavy and
Speaker 1: superstar driven for sure, but now that we're seeing the
Speaker 1: I don't there's no more like super teams. But now
Speaker 1: we're seeing players want to pair up to give themselves
Speaker 1: the best chance. There's more of that going on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're getting a little bit of parity, but it's elite parody.
Speaker 1: Every team now is going to have. If you're not
Speaker 1: sort of in the tanking, you know, blow it up phase,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have like two great players. So it's great.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's so many that I don't know, if
Speaker 1: you pay attention much to John Ewing's Twitter account, you
Speaker 1: fire today that six or Celtics game, because I know
Speaker 1: a lot of people were talking about, you know, this
Speaker 1: might be the Sixers year, and Beid's gotten a lot
Speaker 1: of m v P hype. He definitely did some pads
Speaker 1: that some stat padding in that end of that game,
Speaker 1: which was already over. I don't know what you saw
Speaker 1: from that game. I can tell you my takeaway is
Speaker 1: and thin one game we know, but having fun with it.
Speaker 1: It's almost like that the Dooka situation as bad as
Speaker 1: it was, Like it seems like the players are rising
Speaker 1: though totally and not sort of being like free like
Speaker 1: you know, Dylon Brown sticking up for Marcus Smart waving
Speaker 1: a finger at and bead and and Marcus Smart not
Speaker 1: carrying that flopping routine like he didn't go even further
Speaker 1: with it, Like it just showed a lot of point
Speaker 1: or maybe that's just a team we went to the
Speaker 1: finals that they had such a great chance. But that's
Speaker 1: what I got from. I mean, the Sixers are gonna
Speaker 1: win a lot of games, but I think I think
Speaker 1: there's a move that has to happen with the Sixers
Speaker 1: to really be one of those finals teams. Well, this
Speaker 1: was definitely a mismatch, right, I mean, the Celtics without
Speaker 1: their center, who that's gonna be months Robert Williams the
Speaker 1: third So now they're small, they're fast, that's the way
Speaker 1: they're playing in they have to use that to their advantage,
Speaker 1: which they did on Tuesday night, and it did not
Speaker 1: work out for the SEVENTI is especially defensively when you
Speaker 1: look at like James Harden, he's worthless on defense. And
Speaker 1: they outscored the seventy two in fast break points, so
Speaker 1: that that kind of tells you the game, right And
Speaker 1: then of course the stars Jalen Brown Jason Tatum combined
Speaker 1: for seventy they each got thirty five points. That's that's wild.
Speaker 1: With those two star wing players, you can do a
Speaker 1: lot of damage in this league. And I like the
Speaker 1: Celtics to win the East and I'm kind of sticking
Speaker 1: with that. Yeah, I do too. And when those two
Speaker 1: unbelievable wings Tatum and Brown out on the offensive end,
Speaker 1: but then they played defense. They do at a very
Speaker 1: very high level, and to boot their third player one
Speaker 1: defensive player of the year. So I just think they're
Speaker 1: set up so nice. I'm envious of the way they're
Speaker 1: set up. Obviously the coaching situation. I'm happy, you know
Speaker 1: that Missoula got you know, you guys first and he's
Speaker 1: on the board. I think it's gonna wark. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a hard team not to have success with, so
Speaker 1: but this is a good opportunity for sure for him.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna win. Yeah, they're the team in
Speaker 1: the East. To me, still, that's the team to beat.
Speaker 1: And like you said, it's it's a good fire lit now,
Speaker 1: you know, for this team. And they give him the
Speaker 1: game ball. They did the you know, a water the
Speaker 1: water bottle shower, I want to say a gatorade shower
Speaker 1: for you know, to visualize what the players did with
Speaker 1: Joe Missoula after the game. But you get it. They
Speaker 1: clearly are hyped for their coach and that means a
Speaker 1: lot too. So like kind of same thing that you
Speaker 1: see with the Warriors and the Celtics, I feel like,
Speaker 1: is they're cool with sharing the love, Like obviously we
Speaker 1: have major scorers, but not all teams would so casually
Speaker 1: share the love, like when I mentioned the Warriors went
Speaker 1: in eleven deep and on Tuesday night and and uh,
Speaker 1: Celtics really seem like all for one, one for all.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, is it so lame to just say,
Speaker 1: like that's our finals, Like it's that's so chalk, But
Speaker 1: after what we saw an opening week, it seems to
Speaker 1: really solidify why Vegas has them as the favorites. Yeah, yes,
Speaker 1: chalk is not always great for a for a podcast conversation,
Speaker 1: but there's a reason why we call that. So yeah,
Speaker 1: your Pelicans, that's your pick. Oh my Pelican I just
Speaker 1: what a what a like just a masterpiece of how
Speaker 1: things working out in your favor and just so well pointed.
Speaker 1: I just wish, because I'm talking as a Knicks fans,
Speaker 1: like we could have just got that kind of break
Speaker 1: for that. I was gonna say, your Pelicans are kind
Speaker 1: of the team you're going to be rooting for and
Speaker 1: keeping us informed on throughout the NBA season. But it's
Speaker 1: another bird. Your Seahawks that are in a three way
Speaker 1: tie top the NFC West at three and three. You're right,
Speaker 1: tell me you're holding this ticket. Can they actually pull
Speaker 1: it off? You've been calling this one. I get they
Speaker 1: are a Tray Lance non injury away from I think
Speaker 1: they might even win that game against the Niners if
Speaker 1: Trey Lance doesn't go out now. And look, this is
Speaker 1: not knock on Trey Lance. I just think he's a
Speaker 1: young quarterback who needs time to figure it out. I
Speaker 1: hate that he got injured. Injuries are the worst part
Speaker 1: of any sport. That being said, I think if he
Speaker 1: stays in that game, Seahawks had a good chance of winning.
Speaker 1: The Seahawks are getting better each in every week. Go
Speaker 1: look at their their numbers, go look at whatever analytics
Speaker 1: you want to. Look at. Their defense not so good,
Speaker 1: but the offense is moving the ball, genio is getting better.
Speaker 1: They still have weapons everywhere. And I'm just again, I
Speaker 1: don't feel confident about the Rams. I definitely don't feel
Speaker 1: confident about the Cardinals. Uh, the Niners. I guess I
Speaker 1: still feel confident. They've lost so many players on defense
Speaker 1: that I'm whole. I'm loving this ticket. It's not gonna happen.
Speaker 1: But what a fun I told everyone, this will be
Speaker 1: your fun lottery ticket for the year, and everything I
Speaker 1: said is holding up on that. I mean that just
Speaker 1: it's so crazy that we were sitting here laughing at you.
Speaker 1: Can you believe that we laughed at you? But the
Speaker 1: NCS is just a dumpster fire. And hey, look for
Speaker 1: the forty niners sake, if there is a time to
Speaker 1: have injuries, it's now. When those starters come back, I
Speaker 1: think they're scary. I think tip to tail they're an
Speaker 1: elite team. So Kyle Shanahan has to get creative. He's
Speaker 1: getting creative to score. He cannot rely on that defense.
Speaker 1: And I mean, there's there's a lot to like about
Speaker 1: San Francisco when they come back, But for your sake,
Speaker 1: I hope the Seahawks can can stay at top. What
Speaker 1: makes Seattle even more interesting is that they hold Denver's
Speaker 1: first and second round picks for the next two years,
Speaker 1: which look Denver's look, it's very high pick. So at
Speaker 1: what point does Denver to say, you know, Russ, let's
Speaker 1: shut this down, get healthy, and we're going to figure
Speaker 1: it out this offseason because this is ugly. Well, I
Speaker 1: don't think they can look depending on what his health
Speaker 1: actually is. Right Like, if you have some kind of
Speaker 1: injury that's not going to get better without real time
Speaker 1: off for surgery, you know Russ is gonna do whatever
Speaker 1: he has to do in the offseason to get healthy.
Speaker 1: So you know he's gonna take care of it. But
Speaker 1: when you don't have those draft picks, you're not in
Speaker 1: the business of shutting anything down. You're in the business
Speaker 1: of going forward and doing whatever you can to win.
Speaker 1: Um one of the worst situations to be Now, look,
Speaker 1: there's still very much in the thick of things. It's
Speaker 1: not like their seasons over. They're they're winning ugly games
Speaker 1: when they have to. The a f C West certainly
Speaker 1: is not the juggernaut that we thought they would be.
Speaker 1: And we could talk about your Chiefs for three weeks
Speaker 1: in a row now absolutely looking horrendous when you think
Speaker 1: about what the Chiefs should look like, you know, and
Speaker 1: I know they stole one of those games. I think
Speaker 1: I think horrendous is a good word for the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: the team that we're expecting the role losing to the Cults,
Speaker 1: top three team in the league, I mean, okay, last
Speaker 1: interception have them as a top three team in the
Speaker 1: league right now, you wouldn't say the top three teams
Speaker 1: in the NFL are Billy Buffalo in Kansas City. I
Speaker 1: have Kansas top five I could make again, we're going
Speaker 1: off of what we've seen so far. I have other
Speaker 1: teams that I've liked the look of things way more
Speaker 1: than I like what the Chiefs are doing, like the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys, who are about to get Dak Prescott back
Speaker 1: and have an elite defense that's for real. Say what
Speaker 1: you want about Minnesota. I like the Vikings weapons way
Speaker 1: more than I like the Chiefs weapons. Now. Defensively, yeah,
Speaker 1: you got me there, but I just look, I'm sure
Speaker 1: they'll get it together and figure it out. But we're
Speaker 1: seeing the post Tyree kill offense, and yeah, Kelsey is
Speaker 1: amazing and can carry you with four touchdowns. But I
Speaker 1: don't know. I got three weeks now where it has
Speaker 1: not looked good to me, he said, like you've gotten
Speaker 1: burned in fantasy. Who who was on your fantasy team
Speaker 1: this week? I don't want to discuss fan I'm one
Speaker 1: in five and two leagues, Like it's it's over for me.
