Speaker 1: Welcome to the best of the Week for What's Right
Speaker 1: with Nick Right the best takes and moments from this
Speaker 1: week on the show. Enjoy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, after two games away from the NBA Finals,
Speaker 2: the New York Knicks have fired TIBs. We talked on Tuesday.
Speaker 2: You seem to think that his job was pretty secure.
Speaker 3: Myself as well. I couldn't see them fire and TIBs.
Speaker 3: But here we.
Speaker 2: Are, they fired him. Where did they go from here?
Speaker 2: What's the assessment?
Speaker 4: Okay, so.
Speaker 1: I react, this happened ten minutes before the TV show started, right,
Speaker 1: And I actually said on the air, sometimes the reacting
Speaker 1: to breaking news are my favorite shows when I look
Speaker 1: back on them, and sometimes they're the most annoying shows
Speaker 1: because I'm like, gosh, darn it, I just didn't have
Speaker 1: that piece of information, you know what I mean, And
Speaker 1: so everything that we said ends up becoming irrelevant a
Speaker 1: few hours later. I think the TIBs show might end
Speaker 1: up falling into the former category my favorite shows, and
Speaker 1: here's why. So my snap reaction to the TIBs firing
Speaker 1: was there's really only three ways to view it, Like
Speaker 1: there's only three I guess rationales to the firing rationale
Speaker 1: one was.
Speaker 4: They So let me back up.
Speaker 1: The reason I'm framing it like this is because everyone
Speaker 1: is framing it the way you did, Demonse, which is
Speaker 1: it was the best season in twenty five years. You
Speaker 1: made your first conference finals in twenty five years, you
Speaker 1: were two games away from the NBA Finals, you were
Speaker 1: favored to go to the finals, and you fired your coach.
Speaker 1: So logically speaking, that would mean one of two things
Speaker 1: is true. Either A, at the end of the regular
Speaker 1: season they had determined were move moving on from Tom Thibodeau.
Speaker 1: Anything short of a championship or making the finals, we're
Speaker 1: firing that. That's where they were, kind of like the
Speaker 1: Nuggets were with Michael Malone. But the Nuggets just did
Speaker 1: it beforehand and they weren't going to let this playoff
Speaker 1: run dissuade them.
Speaker 4: That's kind of option A. Option be.
Speaker 1: If that's not the case, if at the end of
Speaker 1: the regular season his job was safe, then that would
Speaker 1: mean option B, which is somehow this playoff run hurt
Speaker 1: TIBs in the front office er ownership's eyes, right, if
Speaker 1: he would save at the end of the regular season
Speaker 1: that they looked at it and they were like, you
Speaker 1: know what, Demons was right that victory over the Celtics
Speaker 1: was a fluke.
Speaker 4: Shouldn't have happened down fifteen in every game.
Speaker 1: We're actually not that good, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like we were trailing Detroit a Bune, we got lucky
Speaker 1: against Boston and so like those are, in theory, the
Speaker 1: only two viable paths. And this is why I'm kind
Speaker 1: I feel like Tuesday's TV show is going to age. Well,
Speaker 1: I said that, and then I said, there is, however,
Speaker 1: a third path, a third rationale I should say, which
Speaker 1: is they are firing Tom Thibodeau because there is a
Speaker 1: player they are trying to acquire that they think they
Speaker 1: will be more likely to acquire if they fire Tom Thibodeaux.
Speaker 1: And the what I was implying without really saying, is
Speaker 1: was it possible that someone from Giannis's camp said, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, if person X was your coach, maybe not
Speaker 1: only you know, would it pushed Gyan is closer to
Speaker 1: asking for a trade, but maybe he would ask for
Speaker 1: trade to the Knick specifically. So I just kind of
Speaker 1: threw that out there as a possibility. I don't think
Speaker 1: you would have to fire a Tibbs in order to
Speaker 1: give yourself a better chance to get Kevin Durant. Yannis
Speaker 1: is the other big name out there. So I just
Speaker 1: threw that out there on Tuesday. And then, Demons, did
Speaker 1: you see the kind of weird report about one of
Speaker 1: the coaches the Knicks might want to go after?
Speaker 4: Because I did.
Speaker 1: It was a coach who currently has a job, and
Speaker 1: it was Jason Kidd. And if people remember, Jason Kidd
Speaker 1: coached Yannis in Milwaukee, and when Jason Kidd was fired Yannis,
Speaker 1: the reporting was he called Jason Kidd and said, is
Speaker 1: can I fix it? Should I call ownership and say,
Speaker 1: unfire you? I'm paraphrasing again, I'm not, I am. I'm
Speaker 1: literally I could not be further away from reporting anything here.
Speaker 1: I have been gambling NonStop for the last thirty six hours.
Speaker 1: I've not been working the phones. I've been playing poker.
Speaker 1: I'm simply saying the firing TIBs. It was odd enough
Speaker 1: that a little alarm bells went off. And then when
Speaker 1: I cause the reporting, demanse was there were two coaches
Speaker 1: who currently have jobs the Knicks were interested in.
