Speaker 1: Welcome in. We'll drive into great episode three thirty two
Speaker 1: on a Monday, doing a live show. So this week,
Speaker 1: by the way, this is a great time and a
Speaker 1: great reminder to like, rate, subscribe, review, do all that stuff.
Speaker 1: The reviews just help us, as do the likes, but
Speaker 1: the subscriptions hopefully help you guys this week as well,
Speaker 1: because we're gonna have an odds schedule because we're doing
Speaker 1: the show today. Tomorrow, I am buying my house, and
Speaker 1: then Wednesday I head to Indianapolis for the Indy five hundred.
Speaker 1: It's kind of the timing's crazy. I live in New York,
Speaker 1: the Knicks are playing the Pacers I had to Indy
Speaker 1: for and I'm gonna be in Indie for games one
Speaker 1: and two, which are in New York, and then I'm
Speaker 1: gonna come back here and in games three and four,
Speaker 1: which are in Indy, I will be in New York.
Speaker 1: So at all, if the Pacers just had a better record,
Speaker 1: I could potentially go to the first four games to
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference Spinals. Instead, I'm gonna be able to
Speaker 1: go to zero of them. But the point is, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure exactly when we're gonna be on the air
Speaker 1: this week emergency shows, whatever it is. So the way
Speaker 1: to make sure you don't miss anything, subscribe on YouTube,
Speaker 1: subscribe on iTunes and Spotify and everywhere else. Let's get
Speaker 1: right into it, Demonse, So here is what missed the cut.
Speaker 1: This was a story that missed the cut, and I
Speaker 1: missed my radar entirely. This Bill Belichick spending five grand
Speaker 1: on milk for Tom Brady has an Antonio Brown wrinkle.
Speaker 1: I do not care lebron wins the shack and the
Speaker 1: fool MVP. I missed that as well. And Caleb Williams
Speaker 1: is he happy in Chicago? The answer to that question
Speaker 1: is I hope. So the bigger Caleb Williams question is this,
Speaker 1: was he right about every single one of his concerns?
Speaker 1: Turns out yeah, was he right about? Man? I wonder
Speaker 1: what I'd look like if I was in Kevin O'Connell's
Speaker 1: offense on that team. And the answer as well, Sam
Speaker 1: Darnold had fourteen wins and through for four thousand yards,
Speaker 1: So probably pretty damn good Caleb Williams instincts through the roof.
Speaker 1: That was my takeaway from that article. Caleb nailed everything.
Speaker 1: He got everything right. Demon say you're laughing, showed me
Speaker 1: the lie. As the kids say.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's fair, but you know you're a rookie,
Speaker 2: just go and play for whatever team they throw you on.
Speaker 3: You.
Speaker 1: Well, that's what he ended up doing. That's literally what
Speaker 1: he ended up doing. But I'm just saying his instincts
Speaker 1: were correct, all right, Game seven last night legacies made
Speaker 1: in a Game seven except for a Game seven leg
Speaker 1: last night, which was a game for about a quarter
Speaker 1: and a half.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, Okay, So he took care of business last
Speaker 2: night against the Nuggets, backed him by thirty two points.
Speaker 2: Denver was obviously dealing with injuries with MPG. With MPG,
Speaker 2: they were now they were neutralizing Yo Kic. Do you
Speaker 2: think that this has any implications with the MVP debate?
Speaker 2: What is where as your head after this series?
Speaker 1: Well, so listen, it doesn't have any implications for who
Speaker 1: should have won it or whatever, because it's an obviously
Speaker 1: regular season award, But it is a good time to
Speaker 1: stop and take stock of what the two MVP candidates
Speaker 1: did in this series. And so I want to start
Speaker 1: on the thunderside, then we'll get to the joker side.
Speaker 1: This was a sorry to be cliche, but a coming
Speaker 1: of age moment for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and it's
Speaker 1: one that I think they needed. I don't think it
Speaker 1: would have been good for them to cruise through Round
Speaker 1: two the way they cruised through Round one, because there
Speaker 1: is going to be adversity at some point in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Now they have faced it, and they faced down the
Speaker 1: best player in the world and blew them out in
Speaker 1: a Game seven in their building. And there aren't many
Speaker 1: places with a legitimate home court advantage left in this league,
Speaker 1: but Oklahoma City might be one of them. The college
Speaker 1: like atmosphere, how loud it gets, it reminds you a
Speaker 1: bit of the Old Oracle where nobody you know won
Speaker 1: playoff games there for five years that wasn't named Lebron
Speaker 1: James and there is. So they needed a real test
Speaker 1: and they got one in the form of the Denver Nuggets. Shae.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing. Shae was good in last year's Round
Speaker 1: two when Luca and the MAVs beat him. It was
Speaker 1: his co stars who were not good in that round,
Speaker 1: and you were worried that was happening again this year. Shae,
Speaker 1: and Round two this year gave you basically right around
Speaker 1: his regular season numbers, he was thirty six and six
Speaker 1: on fifty three thirty three splits. So Shae didn't you know,
Speaker 1: he didn't raise his game to a new level, but
Speaker 1: it didn't drop off. The worry was Jalen Williams, who
Speaker 1: was bad in last year's Round two, was playing poorly
Speaker 1: in this year's Round tw two. And then in the
Speaker 1: second in the quarter that you know, I don't want
Speaker 1: to say saved the Thunder season because maybe without that
Speaker 1: quarter they still win the game. But in the quarter
Speaker 1: that ended last night's game or yesterday afternoon's game, and
Speaker 1: in the biggest quarter of their season up to that point,
Speaker 1: the second quarter of Game seven, Jalen Williams showed up
Speaker 1: to the party. Now, Jalen was really good in game
Speaker 1: was a game tour Game three, I don't remember of
Speaker 1: this series, but overall in this series he had been terrible.
Speaker 1: Despite the game, uh what was it? It was Game
Speaker 1: three performance. He was still shooting like thirty two percent
Speaker 1: from the series, less than twenty percent from three and
Speaker 1: struggling massively. And then last night he has twenty four
Speaker 1: five and seven has you know in the mid teams
Speaker 1: in that second quarter and the game was never close
Speaker 1: again and Now, if you're den if you're Oklahoma City,
Speaker 1: you feel like you are more than prepared for a
Speaker 1: little bit of adversity in round three against Minnesota, a
Speaker 1: Minnesota team that I think is super live. Now, you
Speaker 1: guys know, despite Demonds's scurless allegations of team hopping by me,
Speaker 1: once my championship pick, the Lakers was eliminated were eliminated,
Speaker 1: I said, I think Oklahoma City is going to win
Speaker 1: the title. I have not strayed from that. I had
Speaker 1: no choice but to change championship picks. My champion got
Speaker 1: clopped in round one. So I still think Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: is going to beat Minnesota. But I think Minnesota is
Speaker 1: going to present very different problems for Oklahoma City. To
Speaker 1: the tune of that you are going from playing a
Speaker 1: four man team in Denver to an eight man team
Speaker 1: in Minnesota and a team that wants to run with you.
Speaker 1: What Oklahoma City reminded everyone of yesterday is they have
Speaker 1: the ability to go on a fifteen to two run
Speaker 1: unlike any team in recent memory. Because they're fifteen to
Speaker 1: two run is not predicated on getting hot from three.
Speaker 1: Their fifteen to two run is predicated on getting hot defensively.
Speaker 1: And just all just sending wave after wave of young
Speaker 1: plus Alex Caruso athletic defenders at you and wreaking havoc.
Speaker 1: And if you guys remember the day after Thanksgiving, I
Speaker 1: went to Lakers Thunder in LA, and I came on
Speaker 1: here and said, Man, Oklahoma City's ability to just go
Speaker 1: to whoever they want on their bench and those guys
Speaker 1: being plus plus defenders is just a pitch no one
Speaker 1: else in the league hass. And so the fact that
Speaker 1: you get, you know, twenty plus minutes off the bench
Speaker 1: from Cruso, who was unbelievable, Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins,
Speaker 1: who were both good defensively even if they struggled offensively.
Speaker 1: You don't even play Isaiah Joe. You don't really even
Speaker 1: have to play Jalen Williams. That's ten guys plus you're
Speaker 1: starting five, obviously. And so I thought Shaye was outstanding yesterday.
Speaker 1: I think Shae has now proven, over his relatively limited
Speaker 1: playoff career, but still a playoff career, that he's not
Speaker 1: the dreaded playoff dropper, which wasn't. Anytime a guy makes
Speaker 1: so much money off the free throw line, you worry
Speaker 1: is that you is he going to have the Harden
Speaker 1: embiid playoff drop and in now back to back postseasons
Speaker 1: go ahead.
