Speaker 1: Welcome to this week Uncut in the world of NBA News.
Speaker 1: Chris Hans Stein, it's some time this Lincoln Cut is
Speaker 1: underway and then fire. This should be a good one,
Speaker 1: Stein Haynes, This League Uncut back with you for a
Speaker 1: new episode. We're recording on Wednesday night for a Thursday
Speaker 1: morning drop of the pod. We're getting off to a
Speaker 1: slightly delayed start because just as we were gonna start recording,
Speaker 1: of course, Chris Haynes's phone rang and a bigger name.
Speaker 1: He had a bigger name on the other line. So
Speaker 1: that means Stein goes back to the end of the queue,
Speaker 1: as we would say in England, and uh, he had
Speaker 1: to take are you at Liberty to share with us
Speaker 1: who you were speaking to? Think it would be okay
Speaker 1: because the story would be out in the morning already,
Speaker 1: so the news would have already dropped. But I had
Speaker 1: reached out to Jalen Brunson, who's having an incredible year
Speaker 1: with the New York Knicks. They're doing really good things
Speaker 1: out there at fifth seed in Eastern Conference standards and
Speaker 1: Jayalen playing playing at the All star level. But I
Speaker 1: reached out to him earlier in the day about you know,
Speaker 1: giving me some time, can he call me at some
Speaker 1: point in the next few days. And I didn't hear
Speaker 1: nothing anything Stein And so he actually texts me at
Speaker 1: halftime of the Knicks Magic game, and so like he
Speaker 1: was like, hey, Chris, my bad. I'm just seeing your text. Hey,
Speaker 1: what'll we call you after the game. We're a halftime
Speaker 1: right now. I'm like halftime, I said, bro Kiah hit
Speaker 1: me upat there. I said, get back in the game. Man,
Speaker 1: don't worry about this. He said, no, I'm not playing tonight,
Speaker 1: so it's all good. He said, So I'll call you.
Speaker 1: I'll call you after the game. And so he ended
Speaker 1: up calling in my bad styne because usually year the
Speaker 1: one that always has something to do right before we
Speaker 1: go on and hold us up. So this time it
Speaker 1: was mine. I wish it was because of NBA All
Speaker 1: Stars or near all stars calling me for interviews, but
Speaker 1: that's usually it's usually because I messed up somehow, not
Speaker 1: because I have not because I have a Yeah, I
Speaker 1: couldn't tell I understand, I understand, but I couldn't tell Jayleen. Hey,
Speaker 1: you know what, man, let's do it tomorrow. I'm wait
Speaker 1: after the pod. So now so it's we'll have a story.
Speaker 1: It'll be it's on Bleacher Report as a right now,
Speaker 1: y'all can check it out. Yeah, it'll be interesting to
Speaker 1: see if that story. Does that story come out before
Speaker 1: this pod, we'll see. It'll be a race. Well, we'll see.
Speaker 1: We'll see which comes out first. But put me down
Speaker 1: as jealous, like everyone in Dallas, I missed Jayto he
Speaker 1: has he has some Dallas comments, so yeah, yeah, peep
Speaker 1: it out. Yeah, no, I mean he is. He has
Speaker 1: definitely missed. He was just great to watch and great
Speaker 1: to cover. The guy gets better every single year and
Speaker 1: just an absolute pro. So it's been you know, I
Speaker 1: thought he was stepping in, really stepping into a pressure
Speaker 1: cooker situation where you know, all the microscope was going
Speaker 1: to be on him, and he is just zoomed past
Speaker 1: all expectations yet again for a former second round pick.
Speaker 1: Just one of the season's better stories. The Knicks and
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson two of the season's better story. So, as
Speaker 1: we are recording this on a Wednesday night, very important
Speaker 1: game taking place as we speak, the Clippers playing their
Speaker 1: first game since Paul George went down with that really
Speaker 1: really hard to watch knee injury. Thankfully, it appears to
Speaker 1: be one of those knee sprains that just looks stomach
Speaker 1: turning when you factor in the injury history that Paul
Speaker 1: George already has from the Team USA disaster from almost
Speaker 1: a decade ago. Now, just just terrible to see that,
Speaker 1: and then you know, thankfully, it looks like it's not
Speaker 1: as severe as it looked, but there's still a great
Speaker 1: deal of uncertainty. The Clippers have basically said that Paul
Speaker 1: George is essentially out for the rest of the regular season.
Speaker 1: It's going to be two to three weeks before he's reevaluated.
Speaker 1: That's realistically going to consume the rest of the regular season.
Speaker 1: So a Clipper team that had won five of six
Speaker 1: and was starting to trend in the right direction is
Speaker 1: now most likely going to have to survive the rest
Speaker 1: of the regular season at least and see if they
Speaker 1: can preserve their top six status without Paul George. I
Speaker 1: tweeted the stat earlier on Wednesday night. They are twenty
Speaker 1: four and fourteen with both of their stars in uniform
Speaker 1: four and two, with Kauai only entering this Wednesday night
Speaker 1: game with Okase. You'll know the result by the time
Speaker 1: this drops in the morning, eight and ten with PG
Speaker 1: only two and nine with both fout. We've got injury
Speaker 1: news with the Lakers as well. But I know the
Speaker 1: Clippers are a team you are around a lot. I
Speaker 1: know you know PG pretty well. I mean, I've had
Speaker 1: trouble figuring out what I mean. We've been waiting. I mean,
Speaker 1: we've been waiting for years. Are they ever gonna have
Speaker 1: their whole team? And yet again we're saying they're not.
Speaker 1: And I mean, the thing is that it seemed like
Speaker 1: this type of situation is going around the league a lot.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of teams, Lakers right there, Phoenix,
Speaker 1: Suns right there as well, dealing with injuries and New Orleans, Dallas,
Speaker 1: New Orleans guys. It's happened a lot, and it's unfortunate
Speaker 1: because for the Clippers, from their perspective, been waiting for
Speaker 1: a while, and they get it, got out, the guys back,
Speaker 1: and Tylu finally has the pieces where he can try
Speaker 1: to mix and match and try to assemble the right
Speaker 1: type of rotation and start line up together. And they're
Speaker 1: kind of like they're rolling a little bit going into
Speaker 1: the postseason, which is the right time to be rolling.
