Speaker 1: Welcome to the Best of the Week for What's Right
Speaker 1: with Nick Right the best takes in moments from this
Speaker 1: week on the show. Enjoy. I thought the conversation was
Speaker 1: gonna be about Luca today because Luca looks unsettled. However
Speaker 1: it's not because if people didn't stay up to watch
Speaker 1: this game. Let me give you the quick recap. Lakers
Speaker 1: were up twenty. They then slowly but surely blew the game.
Speaker 1: They then late down four, well actually down two. Ruey
Speaker 1: misses back to back free throws with thirty five seconds left,
Speaker 1: just a killer, just a good free throw shooter, misses both.
Speaker 1: They then find themselves down four after LaMelo kind of
Speaker 1: cooks Luca out on the perimeter and they get a layup.
Speaker 1: Lebron hits an impossible three to cut it to one
Speaker 1: the Hornets. Then LaMelo hits a couple free throws, and
Speaker 1: then Lebron has a really good but deep look and
Speaker 1: misses it. They get the rebound, gets another decent look
Speaker 1: and misses it, and they lose. And I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: I was like, we're gonna have to talk about how
Speaker 1: sad Luca looks. That to me is the actual story.
Speaker 1: Little did I know and this is a bad job
Speaker 1: by me, bad media, you know, kind of seeing the
Speaker 1: tea leaves. I missed what the obvious story was gonna be.
Speaker 1: Lebron missed another clutch shot, which, by the way, he
Speaker 1: has been shockingly bad at those in the regular season
Speaker 1: since he's been a Laker. Last five second shots to
Speaker 1: tie or take the lead as a as a Laker
Speaker 1: one of twenty nine, So like, really really bad at
Speaker 1: those in the regular season. And that's a legitimate complaint,
Speaker 1: I guess, like whatever, But I foolishly thought we were
Speaker 1: done with and passed the Lebron clutch geen stuff. I
Speaker 1: thought maybe, and you guys know, I, you know, I've
Speaker 1: always been pretty respectful uh to my former colleagues Skip baylists,
Speaker 1: but I did think that with Skip uh moving to
Speaker 1: a different part of his career, maybe the Lebron clutch
Speaker 1: gen stuff would you know, wander off into the sunset
Speaker 1: as well, because not because it's unfair to talk about
Speaker 1: whether or not guys can come through in the clutch,
Speaker 1: but because it has always been an empire built on lies.
Speaker 1: But you know, you made a mid February regular season
Speaker 1: game against the Hornets missed threes. It's like man Kobe
Speaker 1: would have made that. So now I have to I
Speaker 1: don't want to do this, but now I have to
Speaker 1: be the person. And by the way, this is something
Speaker 1: that if we edit this properly and because I'm gonna
Speaker 1: machine gun you with numbers and put this on the
Speaker 1: the TikTok and the Instagram, folks are going to say
Speaker 1: these are fake stats because there's such a Mandela effect
Speaker 1: of Oh, I know what I remember and what is
Speaker 1: true and what isn't. So again, I did this eighteen
Speaker 1: months ago, I looked it up in our archives. I
Speaker 1: will now do it again with the updated numbers. Thanks
Speaker 1: to our friends at Statthead and Basketball Reference. The database
Speaker 1: goes back to nineteen ninety seven to now here are
Speaker 1: the clutch shooting numbers for Lebron and or all your
Speaker 1: favorite players. We will go from the max to the men.
Speaker 1: So the set, the setup is this shots to tie
Speaker 1: or take the lead in the playoffs final minute Lebron
Speaker 1: James twenty three of fifty forty six percent. That is
Speaker 1: a better percentage than every player in the database from
Speaker 1: ninety seven to now except for Demonse's guy Ray Allen,
Speaker 1: who was just an absolute killer. So it's not only
Speaker 1: that Lebron has made the most and taken the most
Speaker 1: forty six percent. You might be like well and ninety
Speaker 1: seven to now that covers Kobe's entire career. Kobe was
Speaker 1: assuredly better than Lebron at these again. Playoff games tie
Speaker 1: take the lead final minute Lebron twenty three to fifty
Speaker 1: forty six percent, Kobe Bryant twelve of forty four twenty
Speaker 1: seven percent, Kevin Durant nine of thirty five twenty six percent,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry six of twenty five, twenty four percent. You
Speaker 1: want to go to We've heard forever, Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Lebron just put his head down, get to the basket.
Speaker 1: It doesn't have the bag. What about threes? Lebron final
Speaker 1: minute of playoff games to tie or take the lead
Speaker 1: four of eleven from three, Kobe Bean Bryant three of seventeen,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant three of sixteen, Steph Curry three of fourteen.
