Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio. Oh, come on in, stay a while, spend
Speaker 1: some time with John Smoltz, hall of fame pitcher working
Speaker 1: for the MLB Network. Chris Mannocks from Sports Illustrated will
Speaker 1: stop by as well. Have a poll question, play of
Speaker 1: the day, a couple of stats of the day. Your
Speaker 1: phone calls are welcome. Eight seven seven three DP Show
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Speaker 1: a DP show. Say good morning to our great radio affiliates,
Speaker 1: including the Fox Sports Radio lineup, and you can watch
Speaker 1: on YouTube dot com slash the Dan Patrick Show. It's
Speaker 1: been pretty good news this week for the sports leagues
Speaker 1: coming back. The NBA is coming back, NHL is back,
Speaker 1: MLS is back, NFL still on target to open his schedule.
Speaker 1: There's one exception that's becoming even more glaring every single day.
Speaker 1: Where is baseball. It's gone from you know, maybe they're
Speaker 1: just negotiating. They'll work all of this out to players
Speaker 1: and owners really don't like each other. Maybe they salvage
Speaker 1: something here. It's hard to believe that they would forego
Speaker 1: an entire summer, but at least publicly, nothing positive is
Speaker 1: coming out both sides seem entrenched in their point of views,
Speaker 1: and they canceled the season back in nineteen ninety four
Speaker 1: no World Series, when the sports suffered, and if not
Speaker 1: for Cal Ripken's streak and Sammy Sosa Mark McGuire's home
Speaker 1: run record chase, I don't know where we would be
Speaker 1: right now. I'm not sure that they ever really recovered
Speaker 1: from nineteen ninety four. Not coming back now would risk
Speaker 1: falling even farther down the sports food chain. Hopefully it's
Speaker 1: all posting and baseball will come back soon, but as
Speaker 1: of today, hard to feel confident baseball knows what it's
Speaker 1: doing or where it's going. Their proposals that went from
Speaker 1: the players won over one hundred games, the owners would
Speaker 1: like to have fifty games, and then we thought, well,
Speaker 1: of course they'll meet in the middle. Now you're talking
Speaker 1: about a forty eight game schedule, the owners, owners talking
Speaker 1: about how much they lose every single game without having
Speaker 1: fans in the stands, still have revenue from local TV deals.
Speaker 1: But if you're a player, specially a pitcher, and I
Speaker 1: said there's going to be a forty eight game regular season,
Speaker 1: are you going to risk that twenty five percent of
Speaker 1: a season for twenty five percent of your salary. And
Speaker 1: if I'm a pitcher, a starting pitcher, I would really
Speaker 1: have to question that. Now, you do have the safety
Speaker 1: precautions you have to factor in, but let's just look
Speaker 1: at the monetary aspect of this. If I'm a pitcher,
Speaker 1: do I want to risk going out there rushing to
Speaker 1: get in shape? Now the fifty game schedule, forty eight
Speaker 1: game schedule, how are you going to use me? If
Speaker 1: I'm an ace, are you going to use me even more?
Speaker 1: Because with fifty games, we might have a chance to
Speaker 1: make the playoffs, we might have a chance to win
Speaker 1: our division. You might be using somebody a little bit
Speaker 1: more than you normally would would. Pitching rotations going to
Speaker 1: look like. If I'm a hitter, I'm okay with this,
Speaker 1: But a pitcher, I really have to question this. Just
Speaker 1: from that aspect. Now we can talk about COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: and safety precautions. I do believe that baseball will be
Speaker 1: able to do that. Being an outdoor sport, you're not
Speaker 1: in contact with each other. I do believe baseball will
Speaker 1: be able to provide some kind of safety precautions there.
Speaker 1: But if I'm a pitcher, I would really question, do
Speaker 1: I want to come back for this? This program is
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Speaker 1: zoom dot com. Mclovity got a pull question for me today. Okay,
Speaker 1: so the NBA is coming back. They have afternoon games
Speaker 1: and night games apparently in the regular season. Which team
Speaker 1: will get the most primetime games? I'm only going to
Speaker 1: give you actually two choices unless you can think of
Speaker 1: anybody else. Is it gonna be the Lakers or the
Speaker 1: Pelican Lakers? I think I'll be the Pelicans because at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the season it was Pelicans, Pelicans, Pelicans, Pelicans. Well,
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna get a lot more airtime than
Speaker 1: they deserve. But you do have Zion and this is
Speaker 1: this is marketing, this is pr this is get our
Speaker 1: product out there. We want you watching when once you
Speaker 1: engaged and let's enjoy Zion why you can. But the
Speaker 1: Lakers are going to get the most primetime games. I
Speaker 1: would think they know they have the Lakers in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That's why maybe they pushed ion. But okay, who gets
Speaker 1: the least I can. Let me give you these choices.
Speaker 1: I know you don't like to maybe, but let's be
Speaker 1: honest here, Spurs, they're a strong contender there, the Magic,
Speaker 1: the Wizards, and I know you and Seton love the King.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if I could put them on
Speaker 1: the list. But I like the Kings. But it's it's
Speaker 1: always a train wreck because I thought they were going
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs this year? Do I get credit
Speaker 1: for them? Almost? Like they're sort of almost in the playoffs?
Speaker 1: They could make it. Yeah, Paulli, we're giving that to you.
Speaker 1: You are, Yeah, and it's time and yeah we're giving
Speaker 1: that ing ing ing ing Thank you. I needed that.