Speaker 1: But no, seriously, that Raider game they stay stole that
Speaker 1: game and they it was it was my homes and
Speaker 1: Kelsey the whole way. So I don't I don't feel
Speaker 1: good about the Chiefs. I don't know how I got
Speaker 1: to them. But oh Denver, I don't know if they
Speaker 1: unless the injury is really bad with Ross or something
Speaker 1: going on. I saw some grumblings on Twitter about like
Speaker 1: a Giants may try to trade for Jerry Judy. Why
Speaker 1: on Earth with Denver trade Jerry Judy. That's just a
Speaker 1: bad Twitter rumor. Yeah, I love it because I'm a
Speaker 1: Giant fan. Something else. I know. Last week I was
Speaker 1: kind of hard on Russell Wilson, and I I still
Speaker 1: am because I heard on Richard Sherman's podcast that Marshall
Speaker 1: Clinch said he can't even get in touch with his
Speaker 1: former QUB and they want a Super Bowl together and
Speaker 1: he would think that they'd be boys, but apparently no
Speaker 1: teammates have direct access to Russ that they have to
Speaker 1: go through like an assistant. And add that to the
Speaker 1: long list of weird stories about this guy. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: sure we'll have one of these a week, But yeah,
Speaker 1: that one's certainly strange. But no, I think if you're Denver,
Speaker 1: you're not in shutdown mode you're in, like, how do
Speaker 1: we just get healthy or maybe make one more move
Speaker 1: to get one of these seven playoff spots, because then
Speaker 1: anything can happen. Russ can get hot. So they do
Speaker 1: have weapons, right, Okay, NFC North, the Packers weren't were
Speaker 1: man they dropped another one. The Jets walked into Lambeau
Speaker 1: and shocked them, shocked me, shocked everyone. Now it's the
Speaker 1: Vikings at five and one on top of the division.
Speaker 1: They were minus or they are minus Packers plus two forty.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you saw in the postgame
Speaker 1: press conference after the London game where they lost to
Speaker 1: the Giants, your Giants. A player was saying in the
Speaker 1: locker room afterwards that we really have to be concerned
Speaker 1: if we lose next week to the Jets, and Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers was like, why are we talking about next week?
Speaker 1: Why are we talking about what happens if we lose
Speaker 1: next week? And it was kind of a drama. And
Speaker 1: I thought after Aaron's comment, oh, they are winning, and
Speaker 1: they're winning big, like he is embarrassed. He was mad.
Speaker 1: He's probably gotten the locker room all riled up. He
Speaker 1: heard that comment. He didn't like hearing that comment, this
Speaker 1: is going to be a good Packers win and oh
Speaker 1: my god, just insult to injury. As Sauce Gardner puts
Speaker 1: the cheese on his head, not unlike I did last week,
Speaker 1: a reverse a reverse reverse breeze, Hall does a Lambeau leap.
Speaker 1: I mean, and these are young players, like, oh, that's
Speaker 1: balls going into Lambeau Field, like the mecca in the
Speaker 1: NFL and doing that, I mean, that kind of made
Speaker 1: the arms, the hair on my arms stand up. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you some bad news and then good news.
Speaker 1: You're ready about your Packers. Uh. Look, I don't believe
Speaker 1: in bullets bolton board material, but saying like if you
Speaker 1: lose to the Jets, we have problems tells me that
Speaker 1: whoever said that, I'm not quite sure, has not been
Speaker 1: watching the Jets the entire year. Because if you watch
Speaker 1: the Jets, the Jets, and I've been fighting against the
Speaker 1: Jets being good the entire year and I no longer
Speaker 1: can do it. They are good. They are loaded. They
Speaker 1: hit on the draft. Now, of course, it's easy to
Speaker 1: hit on the draft when you have like a million
Speaker 1: top ted picks. You should hit on those. But those
Speaker 1: guys are good right away. So the fact that you
Speaker 1: said if we lose to the Jets, we got problems
Speaker 1: or whatever the quote was, tells me you haven't really
Speaker 1: watched the Jets at all, and maybe that's not your
Speaker 1: job to watch a team that you play in week five.
Speaker 1: So I think that fired them up. And you said shocking,
Speaker 1: you want to know what the issue is. I don't
Speaker 1: think the Packers look shocked. At no point to me
Speaker 1: did they look like they thought they were the better
Speaker 1: team from the moment that game started. The Jets from
Speaker 1: first play the last play were significantly better. Now that's
Speaker 1: the bad news. The good news is they're chasing the Vikings,
Speaker 1: who are five and one, And I pulled up some schedules,
Speaker 1: and I do see a path for you to somehow
Speaker 1: stay with it in this division. Well, here's what the
Speaker 1: Vikings got. Okay, Cardinals at Commanders, those could easily be
Speaker 1: two wins. Then they go Bills, Cowboys, Hats Jet, the
Speaker 1: frisky Jets at Lions, give him that one, the Giants,
Speaker 1: who are no longer an easy victory, and then at
Speaker 1: the Packers they still got one more. And then at
Speaker 1: the Bears, fine Vikings some hard games. The Packers Commanders
Speaker 1: should get them right back on track this week. Then
Speaker 1: they go at the Bills, but then it opens up
Speaker 1: a little bit. Lions Cowboys, that's a rough one. Titans
Speaker 1: Eagles at Bears Rams on the Monday night Miami for
Speaker 1: Christmas Day. What a wonderful time. They get to go
Speaker 1: to Miami for Christmas Day. That's lovely. I could have
Speaker 1: a better place to go for Christmas Day. I think
Speaker 1: that they could. I think in that schedule I just mentioned,
Speaker 1: there's four wins and then there's like three swing games.
Speaker 1: So if they could pull out some of those swing games,
Speaker 1: they could still have a showdown in week seventeen in
Speaker 1: Green Bay versus the Vikings for the division. There is
Speaker 1: a path, but it's not an easy one. It is
Speaker 1: not an easy one. Yeah, okay, let me tell you
Speaker 1: the bad news. The Packers have only scored a hundred
Speaker 1: seven points, which is the lowest in any six games
Speaker 1: stretch in Aaron Rodgers career. So that's the bad news. Uh,
Speaker 1: he has no deep bat us he's on the deep
Speaker 1: ball and zero touchdowns. I was going into the Jets
Speaker 1: weekend so until last weekend. And also Matt Laflour traditionally
Speaker 1: does really bad when he plays a friendly meaning the
Speaker 1: guy standing on the other sideline is a buddy. And
Speaker 1: Robert Sala was the best man in Matt Lafleur's wedding,
Speaker 1: and obviously his brother is on the jet staff. So
Speaker 1: that was a that was a really rough one, insult
Speaker 1: to injury. And I'm very concerned and disappointed in the
Speaker 1: Packers roster. Honestly, every everyone's saying though, oh, we have
Speaker 1: no deep all threats, we have no receivers, we have
Speaker 1: a horrible receiving corps, blah blah's and oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: here we are. We're acting all surprised that Aaron has
Speaker 1: no one to throw too, and so it's kind of
Speaker 1: it's kind of disappointing. And I know that fans at
Speaker 1: Lambau were doing and they're doing this team off the
Speaker 1: field because they're mad at the front office if they
Speaker 1: lose to the Commanders, which I don't think that's going
Speaker 1: to happen. I'm not trying to stove play if they
Speaker 1: lose the Commanders, I thought Aaron Rodgers, I'm like, you'll
Speaker 1: get me out. I'm out. I'm having to get me
Speaker 1: out of here. Please please like take take someone what
Speaker 1: do you gotta do take some money back and call
Speaker 1: San Francisco asked for nineteen first round picks or whatever,
Speaker 1: like blow it, get me, get me out. I'm using
Speaker 1: my safe word, Kevin Hardy. Pineapples, pineapples, pineapples, get me out. Okay.
Speaker 1: So obviously a big topic this week was Robert Craft's wedding,
Speaker 1: which is amazing, and Meek Mill was there, and obviously
Speaker 1: Robert Craft was big on getting him out of jail
Speaker 1: and all that. And the only reason I bring that
Speaker 1: up is because Meek Mill had himself a great weekend
Speaker 1: because he was at the Eagles game and Darius Slay
Speaker 1: gave the game winning ball to him too, So I
Speaker 1: was just laughing. I love when sports and pop culture
Speaker 1: like intersect. But obviously Eagles six and no stellar defensive
Speaker 1: performance re interceptions. I mean, Eagles are so legit, like
Speaker 1: there's not a weakness on that team. Yeah, like we
Speaker 1: we mentioned it earlier, that eight and a half win
Speaker 1: total easily the lock of the year. They crushed it
Speaker 1: with the draft and yeah, it's just I mean, even
Speaker 1: like their co Siria just screaming, what f you? That's
Speaker 1: game like totally fits the Philly blueprint of what they
Speaker 1: want to do there. Yeah, as a team that is
Speaker 1: in their division, and I've watched them closely. We haven't
Speaker 1: even played them yet though, but I'm scared now. The
Speaker 1: only thing you can hope for is maybe they're just
Speaker 1: peaking too soon, and maybe it'll even out as we
Speaker 1: get more film on them. But you look around, there's
Speaker 1: just weapons everywhere. That defense is nasty. It's the only good.
Speaker 1: They consistently are the highest scoring part of my fantasy
Speaker 1: lineup each and every week. So the NFC East, this
Speaker 1: is the year of opposites. We're living in the upside down.
Speaker 1: The NFC East is great. We talked about the Pelicans
Speaker 1: for six minutes on the podcast Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: We should rethink them as quarterbacks. We're in the twilight
Speaker 1: zone part of and then obviously everyone else is talking
Speaker 1: about this, but the robber Craft wedding and Tom Brady's
Speaker 1: there all so without Giselle, I'm just pointing out, I hate,
Speaker 1: I hate to watch this. What everyone is Tom Brady
Speaker 1: is there, he misses walk through on Friday for a
Speaker 1: Sunday game and they lose, and everyone is saying, what Tom,
Speaker 1: what are you doing, and you know, he's yelling at
Speaker 1: his offensive line. And if I'm one of those linemen
Speaker 1: just working my ass off and I was at Friday's
Speaker 1: walk through, even if you're the goat, I'm like, bro,
Speaker 1: don't don't yell at me like that, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Like Tom already misses Wednesdays and now he
Speaker 1: missed this Friday walk through. It's just why did Tom
Speaker 1: come back this year? Like it's been nothing. But I'm
Speaker 1: such a smart ass. If I was one of those
Speaker 1: offensive linemen while he's yelling at me, I would have
Speaker 1: said right when he's done and be like, hey, Tom,
Speaker 1: did you have chicken, steak or fish at the wedding?
Speaker 1: Just curious wondering what did you eat? Like that's how
Speaker 1: I would get out. I actually argued for Brady in
Speaker 1: the off season when he took some personal time and he,
Speaker 1: you know, sashate in on late for whatever practice, Like
Speaker 1: I was all for it. He's earned it, he could
Speaker 1: do it. But out we're talking about as fans Olivia
Speaker 1: and people talk about sports on the podcast, that we
Speaker 1: don't want to go to a wedding like on a
Speaker 1: Sunday during football or even really that weekend in football season.
