Speaker 1: Welcome to this League Uncut in the rule of twenty
Speaker 1: four hour NBA news. This's you'll, Chris Hanes.
Speaker 2: It's go time, work's.
Speaker 1: Time, it's so time. This League Uncut is underway and
Speaker 1: on fire. This should be a good one. Friends, Welcome
Speaker 1: in to the eve of the NBA season, the NBA
Speaker 1: seventy eighth season. It starts tomorrow night. Chris Haynes and
Speaker 1: I are recording this edition of This League Uncut late
Speaker 1: Monday night, a very newsy Monday in the NBA. Some
Speaker 1: of the news we expected. It was extension deadline day
Speaker 1: for the Class of twenty twenty first round picks. I
Speaker 1: think we ended up with fourteen contract extensions, a new record.
Speaker 1: But all of that was upended and overshadowed sometime after
Speaker 1: the six PM buzzer for the Class of twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: when Yanis on Tetokumpo himself announced to the world that
Speaker 1: he has extended his contract with the Milwaukee Bucks. And
Speaker 1: as luck would have it, my good friend Chris Haynes
Speaker 1: was traveling to Milwaukee today. He is now safely in Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: He'll be covering Thursday nights Bucks season opener against the Drama.
Speaker 1: Leaden Philadelphia seventy six ers. Mister Haynes, how's Milwaukee treating
Speaker 1: you so far? Not as well as it's treating Yannis.
Speaker 1: But you are there in the heart of the NBA
Speaker 1: news cauldron.
Speaker 2: Milwaukee. It looks it is fall falls in the air,
Speaker 2: beautiful scenery.
Speaker 1: St You've always got to take it back to weather.
Speaker 1: Whenever I bring up Milwaukee, the first thing, the first
Speaker 1: thing you give me is the weather report.
Speaker 2: I mean Stein. That is important, that is very important.
Speaker 2: But it is beautiful. The weather is beautiful Stein. You know,
Speaker 2: I went walking walking downtown. It's afternoon, a little bit
Speaker 2: of rain, a little bit of rain, but not too cold.
Speaker 2: I did not bring a jacket. That was a mistake
Speaker 2: by me. I have a sweater.
Speaker 1: Do you have a shirt for Do you have a
Speaker 1: shirt for your TV?
Speaker 2: I do have a you know what. So part of
Speaker 2: me going walking downtown, I actually stopped at a store
Speaker 2: and picked up a shirt to do to do the
Speaker 2: interview that I have scheduled tomorrow Stein. So, but the
Speaker 2: weather is okay, it's not it's not horrible like they
Speaker 2: said it might be. It's doable, and so for that
Speaker 2: I am grateful.
Speaker 1: So this is actually a two suit trip for you
Speaker 1: because you have an assignment before the game. Assignment that
Speaker 1: is correct.
Speaker 2: Do you know what my assignment is? Tomorrow?
Speaker 1: I have a guest, but I don't know if you're
Speaker 1: Are you allowed to discuss it or is it top secret?
Speaker 1: Or I don't want to get you in. I don't
Speaker 1: want to. I don't want to get you in trouble.
Speaker 2: Oh you don't? Uh? Okay, Well, am I gonna get
Speaker 2: my own self in trouble? Well? I mean it's probably
Speaker 2: going to get out tomorrow anyway. So tomorrow, which will
Speaker 2: be Tuesday, October twenty fourth, I have a TNT sit
Speaker 2: down interview with both Giannis and Dame that will air
Speaker 2: on TNT on Game Night Thursday. Uh, in advance of
Speaker 2: six Ers Bucks game. And I will be doing the
Speaker 2: sidelines for that game.
Speaker 1: And you got plenty to talk about because Gianna Santetokumpo
Speaker 1: he has been saying that he was not going to
Speaker 1: do his contract extension until after the season because it
Speaker 1: made the most financial sense. First, he was very vocal
Speaker 1: about saying he wanted to be sure that the Bucks
Speaker 1: would continue to be a team competing for championships and
Speaker 1: doing whatever it takes to compete for championships. The Bucks
Speaker 1: responded to those interviews by trading for Damian Lillard and
Speaker 1: now Gianni Santetokumpo, after telling us that he was going
Speaker 1: to most likely wait until after the season. Surprise surprise,
Speaker 1: he announced today that he's done his extension the max
Speaker 1: that he was eligible for. To do it by the
Speaker 1: Monday night deadline. He was facing three years a shade
Speaker 1: under one hundred and ninety million player option in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty seven, twenty eight. But man, what what a win
Speaker 1: for the Bucks. I did my power rankings on Monday,
Speaker 1: my annual preseason rankings, and I've been doing this for
Speaker 1: more than twenty years. The Denver Nuggets have to be
Speaker 1: number one because they're the defending champs. That's just kind
Speaker 1: of a rule that I have adopted as the Committee
Speaker 1: of won That's the I always do it. Unless something
Speaker 1: crazy happens to the defending champions, some sort of roster
Speaker 1: or injury chaos, I always bestow that honor upon the
Speaker 1: defending champs. I think that the Denver Nuggets deserves to
Speaker 1: start the season as the new number one. But the
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Bucks trading for Damian Lillard and then getting Yanis
Speaker 1: onto Tecumpo to sign a contract extension a year before
Speaker 1: he said he would, when a month ago there was
Speaker 1: all this perceived pressure on the Bucks that they better
Speaker 1: do something to keep Giannus happy. Absolutely stunning turnaround. Yes,
Speaker 1: it costs the Bucks Drew Holliday, but what an offseason
Speaker 1: they've had to trade for Dame and get Giannis resigned.
