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Podcast. All

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right This Iron Rapport Stereo Podcast. UM

0:56

interview with Brian Winhurst, ESPN

1:00

basketball analyst, NBA analyst

1:03

commentator. Uh,

1:06

he doesn't do broadcasting, but

1:08

you know he commentates on the

1:11

NBA. They call him the lebron

1:13

Whisperer. UM. Great

1:16

interview. Coming up. But before we get to

1:18

that, UM,

1:20

we interviewed, We interviewed him yesterday. I interviewed

1:22

him yesterday. And then you know, obviously what happened

1:25

in Dallas last night. UM.

1:28

You know, we wanted to acknowledge it, UM

1:31

before this, before the interview. UM,

1:34

everybody knows about what happened. It's

1:37

a fucking tragedy. UM.

1:39

It's scary, it's

1:42

it's just it's it's so upsetting

1:45

on so many levels. Five police

1:47

officers killed at a peaceful protest for

1:53

the Gentleman in

1:55

Louisiana and the Gentleman in

1:58

Minnesota,

2:01

both of whom were killed by cops. And

2:03

then you know, a

2:06

crazed person wanted

2:08

to take down cops. So you have crazy

2:10

cops, and you've got crazy people, and

2:13

everybody has kids, and

2:16

everybody is somebody's sons, somebody's

2:19

brother, somebody's boyfriend, somebody's husband,

2:22

and and now there's just loss loss, loss,

2:24

loss, loss across the board. UM.

2:26

And I didn't feel like we we could get into

2:28

this interview without talking about this. UM

2:32

before I I I let you

2:34

speak movie. You know, I was I was thinking, you know, in

2:37

the earlier episode that we we did today today's

2:39

a part of a double header. You know about

2:41

this fear. You know, you were saying yesterday,

2:43

you know, these people fear black people,

2:46

and you know, I was trying to think of my own history

2:50

and path and feelings about

2:52

that. I remember about ten twelve

2:54

years ago, Charles Barkley wrote a

2:56

book and the title of the book was Who's Afraid

2:59

of a Big Black Man? And and

3:02

you know, it's like, you

3:04

know, the reality of it is is like, you

3:07

know, I understand this, this

3:09

this this fear. Um.

3:12

I'm fortunate to have been exposed

3:15

to so so much uh

3:17

diversity at such a young age.

3:20

But but you know, I think, you

3:22

know, like, uh, you know, it was this

3:24

thing about I'm trying to articulate myself, so don't

3:26

don't don't people don't take things out

3:29

of context and and and you

3:31

know, run with whatever. I'm trying to articulate

3:33

myself in the most honest way to try to inspire

3:35

and instigate conversation

3:38

at least, you know, for the

3:40

people that are listening to the to the podcast. Is

3:42

that you know

3:44

you think about like, oh, well, you know white

3:46

people are afraid of black people. Is it? Is it because

3:48

of the way they look, is it because of uh

3:51

what what is that? What? What is that? And that's

3:53

not always the truth, you know, that's a general

3:56

thing. But you know, these cops are afraid

3:58

of black people. White people are afraid to black

4:00

people, and and you know, I'm trying to think

4:02

what that is. And you know, I

4:05

remember Eddie Murphy, you know, in

4:07

in a in a bit. I think it was from his first

4:10

thing he talked about. Remember was the

4:12

second his second thing raw? You know, it was delirious,

4:14

the second thing you talked about. You know, he

4:16

was doing a bit and he was like, I went into all my crazy

4:18

black shit, you know, to try to scare these white people,

4:21

like he was talking about arguing with the Italian and I did

4:23

all my black ship and then he just laughed at me. And

4:25

I was thinking about that and

4:28

where that comes from, you know, And

4:30

I was trying to think about, you know, where this fear

4:33

and uncomfortableness around

4:35

black people comes from. And and I think

4:37

it comes from the hostility,

4:40

the frustration, the pain and the anger

4:43

that a lot of people that a

4:45

lot of black people have, and they

4:47

that they live with. And you could say, why

4:50

are they angry? You know,

4:52

why why are black people so angry. You know, I

4:54

think think, you know, I can't answer that,

4:57

but but you know, listen,

5:00

it's hard for me to say. You know, you we brought up on

5:02

the earlier podcast. You said,

5:04

but how would you feel if you know Jewish

5:06

people were getting gunned down, you

5:08

know, by police all the time. How how would you feel

5:11

if it was your mom, your father, your

5:13

your your your brother, people

5:15

you don't know, but they're all Jewish fall

5:18

over the country getting cut down. It

5:20

would affect you really deeply

5:22

because you would say, you would look at that and say

5:25

that's not me? What that is me?

5:28

And and I mean and and and Moody,

5:30

you you you you could talk about this and you could

5:32

get into this. I live in Manhattan

5:34

on the opper East Side. When you get

5:36

in, now, G Moody has no sort

5:39

of uh. Those

5:41

who who have never met uh G

5:43

Moody, Gimonetti, Uh, Gerald

5:46

Moody, you have no sort of uh.

5:48

You You're about as frightening

5:51

as as a you know is

5:54

you're this guy that his his nephew

5:57

named him fun loving when he was when he was a little

5:59

kid. You get in the elevator

6:01

in my apartment on the East side with

6:04

with these with these white people. What

6:08

sometimes it's not always sometimes what

6:10

is the reaction do you walking in the

6:12

elevator? The

6:14

reaction is you you see it. It's

6:17

nothing said, but your the eyes

6:19

speak as well, you know. And

6:21

and that comes from like I said earlier,

6:24

the image of black men,

6:27

the mail the image, like I said,

6:29

we don't control our image.

6:32

We have no control over it. This image

6:34

has been projected upon the

6:37

world. And what is that image. It's not a

6:39

wholesome, good image, right,

6:41

it's any constitution were referred to

6:44

as others. You see.

6:46

So black people are not really angry.

6:49

We just want to be left alone. We're

6:51

not the one where we're not

6:53

the people that are actually killing

6:55

cops. We're not doing that. We're black

6:58

cops are not killing white

7:00

folk. They're not doing

7:02

that. So no, we're

7:04

not angry. We just are tired

7:07

of of seeing our

7:10

people cut down and nothing

7:12

done. If there was justice, then

7:15

people would understand. But we have a history

7:17

of no justice. Nobody gets

7:20

a slap on the wrist. We can go back case

7:23

through case through case four years.

7:25

So after a while, people

7:28

get set up. So as

7:30

you're saying, as I and I, you know what I'm saying

7:32

about and and you know that's the that's

7:34

the extreme, you know. But

7:37

but but but the anger. You know, it's

7:39

like I think about it. I'm not trying to

7:41

make any big, broad preachy statements.

7:43

I think about, like, you know, like how

7:45

this all started, you know, I try to think about

7:47

it like black people were we're

7:49

we're we're we're, we're we're captured like

7:52

fucking dogs, like animals broad

7:55

broad over here, you

7:57

know, stripped of everything, stripped, naked,

8:01

made to work, to brutalized,

8:03

ray beaten, murdered, and then set

8:06

free. And then and then it's like, oh, we're we're

8:09

sorry, go go figure it out. Now it's

8:11

never been figured out. It's never been dealt with correctly.

8:14

It's never been and to this day, well some people say, well

8:16

that was four years ago. The problem has

8:18

never been dealt with. Motherfucker's are still being

8:21

shifted on. Motherfucker's is still

8:23

being treaty, bad, stereotyped,

8:27

um beaten. Um.

8:29

Wait wait until they uncover

8:32

the corruption that they find

8:34

in the Baton Rouges police

8:36

department. Wait until they uncover that

8:38

it will be a mirror of Ferguson,

8:41

a mirror of Baltimore. All

8:43

this is always always smoldering

8:46

underneath, and then when a rite comes out,

8:48

then people are like, why are they rioting? The

8:52

racism, the corruption that

8:54

that's been an ongoing thing, and

8:57

then we have to deal with and then when

8:59

it hits the breaking point,

9:01

there's gonna be rebellion. This is how it has

9:03

happened all throughout human history,

9:06

not just black people. People are

9:09

tired of the oppression, and of course they're

9:11

gonna spring out. And then, like I said,

9:13

the image of black people is always

9:16

castigated in the press. We always

9:18

get that, we always and then

9:21

when black people try to separate, what

9:23

do they do. They burned down the town,

9:26

They lind the people, they killed the people, and

9:28

nobody gets arrested. These wounds

9:30

are just concessoring for years,

9:32

and it's gonna happen again. And people

9:35

are lying to in school about black

9:37

people history. We don't get you don't

9:39

get the the correct history, and

9:41

we hit nothing. We we don't get the history

9:43

as well. So you're you're you're raising

9:46

human beings on live and

9:48

their self esteem is destroyed. So

9:54

what you what's done in the past affects

9:57

the future. The filter, I don't know, Man,

9:59

I like said, I'm not trying to. We're

10:02

not trying to. You know, we don't have no answer.

10:04

I don't think anybody has an answer. I know that the

10:06

deaths of the of the people, of

10:09

of of of innocent black people is

10:11

heartbreaking. I know, the deaths, the

10:13

whole thing murdering no

10:15

one. No one should be the police

10:18

should not be targeted

10:20

and shot at. That should

10:23

never happen. None of that. Ship

10:25

is good man, And we

10:28

just have to come to an understanding

10:31

of why there's

10:33

so much hostility towards

10:35

black men. Towards black

10:37

men, there's been a history of that. You

10:40

have to deal with that, although

10:42

it makes the country look like shit,

10:45

but you have to deal with what

10:47

was done to this particular

10:50

group of people and why.

10:54

All right, you have to deal with that. And people are

10:56

still getting basically lifted in

10:58

the street like that. Now,

11:00

what if that was a Jewish person and

11:03

that happened to a Jewish person, do you know

11:07

ship would be stopped? But for us,

11:09

we're not seeing as American

11:12

citizen, full American citizens.

11:15

Just got the right to vote, and what in the sixties,

11:20

it's not far so they don't

11:22

see us as full citizens. That's why

11:24

there's two sets of laws. That's why

11:26

it's never an indictment. And prosecutors

11:29

will tell you, lawyers will tell you if

11:31

they want to, they can indict a hand sandwich.

11:36

They're not gonna do it because of the

11:38

victim and how the victim is

11:41

viewed in American society. That's

11:43

why I call him the no good judge. Richard

11:46

Nisson wasn't talking bullshit when he

11:48

was saying that ship. There's an a war on

11:50

black This is an executive

11:52

order. This goes

11:54

into policy. And if you're

11:56

an a war, you've got soldiers. I call

11:58

the prosecutors the judges, and no good

12:01

judges the police officers

12:03

in something in some cases other soldiers.

12:05

If there's a war black people, which

12:08

comes from the highest office in the land. So

12:11

no, it's

12:14

terrible, and oh

12:16

it needs to be addressed.

