Speaker 1: M hm h. Happy Friday everyone, Welcome to the State
Speaker 1: of the Lakers podcast. We are going to cover Game
Speaker 1: two of the NBA Finals today as well as we're
Speaker 1: going to dive into that weird podcast interview that Dan
Speaker 1: Lebotar did with the gentleman who wrote that book on
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Nets blinking on his name right now that
Speaker 1: I think his I think his first name is Matt
Speaker 1: or something like that. Roger Rog, How you doing today, man,
Speaker 1: I'm doing great. That was a super fun game too.
Speaker 1: I thought it was kind of predictable as well. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's fun series and it's cool to kind of dive back,
Speaker 1: dive back into the basketball of it. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I've had a really good read on this series. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, for the record, we're all anybody who makes
Speaker 1: predictions is wrong a lot of the time, and I
Speaker 1: personally am wrong a lot of the time. This, however,
Speaker 1: so far through two games, has been a series that
Speaker 1: I've really had a good read on between the two
Speaker 1: teams and just the way the matchups work. Um, I've
Speaker 1: made a good amount of money on this series so far.
Speaker 1: I bet Phoenix in Game one and then I bet
Speaker 1: the Bucks first quarter yesterday and then I bet I
Speaker 1: rolled all of that into the Suns to win the game,
Speaker 1: and uh and and did well on that. I just
Speaker 1: have a good feel for this Phoenix Suns team, obviously
Speaker 1: just as a Lakers fan, having watched them so closely
Speaker 1: in that previous series. And I just really believe in
Speaker 1: their defense, and I really believe in their offensive system
Speaker 1: and the way that it works. And I think they're
Speaker 1: one of the best jump shooting teams that I've seen
Speaker 1: in terms of like a high end, elite physical defense
Speaker 1: that can also shoot the ball. And I I just
Speaker 1: am so incredibly impressed by them. Um, I think Milwaukee's
Speaker 1: gonna win Game three, but I think that's the only
Speaker 1: game they're gonna win. Uh, just zooming out after two games?
Speaker 1: Has this gone kind of the way you thought it
Speaker 1: would go? And did you expect more from Milwaukee? Where
Speaker 1: are you at kind of macro at this point? YEA
Speaker 1: thought this is kind of how it would go. I
Speaker 1: thought Bud would kind of punch second, and I thought, like,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you would agree. It felt like
Speaker 1: in that first quarter they were super aggressive. Um, they
Speaker 1: had like a game plan like we're gonna stay off
Speaker 1: a Jay Crowder, We're gonna stay at mckel bridges. And
Speaker 1: then those dudes hit four threes and like the first
Speaker 1: five minutes and all that kind of went to hell.
Speaker 1: They went right back to let letting Brook Lopez switch
Speaker 1: on a Chris Paul you know, putting that like super
Speaker 1: deep drop coverage on them. And to me, like this
Speaker 1: series still kind of boils down to like Drew Holiday
Speaker 1: and Chris Milton. Drew Holiday especially has to be better,
Speaker 1: especially as a shotmaker. Again, he just could not make
Speaker 1: a shot last night. I thought he impacted his aggressiveness
Speaker 1: and I guess like going home should help them, right,
Speaker 1: But guys like and I think Bucks fans have talked
Speaker 1: about it, Middleton's like home and road kind of splits
Speaker 1: are pretty bad for a player of his caliber. Through Holiday,
Speaker 1: I guess just shoot better, But I don't like the
Speaker 1: shots that I get, Like I feel like Phoenix's rotations
Speaker 1: are so good. You talked about their defense, like the
Speaker 1: honest drives they help on that they help on the
Speaker 1: guy cutting and all of a sudden again I talked
Speaker 1: about I don't like the green light that Pat Connachon
Speaker 1: and Bred Forbes have so like the ball gets swing
Speaker 1: to them and it's like a contested three and they
Speaker 1: fling it and that's their offense for a lot of
Speaker 1: the night. So I feel like the but the Suns
Speaker 1: are pretty much in control of this series. I know
Speaker 1: most teams like, you do your job when you win
Speaker 1: your first two home games, right, but yeah, it just
Speaker 1: feels like I mean, I think the Bucks will win
Speaker 1: Game three as well, um, but just feel like the
Speaker 1: Suns know what they're doing. They know exactly like how
Speaker 1: to defend this team and how to get the shots
Speaker 1: they want. Man, Chris Pond Devin Book are a way
Speaker 1: too comfortable for me. Chris Paul shot ten for twenty.
Speaker 1: I think last night, like that's that's too efficient for him,
Speaker 1: Like he's he can't be this comfortable in my opinion,
Speaker 1: and they need to switch things up. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: You know it's funny, I had, uh. You know, when
Speaker 1: you're young and you're watching NBA games or any any
Speaker 1: sporting event for that matter, you lack perspective and you
Speaker 1: start to like I remember when I was a teenager
Speaker 1: and I would watch one of my favorite teams play
Speaker 1: and they'd lose. I get like almost emotional. In a
Speaker 1: regular season game, I'd be like, I can't believe they
Speaker 1: lost to the Mavericks on a Tuesday or whatever it is,
Speaker 1: you know, because you lack perspective. And then the more
Speaker 1: basketball you watch over your lifetime, you start to kind
Speaker 1: of get a feel for the flow of a season,
Speaker 1: in the flow of a playoff series. Well, you know, I,
Speaker 1: I really I like, I've I've seen a lot of
Speaker 1: playoff series in my career in my time watching basketball,
Speaker 1: and and the way it tends to go is, you know,
Speaker 1: the better team wins game one, and then the lesser
Speaker 1: team comes out guns blazing in Game two, and sometimes
Speaker 1: it's enough for them to steal one, and sometimes it's not.
Speaker 1: And you know I And it was interesting because you
Speaker 1: also get to feel get the feel for the adjustments, right, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, Trey Young completely lights the Bucks on fire
Speaker 1: in game one. It was super predictable that Trey Young
Speaker 1: would have a rough game too, because the Bucks adjustments
Speaker 1: would be geared towards slowing down Trey. Well, that's pretty
Speaker 1: much what happened again last night. They the Bucks over
Speaker 1: helped on Booker and Paul in their isolations and in
Speaker 1: their picking rolls and left a bunch of guys open
Speaker 1: on the backside, i'd i'd i'd a buddy of mind
Speaker 1: calling me before the game, who's not a huge NBA fan,
Speaker 1: but a lot of Arizonans are getting into the Suns
Speaker 1: now just because that's the goal when a when a
Speaker 1: team becomes relevant again. And he's like, what's your feel
Speaker 1: on tonight's game, And I'm like, I think the I
Speaker 1: think the Bucks are gonna throw the kitchen sink at
Speaker 1: Chris Paul and Devin Booker and it's gonna be about
Speaker 1: whether or not guys can make shots on the back end. Well,
Speaker 1: they made eight threes in the first quartering, so like
Speaker 1: that's exactly That's exactly what happened, and and you know,
Speaker 1: and and over the course of the series, the Bucks
Speaker 1: will continue to make adjustments like they went to Janice
Speaker 1: at the five a whole lot in that game, which,
Speaker 1: as you and I have discussed, is basically that like
Speaker 1: that's there, that's their nuclear option, and they're all already
Speaker 1: in the first half of Game two. They had to
Speaker 1: go to their nuclear option, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: But again, to get back to your original point, like,
Speaker 1: I'm so impressed by the Suns and they remind me
Speaker 1: so much of the two thousand fifteen Warriors in the
Speaker 1: sense that they're a team that is almost becoming underrated
Speaker 1: because of the fact that they're having, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: such such good luck along the way that the people
Speaker 1: are forgetting the fact that they're actually extremely talented up
Speaker 1: and down the roster. Michael Bridges, everyone says like Brandon
Speaker 1: Ingram looks like Kevin Durant. To meet, Michal Bridges looks
Speaker 1: like Kevin Durant in the way that he can kind
Speaker 1: of float into the lane and takes that super high
Speaker 1: release point. Obviously he's not Kevin Durant. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: like some of that facts simile that you see in him.
Speaker 1: He's he's what their fourth best player, and he's unbelievably talented.
Speaker 1: Like the Sun's team, it feels like one of those
Speaker 1: teams that is gonna win the title and everyone's gonna
Speaker 1: underrate them because they got lucky, and then they're going
Speaker 1: to continue to just kick everyone's ass next year. That's
Speaker 1: kind of the way it feels like to me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I've been tweeting four years hundred for Bridges, like
Speaker 1: every single game because I just feel like that's where
Speaker 1: he's gonna get You don't get three and D wings
Speaker 1: like that that can attack close outs, know how to
Speaker 1: cut hits threes, like he catches on in transition three.
Speaker 1: He has a weird shot right, it's kind of like
Speaker 1: pulls it up from the left side, kind of Lonzo
Speaker 1: ball like, but like he hits some percent. He's just
Speaker 1: a really great player. Watching these two teams, I don't
Speaker 1: know what you think, Jason, but it feels like one
Speaker 1: team is like trying to shape shift on the fly,
Speaker 1: Like the Bucks are like trying to figure out who
Speaker 1: they are, and while the Sun's just know exactly who
Speaker 1: they are. There's no like I know, I know, Um,
Speaker 1: Darius Harch went out and people are saying it was
Speaker 1: gonna be a bunch of Kaminsky minutes. Um, I never
Speaker 1: thought that was really gonna happen. I think they really
Speaker 1: went with like Tory Craig at the five. Um, they're
Speaker 1: comfortable playing small against the Bucks because only really post
Speaker 1: presence is Broo Lopez and then you have like Bobby
Speaker 1: Portis on the bench who also didn't really play that well.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I feel like the Suns know exactly who
Speaker 1: they are man, and you know those like their actions
Speaker 1: are run and so Crisps like eighton comes and says
Speaker 1: the screen for Chris Paul. Devin Booker does that little
Speaker 1: back screen Spain action and like that's tough to defend.
