WEBVTT - Dame Puts A Ring On Portland 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:17.919 On this episode of The Heat Check, I explain why 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:19.120 is a Portland Trailwazer fan. 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.040 We have basically put Damian Lillard. 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:24.239 We've got golden handcuffs on him for the rest of 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:29.320 his natural life. He's probably gonna get a gravestone in Portland. 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:31.880 Why I'm so excited. I'm gonna explain to you all 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.000 the thirty reasons why we're also gonna get into the 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:37.279 new rule changes and the rule new ball, how that 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:41.599 uh changes the complexion of the NBA, and why it's 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.280 actually not so fun, and how it's affecting shooters league wide. 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:53.840 So do me a favorite rock drop that motherfucking This 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:55.400 is gonna be a long winded story. 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.040 I'm gonna I'm gonna get to a point in a 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.520 circuitous Man, let me just tell you about moving. 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:08.480 Moving is I tell you what. It's unlike anything else. 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:11.120 It's maybe they call it one of the most stressful 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:16.360 events in your life. And there are things that it 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.520 really just doesn't matter how much money you have that 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:22.080 you have to do them yourself. Like I've tried to 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:26.000 hire these things out. I'm willing to pay whatever, not whatever, 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:31.679 but I'm willing to pay pretty much whatever. And they 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:35.480 just they're just decisions that nobody but you can make. 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:39.280 Like your eyeball is your brain. You know, stuff whether 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:41.520 you need it, whether you don't, where it goes, et cetera. 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:45.560 And that takes time, that takes energy. That is hard. 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:49.960 And you have to figure out when to get the 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:52.200 cable guy in and you can't just you have to 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.480 figure out like you have to your eye line has 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:55.840 to be where they set up the TV. 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:58.400 Like all of it is is you. 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:03.200 You know, even if Dame Lillard, even if you make 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:08.520 forty million a year, some stuff you just have to 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:09.239 do yourself. 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:10.680 Uh. 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:14.040 And even if you are Dame Lillard, you can hire 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.480 some out right, But what if you're Dame Lollard's cousin. 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:23.200 What if you're Dame Lillard's nephew, second cousin, second brother, whatever. Right, 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:28.200 all of this to say, there are a few reasons. 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:30.239 Based on a news story that has come to light 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:32.520 by Chris Haynes, my guy, the only guy on the 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:34.240 podcast I really referenced by name. 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.680 All the other reporters just random reporters. 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.160 He did an interview with Dame and now I know 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:47.440 based on this, Dame is never leaving Portland. Never two 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.280 days ago. There were a couple of things in this 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:55.480 story that gave me tremendous solace. One Dame Lillard came 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:57.440 out and told the world and told Chris Haynes, which 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.240 then told the world that he met with Lebron James 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:03.920 off season and Lebron James and Anthony Davis recruited him. 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:08.640 To go to the Lakers. Whoa that is? 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:12.200 That is a wrinkle, right, There are some things that 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.960 if you're considering them, you don't come out to the 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:19.600 world and say happened. If he's still thinking about joining 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:28.000 a super team, then that never comes out, right, He said, 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:30.400 that is not my thing. I sat with them and 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.000 I realized this is not for me. I could see 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:35.720 myself in La but not with Braun and not with 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:39.760 ad Because once you decide to chase a ring, he said, 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:43.960 you could be moved immediately if it things don't work out, 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.400 you end up leaving the town or the city that 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:49.000 drafted you, and then all of a sudden you're onto 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:51.360 another team, and then on to another team, and on 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:55.960 another team I don't know, like Chris Paul, or Russell 0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:02.280 Westbrook or Carmelo Right. So that gave me as a 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:07.640 Portland Trailblazer fan quite a bit of peace, but not 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:11.440 as much as this. This paragraph in the Haynes article 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:16.920 gave me almost like I've got you your mind now, 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:18.960 you know your mine forever now. 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:21.720 This quote? All right? 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:25.720 So it it turns out Lillard is from Oakland, right. 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:31.520 Lillard is from Oakland, California. The closest destination to play 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:35.760 basketball outside of places that already have two Max stars 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:39.080 and you can't have three outside of LA, outside of 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:42.240 Golden State, outside of Sacramento, which no one is going 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.560 to go to outside of Utah, is Portland. 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:44.920 Right. 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:51.240 So he's got tremendous family life. But he also has 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:58.880 thirty family members who have moved from Oakland to Portland, 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:03.599 Oregon to live in him with him somewhere nearby in 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:08.200 some enclave. He has regular barbecues with like sixty people 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.760 there in West Lynn, Oregon. 