Speaker 1: Onto the news from around the league on we go.
Speaker 2: So I was so happy for Kevin Love and his
Speaker 2: rider died partner Ricky Rubio coming.
Speaker 1: Back to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 2: I was so excited for that duo to continue their
Speaker 2: reign in Cleveland. And then all of a sudden, Kevin
Speaker 2: Love gets injured and and now, in a very surprising move,
Speaker 2: Cavaliers and Kevin Love are negotiating a buyout. What I mean,
Speaker 2: it is not shocking that he would get a buyout.
Speaker 2: It is just shocking that the buyout comes now. He
Speaker 2: has been on this Cavs team since I was not even.
Speaker 1: In the business. I was selling mutual funds.
Speaker 2: When Kevin Love got traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He
Speaker 2: has seen his playing time drop from twenty minutes a
Speaker 2: game to half that and now twelve straight DMPs.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's injury.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's like, hey, we're just gonna
Speaker 2: let you ice your knees for a while. But I
Speaker 2: don't think it's acrimonious or bad blood at all. I
Speaker 2: think it's more just the realization that Kevin Love would
Speaker 2: like to play somewhere else and what he's going to do,
Speaker 2: which is play on the perimeter, does not necessarily fit
Speaker 2: with the Cavs are always trying to do, especially since
Speaker 2: they have Donovan Mitchell now Darius Garland. They got some
Speaker 2: young guys that want to give some minutes too, and
Speaker 2: Kevin Love doesn't necessarily fit into that mode. But I
Speaker 2: don't think it actually means that Kevin Love can't be useful.
Speaker 2: In the first twelve games of the season, Kevin Love
Speaker 2: averaged twelve, eight and two and twenty one minutes. Teams
Speaker 2: are gonna be excited to get him in a way.
Speaker 2: It's kind of sad. This is the end of an era,
Speaker 2: right It's the end of the Lebron James era. He
Speaker 2: was the only vestige of the strive for greatness in
Speaker 2: Cleveland era. And by all accounts, everyone has always said
Speaker 2: Kevin Love is a great teammate, except for that one little,
Speaker 2: like four week span where he was like throwing basketballs
Speaker 2: at his teammates and like not playing when they were playing.
Speaker 2: Do you remember that there was a time where Kevin
Speaker 2: Love was quiet quitting.
Speaker 1: Outside of that time, he's been tremendous.
Speaker 2: According to Shams, the Miami Heat are lurking for him
Speaker 2: and they probably aren't really someone that.
Speaker 1: Could actually get him.
Speaker 2: This is kind of like when you break up and
Speaker 2: you've got a long time best friend and they've got
Speaker 2: a crush on you and you have no feelings back
Speaker 2: for them, and they think just because you're single, now
Speaker 2: they have a shot. The Miami Heat do not have
Speaker 2: a shot with Kevin Love at all, Like no shot.
Speaker 2: They are Miami Heat. You are in the friend zone.
Speaker 2: I am sorry. Shams reported have been told that Heat
Speaker 2: are prioritizing something big over Russell Westbrook or Patrick Beverly,
Speaker 2: so Kevin Love or Serge Ibaka appeared to be priorities. Okay,
Speaker 2: well you prioritize and he'll prioritize, and we'll see where
Speaker 2: that leaves you. Makes sense though from a basketball perspective,
Speaker 2: he was shooting forty one percent from three in the
Speaker 2: first fifth of the season. He can pull down rebounds,
Speaker 2: we know that's what he does really well. He's a
Speaker 2: rebound monster.
Speaker 1: Both things that the Heat need desperately.
Speaker 2: They're bad at both of those, outside of say Jimmy
Speaker 2: Butler and bam Adebayo. Regardless, I like that this is
Speaker 2: a bio where it's nice. This is nice, peaceful, on.