Speaker 1: Let's go smaller. Final thirty seconds playoff games, tie or
Speaker 1: take the lead Lebron James fourteen of thirty five forty
Speaker 1: percent from the field. Kobe mister clutch killer. Kobe Bryant
Speaker 1: brono of thirty five forty percent, Kobe eight of thirty
Speaker 1: one twenty six percent, Durant six of twenty four twenty
Speaker 1: five percent, Steph four of nineteen twenty one percent. Let's
Speaker 1: go smaller. Let's go to the stat that we're hearing
Speaker 1: about Lebron in the regular season as a Laker final
Speaker 1: five seconds tie or take the lead. In the playoffs
Speaker 1: Lebron eight of twenty forty percent, Kobe Bryant four of
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty two percent, Kevin Durant two of eleven eighteen percent.
Speaker 1: Let me, where is Steph on this? I know he's
Speaker 1: on this somewhere. I can't even find him. Step maybe
Speaker 1: hasn't taken in the final five seconds. Oh, there's Steph
Speaker 1: one of six seventeen percent. So the reason the Lebron
Speaker 1: clutch thing has always been so such an outrage in
Speaker 1: an affront to kind of the way we consume basketball
Speaker 1: at large, is it was literally not only was it
Speaker 1: never true, the opposite was true. The guy hit a
Speaker 1: game winner in the first playoff series of his career
Speaker 1: at twenty one years old. And if we go for
Speaker 1: again now, I'll just do percentages and show you the
Speaker 1: full list of guys in the last thirty years in
Speaker 1: the NBA, who have been more clutch in the postseason
Speaker 1: final minute. Tire take the lead of every player to
Speaker 1: take at least fifteen of those shots. There have been
Speaker 1: twenty in twentieth place. This one's rough, So Westbrook three
Speaker 1: of twenty four in nineteenth place, Steph Curry six of
Speaker 1: twenty five, second place, Lebron James twenty three of fifty
Speaker 1: forty six percent. Ray Allen first place by a lot,
Speaker 1: eleven of twenty one, fifty two percent. If you want
Speaker 1: to do three point percentages, ray Allen sits alone ten
Speaker 1: of sixteen, pretty remarkable, ten of sixteen sixty three percent,
Speaker 1: Dame five of ten fifty percent, Reggie Miller fairs Fair
Speaker 1: six of thirteen forty six percent, and then Lebron four
Speaker 1: of eleven thirty six percent. You go down the Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook yikes again, one of fourteen, that's seven percent, Kobe
Speaker 1: three of seventeen, that's seventeen percent, Steph three of fourteen again.
Speaker 1: If you want to just go raw percentages final thirty
Speaker 1: seconds of the playoffs, Tire take the lead. The only
Speaker 1: guy ahead of Lebron is ray Allen nine of eighteen
Speaker 1: fifty percent Lebron fourteen of thirty five forty percent, Ray
Speaker 1: Allen by the way final thirty seconds on threes demons
Speaker 1: eight of thirteen to Tire take the lead in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Guy just unbelievable at those on those shots, gen He's
Speaker 1: maybe the best ever. His statistically is the best ever.
Speaker 1: Now if we expand that to where you don't have
Speaker 1: to have taken fifteen of these shots, just to where
Speaker 1: you only had to have taken ten, two more guys
Speaker 1: jump ahead of Lebron. One is Chris Middleton six of
Speaker 1: eleven in the playoffs to Tire take the lead in
Speaker 1: the final thirty seconds, and Jimmy Butler six of thirteen
Speaker 1: at forty six percent Lebron fourteen to thirty five. But
Speaker 1: again the guy in your head that was the ultimate
Speaker 1: clutch guy Kobe Bean Bryant on these shots final thirty
Speaker 1: seconds Tire take the lead eight of thirty one from
Speaker 1: the field and on threes one of twelve final thirty
Speaker 1: seconds Tire take the lead in the playoffs and Steph
Speaker 1: Curry four of nineteen overall, Again, these numbers are not
Speaker 1: very kind to Russell Westbrook Russ one of fourteen from
Speaker 1: the field, zero of nine from three and then last
Speaker 1: but not least, final five seconds tire take the lead
Speaker 1: playoffs if we just make it to where have you
Speaker 1: taken five of these shots? Because Lebron's taken twenty. The
Speaker 1: only guys with a better percentage Jimmy Butler's three of five,
Speaker 1: Reggie's five of nine, Chris Middleton's four of eight. Lebron
Speaker 1: Is eight of twenty forty percent, and on threes in
Speaker 1: those spots Lebron's two for five forty percent. Kobe, who
Speaker 1: everyone remembers as the ultimate clutch killer. Final five seconds
Speaker 1: of playoff games to tire or take the lead four
Speaker 1: of eighteen twenty two percent, one of seven from three,
Speaker 1: Steph one for six, Durant two for eleven from the field.