Speaker 4: It was Jason Kidd and emy Udoka.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, okay, well, Emay Udoka is not going
Speaker 1: to be available like and so it felt to me
Speaker 1: and again maybe maybe I'm wrong, like Udoka was included
Speaker 1: in that, like, hey, yeah, there's a lot of.
Speaker 4: You know, established coaches that you know we might like.
Speaker 3: It's really that one name.
Speaker 4: It was really about exactly.
Speaker 1: And then this morning on the walk over from Aria
Speaker 1: where I'm staying to Horseshoe where the World Series of
Speaker 1: Poker is, I was listening to Brian windhorse Show.
Speaker 4: The Hoop Collective.
Speaker 1: And anybody, by the way, who tweeting me or asking
Speaker 1: me or whatever about Lebron once again going at Wendy,
Speaker 1: I would please. What I would like to say about
Speaker 1: that is it makes me very sad and I wish
Speaker 1: you wouldn't do it, and I you know, I appreciate
Speaker 1: you respecting my privacy at this time, I do not
Speaker 1: like it. But bright I was listening to Brian Windhorst
Speaker 1: on his great podcast with Tim bond Temps and Tim McMahon,
Speaker 1: Tim McMahon who covers all the Texas teams free ESPN,
Speaker 1: and the Jason Kidd thing came up and Tim McMahon
Speaker 1: did not who just wrote a book on Luca who's
Speaker 1: very close to the MAVs When the Jason Kidd thing
Speaker 1: came up, Tim McMahon did not say, Oh, no chance,
Speaker 1: there's no way the MAVs are letting him leave. There's
Speaker 1: no that didn't happen.
Speaker 3: So Jason Kidd might want to leave Dallas.
Speaker 4: I don't think that's a situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, listen, I know they have Cooper flag coming, but
Speaker 1: it's still kind of a toxic situation.
Speaker 4: And here's the other thing.
Speaker 1: Even if like it wasn't a toxic situation, so much
Speaker 1: easier to win in the East right now, right now,
Speaker 1: I'm going to add one other piece of this because
Speaker 1: obviously Jim Dolan was involved to some level. I don't
Speaker 1: know how much of a level, but to some level. Okay,
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna I'm gonna build a long bridge to
Speaker 1: get to this point. Somebody I didn't interview a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, and that silly like face of the
Speaker 1: network thing came up again when the guy asked me
Speaker 1: about FS one and me and I answered what I've
Speaker 1: always answered, which is, for the last almost decade, Colin
Speaker 1: Cowhard has been an hat for every single day the
Speaker 1: face of FS one, and he will be until he
Speaker 1: stops broadcasting for US and people think like, that's just
Speaker 1: you know me, you know, kind of paying tribute to
Speaker 1: a guy who's my professional idol and friend, and you
Speaker 1: know all that, and some of that's true whatever, but
Speaker 1: it's also it's not like an emeritus title. He's also
Speaker 1: as like the kids on Twitter would say, still throwing
Speaker 1: ninety eight on the black whenever he wants. Because Coward
Speaker 1: had the best Jim Dolan take ever and he just
Speaker 1: said it as an aside a few years ago, and
Speaker 1: it's so perfect that I'm here in Vegas.
Speaker 4: When we're talking about this, which.
Speaker 1: Is Coward said, do you know why the Knicks all
Speaker 1: of a sudden got good, good management, good coaching, They
Speaker 1: were a functional adult franchise And he said it was
Speaker 1: because Jim Dolan was building the Sphere in Las Vegas
Speaker 1: and and was distracted.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, oh, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1: Like Jim Dolan's favorite toy forever, ever since he inherited
Speaker 1: cable vision and MSG from his dad, has been the Knicks.
Speaker 1: But then his company was building the Sphere in Vegas
Speaker 1: and that was his new toy, and so he had
Speaker 1: to leave the Knicks alone. And like, all right, Leon
Speaker 1: rose in world Wide West. You guys handle it like
Speaker 1: you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: It's the greatest take it, and it's why Colin's the
Speaker 5: greatest to ever do it, because nobody, nobody else's brain
Speaker 5: works that way. But the moment he said it, I'm like, God,
Speaker 5: damn it, you're off percent right.
Speaker 1: It makes perfect sense. It's exactly what happened. It's exactly
Speaker 1: what happened. But here's here's my contribution to that take.
Speaker 1: Guess what, Demanse. The sphere is built and it's up
Speaker 1: and running and it's self sustaining, and the Knicks just
Speaker 1: had this magical playoff run and so guess what this
Speaker 1: is like a toy story, Buzz Aldrin Woody situation, that
Speaker 1: toy that you threw in the back of the closet
Speaker 1: because the other one was taking up your attention.
Speaker 3: It's like a way, what did I say? What did
Speaker 3: I say? Something like that?
Speaker 1: Oh? Bus, so he's the third man to walk on
Speaker 1: the moon or second man to walk on the moon?
