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Speaker 1: This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.

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Speaker 2: What is up straight Fire, Bamp, It's me Jason McIntyre,

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Speaker 2: Straight Fire for Friday, May the second. This is a

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Speaker 2: great podcast today, folks, ladies and gentlemen. Oh boy, we

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Speaker 2: got a great guest, Tim McMahon, who wrote a book

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Speaker 2: recently on Luka Doncic.

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Speaker 3: He stops by.

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Speaker 2: The book is called The Wonder Boy, Luka Doncic and

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Speaker 2: the Curse of Greatness. Oh, my goodness, you want to

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Speaker 2: hear about dysfunction. Dysfunction. Thy name is Dallas. Oh, the

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Speaker 2: Mavericks are such a mess and they were leading up

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Speaker 2: to the Lucas trade.

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Speaker 3: You're gonna love this U and Laker fans, you're gonna.

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Speaker 2: Want to listen a little bit closely as off season

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Speaker 2: speculation starts mighty quick. But before we get to Tim McMahon,

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Speaker 2: obviously I'll be hosting the Herd today should be a

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Speaker 2: little spicy. I've got some incendiary takes so hot you're

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Speaker 2: gonna melch your phone, kind of sort of like Jalen

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Speaker 2: Brunson's Clutchness. Folks, so you've heard the saying like Frank

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Speaker 2: Sinatra was born to sing, right, Jimmy Hendrix born to

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Speaker 2: play the guitar. Jalen Brunson born for clutch moments in

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Speaker 2: the NBA.

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Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.

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Speaker 2: Does anyone deliver better than mister Clutch. Jalen Brunson the

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Speaker 2: clutch player of the Year in the NBA this season,

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Speaker 2: Totally dominant when it matters most. And the Knicks were

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Speaker 2: down seven with about two thirty five left, and of

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Speaker 2: course Jalen Brunson scores eight points in the final two

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Speaker 2: thirty five. They storm back with an eleven to one run.

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Speaker 2: Fascinating drama in Detroit, a great game and the best

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Speaker 2: part about this even if you don't like the Knicks,

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Speaker 2: you don't like Brunson, which is very hard to do.

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Speaker 3: Bruns is so likable.

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Speaker 2: Jalen Brunson was getting flogged all series long in Detroit.

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Speaker 2: The crowd was called I mean, they were getting nasty

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Speaker 2: with him, the cuss words and stuff. That's fine, But

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Speaker 2: then it was Channing Flopper at runs in and there

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Speaker 2: was one that he tried to draw the foul it

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Speaker 2: was overturned on a replay, and the crowd went nuts.

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Speaker 2: They were getting on Brunson's case, and then he in

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Speaker 2: a move that listen if you want to call this

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Speaker 2: up on YouTube. You tell me that these aren't carbon copies.

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Speaker 2: Michael Jordan discarding Byron Russell with the pushoff in the

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Speaker 2: NBA Finals in ninety eight in Utah for the game winner.

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Speaker 2: Pretty sure it was ninety eight. And then you look

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Speaker 2: at Jalen Brunson discard on sar Thompson to get the

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Speaker 2: separation and splash the game winning three. Folks, it was

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Speaker 2: almost identical, except, of course Brunston hit a three. But

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Speaker 2: the beauty of it, the crowd had been getting on

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Speaker 2: Brunson's case. He turns to the crowd, pulls the you know,

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Speaker 2: the three fingers for the three pointer, and then blows

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Speaker 2: kisses to them. It was spectacular theater. Nicks win the

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Speaker 2: series for two, advanced to play the Celtics, and listen, man,

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Speaker 2: this is a tall order, but we're gonna for a moment,

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Speaker 2: we're gonna just enjoy the Knicks win. Jalen Brunson averaging

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Speaker 2: in these playoffs, I know, it's only six games, averaging

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Speaker 2: thirteen points in the first quarter, in the fourth quarter,

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Speaker 2: averaging thirteen points in the fourth quarter.

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Speaker 3: How clutch is that?

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Speaker 2: Who's better than him when it matters? As you know,

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Speaker 2: who could have used him, the friggin' Lakers who could

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Speaker 2: not score at the end of games against Minnesota orget

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Speaker 2: stops and Brunson was just everywhere. Now, I will say this,

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Speaker 2: Bigger Staff, I thought, did a tremendous job for Detroit

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Speaker 2: this series. My one issue was he would toggle between

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Speaker 2: a sar Thompson who's a great defender but not much offensively,

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Speaker 2: although he had a good Game five in New York,

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Speaker 2: and Dennis Schreuder. Now he I don't know why they

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Speaker 2: didn't consider playing all three of them, but I guess

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Speaker 2: for shooting purposes, they need another another shooter out there,

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Speaker 2: whether it was Hardaway or Beasley. But onsar Thompson had

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Speaker 2: held Jalen Brunston in total check. He stripped it and

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Speaker 2: forced a twenty four second shot clock violation. Brunston started

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Speaker 2: the fourth two for ten okay, But with about five

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Speaker 2: minutes left, I mean, Bigger Staff's gonna have to answer this.

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Speaker 2: He pulls on sar Thompson and insert shooter for offense,

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Speaker 2: and you know that's gonna be a heavily scrutinized move.

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Speaker 2: And of course, instantly Brunson just goes right at Dennis

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Speaker 2: shooter who's you know. Dennis Shooter is an assassin, He's

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Speaker 2: a hired gun. He's played on like fifteen teams in

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Speaker 2: the last like nine years, and he could get buckets

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Speaker 2: by the way as a teas Tim McMahon, I think

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Speaker 2: it was Tim McMahon speculated that maybe Dennis Shooter could

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Speaker 2: be the kind of guy who goes on, say the

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Speaker 2: Dallas Mavericks next year. They're gonna need somebody to get

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Speaker 2: buckets without Kyrie. It's an interesting point. You should at

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Speaker 2: least take a listen. But Shooter is just not known

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Speaker 2: as a defender. He just really doesn't defend. And Jalen

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Speaker 2: Brunson cooked him when it mattered most, and then Brunson

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Speaker 2: was so hot at the end he just decided, I'm

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Speaker 2: not worried about on Star Thompson and just gave it

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Speaker 2: back to It was tremendous reader Nick's eleven to one

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Speaker 2: run to end the game. Cad Cunningham. Listen, man, he's

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Speaker 2: going to be a special player. You gotta build aroun him.