Speaker 1: And then Cam Johnson comes in, knows exactly where his
Speaker 1: shots come from. He comes in, I think it's two
Speaker 1: and three three two to three three's. Um, they just
Speaker 1: know what they're doing. Like it. It's fun to watch it.
Speaker 1: It reminds me a little bit of the Lakers last year,
Speaker 1: like who got a healthy roster, knew exactly who they were, Um,
Speaker 1: and it's fun to watch them. Yeah. I like the
Speaker 1: comp of the Warriors as well. Um, just too high
Speaker 1: level shot creators, just too comfortable in my opinion, and
Speaker 1: they know what they're doing. Devin Booker Like, I remember
Speaker 1: Mike Green kept saying tough shot, tough shot. I'm like,
Speaker 1: these are shots he's going to. This is what he wants.
Speaker 1: Like Mike Green's like he does a little jap stick
Speaker 1: on Brook Lopez fadeaway switch and Mike Green's like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's a tough shot. I'm like it is technically, but
Speaker 1: that's what he's going to. It's fun to watch them.
Speaker 1: Um and Monty Man it is so good, and I
Speaker 1: don't I don't think you could go down too out
Speaker 1: to this team, Like I think they're too good. They're
Speaker 1: they're too well coached. So I don't know, what do
Speaker 1: you think the Bucks can do kind of in in
Speaker 1: game three and four? Where where's your adjusting me here?
Speaker 1: I guess other than just drew holiday shoe better, which
Speaker 1: is kind of a simplification. So for starters, you uh,
Speaker 1: like you have often you and I both have often
Speaker 1: talked about how you can't trick off playoff games. Well,
Speaker 1: the operate the opportunity to steal a game in Phoenix
Speaker 1: was game one. I thought, just because there is you
Speaker 1: can kind of catch them off guard in that regard.
Speaker 1: But here's the problem. So if you're the Bucks, you're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we lost game one, We're gonna go forward in game two.
Speaker 1: And game one, by the way they tricked off with
Speaker 1: their coverages, they let Chris Paul and Devin Booker be
Speaker 1: way too comfortable throughout the game, which any average Joe
Speaker 1: off the street would have said that was a bad idea.
Speaker 1: But and they made the exact same mistake last series
Speaker 1: against Atlanta. But the thing that was interesting is like Okay,
Speaker 1: so you come out in game two, you're the more
Speaker 1: aggressive team. You're guarding Chris Paul and Devin book are
Speaker 1: much better, but you get burned by a really hot
Speaker 1: shooting night. You know that that almost happened to the
Speaker 1: Lakers in their Son's series because campaign went absolutely absurd
Speaker 1: absurdly hot in game two. When you trick off a game,
Speaker 1: you open up the door to falling even further behind
Speaker 1: because of something like an outlier shooting performance, which nearly happened.
Speaker 1: Now a couple of things. You know, you and I
Speaker 1: were on this as well. We talked about how Janice
Speaker 1: was going to start having these clear out post ups
Speaker 1: where they make it so that when he spins back
Speaker 1: they can't have help on his backside because there's the
Speaker 1: entire side of the floor is clear. Well, if there's
Speaker 1: one silver lining, it's they figured out how to get
Speaker 1: Jhannice going. You know, it kind of reminded it reminded
Speaker 1: me of that Anthony Davis game against the Suns in
Speaker 1: the regular season. You know, Janice is a matchup that
Speaker 1: the Sun's just can't mess with, like they you know,
Speaker 1: throughout the game, I kept I was watching the game
Speaker 1: with my father in law, and I kept looking over
Speaker 1: at him. I'm like, they cannot touch this guy. They
Speaker 1: literally can't touch this guy. Like they can't keep him
Speaker 1: off the glass, they can't keep him keep him from
Speaker 1: getting to any spot. He was making his mid range
Speaker 1: jump shot consistently. It was just an all time physical
Speaker 1: dominant performance. So if you can get anything at home
Speaker 1: out of Middleton and Holiday and Janice continues to have
Speaker 1: the matchup advantages he's having, you're probably gonna be in
Speaker 1: a position where you can win. I thought they defended
Speaker 1: actually pretty well overall. The tricky thing for them was
Speaker 1: when they went to Janice at the five. They tried
Speaker 1: to get Janice involved in screening actions away from the
Speaker 1: basket so that he gets switched onto a wing or
Speaker 1: a guard, and then DeAndre eight and killed them on
Speaker 1: the offensive glass. And so that's gonna be something they'll
Speaker 1: have to counter adjust. And you can do stuff like
Speaker 1: you know, uh, switching before the screen comes. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like a it's like a preventative switch to try
Speaker 1: to make sure that Janna stays underneath the basket. There
Speaker 1: are a lot of things that they can do to
Speaker 1: try to keep that from happening. But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, Janice at the five was their best lineup.
Speaker 1: They were positive with your Honie on the floor yesterday.
Speaker 1: There there's some stuff to cling to their ride, the
Speaker 1: home court energy, you'll have the the you'll have the
Speaker 1: motivational advantage. I think game three is a great opportunity
Speaker 1: for him, the walk, you to kind of get on
Speaker 1: the board. Yeah, And I think Janice was amazing last night,
Speaker 1: Like he was really great, got to the ram um,
Speaker 1: really scored, was aggressive. Um. I think he hit I'm
Speaker 1: not sure how many of his free throws he get. Um,
Speaker 1: he was eleven for eighteen at the line. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think they'll take that. But those one legged kind
Speaker 1: of fade away jumpers, Like I think the Sun's win
Speaker 1: in that, Like just in that scenario, like if the
Speaker 1: Honest goes to that, I thought he took like some
Speaker 1: pull up threas in transition. Um, it just feel like
Speaker 1: everything is like I don't know, it looks like that's
Speaker 1: tiring for him to just continue to attack Aiden's chest
Speaker 1: every time, Like that must wear on him. What do
Speaker 1: you think that wears on him? Kind of like is
Speaker 1: that fine for him to to for his offense to
Speaker 1: be that pretty much because I feel like they're gonna
Speaker 1: live with those one leg fadeaways. UM, They're gonna help
Speaker 1: a lot more off of p J. Tucker, I think
Speaker 1: as we go even more into this series, UM trying
Speaker 1: to bring Jake Crowder down to trap even earlier I
Speaker 1: saw like eight and kind of talking about that UM
Speaker 1: while they were while they were playing. But I don't know,
Speaker 1: I just feel like that's a tough thing to just
Speaker 1: your offense, be honest, kind of trying to run through
Speaker 1: Eating because I feel like they're living with that UM.
Speaker 1: Eating is fine, just standing there being vertical waiting for
Speaker 1: him at the rim. They're going under all these screens,
Speaker 1: They're going to live with any jump shot he takes
Speaker 1: UM and kind of live with his numbers at the
Speaker 1: line as well. So I'm just wondering, do you think
Speaker 1: that that's something that wears on him, like him like
Speaker 1: trying to just go through Rating's chest every time they
Speaker 1: try to score, because that feels like what their offense
Speaker 1: is there is an eye so for you honest on
Speaker 1: the left block and daring them to help UM and
Speaker 1: and just having him trying to go through eight instead
Speaker 1: of around him as he can most players. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it's so easy for guys like us on the
Speaker 1: couch to be like, oh, go to the basket, go
Speaker 1: to the basket, go to the bat restaurants, get better shots.
Speaker 1: It's something that has always driven me nuts. Watching Lebron
Speaker 1: in his career is just people saying like, well, why
Speaker 1: doesn't he go to the basket every time? It's a
Speaker 1: fatigue and Janice has a lot on his plate, Like
Speaker 1: Janice was un freaking believable defensively last night, in credible
Speaker 1: like just just one of the honest honestly, one of
Speaker 1: the better the Finals performances I've ever seen from a
Speaker 1: wing like that. And you know, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day when he takes those little fadeaways and one
Speaker 1: like they of ways and stuff. I don't like the
Speaker 1: one legged ones as much as his like more traditional turnarounds.
Speaker 1: His more traditional turnarounds, he seems to make it a
Speaker 1: higher clip. But at the end of the day, those
Speaker 1: are fatigue shots. That's that's textbook like, if I get
Speaker 1: to this shot, it's gonna save my legs type of deal. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. That like when he physically dominates eight
Speaker 1: and it's more of a of a fatiguing play that
Speaker 1: he can't go to as often over the course of
Speaker 1: the game. But you know what's funny is he's got
Speaker 1: you know, he's got actually pretty good at those that
Speaker 1: specific little turnaround from ten feet and then he had
Speaker 1: quite a few. He had quite a few of these,
Speaker 1: like kind of big sweeping hooks through the lane. Uh.
Speaker 1: He had a few of them in the second half
Speaker 1: where like he kind of gets the defender on his
Speaker 1: left shoulder and just takes a power dribble into the
Speaker 1: semicircle and then just kind of elevates over the top
Speaker 1: with like a one handed hook. It's kind of a
Speaker 1: shot that Anthony Davis. It's an Anthony Davis type of
Speaker 1: shot that he uses all the time. But that's one
Speaker 1: of those ones too that kind of saves your legs
Speaker 1: but is less intense on the uh, it's less intense
Speaker 1: on the on the fatigue side of things. And and
Speaker 1: you know, and it's easier for him to knock down.