Speaker 1: I mean, no matter what happens this season, the trade
Speaker 1: is a win. Trading for Damian Lillard convinced clearly convince
Speaker 1: Jiannis to do this now, I mean that's incredibleitible incredible
Speaker 1: month here for the for the Bucks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it'll be intriguing to hear from Gianni's
Speaker 2: on what went into him, you know, changing his mind
Speaker 2: and going that route. And definitely, I mean if you
Speaker 2: look at, you know, from the outside looking in, if
Speaker 2: you look at what the Bucks have been doing, especially
Speaker 2: since John Horse took over a general manager, I mean,
Speaker 2: they've shown not only honest, but they've shown the fan base,
Speaker 2: fan base that they're committed to trying to produce a
Speaker 2: championship team. And they've done that and they're trying to
Speaker 2: sustain that. So I have to give props to John
Speaker 2: Horse ownership grew, uh, you know, going out and trading
Speaker 2: for Dame. You know, we're still you know, I'm still
Speaker 2: very interested in seeing how that's going to look in
Speaker 2: the regular season, you know, when those when this team
Speaker 2: gets a gets a decent amount of games under their belt,
Speaker 2: where Giannis and Dan could play with each other a
Speaker 2: ton more, just to see what they can produce. But
Speaker 2: the Bucks, again, they did everything that they could do
Speaker 2: to try to convince Giannis that they're committed, that he
Speaker 2: doesn't have to go anywhere else. And still, you know,
Speaker 2: Yalla still get gives himself out getting that player option
Speaker 2: at the end, just to you know, see what these
Speaker 2: next couple of years are going to be like. But
Speaker 2: definitely a win win for the Bucks and a win
Speaker 2: win for Giannis. You know, Jannis, he did he did
Speaker 2: say he wasn't going to do anything until after next season.
Speaker 2: But before that he said money is not important. A
Speaker 2: lot of fucking money is important. Now those are his
Speaker 2: exact words right there, and so I think, what is
Speaker 2: about sixty something million a year? I think this will
Speaker 2: qualify as a lot of fucking money.
Speaker 1: But when he said that, he was basically implying that
Speaker 1: this extension wasn't big enough, and that he wanted to
Speaker 1: wait till the summer so it could attack on a
Speaker 1: year and make it even more lucrative. But look, I mean,
Speaker 1: the reason that you take your hat off to the
Speaker 1: Bucks is because these moves do not guarantee them a championship.
Speaker 1: They don't even guarantee that they get out of the East.
Speaker 1: Because of what Boston's done, I personally feel like the
Speaker 1: Bucks have the higher ceiling. But as I've kind of
Speaker 1: been digesting everyone's preseason prognostication, all our colleagues around the league,
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like I'm in the minority. I
Speaker 1: feel like more people are picking Boston to win the East.
Speaker 1: And even though the Celtics have sacrificed depth by swapping
Speaker 1: out a quartette of familiar faces including Marcus Smart and
Speaker 1: Grant Williams, time Lord Malcolm Brogden, they turn those four
Speaker 1: guys into Christops Porzingis and Drew Holliday. But like I said,
Speaker 1: when I listen to the punditry, it seems like a
Speaker 1: lot of people think, Okay, Boston has the best top
Speaker 1: six in the league, if that is such a thing,
Speaker 1: and that there is a sense that the Celtics are
Speaker 1: going to just be absolutely locked down on the defensive end,
Speaker 1: even though there will be concerns about can Porzingis stay healthy,
Speaker 1: Can Hal Horford at thirty seven, continue to play at
Speaker 1: the level he's played. Are they big enough to handle
Speaker 1: what the Bucks can throw at them, what maybe Philadelphia
Speaker 1: can throw at them with Joe El Embiid. But you know, again,
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like the Celtics are a bit
Speaker 1: trendy or a pick, a bit more popular, a pick
Speaker 1: to get out of the East than the Bucks are.
Speaker 1: I personally, yes, there's no question the Bucks have sacrificed
Speaker 1: a lot by giving up jew Holiday, and you know,
Speaker 1: their team is getting a little bit older, and there
Speaker 1: are concerns can they be as good defensively as they've
Speaker 1: been in the past without Holiday at the point of
Speaker 1: attack and with brook Lopez advancing in age, they can
Speaker 1: they still be dominant defensively. But my belief is that
Speaker 1: the offensive ceiling they now have would Dame's. It was
Speaker 1: a trade they had to make offense half court offense specifically,
Speaker 1: that's been the issue for the Bucks in the playoffs
Speaker 1: when things haven't gone that well. But look, to me,
Speaker 1: there's a long winded way of saying. My reaction is
Speaker 1: really just what it was the last time. Honus extended.
Speaker 1: It's the closest thing to winning a championship that the
Speaker 1: Bucks can experience. They now have Giannis and Game on
Speaker 1: similar contractual tracks. These guys are going to be together now,
Speaker 1: locked in for the next two to three seasons. And
Speaker 1: I mean the Bucks can't really ask for more.
Speaker 2: And that's why, you know, I get your point. I'm not.
Speaker 2: I guess I'm seeing it. You know, I see a
Speaker 2: going by ways. I see pundits going the Milwaukee route,
Speaker 2: picking Milwaukee over Boston. I never looked at it like that.
