Speaker 1: I wouldn't you know. I wasn't doing that, hey, Jamal,
Speaker 1: Jamal be quick to go on a tear and then
Speaker 1: end up on the dude like, hey, get me for
Speaker 1: a sa give me for a second. We switch off
Speaker 1: from welcome into what's burning. I am here with oh man,
Speaker 1: we got Matt Barnes, Stephen Jackson, and fresh off All
Speaker 1: Star Weekend Jamal Crawford. Oh that's dunk contest Judge Jamal
Speaker 1: Crawford to all of you, welcome, the man's up. He
Speaker 1: blessed us, Thank you, naught y'all blessing me. I'm with
Speaker 1: three legends up here, hey man. But in between au
Speaker 1: coach and I see you in LA. The next night,
Speaker 1: I see you on T and T. Then the next
Speaker 1: couple of days I see you. It all start being
Speaker 1: man of many hats. Hey, I'm taking the map Matt
Speaker 1: and say I'm trying to run in trying to follow blueprint. Yeah, hey,
Speaker 1: showtime Matka talk maka hey, he badly got badly got
Speaker 1: time to shoot our show. That's the business Man show.
Speaker 1: We're so happy to see. That's got like eight blueprints.
Speaker 1: So if you're following the Matt blueprint, you've got to
Speaker 1: gather them all up because it's got like nine or
Speaker 1: ten going. We're gonna get it, though, Jamal, you had
Speaker 1: never been a judge before, right, Rachel, I've never been
Speaker 1: an All Star before, So it was crazy. Way I
Speaker 1: promise you. I always felt like I should be there,
Speaker 1: if I deserve to be there, and when I didn't
Speaker 1: make it, I just never went. I wasn't going just
Speaker 1: to kick it. So wow. Yeah. Yeah. So the fact
Speaker 1: that I got asked to be a judge, you know,
Speaker 1: that was pressure. But then I was like, I'm embracing
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna enjoy the weekend. And to answer you
Speaker 1: a question about what it was like, it was great.
Speaker 1: I felt like I was on path until somebody on
Speaker 1: the other end I ain't gonna saying no names, start
Speaker 1: doing his thing on the scores table. So I had
Speaker 1: to juice up the scores a little bit to average
Speaker 1: out the young fellas. Hey, Maal, what was it? What
Speaker 1: was I saw you too? I saw you took JJ.
Speaker 1: What was it like to have your son and enjoyed
Speaker 1: that experience? You know, it's crazy and you know is too,
Speaker 1: like he just absorbed everything, like every single thing, he
Speaker 1: absorbed every moment he was watching everything. He met Yannis
Speaker 1: and he's like, Yannest, I watched your doc. Yanest, Like,
Speaker 1: what'd you learn from it? He said to work hard,
Speaker 1: and you honestly, that's why you work hard and listen
Speaker 1: to your parents. But everything somebody told you to see him.
Speaker 1: Just like the wheels were spending, he's been working. His
Speaker 1: workouts have been totally different after that. I love it.
Speaker 1: I love anyone who says, listen to your parents. I'm
Speaker 1: all for that. Well, if that was your first All
Speaker 1: Star weekend, I do have some news from you for you.
Speaker 1: They're not all in Utah, so well it will get better,
Speaker 1: you know why. Rache I had nothing to compare it to.
Speaker 1: So for me, I was like, all right, I had
Speaker 1: to do like nine different things. I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: I mean it's go from place to place. And my
Speaker 1: son was good, so it was all right. And it
Speaker 1: was close to home. In flights to Atlanta been killing me.
Speaker 1: So the facts Utah was all right with that, yeah,
Speaker 1: And it's just it sucks race for you to say that,
Speaker 1: Marhurst my heart to say that's your first time, because
Speaker 1: you definitely deserve to be that multiple times in your career.
Speaker 1: It sucks to even hear that, bro I had those
Speaker 1: ten lows. I was gonna let go like they were
Speaker 1: gonna be crazy if I ever got in the game. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you got the Dunk Contest experience. I
Speaker 1: will say I saw this wave about the Dunk Contest
Speaker 1: and I need you to put it in perspective for us,
Speaker 1: because afterward, Magic Johnson tweeted Mac McClung personally saved the
Speaker 1: Dunk Contest with his performance tonight. Shack said the same
Speaker 1: thing on the air with you guys. Lebron said, after
Speaker 1: what he said, McClung is now up in Dunk Contest
Speaker 1: history with Vince Carter and m J. Was it really
Speaker 1: at that level for you guys because it was fun,
Speaker 1: I was in the building, but that level really well
Speaker 1: race the bar. The bar wasn't really at high from
Speaker 1: what they are coming off of last year. So I
Speaker 1: think that's where everybody's excitement is coming from. But nah,
Speaker 1: not Jordan this. We can't be prisoners at the moment
Speaker 1: with that one like that was it was good. It
Speaker 1: was really good, and it was exciting in the gym,
Speaker 1: but you know, the bar was really really low. So
Speaker 1: he had a great, good Dunk Contest with those guys,
Speaker 1: like two of the best dunkers ever, Like it was Matt, Matt, Matti,
Speaker 1: solid man I had, we had Madden Alan Hovison game.
Speaker 1: He's a great kid man and I've always been rooting
Speaker 1: for him and he's a dunker, bro, that's what he does.
Speaker 1: But I don't I don't put him on the level
Speaker 1: with Zach Lavine and Gordon like that dunk contest was
Speaker 1: on another level. So I definitely don't put him on
Speaker 1: the level with m J and Vince. But for what
Speaker 1: he's but but saying he saved the dunk contest this year.
Speaker 1: He definitely did that. The best move Philadelphia did this
Speaker 1: year Will signed him to a two way contract so
Speaker 1: he could participate in this slap dunk contest that I'm
Speaker 1: glad they did that. I'm happy for Matt because he's
Speaker 1: a great kid and he works hard. For sure, he
Speaker 1: seemed like a great kids crazy because when he got rolled.
Speaker 1: I looked at Dominique, I says, this was like for
Speaker 1: you and m J did in Chicago. He looked at
Speaker 1: me like said, man, you better. I said, you right,
Speaker 1: My bad, Nue, the spirit moved me, My bad, my
Speaker 1: far He was in the moment, fam that was in
Speaker 1: the moment Fan I took the score cards and put
Speaker 1: up on hunting. I was in the moment, me back
Speaker 1: down the life. I mean, I'm very he does seem
Speaker 1: like a really nice kid. That cardigan he was burying
Speaker 1: in the next night was amazing. Um, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: glad that it was, and it was fun. It was
Speaker 1: fun being in the building for all that. But I
Speaker 1: am I am surprised at the wave of oh my god,
Speaker 1: this is incredible because you point out he's not actually
Speaker 1: even in the NBA, and I mean, they signed him
Speaker 1: to this two way just a couple of days ago.
Speaker 1: He's going right back to the G League. He made
Speaker 1: it the G League partly on sort of his YouTube
Speaker 1: dunk highlights to begin with, and he's turned into a
Speaker 1: really nice player. Is the dunk contest? Should it just
Speaker 1: be that from now on? Should it just be like
Speaker 1: dunkers dunking and like not really NBA players so much?
Speaker 1: I mean, what direction are we going in? They don't
Speaker 1: want to do that, right, they don't want to do
Speaker 1: that because it's it's some guys on Instagram called the
Speaker 1: flight Brothers. Yes, and they'll make it so unfair where
Speaker 1: nobody can even get in this dunk contest, So they
Speaker 1: don't want to do to that. I think they need
Speaker 1: to make it fight NBA players if they opened if
Speaker 1: they opened up that kid, Rachel, it's gonna get ugly
Speaker 1: and NBA players won't have a shot. He's right, No,
Speaker 1: NBA players aren't really participating anyway, though. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: what's happened? What's what are we doing here? But can
Speaker 1: I ask you guys this, wouldn't you want to see
Speaker 1: like a one on one tournament six four and lower,
Speaker 1: six to five and taller put up five million dollars?
Speaker 1: I bet you everybody would jump in and let's let's
Speaker 1: get the way classes going. Let's see who's we ain't
Speaker 1: got to argue about Kyrie and Steph who win? Or
Speaker 1: Kyrie and Dame or pound pound for pound. Let's see
Speaker 1: who's who and what's what? Hey, man, you're doing big
Speaker 1: things over there. TNT make that happen. Hey, we're gonna
Speaker 1: sit there, We're gonna sit the dunk contests out this year.
Speaker 1: We're gonna play this one on one tournament cutthrow Well, Matt,
Speaker 1: let me ask you, guys, do you think people's probably
Speaker 1: getting away their brands and everything else to be scared
Speaker 1: of if they lose. I mean, that's the you know,
Speaker 1: the reason why I feel like guys are or maybe
Speaker 1: it's not cool enough, but yeah, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of pride and ego goes into what guys are doing
Speaker 1: that weekend. Definitely. Now that's why I don't think the
Speaker 1: one on one will work all because they're too scared
Speaker 1: to compete in the games and and and the main
Speaker 1: game that everybody want to m compete. And you heard
Speaker 1: what Kobe said, and this game is supposed to be competitive.