12:19

We're not making this ship up. And

12:22

the sooner people come to terms with that and start

12:25

acknowledging it and start trying to deal with it and

12:27

look at it. It's right. It's

12:29

if it's an American problem.

12:31

When you see the pattern happening

12:33

to one specific group of people, then

12:36

it's the obligation of the other

12:38

Americans. To to say,

12:40

Yo, man, it's just they're just doing it to these people.

12:43

This is there right right, everybody

12:45

should come out, not just for no fucking dogs and

12:48

no fucking dolfers. The ship fellow

12:50

black human beings are being cut down routinely.

12:55

Mr Moodie does good ship. It's

12:57

Staring Wrappports Stereo podcast. We're getting

12:59

ready to get into an interview with Brian Winhurst.

13:02

Before we get to that. On a lighter note, uh,

13:07

although we have to address the seriousness, I

13:10

just want to just quickly throw this at you. So Siarra

13:13

the R and B singer and

13:16

Russell Wilson, uh,

13:18

quarterback of the Seattle Seattle

13:20

Seahawks. Of

13:23

course they publicly mentioned they weren't having

13:25

sex. They were abstaining from sex until

13:27

they got married. Now they got married,

13:30

and now they're telling the whole world that

13:32

they're having sex, and they're having a lot of sex.

13:36

Yo. Do Russell

13:39

Wilson, Yo, you gotta

13:41

be one of the top five Corny is motherfucker's

13:43

ever ever?

13:46

Nobody cares about whether you'll freaking

13:48

off or not freaking off.

13:52

Yeah, we don't care either way. Well, Well, why

13:55

why do I know that you wasn't getting that ass

13:57

and and you know, and Sira might be

13:59

like this, this, this, this dude's fox style

14:01

is not buck wal like you did. Think your whole

14:04

marriage is hinging on

14:06

on on your fun game. Right now, you know

14:08

how much pressure you put your put on yourself

14:11

and what if her fox styling? But what

14:14

what? What if God forbid something?

14:16

Don't smell right in the cookie jar.

14:20

I just want to I just want to let you guys know. I

14:22

don't care about what you guys are doing one

14:24

way or another. You want to have stain from sex,

14:27

cool, you want to not and you want to freak

14:29

off, that's cool too. None, no,

14:31

none of this is my business. I don't care about any

14:33

of it. You're you're your corny, your

14:36

corn exactly. That's

14:38

it. Think about it. Any

14:40

guy you was hanging out with all

14:43

who was always talking about Oh, I'll be calling

14:45

it's I'm getting this. I'm getting that you're

14:47

a corny white dude man. Your

14:49

personal sex life with your wife. It's just

14:52

that your personal life. Who cares

14:55

unless you're sharing? All?

14:59

Right, move great ship. We're

15:01

gonna get into this right now with be Be Windy

15:03

b Windhurst. Um I wanted

15:06

to definitely, you know, obviously speak on

15:08

on this because I know it's on everybody's mind and everybody's

15:10

heart. I implore everybody to to

15:12

have open conversation and not be

15:14

scared to have open conversation. The more that

15:16

you talk the good, the bad, and the ugly,

15:19

no matter how weird uncomfortable

15:21

it might be, I think the better. I

15:24

think it's a tiny, tiny step and and and

15:26

sort of just trying to understand and have compassion

15:28

and understand it for each other. Sign

15:30

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16:38

Windhurst is an NBA

16:40

analyst and NBA writer

16:43

for espn UM.

16:46

I think you and I want to go into this, but I think

16:48

you came into prominence because in the

16:50

short story, I want to get the long stories you

16:52

started following writing about Lebron

16:55

James. You're from Cleveland, Akron,

16:57

Ohio, from Akron, Ohio, from the act

17:00

A k C. Now did the layer did

17:02

this whole? I don't want to get off topic because I want to go and

17:04

make sure people know who did this, this, this,

17:07

this uh, this little abbreviation, the land,

17:09

this nickname, but that just happened this year because

17:11

I never heard of it being called the Land. I had never

17:13

heard of it before. And when Lebron

17:15

announced his return, he

17:17

coined the Land. Okay,

17:19

so maybe maybe

17:21

I'm ignorant, and maybe it's been around for fifteen

17:24

years. He coined it when he came back to Cleveland.

17:26

Alright, So so so long story short.

17:29

B win Hurst is one

17:31

of the rising NBA analysts

17:33

at ESPN. I'm part of the whole NBA

17:36

c is rising, yes, And

17:38

like you know, Lebron is like the battleship

17:40

or the aircraft carrier, and

17:43

um, like Kevin Duran's an aircraft carrier.

17:46

I am like a

17:48

frigate or a might like a canoe or like you

17:50

know, maybe a small pontoon

17:52

boat. But there is also rise it

17:54

but it is rising. The pontoon boat is right, I'm

17:57

rising. I'm a rising pontoon boat. All right,

17:59

So let's just jump into you've been covering the probably

18:01

one of the most interesting UM

18:05

NBA free agency off

18:07

seasons or seasons ever.

18:10

Um, definitely one of the most surprising. I can't

18:13

I I obviously the second you

18:15

know, the only thing you could compare this off season

18:17

two. I mean, when Lebron left Miami, which I

18:19

want to get into. That was crazy,

18:22

but this collectively, I think is crazier.

18:25

What has it been like for you? I mean, and

18:27

you cover the whole finals and you're from Cleveland,

18:30

you saw this team win. What is the what are the last

18:32

three weeks, four weeks of being Brian

18:34

Winhurst covering the NBA been like for you? Yeah?

18:36

Well, first off, the finals, the

18:40

Cleveland winning a championship was

18:42

a surreal moment for me. It took me twelve hours

18:44

to totally process it. Um.

18:47

I'm not a believer in going into

18:49

the locker room as a media member after your team

18:51

wins a championship. I've never done that before in all the

18:53

finals I covered, but I did go into

18:56

the Cavs locker room because there was so many people I

18:58

have known from the organization for teen

19:00

years that had this was their moment

19:02

there was coming to them. And then it

19:04

didn't hit me until three days later at the parade

19:07

where they had a million people in downtown Cleveland.

19:10

It was it was so stupid. They instead of

19:12

having a parade along a long street where

19:15

the amount of people would be spread out over

19:17

of course of miles, for some reason,

19:19

they had the parade like around a giant

19:21

block where it was there was

19:23

like four left hand turns, and so

19:26

the million people were crowded into like a square

19:29

mile or was Cleveland. So you know, the planning.

19:31

Just because you guys are champions now doesn't mean you

19:34

know you're you, you've you've heightened your

19:36

your mentality is Cleveland. I know the Republican

19:38

conventions there in a couple of weeks, and

19:42

let's just say, let's hope they have better planning

19:44

than they had for the parade that said that

19:46

parade was awesome. It was awesome. I mean,

19:48

and you you you're, I mean, listen, you're You're obviously

19:50

not to be able to be biased, but everybody knows you're

19:53

born and raised in Cleveland. You're a Cleveland

19:55

guy. You grew up in Cleveland. You you've been through

19:57

the wretched of all

19:59

Cleveland's sports. This had to be fun for

20:01

you and and to you know, cover Lebron

20:03

the way you've covered Lebron, this had to be an

20:05

exciting moment for anybody from Cleveland who loved sports.

20:08

I wanted the fans of Cleveland to experience

20:11

the championship because you know, I had been

20:13

places I lived in Miami when the

20:15

Heat won their championships. Every year,

20:17

I've covered the finals for like the last ten years,

20:19

and I've seen those teams celebrate and

20:22

those cities celebrate. I wanted Cleveland

20:24

to have that, which is why at the parade

20:27

where did despite the logistical problems

20:30

and despite the fact that they weren't really prepared

20:32

for it, and despite the fact that they couldn't figure

20:34

out how to make a parade route, but they

20:36

gave me a parking ticket though. That

20:38

was a fantastic decision. Um.

20:41

Everybody was in a good mood, right, and so

20:43

that to me was the crowning

20:45

achievement. And for years people have been talking

20:48

about, oh, wait till you wait till you see that

20:50

parade, Wait until somebody from Cleveland

20:52

Wayna's wait till you see that parade. That's one of those

20:54

things that people just talk about, you know, to have

20:56

fun. But it was legit. It

20:58

was it was cool moment. It was a legit,

21:01

all time memory moment um.

21:04

And also Game seven for a Warriors

21:06

fan, had to suck. But

21:08

for the Calves fans, like I know people at

21:11

the game, yeah, that was at all the games there

21:14

were, um,

21:16

there are Calves fans that I know who are

21:18

rewatching Game seven like

21:20

every week. It's like on a loop. Yeah, it's like they're

21:23

they're breaking it down. Um you know,

21:25

like the I don't know

21:27

they're like doing there. They're they're they're working out,

21:29

like they're writing their theme, their you know, their

21:31

doctorate. They like know every play,

21:34

you know. And then and they were doing that at

21:36

the parade to kill time before the it started.

21:39

They had these big screens and

21:41

they were replaying the last five minutes of the game on

21:43

these screens, and the fans like had already memorized

21:46

there, like here's where he goes to the left,

21:48

Here's where they make the substitution. Like they're studying

21:50

this fourth quarter and they're just they're

21:52

just cherishing it. So I am Cleveland

21:55

is sucking the marrow out of this championship.

21:58

They should, I think they should. They wanted, they

22:00

earned it. It's been a long time for I

22:02

break bowls about every every every city

22:04

pretty much except for New York. Even

22:06

New York I break balls. It smells like shit a

22:09

lot. It's still filthy. And then

22:11

it doesn't matter how gentrified in Manhattan

22:13

is, it's still discussing. Uh so so

22:16

you know people are like you you Cleveland, New

22:18

York from I'm from Manhattan. I grew up right in Manhattan.

22:21

Where in Manhattan on the east side of Manhattan because

22:23

I live for two years on thepper west side. Okay,

22:26

so I don't know if two years like does that. I hear people

22:28

say that you're not a New Yorker. You have to live there for like seven

22:30

years before you know you're not a New Yorker. I mean, I

22:32

think in order to be a New Yorker or

22:34

a Clevelander or you have to be I think

22:36

your formative years are where they're at, but you

22:39

get a center where you are. But I mean I can educatedly

22:41

speak about in New York. Yes, Okay,

22:44

so let's talk about free

22:48

agency. Let's go right into last

22:50

night. Dwyane Wade know what

22:52

happened? Did you see this coming? Walk

22:55

me through in Layman's terms in

22:57

in in in dumb and him

23:00

Fox who think they know about sports terms?

