Speaker 1: Let me get to some quick hitters. We'll continue in
Speaker 1: the NBA. Did y'all see that game last night Houston
Speaker 1: Rockets Memphis Grizzlies.
Speaker 2: Did you see it? I know I saw it Grizzlies.
Speaker 1: As the Rockets won twenty to one nineteen in the
Speaker 1: battle between the two and three seeds in the Western Conference.
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, if this is the Western Conference finals matchup,
Speaker 1: I'd love it.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: John Morant didn't played last night. You'll go in there
Speaker 1: and play last night for the Houston Rockets. I don't
Speaker 1: give a damn. That kid, Jalen Green is gonna be
Speaker 1: a star. That kid a Men Thompson. Remember I keep
Speaker 1: telling y'all this brother turned twenty two January thirtieth, This
Speaker 1: brother Amen Thompson, special, special, fierce, defender, rebounder, competitor, and
Speaker 1: he's got a game that's just blossoming. He made you
Speaker 1: doka than me. Is one of the best coaches in
Speaker 1: the game. He's gonna win a championship in Houston. Houston Rockets.
Speaker 1: I mean, Jenkins can coach butt off. Memphis is Memphis
Speaker 1: to be respected. John Moran brings his game, make no
Speaker 1: mistake about it. Memphis is formidable. But the Houston Rockets,
Speaker 1: I'm telling y'all. I'm telling y'all, Houston is gonna make
Speaker 1: some noise.
Speaker 2: Houston.
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure it's right to say they're piece away.
Speaker 1: I just think their experience away. I love what I'm
Speaker 1: seeing in Houston. I love what Emai Udoka is doing.
Speaker 1: Keep your eyes on it, y'all. Houston Rockets, they come,
Speaker 1: and y'all they coming. Now, let's talk about the All
Speaker 1: Star Game, please. The Eastern and Western Conference teams have
Speaker 1: been named, but there's a glaring omission on the Eastern roster.
Speaker 1: In some people's eyes anyway, it's LaMelo Ball. Ball is
Speaker 1: not the first player to lead his position group and
Speaker 1: fan voting that is not named an All Star the voting.
Speaker 1: The voting format changed in twenty sixteen twenty seventeen season.
Speaker 1: It's a factor in fans, media and players, Okay, And
Speaker 1: that's why LaMelo Ball didn't get in because the media
Speaker 1: and the players didn't have him as the top guy.
Speaker 1: The fans did because they want to see a brother
Speaker 1: put on the show. He averaging like twenty eight points
Speaker 1: a game, but he shooting like forty two percent for
Speaker 1: the field, like thirty three percent for three point range.
Speaker 1: He's a volume shooter. I'm not questioning the Lamello's game.
Speaker 1: The brother can ball. Here's what I would tell you.
Speaker 1: Your team is twelve and thirty two, that's what happens.
Speaker 1: You you miss All Star games when your team is
Speaker 1: twenty games under five hundred, That's what happens. That's the
Speaker 1: way it goes. And to me, that's not the biggest snub.
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentleman. Kyrie Irvin for the Dallas Mavericks. What
Speaker 1: about him? What about Kyrie Irving? I got it even better.
Speaker 1: You see what he's doing. Twenty four point two points,
Speaker 1: forty percent shoot from the fear, forty two percent from
Speaker 1: three point range, and they win when he's on the court,
Speaker 1: even with our Lukadancik. Kyrie is special and he's made
Speaker 1: for All Star Weekend?
Speaker 2: Why he ain't there?
Speaker 1: Here's another one, Ladies and gentlemen, you're ready for this.
Speaker 1: How about the Clippers Norman Powell. I'm not in any
Speaker 1: way saying James Harden doesn't deserve it, because he does.
Speaker 1: He's had a great he's had a damn good season
Speaker 1: and he's really resurrected his career, and it reminded us
Speaker 1: all of the respect that he deserves. James Harden I'm
Speaker 1: talking about. But how about Norman Powell brother averaging about
Speaker 1: twenty four game shooting about forty three percent for three
Speaker 1: point range.
Speaker 2: The Clippers are.