Speaker 1: And then this happens Stein. Were you there in Vegas
Speaker 1: that year Paul George had that catastrophe moment and listen,
Speaker 1: I feel I still feel guilty about how this went
Speaker 1: down because that was in the midst of I got
Speaker 1: to cover three straight Team USA runs for ESPN, the
Speaker 1: twenty twelve Olympics in London, twenty fourteen Worlds in Spain,
Speaker 1: and the twenty sixteen Olympics in Rio, and I always
Speaker 1: say those are probably the three best assignments of my career.
Speaker 1: Brazil was tough. Brazil. The workload was crazy because I
Speaker 1: was doing writing and TV the first time I really
Speaker 1: had to do well. I mean I really had to
Speaker 1: do both at at at a heavy level. And the
Speaker 1: security issues in Brazil. I was really looking forward to
Speaker 1: go into Brazil because it's a country i'd never been.
Speaker 1: And I know, you beat me there, you went there,
Speaker 1: you went there with the Yeah, I was really looking
Speaker 1: forward to going. And because of the security situation and
Speaker 1: the workload and just the way, like I really, I
Speaker 1: saw very little of Brazil. They didn't want us going
Speaker 1: anywhere but but London. You know how much I love England,
Speaker 1: so to be to basically have my own apartment in
Speaker 1: London for a month was off the charts. And then honestly,
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, I was with Team USA for thirty five days,
Speaker 1: most of it in Spain and just incredible assignment. So
Speaker 1: in advance of that, I actually said I better take
Speaker 1: a between free agency and that I'm like, I better
Speaker 1: take a break. And so Ramona and Windy covered that game,
Speaker 1: and that was such a scary situation with Paul George.
Speaker 1: I think Ramona was doing like live hits from the
Speaker 1: hospital before the sun came up. I mean it was
Speaker 1: like they I felt so bad that, you know, they
Speaker 1: stepped in for me thinking, oh, it's just the Team
Speaker 1: USA scrimmage, and they ended up working round the clock
Speaker 1: because I mean, not Paul George. I mean, we don't.
Speaker 1: We don't need to go back because everybody who saw
Speaker 1: it remembers how ghastly it was. And knock on Wood,
Speaker 1: thank god that he bounced back from that and got
Speaker 1: past it and has had the career he's had, because man,
Speaker 1: that was just seeing it on TV was bad enough.
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine being there and trying to cover that.
Speaker 1: That was my I want to say that that matter
Speaker 1: of fact, that was my first year of covering Team
Speaker 1: USA that summer before they went off to I believe.
Speaker 1: I believe they were going off to play a couple
Speaker 1: of exhibitions in Chicago or New York or something like that,
Speaker 1: and that I was there and I've seen a bunch
Speaker 1: of gruesome I can't say a bunch, but a few
Speaker 1: gruesome leg injuries, but that was the only one that
Speaker 1: I've seen in person actually being off that was tough. Um.
Speaker 1: But yes, definitely you see in the replay of of
Speaker 1: his latest injury, it definitely, you know, jobs your mind
Speaker 1: back to to that that point. But thankfully it's nothing seriously,
Speaker 1: And I was able to talk to some members of
Speaker 1: the Clippers before we got on and they think that
Speaker 1: he'll be back for the playoffs. Oh really, they yeah,
Speaker 1: they think he has a chance to be back for
Speaker 1: the playoffs. They're they're optimistic, I should say, And that
Speaker 1: would be amazing, because again, it just it would that's
Speaker 1: those injuries though, like and look like believe me, I'm
Speaker 1: no doctor, but I but I had, like you do,
Speaker 1: see those nie brains that sometimes they just look so
Speaker 1: bad and then knock on wood, they turn out to
Speaker 1: be not as severe as they look in the momentum,
Speaker 1: not a whole lot of injuries that that we seem
Speaker 1: able to say that. But but you know, let's hope, man,
Speaker 1: I mean, I you know, I don't know where the
Speaker 1: Clippers are gonna end up. I mean, I think Kauai's
Speaker 1: off to a seven for seven start from the field
Speaker 1: and this game that's gone on while we're on, So
Speaker 1: they're still going to be quite formidable if Kawhi can
Speaker 1: play these last nine games and they you know, they
Speaker 1: have a deep team, one of the deepest really, so
Speaker 1: they should still be able to get into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: But yeah, think this this. You know, I still keep
Speaker 1: saying it about the West. You know this, the injuries
Speaker 1: are not everything. The West should not be as mid
Speaker 1: if I can use that word again as it's been, like,
Speaker 1: the record shouldn't be this average, in this mediocre. But
Speaker 1: I mean the injuries, I mean, really, Sacramento's success has
Speaker 1: been fueled in a lot by the fact that they've
Speaker 1: mostly avoided it. You know, They've they've lost Kevin Hurder
Speaker 1: here recently, really in their in their top rotation, they
Speaker 1: haven't had to deal with They've they've largely stayed healthy
Speaker 1: and just everywhere else you look, you know, Phoenix might
Speaker 1: have to go into the playoffs with Durant playing maybe
Speaker 1: less than five games. The Lakers, Lebron and a d
Speaker 1: have both missed significant time. Dallas cannot get Luca and
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving on the court together. New Orleans hasn't seen
Speaker 1: Zion Williamson since January second. Just on and on and on,
Speaker 1: And you don't think an argument can be made that
Speaker 1: the reason the wins are down in the Western Conference
Speaker 1: is due primarily to injuries. It's undoubtedly a factor, but
Speaker 1: I still say that the clump of teams in the
Speaker 1: five hundred range is still abnormal. And look, something else
Speaker 1: we always see we not always something else. We also
Speaker 1: see frequently in the NBA are teams that lose a
Speaker 1: key player and still find a way to put wins together.
Speaker 1: So I just I cannot believe that when you look
Speaker 1: at the standings that again, from from four through you know,
Speaker 1: I think the Blazers have pretty much removed them you know,
Speaker 1: they're they're removing themselves from this conversation. So from four
Speaker 1: to twelve that you know, we still have that it's
Speaker 1: still still so compact. It's to me, it's just it's
Speaker 1: not all injuries. Injuries one hundred percent are a significant factor.