Speaker 1: It's not a shot that's gonna gonna be overly difficult
Speaker 1: for him. But at the end of the day, like,
Speaker 1: you know, how are you going to continue to run
Speaker 1: it through Drew Holiday and continue to run it through
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton when they're not making anything, Like you have
Speaker 1: to run the offense through na if he's the only
Speaker 1: guy who can generated quality shot. So I don't know
Speaker 1: what you do. I think you just hope that at home,
Speaker 1: those guys get it going. Yeah, And I thought, like
Speaker 1: we talked about it in the after game one honest.
Speaker 1: I mean, Chris Midleton got the same exact shots that
Speaker 1: he usually gets. Um, he just missed his open looks.
Speaker 1: Same with Drew Holiday. Um. Those those guys get the
Speaker 1: same looks every night. Right. Chris Milton is a little
Speaker 1: mid range jumper right right after coming off pick and roll,
Speaker 1: that's his shot he just missed. Um, But he doesn't
Speaker 1: get to the rim, doesn't get to the line, doesn't
Speaker 1: play make so when he's missing shots, like, he's not
Speaker 1: impacting the game, and it's just really tough to win
Speaker 1: that way, man. And I think he'll shoot better at home,
Speaker 1: like I think Chris Milton Drew Holiday will shoot better
Speaker 1: at home. Um. But I don't know where the kind
Speaker 1: of bucks go from here other than like their small
Speaker 1: ball lineup actually got killed last night. I was looking
Speaker 1: at the minutes here, they were like a minus thirteen
Speaker 1: in their minutes. Their starting lineup actually did play well. UM.
Speaker 1: But again, like we talked about, I think those brook
Speaker 1: Lopez minutes just you just can't play him as much.
Speaker 1: Like I wonder if Bud goes to that. UM. But
Speaker 1: I thought someone made a really good point on on
Speaker 1: the timeline. I forgot who, but they were saying, like
Speaker 1: they need brook Lopez is scoring, but they can't like
Speaker 1: defend with him on the floor. So that's kind of
Speaker 1: the conundrum with brook Lopez. Um, would you just start
Speaker 1: your honest at the five in Game three or d
Speaker 1: still because I think the brook Lopez lineups actually played well, Um,
Speaker 1: I still think they're kind of fools gold though, I
Speaker 1: think Chris Paul and Devin Booker are too comfortable with
Speaker 1: him on the floor. But I don't know, just Bud
Speaker 1: start your honest at the five and just say we'll
Speaker 1: just go full small ball here. I think he'd be
Speaker 1: willing to go to that option later in the series,
Speaker 1: like late late in the series, like a Game six
Speaker 1: or Game seven. But Coach bed strikes me as the
Speaker 1: guy who would never in a million years take brook
Speaker 1: Lopez out out of the way at this early. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, something you mentioned, you know, you're talking about,
Speaker 1: you know, Chris Middleton getting to his spots and Drew
Speaker 1: Holiday getting to his spots. To be honest, like it
Speaker 1: kind of feels to me like the Phoenix defenders are
Speaker 1: sitting on Middleton's jump shot like they're they're they're kind
Speaker 1: of like favoring with their defensive positioning to lean forward
Speaker 1: into him rather than leaning backwards being prepared for the drive.
Speaker 1: And I, honest to god, don't like part of the
Speaker 1: reason why Middleton and Drew Holiday aren't playing well in
Speaker 1: my opinion is I don't think they're getting super high
Speaker 1: quality shots. I don't think they are. And this is
Speaker 1: something that I mentioned in the in the pot on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: is like I don't know how much of a factor
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday is gonna be in this series when he's
Speaker 1: not a great three point shooter, not a great mid
Speaker 1: range score, and not a great at the basket score,
Speaker 1: who's getting lower quality shots than he has all season,
Speaker 1: Like like he's the guy who's gonna probably get a
Speaker 1: go in Game three? Is Middleton just because he's he's
Speaker 1: he's got the height, and he's got the the the
Speaker 1: quick release and all. And you know, the Sun's defense
Speaker 1: is probably gonna take a step back in Game three,
Speaker 1: just from a motivational standpoint. So I think Middleton is
Speaker 1: the one who will get it going. But I don't know, dude.
Speaker 1: I mean like everyone, you know, Jackson Frank the you know,
Speaker 1: I think he covers the Sixers, but he's been covering.
Speaker 1: He tweeted this out out last last night and he's
Speaker 1: percent correct. He's like, you can talk about coach Bud,
Speaker 1: you can talk about scheming, you can talk about all
Speaker 1: these things, but the real problem here is that the
Speaker 1: second and third best players on the Bucks are underqualified
Speaker 1: for what you're asking them to do. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a different era of NBA basketball when you're looking
Speaker 1: at the top of the league. All of the best
Speaker 1: teams in the league have extremely talented one, twos and
Speaker 1: three's on their roster, and look no further than than Phoenix.
Speaker 1: And the fact that what you're getting out of Devin
Speaker 1: Booker as the second best Phoenix Sun or first best
Speaker 1: or Chris Paul whenever you want to consider the set
Speaker 1: the number two in their lineup is significantly better than
Speaker 1: what you're getting out of the number two. And from
Speaker 1: Milwaukee and then what you're getting down the roster from
Speaker 1: Eton and Michael Bridges and from Campaign, what you're getting
Speaker 1: from those guys is higher talent, higher level shot higher
Speaker 1: level shot making, higher defensive intensity. You're getting more out
Speaker 1: of them. This is a talent issue and as a result,
Speaker 1: you you can have a superhuman Janice game like you
Speaker 1: did last night, and it could not be enough to
Speaker 1: win the game. Yeah, I feel like that kind of
Speaker 1: I don't know that that kind of gets Drew and
Speaker 1: Milton off the hook too easily in my opinion, Like,
Speaker 1: like Janice is having superhuman games like that should be
Speaker 1: your your level of advantage, right. The people who picked
Speaker 1: the Bucks would saying they have the clear best player,
Speaker 1: not just the best player, the clear best player in
Speaker 1: the series. They have the two time at m VP,
Speaker 1: defense player, or whatever accolades you want to put next
Speaker 1: to honest name. He has a full list of them
Speaker 1: you can put there, Like, he should be the best,
Speaker 1: he should be the best player in the series, and
Speaker 1: I think he played like it last night. Chris Paul
Speaker 1: is what thirty five. I mean, he's playing ridiculously well,
Speaker 1: but still honest. I mean, Chris, Milton and Drew are
Speaker 1: asked to be like Dwayne Aid or Kobe. They're just
Speaker 1: asked to be themselves in a little bit more of
Speaker 1: like a consistent way. I think Chris Milton could easily
Speaker 1: be a little bit more efficient. He's just not playing well,
Speaker 1: and I feel like that just gets him off the hook.
Speaker 1: I saw that tweet as well from Jackson. Um. I
Speaker 1: think he also followed it up by saying like the
Speaker 1: Lakers and other people also didn't have enough help or
Speaker 1: something like that, Like and then Bucks fans, I'm I
Speaker 1: agree with them. They're not asking Milton and Drew to
Speaker 1: be these crazy shot creators and I as seking them
Speaker 1: to be Devin Booker. They're asking them to hit open
Speaker 1: shots and asking them to do what their have to be.
Speaker 1: They have to be better themselves, and I think they
Speaker 1: I think that lets them off the hook too easily. Um.
Speaker 1: We we we always talk about Bud and you know
Speaker 1: both of us have our issues with Bud and all that.
Speaker 1: But again, like this is on the players as well.
Speaker 1: I think Milton has to be better. We talked about
Speaker 1: it too. Now every shot is the same. I don't
Speaker 1: know how much mckel bridges back pressure impact Chris Milton.
Speaker 1: I don't know, like what what's going through him, but
Speaker 1: he has to be better. I feel like the no
Speaker 1: help thing is is too easy to just throw out there.
Speaker 1: It's too easy of a calm. This is a good
Speaker 1: Bucks team. I know they're missing to Devencendo, but this
Speaker 1: is a team that's won a bunch of games the
Speaker 1: last three years. These these dudes are playoff experience more
Speaker 1: than the other side. This is Devin Booker's first playoffs campaigns,
Speaker 1: first playoffs. Deondre etan like this. This is no excuse
Speaker 1: to me to to say like they don't have enough
Speaker 1: now because you're here. This is a Sun's team that
Speaker 1: was nowhere expected to be here, Like you should have
Speaker 1: the talents at least not yet destroyed in the series. Uh,
Speaker 1: which is what it's looking like it's going to be. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if your honest plays that well, it needs to be
Speaker 1: a closer game. Do you do you agree with my
Speaker 1: assessment that that Middleton doesn't even attempt to get to
Speaker 1: the basket. Oh yeah, Like I think he really kind
Speaker 1: of him and Drew I think you talked about as well,
Speaker 1: they try to get going with their jump shot. I
Speaker 1: thought Drew was super aggressive early and he took like
Speaker 1: four jumpers right away. Um Middleton as well. Um they
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe they think they're not getting the call,
Speaker 1: but yeah, he just does not get to the rim,
Speaker 1: does not get to the line. That's just the kind
Speaker 1: of player he is. He gets going through his like
Speaker 1: mid range jumper and then kind of works out there.
Speaker 1: So I agree with you that they have to kind
Speaker 1: of attack more. But I mean it's kind of packed
Speaker 1: in the paint too. They're not really guarding p J.