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Speaker 2: You gotta get reliable shooters. Hard Away and Beasley way

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Speaker 2: too streaky for my liking. Cad twenty three, eight and seven,

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Speaker 2: but oh for eight on three pointers, badly bricked a

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Speaker 2: lefty layup in a tie game which set the stage

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Speaker 2: for Brunson's game winner. But just an incredible series this game,

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Speaker 2: I mean, every game was close. And I did have

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Speaker 2: a buddy text me, why is nobody giving the Knicks

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Speaker 2: a chance against the Celtics? Because I don't know that

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Speaker 2: Detroit's that good. They're just a plucky team that matched

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Speaker 2: up well with the next. Playoffs are all about matchups,

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Speaker 2: and it's Celtics is a much taller order. I will

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Speaker 2: say this, if I opened it up, who had the

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Speaker 2: better call? Mike Breen with a double bang on the

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Speaker 2: Brunson game winner, or wait for it, I an eagle

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Speaker 2: with the Brunson burner ignited. Oh come on, who didn't

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Speaker 2: love a good Bunsen burner back in? Was it Earth

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Speaker 2: science and middle high school, high school or science? Yeah,

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Speaker 2: Bunsen Berner incredible stuff. Jalen Brunson man, you gotta love that.

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Speaker 2: I don't know how anybody doesn't like him. He's so likable.

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Speaker 2: I mean all he does is win everywhere he goes.

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Speaker 2: Villanova High School, Dallas. They got to the conference finals

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Speaker 2: and then Dallas butchered it. And now he's with the

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Speaker 2: Knickson man.

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Speaker 4: What a player?

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Speaker 2: All right, Without further ado, let's get to our guest,

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Speaker 2: Tim McMahon of ESPN. He wrote a book on Luka

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Speaker 2: Doncic called The Wonder Boy.

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Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in

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Speaker 1: the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio

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Speaker 1: dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to

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Speaker 1: listen live. You know a guy, Jason likes to think

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Speaker 1: he knows everything when it comes to sports.

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Speaker 3: I know what sports fans.

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Speaker 1: Want, but for everything he doesn't. He knows a guy

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Speaker 1: who does.

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Speaker 4: Let's just say I know a guy who knows the

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Speaker 4: guy who knows another guy.

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Speaker 2: All right, let's welcome a special guest to straight fire

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Speaker 2: first timer. Anytime we get a real hooper, a guy

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Speaker 2: who actually plays, you gotta do it. And oh, by

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Speaker 2: the way, he wrote a book on Luca Dodgic, The

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Speaker 2: Wonder Boy, Luka Doncic and the Curse of Greatness.

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Speaker 3: Tim McMahon, how are you man.

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Speaker 4: Howdie partner, I did write a book that is true.

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Speaker 4: Real hooper is a bit of a stretch. I get

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Speaker 4: out there and kind of trot up and down the

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Speaker 4: court every once in a while, but what I'm doing

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Speaker 4: at this age ain't real hoop, and that's for sure.

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Speaker 2: Okay, Well, you know, if there's a media game out

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Speaker 2: here for if the Clippers survived the Nuggets, you know,

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Speaker 2: and Dave McManamon gets in in the game, Hey, you

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Speaker 2: gotta do the tenth.

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Speaker 3: I'm in. I'll just show up any time. Just fire

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Speaker 3: from deep.

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Speaker 4: It's fun. Yeah, mcminnimhon is kind of like the Lakers.

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Speaker 4: Is not a lot of defense there.

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Speaker 2: Ouch, we'll get to the Lakers collapse obviously. But I'm

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Speaker 2: curious about the book. I did see a funny recap

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Speaker 2: that essentially you had finished the book and then the

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Speaker 2: trade happens. I mean, what do you remember where you

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Speaker 2: were obviously when that went down.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I was in Cleveland. I'd actually had traveled from

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Speaker 4: San Francisco to Cleveland, so I was meeting the Mavericks

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Speaker 4: on that part of the road trip, and so I

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Speaker 4: just happened to be in the right spot. But I

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Speaker 4: was just about to go to bed, was a little

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Speaker 4: bit after midnight in Cleveland, and yeah, sure enough my

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Speaker 4: life changed just a little bit there. And yeah, so

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Speaker 4: the first print run had already happened, obviously, I'm reporting

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Speaker 4: that night, you know, we're recording emergency podcast on Sports Center,

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Speaker 4: all those kind of things. But within the first hour

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Speaker 4: and a half or so, I'd emailed people with the

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Speaker 4: publishing company and my book agent basically said hey, we

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Speaker 4: got to talk, we got to figure something out, and

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Speaker 4: I was able to write a final chapter explaining it

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Speaker 4: just how the hell they went for because the whole

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Speaker 4: books about the pressure on a franchise when you draft

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Speaker 4: a prodigy and build it or you're putting yourself in

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Speaker 4: danger of losing them. Right, they managed to make their

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Speaker 4: way through all that, despite all kinds of crazy missteps

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Speaker 4: and just chaos and drama and dysfunctioned the organization. They

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Speaker 4: went to the finals and then they dumped him months later,

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Speaker 4: so they're definitely another chapter was necessary. Yeah, the previous

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Speaker 4: ending was upbeat. I mean, the hell they just went

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Speaker 4: to the finals. Yeah, And so people who buy the

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Speaker 4: books that don't have that final chapter, you can go

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Speaker 4: to my x account. There's a link that's pinned to

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Speaker 4: the top. Well, you'll get the things sent to you PDF,

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Speaker 4: and then it's in the audiobook. It's in the uh,

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Speaker 4: you know, if you're a Kindle reader and all that.

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Speaker 4: But little plot twist at the end.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, just a just a small one. It's been a

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Speaker 2: wild ride for you with the MAVs. So you obviously

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Speaker 2: have a history with Mark Cuban. You know, you report

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Speaker 2: tough stuff, and you know Cuban revoked your credentials.

