Speaker 1: The Volume. Hi everybody, and welcome into the Monday Morning podcast.
Speaker 1: Jason Timpf and I Jason podcaster hoops tonight at the Volume.
Speaker 1: Will join us in about ten minutes. So the big
Speaker 1: NFL news on Sunday afternoon that broke the Baltimore Ravens
Speaker 1: paid fifteen million guaranteed potentially eighteen million for Odell Beckham Junior,
Speaker 1: which is possibly double his value on the market. Just
Speaker 1: to give you a sense, Alan Lazard got twenty two
Speaker 1: million guaranteed and that's for four years with the Jets,
Speaker 1: So Obj's getting fifteen million guaranteed for one year with
Speaker 1: the Ravens. I texted two executives in the NFL and
Speaker 1: they said, man, what is it with the Ravens and
Speaker 1: old wide receivers? Odell Beckham this year, Nelson Aguilar this year,
Speaker 1: to Shaun Jackson last year. They have their declining wide
Speaker 1: receiver talent in Baltimore. But years and years ago I
Speaker 1: got into a discussion, may have been about ten years
Speaker 1: ago with an NFL executive and we were talking about
Speaker 1: free agency and there's a pretty high bust rate and
Speaker 1: he believed that there were certain positions that were safer
Speaker 1: with free agent signings, non ego positions. You know what
Speaker 1: a guy does, the money's not going to affect him.
Speaker 1: You know, the recruiting's not going to affect him. But
Speaker 1: he had said about ten years ago, he said, I
Speaker 1: always worry about wide receivers. He said, it's an ego
Speaker 1: position to begin with. You're the first to break the huddle.
Speaker 1: You know, you're the star wide receiver playing by yourself
Speaker 1: on the outside. You know, even a quarterback is reliant
Speaker 1: on a blocking back and his left tackle on his
Speaker 1: offensive line, and his offensive coordinator call plays. You know
Speaker 1: a lot of times the receiver goes out wide to
Speaker 1: jump ball, it's me against you. It's an ego position
Speaker 1: and cornerback similarity, because you're gonna get burned all the
Speaker 1: time in the NFL, even if you're a top corner.
Speaker 1: You've got to have a healthy sense of self and
Speaker 1: you know, a pretty good shield around you. And so
Speaker 1: this executive said, I worry about getting receivers into bidding wars. Now,
Speaker 1: obviously there are some guys like Cooper cup or Larry
Speaker 1: Fitzgerald Julio Jones have like a workman like approach. But
Speaker 1: OBJ loves OBJ and he's dramatic he loves the attention,
Speaker 1: and now you just overpaid him by about half. If
Speaker 1: you look at what Amari Cooper produces on an annual basis, A,
Speaker 1: he's always available. B. Last year, you have like nine touchdowns.
Speaker 1: Highly productive. He makes twenty million a year. OBJ is
Speaker 1: not close to that. He's brittle. He's descending as a talent.
Speaker 1: You're going to get drama. I would love to have
Speaker 1: him as a two or three receiver. But if you're
Speaker 1: paying somebody fifteen large per year on that team, that's
Speaker 1: is a number one. It does tell me that Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson's probably returning to Baltimore. That will obviously make him
Speaker 1: very happy. And I got nothing against ob J, but
Speaker 1: you start bidding wars are overpaying for certain positions. I mean,
Speaker 1: we think of quarterback as sort of a mature coach
Speaker 1: on the field position. Look what the big money he's
Speaker 1: done to Kyler Murray, Aaron Rodgers. I mean, like Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers decided I'm not going to really care about football
Speaker 1: as much in March after the big contract. So that's
Speaker 1: with quarterbacks. I just I think they wildly overpaid for him.
Speaker 1: Now they may look at it and say, we got
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow in this division, Deshaun Watson coming back year
Speaker 1: two with good weapons. Pittsburgh always has weapons, and Kenny
Speaker 1: Pickett look good. At the end of last year. We
Speaker 1: got to load up and get some playmakers here. But
Speaker 1: you know, Baltimore has had a kind of a turbulent,
Speaker 1: dubious track record of wide receiver acquisitions. Marquis Brown, we
Speaker 1: thought he was Lamar Jackson's best friend, and he left
Speaker 1: for Arizona. But the last couple of years, Nelson Aguilard,
Speaker 1: DeShawn Jackson, OBJ at fifty million guaranteed. Andy Isabella not great,
Speaker 1: not great at all. Happy for OBJ the league. Zoe
Speaker 1: was more fun when he's in it. But that number
Speaker 1: is a crazy number, double what the people I know
Speaker 1: in the league think he's worth. A declining, brittle wide receiver. Well,
Speaker 1: it was a weird contrast at the Masters this weekend
Speaker 1: to see Tiger Woods withdraw and limping in the rain
Speaker 1: and fifty two year old Phil Mickelson tie for second
Speaker 1: place with brooks Kepka, the oldest golfer ever to attain
Speaker 1: that feat sixty five on Sunday. You know, in his career,
Speaker 1: which has always been greater than people want to recognize
Speaker 1: because he's polarizing, but seven hundred weeks in the top ten,
Speaker 1: forty five event wins. His highs were never as high
Speaker 1: as Tiger Woods, but his lows haven't been as low.
Speaker 1: And you know, he took the money with live golf.
Speaker 1: I've said before I don't think I would have, but
Speaker 1: I'm never going to tell anybody what to do with
Speaker 1: money when it's gigantic it's over one hundred million, and
Speaker 1: feels always loved money. But I think because he's been
Speaker 1: outspoken the gambling, he's known as sort of cocky among
Speaker 1: the players that for a lot of people he's really
Speaker 1: hard to embrace. I strongly recommend reading the book Phil
Speaker 1: by Alan Schipnuck. Great book, and it tells he was
Speaker 1: a party boy, a bad boy, funny, outspoken, uber, confident,
Speaker 1: twenty five consecutive years in the top fifty. And you
Speaker 1: know I've said this years ago. Would you rather have
Speaker 1: Tiger Woods meteoric career for ten years and then the
Speaker 1: mess that followed, the near death in a car wreck,
Speaker 1: the ugly divorce, or would you rather have Phil Mickelson,
Speaker 1: who at fifty two can on any weekend play amongst
Speaker 1: the greatest golfers, and I think, you know, we tend
Speaker 1: to look in terms of, you know how many majors.