Speaker 1: Everybody want to see the top guys go in and
Speaker 1: have a high level pickup game, right and and and
Speaker 1: that's it's got away from that. Even Jalen Brown was like,
Speaker 1: this is a this is a glorified layup line. I
Speaker 1: wanted to play basketball and he and he was one
Speaker 1: of the guys that's hurt. So for one of the
Speaker 1: guys is wearing a mask with damn there broken eye
Speaker 1: socket or whatever he dealing with and uh and uh
Speaker 1: and want to go hard in an All Star game.
Speaker 1: What about the guys that's not hurt? So you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, I wish just got back to a
Speaker 1: competitive game. Yeah, it's embarrassing. Like you when we are
Speaker 1: growing up seeing Kobe against MJ. Like, that's what made
Speaker 1: the All Star Game what it was. You had the
Speaker 1: best players in the world going at it to separate
Speaker 1: who's who and what's what. Now it's like, you get
Speaker 1: your dunk, I'll get my dunk. That's boring, like and
Speaker 1: it's actually kind of disrespect for the basketball if I'm
Speaker 1: being honest, that's not what could What could the league
Speaker 1: do to get the players to be competitive? Right? Mike
Speaker 1: Malone afterward called this the worst game basketball game ever
Speaker 1: played in history. I mean, I don't think what can
Speaker 1: you do? Cut you off? Yeah, Rachel, the league can't
Speaker 1: do any The league can't do anything. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: up to the players to decide. It's going to be
Speaker 1: up to it. It's gonna be up to a star
Speaker 1: to push the you know, like set the tone. Like
Speaker 1: you can't even get players to play games, Matt, you
Speaker 1: know exactly, like Jaw or Luke or Tatum, one of
Speaker 1: the one of these next up and coming superstars. I
Speaker 1: feel like really has to be like, yo, check this out.
Speaker 1: This is what we're doing in this game. We're not
Speaker 1: going to disrespect the area. Got to play it hard.
Speaker 1: We're gonna play it the right way. But as far
Speaker 1: as the league, there's nothing the league can do about
Speaker 1: any of this. It's going to be all whether stars
Speaker 1: start participate in the dunk contest or guys play hard
Speaker 1: in the All Star Game, it's always going to be
Speaker 1: up to the players. That's what That's what I said, man,
Speaker 1: When the very very best players set the tone like Yo,
Speaker 1: we're not coming in bullshit, and like we're going to
Speaker 1: get it right from the start. And you come with
Speaker 1: that men's haw, like it's named after Kobe. What's the
Speaker 1: best way to honor Kobe? But to compete? Like what
Speaker 1: are we doing? Yeah? Agree? Thanks? All right? So, but
Speaker 1: how do you get that to actually happen? Right? Because
Speaker 1: you got guys even in the game, like you said,
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, he's willing to go at it. How does
Speaker 1: that actually happen? Does it? Does it have to be
Speaker 1: like a Kobe? Does it have to be one of
Speaker 1: those guys? And there's no other way to get it
Speaker 1: going go ahead? Like Massad's gonna have to be the
Speaker 1: biggest nights like Braun and those guys gonna have to
Speaker 1: set that tone. They're gonna have to come in with
Speaker 1: their energy because you know what, Rachel, it's gonna have
Speaker 1: to be the two captains, basically, you know the guy.
Speaker 1: The guy's just picking the teams. And I really feel
Speaker 1: this to give him miss props. I feel like if
Speaker 1: the Greek figg wasn't hurt, he would have came with
Speaker 1: that energy because he play like that everywhere. Yes, I mean, look,
Speaker 1: I still like watching the best players in the world.
Speaker 1: I'll be on one court. You look around on those
Speaker 1: nights and it is pretty incredible. We did see John
Speaker 1: I get a ton of love over the weekend, the
Speaker 1: fans really reacting to him. We saw the fans really
Speaker 1: reacting to Luca a lot too, And it's funny, Jamal,
Speaker 1: I heard you talking recently about the love for Luca's game.
Speaker 1: You were saying how well deserved it was. But what
Speaker 1: caught my ears you were asking where was all this
Speaker 1: good will for James Harden during the Houston days, And
Speaker 1: I wanted you to explain more where you see the
Speaker 1: parallels between the two guys and the different reactions though
Speaker 1: you've seen to them. I'm so glad you asked about
Speaker 1: that because they ote me the next day people it
Speaker 1: was I'm like, are y'all not seeing what I'm seeing.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they're the exact same player, but the
Speaker 1: style of play, the way they player is almost identical.
Speaker 1: It's like one's left hand, one's right hand. They have
Speaker 1: the ball, their usage rate is way higher than everybody else's.
Speaker 1: There's other guys that standing around them. Why they do
Speaker 1: their thing? They step back and I'm not I wasn't
Speaker 1: this in Luca West. So I love his game, Lucas code.
Speaker 1: But my thing is people say, oh Hard won MVP,
Speaker 1: Yeah he wont MVP, but don't forget it was frowned upon.
Speaker 1: Oh you can't win that way, you can't play that way.
Speaker 1: It's it's not basketball. But with Lucas, like we've embraced
Speaker 1: it and we should. But give Hard in his love too,
Speaker 1: because he was doing this and the numbers he's doing.
Speaker 1: He has sixty point triple doles. They went to the
Speaker 1: Western Conference finals, so it's very very similar. Lucas younger
Speaker 1: and all that, and he has so much room to improve.
Speaker 1: And I get it. This isn't just about Lucas more
Speaker 1: so about let's give Hard in his love because he
Speaker 1: was doing crazy, crazy numbers at that time, not just
Speaker 1: one MVPs, but actually doing numbers, and people were were
Speaker 1: kind of you know, some people crowned him. A lot
Speaker 1: of people frowned him. People people with the NBA had
Speaker 1: to change rules because of James Harden. He had mastered
Speaker 1: the game. He had now sunk the game, and he
Speaker 1: was one of the toughest matchups in the history of
Speaker 1: the game. You know what I mean. He was strong,
Speaker 1: he was quick, he was smart. Uh, he great shooter,
Speaker 1: great free I mean it's they had to really had
Speaker 1: to change the rules. I mean, they had to change
Speaker 1: the free throw rules because of James Harden mastered the game.
Speaker 1: So I agree, like, I agree like obviously not same players,
Speaker 1: similar styles, but numbers definitely reflect uh similarities. And they
Speaker 1: both and they both are great players. Excuse me race
Speaker 1: that they're both are great players. But just like Kobe said,
Speaker 1: that's not winning basketball for neither one of them. I
Speaker 1: don't care who's doing it. It looks exciting, you love
Speaker 1: watching it. They're gonna be looking like the top players
Speaker 1: in the league. But it's not winning basketball. And that's
Speaker 1: what it bought down to. Well, I mean That's why
Speaker 1: they wanted to get someone in with Luca. Right to
Speaker 1: your point, you can't when you have one guy and
Speaker 1: you're depending on him that much, you can't win a championship.
Speaker 1: I don't know if Kyrie is going to be that guy.
Speaker 1: I think there's got to be a little bit of
Speaker 1: a style difference issue. Lucas a little bit more layered
Speaker 1: when he I mean usag Ate is obviously just as high,
Speaker 1: but his attack is a little bit more layered. I
Speaker 1: think with James some of the sort of you know,
Speaker 1: dribble dribble dribble, the way he would attack being so consistent.
Speaker 1: Is that part of why the reaction is a little
Speaker 1: bit different Because I voted for James for MVP that
Speaker 1: year unequivocally, like I had no issue with that. I
Speaker 1: thought he absolutely had an MVP season, and I was
Speaker 1: always surprised that there was sort of more of that
Speaker 1: negative spin on what he was doing. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: Lucas is more layer, but I think it's still similar
Speaker 1: though it's still very similar, Like it takes a special
Speaker 1: person to play with a guy like that, because you
Speaker 1: have to be comfortable with like, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna get the ball as much, or if I
Speaker 1: do get it, I'm getting off of all the work
Speaker 1: they've already done. I think the love for Luca and
Speaker 1: the comments is basically that he's younger. Well, yeah, he's younger,
Speaker 1: but their style of play is very, very similar in
Speaker 1: the way they're thinking the game and how they're breaking
Speaker 1: down the game. Well, look, it's going to be interesting
Speaker 1: to see the Kyrie Luca combination. We all got some
Speaker 1: other new team formations because the buy out markets still
Speaker 1: going on, even though we don't have games back up yet. Jamal,
Speaker 1: it's funny to get bought out. You have to be
Speaker 1: making a lot of money to begin with. So there's
Speaker 1: something about the quality of Blayer you were. You were
Speaker 1: bought out once. What is that whole experience? Guys going
Speaker 1: through it this week? I thought I walked away from them.
