WEBVTT - Mavericks franchise collapsing & Steph in GOAT conversations 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:03.640 Welcome in What's Right with Me? Great episode three oh six, 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:08.119 A ton to do today? Demand in Los Angeles, me 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:11.920 here in New York. By the way, for people watching 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:16.279 on YouTube, we have sent off to the framers more 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.319 things for our background, so hopefully in the next couple 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:21.279 of weeks the background will get filled up a little 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:25.640 bit more. You also might in the background, see like, 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:27.920 are those a couple of microphones far in the distance? 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:32.680 They are? That's for the podcast we're developing. That'll be 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:37.159 me and a different member of the family when in 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.440 studio here, and by studio I mean Demand's old bedroom 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:46.000 so and so, which is our new podcast studio. So 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.640 that'll be so that'll be coming in short order. We 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.640 have the setup for that here. Demanse, how are you. 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:54.680 I'm doing great this morning. How you doing, Pops? 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:57.720 You sound great? Wow? Yeah, I don't know what's change 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:01.720 with your microphone or maybe in a late stage final puberty. 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:05.480 You sound like even deeper points than usual. But you said, 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:09.840 I'm bro Let's get right to it. So here's what 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:13.880 missed the cut. The Cavs clinched the playoffs last night. 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:16.960 That missed the cut Max Crosby getting thirty five and 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:19.840 a half million dollars per year that missed the cut, 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:24.479 and James Harden with his first fifty point game as 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:29.240 a Clipper. Also, it's now I think the third time 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.840 in his career he has had a game with fifteen 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:37.039 points on twos, fifteen points on threes, fifteen points on 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:40.640 three throws, and a few other you know, random stats 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.560 where he's the only guy to ever do that. I 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:47.080 was going to start the show on around the Horn, 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.040 and we are gonna get to around the Horn in 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:52.240 just a moment. But first I just a little a 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.920 little point of order, because I did notice yesterday that 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:02.640 there have been some folks friends of mine that, you know, 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.640 bowing out is one way to put it, Waving the 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:09.480 white flag is another way to put it. Who are like, 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:14.880 you know what this Jordan Lebron debate, let's retire it. 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:18.720 And usually, in my experience, people that are that have 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:24.520 been very ardent and adamant about something for years and 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.080 years and years and they just seemingly out of the 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:30.320 blue be like, I don't want to argue about this anymore. 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:32.880 Usually it means they have a lose they know they 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:36.359 have a losing hand. Very rarely are people right when 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:38.560 they're about to win an argument, be like, you know what, 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:42.160 let's just shake hands and move on. So that's fine. 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.240 I've always said history is gonna look fondly on the 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:49.000 correct side of the argument, which is mine. But the 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:52.920 point of order that I must address, which is even 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:58.000 the folks who argue that Lebron is the goat, far 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:01.600 too many of them say and Jordan had the higher peak, 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:05.000 just like as a given. But and then they do 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:07.600 a whole thing, but the you know, Lebron's longevity in 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.440 this and that, and the third we did a whole 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:12.320 show on this once before, so we don't have to 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:14.720 do a whole show where he kind of broke it 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:18.160 down different slices. But I just want to remind the 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:24.120 audience in America the single greatest season of professional basketball 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:28.120 ever played by any player was the twenty twelve twenty 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:33.600 thirteen Lebron James Miami Heat season. No player has ever 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:38.200 reached a higher peak than the following one vote for 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.480 being unanimous MVP when no one had ever been unanimous 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.760 MVP runner up and Defensive Player of the Year when 