Speaker 3: So he's still getting pretty good whistles. Though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was about to say the whistle didn't really
Speaker 2: taper off like we finally felt it would in the postseason.
Speaker 2: I feel like he's been getting pretty consistent whistless.
Speaker 1: One hundred correct. In fact, he is. In the regular season,
Speaker 1: he averaged eight point eight free throw attempts per game
Speaker 1: in thirty four minutes per game. In the postseason, he's
Speaker 1: averaging eight point seven free throw attempts per game in
Speaker 1: thirty six minutes per game. So the free throw attempts
Speaker 1: are basically identical. The minutes are slightly up, so he's
Speaker 1: maybe getting, you know, on a per minute basis, like
Speaker 1: five percent less calls. But he's still it's it has
Speaker 1: not been that. Oh he hasn't been able to get
Speaker 1: to the line, which I thought my own I had.
Speaker 1: I guess three pockets of OKAC skepticism. The first one was,
Speaker 1: is Shay gonna get the same whistle he has thus
Speaker 1: far for the most part. The second one was are
Speaker 1: the co stars going to be co stars? That one
Speaker 1: looked like it could cost them this series, and then
Speaker 1: it didn't, and now you've got to feel like Jalen
Speaker 1: Williams is going to go into the next round super
Speaker 1: confident and Chet Listen, I don't think Chet is ready
Speaker 1: yet and I don't know if he's ever going.
Speaker 2: To be uh but to be Jalen Williams. Though, say
Speaker 2: it again, say he's been more consistent than Jayalen Williams.
Speaker 1: He's been more consistent, but his peaks haven't been to Like,
Speaker 1: I just don't think Chet's ready to be the second
Speaker 1: option on a champion. Like, You're totally right about his consistency.
Speaker 1: You can basically pencil him in for thirteen to nine
Speaker 1: foreen and ten every night, but we're now ten playoff
Speaker 1: games in. He doesn't have a twenty five point game
Speaker 1: in this series. He didn't have a twenty point game.
Speaker 1: So I just don't think checks ready to ascend past
Speaker 1: Jalen Williams as the number two. But he's been fine
Speaker 1: fine as the number three, and his rim production is legitimate.
Speaker 1: So that was the second concern, And the third concern
Speaker 1: was less of a concern and more of a I
Speaker 1: don't know analysis question, however you want to put it
Speaker 1: how valuable was the depth going to be when rotations
Speaker 1: get shortened, And the answer is it was super valuable
Speaker 1: because you aside from the overtime game, demanse Shane never
Speaker 1: played forty plus minutes. He never like they were able
Speaker 1: to give Shay real rest. And you saw it, Listen,
Speaker 1: Denver was gonna lose that game even without this happening.
Speaker 1: But you saw yesterday when Denver tried to give jokicch
Speaker 1: a break, it was an eight to zero run in
Speaker 1: forty five seconds. It was just like all the Cleveland
Speaker 1: years with Lebron, where you try to steal him minutes
Speaker 1: of rest at the end of the first or the
Speaker 1: beginning of the second, and whatever lead you built up
Speaker 1: with him on the court gets evaporated in ninety seconds.
Speaker 1: It is still beyond me why no team has coached
Speaker 1: their no team that is so reliant, and we haven't
Speaker 1: seen anybody as relying on one player the way the
Speaker 1: Nuggets are on Joker since Cleveland era Lebron. It is
Speaker 1: baffling why the strategy is not while our guy is
Speaker 1: on the bench, we want to play as slow as possible.
Speaker 1: That way, there are we are minimizing the number of
Speaker 1: possessions that occur, while our guys out Denver didn't do
Speaker 1: that yesterday. They give up a basket race down court,
Speaker 1: Russ throws it away, give up another basket race down court,
Speaker 1: Russ misses a shot. All of a sudden, it's a
Speaker 1: six to zero run. We're not even at the eleven
Speaker 1: minute mark of the second quarter. So listen, credit to OKC.
Speaker 1: It would have been really cool if the NBA had
Speaker 1: taken my advice and given Shay his MVP award before
Speaker 1: that game. It would have added a little more Jenna
Speaker 1: Sae quad to it. They didn't do that. Instead, I
Speaker 1: would imagine he's gonna get his MVP award before Game
Speaker 1: two of the Conference finals. And you bet your ass
Speaker 1: man Anthony Edwards, even though he was nowhere close to
Speaker 1: the MVP conversation, will take that personally, and I'm excited.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see that.
Speaker 2: Okay, see why to cracked the code with with guarding
Speaker 2: Jokic maybe showed it show in the NBA a little blueprint.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about because you're talking about with Cruso.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he did really good on him, he did.
Speaker 1: Now listen, Crusoe is a great defender and very strong.
Speaker 1: And remember when it seemed like and it seemed like
Speaker 1: I was only picking on, uh, white guys, but I
Speaker 1: was talking about NBA guys with bad bodies, and about
Speaker 1: how it there's it irritates me, and how there's no
Speaker 1: excuse to not have you know, defined arms when you're
Speaker 1: an NBA player, unless you're an Eastern European guy, in
Speaker 1: which case.
Speaker 3: I'll allow it.
Speaker 1: Caruso is a great example of the opposite of what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. Go look at clips of Caruso when
Speaker 1: he won a championship with the Lakers. Go look at
Speaker 1: what Alex Caruso's body looked like early in his career.
Speaker 1: And by the way, Crusoe sneaky old. Do you know
Speaker 1: how old Crusoe is. I'm not just giving away by
Speaker 1: his kids saying sneaky old. Say it again, thirty thirty two,
Speaker 1: thirty three, Yeah, thirty one. But the like that is
Speaker 1: he doesn't feel thirty one because it took him so
Speaker 1: long to get to the NBA and it felt like
Speaker 1: we've only seen him really for five six years. But
Speaker 1: he was twenty six years old when he won that
Speaker 1: championship with the Lakers. But at twenty six Kruso was
Speaker 1: he didn't have the exact Austin Reeves body, but it
Speaker 1: wasn't that dissimilar. And now he's jacked. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: you see it in what his traps like you. And
Speaker 1: that allowed him to play a stut a physical style
Speaker 1: on Joke, on Jokic. That prevented Joker from getting to
Speaker 1: his spose and so he just had to catch the
Speaker 1: ball a little further out. Sometimes he denied to catch
Speaker 1: it fully and and and when Joker did get the ball,
Speaker 1: he had to worry about Chet or someone else coming
Speaker 1: from the weak side. So Crew, I don't know that
Speaker 1: they cracked a code because I don't know how many
Speaker 1: teams having Alex Caruso, but they obviously gave Joker some
Speaker 1: trouble and he was not good. Listen, I laid out
Speaker 1: on Thursday show the Lebron game six and seven, down
Speaker 1: three to two to Boston going forty five and then
Speaker 1: thirty five. I'm talking about that. You might be like,
Speaker 1: which time when Lebron did that against Boston. I'm not
Speaker 1: talking about twenty twelve Lebron with the heat, talking about
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen Lebron with when that when that team it
Speaker 1: was a similar situation to this, and that you didn't
Speaker 1: have that much talent on your team to begin with.
Speaker 1: Your second best player got hurt and I thought that
Speaker 1: was a heroic effort by Aaron Gordon just to be
Speaker 1: out there and he gave you real minutes. It's it
Speaker 1: was so heroic that I am going to be everyone.
Speaker 1: Everyone in Unison was like, how is Aaron Gordon doing
Speaker 1: this with a Grade two ham string string? It should
Speaker 1: be impossible to do this with a grade two hamstring string.
Speaker 1: Ham strange ham string string. And everyone was saying that
Speaker 1: as if they all had personally reviewed the MRI. Here
Speaker 1: is here is my you know, just gut feeling on
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon's Grade two ham strained string. God doug it
Speaker 1: ham string strength a grade one. Just my gut, just
Speaker 1: my gut that he didn't he wasn't actually out there
Speaker 1: playing with an injury that knocks you out one month.
Speaker 1: I think he was playing with the same injury. Again,
Speaker 1: maybe I'm wrong, but the way he was moving everything,
Speaker 1: I thought he was playing with the same injury that
Speaker 1: knocks Steph out of round two. And by the way,
Speaker 1: this whole like, so you're saying Steph couldn't give us
Speaker 1: a minute. No, like they're drastically different players asked to
Speaker 1: do drastically different things, and I I and there was
Speaker 1: to me demands if I just the Gordon versus Steph thing,
Speaker 1: there were a lot of qualifiers where I think people
Speaker 1: were being unfair again when it comes to Steph Curry dialogue.