Speaker 1: I was bought out. Okay, my fault. According to our
Speaker 1: trepid that's the same thing, that's the same thing brought
Speaker 1: I walked away. Yeah, I thought I walked away. Now,
Speaker 1: I think at the end of the day, you're willing
Speaker 1: to go up some money for happiness. There's no price
Speaker 1: on peace of mind. And if you feel like there's
Speaker 1: a team out there who lets you be you, who'll
Speaker 1: let you go, and you get back to the whatever
Speaker 1: lever you feel like you're at. It's worth it. And
Speaker 1: so for a guy like Rust, for example, I bet
Speaker 1: he's happy as hell because he's like, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm going to A team's gonna embrace me. They want
Speaker 1: me to be me, and whatever I gave up on
Speaker 1: the back end, I'll get that back with more so
Speaker 1: I'll get my respect back now. I think that's the
Speaker 1: type of mindset you're in when you're going and things
Speaker 1: like that. I think what makes my be What makes
Speaker 1: that interesting though, is obviously we'll get into the detail
Speaker 1: about the Russ situation. But from what I was told,
Speaker 1: Rust and Lebron live across street from each other, like
Speaker 1: across the street for real, Like he's on the other
Speaker 1: side of the street from what I heard. So how
Speaker 1: interesting is that going to be if that's true that
Speaker 1: you know, shit, he's gone now, but he just went
Speaker 1: down the hallway to La and Russ is It's gonna
Speaker 1: be an interesting think they both go out and get
Speaker 1: the paper and the driveway in the morning. Yeah. Interesting.
Speaker 1: Fourth of July. Uh, hang outside with all the family
Speaker 1: times so that's gonna be fun. Man. But man, was
Speaker 1: it like Russ over Lebron's on fourth of July before
Speaker 1: they even became teammates, like they were all kicked it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I just kind of wonder, you know, as I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a little off talk, but like asids going on,
Speaker 1: Like to me, it kind of seemed like, and I
Speaker 1: could be wrong that that Braun was the one that
Speaker 1: was recruiting Russ, you know, I mean, for Rust to
Speaker 1: be a Laker and all this kind of stuff, because
Speaker 1: you know, you hear from Damar that DeMar thought he
Speaker 1: was going to be a Laker. So fast forward to
Speaker 1: this whole situation and kind of, you know, you expect
Speaker 1: it from the media, you kind of you can expected
Speaker 1: from the fans. But then I wonder what Russ was
Speaker 1: thinking when when you know, Broun's like, you know, with
Speaker 1: the whole Kyrie thing, He's just like, Damn, I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, I thought you wanted I thought
Speaker 1: you wanted to be here. But it just shows you
Speaker 1: know what kind of businesses is. Obviously, you can't fault
Speaker 1: Braun because at the end of the day, like this
Speaker 1: is his legacy, he's leaving, you know, he wants, you know,
Speaker 1: he wants to go out on top. So if he
Speaker 1: feels like someone else can come in and give him
Speaker 1: a better chance, you know, that's the movie's gonna make
Speaker 1: at this point of his career. But I just wonder
Speaker 1: kind of do you know, Rust don't speak much, but
Speaker 1: I really just wonder what's going on in his head
Speaker 1: when he's just hearing all this shit, Like damn well.
Speaker 1: I like for him personally, Braun was so happy because
Speaker 1: I said before him, like the Lakers issues way bigger
Speaker 1: than Rust. That's he's a scape goat. So in fact,
Speaker 1: I've never seen somebody in the same season get his
Speaker 1: respect back the way he did with their home fans,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, like with home base, because
Speaker 1: they were don't shoot that home like this is like
Speaker 1: we go playing Philly and they're doing that like this
Speaker 1: is home for him. So but I see him it's
Speaker 1: Hill all the court and off the court. I think Jack,
Speaker 1: you know, I think Jack said something in a post
Speaker 1: yesterday where he remained solid though the whole time, no
Speaker 1: matter what he went through what he heard. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's the one thing about Russ. Every single night he
Speaker 1: shows up and then and then you got no disrespect.
Speaker 1: You got people reporting all he was a vampire in
Speaker 1: the locker room, like let's not kill on his name,
Speaker 1: let's not razy like you can feel how you feel
Speaker 1: and everything, like we all know stuff that we would
Speaker 1: never say, you know what I mean, especially when somebody's
Speaker 1: gonna have to try to get a job. We all
Speaker 1: knew rusting them by out like that's that just wasn't
Speaker 1: including me. And we see we've seen it done before.
Speaker 1: Though they did it to Ai, they did it, they
Speaker 1: did it to a lot of that. We love that
Speaker 1: with stars, you know what I mean. They when they
Speaker 1: get to the careers and they're not marching to the
Speaker 1: beat they want them to, or they have a bad
Speaker 1: game or a bad year, they automatically write him out
Speaker 1: and forget about all the years of Russ average and
Speaker 1: triple doubles or where he's stand you know in basketball
Speaker 1: herestor he forgot about all that. But we didn't as players.
Speaker 1: So it's our job to defend him because we have
Speaker 1: had bad years. We've been in those positions where the
Speaker 1: fans and everybody against us until we make a shot
Speaker 1: to make them happy. You know, it's it's what have
Speaker 1: you done? Lately. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like I said, Russ, I commend him because he stayed silently,
Speaker 1: stayed a professional and stayed doing this thing. And I
Speaker 1: said he was going to the Clippers. I'm happy for
Speaker 1: him too. But I also I think all three of
Speaker 1: us can contest that. You know, it's not about although
Speaker 1: it hurts sometimes when we hear everything, It's about what
Speaker 1: our peers think about us. It's not what the media
Speaker 1: thinks about us, now what the fans think about us.
Speaker 1: It's how we're respected amongst each other, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. And I think that's the biggest thing. And
Speaker 1: I know for a fact, hate him or love him,
Speaker 1: Russ is respected around the league and always has exactly well. Look,
Speaker 1: Paul George went out hard for him, right publicly, especially
Speaker 1: after all this has been going on, and it's interesting
Speaker 1: conversations right before the break with some front office people
Speaker 1: on that team. Paul's recommendation definitely meant a lot to them.
Speaker 1: But I was told it wasn't enough, that wasn't going
Speaker 1: to do it entirely, that they were looking for. How
Speaker 1: willing was Russ to accept what they wanted him to
Speaker 1: do on the court and Obviously with the Lakers, there
Speaker 1: was a bunch of is he gonna start, He's gonna
Speaker 1: come off the bench. He obviously did really well on
Speaker 1: that six man role. With the Clippers, they had better shooting.
Speaker 1: So what they want from him is to drive to
Speaker 1: the basket, which, by the way, he can still do.
Speaker 1: He has top twelve in the league still in drives.
Speaker 1: They want him to push the pace they wanted to
Speaker 1: kick out to the better shooters. Do you guys feel
Speaker 1: that Russ has the discipline at this point in his
Speaker 1: career because even with the Lakers, once he accepted the
Speaker 1: role and we praised him a lot on this show
Speaker 1: for what he has done this season, he still wasn't
Speaker 1: It wasn't great shot selection, He wasn't always making the
Speaker 1: right decisions out on the court. Do you guys feel
Speaker 1: that he is up for playing with this level of guys,
Speaker 1: really doing what they need him to do as a
Speaker 1: point guard, because that's the need that they have. I
Speaker 1: do race because they definitely need help rebounding and he's
Speaker 1: one of the best rebounded point guards ever. Also, also,
Speaker 1: I think he'll love to be in this role because
Speaker 1: he's wanted rightchel the best feeling in any job that
Speaker 1: you have is being wanted by the people there. Right,
Speaker 1: It's hard to play when you when you know you
Speaker 1: got teammates talk about it behind you back, when you
Speaker 1: got the front office, think about trading you, when you
Speaker 1: got all kinds of stuff going on. So it's hard
Speaker 1: to perform like that. But when you got an organization
Speaker 1: and you got star players on the team that want
Speaker 1: you there, that know what you're capable of, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be easier to buy in. And that's why I say
Speaker 1: I'm happy to Russ because it's gonna be an easy
Speaker 1: situation for him to fall into. Or you gotta just
Speaker 1: control the team. You gotta get the ball to Paul
Speaker 1: kawhire rebound and that's what he's best at. Yeah, for me,
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna do whatever it takes because the
Speaker 1: spirit is back. He's like like Jack said, his spirit
Speaker 1: is back. When your spirit is broken and you know,
Speaker 1: mess with and you don't know who's who, and you know,
Speaker 1: like they in my corner, they're not they're talking about
Speaker 1: behind my back. Whatever it is, he's gonna wear such pride.