Speaker 2: You know, you see things get a little ugly down
Speaker 2: the stretch with buyouts, same thing that's gonna probably happen
Speaker 2: with say like a Russell Westbrook or John Wall in
Speaker 2: Houston that got ugly. The return I thought of Ricky
Speaker 2: Rubio gave me some hope. But now it is time
Speaker 2: to take his game to another contender and that The
Speaker 2: latest rumors are that the Warriors are interested in Love.
Speaker 2: That makes sense, They've never found a replacement for Bilica
Speaker 2: or Otto Porter.
Speaker 1: But the wild thing.
Speaker 2: Is that if he does sign with the Heat, that
Speaker 2: might mean a Calves Heat first round matchup. And if
Speaker 2: that does happen, I think Kevin Love does go off
Speaker 2: for one game against the Calves. Especially if you're a
Speaker 2: Cavs fan, I think you have to be fearful of
Speaker 2: that because the universe is always undefeated.
Speaker 1: Moving on, I guess it was bound to happen.
Speaker 2: But our favorite Bible thumper, our favorite holy Water whisperer,
Speaker 2: our favorite summersalter, Joe Missoula was officially named the Celtics
Speaker 2: head coach permanently on Thursday morning.
Speaker 1: Even if it's deserved, which.
Speaker 2: Like I'm not here to say yay or nay on that,
Speaker 2: but like it's weird.
Speaker 1: It's weird.
Speaker 2: I'm confused because the reason I had heard that they
Speaker 2: didn't announce him already the permanent head coach is because
Speaker 2: they would have to fire emy Udoka. You already have
Speaker 2: a current head coach. He can't have two current head coaches.
Speaker 2: You have one current head coach who is suspended, so
Speaker 2: the other ones in interim until you figure out what
Speaker 2: to do with the one that's suspended. But it's really done, right,
Speaker 2: So what are you doing now? There's intricacies here that
Speaker 2: I am not able to comprehend. I thought Imey at
Speaker 2: this point was still suspended. Unless I miss something, Are
Speaker 2: they firing him for costs? Is that the next domino
Speaker 2: to fall? I couldn't find any information that he's on
Speaker 2: the website. Hemy Udoka still on the website right now,
Speaker 2: like this very second. Numerous sources reported that the Celtics
Speaker 2: did a bunch of due diligence before suspending Udoka to
Speaker 2: protect themselves from a wrongful termination lawsuits. So what happens next?
Speaker 2: That's why they didn't fire him. They did not want
Speaker 2: to get sued. I imagine that there is going to be
Speaker 2: an announcement happening about udoka status soon, and the rumors
Speaker 2: are that most likely uh Udoka might go back to
Speaker 2: San Antonio.
Speaker 1: Congratulations to Joe Massoula. God was on your side.
Speaker 2: He always was willing to move mountains in order for
Speaker 2: you to be in the spot.
Speaker 1: Your time is here now.
Speaker 2: It is time for you to serve out your Lord
Speaker 2: and Savior's purpose, which is to get these Celtics, which.
Speaker 1: I think is like an Irish Catholic thing.
Speaker 2: A championship ring Joe. I'm sure he is doing somersaults
Speaker 2: in the locker room right now and he will.
Speaker 1: Be for many, many years.
Speaker 2: We don't talk enough about the OKAC thunder, do we.
Speaker 2: We don't really say much. They are the most fun
Speaker 2: team that gets under discussed, mostly because I think we're
Speaker 2: still waiting for them to tank. We're still waiting for
Speaker 2: them to do nothing. And also, in particular, nobody speaks
Speaker 2: about their head coach because I don't think they know
Speaker 2: what his name is. I don't think they know how
Speaker 2: to pronounce it. I don't think they know what he
Speaker 2: looks like. Honestly, if you were to say to fifty
Speaker 2: decently casual to serious NBA fans, who the head coach
Speaker 2: of the Okac Thunder was I bet you four would
Speaker 2: say they knew who it was, and they and about
Speaker 2: two would get it right. I think there's no more
Speaker 2: under the radar coach than Mark Dugno dag Know, it's
Speaker 2: hard to say too, you just kind of say, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: that Mark guy. All he does though, is to have okase.