Speaker 1: But are there two less watchable teams in the Wizards
Speaker 1: and the Spurs. I'm sorry, this is me. You can
Speaker 1: throw the Magic in there as well. They got Aaron Gordon,
Speaker 1: Yeah they do. He dunked off as got a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago. I like how whenever anybody says saying
Speaker 1: about Orlando, well they got that guy who lost the
Speaker 1: Slam dunk contest. Yeah, that guy Aaron Gordon, Hey, come
Speaker 1: on down, let's watch Mo Bamba. Don't they have and
Speaker 1: Jonathan Isaac think just keep collecting like top five picks.
Speaker 1: I don't know what they're all doing down there should
Speaker 1: be Evan four and yeah, yeah see there. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: that's impressive. I had no idea where that came from. Yeah, yeah, Paully,
Speaker 1: I just saw like the five different field houses. That's
Speaker 1: how I described more that the NBA's can be playing
Speaker 1: down in Orlando. Do you ever watched Summer league basketball. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and there's a mishmash of people there and it's kind
Speaker 1: of quiet, and it feels like a casual run. It
Speaker 1: doesn't feel that serious because the setting or it's like
Speaker 1: Shamanad tournaments in college basketball. There's not that many people.
Speaker 1: These are gonna be empty gyms that are also small,
Speaker 1: but the players are gonna be wearing their full uniforms,
Speaker 1: like they're gonna look like they're in the middle of
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals, and but they'll be playing at like
Speaker 1: junior college type facilities. Well, they've had this in Vegas,
Speaker 1: but they had crowds there. They had summer league games
Speaker 1: in Orlando and there's there's no depth to the arena.
Speaker 1: There's no ambiance there. I don't know what they're gonna
Speaker 1: do with the cameras to dress it up a little bit.
Speaker 1: The angles can help a little bit there, you know,
Speaker 1: can you get a different look to this? And I
Speaker 1: think that that would be important with the NBA, they're
Speaker 1: all there. I guess the players are going to be
Speaker 1: housed in one hotel because there was talk that hey,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get to pick your hotel depending on your seed. Here.
Speaker 1: Now you got all of these NBA players in one hotel.
Speaker 1: It's the NBA's real world here. That's a Brian Windhorse
Speaker 1: report that they're all ding in one hotel. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: it makes it easier to contain the safety precautions. And
Speaker 1: I guess that you can get they're calling it in
Speaker 1: the bubble. You can get out of the bubble to
Speaker 1: go play golf. I don't know how much socializing you're
Speaker 1: going to be able to have. This is going to
Speaker 1: be a fascinating test. It really is like how do
Speaker 1: how do we make this? Remember? You know, we see
Speaker 1: these uh movies where somebody is living in a bubble
Speaker 1: and and you know, hey, can you survive in a bubble?
Speaker 1: How long can you survive in a bubble? Didn't they
Speaker 1: have a show where it's like you were under glass
Speaker 1: for Biodome Stephen Baldwin and Pauly Shore Classic One of
Speaker 1: the great Man And there was a seventies movie about
Speaker 1: a bubble boy. Right, that's different, Okay, that was That
Speaker 1: was John Travolta. He was he was one boy in
Speaker 1: the bubble. Bubble Yeah boy bubble Yeah yeah, good movie.
Speaker 1: The heartbreaking, heartbreaking. All right, So that's what's happening with
Speaker 1: the NBA. They at least have a plan and they're
Speaker 1: going to be able to I guess roll this out
Speaker 1: at the end of July. Home court advantage. There is
Speaker 1: no home home court advantage. And I wonder, and I
Speaker 1: want to ask Chris Mannix about this. There are have
Speaker 1: to be a couple of teams that you're looking at
Speaker 1: as spoilers here, because remember you had players. The Bucks
Speaker 1: did this with the Greek Freak. They were load managing
Speaker 1: the Greek Freak this season he was playing thirty minutes
Speaker 1: a game, Kawhi Leonard load managing all of that. That's gone.
Speaker 1: That's not an advantage because everybody has been on everybody
Speaker 1: has load managed thanks to the coronavirus. You don't have
Speaker 1: that advantage with Kawai. He's fresh coming back for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: The Greek freak the same way. You know, James Harden
Speaker 1: might benefit because normally he's run down by the time
Speaker 1: we get to the postseason. Load management not going to
Speaker 1: factor in this year. Yeah, McLevin, I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's a pole question, but I feel this The empty
Speaker 1: arena is so unfair to the number one seeds, both
Speaker 1: the Bucks and the lay. It's I know, I'm not
Speaker 1: saying astric or anything, but it just feels like a
Speaker 1: real is justice that they work so hard to get
Speaker 1: the one season. I don't know what else you could
Speaker 1: give them, though, I mean the desperate times, desperate measures.
Speaker 1: We just have to get through this season. Hopefully you
Speaker 1: get true championship caliber basketball in the finals, the Eastern
Speaker 1: Western Conference finals, hopefully. But then there's part of you
Speaker 1: that's saying, you know, are the Celtics one of those
Speaker 1: sneaky outlier teams where you go, man, they're one of
Speaker 1: the younger teams in the NBA, but they can win
Speaker 1: it all? Does Philadelphia? With Ben Simmons coming back are
Speaker 1: they going to be ready to go? Will they be
Speaker 1: healthy enough? You know, is Toronto going to be a
Speaker 1: sneaky team? You just you want to know who can
Speaker 1: start in right away and be good because you have
Speaker 1: eight regular season games and then the playoffs start. And
Speaker 1: there were certain teams at the end of the year
Speaker 1: where you started to see some progress, certainly with the Pelicans,
Speaker 1: but I don't know if where they are to win
Speaker 1: that many games and then the matchups to try to
Speaker 1: be a spoiler there, but I do think that you
Speaker 1: have one or two teams that could be Wow. I
Speaker 1: didn't expect that. Yeah, McLean. One team shot up dramatically
Speaker 1: in the Vegas odds yesterday. I saw this story the
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets. They're afraid that they don't they don't want
Speaker 1: to get caught flat foot if Katie does come back.