Speaker 1: Could you imagine if you were playing in the game
Speaker 1: and you went so I don't believe like Bolton Boar material.
Speaker 1: I really don't think that the Steelers are like Brady
Speaker 1: went to the wedding, let's get them. I don't think
Speaker 1: it was that. But again, I know the Steelers are
Speaker 1: not good. They're riddled with injuries, big rookie quarterback, all
Speaker 1: of that stuff. But it's Mike Tomlin. Like I always say,
Speaker 1: like that's I'm never underestimating any Mike Tomlin team. I'm
Speaker 1: just not. So that's that one might come back to
Speaker 1: hurt them. That really might come back to hurt them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they're in a bad division. They lead the NFC
Speaker 1: South right now while they're tired with the Falcons. Undefeated
Speaker 1: against the spread Falcons. Oh my god, how rich. But yeah,
Speaker 1: Buccaneers have the Panthers on the road this weekend. They're
Speaker 1: an eleven point favorite. You gotta think that's a slam dunk.
Speaker 1: But I kind of think they're they're falling apart there.
Speaker 1: I had the Bucks in the ten point I was
Speaker 1: undefeated in ten point teasers this year until that Steelers game.
Speaker 1: I had the Bucks were minus ten and a half.
Speaker 1: I tease them down to basically pick them, and yeah,
Speaker 1: they ruined my undefeated ten point teaser streak as well
Speaker 1: anytime point favorites again, which is ironic. Coming up next, Darry,
Speaker 1: We've got to get to the big ticket. I was
Speaker 1: just gonna say, I'm a nickname guy, so Olivia, I
Speaker 1: don't know your nickname. Uh, Jerry, I'll know your name,
Speaker 1: but I do you know, I do know you're known
Speaker 1: as Turtle, So I was like turtle on the Hello, Hey, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's do it, like so, yeah, I'm a it's fair
Speaker 1: of yours browse. You actually go further back with me.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this. So my dad's
Speaker 1: Kevin Harlan, so back in yeah, uh, you were playing
Speaker 1: in Puerto Rico for like an Olympic qualifier and I
Speaker 1: was five years old and my dad said, you were
Speaker 1: in the pool and we were in the pool and
Speaker 1: you were throwing me up in the air, like playing
Speaker 1: with me, And he said, you couldn't have been any
Speaker 1: any nicer to me. And I probably thought you were
Speaker 1: the tallest person I've ever seen and probably still are.
Speaker 1: Your dad made me babysit you for like thirty seven,
Speaker 1: the bathroom was something and yeah, you got the krind
Speaker 1: and the only thing that would get you. I apologize.
Speaker 1: That's pretty good. And then yeah, I was working for
Speaker 1: the Hawks a couple of years back, and it had
Speaker 1: to have been your final year and I stopped shoot
Speaker 1: around to tell you that story and say hi again.
Speaker 1: But um, I've got to tell you. So my dad
Speaker 1: was obviously they're your rookie year and just think the
Speaker 1: world of you. You all have crossed paths later at
Speaker 1: Turner and then NBA two. K. I know you do together,
Speaker 1: but he says, one of the things that meant the
Speaker 1: most to him that you did is surprised him at
Speaker 1: his going away party with the Timberwolves. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you remember doing that, but that meant a lot
Speaker 1: to him. Kay, Holland Is is one of the rare
Speaker 1: people that I call family. I don't know if y'all
Speaker 1: even know this, but him and he and m him
Speaker 1: and Trent Tucker used to do the Timberwolves games and
Speaker 1: he's the one that actually gave me the big team
Speaker 1: you want to, actually gave me that. And I thought
Speaker 1: he was hide on herbs or drunk at the time
Speaker 1: when he made it. It wasn't like the best, but
Speaker 1: when he explained on what it meant, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I can feel that. I can feel that. Bet Kevin Harden,
Speaker 1: Kevin Holland has always had the greatest energy to do
Speaker 1: sports and he's always he should have been a he
Speaker 1: should have been a musician, the way he can freestyle
Speaker 1: and just think of it right or he's so witty
Speaker 1: and I look at people like Kaha and Stewart Scott
Speaker 1: asked like trends sitters of that category and and it
Speaker 1: just remember I remember him telling me that you went
Speaker 1: into network or something in Orlando, that you have to
Speaker 1: have backed the big job, and how exciting you was
Speaker 1: and that you had grown up and you had got graduate.
Speaker 1: We had like a full grown conversation almost like I
Speaker 1: was just like, you know, congrats to you and all that. So, man,
Speaker 1: it's great to see you. It's great to see where
Speaker 1: you are, and man, the journey that's really nice. Feel
Speaker 1: like super deep old Yeah yeah, do you may like turtle,
Speaker 1: but remember you go further back with me, but I
Speaker 1: actually want to start with your rookie year because my
Speaker 1: my dad was then telling me, he said, you know
Speaker 1: how rare. It was coming into the league teenager, and
Speaker 1: that the Timberwolves try to make you as comfortable as possible,
Speaker 1: and they try to make the transition easy by letting
Speaker 1: you bring some friends along on the charter. And I
Speaker 1: think one time getting you McDonald's like, what do you
Speaker 1: remember about that first year? Oh man, My first year
Speaker 1: was probably the most memorable because it was of one
Speaker 1: of one. Everything that I was doing they had never
Speaker 1: let players do up until that point. I was young.
Speaker 1: I couldn't. I had like a circle. Uh well, I
Speaker 1: put like I say, a box. I'll say I put
Speaker 1: myself in the but I was in like a box
Speaker 1: of just certain stuff that I can only do. And
Speaker 1: it felt like that when I was actually out of
Speaker 1: town and the you know, the team gets ready to
Speaker 1: go somewhere and watch the game. They go to like
Speaker 1: a strip club or something. I wasn't able to get
Speaker 1: into the strip club because they served alcohol or they
Speaker 1: need to go to a bar. So the continuity of
Speaker 1: me being with teammates kind of went out the window
Speaker 1: very quick. So Kevin McKale was like, well, we do
Speaker 1: team functions, but when the guys go be guys, you know,
Speaker 1: you need your friends so maybe you can bring a
Speaker 1: couple of your friends. Now. I was like, huh, And
Speaker 1: it actually helped. It helped to have people around you
Speaker 1: that actually knows you and you know, kind of knows
Speaker 1: your habits. My friends quickly saw and had to experience
Speaker 1: the NBA life, you know themselves. When we had to
Speaker 1: get up and catch buses. They had to be on
Speaker 1: those buses. Uh uh. When we had to leave cities
Speaker 1: and they had to be on the first and second bus,
Speaker 1: they had to be on the second bus. They had
Speaker 1: to see it in certain seats on the plane. It
Speaker 1: was it was like they fought the team. After the
Speaker 1: second road trip, they couldn't get them to go. It's
Speaker 1: actually you know, it was too It was so work
Speaker 1: And I was like, yeah, yeah, weapon in my life,
Speaker 1: you know, but I think the timber was for that man.
Speaker 1: It helped, It helped. It helped the transition a little
Speaker 1: more to be a little more simple, not easy, because
Speaker 1: you still have to travel, but you still have to perform,
Speaker 1: you still have to prepare. It's still a structure still,
Speaker 1: you know. But that then there's basketball, so you know,
Speaker 1: you get it and this is what you want to do. Um.
Speaker 1: So it was like we were seeing every city in
Speaker 1: this best form that we can see it, and we
Speaker 1: took advantage of it. We would all go to see
Speaker 1: some of the monumental stuff that probably I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: done if I couldn't get into some of those bars
Speaker 1: and stuff. But it help, it helped, It helped grow me.
Speaker 1: Is the point I'm getting that I actually think that's
Speaker 1: a better version than Entourage was, because that's a lot
Speaker 1: what Entourage was like bringing your friends along and experiencing that.
Speaker 1: Has anyone ever approached you, and look, we obviously know
Speaker 1: you have like a bigger acting career than I do
Speaker 1: at this point, as everyone ever approached you about, you know,
Speaker 1: dramatizing that on screen. That would be a great even
Speaker 1: like a one year like just thinking about because I'm
Speaker 1: always fascinated with, you know, pro athletes in the amount
Speaker 1: of when you talk about road trips, we the fans
Speaker 1: don't know what you're packing, where you're sleeping, what you're eating,
Speaker 1: We don't know. We just know you guys are there
Speaker 1: when the game shows up. So I'm always interested in
Speaker 1: how that part of being a professional athlete works. That's
Speaker 1: a great would be great as a shell, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, how Hollywood is funny if finnicky, it's about
Speaker 1: you know who who whoo who you're able to put
Speaker 1: that in front of and who believes in that vision.
Speaker 1: And then too, everything gets rated by Probably Entourage can
Speaker 1: to be better than Entourage, and Entourage just kind of
Speaker 1: the bar too, if I'm being frank, But yeah, I
Speaker 1: would say something like that where it would definitely make
Speaker 1: for great TV bothers of something, But then an Entourage,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Entourage is like, uh, in
Speaker 1: depth kind of It was insight for the first time
Speaker 1: to see how you know actors and you know people
Speaker 1: that are in film when they have a crew and
Speaker 1: how they do it. It's very similar in the in
Speaker 1: the sports world. You know, everybody's sports world. You got homies,
Speaker 1: you got you got you got functions, you gotta go
Speaker 1: to your boys, gotta kind of act a certain way
Speaker 1: in those functions. You know, you get embarrassed. It's a bunch.
Speaker 1: So I actually connected with Entourage, like Entourage was speaking
Speaker 1: to me like what the are they in here? What?
Speaker 1: Hold on? I'm not having some of those same episodes.
Speaker 1: Hold on, Oh my god, Turtle was actually bugging over
Speaker 1: here is are and so it really was talking to me, Yeah,
Speaker 1: something like that. I haven't been as about that, but
Speaker 1: that would be like never be, that would be heaven TV.
Speaker 1: If I if I'm being we got to talk about
Speaker 1: that because I just I just saw the whole season.