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:11.159 Right. 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:15.400 And they wait for him in the family and friends 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:19.039 section of the Modus Center, and they go to postgame dinners, 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.680 and they roll Dame juniors roaming the halliday in the 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:24.200 hallways of Modus Center. 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:26.440 It's like he's at home. Right. 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.720 So if Dame were decided were to decide to leave, 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:32.480 what are those thirty people need to do. 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:35.880 They would all need to move, wouldn't they. 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.800 They would all need to uproot their life that they 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:42.800 have built in the last ten years in the league 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.880 that Dame's been there, and find a new house in 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:50.080 a new neighborhood and new Infinity and FiOS and box 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:53.159 it up and travel this and that, all thirty of them. 0:05:54.360 --> 0:06:01.440 That would disrupt an entire family units. And he knew 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:05.040 that if he was going to leave that that would 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:10.120 change a reliable family dynamic that he values. How do 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.000 we know he values it because even he and his 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:18.080 long term girlfriend Kayla, who they've had some ups and downs. 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:20.599 I know that we all know that he put a 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.400 ring on it. This summer, he put a ring on that. 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:27.440 And now he's put a ring on his relationship again, 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:33.839 reunited his vows with Portland. There's no way if Dame 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:37.040 were to leave to Philadelphia, all thirty of those family 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:38.520 members go to Philadelphia. 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.479 No way. By the way, Philadelphia is a shithole. 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:46.120 And if you're from the West Coast, and you also 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:47.960 those thirty people want to be close to the other 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.680 thirty people that are in Oakland, right, that whole little 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.960 dynamic is very close knit. But also close together in 0:06:56.040 --> 0:07:00.000 terms of travel time. You're not gonna move six hours 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.520 across the country, seven hours across the country, flight time 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.560 to go to some shitty place with shitty food and 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:08.680 shitty fan base. 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:10.440 No chance. 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:13.280 If it was just Dame, maybe Dame's wife and kids, 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:21.000 maybe thirty thirty people, no chance, box their shit, find 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.680 Xfinity fine files in a flash. What if then he 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.840 gets moved to Houston. What if the moves to Oklahoma City, 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:33.760 God forbid. That is not the vibe I knew right then. 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:36.480 We've got him forever, folks. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.000 Not only, as he said publicly, he doesn't want to 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:39.840 go to a super. 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:44.360 Team, he also is not destroying that little community. 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:46.480 He said. 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.640 My family encouraged me not to make a decision based 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:51.080 on them. 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.400 Pause, and that's a lie. 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:58.680 They they said we're gonna be fine, But I know 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:02.360 that they said that to be un selfish. Yes, when 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:04.640 I was thinking about potentially leaving, I was thinking, is 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.280 it really worth it to chase what all these other 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:09.440 people are telling me I have to do or have 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:11.520 to have, or is it important just to do what 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:15.040 means something to me. If there's anybody in this league 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:16.640 that moves to the beat, of their own drum. 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:18.040 It's me. 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:22.520 And I think people look at it like, ah, he's 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.360 just taking the money. He doesn't want to win. The 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.640 media is so accustomed to rocking the boat and making 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:30.880 people move how they want them to move, and that's 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:33.920 not gonna happen with me. Basically, in this article, Dame said, 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:36.040 I know what you fuckers do. You guys try to 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:38.200 plant seas. Tell me I'm not gonna be a legend 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:40.480 unless I win a ring. And I know that there's 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:42.679 a possibility I might not win a ring if I 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.040 stay in Portland. And what's the only way I can 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:47.000 assure to win a ring? Oh, I have to join 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.040 a super team. But that's against my ethos and my morals. 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:50.040 But you're pushing me to do that. 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:50.680 What do I do? 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:52.959 Then you have a nervous breakdown, which you sort of have. 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.920 He is ten toes down, you know what? He also said, 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:04.400 I I am going and am willing to go down 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:05.319 with the ship. 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:09.200 We got him, folks. He is willing to die for us. 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:14.160 He is willing to stay on this modus centered Titanic and. 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:21.040 Go peeo, peo peo? Are you kidding me? My guy? 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.839 Dame Willard also came out with a freestyle that said 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:28.360 not joining a super team might be my Achilles heel, 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.960 but I don't care, folks. 