Speaker 1: So I, so the lesson on this is multifaceted. One
Speaker 1: is nobody really, aside from Ray Allen shoots an amazing
Speaker 1: percentage on these Nobody but shooting more than thirty percent
Speaker 1: on him is remarkable, And across every five second, thirty
Speaker 1: second minute playoff game, TI take the lead, Lebron's looking
Speaker 1: up at one guy, Ray Allen, and again you might
Speaker 1: be like, well, Jordan, I know Jordan was eighty percent.
Speaker 1: The database only goes back to nine, so I can't
Speaker 1: tell you what Jordan was. The NBA is very cagey
Speaker 1: about play by play data early in Michael Jordan's career.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's because the eighties were a different time, or
Speaker 1: maybe they're, you know, protecting a legend. I don't know.
Speaker 1: What I do know is this that if you asked
Speaker 1: one hundred basketball fans what they thought Kobe or Lebron
Speaker 1: or Durant or Lebron or Stephor Lebron's percentages were in
Speaker 1: these circumstances, the vast majority would look at Kobe's numbers
Speaker 1: and be like, those are Lebron's And look at Lebron's
Speaker 1: numbers and say those are Kobe's. And even after I
Speaker 1: present this data, you know what folks are gonna say, Ah,
Speaker 1: I don't believe it. It didn't feel that way. And
Speaker 1: the reason it didn't feel that way, and the reason
Speaker 1: I'm doing this today is because no other player ever
Speaker 1: could miss a twenty eight footer down three after hitting
Speaker 1: the three to cut it to one in a regular
Speaker 1: season game against the Hornets when he was the best
Speaker 1: player on his team that night, and have that morning
Speaker 1: sports television be an indictment on him. The reason you
Speaker 1: don't remember the Kobe misses is because every single Kobe
Speaker 1: game wasn't a referendum on his clutch or anti clutchness.
Speaker 1: There's been one athlete ever that has been treated like this,
Speaker 1: and it's the same guy who was criticized for not
Speaker 1: playing in his twenty first straight All Star Game and
Speaker 1: then was criticized for playing last night. Oh looked awful
Speaker 1: healthy last night, didn't he? But he couldn't get it's
Speaker 1: the regular You saw that, right, Yeah, he was having
Speaker 1: a good time. Good thing. He got that rest on
Speaker 1: Sunday for real, it might not have been able to
Speaker 1: do it. So I do find these I find this
Speaker 1: this stuff fascinating, if for no other reason than how
Speaker 1: gas lit kind of sports media has been or sports
Speaker 1: fans have been by sports media. Like Chauncey billups Mister
Speaker 1: big Shot is his nickname, Chauncey billups On in the
Speaker 1: final minute of the playoff games to tire or take
Speaker 1: the lead is five of twenty. The exact same five
Speaker 1: of twenty is James Harden. But that's it's just not
Speaker 1: how we remember it because we remember the moments of it.
Speaker 1: So also there's a couple funny names on like, if
Speaker 1: you go through the in the last thirty years, the
Speaker 1: twenty guys who have taken at least fIF teen shots
Speaker 1: in the final minute of playoff games to tire take
Speaker 1: the lead. The names it's all names of like Okay stars,
Speaker 1: Hall of Famers, all time greats. And then also Haydu Turkalou,
Speaker 1: who took sixteen of these, And I just imagine that
Speaker 1: was because he was on deep playoff runs with Dwight
Speaker 1: and you know, Dwight, you're not going to give the
Speaker 1: ball to in the fire. He was the guy who
Speaker 1: ended up having to take those shots. Yeah, but it's
Speaker 1: it's Ray Allen, Lebron, Jimmy. This is in order of
Speaker 1: field goal percentage, descending number one, Ray Allen, then Lebron,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler, Reggie Miller, Manu Ginobili, Chris Middleton, John Stockton,
Speaker 1: Derk Noovitzky, Steve Nash, Damian Lillard, Haydu Turkalou, Tim Duncan,
Speaker 1: Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant, Paul Piers, Kevin Durant, John t Billis,
Speaker 1: James hard and Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook. So Okay seventeen
Speaker 1: no doubt Hall of Famers, two borderline Hall of Famers,
Speaker 1: and haydo so out to my guy? Heyu Turkle, I
Speaker 1: don't know why he's my guy? Who knew? So many
Speaker 1: people gave two shits about Norman Powell making the All
Speaker 1: Star Game, and the answer is they didn't. The idea
Speaker 1: the amount of people that were tweeting about Norman Powell,
Speaker 1: because if Lebron had bowed out a week early, Powell
Speaker 1: would have gotten the spot. Though the ven diagram of
Speaker 1: people who two weeks ago demonse were like these Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl alternates. It's such a joke. Drake May gets to
Speaker 1: call himself a pro bowler when he didn't actually make
Speaker 1: the team and then tweeting this week, why aren't people
Speaker 1: thinking about Norman Powell?