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Speaker 3: Jason Kidd has called you out.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I don't want to say it's a badge

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Speaker 2: of honor, but you know it means you're doing something right.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 2: Obviously, how would you characterize the MAVs organization going from

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Speaker 2: Cuban to the new ownership and then Nico Harrison, So.

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Speaker 4: You know, Nico was hired by Cuban, and then once

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Speaker 4: the new owners came in, Nico did a very effective

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Speaker 4: job of boxing out Cuban, certainly much better than the

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Speaker 4: Lakers did against Ruby Gobert last night. Completely boxed Cuban

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Speaker 4: out of basketball operations. Where you know, when Cuban sold

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Speaker 4: the franchise and then he's still in his twenty seven percent,

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Speaker 4: but when he gave up the majority control, the controlling

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Speaker 4: share of the franchise, he told everybody who would listen, hey,

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Speaker 4: I'm still in charge of basketball operations. There was never

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Speaker 4: any language like that in the contract there was not

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Speaker 4: language like that removed from the contract. I was told

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Speaker 4: there was language removed that Basie said he would allow

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Speaker 4: to be allowed to continue to be involved, but nothing

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Speaker 4: about control. I don't know if Cuban was trying to

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Speaker 4: speak it into existence or bully his way into it happening,

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Speaker 4: or just you know, flat out not telling the truth,

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Speaker 4: which he'll do from time to time. But he went

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Speaker 4: from running the show to having no more juice than

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Speaker 4: any other court side season ticket holder, just like that.

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Speaker 4: And Nico successfully convinced Patrick Dumont, you know, the new governor,

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Speaker 4: kind of the face of the new ownership group, that hey,

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Speaker 4: I know what I'm doing. You know, I got us

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Speaker 4: to the finals last year. Listen to me. My voice

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Speaker 4: is all you need to hear. And I would say

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Speaker 4: that that completely backfired on the Mavericks and Patrick Dumont

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Speaker 4: now has realized there needs to be checks and balances,

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Speaker 4: you know. Nico Harrison, I believe will have at least

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Speaker 4: one more year as the Mavericks general manager. I would

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Speaker 4: say that the seat has gotten warm at least. And

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Speaker 4: the in Nico we trust era was very brief.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, let's be real, Tim, he got a little lucky.

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Speaker 2: The trade for Kyrie did not work out. Initially they

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Speaker 2: had to tank to keep their pick, but then it

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Speaker 2: turned into lively.

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Speaker 3: He trades for PJ.

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Speaker 2: Washington and Gaffert and those all hit and they go

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Speaker 2: to the finals. So he looks like a genius and

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Speaker 2: now he kind of looks like a dope. But there

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Speaker 2: are segments of the Twitter whatever that's called that are like, hey, man,

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Speaker 2: Nico was right, Luca doesn't play.

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Speaker 3: D but like, I'm not buying that crap. I'm just curious.

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Speaker 2: How ugly did it get for Luca and Nico in

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Speaker 2: the weeks leading up to the end.

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Speaker 4: For Luca, Yeah, and I certainly cover this sum in

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Speaker 4: that final chapter. Also wrote about it recently on ESPN

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Speaker 4: dot com. Their relationship at best was frigid, and you know,

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Speaker 4: it goes. It really does go back to You can

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Speaker 4: say the root of it was Luca's conditioning concerns, and

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Speaker 4: if you're looking at from Nico's perspective, you could say

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Speaker 4: that caused Nico to make some of the personnel decisions

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Speaker 4: he made with behind the scenes staffers. But he ran

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Speaker 4: out people that Luca knew, liked, trusted, and respected. And

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Speaker 4: these are people who were with Luca the entire time

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Speaker 4: he was in Dallas, helped him make this massive cultural transition.

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Speaker 4: And you know, again it's not people that are household names,

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Speaker 4: but Casey Smith and their Health and Performance Group. One

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Speaker 4: of the most respected people in the athletic training industry,

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Speaker 4: you know, it was is now with the New York

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Speaker 4: Knicks running their group. Jeremy holsopple of you know, a

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Speaker 4: guy who won the NBA Strength Coach of the Year

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Speaker 4: award a few years ago. Casey Spangler, you know, a

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Speaker 4: massage therapist in our In a related move, it was

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Speaker 4: his decision, but Scott Tomlin, their longtime VP in charge

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Speaker 4: of the PR group, he left to go work for

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Speaker 4: Dirk Kavinski. By the way, Dirk the way that Casey

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Speaker 4: Smith got fired. That led to Dirk basically saying, I

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Speaker 4: don't want anything to do with this organization, Like I'm

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Speaker 4: not going to baden out them, but I'm not going

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Speaker 4: to be involved. And he's done for the time being

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Speaker 4: as far as being any sort of ambassador for the

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Speaker 4: matter Ficks. So Nico really kind of isolated Luca and

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Speaker 4: made it an adversarial situation with Luca's quote unquote body team.

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Speaker 4: Uh and and the MAVs staffers that you know, Nico's

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Speaker 4: guys is the way that they are perceived, uh within

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Speaker 4: the building and certainly by Luca and Luca's camp, and

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Speaker 4: it led to a lot of friction. It led to,

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Speaker 4: you know, a lot of I would say passive aggressiveness

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Speaker 4: more than anything. It's not like they were yelling and

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Speaker 4: screaming in each other's face. Luca just wasn't really speaking

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Speaker 4: to Nico, and the communication between Nico and his hires

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Speaker 4: and Luca's camp was tense, was usually unproductive. Having said

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Speaker 4: all that, Luca fully planned as sign the super Maxis summer,

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Speaker 4: he fully planned to spend the rest of his career

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Speaker 4: in Dallas. You know, I can't say this with one

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Speaker 4: hundred percent certainty, but my educated guess is Luca felt like,

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Speaker 4: I'll be here a lot longer than Nico will be. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: and he was wrong.

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Speaker 2: So we see this in politics, music, high level NBA players.

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Speaker 2: Everybody surrounds himself with yes, men, don't tell me what

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Speaker 2: I don't want to hear. Right, it sounds like the

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Speaker 2: way Nico was gutting all of Dirk'sky's Cubans guys because

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Speaker 2: guys that he just wanted his own people there.