Speaker 1: But it ain't all injuries, I understand. But those teams
Speaker 1: that you're talking about that at five hundred, Pelicans significant injuries, Lakers,
Speaker 1: significant injuries, Dallas Mavericks, they've dealt with their their share.
Speaker 1: Minnesota yes, significant injuries, Golden State yes, significant injuries, Clippers yes,
Speaker 1: Phoenix yes. Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Chris paul Is. Sometimes
Speaker 1: Sacramento is the only team like you mentioned, so nobody
Speaker 1: can rise above it. I mean, remember last year, here's
Speaker 1: a classic example. Last year Memphis went twenty and five
Speaker 1: without job. That's what I'm saying, Like, you know what,
Speaker 1: shouldn't we have seen one or two of these teams.
Speaker 1: You know, Phoenix got themselves in a big hole with
Speaker 1: the way they were playing before, you know, long before
Speaker 1: the Durant trade. So again, I den Booker was out,
Speaker 1: no question Bookers, I mean, Bookers missed a zillion games.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just think, I just I just think
Speaker 1: it's this is such an anomaly. It just is so
Speaker 1: strange that everybody is in this clump together that because
Speaker 1: I think that's that's a question that's kind of gone
Speaker 1: on all season. Will we see this again? Is this
Speaker 1: the new normal? I do not think this is the
Speaker 1: new normal, Like this is this is just so abnormal.
Speaker 1: Oh here's another one. Okay, Golden State. No question, they've
Speaker 1: had injuries, stepsmissed twenty six games, but that doesn't account
Speaker 1: for you know, what are they what are they on
Speaker 1: the road nine and twenty nine now and they were
Speaker 1: seven and twenty nine before winning the last two. I
Speaker 1: mean the Warriors, the Warriors trade the Warriors playoff hallmark
Speaker 1: has been the fact that they've won an NBA record,
Speaker 1: They've won a road game in a league record twenty
Speaker 1: seven consecutive series. Like they're they've they've always been great
Speaker 1: on the road, and this year, going into the Dallas
Speaker 1: game the other night, they were twenty eighth in the
Speaker 1: league in defense in road games and tied for third
Speaker 1: in defense in home games. So again, it's not all injuries.
Speaker 1: There's some there's some suspect play in the mix as
Speaker 1: well for somebody. I mean, because look, I look at
Speaker 1: the Lakers now they're I mean, they're they're winning games
Speaker 1: without Lebron. I mean they've now that they've made all
Speaker 1: these moves since the deadline. I mean that's saying you can.
Speaker 1: You're supposed to be able to weather one injury absence
Speaker 1: for a little bit of time when you're a good team.
Speaker 1: But hey, it's just one man's theory. Maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe it's all injuries and I'm just a doomsayer.
Speaker 1: Now you're supposed to. But if you look at the
Speaker 1: the teams that are thriving in the Western Conference, they've
Speaker 1: relatively been healthy all year long and right now and
Speaker 1: right now, nobody's really nobody's thriving in the West. I
Speaker 1: mean Memphis, given everything they've gone through with the Josh
Speaker 1: suspension and now getting him back, I mean, they've they've
Speaker 1: actually been They had a terrible, a terrible wobble early,
Speaker 1: you know, before the All Star break, but they've they've
Speaker 1: they've really been good here lately. And they've it's not
Speaker 1: just Job. I mean they've they've lost Brandon Clark for
Speaker 1: the year and they have no Steven Adams, so they
Speaker 1: they've the Grizzlies have actually shown a lot of toughness
Speaker 1: here and very quietly have a thirty one and five
Speaker 1: record at home. So I mean, what about the Lakers.
Speaker 1: There were multiple reports, including from one Sea Haynes of
Speaker 1: Turner Sports about there's there's some hope in Laker Land
Speaker 1: that Lebron might come back for the last few games
Speaker 1: of the season. And to be very clear, those reports
Speaker 1: followed an official bulletin from the Lakers about how Lebron
Speaker 1: has been cleared for more on court activity. Lebron, though,
Speaker 1: followed that up with his own update. There wasn't an
Speaker 1: evaluation today and there hasn't been any target for my return.
Speaker 1: I'm just working around the clock every day, three times
Speaker 1: a day, to give myself the best chance of coming
Speaker 1: back full strength whenever that is God bless y'all sources.
Speaker 1: I speak for myself. So there it is from NA shuts,
Speaker 1: not at you. That was just everybody else, everybody else. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't like I said. I don't know why he
Speaker 1: was so mad because the initial bulletin, again came direct
Speaker 1: from the Lakers. The Lakers told their beat writers before
Speaker 1: that Lebron tweet Lebron James has begun on court activity
Speaker 1: and gradual basketball movement progression. There is no specific timeline
Speaker 1: for his return. Further updates will be provided as appropriate.
Speaker 1: So I guess he probably didn't love the He wants
Speaker 1: to play in the last few games. But man, is
Speaker 1: that I mean, but then he had let me see,
Speaker 1: he said there wasn't an evaluation today and there hasn't
Speaker 1: been a target date for my return. Who who reported
Speaker 1: or said anything about an evaluation. I'm assuming he's talking
Speaker 1: about what the Lakers put out and probably assumed that
Speaker 1: everyone was reporting that an evaluation took place, which led
Speaker 1: to the Lakers releasing their update. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know King James is controlling the message. He's letting
Speaker 1: it be known. You're going to hear it first and
Speaker 1: foremost from him and f y'all sources. That's what he's saying. Look,
Speaker 1: I mean, I would I don't think it seems like
Speaker 1: a grand leap to assume that he would want to
Speaker 1: play in the last couple of games. He surely doesn't
Speaker 1: want to just have to come back in the playoffs
Speaker 1: with no semblance of Rampa. But I mean, look, the
Speaker 1: Pelicans won't go away, the Jazz won't go away. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Lakers still have to secure a playing spot. I
Speaker 1: don't think they're going to move up into the top
Speaker 1: six without Lebron, even if he is able to come
Speaker 1: back for one of those last couple But Lakers play
Speaker 1: April fifth against the Clippers. That's at Staples. Then obviously
Speaker 1: at Staples. Yeah, I'm gonna call it Staples. It's at Staples.