Speaker 2: The fans in San Francisco definitely wanted to see him play.
Speaker 2: It's disingenuous nonsense, and the idea that there was any
Speaker 2: way for Lebron to thread this needle and not end
Speaker 2: up being criticized is just disingenuous and not true. So
Speaker 2: if he would have a week ago said I'm not playing,
Speaker 2: the media cycle would have been this is why nobody
Speaker 2: takes the All Star Game Seriously, this is you know,
Speaker 2: people are excited and the face of the league doesn't
Speaker 2: do it. Lebron gave it to the last possible minute
Speaker 2: to figure out can I play?
Speaker 1: And it's not so much can I as much as
Speaker 1: it is should I? Like if it were a playoff game,
Speaker 1: would Lebron have played? Of course? Does that mean that
Speaker 1: when he clearly believes this Lakers team has a real
Speaker 1: chance to do something and this Lakers team, because of
Speaker 1: the California Wildfires, has the shortest break of any team,
Speaker 1: well them and the Hornet because they play Wednesday and
Speaker 1: the rest of the league plays Thursday, that he was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, not going to push it on this ankle?
Speaker 1: That makes total sense to me and the number of
Speaker 1: people who failed to acknowledge the following truths. Okay, first
Speaker 1: of all, is this Has anyone given more time, effort,
Speaker 1: sweat energy to All Star Games in the history of
Speaker 1: basketball than Lebron James? The answer is, of course not.
Speaker 1: He's played in twenty of them. Kareem played in eighteen,
Speaker 1: the next closest or Kobe and Duncan at fifteen. Has
Speaker 1: Lebron consistently shown up to this event more than any
Speaker 1: player in the history of the league. Yes, by a
Speaker 1: massive margin. This broke his streak. And but the other
Speaker 1: reason that people are just so out of their damn
Speaker 1: minds about this is one criticism of Lebron that I
Speaker 1: don't even look at it as a criticism, but is
Speaker 1: true is the guy cares about streaks and records and accolades.
Speaker 1: He does, and he would have liked to keep this
Speaker 1: thing going twenty one straight All Star appearances because the
Speaker 1: record prior to Lebron playing in twenty in a row. Again,
Speaker 1: twenty in a row was held by John Havlicek and
Speaker 1: Bob Coosey, who both played in thirteen in a row.
Speaker 1: That was the record. So Lebron set the record for
Speaker 1: consecutive All Star Game appearances back let me do them
Speaker 1: before he was a Laker, when he was with the Calves,
Speaker 1: midway through his second sit with the Calves and has
Speaker 1: just been spreading it out. Of all the active players
Speaker 1: other than Lebron, Durant is the only one who has
Speaker 1: played in ten of these in a row. He did
Speaker 1: that pre Achilles. The new active streak for consecutive All
Speaker 1: Star Games played is Joker at seven. So this is
Speaker 1: the guy that we're gonna say, owed it to everyone
Speaker 1: to play, to play. The guy who's played in twenty
Speaker 1: straight of these, the oldest player in the league, a
Speaker 1: guy who has literally played more professional basketball than any
Speaker 1: human being ever to live. We're like, give us more,
Speaker 1: and if you don't, you're selfish. It's just so ludicrous.
Speaker 1: And then there's this piece of it. And I'll get
Speaker 1: to the picture stuff later. There is so Nick Fredell,
Speaker 1: who I really like. I really like him. He was
Speaker 1: with the ESPN. I think I don't want to speak
Speaker 1: for him, but the way I understand it, I think
Speaker 1: he was absolutely foolishly a part of their layoffs months back.
Speaker 1: He is a great NBA reporter opinionist. Chicago Guy loved
Speaker 1: Nick Nick quote tweeted it and said, there is just
Speaker 1: absolutely no way mj would do this. He always understood
Speaker 1: what his presence to the game meant. Guys, Michael Jordan,
Speaker 1: at this point in his career, had quit the game
Speaker 1: three times. It meant that his presence to the game
Speaker 1: meant so much that he quit the game. He went
Speaker 1: and played minor league baseball, then he came back, then
Speaker 1: he quit again, then he came back, then he quit again.
Speaker 1: Do you know, the most consecutive years that Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: played in an All Star Game seven seven years. The
Speaker 1: longest streak of consecutive All Star appearances Michael Jordan had
Speaker 1: was seven. Well, there's no way mj would do So
Speaker 1: this is where the criticism. People just lose their minds.
Speaker 1: So if Lebron had just retired four years ago, believed,
Speaker 1: no problem, no problem, you win your championship with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: You've played at that point eighteen years. You know what,
Speaker 1: You've given a lot to the league. But because he
Speaker 1: keeps playing, because he's good enough to be a deserving,
Speaker 1: top tier All Star, he then to these and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna talk about Nick here, talking about the folks at large,
Speaker 1: folks that have just become entitled that no, you owe
Speaker 1: us this. He he's not allowed to be cautious with
Speaker 1: an angle ankle injury? Uh Nick, where did this injury
Speaker 1: come from? From Solomon Hill three and a half years ago,
Speaker 1: the only real injury he's ever suffered his entire career.