Speaker 1: But Tiger's career has been really, for the most part
Speaker 1: the last six to seven years, incredibly sad, a huge downer,
Speaker 1: and I'm a big Tiger fan. You know. It's the
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan Lebron comparison is that, you know, Michael at
Speaker 1: his height dominated the sport for like eight years. But
Speaker 1: Lebron over the course of his career has been better,
Speaker 1: much longer than Michael Jordan. And Lebron's got fewer championships
Speaker 1: than Michael Jordan. But I would take arguably Lebron's career
Speaker 1: over Michael Joy. Tiger's career from about eighteen years old
Speaker 1: to thirty, it's the greatest golf career of all time,
Speaker 1: but it has not aged well at all. You know,
Speaker 1: Phil Mickelson's had controversy. Look at him, fifty two years old.
Speaker 1: His weight fluctuates, his golf game occasionally does. Few golf
Speaker 1: careers greater than Phil Michelson. One of the only guys
Speaker 1: left that gets me to a TV. The NBA playoffs
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Speaker 1: Last minute ticket deals, lowest prices guaranteed. Colin, How are
Speaker 1: you doing well After watching Rudy Gobert, who couldn't get
Speaker 1: along with Donovan Mitchell in Utah, blow up with Kyle
Speaker 1: Anderson in Minnesota on the eve of the Laker playing
Speaker 1: game I thought, what a break. But the Lakers. Lakers
Speaker 1: have the best harmony of the year. They're all getting
Speaker 1: along great. They have real defined offense. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: watching them flying back from I went skiing for a
Speaker 1: couple of days and so I gotta watch, you know,
Speaker 1: the Laker game flying back, and they really, I mean
Speaker 1: they really now know where to go offensively. They've kind
Speaker 1: of figured out what they are and now Lebron played
Speaker 1: really really exceptionally well. But considering they threw this thing
Speaker 1: together at the trade deadline, Darvin Ham obviously makes them
Speaker 1: a good defensive team, right, but I think they're offensive
Speaker 1: unity and chemistry and harmony. Watching them today, they kind
Speaker 1: of know who should take the shots, you know, if
Speaker 1: Beasley gives you anything in the playing game or the postseason.
Speaker 1: And Minnesota's fighting, so that's not gonna play well. And
Speaker 1: Goldbearers just a difficult guy. So I just thought, you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes the touch of luck, and I felt like, what
Speaker 1: a break for the Lakers in Minnesota's in fighting. Perfect
Speaker 1: It even goes further than that calling, because I think
Speaker 1: Jaden McDaniels might very well be the best perimeter defender
Speaker 1: in all of basketball right now. There's two guys in
Speaker 1: the NBA that are leaving a body count around the league,
Speaker 1: just locking down superstars on any given night, and it's
Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks and Jade McDaniels. Those are the two guys
Speaker 1: that have been having the most success. And Jade McDaniels
Speaker 1: punched the wall on his way into the locker room
Speaker 1: at halftime and he broke his hand. It's gonna be out.
Speaker 1: So here's the thing, Like, it's a up in the air,
Speaker 1: single elimination stuff, well not single elimination, but a one
Speaker 1: game sample. So obviously anything can happen. But I want
Speaker 1: to proceed here under the assumption that the Lakers went
Speaker 1: on Tuesday or seven point favorite. Obviously I understand the
Speaker 1: reality that they could lose. This is a really good
Speaker 1: basketball team eighteen and eight post deadline, that the second
Speaker 1: best record in the league over that span, second and
Speaker 1: defense fourth and rebounding, So they're physically mauling teams and
Speaker 1: they did most of that without Lebron. They're nine in
Speaker 1: two since Lebron joined the team. My one concern with
Speaker 1: the Lakers right now, and this is just a byproduct
Speaker 1: of the way things kind of broke down down the stretch.
Speaker 1: Is for their last five games, they played against really
Speaker 1: bad teams, and that tends to kind of breed some
Speaker 1: bad habits. So I wouldn't be surprised if Minnesota got
Speaker 1: off to a good start in that playing game, just
Speaker 1: because they're a little more locked in on those details.
Speaker 1: But I'm really intrigued with this Memphis matchup, and we're
Speaker 1: going to talk Golden Satan a little bit, but because
Speaker 1: I actually think that kind of dodged a bullet here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but this Laker matchup matches it makes a lot of
Speaker 1: sense for the Lakers on a couple of different levels.
Speaker 1: The Memphis Grizzlies are a team that play a lot
Speaker 1: of guys that typically don't shoot very well, right, John Morant,
Speaker 1: you can go underneath screens. Dylan Brooks has been shooting
Speaker 1: well for a couple of weeks, but he's a guy
Speaker 1: that I guarantee you Darvin Ham's gonna dare to shoot.
Speaker 1: And then obviously in the front court with Steven Adams out,
Speaker 1: with Brandon Clark out, yeah, you're gonna be looking at
Speaker 1: Xavier Tillman or Jared Jackson there. The Darvenham loves to
Speaker 1: dare people to shoot. And I think this is a
Speaker 1: series that actually bodes well for the Lakers there. And
Speaker 1: then on the other end of the floor, who is
Speaker 1: the best surgical matchup hunting player and probably the history
Speaker 1: of the NBA, Lebron James. And so he's gonna be
Speaker 1: calling up John Morant to every single conceivable action. He's
Speaker 1: gonna be get doing everything in his power to get
Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks off of him or to get Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: into favorable matchups. And obviously there's a long road ahead.
Speaker 1: If they win, I think they're gonna face the Warriors
Speaker 1: in round two. If they win that, there's a very
Speaker 1: good chance they're gonna play Phoenix in round three. If
Speaker 1: they win that, there's a very good chance you're gonna
Speaker 1: get Boston or Milwaukee at the end of that. So
Speaker 1: it's a very long road. It's a lot to put
Speaker 1: on Lebron James and Anthony Davis physically. But here's the deal.
Speaker 1: You made it to the playoffs, ish, and you're probably
Speaker 1: going to be a slight favorite in round one. I'd
Speaker 1: call that a resounding victory compared to where we were
Speaker 1: before the deadline. Well, the other thing is Memphis isn't Cleveland,
Speaker 1: Young or Okac or Houston young, but Steven Adams is
Speaker 1: one of the few guys with some playoff experience and
Speaker 1: he's out. So Memphis is fairly young. And I always
Speaker 1: felt this year that you know, they're one of those
Speaker 1: teams built for the regular season because they play hard
Speaker 1: and they have depth, and you can win a lot
Speaker 1: of games in this league off playin hard and having
Speaker 1: ten guys that doesn't matter nearly as much. So now
Speaker 1: they get smaller without Steven Adams plays right into Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis's hands, and he's had the best two week stretch
Speaker 1: arguably since he's been a Laker. If you take out
Speaker 1: the bubble, he's been completely dominating. Again. He didn't play
Speaker 1: particularly well today in terms of total points, but down
Speaker 1: the stretch he had a couple of key baskets. So
Speaker 1: I think you get a Memphis team that's smaller, had injuries, young,
Speaker 1: and let's be honest, the jammer Ant stuff still not great.