Speaker 1: Tucker Eightan's waiting there with uh with the honest, waiting
Speaker 1: for your honest at the rim. It's just I don't
Speaker 1: know where these like paint space comes from other than
Speaker 1: going with the honest at the five. I guess, um
Speaker 1: to kind of get him going. Maybe they that's what
Speaker 1: they do. Maybe they go honest at the five to
Speaker 1: get Milton going, get him a little bit more space. Um,
Speaker 1: it just feel it's like it just feels like the
Speaker 1: paint is kind of packed. I think the Bucks were
Speaker 1: like up four for fifteen or something from three uh
Speaker 1: for a while in that game last night. Um, they
Speaker 1: couldn't hit their shots either. So I agree with you
Speaker 1: him and true they don't They don't get to the
Speaker 1: rim as much as I think they can. They're they're
Speaker 1: talented enough. These are these aren't All star, multi time
Speaker 1: All Star players. I'm not sure it's Drew it's multi
Speaker 1: All Star, but Chris Milton is an All Star as well.
Speaker 1: I just don't like the the no help thing that's
Speaker 1: happening already, um with the bucks down to oh yeah,
Speaker 1: you know. It's interesting because, uh, this is something that
Speaker 1: Zach Low talked about on his podcast after Game one,
Speaker 1: and basically the idea that when you be honest, is
Speaker 1: a nonshooter. So if you play Janice alongside another player
Speaker 1: in the lineup that you don't necessarily have to guard closely,
Speaker 1: in this case a p J. Tucker, you put yourself
Speaker 1: in the position where the entire spacing is murdered. It's
Speaker 1: something that the Lakers dealt with in their first round
Speaker 1: series as well. And and so I think the best
Speaker 1: option there is to put Janice at the five and
Speaker 1: try to make sure that you're you have enough shooting around.
Speaker 1: Because the other thing, too is you notice p J.
Speaker 1: Tucker he crashes the boards when they're when the team
Speaker 1: isn't guarding him. Well, I think he got maybe a couple.
Speaker 1: I have to look at the box score, but he
Speaker 1: wouldn't getting getting a ton of offensive rebounds, and then
Speaker 1: there was one that he got and then he just
Speaker 1: threw up a crazy hook shot and missed the heck
Speaker 1: out of it. Like PJ is just not really helping
Speaker 1: you right now, so you almost have to opt for
Speaker 1: more shooting. You know. The thing with Middleton, It's fascinating
Speaker 1: to me because, like you know, you you look at tendencies,
Speaker 1: like I remember when I went to when I was
Speaker 1: playing at Arizona Christian University. Yeah, I was a more
Speaker 1: more of an offensive weapon the previous year in June
Speaker 1: your college. When I went to Arizona Christian, I was
Speaker 1: playing with two All American guards, so they kind of
Speaker 1: turned me into like a Trevor Reads a type of
Speaker 1: due to guard the other team's best player, and we
Speaker 1: use synergy, which is, you know, basically every single clip
Speaker 1: of every single game that these guys would play. So
Speaker 1: they would just send me the synergy clips from the
Speaker 1: guy that I had to guard, and I would watch
Speaker 1: his counters and like, what, okay, does he he drives right?
Speaker 1: This percentage of the time he drives left, this percentage
Speaker 1: of the time when he drives right, you know x
Speaker 1: percentage of his possessions and at the rim x percentage
Speaker 1: of those possessions and in a turnaround this way, it
Speaker 1: feels to me that when Chris Middleton makes a dribble
Speaker 1: move to the right and he gets separation, that his
Speaker 1: initial instinct is to immediately turn his back and turn
Speaker 1: it into a post up. Like even when he gets
Speaker 1: separation on a drive, he's using it to get post position,
Speaker 1: not to get all the way to the rim. Whereas
Speaker 1: you watch like Paul George, Paul George does a really
Speaker 1: good job if as soon as he gets that separation
Speaker 1: he almost goes into a gather and does like that
Speaker 1: James Hard thing where he sticks his arms out and
Speaker 1: tries to get all the way to the rim and
Speaker 1: draw foul or finish at the rim. Well, literally, Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton is missing that entire side of his game, and
Speaker 1: as a result, he's in a position where Phoenix is
Speaker 1: sitting up on the jump shot and they're fine with
Speaker 1: him getting to the post and go into these turnaround
Speaker 1: jumpers because of how big Milwaukee's wings are. These he's
Speaker 1: just not getting fantastic looks and it's it's so it's
Speaker 1: it's it's hard for him to get going the way
Speaker 1: he did against Atlanta, you know, when when he could
Speaker 1: get better matchups, and so that that's one of uh,
Speaker 1: you know, that's one of the advantages they have to
Speaker 1: figure out how to gain, is how to get Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton in a situation where he's getting higher quality shots.
Speaker 1: I I don't know how much you can continue to
Speaker 1: run through Drew Holiday. He just seems like he seems
Speaker 1: like he's underqualified for what they're asking him to do
Speaker 1: at this point. Middleton, I think is the one they've
Speaker 1: got to figure out. Yeah, And I think Middleton's bag
Speaker 1: is a little deeper than he decides to go into.
Speaker 1: Like he has that floater that he gets to and
Speaker 1: I feel like that's a high percent of shots for
Speaker 1: him when he comes off the screen, it's a little
Speaker 1: floater in the lane, like he can go to that. Um.
Speaker 1: He's just a more like developed score than should be
Speaker 1: relying on just his jump shot to get going, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, and they need him to be the number
Speaker 1: two score. There's just not enough scoring, um, not enough
Speaker 1: shot creation, and Withdrew Holiday struggling as he is, Drew
Speaker 1: Holliday is gonna play better in my opinion, Like he's
Speaker 1: not gonna play this bad. You know, I think Chris,
Speaker 1: Milton and Drew were like four tonight, um at half
Speaker 1: or something like that. Yeah, he just can't. You just
Speaker 1: can't survive with with that kind of scoring. So but
Speaker 1: I think you're right with Milton. He can get going
Speaker 1: a little bit more. Again, I think like it's just
Speaker 1: too it's just giving them off the hook saying the
Speaker 1: talent with the talent disparage e. Um, he can get
Speaker 1: to the line, he can get floaters. Um, he's pretty
Speaker 1: well sized, not like he's a small dude. Um, So
Speaker 1: he can get his shot off anytime. It just feels
Speaker 1: like sometimes it's rushed. Um, and he loses confidence in it. Um.
Speaker 1: He's a guy that like gets going in games. He
Speaker 1: takes a while. I think you were talking about it.
Speaker 1: He kind of takes a while to get going. Um.
Speaker 1: So we'll see if he gets going in Milwaukee. But uh,
Speaker 1: but they're gonna need a Uh. I don't see the
Speaker 1: bus going down. Oh three though, do you like? I
Speaker 1: think I think Game three, Yeah, they'll definitely won Game
Speaker 1: three and try to try to prolong the series. But
Speaker 1: those guys have to be better. They can't be outplayed
Speaker 1: by like Campaign and all those dudes, like they just
Speaker 1: cant they that they have to be better, And I
Speaker 1: think it's okay to like recognize that as well. Milwaukee
Speaker 1: is a four point favorite in game three. Can you
Speaker 1: believe that? Yeah? That feels like too much to me.
Speaker 1: I expected it to be around to pick them, which
Speaker 1: is wild because to give you to give you an
Speaker 1: idea of Phoenix was a four and a half point
Speaker 1: favorite in game two, So they're basically saying yeah, So
Speaker 1: they're basically saying that that that Milwaukee at home is
Speaker 1: every bit as good as Phoenix is at home in
Speaker 1: this series, which is pretty crazy. Um. One last thing
Speaker 1: on Phoenix before we Um, A'm still there? Yeah you do? Okay? Cool? Uh?
Speaker 1: One last thing on Phoenix before we before we move on.
Speaker 1: I want to pay Chris Paul a compliment because, Uh,
Speaker 1: this kind of reminds me of a lebron last year
Speaker 1: in the sense that you can tell Chris Paul smells blood.
Speaker 1: You know, when you're there's this like scar tissue that
Speaker 1: builds up from losing, uh, and it exists at every level,
Speaker 1: like even even within you know, just average Joe's playing
Speaker 1: at your l a fitness. When you get sick and
Speaker 1: tired of losing, a scar tissue builds up. And that's
Speaker 1: why in your average men's league at your city, the
Speaker 1: older team, as long as they have enough talent, the
Speaker 1: older team is extremely difficult to beat because they do
Speaker 1: all of these little things well. They box out extremely well,
Speaker 1: they help defense so extremely well, they all the extra
Speaker 1: effort plays because they've lost so many basketball games in
Speaker 1: their lifetime that they have that scar tissue. Well, you
Speaker 1: can tell that Chris paul is just made up of
Speaker 1: just tons of scar tissue from every single failure in
Speaker 1: his career. And he smells blood in the water, and
Speaker 1: and he's just just taking control all of these games
Speaker 1: in a way that that is extremely impressive to me.
Speaker 1: And you know, there, I've seen lots of comps. It
Speaker 1: reminds me of Dirk in two thousand eleven a little
Speaker 1: bit um that, like I said, Lebron last year, in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, he's very like he's not the
Speaker 1: best player on the floor Janice is, But I you
Speaker 1: could argue that Chris paul Is is every bit as
Speaker 1: impactful in his ability when the game reaches like, okay,
Speaker 1: eight point game here in the fourth quarter, Janice is
Speaker 1: going crazy, But Chris Paul is just gonna make a play.
Speaker 1: He's gonna make a play here, he's gonna make a
Speaker 1: play there, and he's gonna and he's gonna put it away.
Speaker 1: And and I just you know, everyone has always asked
Speaker 1: every one of us, like who you who you're rooting for?
Speaker 1: You know who you're rooting for, and you know, I
Speaker 1: would say that I was probably rooting a little bit
Speaker 1: from Milwaukee, which is crazy because I'm from Arizona, but
Speaker 1: because I find Chris Paul to be a little unlikable.