23:03

What happened with Dwayne Wade? Okay,

23:05

pat Riley just had one of

23:07

the worst weeks he's had in twenty years

23:10

because because he got played

23:13

by Hassan White side Um

23:16

White. So he Briley

23:18

had this plan. He's gonna go after Kevin Durant,

23:20

all right, but he what he

23:23

wants to do is to tell Hassan white Side,

23:25

this guy who is literally playing at the y m

23:27

c A two years ago. All right, but

23:29

it's a great story because like he

23:32

can't get a try out with these

23:34

teams. He comes and has like a one and

23:36

a half great years in Miami and now

23:38

these teams are begging for him. So but

23:40

he's still kind of an unproven player. He's

23:43

had one and a half good years, all right, So

23:46

he wants to chase Durant. So he what

23:48

he's he wants to say to Wade in white Side

23:50

is, guys, just hold

23:53

on a minute till I talked to Durant. Let

23:56

me sell Durant. Then I'm gonna get

23:58

Durant, and then we're gonna come back and

24:00

with the money that I have left over, I'm gonna take

24:02

care of you, Hassan, I'm gonna take care of you

24:04

Dwayne. Well it sound white Side is like,

24:07

no, man, um, you're

24:09

gonna give me my offer on

24:12

July one at midnight or I

24:14

am walking. And he said, but by

24:16

the way, I'm not saying this I'm not extrapolating

24:18

this. He gave an interview where he was

24:20

like, yeah, I'm be going to make it up.

24:23

My decision on July one. Problem

24:25

the heats meeting with Durant was July three.

24:28

All right, So Riley basically has a choice.

24:31

He either let's a sound Whiteside

24:33

walk, which he would have done and

24:35

pictures Durant, or he's got a cow tow to

24:38

this guy who literally a year and a half

24:40

ago was at a Y m C A. And

24:42

and Hassan White's a great defensive player,

24:45

athletic DeAndre Jordan type. Same

24:47

thing. Cannot you free throws? Has

24:49

you know there's a high upside, but we still don't

24:51

know, like DeAndre Jordan's listen, they

24:54

change. They knocked down doors last year for him, right,

24:56

Okay, so go ahead. So Riley

25:00

cow to House is like, all right,

25:02

we'll be with hu Jual life one and signs him, gets him,

25:05

He gets his agreement life And what did he signed for? He

25:07

signed for ninety eight million dollars eight

25:10

million dollars over how many years? Four

25:12

years? Jesus Christ? Okay,

25:14

now and then it was a great story

25:16

for this dude. Yes, it's a great story. He was. He was literally

25:19

not part of the NBA. He was out of the NBA, had been

25:21

cut like four times, had played in China,

25:23

had played in like crappy leagues in Europe,

25:27

got cut, was in Charlotte at the y

25:29

m c A. He called him up, send him to the d le

25:31

whatever. So then Dwayne Wade is

25:33

like, wait a minute, Wait

25:35

a minute. So not only

25:38

are you telling me to sit on the runway for

25:40

Kevin Durant, which you can kind

25:42

of understand, but still you're Dwayne Wade. You're

25:46

taking care of Hassan Whiteside before me and

25:48

Dwayne didn't have anything against Whiteside. Me, he made a strong

25:50

play, but he made pat drop to his

25:53

knees essentially and deal

25:55

with him first. So Wade's like, and

25:58

not only that, Riley didn't even call them, didn't

26:00

call Waite, didn't call Wade. Now, how does this first

26:03

of all, how does this happen? Like? What? Well?

26:05

What is wrong with Pat Riley? And and and give

26:07

me bring me up to speed on this whole thing. Where

26:10

like during the Lebron era and the Ray Allen

26:12

and the Chris Bosh, Wade took pay cuts.

26:14

That's a fact. So I'll

26:16

try to make this simple. So in two thousand

26:18

ten, when all those guys got

26:20

together, they didn't have enough money

26:23

to sign all of them at their total max tilers.

26:26

So literally the three of them got in a room

26:29

and they said, all right, you take a little bit less. You take

26:31

a little bit less, and I'll take less. And Wade

26:33

took the biggest cut of all, not only

26:35

to make room for bosh And and Lebron, but

26:38

also to make room for his buddy Udonis Haslem.

26:40

Haslam was gone, and basically,

26:42

essentially the checks that Udonis Haslem

26:45

got for the next four years essentially

26:48

might as well have come out of Dwayne Wade's pocket.

26:50

I mean, they came from the Heat, but it was because

26:53

Dwayne Wade. Now what the Heat will say is we

26:55

were gonna give you your money. Dwayne, you were the one that said

26:57

make room for for whites, for um, for

27:00

Aslam. But essentially that's what happened.

27:02

He subsidized

27:05

Udonis Haslem for the Heat for

27:07

four years. Then when Lebron

27:10

walked in, Uh,

27:12

the Heat were devastated. They weren't expecting not to happen.

27:15

You know, um, you know Riley. Riley's

27:17

greatness is unquestioned, and his greatness

27:19

in two thousand ten when he sold Lebron, I

27:22

mean he walked into that room and he sold

27:24

Lebron. James on bolting from Cleveland

27:27

in Cleveland, like if this week was one of

27:29

the worst weeks of Riley's career as

27:31

an executive. That week in Cleveland

27:33

two thousand ten, he comes into Cleveland, into

27:36

the into their home turf infilter

27:38

infill traits Cleveland's home turf.

27:41

Does the meeting the Los Angeles Clips

27:43

is great. Los Angeles Clippers are supposed to show

27:45

up at like one o'clock. The meeting is supposed to be there's

27:47

a meeting with the Heat at eleven. The Clippers are going to

27:49

be at one. Clippers show up at like, you know, twelve

27:52

fifty and they're like, we're sorry, Mr James is still meeting

27:54

with the Heat one one,

27:57

one thirty. The Clippers are like, what's going on? Riley's

28:00

like, no, no, You'll sit out there and wait. Now you're on the

28:02

runway l a Clippers. He knew what he was doing, so

28:04

he sold them in that meeting greatness. But

28:08

now I just don't know if he has the same touch. So two thousand

28:10

fourteen. This is what Riley thinks he is gonna do again.

28:12

He's gonna come in and meet with with Lebron. So

28:15

there's a there's a wedding. This is after

28:17

they lost to the Spurs. After they lost the Spurs

28:19

dismantled them for one

28:22

dismantling you know, you know, I had

28:24

pleasure. I love I

28:26

loved watching it. It was a beautiful thing. Riley

28:30

Um holds a press conference after

28:32

that and he and he knows Lebron is thinking about

28:34

leaving, and he walks out

28:36

and he slammed the first thing. He sits down and

28:38

he slams his fist on the on the desk

28:41

bam. And he goes, I'm pissed,

28:44

and he starts going on the soliloquy about you

28:46

gotta have guts, you gotta want to come back, and

28:49

he was like talking to Lebron, and Um,

28:51

Lebron was like, I mean, Lebron was probably

28:53

already thinking of leaving anyway, Like I'm

28:55

not saying that that made a difference, but Lebron

28:58

was like, what are you talking

29:00

about, old man? And so a couple

29:02

of days later, there's a big wedding. Lebron's

29:05

trainer. He's getting married in Coconut

29:07

Grove to a Miami girl, girl he

29:10

met down there. Um, he's

29:12

a great guy. He just had to be had a baby the day

29:14

be four, Game seven of the finals. Great guy. So

29:17

Riley is going to go to the wedding and his his

29:19

move is he's gonna get Lebron cornered

29:21

at the wedding and they're gonna, you know, hash it out

29:24

over like a drink, just like the Godfather

29:27

does you know at the you know, the

29:29

wedding. And Riley couldn't get

29:31

to Lebron at the wedding. Lebron like didn't allow a

29:35

meeting at the wedding. So Riley had

29:37

misjudged what he could do. So

29:39

now Lebron Bolts and the heat

29:42

are like damn, and they're about

29:44

to lose Chris Bosh because Boss is like

29:46

ready to go to Houston. He's from Texas, He's

29:48

ready to go to Houston. They were in big trouble

29:50

and Wade saved him. Wade takes a ten million

29:52

dollar pay cut. This all

29:55

right, So now he's left money on the table

29:57

in two thousand and ten, he's left while

30:00

lot of money at the table in two thousand fourteen, all

30:02

right, two thousand fifteen, last summer, he

30:05

wants a long term deal. He's like, okay, I took care of you. Now

30:09

you give me a couple of years, pay me back.

30:11

We're going to be square. And they're like, you know, we

30:14

kind of want to chase Kevin Durant next year. How

30:16

would you feel about taking a one year contract,

30:19

not even like a one year contact with an option,

30:21

like all these guys get options just in case, like

30:24

he hurt his knee or anything. He had no protection.

30:26

One year deal which was this season, which

30:28

is this season? And how much did they pay him? Twenty million

30:31

dollars which was good money, but he had taken

30:33

ten million dollars less. He's still behind because

30:36

if he had taken the regular contract, he'd

30:39

have been over twenty. So then

30:41

this year comes and they're like, he's like, okay, I just had

30:44

a really good year. I'm thirty four years old. Take

30:46

care of me. He's the best player on the team, and

30:49

he and so when

30:51

he's giving up this money here and there, it's

30:53

just like there's no written deal, there's

30:55

no agents. It's just like it's just like kind of agreed

30:57

upon, right, there's no there's nothing. We'll

31:00

take care of you, all right. Rule number

31:02

one, you gotta have it written. Fuck

31:05

the handships. You can't write it because you can't take

31:07

up. You can't have a deal. That's not a deal. Like

31:10

like I can't say to you, like I can give you a deal,

31:12

here's your two years whatever million. I

31:14

can't give you a deal. It says, here's your one year deal.

31:17

But wink wink, I got it's

31:20

gotta be wake wake, it can't be signed. So

31:22

way, it's like, okay, I took care

31:24

of you over and over and they were like

31:27

wait on the runway. And that set him off.

31:30

That set him on. Then he started meeting teams and

31:32

then he's like I listened. He told

31:34

his agent, gotel teams. I want

31:36

to take bids. And that's what I mean. You know

31:38

a bunch of little details that happen you don't need to know about

31:40

it, concern yourself with. But essentially,

31:43

are there any good details that I want to share in this podcast?

31:46

Look? Look here, look like here's the thing. So like when

31:48

they go to meet with Durant, they say, all right, we're gonna

31:50

offer you twenty six million dollars for this

31:52

next season. This is Miami. Yeah, they

31:54

met with him on Sunday. Today's Thursday. They

31:57

go to meet with him on Sunday. They go, here's

31:59

twenty we want to we're gonna sign you for twenty six million.

32:02

And Durant's like, well, you only have nineteen

32:04

million of space, how are you gonna

32:06

get to twenty six? Don't worry about it. So

32:08

Durant's like, all right, thank you. Next day, Duran

32:10

says, all right, I'm going to Golden State. So now

32:13

Wade, who's been sitting on the runway, pay

32:16

me. And they go, okay, Dwayne, we're very

32:18

happy to offer you two years

32:20

and forty million, starting with this nineteen

32:22

million that we have this year. And Dwayne's like,

32:24

what are you talking about nineteen million?