Speaker 1: Im sorry, Buzz Buzz Lightyear and Woody No. But then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, the Knick, the Knicks, the spheares
Speaker 1: up and running. The Knicks are fun. Now, Shalo mas
Speaker 1: there they're making runs. Jim Dolan's like, I'm back, baby,
Speaker 1: Let's make some Let's make No, I'm not saying they're
Speaker 1: gonna suck. What I'm saying is all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: they're making drastic moves again.
Speaker 4: Right, He's like, what if we fire the coach? What
Speaker 4: if we try to poach Jason Kidd? What if we
Speaker 4: do this?
Speaker 1: So it's just I and with all that said, I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily think this is the wrong move. Here's though,
Speaker 1: I do have the I want to bounce this off
Speaker 1: you pal okay, because people were disappointed with the Knicks, Like,
Speaker 1: I'll give the fair criticisms of Tibbs in a second,
Speaker 1: but here's one of the things, like that the Knicks
Speaker 1: were bad defensively in these playoffs, large portions of it.
Speaker 1: Here is what I would be worried about and the
Speaker 1: risk they would run they are running. Is it because
Speaker 1: Tibbs calling card his whole career has been great defense?
Speaker 3: Right? Right?
Speaker 4: Is it possible.
Speaker 1: That the defense the Knicks had this year, while maybe
Speaker 1: disappointing to some, was actually the best defense you can
Speaker 1: realistically have. If Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns are
Speaker 1: your two best players.
Speaker 4: You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like, were they actually, because of Tibbs better defensively than
Speaker 1: they should have been? But because of those two guys
Speaker 1: defensive limitations, was it still not good enough?
Speaker 4: Pardon me?
Speaker 1: Like that's that would be the that would be the
Speaker 1: concern that I think is potentially a real concern, right right?
Speaker 2: That makes sense. He was just working with what he had.
Speaker 2: I mean, I you see, I have no choice but
Speaker 2: to play Cat and Brunson. What are you gonna do?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 1: So's now, here's what I think is a fair criticism
Speaker 1: of Tibbs and also a reminder for everybody. And this
Speaker 1: applies mostly to basketball coaches, but you can find a
Speaker 1: way to make it apply to any walk of life.
Speaker 1: It's always risky to make it clear to your boss
Speaker 1: that you don't think your boss has done a great job.
Speaker 1: And here's what I mean Tibbs's stance of and he
Speaker 1: bent on it a bit at the very end in.
Speaker 4: The playoffs, but was probably too late.
Speaker 1: Stance of I have to play these five guys forty
Speaker 1: plus minutes because I don't have enough other good players
Speaker 1: is always risky when the person who picked the players
Speaker 1: can fire you like it wasn't intentional, but whenever a.
Speaker 4: Coach this this happened.
Speaker 1: This is why Calvin Booth was mad at Michael Malone
Speaker 1: and then the owner there was like, you're both fired,
Speaker 1: but it was Michael Malone was like, no, Russ has
Speaker 1: to play forty plus minutes because the young players stink,
Speaker 1: and the Calvin Booth was like, I picked those young players.
Speaker 1: I think they're quite good. And so if you're like,
Speaker 1: if you're Leon Rose, and Tibbs is like, sorry, McHale
Speaker 1: Bridges has to play forty five minutes a game because
Speaker 1: I can't play Landry Shammitt or Delon right. Leon Rose
Speaker 1: is like, I don't know. I thought those guys were
Speaker 1: good enough to bring in here. That's always a bit
Speaker 1: of a bit of a risk. Now, I also think
Speaker 1: they did not get enough out of Michale Bridges this year,
Speaker 1: and you can put some of that on Tibbs. And
Speaker 1: I also do think this there is and we talked
Speaker 1: about this. We don't have to spend too much more
Speaker 1: time on it. There is a real benefit or real
Speaker 1: risk to not experimenting with lineups in the regular season
Speaker 1: is you don't get the real time reps and be like, oh, shit.
Speaker 1: Delon Wright plus Duce McBride, cat Og and McHale bridges
Speaker 1: that lineup can cook, like the different lineup combinations or whatever.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City now they won sixty eight games, but they
Speaker 1: are the standard. Oklahoma City played every lineup combination imaginable
Speaker 1: through the regular season and now they go into the
Speaker 1: playoffs with real date on all of it. So I
Speaker 1: know we have TIBs follow ups, but so let's get
Speaker 1: to them. But there's my big picture TIBs take. And
Speaker 1: I apologize to Adam Silver, who just did a great
Speaker 1: interview on breakfast Ball and Thunder and Pacers fans because
Speaker 1: they're like day one of the finals and you're talking
Speaker 1: about a fired coach. In my defense that we did
Speaker 1: a lot of finals preview stuff on Tuesday because the final,
Speaker 1: like that is a weird thing about the NBA playoffs.