Speaker 1: I'm ros algoul. I'm just bringing balance to the universe,
Speaker 1: and this is an instance where I think we need
Speaker 1: to balance out on the You gotta be kidding me
Speaker 1: with criticizing Steph here side of things, because first of all,
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon is not asked to run around one thousand
Speaker 1: screens again. Second of all, Aaron Gordon did not suffer
Speaker 1: this injury in game one of the series. And so
Speaker 1: do I think if stuff is Steph so I can't
Speaker 1: talk today, if Steph suffered his injury at the end
Speaker 1: of game six, I do think. I do think that
Speaker 1: if Steph suffered his injury at the end of game six,
Speaker 1: there's a real possibility that he would have gone out
Speaker 1: for Game seven, almost as a decoy, see what it's like,
Speaker 1: whatever it is. But that wasn't that wasn't the case,
Speaker 1: and it didn't make sense for him to do that
Speaker 1: in Game two when it's like, Okay, if I reaggravate this,
Speaker 1: then I'm definitely out for the postseason. And then they
Speaker 1: never got with you know, within reaching distance of Minnesota.
Speaker 3: I mean, did you.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, and the right a huge age difference, there's
Speaker 1: just there now. I also, so, the only thing that
Speaker 1: I think is the same between Stephan Gordon's hamstring injuries
Speaker 1: is I think they were the same grade. And if
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon really did have a grade two hamdstring, I can't,
Speaker 1: you know, Hammy, I'm just gonna call it hand a
Speaker 1: grade two Hammy, Uh, then that's one of the most
Speaker 1: remarkable things I've ever seen in my life. But I,
Speaker 1: you know, unlike everyone on Twitter, I didn't personally review
Speaker 1: the MRI. I just read what Sham's tweeted, and I'm like, so,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure.
Speaker 4: Blending Vice's signature dynamic storytelling with the high octane world
Speaker 4: of sports, VICE Sports brings an exciting and diverse range
Speaker 4: of programming that goes beyond the game, from action packed
Speaker 4: live events to gripping behind the scenes documentaries, to hard
Speaker 4: hitting investigative pieces and in depth profiles of athletes, coaches, teams.
Speaker 4: VICE sports captures the raw energy, drama, and passion that
Speaker 4: makes sports truly unforgettable. Catch live events and other exclusive
Speaker 4: sports programs only on Vice TV. Go to Vice TV
Speaker 4: to find your cable channel.
Speaker 1: Now back to what I was saying about the opportunity
Speaker 1: Joker had in front of him. It was a missed opportunity,
Speaker 1: missed in that he is, what he is chasing is
Speaker 1: such legendary status. I'll give you a four instance. Somebody
Speaker 1: over the weekend tweeted a picture of five centers and
Speaker 1: they left out the old timers, so they left out
Speaker 1: Wilt Russell and Kareem But it was basically like, you
Speaker 1: know who's who's not making the cut here, and it
Speaker 1: was a keen shack Joker, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing. That
Speaker 1: was the list. And to me, by the way, that
Speaker 1: was a very easy cut and he was one of
Speaker 1: my favorite players growing up at The answer to that
Speaker 1: is Patrick Ewing, and then like five four, three two
Speaker 1: on that five and four are simple Patrick, who was
Speaker 1: a great player, but unlike the other four guys, has
Speaker 1: no MVPs and no championships, so that one's a pretty
Speaker 1: easy you know X number. The next guy you're getting
Speaker 1: rid of is David Robinson, who is a great player,
Speaker 1: one MVP, a couple championships, only one where he was still,
Speaker 1: you know, a super impactful player, the three Spurs title.
Speaker 1: Robinson was a you know, super role player. And then
Speaker 1: it gets interesting Joker Shack in a team. I have
Speaker 1: Joker still pretty solidly behind Shaq in a geam. That
Speaker 1: could have changed this postseason, Right, that's a fair thing
Speaker 1: to say, Like had he carried this team to the
Speaker 1: NBA Finals, much less to a championship, how does that?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 1: Then? How do we do Jokers resume of three two
Speaker 1: rings versus Shack one MVP, four rings a team one MVP,
Speaker 1: two rings a team. The greatest defensive player ever, Shack
Speaker 1: the most dominant at his apex, maybe players certainly sinner ever,
Speaker 1: Joker the best passer connector all that stuff. So it's
Speaker 1: a missed opportunity, not in that. I do not think that, Demons,
Speaker 1: where do you sin on this? I do not come
Speaker 1: out of this series feeling like, well, there's an argument
Speaker 1: now sha' is the best player in the world even
Speaker 1: though he just you.
Speaker 2: Agree, no, no, no, yeah, I agree that that's not
Speaker 2: That was not a thought that crossed my mind after
Speaker 2: the series, I still.
Speaker 1: Think yog me too, That's what I'm saying like that,
Speaker 1: And I understand that Joker, like Shay just beat Joker
Speaker 1: in a series, and you could argue outplayed him. Like
Speaker 1: Joker's numbers in this series were good, and they were
Speaker 1: great by regular All Star standards. They were good by
Speaker 1: his He was twenty eight, fourteen and six on by
Speaker 1: his standards, not that efficient forty eight slash thirty three.
Speaker 1: So again, that's a really good series. It's but he
Speaker 1: needed a legendary When you are chasing legends, you need
Speaker 1: legendary series. And for him, the tough part is going
Speaker 1: to be this, are there going to be how many
Speaker 1: more during the remainder of his prime? How many more times?
Speaker 1: How often is he going to have a team better
Speaker 1: than the one he had this year? And your answer
Speaker 1: that might be that team was not that good this year.
Speaker 1: They fired their and that's totally true, and MPJ got
Speaker 1: hurt and Gordon got hurt at the very end of
Speaker 1: that series. But I don't think just like and we'll
Speaker 1: talk about this later now that we saw the totality
Speaker 1: of Nick Celtics, I don't think Tatum, you know, tearing
Speaker 1: his achilles changed the outcome of that series. I don't
Speaker 1: think Aaron Gordon's straining his hamstring changed the outcome of
Speaker 1: that game and therefore that series. So you might say, oh,
Speaker 1: we should have a bunch of teams better than this one.
Speaker 1: How though, Like that's the tricky part for Denver is
Speaker 1: everyone everyone talks about. Oh, well, obviously you trade Michael
Speaker 1: Porter Junior. I don't know what great assets you get
Speaker 1: back for Michael Porter Junior at this point, forty million
Speaker 1: a year for a guy who I there's no other
Speaker 1: way to put it. At this point, he's like a
Speaker 1: very poor man. Zach Levine just tall. Oh wow, I
Speaker 1: mean Zach Levine's a good I like Zavin a lot too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's Zack Lavine is a good player, you know what.
Speaker 1: Like I'm not killing him, but like Michael Border Junior
Speaker 1: is to me significantly worse than him.
Speaker 2: Sorry to Nuggets fans if this is blasphemous or anything.
Speaker 2: I don't know what the contract situation is looking like either,
Speaker 2: But I mean, can anybody get out of the building
Speaker 2: Like Jamal Murray, Like, I mean, did he he really
Speaker 2: show up yesterday?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 1: So no, and listen what have. I always said this
Speaker 1: is one of my greatest takes. Honestly, one of the greatest.
Speaker 3: That's here.
Speaker 1: No life better than being the twelfth to twenty fifth
Speaker 1: best basketball player alive. No life better. You make the
Speaker 1: same money as the very best. When you're awesome, you
Speaker 1: get sick nicknames, and we're talking about you in these
Speaker 1: amazing uh you know ways. And in a game seven,
Speaker 1: when you're six for sixteen with two assists and a
Speaker 1: minus twenty one, you get brought up forty minutes into
Speaker 1: the show discussing the game. Yeah, like nobody gives a shit.
Speaker 1: It's just such a sick.
Speaker 3: Life, Like they can they shop him? Like no?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So listen, Jamal does have value. But in the
Speaker 1: and Man, what one of Wild's best takes is that
Speaker 1: basketball fans shouldn't have to be accountants to you know,
Speaker 1: figure out their team and to be a fan of
Speaker 1: their team, and that stuff and the second Apron stuff
Speaker 1: has forced us to all become to a degree. But
Speaker 1: when I'm just pulling up on my phone the Nuggets
Speaker 1: cap sheet, Jamal has a four year contract starting next year.
Speaker 1: That is four years, two hundred and seven million dollars.
Speaker 1: I does he have value? Absolutely does. Does he have
Speaker 1: you know, massive value given the contract, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: And also that Jokich Murray pick and roll is still
Speaker 1: the thing that works better than anything else they do.