Speaker 1: He's gonna play hard and he ever has and he
Speaker 1: knows where he's at he knew the whispers of what
Speaker 1: people were saying, like this is gonna be a golden opportunity,
Speaker 1: not only when a champion ship to revive his career
Speaker 1: and put him into place where he gets the respect
Speaker 1: he's so deserves, because what he's done aving and triple,
Speaker 1: we never thought we'd see that again for years. Like
Speaker 1: Russ is a Russ is a top seventy five guy,
Speaker 1: without a doubt, with his spirits back. T Low's gonna
Speaker 1: empower him. He's not gonna hold he doesn't do well
Speaker 1: against him. I think he's gonna show up and show out.
Speaker 1: That's what I wanted to I think t lou is
Speaker 1: the right coach for this situation. And we praise Darvin
Speaker 1: ham because Darvin Hamm was the right one to get
Speaker 1: Russ to buy into coming off the bench. Because there's
Speaker 1: not too many coaches. Maybe we can name just those
Speaker 1: two that he really would have bought into and respected
Speaker 1: enough to come in and buy into that role. Russ
Speaker 1: is gonna be Russ. And I think you know, Rachel,
Speaker 1: you said, you know they're asking him to get downhill,
Speaker 1: which he's great at, and fine shooters, which he's always
Speaker 1: been good at. So if that's what his ask, and
Speaker 1: then like Jack and Jamal are saying, you know, this
Speaker 1: is a second chance, this is a revival. Hopefully he
Speaker 1: can revive his career because you know, being quite honest,
Speaker 1: you know, there's probably not a lot of teams. I
Speaker 1: think Russ's future is really going to hinge on this
Speaker 1: next twenty five game, plus this playoff run, because you know,
Speaker 1: there's just once they start talking a certain way about
Speaker 1: you and Jack, we could offend these motherfuckers all they want,
Speaker 1: but the GMS and they start feeling a certain way.
Speaker 1: I really think this is one of the most critical
Speaker 1: runs of Russell Westbrook's career if he wants to play
Speaker 1: beyond this, you know what I mean. So I'm with
Speaker 1: the rest of the guys. I think he's going to
Speaker 1: be completely bought in. I think he is going to
Speaker 1: be an asset to this team. And you know, with
Speaker 1: the other moves the Clippers made, this is definitely We've
Speaker 1: been saying it all year. I mean, it hinges on
Speaker 1: Kawai's availability, but this is the deepest team in the
Speaker 1: NBA and they have a great shot of not only
Speaker 1: coming out of the West. And that's saying a lot
Speaker 1: with Phoenix and these other teams. But they have a
Speaker 1: great opportunity to win a championship this year. WHOA, Okay,
Speaker 1: so that's high praise. I was just gonna say, look,
Speaker 1: and they climb up past fourth. Right now, they're fourth.
Speaker 1: They've got the Nuggets, grizz and Kings ahead of them.
Speaker 1: And as you say, the Sons are going to be
Speaker 1: making a move in this last the season. The MAVs
Speaker 1: would like to be making a move. You think their
Speaker 1: championship contenders may absolutely, but the three teams in front
Speaker 1: of him. You know, with all due respect to all
Speaker 1: three of those teams, we have to see it in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. We've seen you know, Kawhi's won championships pgs.
Speaker 1: Taking this team to the Western Finals without Kawhi, you know,
Speaker 1: had lost Kawhi. So you know, you add these solid
Speaker 1: I really love the Mason Plumley pick up, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, just super solid, big plays, hard, does
Speaker 1: his job. Eric Gordon's getting another chance. Bone Higlands is
Speaker 1: a wild card that's probably gonna win you a game
Speaker 1: or two, win the playoffs. Just off dropping thirty five
Speaker 1: forty you know, possibly thirty thirty five points. So um,
Speaker 1: Kawai's health is going to be critical for this team.
Speaker 1: But I love the moves they make. And again, I
Speaker 1: love this Russ opportunity because we are all just such
Speaker 1: fans of Russ and I just think he deserves to
Speaker 1: go out the way he can in what better way
Speaker 1: than to really catch fire with this team. You know,
Speaker 1: sign a two or three year deal and you know,
Speaker 1: finish at home. All Right, you guys backing him up
Speaker 1: on Championship Contender? Are you backing him up? Yeah? I
Speaker 1: mean yeah, you got you got rush All and a
Speaker 1: healthy Kawhi and the experience to t Lou I give
Speaker 1: him a shout of rage and then you know what,
Speaker 1: just imagine that Russ bringing helping the Clippers bring that
Speaker 1: first championship home. I think that'll be a great fan Yeah.
Speaker 1: I like the move. I like their team before the moves.
Speaker 1: I love their team afterwards. And people forget, Yeah, people
Speaker 1: forget like Kawai. We don't see him enough to be
Speaker 1: like he's top five. I know in the playoffs he's
Speaker 1: top five, Like he's the top five playoffs without doubt.
Speaker 1: Like everything he brings to the table is what you want,
Speaker 1: Like Russ is gonna bring toughness. He's gonna bring grit,
Speaker 1: He's gonna hold them dudes accountable because players in the
Speaker 1: locker room look at Russ like we do, so we
Speaker 1: hold him to the highest standard, and you know he's
Speaker 1: not going to back down. So to MAT's point, the
Speaker 1: teams in front of him, I'm not really scared. If
Speaker 1: I'm the Clippers. It's like we can go win a
Speaker 1: game anywhere with this croup and like Bones Highland, those
Speaker 1: dudes are underrated. They can go when you a quarter
Speaker 1: to get the stars back on track. I love the
Speaker 1: Clippers what they're doing. Like I said, I just think
Speaker 1: those teams in front we have to see it in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, you know. I mean Sacrament is completely new
Speaker 1: to this space. You know, Denver, I say before, you know,
Speaker 1: similar to what the Jazz were doing a few years ago.
Speaker 1: Great in the regular season, we have to see it
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. And then Memphis. Memphis has done a
Speaker 1: lot of talking. We got to see wins in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Rachel, Well, I just Denver fans are listening
Speaker 1: to y'all and they're screaming right now at the TV,
Speaker 1: being like we made the Western Conference Finals. I mean
Speaker 1: this team has had some experience. Yeah they haven't gone
Speaker 1: all the way. They have a shot. They have a
Speaker 1: shot too, but you know they haven't done it as well. Race.
Speaker 1: You know, you got the back to back MVP, possibly
Speaker 1: three time MVP and yeah, and you can't get to
Speaker 1: the finals. Like, so that team hasn't shown hasn't shown anything, Race,
Speaker 1: but of being a dominant regular season team. If they
Speaker 1: show us something this season, then maybe they'll continue to
Speaker 1: be in that conversation. But with that said, I do
Speaker 1: like what they got going on this year, Like they
Speaker 1: got everyone's healthy. You know, they got the pieces they
Speaker 1: feel like they need. So the Western Conference, we haven't
Speaker 1: even talked about Phoenix. Like Golden State, you always got
Speaker 1: to give them a chance because they got experience. It's
Speaker 1: going to be a battle to come out of the
Speaker 1: West this year. Rache, Who do you trust more in
Speaker 1: a playoffs here if they're messed up? Would you trust
Speaker 1: this new look Clippers team or would you trust Memphis
Speaker 1: or New Orleans or Denver. Oh, I'm trusting the Clippers
Speaker 1: over Memphis, especially with the experience. I'm trusting them. I
Speaker 1: just trust them over New Orleans. I want to see
Speaker 1: what the Nuggets turn into I know they're not the
Speaker 1: popular trendy pick. I'm I'm blown away by this Sun's lineup,
Speaker 1: and I think that if they can play together and
Speaker 1: stay healthy, I think it's it's it's ridiculous to sleep
Speaker 1: on them, even where they are in the bracket right now.
Speaker 1: But I'm not willing to write the Nuggets off. They've
Speaker 1: got the what's going to be the three time MVP,
Speaker 1: and they're a good team, and they've been the top
Speaker 1: seed for a reason, and I just I don't know.
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of people are always like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, Denver, they haven't shown us that they can
Speaker 1: do it yet. They haven't shown you you can win.
Speaker 1: But they've They've got some pretty impressive stuff going three
Speaker 1: time MVP and about seventy five pick and rows in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Yea, the figure that out defense and played
Speaker 1: I've never even played defense, but I'm telling you, I
Speaker 1: know what's coming. I wouldn't you know. I wasn't doing that. Jamal.
Speaker 1: Jamal be quick to go on a tear and then
Speaker 1: end up on a dude like get me four a sec,
Speaker 1: give me for a second, Well, switch off from straight.
Speaker 1: But I didn't know what time it is. Give me
Speaker 1: a pouting here, so I still look good. What's that
Speaker 1: like during a playoff game when you feel like that?