Speaker 1: He's kind of a dirty player. He's he's heavy on
Speaker 1: the heavy on the extra stuff, you know how verb begrudgingly,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm he deserves to be a champion and and
Speaker 1: he's playing like it, and he deserves to get finals
Speaker 1: MVP if they win at this point, and I will,
Speaker 1: I will, I will be able to handle the fact
Speaker 1: that he's a champion because I'm gonna feel like he
Speaker 1: deserves it, if that makes sense. No, absolutely, I didn't
Speaker 1: get to watch this game fully live, so I rewatched
Speaker 1: at like two in the morning, and even my notes here.
Speaker 1: I think I wrote like Chris Small, Chris Paul smells blood,
Speaker 1: because absolutely it showed in that fourth quarter. I think
Speaker 1: he was just he knew exactly what was doing. You
Speaker 1: could tell, like it's fun watching a player like him,
Speaker 1: Like he's not holding anything back anymore. So you could
Speaker 1: tell like he's in full like go time. There's no like,
Speaker 1: hey there's another season. The season's not ending, like I
Speaker 1: gotta kind of know. It's like I'm getting to this spot,
Speaker 1: I'm raising up, I'm hitting this mid range pull up.
Speaker 1: He was in full control. I thought every time the
Speaker 1: Bucks made a run, he hit the biggest shot um
Speaker 1: eating got like offensive rebound kicked out. He had like
Speaker 1: a big time three. It's just cool to watch him.
Speaker 1: Like I started really watching hoops in like oh eight,
Speaker 1: and then in OH nine, I wanted to go to
Speaker 1: my first game. First Laker game I went to was
Speaker 1: Hornets Lakers oh nine in Staples. This is the team
Speaker 1: that wins the title that year, that Laker team they
Speaker 1: were won the first top Chris Paul and the Hornets
Speaker 1: come in. Man, watching Chris Paul in person is just
Speaker 1: a totally different experience. You see all the little ship
Speaker 1: he does when it's not super great. It was that
Speaker 1: like David West, Tyson Chandler, like people think of Chris
Speaker 1: Paul is just traditional point guard, but he kind of
Speaker 1: started that like double screen where the big roles and
Speaker 1: one big pops, you know what I mean. And like
Speaker 1: David westtrop forty five, that's night, Chris Paul had thirty
Speaker 1: five and fifteen some crazy number and they beat the Lakers.
Speaker 1: I remember just watching him and he was the most
Speaker 1: annoying player to watch, but he was so good in
Speaker 1: the crowd understood that it was cool to watch him.
Speaker 1: And now it's like twelve years later or whatever, thirteen,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's cool watching him. I always thought like
Speaker 1: he was one of the best point cards ever and
Speaker 1: it's he looks like he's gonna get his due here.
Speaker 1: But yeah, definitely smells bud, not just blood. He smells
Speaker 1: the whole damn shark right there. Like he he knows
Speaker 1: he smells everything in the water right now. So he's
Speaker 1: ready to go, and you could tell he's just he's
Speaker 1: putting everything out there, and uh, I think he's the
Speaker 1: finals MVP. Through these first two games, it looks like
Speaker 1: and uh, I feel like he's gonna win it. So
Speaker 1: it's cool to watch him kind of a kind of
Speaker 1: go after this. Now, Yeah, I agree, And and like
Speaker 1: I said, not not rooting for him necessarily because there
Speaker 1: are some there's Chris Paul is just a lot. He's
Speaker 1: just he's like I like, he drew an offensive foul
Speaker 1: on Jhannice last night in the in that transition play,
Speaker 1: and everyone's like, oh, it was a good call. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a good call, but screw that guy and that
Speaker 1: like that's literally yeah, and like damn near damn you're
Speaker 1: injuring Yournice on that play, and like it's just one
Speaker 1: of those things where like but at the same time,
Speaker 1: like I sympathize with it because you know, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm lucky. I'm I'm six six and I have the
Speaker 1: six ten wingspan, I wait, two thirty pounds, Like guys
Speaker 1: usually bounce off of me when I when I go
Speaker 1: running into him. Chris Paul is a little guy. Like
Speaker 1: for his entire career, he's had to fight and scratch
Speaker 1: and claw for every little advantage that he's had. Every
Speaker 1: you know, from from the day that he was in
Speaker 1: high school, you know, playing against the local prospects that
Speaker 1: are you know, giant wings and bigs and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: He's had to be the guy that's elbowing them in
Speaker 1: the thigh and pulling on their jersey and you know,
Speaker 1: like and screwing with them and stuff, because that's how
Speaker 1: he gained advantages. And so I understand why he's wired
Speaker 1: the way that he's wired. Doesn't mean I have to
Speaker 1: like it, though, Like I have a problem with you
Speaker 1: trying to yank Lebron's shoulder out of its socket or
Speaker 1: or trip who was it Kyle Kuzma that one time,
Speaker 1: Like I have a problem with that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, I get it,
Speaker 1: Like I I sympathize with the plight of the little
Speaker 1: man if that makes sense, No, for sure, And I
Speaker 1: don't think he's like malicious in his intent. It's just
Speaker 1: like he's so in the game and he's like so
Speaker 1: like we need to win, you know, like that. I
Speaker 1: think the biggest personification was like I don't forget what came.
Speaker 1: It was like someone had their shirt tucked in or
Speaker 1: or not tucked in, and like he's like, hey, that
Speaker 1: guy's shirts not tucked in. Ref gave him a tech
Speaker 1: and they won the game. With that, Like, that's so
Speaker 1: Chris Paul like just getting every advantage you can and
Speaker 1: uh like yeah, sometimes sometimes exactly, and it's over the
Speaker 1: lines sometimes, Like it gets annoying. It's not Patrick Beverley
Speaker 1: level to me, Like I feel like that's an even
Speaker 1: that's an even more extension of what what Chris Paul
Speaker 1: tries to do. But uh, yeah, like he just tries
Speaker 1: to get any advantage man, And uh it's annoying, you
Speaker 1: hate it, but when he's on your team, you kind
Speaker 1: of root for it. So it's that's the Chris Paul
Speaker 1: experience and he's one of the best point cards ever.
Speaker 1: So he should get his do with this finals. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and last but not least for Game three, Like
Speaker 1: I think it's I think it's textbook. You got to
Speaker 1: continue that same amount of pressure that you're putting on
Speaker 1: Chris Paul and Devin Booker, but you've gotta be better
Speaker 1: in your backside rotations. You've got to figure out how
Speaker 1: to do a better job off of the double team
Speaker 1: rotating the shooters so that at least the looks that
Speaker 1: Michael Bridges and Jake Crowder are getting are a little
Speaker 1: bit more contested. Uh, just so that they're not making
Speaker 1: eight in the quarter and then and then uh if
Speaker 1: if your honest is going to be at the five,
Speaker 1: you got a gang rebound um. There was a play
Speaker 1: at the end of the game where DeAndre and got
Speaker 1: an offensive rebound where Drew Holiday tried to jump with him.
Speaker 1: He he was he had inside position, tried to jump
Speaker 1: with him eight and just reached over the top and
Speaker 1: kicked it to a shooter for a three. That kind
Speaker 1: of ended up being the dagger on that play. Drew
Speaker 1: Holiday just needs to get in the squat and back
Speaker 1: him out of the paint, like just box him out.
Speaker 1: You're not You're not gonna out jump DeAndre Atan and
Speaker 1: then just pray that one of your teammates comes flying
Speaker 1: in like there's they need to as a team compensate
Speaker 1: for the fact that they lack size as as a
Speaker 1: rebounding team, which is something that they can do. They're
Speaker 1: capable of doing it. They can they can be better
Speaker 1: at the things that with the same strategy that they
Speaker 1: had last night, and they can get a win. I
Speaker 1: genuinely believe they can. I think Game three is the
Speaker 1: is the one that they'll get. And that was like
Speaker 1: the biggest play of the game in my opinion, like
Speaker 1: that that that was the one where Aidan got the rebound.
Speaker 1: I think they cut it to seven that point, and
Speaker 1: then Aidan kicked it out for Chris Paul he at
Speaker 1: the three, and that was like six minutes left and
Speaker 1: they went up ten. But yeah, it's funny like going
Speaker 1: to Game three, I feel like Milwaukee's gonna play well.
Speaker 1: It feels like a game where Milwaukee is gonna go
Speaker 1: up like ten in the first quarter and then it's
Speaker 1: gonna be like tied at halftime. Everyone's like what happened?
Speaker 1: And then they win like a close one. That's what
Speaker 1: it just feels like to me. Um. But yeah, hopefully,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think they can get some momentum going.
Speaker 1: Um that crowd. It's always weird with home crowds. You
Speaker 1: can kind of feel the nervousness as well. Um in
Speaker 1: the in the air Milwaukee is a really uh kind
Speaker 1: of like oh, we're kind of expecting something bad to
Speaker 1: happen kind of arenas we'll we'll see, but that they
Speaker 1: should be rocking and I think they'll win win Game three.
Speaker 1: Game three is the crazy emotional back against the wall
Speaker 1: crowd's going crazy type the game like, there's just so
Speaker 1: many examples in NBA history of the team down oh two,
Speaker 1: coming coming home in Game three and getting one, and
Speaker 1: I believe they will. That spread is weird though, I
Speaker 1: don't like four points. That seems too much to me.