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Speaker 3: Hey, I know Kyrie from back in the day.

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Speaker 2: I know a d Let me get in these known

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Speaker 2: quantities who aren't going to really challenge you.

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Speaker 3: Would you say that's a fair assumption for Nico.

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Speaker 4: That's certainly the perception within the building, and that's absolutely

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Speaker 4: the perception from Luca's camp, you know, and you look

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Speaker 4: the way that Nico has built this roster. There definitely

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Speaker 4: is a tendency towards going with guys, with players who

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Speaker 4: he has known since they were teenagers. His relation and

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Speaker 4: you know, Nico, for people who don't know, long time

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Speaker 4: Nike executive was the VP run of North American basketball

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Speaker 4: operations for Nike for years and so it was very

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Speaker 4: involved with the grassroots basketball scene. And he had relationship

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Speaker 4: with Kyrie dating back to when Kyrie was a teenager.

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Speaker 4: Same thing with PJ. Washington, same thing with Anthony Davis.

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Speaker 4: And look, I think if you are evaluating the job

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Speaker 4: that Nico has done as a general manager of the Mavericks,

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Speaker 4: one's buddy before Cuban sold the control and share it

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Speaker 4: because Cuban was the general manager, right and how you

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Speaker 4: know which decisions were Nico's? Did Nico really have Saya,

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Speaker 4: which weren't you know that that gets pretty dicey. But

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Speaker 4: he did succeed in building a finals team around Luka Doncic.

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Speaker 4: That was the mission to build a contender around Luca.

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Speaker 4: He succeeded in that right up until beginning of February

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Speaker 4: this year. I think you would have to give Nico

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Speaker 4: credit and say, hey, this has been a success. He's

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Speaker 4: done what he was brought in here to do. But

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Speaker 4: the logic of this deal really falls apart in a

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Speaker 4: lot of different ways. And the one that I just

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Speaker 4: I've asked Nico, I pressed Niko on and he just

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Speaker 4: goes back to defense wins championships, which doesn't explain his

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Speaker 4: decision is in building this team around Luca that went

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Speaker 4: to the finals before he hit his prime, you gave

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Speaker 4: up your draft capital, either outright or via swaps seven,

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Speaker 4: nine and thirty. You put together a team that, in

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Speaker 4: Nico's own words, has a three to four year time

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Speaker 4: frame that runs right to when the credit card bills due,

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Speaker 4: and then you're screwed. And I've asked him for his

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Speaker 4: logic on that, how that's in the long term best interest,

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Speaker 4: and again he just goes back to defense wins championships.

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Speaker 4: In his mind, he put together a championship calber team.

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Speaker 4: We saw it for two and a half quarters, as

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Speaker 4: he says, which yeah, they look great for two and

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Speaker 4: a half quarters for its rockets. But it's a hard sell,

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Speaker 4: especially for the fans. Look, there's obviously emotional attachment to Luca,

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Speaker 4: and that goes back to taking the torch from Dirk

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Speaker 4: and all that. But these fans also just watched Luca

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Speaker 4: take this team, this franchise to a finals last year.

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Speaker 4: So it's a hard sell to tell them he did

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Speaker 4: it at twenty five, he can't do it again for

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Speaker 4: the rest of his career.

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Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in

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Speaker 1: the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports

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00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:04,440
Speaker 1: Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR

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Speaker 1: to listen live.

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Speaker 2: We'll get to Luca and maybe Fat Luca with the Lakers.

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Speaker 2: But I am curious you watched him his entire career

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Speaker 2: in Dallas, Like I saw a stat that he only

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Speaker 2: had two dunks this season, whereas he had like thirty

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Speaker 2: nine last year or whatever the number was. I guess

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Speaker 2: there's no other way to ask us, Like, what's the

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Speaker 2: deal with the weight game.

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Speaker 4: Well, and look that it's not new, right. I mean,

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Speaker 4: if you go back to the pre draft concerns, how

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Speaker 4: the hell did three teams pass on this guy? You're

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Speaker 4: kidding me? You know, euro League MVP, your League Final

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Speaker 4: four MVP, the most accomplished team prospect in European history,

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Speaker 4: if not international basketball history. The conditioning concerns have existed.

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Speaker 4: They existed then, and they've continued throughout the course of

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Speaker 4: his career. Those have been constant. At the same time,

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Speaker 4: he's been a five time first team All NBA selection. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: it his prime. At the same time, the guy averaged

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Speaker 4: thirty four to ten and nine for a team that

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Speaker 4: went to the finals last year. So, uh, you know,

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Speaker 4: he was never a high flyer, you know, he and

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Speaker 4: he's he is a highlight machine despite the fact that

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Speaker 4: he's not a high flyer. But the condition is absolutely

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Speaker 4: a concern. Yeah, and it has been it continues to be.

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Speaker 4: I think it's been. It's tough to tell a guy

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Speaker 4: because the thing about it, he came in his rookie year.

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Speaker 4: He's putting up teenage numbers. You know, nobody else that

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Speaker 4: age either than Lebron It put up those kind of numbers.

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Speaker 4: The very next year before he can buy a beer

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Speaker 4: legally in America. He's an MVP candidate. And that's continued,

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Speaker 4: you know, right up until this year, you know, which

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Speaker 4: is the first time that he's had really extended injury absences.

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Speaker 4: So it's been hard to say, dude, your way is

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Speaker 4: not working because it did work. Now is there more

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Speaker 4: meat on the bone, so to speak? Like is there

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Speaker 4: more potential to be had? Yeah? There is. And it

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Speaker 4: does get back to that conditioning. And look, if he's

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Speaker 4: not going to really buy and there's been there's been times,

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Speaker 4: there's been a summer here, summer there where he has

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Speaker 4: really committed to it. If he's not going to do

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Speaker 4: that on a regular basis after being slapped in the

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Speaker 4: face by this trade and this first round exit, then

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Speaker 4: you know he probably never will. Yeah.

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Speaker 3: I mean you remember Shack had weight issues with the Lakers.