Speaker 1: That ankle and foot have been messed up since then.
Speaker 1: He's and if you watch the Lakers, Lebron all the
Speaker 1: time pops up on a morning of injury report because
Speaker 1: the ankle tightened up on it. And do I imagine that
Speaker 1: in the days leading up to the All Star Game
Speaker 1: he actually took some time, maybe didn't do his regular
Speaker 1: every day cryogenic chamber treatment that he would do if
Speaker 1: they had actual games coming up, so it was more
Speaker 1: likely to tighten up. Of course, of course, this being
Speaker 1: such a universally criticized thing that even Shannon and Kendrick
Speaker 1: and guys who are normally you know, onlawe Lebron's side
Speaker 1: on suffers like, ah, this was this is a bridge
Speaker 1: too far from me. What are we talking about?
Speaker 3: And I've seen fans go as far as say is
Speaker 3: like Lebron's ruined the game?
Speaker 1: Well, oh yeah, well that's the other piece of it.
Speaker 1: The other piece of it is the fall of the
Speaker 1: All Star Game is late at the feet of Lebron James.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just again, the All Star Game in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty was awesome. The All Star Game in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two was awesome. And this is just it is
Speaker 1: just an entitlement from fans and media that a guy.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine any of these conversations existing around Tom Brady? Honestly,
Speaker 1: could you that if Tom Brady is second to last
Speaker 1: year with Tampa was like, guys, which he did do.
Speaker 1: By the way, I know I was named a PROB.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna play, and it's not because I'm hurt,
Speaker 1: it's just because not interested. It's exactly what happened. Was
Speaker 1: there a Could you imagine how stupid folks would look
Speaker 1: if they went on TV and they were like, Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: this is why it's a flag football game. Now see
Speaker 1: this guy, Hey, look at the direct line of the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl's popularity with when Tom entered the league and
Speaker 1: where it is now. Blood's on his hands. And then
Speaker 1: we get to the photo stuff. Guys, there's like, this
Speaker 1: is all documented. Injured players still are in the photo. Oh,
Speaker 1: they don't have to be at the middle. You guys.
Speaker 1: Go look at the picture of Yao when he was hurt,
Speaker 1: and obviously the middle of that picture has to be Lebron, Steph,
Speaker 1: KD just has to be. Those are the guys you
Speaker 1: and people are like, oh, they'd have criticism if off
Speaker 1: to what'd you say, Demonse? First of all, First of all,
Speaker 1: the injured players. When Kobe was injured, he didn't suit up.
Speaker 1: When other guys were injured, they don't suit up. But
Speaker 1: everyone is lying if they are acting like if Lebron
Speaker 1: had suited up for the picture, there wouldn't be this
Speaker 1: exact criticism. It would just be the exact opposite suited up.
Speaker 1: Why he wants people to think he played. This guy's
Speaker 1: ankle is so hurt, you don't think he again, none
Speaker 1: of this ship is logical. It's just it's Lebron. I'm
Speaker 1: going to attack it. If he'd have suited up, he'd
Speaker 1: have gotten roasted for it. Jan has suited up, and
Speaker 1: again Anthony Edwards, who in the mean time he didn't
Speaker 1: play either. He gave less notice than Lebron. We found
Speaker 1: out during the game. Anybody crying for Norman Powell with
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards? No, Anthony Edwards allowed to be injured? Why
Speaker 1: why is he? He's because he's twenty three at the
Speaker 1: peak of his powers, young athletic. No, it's so dumb.
Speaker 1: This whole thing is so stupid and it is. I
Speaker 1: don't understand how people call this selfish. I don't get that.
Speaker 3: I know, dude, I doesn't really have to be playing
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 1: It is.
Speaker 3: It is crazy to differ him to get criticized on
Speaker 3: anything that he doesn't do because any extra time. At
Speaker 3: this point, he's in.
Speaker 1: Year twenty two. He has now played more minutes in
Speaker 1: years twenty one and twenty two than every other player
Speaker 1: in history of the league who made it to year
Speaker 1: twenty one and twenty two combined. So let me say
Speaker 1: that again, as of two years ago, if you said,
Speaker 1: give me all of the minutes, all of the points,
Speaker 1: all of the assists from every player ever in year
Speaker 1: twenty one and twenty two and put it in a bucket,
Speaker 1: that bucket is now doubled just from what Lebron's done
Speaker 1: the last two years. And for it's just folks say, oh,
Speaker 1: he's the face of load management. The guy is going
Speaker 1: to play more games in more minutes than any player
Speaker 1: in the history of the league. And he's the face
Speaker 1: of not playing. I mean, give me a fucking break,
Speaker 1: this suffs. If people are out of their mind. And
Speaker 1: I again, I mean Kendrick saying put your damn uniform on.