Speaker 1: But we'll see, we'll see. I'll probably end up betting
Speaker 1: it anyway. Um, all right, so we're gonna talk about this,
Speaker 1: uh this podcast. So let me pull up the gentleman's
Speaker 1: name so I don't completely butcher it, but so his
Speaker 1: name is Matt Sullivan. So a little bit of backstory,
Speaker 1: dude from dude from Bleacher Report. Uh. He goes and
Speaker 1: basically covers behind the scenes the Brooklyn Nets for two
Speaker 1: full seasons, basically ever since they signed Kyrie and Kevin Durant. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then he releases this book and it's basically like
Speaker 1: a tell all type of deal um and all sorts
Speaker 1: of negative stuff about Kyrie and negative stuff. There's positive
Speaker 1: stuff in there too, a lot of stuff about Kyrie
Speaker 1: irving being super generous and and being very like doing
Speaker 1: a like giving out out absurd amounts of money to
Speaker 1: people without telling anybody. And this guy is basically the
Speaker 1: first guy to to to put some light on it.
Speaker 1: He said positive stuff about Kevin Durant and his commitment
Speaker 1: to the game of basketball and all. So it wasn't
Speaker 1: all had but there was a lot of let's just
Speaker 1: call it dirty laundry that was being aired out. And
Speaker 1: you know, the first thing that I wanted to talk
Speaker 1: about with it is just like how uncomfortable it makes
Speaker 1: me that that this kind of stuff exists. Like, I
Speaker 1: get it that this is part of journalism, is shining
Speaker 1: a light on stuff that's happening behind the scenes. It's
Speaker 1: also not the first time this has happened. We've seen,
Speaker 1: like I'm reading a book right now called The Jordan Rules,
Speaker 1: which is basically this exact same type of deal that
Speaker 1: happened surrounding the Bulls. It was kind of a hit
Speaker 1: piece of sorts on Michael Jordan and how much of
Speaker 1: a jerk he was to his teammates and how overbearing
Speaker 1: he was and all of those kinds of things. So
Speaker 1: I get that this is part of it, but this
Speaker 1: one is even weirder because the Jordan Rules one was
Speaker 1: this guy was just around the team and he was
Speaker 1: reporting what he heard. This guy, this Matt Sullivan guy,
Speaker 1: interviewed everybody, he conducted thousands of interviews, and he kept saying,
Speaker 1: as as you pointed out when you and I were
Speaker 1: talking before the show, he kept saying like I I
Speaker 1: earned their trust right and told them that I was
Speaker 1: gonna be reporting all this stuff. But it kind of
Speaker 1: felt like he was saying stuff that was probably off
Speaker 1: the record. You know, so exactly how how did you
Speaker 1: feel just about the whole overall premise of the idea
Speaker 1: of a dude getting this close to NBA players and
Speaker 1: then airing out all their dirty laundry. It felt like
Speaker 1: me the reason why NBA players are very like um
Speaker 1: like particular with who they let in because of stuff
Speaker 1: like this. That guess and now I don't know his
Speaker 1: relationship with Katie Kyrie. I don't know. I'm not I
Speaker 1: just listened to that one podcast. I haven't read the
Speaker 1: book at all. It just felt very strange the way
Speaker 1: it was put out, kind of like a like he
Speaker 1: got it's kind of like he was pretending, not pretending,
Speaker 1: but like you know, like hey, let's be friends, kind
Speaker 1: of be open and then just he's like, yeah, you
Speaker 1: can't see the book until it's out. You can't know
Speaker 1: what's in it. Um, So it's kind of weird the
Speaker 1: kind of parameters he created with these with these superstar
Speaker 1: players who don't need his media to release their information.
Speaker 1: Keim Durrant has his own media company, Like he can
Speaker 1: release any kind of story he wants, Like he doesn't
Speaker 1: need some guy to like write this kind of stuff
Speaker 1: about him. Um and again, like it's stuff that like
Speaker 1: I'm not really surprised at. I feel like the main
Speaker 1: kind of thing was the like Kim, Katie and Kyrie,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sorry, Katie, Kyrie and James Harden kind
Speaker 1: of met up in this gym in California and then
Speaker 1: kind of created a power play to kind of play together,
Speaker 1: and Katie and Kyrie made roster's decisions, which again, all
Speaker 1: of that I feel like isn't shocking to me, Like
Speaker 1: those are That's the new NBA we're in. These superstars
Speaker 1: not only picked their team they want to player to
Speaker 1: play for, They picked the team they pick who's around him.
Speaker 1: You don't think Lebron has a little influence and who
Speaker 1: comes on the Lakers. Of course he does, He's Lebron James. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's just how you don't need Dame like has a
Speaker 1: saying who comes to the Blazers of course he does.
Speaker 1: He's Damian Lars, So, like, I don't think too much
Speaker 1: of that shocking. It was just weirdly said. The the
Speaker 1: amount of like, hey, yeah, look at me. I got
Speaker 1: close to them, like I want, I got close to them,
Speaker 1: these other beat reporters, all they talk about his exs
Speaker 1: and os, but I got deep with them, and then
Speaker 1: you released all this information that probably they don't want out.
Speaker 1: It's just like again, it probably puts another like another
Speaker 1: thing in the in their mind about why the Katie,
Speaker 1: I mean, Kyrie has been public about how he feels
Speaker 1: about the media. They already the media, they already do
Speaker 1: all of them exactly, and I feel like this just
Speaker 1: perpetuates that. I just I didn't understand the need for it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure this book will do numbers. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm sure in the summer when we have nothing to
Speaker 1: do and there's no basketball on, it will kind of
Speaker 1: grow on people. But I just didn't under It's just
Speaker 1: the premise of it didn't feel right to me. It
Speaker 1: didn't feel like he was authentic with them or us
Speaker 1: because he kind of played both sides here, and I
Speaker 1: just it made me feel weird. Even if the the
Speaker 1: the information seems all true, Like everything he talked about
Speaker 1: seems factual. Was he the one that got the Steve
Speaker 1: Kirk quote as well? The the uh yeah I was
Speaker 1: him too, Okay, Yeah, yeah, he had it all and
Speaker 1: he corroborated everything with everyone. You're right, like it was
Speaker 1: all it was all true. The thing the thing that
Speaker 1: was weird and I'm sure you picked up on this,
Speaker 1: and I'm not big on like overly being personally critical
Speaker 1: of people, but at the same time, like there there
Speaker 1: was a little bit of an arrogance with that guy.
Speaker 1: And it was interesting to me because, like you know,
Speaker 1: there's there's a huge difference between confidence and arrogance. Like
Speaker 1: anybody who's good in in their specific field is going
Speaker 1: to have a certain amount of confidence. That's that's to
Speaker 1: be expected. But yeah, the the the entire interview was
Speaker 1: dripping with like that arrogance where it was like all
Speaker 1: of these other Beat reporters were only asking about xs
Speaker 1: and ohs, and I was asking them about you know, X,
Speaker 1: y Z or this and that and this and that,
Speaker 1: and it was like it was very like I'm it
Speaker 1: was very like light years esque, like I'm the one
Speaker 1: doing it the right way and everyone else is screwing up,
Speaker 1: and it's like, actually, dude, it kind of feels like
Speaker 1: you're playing dirty and everyone else is playing clean. And
Speaker 1: that's kind of the way that it feels to me.
Speaker 1: And and it was very like he was very quick
Speaker 1: to just air everything out, Like there was a sequence
Speaker 1: where like Dan Lebotard was like, tell us something that
Speaker 1: we might not know about, and then he just came
Speaker 1: right out and was like no hesitation. Was just like
Speaker 1: he smoked so much weed, Like it was very weird
Speaker 1: because for starters, I would imagine the vast majority of
Speaker 1: NBA players smoke weed. I personally have absolutely no problem
Speaker 1: with it, and especially dealing with what they deal with
Speaker 1: out on the road and dealing with the pain in
Speaker 1: their bodies, I have absolutely no problem with it. And
Speaker 1: the and so just being like making it seem like
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is like this dude out there is just
Speaker 1: trouble stoner while everyone else is doing their own thing.
Speaker 1: That's that's that's bullshit, like like like all of these
Speaker 1: guys are doing it. And so it just felt like
Speaker 1: it felt like he was sitting on it and he
Speaker 1: just couldn't wait to say it. And everything that like
Speaker 1: Stugts was giving him crap. At the end of the interview,
Speaker 1: He's like, I don't need to read the book anymore.
Speaker 1: You just told me everything, you know, And he kind
Speaker 1: of did, like that's not how you're supposed to handle
Speaker 1: book interviews. You're supposed to kind of leave some teasers
Speaker 1: in there to to get people to read the book.
Speaker 1: Like it was, it was such a bizarre interview. It
Speaker 1: had me completely captivated the whole time, and all I
Speaker 1: could think was is, like, this guy's kind of a scumbag.
Speaker 1: But what did you what did you think about the
Speaker 1: like you know? Uh, like for instance, they he said
Speaker 1: that Kevin Durant basically had made up his mind he
Speaker 1: was going to play with Kyrie during the finals like
Speaker 1: that he was while he was playing in the finals,
Speaker 1: he had already made up his mind. Like did you
Speaker 1: did that just strike you as part for the course?