Speaker 1: So if you say to me, okay, there's a team
Speaker 1: in the playoffs that could be a little volatile of
Speaker 1: all of them, and I'd be like Clippers because of Kauai.
Speaker 1: You never know if he's gonna play Westbrook. They had
Speaker 1: a fight on their bench. So like Clippers feel very
Speaker 1: volatile in me and I think Memphis as a young
Speaker 1: one of the younger playoff teams. Cleveland and the East
Speaker 1: is very young, but Cleveland doesn't feel immature. Everybody in
Speaker 1: Cleveland knows exactly what they are and what they do.
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell has already clarified their offense. He takes the
Speaker 1: last big shot and everybody knows it. Mobley's your big
Speaker 1: he's your young guy, but he knows late in games
Speaker 1: they all step aside for Donovan Mitchell. Memphis has some egos.
Speaker 1: They're chatty. I think the Lakers win that series, I
Speaker 1: really do. And I think Anthony Davis is going to
Speaker 1: have a fantastic series. Without Steven Adams, Memphis is very
Speaker 1: dangerous because they have guys that are capable of knocking
Speaker 1: down shots Like here's the thing of John We learned
Speaker 1: from last year's playoffs, Like Desmond Baine really good, interesting player,
Speaker 1: excellent shooter, good defensive player, can do some slashing, but
Speaker 1: he really struggled to beat people off the dribble last
Speaker 1: year in the playoffs. That's a concern. The playoffs in
Speaker 1: general will take your weakness and shine the biggest magnifying glass.
Speaker 1: It's what the playoffs do. The same thing with John Moran. It's, hey, yeah,
Speaker 1: you knocked down pull up threes at thirty percent this year.
Speaker 1: That's great. We are going to dare you to take
Speaker 1: that this year to the point where we're gonna actually
Speaker 1: try to get into your head by making you think
Speaker 1: you can't do it. That's the way that these especially
Speaker 1: these veteran playoff teams try to attack you and make
Speaker 1: you feel uncomfortable, make you lack confidence, and at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, like it all comes down to
Speaker 1: the physical side of things, like Lebron James has to
Speaker 1: hold up, Anthony Davis has to hold up. But over
Speaker 1: the course of a playoffs series, the team that wins
Speaker 1: is usually the team that generates higher quality shots in
Speaker 1: the half court. Who do you trust more to get
Speaker 1: stops in the half court for seven games Lebron James,
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, Jared Vanderbilt, Austin Reeves or you know, John Morant,
Speaker 1: Desmond Baine, Dylan Brooks and Jared Jackson. And then on
Speaker 1: the flip side of that, when Memphis has to score
Speaker 1: against them, I just think, I just think the Lakers
Speaker 1: are going to get better quality shots over the course
Speaker 1: of the series. Wouldn't be surprised if Memphis jumped up
Speaker 1: to a one oh lead or a two one lead.
Speaker 1: But I think as the series progresses, the older, more
Speaker 1: talented team in the Lakers is in the best shape.
Speaker 1: I want to say this though I am a big
Speaker 1: believer in what Golden State does, but yes, Andrew Wiggins
Speaker 1: is back. However, he's a rhythm player who has not
Speaker 1: played really intense competitive basketball for a while. Had they
Speaker 1: fallen to seven and drawn that Memphis matchup, I think
Speaker 1: Memphis would have beat them. That's how much I view
Speaker 1: the importance of getting Andrew Wiggins up to speed. So
Speaker 1: it is so critically important that they get this series
Speaker 1: against Sacramento, a team who's very good, very offensively skilled,
Speaker 1: as an excellent home court advantage. But they are not
Speaker 1: the biggest and most athletic team in the world, so
Speaker 1: Golden State, in their lack of athleticism, will have less
Speaker 1: of a factor to play in that particular series. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if you notice, the Golden State's actually
Speaker 1: minus two hundred favorite to win that series. That's a
Speaker 1: pretty significant favorite. If they get out of that series,
Speaker 1: that buys you from now three additional weeks to get
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins up to speed for a potential matchup with
Speaker 1: Memphis or LA, two massive teams that are incredibly athletic
Speaker 1: and big, and at that point I'd feel better about well.
Speaker 1: And Gary Payton just the other night got extended minutes.
Speaker 1: So now Gary Peyton, you can put him on for
Speaker 1: a good sixteen minutes a night. Just put him on
Speaker 1: Darren Fox and then put Clay Thompson dat de Vincenzo.
Speaker 1: We've talked about this Golden State's absurdly deep in the
Speaker 1: backcourt and very thin in the front court. But Den
Speaker 1: Fox is their fourth quarter guy. I think he's the
Speaker 1: best guard in the NBA and the fourth quarter of
Speaker 1: this year in terms of what they called crucial points.
Speaker 1: So you know, I saw the other night Peyton played
Speaker 1: like eighteen twenty minutes, and I'm like, that's exactly what
Speaker 1: they wanted. So Wiggins isn't ready to go at that level,
Speaker 1: and they'll have to massage that a little because Cominga's
Speaker 1: finally now playing real minutes and they're gonna take them away.