Speaker 1: Just imagine like nineteen year old kids having to catch
Speaker 1: like a team bus to a plane to an arena
Speaker 1: like that. That's a show to me that I would
Speaker 1: watch that in a minute the way you just laid
Speaker 1: it out. Listen a lot of the episodes. A lot
Speaker 1: of episodes wasn't even during the games. You know, the
Speaker 1: games is the easiest part of the NBA. If I'm
Speaker 1: being frank, practice and you're prepared, it's the other twenty
Speaker 1: twenty hours you got of time to yourself to find sleep,
Speaker 1: to find you know, social time to to get rest,
Speaker 1: and it's it's just a ship show. If I'm being frank,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's an absolute ship show. But you
Speaker 1: figured out, you know, you're living and learn you want
Speaker 1: to actually make your mistakes when you're younger. I never
Speaker 1: I'm not a trouble maker. I didn't really get into
Speaker 1: a lot of trouble. I didn't really one one of
Speaker 1: these kids that was going to you know, go out
Speaker 1: and get caught drunk or be drink driving or you
Speaker 1: know some other joints. But I wrote with a deep
Speaker 1: crew from the hood, you know, things funny. But you know,
Speaker 1: I was huge on being the bigger person, especially when
Speaker 1: we went out. I was big on creating my own
Speaker 1: abeyance and creating my own space to be able to
Speaker 1: create um. So it wasn't you know, even though you
Speaker 1: have run ins with other people and other selebts and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, always group of cool head. Always make
Speaker 1: sure my my crew kept a cool head. And uh,
Speaker 1: we knew while we were out it wasn't just you know,
Speaker 1: out just to be out. Sometimes we knew what we
Speaker 1: was going to be out. It was gonna have fun.
Speaker 1: Just how long we will be out there wet. So
Speaker 1: you know, it sounds good and it sounds like it's perfect,
Speaker 1: but now you know you have episodes in which it
Speaker 1: doesn't all like that. But yeah, we're fortunate. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's got to be a lot for a teenager to handle.
Speaker 1: So with that being said, do you think the NBA
Speaker 1: should allow players coming out of high school? My my
Speaker 1: philosophy on that is that if you're able to make
Speaker 1: an NBA team, just like if you're able to uh
Speaker 1: cash for a role and make that role and be
Speaker 1: able to be that than yeah, you should have the
Speaker 1: opportunity to chase that dream or be able to perform
Speaker 1: or be able to uh at least get a crack
Speaker 1: at the job. If it's if it's in your heart,
Speaker 1: or if it's something that you you know you want
Speaker 1: to do. I'm all four kids coming out of high school.
Speaker 1: I actually think it's better if you ask me you
Speaker 1: you you you you. You learn so much in these
Speaker 1: ranks of basketball and I and I didn't get to
Speaker 1: go collegian I didn't go to collegian route. But collegian
Speaker 1: routes comes with a bunch of additives too, and it
Speaker 1: has a bunch of great purposes and where players have
Speaker 1: went four years of school and gotten better that way.
Speaker 1: I'm more on hand learning, Like if you show me
Speaker 1: something one or two times, I can remember it. I
Speaker 1: can see how I do certain stuff. And you know,
Speaker 1: I see a lot of kids come from college create
Speaker 1: a lot of bad habits for themselves. And not to say,
Speaker 1: you know, to whose his own obviously, but for me,
Speaker 1: I created habits within the league. In the league habits,
Speaker 1: I learned how to be a professional from professionals. I
Speaker 1: learned how to carry myself in a certain way because
Speaker 1: of the lifestyle and stuff that I was being embedded to.
Speaker 1: And it was teaching me how to be with a
Speaker 1: bunch of professionals around me, speaking professional, use a certain
Speaker 1: uh language, not so much slang. You're gonna start to
Speaker 1: actually endure something that yourself. So I'd like to think
Speaker 1: that come into the league actually helped me be a
Speaker 1: better professional. I was already a worker. I was already
Speaker 1: a person who would get down and get gritting and
Speaker 1: worked really hard. I didn't care about how long I
Speaker 1: had to work. I come from a working background. I
Speaker 1: come from a working family. My mom was a solid
Speaker 1: so you know, I had examples. So a lot of
Speaker 1: it was just for me just downloading understand these plays
Speaker 1: you got like a playbook. A playbook in the league
Speaker 1: is about this thick and you gotta know it, and
Speaker 1: you gotta know where you' pupposed to be at, and
Speaker 1: if you've got to play another position, you gotta know that.
Speaker 1: So it just it was a bunch of downloading the particulars.
Speaker 1: When it came to the game. That was kind of
Speaker 1: the biggest obstacles for me, plus to travel. Everybody struggles
Speaker 1: with the travel back to backs and then being n
Speaker 1: injury and just playing. But no, it was basketball, so
Speaker 1: I didn't care what it was. I'll play in the
Speaker 1: middle of of Late Minnatonka Frozen Lake if I had too.
Speaker 1: But um, yeah, you know, when you love something you
Speaker 1: don't you don't really care. I think the kids should
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to be able to come out of
Speaker 1: high school at Theayble too simply playing. So I want
Speaker 1: to fast forward too far because we're talking about the
Speaker 1: nineteen year old version. But last year, you know, seventy anniversary,
Speaker 1: seventy players on the court, pretty remarkable to say. I'm
Speaker 1: watching it with my buddies and we're like looking at
Speaker 1: all you and obviously we're just like wow, what And
Speaker 1: then we're starting to think, like, who do you think
Speaker 1: wants to like lace him up the worst right now
Speaker 1: and just go at it. And I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: just watching and look at your guys faces. You were
Speaker 1: definitely like top three of like oh KG. I just
Speaker 1: feel like he's just always ready. He's just always ready
Speaker 1: if he needs, like He's just always ready. You know what, man,
Speaker 1: it wasn't even that I was in a bliss and
Speaker 1: I got caught just being like in the awe of it,
Speaker 1: and I kind of just sat back and just kind
Speaker 1: of took a deep breath and just woo side. It
Speaker 1: was kind of surreal. And when we all got like
Speaker 1: a confined ruining, the story start going. And then he
Speaker 1: comes to come, he comes to chatter, and then well
Speaker 1: and the Jackets get to come into off and you know,
Speaker 1: I did you like this? Good? Jordan's coming here? Shut
Speaker 1: everybody up because he's not. Damn everybody in the room
Speaker 1: and young, middle and old, like, it's just it was.
Speaker 1: The fraternity is a real fraternity, and uh it was.
Speaker 1: I'm blessed to be part of it. And yeah, listen,
Speaker 1: you're very matter of fact. You're one accurate when it
Speaker 1: comes to the get know. Sometimes when I'm in New
Speaker 1: York and I'm walking past west Forth or I'm like
Speaker 1: near Court or something, I'm looking there, I'll stop and
Speaker 1: I'll just gaze into the cage a little bit and
Speaker 1: let me keep going. I got something i gotta do.
Speaker 1: But yeah, listen, i think I'm gonna always have a
Speaker 1: competitive spirit in me. Man. Let's just part of my
Speaker 1: makeup and part of me loving to see uh yeah
Speaker 1: while I'm at because young boys think they're nice, you know,
Speaker 1: young kids. I think thettle moves and all that. The
Speaker 1: other day, not the other day, but probably like two
Speaker 1: thousand seventeen on somewhere in Minnesota, was braining. The little
Speaker 1: cue was outside shoes and I stopped at to stop
Speaker 1: sign kind of you know, plus the the neighborhood. So
Speaker 1: I stopped. Let the car runner jumped out and uh,
Speaker 1: I said, let me get a shot and said, oh
Speaker 1: my god. I said check. He says, yeah, check. I
Speaker 1: checked him up. I kept out in the car. I
Speaker 1: let him get a shot off. He mission when I
Speaker 1: checked it back up and went around, boom, keep working
Speaker 1: on your game, and ran right to the car. Just
Speaker 1: took up, you know, I said, you know, just yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta get None of his friends believe
Speaker 1: that story when he told that, So now he has proof. Listen,
Speaker 1: I had to. I had to check the street and
Speaker 1: see what street I was on, just so I can
Speaker 1: double back on this block. Check on his game, see
Speaker 1: how he's doing his game, and see how it's going. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you already. K what was the player that was easiest
Speaker 1: to get in their head? And who was the player
Speaker 1: who was hardest to get in their head? Uh? Player
Speaker 1: easiest to get in their heads? I can't say the easiest,
Speaker 1: but someone who was ready to talk and laugh like, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: Zach Randolph was always ready to talk trash. He was already.
Speaker 1: He was always ready to bear fight and J Blanche
Speaker 1: just get out of d C. He was. He didn't start,
Speaker 1: but man, he was. He He was a talker. He
Speaker 1: loved the because the talk actually encourages it and boost
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Timmy D, by far, Timmy
Speaker 1: D was probably the hardest to be able to uh.
Speaker 1: I call him antis. You know, when you're talking trash.
Speaker 1: Sometimes to talk trash and just naturally come and just
Speaker 1: you know, the bumping of of playing and talking, you
Speaker 1: know all this. But a lot of times the trash
Speaker 1: talking wasn't even trash talking was for myself. It was
Speaker 1: for me talking to myself and just in my own
Speaker 1: zone and trying to get myself going and might do right. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, and then you know someone you know intervenes
Speaker 1: or comes in between that, then you know that's interaction
Speaker 1: but you know, every night it was different. You know,
Speaker 1: if I'm being honest, some some nights you wouldn't even
Speaker 1: have conversation that you know you play or be doing
Speaker 1: on the talking um. But you know, when when when
Speaker 1: I'm probably at my best or whatever, I'm probably the
Speaker 1: hurt and not as um physical as I want to
Speaker 1: be or as one hundred as I want to be
Speaker 1: a lot of times when I'm when when when I'm
Speaker 1: in a groove, it's because I was lacking something and
Speaker 1: it made me focus on something. The times where I
Speaker 1: had a bunch of energy and I was feeling great
Speaker 1: in all this if some of the worst nights I
Speaker 1: shot the ball, I was just super super gas, couldn't
Speaker 1: focus whatever it was. But I never I've always found myself.
Speaker 1: Then when I'm kind of like, uh, I don't even know,
Speaker 1: when I'm kind of like handicapped a little bit, like
Speaker 1: don't don't one of my knees is hurt on my
Speaker 1: ankles really messed up or something that I know I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have talked I would. I would. I would really
Speaker 1: really being my head and I would really talk out loud,
Speaker 1: And that's where you know it would be crossed on yeah,
Speaker 1: you're talking trash out even really on my head, just
Speaker 1: talking to myself, trying to get myself going. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's a that's a great question. But yeah, TD
Speaker 1: and Tim Duncan and she was she would actually talk
Speaker 1: back to me, you know what I'm saying. But he
Speaker 1: was a whole another storm, So I wouldn't always want
Speaker 1: to start that, you know what I'm saying. High level.