Speaker 1: So I I just they need those young guys to
Speaker 1: take a leap. They need a lot of stuff. And
Speaker 1: it does feel Demon's like while we were all, you know,
Speaker 1: hand up for me at least, but it wasn't just
Speaker 1: me holding on to two eras ago, the Lebron Steph
Speaker 1: Durant Kawhi era. Even going into this postseason after that
Speaker 1: Game two by Kawhi, people like the Clippers can win
Speaker 1: the championship. You know, I thought the Lakers are gonna
Speaker 1: win the championship the Warriors after beating the Rockets. A
Speaker 1: lot of people playoff Jimmy's Jimmy's in that group as well,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Harden holding on to that era, and now everyone
Speaker 1: kind of accepting the only way for that era to
Speaker 1: sustain is by someone from another era, like Luca joining
Speaker 1: Lebron or Yannis joining staff or whatever it is. In
Speaker 1: the midst of all that, I think there now has
Speaker 1: to be a real consideration. Did the Joker Yannis Embiid
Speaker 1: era also close as far as Championship Windows Championship, Like
Speaker 1: is it now Shay and Aunt and Brunson, and like,
Speaker 1: I know those are the guys left, but those are
Speaker 1: also the teams that you feel like are positioned, like
Speaker 1: right now for Embiid, Yannis and Joker, the three well,
Speaker 1: the last three MVPs before Shay wins his and two
Speaker 1: of the three best players in the world. Can any
Speaker 1: of those three guys realistically think that in what's left
Speaker 1: of their prime, say it three years for each of them,
Speaker 1: they can win a championship without changing teams. I don't
Speaker 1: think so, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, if you got to change teams and
Speaker 3: change teams, right right?
Speaker 1: But so is Embiid's contracts underwater? Joker is Meanwhile, somebody
Speaker 1: in the Blue Duck studios because Demonsi's at home today,
Speaker 1: check on Daniel. Daniel might be committing sepuku right now,
Speaker 1: like he the we're talking about like the Joker era ending.
Speaker 1: I mean, I I don't know how this poor like.
Speaker 2: It's the problem though, unfortunately, but those other guys need yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah no, but it's just it's really hard or just.
Speaker 2: Like the best player on the team, like can't you
Speaker 2: like force ownership's hand, like, you know, get some guys
Speaker 2: around me.
Speaker 1: It man, this is Johannis did it. Jannis did it,
Speaker 1: and now jiannest might force them to move him. I
Speaker 1: just I so let me try to put a pin
Speaker 1: in or you know, put an exclamation point on the
Speaker 1: Joker conversation. I he is going to be so I
Speaker 1: you know, you guys know how much I love these
Speaker 1: player ranking stuff. I've done the top twelve a bunch again.
Speaker 1: If you're new to the show, Lebron Kream, Michael Magic, Russell,
Speaker 1: Wilt uh Duncan, Kobe bird A, Keem Shack Steph, there's
Speaker 1: your twelve. And in fact, I even had a pretty
Speaker 1: cool graphic about it about the you know, how how
Speaker 1: high can Joker go? And then right outside that top
Speaker 1: twelve is the group Jokers in with Doctor j and Moses,
Speaker 1: a bunch of old timers Elgin Oscar West and then
Speaker 1: Giannis and Durant all you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: that wasn't in order, that was just the group. It
Speaker 1: is going to be I think very difficult, not even
Speaker 1: very difficult. I'll go ahead and say it. I think
Speaker 1: it is going to be impos possible for Joker to
Speaker 1: crack that top twelve without either a bunch of super
Speaker 1: deep playoff runs and by that I mean like four
Speaker 1: years where you're in the final slash conference finals every year,
Speaker 1: or with you know, without winning a championship or won
Speaker 1: more championship. Like, I just think he's got a hard
Speaker 1: ceiling because when you look at those guys in the
Speaker 1: top twelve. Again, I'm not a count the rings guy,
Speaker 1: but the rings have to matter. All of them have
Speaker 1: two and the only guys with just two are a team,
Speaker 1: the greatest defensive player maybe ever in certainly the last
Speaker 1: fifty years, and Wilt the guy who averaged fifty in
Speaker 1: a game for a season. Everyone else is three plus
Speaker 1: and so it wouldn't. So that's the that's the missed opportunity.
Speaker 2: If you had a bet right now, it sounds like,
Speaker 2: would you take Yok winning another ring in his career?
Speaker 3: Sounds like you're pretty iffy about it.
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I just be for you to
Speaker 1: take that what odds? Oh you gave me, uh two
Speaker 1: to one? Do I think he has a one in
Speaker 1: three chance? Yeah?
Speaker 3: You know what?
Speaker 1: But like even money, I would say no, I just
Speaker 1: the now he he just I just think he's say
Speaker 1: it again.
Speaker 3: This shocks me with like how high you're put him?
Speaker 2: I think there's no way yo Kich goes the rest
Speaker 2: of his career that one in another ring.
Speaker 1: I just don't know where he gets that. Denver does
Speaker 1: tuh to not have Because here's the problem. Houston is coming,
Speaker 1: Houston's you know, they were the two seeds. Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: is loaded for Bear Minnesota. Back to back conference finals
Speaker 1: for Minnesota. You know, like Anthony Edwards now in like
Speaker 1: it's insane to say, but it's true. He has as
Speaker 1: many conference finals appearances as Joker two like, so they
Speaker 1: he just joke like, So there's just I think it
Speaker 1: might make more sense if you look at it more
Speaker 1: like the window was twenty one to last season like that,
Speaker 1: and you have the year, you know, Jamal Tears' acl
Speaker 1: you or maybe nineteen to last season, whatever it would
Speaker 1: have been, Jamal misses a postseason or two you win
Speaker 1: a championship. Last year is the how the hell did
Speaker 1: that happen to us? In game seven? And then this
Speaker 1: year if fire your coach and you end up where
Speaker 1: you're at, all right, let's quickly go to the Western
Speaker 1: Conference Finals and then we'll do the East as well,
Speaker 1: and then I do need to talk about Brock Purty
Speaker 1: getting paid, and I need to talk about once again,
Speaker 1: demons ir. It just seems like it's not possible to
Speaker 1: have a sane WNBA conversation. It doesn't seem like it's possible.
Speaker 1: It just it doesn't seem like it's possible. We'll get
Speaker 1: to all that before the show's over. But let's get
Speaker 1: to the conference finals.
Speaker 2: So yeah, the thunder are now going to face off
Speaker 2: against the Timberwolves, who have been waiting for them after
Speaker 2: their Game seven, Minnesota's obviously been waiting. Okay, see, he's
Speaker 2: thrown right in the fire. I think their games tomorrow,
Speaker 2: But okay, see's still heavy favorites. Why would Vegas have
Speaker 2: them as favorites.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean because they've They've been the best team
Speaker 1: all year. Now they are huge favorites, yo, like minus
Speaker 1: three seventy five for the series and minus seven and
Speaker 1: a half or something for Game one. What I would
Speaker 1: say is, you would think the layoff would be good
Speaker 1: for Minnesota. It was not in that Warriors series Game
Speaker 1: one against the Warriors, they look terrible, you know, after
Speaker 1: that long layoff. I my pick would be Okay, see. However,
Speaker 1: I I think minus three seventy five is too big
Speaker 1: of a favorite. I also think that for Minnesota to
Speaker 1: have a realistic shot at this, I think that they
Speaker 1: do need to do what Denver did in Round two,
Speaker 1: which gave them a realistic shots. They forced the game seven,
Speaker 1: which is I think they need to steal game one.
Speaker 1: I think they need to take advantage of the fact
Speaker 1: that Okac is maybe a little you know, relieved, plus
Speaker 1: maybe be a little tired, and that they're rested, and
Speaker 1: I think they need to come out and play great
Speaker 1: in game one. I think it's gonna be too hard
Speaker 1: for them to beat Okay See four out of six
Speaker 1: with one of those being a Game seven on the road.
Speaker 1: So I think that Minnesota's got to steal game one.
Speaker 3: Jayleen Williams, I feel like that should be the game plan.
Speaker 2: Lock him up obviously, you know SGA is gonna get buckets,
Speaker 2: Jayla Williams coming off the warm game, don't want him
Speaker 2: it continue.
Speaker 1: So you so you would deploy, So that'll be interesting,
Speaker 1: do you do they deploy Jaden McDaniels on Jalen Williams
Speaker 1: neutralizer and just tell aunt hey man Shay is Shay's
Speaker 1: been talking about you just trying to get Aunt fired up.
Speaker 1: And also the other thing that works in Minnesota's favor
Speaker 1: is I gotta tell you I right now, I can
Speaker 1: already see it like it's a prophecy, and I can
Speaker 1: guarantee we are going to see this image. This is
Speaker 1: why it's good to watch on YouTube if you can.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna be Chet Holmgren for a second.