Speaker 1: Oh man, I know the whole world's watching. I just
Speaker 1: ran off age of ten and I know I may
Speaker 1: give up six backs. Look me, get a couple of fouls,
Speaker 1: a lock up, and everybody wins. All right, we get
Speaker 1: our act back together. I want to talk to you
Speaker 1: guys about pat Ev signing with the Bulls. That is
Speaker 1: his hometown team. But guys, he mentioned on this Potty
Speaker 1: also had a chance to go to the Warriors, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to read you the quote he said. It
Speaker 1: was between Golden State and the Bulls. Obviously, it's always
Speaker 1: good to play with a lot of great talent and
Speaker 1: Golden State, but you know there's a lot of guards
Speaker 1: over there. I figured I could make up playoff pushed
Speaker 1: with the Bulls right now and kind of pop them
Speaker 1: up a little bit. The East is kind of weak,
Speaker 1: he said. He said, I'm excited. I get to pack
Speaker 1: my Sunday school, I get to take my baby girl
Speaker 1: to school. I get to pick them up. I get
Speaker 1: to wrap my city on my chest. So there's a
Speaker 1: lot there. Love that he's home. With the kids. Big
Speaker 1: fan of that. Um, let's start with him saying the
Speaker 1: East is kind of weak thoughts. You know, if you know,
Speaker 1: you know Pat Bab're gonna always throw something out there.
Speaker 1: You know, he always gonna rough or little feathers. But
Speaker 1: I think the best thing about it is he's he
Speaker 1: got to get a chance to go home and play
Speaker 1: in Chicago, be with his family, like you said, pick
Speaker 1: his kids up from school and stuff like that. This
Speaker 1: might we talk about the last couple of games matter
Speaker 1: for somebody's career. He's in. He's in this situation too.
Speaker 1: He'd been bounced around a lot, and you know, he really,
Speaker 1: he really hasn't been a fact on any team besides talking,
Speaker 1: you know. So I love I love Pats energy and
Speaker 1: effort in his love for the game, but he's not
Speaker 1: productive anywhere. And if he gets a chance to end
Speaker 1: his career in Chicago, if he doesn't play well, it's
Speaker 1: a good look. Yeah. I think I think for Pat
Speaker 1: his value really is with young teams if you're trying
Speaker 1: to show how to work and how to you know,
Speaker 1: be a pro, or teams that are right there in
Speaker 1: the championship, like really championship contenders and he can just
Speaker 1: be a good vet locker room guy, holding guys accountable.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how he fits in with the guys
Speaker 1: in the middle, with the teams in the middle, you know,
Speaker 1: and how he provides that kind of value on the court.
Speaker 1: But for him personally going home, you know, obviously we
Speaker 1: just saw the news Alonzo Ball being on all year.
Speaker 1: If he can get some minutes at the point guard position,
Speaker 1: playing off at duros and playing off a zach Lavine
Speaker 1: guys like that, you know, I think that's where he's
Speaker 1: best suited. Uh yeah, I mean I agree with both
Speaker 1: these guys. First of all, it's interesting, Matt. I mean
Speaker 1: we've we've talked about this before. Do you pick at
Speaker 1: that time in your career. Do you want to go
Speaker 1: to a place like Golden State, which you guys keep
Speaker 1: telling me every week still has a chance to win
Speaker 1: the title, or Chicago, which we all know. I know
Speaker 1: he's saying, oh, I want to give them a bit
Speaker 1: of a pop. They're not contenders. So what do you
Speaker 1: think of him making that decision? I mean, I just
Speaker 1: Golden States backcourt is Pool Curry Thompson, and I know
Speaker 1: I'm probably missing some other people Devincenzo's Devincenzo's been playing well.
Speaker 1: So it's just like it's loaded over there. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: you have a chance to go home. And where's Chicago sit?
Speaker 1: I'm not from. Are they middle of the pack? Where
Speaker 1: they at right now? They need a lot of help?
Speaker 1: Producer Nate. What's Chicago ranked right now? Seated? Do you
Speaker 1: guys know they need a lot of help? Okay, Chicago's
Speaker 1: eleven right now. I mean, I get playing time versus
Speaker 1: not playing time. I get it. But that's the question
Speaker 1: right when you're at this stage of your career. I'm
Speaker 1: always fascinated by guys who I mean. Vince Carter was
Speaker 1: always really open toward the end of his career. He said,
Speaker 1: I want to go where I can play. He would
Speaker 1: go on these teams and he said form B he said,
Speaker 1: I know everyone thinks I need a ring. He's like,
Speaker 1: I don't need a ring. I still want to hoop
Speaker 1: and play basketball. So it's kind of a little bit
Speaker 1: of what Pat Bev has decided here he's going for
Speaker 1: the minutes. I was just curious what you guys thought about.
Speaker 1: I just think his journey has been incredible, know what
Speaker 1: I mean, It's been well documented what he had to pay.
Speaker 1: It pay out of his contract to get in the NBA,
Speaker 1: and and and he's made some good money. And now
Speaker 1: at the end of the time, rich I think he
Speaker 1: knows the clock is ticking on his career, Like why
Speaker 1: not get it, Like, you know, Golden State, although we
Speaker 1: feel like they have a great shot, you know, why
Speaker 1: not go home? Why not go home and be that
Speaker 1: little push that maybe helps them get in the playoffs
Speaker 1: when no one's saying they're gonna win. But be that
Speaker 1: little you know, go home and be able to help
Speaker 1: them make the playoffs. So I'm happy for him because
Speaker 1: we all know, you know how much time this game
Speaker 1: takes away from your family. I mean that's why I
Speaker 1: retired my first year into a three year deal when
Speaker 1: I was fortunate enough to win a Golden State, because
Speaker 1: I just had missed my kids so much and I
Speaker 1: wasn't getting to see him. So, like Jamal says, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't pay for happiness. Uh, he's happy.
Speaker 1: He's home, he's at the crib. And if this is
Speaker 1: his last team and he can play here a couple
Speaker 1: of years, I mean, it's a it's it's a you know,
Speaker 1: an amazing accomplishment what he's accomplished and been able to
Speaker 1: do in this league. And then too, you know, everybody
Speaker 1: goal likes to win the championship. You know, that was
Speaker 1: my goal. So a lot of guys, a lot of
Speaker 1: some guys come in to the league, right you want
Speaker 1: to make a name for itself, make some money and
Speaker 1: get on. You know what I'm saying. I was blessed
Speaker 1: to win one early where I didn't have to worry
Speaker 1: about that towards the end of my career. But a
Speaker 1: lot of guys, you know, I know, I've heard I
Speaker 1: heard it from a lot of guys don't come in
Speaker 1: the league thinking they want to be a champion. And
Speaker 1: that's what separates a lot of people. What what's killing
Speaker 1: me though, is the fact that some of these ventures
Speaker 1: thirty four, thirty five, and we're talking about them being
Speaker 1: out the league like crazy, Yeah, they're needed, Like where's
Speaker 1: Mellow at right where's Isaiah at right now? Like all
Speaker 1: these guys are needed? Like how can you learn to
Speaker 1: be a pro and be a vet if you don't
Speaker 1: have that around you? Like I called the Rising Stars
Speaker 1: game other day and the G League game, the Rising
Speaker 1: Stars team average age was just as young as the
Speaker 1: G League team. Like who's who's leading who? Crazy? It's crazy,
Speaker 1: So we need those vests. These guys got real careers,
Speaker 1: not just being a league and make mistakes and not
Speaker 1: really be able to learn from and be held accountable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's with all the respect, it's the blind
Speaker 1: lead the blind because these young kids, they've never been
Speaker 1: through nothing. And then if you can't produce on the
Speaker 1: court early are they keeping you? You know, we can
Speaker 1: name Iguadala, we can name uh Udonis, but outside of that,
Speaker 1: like vets that aren't giving you minutes or aren't producing,
Speaker 1: they don't have those no more. But we have talked
Speaker 1: about this with Charles. But you know, when we all
Speaker 1: came in the league, there was guys, whether you know,
Speaker 1: thirty six, thirty seven, thirty eight, whether they are playing
Speaker 1: or being productive on the court, they were just as
Speaker 1: important off the court. And sometimes they're bridge between the
Speaker 1: players and the coaches. They're ogs for the younger players.
Speaker 1: They just there's so much quality, you know, there's just
Speaker 1: so many good things. They bring two teams, but just
Speaker 1: the league has transitioned out of that. Owners have transitioned
Speaker 1: out of pay and they'd rather, you know, pay potentials.
Speaker 1: They pay, you know, they they'd rather pay potential. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The CBA is a little different now too, and interesting
Speaker 1: as they sort of get a new one together whether
Speaker 1: they're going to correct that at all, But doesn't look
Speaker 1: like it. Feels like the league is still trending really young.
Speaker 1: If you have some old guys still going places, Kevin Love,
Speaker 1: we call them an elder statesman at this point. Maybe
Speaker 1: Cal five time All Star, Olympic champion, of course, NBA champ.
Speaker 1: He'll bring a ton of experience to Miami's locker room.