Speaker 1: It's just every night eyes bleeding from watching so much basketball,
Speaker 1: and then there's like a week where we're just chilling
Speaker 1: and and so.
Speaker 4: But uh, but all right, what are the tips follow
Speaker 4: ups going?
Speaker 3: Honest, look, he always shaking up the NBA man.
Speaker 4: Well, again, this is just a this is just a
Speaker 4: theory by me.
Speaker 5: I'm not reporting it's.
Speaker 4: It's not even close to one hundred. It's just an idea.
Speaker 4: It's just an idea. But go ahead.
Speaker 2: So we'll do a game of likely maybe what if
Speaker 2: to see who will be the next head coach at
Speaker 2: New York. So it's like, it's likely that Blank will
Speaker 2: get the job, but maybe Blank gets the job, and
Speaker 2: what if this person gets the job?
Speaker 3: So likely?
Speaker 1: Okay, so the I mean Brew kept, Brew kept saying,
Speaker 1: I want to make sure I get this right.
Speaker 4: Uh what who?
Speaker 1: Gosh darn it, it wasn't I'm gonna Johnny Bryant. Bru
Speaker 1: kept saying Johnny Bryant, and Brew Brew is one of them. Now,
Speaker 1: Bruce said he didn't make any calls, he didn't know
Speaker 1: anything on it.
Speaker 4: It was just his speculation.
Speaker 1: But then right after the show, Johnny Bryant was the
Speaker 1: Vegas favorite for it.
Speaker 4: Now it's also true.
Speaker 1: This is one of the rare times where like first
Speaker 1: things first might have kind of helped set the line
Speaker 1: in Vegas because this thing broke it two fifty. Brew
Speaker 1: is on the air at three oh two talking Johnny Bryant,
Speaker 1: and then the sports books like what do they you know?
Speaker 1: I think they're probably you know what are people saying
Speaker 1: whatever it was, and so I don't know if that
Speaker 1: was kind of the tail wagging the dog. The odd
Speaker 1: thing to me about Johnny Bryant, And I said this
Speaker 1: to Brew was right now, he's the Cavs associate head coach.
Speaker 1: He was an assistant under Tibbs. So do they fired
Speaker 1: TIBs bring in Johnny? I don't know, but Brew so
Speaker 1: I think likely it's Johnny Briant. And the other piece
Speaker 1: of this is the Knicks fired TIBs the day Johnny
Speaker 1: Briant was named a finalist for the Son's job.
Speaker 4: He then didn't get the Sun's job.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's Jason Kidd. And then the what if is
Speaker 1: this demanse because this is the other piece of it.
Speaker 1: I haven't talked about what if it's Rick Brunson because
Speaker 1: if it's not, that's an awkward piece of this, which
Speaker 1: is when they're interviewing head coaches, so they say, by
Speaker 1: the way, one other thing, you can pick your whole
Speaker 1: staff except for one spot Rick Brunson's got Like are
Speaker 1: they firing Rick Brunson? That would seem tricky, like you
Speaker 1: know what, like honestly like what he doesn't mean? No,
Speaker 1: not I don't think. I don't think so at all.
Speaker 1: My point is, no, no, no, I don't think he
Speaker 1: is at all. My point is that usually a new
Speaker 1: coach brings in their own staff, but when one of
Speaker 1: the coaches on your staff is the dad of the
Speaker 1: best player on your team, like that's ah, you know,
Speaker 1: that's just kind of a tricky tricky thing. I think
Speaker 1: the Jason Kid thing though, has I think there's a
Speaker 1: little fire to that smoke. DraftKings wants to remind you
Speaker 1: of the NBA Finals are here and this is your
Speaker 1: last chance about on the NBA until next season. DraftKings
Speaker 1: Sports Book, individual sports butting partner of the NBA. It's
Speaker 1: pulling out all the stops to make this a finals.
Speaker 1: To remember, one team will be crowned champ and the
Speaker 1: other will be lost to history. Again, I think that's
Speaker 1: a little harsh of a line, but the draft listen,
Speaker 1: it is what it is.
Speaker 4: Who do you have winning it all? Put your hoops
Speaker 4: expertise to the test. All season long.
Speaker 1: DraftKings has been the go to spot for NBA player
Speaker 1: props and that doesn't stop.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: Who's gonna carry their team to the chip? Try placing
Speaker 1: a bet on your personal MVP to drop thirty forty,
Speaker 1: maybe over fifty.
Speaker 4: We talked about it.
Speaker 1: Nobody's dropped fifty in a finals game since the game
Speaker 1: sent six clincher by Jannis Gianis all over Today's show.
Speaker 1: Ready to place your first bet, download the DraftKings Sportsbook app.
Speaker 1: Now lock in your bets, finish the season as a winner.
Speaker 1: Something special for first timers. New DraftKings customers bet five
Speaker 1: dollars to get three hundred dollars in bonus bets if
Speaker 1: your bet wins. Don't miss your last chance to bet
Speaker 1: on the NBA this season. Download the DraftKings Sports Book app.
