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Speaker 1: It's called hoops tonight. It's Jason tim So let's start

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Speaker 1: with this. One of the things watching the Lakers last

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Speaker 1: night with Luca is that I felt like they were

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Speaker 1: kind of on a train to nowhere, and it was

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Speaker 1: like AD was a great defensive player, bit hit and miss.

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Speaker 1: Offensively good, not not consistent like the great offensive scores.

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Speaker 1: I think he's been the last two years the best

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Speaker 1: defensive player in the league. I like Austin Reeves if

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Speaker 1: he's the three or the four. Lebron having an insane year,

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Speaker 1: but he's gonna take some nights off. And if he

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Speaker 1: does take nights off or Ad, then Austin Reeves because

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Speaker 1: your second option that's not good enough. And then I'm

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Speaker 1: watching them last night, and I'm like, well, Luca's missed

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Speaker 1: a lot of time, so he's not taking time off.

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Speaker 1: It's almost like Lebron is going to try to impress Luca.

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Speaker 1: He's not gonna take his many nights off. And now

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Speaker 1: I've got Austin Reeves is a third on virtually every night.

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Speaker 1: Ruey can always hit the corner shot, Dalton connect you

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Speaker 1: keep him, he creates space. And I'm watching last night

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Speaker 1: and I'm like, God, there's so much younger and more

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Speaker 1: fun to watch. Like I got to I got to

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Speaker 1: a place where I really respected them, but I just thought,

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Speaker 1: this is there's not enough. I don't know, I know,

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Speaker 1: I don't They don't have a rim protector Jackson Hayes again,

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Speaker 1: Ali up guy, fun energy. It's just it's weird how

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Speaker 1: just inserting Luca into it, the whole team feels younger

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Speaker 1: and different. Does it feel like that to you? No?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely. I mean I hated this Laker team at the

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Speaker 3: start of the year. They had this personality, this like

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Speaker 3: I don't care about the work. That was driving me crazy.

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Speaker 3: But over the course of the last month, they'd been

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Speaker 3: playing a really likable and fun brand of basketball. Lebron

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Speaker 3: was playing super well, Austin was playing super well before

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Speaker 3: Ad got hurt. He had a couple of monster teams

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Speaker 3: played really well twenty yeah, but I felt like they

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Speaker 3: weren't good enough on either end of the floor to

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Speaker 3: really do what you need to do to win four

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Speaker 3: playoff rounds. And I've been really keyed in on this

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Speaker 3: concept lately, like if you're going to win the title,

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Speaker 3: you have to be able to do something well enough

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Speaker 3: that it really gives people problems, like where teams can't

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Speaker 3: even match up with it for one reason or another.

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Speaker 3: And the Lakers just didn't have that punch on either

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Speaker 3: end of the floor, even with Lebron and Ad. It's

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Speaker 3: not the defensive team it was back in twenty twenty, right,

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Speaker 3: so they didn't have that punch with Luca. One of

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Speaker 3: the unique things he does. This Laker team has a

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Speaker 3: lot of guys who are good offensive players as long

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Speaker 3: as they're set up well, even with Lebron and Austin.

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Speaker 3: Like one of the reasons why they struggled against defense

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Speaker 3: is that did a lot of switching all year long.

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Speaker 3: Is Lebron's forty and it's hard to get him to

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Speaker 3: just get downhill time and time again in a random

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Speaker 3: regular season game in January or December or Austin not

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Speaker 3: an elite athlete in terms of getting past top tier

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Speaker 3: NBA talent, and Anthony Davis obviously has offensive limitations. But

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Speaker 3: once you bring Luca in, he just has this magical

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Speaker 3: ability to get the ball to the basket. He's so big,

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Speaker 3: and he's so strong, and he's so good at change

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Speaker 3: of pace, and he's so good at getting guys sealed

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Speaker 3: on his shoulder, sealed on his backside. He can get

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Speaker 3: downhill and now he's spraying out to all these guys

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Speaker 3: and they're actually all really good offensive players when they

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Speaker 3: have an advantage, Like Ruey shoots fifty three percent on

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Speaker 3: unguarded catch and shoot threes, but you need to get

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Speaker 3: him unguarded catch and shoot threes.

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Speaker 4: Luca can do that.

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Speaker 3: And one of the biggest things that it's allowed is

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Speaker 3: it's allowed Lebron James, Like, have you ever watched a

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Speaker 3: guy say like, oh, Lebron should drive to the basket

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Speaker 3: every time? Yeah, it sounds great, but it's really exhausting

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Speaker 3: to do that, especially at his age. Now, Lebron when

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Speaker 3: he gets his touches can be super physically aggressive because

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Speaker 3: he knows he has Luca to carry the lion's share

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Speaker 3: of the offensive load. And so right now, when I

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Speaker 3: look at this situation, yeah, they have defensive question marks,

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Speaker 3: and we can get into that here in a minute,

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Speaker 3: but I try not to overthink it. This team is

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Speaker 3: going to be basically impossible to guard. And so they

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Speaker 3: have a unit now their offense that presents legitimate problems

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Speaker 3: for every single team in the league. That is a

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Speaker 3: foundation you can build on.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and remember Dallas won the West last year and

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Speaker 1: their two best players are below average, suboptimal defensive players,

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Speaker 1: Kyrie and Luca. Is that, let's be honest about the West.

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Speaker 1: Denver has Jokic, but they're atrocious defensively. Houston's young, can't shoot,

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Speaker 1: and I don't think they translate to a playoff team.

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Speaker 1: I think they're just one of those teams that they

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Speaker 1: are so young and twitchy and athletic. In the regular season,

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Speaker 1: if you're not well rested, if you don't have a

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Speaker 1: lot of tape time, they are a tough matchup. If

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Speaker 1: I get to play them seven times. They can can't shoot.

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Speaker 4: There's a team like that every year. Every year, there's

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Speaker 4: that team.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so all of a sudden, Denver can't defend, Houston

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Speaker 1: can't shoot Oklahoma City. I don't trust chet Holmgren's health.

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Speaker 1: I think they're the best team. Golden State doesn't have

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Speaker 1: enough offensive firepower, very Steph reliant, even with Jimmy Butler.

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Speaker 1: You know, Memphis is Memphis plays with a lot of

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Speaker 1: pace and they are a lot of fun to watch.

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Speaker 1: I don't trust them. You know said this part. They're

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Speaker 1: just teams like Philadelphia in the plaus I don't trust them.

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Speaker 1: Memphis in the plus, I don't trust them. I know

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Speaker 1: Jaron Jackson, I know John Morant. I get it. So

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Speaker 1: if you look at the west O case is clearly

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Speaker 1: the best team. They have the most kind of diversity

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Speaker 1: of options. They have so many different players, and they're

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Speaker 1: really good and really young. They're what I think Utah

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Speaker 1: wants to be in about three years with all those

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Speaker 1: draft picks. But the Lakers are an exceptional offensive team,

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Speaker 1: and if you're giving me, it's also a team Lebron

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Speaker 1: clearly likes. Austin Reeves, he likes to play with them.

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Speaker 1: It's obvious Lebron's like a He's like a fifteen year

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Speaker 1: old with a crush on Luca, the way he plays

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Speaker 1: the energy, and I just think they're so good offensively

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Speaker 1: that there's nobody that's complete enough in the West to

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Speaker 1: roll them. Boston would, but Boston's got you know, Boston's

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Speaker 1: been playing these guys. You know, I watched them the

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Speaker 1: other night against New York. Jesus, They're good. God, They're good.

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Speaker 1: So my take is, if you put them in the East,

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Speaker 1: I don't think they can. I don't think they can

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Speaker 1: beat Boston. I think they're a Western Conference finals team.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not trying to be at La Homer.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm with you.

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Speaker 3: Every team below to me, Oka see Denver and the

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Speaker 3: Lakers are the clear top three in the West. And

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Speaker 3: Denver and like you were talking earlier about the young,

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Speaker 3: feisty athletic team, Memphis used to be that team.

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Speaker 4: That's Houston's that team.

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Speaker 3: Now there's always a team like that, and that team

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Speaker 3: always wins a lot of regular season games and then

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Speaker 3: loses in the first two rounds. It's just that's what happens.

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Speaker 3: And let's just put it this way. Who you picking

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Speaker 3: in a playoff series? Fred Van Vliet and Jalen Green

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Speaker 3: or one of these duos from the top of the

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Speaker 3: of the conference, right, So, like, I'm with you on that.

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Speaker 3: To me, Denver and the Lakers are both closer to

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Speaker 3: Okac than people realize, just because Okase is also super

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Speaker 3: young and athletic and has a ton of energy for

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Speaker 3: the regular season. The question marks that you talked about

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Speaker 3: in terms of the Lakers with the defense, that's where

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Speaker 3: it gets interesting, because the Lakers were playing some pretty

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Speaker 3: damn good basketball before Luca joined the squad. There in

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Speaker 3: their last thirteen games, they have the best record in

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Speaker 3: the league and they have the number one defense in

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Speaker 3: the league. The Lakers do the number one defense for

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Speaker 3: about a month now. Now there's a reason for that.

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Speaker 3: Jared Vanderbilt is healthy. He is an excellent defensive player,

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Speaker 3: and you turn Dangelo Russell, a bad defensive player, into

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Speaker 3: Dorian Finney Smith who's a good defensive player. And then

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Speaker 3: a huge part of that is part of that excitement

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Speaker 3: from Lebron has manifested and he's playing a lot of

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Speaker 3: defense this year, and he's been very good on.