Speaker 1: So it shot up crazy high. Would that be amazing?
Speaker 1: I know I'm being fantasy. Here is Kyrie playing that
Speaker 1: They say they don't Vegas. The story said Vegas doesn't
Speaker 1: want to get caught if Kyrie and Katie come back.
Speaker 1: They don't know anything that no one else does. That.
Speaker 1: I haven't heard much about Kyrie. I've heard a lot
Speaker 1: about kad In that he looks good, but we haven't
Speaker 1: seen him in game like situations here. I guess if
Speaker 1: you're thinking he's healthy, everybody signs off on it. He
Speaker 1: feels healthy. You got a chance to maybe steal the
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference. I guess you do. I mean, if Kyrie
Speaker 1: and Durant come back, you have a chance to steal
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference. Yeah, Paul, You've been saying for months
Speaker 1: that you would even consider having Durant back. But with
Speaker 1: this new policy and the season being even a month
Speaker 1: later than we expected a while ago, the Nets are
Speaker 1: a seventh seed, but now that seating has gone as
Speaker 1: far as home court advantage, which I would not have
Speaker 1: had at all in the playoffs. But you could steal something.
Speaker 1: You could, like you said, you could steal a title maybe.
Speaker 1: But the concern I have is you have you know,
Speaker 1: the games are not spread out now, and if you're
Speaker 1: bringing back guys who have been injured, certainly with an achilles,
Speaker 1: with Kevin Durant, he doesn't get a rest period of
Speaker 1: two or three days in between games, You're going to
Speaker 1: have a finite amount of time to get all of
Speaker 1: these games in there. And that would be my biggest
Speaker 1: concern if you're bringing back somebody from that kind of injury.
Speaker 1: Durant might be ready to go, but can he play
Speaker 1: back to back games? Can Kyrie play back to back games?
Speaker 1: And is it worth the risk with this kind of
Speaker 1: season under these circumstances, And that's why I would caution
Speaker 1: against it. Yeah, McLevin. You know how when the NFL
Speaker 1: comes back, a lot of guys have soft what's called
Speaker 1: soft tissue injuries, Like don't you afraid they're going to
Speaker 1: ramp up so fast and be at intense levels that
Speaker 1: they're gonna be blown out knees and things. Can you
Speaker 1: can you help somebody help themselves? Durant's gonna want to play,
Speaker 1: and then you have to say, no, you only get
Speaker 1: to play twenty five minutes. Now there's a game, you know,
Speaker 1: hanging in the balance. Do I put him in because
Speaker 1: all of these games mean so much. Now that would
Speaker 1: the risk that I would have the risk and the
Speaker 1: reward is not great enough. Let's say something happens to
Speaker 1: Durant now I've lost him for another year, or something
Speaker 1: happens to Kyrie. Brooklyn should just pace itself, Okay, you
Speaker 1: have time, don't rush, And this is not the year
Speaker 1: to try to do this. Sixty to one, I believe
Speaker 1: is what now. They went from one fifty I believe
Speaker 1: the Nets to sixty to one to win it all. Well,
Speaker 1: this quote him Caesar saying he didn't want to post
Speaker 1: one fifty. I'll find out what they were before this, Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Caesar's director of trading Jeff Davis. So I would rather
Speaker 1: be cautious in deal sixty to one than get hurt
Speaker 1: when we hear the news Durant and Irving are returning.
Speaker 1: I don't want to post one fifty to one odds.
Speaker 1: And the problem is you take a bet of a
Speaker 1: couple of thousand and it pays three hundred thousand, and
Speaker 1: you're stuck if Durant is good. This according to Caesar's
Speaker 1: do you have the odds there? I haven't seen the
Speaker 1: uploaded as another part in the story. According to Doug
Speaker 1: Kazarian of ESPN, the NETS odds were his highest seven
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty to one when both Duran and Irving
Speaker 1: were ruled out for the season. I'll try to get
Speaker 1: the whole odds, but that doesn't seem right, Yeah, Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: he injured his calf a year and a month ago
Speaker 1: May seventh, twenty nineteen. If he does not play in
Speaker 1: this abbreviate NBA season and next season gets put pushed
Speaker 1: back to use Christmas as starting date, he will have
Speaker 1: not played competitive basketball in one year, seven months, in
Speaker 1: three weeks, closer to two years than one year, one year,
Speaker 1: seven months and three weeks. And he knows this, like
Speaker 1: he's aware of this as he's sitting doing his rehab. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I'm okay given that Achilles injury and they talk
Speaker 1: about nine to twelve months, but it's probably more like
Speaker 1: twelve months and to be able to come back from that,
Speaker 1: and what's he going to be like when he comes back.
Speaker 1: I would love to ease him in more than just hey,
Speaker 1: let's play eight games now, let's get ready for the
Speaker 1: postseason and if Kyrie comes. But I haven't seen a
Speaker 1: timeframe for Kyrie. I I haven't seen any update on Kyrie. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm club By the way, they have the whole list
Speaker 1: of odds here from Caesar's Lakers one Bucks right behind them,
Speaker 1: and then Clippers right behind them. So Lakers a plus
Speaker 1: two hundred, which two to one. I guess who would
Speaker 1: surprise me in there? Is there anybody who's higher than
Speaker 1: you would expect or lower than you'd expect with those odds. Wait,
Speaker 1: what are the Pelicans odds? Pelicans and this are plus
Speaker 1: five thousand. Okay, yeah, here's a sneaky team. I like
Speaker 1: to look at point differential. The Dallas Mavericks are the
Speaker 1: seventh seed in the West, traditionally seven seed. They're forty
Speaker 1: and twenty seven, nothing special, but they beat their opponents
Speaker 1: by an average of six point one points per game.