Speaker 1: Does he change your opinion on the heats playoff chances though, Jamal,
Speaker 1: what do you think? Not for me? I think honestly
Speaker 1: they need what he brings to the table. I'm just
Speaker 1: not sure how much he can give, especially and we
Speaker 1: all know Miami's notorious for how they work from practice.
Speaker 1: They don't care if you're ten years in fifteen years,
Speaker 1: in two years, and you're gonna work and for k
Speaker 1: Love and guy like that. He's accomplished so much and
Speaker 1: played heavy minus all these years. I'm not sure that's
Speaker 1: a spot I would have went to. I think he
Speaker 1: could help him win a playoff game, but I wouldn't
Speaker 1: look for him to help, like be contributed in the
Speaker 1: playoffs every single game. Not at this point. I think
Speaker 1: I kind of think this is a good move for
Speaker 1: kay Love because I feel like he feels like he's
Speaker 1: been wrestling in the last couple of years and he
Speaker 1: wanted to give it another shot to win the chip.
Speaker 1: I think this is a good shot for Miami because
Speaker 1: now Bam can be the center and they have a
Speaker 1: really a real four that could split it, that could
Speaker 1: spread the court and also be big and help rebound.
Speaker 1: I like he Love. I think this. I think this
Speaker 1: is an opportunity for him to give what he got,
Speaker 1: you know, and to see what he got in Love
Speaker 1: in the tank. Let me say that for him, because
Speaker 1: I think he challenging himself and this is a great
Speaker 1: opportunity because I think he's gonna play a lot, especially
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, with that experience, with being able to
Speaker 1: spread the court. I like Kay Love and bound By
Speaker 1: to buy you together in Miami. I think it gives
Speaker 1: him a better shot. I'm not gonna say championship team rate,
Speaker 1: but it gives them a better shot. I mean, I
Speaker 1: just I like what he could bring to the team.
Speaker 1: I just don't know, you know, like Jamal said, I
Speaker 1: don't know how much he has left. Um. I think
Speaker 1: he's a good, good piece. I mean, experience, can shoot
Speaker 1: the ball, h could still rebound, tough, uh tested all
Speaker 1: the things you want in a pick up at this point.
Speaker 1: But like he said, we just have to see how
Speaker 1: much you saw husband to tank. You know, if he
Speaker 1: can give them, you know, twenty to twenty five minutes
Speaker 1: and be a you know, fourteen and eight guy, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be huge for them. But you know, we'll have
Speaker 1: to see if that's still in, you know, if he
Speaker 1: still has it. Yeah, I thought Miami missed more like
Speaker 1: I thought they need another premiter score, like somebody at
Speaker 1: the trade their line. Not a buyo guy, but the
Speaker 1: guy at the trade their line. We're like, okay, because
Speaker 1: Jimmy's good be in the robbin. He's good with setting
Speaker 1: guys here, he's good with being a defender. He doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be the focal point of offense. But if bam,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe in foul Tremor doesn't have the goal
Speaker 1: or Jimmy's you know, by same thing, who's that guy?
Speaker 1: Besides Hero can consistently get a bucket when things slow down.
Speaker 1: Miami plays a slow face anyway, Like who's the guy
Speaker 1: that can go get a bucket every single time or
Speaker 1: generate a quality look? And that's why I thought they
Speaker 1: were missing another like third or true third guy to
Speaker 1: be that guy in the primeter. Well, sometimes when you
Speaker 1: can't get what you need, you go get what is available.
Speaker 1: They did here. I do think the three points shooting
Speaker 1: is attractive to them. I mean this is more of
Speaker 1: a fit thing with them. What he does is what
Speaker 1: they need. I don't know if he's going to move
Speaker 1: them out of where I think they're sitting at seventh
Speaker 1: right now. It's interesting the Calves are in fourth. I
Speaker 1: mean it's possible that they could end up either seeing
Speaker 1: each other in the playoffs or start jostling each other's
Speaker 1: playoff positioning. So I don't know how that's gonna work out.
Speaker 1: If he's gonna want a little dig at his former team,
Speaker 1: I don't know, Jamal, you recently said you want Mellow
Speaker 1: back in the league, not just in general, but you
Speaker 1: want him in Phoenix, right, I do talking about all
Speaker 1: guys moving around, Yeah, I think he'd be a perfect
Speaker 1: fit for them, Like the way they'll play. It's not
Speaker 1: gonna be much defense being played anyway. Phoenix is gonna
Speaker 1: be a team to get timely stops. They ain't locking
Speaker 1: up nobody, So why not because I'm saying that, because
Speaker 1: they're gonna say, oh, he doesn't play defense, like they
Speaker 1: ain't playing defense anyway. They lost their best defenders. Like,
Speaker 1: let's they're gonna get timely stops. Let's get Mellow in
Speaker 1: the league and let him go out in his own terms.
Speaker 1: I feel like whenever a guy's paid that much to
Speaker 1: the game and done that much for the game, he
Speaker 1: should be able to leave how he wants to leave.
Speaker 1: What you're like, twelve or fourteen, fifteen years and more,
Speaker 1: you should be able to leave how you want to leave.
Speaker 1: That's the way to do things. And Mellow deserves to play.
Speaker 1: He did everything that was asking about him the Lakers
Speaker 1: and all. He doesn't want to come off the bench.
Speaker 1: He did that. Oh he's still shooting a hypercentage from three.
Speaker 1: He did that, he averaged double figures. Let's let him
Speaker 1: go out the way he wants to go. He deserves
Speaker 1: to go out for a shot in the championship. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that I'd love to see him play. The
Speaker 1: only reason why I don't think that'll happen is because
Speaker 1: they picked up T J. Warren and Ross, which were
Speaker 1: two solid I don't think people are talking enough about
Speaker 1: those two pickups when you add a Kevin Durant and
Speaker 1: then you add because my thing was they lost depth.
Speaker 1: You know, so before they got Terrence Ross, I could
Speaker 1: have seen Mellow all though their different positions at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, their scores, you know, and and
Speaker 1: Terrence Ross is a little younger, so I thought that
Speaker 1: that would probably eat up because I think the didn't
Speaker 1: Seeps say something about he wanted Mellow. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, before the Terrence Ross had
Speaker 1: come and again, even though they don't play the same position,
Speaker 1: they still do the same thing at the end of
Speaker 1: the day. That I thought that could have worked there.
Speaker 1: But I really liked, you know, those two Warren and Ross.
Speaker 1: I think they added more depth to their team. But
Speaker 1: I'm with you, May, I would love to see Mellow
Speaker 1: get another chance. But it's just I mean similar, I mean,
Speaker 1: I wanted to see you get another chance at the end,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So it's just it's weird that,
Speaker 1: you know, when you do so much work. You put
Speaker 1: so much work in this game really shows you that
Speaker 1: it's a business day online. And they called me the
Speaker 1: other day and said, when I come out for ten day,
Speaker 1: I said, no, I can't have it. Mest of my
Speaker 1: game and I can't have it. I'm good now, I'm good. Yeah, yeah, nah,
Speaker 1: I mean I would love to see, you know, get
Speaker 1: get another run um, but it's just it's it's a
Speaker 1: co business at the end of the day. And we
Speaker 1: mentioned a couple of guys that are probably on there.
Speaker 1: You know that that really our start or you know
Speaker 1: that the Russ and you know this is kind of
Speaker 1: his last, you know, show improved type situation because the
Speaker 1: league for some reason, you know, it goes away from
Speaker 1: guys faster than guys wanted to. If a team called
Speaker 1: any of the three of you, now, do you feel
Speaker 1: that you could go out and give him a ten
Speaker 1: day if they gave me three weeks to get that
Speaker 1: ten day, Yeah, I can go out and give him
Speaker 1: any I give him a ten day coaching job. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll come, I'll come watch, I'll come watch. I'll come
Speaker 1: watch practice for ten days when I'm not working. See,
Speaker 1: I knew him. I was going to be the only
Speaker 1: one who would say, yeah, I could give it. No, No,
Speaker 1: I've just heard Matt talk about his back. You know
Speaker 1: that's Hey. MAT's a hell of a coach, though. You
Speaker 1: gotta see him coach. He's I've been stealing from him
Speaker 1: for real, because he's so so fired up. I was
Speaker 1: that rookie coach fired up, and now he didn't call
Speaker 1: me down. He'd be so zin until they don't call
Speaker 1: it a foul, until they don't call foul fries there
Speaker 1: late when they should have got one, and then you
Speaker 1: see a real vat is this mail? Okay, I can't
Speaker 1: see you, but I got an idea because I'm in Seattle,
Speaker 1: and I got a nice You don't need you don't
Speaker 1: you don't need to see you know exactly. It's all fine, Jamal.
Speaker 1: I just like knowing that you're the one who's going
Speaker 1: to carry all of us. We appreciate it. Let's go
Speaker 1: down the radar presented by Draft King Sports Book. We
Speaker 1: are in the final stretch, guys, of course of the season.