Speaker 1: She was always high level and a lot of people
Speaker 1: that know, man, he had a lot of different moves
Speaker 1: that he only used one or two and that was
Speaker 1: his arrogance. I'm not bringing a hood shot out on you,
Speaker 1: but what you can't even block and anymore. But it
Speaker 1: was always fun to play him. It was always fun
Speaker 1: to uh being that interaction with him. Sometimes Timmy would
Speaker 1: just let you talk the whole night, when't say two words.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't give you the energy. And there's something I
Speaker 1: see a laugh at you and make you feel like
Speaker 1: you know, dirt and you know, really piss you off
Speaker 1: a little more. So Yeah, I thought while I just
Speaker 1: I just I just I started using that energy, uh
Speaker 1: and and in other places. So but yeah, talking that's
Speaker 1: just fun. That's a fun part of the game. It's fun,
Speaker 1: but I try to tell like I obviously I'm a
Speaker 1: big Knicks fan. I go to a lot of the
Speaker 1: games when I can, and I watched the fan make
Speaker 1: a mistake, Like there's just some players that I don't
Speaker 1: know how you feel about. When the fans start chatter
Speaker 1: and I think it was a Knicks thunder game, like
Speaker 1: Hida Russ hid to Russell Westbrook and Knicks her up
Speaker 1: by like twelve. Nicks weren't very good. Russ was kind
Speaker 1: of having a rough game. As one fan starts john
Speaker 1: with Russ and Russ starts talking back. I'm like, don't
Speaker 1: do it, because you're only gonna fire this dude up.
Speaker 1: And sure enough, Russ finished with forty eighteen and twelve
Speaker 1: and they won by twelve points. And I'm just like,
Speaker 1: that's a bad fan mistake. There's some players just gotta know,
Speaker 1: like if he's having a bad game, just be quiet,
Speaker 1: let that continue, don't don't say anything to him. Bad
Speaker 1: mistake by fans, we call that. Waking the Dog is
Speaker 1: a famous clip out of a guy named m J
Speaker 1: and Vancouver. You can look this up. It's already MJ
Speaker 1: and Vancouver, Vancouver Grizzlies expansion team, you know, don't have
Speaker 1: a good record, or that being the Bulls by twenty
Speaker 1: five going into the fourth quarter. The fans are up
Speaker 1: there cheering on things, free yogurt, free donuts. It's all this,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, And um, then why am
Speaker 1: I gonna blank on Derricks? And I can't I'm going
Speaker 1: blank on uh anyway, that's anyway. He's at the end
Speaker 1: of the bench and he's talking trash to MJ. But
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't know is that he was
Speaker 1: just in Minnesota two weeks before that talking trash to MJ.
Speaker 1: He had fifteen points in the first quarter. Man, he
Speaker 1: came out cold and then m he just got to
Speaker 1: start talking trash to MJ. MJ locked his ass up
Speaker 1: and he didn't get another point out, didn't play no more,
Speaker 1: ripped them head three straight uh ten second calls, couldn't
Speaker 1: get the ball over like it was embarrassed. Dereck Martin,
Speaker 1: Derek mar I don't know why I couldn't believe remember that,
Speaker 1: But I'm saying this to say that he goes to Vancouver,
Speaker 1: gets the trash talking to m J. MJ goes to
Speaker 1: twenty one in the quarter comes back beats Man Cooper.
Speaker 1: They cut them in and but it's it's a sad story.
Speaker 1: The moral of the story is that when you actually
Speaker 1: it's certain players that can actually take the trash talking
Speaker 1: and go to another level and what we call waking
Speaker 1: the dog. And Russell Russell Westbrook has that actually button
Speaker 1: in that next level in him that he can go
Speaker 1: and take a game over like that. And what fans
Speaker 1: don't know is that first all fans, talking trash is
Speaker 1: part of the game. I don't know where y'all come from,
Speaker 1: but you know, if you ever go to a court
Speaker 1: in New York, or you go to a court in Chicago,
Speaker 1: even if you go to a court in South Carolina,
Speaker 1: you know it's gonna be people they are watching and
Speaker 1: they're gonna have something to say they got who they watching,
Speaker 1: and it just goes like that. And uh, I always
Speaker 1: said that you can choose to actually verbally talk back
Speaker 1: or you can choose to ignore it. You know. The
Speaker 1: first thing in talking trash that you gotta be able
Speaker 1: to back it up, because you know, trash talking can
Speaker 1: go left too, you know, but for the most part
Speaker 1: of it being trash talk, it does encourage and it
Speaker 1: can actually bring a second or take a player to
Speaker 1: another level. And men and women too. This ain't just
Speaker 1: God just women. Kennice Parker, Cheryl Swoops, these are these
Speaker 1: are already documented as women that you've been trash talking.
Speaker 1: Uh and these women go to another level when it
Speaker 1: comes to performance. So you have to trash talking. It's
Speaker 1: great for that and that's why he's there. And it's
Speaker 1: nothing like shutting a fan up. Man. Ain't nothing like
Speaker 1: shutting the fan up or shutting in the arena. Yeah, umster,
Speaker 1: you got real quiet. Mster, you got real quiet on
Speaker 1: the way out out the door. And it was a
Speaker 1: long train ride home. I can remember his face. I
Speaker 1: can remember the fans face if I and if I
Speaker 1: saw him tomorrow, I'd say you should have never opened
Speaker 1: up your mouth to Russell Westmin he was like two
Speaker 1: for twelve. Just let him sleep walk. Maybe as dinner
Speaker 1: plans after this, who knows, Just let it go. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let me ask you a question, man, when the Knicks
Speaker 1: gonna get that right? Well, you know, someone just released
Speaker 1: like all the Knicks starting point guard since like oh eight,
Speaker 1: and this is like no disrespect, but it's like there
Speaker 1: hasn't been a point guard there. I think it's like
Speaker 1: Charlie Ward Chris Child's era. So I think now that
Speaker 1: we have a true a true true PG, someone who
Speaker 1: could set the offense up, make big shots in the
Speaker 1: fourth Derrick Rose. I shouldn't disclude that Derrick Rose two
Speaker 1: years ago, even though he wasn't starting, Derrick Rose was
Speaker 1: running that team when they were the four seed in
Speaker 1: the East. So what happened to Kimball? What did kimber
Speaker 1: walking worked there? Man? I just think that's that's knees.
Speaker 1: I think I just think he physically wasn't there. You know,
Speaker 1: I think if he was physically there, I just think
Speaker 1: physically the knees weren't there. At least that's what every
Speaker 1: Knick fan believes. I was hyped when he got Kimba Walker.
Speaker 1: He's a New York guy too, you know I was.
Speaker 1: I was hyped when we got Kimba. I wouldn't see
Speaker 1: the Knicks have a great team like the Knicks. They
Speaker 1: haven't played on Christmas in a long time. They haven't.
Speaker 1: They haven't had they haven't had New York buzzes since
Speaker 1: like Mellow, you know what I'm saying, Like, we need
Speaker 1: the Knicks to have a great team for the NBA. Say,
Speaker 1: you know, I really believe that these these monumental franchises
Speaker 1: actually run some of the sports. Like can you imagine
Speaker 1: if the Cowboys or if the Yankees was trashed, or
Speaker 1: if the Ransaus was trashed? No, like, come on, man,
Speaker 1: like certain teams, we we as fans, we actually expect
Speaker 1: certain teams to have great team. I hate to say that,
Speaker 1: I'm glad Brooklyn has a beautiful team, but man, if
Speaker 1: that same team was was a Nick team, we thought
Speaker 1: it was gonna be We did a lot of Nick
Speaker 1: fans thought it was Durant Kyrie were coming to New York.
Speaker 1: But anybody, anybody coming over the Dolan They nobody dealing
Speaker 1: with Dolan that they did that joint to I wasn
Speaker 1: gonna ask you, like helping me what sticks out to you?
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't even know if you know you
Speaker 1: even ever imagine yourself playing for the Knicks or just whatever.
Speaker 1: And I know that you know, the Knicks throughout the
Speaker 1: nineties and early two thousands were okay, had the finals
Speaker 1: appearance in duncan wipe the floor them. But why do
Speaker 1: you think they just haven't been there? You know, I
Speaker 1: no longer believe the big free agent is coming to
Speaker 1: New York until I see it, I don't. I just
Speaker 1: don't think the Knicks stat is Brooklyn's a whole different story.
Speaker 1: But you know it's even going on before the Charles
Speaker 1: Oakley incident. That wasn't a good thing for yet, Like
Speaker 1: you know, that wasn't cool for nothing, you know, and uh,
Speaker 1: anybody knows. Oh no, he's he's he's Knicks all day
Speaker 1: in his blood, you know what, it's in his heart,
Speaker 1: and that was just unfortunate. But yeah, I don't know, man.
Speaker 1: I mean, I like Julius Randall. Yeah, but then you
Speaker 1: know he goes and shoes the crowd or do something.
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I don't. I don't even know, man.
Speaker 1: I just think that y'all are one player away. You
Speaker 1: just need that one. I think it's you, k I
Speaker 1: think it's you. I think I think at least your
Speaker 1: mentality listening. But man, if any superstar could come to
Speaker 1: New York could just be or fourth of what he
Speaker 1: thinks he can be, he's going to be on top
Speaker 1: of the world. Because when you run New York, man,
Speaker 1: you run it all. You know, Like if you're cracking
Speaker 1: in New York. You're cracking the majority place, and not
Speaker 1: just in America. I'm talking about universal man. You know,
Speaker 1: if you can do it in New York, Man, you
Speaker 1: can do it in a lot of places. Real ship,
Speaker 1: I want to take it back to your Celtics days.
Speaker 1: You brought it up, you bleed green. Um. A story
Speaker 1: I've always wanted clarity on this so great, it's kind
Speaker 1: of probably grown a bit with some time is from
Speaker 1: the O eight season. After a February game against the
Speaker 1: Lakers at Staples, Doc Rivers takes a hundred dollar bills
Speaker 1: from every player and puts it underneath the ceiling tile.