Speaker 1: Use code right code right WRIGHD that's code right for
Speaker 1: new customers to get three hundred dollars in bonus bets
Speaker 1: if your bet wins. When you bet five bucks only
Speaker 1: on draft games, the Crown is yours.
Speaker 6: Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York
Speaker 6: called eight seven seven eight open wire text hope and
Speaker 6: wy at four six seven three six nine. In Connecticut,
Speaker 6: help is available for a problem gambling called eight eight
Speaker 6: eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit
Speaker 6: CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of boothillk A.
Speaker 6: Cinnamon Resorting Kansas twenty one on over agent Eligibility varies
Speaker 6: by jurisdiction Voyd and Ontario. Bet must win to receive reward,
Speaker 6: minimum minus five hundred odds required. Bonus bets expire one
Speaker 6: hundred and sixty eight hours after issue INCE four. Additional
Speaker 6: terms and responsible gaming resources see DKNG dot co slash audio.
Speaker 2: So the Knicks couldn't even up the series. So now
Speaker 2: they're headed at Cancun? What do you think New York
Speaker 2: should do? What should they make any moves people want
Speaker 2: to come at cat.
Speaker 1: If they just run it back, I think that's totally reasonable.
Speaker 1: Run it back and be like, hey, runs it a man.
Speaker 1: While everyone's been focused on Luca's it might be that
Speaker 1: of the all the players on the twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks, you were the biggest defensive liability, like moving forward, Like, hey,
Speaker 1: I know that in Brunson's awesome. He's awesome. It's a
Speaker 1: great player, legitimate superstar. But Game four for him was
Speaker 1: really rough on that side of the ball, and it
Speaker 1: was the biggest game of their season, So like, can
Speaker 1: you get a little bit better there? Kat? Can you
Speaker 1: watch the film from your game three fourth quarter again
Speaker 1: and again and again, and try to activate that more.
Speaker 1: If you know, McHale's just got to be a little
Speaker 1: better throughout the year. Josh Hart just just be passable
Speaker 1: from three, Mitchell Robinson nothing but free throws all summer
Speaker 1: like those you do those things with the Celtic Sorry,
Speaker 1: kind of off the chessboard. The East is wide open.
Speaker 1: That would be reasonable. I now, as far as transactions, obviously,
Speaker 1: if you can get Yannis, you'd get Yannis. I do
Speaker 1: not think they have the best package to offer, so
Speaker 1: I think that would be tough. Now, maybe if he
Speaker 1: demands only New York, May Milwaukee will accommodate.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the Durant thing, Demanse, because I do
Speaker 1: think if you traded Cat for Durant, if you offered that,
Speaker 1: the Suns would say yes. Now, Durant is six years older,
Speaker 1: and that shortens your window considerably. However, the argument for
Speaker 1: it would be twofold one is it is a back
Speaker 1: door out of what is going to be a really
Speaker 1: tricky Cat contract situation, because Cat's got three years left
Speaker 1: at fifty three, fifty seven sixty one. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you love that is he extension eligible? Let me look, no,
Speaker 1: hold on, sorry, I want to check that, because that's
Speaker 1: the other thing. If it's like, hey, and I also, yeah,
Speaker 1: he is extension eligible. So it's like you owe him
Speaker 1: sixty one and three years, and he might be like,
Speaker 1: and I'd like two more years on the back end
Speaker 1: at sixty three and sixty five. Like that's that might
Speaker 1: be untenable. But the other reason you would do it
Speaker 1: is if you think Mitchell Robinson can play thirty minutes
Speaker 1: a game, and you think Durant would just add another
Speaker 1: layer to your offense, and and here's the critical piece,
Speaker 1: you think next year has massive additional value compared to
Speaker 1: other future years because of the Celtic situation, I might
Speaker 1: do it. You would still you would get better defensively.
Speaker 4: Better.
Speaker 1: I don't even know if you can say he'd be
Speaker 1: better shooting because Cats such a great three point shooter
Speaker 1: but better midrange. Yeah, I mean, like the I don't
Speaker 1: actually think Durant's a better three point shooter than Cat,
Speaker 1: like by the numbers and by the volume, but better
Speaker 1: three level. I I normally would let me check Kat's
Speaker 1: exact birth yea.
Speaker 2: And I was about to say, like rank Katie's defense
Speaker 2: with Cats. I mean, I know Katie isn't known for
Speaker 2: his defense, but the way I see Cat moved around
Speaker 2: sometimes Katie can get up and down.
Speaker 3: The court fasten than that, Katie's a much better Yeah.
Speaker 3: I was about to say, like.
Speaker 1: I said, six years older, it's actually seven years older.
Speaker 1: That's the Karl Anthony Towns turns thirty at the beginning
Speaker 1: of next season. Katie turns thirty seven at the beginning
Speaker 1: of next season. So that typically is not a move
Speaker 1: you want to make. But I guess here's how I
Speaker 1: would look at it if they made that trade Demonse.