Speaker 1: That's top three in the West. That's almost that's almost
Speaker 1: the same as the Clippers. Their point defferential in their wins.
Speaker 1: They're the highest scoring team in the league. And you
Speaker 1: got an experienced coach, you know, Porzingis started to round
Speaker 1: into shape, and then you've got you know, Lucas Sensation.
Speaker 1: But I don't know who Dallas would be matching up with,
Speaker 1: and that that's always interesting to see. Yeah, that's where
Speaker 1: it gets. You start to look at a team that
Speaker 1: could surprise somebody. It's going to be because of a matchup.
Speaker 1: You know, the team that they're facing might be a
Speaker 1: better regular season team, but in a seven game series,
Speaker 1: you might match up better with that team. Your strategy,
Speaker 1: somebody you know, if you're facing the Rockets, Rockets in
Speaker 1: a seven game series with Russell Westbrook and James Harden
Speaker 1: going full tilt, and if they happen to capture some
Speaker 1: magic there, then maybe, you know, Houston could be one
Speaker 1: of those teams that, given this format, could surprise people. Yeah. Mcleven, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right. The next year or two teams you mentioned
Speaker 1: the Celtics and the Rockets are at fifteen to one.
Speaker 1: They're the next year after those big three teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Celtics would be somebody that, like I would put
Speaker 1: money on the Rockets just because I think there's some
Speaker 1: fascination there, curiosity, and that's not an easy matchup the
Speaker 1: Rockets either, you know, they either win or they beat themselves,
Speaker 1: it feels like. And if they happen to get it
Speaker 1: all together in a four game you know, for four
Speaker 1: games to win. I think the Celtics are sneaky too.
Speaker 1: You know, I could see the Celtics winning the East. Yeah. Mcleven,
Speaker 1: we're putting together. We're collecting my team back together. Let's
Speaker 1: call our guy, let's let's get out on the playoffs.
Speaker 1: We got it. You gotta go dark Horse, right, you
Speaker 1: can't go like what kind of would you take? I
Speaker 1: don't want you to get into this dand no, no no, no,
Speaker 1: I can't. Would you take a top ten team or
Speaker 1: like I would tend to fifteen team? I would go
Speaker 1: Celtics Rockets if I was gonna do something interesting, and
Speaker 1: I would take Portland as a long shot. If you bet,
Speaker 1: if I bet, do you want us to bet? And
Speaker 1: you no, no, no, I'll no. I told you that
Speaker 1: story of a friend of mine and we were having
Speaker 1: beer and wings and it was a Monday night and
Speaker 1: he said, who do you like? Now? That always triggers
Speaker 1: something in me that I get nervous. Who do you like?
Speaker 1: I go back to Pete Rose in the nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: six playoffs between the Mets and the Astros, and he
Speaker 1: says to Bob Costas and me at the top of
Speaker 1: the dugout steps the Mets dugout, who do you like?
Speaker 1: And Bob and I looked at each other, going, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to are you going to? And we didn't
Speaker 1: say who we liked because we knew Pete was gonna
Speaker 1: go bet. So fast forward to a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: friend sits down, he goes who do you like? To me?
Speaker 1: And I said, oh, gosh, I don't know Raiders. He goes,
Speaker 1: all right, he goes, order me a beer, he goes outside,
Speaker 1: he comes back, he goes, I go, where'd you go?
Speaker 1: He goes, oh, just on the phone. I had to
Speaker 1: put a dime on the Raiders. I go, no, no,
Speaker 1: don't put no. Now, I have to sit and watch
Speaker 1: this game. And he didn't give me any money when
Speaker 1: he won. But I was gonna get blamed probably if
Speaker 1: he lost. Wait, dude, who won the game? The Raiders covered?
Speaker 1: And I went, oh my god, he's gonna bug you
Speaker 1: like a get it again. Well I get that. I
Speaker 1: get that all the time, and I just say, no,
Speaker 1: entertainment purposes only. Hey, I saw your Super Bowl pick.
Speaker 1: Would you put money? No? I would not put I
Speaker 1: do it because I have to do it. I don't
Speaker 1: want to do it. Yeah, Paul, what if we bet
Speaker 1: on the team that you like as your dark course
Speaker 1: and not tell you, and if it wins, we tell you,
Speaker 1: and if it doesn't we never mentioned it again. That's
Speaker 1: a good police. Whatever you do. I don't want to
Speaker 1: know about it, super And that's not just gambling. Okay,
Speaker 1: whatever you do, I don't need to know anything. About it.
Speaker 1: So you like the Kings at two hundred one. No,
Speaker 1: I do love the Kings. I don't know why, but
Speaker 1: that's a team that I do. I'll watch because I
Speaker 1: don't think anybody else watches, and I'll go I gotta.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, I'm watching my son play and
Speaker 1: the team's not very good, but but I feel like
Speaker 1: I have to. That's what I'm watching here. I'm watching
Speaker 1: the Kings, and I just I don't know, I'm just
Speaker 1: rooting for him a little bit. There. Chris Mannox will
Speaker 1: join us. We'll talk to him about well a few things.
Speaker 1: Give us that surprise team or teams that could create
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit of a run here in the
Speaker 1: NBA Playoffs. Twenty one after the hour, just getting started
Speaker 1: on this trigger Meat Friday. Back after this. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to The Damn Patrick Show podcast. Be sure to
Speaker 1: catch us live every weekday morning nine to noon Eastern
Speaker 1: or six to nine Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
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Speaker 1: settle on a poll question. Phone calls are always welcome
Speaker 1: eight seven seven three DP show email addrestp at dan
Speaker 1: Patrick dot com, Twitter handle a DP show. Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: had a long layoff earlier in his career. He missed
Speaker 1: the last two months of the twenty fourteen fifteen season
Speaker 1: with Oklahoma City. He went over eight months without playing
Speaker 1: a game. In his first seven games of the next season,
Speaker 1: he averaged thirty a game, shot better than fifty percent.