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.840 Then he goes on to say, yes, I'm. 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:35.559 Sure it would be great to play with Lebron and 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:37.880 Ad and play in a big market, But as attractive 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.480 as it sounded, and as fun as that might be, 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.280 I don't feel that in my heart that's who I 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:47.720 am or where I belong. And the one thing I 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:50.880 must emphasize, he says, is this was not made out 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:52.920 of comfort. I'm not afraid to go out of my 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.640 comfort zone because I'm not. I'm going to live in 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.400 Portland when I'm done playing, regardless, he is going. 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:01.520 To stay in Portland for the rest of his days. 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:06.280 My Lord Damian Lillard is gonna get a street in Oregon. 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:07.720 In Portland, Oregon. 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:11.360 We're gonna replace Caesar Chavez Road, which used to be 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.480 Martin Luther King Junior, But because there's so much crime 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:17.840 on MKA Junior Boulevard, they changed it to Caesar Chravis. 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:20.400 Now they're gonna change it to Dame Lillard Boulevard. Because 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:24.079 you know why, Dame Lillard is never fucking leaving Portland. 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:27.600 We've got him forever. Portland fans look in the mirror 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:28.960 and say this. 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:33.679 We owe it to Dame to bring this man a ring. 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:35.680 But you know what, if we don't, he is going 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:38.439 to die. He's probably going to have a gravestone in Portland, Oregon. 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.800 Let me just say this, The best news I could 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:45.600 ever get as a Portland Trailblazer fan, knowing that we 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:49.640 probably will never win a ring is knowing that Dame 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:51.760 Willard will never leave us. 0:10:53.040 --> 0:11:03.640 Thank the Lord, baby Jesus. I guess, I guess that's 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:04.440 just the bull. 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:17.360 I guess the motion, the freedom of motion. The eighties 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:22.280 and the nineties are largely considered to be the golden 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:23.840 era of the NBA. 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:30.000 Magic Bird Jordan, it's basically. 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:34.080 The basketball equivalent of what your parents used to do 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.480 or your grandparents used to do, where they're like, yeah, 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:40.400 I used to walk to school in the snow with 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:44.400 no shoes on, uphill both ways with a lunch pail 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:45.840 box filled with potatoes. 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.280 That's the NBA. That's the old heads in the NBA. 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:55.200 Be like, listen, all these young guns, they don't know 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:57.080 what it's like. They don't know what it's like to 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:00.440 be assaulted when you go to the rim they do, 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:02.040 they get a little slap on the hand and they 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.160 go to the free throat line. I tell you what 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:05.960 a slap in the slap in the hand was like 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:09.400 a handshake. Back of my day, we only used. 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.960 To get gas on Wednesdays. We used to line up 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.600 around the block the Depression era. 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:20.360 That's like the NBA players who we grew up loving. 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:25.680 If you're my age, Shack and Penny and Charles Barkley, 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:26.840 like Gow, these. 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:28.160 Guys are so soft. 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:32.800 Despite the guys today are in better shape, better condition, 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:37.719 could jump higher, run faster, stronger. Earlier people believe that 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.720 played in the nineties, those guys would not be able 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:46.480 to let survive, let alone thrive in the nineties and 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:50.400 the eighties. Why do they believe that, Well, because of 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:54.960 something called the freedom of movement rule. Players in the 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:58.040 NBA today have been given more freedom to move than 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:00.959 they had in the eighties and nineties because oh, we 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:02.040 wanted to. 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:03.480 See more offense. 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:06.560 We want We didn't want to see eighty seven ninety 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:10.840 one games, so no hand checking shooters get a full 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:16.520 landing area that extends multiple zip codes, full parking spaces 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:19.480 for you to kick out and land wherever you want, 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:21.480 and basically a guy has to come through and then 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:23.200 move out of the way or you. 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.199 Get a foul call. All of us. 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:28.760 They said, it was to allow us to see the 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.720 full breadth and the depth of the creativity and athleticism 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:37.599 on display that these NBA players have in their quivers. 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:40.320 But truthfully, it's for money. 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:42.800 You know, it's so that it's more watchable and that 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.240 the NBA can be more profitable. 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:49.840 And it has been right. But economists would. 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:53.439 Point out a little econ lesson for folks is there 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:57.880 are certain things called unintended consequences. Right, you make a 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:02.360 decision and then things happened that you didn't exactly see coming, 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:05.080 and that happened in this freedom. 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:05.480 Of movement rule. 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:10.760 The unintended consequences of the freedom of movement rule were 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:12.320 this one. 