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:46.720 the guy who beat him in Defensive Player of the 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:51.080 Year wasn't even first team All defense, shooting fifty seven 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:55.800 percent from the floor and forty percent from three, a 0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:01.960 twenty seven game winning streak. It's all culminating in a 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:06.120 Game seven of the Finals, where he hit the game 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:11.200 clinching jump shot for thirty seven and twelve against a 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:18.520 team with four future first Ballot Hall of Famers. That 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:23.640 season is the greatest single season start to finish any 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:27.240 players ever had. So it's not just the longevity side 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:29.640 of it, it's the peak side of it as well. 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.880 Now we can move on to the actual show. Go ahead, 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:34.400 all right? 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.720 Yeah, So, after twenty three years and over forty nine 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:40.960 hundred episodes Around the Horn espns, Around the Horn has 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.960 coming to a halt May twenty third, what are your 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:47.000 thoughts on it ending and what did the show mean 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:47.280 to you? 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:50.279 All right? So I can't speak to why it's ending. 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:52.760 It doesn't really make sense to me. But I don't 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:54.880 I don't know, you know, I can't look at their books. 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:57.400 I don't know what their plans are. They can do 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:02.360 whatever whatever they want. I do want to say, as 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:09.799 someone who has not ever been bashful about criticizing either 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:14.640 shows or personalities or opinions, really more opinions than people 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:20.640 that I disagree with that. I do not think it 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:28.880 is an exaggeration to say for me personally, Around the 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.040 Horn was the single most important sports show that ever existed. 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:42.640 And for me personally, I know I wouldn't be doing 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:46.640 what I'm doing now on television if not for Around 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:53.480 the Horn. For I'm forty years old. For people my generation, 0:05:55.400 --> 0:06:00.480 the combo in our teen years of PTI coming on 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.760 the air, and then Around the Horn coming on after 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:08.800 being our for so many of us, the first shows 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:17.680 we ever DVRD being daily after school viewing, and then 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:22.800 Around the Horn for those of us who were getting 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:31.600 into the business being seemingly an attainable goal of like, man, 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:33.440 one day I'm going to be on Around the Horn 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:41.479 and having that be a carrot of if I work 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:49.679 hard enough, if I can make myself a name within 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:57.680 my city big enough, man, maybe just maybe I can 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:01.440 get on Around the Horn. And it was a show 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:07.080 for writers, initially exclusively, and then it expanded a bit, 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:10.280 and then I saw Bomani Jones on there, and I 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:14.040 understand BALMANI was a writer as well as other things, 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:16.640 but I didn't view Bimani as a writer. I viewed 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:20.520 Bomani as a radio host. He hosted The Morning Jones 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:24.240 on Sirius XM, and that's before Bamani was one of 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.280 my dearest friends in the world. He was a guy 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:29.800 who I knew of his radio show, I knew of 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:32.200 his Twitter presence, and I knew of him on Around 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:36.400 the Horn. And once Bomani got on Around the Horn, 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:40.480 I was like, I'm gonna I I need to get 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.040 on that show. I'm going to work to get on 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:50.000 that show. And in Houston, I kind of talked my 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:53.960 way into a It wasn't even a part time job, 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:59.120 just an occasional appearance gig on Comcast Sports at Houston. 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:05.040 And the reason I did it was to create a 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:10.040 television reel to try to get on Around the Horn. 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:20.520 And that shows ability to give people reps on TV, 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:25.600 opportunities to do TV and what it has done for 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:30.200 people in our industry's careers is unlike any other show 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:34.760 that I think has ever existed. And the fact that 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:39.240 along the way post Max Kell and I have so 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.240 many I will I'm gonna spend real time on this. 