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Speaker 4: That end of the floor. But if you take a player.

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Speaker 3: Out of that lineup and you insert Luca, you're not

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Speaker 3: gonna be as good defensively. That's just acknowledging reality. So

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Speaker 3: when Luca's in this picture full time, you're not gonna

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Speaker 3: be as good defensively as you've been in the last month.

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Speaker 3: But we've seen an NBA history like with Denver. Denver

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Speaker 3: in twenty twenty three, they were not an elite defense, no,

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Speaker 3: but they had bad defenders on the court who did

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Speaker 3: a job and did it well right there, and they

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Speaker 3: were anchored by good defenders Contavious Calbo, Pope, Aaron Gordon.

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Speaker 4: Bruce Brown.

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Speaker 3: They had guys who did compete on defense. They did

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Speaker 3: the hard jobs and then they created easier jobs.

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Speaker 4: That's the thing.

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Speaker 3: You can imagine a scenario where you've got Luca, Lebron, Austin,

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Speaker 3: but you have Dorian Finney, Smith and Vando out there.

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Speaker 3: This is gonna be a small ball team. Colin Alex

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Speaker 3: lenn hasn't played a thousand minutes since twenty nineteen. Lebron's

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Speaker 3: played sixteen hundred just this year. Like Alex Lenn, He's

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Speaker 3: not gonna come in there and save the season. So

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Speaker 3: this is a small ball team. But you can imagine

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Speaker 3: a universe where Lebron's playing defense. You've got two professional

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Speaker 3: defenders in the lineup, and what if they just score

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Speaker 3: every time or get a great shot in every single time.

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Speaker 1: A team that I think, and I don't know historically

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Speaker 1: if this happens, I'll tell you the team in the

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Speaker 1: West that I would not want to play, and right

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Speaker 1: now they're not even a playing team. Keep your eye

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Speaker 1: in San Antonio, Okay, Stefan Castle out of Yukon is

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Speaker 1: no fun to defend. That guy is this time next

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Speaker 1: year We're gonna have different conversations. Daron Fox. I think

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Speaker 1: because he plays in Sacramento, you don't realize it. He's

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Speaker 1: a twenty five point a night scorer with a high IQ.

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Speaker 1: He's so good, we just don't watch him. Stefan Castle

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Speaker 1: wemby Daron Fox. You know guys that get lost, but

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Speaker 1: I don't know his EPA. Yeah, I don't know what

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Speaker 1: all the numbers are, but like Harrison Barnes, you know

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Speaker 1: it's this guy that Harrison's one of those players that,

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Speaker 1: like Shane Battier, You're like, I think he's really good

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Speaker 1: and he ends up making your team better, but nobody

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Speaker 1: wants to talk about it. I think San Antonio, if

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Speaker 1: you told me they went on like right now, they're

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Speaker 1: not a playing team. I think they're going to go in.

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Speaker 1: Popovich is going to steal a game in a series.

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Speaker 1: Houston's the team we all think is going to be dangerous.

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Speaker 1: I don't san Antonio the team nobody's paying attention due.

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Speaker 1: I mean, can you imagine Lakers end up you know,

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Speaker 1: Denver ends up playing them, and Wemby neutralizes Jokic to

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Speaker 1: some degree and castles a pain and gets the whistle.

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Speaker 1: I mean, listen, Denver. You can score on Denver like

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Speaker 1: They're just not good. They're not effective at all. So

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Speaker 1: I think I think the West is really fun. I

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Speaker 1: thought the NBA had a tremendous fourteen day period. I thought,

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Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler, you know it's funny about this Jason is

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Speaker 1: that I know the analytic people think Wiggins maybe a

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Speaker 1: better fit with Steph than Jimmy Butler. I read an

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Speaker 1: article on that, But my take is Jimmy Butler's the

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Speaker 1: anti Wiggins. He's tough, he's a badass, he's physical, he's ornery,

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Speaker 1: and he's a really good number two. It's like in baseball,

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Speaker 1: it's when you try to make a two to one

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Speaker 1: your pitching staff's not good. Jimmy's an excellent two behind Steph,

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Speaker 1: and he's the opposite of Steph. He's tough physically, he's

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Speaker 1: a mid range guy. He'll defend you. I don't think

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Speaker 1: Golden State's a championship team. But I just thought between Luca,

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Speaker 1: between Deer and Fox to san Antonio, between Jimmy Butler

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Speaker 1: the Warriors thought, I just thought the West got really

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Speaker 1: And we've talked about this. The West has been better

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Speaker 1: than the East for twenty five years. A lot of

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Speaker 1: it's just better gms, and I thought the West had

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Speaker 1: a great fourteen days.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, they completely flipped the conference over in a bunch

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Speaker 3: of different ways. I liked what you said about san Antonio.

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Speaker 3: Like we were talking earlier about like having a problem

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Speaker 3: that other teams can't solve. Victor is a problem around

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Speaker 3: the rim that other teams can't solve. Try and then

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Speaker 3: the Deer and Fox as a two man game partner

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Speaker 3: with Wemby is a problem that teams can't solve. The

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Speaker 3: Jimmy Butler. It was amazing to me how many people

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Speaker 3: overthought this. And when I was watching the Bucks game

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Speaker 3: last night and I saw Jimmy Butler constantly operating in

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Speaker 3: the middle of the floor as kind of like a

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Speaker 3: hub out of the attention that Steph would gather. It

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Speaker 3: reminded me of when we'd watch the Warriors back in

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Speaker 3: their heyday, where it's like everyone talks about shooting, but

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Speaker 3: when it comes to the Warriors with Steph, you don't

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Speaker 3: actually want shooting as much as you want playmaking, because

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Speaker 3: what happens is Steph gets two to the ball. As

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Speaker 3: soon as Steph gets two to the ball, it's a

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Speaker 3: four on three and it becomes more about quick processing

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Speaker 3: and decision making and guys being in the right spots

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Speaker 3: to get dunks and maybe a wide open corner three

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Speaker 3: for a certain player out of that sequence to pay

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Speaker 3: it off than it is about, like with Lebron or

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Speaker 3: a rim pressuring guy, where you want spacing, you want

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Speaker 3: shooting that pulls guys further away from the room. Steph

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Speaker 3: inverts your spacing in that way, and it actually reminded

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Speaker 3: me a lot of Andre Gudala. Remember when Andre Guodala

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Speaker 3: was there. He was never a great shooter, but he

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Speaker 3: constantly greased the wheels for them because he was a

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Speaker 3: rangy ford who could screen and operate in the middle

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Speaker 3: of the floor, make quick decisions new anden to cut

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Speaker 3: new and to relocate, do all those sorts of things.

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Speaker 3: There was a play in the Bucks game last night

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Speaker 3: where Steph took a ball screen from Jimmy. Steph got two,

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Speaker 3: he dropped it to Jimmy and Jimmy made a little

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Speaker 3: ball faked buddy, healed, and then dropped it off to

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Speaker 3: Draymond Green for an easy layup underneath the basket. And

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Speaker 3: I literally just watched this and I'm.

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Speaker 4: Like, this works. This just works.

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Speaker 3: You weren't comfortable with Wiggins as a processor in the

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Speaker 3: middle of the floor, you are comfortable with Jimmy. Simple

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Speaker 3: stat how many times has Jimmy or how many times

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Speaker 3: has Andrew Wiggins had seven plus assists in a basketball

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Speaker 3: game in his NBA career fourteen? How many times did

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Speaker 3: Jimmy have seven plus assists last year with the heat fifteen?

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Speaker 3: So like, it's an entirely different stratosphere of playmaking talent

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Speaker 3: that you plugged in there. You have a guy that

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Speaker 3: can quickly process those situations. And they've been killing teams

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Speaker 3: Colin so far. Obviously small sample. They've been really good

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Speaker 3: with Jimmy on the floor with Steph off, which is

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Speaker 3: all that really matters.

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Speaker 4: Watch the key.

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Speaker 1: I mean when I watched them two weeks ago when

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Speaker 1: Steph left the floor, not only were the inefficient, they

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Speaker 1: were unwatchable. They were a bad tell. I said, this,

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Speaker 1: make the move to be a better TV product. You're terrible.

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Speaker 3: Well, And like Pat Spencer, like at the lacrosse story,

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Speaker 3: it's really cool. He probably shouldn't be your like secondary

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Speaker 3: ball handler in a Thursday night national TV game against

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Speaker 3: the Lakers when Steph's off the floor like that, that's

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Speaker 3: an issue. But I'm with you, like I don't see

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Speaker 3: the Warriors necessarily as a substantial threat to me. What's

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Speaker 3: cool about it is we get to watch Steph play

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Speaker 3: meaningful basketball again. Because I do think they're gonna get

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Speaker 3: out of the play in tournament. I do think they're

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Speaker 3: gonna end U getting at least a first round series,

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Speaker 3: and that team's just gonna be fun to watch.

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Speaker 1: And now for our segment, Hot Off the Press, presented

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Speaker 1: by our friends at Louisiana Hot Sauce bring the food

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Speaker 1: at your party to a whole new level with the

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Speaker 1: original Louisiana brand Hot Sauce. I put it on a

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Speaker 1: pizza last night. It was great. Bold, authentic flavor embodies

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Speaker 1: the rich culinary tradition of Louisiana. The original Louisiana brand

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Speaker 1: hot sauce, perfect for those who demand great flavor with

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Speaker 1: just the right amount of heat. I use it on

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Speaker 1: my eggs, I put it on my sandwiches, I put

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Speaker 1: it on my pizzas. I love that. Okay, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: throw a sneaky move at you that I liked, Okay.