Speaker 1: I think for next year, I'd say the Knicks are
Speaker 1: the favorites in the East, and now I think kd
Speaker 1: might end up in Minnesota. I think there's real smoke there,
Speaker 1: but the East is so open, and I do think
Speaker 1: for a playoff run, even though we haven't seen duran
Speaker 1: on a long playoff run in a very long time,
Speaker 1: I think Durant makes you a little bit better. Like,
Speaker 1: do you think that's crazy?
Speaker 2: No, I think that that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2: I think Durant should probably go to the go to
Speaker 2: New York as opposed to the East too. Just to
Speaker 2: get the best postal chance, go the east supposed to
Speaker 2: the west, just to get another chip.
Speaker 3: But I mean still end up having to face those
Speaker 3: guys either way.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I like the move. I think they should
Speaker 2: do it. It's a no brainer to me.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's got to at least be kicked around.
Speaker 1: That's the way. That's the way I look at it.
Speaker 1: All right, Reminder, everyone like, rate, subscribe, review, do all that.
Speaker 1: Let's let's jump down to some listener questions and then
Speaker 1: I can talk a little World Series of poker if
Speaker 1: we have time. Uh, but let's do again. If you're
Speaker 1: watching on YouTube, we greatly appreciate it. If you're listening
Speaker 1: on the pod, oh, we greatly appreciate it. But either way,
Speaker 1: please subscribe to the channel, Please subscribe to the pod.
Speaker 4: All of that.
Speaker 1: It really does help us out quite a bit. All right,
Speaker 1: go ahead to mans.
Speaker 2: Bobby says, the twenty four Celtics against the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five Thunder in a seven game series, who would win?
Speaker 1: I think it's tough. I think that's very close. If
Speaker 1: you are getting seven healthy games out of Porzingis, I
Speaker 1: would go boss.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: If Porzingis is the way he was forget this postseason,
Speaker 1: even last postseason where you know he was injured. Then
Speaker 1: I that to me would tilt it to the thunder.
Speaker 1: Does that seem fair?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Man, that's so unfortunate.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, well yeah, I I to me that that
Speaker 1: that's what I That's where I land on it, all right?
Speaker 2: Next, Ryan, are the Pacers title hopes riding on game
Speaker 2: on a game one win?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Mean you could well. Let me put it like this.
Speaker 4: Again.
Speaker 1: You guys know how thin I think the Pacers are
Speaker 1: drawing in this. They have to win one of the
Speaker 1: first two. You can't go down two oh, even though
Speaker 1: ah the series wouldn't have started a home team had lost. Done.
Speaker 1: You gotta win one of the first two.
Speaker 3: Next.
Speaker 2: Oh, And Michael says, going into the twenty twenty four
Speaker 2: NFL season, I think there was I think there was
Speaker 2: a consistent consensus understanding that the AFC was better than
Speaker 2: the NFC. You think that that still holds? No?
Speaker 1: What I think is the quarterbacks in the AFC are
Speaker 1: way better than the quarterbacks in the NFC. But because
Speaker 1: of that, because the NFC quarterbacks are not as highly
Speaker 1: paid you are, you've been able to develop more well
Speaker 1: rounded teams and you know the team right New last
Speaker 1: year that was you know it gets to call themselves
Speaker 1: the best teams in the NFC. And the Lions were
Speaker 1: excellent too. Now the Lions I'm a little worried about
Speaker 1: and the Frank ragnow retirements not nothing, but no, I
Speaker 1: think it's far closer than it was. Let's keep going.
Speaker 2: Owen says love from Canada. Do you think SGA passes
Speaker 2: Steve Nash is the greatest Canadian player ever with a
Speaker 2: title win?
Speaker 4: Yes? I think he does.
Speaker 1: I think one MVP and one title and I think
Speaker 1: this year from SGA was better than any individual Steve
Speaker 1: Nash year. Yeah, I think he does pass him as
Speaker 1: the best Canadian player ever.
Speaker 2: Next, Luis says, hey, Nick, since the NBA season is ending,
Speaker 2: is there any plan to cover summer sports WNBA, cycling,
Speaker 2: Twit de France, F one, tennis until September and the
Speaker 2: NFL comes back.
Speaker 1: So we'll definitely cover some WNBA toile definitely cover tennis,
Speaker 1: you know that. And I have a confession. You know
Speaker 1: what I did this Sunday? I watched IndyCar in the
Speaker 1: Detroit Grand Prix because ever since I went to the
Speaker 1: Indy five hundred. I kind of gotten into open wheel
Speaker 1: racing a bit, and so I am now considering going
Speaker 1: back and watching that F one series on Netflix that
Speaker 1: I was so skeptical of and us as ringing back
Speaker 1: the F one minute and doing all that. So maybe
Speaker 1: I'll get into F one because I thought the op
Speaker 1: I thought the IndyCar stuff was really really cool. But
Speaker 1: we'll also have NBA free agency, the NBA Draft. We'll
Speaker 1: have a bunch of cool stuff, all right, Last.