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Speaker 2: Kobe would get on his case about coming to camp

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Speaker 2: out of shape. I am curious, and you're reporting on

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Speaker 2: Luca's background. You know, there's no deft way to ask this,

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Speaker 2: but like, does he come from a big boned family

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Speaker 2: or is everybody overweight? Like I it does feel like

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Speaker 2: when you look at highlights, remember the Clippers when he

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Speaker 2: would just destroy them in the first round by himself

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Speaker 2: and they would lose in six or seven.

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Speaker 3: He was it looked like twenty pounds later.

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Speaker 4: No, yeah, no, he's definitely he's definitely beefed up since

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Speaker 4: early in his career he was listed to thirty as

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Speaker 4: a rookie. I don't think he was ever maybe he

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Speaker 4: was two thirty five, I've been sure about that. His weight,

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Speaker 4: he plays often in the two fifties, sometimes in the

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Speaker 4: two sixties. The two sixties is when it really gets alarment.

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Speaker 4: But yeah, his dad, who is a you know, Slovenian

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Speaker 4: basketball His dad's kind of the Charles Barkley at Slovenia.

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Speaker 4: Just to just to give you an idea where he

404
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Speaker 4: was a multi time all star in the Agiodical League,

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Speaker 4: which is you know, which is their league over there.

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Speaker 4: But you know, he's a guy who if you talk

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Speaker 4: to people in the Slovenian basketball circus, they are like, yeah,

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Speaker 4: he was really good man. He could have been a

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Speaker 4: lot better, you know. And it's the same thing like

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Speaker 4: the guy likes to eat, you know, he liked it.

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Speaker 4: Like the way I put it in the book is

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Speaker 4: he's a guy Sasha as his dad, a big, gregarious

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Speaker 4: personality like Barkley, but he's he's a guy who everybody

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Speaker 4: in Slovenia wants to have a beer with or you know,

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Speaker 4: or a glass of wine. And a great many have succeeded,

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Speaker 4: you know, like he had a pub down by the

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Speaker 4: Lubiana train station late in his career, and he would

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Speaker 4: have magging injuries that would cause him to miss road

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Speaker 4: trips and it wouldn't be hard to find. So but

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Speaker 4: and his dad is a you know, like he's a

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Speaker 4: big framed guy. And again like there were conditioning concerns

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Speaker 4: with him throughout the course of his career. It's been

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Speaker 4: the same thing with Luca. Now. I will say part

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Speaker 4: of Luca's, part of the reason he's been able to

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Speaker 4: be so dominant is because of that big body. Because

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Speaker 4: I mean he's a strong dude. Like as much as

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Speaker 4: you'd like him to commit to conditioning more than he does.

428
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:43,600
Speaker 4: If you ask guys who've been in the weight room

429
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,280
Speaker 4: with him, or ask like the math strength and conditioning coaches,

430
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,520
Speaker 4: like what's Luca like in the weight room? As far

431
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:51,480
Speaker 4: as like the leg strength. I mean, he is top

432
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,200
Speaker 4: of the charts and he moves people. He's hard. One

433
00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 4: reason he's so damn hard to guard is because he's

434
00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:01,399
Speaker 4: stronger than pretty much every defender in the league. And

435
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:03,480
Speaker 4: he can you know, he can move him where he

436
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:08,080
Speaker 4: wants him to go. Now, to forty five, he could

437
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:11,280
Speaker 4: do that. You know, that'd be a great way for him.

438
00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:14,240
Speaker 4: If Luca really commits and gets himself from peak shape,

439
00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,960
Speaker 4: he's probably going to be to forty five. And he

440
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,120
Speaker 4: plays in the two fifties on a regular basis, it's

441
00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:23,120
Speaker 4: gotten up into the two sixties, in the high two sixties,

442
00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:24,920
Speaker 4: I was told earlier this year.

443
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:26,200
Speaker 3: So it's like defensive end.

444
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,080
Speaker 4: Well, what I would always say is there's certainly been

445
00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:32,040
Speaker 4: times he looks more like a pulling guard for the

446
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:34,560
Speaker 4: Dallas Cowboys in a point guard for the Dallas Mavericks.

447
00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:36,440
Speaker 3: See that's harsh.

448
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:38,240
Speaker 2: So I happened hoop with a guy out here in

449
00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:42,160
Speaker 2: LA who knows Rick Carlisle a little bit. And apparently

450
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:46,679
Speaker 2: during Luca's first year was Dennis Smith there his.

451
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:49,240
Speaker 4: First year lucas for the first half.

452
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:53,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, so apparently there was some major major beef between

453
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,600
Speaker 2: Carlisle and Smith, and it was about Luka Dancic. Do

454
00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:58,720
Speaker 2: you cover any of that in the book or what

455
00:23:58,840 --> 00:23:59,920
Speaker 2: went down between those guys.

456
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,000
Speaker 4: I get into a lot of it, and I would

457
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:06,000
Speaker 4: push back on it being about Luka doncic Oh. It

458
00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,320
Speaker 4: was about Rick Cardisle did not believe in Dennis Smith

459
00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:10,760
Speaker 4: Junior understood it was something that you know, that was

460
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:14,120
Speaker 4: something Rick was out on Dennis by midway through Dennis's

461
00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:17,199
Speaker 4: rookie year, you know, when the MAVs were tanking to

462
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,040
Speaker 4: try to get Luke and all that. But Ricky decided

463
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:20,679
Speaker 4: this guy is not a not only is he not

464
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:22,879
Speaker 4: a franchise player, like, he's not a player that I want,

465
00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:26,560
Speaker 4: and I get into a meeting. It was literally one

466
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:29,879
Speaker 4: week into Luca's career. They were two and two at

467
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:32,280
Speaker 4: the time, but they'd just blown a twenty six point

468
00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:37,400
Speaker 4: lead in Atlanta and you know, terrible loss TNT game

469
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 4: Luca versus Tree Young, you know, right behind it, get

470
00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:43,480
Speaker 4: on the plane, they go to Toronto. They've got a game.

471
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 4: A couple days later. It's just your typical next day

472
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:51,240
Speaker 4: film session team meeting in the Ritz Carlton Ballroom in Toronto.