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Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzman is a weird player. You can get thirty

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Speaker 1: and the next night you get seven. He's just always

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Speaker 1: been an odd f. I don't think Lebron ever loved him.

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Speaker 1: He's kind of all over the map. But I really

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Speaker 1: thought they should have moved off Middleton two years ago.

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Speaker 1: And I think so much of being an NBA GM

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Speaker 1: is figuring, singing around corners, moving off guys. A year early,

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Speaker 1: I thought really good GMing was moving off Marcus Smart

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Speaker 1: in Boston and getting Drew Holliday. I thought Marcus Smart,

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Speaker 1: it was one thing for Jalen Brown to take around,

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Speaker 1: take off possessions late in games from Tatum, it's another

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Speaker 1: thing with Mark and Smart is doing it. It's like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: it's time to get him out of the building, right

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Speaker 1: And Drew Holliday is a better offensive player to me

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Speaker 1: than Marcus Smart. But Kyle Kuzman to the Bucks, I

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Speaker 1: thought was kind of a sneaky good move. So Washington's abysmal.

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Speaker 1: Everybody gets lost there. He's still in his prime athletically,

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Speaker 1: he played a lot of years in college, so he's

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Speaker 1: older than most people think. But Dame's playing better. Janice

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Speaker 1: has banged up a little bit. I looked at it

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Speaker 1: and I thought, Okay, Boston is the best team in

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Speaker 1: the East. Cleveland and New York are next. But I

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Speaker 1: felt like the last year and a half, like I

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Speaker 1: didn't even I didn't even look at Milwaukee like they

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Speaker 1: were like a more functional Philadelphia. I just I don't

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Speaker 1: think they're athletic enough. I don't know. I look at Kuzma, Dame, Jannis,

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Speaker 1: Brook Lopez, I'm like, they feel like they could be

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Speaker 1: a pain in the butt. It feels like they could be,

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Speaker 1: you know, you talk about unenterable things. Dame's been good

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Speaker 1: in big pressure games. Yannis is a hard matchup. They

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Speaker 1: feel more athletic with Kuzma. Am I reaching here. I

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Speaker 1: kind of feel like at the trade deadline it was

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Speaker 1: almost like last year and Dallas goes and gets PJ.

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Speaker 1: Washington and everybody's like, yeah, yeah, PJ Washington. About ten

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Speaker 1: games in you're like, ah, shit, they're big. That's kind

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Speaker 1: of a problem. I thought Kyle Kuzma was a sneaky pickup.

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Speaker 4: I liked him too.

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Speaker 3: There was an obvious question mark, which is he's been

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Speaker 3: in Washington playing loser ball for the last like for

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Speaker 3: the last like three four years. And that was why

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Speaker 3: all the Bucks fans were concerned, and like they were like,

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Speaker 3: we're trading Chris Middleton, a guy who's hit huge shots

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Speaker 3: for us in the postseason over the years, for a

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Speaker 3: guy like Kyle Kuzma, and you know, and I heard that,

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Speaker 3: and I wanted to be like, then, what did you

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Speaker 3: trade for Dame for like that? Like, yeah, you needed

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Speaker 3: Chris to hit the game winner in Game seven against

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Speaker 3: the Nets, but that was when you had Drew Holliday

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Speaker 3: as your point guard. You have Dame to help you

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Speaker 3: with that. Giannis is a better offensive player than he

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Speaker 3: used to be. One of the things that was really

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Speaker 3: interesting about Kuzma's development is he was kind of the

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Speaker 3: same player in Washington that he was his early years

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Speaker 3: with the Lakers. But then what happened was they get Lebron,

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Speaker 3: they get Anthony Davis. They all of a sudden, they're

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Speaker 3: playing a lot of two big lineups. So eight he's

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Speaker 3: playing the four and Lebron's playing the three, and there's

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Speaker 3: just not minutes Kuzma, and so he had to he

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Speaker 3: had to claw his way into the rotation. And the

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Speaker 3: way he did was he became an excellent defensive rebounder,

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Speaker 3: an excellent help side defender, an excellent cutter. He just

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Speaker 3: became a guy who did a bunch of dirty work.

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Speaker 3: And that's been the most encouraging thing in the In

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Speaker 3: the three games that I've watched him so far with Milwaukee,

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Speaker 3: he's immediately doing that stuff I'm watching him against Philly,

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Speaker 3: like fronting the post against him, beat and battling for

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Speaker 3: loose balls and getting contested rebounds. And you talked about

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Speaker 3: the chaos and his scoring and and that's real. But

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Speaker 3: one of the weird things with Kuzma is NBA dudes

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Speaker 3: respect him as a scorer. So they well, he's had, Yeah, he's.

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Speaker 1: Had twenty five games in his career, like Kusma's got

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Speaker 1: Kusma's got twenty nine.

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Speaker 3: Points, like what, Yeah, he's had like ninety something twenty

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Speaker 3: five plus point games and eleven thirty five plus point games.

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Speaker 1: And he's a crazy offensive player.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'm already seeing him Like when he pump

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Speaker 3: fakes on the perimeter, dudes are chasing him off the line,

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Speaker 3: So like, he has offensive utility that goes beyond just

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Speaker 3: his efficiency. But where I get excited about it is like,

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Speaker 3: because Chris Middleton's shot making is less valuable in the

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Speaker 3: context of Dame. You go from having a three a

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Speaker 3: small forward rotation with Chris and Torian to thin like

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Speaker 3: older forwards that don't rebound in aren't great athletes, to

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Speaker 3: a dominant rebounder who's huge and young and moves well.

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Speaker 3: And now I look at it in the context of Yannis,

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Speaker 3: because Janis hasn't been playing, he's been resting this CAF.

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Speaker 3: You'll be back after the All Star break. When you

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Speaker 3: put Kuzma next to Yannis and Brook there's a force

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Speaker 3: multiplier effect going back to the beating the dead horse

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Speaker 3: with this like presenting a problem that teams can't handle.

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Speaker 3: The Bucks are going to be a monster rebounding team

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Speaker 3: and they are really going to protect the paint well,

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Speaker 3: and that is going to present a problem for teams.

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Speaker 3: And again, I think you're obviously giving up a little

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Speaker 3: bit of just that surgical half court stuff that you

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Speaker 3: get with Chris. Let's not overthink this. He was twelve

427
00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:54,600
Speaker 3: and a half points a game this year. He's not

428
00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,840
Speaker 3: the same player. This is a clear talent add and

429
00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,880
Speaker 3: you've fundamentally altered the physical profile of your front line

430
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:01,600
Speaker 3: by bringing him in.

431
00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:06,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's it's funny. I you know, I always said,

432
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:07,320
Speaker 1: if I didn't do what I did for a living,

433
00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:10,040
Speaker 1: I'd love to be an NFL GM. In the NBA,

434
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,000
Speaker 1: you could do that. Like you watch you have to.

435
00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:16,040
Speaker 1: I mean I watch preseason football like it's just it's

436
00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:18,439
Speaker 1: a reality of what it is. But in the NBA

437
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:22,120
Speaker 1: sometimes I think we overthink analytics and I'll pivot back

438
00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:26,080
Speaker 1: to the Lakers. So I always use this argument is

439
00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:28,119
Speaker 1: I think the smartest team I've ever seen in my

440
00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:31,160
Speaker 1: life was the Miami Heat when they had Batti A. Ray,

441
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:37,119
Speaker 1: Allen E, Donnis Haslam, Chris Bosh, Lebron d Wade, Mario

442
00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,720
Speaker 1: Chalmers drove me crazy. It's like he didn't fit, but

443
00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:43,760
Speaker 1: the rest of those guys were like, really sort.

444
00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:49,720
Speaker 4: Of, it's it's they're smart players.

445
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:55,960
Speaker 1: Like yeah, and it's like beyond smart self awareness, situational awareness.

446
00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:00,840
Speaker 1: And and I remember that Miami team Jason Joel Anthony

447
00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:03,600
Speaker 1: was a six to nine center. They had no true

448
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,560
Speaker 1: point guard. Lebron and d Wade are both like at

449
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:12,280
Speaker 1: the time, streaky shooters, hyper athletic, need the ball to

450
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:14,680
Speaker 1: be dominant. And I remember when they put it together.

451
00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:17,640
Speaker 1: I'm like, the how's bosh is the best shooter out

452
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:19,640
Speaker 1: outside of Ray? And I was like, I don't even

453
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,000
Speaker 1: know what this team is. They were so smart, they

454
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,719
Speaker 1: were so good. They fed off each other. There was

455
00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,480
Speaker 1: no egos. It was like Lebron was just so damn

456
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:31,399
Speaker 1: happy to play with another elite player after all those

457
00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:34,880
Speaker 1: years in Cleveland. And it was just a force of optimism.

458
00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:39,000
Speaker 1: It was a force of intellect. I loved watching them play.