32:27

What's all we have? Dwayne? We have nineteen million. He goes, you

32:30

said you were gonna get Durant twenty six. Well,

32:32

how come you can't get me? He won how

32:34

come you can't get me twenty five? And at this point it's

32:37

not even about the six million. I mean, no offense.

32:39

Six millions and still a lot of money. I mean, he still

32:41

wanted it. It wasn't like that'ssequential. But

32:44

he were like, no, man, um, we

32:46

got nineteen for you. And basically

32:49

they were they were saying a couple of things. One they were

32:51

saying, we don't think you'll leave. That's

32:55

number one. Number two they were saying, we

32:58

don't think that you're is worth it as Kevin

33:00

Durant, which is true at this point, but nonetheless,

33:03

the point is they had just offered Durant this

33:05

my two days before. How whatever

33:07

plan they had to get it all right,

33:10

and so Dwayne was like, no, man, I'm out of here,

33:12

and that was it. That was it. Give

33:15

me the three people you you you when

33:17

I was talking to earlier. Give me three

33:20

of the richest people that I've never heard

33:22

of in the NBA that made made good in this

33:24

offseason before we even get to the Durant. Give

33:26

me three names of people that even

33:28

me big basketball mind

33:31

that I am, you are never heard of, that

33:33

are so rich right now this summer

33:35

and that are just riding around going crazy. Give

33:37

me three names. Have you heard of John Lure? Never

33:40

heard of him? Is this guy in the NBA? He is

33:42

what? What? What position does he play? He's a power

33:44

forward, a stretch for I wouldn't know him

33:46

if he if I wouldn't know him if he came and slapped me in the face.

33:48

He's from Wisconsin. He looks like he's

33:51

from Wisconsin. Very pasty

33:53

white, Yes, tall, Okay?

33:55

And how much did he make? Forty two million for

33:57

how long? Four years? Forty

33:59

two million from the John lure lure

34:02

l e u e er. What team

34:04

does this guy play for? He plays now for

34:07

the Detroit Pistons. He's a very rich man. Okay,

34:09

give me give me number two? You said, another dude,

34:11

Solomon somebody I never heard of, Solomon Hill.

34:13

Solomon Hill plays for plays

34:16

for now the New Orleans Pelicans. It makes And

34:18

how much money does Solomon Hill have in his

34:20

in his bank account coming to him? Four years

34:23

million, four years forty million? Solomon

34:25

Hill? Who I again? If he came up, smacked

34:28

me in the face, told me some things about my mom,

34:30

I still wouldn't know. Salom Hill

34:32

is a great story. So last year he's got

34:34

an option in his contract for two million bucks

34:36

for this year and he's playing for the Pacers and Larry

34:38

Birds. Says um, I'm

34:41

not picking it up. You're done. You You're gonna be out of

34:43

thistly he didn't think he was working hard enough or whatever.

34:45

And Larry Bird actually said to him, and again,

34:48

this is not some Birdie that told

34:50

me this, and I'm not revealing anything. Larry Birds said

34:52

this in front of microphones. I heard it. He

34:54

told me, Goes, I'll see in the D league. Kid. Oh

34:56

about this guy, yeah, Solomon. He was

34:58

saying, you're not good enough and not only my not picking you up,

35:00

picking up your option, I'll see in the D League,

35:03

right. He just there's something about this guy. Bird didn't

35:05

like him and didn't respect him. Four years, forty eight

35:07

million, and and that might be more than Larry Bird

35:09

made. Uh No, but it's

35:11

close made his whole

35:13

career. Well, he's made a lot of money as an executive,

35:16

know what I'm saying As an NBA player. I

35:18

could look it up, but it's you're probably it's

35:21

close enough that it's a conversation. Pace. Give me one

35:23

more person who I've never heard of me being

35:25

the great big basketball mind that I am, who's

35:28

made so much money in the last three

35:30

or four weeks. Have you heard of Bismac beyond Bo Yes,

35:32

Bismack I know Toronto, but

35:35

he but he he I listen, he

35:38

he made a splash stir in the playoffs, and

35:41

I was this. I didn't say it was like, you know, I didn't say he was

35:43

Greg lu Gainess splash. But he made a splash.

35:45

Okay, because sixty four million is what he got

35:48

from the Orlando Magic, you know, based

35:50

on his defensive prowess, his hustle

35:52

as a team guy, you and the fact

35:54

that there's so few guys that are leg he's

35:56

a big man's big man at this point, right,

35:58

he's down low, he bo shot, he protected

36:01

the rim, right, and but sixty

36:03

you think that's crazy, Well, it's what the

36:05

market says. I mean. Maskov got six podcast.

36:13

Welcome to play It, a new podcast

36:15

network featuring radio and TV personalities

36:17

talking business, sports, tech, entertainment,

36:20

and more. Play it at play dot

36:22

it. What's

36:29

the deal with the free HD Why did everybody

36:32

like Solomon what's his name Hill, Solomon

36:34

Hill busy? How did their money

36:36

go off? And then what happened that you

36:39

wrote about in the last twenty four

36:41

hours where now they're pulling money back.

36:43

So break it down in in layman's

36:45

terms for me. Okay, So this year that just finished,

36:49

the NBA got nine

36:52

million bucks from the TV networks.

36:54

That's t N, T Turner and

36:57

uh AN, ESPN, ABC. So

37:01

they negotiated that eight years ago. Okay,

37:04

two thousand eight nine ish economy was

37:07

not doing as well. Just in this year

37:09

loans they're getting two point seven billion.

37:11

The NBA, yes, the teams

37:13

and the players. So it went from

37:16

nine hundred million to two point seven play

37:18

so very simple. It tripled, so

37:21

everything, so you have to look at it with everything triples,

37:24

you know. So if you were a and you

37:26

know, there's a whole bunch of machinations, but if you were

37:28

a six million dollar player five

37:31

six years ago, you're now an eighteen

37:33

million dollar player because the way

37:35

the math has gone. And the thing about it is there's

37:37

only fifteen guys per roster, so the

37:39

money just exploded. It's just it's just pure

37:42

economics. The league is thriving hugely,

37:45

it's doing extraordinarily well. During

37:47

the fourth quarter of Game seven of the finals,

37:49

okay, so in two thousand let me take it back in two

37:51

thousand seven when Lebron made the

37:53

finals for the first time, played the Spurs. It's

37:56

a terrible series. He got blown

37:58

out four ohs. Still not a million

38:00

people watched on average, Right, Okay,

38:03

nine million people is a lot of people, but it's not great.

38:06

In the fourth quarter of Game seven

38:09

of the Finals this year, million

38:11

people were watching and twenty

38:13

I think it was twenty two or twenty three million

38:15

people averaged viewership

38:18

throughout the throughout the every you know, your average

38:20

per minute of the series. Obviously, the longer series

38:22

goes, more people watched. So just there's

38:25

way more people interested in it. Okay, that

38:27

makes sense, and and and and

38:29

and now break down to me what happened in the

38:31

last twenty four hours because I read this article

38:33

that you wrote. I believe it was today that

38:36

now I'm I'm impressed that you're

38:39

you're you did you're really because this is

38:41

a good example. Did you care about this stuff

38:43

in the NBA like five six years ago? Oh yeah,

38:45

I mean listen, I don't mean the league. I mean like

38:47

the intrinsic little things, well not the no, not

38:50

so much the details and stuff like that. But I think social

38:52

media, the you know,

38:55

the abundance of ESPN stuff. I think

38:57

for people that want to know about it, it's easy,

39:00

You're it's getting easier and easier to understand

39:02

it because of people like you that explain it in layman's

39:05

terms. Because on Twitter, because

39:07

you know, there's professionals, there's regular

39:09

Joe Schmoz and I think you can understand it. But I

39:13

am interested in it because I'm I'm a

39:15

fan of it. You know, and and you know, and I break

39:17

balls, but I'm a fan of I love to see these guys

39:19

making money, the guys who I know of and the guys

39:21

who I don't know of. Um, I'm glad

39:24

to see the league doing well so so so

39:26

for me, it's just I'm just a fan, you know. But

39:29

the tangiously thing is so crazy. But

39:31

ten you'll me ask you this. Ten years ago, if

39:33

you were talking about the Knicks, you'd be like, man, Courtney

39:35

Lee, he's gonna fit in real good. I mean, I

39:37

would have a clue. I don't think people

39:40

I don't think. I think now, because

39:42

of social media and the immediacy,

39:44

you could look up Courtney Lee. You could really kind of you

39:46

know, get you could get a history into

39:49

somebody that I happen to know a good

39:51

amount about Courtly and Courtney Lee. But you

39:53

know, the I think because you're able to track

39:56

people, um easier Now I

39:58

think a fan is able

40:00

to be more involved even in the off season. So

40:02

that that's my deal with it. Um, you

40:05

know, but I think, you know, honestly,

40:07

I'm not and I'm just saying it's like guys like you that

40:09

are explaining it in layman's terms. I still

40:12

feel like the NFL sometimes, you know, it's

40:14

lacking in guys that are explaining

40:16

the off the field stuff in

40:19

terms that are tangible. Um. But

40:21

I think the NBA like it. It's really been broken

40:24

down like this offseason, like everybody's everybody

40:26

seems to be in on and I think that's good because fans

40:28

want to know why are these guys making money? Who

40:31

who are they? Why do they deserve it?

40:33

And so that's sort of like over

40:36

the last ten or fifteen years, fantasy

40:38

sports have gotten really big. Everybody's got a fantasy

40:40

team. I know you're a big fantasy player.

40:42

I'm fantastic fantasy football player.

40:45

I've never actually started your preparation

40:47

for me. As soon as the

40:49

finals ended, I had to get

40:51

out of of my my, my, my sorrows

40:54

and disappointment of the Warriors losing. I

40:57

had to put it all down. I did not watch

40:59

you or your coverage of the parade. I

41:02

I've seen clips um and and

41:04

I and I started focusing on my first,

41:06

second and third round picks. How many leagues are you

41:08

in? Well, I usually play in one league,

41:11

but because my fantasy prowess is growing

41:13

and growing and growing, this year, I'll probably play in three

41:15

leagues. I I am what you call um

41:18

uh, I'm wanted in the fantasy

41:20

world, right you. You're trash talking is famous.

41:23

I'm known for it. And it's not just the trash

41:25

by you saying, by you bringing up trashing first, it

41:27

kind of diminishes the fantasy player that I'm so sorry,

41:30

please, I thank you. I appreciate that because

41:33

I am known for my trash talking. But I am

41:35

I am also a consummate winner. Okay,

41:37

okay, here's winner. But so here's the thing.

41:39

People now, because they all have all these fantasy

41:42

teams and the daily fantasy stuff, people

41:44

are now obsessed with transactions.