Speaker 2: Who has the like who's more? I guess essentially you're
Speaker 2: saying top heavy? Who is the the most top heavy team,
Speaker 2: Boston or Milwaukee? And I still think, you know, hey,
Speaker 2: like you know, Bobby Porters is arguably the the best
Speaker 2: six man out there. He would you know, he would
Speaker 2: be in that top six for Milwaukee. But it's it's
Speaker 2: back and forth. I don't know, it's it's tough, but yeah,
Speaker 2: I have my I have my concerns with both teams.
Speaker 2: When it comes to Boston, it's the depth, it's the size.
Speaker 2: When it comes to when it comes to Milwaukee. How
Speaker 2: long would it take for Dame and to jail, you know,
Speaker 2: to mix with this group. You know, Adrian Griffin new
Speaker 2: you know, new head coach, and then you know something
Speaker 2: we're gonna talk about before he'll losing the top assistant.
Speaker 2: So I got concerns on both sides, But definitely, you know,
Speaker 2: Milwaukee and Boston already right now, I think those are
Speaker 2: two teams that we feel that they are at the
Speaker 2: top of the East.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean one of my big questions going in
Speaker 1: the season, how big is the gap between Milwaukee and
Speaker 1: Boston and the rest of the East. If Philly had
Speaker 1: an engaged James Harden, you'd throw them in that same tier.
Speaker 1: But they don't. And not only do they not haven't
Speaker 1: engaged James Harden, the Sixers have nothing but uncertainty about
Speaker 1: is he going to play? Are they gonna be able
Speaker 1: to find a palatable trade? Is anybody else gonna get
Speaker 1: in that trade mix besides the Clippers? How is embiid
Speaker 1: gonna handle the uncertainty? And how long before he gets
Speaker 1: really frustrated? So a lot of questions about the Sixers too,
Speaker 1: But I think, yes, the Bucks and the Celtics. Despite
Speaker 1: whatever question marks you want to raise in either case,
Speaker 1: those two teams have clearly separated themselves from the rest
Speaker 1: of the East Pack, and the man sit down with
Speaker 1: Jannis and Dame not bad. Let's go to what we
Speaker 1: thought we were going to be focusing on. Terry Stotts's
Speaker 1: abrupt departure has raised a lot of eyebrows around the league.
Speaker 1: Adrian Griffin is a first time head coach. You see
Speaker 1: this with any team that brings in a first time
Speaker 1: head coach, they always want at least one of the
Speaker 1: assistants to be a former NBA head coach. There was
Speaker 1: so much talk last season with Boston that Joe Mizzoula
Speaker 1: suffered from not having enough experience around him on his
Speaker 1: bench after he abruptly replaced Ema Udoka. So the fact
Speaker 1: that the Bucks would want a Terry Statts, a former
Speaker 1: head coach, to be on Adrian Griffin's staff, that's a
Speaker 1: natural move. The way it's unraveled so quickly, Terry Stotts
Speaker 1: electing to walk away from the job less than a
Speaker 1: week before the season starts, how big a deal. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, let's tell us what you know as
Speaker 1: far as what happened here, and how big a deal
Speaker 1: is this.
Speaker 2: I think it's a pretty big deal because you don't
Speaker 2: see a departure like this days before, well a week
Speaker 2: before the regular season comes about. The offense they were
Speaker 2: running is a Terry Stotts offense. It's everything that Damian
Speaker 2: Lillard is all too familiar with, to a point where
Speaker 2: Dame was kind of instructing guy. I think I touched
Speaker 2: on this last part he was instructing. This is the
Speaker 2: last part we were talking about this, but you know,
Speaker 2: this is before Stotts resign and we were talking about
Speaker 2: just how comfortable Dame was and how he was instructing
Speaker 2: guys where to be. You know, he was just on
Speaker 2: top of that so much. So it's very surprising. It's
Speaker 2: I think it's very significant. I do. But let's let's
Speaker 2: kind of you know, I've seen the reports out there,
Speaker 2: and for the most part, yeah, everything that's been reported
Speaker 2: about what happened the day before he resigned at shoot
Speaker 2: around in Oklahoma City. You know, there there was a
Speaker 2: point that shoot around after shoot around when when there
Speaker 2: was a huddle, there was a huddle to end shoot around,
Speaker 2: and you know, they do the huddle and they break
Speaker 2: and then Terry Stotts afterwards he walked away, was walking
Speaker 2: away to watch film with Dame an Giannis and Griffin
Speaker 2: had already said before the break, before they broke out, coaches,
Speaker 2: let's meet on the court afterwards. And so this that
Speaker 2: kind of aggravated Griffin because every other coach came and
Speaker 2: got it around him except Stott. Stotts went and went away,
Speaker 2: and then Stotts, I mean, excuse me, Griffin called for Stotts,
Speaker 2: and Stotts was like the way I was told Stotts
Speaker 2: was like it was a hand signal, like give me
Speaker 2: a minute, give me a minute. And then Griffin kind
Speaker 2: of you know, went off from there and uh, you know,
Speaker 2: he got loud and this caught the attention of the
Speaker 2: whole team. But one thing I want to say to
Speaker 2: kind of shed a little bit light on it a
Speaker 2: little bit. So I was told Stott's approach Dame and
Speaker 2: Giannis before shoot around and told them, hey, after shoot around,
Speaker 2: come watch film with me. Let's watch film on my
Speaker 2: laptop and let's go over some pick and roll coverages.