459
00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:40,960
Speaker 1: I think they're one of the weaker dominant teams of

460
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:42,920
Speaker 1: my life. They didn't have a dominant big, they didn't

461
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:47,199
Speaker 1: have a point It was just like smart dudes understood

462
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,840
Speaker 1: spacing the floor and everybody. And I think d Wade

463
00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:54,720
Speaker 1: is really a key component in that. He understood very early.

464
00:22:54,880 --> 00:23:00,600
Speaker 1: Oh wow, look, Lebron's really good. I'llbeit two totally happy.

465
00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:02,840
Speaker 1: I don't need to be the ace on the staff.

466
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:04,919
Speaker 1: By the way, a lot of guys struggle with that.

467
00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:07,120
Speaker 1: D Wade smart, it's like, no, no, no, I'm good. I'll

468
00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:11,560
Speaker 1: step back. It's my city, it's his team. And I

469
00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:13,800
Speaker 1: think sometimes we get too caught up in that, like

470
00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:18,520
Speaker 1: Draymond really smart basketball player, Jimmy Butler really smart, Curry

471
00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:23,720
Speaker 1: really smart. In the end, these games, remember when you

472
00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:27,280
Speaker 1: go to the playoffs, you're playing the same team. Everybody

473
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,480
Speaker 1: knows your little tricks. They all become circumstantial. They're all

474
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,439
Speaker 1: situational half court Like, Houston's not going to run like

475
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:35,040
Speaker 1: that in the playoffs. You're not gonna all those free

476
00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:36,840
Speaker 1: You're not gonna get that twelve points a game you

477
00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:39,280
Speaker 1: get because you're young, athletic, twitchy, you run, You're not

478
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:41,359
Speaker 1: gonna get that stuff. So I don't know.

479
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:41,720
Speaker 4: I just.

480
00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,360
Speaker 1: When it comes to NBA teams, like like right now,

481
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,280
Speaker 1: I look at the Lakers and I'm thinking, Jesus, Luca

482
00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:55,960
Speaker 1: and Lebron are really big brands, self aware, very secure.

483
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:01,320
Speaker 1: I don't know, I just look at the differently today.

484
00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:03,920
Speaker 1: I think they're a different team. I mean, Austin Reeves,

485
00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,520
Speaker 1: it's a bunch of guys. They all kind of have

486
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,960
Speaker 1: the same game, different levels of it. They want the ball,

487
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,239
Speaker 1: they like the ball. But when I watched them last night,

488
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:19,160
Speaker 1: I'm like, everybody is completely secure in who they are.

489
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,000
Speaker 1: There's not gonna be any struggles with this team. I

490
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,520
Speaker 1: don't know. I maybe I'm too optimistic on being in

491
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,600
Speaker 1: La Homer, but there is value and I know I'm

492
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:31,040
Speaker 1: being long winded on this, there is value on smart

493
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:37,880
Speaker 1: guys playing basketball and enjoying watching other people succeed. That's

494
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:38,880
Speaker 1: a thing, right.

495
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 4: To your point.

496
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:45,200
Speaker 3: The playoffs are so much about problem solving, like, Okay,

497
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:47,320
Speaker 3: we're having trouble with this coverage, what are we gonna do.

498
00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:49,520
Speaker 3: We're having trouble with them running this action. What are

499
00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,200
Speaker 3: we gonna do? And you just put enough smart minds

500
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:53,960
Speaker 3: in a room and they can figure it out. And

501
00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:55,719
Speaker 3: you know, I think there's a little too much being

502
00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:57,719
Speaker 3: made of the center position. You know, even as I'm

503
00:24:57,760 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 3: looking at some of this stuff with the centers that

504
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,400
Speaker 3: were being thrown out there, I want to be like, Okay,

505
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 3: this center might be your seventh or eighth best player.

506
00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:07,359
Speaker 3: I don't want my seventh or eighth best player playing

507
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 3: twenty minutes in a playoff game. He's a guy who

508
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:12,720
Speaker 3: who should be barely seeing the four. And I think

509
00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:14,560
Speaker 3: one of the things that makes me optimistic on the

510
00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:18,000
Speaker 3: size front is like Luca is six to nine, Lebron

511
00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:20,720
Speaker 3: is six ' nine, Dorian Finney Smith is six's eight

512
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,240
Speaker 3: six ' nine, Jack Vanderbilt is six ' nine.

513
00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:25,160
Speaker 1: This is their time.

514
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:26,880
Speaker 4: They're small, but.

515
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 3: They're huge, Like it's a bunch of huge perimeter players,

516
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,359
Speaker 3: And like I imagine a scenario in the playoffs where it

517
00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:36,240
Speaker 3: all goes down where it's it's Austin, Lebron, Luca, where

518
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,600
Speaker 3: Austin's your small guy, but then it's six nine sixty nine,

519
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,040
Speaker 3: and then it's gonna be two of Van der Ruey

520
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 3: or Dorian Phinney Smith who are both six nine, are

521
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:46,239
Speaker 3: all six nine rangey forwards. And so for example, look

522
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:48,960
Speaker 3: at Oklahoma City, So like Oklahoma City is really good,

523
00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:51,000
Speaker 3: but it's like a lot of six five and six

524
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:54,439
Speaker 3: six guys. So like there's even though they will present

525
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,479
Speaker 3: issues with their bigs in that series, like Chat's a problem,

526
00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:00,879
Speaker 3: Isaya Hartenstein's a problem? The Lakers are gonna have four

527
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:04,000
Speaker 3: inches on every single matchup in that series that's on

528
00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:06,560
Speaker 3: the perimeter, which is something to at least account when

529
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:09,240
Speaker 3: you're talking about this sort of thing. And that's where

530
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:12,480
Speaker 3: I look at the problem solving peace, Like like Lebron.

531
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,000
Speaker 3: You know, we talk so much about Kevin Durant being

532
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:16,520
Speaker 3: a plug and play guy, and for the record, I

533
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:18,560
Speaker 3: think he probably still is the best plug and play guy.

534
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:20,440
Speaker 4: But Lebron's a plug and play guy too.

535
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 3: It's like, you mean, the guy who can defend and

536
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:24,639
Speaker 3: can rebound and can run. He can run action, but

537
00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:26,359
Speaker 3: he can also screen. He can shoot when he's in

538
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,200
Speaker 3: spot up situations, he can play out of the post.

539
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 3: Like Lebron can just shape shift into whatever your team needs.

540
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:35,200
Speaker 3: It's like the other night against Golden State, he has

541
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,199
Speaker 3: seventeen rebounds in a game. You know why, because it's like,

542
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,280
Speaker 3: we don't have a center, so tonight, I'm just gonna

543
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,520
Speaker 3: grab every damn rebound, Like that's That's just what I'm

544
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 3: gonna do because that's what the team needs me to do.

545
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:47,679
Speaker 3: And so when I look at that group, it's just

546
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,040
Speaker 3: there's a lot of like kind of Swiss army knives

547
00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:51,879
Speaker 3: in that group, and I think that that goes a

548
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,240
Speaker 3: long way towards kind of like problem solving the types

549
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:56,960
Speaker 3: of things that you're gonna run into in the postseason.

550
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:58,159
Speaker 3: As a matter of fact, even when it comes to

551
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,919
Speaker 3: the center position, the only thing I really concern I'm

552
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:04,280
Speaker 3: the only thing I'm concerned about is Yoks, Like they

553
00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:06,359
Speaker 3: don't have anybody that can even come remotely close to

554
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:07,040
Speaker 3: bothering Yo.

555
00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 1: Which we talked about this on the show. Jay Mack

556
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:11,119
Speaker 1: and I talked about this today. I'm like, Yoki is

557
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 1: just scoring forty five points in the series, Like, just

558
00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,800
Speaker 1: bake it in, pick on Jamal Murray's defense, like whatever,

559
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 1: But he's gonna score forty five. You just have to

560
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:20,760
Speaker 1: come to terms with it.

561
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree.

562
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:26,119
Speaker 3: I The only reason why I'm I'm waiting to watch

563
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:28,720
Speaker 3: more Lakers basketball before I come to any sort of

564
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 3: conclusion is like you mentioned, Denver can struggle to guard,

565
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:35,640
Speaker 3: and that means they're definitely going to struggle to guard

566
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:37,760
Speaker 3: the Lakers because everyone's going to struggle to guard the

567
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:41,600
Speaker 3: Lakers in two. This is not the twenty twenty twenty

568
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,679
Speaker 3: three Nuggets where they had Kntavio's callwell, Pope as like

569
00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:47,200
Speaker 3: this shoe in fifth Guy. It's gonna be a lot

570
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,560
Speaker 3: of like Christian Brown or Russell Westbrook seeing minutes in

571
00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:54,480
Speaker 3: the postseason, and those are guys that I think JJ

572
00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:57,520
Speaker 3: Reddick's going to be like, that's not Contavious called wo Pope.

573
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,160
Speaker 3: We can help off of him. Now, Denver's gonna find

574
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:01,639
Speaker 3: ways to score. They're going to score a lot of

575
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,359
Speaker 3: points in that sort of matchup. But I am curious

576
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:05,920
Speaker 3: to watch they play in like a week and a

577
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,040
Speaker 3: half and I'll be really interested to watch that game,

578
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 3: mostly just to see how effectively they can break down

579
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,879
Speaker 3: Denver's defense because JJ's gonna have plans, He's gonna have

580
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,000
Speaker 3: things that he can try to get to get the

581
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,520
Speaker 3: ball out of Jokic's hands. But that's an interesting matchup there,

582
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:22,560
Speaker 3: and like it's a classic example of styles make fights.