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:48.040 My connections to Around the Horn without ever being on 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:52.240 it is It's remarkable when I look back and think 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:54.240 on it, so I'll tell those stories in a moment, 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:59.320 but post Max Kellerman, who did a great job with it, 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:07.560 and then Reality takes it over, and Tony Reality, who 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:13.360 at one day I'll meet him, but I've never met him. 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:20.240 Tony Reality's ability from when he was a kid taking 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:24.320 over that show and kind of being the conscience of 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.840 that show and the through line of the show is 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:32.640 one of the most impressive broadcasting feats in our industry ever. 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:43.920 And I Reality would tweet out texts he would send 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:46.880 people saying like, you know that it was gonna be 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:49.680 their first time, you know you're gonna invite someone on 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:52.439 a show, first time on the show, and all that stuff. 0:09:53.800 --> 0:10:00.600 And there was a period of time where I thought 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:06.400 I might be getting an invite this nine years ago, 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:13.480 and Reality tweeted getting ready to inte something. I'm gonna 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:15.800 misquote it a bit, but you know, getting ready to 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:18.040 send out an invite to someone who's never been on 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.359 a show, and then described the person, and I convinced 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:25.200 myself it was me he was talking about, and I 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:28.160 was just waiting. I remember I was in an airport 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:30.480 and I was so nervous. I'm like, I'm gonna be 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:34.199 on the plane and I might not get the text. 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:37.319 And then I got on the plane, no service, get 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.640 off the plane, turn my phone back on. Don't have 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:42.000 the text, and I checked and see it was like, 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:45.079 oh man, it wasn't me. And I just it was 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:52.360 such a goal and a valuable thing. And I'm sad 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:56.880 it's gonna be gone. And when I say my connections 0:10:56.920 --> 0:11:01.160 to it, demanse, the through lines of this are truly 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.760 gonna blow your mind. Okay, so I already mentioned Kellerman 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:09.319 was the original host. Kellerman I interned at ESPN Radio 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:14.360 twenty years ago in New York. ESPN Radio, New York, 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:16.760 and Kellerman was one of the guys I interned for. 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:20.000 But that wasn't a real connection. I mean, I knew 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:21.560 him and he was super nice to me, but that 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:27.520 wasn't the connection. The connection is the following. Okay, it's 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:40.720 thirteen years ago. I set up a meeting. I'm gonna 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:44.640 go to New York. I'm doing radio in Houston. I'm 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:47.240 gonna fly to New York and I'm gonna meet with 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:54.760 two people. One is Eric Rideholme, who created Around the Horn, 0:11:55.400 --> 0:12:01.240 and the other is Jamie Horowitz, who was a big 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:04.680 wig at ESPN kind of on the TV show side 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.559 first take. He then ended up being well, I'll get 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:11.559 to the Jamie piece of it in a minute, and 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.120 I'm gonna go meet with those people and sell them on. 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.240 Let me have a shot on this show. Let me 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:25.760 have a shot on Around the Horn. And I fly 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:30.560 into New York on my own dime. And when I land, 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:36.000 I check my email and my meeting with Jamie has 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:45.360 been canceled because he got called into Bristol. And I 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:52.920 now have a meeting with someone else who I don't 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:57.040 really know who he is, but when I see the name, 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:01.240 I'm like, oh, I recognize this name. I've heard this 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:05.559 guy on Bill Simmons podcast and he's a different executive 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:09.600 at ESPN, And so I have about I have a 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.520 night before that. I flew in it like I don't know, 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:15.640 Tuesday night. The meetings are Wednesday morning. I'm gonna meet 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:20.040 in with this meet with this guy who's not Jamie, 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.800 and then I'm gonna meet with ride home and I 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:27.040 prep and I listen to all these podcasts that this 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:32.320 guy's been on and I walk into his office and 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:37.680 I pitch and I know his story and