473
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,840
Speaker 4: And Rick is just furious, and he's like just getting

474
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:58,120
Speaker 4: madder and madder and madder, and like you can see

475
00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:00,359
Speaker 4: the veins popping out of his forehead and you know,

476
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:04,800
Speaker 4: through his bald head. And that was the meeting where

477
00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,240
Speaker 4: he called Dennis Smith Junior out in front of the

478
00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:11,240
Speaker 4: whole team you're jealous of Luca, and Dennis is like, bro,

479
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,040
Speaker 4: and like he looked literally he looks at Luca. He's like,

480
00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:18,720
Speaker 4: are we good? Luca's like yeah, like the basketball fit,

481
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,480
Speaker 4: they were a bad basketball fit. Yeah yeah, But Dennis

482
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:25,679
Speaker 4: was not, like he was trying to be like a

483
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,439
Speaker 4: good teammate and a friend. Man. There's still buddies to

484
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:31,800
Speaker 4: this day. Like Dennis came to Luca's first press conference.

485
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:34,200
Speaker 4: You know, they lived in the same building, and Dennis

486
00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:36,120
Speaker 4: is like, dude, I'll show you around, like hang out

487
00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:38,639
Speaker 4: with me. It was Dory and Phinney Smith and Dennis

488
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:40,800
Speaker 4: were really tight, so it was like, you know, hang

489
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,919
Speaker 4: out with me and Dodo. You know, like like Dennis

490
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,560
Speaker 4: is like, dude, I don't even like Fortnite, but I'd

491
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:48,800
Speaker 4: play it because that's what he wanted to do, right,

492
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:53,760
Speaker 4: And so there was definitely like Rick tried to make

493
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:58,800
Speaker 4: it about Luca. Dennis had no issues with Luca. Luca

494
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:02,280
Speaker 4: had no issues with Dennis. Like the basketball fit, wasn't there.

495
00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:05,880
Speaker 4: But whatever they were fine. Rick tried to make it

496
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,520
Speaker 4: about Luca when his Rick had a problem with Dennis

497
00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:11,639
Speaker 4: because he didn't believe in him, and you can, I

498
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,800
Speaker 4: would say this, you can. You can definitely say hey,

499
00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:19,080
Speaker 4: Rick's player evaluation was on point, but his approach was

500
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,639
Speaker 4: dead wrong, right, Yeah, And that meeting got worse and

501
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,719
Speaker 4: worse and worse, to the point where Rick lost the

502
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:27,440
Speaker 4: locker room. In that meeting again a week into Luca's career,

503
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:30,919
Speaker 4: he cracked the foundation. Forget like that locker room, he

504
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 4: cracked the foundation and his relationship with Luca one week

505
00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 4: into his career with that team meeting not great.

506
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:40,560
Speaker 2: I am curious, like this Kyrie Irving injury the MAVs

507
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:44,119
Speaker 2: next year? Is there any world where they're a playoff

508
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,119
Speaker 2: team next year? I mean it sounds like Kyrie's probably

509
00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:49,560
Speaker 2: out until the All Star break January at best.

510
00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:52,000
Speaker 4: I don't know, Yeah, I mean his goal is to

511
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:55,000
Speaker 4: get back at January. I think you've got to give

512
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,119
Speaker 4: him some grace if he doesn't reach that goal. Coming

513
00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 4: off of to warn acl at the age of thirty three,

514
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 4: you know he's going to miss somewhere around half the season.

515
00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 4: And then you know, is he going to be like,

516
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,240
Speaker 4: is it going to be back to himself at any

517
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,680
Speaker 4: point next next season. It's asking a lot out of

518
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:16,920
Speaker 4: a guy that age coming off of that sort of injury.

519
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,040
Speaker 4: But look, is there a world where they're a playoff team. Yeah,

520
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 4: they've got to find a stop gap creator for sure.

521
00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:27,400
Speaker 4: And I don't you know, I'm just throwing this name

522
00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:29,119
Speaker 4: out off the top of my head. This isn't like

523
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:31,080
Speaker 4: a source name, but like a guy like a Dennis

524
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:35,439
Speaker 4: shrewder right, like a veteran who there might not be

525
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:37,600
Speaker 4: a big free agency market for. But you know, hey,

526
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,399
Speaker 4: if you put the ball in this guy's hands, like

527
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 4: he's going to be able to degenerate some offense, he's

528
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,920
Speaker 4: going to be able to score. And you know, Niko's

529
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,639
Speaker 4: thing is, you can't judge this yet because of the injuries.

530
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 4: I think you're gonna be able to say that in

531
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,200
Speaker 4: the next year though, because Kyrie is such a huge

532
00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,880
Speaker 4: part of this thing, and how are you going to say, Hey,

533
00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:02,919
Speaker 4: you know, you get the full version of Kyrie Irving

534
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 4: coming off of torn acl that's going to cause him

535
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:09,879
Speaker 4: to miss at least the first thirty or so games.

536
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:11,840
Speaker 3: Not ideal for Dallas.

537
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 4: Listen, if Anthony Davis can stay healthy, which is obviously

538
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:17,479
Speaker 4: been if Derek LaVey can stay healthy, which has been

539
00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:21,040
Speaker 4: a challenge. I'm curious to see if Daniel Gafford is

540
00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:22,960
Speaker 4: back for the last year of his contract or if

541
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,119
Speaker 4: there's maybe if he's the guy that's moved in the

542
00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:30,199
Speaker 4: summer trade market. But they will have a big, athletic,

543
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:35,639
Speaker 4: defensive front court, you know, like I understand the vision,

544
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:39,640
Speaker 4: but they've got to get a guard who can generate

545
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:40,480
Speaker 4: offense in there.

546
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:43,720
Speaker 2: It's probably not super Max Christie. But although I like him,

547
00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:46,440
Speaker 2: I just don't know that he's the guy. Let me

548
00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:50,080
Speaker 2: ask you. You know, I don't want to try to

549
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 2: make this a thing, but Luca and Lebron did not

550
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:56,280
Speaker 2: seem to be like a communicating a lot at the

551
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,440
Speaker 2: end of the Minnesota series, the last two games during

552
00:28:58,440 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 2: the season.

553
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:00,360
Speaker 3: You know, my buddy, Yes he's a ticket. We would

554
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:01,680
Speaker 3: go to games and you can watch.