Speaker 1: Seven games over five hundred, and this dude has been
Speaker 1: to reserve his entire career and has worked this tail off.
Speaker 1: Never cheats you, always comes ready to ball always, Norman Powell.
Speaker 2: To me, that's the biggest snub of them all.
Speaker 1: Clippers the seven games over five hundred KWHI Leonard has
Speaker 1: missed about thirty eight thirty nine games, and the Clippers
Speaker 1: the seven games over five hundred, in the top six
Speaker 1: seed in the Western Conference.
Speaker 2: Why the hell ain't Norman Powell live? He deserves it.
Speaker 2: He deserves it.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying. Let's talk about the NBA commissioner Adam Silver,
Speaker 1: who made waves earlier this week. By the way, Silver
Speaker 1: appeared on the Dan Patrick Show and said that he
Speaker 1: was in favor of the league shortening the game for
Speaker 1: forty eight minutes to forty minutes. Here's what the commissioner
Speaker 1: had to say. Quote, the NBA is the only league
Speaker 1: that plays forty eight minutes. I am a fan of
Speaker 1: four to ten minute quarters. I'm not sure that many
Speaker 1: others are. I mean, putting aside what it means for
Speaker 1: records and things like that, I think that a two
Speaker 1: hour format for a game is more consistent with modern
Speaker 1: television habits. Incidentally, if you went to a forty minute
Speaker 1: game with the minutes around load management and resting, it
Speaker 1: would be the equivalent of I don't know exact math,
Speaker 1: taking like fifteen games off the season. I don't want
Speaker 1: to hear that. I get where Adam Silver's coming from.
Speaker 1: Limit the minute minutes. It amounts to about fifteen less
Speaker 1: games a year when you take into account the minutes
Speaker 1: because you chopping eight minutes off of regulation. I get
Speaker 1: that part. I get the part about the modern day
Speaker 1: era of television watchers and how it appears to be
Speaker 1: viewer for friendly with what he was suggesting, Sir Commissioner.
Speaker 1: That is not the problem. The problem is the effort.
Speaker 1: How many concessions are you going to make for players
Speaker 1: who just don't want to come to work? I mean,
Speaker 1: come on, come on, now, you give him, you chop
Speaker 1: it down to forty minutes, it still ain't gona stop
Speaker 1: them from load managing. It's still not gonna stop them
Speaker 1: from missing games. It's still not gonna stop them from
Speaker 1: being lack of days ago at times. I'm not talking
Speaker 1: about all, I'm not talking about most, but some it's
Speaker 1: still not gonna get them to prioritize stuff like All
Speaker 1: Star weekend. The commissioner somebody sent me a text yesterday
Speaker 1: and I thought it was very, very profound, especially when
Speaker 1: they were talking about All Star Weekend. They said, the
Speaker 1: players look at the league like a bank, not like partners.
Speaker 1: The bank has your money. We gotta go to the
Speaker 1: bank to get the money. So okay, that's what we
Speaker 1: gotta do. But we don't like going to the bank.
Speaker 1: We don't like dealing with them, but we have no
Speaker 1: choice because they got our money. The person that sent
Speaker 1: me that text was absolutely right. That's how the players
Speaker 1: view the league. And the sad part about it is
Speaker 1: they get away with it only because Adam Silver is
Speaker 1: an incredibly player friendly, nice man. Y'all lucky as hell
Speaker 1: commission to David Stern is in the lives and in
Speaker 1: that seat, and you didn't have to deal with him,
Speaker 1: y'all know good and well, y'all wouldn't even try it
Speaker 1: let me tell y'all something, and I want everybody to listen.