the guy 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.160 at the end of it of my Pitch is like 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:45.800 all right, yeah, I mean that's that's interesting, but you know, 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.600 like I have nothing to do with that show, right, 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:56.440 I was like, damn, that person was Kevin Wilds. That's 0:13:56.520 --> 0:14:01.800 a true story. I then I'm like, well, this meeting 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.360 went just terribly, Like this guy thinks I'm a fool 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.600 and I'm wasting his time and he's he's working on 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:14.160 the Olberman show. Like that went terribly. I didn't meet 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:18.960 with ride Home, who is one of the kindest, most 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:25.280 brilliant people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing in 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:29.200 the kind of dining area of the Whole Foods in 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:33.640 Columbus Circle. And I I'm going to see if I 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:38.920 can pull this up the email bring manilla envelopes, So 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.600 this one I did not, So I have the I 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:47.040 didn't do theanilla envelope thing. But let me see the 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.280 I want to spell his name right in the email. 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:51.760 See if I can find the email. But I see, 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:56.600 so I can get the exact date. So the first date, Okay, 0:14:56.640 --> 0:15:05.520 so this is we met in November of thirteen. In 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:12.520 November of thirteen is when we met, and when I 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:17.720 went to New York, and so this is twelve years ago, 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:23.360 like I thought. And so the meeting went really well 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:27.040 with ride home, but he was like, listen, we do 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:30.080 have you know, you're not a writer essentially, but that 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:32.000 doesn't the door is not closed to you. So I 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.600 kind of pitched him my pitch to ride home if 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:38.320 I remember, In fact, I'll just tell you, guys, I 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:40.160 do remember. I don't want to act like I'm not 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:43.280 sure I do remember. My pitch to ride home was 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:48.240 this they had at that point on around the Horn 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:55.040 kind of old journalists and then the new wave young 0:15:55.200 --> 0:16:00.440 journalists who they brought on. And the old journalists were 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:06.920 almost all white guys and all and the vast majority 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:10.080 of the new way the newer guys they had brought 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:15.720 on were minorities and women, and so I what I 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.080 said to him was, I was like, what, as an 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:24.960 audience member, very often you are having disagreements that I 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:29.840 think break down on generational levels, but appear to be 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:37.960 breaking down on either racial or gender angles. Because all 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:40.640 the old guys are white males, and almost all the 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:45.200 young people are, you know, either women or non white guys. 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:48.200 I was like, so you you Basically my pitch was 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:52.280 you need an older black panelist and a younger white 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.640 panelist to see like, wait, is this a generational disagreement 0:16:56.000 --> 0:17:00.480 or a cultural racial whatever it was? And he was perceptive, 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:05.840 but I wasn't a writer. And so that was in thirteen. 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:13.960 Fast forward to a couple years later, Jamie gets hired 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:20.159 from ESPN and some other places to run FS one 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:25.720 and I called in the chit of he had canceled 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.200 that meeting on me to get a meeting with him 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.080 that was actually supposed to be about Fox Sports Radio. 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:35.119 That's a whole nother, longer, more convoluted story, doesn't matter, 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.680 And I ended up getting it because the around the 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:43.359 because he had canceled on me before. He then connected 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:49.760 me to a guy named Charlie Dixon, who I ended 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:55.240 up hitting it off with, and then they those two 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:59.720 guys hired me for FS one, and to this date, 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.720 Charlie's my boss. In the midst of all of it. 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.560 In the midst of all of that, right before I 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:13.159 agreed to a deal with Fox, ESPN came back to me. 