Speaker 1: We're gonna see this early and maybe often doubled over
Speaker 1: grabbing his sternum because Julius Randall has dropped his shoulder
Speaker 1: into Chet's chest and we're gonna We're gonna ask in
Speaker 1: real time like does he need to be metavacked somewhere?
Speaker 1: Like is like serious? No, seriously, we need to stop
Speaker 1: the game. Is did his did his chest cavity just collapse?
Speaker 1: That's gonna be a tough one man. And so like
Speaker 1: Julius is Julius did that to Lebron, he did that
Speaker 1: to Draymond, and now he's gonna have Chet Holmgren and
Speaker 1: so like that is a real matchup that I'm interested in.
Speaker 1: But I hope that series is awesome, and I'm also
Speaker 1: even the I picked Okay, see, I'm like an adopted
Speaker 1: You're gonna call me flip flopping. So this is what
Speaker 1: I was. I told the story about our friend Nick
Speaker 1: from sugar Hill Creamery who's been watching all the Timberwolves
Speaker 1: games at the house, and that he's, you know, he
Speaker 1: has a real rooting interest, and so I like, I
Speaker 1: am rooting for me personally for a Nicks Timberwolves NBA
Speaker 1: Finals because I want to be able to go to games,
Speaker 1: and I I think if that happens, then I'm kind
Speaker 1: of happy with either. Winter. I don't really like, okayc
Speaker 1: I find him a little corny. I I don't. I'm
Speaker 1: not a huge chet I'm sorry, not a huge shave fan.
Speaker 1: I don't like.
Speaker 2: I don't find their whole scheme little thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah I find it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not a huge fan, but I gotta give
Speaker 1: him respect where it's due. I don't like, No, it's
Speaker 1: just fair, like you're for you like who you like.
Speaker 1: Love is love, all right. The NBA fighters almost here,
Speaker 1: and every play could be the one that changes everything.
Speaker 1: This is the NBA Playoffs, where heroes rise and legacies
Speaker 1: are built in the action never lets up and with
Speaker 1: DraftKings Sportsbook and official sports betting partner of the NBA.
Speaker 1: You don't just watch the madness, you live it back
Speaker 1: your favorite team, ride with your clutch, time killer, bet
Speaker 1: on the buzzer beaters, the breakout performances, the game winning
Speaker 1: threes from player profs, same game parlays. This is how
Speaker 1: you take your fandom to the next level. Guys, I
Speaker 1: am so excited and quick turnaround for the game one
Speaker 1: of the Conference finals. We are just discussing it. It
Speaker 1: feels like, uh, it is a game that Minnesota has
Speaker 1: to win if you think they're going to win the series,
Speaker 1: and I certainly think they can keep that game close.
Speaker 1: Right now, it's seven and a half point line. New
Speaker 1: to the game, no sweat. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app.
Speaker 1: Bet just five dollars and if your bet wins, you'll
Speaker 1: get two one hundred dollars in bonus bets. Truly, it's
Speaker 1: that easy. Download the DraftKings sports Book app and use
Speaker 1: code right. That's code right for new customers to get
Speaker 1: two hundred dollars in bonus bets. If your bet wins win,
Speaker 1: you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings. The Crown
Speaker 1: is yours gambling problem. Call one eight hundred gambler In
Speaker 1: New York, call eight seven seven eight, hope in why,
Speaker 1: or text hope in why, which is four six seven
Speaker 1: three six nine. In Connecticut, help is available for problem
Speaker 1: gambling Call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven
Speaker 1: seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly
Speaker 1: on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty
Speaker 1: one plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario.
Speaker 1: Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance.
Speaker 1: For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG dot
Speaker 1: co slash b ball. All right, demonse, let's go to
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference and your Celtics getting what's the term
Speaker 1: dog walked in a game six?
Speaker 3: Go ahead? Uh? Not fair. I mean we didn't have
Speaker 3: our best player, but it is what it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I was obviously a little confident that we're
Speaker 2: gonna win that game and that's h So that how
Speaker 2: it went. It's time to go home. Tatum was out.
Speaker 2: We got dogged in the game six. Like you said,
Speaker 2: do you think that we should blow this team up
Speaker 2: for the money or do you think that we showed
Speaker 2: enough to keep the band together, try to run it
Speaker 2: back next year.
Speaker 1: Listen. I always, I certainly don't think they I don't
Speaker 1: think they should blow it up. They could have won
Speaker 1: the championship if things break a little differently like I, So,
Speaker 1: I can hold both of these thoughts in my head.
Speaker 1: I do think if you had a healthy Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: and the Knicks series was a best of twenty one
Speaker 1: first to eleven, you beat them in that series every
Speaker 1: time it's played, like you know, I mean, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: My point is is, I do think Boston, over a
Speaker 1: large enough sample, would have beaten the Knicks. I thought
Speaker 1: where I thought people blew the analysis of it was
Speaker 1: because games one and two were you know, one point
Speaker 1: in overtime games, despite the Celtic shooting twenty five from three.
Speaker 1: What I where I thought people screwed up their analysis
Speaker 1: was is that it they acted as if it mattered
Speaker 1: that ah, more often than not, the Celtics will at
Speaker 1: least split those two, if not win them both. It
Speaker 1: didn't matter. It's a race to four and it's too nothing.
Speaker 1: And so to me, I thought the series ended then
Speaker 1: when the Knicks were up two to zero in Boston,
Speaker 1: and I think the series even if Jason Tatum is healthy,
Speaker 1: and I think you might agree, the Knicks still win
Speaker 1: because the Knick. If you agree with this opinion, the
Speaker 1: Knicks were winning Game four even if Tatum doesn't suffer
Speaker 1: that horrific injury. Then I just think it was unrealistic
Speaker 1: to say the Celtics were gonna win three straight. And
Speaker 1: I think you saw that in what happened in Game six,
Speaker 1: not the blowout. Here's the part I think people are
Speaker 1: missing and gets lost because it was a blowout. The
Speaker 1: Celtics were relying too much on old guys who showed
Speaker 1: you all postseason that they were not able to be
Speaker 1: good in consecutive games unless they had multiple days off,
Speaker 1: and that's Horford and that's Drew Holiday, and that you
Speaker 1: weren't gonna get those days off, and so you had
Speaker 1: a bunch of time between Game four and five. Those
Speaker 1: guys were awesome in Game five, and then Drew was
Speaker 1: one for eight in Game six and Horford was four
Speaker 1: for seven, which is fine, like they so, so I
Speaker 1: think the Knicks were better in this series and that's
Speaker 1: what mattered. Now, would I blow it up? No? Do
Speaker 1: I recognize the Celtics' financial realities are such that they
Speaker 1: are going to have to make some significant changes. And
Speaker 1: the answer to that question is yes. To me, it's
Speaker 1: pretty obvious. Here are the changes I would make if
Speaker 1: I were Boston because they are in such a devastating
Speaker 1: salary position. I would, And I am now opening the
Speaker 1: Celtics cap table. Al Horford is a free agent. You
Speaker 1: just have to I think he retires. Yeah, you just
Speaker 1: have to let him walk. So that's gone. You then
Speaker 1: have these big salaries Jalen Brown fifty three, Tatum fifty four,
Speaker 1: Drew thirty two, Chris STAPs thirty, Derek White twenty eight,
Speaker 1: and then a sneaky one which is Sam Houser ten million. Okay,
Speaker 1: I would if I were them. You let Horford walk,
Speaker 1: and you trade Drew Holliday then and you keep together Tatum, Brown, White,
Speaker 1: and you hope that Chris STAPs next year is healthy.
Speaker 1: And now here's the other piece of the Christaps thing,
Speaker 1: because I wouldn't trade him before the year. If there
Speaker 1: is real hope that Tatum could be back for next
Speaker 1: year's playoffs, I think that is unrealistic. However, it does
Speaker 1: seem like that because they did the surgery like within
Speaker 1: hours of the injury that that could really, you know,
Speaker 1: Curb shave some time off the recovery at next year's
Speaker 1: trade deadline. Because Christaps is an expiring contract, I would,
Speaker 1: I would and see does it make sense to offload
Speaker 1: him or to keep him if we think he's gonna
Speaker 1: walk in the offseason either way depending on is Tatum
Speaker 1: gonna be back for this playoff run, but the next
Speaker 1: time Tatum's healthy, I would definitively want Tatum, Brown, and
Speaker 1: Derek White together. The reason I brought up Sam Hauser
Speaker 1: is I read something that because of like the repeater
Speaker 1: tax and the aprons and all this shit, Sam Houser's
Speaker 1: ten million dollars demonse costs the Celtics sixty two million
Speaker 1: dollars because it's of the different like three xing the
Speaker 1: penalties for if you're over this certain lines. So it
Speaker 1: doesn't that money doesn't go to Sam, it goes to
Speaker 1: the league. So he's a fine player.