Speaker 1: He messed up the whole picture. Again. Where was this
Speaker 1: for Kobe or for Yow, for Schef?
Speaker 3: His greatness at the end of the day, though, is
Speaker 3: really what it is. I feel, what do you mean
Speaker 3: people want to see him play people are our age.
Speaker 3: It's like, I don't think it's I think people just
Speaker 3: want to see Bron.
Speaker 1: Oh. I agree with that piece of it, But the
Speaker 1: criticism about the picture and about again, I Lebron cares
Speaker 1: about these records, and also he likes the accolades of winning,
Speaker 1: and he knew I have the best team by a mile,
Speaker 1: like they won it without it, right, So, and it's
Speaker 1: two games to forty. He could have like he he
Speaker 1: going into Saturday night, I truly believe, did not know
Speaker 1: if he was gonna play or not, and woke up
Speaker 1: Sunday mornings like I'm not doing it. And so I
Speaker 1: just find so much much of this to be, uh
Speaker 1: just insane. Now let's talk about the luc apiece of it. Demonse.
Speaker 1: I think he's legit sad, and I think he is
Speaker 1: really unsettled by this. He looks so unsure of himself.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, yeah, yeah, ok, Yes, I think that he
Speaker 1: is still in a state of shock that this happened.
Speaker 1: And I don't think it's about wanting or not wanting
Speaker 1: to be a Laker. I think it's more about this
Speaker 1: team that he looked at himself as the leader of
Speaker 1: obviously the best player this franchise, that I think he
Speaker 1: truly believed he might be able to do what Dirk
Speaker 1: did and play with one team forever. That they traded
Speaker 1: him under the dark of night, and then have done
Speaker 1: everything they can to just tell the world we don't
Speaker 1: believe in you. We thought you were a bad leader,
Speaker 1: a mediocre teammate, out of shape, all of it. He
Speaker 1: seems less confident on the court than at any moment
Speaker 1: of his career. And Luca is at his best when
Speaker 1: he's like a snarling, angry monster. But he also has
Speaker 1: to have that kind of swagger and confidence and I
Speaker 1: just haven't seen it. And I don't know what how
Speaker 1: long this is gonna this is gonna take. But he
Speaker 1: looks he looks relieved when he makes a shot. He
Speaker 1: looks unsure of what he wants to do with the ball.
Speaker 1: And it's not again. I'm not sure how many people
Speaker 1: stayed up late to watch the entirety of Lakers hornets.
Speaker 1: I oddly did. Late in the game, he like, there
Speaker 1: was I forget I think maybe Bron shot it. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure. There's a misshot and Luca is down fighting
Speaker 1: on the offensive, Glass gets a rebound and gets a
Speaker 1: putback is to tie the game. It's a huge play,
Speaker 1: and you saw a shot of him after that, and
Speaker 1: it was it wasn't even like it didn't. Again, I'm
Speaker 1: not a body language expert, but just from watching this
Speaker 1: guy every step of his career, it wasn't excitement as
Speaker 1: much as it was relief, like I finally made a
Speaker 1: play and I don't know how long this is gonna last.
Speaker 1: My hope would be the MAVs game next week snaps
Speaker 1: him out of it. That there is that seeing like that,
Speaker 1: that is I'm because the Lakers host the MAVs on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: so they have the Blazers tonight day a couple in
Speaker 1: between that Nuggets Saturday. Yeah, correct, right, and I would
Speaker 1: imagine Lebron's not playing tonight, so maybe tonight like with
Speaker 1: Luca just running the full show. But so I'm not
Speaker 1: I'm not as worried about what these losses mean for
Speaker 1: the Lakers in the standings, because I know we talked
Speaker 1: about could could they catch Denver climb to the three
Speaker 1: and you know, put Denver and Okac on the same
Speaker 1: side of the bracket. Losing to Utah and Charlotte probably
Speaker 1: made that. I don't want to say, unrealistic because they
Speaker 1: could beat Denver on Saturday and then just be a
Speaker 1: game back. But I now look at it more like,
Speaker 1: just stay the four five, don't fall to the six
Speaker 1: where you might have to play Denver in round one.
Speaker 1: That sounds awful. Stay in the four five and then
Speaker 1: theoretically get Houston or the Clippers in round one and
Speaker 1: then take your chances with Oka See And again, okay
Speaker 1: See is a great team, great team, But I think
Speaker 1: for the team that young, I think they're you know,
Speaker 1: playing Luca who beat him last year in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and Lebron could be tough, and then you know, see
Speaker 1: what happens with Denver. But Luca is out of sorts,
Speaker 1: like really truly out of sorts, and he seems like
Speaker 1: he is not yet fully dealt with or is consistently
Speaker 1: still dealing with the trade. There's also evidently some breaking
Speaker 1: news to him on say you want to share it
Speaker 1: with the audience.