Speaker 1: Draft King says, odds in the West, this is so interesting.
Speaker 1: Who's going to participate in the playing tournament? Lakers specifically,
Speaker 1: everyone's got their eyes there there at minus one ten,
Speaker 1: and Lebron mentioned this in his All Star press conference.
Speaker 1: He said, these upcoming twenty three games, he called them
Speaker 1: some of the most important in my career, and any
Speaker 1: pause for a second he goes regular season. But he
Speaker 1: did make the point that the Lakers haven't been making
Speaker 1: the playoffs. He does not see himself as a guy
Speaker 1: who sits out the playoffs for two seasons. Um, what
Speaker 1: do you think, Matt, where are you in terms of
Speaker 1: the Lakers actually making the plan. I think it's on
Speaker 1: AD's health. I think they can make the playoffs if
Speaker 1: Ads healthy. I think they made some solid moves. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, so, I think if you can say you
Speaker 1: can't go against Ad and Lebron, if Ad is healthy,
Speaker 1: I think this team will you know, come out of
Speaker 1: the play in situation into an actual playoff seed and
Speaker 1: and you know, maybe win a game or two in
Speaker 1: the first round. Yeah. I don't. I don't think, no disrespect.
Speaker 1: I just don't trust AD's health. I really don't. Not
Speaker 1: to carry that kind of low like this team was
Speaker 1: built for him to be the guy and it hasn't
Speaker 1: had We've seen incredible feats Lebron's doing he's a one
Speaker 1: on one with how his longevity and durability is. Lebron
Speaker 1: is supposed to be the guy who's set an ad
Speaker 1: up and taking over at the fourth quarter. We're using
Speaker 1: the Bron's juice first through two weeks, He's going the whole,
Speaker 1: the whole everything. So for that, I feel like they
Speaker 1: won't make the player. I think out of the twenty
Speaker 1: three games they have to go like seventeen and six
Speaker 1: in that home stretch, when you have teams Jos Jacquelin
Speaker 1: between fourth position in twelveth position, I don't think it happens.
Speaker 1: These games might not might be the most important, It
Speaker 1: might not be the most important to him for his career,
Speaker 1: but to a lot of people looking at his career,
Speaker 1: it is because for him to go two seasons without
Speaker 1: making a playoffs, that says a lot, you know, especially
Speaker 1: being in that Laker uniform. They expect greatness. You just
Speaker 1: you just broke the scoring record and the last thing
Speaker 1: we expected for Lebron James to not being the playoffs,
Speaker 1: especially with a player like Anthony Davis on his team,
Speaker 1: that says a lot for them to not make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So it's bigger than than than he's saying. I think
Speaker 1: in the back of his mind he knows that they
Speaker 1: have to get in this playoffs. If they don't, a
Speaker 1: lot of people are gonna be saying a lot of
Speaker 1: different things about him. Currently twenty seven and thirty two,
Speaker 1: they're in thirteenth place. If they don't make the postseason
Speaker 1: at all, if they don't even make the plan, are
Speaker 1: we going to start hearing some whispers about whether Lebron
Speaker 1: stays with the team or not. That's definitely coming. That
Speaker 1: shouldn't even be important, Rachel. We're talking about we're talking
Speaker 1: about Jordan and ghost status. That's that's what he needs
Speaker 1: to be thinking about, not moving out with other teams.
Speaker 1: You are the leading score in NBA history. Now it's
Speaker 1: about winning. That's about carrying teams and separating yourself from
Speaker 1: a lot of these conversations. Not making the playoffs is
Speaker 1: not helping those conversations. Regardless where he goes, if he
Speaker 1: goes to another team, that really doesn't matter because he
Speaker 1: teamed to continue to getting older. For me, Rache, he
Speaker 1: just trying to play with his son one year. If
Speaker 1: he doesn't win this year, I don't think winning the
Speaker 1: championship is gonna be his focus just playing with his son.
Speaker 1: They definitely not winning a championship this year. None, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be bigger than winning the championship, exolutely, exactly, Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: it was two things to check off. All time leading scorer,
Speaker 1: play with Ronnie Man. What can you say about a
Speaker 1: career like, right, I mean, I just think you know
Speaker 1: when we continue to say, he's riding his ending right now,
Speaker 1: So Jack, to your point, he's well aware. I think
Speaker 1: what this means. I think he is downplaying, but I
Speaker 1: also think he's being like he's being open with you,
Speaker 1: like these next twenty three year very important, Like I
Speaker 1: can't miss the playoffs in this uniform two years in
Speaker 1: a row. So he's done his part, like he's been
Speaker 1: unbelievable these last three years. This is right. It's sad
Speaker 1: because the player is so great, they need they need
Speaker 1: a better team around him. Well, I just hope at
Speaker 1: that same standard though, Oh for sure, for sure, he's
Speaker 1: gonna be hill with that standard. But he's he, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's Jack Man is after thirty points at thirty eight,
Speaker 1: it still looked like you got juice left. He's still
Speaker 1: dunking like second year, and I ain't say his first year,
Speaker 1: but like his second years still facts. But I mean
Speaker 1: he's gonna be looking at say Phoenix and you've got
Speaker 1: that team, and who's stacked on that team? I mean
Speaker 1: Lebron doesn't have a team around him like that, absolutely not.
Speaker 1: But his thing he has to get in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So just get here and I'd be phoinished, but you
Speaker 1: have to get in the playoffs. Yeah, just get there.
Speaker 1: That's my thing that I think people are looking at
Speaker 1: him just to get there. No, I know, I just
Speaker 1: been in the summer. I just didn't know if his
Speaker 1: eye was going to start wandering to what other guys
Speaker 1: have that he doesn't have. But we'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 1: They have to tell you. Everything has to get told
Speaker 1: to Ron before everything all starts happening. You know who's
Speaker 1: going on? Yeah, they don't. They don't possibly get a
Speaker 1: chance to land Kyrie this summer race. Then we can
Speaker 1: talk about them bouncing, all right, All right, Well we'll
Speaker 1: see what happens there. We got a legendary moments broad
Speaker 1: sented by top Shot coming up now. Guys in top
Speaker 1: Shot last week allowed users to pre order a highlight
Speaker 1: reel from the Dunk Contest winner that was a special
Speaker 1: commemorative moment, and Bam turned out to be a crazy
Speaker 1: in demand moment. Users can still purchase theirs up until
Speaker 1: February twenty fourth at three o'clock Eastern. Stack of the
Speaker 1: Dunk contest. What was sort of the best dunk Mac
Speaker 1: had to you or what was for the best moment
Speaker 1: to you? I think I think for me was his
Speaker 1: first dunk because a lot of people anticipate what we
Speaker 1: was gonna do. A little shark white kid, can't he
Speaker 1: really jump? A lot of people ain't been watching Instagram.
Speaker 1: I don't know too much about him, but that first
Speaker 1: dunk Rachel to line two people up, jump over and
Speaker 1: grab the ball, tap the backboard, then dunker backwards. I
Speaker 1: think that that set the tone that this that Matt
Speaker 1: was here for real, and I was happy he was
Speaker 1: able to make it because a lot of guys they
Speaker 1: missed that first dunk and they keep trying to make
Speaker 1: it and they don't get up to a good start.
Speaker 1: Matt neil this first dunk and was able to win it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that first dunk was crazy, and I didn't know what
Speaker 1: he's gonna do because if you think about it, he
Speaker 1: had those two come out and they were in a
Speaker 1: different position. Then when he got my man got on
Speaker 1: the other guys shoulders and then he did what he did.
Speaker 1: I had to watch the replay. I didn't see the
Speaker 1: actual tap at first, but when he did, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 1: And he didn't miss a dunk like that's underrated. He
Speaker 1: didn't miss one of his dunks. That's appreciate multiple chances.
Speaker 1: But I don't know as a judge rate I would
Speaker 1: definitely rate a guy higher if he made the first one,
Speaker 1: not if he did like the fourth one. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And once I saw you know that he did it,
Speaker 1: I had to start saying fifty out loud to some
Speaker 1: body wouldn't come out and try to give him. Laura
Speaker 1: scoring forty six, so I had to say fifty fifty,
Speaker 1: all right, How much collusion is there up there? Though?