555
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,480
Speaker 2: And they were like, I didn't totally see that, And

556
00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 2: I wonder this is just speculation. Do you think there's

557
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:09,800
Speaker 2: a world where Lebron is watching the film the way

558
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:11,960
Speaker 2: Carlisle did and it's just like, man, this guy's out

559
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,240
Speaker 2: of shape, he ain't boxing out, he's not getting back.

560
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:16,960
Speaker 2: I just wonder Lebron, we know, is like a crazy

561
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,480
Speaker 2: person when it comes to working out, massages, eating, right.

562
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:22,440
Speaker 2: Do you think there could be friction over this?

563
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 4: You know, I'm not around that. I have not been

564
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:28,200
Speaker 4: around that team on a regular basis. I think I've

565
00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:32,360
Speaker 4: seen them play four games in person since the trade.

566
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:35,320
Speaker 4: I just don't want to put myself in a position

567
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:39,920
Speaker 4: where I'm speculating, Yeah, that kind of drama. You know.

568
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 4: The one thing I will say is Lebron since Luca's

569
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:48,760
Speaker 4: rookie year, has been a huge fan of the guy's game.

570
00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,800
Speaker 4: Like there was a ton and and Luca grew up

571
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:54,720
Speaker 4: like Lebron was his NBA idol. You know, if you

572
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:58,080
Speaker 4: ask him his idol, I'll tell you this guy Vanilla Spinulas.

573
00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:00,200
Speaker 4: I believe I'm pronouncing that correctly, who's like this Earl

574
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:04,080
Speaker 4: League legend and and Lebron James uh though, you know,

575
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:07,600
Speaker 4: Lebron was the guy who he watched like the highlights

576
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 4: of and and you know all that stuff growing up

577
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:12,959
Speaker 4: in Slovenia, and then when he went over to Spain,

578
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:19,320
Speaker 4: and I know that Lebron very quickly kind of embraced

579
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:22,959
Speaker 4: Luca as his peer in terms of talent. I mean,

580
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:25,360
Speaker 4: one of the one of the chapter titles of my

581
00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 4: book is a bad motherfucker. And that is a direct

582
00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:32,600
Speaker 4: quote from Lebron in a game very early in Luca's

583
00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 4: second year, and it was a moment where Luca put

584
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,360
Speaker 4: up bonkers numbers, Lebron put up bonkers numbers. The Lakers win,

585
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:41,800
Speaker 4: but they're dapping each other up postgame. The ESPN cameras

586
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:44,920
Speaker 4: caught it. Lebron said, you a bad motherfucker. And if

587
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,600
Speaker 4: you know, if Lebron ain't just telling that to everybody,

588
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:50,240
Speaker 4: you know, he's telling that to Luca at the age

589
00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 4: of I believe Luca was still a teenager at the time.

590
00:30:55,120 --> 00:31:02,640
Speaker 4: So again, you know, there's there's definitely respect there in

591
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 4: terms of, you know, what Lebron has thought of Luca's

592
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:09,920
Speaker 4: performance or Luca's conditioning or effort and all that. I

593
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:11,920
Speaker 4: would just be guessing, and I don't want to put myself.

594
00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:14,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, I only brought it up because Lebron's handpicked every

595
00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:16,800
Speaker 2: guy that he's his wingman throughout his career.

596
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,000
Speaker 3: He didn't hand pick this one, the best we can tell,

597
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 3: So I just.

598
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:24,440
Speaker 4: The other thing there is Lebron's the wingman? Now? Yes,

599
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:27,320
Speaker 4: I mean, let's just be real, and that's no not Hey,

600
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 4: Lebron is going to be an All NBA player this

601
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,600
Speaker 4: year at the age of forty, which is insane. It's insane.

602
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:35,440
Speaker 4: But Luca is the guy who that franchise is going

603
00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:37,840
Speaker 4: to revolve around for the next decade or so.

604
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:42,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you approached Luca about the book, I'm curious,

605
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,520
Speaker 2: how did he take it? Was he open to this,

606
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:46,840
Speaker 2: did he want to meet with you a lot? Was

607
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:48,640
Speaker 2: he just like, hey, do whatever, I'm not involved? Like,

608
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:49,600
Speaker 2: how did that go down?

609
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 4: I didn't approach him about it. Oh, and I didn't

610
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:57,960
Speaker 4: anticipate any cooperation from him, And that was fine, you know.

611
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,160
Speaker 4: And again that's why I didn't approach It's like some

612
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:04,120
Speaker 4: pure biography one. I think it's premature for just a

613
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,200
Speaker 4: buch Piana guy, right, But that's why I kind of

614
00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 4: I tried to approach on the pressure on a franchise.

615
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:12,680
Speaker 4: When you drafted Prodigy through the prism of Luca and

616
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:15,320
Speaker 4: the Mavericks, and they're already this was a few years

617
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 4: ago that I started the project. There are already being

618
00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,719
Speaker 4: all kinds of twists and turns and drama and dysfunction

619
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:25,880
Speaker 4: and chaos and success, and that obviously continued over the

620
00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:31,520
Speaker 4: next few years, but Luca didn't. He wasn't fond of it.

621
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:35,680
Speaker 4: And actually when I went to Slovenia and then followed

622
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:39,120
Speaker 4: his team his national team in Germany for group play

623
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:42,080
Speaker 4: of Euroa Basket sumwhere twenty two, he didn't make out

624
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:46,640
Speaker 4: eye contact with me the whole trip, which wasn't necessarily unusual.

625
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 4: Luca was, especially at that point, was not one who

626
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:56,040
Speaker 4: and look, we butted heads Mavericks fans, I remember that, yeah,

627
00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,080
Speaker 4: and all that kind of silly stuff, but which is

628
00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:04,880
Speaker 4: fine now. He didn't once I talked to, you know,

629
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 4: to people in his camp, his agent, Bill Duffy, his

630
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:12,800
Speaker 4: business manager Laura Beth Seger, and said, listen, I'm not

631
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:17,760
Speaker 4: digging into like Luca's private life. For his personal life,

632
00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:20,360
Speaker 4: that's awful limits. This is a book about basketball in

633
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:25,040
Speaker 4: the business of basketball. He at least was okay with it,

634
00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:27,720
Speaker 4: okay in the sense of like there wasn't like an

635
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:30,960
Speaker 4: not that we never butted heads again, but like the

636
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:36,480
Speaker 4: book wasn't like some big adversarial issue between us and

637
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:38,920
Speaker 4: his voice is in their plenty. He never sat down

638
00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:41,160
Speaker 4: with me specifically for the book, but obviously I've covered

639
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 4: the guy's entire career, so his voice is in their plenty.