Speaker 3: On a nice count salary basically, right, Well not.
Speaker 1: So it's on anyone's salary. The point I'm making is
Speaker 1: if you if you stack the salaries up and like
Speaker 1: and you're like, hey, here's our total salary, what would
Speaker 1: happen to our luxury tax bill. If we traded the
Speaker 1: ten million dollars Sam Hauser contract, that one move, if
Speaker 1: they had everyone else still there, would save them the
Speaker 1: ten million in salary and fifty two million in penalties.
Speaker 1: Now obviously that means trading Drew Holiday saves you even more.
Speaker 1: But that's that. That was just an example of what
Speaker 1: the financial realities are for a team that I think
Speaker 1: next year is not really competing. But I do think
Speaker 1: Tatum Brown, Derek White, there's proof of concept when I
Speaker 1: say competing, Like I think they'll still be good.
Speaker 3: I just don't think they're not a championship level next year.
Speaker 1: Right and so, and this was the point I made
Speaker 1: going into Game six. If you treated Chris STAPs as
Speaker 1: if he were out, which I was. If you had
Speaker 1: a team going into a year and you said our
Speaker 1: best players Jalen Brown, our second best players Derek White,
Speaker 1: Our third, fourth fifth guys are Drew Holliday, Al Horford,
Speaker 1: Peyton Pritchard, you would put that team in the same
Speaker 1: tier you put the regular Detroit Pistons, like, oh, that's
Speaker 1: a good team, Like you know what I mean, they
Speaker 1: should make the playoffs, Like Jalen his caid in that situation,
Speaker 1: you know, you go on down like, but you wouldn't
Speaker 1: look at them as a championship contender, and that's what
Speaker 1: the Celtics were by the end of that series. Does
Speaker 1: that make sense?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that makes sense. I like it all. I love
Speaker 3: getting rid of Drew.
Speaker 2: I love both those guys, Drew and Al Horford. But
Speaker 2: it is it's in honestly not Drew Drew.
Speaker 3: I honestly, if you will have the test things out
Speaker 3: a little further, but that makes sense to me.
Speaker 1: It just if you if you feel like, here's the
Speaker 1: point I would make on Drew, if you if you're
Speaker 1: if the feeling is of your guys making thirty ish
Speaker 1: or way more Chris STAPs, Derek White, Drew Holliday, Tatum Brown.
Speaker 1: That Derek White is too important and younger and all
Speaker 1: of that. Tatum Brown untouchable. And it's a decision between
Speaker 1: Chris STAPs and Drew. The the easy answer is will
Speaker 1: move Chris STAPs, He's but if you want to try
Speaker 1: to get real draft compensation back because you are trying
Speaker 1: to you know, get you know, more young cheap players,
Speaker 1: Drew has way more trade value, right that Does that
Speaker 1: make sense? Since that, so I those, but I don't
Speaker 1: think you're trading Jalen Brown. You're obviously not trading Jason Tatum,
Speaker 1: and I would be shocked if you're trading Derek White.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: You have a follow up about the playoff schedule.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you were saying there weren't enough games in
Speaker 2: between the between the Celtics games. You know, Drew Albert
Speaker 2: enough days, enough days. Yeah, so Drew and Alhober can
Speaker 2: keep up. Gordon also said there needs to be more
Speaker 2: time in between playoff games. Do you think the NBA
Speaker 2: should change the playoff schedule?
Speaker 1: So it's really weird. Round one there's plenty of time
Speaker 1: between games and the finals, obviously, there's plenty of time
Speaker 1: between games. Rounds two and three are damn races just
Speaker 1: and like the conference finals for both series every other day,
Speaker 1: so every night we have a game, because every series
Speaker 1: is every other day. I think the obvious thing they
Speaker 1: should do is make Round one less time between games
Speaker 1: in round one and add a few off days in
Speaker 1: rounds two and three. Now it's tough obviously when series
Speaker 1: go long, like you would have more time, if you know,
Speaker 1: if the Western Arms Finals didn't go seven games. I
Speaker 1: understand that, and I don't think you want to push
Speaker 1: the finals, you know, and you definitely don't want to
Speaker 1: push the finals into July. But they also give guys,
Speaker 1: here's the other thing that one of the reasons for
Speaker 1: this is the play in. Like everybody gets that week
Speaker 1: off during the play in. Would those would those days
Speaker 1: be better served if they were you know, in between,
Speaker 1: in between or elsewhere? Maybe? And so but certainly with
Speaker 1: the schedule as it is, too much time, but in
Speaker 1: round one, not not enough time in rounds two and three,
Speaker 1: Daniel asks, why can't it go into July? Because people
Speaker 1: don't watch TV in July and August. It's just why
Speaker 1: It's just a ratings thing, like people are vacation and
Speaker 1: they saw it, and Daniels saying, because, well, no, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think the people have done the research on it.
Speaker 1: Maybe people people are used to the NBA Finals being
Speaker 1: in June, and I think they hated it when because
Speaker 1: of COVID and then different schedules of seasons, we had
Speaker 1: to move stuff. All right, let's do Eastern Conference then
Speaker 1: some other stuff.
Speaker 2: We've got to throw back in the Eastern Conference finals
Speaker 2: with the Knicks and the Pacers, Game one is going
Speaker 2: down in the garden and the Knicks are favored.
Speaker 3: In the series on DraftKings. I don't know if I
Speaker 3: was supposed to say that, But are we confident or.
Speaker 2: Are fans a little too confident in their Knicks and
Speaker 2: overlooking the feisty Pacers team?
Speaker 1: Well, how confident are fans?
Speaker 3: You are?
Speaker 1: I'm picking the Nicks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know you're picking the Nicks that I'm it's
Speaker 3: going to be that light.
Speaker 1: Oh, I don't think it's going to be light either.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to be light. But I
Speaker 1: think the Knicks are better, all right. I think that
Speaker 1: there's going to be real. Now, this is you know,
Speaker 1: T and t's final series, and it's Reggie Miller on
Speaker 1: the call for Nicks Pacers. So that is going to
Speaker 1: be unbearable watch the game if you're rooting for the Knicks,
Speaker 1: and I will be rooting for the Knicks, and the listen,
Speaker 1: the Pacers are tough, and the Pacers are good, and
Speaker 1: and the Halliburton thing is, it's Halliburton. Everybody cares that.
Speaker 1: That stupid NBA player poll, which, to be clear, ninety
Speaker 1: players responded. He won it with eighteen percent of the vote,
Speaker 1: So it means like fifteen guys called him the most overrated.
Speaker 1: What that to me is more indicative of people just
Speaker 1: don't like him. I don't think he's very popular amongst
Speaker 1: his colleagues. I do think he's I think people respect
Speaker 1: his game to a degree. He's really good. They've got
Speaker 1: two guys who will fight in nim Hard and Matherin.
Speaker 1: Siakam's tough, Miles Turner's tough, McConnell's of pain in the ass.
Speaker 1: That's a good team. But I think the Knicks has
Speaker 1: now seven they really trust and they're healthy. I think
Speaker 1: they have their starting five. I gotta tell you, I
Speaker 1: have been impressed by the Duce McBride minutes, and Mitchell
Speaker 1: Robinson's really good, and so I also think Mitch, if
Speaker 1: there was ever a player who has enough this is
Speaker 1: gonna be I should have. This is my best take
Speaker 1: of the day. God dog it. I'm gonna say it
Speaker 1: on TV too. Don't clip this until later. I don't know.
Speaker 1: You don't even have to clip this. This won't do
Speaker 1: well on social media, but this is true. If there's
Speaker 1: ever a player demonse who has enough tough guy equity
Speaker 1: and is beloved almost overly beloved given his contribution by
Speaker 1: his home fans that they could get away with it.
Speaker 1: Mitch is the guy who should go underhand free throws.
Speaker 1: He's the guy like nobody's gonna say like like like
Speaker 1: he his free throws that were so devastating at times
Speaker 1: and his fear of because his fear of shooting the
Speaker 1: free throws has now meant past the size to something
Speaker 1: I don't remember. Do you know what I'm gonna say here?
Speaker 3: I don't know what you're gonna say here.
Speaker 2: But it's interesting following the narrative around his free throws,
Speaker 2: But what are you about to say here?
Speaker 1: It's not just that they take him off the court
Speaker 1: if the other team's going to the hack of strategy.
Speaker 1: Watch Mitch Robinson the last few games. When he gets
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds, he doesn't try to go up and score.