Speaker 1: You gotta walk me through that one. Has that story grown? Um,
Speaker 1: it wasn't oh eight, it was it was we went
Speaker 1: into oh eight, we go home conference finals m oh nine,
Speaker 1: the Lakers winning, and then meet back up with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Oh tim, But when we started off the year, we
Speaker 1: didn't start off with the greatest start. Came out you know,
Speaker 1: whatever have or whoever. And um, we play the Lakers
Speaker 1: in l A and Doc comes in. He says, I
Speaker 1: want everybody to give me a hundred dollars why looking
Speaker 1: like looking at people looking around, God damnit, pull out
Speaker 1: a hundred dollars. Everybody dock on the coffee this morning,
Speaker 1: like you know, verybody's pulling out. Johnny Joe, who's the
Speaker 1: equipment manage, goes around. He's grabbing all of it. So
Speaker 1: as he's grabbing it, you see that it's starting to accumulate.
Speaker 1: It's like maybe thirty people in this room. You know,
Speaker 1: with with coaches, players, you got I mean this thing,
Speaker 1: you got fifteen players right, then you got uh seven
Speaker 1: eight coaches, then you got you know, your minions video guys,
Speaker 1: you know, to help everybody around trainers. So altogether, like
Speaker 1: thirty people, he gets a hundred dollars from every person here.
Speaker 1: Some of the guys like, so you know, we're putting
Speaker 1: up money. Long story short, He gets it, so we
Speaker 1: see it's about like this. So like takes a chair,
Speaker 1: takes the ceiling and removes the ceiling. So you know,
Speaker 1: look at this before a game by the way too,
Speaker 1: like what are you doing? Puts the money. He puts
Speaker 1: it up there, and then he puts the ceiling back,
Speaker 1: comes down. He gets out the chair. We're coming back
Speaker 1: to get that money. So good, that's so great. We look,
Speaker 1: he says, we're coming back to get that money, I said,
Speaker 1: I'll be looking on doct it didn't even know. They
Speaker 1: didn't even know, Like what if they don't go to
Speaker 1: the fund? Right? Wait, we are in the Staples Center,
Speaker 1: like what So I'm thinking thinking, like, man, Yoe, I
Speaker 1: need to start pushing this ceiling back seeing what's up here.
Speaker 1: Idiots like this putting money up here, thinking that it's
Speaker 1: gonna be here. So I was like, I was up
Speaker 1: poin him, like this man got tripping, and he was like,
Speaker 1: if you don't believe, get out, because we're coming back
Speaker 1: here and we're gonna be back here and we're gonna
Speaker 1: beat this team for the championship. We're gonna get our
Speaker 1: second ring. Get here. Kind of okay, we're here, you know.
Speaker 1: And he said it real mark with the keening, like
Speaker 1: with his chest like really like I have a dream,
Speaker 1: like you know, and you felt it. And we beat
Speaker 1: the Lakers. We left, and so they were surely we
Speaker 1: started getting better and better. Playoffs coming open up, and
Speaker 1: we get better and better, comfaence find and better, and
Speaker 1: next thing you know, we're in the finals. The first
Speaker 1: day we have shoot around, we get back the first
Speaker 1: thing he did, we get in here and he's like, look,
Speaker 1: he pulled the money. It had wells, it had bullet
Speaker 1: he had like like somebody had been giving off the money.
Speaker 1: We was like, we're gonna wein this now. Listen, listen.
Speaker 1: I was all in when he said we. When I
Speaker 1: saw the money there, I believe. I believe right and
Speaker 1: then and they're like, you know what. Unfortunately we went
Speaker 1: seven games and came up short and didn't win. But
Speaker 1: Doc Rivers was a different level of confidence. He was
Speaker 1: a stimulator and he knew how to play the mind
Speaker 1: games to get you not only not only locked into
Speaker 1: what he was talking about, but to be able to
Speaker 1: see his visions what he was talking about. Truly, truly
Speaker 1: one one of the best coaches I've had in my life.
Speaker 1: On in h He's stick in l a for one
Speaker 1: second before we let you go, because I read this
Speaker 1: story a while ago and it has like quotes from you,
Speaker 1: but wasn't able to like tell Mike, is this real coming?
Speaker 1: Like you wanted to play with Kobe before you went
Speaker 1: to Boston? Is that a real story? Uh? That wrong? No,
Speaker 1: that's a real story. Before I made a decision, I
Speaker 1: had to before I made a decision to leave Minnesota,
Speaker 1: I wanted to actually understand like my whole play, like
Speaker 1: one of my options, what's real, what's not real. And
Speaker 1: then it got to a point where I had three
Speaker 1: places and it was Phoenix l A in Boston, and
Speaker 1: I had called Steve Nash, and Steve Nash had obviously
Speaker 1: talked to Sarver who was the head of Phoenix, and
Speaker 1: he was just telling me about all this reconfiguring and yeah,
Speaker 1: things are not gonna be like this, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: need you to do this and pay cuts and all
Speaker 1: this stuff. And once a lot a ton like just
Speaker 1: coming in Like I didn't even like what the hell,
Speaker 1: So I was like, oh, that's a lot to start.
Speaker 1: So I kind of crossed them off, and then um,
Speaker 1: it was down to Boston in l A. And um,
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk to Code and I think he
Speaker 1: was in China at the time doing like something for
Speaker 1: Nike or his tour or something, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I had to make some decisions, so you know, I
Speaker 1: just put a couple of cars into it and just
Speaker 1: you know, gave me respects to you know, he's on
Speaker 1: his schedule. And then I talked to Chauncey and t
Speaker 1: Loup Toronto, Loup, who was personal friends of mine, and
Speaker 1: they just had been two different teams that had a
Speaker 1: little more seasoning about movement of players and just you know,
Speaker 1: gave me some some of their trials and tribulations about
Speaker 1: their travels in the league and how things went. And
Speaker 1: then with that, as we did that, Ray gets traded
Speaker 1: to Boston on on Draft night, and that changed a lot. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, I wanted to come play with Cob obviously
Speaker 1: because we were friends, real friends, and then but I
Speaker 1: couldn't actually get in contact with him and it was
Speaker 1: just taking so long to be able to have a
Speaker 1: conversation with him. I had to make a decision, you know.
Speaker 1: I know Ray, I knew Paul, and I knew what
Speaker 1: their work ethics was like. And I was sitting up
Speaker 1: and think, like, am I going to get two better
Speaker 1: players than this, especially at the guard forward position, Like like, oh, like, man,
Speaker 1: you know, to get something other than that. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I could get them both. So I looked
Speaker 1: at the Boston opportunity is probably my best opportunity just
Speaker 1: playing with other grades that was that could just make
Speaker 1: me better. And then not even understanding that they had
Speaker 1: guys like t A, they had Kinder Perkins, they had
Speaker 1: a young Ray Gean Rondo, they had young uh, big
Speaker 1: baby that they got from the draft and Leon Poe
Speaker 1: and just good pieces that actually you can actually grow
Speaker 1: into it to be there for the following years. So
Speaker 1: looked at it like it was a bigger and probably
Speaker 1: longevity play with Boston, and I had to make the decision.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I wanted to play with Code and Uh,
Speaker 1: I think we played the first time we played each
Speaker 1: other after I had got to Boston. I think it
Speaker 1: was either Christmas or something. And he's like, man, why
Speaker 1: you called me? And I was like, man, that ship
Speaker 1: you kind of see my face. I'm like this on
Speaker 1: the feet through line. They don't want to hear that ship.
Speaker 1: And he's like, man, what were you calling? I was like, man, stop,
Speaker 1: you got you saw my message? Your bodyguard, your security
Speaker 1: they told you. I know they didn't. It was a
Speaker 1: chain of man, man, hold on. He wanted to have
Speaker 1: the conversation right there. I was. I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: this it's over, man. Yeah, when you want, yes, I
Speaker 1: did you know. I ain't gonna tell me what I'm wanted.
Speaker 1: I tried. I chased you do what you want me
Speaker 1: to do? What means should come to I mean, selfishly,
Speaker 1: as a fan, I would have loved to have watched
Speaker 1: you guys play. But then the flip side to that
Speaker 1: is watching you to play against each other absolutely, like
Speaker 1: I think that's you know, he gets how It's like,
Speaker 1: I don't even know if fans were ready for, like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, KG and Kobe are gonna play together,
Speaker 1: because that wasn't really happening like that back then. But
Speaker 1: then you go and you p you know, I just
Speaker 1: think it was a great those finals. Like to me,
Speaker 1: that was such an influential time. That's some high level
Speaker 1: basketball for me as a fan watching. You know, back then, man,
Speaker 1: you was you were so prone to wanting to do things.
Speaker 1: You one of the things that happen as they were happening,
Speaker 1: and we were all growing at the same time. I
Speaker 1: met covid uh where he was right before he came
Speaker 1: out and excuse me ninety six in Philly when he
Speaker 1: came and saw me play against the seventy six is
Speaker 1: our last game, and we had a conversation and we
Speaker 1: was friends ever since. So we both were coming from
Speaker 1: the high school ranks of wanting to be the next
Speaker 1: and having all this you know this, this desire, in
Speaker 1: this passion of in this vision. Like we sat, we talked.
Speaker 1: I think one time we both messed our ankles up
Speaker 1: and we had to get treatment in the same little whirlpool.
Speaker 1: And this is when they played in the forum and
Speaker 1: we had a deep conversation there. And he was similar
Speaker 1: to Pete he he he and I connected like how
Speaker 1: p and I connect. You know, how he would approach
Speaker 1: some things. Some people might look at him like he
Speaker 1: was kind of odd. I didn't see none of that.
Speaker 1: Actually was was very parallel with how he looked at
Speaker 1: some things. Um he was. He was a more of
Speaker 1: a less trusting person than that than I was. I
Speaker 1: was a little more trusting of teammates. Cod with a
Speaker 1: little more um in tune with his own game and
Speaker 1: what he thought he brought to the game. Just having
Speaker 1: a big personality and being able to have a crazy
Speaker 1: work ethic and and have a crazier vision for himself.
Speaker 1: You know, to shoot three straight air balls in a
Speaker 1: major game. It's not only balls, he but it's it
Speaker 1: says something about how you see yourself. And then to
Speaker 1: fail and to be criticized and people come at you like, man,
Speaker 1: you're the reason we're losing it, did it is? You
Speaker 1: ain't passing it? And he just stayed, of course, to
Speaker 1: what he thought and what he saw for himself. So
Speaker 1: you know, it was we always saw each other in
Speaker 1: the summers, you know, the U c l A, the
Speaker 1: l m U runs were never less than uh magical.