Speaker 2: He prepared to cover every single game, if not win outright.
Speaker 2: They've been the toughest team to kill the past two years.
Speaker 2: How do we know it?
Speaker 1: They have been destroying Vegas.
Speaker 2: This team has been killing against the spread at a
Speaker 2: higher rate than any other team in the NBA these
Speaker 2: past two seasons, including the Memphis Grizzlies, which were the
Speaker 2: runaway against the spread leader last year. Vegas doesn't know
Speaker 2: who Mark Dangno is either. Vegas does not care. Vegas
Speaker 2: is underestimating the Thunder and so much I think has
Speaker 2: to do with that with Sam Presty, who we've given
Speaker 2: love to on the pod before, and Mark Dagnel, who
Speaker 2: we need to give love to more.
Speaker 1: So that's what this is about. That's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 1: This year.
Speaker 2: Has been spectacular, considering that it started with the Thunder
Speaker 2: losing out on chet holmgrun for the year. He hurt
Speaker 2: himself Liz Frank injury. I think he stepped on a
Speaker 2: wet floor and all of a sudden boomboom before it
Speaker 2: camp even started, he was done for the year shut down.
Speaker 1: They are currently.
Speaker 2: Twenty eight and twenty nine, tenth place, which if you're
Speaker 2: a Blazer fan, you realize that's two spots better than you.
Speaker 2: A team that actually wants to win SGA taking the
Speaker 2: next step. Josh Giddy is a monster. He's elevated his game.
Speaker 2: He's an elite point guard as well. The rookies have
Speaker 2: been really great. Jalen Williams, we love both of them.
Speaker 2: The team has twelve players under the age of twenty four,
Speaker 2: so they're very good. They're very fun, they're very exciting.
Speaker 2: The oldest player is twenty eight Kenrick Williams. Dario Sarah's
Speaker 2: probably gonna get bought out. They're five hundred team with
Speaker 2: three rookies and six second year professional That's ridiculous. A
Speaker 2: team that's five hundred just rocking with the young guns
Speaker 2: and with the baby lineup. Dagneau has been a masterful coach.
Speaker 2: Right he has minutes to everyone so they can continue
Speaker 2: to develop. The rookies who have benefited from his caretaking, Jalen, j.
Speaker 2: Dubb and Jay will and Uzman Jeng, who rarely gets.
Speaker 1: Talked about, have been really good.
Speaker 2: If you look at Jalen Williams with an E, he's
Speaker 2: currently averaging twelve four and three in around twenty eight
Speaker 2: minutes this year as a rookie. He's been getting better
Speaker 2: as the season has progressed as well. The OKAC Thunder
Speaker 2: did an incredible job of getting him out of value,
Speaker 2: his length, his athleticism.
Speaker 1: GM's drool over.
Speaker 2: That, and one of the major reasons that he leads
Speaker 2: the rookies and steals is that. So in a recent interview,
Speaker 2: this is where we're going, This is where the whole
Speaker 2: point of this piece is. Is all about Jalen Williams
Speaker 2: and what he thought when he was drafted by OKC.
Speaker 2: He said, Yeah, it was cool to be called with
Speaker 2: Chet and Uzman Jang and then they picked Jalen Williams
Speaker 2: with the why.
Speaker 1: It was a really cool and surreal moment. I think
Speaker 1: it was full.
Speaker 2: Circle too, because I had a really good workout in Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: It was a cool vibe going into.
Speaker 2: It, and when I was out there, I thought this
Speaker 2: wouldn't be a bad place to be. I really enjoyed
Speaker 2: my visit. I talked to Sam Presty. So nothing's out
Speaker 2: of the ordinary here, right, Everything seems to be just
Speaker 2: pretty normal, okay. See is noted for being very professional,
Speaker 2: extremely well respected by their peers and other teams for
Speaker 2: how they run their ship.
Speaker 1: But then then it gets really interesting.