Speaker 2: And so Dami Giannis knew to go to starts after
Speaker 2: shooting around. But the issue was that as soon as
Speaker 2: you know, as soon as the shoot around was over,
Speaker 2: excuse me, shooting around was about to be over as
Speaker 2: Griffin gatthered the team to break, to break their huddle
Speaker 2: so they could end the practice. Right before the huddle break,
Speaker 2: Griffin told the coaches, Hey, after we break, everybody, let's
Speaker 2: meet all the coaches, let's meet on the court. And
Speaker 2: so that's what that's why Damiannis, they went towards Stotts,
Speaker 2: and that's why Stotts left to go to the bench
Speaker 2: to watch film pick and roll film with Giannis and
Speaker 2: Dame uh So that that that was never relayed to Griffin,
Speaker 2: that he he had already told those two that he
Speaker 2: was going to watch film. Now, just because it wasn't
Speaker 2: relayed to him beforehand, it still doesn't justify stots leaving
Speaker 2: and not coming to you know, coming to center court
Speaker 2: like Griffin instructed all his coaches to do. So there's
Speaker 2: there was still a there's still a role that stops
Speaker 2: Hadden and and kind of elevating that whole thing to
Speaker 2: the point where it was just a distraction that caught
Speaker 2: the attention of everybody. And so, uh, you know, I
Speaker 2: think you I think our guy Peter VESSI, uh, you
Speaker 2: sent me that tweet. Stein, you think about Stotts's role,
Speaker 2: Peter VESSI was, I mean, excuse me, coach Stotts was
Speaker 2: hired by John Horst, the general manager, and you know,
Speaker 2: you start to think about what Stots really comfortable. Was
Speaker 2: he comfortable? Was he comfortable being an assistant to a
Speaker 2: rookie head coach? So another another another background too, Stein.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know if this has anything to
Speaker 2: do with it, but let's go back almost a decade ago,
Speaker 2: a little bit over a decade. I was covering the
Speaker 2: Blazers when uh, they hired Stotts. But before they hired Stotts,
Speaker 2: they had four finalists and the fourth finalists I know,
Speaker 2: I remember three for sure, but it was Stott's, Steve
Speaker 2: Clifford and Adrian Griffin. Those were three of the four finalists.
Speaker 2: I want to say maybe Elston Turner was the fourth.
Speaker 2: But you know this goes all the way back back then,
Speaker 2: and you know Stott's got the job right there. So
Speaker 2: I don't know how comfortable I reached out to Stots.
Speaker 2: You know, he'd you know, he didn't want to talk
Speaker 2: about it, and so I don't know if Stotts just
Speaker 2: wasn't really feeling it the way. The way it was
Speaker 2: explained to me, it was that it was just a
Speaker 2: bad fit. That's the way it was explained to me
Speaker 2: by somebody real deep into the situation. It really has
Speaker 2: to say so in the situation. So it just leads
Speaker 2: me to believe that maybe both sides just wasn't ready
Speaker 2: for that type of relationship.
Speaker 1: And again, you know, and I think we're I think
Speaker 1: really within in the last five years especially, more and
Speaker 1: more or teams are kind of choosing assistance they'll hire
Speaker 1: and they'll hire a new head coach. But teams have
Speaker 1: much more say in choosing assistants for a new head
Speaker 1: coach than they used to over the last five, maybe
Speaker 1: even five to ten seasons. You just see that, So,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, you mentioned that Peter VESSI our
Speaker 1: good friend. You know, he tweeted out how you know,
Speaker 1: based on his information that Terry Stotts was appointed to
Speaker 1: the staff by John Horst rather than being directly chosen
Speaker 1: by Adrian Griffin. But again, that is not unusual. And
Speaker 1: because Adrian Griffin is a first time coach, I think
Speaker 1: any team that would be hiring him would want him
Speaker 1: to have a former head coach on the staff. And
Speaker 1: you remember, it was just a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: I was saying, like, the Bucks coaching staff fascinated me
Speaker 1: because Terry Stotts was a former Bucks head coach. Joe
Speaker 1: Prunty is a former Bucks interim head coach, and I
Speaker 1: was all jacked up for you, you too, on your
Speaker 1: first TNT assignment of the year, to put the put
Speaker 1: the full court press on your research department to find
Speaker 1: out has that ever happened? Because I can't remember it,
Speaker 1: I haven't been able to confirm it. Has an NBA
Speaker 1: coaching staff ever had two former head coaches in that
Speaker 1: franchise on the bench as assistants. Later and now, of
Speaker 1: course that question no longer applies, it's no longer valid.
Speaker 1: But this there's no way this story is over. As
Speaker 1: euphoric as the Bucks must be as we speak, to
Speaker 1: know that Giannis has committed to a contract extension and
Speaker 1: that they've pulled off this trade for Damian Lillard, you know,
Speaker 1: there's there's questions that need to be answered. Are they
Speaker 1: going to stick with Terry Statts's offense even though he's
Speaker 1: not there? Are they going to try to find a
Speaker 1: replacement for Terry Stotts. Are they going to try to
Speaker 1: find another former head coach to step in? And you
Speaker 1: know Terry Stotts, as you mentioned, having coached I mean,
Speaker 1: what was with Dane eight season, nine seasons together in Portland.
Speaker 1: Obviously that was you know, that was the comfort factor
Speaker 1: that Dame had going to a new team, a new conference,
Speaker 1: a new city, and now that's taken away. So how
Speaker 1: much will that factor? How how much will that affect
Speaker 1: Dame's adjustment to this completely new situation. So a lot
Speaker 1: of questions this story again, we is we don't turn
Speaker 1: the page on this one, not quickly.