Speaker 1: So that's a weird, you know, confluence of events where
Speaker 1: it's like we need Wiggins desperately, but you know, Comingo's
Speaker 1: actually started to put log in eighteen twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: minutes and been productive. So now you gotta peel him back,
Speaker 1: so you gotta massage that in the locker room. And
Speaker 1: the chemistry has been weird with the Warriors this year
Speaker 1: since the Draymond Jordan pool inflammation, but I like their
Speaker 1: matchup in the series. You throw a lot of bodies
Speaker 1: at Fox. You know, Golden State will have to win
Speaker 1: a road game, but this is almost you know, it's
Speaker 1: a bus ride, and I also think this they'll get
Speaker 1: the whistle. They know how to manipulate officials. They know
Speaker 1: how to do the psychological manipulation. I mean, Sacramento is
Speaker 1: like a little brother down the road to the Dynasty,
Speaker 1: and you can see in spots them being a little
Speaker 1: overwhelmed and the Warriors, you know, trash talking, getting in
Speaker 1: their head and getting the favorable whistle the Dynasty does
Speaker 1: in the first round. My entire life, I don't think
Speaker 1: the league is rigged, but I do think veteran teams
Speaker 1: manipulate officiating in the playoffs, where referees tend to swallow
Speaker 1: the whistle. You're not going to get that high octane
Speaker 1: offense that draws all those fouls. The Warriors can slow
Speaker 1: it down, speed it up, they'll get the whistle. So
Speaker 1: I think it's one of these series. It's a really
Speaker 1: good series for Golden State. There were there were some
Speaker 1: real worrisome matchups. Even the Lakers' size could be a
Speaker 1: huge problem. I think they locked out well. Again, the
Speaker 1: Warriors can beat somebody with size. They just need Andrew Wiggins.
Speaker 1: Like when I say I would have picked Memphis to
Speaker 1: win in the first round, that's one hundred percent and
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins a take like that. It's all associated with
Speaker 1: the fact that he is so imperative to their athletic
Speaker 1: ceiling that they need to compete in a series against
Speaker 1: that team, giving them an extra three weeks from now
Speaker 1: to get there. That's vitally important. The Sacramento this is
Speaker 1: a Gary Payton series in my opinion, and the main
Speaker 1: reason why is because Sacramento has killed teams all season
Speaker 1: long with the simple combination of Deer and Fox and
Speaker 1: Demantas Sabonis and what they do with their drible handoffs
Speaker 1: and the problem it presents for teams because you let
Speaker 1: Deer and Fox get downhill or if you switch it.
Speaker 1: Sabonis is one of the best players in the league
Speaker 1: at beating switches to the basket, and if he draws
Speaker 1: double teams, he's an excellent passer. So what I like
Speaker 1: about the Golden State matchup in that series is Draymond
Speaker 1: Green and Gary Payton. Couldn't I couldn't conceive possibly mentally
Speaker 1: a better duo to potentially handle those two guys. And
Speaker 1: this is again, what an attribute, And this is why
Speaker 1: I actually love this move from the deadline. What an
Speaker 1: incredible attribute to have as a coach, a weapon in
Speaker 1: your pocket, to be able to deploy Gary Payton on
Speaker 1: the other team's best guard and to know he's gonna
Speaker 1: be able to hold that in check. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you noticed this the other night, but the Warriors
Speaker 1: won a game against Oklahoma City, a tough FOT game
Speaker 1: against Oklahoma City. You might have been scanned, but it
Speaker 1: was a tough FOT game against Oklahoma City. And in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter of that game, Gary Payton shut down
Speaker 1: Shake Gildas Alexander, who's one of the best guards in
Speaker 1: this league. He had a couple of buckets on switches
Speaker 1: and he drew one foul, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: Gary Payton shut him down and it was how Golden
Speaker 1: State pulled out that game. He is one of the
Speaker 1: best guards in the league to guard this specific type
Speaker 1: of matchup, partnering that with Draymond Green. I love this
Speaker 1: matchup for the Warriors. I would pick them to win
Speaker 1: in no more than six games, but I'm leaning towards five.
Speaker 1: And for all the hoops tonight listeners, I was out there.
Speaker 1: We're gonna do a full breakdown of this series within
Speaker 1: the next couple of days where we'll really dive into
Speaker 1: the xs and o's, but I'm leaning towards picking the
Speaker 1: Warriors in five. Six. Yeah, I think I would take
Speaker 1: the Warriors in six sons four against the Clippers five.
Speaker 1: This again really plays in the Phoenix's hand. So you know,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant's gotten several games off, so they're sitting in
Speaker 1: and here you have an inflamed bench situation where plum
Speaker 1: Lee gets into a fight. You're already asking Tylu, like,
Speaker 1: what do you do with Westbrook? Now he's great in
Speaker 1: regular season production, Okay, now we get into situational basketball.
Speaker 1: What do I do? Paul George isn't available. He would
Speaker 1: be huge in this series to defend Kevin Durant. So
Speaker 1: now I've got a little bit of inflammation. How do
Speaker 1: I use Westbrook, who's not been a great postseason player?
Speaker 1: What do I do with Kevin Durant matchup like Memphis,
Speaker 1: there's some depth here, but there's a lot of To me,
Speaker 1: this could not in a weird way, Kevin Durant. Between
Speaker 1: getting hurt in warmups and now resting for the last
Speaker 1: couple of games, You're getting the most rested, healthiest Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant in like years. And I think Phoenix is going
Speaker 1: to be a handful for the Clippers. I love Phoenix here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm really low on the Clippers in general, Colin.
Speaker 1: I don't know how many times we have to go
Speaker 1: into the season with everybody like preaching that they're one
Speaker 1: of the favorites for them to not fulfill that, for
Speaker 1: us to finally learn our lessons. They don't have good
Speaker 1: rim protection, they don't have good playmaking, and that makes
Speaker 1: that's too vitally important things that you have to have
Speaker 1: to succeed in the playoffs. You know, this is this
Speaker 1: is what the Clippers are. They are a team with
Speaker 1: a bunch of wings that are wings in name only
Speaker 1: that don't move as well as they used to write
Speaker 1: a lot of guys like Marcus Morris and Nicktom Covington,
Speaker 1: guys that once upon a time would have been vital,
Speaker 1: important playoff pieces, but they're just not that anymore. And
Speaker 1: Covington's out of the rotation. Marcus Morris has been hurt.
Speaker 1: But toombs, okay, you know, but every the problem is
Speaker 1: they without Paul George, they simply do not have enough
Speaker 1: shot creation. There's three guys on the team that can
Speaker 1: create their own shot Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook and Norman Powell.
Speaker 1: And Norman Powell's runs hot and cold. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: he destroyed the Lakers the other day, but he runs
Speaker 1: hot and cold. Russell Westbrook, the game has to be
Speaker 1: going a very specific type of way for him to
Speaker 1: have impact. And as good as Kawhi Leonard is and
Speaker 1: he's made strides as a playmaker, he's a pull up shotmaker.