583
00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:23,960
Speaker 3: And I don't know about you, Colin, but if we

584
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 3: look at last year in the Western Conference, that was

585
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:30,000
Speaker 3: a matchup playoff series in every single round, it was like, oh,

586
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:34,720
Speaker 3: Denver couldn't handle Minnesota, but Minnesota couldn't handle Dallas. I

587
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,640
Speaker 3: think Denver probably beats Dallas right. Well, you get matchups

588
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:40,320
Speaker 3: here or there, like what if what if Denver ends

589
00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:42,480
Speaker 3: up at the four seed because the Lakers passed them

590
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 3: at some point in the regular season. Now Denver's got

591
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:46,840
Speaker 3: to get through OKC in Round two before they even.

592
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:47,400
Speaker 4: See the Lakers.

593
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:49,720
Speaker 3: So like where that's where it gets into one of

594
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 3: these situations where you can't write any of these teams

595
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,240
Speaker 3: off because they could catch a matchup and lose early.

596
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,680
Speaker 1: You know, a team that's I think the NBA has

597
00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 1: always been better when the next relevant in between Mikail Bridges,

598
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:06,480
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson, Kat Josh hart Og. It's a really good

599
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:10,560
Speaker 1: basketball team, but they do not match up with the Celtics,

600
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 1: and this is where you're really good. I mean, I've

601
00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:16,120
Speaker 1: watched them play the Celtics twice and that shit's not competitive,

602
00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:21,920
Speaker 1: Like it's it does not work now, it's it's almost

603
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:26,400
Speaker 1: like the Celtics have circumvented the NBA CBA. The NBA

604
00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:29,160
Speaker 1: CBA they don't want you to have like five really

605
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 1: good players, and it's almost like the Celtics figure out

606
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:35,320
Speaker 1: of way to be the last team that can have

607
00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:37,640
Speaker 1: a roster that you you're not supposed to have anymore,

608
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,640
Speaker 1: where Derek White's your fifth best guy some night.

609
00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:42,320
Speaker 3: And now they're trying to sell the team so someone

610
00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:43,080
Speaker 3: else has to pay for it.

611
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:44,040
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, like.

612
00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:47,520
Speaker 1: It's like they're almost circumventing the new CBA, Like this

613
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:50,040
Speaker 1: is not really fair, and you can tell. So I

614
00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:52,480
Speaker 1: think New York's a really good basketball team and I

615
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:55,240
Speaker 1: and I think I trust them in the playoffs. I

616
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:58,120
Speaker 1: think they're smart. I think they've got you know, it's

617
00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 1: it's well chronicled. They're kind of got a villain field.

618
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:02,920
Speaker 1: They play hard, they're smart. I think they're one of

619
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:04,480
Speaker 1: those teams that will be a better playoff team than

620
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 1: a regular season team. And they're a good regular season team.

621
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,000
Speaker 1: They are teams like Houston, I think are a better

622
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:10,920
Speaker 1: regular season team than a playoff team. The next are

623
00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 1: gonna be fine. But I watch them now twice play Boston,

624
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 1: and I want you to break it down because they

625
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 1: don't match up and this is a good team. Let's

626
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:23,400
Speaker 1: just be honest about this. They got five to six

627
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:26,680
Speaker 1: guys in that rotation. The Knicks can match up with

628
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:30,800
Speaker 1: almost every team in the league. Why is Boston? You

629
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:33,760
Speaker 1: can tell Boston, Like when they played this past week,

630
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:36,960
Speaker 1: that's a national TV game, They're like, okay, all right, guys,

631
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,000
Speaker 1: I mean that thing was I mean four minutes in

632
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:44,800
Speaker 1: you're like, yeah, yeah, Boston came to play. Boston's not

633
00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:48,000
Speaker 1: f and around. Why doesn't New Because I think New

634
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 1: York has enough different players, and they play hard enough,

635
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 1: and they're really smart and they're well coached. They kind

636
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:56,959
Speaker 1: of match up with everybody. They do not match up

637
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:58,520
Speaker 1: with Boston. Like what is it?

638
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,360
Speaker 3: There are two kind of prevailing theories in NBA offense

639
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:06,440
Speaker 3: right now, which is like match up hunting versus like

640
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:09,320
Speaker 3: running motion. And the motion is like what you see

641
00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 3: with the Warriors. There's tons of screens, guys are running

642
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:14,239
Speaker 3: in circles all over the floor. Boston's like, where's your

643
00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:16,640
Speaker 3: weakest defender, Let's get them up here, Let's play some basketball,

644
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:19,080
Speaker 3: and like that's literally all they do. And when I

645
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 3: watch that game, the way they surgically attacked Jalen Brunson

646
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,120
Speaker 3: and Karl Anthony Towns every single time down the floor,

647
00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:26,920
Speaker 3: they get them both in, they bring the ball off

648
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 3: the floor, they'd have Jalen Brunson's man come screen for Tatum. Okay,

649
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 3: now Jalen Brunson's on Tatum. Okay, now we're gonna get

650
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:35,680
Speaker 3: Cat into the action. So now it's like Tatum and

651
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:39,240
Speaker 3: one of his teammates attacking kat An Brunson in the

652
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:41,640
Speaker 3: same action and there's just nothing they can do about it.

653
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:45,320
Speaker 3: The Knicks are really, really good. They can score whenever

654
00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:47,880
Speaker 3: they want, They get out and transition like crazy. They've

655
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,280
Speaker 3: got all these good players that are super bought into

656
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:53,760
Speaker 3: their r They're super fun to watch, and they have

657
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:56,480
Speaker 3: beat the shit out of some good teams this year.

658
00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:59,240
Speaker 3: But every time I've watched them against Boston, it's the

659
00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:01,680
Speaker 3: exact same issue. We are going to get Karl Anthony

660
00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:04,080
Speaker 3: Towns in space and make him guard and just get

661
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,000
Speaker 3: right past him and then spray out and get great

662
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,080
Speaker 3: shots and beat you. It's actually kind of funny, Colin,

663
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:11,160
Speaker 3: because you can tell that they really want to beat

664
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:13,880
Speaker 3: the Knicks. Because the Celtics have played some pretty bad

665
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:16,720
Speaker 3: basketball in the middle of the season where they're not

666
00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:19,440
Speaker 3: deliberate and where they do take bad shots and they

667
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 3: settle and they don't do the things they need to do.

668
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:23,600
Speaker 3: They see the Knicks and they like snap back to

669
00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,880
Speaker 3: the playoffs last year and they just get surgical in

670
00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:28,560
Speaker 3: the way that they pick on those guys. But it

671
00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:31,520
Speaker 3: really just comes down to they go at New York's

672
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:34,440
Speaker 3: worst defenders every single time, and then they play driving

673
00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:36,680
Speaker 3: kick out of it to get great shots, and that

674
00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:40,040
Speaker 3: really is the issue. And then Jalen Brunson, he just

675
00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:45,160
Speaker 3: has this wall of athletic, bigger defender every single possession

676
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:46,720
Speaker 3: as it goes down to the other end, it's like,

677
00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:49,920
Speaker 3: here's Jalen Brown, Here's Drew Holliday, Here's Derek White. He's

678
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 3: just it's such a difficult job for him to consistently

679
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,480
Speaker 3: break down that Boston defense because they just have so

680
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:57,280
Speaker 3: many different defenders they can put on them.

681
00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:00,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting to say that because I really like

682
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:04,240
Speaker 1: the dexterity of the Knicks. I think they're a matchup problem.

683
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:07,880
Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns is offensively gifted. He's shooting threes like

684
00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:09,720
Speaker 1: right now, like the best he's ever I mean, he's

685
00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:13,080
Speaker 1: really shooting the ball. Well, he's quirky. I've seen him

686
00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 1: play live four times, and there'll be halfs you're like,

687
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:18,600
Speaker 1: is he a top ten player in the league? Like

688
00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:22,640
Speaker 1: he can destroy people, he can embarrass people, and then

689
00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:25,840
Speaker 1: in the second half you'll be like, did he take

690
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:30,040
Speaker 1: a he made? Did he have a theorough flu at half?

691
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,800
Speaker 1: Like what happened? But it is interesting you break it

692
00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:37,120
Speaker 1: and I'm so glad for our audience listening Jason is

693
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 1: so good at this and that's why I just foisted

694
00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:42,280
Speaker 1: it up to him. Is when I've watched him play

695
00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,400
Speaker 1: twice the Celtics and it shit is not competitive. They

696
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:57,840
Speaker 1: just do not match up at all. You know. The

697
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,560
Speaker 1: NBA is a funny league where the NFL sort of

698
00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:04,920
Speaker 1: separated from everybody for a lot of reasons. Our society

699
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:08,400
Speaker 1: is so distracted now, the tiktoks, the platforms, the iPhone,

700
00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 1: so regular season games when you play like hockey or baseball,

701
00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:15,160
Speaker 1: it's really hard NBA. It's really hard college basketball to

702
00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:19,040
Speaker 1: get ratings Monday through Friday. So college football, UFC, the NBA,

703
00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:21,719
Speaker 1: the World Cup, they have big advantages. They feel like events.

704
00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:24,359
Speaker 1: We're more of an event. Netflix has figured this out.