Speaker 2: No, you can't. And as of right now, I want
Speaker 2: to say this that the Bucks are still trying to
Speaker 2: figure out if they're going to replace thats you know,
Speaker 2: by adding another uh, you know, replace his position, bringing
Speaker 2: on another coaching staff. So that is still up in
Speaker 2: the air.
Speaker 1: Let's shift to Philly and Harden the other team you
Speaker 1: will see Thursday night in Milwaukee. The Sixers really seem
Speaker 1: to be approaching this in true day to day fashion.
Speaker 1: We're getting basically a daily update, you know, daily confirmations
Speaker 1: that no, Harden is still not with the team. I mean,
Speaker 1: what are you expecting. I mean, it doesn't it as
Speaker 1: little as the Sixers saw Harden during training camp, I
Speaker 1: guess at this point, I really don't think anyone was
Speaker 1: expecting to see him swoop in to join the team
Speaker 1: for opening night in Milwaukee. And let's be honest, I mean,
Speaker 1: he hasn't had the practice time anyway. I doubt even
Speaker 1: if he did all of a sudden join the team,
Speaker 1: he's not ready to play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't see that happening at all, him being
Speaker 2: ready for that Thursday game against the Bucks. Don't see
Speaker 2: it happening. You know, You're right. The day to day
Speaker 2: That's that's what we're kind of left with. The day
Speaker 2: to day updates or non updates, I should say, on
Speaker 2: James Harden. He's been away from the team for it's
Speaker 2: been over a week now, So again, like get I
Speaker 2: get Houston, excuse me, Houston, I get Philadelphia's I get
Speaker 2: what they're dealing with here. I just don't know how
Speaker 2: long you want to continue to keep this up. James
Speaker 2: Harden has made it clear he does not want to
Speaker 2: play for the Sixers. He's making it clear he does not,
Speaker 2: and I you know, you're putting the coat. You put
Speaker 2: Nick Nurse and the players into a situation that every
Speaker 2: day they have to answer about James Harden and they
Speaker 2: have no answers, and you know, they're handling, they're handling
Speaker 2: things the best that they can, but it's not fair
Speaker 2: to them. It's really not and poor, you know, Tyrese
Speaker 2: Maxi Stein. I don't know if you caught Tyresee he
Speaker 2: said something. It was last week he said he believed
Speaker 2: No he said on the pod and I can't remember
Speaker 2: the pod. It might have been No. I think it
Speaker 2: was JJ Reddick's pod last week. JJ asked Tyrese about
Speaker 2: just how he's handling, you know, the James Harden debacle.
Speaker 2: You know, is it you know, is it tough for
Speaker 2: him and the team to have to go through this?
Speaker 2: And Tyree says something that was pretty sad, but he
Speaker 2: was like, I'm used to this, Like I dealt with
Speaker 2: this with Ben Simmons. And I think he mentioned somebody
Speaker 2: else before that I can remember, but he was like,
Speaker 2: I'm just used to this. He's like, so this is
Speaker 2: like the norm for me. And uh he was like,
Speaker 2: so you know, if you if you compare to us,
Speaker 2: you know, other situations I guess it's not as worse,
Speaker 2: but you know this, this is the norm to me,
Speaker 2: and that's pretty sad for a player to to say
Speaker 2: something like that. I think it just shows you, Ah,
Speaker 2: it shows you what the the Sixers have been through
Speaker 2: over the last few years. It's so I don't know,
Speaker 2: like I know, the Sixers have a hard stance on
Speaker 2: what they're trying to get. What's the latest time? What
Speaker 2: from what you're hearing it, what is it that the
Speaker 2: Sixers want in return for James Harden.
Speaker 1: Well, basically what I keep hearing is, you know, the
Speaker 1: Clippers are not going to put Terrence Mann in this deal.
Speaker 1: And my instinct is that the Sixers will be more
Speaker 1: patient and put up with more of this uncertainty. They
Speaker 1: will show more patients than just about any team in
Speaker 1: the league would in this position. That's Darryl Morey's mo o.
Speaker 1: He's not going to rush into a trade. You know,
Speaker 1: the Sixers went a very respectable fifteen to nine last
Speaker 1: season when they didn't have James Harden, and a lot
Speaker 1: of it is because of the guy you just mentioned,
Speaker 1: Tyrese MAXI. You know he is you know, is this
Speaker 1: the year? You know, he's a most improved Player contender.
Speaker 1: He's an All Star contender, and so I think the Sixers,
Speaker 1: I think Darryl Moury is prepared to wait as long
Speaker 1: as it takes for a better trade offer to come along.
Speaker 1: I think Nick Nurse you will hear Nick Nurse. I
Speaker 1: promise you will hear this. Since you're at this game.
Speaker 1: Nick Nurse will reference his past coaching in England and
Speaker 1: in the minor leagues and all the crazy curveballs that
Speaker 1: he was always fielding at those levels, and you know
Speaker 1: that prepared him to kind of deal with whatever happens
Speaker 1: now and he'll coach whoever's there. I'm sure that's what
Speaker 1: Nick will say publicly. I mean, based on my latest information,
Speaker 1: the Clippers, you know, they will give up Norman Powell,
Speaker 1: Marcus Morris, maybe Brandon Boston, and then you know they've
Speaker 1: got to sort out the pick compensation. But that's to
Speaker 1: my knowledge. As far as the offer goes from the Clippers,
Speaker 1: they continue to say they are not going to trade
Speaker 1: Terrence Man. Philly wants Terrence Man because the Sixers believe
Speaker 1: that they can flip Terrence Man into compensation that helps
Speaker 1: their down the road picture. And you know, it's just
Speaker 1: a matter of who is going to blink first? You know,
Speaker 1: does a slow start in Clipperland change the Clippers' stance?