Speaker 1: He turns his back to pass because he knows they're
Speaker 1: gonna faul him, and so like he there were a
Speaker 1: couple instances where it felt like he could have gotten
Speaker 1: a put back dunk, but his instant reaction was turn
Speaker 1: around and kick it out and so go ahead.
Speaker 2: I see the video of this guy going around playing
Speaker 2: like pick up basketball and doing like turnaround jumpers that
Speaker 2: he's like flowing with the dribbles in the hand handling
Speaker 2: all that. It's I'm very confused on how he like
Speaker 2: it shot.
Speaker 3: What's happened to his free throw?
Speaker 1: It has to be mental. Oh but here's the man.
Speaker 1: Hold on just the I'm back. Don't worry, I'm back.
Speaker 1: I asked the guys before the show if we've had
Speaker 1: any tech issues. They said no, And now we've had
Speaker 1: two outright freezes today. The first one, I think was
Speaker 1: brought on by the fact that I the internet in
Speaker 1: YouTube was just dismayed by the fact that I could
Speaker 1: not say the term hamstring strain. And they were like,
Speaker 1: get this guy off the air. Here's another free throw thing.
Speaker 1: I've never understood why nobody like shoots it like everyone
Speaker 1: refuses to shoot it like a jumper. I get why
Speaker 1: good free throw shooters don't. And you might be like, well,
Speaker 1: you can't step over the line. You could step back,
Speaker 1: you can you can stand anywhere you want in the
Speaker 1: semi circle like and it does feel like some of
Speaker 1: these guys who are brutal from the line, if it
Speaker 1: was just like a seventeen foot pull up like that,
Speaker 1: they would be better. Like yeah and so, and that
Speaker 1: wouldn't be you know, but I think Mitch can go
Speaker 1: granny style. I think he can.
Speaker 3: I think it would be sad.
Speaker 1: There you go. It's bigger than basketball. So ask me, uh,
Speaker 1: the Chalo May question before we move on.
Speaker 3: It's early. What is Timothy chalomey on pace to be
Speaker 3: a Hall of Fame Knicks.
Speaker 1: Fans not phony like you got the tims on. But
Speaker 1: it's also he's got he's got receipts. So I'm sure
Speaker 1: I'm not the only person who, up until eighteen months ago,
Speaker 1: thought this kid was I thought he was foreign, like,
Speaker 1: I thought he was French or something because of the Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought he had to be from somewhere in Europe.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, it's this amazing actor that you know,
Speaker 1: women love, and he has two ease and an accent
Speaker 1: mark in his first name and his last name is
Speaker 1: Chala May. But this kid's from New York, and I
Speaker 1: mean his parents just kind of fried him on the
Speaker 1: spelling of his first name, like timothyy like it like
Speaker 1: and Challo May. There's nothing to do about. But it
Speaker 1: just so, I didn't even know up until relatively recently
Speaker 1: that he was American. But then we also find out
Speaker 1: not only is the American, he is hang out outside
Speaker 1: the garden hoping to meet Landry Field's American. And and
Speaker 1: you know when an Amuri Stottameyer signed basketball on Twitter,
Speaker 1: American like he is a true die. And I gotta
Speaker 1: tell you then, Nick and I am friends is way
Speaker 1: too strong to put it. I'd love to be friends
Speaker 1: with this person, but I'm not at the moment. But
Speaker 1: I would uh friendly for sure with Spike Lee and
Speaker 1: I adore Spike. I will tell you Spike showing up
Speaker 1: at the met Gala and Timmy Shows going to the
Speaker 1: Knicks game that night, that's a big pecking order thing.
Speaker 1: And so he's not a Johnny cum Lately Nick fan.
Speaker 1: And also like him bringing his gorgeous girlfriend with him,
Speaker 1: making her sit, you know, at a front row root
Speaker 1: for the nixt girlfriend.
Speaker 3: I thought he's like Caitlyn Jenner or Kendall Jenner or
Speaker 3: something like that.
Speaker 1: He's with one of the gin That's yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about.
Speaker 3: This is his girlfriend. I know it was his girlfriend.
Speaker 3: I thought those were just his homies, kyl.
Speaker 1: He's no, he and Kylie are like real serious.
Speaker 2: Okay, I thought they were just all boys or boys
Speaker 2: and girls.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, no, no. He and Kylie have been together
Speaker 1: for quite some time. I think Patrick's but yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean yeah, I mean he's living the life and so
Speaker 1: and is a true diehard. So I think that's sick.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I do think. And he like is gonna awesome.
Speaker 3: He's He's just.
Speaker 1: Gonna be a fixture of the like courtside seats and
Speaker 1: the broadcast all that. It's great.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 1: So and the Knicks that series starts Wednesday, right, it
Speaker 1: starts Wednesday. I am just beside myself. That's too strong. Uh.
Speaker 1: The latest w NBA controversy is just evidence demons that
Speaker 1: we are not yet ready societally to have this rivalry exist,
Speaker 1: and I don't know that we ever will be. So
Speaker 1: here's the thing that I shouldn't have to say, but
Speaker 1: I think, because it goes without saying ball say it anyway. Obviously,
Speaker 1: if fans are chanting anything racist or making racist animal
Speaker 1: sounds anything like that, that is abhorrent, deplorable, and those
Speaker 1: people should be banned for life. If you didn't catch up,
Speaker 1: let me, let me. People might be like, the hell
Speaker 1: are we talking about? So here's the deal. Caitlin Clark's
Speaker 1: Indiana Fever played Angel Reese's Chicago Sky. Caitlyn had triple double,
Speaker 1: Angel had a bunch of rebounds and a bunch of mislayups,
Speaker 1: and the Fever one by thirty. During the game, Angel
Speaker 1: committed a hard I'm sorry, Caitlin committed a hard foul
Speaker 1: on Angel that was called a flagrant. To me that
Speaker 1: was borderline, but whatever, it was a smart, hard foul.
Speaker 1: And then Angel got pissed. Is some professional or semi
Speaker 1: professional lip readers you know, think she's you know, said
Speaker 1: she was effing crazy or something. There were there were
Speaker 1: you know, dueling technicals, right, do we think we have
Speaker 1: this all correct? Just some random person on Twitter who
Speaker 1: we have no idea if they were even at the game.
Speaker 1: Was like the crowd making monkey noises at Angel Reese
Speaker 1: is you know, way out of line. Obviously that'd be
Speaker 1: way out of line. The thing is the game was
Speaker 1: on tv I there seems to be no evidence of
Speaker 1: this whatsoever that this happened. There is a clip when
Speaker 1: Angel misses a free throw of what sounds like a
Speaker 1: dolphin noise. Now, I because it's twenty twenty five and
Speaker 1: everything sucks, have learned there is some streamer who laughs
Speaker 1: sounds like a dolphin, and now idiot gen zers like
Speaker 1: laugh like him, do what demons can you kill us
Speaker 1: in on this?
Speaker 3: His name's Fly.
Speaker 2: I think they're talking about a fight like a popular
Speaker 2: two K that's right, t K two K YouTuber. I
Speaker 2: can see a dolphin noise sounding pretty close to monky
Speaker 2: noise though.
Speaker 1: I so I agree with that. I agree with that,
Speaker 1: I agree with that entirely. That may but again, I
Speaker 1: need more than one person's tweet before I'm going to
Speaker 1: and let me say this as well, before we get
Speaker 1: to what I actually want to talk about here. Some
Speaker 1: of the alleged Caitlin Clark fans and I said this
Speaker 1: last year, we had really you can just check our archives.
Speaker 1: We had real smart, I think, conversations on this. Some
Speaker 1: of the Allegedkaitlyn Clark clans are not Caitlin Clark fans.
Speaker 1: They are just racists. Some of them. They just like
Speaker 1: that they think this white girl is humbling these black
Speaker 1: girls that definitely, unequivocally clearly exists. The thing is, it
Speaker 1: mostly exists online. It to my experience, does not seem
Speaker 1: to exist that much in person at the Games. And
Speaker 1: now again the WNBA needs to be proactive about making
Speaker 1: sure that doesn't, you know, invade the actual arenas. There's
Speaker 1: nothing you do about the online stuff as sadly it's
Speaker 1: the world in which we live. Those people are pieces
Speaker 1: of shit, and now I think everybody knows it. But
Speaker 1: then the race stuff then gets even more complicated because
Speaker 1: then there are fans of Angel who I don't even
Speaker 1: know if they're fans of Angel, but there feels like
Speaker 1: there is a like a solidarity of like no, like
Speaker 1: there are shitty people on you attacking these black WNBA players.