Speaker 1: Like he doesn't pressure the rim super well, and he's
Speaker 1: not the best passer in the world. So it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he'll get you his thirty by knocking down his pull
Speaker 1: up jump shots. But he's not a guy that can
Speaker 1: really carry an offense over the course of a game,
Speaker 1: and so what they really are is a team that
Speaker 1: doesn't have a lot of shot creation. They're a good team,
Speaker 1: but I don't think they have nearly the playoffs ceiling
Speaker 1: they need Without Paul George, I think I think the
Speaker 1: Suns are going to make quick work of that. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: and also the Sons are a team between Durant's health
Speaker 1: and Chris Paul's age. He had a great game about
Speaker 1: a week ago, but like he kind of just gave you, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm not done yet. I'm fine, I'm good here. But
Speaker 1: they got a huge break because that's a team Boston.
Speaker 1: I feel a little bit with Tatum sometimes and Robert
Speaker 1: Williams health and Marcus smart, like they don't need to
Speaker 1: play together. Like we know the Celtics are fine, They've
Speaker 1: been playing together now for years. They need time off,
Speaker 1: you know, Tatum needs rest. I feel that way with Phoenix,
Speaker 1: like Chris Paul and Durant, what they need is like
Speaker 1: five days off those legs going into a playoff series.
Speaker 1: So I'm with you. I the Phoenix hasn't lost yet
Speaker 1: with Durant on the floor. I mean, it's not a
Speaker 1: single game and it looks really good. You know. That's
Speaker 1: that's because Kevin's a high functioning player and Chris Paul
Speaker 1: is one of the smartest guys in the league. And
Speaker 1: that's where I think sometimes with Aton, they've been frustrated,
Speaker 1: Monny's been frustrated, Chris has he I think sometimes Chris
Speaker 1: Paul's really demanding on his bigs, Like he's really hard
Speaker 1: on them, and so like everywhere he goes, the team
Speaker 1: gets better and the big doesn't like him. But I
Speaker 1: think Kevin Durant's a unique I wouldn't call him a big,
Speaker 1: but a unique four that plays at such a high
Speaker 1: level of basketball, like really gets the game. I just
Speaker 1: think him and Chris are going to be magic. And
Speaker 1: I I don't think any I really don't. You know,
Speaker 1: we'll see what Denver. Denver still, believe it or not.
Speaker 1: Despite they've been good for several years, they're still a
Speaker 1: pretty young team. They don't have a lot of playoffs success.
Speaker 1: So I think Phoenix is gonna roll. Okay, So I
Speaker 1: have a question for you then, because Phoenix, I can't
Speaker 1: remember the number off the top of my head, but
Speaker 1: they're a gigantic favorite against the Clippers. I think they're
Speaker 1: like minus four hundred or something insane like that. They
Speaker 1: I do believe they will be favored against Denver as well.
Speaker 1: If they get out of the first round. Vegas is
Speaker 1: going to look at Phoenix in a conference finals. Is
Speaker 1: a favorite in all likelihood, right, so he will be
Speaker 1: favored in at least three rounds and very possibly the
Speaker 1: fourth round. If Kevin Durant does not win a championship
Speaker 1: this season with the Suns, will it change the way
Speaker 1: you look at him at his career in any way shape?
Speaker 1: I think his legacy's fully formed. I do think he
Speaker 1: can get a little tick up if he won in Phoenix.
Speaker 1: But you know, if you go back to Brooklyn, despite
Speaker 1: it being like an egregiously poor decision to leave the Warriors,
Speaker 1: he was really successful. I mean Simmons won't shoot, Kyrie
Speaker 1: wouldn't play, Harden came in out of shape, You had
Speaker 1: a rookie head coach with all those big personalities. He
Speaker 1: was really good. Kevin gave you twenty seven a Night's
Speaker 1: what he's done his whole career. Willing defender. So I
Speaker 1: look at from a business standpoint, I didn't like Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: From a basketball standpoint, I thought he was excellent. If
Speaker 1: you go to his last like twenty six starts, he's
Speaker 1: twenty three and three. So I think, I mean, you
Speaker 1: get you know exactly what you're getting with Kevin Durrant.
Speaker 1: It's insane. I mean, the fact that they were competitive
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn, Nash had never coached Kyrie the vaccine. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's well, Don commented nothing, you know, when he came there.
Speaker 1: They were known as a team with limited town but
Speaker 1: chemistry and that was their strength. Well, they blew that up.
Speaker 1: They were known as a team that was well coached
Speaker 1: with chemistry. All right, coaches fired, chemistry could put and
Speaker 1: Kevin's the only reason they weren't a laughing stock. So
Speaker 1: I think he's take out centers A twelve best players.
Speaker 1: I've ever seen a better version of Durknovitski, who's a
Speaker 1: top twenty player in my estimation. And I think for
Speaker 1: public opinion and debate shows Phoenix if he wins, gives
Speaker 1: him a boost. But everybody I've ever known in the
Speaker 1: league is like toughest stop in the league, even more
Speaker 1: so than Lebron. Put him in any team anywhere. First
Speaker 1: game out fits perfectly. Lebron, You've sort of got to
Speaker 1: readjust or you know, he's kind of going to be
Speaker 1: the orchestra leader. Lebron's gonna have the ball in his
Speaker 1: hands and he makes everybody better. But not game one.
Speaker 1: Even he and Wade took like seventeen games, if you recall,
Speaker 1: they were like nine and seven, and they had similar games,
Speaker 1: but Lebron was better. What do you do with Chris
Speaker 1: bosh It was a weird fit. They were just so
Speaker 1: hyper athletic. It was so much fun to watch, but
Speaker 1: it was clunky. And then in the year two, I
Speaker 1: think it was year or two, they went on that
Speaker 1: long winning streak. They were just so athletic, but like
Speaker 1: Durant two practices. First game with Phoenix, you're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: this works. Second quarter, Yeah, this looks great. They'll be fine. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, with that Miami team, there's no doubt
Speaker 1: it was a clunky fit. I would argue it was
Speaker 1: a clunky fit almost through to the end because the
Speaker 1: Lebron James Dwayne Wade fit was always a little bit redundant.
Speaker 1: They were too hyper athletic, playmaking wings that didn't like
Speaker 1: to shoot jump shots right like that, That's just the
Speaker 1: reality of it to Lebron's credit, he's gotten better over
Speaker 1: the course of his career at making his game more malleable,
Speaker 1: and I believe he's a lot more malleable now than
Speaker 1: he used to be, just even with this Lakers squad.
Speaker 1: It's a very guard heavy Lakers squad, and he's kind
Speaker 1: of transitioned into almost a post player like a big.