Speaker 3: Uh, yeah, Bobby Portis has been suspended twenty five games
Speaker 3: for a performance enhancing drugs. Yes, it's the last four
Speaker 3: games of the season, so.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's only twenty nine games left and
Speaker 1: the box need him. Let me, I just saw someone
Speaker 1: tweeted that his agent. So what his agent is saying
Speaker 1: that Bobby unintentionally took a pain medication called tramadoll, thinking
Speaker 1: was taking a pain medication called tour it All. Tour
Speaker 1: it All's approved, Tramadoll is not approved, was recently out
Speaker 1: of the band substance list. Tramadoll. I feel like I've
Speaker 1: taken tramad all.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've heard of tramad all before.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think tram it all. Uh so it's a painkiller.
Speaker 1: Maybe I was wrong. I thought tramad all was like
Speaker 1: an anxiety thing, So maybe I haven't taken it. Tour
Speaker 1: it All. We all know tour it all. A lot
Speaker 1: of football players take tram it All. Oh yeah, trama
Speaker 1: All is in a super strong painkiller. It's an opioid.
Speaker 1: So everybody always takes steroids by accident. We all know this.
Speaker 1: Like nobody's ever actually intentionally violated the performance Answing drug policy.
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know. So people can decide whether
Speaker 1: or not they want to believe Bobby Portis's agent. That's fine.
Speaker 1: What does matter is this bad for the Bucks is
Speaker 1: bad for a Bucks team that is trying to climb
Speaker 1: the Eastern conference standings now, they I think it's more
Speaker 1: important for them to just stay where they're at in
Speaker 1: the four or five line rather than move They're not
Speaker 1: gonna move up. There's six games behind the Knicks, so
Speaker 1: they're not going to catch the Knicks for the three.
Speaker 1: But what they don't want to do is fall to
Speaker 1: the six and then end up having to play the
Speaker 1: Knicks in round one. Like, there's clearly three teams in
Speaker 1: the East in Boston, Cleveland, and New York that seem
Speaker 1: that are considerably better than everyone else, with Milwaukee lurking
Speaker 1: because of Giannis. Milwaukee doesn't want to have to face
Speaker 1: one of those three in round one. And you traded Middleton.
Speaker 1: Uh you, I know you have Kuzma now Kuzma though,
Speaker 1: shout out Kyle Kuzma. Good for him, buddy, congrats engaged
Speaker 1: Winnie Harlowe. Unbelievable. I know they've been together for a
Speaker 1: long time, but the listen, I Kyle. Kyle was once
Speaker 1: upon a time a real pro for that Lakers team.
Speaker 1: He was a real pro as the year they won
Speaker 1: the championship, did the dirty work, rebounded, defended, did all
Speaker 1: that stuff. Then went to the Wizards and just played
Speaker 1: nonsense basketball for three years. But maybe now he's with
Speaker 1: the Bucks, he'll be a real pro again. But Milwaukee
Speaker 1: needs to stay where they are in the in the bracket.
Speaker 1: They can't drop down to the six self appointed All
Speaker 1: Stars are Draymond Green, who had I mean just a
Speaker 1: treasure trove of quotes this weekend.
Speaker 3: Go ahead, So do you do you want me to
Speaker 3: just go through all of them?
Speaker 1: And I want you to go through all of them
Speaker 1: and then all and then all.
Speaker 3: So so Draymond uh, you know, was talking to him
Speaker 3: getting a head coaching gig. He said, I've already been
Speaker 3: offered the Golden State Warriors head coaching job when I'm done.
Speaker 3: He also said they were gonna win a title. He said, quote,
Speaker 3: I said, I think we're gonna win a championship, but
Speaker 3: I lied, we are going to win the championship. That's
Speaker 3: what's gonna happen. And he caught off the Rising Stars
Speaker 3: game and he said that there's some team that no
Speaker 3: one wants to see. And his thoughts on the new
Speaker 3: format one through ten was a zero. It sucks this
Speaker 3: same basketball.
Speaker 1: Okay, So Draymond Green being the head coach in waiting
Speaker 1: for the Golden State Warriors is news, and it would
Speaker 1: be treated as news if I think people took that seriously.
Speaker 1: The Warriors winning the championship. It once again Draymond is
Speaker 1: writing checks that Steph is gonna have to cash. I
Speaker 1: don't I like Jimmy and but Draymond is nowhere close
Speaker 1: to the player he was at the peak of their dynasty,
Speaker 1: and Steph is not quite the same player he now.