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:19.200 This is in twenty sixteen. January twenty sixteen, ESPN came 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:24.760 back to me and offered me a job doing radio 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:33.560 in LA and weekly Around the Horn appearances and the 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:35.880 moment they offered me that, I was like, well, I'm 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:40.080 taking that job I want. I'm a radio guy and 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:43.000 I'm gonna get to be on Around the Horn. And 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:50.400 then Charlie, to his credit, called me and in a 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:54.760 thirty minute conversation sold me on why I should come 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:57.440 to Fox, and it ended up being the best decision 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:01.320 I ever made. I wouldn't have had this trajectory or whatever. 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:10.320 And my only like wistfulness of it was, man, if 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:12.800 I do this, I'll probably never get to be on 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:18.639 around the Horn. And now you know, now officially I won't. 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:21.639 And that's fine. I have there's no no regrets. But 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:24.359 that show meant a lot to me. So I know, listen, 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:27.200 that's twenty minutes of today's show. I don't know how 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:31.040 much the audience cares. I hope they care. I care, 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:36.480 and just shout out to the people who made that 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:43.400 show to ride Home and Solomon and Reality and Reality 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:48.640 Pardon Me and the countless panelists and all of it. 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:53.080 And so yeah, the question was what does it mean 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:54.480 to you? I think you did a good job at 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:57.800 makes sense? 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.600 I mean, no, I know, I certainly a The question 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:04.240 that my question was, does the audience give a shit 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:06.440 about my answer to the question I have to do. 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:10.399 But uh but yeah, so there it is, all right, 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:13.159 let's do uh the actual sports stuff. 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:16.680 Yeah, so we got Knicks Lakers tonight, Lakers. They are 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:20.240 seventeen and three over their last twenty. Cat missed the 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:22.600 last game they lost to Golden State, but he should 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:24.760 be back, which is gonna be good for them. They're 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:28.720 zero to eight against Boston, Cleveland, Oklahoma City and the Lakers, 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:31.680 so tonight with Kat should be a good test for them. 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:33.800 You said that they're going in the wrong direction though, 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:35.360 What's what's going on? 0:20:35.720 --> 0:20:35.920 Then? 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:39.560 Yeah, I just don't think. I don't think the Knicks 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:44.920 can beat the best teams in basketball. And they were 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:48.520 they were built in a way where they're supposed to 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:52.520 be able to beat the best teams in basketball. That's 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:56.399 the problem. You don't go you don't go out and 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:02.480 spend this type of money on trade for Karl Anthony 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:05.200 Towns not the money thing, and trade for McHale Bridges 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:08.719 to be in the same spot the Knicks are supposed 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:12.840 to be having this season, the Cabs are having, maybe 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:18.000 not the gaudy record, but like, oh man, they really 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:23.960 might be able to beat the selfish Yes, exactly right, 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:30.600 and instead they just get their teeth kicked in by 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:34.800 good teams. Now, it is usually in moments like this 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:42.600 that you get you know, the league zags a bit, 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:46.320 where this is the when everyone is super high on 0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:50.080 the Lakers right now and way low on the Knicks 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:53.840 against good teams, the type of game you're not that 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:56.440 shocked if the Knicks win tonight, and I wouldn't be 0:21:56.480 --> 0:21:59.879 that shocked if the Knicks win tonight the Lakers and 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:02.800 will get more on the Lakers in a minute. The 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:08.760 Lakers can't stay this hot. I mean they're on. I 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:12.359 mean they're on a seventy win pace for the last 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:18.520 quarter of the season. I mean that's well. I think 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:22.239 that their defense can be really good. They have the 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:25.360 number one Let me rephrase that. I think their defense 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:29.880 can be good. Their defense during this stretch has been great. 