Speaker 1: Um the times in which we actually interacted was it
Speaker 1: was always just as magical. And uh any time I
Speaker 1: was there for his first All Star Game, when we
Speaker 1: when he started in New York, and it was the
Speaker 1: first and last time I saw him nervous, And every
Speaker 1: time I saw him, I would always bring it up.
Speaker 1: And then you know how nervous it was in New York.
Speaker 1: He was all nervous, Mike knowing I was nervous, but
Speaker 1: I was on some funk that we're gonna go out
Speaker 1: here were the young bulls, we next, all these old
Speaker 1: heads they for to come off. They feel just gonna
Speaker 1: be All League. Now. I was on that, and I
Speaker 1: was definitely, Hey, look I'm coming from you. Look for me.
Speaker 1: When we get out here, I'm throwing it. Don't be shocked,
Speaker 1: I'm throwing it in the first I think first second
Speaker 1: fast break we had. It came to me and I
Speaker 1: think I looked down and dribbled and I threw it
Speaker 1: and he win got it. It was the pastor God.
Speaker 1: He caught that mom of a two hand. He caught
Speaker 1: that ship two hands, and that was kind of That
Speaker 1: was kind of me and cold Man. It was always
Speaker 1: locked in. We've always had a vision. It was always tenacious.
Speaker 1: We always played hard, and we always wanted to win.
Speaker 1: I can always respect thing for that. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. It's crazy that bro don't even feel like
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. No, that that that still
Speaker 1: won't feel the whole thing will feel real. You know,
Speaker 1: there's another kind of amazing connection, right like your m
Speaker 1: v P in two thousand four, you played all a
Speaker 1: D two. I think the last player to win m
Speaker 1: v P and play all a D two with Kobe.
Speaker 1: You know, so you got It's only a five year period,
Speaker 1: but I don't think anyone in between you and Kobe's
Speaker 1: MVP also played a D two. I think there was
Speaker 1: a few seven Dirt played, like seventy eight something like that.
Speaker 1: But and that's something I don't think we'll ever see
Speaker 1: another m v P playing all a D two Load
Speaker 1: Manager and all that. Like certainly understanding like the physical
Speaker 1: aspects of it. I don't know. I just how do
Speaker 1: you look at that, like with your career, Like could
Speaker 1: you have benefited at all? Sure physically, but like mentally
Speaker 1: it's like, all right, KG, you're gonna play seventy this year.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get when you have seventy from you, we're
Speaker 1: gonna rush your body. You get paid for eighty two.
Speaker 1: They pay you for eighty two. They pay you for
Speaker 1: ten extibition games to pay you for the playoffs. Don't
Speaker 1: pay you to play seventy. They pay you to play
Speaker 1: eighty two. You understand it. Then let's saying something about
Speaker 1: you on both sides of the ball. You know what
Speaker 1: kind of stammering you gotta be. You know what kind
Speaker 1: of the shape you gotta be. You know it's gotta
Speaker 1: be in your heart to play ady two. You know,
Speaker 1: fucking trainer, Sit me down, shut your grass up, be
Speaker 1: the trainer, take the ankles and move. Have this equipment
Speaker 1: out here. Bro, let me go out here and be great.
Speaker 1: Let me show you I can work through this. It
Speaker 1: says a lot man, where you can actually perform and
Speaker 1: you're not at or you're not at your best. Or
Speaker 1: you're not physically at your best, but mentally I thought
Speaker 1: that I was just a show and just as strong
Speaker 1: as anybody in this league to be able to prepare
Speaker 1: myself and to play against anybody. I don't care what
Speaker 1: it was. If I had if I could walk, I
Speaker 1: was good. And you know, I just we just carried
Speaker 1: it different, you know what I'm saying, Like these kids
Speaker 1: now look at it different. You know, we just carried
Speaker 1: that whole thing different. You know, to play eighty two games,
Speaker 1: I think in a stamer like fifteen years, I missed
Speaker 1: like four games or something, and I think two of
Speaker 1: those is I was sick, one I got suspended, and
Speaker 1: another I don't even remember. But to play any two
Speaker 1: games just to say something about your stamming and who
Speaker 1: you were as a player. And that's on both sides
Speaker 1: of the ball. Ain't talking about taking a break going down.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about guarding the other team's best player and
Speaker 1: then going down here being the best player on your
Speaker 1: team scoring the ball. Yeah. That's yeah, that's swag within itself.
Speaker 1: That's enough set. That's to drop the mic. You ain't
Speaker 1: even gotta talk on that. That's talking for itself. Film.
Speaker 1: I've got to ask before we let you go, how
Speaker 1: tall are you really? Because but you gotta be sating.
Speaker 1: He ain't gonna say. He's not gonna say, listen, my
Speaker 1: shoes off, socks one as in all, I am six
Speaker 1: eleven and a half not seven ft. Yeah, and I'm
Speaker 1: but you can't keep blind about this. I think it's
Speaker 1: widely accepted that you are seven ft. He's not seven ft.
Speaker 1: I'm with KG on this one, Olivia. He's not said,
Speaker 1: that's a six eleven and a half her, thank you.
Speaker 1: And when they go and when you go to physicals,
Speaker 1: I think they make you take your shoes off and
Speaker 1: you shrink as you get older. You shrink as you
Speaker 1: get you might six and three quarters. So last thing
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you. Your Celtics squad is a favorite
Speaker 1: twin at all? They look great. What did you learn
Speaker 1: about them from watching them this week or maybe some
Speaker 1: competition they may face. Listen, Um, I had a big
Speaker 1: question mark with the with the sell just because I
Speaker 1: didn't know how they were going to react to or
Speaker 1: respond to, you know, all the stuff that's been going
Speaker 1: on with the latest with the head coach and just
Speaker 1: you know, just being a huge distraction or the potential
Speaker 1: of something being a huge distraction. UM watching them play
Speaker 1: last night, they looked like they were playing I want
Speaker 1: to say angry, but they looked like they had a
Speaker 1: chip on their shoulder. I actually thought this year, with
Speaker 1: what the seventies sixers did with a lot of movement
Speaker 1: and additions to their team, actually got better on paper.
Speaker 1: But when I watched last night the ball stuff, you know,
Speaker 1: they went to and beat a lot, They went to
Speaker 1: James Harden a lot. James hard went to one man
Speaker 1: basketball as Austin kind of like ten to twelve seconds
Speaker 1: with the with the shot clock, and I didn't feel
Speaker 1: like they got enough possessions. I watched the I watched
Speaker 1: the Celtics have not only uh a rapid pace, but
Speaker 1: then I'm I'm watching their death. I'm watching Brocken come
Speaker 1: off the bench. I'm watching the different combinations of what
Speaker 1: it can be when Rob Williams comes back. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't take it, and I didn't like, you need
Speaker 1: to see something first, and yeah I took I took
Speaker 1: the seventy sixers out of that. I don't think they're
Speaker 1: playing fast enough or I don't think they're paces where
Speaker 1: I think it needs to be to be able to
Speaker 1: play in this league. But I'm not a coach. I
Speaker 1: don't suit up and get it ready every night for this.
Speaker 1: I'm just observation and just seeing what I see. But
Speaker 1: I didn't see the young Maxie, who I love Terrris
Speaker 1: Maxie for the Sixers. When I see them up and down,
Speaker 1: he's a problem that he's a problem for every team.
Speaker 1: And last night he was just it was just basic.
Speaker 1: He he didn't really and and he didn't really have
Speaker 1: an influence on the game like I know of him
Speaker 1: to be. And yeah, I was a bit shocked. So, um,
Speaker 1: I didn't know that the Celticists were gonna come off
Speaker 1: with that chip on their shoulder like that. They was
Speaker 1: playing angry and then they get seventy points from your superstars,
Speaker 1: like yeah, that made me. That made me not only apologize,
Speaker 1: but I had to put them on my top four
Speaker 1: after seeing that, because uh, you know, on paper, everybody
Speaker 1: is good until you have to play. So yeah, but
Speaker 1: the Celtics look like they're determined, and I hope that
Speaker 1: they continue to play with that determination, and I hope
Speaker 1: that determination carries them back to the finals to get
Speaker 1: to get a rematch. Man we have so much more.
Speaker 1: We'd like to ask you, but we gotta let you go.
Speaker 1: But yeah, really great of you to share your time.
Speaker 1: Thank you, it's all good man, Uh, Jerry Olivia. I
Speaker 1: want to say congratulations man. You know, shout to always
Speaker 1: we always got to show them some love. Yes, shout
Speaker 1: to my dog him over there and everybody. But congratulations
Speaker 1: on your joint. Man. Let me know you ever need
Speaker 1: something from me. Man, we jump back on here and
Speaker 1: talk it up, and we gotta get you on my
Speaker 1: joint KG certified when you guys get a chance, all right, Yes,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna get a call about the nineteen year
Speaker 1: old entourage of you. Uh, that should be a show
Speaker 1: and together. Then that's that's what I'm saying. We gotta
Speaker 1: we gotta make that happen. And uh and yeah, I
Speaker 1: look forward to what movie you're gonna pop up in
Speaker 1: next as your IMDb continues to grow. So thank you
Speaker 1: very much. Appreciate it, appreciate it. Man. Let me tell
Speaker 1: your father I said, hello, man, thanks big ticket, take care,
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you all later morning. Well, congratspeet. We
Speaker 1: sure ms last week. I gotta say though, in your absence,
Speaker 1: Darry did pretty good and I actually got a lot
Speaker 1: of people on Twitter telling me they're winning with Jerry's picks.
Speaker 1: So I don't know what do you have to say
Speaker 1: for yourself, Mr Ferrara, I took pizza on the hot
Speaker 1: seat now this week, but I do like him coming
Speaker 1: in with Like I said that, he's a new guy,
Speaker 1: new man, started a new chapter in his life. I
Speaker 1: said it last time he was on. This is a
Speaker 1: new chapter in this segment. So Pete, where's your mind
Speaker 1: at going into this week? It's a tricky week. It's
Speaker 1: a tricky week. So let's you got your ten units
Speaker 1: as always? How you spreading them out this week? Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's only one good reason or one good thing about
Speaker 1: not being on the show last week. I had no
Speaker 1: losing picks. So we're we're starting from scratch. Like you said,
Speaker 1: married man, Um, this is a tricky week. There's some
Speaker 1: I think we called it some shady lines a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago. I see a lot of that this week.