41:46

Yes, so people love sports transactions.

41:49

And if you don't have any transactions to talk about,

41:52

you talk about when the transactions are

41:54

gonna happen. So here we are in the NBA

41:56

in transaction season, and people

41:58

love it and people love how On Twitter they

42:00

can get. Like last night, for example, Okay,

42:03

Dwayne Waye is gonna sign with the Balls, big giant news

42:05

and perpetuates two or three other trades that

42:07

happened, and you know, Durant

42:10

leaves the you know, the Warriors.

42:12

I mean, we're still recovering. I'm sorry, okay,

42:14

see recovering from that sonic

42:17

boom. And

42:19

now we're taking well, maybe they gotta trade Westbrook

42:22

and like today now like maybe

42:24

the Heat have to trade Garan Draga. Maybe they

42:26

got a tank. So people want these transactions

42:29

because they love the transactions. They're in their

42:31

life. So transactions have now become

42:33

their own thing that people want

42:35

to do them to know about. And that makes

42:38

just like you're as a fantasy football player, you're

42:41

a smarter fan because you know more

42:43

about than your than your team. As a if

42:45

you're obsessed with transactions in the NBA, you're gonna

42:47

be a smarter fan. We have smarter fans, now, I agree,

42:50

I agree, and and you know, and and again, like you

42:52

know, I was just thinking when you were saying this, like about the Katie

42:54

thing. The Boston fans are invested because

42:57

Captain America a k a. Tom Brady.

42:59

He shows up, Danny Ainge is wearing Katie's

43:01

looking like a crazy person. Julian Edelman

43:03

post a shirt you like the all black look from

43:06

from Danny Ange. He went with the all black I think that

43:08

was safe. All black in the summer and white jeans

43:10

on time. Tom Brady that was a really good, good

43:12

thing. And the Julian Edelman, I wonder what he did

43:14

with his Katie jersey that he posted. Did he burn

43:17

it? Did he throw it away? Did you give it to a homeless

43:19

person? What did you do with your jersey? Julian

43:22

Edelman? So so I think it's I think it's fun.

43:24

You know, these are the dog days of sports, as

43:26

you know, sure, I mean, as much as you love

43:29

talking about k do you have to be like, Okay,

43:31

I gotta because you know, the last few days I've

43:34

done the jump with you so much fun. Did you guys

43:36

talk about Katie again today somehow? Of course,

43:38

of course, and it's dwa Wayne and and dwayway.

43:40

But it's like, you know, it's also there's there's no football,

43:43

there's there's no basketball, so it's it's

43:45

sort of like there's not much going on. There's

43:48

no The SPS are next week. They've

43:50

already got l A Live. They've already got like the

43:52

tent set up for the SPS. Normally,

43:54

Like I'm I've been here all week. Normally you

43:57

can't move in l A Live because there's not a

43:59

concert or a game. There's

44:01

a there's the concerts.

44:03

There's nothing going on. Not like there's nothing happening

44:06

in downtown this week. I've never seen it so

44:08

dead. So so KD the

44:10

Short and Sweet because I'm kind of over and it's not like

44:13

here's my two cents. You know, we said

44:15

I I feel like he's twenty eight years

44:17

old. They came so close. I

44:20

understand taking care of Russell

44:22

Westbrook because I feel like he's had

44:24

to sort of babysit Russell Westbrook's emotions

44:27

and his feelings over the years. Like if you

44:29

look at the body language of you know, when when

44:31

when Russell Westbrook. I think he's stopped

44:34

doing it now, But like last season, like every time Russell

44:36

Westbrook would freak ou Katie would come over to and

44:38

it's like he's like it's like a time bomb. You

44:40

know, it's not the on the court, but it's like is

44:42

this guy gonna freak out? Is it gonna be mad. Is he gonna

44:44

start too? And I think part of the reason why

44:46

he left, and I understand leaving was,

44:50

you know, I've had enough. I want to be

44:52

my own guy. But the fact that he wants

44:54

to be his own guy and that he went to Golden

44:57

State to me. And I said yesterday on

44:59

the jump that he cheated. What I meant was

45:01

he's cheating the next run, I

45:03

know, but the natural What I meant was he's cheating

45:06

the natural progression of the

45:08

winning and the losing cycle, like he's cheating

45:10

Mother nature. You you could helicopter

45:13

to the to the to the top of the mountain, the way he did

45:15

by going to Golden State, or you could claim it, and

45:17

you know what, you might not You might not make

45:20

make it to the top of the mountain. It's like, let's say I throw

45:22

down right now five million dollars and I go. You could take

45:24

a b windy or I go. You know what, be when you mean

45:26

you had this great business opportunity in two years,

45:29

we can make six million dollars. Now, obviously

45:31

the five millions great, but if we went through all

45:33

the ups and downs of going in

45:35

business together to make six million dollars. When

45:37

we get that six million dollars, it's going to be more

45:39

fulfilling. I feel like he's just like I

45:42

want a helicopter. I want to be on the top of that mountain

45:44

right now, and I can't take it. And I think the fans

45:47

now he's a more likable character, and he did it more

45:49

low key, but I think the fans are gonna turn on

45:51

Katie and and and I think

45:54

it's sort of been a long time coming with Katie.

45:56

Well, he now has no margin for air. Before,

45:58

like when he wouldn't do and he wouldn't get there, they'd

46:01

be like, man, they just you know, there's injuries,

46:03

or they ran into Golden State and they're young. You

46:06

know that they don't have a good coach. I mean,

46:08

I didn't believe that, but as people said, you

46:11

know, Westbrook cogs the ball. They don't have a good supporting

46:13

cast. He's out of excuses

46:15

now, so he's he's got no margin for air. So

46:18

so now he's gonna enter a world

46:20

where the expectator he

46:22

like, he thinks he's going to a world where it's gonna be

46:24

easier, but the process is gonna be hard.

46:27

It's gonna be hard for him because like

46:30

if they start the season off like two and

46:32

three, which what if they just lose

46:34

the first game, it'll be it'll be crashing down

46:36

on him. People will be on him like, you know what, So

46:39

it's in it, but your point is well taken.

46:42

It's like, even though Lebron just came

46:44

back to the Calves two years ago when

46:46

he won that title, in a lot of ways, it was a culmination

46:49

of his career, you know, and

46:51

that winning that championship to find his career,

46:53

he felt like he had climbed the mountain absolutely,

46:56

you know. I mean, I agree he climbed

46:58

the mountain. He helicopter the

47:01

mountain or I don't want to say helicopter, but you

47:03

know, he he set this ski lift, you

47:05

know, he took the ski lift to the mountain with the with with

47:07

the the Miami heatles. And I want

47:09

to get into all that, but I mean, listen,

47:11

it's it's I've had enough. It's

47:14

like I I've had so much of Katie. I want

47:16

to back. I'm back to wanting to talk about the flake gate

47:18

because there's still like it's like Katie or de fla k

47:20

what what what We're redundant

47:23

story. Can we talk about, Um, it's

47:25

gonna be interesting. I mean, it's gonna be an interesting

47:27

season. Now the Knicks, Yes,

47:31

the Ice Path Boys, the Ice Path Boys.

47:33

It's it could stick. I mean I could see that caricatures

47:36

being created. Yes, you know for this, Um,

47:39

it's not good for the league for the

47:42

Knicks to be bad. It's really really

47:44

bad for the league for the Knicks to be bad and the Lakers

47:46

to be bad, like as good as this market

47:48

wise, just for the health of the league.

47:50

Like this last year the Warriors like one

47:52

of the biggest draws we've ever seen, and

47:55

the television rings were flat because

47:59

we didn't have York LA and Boston. Boston

48:01

a little bit, but New York and l A were

48:03

not there. I mean they're yanking Laker games off

48:05

television because of weight. Ratings

48:07

are so bad. So this is

48:09

not a championship team in New York. No, but

48:12

it's gonna be a relevant team and after a couple

48:14

of years missing the playoffs. I gotta think, as

48:16

a Knicks fan, you're kind of happy about that. I'm excited.

48:19

I I I think that you know, obviously,

48:21

these are the obvious ifs. The d Rose,

48:23

if they know what we're excited When they traded

48:26

for Rose, I was

48:28

hesitantly excited. Is that a word? Hesitantly?

48:31

Hesitantly? I just made up

48:33

a word. We were just witnessing history

48:36

hesitantly. That's cool. I approve it. Yeah,

48:38

So, I mean, obviously everybody

48:40

has the same feelings about Derek Oros. He's fantastic.

48:43

If you know last year he played

48:45

what sixties something games? If noah?

48:48

If so, Yeah, it was excited. I wasn't

48:50

as excited as I would have been if they traded for Russell

48:53

Westbroker k D or you

48:55

know. But but you know, you still

48:57

hope this guy. And also as a fan, you don't want

48:59

to see a I. B. B. You

49:01

know, who's so incredible for

49:04

his couple of for a couple of years, just have his

49:06

career taken away from him the way Roses

49:09

could potentially be. You know, he's key, could

49:11

be the answer to an incredible trivia situation.

49:14

Every single NBA m v P is

49:16

in the Hall of Fame, Like if you want to if you

49:19

win an m v P, you're in Hall of Fame. So like you

49:21

know, Kevin Durant is gonna be in the Hall of Fame.

49:23

Wee, it's fair. Steph Curry is on his way. He's

49:26

gonna be in the Hall of Fame. Steve Nash just retired

49:28

Hall of Fame. Es Lebron, you think

49:30

maybe they'll squeezehim, you know, he might the second or

49:32

third, second, third, or like well, like maybe

49:34

not the first time you come back. You know, you gotta

49:36

show, you gotta earn the respect. And I

49:38

understand it. Yeah, not necessarily the

49:41

first time, Lebron. But maybe you come back next year,

49:43

then we'll let you. Yeah, and you'd be like the third person

49:45

introduced, not the last. Not the whole thing

49:47

is not going to be about you. Of course, of course it's not gonna be

49:49

about you. So Derrick Rose, I mean, he's not a Hall of Famer

49:51

at the point because if it's because of the shortness

49:53

of the career, terrible terrible injuries, well

49:57

you know, I I I hope, I hope, I

49:59

hope to see whether he's at nick or not a Nick. I always

50:01

I think everybody, if you love basketball, if you love sports,

50:04

you don't want to see a guy that with that kind of greatness

50:06

and that kind of potential have it stunt in

50:08

so so that being the case. I

50:10

want to get to you. How did

50:13

you wind up covering Lebron James.

50:15

One is the first time you saw Lebron

50:17

James play. Walk me through this, this this career

50:20

that you've had covering him, and how you made

50:22

it to be one of the faces of of NBA

50:24

broadcasting. About that you're one

50:26

of the faces, man, Yeah, this is

50:28

not a good face. The we

50:31

went to we went to the same high school. Okay, not at

50:33

the same time. Yes, I graduated, he

50:37

graduated in two thousand three, so we're seven years

50:39

apart. Yes. I

50:42

was working at the local newspaper, the Akron Beacon

50:44

Journal, and I had heard that

50:46

my high school, which was not known as a basketball

50:49

power at all, had gotten

50:51

these four freshmen who

50:54

were really really good players who decided to all

50:56

come together to go to school.