705
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:26,440
Speaker 1: We're more of an event culture now than a Monday

706
00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 1: through Friday, right, and we're just more distracted. But I

707
00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:32,839
Speaker 1: will say this about the NBA, and I think they

708
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,720
Speaker 1: may not have their best players in the best markets.

709
00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:39,040
Speaker 1: But Luca going to La Jimmy Butler to San Francisco,

710
00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,840
Speaker 1: the Knicks are fun to watch. So is Boston. I

711
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,040
Speaker 1: think it's bigger than people think. The Aaron Fox to

712
00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:50,720
Speaker 1: Wemby Baseball had a massive resurgence last year. And let's

713
00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:54,200
Speaker 1: not try to overthink this. It's because Bryce Harper's and

714
00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:58,000
Speaker 1: Philly Aaron Judges in New York. The Dodgers are an

715
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 1: all star team. The Mets are really good, like all

716
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,680
Speaker 1: the really good players are almost all in the right markets.

717
00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:06,960
Speaker 1: I thought it was not just a good week for

718
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:11,840
Speaker 1: the NBA. They repositioned their players. Wemby is the next superstar.

719
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:15,960
Speaker 1: Oh dearon Fox goes to him, Luca to La, like,

720
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:19,680
Speaker 1: the Knicks are really fun to watch. Boston's outstanding. And

721
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,719
Speaker 1: by the way, it's okay to have an OKC. That's

722
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:26,160
Speaker 1: a nothing wrong with that. But it's like, I don't know,

723
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:29,759
Speaker 1: and it's easy to beat the NBA up and it is.

724
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:32,960
Speaker 1: Baseball is an agent run sport. Basketball is a player

725
00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:35,520
Speaker 1: run sport. NFL sort of an executive run sport, which

726
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:37,520
Speaker 1: is the life that most of us can relate to

727
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:41,200
Speaker 1: and live in. I thought it was a substantial Like, Honestly,

728
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,520
Speaker 1: if you're Adam Silver and you could have pulled levers,

729
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:48,160
Speaker 1: you would have wanted Butler with Steph you would have

730
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,719
Speaker 1: wanted Wemby to get a twenty five point guy. I

731
00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:54,080
Speaker 1: from your perspective, you watch the NBA regardless. I thought

732
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,279
Speaker 1: it was the best ten to fourteen day period the

733
00:35:57,360 --> 00:35:58,920
Speaker 1: NBA has had in five years.

734
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,520
Speaker 4: Seriously, oh, one hundred percent agree.

735
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 3: I found this to be so fascinated in Colin because

736
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:06,200
Speaker 3: you know, first of all, I'm a diehard basketball fan,

737
00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:08,160
Speaker 3: and so when I hear people talk about the NBA

738
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:10,120
Speaker 3: in a negative light, I'm like, I get defensive.

739
00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:12,359
Speaker 4: I'm like, no, we're good. This just please watch. It's

740
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:13,600
Speaker 4: gonna be interesting, I promise.

741
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:16,239
Speaker 3: And it's like, when everyone was talking about all this

742
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,960
Speaker 3: stuff early in the season, there were all these different

743
00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,759
Speaker 3: prevailing opinions, and that, for the record, is what made

744
00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,200
Speaker 3: it interesting is no one knows. No one knew why

745
00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:26,439
Speaker 3: the ratings were down, and I was kind of keyed

746
00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:29,080
Speaker 3: in on the concept of urgency. I kept thinking, like,

747
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:31,600
Speaker 3: what was the difference between like nineteen ninety eight when

748
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:34,520
Speaker 3: Michael Jordan was playing in right now, And the difference

749
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:37,440
Speaker 3: is there's just thousands of more options both on your

750
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:39,359
Speaker 3: TV and on your smartphone. It is in much more

751
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:42,080
Speaker 3: competitive space. And I still think that that is the

752
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:46,280
Speaker 3: primary barrier if between the NBA and like getting real

753
00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:50,680
Speaker 3: consistently great ratings. That said, like, what really dawned on

754
00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:54,440
Speaker 3: me in the last week as NBA interest skyrocketed. Yeah,

755
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:56,480
Speaker 3: and even though the NFL is going to be just fine,

756
00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:59,239
Speaker 3: there was a little bit of a stagnant kind of

757
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:01,960
Speaker 3: stretched there in the last couple of weeks where it's like,

758
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:04,520
Speaker 3: here are the Chiefs again, here are the Eagles again.

759
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,880
Speaker 3: It's kind of the same storylines. Okay, Yeah, Taylor Swift,

760
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:09,600
Speaker 3: what we talked about all that last year, it was

761
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 3: like kind of a little bit stagnant. And what Dawn

762
00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:16,120
Speaker 3: done me, Colin is I think the NBA screwed the

763
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:18,840
Speaker 3: pooch a little bit with this latest CBA by restricting

764
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:22,239
Speaker 3: player movement so much. It was a it was a

765
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:25,080
Speaker 3: problem where it became the only thing the NBA was,

766
00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:27,400
Speaker 3: where all we talked about was players moving. And you

767
00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:29,920
Speaker 3: don't want you don't want to go that far. But

768
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:31,720
Speaker 3: the truth of the matter is is a good amount

769
00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:34,480
Speaker 3: of the intrigue in the NBA comes down to player movement.

770
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:37,000
Speaker 3: That's right, and it's and it's been like that my

771
00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:39,640
Speaker 3: whole life. It keeps things fresh.

772
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:42,480
Speaker 1: I told you for this when he joined me. I said, Adam,

773
00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:46,279
Speaker 1: you guys are too worried about this. I find the

774
00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:49,320
Speaker 1: Warriors boring. When STEP's off the floor, I'm now gonna

775
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,280
Speaker 1: watch them play. I already have watched them play. Player

776
00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:55,080
Speaker 1: movements front. The NFL figured this out. They moved their

777
00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:58,000
Speaker 1: free agency period. They're like, people like this stuff. It's

778
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:02,480
Speaker 1: fantasy football. I think, listen, the NBA has always been

779
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,320
Speaker 1: a little concerned with tanking. But I do think sometimes

780
00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 1: the NBA worries about problems that are just natural and

781
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:13,440
Speaker 1: authentic and organic and it's okay, like people like they

782
00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:17,680
Speaker 1: like traits, take out Lebron. The truth is, even Kab's

783
00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 1: player movement outside of the Warriors, it hasn't made the

784
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:24,640
Speaker 1: league unfair. One of his moves was great. The last

785
00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:25,840
Speaker 1: tw who haven't done anything.

786
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:30,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, they almost always don't pan out. Actually, it's right,

787
00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:30,840
Speaker 4: it's kind of hilarious.

788
00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:32,719
Speaker 3: It's like, who's gonna be the next person to put

789
00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:34,399
Speaker 3: all their chips in the basket and have some sort

790
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,080
Speaker 3: of some sort of issue. But like, yeah, that's kind

791
00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:38,680
Speaker 3: of the way that I look at And I think

792
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,320
Speaker 3: part of it is they listen too much to certain

793
00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:43,960
Speaker 3: owners and you almost need to get those guys together

794
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:46,000
Speaker 3: and be like, look, I get it, Like when this

795
00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:48,799
Speaker 3: happens and you lose your star. It can be a problem.

796
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:51,000
Speaker 3: But the flip side of it is is like we're

797
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:54,560
Speaker 3: all gonna make a lot more money if there's intrigue

798
00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:58,040
Speaker 3: surrounding the league. In an absence of urgency, we can

799
00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:01,000
Speaker 3: make up for it with intrigue. And you don't want

800
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:02,239
Speaker 3: to go too far. You don't want to get it

801
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:04,359
Speaker 3: to where it becomes a soap opera. But I thought

802
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:07,080
Speaker 3: it was like Colin, It was like everyone was so

803
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:11,040
Speaker 3: just like whatever about the NBA all season until the

804
00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:13,040
Speaker 3: Luca trade went down, that's right, and then it's just

805
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:15,200
Speaker 3: and it was almost like it kind of like broke

806
00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:17,160
Speaker 3: the ice in a way to where everyone was like,

807
00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:19,399
Speaker 3: you know what, let's shake things up too. Next thing,

808
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:22,080
Speaker 3: you know, you have six stars changing teams, you have

809
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,920
Speaker 3: all these new cores that you're looking at. It just

810
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:28,040
Speaker 3: becomes it just it just shook things up in the

811
00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:32,320
Speaker 3: right way to reinvigorate interest. And so from that standpoint,

812
00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:34,520
Speaker 3: like I do wonder if the NBA needs to take

813
00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:37,960
Speaker 3: a look at a little bit more balance between like

814
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:41,400
Speaker 3: you need to find a way to incentivize players staying

815
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:44,200
Speaker 3: with teams, but at the same time make it possible

816
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:47,160
Speaker 3: for them to be moved, because right now it's too

817
00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:50,400
Speaker 3: difficult to move them because of the apron rules and

818
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,879
Speaker 3: all these different things, and so like like Colin, more

819
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:56,720
Speaker 3: players would have moved if it wasn't for the current

820
00:39:56,760 --> 00:39:59,600
Speaker 3: CBA structure, like when you have to match salaries but

821
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,520
Speaker 3: you can't taking additional money, and now everyone needs a

822
00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:05,880
Speaker 3: third team to eat up salary just to facilitate a deal, right,

823
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,080
Speaker 3: like it just it made it difficult, and like everyone

824
00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,040
Speaker 3: did it anyway. But like the point is is that

825
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:13,480
Speaker 3: I think the NBA kind of over indexed on stability, yes,

826
00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:15,320
Speaker 3: and now all of a sudden, when you have stability

827
00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:17,040
Speaker 3: without urgency, it just becomes boring.