Speaker 1: And then then they got home games to finish the
Speaker 1: season on the seventh and the ninth. So the Lakers
Speaker 1: last three games are in LA. I think whether or not,
Speaker 1: no matter what was said and tweeted today, I think
Speaker 1: we're all kind of going to be looking at that
Speaker 1: to see if, if, if Lebron is able to make
Speaker 1: a comeback. By then, Braun said, I speak for myself.
Speaker 1: That's how he entered it. I started texting, like, what's
Speaker 1: what's you're talking about? Broun, What's what's on your mind?
Speaker 1: I started text him. I'm like, Naali Belone, I say
Speaker 1: that for down the road. Um, will you see the
Speaker 1: Lakers anytime soon? I scheduled to see them anytime soon
Speaker 1: right now. My next game is Golden State Golden State
Speaker 1: in New Orleans in San Francisco this coming up Tuesday. Nice,
Speaker 1: So I expect we'll get some Zion Williamson details from you. Perhaps.
Speaker 1: Oh that's another thing, right, that's man? It do you
Speaker 1: if you had if you were if you, I what
Speaker 1: did your gut tell you, Stein? Does your gut tell
Speaker 1: you Stein that Zion is out for the rest of
Speaker 1: the season? I mean, yes, if I was forced to
Speaker 1: make a choice, I can't like because again, that too
Speaker 1: is it's the same thing as like the ramp up,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, what kind of ramp up is
Speaker 1: he gonna be able to have? If you know, I
Speaker 1: think same thing. They said they were going to evaluate
Speaker 1: him in two more weeks, so he's he's only going
Speaker 1: to have a couple more a couple of games before
Speaker 1: the end of the regular season to just run out there.
Speaker 1: But you know, the Pelicant, you know, Willie Green and
Speaker 1: the Pelicans have been adamant that no decision has been
Speaker 1: made yet and the door is still open for him
Speaker 1: to potentially to return at the end of the season.
Speaker 1: But it's just been so long since we've seen him
Speaker 1: that and you think about what what details are ramp up?
Speaker 1: You know, you have to you definitely have to take
Speaker 1: into consideration Zion's injury history and is a ramp up
Speaker 1: at the later part of the season when you're talking
Speaker 1: about the end of the regular season when games matter,
Speaker 1: or even potentially a play in does that make sense,
Speaker 1: And teams aren't even practicing at this point. They're not
Speaker 1: they're not they're not practicing. These are high stakes games
Speaker 1: where they're going at it hard. Can you put Zion
Speaker 1: into a playing game, can't you know, for his first
Speaker 1: couple of games, if he if he, if he's able
Speaker 1: to come back at that time, it's it's just not
Speaker 1: a good like if this was anybody else, Yeah, like
Speaker 1: Lebron is going to go through it, But Zion hasn't
Speaker 1: played in a minute, and his history, his injury history,
Speaker 1: tells you that you gotta be cautious with the guy,
Speaker 1: and you gotta take all precautions. And so I don't
Speaker 1: see them. I can't see it. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't have any intil I just can't see it. And
Speaker 1: so I kind of agree with you with it. But
Speaker 1: that's why it's a good thing that we'll be putting
Speaker 1: you on the on the this League uncut private jet
Speaker 1: and having you attend that game, attend your first game
Speaker 1: back after the NCAA's is a Pelicans game, so we
Speaker 1: can dispatch you to get some answers. I was definitely
Speaker 1: asked for some answers. I don't I don't know if
Speaker 1: I'll get them, but I'll ask kind of some unfair
Speaker 1: pressure on put I'll ask not the first time. You
Speaker 1: know what people always ask me, like what do you
Speaker 1: miss about not being at ESPN? And I'm all always
Speaker 1: going to give the same, the same two answers. I
Speaker 1: loved ESPN Radio, even though I have a face for
Speaker 1: radio and a voice for print. As one tweeter once
Speaker 1: told me, I loved radio is one of my favorite
Speaker 1: Radio is probably tied with writing is my favorite medium.
Speaker 1: I absolutely loved working for ESPN Radio. But the other
Speaker 1: thing is ESPN had an armada of research studs, just
Speaker 1: stupendous research people who would just give me nugget after
Speaker 1: nugget after nugget. I mean helped me. So you know,
Speaker 1: to have to have the might of ESPN stats and
Speaker 1: info to back me up assembling the power rankings for
Speaker 1: fifteen years. And this week, one of my former colleagues
Speaker 1: from ESPN Research, Micah Adams, who is now a managing
Speaker 1: editor at The Sporting News, but he was he was
Speaker 1: an ace researcher for ESPN. We worked together. He had
Speaker 1: an incredible stat this week. Did you realize that Lebron
Speaker 1: and KD. Now, Katie's been on multiple teams in this stretch.
Speaker 1: But Wednesday night, when the Lakers beat the Suns, it
Speaker 1: was the seventeenth straight game between Lebron's team and Kd's
Speaker 1: team that they did not play. Wow, they have not
Speaker 1: played each other in nearly fifteen hundred and fifty days.
Speaker 1: Those gems courtesy of Mica Adams. Fifteen hundred days. It's
Speaker 1: similar to KD hasn't played in Golden State since he's left. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's we need to get these guys back on the court,
Speaker 1: all of them, Katie, Lebron, Zion, Kyrie, who else? All
Speaker 1: these Who am I leaving out in the West. I'm
Speaker 1: sure I'm leaving people out all right. Style. You mentioned
Speaker 1: what you miss about ESPN? What do you not? This was?
Speaker 1: That was that on the list? Go ahead, don't you
Speaker 1: brought it up? Go ahead, don't open the door if
Speaker 1: you ain't prepared to walk down that. I did not.
Speaker 1: I did not think I was opening the door to
Speaker 1: that question. That has to be a whole pod in
Speaker 1: its own, like that's that's like a summertime That's like
Speaker 1: a summertime pod when we when we're not in the middle.