Speaker 1: Couple of backups and a couple of questionable lines. We'll
Speaker 1: start with Thursday. So, like you said, as as always
Speaker 1: we do our ten units. I have two unlike most weeks,
Speaker 1: Where do you want to have two units on this
Speaker 1: O g P for Thursday night football. So it's Saints
Speaker 1: at Cards. I love the Cards here minus two and
Speaker 1: a half. I was going back and forth on money line.
Speaker 1: I think you take the value with the two and
Speaker 1: a half points on the Saint side. Camar to score
Speaker 1: in any time touchdown obviously focal point of their offense
Speaker 1: still with Michael Thomas banged up, just a lot of
Speaker 1: inconsistency around quarterback, so I like Camara twenty yards receiving
Speaker 1: any any time touchdown and then return of DeAndre Hopkins,
Speaker 1: uh the start of the Robbie Anderson era at receiver too,
Speaker 1: with with Hollywood out, so I think this is a
Speaker 1: new dynamic to the team. Obviously Tyler, Cliff Kingsbury, everybody
Speaker 1: have been really struggling. I think this is that kind
Speaker 1: of breath of energy that they've needed. So the four
Speaker 1: of those things plus, like I said, two units on
Speaker 1: that UM so a nice little pay day hundred sixty
Speaker 1: five dollars plus plus your steak. So really like that tomorrow.
Speaker 1: We're not getting too crazy, but I think really good
Speaker 1: odds there. Yeah, I really you got to imagine they're
Speaker 1: getting the red zone there at the very least throwing
Speaker 1: fades to Hopkins. Right, even if he's not the big,
Speaker 1: you know, vertical threat that he once was, coming back,
Speaker 1: you gotta imagine that. I can't believe Kamara is only
Speaker 1: over twenty receiving yards. That almost seems wrong. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1: I know you're gonna hit one of these. I just
Speaker 1: want to be around when you do, so I think
Speaker 1: this one might be okay. So you got eight units left. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I'm going four and four on the last to
Speaker 1: the first one. Titans minus two and a half against
Speaker 1: the Olds. This line makes zero sense to me. That
Speaker 1: kind of scares me a little bit. But seven point
Speaker 1: win a couple of weeks ago. I think they played
Speaker 1: on October two, um, and this was amidst the Titans
Speaker 1: not looking great one and two at the time. I
Speaker 1: think they've obviously turned the corner first place team. Now,
Speaker 1: if Taylor plays, that's a big question mark. He's obviously
Speaker 1: been banged up for a couple of weeks. I think
Speaker 1: he's slated to play. He had twenty attempts for forty
Speaker 1: two yards against this Titans defense a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 1: He has not been himself. Uh, that team like I said,
Speaker 1: all over the place, Matt Ryan last week threw something
Speaker 1: like fifty eight or sixty times. There is never a
Speaker 1: good recipe when you have probably the best running back
Speaker 1: in the league and you're throwing sixty times. So if
Speaker 1: that happens this week with Taylor in, I think this
Speaker 1: could be a blowout. So Titans at home minus two
Speaker 1: and a half four units and obviously minus one ten there.
Speaker 1: I love that one. I do think Matt Ryan's over
Speaker 1: under past attempt should always be less than his age.
Speaker 1: I think if he starts throwing more past attempts than
Speaker 1: his age, I think you are Although they did find something,
Speaker 1: but I do I do like that. Okay, you got
Speaker 1: four units left, and I think you're about to really
Speaker 1: speak my language here. Yeah, So we talked about this.
Speaker 1: I always, you know, every year, I go in and
Speaker 1: kind of feel out the first three or four weeks
Speaker 1: of the season where the lines are at. It's been
Speaker 1: a really, really good year for the book. But there
Speaker 1: are some fishy, fishy lines this week. So I've done
Speaker 1: a three team teaser, um and near, accidentally, near, and
Speaker 1: dear to your guy's hearts. So Giants, these are all
Speaker 1: six point teasers. By the way, so Giants plus nine,
Speaker 1: Packers plus one and a half and the Jets plus seven.
Speaker 1: So Giants on the road in Jacksonville, who have not
Speaker 1: been a good home team. The Giants are on fire.
Speaker 1: This line didn't make sense to me as they were
Speaker 1: plus three on the true line. I think they obviously
Speaker 1: come come in and win out right. Brian Dabble has
Speaker 1: been everything that every Giants fan I think is hoped for.
Speaker 1: The team is overperforming probably in every dimension. Danny Done
Speaker 1: is doing what he needs to do, take Juan somewhat
Speaker 1: back to his healthy self, and then Jacksonville on the
Speaker 1: other side. Weird team to me, I'd never know what
Speaker 1: they're doing at run back with et Tiana Robinson. I
Speaker 1: think they're still that in between team making strides with
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence. But I see Giants coming in out right.
Speaker 1: I could see this being a home game for them too,
Speaker 1: with with a lot of travel and g Man fans.
Speaker 1: The second one the Packers plus one and a half.
Speaker 1: Another weird line at the Commanders. Taylor Heineke quarterback with
Speaker 1: Carson went south four to six weeks. This actually might
Speaker 1: be better for the Commanders Tannicky Um but Olivia's pack
Speaker 1: are coming off too, pretty pretty crappy losses, so I
Speaker 1: think they have to write the ship a little bit.
Speaker 1: I think Bucks are in a similar sense, where um,
Speaker 1: you gotta kind of get back to where you're supposed
Speaker 1: to be. I think there are three and three right now,
Speaker 1: so I think this is the start of it. Not
Speaker 1: so good Washington Commander's team. So Olivia definitely uh Packers
Speaker 1: win this game. And I protected myself at that extra
Speaker 1: point there. And then the Jets at the Broncos, I
Speaker 1: mean another week that the Broncos offense just looked awful.
Speaker 1: I mean I saw a meme of Russell Wilson throwing
Speaker 1: with his helmet upside down, where that's seemingly what it
Speaker 1: looks like where he's just blindfolded when he's throwing the ball.
Speaker 1: They're all over the place. And again Jet's another team
Speaker 1: that are just in the right direction. They have the
Speaker 1: favorite for offensive Rookie of the Year and the favorite
Speaker 1: for defensive Rookie of the Year with Brees Hall sofce
Speaker 1: Garden respect now, he is the favorite as of a
Speaker 1: couple of days ago. So you've got to ride the
Speaker 1: young guys. Zach Wilson's doing enough on that team, I
Speaker 1: think too to keep them in a in a good
Speaker 1: position obviously buying the bills. But um, they're doing enough.
Speaker 1: I think you're going to see a lot more of
Speaker 1: Garrett Wilson with Zach Wilson. That kind of connection will
Speaker 1: continue to improve, like it did with lack of the
Speaker 1: first couple of weeks. So this whole teaser together, for
Speaker 1: those of you that don't know what a teaser is,
Speaker 1: essentially we're just adding points to each respective team. So
Speaker 1: I added six points in favor of each of those teams,
Speaker 1: so they're protected a bit. So it's plus one forty,
Speaker 1: so it's fifty to win once twenty. I really like
Speaker 1: this one. Like I said, I can see all three
Speaker 1: of these teams went out right, but you're protected by
Speaker 1: a couple of points, so even if there is that
Speaker 1: last minute upset, you're probably still covered. That's a good one.
Speaker 1: I like that. I like that. Jerry, are you on
Speaker 1: it with the Giants and Jets especially? Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm on it. I do like it, um, and even
Speaker 1: like to his point about moving the packers, like even
Speaker 1: crossing the zero line into that one and a half.
Speaker 1: That's just extra protection really in case it's uh they lose.
Speaker 1: If they do lose your bet that they're gonna lose
Speaker 1: by one, I'm looking both New York teams and a
Speaker 1: teaser that always scares me only but that's emotional stuff
Speaker 1: for me. It has nothing to do with lines and
Speaker 1: numbers with Pete is a lot better at than I am.
Speaker 1: So I do, I do, And anytime you could, you're
Speaker 1: essentially getting plus odds and you're getting six points, like
Speaker 1: it's it's a no brainer. I would definitely follow that
Speaker 1: one too. But I really still I love your your
Speaker 1: parlay the most of all these. But I think you
Speaker 1: have a really strong card right now. Absolutely, And we're
Speaker 1: getting into a really fun time this week. So Thursday,
Speaker 1: when this sports equinox, you have MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL
Speaker 1: all on throughout the course of one day, which is crazy.
Speaker 1: And then, similar to last, is it too much? Pete?
Speaker 1: Is it too much? Jerry thinks it's too much if
Speaker 1: you're in the bed MGM office and you have with
Speaker 1: the near when you're with two screaming kids at seven
Speaker 1: o'clock who both want food, they both want to eat
Speaker 1: Apple Jack's for dinner. It's a problem. Yeah, yeah, that
Speaker 1: makes sense. And but then Sunday, similar to last week,
Speaker 1: you have Yanks, Giants, Jets all playing. I think that
Speaker 1: Parlay would have hit for like one if you bet
Speaker 1: on all three teams to win. Maybe that's a little
Speaker 1: extra if you're a Yanks fan like me, like me
Speaker 1: and Jerry, maybe you you sprink a little on there.
Speaker 1: But it's gonna be an awesome weekend for sure. Well yeah, Pete,
Speaker 1: it's great to have you back. We missed you. Uh
Speaker 1: and I really do believe that this is started. Not
Speaker 1: only did you start a new chapter of your life,
Speaker 1: which is fantastic, I think you started a new chapter
Speaker 1: on Unleashed this week. Well, I have a fan of
Speaker 1: you two, and we got to get that Unleashed family
Speaker 1: dinner on the book. So Pete, thanks again for joining us.
Speaker 1: Congratulations my man, Thanks guys later later, Pete. M all right, Olivia,
Speaker 1: I think that's gonna do it. One of my favorite shows.
Speaker 1: I loved them all but back, we just got to
Speaker 1: talk to Kevin Garnett. Uh yeah, I one of my
Speaker 1: favorite interviews we've done. And welcome basketball back everybody. But
Speaker 1: we're still we're still, we're still loving you. Football. We
Speaker 1: still can't quit you, so thank you everybody for listening.
Speaker 1: And uh yeah, good luck this weekend, everybody, good luck. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be great. Next week. We got Andre Reid.
Speaker 1: We can ask him about his bills. What he thinks
Speaker 1: they're sailing is this year, it's going to be a
Speaker 1: good one next week, all right, take care everyone,