Speaker 2: One producers, but really gave thoughts on the new mission Impossible.
Speaker 1: I have a shameful confession. I haven't seen it yet. Now.
Speaker 1: Part of that is I've been incredibly busy, and part
Speaker 1: of that is I haven't been ready to say goodbye
Speaker 1: to the greatest talking franchise ever. And so no spoilers please.
Speaker 3: Signed an Impossibles.
Speaker 1: It's such a bad job by your, bad job by you.
Speaker 3: Okay, No, it's the greatest movie series ever.
Speaker 1: It's just so good.
Speaker 2: For Oklahoma City. Who do you think has the most
Speaker 2: to gain the most to lose in this series?
Speaker 1: Most of the games unequivocally, without a doubt, Shay, I
Speaker 1: mean Shae, Shae can argue I won't necessarily agree with it,
Speaker 1: but Shae and his fans certainly could argue he holds
Speaker 1: the belt if they win that it not only because
Speaker 1: he's would be the league MVP. The finals MVP, there
Speaker 1: were a sixty eight win team scoring champ.
Speaker 4: But also.
Speaker 1: I played the guy who has the belt and Joker
Speaker 1: and my team won and I played, they could argue
Speaker 1: played better than him. I don't actually think I agree
Speaker 1: that in that series Shay was better than Joker. I
Speaker 1: know Joker at a couple kind of uncharacteristic games. I
Speaker 1: still think Joker was the most impactful.
Speaker 4: Guy in that series.
Speaker 1: But it certainly would be a fair take to say
Speaker 1: if they win, to say Shay's the best player. It's again,
Speaker 1: it's not the take I would have, but you'd have
Speaker 1: to at least respect it. It also would be brew
Speaker 1: and I were talking about this off the air, and
Speaker 1: I know Simmons has talked a lot about this. It
Speaker 1: also would be an all time Guard season, So like,
Speaker 1: if you remove Michael and Magic, what Guard would have
Speaker 1: had a better season than the one Shay is having
Speaker 1: right now. I think if they win the title, I
Speaker 1: think folks reflexively, I know I reflexively was like, well,
Speaker 1: all right, Michael had a bunch, Magic had at least
Speaker 1: a couple, and then, of course stept Here's the problem.
Speaker 1: Steph's best season by far. They lost the champ They
Speaker 1: lost the finals, So the Steph's years get kind of
Speaker 1: fuzzy in our memory. But Steph's best year and one
Speaker 1: of the greatest years any player has ever had, when
Speaker 1: he scored thirty a game on I mean fifty forty
Speaker 1: five and d splits they lost to Lebron. His other
Speaker 1: MVP year, demonse, I'm gonna put you on the spot here,
Speaker 1: give me a guess how many points and assists Steph
Speaker 1: averaged his first MVP season.
Speaker 3: Thirty one and nine, twenty four and eight.
Speaker 1: Oh Jesus no that, But that's not U because he did.
Speaker 1: He averaged thirty two later, and he averaged thirty the
Speaker 1: next year. That so that's the point that I that
Speaker 1: I was making. That year, the team was unbelievable, and
Speaker 1: obviously he was great, but that's not like an all
Speaker 1: time individual season. The next year was the all time
Speaker 1: individual season, and then.
Speaker 4: The year he had a year.
Speaker 1: When he won the scoring title when they weren't that
Speaker 1: good in twenty twenty one and they missed the playoffs
Speaker 1: like that, you know, so there's his best year. They
Speaker 1: didn't win the title. And then people are gonna say, well, Kobe,
Speaker 1: did Kobe have a better year than this Shay year?
Speaker 1: Because here's the thing, Kobe, and this is another one.
Speaker 1: People are gonna say, this isn't true, but it is.
Speaker 1: Kobe averaged thirty a game three times in his career,
Speaker 1: and amazingly, none of the three did they win the championship,
Speaker 1: and in fact, two of the three they didn't win
Speaker 1: a round of the playoffs. So he averaged thirty a
Speaker 1: game the year they were going for the three peat
Speaker 1: and that year they lost in Did they lose in
Speaker 1: round two? Yeah, they lost in Round two to San Antonio.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Not the year they're going for the three peat.
Speaker 1: They already had the three peat obviously, the year they're
Speaker 1: going for the four pat and then his two insane
Speaker 1: scoring years thirty five a game and thirty two a game.
Speaker 1: They lost in Round one both years, both years that
Speaker 1: Laker team lost in Round one, one year blowing a
Speaker 1: three to one leading round one. So those years are
Speaker 1: off the board. The next year, the year they got poal,
Speaker 1: he won MVP. He averaged twenty eight six and five,
Speaker 1: and the Lakers that year won fifty seven games. It's
Speaker 1: hard to argue that year was better than this year
Speaker 1: by Shay d Waite obviously never won an MVP. Isaiah Thomas,
Speaker 1: as great as he was, never won an MVP. Steve
Speaker 1: Nash won a couple, never made a finals.