Speaker 1: That's like in August when we're you know, free agencies over.
Speaker 1: We're not in the middle of the season, like we
Speaker 1: can't everybody. We might need, we might need hours for
Speaker 1: that one. I tried everybody. Well, I mean, I figured
Speaker 1: you would want to I mean much more newsy than that.
Speaker 1: I figured you would want to talk about the game
Speaker 1: I was at last night with uh, you know, Dallas
Speaker 1: and Golden State and the Mavericks are again going to
Speaker 1: lodge a protest. The Mavericks are the last team to
Speaker 1: lodge a protest in the NBA. In the nineteen twenty season,
Speaker 1: they protested a loss to Atlanta. They lost. Mark Cuban
Speaker 1: was subsequently fined five hundred thousand dollars, which I had
Speaker 1: forgotten about. Did you were you? Did you see what
Speaker 1: happened in Dallas? Because I don't know if it was
Speaker 1: any I don't know if it was any I hope
Speaker 1: it was clear watching on TV, because I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you I was. I had moved in the second half
Speaker 1: from my usual press row spot. I had moved into
Speaker 1: the stands to speak with someone, and so being in
Speaker 1: the stands when all that was going on, it was
Speaker 1: super confusing to try to figure out what happened. So no,
Speaker 1: I mean that I've seen on TV. Just like everybody else,
Speaker 1: you have a different, more grander perspective, So tell us talk,
Speaker 1: talk us through that. Well, look, they're not going to
Speaker 1: win the protest, but there are you know, I think,
Speaker 1: and I think deep down they know they're not going
Speaker 1: to win the protests because NBA protests are not one.
Speaker 1: I mean again, I think Matt Williams from ESPN Research,
Speaker 1: to name check ESPN Research again, I think he assembled
Speaker 1: a piece this week that lists there's only like five
Speaker 1: or six successful protests in NBA history. The last successful
Speaker 1: one was in two thousand and seven eight, but before that,
Speaker 1: there wasn't a successful protest since nineteen eighty two. It's
Speaker 1: really hard to win these. And look, I do think
Speaker 1: the Mavericks have some elements of a case in their favor.
Speaker 1: There's audio of Jason Kidd telling one of the officials,
Speaker 1: you told us it was our ball. The MAVs thought
Speaker 1: it was their ball. And for all the confusion about
Speaker 1: where the MAVs were on the court and all the
Speaker 1: criticism they're getting about they were out of position. They
Speaker 1: lost track of where the game was. They didn't know
Speaker 1: which end they were supposed to be on. One of
Speaker 1: the three refs, Michael Smith, he was also confused. He
Speaker 1: was down where the Mavericks were, so there was sufficient
Speaker 1: chaos on the floor that what should have happened One
Speaker 1: of the other two refs should have realized that the
Speaker 1: Mavericks and one of his colleagues were completely discombobulated by
Speaker 1: what was happening over whose ball it was, which end
Speaker 1: the ball was being inbounded from. There should have been
Speaker 1: a stoppage of play to get everybody in order and
Speaker 1: restore order to the situation. Instead, they decided to hand
Speaker 1: the ball to the Warriors to inbound the ball with
Speaker 1: no Mavericks in the vicinity, and Jordan Poole got to
Speaker 1: pass to Cavan Looney for an uncontested five on nil layup.
Speaker 1: But the other reality is there was more than thirteen
Speaker 1: minutes left in the game when this happened, and the
Speaker 1: league is inevitable is inevitably going to say that those
Speaker 1: two points, no matter how errant they may have been,
Speaker 1: did not change the outcome of the game, and that
Speaker 1: the Mavericks had enough time to come back. So ultimately,
Speaker 1: I don't foresee this protest succeeding. Because remember the way
Speaker 1: NBA protests work. If the NBA were to grant this
Speaker 1: protest and say that the Mavericks protest is successful, the
Speaker 1: Warriors would have to be flown back to Dallas to
Speaker 1: replay the game from that point. So at some point
Speaker 1: here before the end of the season, the Warriors would
Speaker 1: have to play the Mavericks the last one fifty plus
Speaker 1: of the third quarter and the whole fourth quarter all
Speaker 1: over again. That ain't happening. It's just not happening. The
Speaker 1: Warriors are. The Warriors ain't coming back to Dallas. Although
Speaker 1: it's it is crazy when you think that that game
Speaker 1: would get quite a bit of attention if it if
Speaker 1: it did happen, but it's it's sure, it's not that's
Speaker 1: that's not happening from that Yeah, replaying a game or
Speaker 1: restarting the game at that point, flying all that, you know.
Speaker 1: That just the question I have if if the Mavericks
Speaker 1: would have lost by four, six, eight ten on a
Speaker 1: mass foul on the protest, I don't think so. And
Speaker 1: the reason I say that is because Mark Cuban. It's
Speaker 1: like during the game and after in the in the
Speaker 1: in the at one at the first stoppage. After this chaos,
Speaker 1: Mark Cuban went all the way to the ESPN broadcast team,
Speaker 1: which was near where I was sitting at that point,
Speaker 1: to try to find out what they knew, and he
Speaker 1: told Jeff Van Gundi, who was calling the game with
Speaker 1: Dave Pass, he said, if we lose by two, we're protesting.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think if it was more, If it
Speaker 1: was more, then they really wouldn't have had a case.
Speaker 1: But it you know, Reggie Bullock makes a late three
Speaker 1: to cut it, you know, a meaningless three that cuts
Speaker 1: into two at the buzzer, and now for the for
Speaker 1: the yeah, for the for the fee of ten thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: the MAVs are going to lodge this protest and this
Speaker 1: thing will be in the news until at least next week.
Speaker 1: And because that's how long it's gonna you know, teams
Speaker 1: can take five six days to basically make their case,
Speaker 1: or it takes at least five six days for a
Speaker 1: case like this to be resolved, and you know it's
Speaker 1: gonna go, Yeah, it's it's it's most likely going to
Speaker 1: go into next week. And so it just keeps a
Speaker 1: spotlight on, you know, yet another example of team dismay
Speaker 1: with refereeing this year, which is certain by no means.