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.480 All contact now favors the offense. 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:22.560 So offensive players start initiating contact on purpose knowing that 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.240 the refs are gonna call the foul on the defender 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:27.800 because they get the benefit of the doubt, not the defender. 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:31.520 They get to the free throw line quicker to the 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:36.440 bonus quicker. Defenders that are defensive oriented players get in 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:40.160 foul trouble earlier, so they either get fouled out or 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:45.520 they back the fuck up and play more passive defense. 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.400 They give them more room, which allows you to get 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.760 more open shots, allowing points to go up and up 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:56.000 and up. But not only did that happen, you also 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:59.280 get guys like Trey Young and James Harden and Steph 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:03.240 Curry exploit these rules, take advantage of these rules, take 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:07.600 advantage of the system, start gaming the system, manipulating it 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:11.760 like uh, you know, inside trading kind of a thing, 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:15.960 like a manipulative investor. So scoring went up every year 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:18.880 for seven straight years. We saw record free throw attempts. 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:21.280 We also say out of the game that we love 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.840 and this freedom of movement, this free flowing offense, that 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:28.160 that was what it was intended to do, become stagnant 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:32.080 on the other side because players just started throwing their 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:35.520 bodies into their defenders, and instead of seeing motion, we 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:39.280 started seeing free throws. Only nobody gives a fuck about 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:41.920 just watching these specimen be at the free throw line 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:42.360 all day. 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:44.360 That's not what we want. 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.200 So then the NBA is like, Okay, we gotta step in, 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.360 we gotta do something about this. Enter this last offseason, 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:55.840 the Competition Committee decided probably three years too late, truthfully, 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.280 that this is at a fucking hand, Like Trey Young, 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.800 you can't run and stop short like you do on 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:05.080 the road, and it would be like if you as 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:08.840 a speedy sports car literally are speeding up and you're 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:11.240 in a race and you slow the fuck down, you 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:13.120 put on your brakes, the other car hits you and 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.640 they're like, yo, is your fault that you ran into 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:19.320 this Frari. It's like, well, you should have saw that 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.560 they were gonna stop. No, that's bullshit, right. They knew 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.640 this needed to be eliminated, these non basketball moves because 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:27.880 that's not a basketball move. 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:29.000 We've seen it. 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:32.800 Steve Nash said, what Trey Jung's doing is not basketball, 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:35.120 even though Harden is doing the same thing. 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.320 It's just kind of funny, kind of ironic. 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.080 So they're like, okay, we gotta unvail a plan to 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:45.240 eliminate these rules stemming from this player launching themselves into 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:45.840 a defender. 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:48.120 This guy. 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.280 Monty mccletchen, of the NBA VP of Referee Development said this. 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:55.360 The reason behind it was, we want to balance out 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:59.200 the ability of a defensive player to compete with passion 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:03.920 with an offensive player who can also compete with passion. 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:11.240 What a wild, non scientific explanation behind it. And when 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:15.239 we find that balance, good competition is the result. They 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.159 don't want to favor either side too much, right eighties 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:23.720 nineties too much defense, Uh, favored two tens too much offense. 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.640 And now star players are fucked. They are so mad. 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:33.800 Players are livid, Dame, Steph Harden, Trey, all of them, chucking, 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:40.480 all of them brick city, right, just tough, tough, tough 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:43.520 players who relied on the line, going to line like 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:45.840 ten to fifteen times a game, like James Harden, have 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:54.240 seen their attempts as a result, right like unders are hitting, 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:59.600 They're decreasing like fifty percent in some cases. And now 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:03.720 start are having to adjust and they are rugs, shrug, 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:08.680 street Baby Trey, Dame Booker, PG all off to uncharacteristically 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:11.800 slow starts. Remember I say the other day, what the 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.399 fuck is up with Dame? Yeah, he can't literally launch 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:19.160 his body into people anymore and become logo Lillard. Guys 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.159 can just get up into his body, and then you know, 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.680 free throw attempts way down, points, way down. Scoring Now, 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.080 as a result of this rule change is at its 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:33.640 lowest level on average since twenty fourteen. Who it's been 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:37.960 seven years since we've seen points score this low. But 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:41.120 the good news for folks, I guess it might be good, 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:43.520 might be bad that the NBA might not even be 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:45.320 done tweaking the rules. 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:47.040 As it concerns transition. 