Speaker 2: Jalen Williams said this, it was the only place where
Speaker 2: the coach, Mark Dagnell, ran the entire workout. I'm going
Speaker 2: through the workout saying, this guy's pretty good. I had
Speaker 2: no idea he was the head coach until afterwards, he laughs.
Speaker 2: We had a cool interaction. Mark was talking to me
Speaker 2: the whole time. I had no idea who he was.
Speaker 2: I was thinking he was a trainer or somebody. The
Speaker 2: head coach ran the pre draft workout alone, and Jalen.
Speaker 1: Wood didn't tell Jalen Williams say, I'm also the head coach.
Speaker 2: And think about this. Jalen Williams probably watched the NBA.
Speaker 2: Had no idea who Mark dagniel was. If this was
Speaker 2: I don't know, Mark D'Antoni, Mike D'Antoni, if it was
Speaker 2: Doc Rivers, if it was any of the other.
Speaker 1: Twenty nine coaches in the NBA, he would know who
Speaker 1: they were, right.
Speaker 2: If it was TYLERU, He's not gonna be like, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I thought Tyler was a trainer. No, Mark dagna he
Speaker 2: thought was some rando assistant, that it was just so
Speaker 2: hands on and so diligent that he wanted to run
Speaker 2: it and prove to the powers that be that he
Speaker 2: could run a workout this important. No, this was Mark
Speaker 2: dagnia the head coach of the OKAC Thunder in a nutshell.
Speaker 2: This is why he's awesome, blue collar coach, not afraid
Speaker 2: to get his hands dirty, uninterested in any shine.
Speaker 1: Could not ask for a better fit for OKC and the.
Speaker 2: Kind of guy that Sam Presty wants in charge of
Speaker 2: a team full of young guys. Players want to respect
Speaker 2: who they're playing for. Mark Dagneau is no frills, no bullshit,
Speaker 2: and is getting the respect of his players.
Speaker 1: Immediately.
Speaker 2: You have all those guys, and then you have Chet
Speaker 2: and a healthy Poku maybe probably Victor or Scoot and
Speaker 2: or the Thompson twins.
Speaker 1: And then you bring in a free agent.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, this is a contender in like five
Speaker 2: years as someone who's been on the Kings before the
Speaker 2: start of the season. I think it's been gratifying to
Speaker 2: see the Kings getting a lot of national love from
Speaker 2: ESPN to the Athletic Everyone is starting to see the
Speaker 2: Kings as the incredible, fun and exciting team that they
Speaker 2: are right and I think that the real game changer
Speaker 2: for the Kings, and I think we can all agree
Speaker 2: is it's Demonisabons. Demonosa Bonus is the engine that makes
Speaker 2: the Kings go. I remember when people were slamming.
Speaker 1: That trade a year ago.
Speaker 2: Today almost today like yeah, they're like, oh, this is malpractice.
Speaker 1: They shouldn't let Tyrese Haliburton go.
Speaker 2: No, No, that was the right move, and now he
Speaker 2: is an All Star again, as he should be. What
Speaker 2: I do want to focus on, though, is that Sabonis
Speaker 2: and Deer and Fox are now getting shine. They have
Speaker 2: multiple features written about them. They recently were on the
Speaker 2: cover of Slam magazine breaking down the pick and roll,
Speaker 2: and Kyrie Irving just admitted in a postgame presser after
Speaker 2: a win against them that he read the article carefully
Speaker 2: looking for ways to defend it, and he said, that's
Speaker 2: pretty cool.
Speaker 1: It shows a level of respect.
Speaker 2: Sabona said, So, the meat of this new Athletic article
Speaker 2: that came out was about Sabonis's relationship with Mike Brown,
Speaker 2: which is kind of funny because I remember the start
Speaker 2: of the.
Speaker 1: Season being like, Sabonis looks fucking awful.