Speaker 1: Did you find it unusual? Like where were you at
Speaker 1: with all that? Yeah? I think that's such a weird
Speaker 1: like kind of thing because we actually we don't no,
Speaker 1: But I mean, Katie and Kyrie are best friends, and
Speaker 1: that's something that was actually reported if you remember at
Speaker 1: the All Star Game of I believe that twenty was
Speaker 1: Africa seen was a year before he went around, and yeah,
Speaker 1: like him and Kyrie were kind of really together during
Speaker 1: that weekend, and people have pretty much said, like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's pretty clear those two want to play together. I
Speaker 1: don't think that was a secret um any means, and
Speaker 1: maybe they did, like but would never know. I don't know. Uh,
Speaker 1: he seems like a competitive dude. I don't think he's
Speaker 1: already like oh um or maybe like maybe he had
Speaker 1: in his mind that he was going to leave. I
Speaker 1: think Draymond also talked about this as well, that Katie
Speaker 1: was already kind of had in his mind that he
Speaker 1: was going to leave Golden State. Um. But again, like
Speaker 1: him and Kyrie are best friends, so you never really
Speaker 1: really know. Maybe they wanted to play together. I just
Speaker 1: think that's kind of the new league we're in. This
Speaker 1: is like players can choose, players can talk, make decisions.
Speaker 1: My favorite thing was like the James Hardening because that
Speaker 1: has such ripple effects. Right if them three decided there
Speaker 1: in the California gym they wanted to play together, Katie
Speaker 1: and Kyrie already on the same team. James Harden is
Speaker 1: the top five level player going to a billion dollar
Speaker 1: franchise that thinks he's committed to them. In the beginning
Speaker 1: of the year, he plays two weeks plays like he
Speaker 1: doesn't want to be there. Has this ship trades it,
Speaker 1: it changes the whole landscape of the league. That's moren't
Speaker 1: fascinating to me, um the kind of new lead. These
Speaker 1: guys understand that they're the main attraction here and they're
Speaker 1: the main power than the main guys in power, and
Speaker 1: that's just how things work now. I think that was interesting.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that that we part, it was so weird
Speaker 1: to me because he said it in like a negative connotation.
Speaker 1: That's the part that and Dan Labatori and Stu Gods
Speaker 1: are really good at not being the story they're they're
Speaker 1: really good at They're good I think is one of
Speaker 1: the best of the people in our business. Like so
Speaker 1: that he never asked too much. He asked like the
Speaker 1: exact amount, like to where the other guy can really,
Speaker 1: you know, say what he wants. And I think he
Speaker 1: really put a really open door and I thought he
Speaker 1: was gonna say something interesting like, oh, yeah, you don't
Speaker 1: know Katie actually you know likes to do this on
Speaker 1: his free time, or you know, or something like Katie
Speaker 1: is a super interesting person, one of the most fascinating
Speaker 1: dudes probably in the league, who like understands his superstar
Speaker 1: but also it's like super humble in a way, like
Speaker 1: he'll just tweet back and forth with you, like he's
Speaker 1: an interesting dude. And for that to be the little
Speaker 1: tidbit you give, it's just that, I don't know, it
Speaker 1: felt like a very weird interview to me. Yeah, it was,
Speaker 1: there was there was there were so many little things unpacked,
Speaker 1: Like you know, I remember when the when the big
Speaker 1: crisis what went down last year with Bamer and oh yeah,
Speaker 1: you will notice that I was conspicuously quiet during that time.
Speaker 1: And the main reason why is because I just have
Speaker 1: kind of accepted the fact that that's how this stuff works,
Speaker 1: like and I don't expect any sort of punishment to
Speaker 1: come down for the Clippers, at least nothing significant, because
Speaker 1: I just understand that the owners probably know that there's
Speaker 1: a half dozen of them that operate like this and
Speaker 1: they don't want to have that all come down, and
Speaker 1: like you know, so basically, and again you should listen
Speaker 1: to the podcast, but the uh uh they were talking
Speaker 1: about how basically Brooklyn has been picking up the tab
Speaker 1: on just about anything that those guys want. If they
Speaker 1: need a girl to get a hotel room in a
Speaker 1: specific place, they just pay for it, like they if
Speaker 1: they if they needed a specific piece of equipment there,
Speaker 1: if they needed an upgrade or any sort of anything,
Speaker 1: they just fit the bill and they just took the
Speaker 1: took over the bill. And like they were saying that,
Speaker 1: like the team accountants kept coming up to them and
Speaker 1: being like, what's the deal with all this money, and
Speaker 1: they'd be like, you just gotta figure it out for
Speaker 1: the superstars, you know, and that you know that, you know.
Speaker 1: There's the only part that I really had an issue
Speaker 1: with is like they were saying that Kyrie Irving was
Speaker 1: kicking dudes off the team just because they disagreed with
Speaker 1: him and like their war. And it's like, dude, Kyrie,
Speaker 1: like your worldview is is pretty far in one direction,
Speaker 1: Like there's gonna be some people that disagree with you.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a ridiculous reason to kick someone off
Speaker 1: a team, you know. But outside of that, I'm just
Speaker 1: kind of like, this is the way that the world
Speaker 1: works now. I and if and here's the reality of
Speaker 1: the situation. If if Brooklyn was healthy, they would have
Speaker 1: won the title this year and uh, and they're probably
Speaker 1: going to be the favorite to win it all next year.
Speaker 1: So are you gonna look at the Brooklyn Nets upper
Speaker 1: management and tell them they were wrong to give Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant and Kyrie the keys, because I would argue they're
Speaker 1: doing a pretty good job in terms of putting together
Speaker 1: a basketball team that can win the title, And isn't
Speaker 1: that the goal of all of this at the end
Speaker 1: of the day. I think my my favorite part they
Speaker 1: ToView was the guy was releasing that information right about
Speaker 1: the like, uh oh, yeah, the team puts the bill
Speaker 1: on a bunch of things, like he gets uh, he
Speaker 1: gets people rooms what they need of I think. I
Speaker 1: think Libtar was like, I think that's capture convention, Like
Speaker 1: I don't think that's allowed. I was like, yeah, the guy,
Speaker 1: the guy is so in his own like want to
Speaker 1: release like this like gossip and tidbit, that he doesn't
Speaker 1: even see that as a story. He just wants to
Speaker 1: get this like, hey, I got to hang out with
Speaker 1: Katie and Kyrie, let me release the separation. Meanwhile, so
Speaker 1: like land Lembotard gives them the story of the year,
Speaker 1: He's like, I think that's captain and the guy's like, oh, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: you might be right about that. And I just think
Speaker 1: that was like just a perfect capsulation of like him,
Speaker 1: what he's trying to get out of it, and like
Speaker 1: what it actually like what if he wanted a story,
Speaker 1: that's like a story can go to. But like, I
Speaker 1: just think it's interesting that he didn't want any that
Speaker 1: he just wanted it looked like, to release some information
Speaker 1: about about the Nets. And I don't even think this
Speaker 1: really I feel like this is I think the Nets
Speaker 1: are super fascinating team last year. I think you could
Speaker 1: have really dove into some interesting things if you got
Speaker 1: that kind of access like he says he did. I
Speaker 1: just don't see the point of like sharing stuff that like, hey,
Speaker 1: these rich dudes do things that rich people do, Like
Speaker 1: I like that that kind of stuff doesn't really matter
Speaker 1: to me. Or these athletes smoke like that we're in
Speaker 1: one that's not a story actually took the way drug
Speaker 1: testing they don't give a credit. Yeah, It's just that
Speaker 1: was so weird for him to like he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: you have no idea how much Kevin dur asked smokes
Speaker 1: and downline, which I was like, oh, um, okay, like
Speaker 1: both a little awkward. Yeah, yeah, I asked them too.
Speaker 1: They're like they're like, hey, like, are you worried about
Speaker 1: repercussions from this? Oh? Yeah, like and and that that
Speaker 1: that would be Honestly, that's where I would, you know,
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm a genuine believer in the fact that, like,
Speaker 1: you know, the way you operate, let's just simplify to cliche.
Speaker 1: What goes around comes around, you know, Like I've worked
Speaker 1: in sales my whole career. I did. I worked at
Speaker 1: Verizon for years, and now I saw real estate like
Speaker 1: I operated clean business because I would rather sell less
Speaker 1: and have the good karma of repeat business than to
Speaker 1: chase the quick buck and to get yourself in some trouble.
Speaker 1: And the problem here is like, if you're an NBA
Speaker 1: player and this Matt dude comes around, now, are you
Speaker 1: even are you even talking about anything? Or you like,
Speaker 1: get the heck away from me, buddy, Like I know
Speaker 1: what you are, you know what I mean? Like it
Speaker 1: seems to me like he burnt down a lot of
Speaker 1: bridges with his ability to access players in chase of
Speaker 1: this one book with Bleacher Report. Maybe he'll make so
Speaker 1: much money on it. That he'll never need anything else.
Speaker 1: But it just it just struck me as like a guy,
Speaker 1: a guy playing by a different set of rules, and
Speaker 1: it made me a little uncomfortable. And to be honest, man,
Speaker 1: I felt bad for Katie and Guyrie. I felt like
Speaker 1: I felt like they're doing the same thing Lebron and
Speaker 1: a d are doing. They're doing the same thing Kauai
Speaker 1: and Paul George are doing. They're doing the same thing
Speaker 1: that all these stuff Lucas probably doing the same damn
Speaker 1: thing in Dallas, and and you demonize them and made
Speaker 1: them seem like they were playing above the above the rules,
Speaker 1: which I like, I had a problem with it. It's
Speaker 1: all I'm trying to say no for sure. And my
Speaker 1: issue kind of was like this guy doesn't seem like
Speaker 1: he's really interested at all in the Like you don't
Speaker 1: have to be fully interested in the basketball, but like
Speaker 1: it felt like this wasn't in like even a Katie
Speaker 1: Kyrie story. It was kind of just two superstars and
Speaker 1: they wanted to kind of he wanted to expose something
Speaker 1: that I don't think there was anything to really expose.
Speaker 1: It's like this was all kind of public knowledge. We
Speaker 1: know that superstars get a little more leeway here. We
Speaker 1: know they get some perks here. It's just how the
Speaker 1: world works. That's just how it works nowadays. And I
Speaker 1: think we know that. And again, like you get this
Speaker 1: kind of access like you He's like, oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: have their number. He was like, I have their phone numbers.