Speaker 1: You know, this is not the only time it's happened.
Speaker 1: I think we all remember Fred van Vleet in Toronto
Speaker 1: just absolutely going off on Ben Taylor. Recently, we saw
Speaker 1: Monty Williams, you know, pounding the table in frustration at
Speaker 1: his postgame press conference after the Sun's lost to the
Speaker 1: Lakers forty six to twenty free throw disparity, and Monty
Speaker 1: basically went up, you know, went off on the officiating
Speaker 1: and and and that was that was the totality of
Speaker 1: the press conference. That's not not something we often see
Speaker 1: from him. So there's a lot of I mean, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of tension going around these days.
Speaker 1: And I think the tight standings is a factor too.
Speaker 1: That just it's so bunched up for everybody in every
Speaker 1: single game matters right now, which is that's something the
Speaker 1: NBA obviously does want, and that's something that's one reason
Speaker 1: why they love the plane is because it keeps so
Speaker 1: many teams in that hunt for a top ten spot
Speaker 1: and you get the kind of late season standings watching
Speaker 1: that we used to not get in the NBA. The
Speaker 1: foul talent complaint is always a little it could be
Speaker 1: comical because sometimes the reason I say that, and this
Speaker 1: has to do with money Williams and this complaint. But
Speaker 1: a lot of times you'll see coaches complaining about the
Speaker 1: disparity and foul calls free throw you know, players get
Speaker 1: into the free throw line, and the simple solution would
Speaker 1: be to actually get to the paint, you know, be physical,
Speaker 1: get into the basket. You know, you'll see a lot
Speaker 1: of coaches, you know, if there's a huge foul to
Speaker 1: spare there, they'll complain about it. But if you look
Speaker 1: at it, that team might have just shot nothing but
Speaker 1: jump shots where you're not getting all those fouls compared
Speaker 1: to a team like say Milwaukee, team like the Lakers,
Speaker 1: where you got Jannis or you got Lebron. That's gonna
Speaker 1: always put pressure on the defense. Get into the basket,
Speaker 1: posting up, you know, just attacking and you got to
Speaker 1: foul a big guy like that. Opposed to being a
Speaker 1: jump shooting team, you're not going to get that call.
Speaker 1: And so I get why, So I get why coaches
Speaker 1: do that. They want to a lot of times when
Speaker 1: they're complaining publicly like that, and they're gonna take that fine.
Speaker 1: They're trying to set it up for the next game,
Speaker 1: trying to get in the referees head and and it
Speaker 1: would be a different referee cru but these referee CRUs
Speaker 1: they study the previous games on what was the narrative
Speaker 1: or what was talked about in that game, and they
Speaker 1: want to change it because they don't want to be
Speaker 1: part of that narrative or that storyline. So it does
Speaker 1: have a mental approach to it. But you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of it a lot, you know,
Speaker 1: nine times out of ten, you know, it's it's really
Speaker 1: you can really look at a number of jump shots
Speaker 1: the team and shooting and you can kind of tell, Okay,
Speaker 1: why such and such team is getting to a line
Speaker 1: a little bit more in that game. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's cool. That's that's that's the play. That's how that's
Speaker 1: how coaches, that's how they that's how they do that
Speaker 1: play those mind games. That's that's always been the case.
Speaker 1: You travel more than I do because of the nature
Speaker 1: of your job being a sideline reporter for Turner, and
Speaker 1: you're just you are just on the road much more
Speaker 1: than me. I mean, obviously I live in Dallas, so
Speaker 1: I just from where I live, I hear plenty of
Speaker 1: of of reviews of the officiating. Let's politely say, I
Speaker 1: mean it feels league wide though that like frustrations. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of tension right now between players, teams and
Speaker 1: the rests. I mean, are you are you feeling it?
Speaker 1: Are you sensing it when you're out there? Yeah? There is.
Speaker 1: I had a conversation, man, I wish I could say
Speaker 1: his player's name. I had a conversation with a star
Speaker 1: player and he was talking about, um, this certain ref
Speaker 1: just how disrespectful um this ref? Well, actually it was this.
Speaker 1: It was the it was the ref crew of that
Speaker 1: whatever the game that was. And he was just basically saying,
Speaker 1: you know, just how they're not held accountable. You know
Speaker 1: how they'll they'll say something that's disrespectful, and you know,
Speaker 1: they'll respond back saying, hey, I'm a man, you can't
Speaker 1: talk to me about that, or they'll cuts back at them,
Speaker 1: and then they get the text and they're the ones
Speaker 1: that have to live with public scorn of being reprimanded
Speaker 1: and they feel like the officials get off. But I
Speaker 1: let me say, man, there's a there's a ton of
Speaker 1: officials that I love out there. You know, ten officials
Speaker 1: that I consider to be really good friends, and it's
Speaker 1: a thankless job. And I do think the overwhelming majority
Speaker 1: they're trying to get it right. This is a really
Speaker 1: hard sport to officiate. But yeah, that accountability thing, I
Speaker 1: mean that I think the public wants to see more
Speaker 1: of what of how they're judged and you know, what
Speaker 1: happens when there's disciplined, and the league has always been
Speaker 1: fiercely protective of that. They don't want us to know
Speaker 1: when referees get disciplined or what kind of discipline they face,
Speaker 1: And so I think, yeah, I mean I think players
Speaker 1: too are that kind of complaints has been more frequent
Speaker 1: this season. Why is that? I don't know. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: really don't know, Like I don't know why why it
Speaker 1: seemed like it's resta boiling point this year. I couldn't
Speaker 1: call you got it? You know, And I this is
Speaker 1: such a complex subject. It's I probably shouldn't even have
Speaker 1: tried to throw it in here at the end, because
Speaker 1: that's things like this is my thirtieth season, Like there's
Speaker 1: been complaining about the referees for all thirty of those seasons.