Speaker 1: Soon after that, he strained a hamstring and missed six games. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the rush to have him come back. I get it
Speaker 1: that you feel like the Eastern Conference is maybe there
Speaker 1: for the taking. I don't know about Kyrie. Did you
Speaker 1: get an update on Kyrie's health at all? Did anybody
Speaker 1: see anything on this? I mean, he is a man
Speaker 1: of mystery. But yeah, we were talking about if Durant
Speaker 1: comes back. Vegas is already lowering their odds just in
Speaker 1: case Durant and Kyrie coming back. Chris Mannox covers the
Speaker 1: NBA senior NBA writer from Sports, illustrating his most recent column,
Speaker 1: sa I finally the NBA has a format. Now the
Speaker 1: real work begins. Chris, good morning, How are you What's
Speaker 1: going on? Then? Well, I'm trying to figure this NET
Speaker 1: situation out, I've always felt everything I've read is that
Speaker 1: Durant would not be coming back. We'll start there. Do
Speaker 1: you think Durant is going to be coming back? I don't,
Speaker 1: and I think it would. It would take an incredible
Speaker 1: reversal of direction for Durant to come back. You know
Speaker 1: how to talk to people about this within the NETS organization.
Speaker 1: I've talked to Rich Kleiman, Durant's manager, and every conversation
Speaker 1: I've had has not left left me feeling like the
Speaker 1: door was even open for something like this to happen.
Speaker 1: I mean, if it was a shoulder injury or a
Speaker 1: Steph Curry like broken hand, you can have a different conversation.
Speaker 1: But you're talking about the most significant injury an NBA
Speaker 1: player could have, and then taking that player and dropping
Speaker 1: him after seven eight regular season games in a three
Speaker 1: week training camp into the most intense atmosphere an NBA
Speaker 1: player can go through. And you know, all I think
Speaker 1: about when you're thinking of that scenario was didn't we
Speaker 1: just do that with Kevin Durant, Like, didn't each us
Speaker 1: with a major injury to his cap, come back and
Speaker 1: then in one game pop his achilles? I mean the
Speaker 1: Nets have a four year investment in Kevin Durant. Even
Speaker 1: if he came back, I wouldn't make the Nets a favorite.
Speaker 1: You don't come back from an achilles injury and look
Speaker 1: like the same player you once were. So what is
Speaker 1: the point in rolling him back out there truncated season postseason,
Speaker 1: you know, just to roll the dice and hope you
Speaker 1: catch lightning in a bottle. No, I, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: an incredibly long layout for Kevin Durant once the next
Speaker 1: season starts. But the risk to meet Dan and I
Speaker 1: think that the Nets and Kevin Durant is not worth
Speaker 1: the reward given the fact that we have, you know,
Speaker 1: a smaller postseason, eight games regular season going in. Give
Speaker 1: me one or two teams that you think and with
Speaker 1: no home court advantage, that this team might play the
Speaker 1: role as spoiler either in the East or the West. Well,
Speaker 1: to me, it's Philadelphia in the East. And you know,
Speaker 1: the Sixers had plenty of problems this year, even before
Speaker 1: you know, Ben Simmons went down with that injury. But
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons is coming back, and you know that, you know,
Speaker 1: we always thought when it came to the Sixers that
Speaker 1: a defensive minded team that doesn't rely on the three
Speaker 1: point shot might have a shot in the postseasons on
Speaker 1: UPPO necessarily high volume prepoint shooting team, Like these playoffs
Speaker 1: almost are built for a team like Philadelphia, Like when
Speaker 1: you have teams coming back, you're just not going to
Speaker 1: be able to you're still sharp enough to be the
Speaker 1: kind of perimeter shooting team that you were prior to this.
Speaker 1: A lot of these players have not been even doing
Speaker 1: much in the way of one on one work. Some
Speaker 1: of them have even shooting to the better part the
Speaker 1: last couple of months. So you're gonna see a lot
Speaker 1: of college basketball like shooting numbers. I think in the
Speaker 1: regular season in the postseason, if you're Philadelphia, you don't
Speaker 1: shoot threes. If you don't care you are a defensive team.
Speaker 1: You want to you want to play nineties style basketball
Speaker 1: where games are in the eighties and nineties. So I
Speaker 1: look at the Sixers. You know their chemistry is always issue,
Speaker 1: but but talent perspective, if this play be perfect for them,
Speaker 1: like if they could wind up being a team that
Speaker 1: not only win the first round series, but they could
Speaker 1: make a run all the way to the finals. Like
Speaker 1: I think that this is just one of those weird
Speaker 1: scenarios that sets up really well for Philadelphia. Wait are
Speaker 1: you doing this because you know mclovin is so excited
Speaker 1: what mclovin I told you and I take a Barr said,
Speaker 1: don't don't book Maddocks today, you know, and now I
Speaker 1: think it's totally paid off. Thank you for a lof
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. M Is it fair? Is it fair
Speaker 1: to the Lakers in Bucks that there is no home
Speaker 1: court advantage for these two teams considering what they did
Speaker 1: during the regular season? There was no way to give
Speaker 1: them something for what they did during the regular season. No,
Speaker 1: it's not fair, But life's not fair. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's the way it goes in the current climate. And
Speaker 1: you know, there are all these suggestions you read about
Speaker 1: some of them, and they're even more from the people
Speaker 1: I talk to you about finding ways to uh, you'll
Speaker 1: give teams that had home court advantage, whether it's an
Speaker 1: extra possession or little things like that. But once you
Speaker 1: heard Adam silver State last night lines up with some
Speaker 1: of the stuff up and writing the last couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: the NBA that athlete wants to protect the integrity of
Speaker 1: the playoffs and Michael Jordan said this to Adam Silver,
Speaker 1: and Adam Silver has believed this all along. You don't
Speaker 1: want to screw around with gimmicky stuff once you get
Speaker 1: to the playoffs because that threatens the credibility of the champion.