Speaker 1: He sets a ton of screens, he operates out of
Speaker 1: the post a ton. But the point is, Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: is on another stratosphere from everybody in the lague, in
Speaker 1: the entire league when it comes to plug and play
Speaker 1: because of what he can do defensively and because of
Speaker 1: his his ability to play out of any spot on
Speaker 1: the floor, both with and without the basketball. I one
Speaker 1: hundred percent agree with you, though I don't feel any
Speaker 1: sort of like pressure on KD. The dude is just
Speaker 1: one hundred percent established himself as as what he's capable of.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent agree with you, Like all these guys
Speaker 1: only have the world to gain and nothing to lose
Speaker 1: in my opinion. That said, yeah, of course there's going
Speaker 1: to be people out there that will jump on that
Speaker 1: as an opportunity. But I've you and I've watched Kevin
Speaker 1: Durayt play basketball for what almost two decades now, and
Speaker 1: he has just done nothing but win basketball games at
Speaker 1: the highest level, with exception of situations where you wouldn't
Speaker 1: expect him to where you know, the Russell westbrook fit
Speaker 1: was clunky, that Brooklyn fit that you broke down so well,
Speaker 1: the dude is a certified winner. That's that you just
Speaker 1: read out twenty three and three how many I'll have
Speaker 1: to look it up, but twenty three and three streaks
Speaker 1: happened so incredibly rarely in the NBA. It is so
Speaker 1: hard to win games that consistently, especially with you had
Speaker 1: a parody there is now if you broke down, if
Speaker 1: I gave you to to ask you to list players
Speaker 1: from one to forty, you'd be reading thirty five to
Speaker 1: forty and they'd sound like stars to you. That's so
Speaker 1: much talent is in the league. And he won twenty
Speaker 1: three out of twenty six games. That's insane, Like he's
Speaker 1: invincible for me, and Phoenix actually needed him. So it's
Speaker 1: not only that he goes to Phoenix, but they had
Speaker 1: a big they had somebody who has the ball, a
Speaker 1: mid range guy, and they had kind of a chill.
Speaker 1: Devin Booker is a willing I mean like Devin can
Speaker 1: score forty or twenty three. He's not very needy. So
Speaker 1: it's like what they needed was like a really talented
Speaker 1: guy with size. Give them more length, because I don't
Speaker 1: think DeAndre eight and qualify as a great rim protector.
Speaker 1: You know, he's not. He's not like Yannis, that's just
Speaker 1: not what he is. He's just long. He runs the
Speaker 1: floor really well, so they really he really not only
Speaker 1: is a plug and play guy, but he's kind of
Speaker 1: what Phoenix needed. More length. And another because Chris Paul
Speaker 1: has I think regressed as a score more scoring because
Speaker 1: Atan's not a consistent score. So most great teams have
Speaker 1: two two guys on the team that if they scored
Speaker 1: forty in a playoff game, you'd be like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I could see it. Whereas you know, I mean that's
Speaker 1: like if Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown if they if
Speaker 1: they dropped forty, you'd be like, oh yeah, it's one
Speaker 1: of those nights. That's why Milwaukee's interesting because Chris Middleton's
Speaker 1: no longer that guy. He's not scoring forty in a
Speaker 1: playoff game. Well, Drew Holiday is more of a defender
Speaker 1: who can score. I could see twenty eight, So they're
Speaker 1: they're a weird team. They may just went on depth
Speaker 1: and experience and size and defense and culture, but I
Speaker 1: think I think Kevin Durant fits everywhere. But he's just
Speaker 1: exactly what Phoenix needed because you kind of questioned, if
Speaker 1: you looked at him this year with Chris Paul pulling back,
Speaker 1: is what if Booker doesn't have a good night, where's
Speaker 1: the scoring come from? Like they just didn't have enough.
Speaker 1: And it's like, so when a star comes into a team,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be animosity. I think Phoenix knew what they weren't,
Speaker 1: and I think the guys knew what they were, which
Speaker 1: is like we need twenty eight consistently. Well that's his
Speaker 1: career average. So it's like it fits so many ways.
Speaker 1: Like I think Phoenix is a really smart team, and
Speaker 1: everybody knew we just need an I mean, that's why
Speaker 1: you go out and make that move if you're a
Speaker 1: new owner, Like everybody was like, that's exactly what we need. Agree,
Speaker 1: you broke down the very important piece. DeAndre Ayton is
Speaker 1: not a top tier rim protector. We've broke this down.
Speaker 1: You and I've talked this down, talked, talked about this
Speaker 1: like two or three times, but you can't win a
Speaker 1: championship without top tier defensive talent in the front court.
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant provides length and shot blocking around the rim
Speaker 1: that DeAndre Ayton can't bring. And then it really was
Speaker 1: this simple. When they get to the biggest stage, whether
Speaker 1: it was against Luca last year in the second round
Speaker 1: or whether it was against Janis in the finals in
Speaker 1: the last round, when they run into a real superstar,
Speaker 1: Devin Booker and Chris Paul have been incapable of meeting
Speaker 1: them at that level even as a duo, and Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant crosses that box is specific in the areas you
Speaker 1: talked about scoring the basketball, where where Devin Booker would
Speaker 1: be able to get some buckets on Drew Holiday. Chris
Speaker 1: Paul fell apart over the course that series, same thing
Speaker 1: over the course of the Maverick series. Sound percent agree
Speaker 1: with you. What What did you make of the h
Speaker 1: Dallas punting those last two games of the season. I
Speaker 1: think I was reading some Dallas media reports. It's a
Speaker 1: it's a s show, it's a mess. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: they hired a guy from Nike who's never been really
Speaker 1: a gm U, but he was in the basketball division.
Speaker 1: Very smart guy, a relationship guy, and now they put
Speaker 1: him in charge of running you know, basketball um ops.
Speaker 1: And you know, I like Mark Cuban. I think he's
Speaker 1: really smart. He tends to be what I would call
Speaker 1: a tech optimist. He has so much confidence in his
Speaker 1: intelligence that he takes big swings and he hits you know,
Speaker 1: his pharmaceutical companies brilliant. Um I understood. I mean it
Speaker 1: was funny when they went and got Kyrie Irving. I
Speaker 1: applauded it. I said, I like the swing. This is
Speaker 1: going to be an atrocious defensive team. These are two
Speaker 1: of the worst. I mean, Kyrie is an abysmal defensive player.
Speaker 1: And so when people kind of embrace this as a
Speaker 1: championship team, I'm like, guys, the Warriors and Celtics were
Speaker 1: the two best defensive teams in the league. Like, you
Speaker 1: can't win that way. You can't just score your way.