Speaker 1: I mean, really the variable, you know, the variable that
Speaker 1: really could change things here, it's Joel emb At this point,
Speaker 1: the feeling is that Joel Embiid is going to go
Speaker 1: into this season with an open mind and a belief
Speaker 1: that the Sixers can continue to be competitive even without
Speaker 1: James Harden. But how long that lasts? Joel Embiid has
Speaker 1: dealt with tons of turmoil, He's got he's got his
Speaker 1: MVP Award, but the pressure is on him now to
Speaker 1: win a championship? Is he Is he the one who's
Speaker 1: going to run out of patients? And if he does,
Speaker 1: how will that impact Philly's management stance? Can Darryl Morey
Speaker 1: convince Joe well Embiid, big fella, hang tight, stick with us.
Speaker 1: We are going to get a resolution here that benefits
Speaker 1: you and the franchise above all. How long can Darryl
Speaker 1: Moorey keep selling that position?
Speaker 2: That is really the question, that's the that's the million
Speaker 2: dollar questions. Now you hit the nail on the head
Speaker 2: right there is the whereas Joelnbie's patient level with this
Speaker 2: This is something he's dealt with for many years, many years,
Speaker 2: same story, different characters. You know, pressure, you talk about pray. Yeah,
Speaker 2: definitely does pressure because he wants to win it. He
Speaker 2: wants to win a championship. He's an MVP player, He's
Speaker 2: that caliber of a talent. But I kind of think
Speaker 2: he has an out. I think he has an out
Speaker 2: because he's dealt with so much that's beyond his control
Speaker 2: with management, with personnel. I don't know that the pressure
Speaker 2: is on him like the like pressure is maybe on
Speaker 2: somebody like Kevin Durant in Phoenix, you know, but definitely
Speaker 2: pressure because he's one of those top guys. But I
Speaker 2: just think that he's dealt with so much with that organization.
Speaker 2: You know, guys just there's just been too many distractions
Speaker 2: that I beat Ryan. Dangn I listen, I messed up,
Speaker 2: So Stein, I have a joke. I had have messed
Speaker 2: up and did something. So, you know, I just sometimes
Speaker 2: I'm just competitive with the wrong thing. So you know,
Speaker 2: our great super producer Ryan, he'll always every five minutes
Speaker 2: he'll text us an update. And so the last couple
Speaker 2: of episodes, Stein I try to beat him in texting,
Speaker 2: like every five minutes. So I'm looking at the time
Speaker 2: as we're talking, and I try to beat him to
Speaker 2: a text to us every five minutes. So the last
Speaker 2: text he told us was it was we were twenty
Speaker 2: five minutes in, and so I'm monitoring this. I'm like,
Speaker 2: I got this text ready, I'm about to put thirty
Speaker 2: minutes after five minutes his so five minutes come, I
Speaker 2: heard up and text it. But I text forty minutes
Speaker 2: instead of thirty minutes, and so it technically I was wrong,
Speaker 2: And uh, I guess I shouldn't be doing it. I
Speaker 2: shouldn't be doing two things at once. But I'm just
Speaker 2: competitive like that. Stile. I'm sorry, my apologies.
Speaker 1: Man, I think you need some new hobbies.
Speaker 2: You know. It's like it's like breakless scoop, like break
Speaker 2: the story.
Speaker 1: You know, let produce a Ryan music produce, let him,
Speaker 1: let him have his domain. I mean, here's the thing
Speaker 1: I am. I'm glad that you actually got to town
Speaker 1: so early because you can spend all your Tuesday with
Speaker 1: Giannis and Dame and ask them all these questions. Why
Speaker 1: did he sign the contract? Now? Why did Janis and
Speaker 1: Todokoumpo sign his max deal? Now? When we initially got
Speaker 1: to signaled it from him that he was going to
Speaker 1: wait until after the season. Why did he do the extension?
Speaker 1: Now get to ask Amian Lillard what is the impact
Speaker 1: of Terry Stotts leaving and what kind of offense are
Speaker 1: the Buck's gonna run without Terry Stotts. You get to
Speaker 1: deal with all these questions on Tuesday, and that means
Speaker 1: that Thursday you can put your full focus on getting
Speaker 1: getting with the Sixers because I want I wish I was.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, I'm going. I am on my way
Speaker 1: to San Antonio for the Victor Webman Yama Davis. I
Speaker 1: am super excited about that, but I'm not gonna lie
Speaker 1: to you Thursday, and I would love to walk into
Speaker 1: Sixers shoot around in Milwaukee and see what that scene
Speaker 1: is like in one of my favorite cities on the
Speaker 1: NBA map, and you you will get to go and
Speaker 1: do that for all of us.
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to it. It's a definitely, definitely going
Speaker 2: to It's gonna be a lot of work because you know,
Speaker 2: Stan I was supposed to I was assigned to be
Speaker 2: on the U for both games. I was assigned to
Speaker 2: be to do Tuesdays war your Son's game, and then
Speaker 2: I was gonna come out here for the Bucks six
Speaker 2: Ers Thursday, but this interview timing kind of took me
Speaker 2: out of that took me off of that assignment in
Speaker 2: Golden State. So but I'm happy. I'm happy to be here, man,
Speaker 2: I'm happy to get the NBA season to get it started.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm ready, like I'm a player starn I'm ready, man.