Speaker 2: Turns out, the relationship with Mike Brown and Demano Sabona
Speaker 2: started out a little rocky, he said, before we came
Speaker 2: to a better understanding. It was pick and roll, roll
Speaker 2: out the way cel your defender dunker. It was obviously
Speaker 2: things that I can do, but my strengths are in
Speaker 2: different areas that other bigs don't have, like playmaking in
Speaker 2: the post, in the little areas where I thrive. Sounds
Speaker 2: like Mike Brown was trying to get to be Kavon
Speaker 2: Looney and he was like, yo, no, I'm not Kavon Looney, okay,
Speaker 2: Like I am much better than Kavan Looney. Should not
Speaker 2: shock anyone that it took a little time for the
Speaker 2: two to get on the same page, right. I saw Sibonis,
Speaker 2: like I said, second third game of the year, and
Speaker 2: I'm like, he does not look good out there. He
Speaker 2: looks confused, he looks slow, He does not look like
Speaker 2: he knows where he needs to be. So apparently it
Speaker 2: took a little time for Mike Brown and him to
Speaker 2: figure things out to get Demonis where he needed to be.
Speaker 2: And remember Mike Brown came from Golden State where Draymond
Speaker 2: Green was the center of the defense, and Jordy Fernandez,
Speaker 2: who of the King, who's the King's lead assistant, came
Speaker 2: from Denver where the entire offense revolves around Jokic, so
Speaker 2: they want a passing big man in the center.
Speaker 1: Sabona said this about the early days.
Speaker 2: As the year went on, we definitely learned from each other,
Speaker 2: and it's like you said, I feel like I had
Speaker 2: to show him in person and it was easier for
Speaker 2: him to trust me to do what I do. It's
Speaker 2: been great now for most of the season, it's been great,
Speaker 2: but that beginning was a bit tough for me because
Speaker 2: I was trying to figure out the offense and how
Speaker 2: to be myself at the same time trying to figure
Speaker 2: out what coach wants me to do. That's something I've
Speaker 2: experienced probably with every coaching staff. You know, at the beginning,
Speaker 2: it's always okay, how do I figure out what they
Speaker 2: want and at the same time be myself. I know
Speaker 2: what I can do and I have confidence in myself. Man,
Speaker 2: did it work out? They figured it out pretty fast too.
Speaker 2: Sabonis is now an All Star.
Speaker 1: He is deserving.
Speaker 2: The Kings are in third place in the West for
Speaker 2: the last month now, showing no signs of.
Speaker 1: That going away.
Speaker 2: And then you add in Darren Fox, who is a
Speaker 2: bona fide All Star finally getting some shine as well.
Speaker 2: I love the supporting cast around him. I love Kevin Herder,
Speaker 2: I like Malik Monk. Keegan Murray's a nice little rookie piece.
Speaker 2: Harrison Barnes is doing things. They got not a lot
Speaker 2: of depth, but a ton of talent. But in terms
Speaker 2: of where the Kings go goes as far as where
Speaker 2: Sabonis takes them. And unfortunately, as we know, he's been
Speaker 2: dealing with a hand injury, a thumb injury. Probably should
Speaker 2: have given him surgery for it, and he doesn't want
Speaker 2: that because he wants to take this team to the playoffs.
Speaker 2: He said, obviously it's in pain, and knowing the timeline
Speaker 2: of surgery was six to eight weeks to miss, that's
Speaker 2: like twenty five games, and he didn't want to let
Speaker 2: his teammates down, so he opted to just play through
Speaker 2: the pain. I guess it's not getting any worse, so
Speaker 2: he's playing through pain getting.
Speaker 1: Just these absurd stats.
Speaker 2: For the rest of the season, he hasn't really slowed
Speaker 2: down at all. He's averaging eighteen, twelve and a half
Speaker 2: and seven for a guy with no thumb.
Speaker 1: That's pretty damn good.
Speaker 2: So as long as Sabonis is relatively healthy, the Kings
Speaker 2: are a dangerous, dangerous team. And whoever came out and
Speaker 2: said negative things about the Saboni's trade, delete your fucking account.