Speaker 1: So if you want to find don't know if it's possible,
Speaker 1: But if you want to find a way of shipping
Speaker 1: Blaker floor to Orlando and playing games on it, great
Speaker 1: like to that. But that is as far as it
Speaker 1: goes when it comes to giving them an advantage. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's the floor as much as it
Speaker 1: is the fans that you need to ship to give
Speaker 1: these teams their home court advantage. How about you just
Speaker 1: send Jack Nicholson and a fan to be name later.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm all for sending like the super fan
Speaker 1: of every team down there, like Clipper Darryl, you know
Speaker 1: in the stands. Can I mean match out his voice
Speaker 1: with echo in an empty arena, like, send somebody for
Speaker 1: for each team. But this is just I mean, you
Speaker 1: know this then this is just the way it goes.
Speaker 1: Like you know, this is the best of a bad situation.
Speaker 1: There's no way to fix it or make it any
Speaker 1: more palatable. So teams are gonna have to deal with
Speaker 1: the consequences. Talking to Chris Mannix from Sports Illustrated, senior
Speaker 1: NBA writer, how is the NBA going to issue press credentials?
Speaker 1: How do people get in to cover? And do we
Speaker 1: have broadcast teams who are going to be able to
Speaker 1: cover this? You know, it's I know for a fact,
Speaker 1: it's still being negotiated right now. As far as what
Speaker 1: kind of a press access there's going to be. I mean,
Speaker 1: I would imagine that if you want to cover the
Speaker 1: playoffs in its entirety, you've got to put yourself in
Speaker 1: that bubble and you have got to agree to effectively
Speaker 1: quarantine yourself for three months. And that's you know, difficult
Speaker 1: for a lot of people to do. I mean, maybe
Speaker 1: not so much for me, I have feel life whatsoever.
Speaker 1: But you you know, for a lot of people, you know,
Speaker 1: you have families, you have reasons to be in and
Speaker 1: out of there. So I think that is that is
Speaker 1: going to be a challenge. There's a lot of interest
Speaker 1: in from a print media perspective, in being part of
Speaker 1: covering it, but the NBA is understandably leary about letting
Speaker 1: people come in and out the question of broadcasting. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's been fully resolved yet, but people
Speaker 1: I thought to have been under the impression that many
Speaker 1: of these broadcasts will take place remotely, whether it's from
Speaker 1: Bristol or you know, Atlanta for Turner. You know, I
Speaker 1: think that's that's certainly is a fluid situation right now.
Speaker 1: But you know, the last couple of weeks, that was
Speaker 1: what I was hearing when it came to how games
Speaker 1: we broadcast during all this. Yeah, I think it'll be
Speaker 1: a via remote for the national broadcast and even local broadcast.
Speaker 1: The NBA season if there's a game seven would end
Speaker 1: on that Monday night in mid October. And then there's
Speaker 1: a quick turnaround and the commissioner talking about starting the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one season on December first, seems aggressive. Why
Speaker 1: start December first with games? Why not wait till Christmas? Well,
Speaker 1: starting December first is all about finishing like the end
Speaker 1: of June, you know, it's all about trying to recalibrate
Speaker 1: the schedule in one season, like they don't they as
Speaker 1: of now, they don't want to play into the next summer.
Speaker 1: So if you start December first, you might have to
Speaker 1: sandwich some games closer you know, do some things you
Speaker 1: don't necessarily want to do with spacing, but you can
Speaker 1: get back on a regular calendar. I think it's I
Speaker 1: think it's a mistake, and I think it's one that,
Speaker 1: as you saw, Michelle Roberts has already commented on this,
Speaker 1: like you're gonna have a union problem with negotiating that
Speaker 1: type of quick turnaround. But I think the NBA has
Speaker 1: got an opportunity here, Dan to start the season on Christmas,
Speaker 1: when most people start caring about basketball anyway, to use
Speaker 1: that as your launching point, and then play into the
Speaker 1: summer on a regular schedule. Try to get some valuable
Speaker 1: data to see if summer basketball actually work, if the
Speaker 1: ratings go up, if getting away from the NFL actually
Speaker 1: makes some sense. If it doesn't, and you're ratings plummet
Speaker 1: for one year, okay, end of August, which is when
Speaker 1: that December start would probably put you, you can find
Speaker 1: a way to get back on track in the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one twenty twenty two season. But right now, I
Speaker 1: think it's a golden opportunity for the league to do
Speaker 1: what a lot of people internally already want to do,
Speaker 1: and something they can shock up to the pandemic. And
Speaker 1: that doesn't even include the fact that it's good business
Speaker 1: to push even further down the line to get fans
Speaker 1: potentially back in the stands for next season. Who's your prediction. Well,
Speaker 1: I started this whole year saying the Lakers wouldn't make
Speaker 1: the playoffs, or at least would be more likely than
Speaker 1: not to not make the playoffs. So I'm going to
Speaker 1: take the Lakers to win the whole thing. Let's just
Speaker 1: do a complete, complete, one eighty. But I'll tell you then,
Speaker 1: I am going to go out on the limb and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, Lakers, there's sixers in the finals. Okay,
Speaker 1: you're not picking your Celtics, huh, they like I look
Speaker 1: at the Celtics, and I look at the Bucks, and
Speaker 1: I look at how reliant they are on the three
Speaker 1: point shot, Like that, to me is a big variable
Speaker 1: in all this, Like how are these guys, What kind
Speaker 1: of skills are these guys gonna have when this game
Speaker 1: comes back? Like the Bucks Giannas doesn't shoot threes, but
Speaker 1: everybody else does, Like that's a five out team, Like
Speaker 1: they want everybody else but Yanna's behind the three point
Speaker 1: line launching. And if you're missing a lot, and that
Speaker 1: leads to, like, what does the Sixers do well? They
Speaker 1: force misses, and they play up and down in transition.