Speaker 1: I gotta be honest, you know, Warriors Sons, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a great night cap to the Tuesday
Speaker 1: night doubleheader which starts starts with the Denver Nuggets playing
Speaker 1: host of the Lakers and Ring Knight, and the Nuggets
Speaker 1: and Lakers have been trading all this trash talk for
Speaker 1: months now, so great opening night doubleheader and then Warrior Sons.
Speaker 1: Obviously Chris Paul against his old team, Kevin Durant against
Speaker 1: his old team, our first look at the new Sun
Speaker 1: super team trio of Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal. So
Speaker 1: I mean, that was have been that would have been
Speaker 1: a great gig. But I gotta be honest with you.
Speaker 1: There is so much news and so much going on
Speaker 1: with the Milwaukee Bucks and the visiting sixers that it is.
Speaker 1: It ain't the worst thing for you to get in
Speaker 1: Milwaukee early, get to get to brew Town early, get
Speaker 1: your bearings, because there's there's gonna be a lot to
Speaker 1: put in by the time we do this we do
Speaker 1: by the time we meet up again for a podcast,
Speaker 1: your notebook should be bursting with material.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it, Stein, but I'm also
Speaker 2: looking forward to where you're going to be.
Speaker 1: I can't wait. You know, I said this. I did
Speaker 1: a did a whole bunch on my radio show Saturday
Speaker 1: in Dallas because I have not seen Victor women Yam
Speaker 1: in person, and the highlights, the clips that have been
Speaker 1: circulating throughout the postseason have been dazzling. And so to
Speaker 1: be able to go to San Antonio, a place I've
Speaker 1: visited the bazillion times over the years. But you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's obviously I've I've been in I've been
Speaker 1: based in Dallas for pretty much the last quarter century.
Speaker 1: But one of the you know, when I when I
Speaker 1: first got to Dallas, the Mavericks were a laughing stock.
Speaker 1: They were the worst franchise in the NBA, and they
Speaker 1: you know, they were they were just they were only
Speaker 1: a few years removed from back to back eleven and
Speaker 1: thirteen win seasons. The Mavericks were still digging out of
Speaker 1: that mess when I got to town. But the Dallas
Speaker 1: Morning News was really a state newspaper at the time,
Speaker 1: and if the Rockets were in the playoffs or the
Speaker 1: Spurs were in the playoffs and the Mavericks weren't, if
Speaker 1: you were the if you were part of the Dallas
Speaker 1: Morning News NBA team, you got to go. So I
Speaker 1: spent tons of time with you know, all of the
Speaker 1: Spurs playoff runs, I've covered them. So I've gone to
Speaker 1: San Antonio a bazillion times over the years. It is
Speaker 1: one of my favorite cities. And you know, the very
Speaker 1: first NBA Summer League I covered was David Robinson just
Speaker 1: before he joined the Spurs. Was there for the whole
Speaker 1: Tim duncan era. And now the chance to go there
Speaker 1: Wednesday night and see the official start of the Victor
Speaker 1: Woman Yama era, I'm glad I'm still here for all
Speaker 1: this man us Old guys, it's nice to, it's nice to,
Speaker 1: it's nice to stick around.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean, you're a Hall of Famer, You're
Speaker 2: a top notch talent, So I'm not surprised to see
Speaker 2: that you've talied this this many years in the game, man,
Speaker 2: and you have many more ahead. But you know that this,
Speaker 2: this Wimby, this is you know, I thought he was
Speaker 2: gonna be good, but like if you would have told me,
Speaker 2: I think you know, we talked about this bleed last
Speaker 2: part as well. You know, maybe a month ago, maybe
Speaker 2: even three weeks ago, you asked me who's my rookie
Speaker 2: of the year favorite, I'm probably telling you Scoot Henderson.
Speaker 2: Now I'm thinking Wimby's probably going to be the best
Speaker 2: in this class, but I'm thinking it's going to take
Speaker 2: him a year or so to have like a real impact. Nah, Nah,
Speaker 2: he's nah. This kid is ready. He's ready. Man, He's
Speaker 2: gonna like god Lee. I mean that we never see anything,
Speaker 2: you know, It's that true. You know they we throw
Speaker 2: a unicorn around like it's nothing nowadays, Like you call
Speaker 2: every you know, you call anybody a unicorn who's a
Speaker 2: five star recruit. This kid, Wemby, is that that is
Speaker 2: what unicorn looks like. This kid can do it all.
Speaker 2: We've never seen anything like that.
Speaker 1: You just gave me, You just gave me a good idea.
Speaker 1: We need to get I need to get with some
Speaker 1: of our French speaking friends and get, you know, get
Speaker 1: the equivalent word of of what you know. And maybe
Speaker 1: maybe it is just unicorn in French, but maybe there
Speaker 1: is a French word to describe that has the similar
Speaker 1: effect of unicorn in English. I don't know. Maybe throw
Speaker 1: a text at Batoum for me see what he says.
Speaker 1: But I gotta check with some of my French speaking sources,
Speaker 1: because yeah, I agree with you. I mean, this guy
Speaker 1: is doing things already in the preseason. We have never
Speaker 1: seen a player of his size do the way he moves,
Speaker 1: the way he handles the shot blocking at the three
Speaker 1: point line, the court coverage defensively, and I actually I'm
Speaker 1: glad we got on this track to kind of end
Speaker 1: things because I need to make a very very important
Speaker 1: clarification on Victor Winmbinyama, because I have been making a mistake.