Speaker 1: You can't you can't have to score one twenty six
Speaker 1: a night. It just doesn't work that way in this sport.
Speaker 1: And we I think people think it's that. And then
Speaker 1: then you if you've ever had a buddy who goes
Speaker 1: and plays in the NBA. It's like, man, they grind you.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of contact in this league. In the playoffs,
Speaker 1: they doubles down on it. That's why you know Kyrie
Speaker 1: pre impost Lebron, he gets pushed around. It was like
Speaker 1: Lebron was a little bit of a bodyguard, and you
Speaker 1: have to surround Kyrie with certain elements. I also think
Speaker 1: increasingly Luca is a moody player, and he's gonna be
Speaker 1: really hard to find the Robin. You know, we talked
Speaker 1: about this. The hardest thing in basketball is to fall
Speaker 1: on the Yannis that once in a franchise player. So
Speaker 1: the Bucks have done it twice, Luell, Cinder and Jannis.
Speaker 1: They got a championship one back in nineteen seventy one
Speaker 1: right Milwaukee, and they got one with the Honis. It's
Speaker 1: not a great free agent hub, so you have to
Speaker 1: kind of build a culture and then eventually Kareem I
Speaker 1: want out, I want to go West. He did, and
Speaker 1: so I think when Luca came into the league, there
Speaker 1: was this sense is he could pair him with a
Speaker 1: lot So they try the slasher Porzingis, they don't like
Speaker 1: each other, and then they tried Jalen Brunson and they're like,
Speaker 1: well they don't really fit. Well, Jalen's been like an
Speaker 1: MVP guard play in New York. Well let's try Kyrie. Well,
Speaker 1: now Kyrie doesn't perfectly work for him. We're falling in
Speaker 1: love with this great hyper offensive player Moody, difficult needs ball,
Speaker 1: won't defend. You know, is he gonna end up Carmelo
Speaker 1: Anthony where he has this early success in Denver and
Speaker 1: never really then galvanizes people. I mean you start looking
Speaker 1: at the great players of all time. Everybody needed a
Speaker 1: running mate, Like Magic galvanized people. Lebron galvanized people. Michael didn't,
Speaker 1: but he found a running mate, right Like some guys
Speaker 1: don't do that, but they find a guy. Tim Duncan
Speaker 1: finds his Tony Parker, Steph finds his clay Like it's
Speaker 1: way harder to find it too, because it's not just
Speaker 1: the player, it's the temperament. McHale was the college You
Speaker 1: wouldn't remember this because you're young. He led the nation
Speaker 1: in rebounding. He was known as a defensive guy that
Speaker 1: rebounded at Minnesota, and he came to the NBA with
Speaker 1: all these weird moves and he was super long, kind
Speaker 1: of an unorthodox looking scorer, but he was a great rebounder,
Speaker 1: shot blocker in college and byrd was the score. Well,
Speaker 1: Michale could have scored more, but he's like, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be part of this bosh in Miami. I want
Speaker 1: to be part of this Kevin Love and Cleveland with Lebron,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be part of it. Like Lucas gonna make
Speaker 1: you feel small. He's not gonna help you on the
Speaker 1: defensive end. He's not gonna you're gonna get the ball
Speaker 1: late in the shot clock with him. I think Lucas
Speaker 1: harder to play with than people think. And I you say, well,
Speaker 1: Michael was difficult, but Michael got the right coach, also
Speaker 1: found a very willing Robin, and then he has high
Speaker 1: functioning players. Kurran Paxson became gms like they knew how
Speaker 1: to play with Michael. They understood Michael was the guy
Speaker 1: those Bowl teams had really high bj Armstrong becomes a
Speaker 1: power agent, like you had a lot of guys around
Speaker 1: Michael that knew how to play the game and appeal
Speaker 1: to his senses and his alpha. That's hard like that
Speaker 1: that Lucas gonna be hard to play with and I
Speaker 1: think we have to come to terms with it. He's
Speaker 1: entering a very important phase of his basketball development because
Speaker 1: he's starting to just slightly plateau a little bit. And
Speaker 1: you know, I love the way you broke it down,
Speaker 1: like gift to be willing to buy into this like
Speaker 1: larger concept of the team because for instance, like you
Speaker 1: can break it down on a simple math level, Okay, Luca,
Speaker 1: high pick and roll is worth one point two points
Speaker 1: per possession. Therefore, if we run it one hundred times
Speaker 1: in a game, we're gonna score one hundred and twenty points.
Speaker 1: That's great, you know what I mean. But there is
Speaker 1: a basketball team is a living organism and all the
Speaker 1: pieces fit together, and like it would behoove Luca to
Speaker 1: start to learn how to adjust his game to fit
Speaker 1: better with others because of the specific fact that he
Speaker 1: will be on more talented teams as time go along.
Speaker 1: This has worked. He went to the Western Conference finals
Speaker 1: last year. I'm not trying to criticize him overall in
Speaker 1: terms of what he's capable of, but the reality is
Speaker 1: is like, hey, if you you know, give the ball
Speaker 1: to Kyrie and maybe instead of running a high pick
Speaker 1: and roll where you dribble the air out of the
Speaker 1: basketball for seventeen seconds. Maybe you run down the floor
Speaker 1: and come off of a wide screen and use that
Speaker 1: as a dribble handoff and get downhill. You can use
Speaker 1: your same skill set, that same vision, that same size
Speaker 1: and strength and shot making ability, more within the flow
Speaker 1: of what a team can do as a unit together,
Speaker 1: and then embracing getting in shape to be able to
Speaker 1: be more of an impact player defensively. I think, look,
Speaker 1: here's the thing, the pouting. I absolutely believe that has
Speaker 1: a negative effect on the psyche of a basketball team
Speaker 1: when they see their star constantly bitching and moaning at
Speaker 1: the refs and when he's constantly not running back on
Speaker 1: defense and you can tell his head is not in it. Again,
Speaker 1: I loved how you brought up Carmelo Anthony because that's
Speaker 1: such an interesting comp I means different positions, but and
Speaker 1: everybody said they love Carmelo. Man, he gave you it
Speaker 1: was about Carmelo getting his shot. He wouldn't even adjust
Speaker 1: to a three point shot, like it was bizarrely rigid
Speaker 1: in his style of play, Like they're not the same player. Obviously,
Speaker 1: it's more just relative to the rest of the league.