50:58

So they're first game of

51:01

the of their freshman year. I went to it

51:04

in a reporter capacity. I was like where I

51:06

was in college, and like, they let me go

51:08

out to these little, low level high school games.

51:11

You know, I wasn't covering the Cleveland Indians or

51:13

the Browns, but I was able to go cover You were the

51:15

sports guy though, Yeah, I was a sports writer

51:17

as a part time little kid. So I

51:19

went to see him play and he was he was fourteen

51:22

years old. I

51:25

know the date. It was December three, first

51:27

game of his high school career, playing,

51:30

you know, in a road game and against a big

51:32

school, much bigger school. And what

51:35

blew me away about him? First off, he was baby faced,

51:38

not shaving, no muscles, really

51:41

um skinny, but like

51:44

six ft three with big

51:46

feet. But he

51:48

moved. He didn't, you know. So you see kids like that, they don't

51:50

move well, they're all elbows and knees

51:53

and everything. But he moved like

51:55

an adult, and You're like wow.

51:58

And so I knew the coach who

52:00

was an old college coach, you know, he was an experienced

52:03

coach who had lost his college job and

52:05

he was like trying to work his way back up. And

52:08

so, in other words, he was not just some high

52:10

school kid, and he knew what he was doing. And he

52:12

goes to me, this kid, Lebron James

52:15

is the best player I've ever worked with in my career.

52:17

And I'm like, what are you talking

52:20

about. He's played one game, he's fourteen years old,

52:23

you know, I mean he had fifteen points. I mean he didn't have like fifty

52:26

He's like, this kid, he will be a

52:29

superstar, like he knew already, like from just

52:31

watching and practice and stuff. And

52:33

so I started going back and telling

52:35

my bosses, So there's

52:38

this kid on this on this St. Vincent St. Mary

52:40

team. Um, you know, we

52:42

should probably keep really pay attention to him because

52:45

you know, normally, you know, we

52:47

would cover like five games out of

52:49

five. We're not covering everything. He's a little

52:51

paragraph, half of page, half

52:54

a page. It was, Yeah,

52:58

So, um, he

53:00

starts playing, they keep winning, they keep winning. I told

53:03

my bosses, and they thought I was looking for a shine

53:05

for my my school, which I would

53:07

never do anyway. But I mean my senior

53:09

year that the basketball team was three and seventeen.

53:12

So I start following him and start I started going as

53:14

many games as possible. And there are five and O eight and No.

53:16

Twelve and O fifteen and no. They get all

53:18

the way of the state tournament and

53:21

he's again. Now he's fifteen years old and

53:24

they're playing in this game and it's tight in

53:26

the state final four in at Ohio State

53:28

University. Now we're at now, we're at the big time. It's

53:31

fifteen thousand people there, and this is

53:33

so it's it's um, it's it's

53:35

near the end of this game, and he's in foul trouble.

53:38

If he gets fouls, he gets on their foul, he's he's

53:40

out. And this this um,

53:43

this turnover happens and the guy goes

53:46

to the other end, just like Andrea Ga Dalla

53:48

four fouls. Here comes Lebron

53:51

from behind, blocks to shoot.

53:53

Saw this happen. It's on

53:56

video somewhere, blocks

53:58

the shot off the backboard, gets

54:00

the ball, goes down to the other again, fifteen

54:02

years old, playing with eighteen

54:05

year old kids in the state term. I mean,

54:07

now it feels like it would be nothing to be an afternoon for

54:09

him. But this is again, he's never done this before. It

54:11

goes down to the other end, shoots

54:14

a three pointer and hits the three. It's

54:16

a five point try change

54:18

in front of fifteen thousand people. It's amazing, and

54:21

people are like, oh shit.

54:24

And so then people

54:26

will start to notice him win

54:28

the state championship. So he gets

54:30

known a little bit over the next year, and I

54:33

start thinking we could have

54:35

a kid who's

54:38

gonna go to North Carolina or Duke, because in

54:40

Ohio we produce football

54:42

players. We've always got guys in the NFL. We're not worried

54:44

before a football state we had not produced

54:47

basketball players, right, It's just not what we do. And

54:49

so I'm like, I'm gonna be covering a kid that's gonna be playing

54:51

at Duke like chefs. He's gonna be shown up in

54:53

these stands. So that's why I was telling people.

54:55

So he goes out as a sophomore and they win the

54:57

state championship again and they

55:00

uh, he gets named Mr Basketball is the best player

55:02

in the state. Never happened for a sixteen year old before. So

55:05

he goes to this camp before his junior year.

55:07

It's in between sophomore and junior year. It's

55:09

like right about this time of year, Um, the

55:12

draft had just happened, and that was the draft where

55:14

Eddie Curry and Kwamie Brown and

55:16

Tyson Chandler all these high school kids get

55:18

picked in the top five and it was

55:20

like, Wow, the high school kids are just gonna be number one picks

55:22

now. So this camp in New Jersey, it says

55:24

Big Camp run by Adidas. Kobe Bryant comes

55:27

and address as the kids. Um, He's

55:29

like, you know the number of teens, top of the world. Lakers have

55:31

just won the title, and Lebron is going to

55:33

be a junior. It's called the abc

55:35

D Camp, and every college

55:38

coach in the country is there. I mean, Shachowski,

55:40

Patino, Beheim, you name

55:42

it. They're all on one side of the gym, then on the other

55:44

side of the gym, or all the NBA scouts.

55:47

Now this wasn't normal, but now

55:50

the NBA scouts was we gotta come watch these kids

55:52

because they're all getting drafted. So we're talking

55:54

like, you know, I don't know Riley,

55:58

you know, Mitch cupped Ack, you

56:01

know, all the they're

56:03

all there, all right, every

56:06

like basketball recruiter in the country is in

56:08

this gym. Lebron

56:11

just blows everybody away for like

56:13

four days. And then there's and and who's at

56:15

the camp Carmelo Lenny Cook. So

56:18

so Lenny the calm Well I

56:20

don't I think Carmelo was there, but the culmination

56:22

game is his kid, Lenny Cook, right, all right, he

56:25

is like the everybody thinks he's gonna be then

56:27

I want to pick the next year. And they set

56:29

up there by the way, this is at fairly Dickinson

56:32

University, so that the garden. This

56:34

isn't like you know, it's like a kind of a junkie

56:36

gym, you know, And um,

56:39

they're setting up this is the big game. Lenny Cook first

56:41

Lebron. Lenny Cook was going to be here.

56:44

He went in the paper and was like, I could be

56:46

Kobe one on one right now. He was from New Jersey.

56:48

He was like, gonna be the next big thing. And they

56:50

go head to head and Lebron's just wipes the floor

56:53

with him and he culminates by

56:55

hitting a game winning shot from a pointer at

56:57

the buzzer. Everybody

57:00

in the gym walks away from that week going,

57:03

this is the best basketball player in the country, not

57:05

like, oh, no, no, I like that one kid from Denver,

57:08

you know, I like that one kid from four lad No.

57:11

And he was junior to be and they were

57:13

saying if he was a senior, he'd be the number

57:15

one pick in the draft. And and people, some

57:17

people said maybe he should go after his junior

57:19

year into the NBA. And and

57:22

this is the beginning of the national sort of Lebron

57:24

James hysteria. And we weren't in the social

57:26

media age inside the like the basketball

57:29

recruiting media was covering

57:31

it. But that was the ball that started

57:33

rolling that six months later had him on the

57:35

cover of Sports Illustrated. Okay, now, now

57:38

let's let's cut to Lebron James becomes

57:40

Lebron James. I always saw

57:42

you, you, you were you you? How did

57:44

you wind up going from a small paper

57:46

in Akron? Was

57:49

it Akron? Akron?

57:51

Tomatoes? Tomatoes? Like yesterday? On

57:54

the jump, I said Lithuania? It was Lativa?

57:57

I really, I said Lativia. It was it's

57:59

tomato. Some mottels here, I mean, He's like, okay,

58:01

wait, were the same country? Akron, Akron?

58:04

What do I know? Okay? So, so how

58:07

did you wind up going from

58:09

this small paper to wind

58:12

up doing your job that you have now? So I

58:14

graduated college. I went to Kent State University

58:16

nearby, uh Kentstate

58:18

University, who produced Julian Edelman. Yes,

58:21

by the way, very proud of that um

58:24

as they should be. Uh So

58:27

I just happened to be able to get a job covering

58:29

the calves when Lebron went to them. I

58:31

would have been covering the calves if they got the

58:34

number three pick and they had gotten Carmelo, or

58:36

they had gotten Darko or whatever. Um

58:39

so I just have I already knew him. I've known him at that point

58:41

for four years. And what what what was it like watching

58:44

that ride? Like what was Lebron like before

58:46

he became this global star, Like

58:48

just a regular kid, nice kid when hockey

58:51

did he know? Man, he got bullied

58:53

as a rookie. The older

58:55

veterans on that team pushed him around.

58:58

How so who's on that team Ricky Ricky

59:00

Davis. Oh yeah, he was no joke. Yeah,

59:02

Ricky Davis definitely bullied him around.

59:05

I mean I remember like his third game

59:07

of his career. Was it a game in Portland and

59:11

that you know, Portland was much bet Has were awful. They started

59:13

that year like four and fifteen, you know, and

59:16

he played really good. In the first half. He had

59:18

like twelve points, like

59:20

six assists, four rebounds or

59:23

something, and I was like, man, he might have a

59:25

triple double. I mean he's like like the

59:27

third game out and they were close, and then the

59:29

second half he didn't

59:31

do anything. He was afraid to do anything. He just want to just

59:33

passed the ball and like ran away from

59:36

the ball, and I was like, it's just he

59:38

just you know, I don't know, maybe he got tired or whatever turns

59:40

out, like at halftime, Ricky Davis told him, you're

59:43

not passing me the ball. Enough passed me the ball

59:45

and get out of my way, and uh,

59:49

you know, he was just bullying, and you know, like the coach, Paul

59:51

Silas sort of was like students stood up

59:53

for him, and they ended up trading Mickey Davis

59:55

later in the year because they just had to get him away from

59:57

him. But he was like sort of in a shell. He

1:00:00

was. And the second week of the season, the coach

1:00:02

got in a fight with one of the players about

1:00:04

playing time. Silas unbelievable

1:00:07

stuff, who I renewable,

1:00:09

never heard of him either. He rich, he's

1:00:12

rich compared to me. Um. He was

1:00:14

angry that they had just signed him, and he was angry didn't

1:00:16

get playing time. So there was a game in the land

1:00:19

up and he stormed into the coach's office, Silence's

1:00:21

office, and was pitching about playing time. I renewable.