640
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:47,880
Speaker 2: And it seems like there's no sordid Luca off the

641
00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:50,400
Speaker 2: court stuff, Like Anthony Edwards is out here knocking up

642
00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:54,480
Speaker 2: all these Instagram influencers, and Zion's got whatever he's got

643
00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:57,560
Speaker 2: going on with adult film stars. But Lucas seems and again,

644
00:33:57,600 --> 00:33:59,640
Speaker 2: you know him way better. He seems like kind of

645
00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:01,800
Speaker 2: a clean cut dude who is easy to root for.

646
00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:05,640
Speaker 4: Maybe I would say Mavericks fans certainly found him easy

647
00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:08,480
Speaker 4: to root for. You know, I think the Lakers fans

648
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:11,880
Speaker 4: are as well. Yeah, there's not Luca has not created

649
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,799
Speaker 4: any sort of a scandal off the court. How yeah,

650
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:16,600
Speaker 4: that I am comfortable saying.

651
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:19,600
Speaker 2: We could wrap up with this tim over under one

652
00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:22,880
Speaker 2: and a half titles for Luca in his NBA career.

653
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:25,160
Speaker 2: We don't know what the injuries or how the body's

654
00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:26,440
Speaker 2: going to hold up into his thirties.

655
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:28,600
Speaker 3: Probably won't be playing at forty like Lebron.

656
00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:31,799
Speaker 2: But I'm just I think he's one of the best

657
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:34,399
Speaker 2: players in the world, if not the best, although right

658
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:35,479
Speaker 2: now that's tough to say.

659
00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:37,040
Speaker 3: But I'll set it at one and a half.

660
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:40,600
Speaker 4: That's a good overrunner. I set the overrunner at his

661
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:43,000
Speaker 4: MVPs at one and a half after his rookie year.

662
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 4: I would still take the over on that. Yeah, you know,

663
00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:50,600
Speaker 4: and again I think a lot of this does come

664
00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:54,520
Speaker 4: down to what kind of commitment year round, twenty four

665
00:34:54,520 --> 00:35:00,160
Speaker 4: hours a day, not just conditioning but diet lifestyle is

666
00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:04,080
Speaker 4: he willing to make. I think that his chances of

667
00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:10,279
Speaker 4: winning championships improved with his trade, and not immediately right. Obviously,

668
00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:13,400
Speaker 4: they have bounced in five games after to the finals

669
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:18,360
Speaker 4: the year before. But it's not hard to attract talent

670
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:22,960
Speaker 4: to play for the Lakers in LA, right, So for example,

671
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:27,359
Speaker 4: they have a glaring void for a rim running, rim

672
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,759
Speaker 4: protecting center. Those type of players are going to be

673
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:33,640
Speaker 4: lining up trying to get to La to play with

674
00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:38,640
Speaker 4: Luca for the Lakers. So I would take the over. Obviously,

675
00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:42,000
Speaker 4: the Lakers franchise has a track record of being able

676
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:46,439
Speaker 4: to win with these sort of generational talents. Somehow they're

677
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,239
Speaker 4: able to keep getting these guys even when you know,

678
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:53,719
Speaker 4: like just delivered to them. But yeah, I would still

679
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:54,640
Speaker 4: take the over on that.

680
00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,360
Speaker 2: You mentioned Gafford earlier, I'm looking at his contract, so

681
00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:58,439
Speaker 2: he's got one more year.

682
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:01,080
Speaker 3: I'm sure he would be itching.

683
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:02,360
Speaker 2: To get back with Luca as opposed to be like

684
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:04,719
Speaker 2: the third Banana but behind lively ad.

685
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:07,400
Speaker 3: But I don't know how. I don't know how the

686
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:08,680
Speaker 3: Lakers can get him.

687
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:13,120
Speaker 4: I mean, they're definitely pathways. The question is, would Nico

688
00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:15,280
Speaker 4: Harrison be willing to make another trade for the Lakers

689
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,640
Speaker 4: that would really benefit uh? Luka doncis you would have

690
00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:21,480
Speaker 4: to obviously be a win win type of deal. But

691
00:36:21,719 --> 00:36:24,120
Speaker 4: you know, I'm that you mentioned and that's not the

692
00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:27,799
Speaker 4: first time that possibility has crossed my mind. By the way,

693
00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:30,319
Speaker 4: with Gaffer, Luca's been trying to recruit him to play

694
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,640
Speaker 4: for the Slovenian national team. Wow. You know, you can

695
00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:36,680
Speaker 4: become a naturalized citizen. They can have one naturalized citizen.

696
00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:39,680
Speaker 4: It's always with Luca. It's always an American lob threat.

697
00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:43,879
Speaker 4: Hadn't been an NBA American lob threat, but they have been.

698
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,120
Speaker 4: And Luca's dad, Sasha is now running the Slovenian uh

699
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:49,919
Speaker 4: you know, like he's whatever. I forget the exact title

700
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:53,239
Speaker 4: essential to GM for the Slovenian national program. They've been

701
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:55,279
Speaker 4: trying to recruit gafferd to play with him there.

702
00:36:56,320 --> 00:36:57,600
Speaker 3: Wow, smart move by Luca.

703
00:36:57,719 --> 00:36:59,920
Speaker 2: All Right, the book is The Wonder Boy Luca don

704
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:01,799
Speaker 2: chuch in the Curse of Greatness.

705
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:03,560
Speaker 3: Tim, Hey, thanks a lot man for coming on.

706
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:06,080
Speaker 2: And uh, you know, hopefully I'll get invited to one

707
00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:07,719
Speaker 2: of your pickup games and show you what I got.

708
00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:10,360
Speaker 4: You bet root for the Clippers. We'll definitely have a

709
00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:11,959
Speaker 4: run out there. I appreciate your brother,