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:34.840 I think that is probably Yeah. I think that water 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:38.639 will find its level a bit there. But I just 0:22:38.680 --> 0:22:45.240 don't to me, there are six teams that can win 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:49.760 the title demonse six and this is not in the order, 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:58.359 but in the East Boston, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and in the West, 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:03.159 the Lakers, the thun and Denver and to it is 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:12.760 you put those teams into two separate buckets, Boston Cleveland. Oksee, 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:19.560 you put in the outstanding rosters eight deep. You know, 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:23.119 like that are going to be able to play a 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:27.399 bunch of different ways, in a bunch of different you 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:33.000 know it, styles, all of it. And then Lakers, Bucks 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:38.879 Nuggets you put in the star driven Well, yeah, I 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:42.119 mean you're probably just gonna have the best player on 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:46.040 the floor. And it was you know for what, Jokic, 0:23:46.600 --> 0:23:52.520 It's it's you have this transcendent superstar and then an 0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:56.639 awesome number two. So the reason Milwaukee is back in 0:23:56.760 --> 0:24:00.000 that group is Dame is playing like an awesome number 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:03.480 or two. The reason Denver is back in that group 0:24:03.920 --> 0:24:07.399 is Jamal Murray now that he's in shape, is playing 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:10.720 like an awesome number two. And the reason the Lakers 0:24:10.720 --> 0:24:13.240 are back in that group is because man, oh Man 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:15.639 Luke is a hell of a number two. I'm kidding, no, 0:24:15.880 --> 0:24:23.439 yeah no, Because now that the Lakers are in a 0:24:23.440 --> 0:24:28.040 position where Lebron in a playoff series can be their 0:24:28.160 --> 0:24:35.480 second best player, they're they're wildly dangerous, wildly dangerous, and 0:24:35.600 --> 0:24:40.040 I am in shout out to Sam Amic for writing 0:24:40.080 --> 0:24:44.280 an article owning it. I'm really curious what Barkley's gonna 0:24:44.280 --> 0:24:48.720 say tonight. I am shocked that there were a lot 0:24:48.760 --> 0:24:55.520 of folks who thought Lebron wouldn't be able to instantly 0:24:55.560 --> 0:25:01.479 adjust how he plays. The idea like, this is what 0:25:01.480 --> 0:25:03.280 I want to say about Lebron, and then Demon's say, 0:25:03.359 --> 0:25:05.359 I do want to do? We skipped it. But the 0:25:05.600 --> 0:25:14.679 Steph and the Goat conversation. The there the amount of 0:25:14.800 --> 0:25:25.320 people who act like Lebron plays for lack of a 0:25:25.320 --> 0:25:31.520 better term, a selfish style of basketball in the face 0:25:31.600 --> 0:25:36.240 of twenty years of history, was really odd to me. 0:25:36.640 --> 0:25:40.800 And by that I mean this the idea that Lebron 0:25:42.400 --> 0:25:47.160 has played at times kind of the heliocentric I need 0:25:47.200 --> 0:25:52.520 to control everything style in service of his ego as 0:25:52.560 --> 0:25:57.439 opposed to in service of this is the best way 0:25:57.480 --> 0:26:03.840 to win. I thought it was odd that folks were like, well, 0:26:04.240 --> 0:26:07.520 Lebron doesn't play without the ball in his hands. He 0:26:07.720 --> 0:26:14.320 hasn't except for a couple years in Miami, really had 0:26:14.640 --> 0:26:18.959 the opportunity to play without the ball in his hands 0:26:19.200 --> 0:26:22.520 because he's never had a teammate where the team has 0:26:22.560 --> 0:26:26.439 a better chance of creating great offense, running the show 0:26:27.840 --> 0:26:30.200 that gives them a better chance than with them running 0:26:30.200 --> 0:26:34.119 the show rather than Lebron. Lebron is a guy who 0:26:34.280 --> 0:26:37.320 I think it's pretty clear could have in his prime 0:26:37.800 --> 0:26:42.080 won the scoring title any year he wanted to, and 0:26:42.119 --> 0:26:47.480 instead he won one. Ever why because he was doing 0:26:47.600 --> 0:26:51.600 what would have been best for the team when they 0:26:51.680 --> 0:26:54.800 get Luca. What's best for the team is for Luca 0:26:54.840 --> 0:26:57.840 to be running the show a lot, and Lebron instantly 0:26:57.880 --> 0:27:01.520 did that, of course, and also to me, not surprisingly, 0:27:02.040 --> 0:27:04.960 now that Lebron doesn't have to run the show on offense, 0:27:05.320 --> 0:27:10.520 he has more energy on defense. So the Lakers are 0:27:12.160 --> 0:27:16.840 a top tier contender. And JJ Reddick has done and 0:27:17.280 --> 0:27:20.639 I gotta give him credit, man, he has done an 0:27:20.680 --> 0:27:25.240 awesome job. They are buttoned up, they are prepared. He 0:27:25.440 --> 0:27:31.040 is grinding his ass off and they It is been 0:27:31.160 --> 0:27:36.359 really impressive watching him and watching them. They've been without 0:27:36.480 --> 0:27:41.040 Reeves and Ruey and they're doing this. So I'm super 0:27:41.080 --> 0:27:48.480 excited for Nicks Lakers tonight. There is a chance I 0:27:48.640 --> 0:27:53.880 do a live reaction pod after the game, like for 0:27:53.920 --> 0:27:56.960 like twenty minutes. The problem with that is that was 0:27:57.040 --> 0:28:00.760 my plan, and then I think think when I made 0:28:00.760 --> 0:28:04.200 that plan, I was in New Zealand, and I had 0:28:04.240 --> 0:28:06.760 the time of the game all screwed up because it 0:28:06.840 --> 0:28:08.680 was showing me the time in New Zealand, and I 0:28:08.720 --> 0:28:13.439 didn't do the math right. That game's gonna end. That 0:28:13.520 --> 0:28:17.320 game's gonna end around one am Eastern. So like I 0:28:17.600 --> 0:28:22.520 so I so I'm not. It's less about me. I'm 0:28:22.560 --> 0:28:25.840 always if I stay up to watch a big game, 0:28:26.600 --> 0:28:29.480 I always have trouble going to sleep. So it's less 0:28:29.520 --> 0:28:32.600 about like me falling, like needing to go right to bed. 0:28:32.920 --> 0:28:35.399 It's more about two things. One is I don't know 0:28:35.400 --> 0:28:37.840 how to do any of the tech stuff, so somebody's 0:28:37.840 --> 0:28:39.800 got to be up on the other end doing that. 0:28:40.240 --> 0:28:47.040 And the other one is this I'm quite loud and 0:28:48.120 --> 0:28:52.880 me doing this pod at one am in a sleeping house, 0:28:53.240 --> 0:28:55.920 and you know the geography of the house, demons a 0:28:56.080 --> 0:28:59.480 sleeping right next to a window. It's all no, but 0:28:59.520 --> 0:29:04.000 it's all like our neighbors. So so it's maybe I'll 0:29:04.040 --> 0:29:06.959 do a live reaction show. I'm not sure. All right, 0:29:07.000 --> 0:29:08.320 let's talk Steph for a minute. 0:29:09.080 --> 0:29:11.760 Yeah, so Shaq said that Steph deserves to be in 0:29:11.800 --> 0:29:12.800 the goat conversation. 0:29:13.440 --> 0:29:15.040