Speaker 1: I want my whole team out there to listen. I
Speaker 1: want my team right here to listen. I want to
Speaker 1: tell you something about David Stern, and I'm not casting
Speaker 1: Anya Spurgeons on the man. I love the man, and
Speaker 1: we had our battles and issues in the past, but
Speaker 1: in the years leading up to his passing, we cultivated
Speaker 1: a very close relationship and I grew to just love
Speaker 1: him and respect the hell out of him, and I
Speaker 1: appreciated the advice and the counsel in a straight, candid,
Speaker 1: no nonsense approach he had with me. Okay, let me
Speaker 1: tell y'all a little story. David Stern once said this
Speaker 1: to a network head executive. I'm not gonna tell you
Speaker 1: which network. It wasn't mine. I'm not gonna tell you
Speaker 1: which network. I'm not gonna tell you the name of
Speaker 1: the person. I'm not gonna tell you anything. I wanna
Speaker 1: give you an example of who David Stern was. David
Speaker 1: Stern wanted somebody to come to a game with him,
Speaker 1: fly out with him, and go to a game with
Speaker 1: him one of their network executives, and the executive said Dave,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it, and I will come with you, and
Speaker 1: I'll bring my kids, like David's turning to ask him
Speaker 1: to bring excips me them.
Speaker 2: Let's go, let's go to this game.
Speaker 1: And the executive said to him, only on one condition,
Speaker 1: you can't call me a dumb motherfucker in front of
Speaker 1: my kids. That's a true story. What is the lesson
Speaker 1: appeal from that? David Stern would say that to anybody.
Speaker 1: He pulled no punches. When we got in an argument
Speaker 1: one day early in my career, he called me a
Speaker 1: piece of shit and he said, lose the number and
Speaker 1: hung up on me and we didn't talk for two years.
Speaker 1: And ladies and gentlemen, I'm one of countless victims of
Speaker 1: his diatribes and wraths. Michael Jordan knows about his wrath.
Speaker 1: Alan Iverson knows about his wrath. Dwayne Wade knows about
Speaker 1: his wrath, along with countless others, players, coaches.
Speaker 2: I saw him walk.
Speaker 1: Up to a coach that was critical of the referees,
Speaker 1: and he walked up to the coach and smiled right
Speaker 1: at courtside as he was walking to his seat, and
Speaker 1: he says, do you.
Speaker 2: Like your job?
Speaker 1: And the coach, and of course I love it. He said, well,
Speaker 1: you better shut the fuck up if you want to
Speaker 1: keep liking it, because it won't be here for long
Speaker 1: if you don't learn to shut up and walked away
Speaker 1: right in front of me and other media members. David
Speaker 1: Stern in play, Adam Silver doesn't have to be that.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's capable of being that, but he
Speaker 1: cares so much about the players. My advice to him
Speaker 1: would be care about those who can about you and
Speaker 1: leave the res be to your discretion, because you gotta
Speaker 1: lead to run. That would be my advice to Adam Silver,
Speaker 1: who I also have a great relationship with and I
Speaker 1: respect the hell out of and I think he does
Speaker 1: a great job. Our last quick hitter is a shout
Speaker 1: out to the one and only. Dwayne Wade, the Miami
Speaker 1: Heat legend and Hall of Famer, revealed yesterday that he
Speaker 1: had surgery on his kidney in twenty twenty three to
Speaker 1: remove a tumor. Wade said doctors removed forty percent of
Speaker 1: his right kidney and that test on that tumor showed
Speaker 1: it was cancerous. He also said he was thankful that
Speaker 1: he decided to go forward with the procedure, while acknowledging
Speaker 1: the decision itself was a low point in his life.
Speaker 1: I've been tired with d Wade for years. I had
Speaker 1: no idea about this. Nobody tells you everything. I'm just
Speaker 1: happy that my man seems well and the good spirits.
Speaker 1: He was out of the country a couple of days
Speaker 1: ago here and I spoke. One of the best people
Speaker 1: I've ever covered in professional sports. Just a good hearted, soulful,
Speaker 1: decent at his core human being. Even when he was
Speaker 1: mad at you, he didn't come at you wrong. Class
Speaker 1: personified one of the best human beings ever. Thank God
Speaker 1: he's okay, Thank god he's feeling well. Wishing him nothing
Speaker 1: but continued health moving forward. I loved this brother. He's
Speaker 1: good people. It's one of the best people I know
Speaker 1: and I've ever covered in professional sports in my life.
Speaker 1: So I'm very, very relieved that he seems to be okay.