1:00:23

I don't even know who the fun you are. And you're arguing

1:00:25

with Paul Silence. He's actually

1:00:27

a good guy, so Silas. So new Bill

1:00:30

gets into a fight with him, and Silas comes after him,

1:00:33

and so that it spills out into the hallway

1:00:36

and uh, new Bill had, you

1:00:38

know, which was fashionable at that time, had the braids back.

1:00:41

I used to have them too, I'm kidding him, kidding, you're

1:00:43

great in them. And Silence,

1:00:46

you know, total old school guy. And he's

1:00:48

like, get back here, you hip

1:00:50

hop m ever and

1:00:52

like everybody's like oh, and you

1:00:55

know he wanted to fight him. Right, Silence

1:00:57

was squared right right. New Bill was a one

1:01:00

on it right. So, um,

1:01:03

like that was going on. That was like week two, like

1:01:06

give me some more, give me some more crazy stuff from

1:01:08

I love this, give me some more stuff like you said, he

1:01:10

was getting like what else was going

1:01:12

on with? So this one day, Silas

1:01:15

throws Ricky Davis out of practice. They used to

1:01:17

they used to practice at the gym. Now they got this beautiful

1:01:19

facility, right, They used to practice at the arena. They

1:01:21

had a little gym in the arena and the circus

1:01:23

is going on. So like we're in the

1:01:26

arena like to cover practice and

1:01:28

the circus is happening in the main bowl.

1:01:30

And Ricky Davis, the coach, was so mad he

1:01:32

kicked Ricky Davis out of practice. So Rookie's

1:01:35

in his practice jersey. He's out in the

1:01:37

concourse and he's eating a hot dog because

1:01:40

he got in a fight with the coach. This is all like the

1:01:42

first month, all right, It's like it's

1:01:44

like just just totally nuts. Like

1:01:46

he know, they banned another player from traveling

1:01:48

on a road Tuck was this guy Michael Stewart.

1:01:51

Okay, Yogi Stewart. The other

1:01:53

guy who's richer. I can't

1:01:55

remember these guys. Yogi Yogi

1:01:57

Stewart be getting paid like million for

1:02:01

three years. So this was

1:02:03

like Lebron's first year as a disaster. So like when

1:02:05

he when he first came in the league, he was kind

1:02:07

of a little bit in a shell because he was he was in

1:02:09

a bad environ and he was nineteen

1:02:11

years Do you think now what is he now?

1:02:13

Old is he now? Now?

1:02:16

You think? I think he might be forty six? Like I

1:02:18

think he might have like they you know, like he when you say

1:02:20

you saw Hi when he was fourteen. Like

1:02:23

there's some players who especially

1:02:25

who were from sort of you know countries

1:02:28

that maybe don't have the best record keeping a year

1:02:30

or two ahead, right like Serge

1:02:33

Ibaka, like he might be fifty

1:02:35

six. He supposed twenty six. But people, but

1:02:38

this kid, Thawn Maker who just got drafted

1:02:40

by um uh Milwaukee,

1:02:44

they don't know exactly how old he is. They say

1:02:46

he's nineteen, but there's data

1:02:48

that suggests he could be as much as twenty three. Podst

1:02:55

Welcome to play It, a new podcast

1:02:57

network featuring radio and TV personnel.

1:03:00

He's talking business, sports, tech, entertainment

1:03:02

and more. Play it at play dot

1:03:04

it. It's

1:03:10

one thing that likes to be like one

1:03:12

and say you're eighteen. Yes, I mean it's I mean

1:03:15

this kid, if you believe what their

1:03:17

story is, right, I'm not vowing

1:03:19

for that. No, I got you. If there are people who believe

1:03:22

that when he was like seventeen

1:03:24

years old, they put him in eighth grade.

1:03:26

Yeah, no, I've heard like he was a seventeen year

1:03:28

old going to school. He listen, he's

1:03:30

seven three and he could dribble. I hopefully this because

1:03:33

he's one of these guys that's been on the internet for

1:03:36

so long. You're like, I hope this guy makes it into

1:03:38

the NBA because I've heard so much about fawn Maker,

1:03:41

uh for so long. He like allegedly

1:03:43

graduated high school in Perth, Australia's

1:03:46

pictures of him, and they came here and he went back. Right

1:03:50

now, I've heard this story, like, like Lebron,

1:03:53

I I will vouch that when he was fourteen

1:03:55

years old, he looked fourteen. He looked like an incredibly

1:03:58

tall and I've seen the gifted

1:04:01

kid I was in. I was this

1:04:03

height and the same amount of like

1:04:06

and and and this slow at

1:04:08

four teams. So I get that kind of physical

1:04:10

specimen. All right, So talk me through

1:04:12

this. Lebron James becomes

1:04:14

Lebron James. You're with him, and

1:04:16

you're you're now covering the the the NBA.

1:04:20

He becomes this star. Talk

1:04:22

to me about the chaos that was when

1:04:25

he first left to go to Miami

1:04:28

and how it affected you because you told me some crazy

1:04:30

stuff, how like you were somehow associated

1:04:32

when he left Miami, when he left Cleveland,

1:04:35

you were sort of like people in

1:04:37

Cleveland, not only they burned your jersey as

1:04:39

well. Right, I still get treated poorly to this day,

1:04:42

like how like somehow you had something to do. When

1:04:44

I go to Cavs games, I don't watch the games

1:04:46

from the arena, from the

1:04:48

Bowl. I don't even though he's bad, Like

1:04:51

at the end of Game six, when

1:04:54

the Calves had this big at that point, was the biggest

1:04:56

win team history. You know, they blew the

1:04:58

Warriors out. Sending to Game seven.

1:05:01

I wanted to get the feel because normally

1:05:03

in Cleveland I watched the game in

1:05:05

the back because if I'm out there,

1:05:07

I mean, most people are nice, but I get some,

1:05:10

I get some, you know, some drunkards or whatever.

1:05:12

So it's specific. And why aside

1:05:15

from the fact you're recognizable sports is there's

1:05:18

Cleveland stuff, I assume. So so,

1:05:20

like, just as an example, so game six, the

1:05:23

game was over like three minutes left. Essentially, I wanted

1:05:25

to come out and hear and feel what was going

1:05:27

on in the arena as these fans are celebrating

1:05:30

this big moment. So I come out and I'm

1:05:32

just really standing just inside

1:05:35

the arena like in the tunnel area, and

1:05:37

people start throwing bottles of water at me,

1:05:39

and then they they hit me, and then

1:05:42

I had to go back in. I mean, not

1:05:44

everybody's like that. I don't want to make it seem like I got

1:05:46

you. But so in two thousand and ten, Lebron

1:05:48

leaves like July eight, I was coming.

1:05:50

I was working for the Akron Beacon Journal at the time. And

1:05:53

I had reported on mostly good

1:05:55

stuff for the Calves. They had had a really great

1:05:58

seven year run, consistently getting better to

1:06:00

the finals. They had had two really good teams and

1:06:02

lost at the end. I

1:06:04

was in Cleveland. People generally

1:06:07

liked me, but it was mostly because I was giving

1:06:09

them good news for the most part. So he

1:06:11

leaves in July and in

1:06:14

August goes by and I go on a big trip,

1:06:16

just like to get away because I knew it was gonna

1:06:19

be crazy. And I'm in Thailand and I get

1:06:21

a call from ESPN and I do

1:06:23

like interview with them at like seriously three in

1:06:25

the morning in Thailand, and they're gonna

1:06:27

offer me a job to go to Miami to

1:06:30

to cover the Miami heat. Yeah. So,

1:06:33

because it's just a huge deal. Just like they're gonna

1:06:35

be people who are going to we already

1:06:37

have people who live in Oakland. They're

1:06:39

gonna be people who moved to Oakland just to

1:06:42

cover this team. It's gonna be a big deal. We sort

1:06:44

of started that by bringing these people in. And

1:06:46

when they hired me, which by the way, was a no brainer.

1:06:49

Not only was it it was there's nothing left in Cleveland,

1:06:51

the places to play the Burning Jersey. The

1:06:53

thing is, I was working for a newspaper. Newspapers are

1:06:55

I'm sorry, but they're on their way in to business. But

1:06:58

so ESPN announced my hiring

1:07:01

with like a press release because

1:07:03

they were trying to draw attention to the fact that they were going

1:07:05

to really cover Lebron heavily. And

1:07:08

that was good. That like made a lot of positive

1:07:10

press in the media coverage area. But

1:07:12

in Cleveland it made people

1:07:14

feel like I was going

1:07:17

with him, and there was also

1:07:19

this belief that somehow I worked for the team, even

1:07:21

though I don't. So Meanwhile,

1:07:23

when I get down to Miami, Lebron was so

1:07:27

singed by the way to

1:07:29

Cleveland had sent him off. To anybody from

1:07:31

Cleveland he saw as an enemy, even though we've known each

1:07:33

other for fiftel years or something. At that

1:07:35

point, he like put up a wall

1:07:38

and like we we were. It was like icy for

1:07:40

probably six eight weeks when

1:07:43

you were around him, like it's just like it's not like I

1:07:45

want to talk to you, I want to give you. The gave me like

1:07:47

nothing for a couple of months, and

1:07:50

he was like that with everybody. Meanwhile,

1:07:52

people in Cleveland, I feel like I'm

1:07:55

in his entourage or something like that. And so what I'm

1:07:58

getting destroyed in Cleveland for

1:08:00

being like, you know, swinging from whatever,

1:08:03

like you left too, Like like they think that

1:08:05

I went down there, and like I

1:08:08

was like in the back seat when he was driving the bus.

1:08:10

I was on the planet. Meanwhile, I'm down

1:08:12

there and he's treating me like crap, right,

1:08:15

And so I'm getting it from both ends. And like

1:08:18

if I was getting down there and getting all the good interviews and

1:08:20

producing all great stuff and I was actually like,

1:08:22

you know, he's actually come on in, man, you're

1:08:24

you're part of me, I would be like, Okay, well

1:08:26

I did sell out that you know, I mean, but but

1:08:29

I was getting Brandon a sell out and I didn't sell

1:08:31

out. And then you said, you told me what was the thing you told

1:08:33

me about? You were trying to sell your home in Cleveland,

1:08:36

and so they wouldn't buy your They went out

1:08:38

of their way not to explain this to me. Well,

1:08:40

we just we just we we sort

1:08:42

of hid who was selling it as much as we

1:08:45

can. Obviously, if you if you went,

1:08:48

you know, if you went and looked it up, you

1:08:50

could find it. Um. And then when

1:08:53

I bought my next house, I like put

1:08:55

it in my wife's name first so

1:08:57

that people can't I mean, look, I'm not saying

1:09:00

that somebody couldn't slew that out and figure out where

1:09:02

I live, right, we doesn't think the N s A. But

1:09:04

I just have to sort of protect myself a little bit. Now,

1:09:06

No, I got you and so and

1:09:08

then whenever I go back to Cleveland, Um,

1:09:11

I mean, people would shoot spitballs at me christ

1:09:14

and stuff like that, and like, again I

1:09:17

wish I was like, well, I'm

1:09:19

doing Lebron's book and I'm making one point

1:09:21

six million on and that's right, I'm gonna domine a

1:09:23

rip all you complete Cleveland fans and you know,

1:09:25

but I was. I was just doing there to do a job.