828
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:22,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think you know it's it's It's funny

829
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:29,040
Speaker 1: about professional sports is people talk about parody, but TV

830
00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:32,440
Speaker 1: networks pay about thirty five percent for all these leagues

831
00:40:33,719 --> 00:40:37,840
Speaker 1: or more. They don't want parody. Fox doesn't give a

832
00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:40,200
Speaker 1: rip if they have to televise the Eagles every week

833
00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 1: and never the Panthers, like they don't care. It's like

834
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:50,240
Speaker 1: the reality is is the NBA partners at Amazon, NBA, ESPN,

835
00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:54,719
Speaker 1: Amazon and NBC. If eight to ten teams are fun

836
00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:57,960
Speaker 1: to watch, then that those are the teams you televise

837
00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:02,560
Speaker 1: like Fox, We're gonna televise the Podres, the Dodgers, the Mets,

838
00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:05,319
Speaker 1: the Yankees, maybe the Braves because they're so big in

839
00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:08,760
Speaker 1: the South. And and that's about sixty five to seventy

840
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:11,200
Speaker 1: five percent of the games you televised. We don't. We're

841
00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:15,240
Speaker 1: not behold into televising the Mariners. You know, it doesn't matter.

842
00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:18,719
Speaker 1: And the NBA is not you know, ESPN doesn't have

843
00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:23,640
Speaker 1: to televise Sacramento. So I agree with you, is that

844
00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:28,440
Speaker 1: don't people like deals? I think what's happened in our

845
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:32,920
Speaker 1: society is that as we're more distracted, it takes more

846
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:38,759
Speaker 1: to grab our attention. But basketball, at its core, I mean,

847
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:43,200
Speaker 1: at its core, is a fun watch. It's it has

848
00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:47,320
Speaker 1: many things that are really good. It's driven by stars,

849
00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:53,280
Speaker 1: it's got egos, it's got rivalries, it's got a hierarchy.

850
00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:57,080
Speaker 1: It's cool. You see celebrities at games. There's a lot

851
00:41:57,080 --> 00:42:00,360
Speaker 1: of things that you know, baseball had a very good season,

852
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:04,399
Speaker 1: but baseball is long, the pacing is slow, celebrities don't

853
00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:08,520
Speaker 1: go to games, the season is twice the NBA. There's

854
00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:10,280
Speaker 1: a lot of things with baseball that in the current

855
00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:14,640
Speaker 1: sort of societal structure and are how we're built out

856
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:18,640
Speaker 1: don't work. That's why speeding the game up was so important.

857
00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:22,680
Speaker 1: Basketball's always had certain things young people like it. It's

858
00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:26,359
Speaker 1: the culture, their shoes, it's star driven. So the key

859
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:29,399
Speaker 1: is can you get the stars moving around a little bit?

860
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:32,399
Speaker 1: Can you hopefully get them in your Boston's and your

861
00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:35,480
Speaker 1: LA's and your Chicago's and your New York's and Phillies. Yeah,

862
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:40,600
Speaker 1: markets kind of matter. But it reminded me Jason years

863
00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:48,680
Speaker 1: ago when before Obama became their presidential candidate, the Democratic

864
00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:51,480
Speaker 1: Party was just sort of lost, and then all of

865
00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:54,440
Speaker 1: a sudden a year later, after Barack Obama becomes president,

866
00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:58,440
Speaker 1: You're like, Wow, that party is strong. They are dominant.

867
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:02,880
Speaker 1: That is the smart party. It is amazing when Connor

868
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:06,360
Speaker 1: McGregor is UFC is growing and growing, and Connor McGregor

869
00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:10,560
Speaker 1: is this crazy talent. It's like it just took UFC

870
00:43:10,719 --> 00:43:13,560
Speaker 1: to a completely Oh you've got to watch Saturday night.

871
00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:17,000
Speaker 1: Connor McGregor's fighting, John Jones is fighting. The truth is

872
00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:19,720
Speaker 1: the Lakers are good, the Celtics are good, the Knicks

873
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:24,080
Speaker 1: are good. Jason, the league's good. I mean, seriously, San Francisco,

874
00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:27,920
Speaker 1: New York Los Angeles Boston. Yep. League's gonna be just fine.

875
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:31,120
Speaker 3: You gotta think about the casual fan, like when I

876
00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:33,080
Speaker 3: when I think about like the nut jobs like me

877
00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:35,160
Speaker 3: that are gonna watch the season no matter what, we're

878
00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:37,480
Speaker 3: not the people that you're trying to impress and that

879
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:40,160
Speaker 3: and that really is the bottom line there. There has

880
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:43,200
Speaker 3: to be some intrigue. The NFL does it with urgency,

881
00:43:43,239 --> 00:43:45,120
Speaker 3: and it's just so easy for anyone to watch the

882
00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:46,839
Speaker 3: game and realize one team's trying to move this way

883
00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:47,720
Speaker 3: and the other team's trying.

884
00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:48,080
Speaker 4: To move this way.

885
00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:50,520
Speaker 3: It's like it's basically like eleven on eleven tog of

886
00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:53,080
Speaker 3: War if you really look at it, and basketball it

887
00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:57,080
Speaker 3: just it. It needed this, and like I can't even

888
00:43:57,120 --> 00:44:00,400
Speaker 3: colin I Rob.

889
00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:02,680
Speaker 4: Polinka after trading for Luka Dacic.

890
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:07,080
Speaker 3: Got through the deadline without a center and put all

891
00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:09,280
Speaker 3: of his eggs in the basket of Mark Williams, who's

892
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:11,560
Speaker 3: played like a third of the basketball games that he

893
00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:13,840
Speaker 3: could have played in since he came into the league,

894
00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:18,360
Speaker 3: Rob Polinka, and Genie Buss. Had this not gone down,

895
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:23,000
Speaker 3: the Lakers probably would have spiraled for another decade. It's

896
00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:26,880
Speaker 3: hard for me to even quantify how much of a

897
00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:31,040
Speaker 3: solid Nico Harrison and the MAVs did here for not

898
00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:34,200
Speaker 3: just the Lakers, but for the entire NBA, because they

899
00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:37,279
Speaker 3: set the Lakers up for the next decade when they

900
00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:38,920
Speaker 3: probably would have spiraled from here.

901
00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:40,920
Speaker 4: It really is a remarkable turn of events.

902
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,400
Speaker 1: You know, let's finish with this. I had said this,

903
00:44:43,560 --> 00:44:45,640
Speaker 1: I am not going to defend Nico Harrison. I'm not

904
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:49,360
Speaker 1: going to do it. But with the new Max deal,

905
00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:53,799
Speaker 1: and because Luca, because of his all NBA and his experience,

906
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:57,799
Speaker 1: qualified for like the top of the food chain. It

907
00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:00,920
Speaker 1: was different when the max to Lebron was thirty eight million,

908
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:03,600
Speaker 1: and that still wasn't maybe as much as a great

909
00:45:03,719 --> 00:45:09,560
Speaker 1: NFL quarterback. When the max now is seventy four million annually. Okay,

910
00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:13,279
Speaker 1: I get owners saying he's not in great shape, he

911
00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:16,360
Speaker 1: doesn't defend, he's missed the last two camps. He hasn't

912
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:20,960
Speaker 1: played since Christmas. There's a duality to all this stuff. Yes,

913
00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:25,600
Speaker 1: the stars will be paid more than Patrick Mahomes, like

914
00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:30,680
Speaker 1: thirty percent more in some instances twenty percent more. But

915
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:34,240
Speaker 1: I do get even billionaires going, okay, okay, we've gotten

916
00:45:34,239 --> 00:45:37,719
Speaker 1: a seventy five million a year just say this out loud,

917
00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:41,080
Speaker 1: doesn't defend not in great shape, miss camp second time,

918
00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:44,720
Speaker 1: hasn't played since Christmas, doesn't have a great work ethic,

919
00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:49,240
Speaker 1: naturally gifted offensively, Yet that doesn't sound like a seventy

920
00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:53,440
Speaker 1: four million dollar employee like Lebron qualifies that and Edwards.

921
00:45:53,600 --> 00:45:56,080
Speaker 1: I mean, there's there's Wemby's, there's good a handful of players.

922
00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:59,120
Speaker 1: You're like, you just pay that Steph Curry. But I

923
00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:02,920
Speaker 1: do think is that when you get into a stratosphere

924
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:08,239
Speaker 1: where you're paid more than the highest paid CEOs on

925
00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:12,240
Speaker 1: Wall Street, like there's a big difference. You're like, ooh,

926
00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:14,799
Speaker 1: you know, guy's making thirty five million a year. Okay,

927
00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:20,200
Speaker 1: that's insane money. Seventy four million dollars a year, and

928
00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:23,320
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, he's missed the last couple of camps,

929
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:27,919
Speaker 1: hasn't played since Christmas. I do think, And you start

930
00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:31,040
Speaker 1: looking at Kawhi, you look at Embid, and then you

931
00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:34,319
Speaker 1: look at NBA legends like Kobe and Lebron. There was

932
00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:37,279
Speaker 1: a little bit of a Shack quality with Luco where

933
00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:41,880
Speaker 1: you're like, yeah, I know he's transformational. But the Lakers

934
00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:45,879
Speaker 1: moved off Shack. They moved off Shack and they talked

935
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:50,880
Speaker 1: about conditioning and commitment and playing defensively beyond block shots.