Speaker 4: So there is.
Speaker 1: And I don't want to do West and Koozie right now,
Speaker 1: but even West, let me check because Jerry, poor Jerry West.
Speaker 1: I mean, Jerry West was one and nine in the
Speaker 1: finals and the one year he won the championship, he
Speaker 1: was not even close to his best individual season. Still
Speaker 1: pretty great, by the way, Again, I don't do people
Speaker 1: want me to do a Jerry West thing. Okay, I'll
Speaker 1: do it real quick. Jerry West again one and nine
Speaker 1: in the finals. And if that's not enough, here's Jerry
Speaker 1: West's MVP finishes fifth, fifth, fifth, third, second, didn't didn't quality,
Speaker 1: didn't get won for three years in a row, second, second, second.
Speaker 1: He finished second MVP voting three straight years while losing
Speaker 1: the finals like every year.
Speaker 3: That's pretty crazy. Voter voter fatigue must not existed at
Speaker 3: that time.
Speaker 1: No, Wilton Russell won, all of them.
Speaker 3: Kept trading off.
Speaker 2: So I feel like once those guys are in second
Speaker 2: for a long time or get those second and third spots,
Speaker 2: it comes a year and they're like, all right, we're
Speaker 2: just gonna give it to him.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, and listen, now, Jerry West did win finals
Speaker 1: MVP the first year they ever gave it out when
Speaker 1: they didn't win, when his team lost the finals, but
Speaker 1: no during Wes Demons, during West Prime, here's the here's
Speaker 1: the m vps, Will Russell, Russell, Russell, Oscar Russell, Will
Speaker 1: Will Will and then Unseld Reid Kareem Kareem. It was
Speaker 1: a big man's award. Oscar won it, but it was
Speaker 1: a big man's award again. So Jerry West, like, maybe
Speaker 1: point is this, if they win the championship, you can
Speaker 1: make the argument that only Magic and Michael as Guards
Speaker 1: ever had a better single season than Shay had this year.
Speaker 1: It's pretty remarkable. Uh And for okay, see, I don't
Speaker 1: really I don't really think there's too many guys that
Speaker 1: have a ton to lose, except let me all add
Speaker 1: this this.
Speaker 2: What'd you say, Jaylen Williams, Don't you think it's probably
Speaker 2: it's really important for him to perform in these finals, right,
Speaker 2: I think out of all the guys outside of Shade.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but do you think do you think any show
Speaker 1: like anybody's gonna kill Jalen Williams if he doesn't like
Speaker 1: I just don't. He's in that Goldilock zone that we've
Speaker 1: talked about of good enough to where he's gonna make
Speaker 1: a ton of money, but not so good to where
Speaker 1: he gets super scrutinized. Maybe though I think he's like
Speaker 1: the X factor, super important. I just don't think he's
Speaker 1: got you know, people are gonna kill him. I'll add
Speaker 1: one other person as far as who this person has
Speaker 1: the most anxiety right now, that's my that's the way
Speaker 1: to put it for Okay, see, and that's Sam Presty.
Speaker 1: So Sam Presty took over the Thunder when they were
Speaker 1: still in Seattle, Okay, and he draft like he took
Speaker 1: over right after the draft, right before he took over,
Speaker 1: right or like the week they drafted Durant. I don't
Speaker 1: the I don't know. Yeah, no, he he drafted Durant.
Speaker 1: Now that was a no brainer. Once Odin went one,
Speaker 1: Like whoever whoever didn't go one was gonna go too
Speaker 1: in the odin Durant rapid set that aside, Westbrook was
Speaker 1: not a no brainer. Pick Harden was not a no brainer.
Speaker 1: Pick a Baka was not a no brainer pick. He
Speaker 1: just crushed, absolutely crushed after coming from the Spurs, and
Speaker 1: they are just set up that it's gonna be the
Speaker 1: you know, the thunder out West for a generation, and
Speaker 1: they made the finals in twenty twelve and have not
Speaker 1: been back since and hardened they He then trades Harden
Speaker 1: probably not probably definitely his worst UH transaction as an executive.
Speaker 1: My guy Daryl got over on him and just been building, building, building,
Speaker 1: getting trying to get back to this moment.
Speaker 4: He knows as well as anyone that.
Speaker 1: There these moments can be fleeting and you've got to
Speaker 1: take advantage. By the way, if you want to know
Speaker 1: more about Sam Presty, I don't even know if you
Speaker 1: know this, Demanse, but you know who wrote a book
Speaker 1: that Sam Presty is a central character of.
Speaker 3: Who?
Speaker 2: Danny parkins, Oh, that's what's that pipeline to the pro
Speaker 2: Pipeline to the pros.
Speaker 1: Yeah, pipeline to the throat to the pros about you know,
Speaker 1: Division three, pipeline to nba gm uh. That's a great book.
Speaker 1: People can get it on Amazon or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your books. Free plug for Danny's Book