Speaker 1: Like if it was I guess I haven't heard what
Speaker 1: the fixes. Who's gonna train, Like, who's gonna If it
Speaker 1: was easy to fix, somebody would have done it by now.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just not that easy to repair. And
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure, I'm sure if if refs could
Speaker 1: speak freely, I'm sure several would say, well, you don't
Speaker 1: know what the stuff they say to us. So, m okay,
Speaker 1: so I don't know. Since we're on the we're on referees.
Speaker 1: Let me see. The day passed already. Damn the day
Speaker 1: pass So there is a let me see my guy.
Speaker 1: But James Williams, referee number sixty, veteran ref, really one
Speaker 1: of the best rests we have in the league. I
Speaker 1: was supposed to put this out a week ago and
Speaker 1: I'm looking back at it and I'm like, damn, I
Speaker 1: missed it. So he started a it looked like it's
Speaker 1: a website called ref Masters, and it's a it's a
Speaker 1: site that's supposed to help fans understand what refs are
Speaker 1: looking at like at certain points of the game, is
Speaker 1: trying to it's a it's a site to try to
Speaker 1: educate fans on what to look for, why certain calls
Speaker 1: are being made. H So this is This is all
Speaker 1: started by James, my brother James William. So y'all go
Speaker 1: to Instagram at ref Masters and check him out. He
Speaker 1: gives let me say, he did a Q and A
Speaker 1: on March eleventh that I missed, So sorry James this
Speaker 1: We're already in mark March twenty three. But go to
Speaker 1: that site. Check him out. He's doing really good things,
Speaker 1: trying to educate the fans on official interesting stun. I
Speaker 1: got a question, and of course I'm coming from leftfield.
Speaker 1: I promise you I'm going somewhere with this. But who
Speaker 1: is the next player Portland Trail Blazers player that you
Speaker 1: think will have his jersey retired by the Blazers? Man,
Speaker 1: I do not know the Blazers as inside and out
Speaker 1: as you, and I'm guessing you're not asking me. You're
Speaker 1: not asking this about Dame, who's certainly years away from
Speaker 1: retirement at this point. So obviously, no, I thought you.
Speaker 1: I thought you would say Dame. This isn't because he's probablyological, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean da, I mean Dame's a layup that you know,
Speaker 1: I guess from the era previous. I mean, would Brandon
Speaker 1: Roy be a contender because you know, obviously injury, tortured,
Speaker 1: but he had some some really high highs as a Blazer.
Speaker 1: I don't know. You know again, I'm saying that totally
Speaker 1: as a guess. I don't have a super I don't
Speaker 1: have my finger on the pulse of the Blazer like
Speaker 1: you do. I'm guessing. So I bring this up for
Speaker 1: a reason. But the only and no disrespect to I'm
Speaker 1: not talking about Brandon Roy, not talking about la Marcus Aldreds.
Speaker 1: I'm actually going I'm actually going to Era before that
Speaker 1: and LaMarcus what has a case based off of how
Speaker 1: the Portland Troublers that have done things in the past.
Speaker 1: When it comes to retiring jerseys, Portland is not like
Speaker 1: the Lakers or the Celtics. Lakers and Celtics have Hall
Speaker 1: of Famers. It is no disrespect to these players, but
Speaker 1: most of the players jerseys that's retired by the Blazers,
Speaker 1: these players were on that seventy seventeam that won the
Speaker 1: NBA championship. It's the Portland Troublers only championship, and so
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of you know, you gotten trying
Speaker 1: to think the Hall of famers on that that's retiring
Speaker 1: for the Blazers. Clyde Drexler, Bill Walton, I think that
Speaker 1: is it. Do you have a listen front doctor Jack,
Speaker 1: doctor Jack Wickcamp. But but yeah, like, look like you're saying,
Speaker 1: I didn't even I didn't even realize this. Lloyd Neil's
Speaker 1: number thirty six is retired by the Portland Trailblazers. Member
Speaker 1: of that team, Bob Gross a more well known member
Speaker 1: of that team, but his number thirty also retired. And
Speaker 1: Bob Gross only average nine point two points a game,
Speaker 1: but obviously his role on that championship team makes him
Speaker 1: a Blazer's legend. But yes, I see your point here.
Speaker 1: So when I stopped so when I started covering the league,
Speaker 1: I'm just being honest. I'm twenty eight at the time,
Speaker 1: twenty seven or whatever. I'm looking up at the Raptors
Speaker 1: and I don't I'm like, who are these guys like that?
Speaker 1: That's just it's just it's just different. It's not like
Speaker 1: I said, it's not Lakers, it's not the self things.
Speaker 1: They do things differently, but based off of how they've
Speaker 1: done things in the past. I'm sharing a story here.
Speaker 1: So I was very close with Jerome Kersey and I've
Speaker 1: never shared the story before. But I was very close
Speaker 1: with Jerome Kersey and he kind of took me in,
Speaker 1: like him and Michael Holton who steered there with the Blazers,
Speaker 1: and Antonio Harvey used to be the radio guy with
Speaker 1: the Blazers. Those guys like really took me under my
Speaker 1: wing to try to show me the ropes on just
Speaker 1: you know, how to navigate road life with a family
Speaker 1: and everything, and just telling me all the stories back
Speaker 1: back in the day playing in the eighties and nineties, man,
Speaker 1: and they're just encyclopedia, man. So I just loved being
Speaker 1: around him. But Jerome told me that the Blazers had
Speaker 1: let him know that they had intentions of retiring his jersey,
Speaker 1: and I said, man, I remember telling him back back
Speaker 1: in the day, So this is I think he probably
Speaker 1: told me this as early as twenty eleven. And at
Speaker 1: that time, Jerome worked as an ambassador for the team.
Speaker 1: So it's one of those roles where you go out
Speaker 1: in the community represent the you know, represent the team.
Speaker 1: So he did he did that, fourth he did that
Speaker 1: for a good amount of years, and so he was
Speaker 1: always looking forward to having his jersey lifted up there
Speaker 1: in the Raptors. And again, no disrespect to you know
Speaker 1: a lot of those players. But he's looking at some
Speaker 1: of those players up there, a lot of than what
Speaker 1: on Jerome Kurtsey's level, and people you gotta look up.