Speaker 1: He came on strong at the end of the before
Speaker 1: the break, but I would be they are far far
Speaker 1: more likely to lose in round one than they are
Speaker 1: to reach the finals. And now let's get to the
Speaker 1: other stuff. He's right about the Rising Stars shouldn't be
Speaker 1: playing Sunday Night. I actually think that is correct, and
Speaker 1: that is a tweak they should make. I get why
Speaker 1: they did it to make it to where there was
Speaker 1: a real pressure on the Stars, like we can't let
Speaker 1: these kids beat us, but it should be a privilege.
Speaker 1: But as often happens with Draymond, heat while being correct,
Speaker 1: his delivery of the information is so poorly done that
Speaker 1: it's lost. And being on the pregame show for an event,
Speaker 1: I felt so terribly for my dear friend Adam Lefko,
Speaker 1: who is the one who asked him the one to
Speaker 1: ten question, and then Draymond says, a zero, this sucks
Speaker 1: that buddy, Your job in that moment is to create
Speaker 1: excitement for the event. Like that's people like, oh, I
Speaker 1: applaud the honesty. I do not do not that gig.
Speaker 1: If that's how you feel, I mean this sincerely. Like,
Speaker 1: let's say I thought pickleball was the dumbest sport ever,
Speaker 1: and then someone comes to me, They're like, hey, crazy thing. Man,
Speaker 1: They're asking you to be a part of the Pickleball
Speaker 1: World Championship broadcast. It would be my job to be like,
Speaker 1: you know what, probably not the place for me not
Speaker 1: to be like, yep, I'll take it so I can
Speaker 1: tell all these people who are tuning in to watch
Speaker 1: it how much this sucks. It's just that's just rude,
Speaker 1: and it's it's profession.
Speaker 3: They probably like they reached out to Draymond like, hey,
Speaker 3: do you want to do this? How would like if
Speaker 3: Draymond has those thoughts in his mind, he knows that's
Speaker 3: how he's gonna talk. You're saying he should just not
Speaker 3: do it.
Speaker 1: He should be like, no, I think that if when
Speaker 1: listen he works for TNT he does stuff for him.
Speaker 1: I think that when they're like, hey, just like the
Speaker 1: vast majority of years in your career, you did not
Speaker 1: make the All Star team, so you're available this weekend.
Speaker 1: Would you like to do this? I think that if
Speaker 1: you had been like well, I think that if he
Speaker 1: had been like sure, But just so you know, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tell the audience how much the game sucks, they
Speaker 1: might be like, ooh, all right, maybe we'll find something else.
Speaker 1: And this is the other piece of it that I
Speaker 1: find really galling. Why is he the the grand PERSONA? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Like I Why so? Of NBA history, Draymond Green, there
Speaker 1: are one one hundred and forty seven people who have
Speaker 1: played in more All Star Games than Draymond Green. One
Speaker 1: hundred and forty seven. Like was Chris Webber on that panel?
Speaker 1: I can't remember. I don't think he was. Maybe I'm
Speaker 1: not sure, because Chris Webber is one of them. Karl
Speaker 1: Anthony Towns, who was in the game, is one of them.
Speaker 1: Kevin Love, who seems available, is one of them. Like
Speaker 1: the Vince was on the stage, Vince has played in
Speaker 1: double the All Star Games? Is Draymond Green like who
Speaker 1: he is? Not the the the arbiter or the czar
Speaker 1: of All Star history. He he just isn't and the
Speaker 1: idea that he I just found it really I'm gonna
Speaker 1: use a nerd word, uncouth. It would you would not
Speaker 1: have before. I mean, Stephen Durant are there and playing
Speaker 1: in it. They are taking it seriously and for you
Speaker 1: to be like this sucks, it's not basketball. I would
Speaker 1: he be feeling that way if he had been selected.
Speaker 1: Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 3: I just know that his jersey off and running off
Speaker 3: the field, it's just a little.
Speaker 1: Well, no, no, no, it's it's It's not that, but it
Speaker 1: would be I'm trying to think of a good comp
Speaker 1: for it. It would be as if who is a
Speaker 1: like a really good but not all time great NFL player,
Speaker 1: If Brandon Graham before this year's Pro Bowl was like
Speaker 1: holding court about the way football must be played with
Speaker 1: in a game that had all time legends playing in it,
Speaker 1: Like Buddy, you you have less experience with the All
Speaker 1: Star Game than Demarta Rosen, Like I'm not the you
Speaker 1: need to make one more for your career total of
Speaker 1: All Star appearances to be the same as Al Horford
Speaker 1: or like like what I'm just saying those are five.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just I'm not taking my All Star
Speaker 1: history lesson from a guy who has the same number
Speaker 1: of appearances as Otis bird Song. I'm just not. And
Speaker 1: so like you can go somewhere with that, and if
Speaker 1: you want to do it, that's what the pot is for. Like,
Speaker 1: that's what the pot is for, not for the game broadcast.