Speaker 1: So we then need to act like Caitlin Clark isn't
Speaker 1: this super nova of the talent, And the whole thing
Speaker 1: just sucks because idiots get involved, and the WNBA commissioner,
Speaker 1: who I don't know that Kathy Ingelbert's a wartime consuliari
Speaker 1: releasing a statement today like we're investigating this, like I'm
Speaker 1: not sure I maybe would have investigated it. And then
Speaker 1: if there was any evidence whatsoever that this happened, then
Speaker 1: I release a statement like to me, your statement validates
Speaker 1: the allegation when I have seen no evidence that this happened. Okay,
Speaker 1: now there's all that here's the thing I want to
Speaker 1: talk about. People are gonna be mad, don't care, Demanse.
Speaker 1: Angel Reason needs to be better. Yeah, at basketball. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about as a person. I'm not talking about as
Speaker 1: a podcaster. I'm not talking about it as at the
Speaker 1: met Gala. She needs to be a better player if
Speaker 1: we want this rivalry to be able to have some
Speaker 1: staying power. Like she had a very very busy offseason. Again,
Speaker 1: we are we are one game in, but at this moment,
Speaker 1: it does not seem like the off season involved a
Speaker 1: lot of Mike and drills of left handed layups. And
Speaker 1: she is right now, Angel Reese. I'm I'm sorry, right now,
Speaker 1: she is a wildly famous rebounder.
Speaker 3: It's like a.
Speaker 1: I mean, somebody had the funniest tweet on this. I
Speaker 1: think it was Miles Brown who tweeted it was the
Speaker 1: Caitlin Clark Angel Reese rivalry is like if Kobe had
Speaker 1: a rivalry with Marcin Gortat. And I just can't get
Speaker 1: that out of my head, Like, I mean, this is
Speaker 1: the there Listen, I don't think Caitlyn is the best
Speaker 1: player in the league. To be clear, that's still Asia
Speaker 1: Wilson until proven otherwise. I think she will one day
Speaker 1: be the best player in the league. But ain't Angel
Speaker 1: Reese right now? Okay, Kent Taggert evidently gets credit for
Speaker 1: that tweet. Thanks guys. I mean that was really funny.
Speaker 1: Caitlyn's team is I think gonna be awesome, and she's awesome.
Speaker 1: An Angel is a nice player that has real value
Speaker 1: and is maybe already the best rebounder in the league,
Speaker 1: certainly one of them. But if that is going to
Speaker 1: be a real right on court rivalry, then Angel reason
Speaker 1: needs to get better at some of the fundamentals. That's
Speaker 1: just a fact. And this is where I'm gonna sound
Speaker 1: like the old man. But you had a very very
Speaker 1: very busy public offseason and if you didn't all like,
Speaker 1: if you come back this year the same exact player
Speaker 1: that you left last year, that's a miss by you.
Speaker 1: And so that's that to me, is the more the
Speaker 1: thing to watch is that is Angel going to continue
Speaker 1: to be a thirty five percent layup shooter, because that's
Speaker 1: gonna that that is going to put a real ceiling
Speaker 1: on who she can be as a player. And this
Speaker 1: is where I am just going to trust my entire career.
Speaker 1: Bona Fides that people aren't going to be able to
Speaker 1: try to draw me into the I mean, you know what,
Speaker 1: everyone is gonna get drawn into it. Damn. Look, people,
Speaker 1: is I guess accused Lebron of being anti black because
Speaker 1: he gave props to Caitlin Clark and so they're there.
Speaker 1: This is so toxic on certain levels that anybody could
Speaker 1: be you know, people could make allegations about anyone's motivations.
Speaker 1: My real motivations on this are, I do I love
Speaker 1: the idea of this being because they clearly don't like
Speaker 1: each other. I love the idea of this being a
Speaker 1: real rivalry, but one both parties got to hold up
Speaker 1: there into the bargain as far as making them both
Speaker 1: being awesome, Like is that all fair stuff?
Speaker 3: In between the whistles and not after?
Speaker 1: And I listen and I don't even I don't mind
Speaker 1: the hard fouls, you guys know from this show. I
Speaker 1: wasn't playing tiny violins last year for Caitlin Clark and
Speaker 1: the flagrance. I didn't give a damn like that. That's sports.
Speaker 1: And she didn't care either, and she's I say this nicely,
Speaker 1: I say this with respect. On the court, she's kind
Speaker 1: of an asshole, like so there is a real edge
Speaker 1: to her that I think has you know, that can
Speaker 1: irk people, and there's a lot of things that can
Speaker 1: come from that. But I the let me, let me
Speaker 1: get this back together. See can you guys DEMONSI talk
Speaker 1: to me real quick. Yeah, sorry, my headphone died. That
Speaker 1: probably means we're going too long. It's almost noon. Holy moly,
Speaker 1: the Niners overpaid on Rock Party. They shouldn't have done it.
Speaker 2: There's gonna say that their championship window just opened up,
Speaker 2: just opened up. Yeah, that's gonna be my leading Okay,
Speaker 2: tell me go ahead any more. I was just gonna say, hey, man,
Speaker 2: NFL call the forty nine Ers championship window just opened up.
Speaker 3: Rock Party. Five years, two hundred and sixty five million.
Speaker 3: They're screwed.
Speaker 1: I would have listen. I would have I would have
Speaker 1: wanted to see one more year from Brock. I have
Speaker 1: a feeling that's going to be a huge part of
Speaker 1: the TV show. We'll get into it more there. I
Speaker 1: don't have time to do ten minutes on Brock Purty here.
Speaker 1: Let's by the way, before we get to a few
Speaker 1: listener questions, reminder like rate subscribe review and also this
Speaker 1: week reminder I'm not sure exactly what the schedule is
Speaker 1: gonna be, so you know, head on a swivel for
Speaker 1: when the next POD's gonna drop. Uh. The listeners evidently
Speaker 1: forty listeners said they think the Thunder is gonna win
Speaker 1: the title. That seems fair.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, Uh, Tim asked Murray and MPJ for Kadi
Speaker 2: and Filler, any chance of that.
Speaker 1: That's one of the tim I say this with respect,
Speaker 1: that's one of the worst trade ideas I've ever heard
Speaker 1: in my life. You can't trade Jamal Murray and Michael
Speaker 1: Porter Junior for Kevin Durant. Just ruined the nugget. When
Speaker 1: I first saw that, I thought you were gonna suggesting
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior for Kevin Durant. Now that's a trade
Speaker 1: I would consider. I don't think they can make that
Speaker 1: work capwise. I think that there's too many Apron and
Speaker 1: it's almost impossible for two second Apron adjacent teams to
Speaker 1: make a trade. But I would consider Michael. If you're
Speaker 1: the Sons, you're like, Okay, maybe you know at least
Speaker 1: he's younger, and maybe he stays healthy, whatever it is.
Speaker 1: But you know, if you're gonna trade Jamal Murray, you
Speaker 1: need to get a bunch back. You can't trade Murray
Speaker 1: and Michael Porter Junior for Kevin Durant and Filler. Sorry, Tim,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you watching, but that's a terrible, terrible, terrible trade.
Speaker 1: It's almost as bad as Bruce. What's up with everybody
Speaker 1: making these terrible Durant trades? Brew on TV suggested that
Speaker 1: the MAVs offer Anthony Davis for Kevin Durant. I said, Bru,
Speaker 1: what are you What are you talking about?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 1: You can't trade Anthony. You traded Luca to get Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: You can't trade Anthony Davis to get the thirty seven
Speaker 1: year old Kevin Durant Thursday, Wednesday or Thursday. I told
Speaker 1: Brew leave the fake trades to me.
Speaker 3: Jordan.
Speaker 2: Jordan asked the Celtics try to trade for Marcus Smarts
Speaker 2: to run things back with him.
Speaker 1: I think Marcus Smart might be done. Yeah, I think that.
Speaker 1: You know that that's a guy who's, given his style
Speaker 1: of play and what a beating his body took's not
Speaker 1: going to age that well. All right. I am headed
Speaker 1: to Indy in a couple of days. We'll have another
Speaker 1: pod this week. I just don't know when to be
Speaker 1: totally honest with you. Uh, this is a really fun show.
Speaker 1: I hope you guys Enjordan on a Monday. See you
Speaker 1: guys on TV in a few hours. Great job to
Speaker 1: Monday Blue Duck, volume DraftKings, and apologies to Daniel Who's
Speaker 1: listen man. That banner will fly forever. It might be
Speaker 1: the only one flying in Baller area for the rest
Speaker 1: of Jokers career, but it'll fly forever. Sorry Daniel. Still
Speaker 1: not over those brooms you sent me after the Lakers
Speaker 1: got swept three years ago. See you guys later once right,
Speaker 1: See you guys