Speaker 1: I text them. I don't just go to the Zoom meetings.
Speaker 1: I actually text them back and forth. There's a really
Speaker 1: weird thing to show all there, you know, And again
Speaker 1: probably perpetuates their belief and like, oh yeah, this is
Speaker 1: how most media and members act when you give them
Speaker 1: kind of this kind access. And why Kyrie gives these
Speaker 1: one word answers sometimes why Katie's like, you know, stop
Speaker 1: asking me that, or you know, just like stuff that
Speaker 1: they do when they're annoyed with media, And again it
Speaker 1: just further separates this gap between the media and the
Speaker 1: athlete when both of them should be working together. They
Speaker 1: have the same goal. They want to grow this league,
Speaker 1: and they both actually need each other in a little
Speaker 1: bit in some way, and and that gap keeps to
Speaker 1: separate because of stuff like this that comes down again,
Speaker 1: I haven't read the book, so I don't want to
Speaker 1: give like a full kind of stamp on it. Just
Speaker 1: hearing that podcast was very kind of uncomfortable. He offered
Speaker 1: enough information that you are you and I are not
Speaker 1: jumping to conclusions here now. He he went on that
Speaker 1: podcast and thoroughly revealed who he was. I genuinely, I
Speaker 1: genuinely believe that, And like, you know, what's you know
Speaker 1: what's hilarious is there's a reason why it's not that
Speaker 1: big of a story. It's because everything he revealed in
Speaker 1: reality wasn't all that shocking. Okay, so NBA player smoke
Speaker 1: sweet who cares? NBAS stars making decisions on behalf of
Speaker 1: the franchise? Who cares? NBA stars? Planning where they're going
Speaker 1: to go away in advance, and then pretending like they
Speaker 1: don't know who cares? NBA teams providing secret financial benefits
Speaker 1: behind the scene, Who Cares? Like all of that was
Speaker 1: very much to be expected. So it was kind of
Speaker 1: like a look at all the stuff I found out,
Speaker 1: and it was kind of like a, well, we kind
Speaker 1: of already knew that, but you know, grats and and
Speaker 1: I hope, I hope NBA players will will talk to
Speaker 1: you again, because they might not, you know what I mean? No, Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, I forgot who it was, but he was
Speaker 1: on the low Post um and he got to sit
Speaker 1: down with Katie for a while um and do like
Speaker 1: an interview with him, And I forgot who it was
Speaker 1: who we talked to. It was a writer of the
Speaker 1: book who wrote like the book on the Oklumba City
Speaker 1: thunder and all that, and he got to really sit
Speaker 1: down with Katie. He was on the low Post not
Speaker 1: too long ago. And uh, and like, I thought that
Speaker 1: story was interesting. It was about how Katie kind of
Speaker 1: sees I think we actually might have talked about it
Speaker 1: on the pod, but it was like Katie, how Katie
Speaker 1: kind of sees all of us as like the same
Speaker 1: And like the guy was asking Katie about like, hey,
Speaker 1: what do you think about people saying you team up
Speaker 1: with other stars? He's like, we're on the same league.
Speaker 1: We're all trying to grow this we're all trying to
Speaker 1: grow the same league and kind of give like a
Speaker 1: picture of what Katie is on the outside. This just
Speaker 1: didn't tell me anything, and at least this podcast, it's
Speaker 1: just this felt like just trying to tell all trying
Speaker 1: to peek behind the scenes of stuff we knew was
Speaker 1: going on anyway, it was trying to make a picture
Speaker 1: of it, and I just I'm not sure what this did.
Speaker 1: I don't know what this book is going to do
Speaker 1: as well. Maybe again, maybe we're all bored. We kind
Speaker 1: of dive into it, but it it didn't really didn't
Speaker 1: really tell me anything. Yeah, if we run out offseason content,
Speaker 1: maybe well maybe we'll read this book on a on
Speaker 1: a final note before we get you out of here,
Speaker 1: Like I'm so just as an homage to to Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant because I actually think he's the best player in
Speaker 1: the world right now in terms of just the guy
Speaker 1: who deserves to be recognized as such. Um you know.
Speaker 1: There there there was an interesting thing in the interview
Speaker 1: where basically the guy strongly hinted at the fact that
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant's dad thought that Katie was to be whole
Speaker 1: olden to Kyrie, and that in that Kevin Durant's family
Speaker 1: wanted him to go to the Knicks, but that Katie
Speaker 1: he wanted to go with Kyrie, which, for the record,
Speaker 1: in terms of basketball success, he made the right decision.
Speaker 1: Um yeah, he would have been a bigger, you know,
Speaker 1: fan base behind him if he went to the Knicks.
Speaker 1: But the Nets are probably the most talented team in
Speaker 1: the league by a significant margin. So you know, he
Speaker 1: made the right decision. But like there was some stuff
Speaker 1: there about whether or not he was beholden to Kyrie.
Speaker 1: But the truth of the matter is is like since oh,
Speaker 1: and like that whole thing was Steve Kerr in in
Speaker 1: the in the in the dinner. You know, he kept saying, like,
Speaker 1: you know, Kevin Durants the same guy he was in
Speaker 1: Golden State. Kevin Duran's the same guy in Golden State.
Speaker 1: I think he's wrong. Like Kevin Durant has leaned into
Speaker 1: his real self outside of Golden State and I and
Speaker 1: and that to me is a is a compliment to
Speaker 1: him because in Golden State he was kind of trying
Speaker 1: to be something he's not. Now he's being Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1: Like he does like to talk on social media, he
Speaker 1: does like to to be just an average guy who's
Speaker 1: who can hop into a space Twitter spaces with a
Speaker 1: bunch of average Joe's and just act like one of
Speaker 1: the guys talking hoops and not and not trying to
Speaker 1: have a superiority complex. He is a guy that that
Speaker 1: is fun to chill with and and and is way more.
Speaker 1: I would say he's more down to earth than like
Speaker 1: a Lebron type of guy. And and I think that
Speaker 1: that's what makes him so likable. And I think that
Speaker 1: in a weird way, him leaving Golden State and just
Speaker 1: kind of leaning into who he is as a person
Speaker 1: has made him, uh gained him support from a lot
Speaker 1: of people, Like I have a ton more respect for
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant now than I used to, and because I
Speaker 1: know he's not trying to be something he's not, and
Speaker 1: and honestly, like I think he represents kind of like
Speaker 1: a new trail for a superstar, as like a guy
Speaker 1: who's doing things a different way and I and I
Speaker 1: respect the hell of it out of it, honestly. And
Speaker 1: in addition to the fact that I think he might
Speaker 1: be the best basketball player in the world right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think, like it's kind of funny, like you
Speaker 1: kind of see now why people I guess from mad
Speaker 1: that when he went to Golden State, because this is
Speaker 1: how damn good Katie is. Like he literally is this good.
Speaker 1: He can carry a team and all that, and just
Speaker 1: even from off off the basketball, it's just cool to
Speaker 1: like hear him talk and interviews. He could tell like
Speaker 1: he's really at peace with himself, Like he's at peace
Speaker 1: with who he is, like his decisions, and he'll like
Speaker 1: go as someone he's like, hey, your rings are fake.
Speaker 1: He's like, dude, what you're talking about, Like, I'm just
Speaker 1: sitting here chilling playing two K like going, Joe, go
Speaker 1: enjoy your life, and so like, it's just really cool
Speaker 1: to see him reply to people like that, and uh,
Speaker 1: a guy that he feels accessible more than like other
Speaker 1: star players, right, And I think that's what's cool about it.
Speaker 1: It feels like you can talk to Katie and he'll
Speaker 1: reply back, and that's a really awesome trait for someone
Speaker 1: who's probably not as accessible as he is, but like
Speaker 1: he makes you feel like he is just the way
Speaker 1: he talks, and it's cool and just he's an amazing player.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean he's probably the best right now,
Speaker 1: Lebron might. I mean, those are all conversation. I always
Speaker 1: differentiate between what you who you call the best and who, yeah,
Speaker 1: the best, Like Kevin Durant looked better than everybody at
Speaker 1: the end of the season, so I think he does
Speaker 1: to be called that. That's kind of what I'm saying. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And it was cool to watch him just blow up
Speaker 1: against the nets. Just I can get like forty eight
Speaker 1: in that Game seven, just watching him play again. Um,
Speaker 1: after we lost like two years of Katie or like
Speaker 1: a year two one and a half year something in
Speaker 1: Katie playing basketball, So it was joy to watch him
Speaker 1: this year. And yeah, that that story didn't tell me nothing.
Speaker 1: And I don't think they're texting that but that guy
Speaker 1: back anymore. So fel like he burned that bridge, he
Speaker 1: burned that better savior message history with those stars, because
Speaker 1: it's gonna be the only text messages you read from
Speaker 1: them anymore. Buddy. Um, all right, man, Well let's see
Speaker 1: Game three is on Sunday, so we'll be going again
Speaker 1: on Monday morning if you're up for it. Yeah, it's not,
Speaker 1: isn't it not tomorrow? I think it's Sunday. So this
Speaker 1: series is weird from every every game until Game seven
Speaker 1: now has a two day off break Sunday, and then
Speaker 1: they don't they don't play till Wednesday, and then they
Speaker 1: don't play until Saturday. Oh that is that's really strange. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm done. Let's do it alright, brother, have a good day.
Speaker 1: I'll have the recording of this up shortly and I
Speaker 1: will see you on Monday. This sounds good. Thanks everyone,
Speaker 1: M