Speaker 1: They don't shoot threes, they don't even shoot long two
Speaker 1: as well, but they can up and down in transition
Speaker 1: and create opportunities. And that's why I think Philadelphia, if
Speaker 1: they're if Simmons as well, and they're act together, I
Speaker 1: think they could have a pick a run. Did you
Speaker 1: care about this CBS poll about the greater Shooters of
Speaker 1: All Time? I mean, not really you It's obviously subjective,
Speaker 1: so I mean I even though it was on the
Speaker 1: list at this point, well it was, let's see Clay Thompson,
Speaker 1: Steph was number one. Clay Thompson I think was two.
Speaker 1: Bird was in there, Reggie Miller in there, Ray Allen
Speaker 1: was in there, and probably Kevin Durant was in there.
Speaker 1: It's like it's again it's like types of shooters though right,
Speaker 1: Like you know, Steph Curry like greatest off the triple
Speaker 1: three point shooter I've ever seen, Ray Allen maybe the
Speaker 1: best standalone three point shooter I've ever seen. What Reggie
Speaker 1: could do, can clutch moments and you know, the best
Speaker 1: of both worlds in that way. It's just you almost
Speaker 1: have to break it down to silos and say, here's
Speaker 1: the best, just type of three point shooter. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: know it's meant to have us get riled up and argue,
Speaker 1: and nobody's arguing with Steph Curry. Clay Thompson might be
Speaker 1: a little recency biased. He's a wonderful shooter. How did
Speaker 1: everybody miss on Clay Thompson when he was at Washington State.
Speaker 1: It's a good question. I don't think they saw him
Speaker 1: as being like he was a very good defender, a
Speaker 1: very good three point shooter. But I think if I
Speaker 1: think back to what was going on back then, I
Speaker 1: think they saw more as one dimensional. I don't think
Speaker 1: they saw him being and becoming a complete player that
Speaker 1: he was. Mean, he was still a lottery pick, like,
Speaker 1: he was still a well regarded player, But I don't
Speaker 1: think they saw the diversity of the skills that Clay
Speaker 1: Comfin has shown in his time as a pro. I
Speaker 1: remember Mark Jackson, the former Golden State head coach, was
Speaker 1: we had a private conversation and this is when they
Speaker 1: were thinking about Kevin love for Clay Thompson straight up yeah,
Speaker 1: And I said, man, that gives you a whole different look.
Speaker 1: You know, he can shoot threes, he can rebound, he goes,
Speaker 1: Clay Thompson is the best two way guard in the NBA,
Speaker 1: And I went, really, he goes, In my opinion, he goes,
Speaker 1: we would never even consider that trade. Yeah, they really
Speaker 1: didn't either on Golden State side. That. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: been documented well over the years, but they didn't really
Speaker 1: give that more than enough funk. But I mean, again,
Speaker 1: you see guys be great defensive players in college. I
Speaker 1: don't think anyone saw Clay becoming the stopper that he
Speaker 1: became in the pros. But we can, like there's so
Speaker 1: many like almost how about Kevin Love for OJ Mayo
Speaker 1: happened to stand one most lopsided deals in draft history. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was right there, Paulie and I were arguing, and
Speaker 1: I said, Kevin Love sealing fifteen eight, you know, OJ
Speaker 1: Mayo might be a guy who can get you twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five, you know, play some defense, and that didn't go.
Speaker 1: I hate to say that, damn, but I was kind
Speaker 1: of having the same argument you were at the time,
Speaker 1: like more towards Mail. You have to remember too, that
Speaker 1: Kevin Love back then was like Joey Like, he just
Speaker 1: didn't look like he had he didn't have an NBA body,
Speaker 1: And there were people at the time that, you know,
Speaker 1: I had one team like expressed to me. They thought
Speaker 1: Kevin Love might have an eating disorder like that he'd
Speaker 1: never be able to develop the kind of body that
Speaker 1: he adds a ELP that made him a great NBA player.
Speaker 1: So grace to Kevin Love for for turning his entire
Speaker 1: physique around in the NBA and OLJ Mayo average nineteen
Speaker 1: his rookie year, he was first team All Rookie. But
Speaker 1: Kevin Love improved himself, he got got better, you know,
Speaker 1: the fact that he put in a thirty thirty night
Speaker 1: Like man, you just you just never know, Dan, like
Speaker 1: what you can tell, Like, it's so hard to tell
Speaker 1: work ethics on eighteen year olds, right, Like you you
Speaker 1: can see them doing stuff, you know, in high school
Speaker 1: and in college. You can talk to their coaches, but
Speaker 1: until you get them in the gym for like year one,
Speaker 1: you don't know what their dedication is going to be.