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:49.720 They're now I didn't even know this was a They 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:52.280 had an actual word for it. They're called take fouls. 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.720 The free you know, the clear path foul, They're called 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:59.960 take fouls. So the Competition Committee encouraged the League office 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:04.560 to now develop a new rule change that would basically 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:12.240 eliminate this going forward, all of this for freedom of 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:18.320 movement that made the game so exciting without allowing the 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:20.359 thuggery of the bad boy Pistons. 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:24.440 Yeah, it's gonna be a really interesting thing to watch. 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:28.240 I think from a betting perspective, you're gonna need to 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:32.160 take the unders on all of those little chuckers. Take 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:35.000 the unders on Dame, Take the unders on Harden. 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:35.880 I got burned on that. 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:39.840 Take the unders on Trey, Take the unders on Steph. 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:44.160 And for other players like DeMar Derosian and Rashaan Holmes, 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:47.520 guys who can actually play through contact because they are 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:51.560 built ready to play in the eighties and nineties, the 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:56.800 rule changes are actually allowing them to thrive and for others, 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:00.240 like I said, like Dame, like Trey, like Harden Sink 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:04.960 or swim Baby, because these rule changes, I hate to say, 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.480 are here to stay city bitch Rag rag City, Bitch 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:12.080 rag City, bitch rack rack City, Bitch rack City, bitch 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:16.320 rack Rex. Remember how hard it was for players to 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:21.040 adjust to FEBA, Like I don't think I saw I 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.840 don't think I saw Dame make a three pointer in 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:27.520 the Olympics until like the gold medal game, like Chason 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:32.320 Tatum was like these guys looked awful, right, Obviously, we 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:35.880 like we just talked about, these rule changes in FOEBA 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:38.760 are very similar to these new rule changes. 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:39.720 That was one reason. 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:47.560 Another reason, though, was the ball the ball article after article, 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:51.320 what's up with these new spongy balls, these weird colored, 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:59.280 weird seam balls. Right, So imagine if you took FOEBA rules, 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.120 which we're now seeing some of them, at least as 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.000 it relates to foul calls, and then you added a 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:11.360 foeb ball, janky ass feb ball, and forced it upon 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:15.719 the NBA. You would fucking hate to see that. Except 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:18.480 for that is what's happening right now. That is where 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:22.240 we're at. New rules, new ball, brick city, bitch back, 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:24.000 brick city, bitch ten. 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:27.120 And let's face it. 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:31.240 The first part of the NBA season has seen great 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:35.960 shooters like Dame Trey do nothing but clink, and you 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:37.720 can't really figure out why is it? The ball is 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:41.399 the rule changes, I don't know Offenses. Offense is down 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:46.520 five points per game on average this year, the lowest total, 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:49.320 Like I said earlier since twenty fourteen. 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:51.920 The Harden rule is a part of it. 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:54.920 These guys have gone from shooting ten free throws a 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:56.880 game to five free throws a game. 0:21:56.880 --> 0:21:57.960 I'm sure that's a part of it. 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:03.639 But I did say last year the basketball is going 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:05.480 to be a problem trying to play. 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:07.640 I like the Wilson ball. 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:09.720 I like the Wilson Evolution ball, but I grew up 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:13.120 on the Wilson Evolution ball because truthfully, my poor ass 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:16.280 couldn't afford a real leather basketball, So the spongy, sort 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:19.080 of composite element of the evolution was sort of like 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:23.960 great indoor balls versus some rubber, weird Nike ball that 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:28.080 I use on double rims and metal nets and shit, Like, 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:30.440 I'm not a basketball player, right, Like, I'm not an 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:36.000 NBA basketball player. I'm not used to Spaulding, and now 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:38.920 these guys are having to adjust. 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:40.480 Let's refresh what I said. 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:44.120 Spalding has been an official basketball of the NBA since 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:48.399 nineteen eighty four. I mean that was Michael Jordan's rookie year. 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:51.240 The ball has been the same since Michael Jordan's rookie year. 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:56.520 Three generations of stars have only known that type of ball. 0:22:57.359 --> 0:23:00.600 And this year, for some fucking weird reason, Adam Silver 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:04.359 doing new things. He's instituting new rules just because he 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:06.399 just wants to do it. He's like, ah, you know, 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:10.119 like like playing tournament, all the guys put on the 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:13.479 same like exact minute, just like European soccer. 0:23:13.520 --> 0:23:15.920 We're gonna like have them not be able to know 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:16.920 who's in who's out. 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:20.600 It's gonna be awesome. Like EPL is so cool, Let's 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:23.919 do EPL things. That's what he's doing now, Okay, Like 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:26.919 we're gonna do a mid season tournament just like the EPL. 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:31.720