936
00:46:51,239 --> 00:46:53,280
Speaker 1: So I'm not saying it's a good job. I wouldn't

937
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:56,279
Speaker 1: have made the deal, but I think, Jason, when you

938
00:46:56,440 --> 00:47:00,719
Speaker 1: start getting into seventy four million, I get an order

939
00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:03,880
Speaker 1: going and I got I got paid five years of

940
00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:06,600
Speaker 1: this and I'm watching and he's like, as I played

941
00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:10,600
Speaker 1: since Christmas, I kind of get it to some degree,

942
00:47:10,640 --> 00:47:11,440
Speaker 1: Am I nuts?

943
00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:15,479
Speaker 3: You're not? I mean the concept that you're talking about.

944
00:47:15,520 --> 00:47:18,120
Speaker 3: I think I've run into a lot as I'm looking

945
00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:20,160
Speaker 3: at certain players, Like even I saw the brandon Ingram

946
00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:22,680
Speaker 3: deal today and I'm like, good God, forty million a

947
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:25,080
Speaker 3: year for brand Ingram. I'm like, I'm like, when he's

948
00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:27,000
Speaker 3: healthy and in rhythm, he's good. But he's been that

949
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:29,279
Speaker 3: like ten percent of the time over the last couple

950
00:47:29,320 --> 00:47:31,600
Speaker 3: of years. Right that series against the Suns in the

951
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:33,520
Speaker 3: first round a couple years back, he looked amazing. But

952
00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:35,560
Speaker 3: it's like, that's a lot of money to tie up

953
00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:38,160
Speaker 3: Jalen Brown. I like Jalen Brown, but there's some years

954
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:39,520
Speaker 3: at the end of his deal where he's making like

955
00:47:39,560 --> 00:47:42,359
Speaker 3: sixty five million. That's a lot of money to pay

956
00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:44,480
Speaker 3: for some Jalen Brown when.

957
00:47:44,320 --> 00:47:48,040
Speaker 1: He's regarded as the second best player on a team,

958
00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:51,279
Speaker 1: second most gifted. It's like, I like Jalen Brown, but

959
00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:57,480
Speaker 1: I think fans are forgetting sixty five seventy five million dollars.

960
00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:02,160
Speaker 1: It's just different. It's like Musk and I forget when

961
00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:05,320
Speaker 1: this happened over the last couple weeks. It's like, didn't

962
00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:08,520
Speaker 1: Denmark or something like reject his bonus. There was some

963
00:48:08,600 --> 00:48:12,400
Speaker 1: story about people, Okay, you can't have a billion dollar bonus,

964
00:48:12,440 --> 00:48:16,440
Speaker 1: Like we're not doing that, Like they're even among rich people.

965
00:48:16,719 --> 00:48:20,040
Speaker 1: There are numbers that feel egregious. And I am going

966
00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:23,600
Speaker 1: to look under the hood and I'm gonna examine everything.

967
00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:26,840
Speaker 1: If Luca was forty eight million today, you just not

968
00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:30,840
Speaker 1: worry about the defense, but barking and officials not in

969
00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:34,000
Speaker 1: shape hurt missus. Second cam hasn't playd since Christmas doesn't

970
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:37,680
Speaker 1: defend I. There's part of me that just gets it.

971
00:48:37,719 --> 00:48:39,239
Speaker 1: There's a shack thing going on.

972
00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:44,640
Speaker 3: I get it. Here's my one counterpoint. Shaq was considerably

973
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:48,799
Speaker 3: older at the time. Yes, And in my opinion, there

974
00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:53,279
Speaker 3: are five transformational talents in the NBA, five talents that

975
00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:56,200
Speaker 3: if you get this guy, everything you do is so

976
00:48:56,280 --> 00:48:59,560
Speaker 3: much easier with team building. It's Jokic, it's Yannis, it's

977
00:48:59,560 --> 00:49:03,360
Speaker 3: shake Yo, Alexander, it's Wemby, and it's Luca. To me,

978
00:49:03,480 --> 00:49:05,319
Speaker 3: Luca is one of those guys, and he's twenty five

979
00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:08,840
Speaker 3: years old. Even with the cap, like they're they're smoothing

980
00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:10,720
Speaker 3: the cap so they don't have so that they avoid

981
00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:14,000
Speaker 3: the Kevin Durant situation in twenty sixteen. But the CAP's

982
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:16,000
Speaker 3: gonna go up like something crazy like ten million a

983
00:49:16,080 --> 00:49:18,759
Speaker 3: year in perpetuity through the end of the decade as

984
00:49:18,800 --> 00:49:21,920
Speaker 3: they as they wrap in all this new TV money.

985
00:49:21,960 --> 00:49:25,400
Speaker 3: So like, even in the context of team building, I think, like,

986
00:49:25,800 --> 00:49:27,920
Speaker 3: even if Luca has taken up seventy five million in

987
00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:30,240
Speaker 3: my cap, but I think I can get a payroll

988
00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:32,279
Speaker 3: up to one eighty one ninety within a.

989
00:49:32,200 --> 00:49:33,040
Speaker 4: Couple of years.

990
00:49:33,560 --> 00:49:36,120
Speaker 3: I feel like I like my chances building around Luca,

991
00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:37,719
Speaker 3: and so like, even though I grew with all things

992
00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:39,319
Speaker 3: you said, and Colin, I made sure to say this

993
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:42,200
Speaker 3: in my show after the trade, like, I was super

994
00:49:42,200 --> 00:49:43,800
Speaker 3: critical of Luca after the finals.

995
00:49:43,840 --> 00:49:44,600
Speaker 4: We talked about it.

996
00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:47,960
Speaker 3: It was the worst defensive performance I've ever seen from

997
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:51,440
Speaker 3: a star in the finals. His conditioning is embarrassing.

998
00:49:51,440 --> 00:49:51,920
Speaker 4: For the record.

999
00:49:51,920 --> 00:49:53,600
Speaker 3: One of the things I'm excited about is I want

1000
00:49:53,920 --> 00:49:56,800
Speaker 3: I think Lebron you can see it in his body language.

1001
00:49:57,080 --> 00:49:59,279
Speaker 3: I think Lebron is trying so hard to set an

1002
00:49:59,320 --> 00:50:03,240
Speaker 3: example for him. He's on Instagram and his hyperbaric chamber.

1003
00:50:03,480 --> 00:50:06,000
Speaker 3: He's hustling around on defense like he's never done it

1004
00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:09,759
Speaker 3: in his life. Lebron is Lebron is trying to set

1005
00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:12,560
Speaker 3: this example for Luca because he knows the potential that

1006
00:50:12,719 --> 00:50:15,279
Speaker 3: is there. But this is all I would say. He's fat,

1007
00:50:15,280 --> 00:50:18,239
Speaker 3: he's chubby, and he's slow. But he was fat and

1008
00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:20,640
Speaker 3: slow in the in the playoffs last year, and he

1009
00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:24,360
Speaker 3: absolutely obliterated the Minnesota Timberwolves and got within three wins

1010
00:50:24,400 --> 00:50:26,640
Speaker 3: of the trophy. Like, Yeah, at a certain point, I'm like,

1011
00:50:26,719 --> 00:50:29,240
Speaker 3: let's not overthink this. Even though I agree with everything

1012
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:32,080
Speaker 3: you're saying, I just think Luca is worth the risk.

1013
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:35,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, So it's called hoops tonight. It's Jason timp I

1014
00:50:35,719 --> 00:50:38,759
Speaker 1: think he has the ability to break down games and

1015
00:50:38,880 --> 00:50:43,000
Speaker 1: film as well as anybody that does this, and he's

1016
00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:45,319
Speaker 1: going to become as we know, in football season ends,

1017
00:50:45,680 --> 00:50:48,040
Speaker 1: we do a lot more with Jason. It's always great

1018
00:50:48,040 --> 00:50:50,719
Speaker 1: to see you. I gotta be honest, I have been

1019
00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:54,600
Speaker 1: really I had a stomach virus. I've been ah staying

1020
00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:57,319
Speaker 1: away from the Rocks. But I I just had one

1021
00:50:57,520 --> 00:50:59,560
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna have another one when we signed off,

1022
00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:03,840
Speaker 1: really did. I can be a little blurry tonight. I

1023
00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:05,840
Speaker 1: gotta watch it. What game is tonight? What have we

1024
00:51:05,840 --> 00:51:07,480
Speaker 1: got tonight? Oh?

1025
00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:09,600
Speaker 3: Man, I haven't even looked at this slate yet. Let's

1026
00:51:09,880 --> 00:51:12,960
Speaker 3: I would imagine that the several more new trade uh

1027
00:51:13,280 --> 00:51:16,120
Speaker 3: trade guys to watch, all right, Grizzly Suns, that's a

1028
00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:17,880
Speaker 3: fun one. Nix Pacers, that's a fun one.

1029
00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:20,600
Speaker 1: All Right, there we go. Good see anybody.

1030
00:51:21,120 --> 00:51:22,560
Speaker 3: Good to see you too, man. Looking forward to the

1031
00:51:22,600 --> 00:51:23,280
Speaker 3: rest of the season.

1032
00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:26,680
Speaker 2: The volume