Speaker 1: And that's that's one of the the most difficult parts of
Speaker 1: scouting players. You can see the talent then try to
Speaker 1: project out the talent But did you know that Kevin
Speaker 1: Love was going to become this workaholic that would you know,
Speaker 1: turn him his body into one of the better NBA
Speaker 1: physiques and turn himself into one of the better front
Speaker 1: court three point shooters. I mean, he just he put
Speaker 1: the time and you can't really project that when a
Speaker 1: guy's a young Thank you, Chris, enjoy the weekend. We
Speaker 1: appreciate your time. As always. That's Chris Mannix, Sports Illustrated
Speaker 1: NBA Senior Writer. No other show in America. It's talking
Speaker 1: about OJ Mayo today, but this one we'll take a
Speaker 1: break play of the days up next year on The
Speaker 1: Dan Patrick Show. Thanks for listening to The Dan Patrick
Speaker 1: Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
Speaker 1: morning nine until noon eastern six to nine Pacific on
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio, and you can find us on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app at FSR or stream us live every day
Speaker 1: at YouTube dot com slash The Dan Patrick Show. Mclovin,
Speaker 1: what's the pull question we're going with? Let me just
Speaker 1: first date that I was excited about Mannix picking the sixers.
Speaker 1: Then I had the guys in the back pull Mannix
Speaker 1: prediction record on the show. I am putting a huge
Speaker 1: bet on the Milwaukee Bucks right now. No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: What is the second tier team that you think has
Speaker 1: the best chance based on what you were saying earlier?
Speaker 1: Second tier being out of the top five teams. The Celtics,
Speaker 1: the Rockets, the thunder Dallas, Mavericks for Sixers. Those are
Speaker 1: teams like not in the top five of the Sandys.
Speaker 1: I don't know if Dallas is good enough to make
Speaker 1: a consistent run, but I do think that they they
Speaker 1: would be a tough out just because of Luca and
Speaker 1: poor Zingis. The Rockets could either be really good or
Speaker 1: really bad. Oklahoma City is quietly, they quietly played some
Speaker 1: pretty good basketball. That's one of the younger teams in
Speaker 1: the league. And they have Chris Paul, so you throw
Speaker 1: in his age, that's a young team. Celtics, I like
Speaker 1: to I know Mannic says, oh, you can't rely on
Speaker 1: the three? Well, all right, so the Sixers can't shoot
Speaker 1: the three. What if they need to shoot the three?
Speaker 1: Because let's say they're down by double digits. Are they
Speaker 1: a good enough shooting team to be able to come back?
Speaker 1: That would be my big concern. They get a lead,
Speaker 1: they play defense, Okay, maybe, but those are fun teams
Speaker 1: on the outside there. Those are all interesting teams. But
Speaker 1: Philadelphia has the talent to make a longer run, and
Speaker 1: it's the Eastern Conference. Celtics would be able to do
Speaker 1: that as well. Houston and Dallas could be in a
Speaker 1: similar boat. Maybe a tough out, but can they be
Speaker 1: consistent enough to make a run where you're gonna win
Speaker 1: sixteen games? Yeah, mclub. Maybe it'll be like the NCAA
Speaker 1: tournament where a team like Virginia who only plays defense
Speaker 1: like a defense team can win. Like the Sixers are
Speaker 1: great defensive. Maybe that's the key that we're not talking about.
Speaker 1: I don't know what that means. Is there anyone's defense
Speaker 1: that you love? Do you have the defensive analytics? I
Speaker 1: don't have my analytics yet, but I'll get them. Yes, boy.
Speaker 1: Scoring wise, the best defenses in the East are the
Speaker 1: Raptors in the Celtics, and in the West it's the
Speaker 1: Lakers and the Nuggets. Okay, I like the Pacers. Healthy
Speaker 1: rocked him back, he was had some injury issues. Sneaky team,
Speaker 1: don't get they get no coverage. No they don't, No,
Speaker 1: they don't. I mentioned why did Klay Thompson? You know
Speaker 1: kind of fly under the radar, and then I looked
Speaker 1: at some numbers. Here. Washington State played at very slow pace.
Speaker 1: His last year, he averaged they averaged seventy two points
Speaker 1: a game that was sixty fifth in the nation. He
Speaker 1: averaged twenty one a game for a team that scored
Speaker 1: only seventy two points. But even if it's a slow pace,
Speaker 1: even if you have a guy getting twenty one points
Speaker 1: a game, if I'm looking at a great shooter, one
Speaker 1: of the great shooters of all time, Ray Allen, when
Speaker 1: you saw him in college, you knew he was great.
Speaker 1: When you saw him in the pros, you knew he
Speaker 1: was great. Larry Bird, you knew he was great. Steve Nash,
Speaker 1: you didn't know because you didn't know if he was
Speaker 1: able to physically play in the NBA. Steve Kerr was
Speaker 1: a good shooter at Arizona. I'm just looking at the
Speaker 1: guys who were on this list, so Nash, who else
Speaker 1: is on that list of great shooters of all Trek
Speaker 1: Dirk we didn't know because he was coming over from Europe,
Speaker 1: and it didn't take long before we realized that he
Speaker 1: was at that size as good a shooter as we've
Speaker 1: ever seen. But JJ Reddick, did you know that that
Speaker 1: would trans I knew, we knew he could shoot, that
Speaker 1: he'd be effective at NBA player. I knew that he
Speaker 1: was a great shooter in college, but I got to
Speaker 1: see all of those games. JJ Reddick had as pure
Speaker 1: of a shot as I've ever seen in college basketball,
Speaker 1: because when he made shots, there were times when the
Speaker 1: net didn't move. Rick Mount, who played at per Due,
Speaker 1: is one of the great pure shooters I ever saw.
Speaker 1: But Rick Mount wasn't a good ABA player. JJ Reddick
Speaker 1: has made himself into He's not a Hall of Famer,
Speaker 1: but this is a guy who's made the playoffs every
Speaker 1: single year, I believe of his NBA career, pretty storied career.
Speaker 1: John Smoltz will tell us, are we going to have
Speaker 1: baseball this year?