Speaker 1: How much collusion is there between the judges? Well, see
Speaker 1: I got criticized, but it wasn't much collusion, to be
Speaker 1: honest with you. I just saw with the temperament they
Speaker 1: had to fill the room and the end of the
Speaker 1: room was as cold as ice. I said, man, you deliver,
Speaker 1: that's the deliver. Deliver. And I just said, Nick, we
Speaker 1: gotta we gotta hold it down because it was an
Speaker 1: average scores, so we had to make sure the right
Speaker 1: person got the average sport well, Karmelone said, going into
Speaker 1: the dunk contest, he was not giving any charitable scoring
Speaker 1: and he definitely had the whole time through. He had
Speaker 1: sort of the harshest critiques of everybody going through. Yeah,
Speaker 1: got enough giving back. Yeah, yea, here you go. Men,
Speaker 1: go ahead, look at my Lake Washington. Yeah, here we
Speaker 1: rate savers. Come on, Hall of Favorite Saving. You're asking
Speaker 1: me say this is a five alarm fire. You're asking
Speaker 1: me to come. Here's what I'm gonna say. Did you
Speaker 1: know that you can start your NBA Top Stot collection
Speaker 1: today at NBA topshot dot com. You can get closer
Speaker 1: than ever the game and the players you love. Sign up.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, we got the Iverson Classic rosters just announced.
Speaker 1: We got DJ Wagner, Robert Dillingham, Justin Edwards. Several players
Speaker 1: from last year's game were projected lottery picks. Stack. This
Speaker 1: is your baby, along with mister Allen Iverson, our greatest
Speaker 1: living American. How far has this tournament come in the
Speaker 1: past few years? Man, Rachel, I'm just I'm honored. To
Speaker 1: say that I was been there from the start. Man.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of us played in the McDonald's game,
Speaker 1: and that was the biggest game coming up. But the uh,
Speaker 1: this game is something that I wish I could have
Speaker 1: played in for a guy like out Anobson, God we
Speaker 1: look up to in a mile so much. Right, But
Speaker 1: this is definitely different than any All Star game or
Speaker 1: high school game that I've been to when I was
Speaker 1: playing rache because just to the events during the week,
Speaker 1: the hands on you have so many NBA players come
Speaker 1: in and give these guys advice about life basketball, you
Speaker 1: go to the museum. I think what Bobby and Jill
Speaker 1: have built along with showtime coming on, I think it's
Speaker 1: been beautiful for the guys and for NBA players to
Speaker 1: get involved with young guys and everybody get on the
Speaker 1: same page that week wherever the game is and this
Speaker 1: year is in Jersey. So shout out to everybody that's
Speaker 1: been involved in this game. Like you said, you got
Speaker 1: DJ Wagon and Robert Daling hamming. The game is gonna
Speaker 1: be real exciting and also it's a possibility that you
Speaker 1: might see a Jackson boy in the game. They too,
Speaker 1: Oh well, I mean, can we expect, Matt, expect you guys,
Speaker 1: come come on. Yeah, let me check my palm pilot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I need to be out there for that. I just
Speaker 1: saw Ai at All Star weekend and I still I
Speaker 1: turned into a little kid, like it don't matter what
Speaker 1: it is. Like if I was a youngster coming up
Speaker 1: and I got invited to this game, I would have
Speaker 1: called a greyhound from seattlera memfis to get in that
Speaker 1: game like this is this is a stacking the cruise.
Speaker 1: There's no way I would have missed this. We were
Speaker 1: watching some footage of Alan talking in the locker room
Speaker 1: before last year's Classic, and we're watching him and he's
Speaker 1: given this hype up speech and it's incredible and the
Speaker 1: footage is still hanging in the air and Matt Barnes goes, yeah,
Speaker 1: watch Ronald McDonald do that. Huh. Now, Ronald can't give
Speaker 1: you the same James's chucking that cross over. Nah. I
Speaker 1: just think Also, what makes this game dope, um is
Speaker 1: the guys that do come back out and and like
Speaker 1: you said, Jack really put their hands on these kids
Speaker 1: and help give them the game and show them the
Speaker 1: path and just a different way of thinking unlike any
Speaker 1: other game. You know, it's a brotherhood. I unfortunately missed
Speaker 1: it the last two years, but I'll be out there
Speaker 1: this year. But the way these older players come back
Speaker 1: and and kind of our mentors over the weekend and
Speaker 1: kind of give these kids the game before they get
Speaker 1: to the game is, I think, is what makes it special.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited for it. Uh my palm pilots that
Speaker 1: I'm free, so I'm gonna be out there, Jack, you
Speaker 1: do not have a reliable palm pilot. Jamal, I'm so
Speaker 1: happy you could be here with us today. So backing that,
Speaker 1: what what which? Which? Mall did we get? We got?
Speaker 1: We got mixed tape? Mall rate, we got mixed tape.
Speaker 1: I'm telling this is definitely the funniest episode of What's Burning.
Speaker 1: And this is why I can't be because I really
Speaker 1: can't be a professional with mall on the same I
Speaker 1: wish I was there with y'all. Hey, hard on, Can
Speaker 1: I ask y'all something for real? It's crazy? And I
Speaker 1: told that this man y'all interview Will Smith, Magic Johnson,
Speaker 1: Charles Burn right, like to see where y'all have gone,
Speaker 1: Like this is y'all or beyond even I don't know
Speaker 1: if you thought you'd be interviewing Magic and the Will
Speaker 1: Smith and everything. How do y'all feel? You two specifically
Speaker 1: the popcorn, the pop when the popcorn start popping. You
Speaker 1: taught me this a long time ago showtime. When that
Speaker 1: popcorn start popping, that smell gets you in game time
Speaker 1: and get you in games there. Yeah, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. And it's the same. It's the same with this.
Speaker 1: You know, every opportunity we get, you know, me and
Speaker 1: you talk a lot, especially about well you and Baron
Speaker 1: Davis are tour and then Matt, You, Baron Davis and
Speaker 1: matter fe people that give me the most props of
Speaker 1: my game and basketball everbody when we play to now.
Speaker 1: So we've we've always had these conversations about not getting
Speaker 1: out just do but to be in a situation, you know,
Speaker 1: to be able to be brought in this space by
Speaker 1: the goat Rachel Nichols, to be able to be what
Speaker 1: I what I built with Matt in this space. It's
Speaker 1: it's been all a blessing, bro. So we just take
Speaker 1: advantage of opportunities because we don't always get them. Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: I just think it's we want to inspire and encourage,
Speaker 1: you know, I just think it's such amazing to see
Speaker 1: the wave, if not just in podcasts, but just in
Speaker 1: media period. Like we can tell our own stories now
Speaker 1: and we know how to articulate our thoughts, you know,
Speaker 1: to viewers, and I think there's an appreciation for that. Um.
Speaker 1: So we just want to do our part to continue
Speaker 1: to do that, continue to inspire, continue motivate, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: continue to raise the bar and and and challenge each
Speaker 1: other because I think this is a dope space with
Speaker 1: a lot of money in it, and we can all
Speaker 1: keep getting this money, just like we're getting the money
Speaker 1: in the league. And for you, right for you you
Speaker 1: being back, like, man, how's that baby? Yeah? We all
Speaker 1: mister presidents. How you feeling? How are you feeling well?
Speaker 1: Because I get to be back with you guys. I
Speaker 1: mean it's funny. There's all kinds of people out there
Speaker 1: in the basketball space, right, but you want to talk
Speaker 1: about why Matt and Stack have been so successful and
Speaker 1: just skyrocketing up. It's because they're real, right, And that's
Speaker 1: what all showtime basketball has been. Like, you got people
Speaker 1: on here saying real shit, and that has been one
Speaker 1: of the most fun things for me to be back
Speaker 1: and kind of being able to talk about stuff is
Speaker 1: that no one's given presentations here um on behalf of
Speaker 1: anyone or anything. Everyone's really talking what they feel. And
Speaker 1: I love that and I love That's what this This
Speaker 1: has kind of become the space Jamal Jamal. Name another
Speaker 1: show that Rachel could be hosting and someone could like
Speaker 1: to joint in the middle of the show, and nothing
Speaker 1: happened to happen. It's nothing happened to nobody. Nothing happens
Speaker 1: to nobody. It ain't proud to votus. Now. We appreciate you, man,
Speaker 1: We look forward to having you back. You know, whenever
Speaker 1: you get some time. We know you're busy, but whenever
Speaker 1: you get some time, whenever pop in on us, it's family.
Speaker 1: Whenever you already know, congrat and congrats to your new
Speaker 1: gig too, bro doing big shit on t Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it, Bro, I appreciate what She's always inspired.
Speaker 1: And Rachel saw something all of us before because she
Speaker 1: she talks to me years ago when I wasn't even
Speaker 1: thinking about media, like you're gonna be pretty good, and
Speaker 1: you know, and she obviously had you guys like, so
Speaker 1: you gotta she gotta not for talent. Yeah, without a doubt,
Speaker 1: I'm a good talent scout. It's not hard, y'all. Guys
Speaker 1: make it easy for sure. Well, Maul, we are requiring
Speaker 1: you to come back soon. Everyone else out there, you
Speaker 1: can catch what's burning every week on Showtime Basketball YouTube
Speaker 1: and what else that and on Twitter Instagram at TikTok
Speaker 1: Show Basketball Boom. He's got it, You got it. Good
Speaker 1: day y'all. Y'all you know, thank y'all appreciate it. M
Speaker 1: h m.