Speaker 1: And the way his progression went like like Lebron was
Speaker 1: a little bit better than Carmelo, and over the years
Speaker 1: Lebron kept getting better and Mellow just kind of stayed
Speaker 1: the same. I mean, you got you got moderately better
Speaker 1: in some areas of his offensive skill set, but he
Speaker 1: never became an impact defensive player. He never became a
Speaker 1: top tier playmaker. He never evolved in those other areas
Speaker 1: of his game and was threatened by yes, yes, And
Speaker 1: I think Luca at times feels a little threatened. First
Speaker 1: of all, he's from outside of the country, so players
Speaker 1: like that, I mean, you have to ingratiate yourself to
Speaker 1: a new culture and a new country. That's really difficult.
Speaker 1: The other thing, Jason is if you'll get Dirk Navitsky
Speaker 1: and Dallas probably as beloved a player as the league's had.
Speaker 1: Everybody loved Dirk, not everybody loves Luca. He's got a
Speaker 1: much more temperamental, moody personality, so he's naturally gonna create
Speaker 1: some disharmony in the room. He's just a moody guy.
Speaker 1: Dirk wasn't, so the Mavericks multiple times switched pieces with Dirk.
Speaker 1: Almost you know, almost everything worked with Dirk. It just
Speaker 1: didn't get a championship, but like he didn't have there
Speaker 1: was no like clashes of culture. Everybody liked Dirk, nobody
Speaker 1: likes Luca. Like it's a big difference. Look, I think
Speaker 1: Luca's a better player. But at this point, somebody said
Speaker 1: this years ago to me, they're like, in football, halftime,
Speaker 1: defense goes to the right, offense goes to the left.
Speaker 1: In baseball, a third of the teams in the bullpen,
Speaker 1: it's thirteen dudes on the bench every practice on that plane.
Speaker 1: Like if one guy's music's too loud on the plane.
Speaker 1: Now you have headphones now, but you know years ago
Speaker 1: it's like one guy can ruin an NBA locker room
Speaker 1: and if the star is difficult to bad locker room.
Speaker 1: I think the MAVs are a bit of an s
Speaker 1: show right now, and I think Luca, I mean again,
Speaker 1: they're they're gonna they're gonna put the pr people to
Speaker 1: work in Dallas. It's all good. Lucas gonna love it.
Speaker 1: But when you watch him play, he aggravates me at
Speaker 1: times with his barking to the officials, like on every play.
Speaker 1: It's such a love hate relationship for me because as
Speaker 1: a basketball fan, There's so many things with Luca that
Speaker 1: I'm drawn to. Like I he is one of the
Speaker 1: best players that I've ever seen in terms of getting
Speaker 1: beating people off the dribble without an athletic advantage, which
Speaker 1: is so hard to do. It's like it's kind of
Speaker 1: the Austin Reeves thing, Like it's all it's all misdirection
Speaker 1: and and like having every move irrevocably attached to a
Speaker 1: counter move that's equally as effective, and in never telegraphing
Speaker 1: your moves. And like Luca, there's so many things that
Speaker 1: I love about his game, and I hate watching him
Speaker 1: because of his approach, not only with the heliocentric you know,
Speaker 1: just dribble the air out of the basketball every time,
Speaker 1: but also with the attitude stuff. And again it's a crossroads.
Speaker 1: He's either going to be the Carmelo of this era
Speaker 1: or he's going to be an all time great. And
Speaker 1: you know what, you know, what's interesting is if you
Speaker 1: would ask everybody two years ago, you know, or all
Speaker 1: of you, and just say last year during the Western
Speaker 1: Conference Finals, who were the two best players you know
Speaker 1: that you'd want for the next ten years, it'd be
Speaker 1: Jannis and Luca and he'd be pretty close, right, Like
Speaker 1: they'd be neck and neck with a slight edge to Jannis.
Speaker 1: I hope it doesn't end up being one of those
Speaker 1: situations where Yannis just dramatically he creates himself because Luca plateaus.
Speaker 1: That's a problem potentially. Well. I mean, listen, Lebron was
Speaker 1: more physically gifted than Carmelo, but as they drifted apart,
Speaker 1: a lot of it was Lebron got along with more players,
Speaker 1: could play with more players, was more amenable to different styles.
Speaker 1: I mean, Miami had no size. He and Wade were duplication.
Speaker 1: He never liked Mario Chalmers. I mean it was like
Speaker 1: they'd threw him with Ray Allen's and Shane Battier's and
Speaker 1: Mike Miller's and Lebron made it work. At the time.
Speaker 1: Spolstra was a kid coach, and Lebron made it work.
Speaker 1: And then he goes to Cleveland again and he makes
Speaker 1: it work, and he goes to Los Angeles and he
Speaker 1: makes it work. If you give Lebron. I mean, j R.
Speaker 1: Smith was fun, but I think people forget he and
Speaker 1: Lebron were pretty good together. And j R. Smith was weird,
Speaker 1: and you know, a little eccentric and some viewed is
Speaker 1: difficult kind of an ISO act, you know, super talented
Speaker 1: Lebron made it work. Lebron and him were close despite
Speaker 1: that one time out right that they called so and
Speaker 1: I think Janie sort of is amenable to a lot
Speaker 1: of different teammates and players. Luca so far isn't like
Speaker 1: I mean, look at they just bring in Jay Crowder
Speaker 1: and then Joe Ingalls and Drew Holliday and Chris Middleton,
Speaker 1: was like they stole him. I think from like Detroit,
Speaker 1: He's worked with all of them, he works with everybody,
Speaker 1: and Brook Lopez another big He's not threatened at all,
Speaker 1: Like it matters a lot, and it's just like I
Speaker 1: always felt Carmelo was threatened. Luca feels a little threatened.
Speaker 1: Janie never does. Lebron never has. I mean, God, he
Speaker 1: goes into Miami, it's d Wade City, and it's like, all,
Speaker 1: let's go for it. I mean, he could have picked
Speaker 1: anywhere to go, right, he goes to the probably the
Speaker 1: single most beloved player in any city. Ye'll go to
Speaker 1: your city. I mean that was rife with issues. Could
Speaker 1: you have seen Carmelo going down there and making it work?
Speaker 1: His insecurities would have just flourished. So I'm not anti Luca,
Speaker 1: but it's just like we've got to I think we're
Speaker 1: moving to the second phase, which is okay. Not all
Speaker 1: these issues are Carmelo Anthony's teammates, some are Carmelo. The Volume.
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