Speaker 1: I've seen several of our colleagues making the same mistake. Yes,
Speaker 1: in the NBA, there is a sixty five game rule
Speaker 1: this season on major awards, but it is not applicable
Speaker 1: to all individual awards, and Rookie of the Year is
Speaker 1: not one of the awards that you have to play
Speaker 1: sixty five games games to qualify. And you know that
Speaker 1: was again a mistake that I've made. I was saying,
Speaker 1: how you know a week ago I was saying, the
Speaker 1: only reason you wouldn't you wouldn't say Wemby is the
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year favorite is if you don't think
Speaker 1: he's going to play sixty five games. But I have
Speaker 1: been corrected. He does not have to play sixty five games.
Speaker 1: In the new CBA. There are only five awards that
Speaker 1: you have to play the sixty five to be eligible,
Speaker 1: and that's MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All Defensive Team,
Speaker 1: Most Improved Player, and All NBA Rookie of the Year
Speaker 1: and the All Rookie Team. Those are not subject to
Speaker 1: the sixty five game minimum. So that makes it even
Speaker 1: more likely that Victor weh Minyama is going to be
Speaker 1: the Rookie of the Year because he does not have
Speaker 1: to play sixty five games. And I do think the
Speaker 1: Spurs are going to be very judicious with him. I
Speaker 1: don't think they're making an all out charge to try
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs in year one with Wemby, but
Speaker 1: uh yeah, some something crazy would have to happen for
Speaker 1: him not to win Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 2: Do you drive to San Antonio or you fly?
Speaker 1: Come on, now, you know me, Okay, what's your what's
Speaker 1: your prediction? Do I drive or do I fly?
Speaker 2: You fly? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I can't. I cannot. I'm too much of a dive.
Speaker 1: I cannot. I cannot stay off my phone for that
Speaker 1: four hours on the road. It's better to just ride
Speaker 1: to the airport be able to work on them. It's
Speaker 1: a short you know, it's a it's a very short flight.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I just I don't like long I don't
Speaker 1: like four or five hour drives.
Speaker 2: Just yeah, I'm happy for Santori. I'm happy for the
Speaker 2: Spurs san Antonio. I'll actually that was actually one of
Speaker 2: my I will say top I'll go top ten top
Speaker 2: ten stops on the Beat when I was on the beat,
Speaker 2: san Antonio very very underrated, very underrated. You know. I
Speaker 2: know Chuck has its problem with san Antonio, but not me.
Speaker 2: I actually am quite fond of San Antonio, so enjoy I.
Speaker 1: Will do not worry. San Antonio is one of the
Speaker 1: stops on my very first NBA trip as a traveling
Speaker 1: beat writer in the spring of ninety four, and I
Speaker 1: fell in love with it instantly. I've always been treated
Speaker 1: wonderfully there. I mean, people don't believe this. But the
Speaker 1: best pizza that I found in the United States, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go that far. It's in San Antonio, in the
Speaker 1: same place. Again, you would never think this in San Antonio,
Speaker 1: the same restaurant, the Lovely Trade Tratoria in the San
Speaker 1: Antonio Museum of Art, serves absolutely scrumptious trout. You would
Speaker 1: never think this is not you know, San Antonio is
Speaker 1: known for tex mex You would not think, Hey, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go to San Antonio and get amazing gourmet pizza
Speaker 1: and trout. But there you go. Well, someday, someday, if
Speaker 1: we're in the same city, if we're there together, I
Speaker 1: will take you.
Speaker 2: And I'm gonna tell you right now, since you touched
Speaker 2: on pizza, the best pizza that I've had in the
Speaker 2: United States Flying Pie Pizza in Portland. Flying Pie for
Speaker 2: the y'all people in Portland, y'all know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2: I love those people at Flying Pie. They always they
Speaker 2: always greet me with, you know, so much admiration when
Speaker 2: I come in man, Flying Pie Pizza Stein. So when
Speaker 2: we go there to Portland, I don't know when that's
Speaker 2: going to be, when we're going to be there together,
Speaker 2: but we got to. We gotta get a stop over
Speaker 2: there for sure. Okay, we're going to end it right there.
Speaker 2: And usually Stein is the one that closes our podcast.
Speaker 2: You know, I'd never like to take people's roles. I
Speaker 2: like to allow them to do their job and I
Speaker 2: want them to flourish and I want them to feel
Speaker 2: supported whenever they do it. But I have to do
Speaker 2: it this time because as we were going off about
Speaker 2: our food ventures and our favorite pizza, and Stein was
Speaker 2: talking about trout in San Antonio and pizza and San Antonio,
Speaker 2: his audio just went out. So I can see Stein
Speaker 2: on my end, and I see his lips moving, but
Speaker 2: nothing's coming out, so he has no audio. So that's
Speaker 2: why I'm stepping in and closing this bad boy out.
Speaker 2: So I appreciate you guys listening to this League Uncut
Speaker 2: with Stein and myself. I'm going to be here again.
Speaker 2: I'm here in Milwaukee. I got Thursday night's game between
Speaker 2: the Bucks and Sixers, and I would have sat down
Speaker 2: with Beiannis and Dame for T and T. Stein is
Speaker 2: off to San Antonio to see win Biyama to see
Speaker 2: what the frenzy is about. And we'll be back with
Speaker 2: you guys later this week. So appreciate you guys, have
Speaker 2: a great week, and I'm saying it for Stein. Thank
Speaker 2: you for listening. Appreciate you guys, subscribe all that stuff.
Speaker 2: Thank you, bye bye.
Speaker 1: And that'll do it for us. See you next time.
Speaker 1: This league and Cuttage, an iHeartRadio production.
Speaker 2: Put a locker
Speaker 1: Chris Hanes and Mark Stein