Speaker 1: Jerome k Kirsty was a dog. He's a dog. Played
Speaker 1: with Drexler and Porter. He you know, he didn't get
Speaker 1: to stand out um like other players did on other teams,
Speaker 1: but he was a dog. He was probably the heart
Speaker 1: a lot of people were calling from the heart and
Speaker 1: soul of those Portland Trail Blazer teams that went to
Speaker 1: the finals and battled against Michael Jordan's So two Thy
Speaker 1: fourteen happens. Twenty fourteen comes around, and this is we're right,
Speaker 1: We're right. We're about to get right into the twenty
Speaker 1: fourteen two Thy fifteen season. And Jerome calls me and
Speaker 1: tells me, hey, the Blazers are signing Steve Blake. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, cool, you know, Steve Blake is coming back.
Speaker 1: He's a fan favorite in Portland. And I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: that's quest a nice pick up, nice backup to dame.
Speaker 1: He was like, he's they're giving him number twenty five.
Speaker 1: And again I'm not, you know, it's still not registering
Speaker 1: to me like, he was like, that's my number, man.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, he was like, they still ain't
Speaker 1: put me like he was hurt. He was hurt. This
Speaker 1: is twenty fourteen, two fifteen season. He was hurt that
Speaker 1: they gave Blake his number number twenty five and basically
Speaker 1: saying that there's no plans to no immediate plans to
Speaker 1: retire his jersey. So that was in the fall of
Speaker 1: two thousand and fourth team. Jerome passed due to a
Speaker 1: blood clot about five months later and never got to
Speaker 1: see it. Now, I don't know. The Blazers have changed,
Speaker 1: change regimes in the front office and the business side
Speaker 1: since then. I never knew who it was that promised
Speaker 1: Jerome that it was in the plans to retire his jersey.
Speaker 1: But I've always felt that him being one of the
Speaker 1: guys that was a heart and soul of that team
Speaker 1: in the nineties with Terry Porter and Clyde Director, which
Speaker 1: those two both have their numbers up there, I felt
Speaker 1: like it was deserving. I felt like he I felt
Speaker 1: like he was deserving to have his number up there,
Speaker 1: especially if he was told so, and especially if you
Speaker 1: look at the guys that are up there right now,
Speaker 1: and so that that was a very I've never I
Speaker 1: never talked about that. I've never shared that story about
Speaker 1: you know, when Steve Blake came around, and how Jerome
Speaker 1: felt when they gave him his number. Um, I wish
Speaker 1: I wish they would. I wish he would have got
Speaker 1: a chance to see it, and not just see it,
Speaker 1: because they still haven't done it. So you know, I
Speaker 1: would like to see the Blazers do that. I would
Speaker 1: like to one thing about Jerome. That guy don't lie.
Speaker 1: He gonna keep it straight up. So I believe him
Speaker 1: when he told me somebody high, a high ranking official
Speaker 1: with the Blazers told him they planned to to retire
Speaker 1: his jersey. So I hope they do that for his family,
Speaker 1: for his kids, even though he can't see it, you know,
Speaker 1: I you know, I want them to. I want them
Speaker 1: to do right by them. I think I think he
Speaker 1: deserves it consider the campaign started. That was a beautiful tribute.
Speaker 1: I got to actually cover him, not in his Blazer days,
Speaker 1: and you know you said it. I mean, he was
Speaker 1: an integral part of those two Blazer teams that went
Speaker 1: to the finals and had to deal with with Michael. Um.
Speaker 1: I got to cover him, not only in San Antonio
Speaker 1: when he was part of a championship team when the
Speaker 1: Spurs won their first title, but when my last year
Speaker 1: in LA as a beat writer, he was on the Lakers.
Speaker 1: It was the Shack and Kobe year. And man, Del
Speaker 1: I can still hear you know, Del Harris has a
Speaker 1: very very you know, the twang of Dell's voice is
Speaker 1: if you've covered him, it's very noticeable. And I can
Speaker 1: I can still hear Dell talking about JK. I mean,
Speaker 1: I can still, I can just hear it. Um. He
Speaker 1: was a beloved guy on that Laker team and someone
Speaker 1: that Del Harris really really leaned on. Um just just
Speaker 1: a solid vet late late in his career, that kind
Speaker 1: of you know, kind of like a you know, nobody's
Speaker 1: really like Udonis has them in terms of his oneness
Speaker 1: with the heat. But you know, you always you want
Speaker 1: guy you know, you want a Haslem or an Igodala
Speaker 1: on your team. You want those you know, those vets.
Speaker 1: Jared Dudley was, you know, he filled that role on
Speaker 1: the Lakers title team in the bubble, like you you
Speaker 1: need those guys who've been around and seen it all.
Speaker 1: And so that's that's the that's the Jerome Kersey that
Speaker 1: I got to cover late in his career with both
Speaker 1: the Lakers and the Spurs, so I was not as
Speaker 1: close to him as you. But let's consider this the
Speaker 1: start of the campaign. No doubt, man number of If
Speaker 1: you're wrong, rest in peace, brother. All Right, everyone that
Speaker 1: does it for another edition of this league uncut. Chris
Speaker 1: and I will be back Monday, which is right in
Speaker 1: the midst of a stretch of great importance in terms
Speaker 1: of the regular season, in terms of the MVP race,
Speaker 1: a stretch that people have really been looking forward to. Saturday, Nicola,
Speaker 1: Yokich and Denver supposed to face Janis until the Koompa Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: Monday is supposed to be Denver Philly, which means Yoki
Speaker 1: versus MB and Bead's been dealing with a calf issue
Speaker 1: this week. Hopefully he is passed it and able to
Speaker 1: give it a full go on Monday, and then shortly
Speaker 1: after that Philly plays Milwaukee. So we've got three interesting
Speaker 1: head to head matchups in this MVP race. Shirley, we'll
Speaker 1: be getting into that next week and whatever chaos awaits
Speaker 1: us this weekend, everybody have a great weekend, and please,
Speaker 1: please please rate, review, subscribe Chris and I'll be back
Speaker 1: with you very very soon, and that'll do it for us.
Speaker 1: See you next time. This league uncut is and iHeartRadio production,
Speaker 1: Christine and Mark Steyne. It didn't matter.