1:09:28

Now Lebron eventually got

1:09:31

over that and we ended up going back

1:09:33

to a professional relationship, which is fine. But um,

1:09:35

even going back to I mean, I'm and again, I'm treated

1:09:38

very well by the majority of people I deal with

1:09:40

in Cleveland, but I still get treated

1:09:42

like like crap at certain times because

1:09:45

even though he's back, it

1:09:47

doesn't seem like it totally matters.

1:09:50

I got you. One thing I'm fascinated

1:09:52

by is the fame of

1:09:55

sports broadcasters because it's

1:09:57

a certain demographic that you're gonna act.

1:10:00

You're on TV so much, you're so recognizable,

1:10:03

Like I mean, what is it like going to an airport

1:10:06

or an Applebee's or just like walking

1:10:08

down the streets? Are are you ever asking

1:10:10

me what it's like to be famous? No, I'm saying in terms

1:10:12

of my my kind of fame is different

1:10:15

because people don't want me to tell you tell

1:10:17

them the inside scoop on every

1:10:19

single basketball game, you know, like the

1:10:22

sports Like I get a little bit of sports

1:10:24

stuff, but they don't. I'm not Marv Albert,

1:10:26

Like I think that like you stephen A,

1:10:29

people like Marv, people that are so associated

1:10:31

heavily with sports, like the fans

1:10:33

that they must attract like it must just be like

1:10:36

you could be waiting in the line at the t s

1:10:38

A line at four in the morning and like

1:10:40

always do people always want when people see

1:10:42

do they always want to talk sports NonStop?

1:10:45

When I'm in arenas, Like

1:10:47

when I'm in a setting where everybody in theres knows the NBA,

1:10:51

it's recognized. I get recognized a lot a

1:10:53

lot of time when I'm at

1:10:55

a restaurant. It does happen in Cleveland,

1:10:57

Cleveland especially, I'm more well known in Cleveland, and they wanted

1:10:59

to export. I mean, are you ever just like I don't want

1:11:02

to talk about are you like do you ever need to

1:11:04

take an NBA break? Because anything

1:11:06

is One thing was like, you know, like during this final

1:11:08

series, I didn't think the Cats are gonna

1:11:10

win, you know. I I didn't make

1:11:12

a prediction, but I was like, you know, the

1:11:15

Warriors are really good. And when I got up three one,

1:11:17

it was like this is probably curtains. And

1:11:19

so I'd run into all these people in Cleveland like are we gonna

1:11:21

do it? Are we gonna win tonight? Or

1:11:24

you know, are they gonna are they gonna take the series?

1:11:27

I didn't want to be the party pooper and be like no, man,

1:11:29

no, man, they're going down, you know. But I also

1:11:32

didn't want to be like, hell, yeah,

1:11:34

they're gonna win. Yeah, and then these guys go

1:11:36

on Twitter the next time they see you. So

1:11:39

I just would sort of like, oh, no, we'll

1:11:41

see man, I don't know. You know, I'll say something

1:11:44

like I wish I could tell

1:11:46

you, but I don't know, or something like that. So you

1:11:48

know, they want me to join the party.

1:11:50

And then they want a little glimmer of hope. Yeah,

1:11:53

that's not really my thing. My thing isn't to join their

1:11:55

party, you know. I mean that's people want me to

1:11:57

do. Come, We'll buy you a drink, blah

1:11:59

blah blah blah. I'm you know what, I'm not really here to join

1:12:01

your party. You know. I'm just kind

1:12:03

of just want to get through this. But um,

1:12:05

I'm happy that they are in. I

1:12:09

we I am nothing without

1:12:11

the people who want to who

1:12:13

wants to read and learn about the NBA. People

1:12:15

don't want to learn to learn about the NBA. I would

1:12:18

be done so you wouldn't be on the Iron

1:12:20

Rapports stereo podcast. The worldwide phenomenon.

1:12:22

It is a worldwide phenomena. Everybody knows. Um.

1:12:24

So I'm very happy to do it. I just

1:12:27

I just wish that I had earned my villainry.

1:12:30

I got you. I I wish I had done something

1:12:32

to actually be a villain. I think it's gonna I think

1:12:34

it's gonna grow and grow because I really think you emerge,

1:12:36

and I think like your personality is

1:12:39

emerging when you do your stuff. And

1:12:41

I think the jump show is really fun. The

1:12:44

jump Show is fun because I think you know the thing

1:12:46

with me with sports and like the Jump Show

1:12:48

and like anything that I when I'm asked to do stuff

1:12:50

with sports, It's like the analytics guys.

1:12:53

They could do the analytics all day, and but

1:12:55

at a certain point it's like I don't

1:12:57

want to sit there and watch a guy in a suit sit

1:12:59

there break down a boat. I'm at home in a pair

1:13:02

of boxer shorts, probably picking my nose

1:13:04

in one hand, drinking a snapple or a

1:13:06

beer or whatever drink or any other

1:13:09

like you're watching the game. So like to

1:13:11

watch the ESPN guys, and it's so like some

1:13:13

of these guys are so nerded out. They take

1:13:15

the sense of humor and the fun and and

1:13:17

and the passion out of it. It's

1:13:20

like, I got your analytics, I got your stats.

1:13:22

Oh you're so smart. You created a new

1:13:24

stat within the stat. What they fucking

1:13:26

do? It's like, I care about this fucking

1:13:28

team winning. I like this guy. I don't

1:13:31

like this guy. The agony of defeat, the

1:13:33

thrill of victory, That's what I'm into, you know what I mean.

1:13:35

But I think the thing with the Jump that I like doing is they

1:13:37

get away from that. There's like a light like

1:13:40

there's a I think that there's a good balance

1:13:42

of an analytics you

1:13:44

know, uh, you know, it's

1:13:47

fun and I just think it's more lighthearted.

1:13:49

But some of this nerd it's too statted

1:13:51

out, and even for people that I liked it, it

1:13:53

becomes like watching a ticker um

1:13:56

for you know, the stock market

1:13:58

ticker. It's too much the players. I

1:14:00

feel like the players are enjoying it, so we're

1:14:03

getting no, no, no the jump because

1:14:05

players are enjoying it. They're coming onto

1:14:07

it, they're there, they're they're they like to come

1:14:09

on the show. They're having fun with it. It's fun.

1:14:11

That's good. I think like you could

1:14:14

be like a Charles Barkley

1:14:16

light I feel like this could

1:14:18

be a new phase of your career because

1:14:20

you know enough about the NBA that

1:14:23

you can talk about educated this but you

1:14:25

but you also have like a like a

1:14:27

fans naivete about that

1:14:30

makes it more enjoyable to watch that. They

1:14:33

the fans person are they feel

1:14:35

like they're they feel like they're they're

1:14:37

comparable to you. They know everything they

1:14:39

know about Lee, but they don't know everything and you're

1:14:42

you obviously a performer, you can deliver in such

1:14:44

a way I think, you know, I don't

1:14:46

know what what movies and acting jobs you got lined,

1:14:49

but I think basketball

1:14:51

commentary. I think there's a niche for you appreciate

1:14:54

this and this growing you know, there's more demand

1:14:56

for people want it. I love doing it.

1:14:59

I'm such a fan. I mean, I'm I'm

1:15:01

a humongous basketball fan. I grew up wanting

1:15:03

I literally wanted to play in the NBA. So

1:15:06

and I've always loved it. I love the sports, you

1:15:08

know. I love the drama of it. I love

1:15:11

the the the soap opera aspect.

1:15:13

I just love the whole thing. You know, more than you

1:15:15

know. NFL is behind, it is

1:15:17

second, but there's nothing. I'm always gonna have

1:15:19

this love affair with the NBA.

1:15:22

Did did you how did it like? Your

1:15:24

your whole thing with with with basketball? Like? Did

1:15:26

you love basketball growing up? Did you play ball?

1:15:28

Like? Like, obviously I'm not built to be a basketball

1:15:31

player. I played basketball as a kid. Did

1:15:33

you love it? I? And you know, I was

1:15:35

a seasonal kid. I played baseball

1:15:37

in the spring and summer golf

1:15:40

I was. I was mostly a golfer. I played on

1:15:42

the high school team in golf, and I

1:15:44

played basketball in grade school. I

1:15:47

loved going to basketball games. I love

1:15:49

the the way, like

1:15:51

the arc of a game, like I just I

1:15:53

like being enraptured and like you can

1:15:55

feel one team making a run. You

1:15:57

can you can feel the tension of the game building. Yes,

1:16:00

um, I like the game of

1:16:03

I can't I can't stand baseball.

1:16:06

I mean I know nothing. I can name

1:16:08

two or three baseball players that are in the major leagues now,

1:16:10

I know nothing. I could care less. I don't

1:16:12

see how people sit there for four

1:16:15

hours on a one pm

1:16:17

in the sun basking, getting

1:16:20

fried by the sun and

1:16:22

sit there and watch nothing happened for I don't even

1:16:24

know how that stole a business. I mean, my wife

1:16:26

is a big baseball fans. She loves the Cleveland

1:16:28

Indians. So I drag you to games. I

1:16:30

agree to go to one a year, one a year

1:16:33

in the sun or in the nighttime. I'm never going back to

1:16:35

a game during the day. You're speaking like somebody who's

1:16:37

fair, fair haired. You look at me, man,

1:16:39

I mean, I'm like, I'm like, like I should

1:16:41

be a spokesperson for us. I don't know how I don't have a

1:16:43

sun Block sponsor on the I

1:16:47

sleep with some some block on when

1:16:49

I go to bed, I put on. I mean, I'm sold

1:16:51

not into the sun. You're you're not you know you're

1:16:53

not winning any bron bronze contest.

1:16:56

I got the I went to a Ruba when

1:16:58

I was like about the twelve years ago,

1:17:01

and like I just was in the sun for like twenty minutes

1:17:03

or something. Got the worst sunburn in my life.

1:17:06

My shoulders are still not recovered. Like the

1:17:08

skin of my show, I probably get skin cancer. Yeah, It's

1:17:11

like it affected me so much that I

1:17:13

like lived in Miami for a few years and I was like, under

1:17:15

hats, I don't, I don't, I'll never

1:17:17

be tan, but I I

1:17:20

I love college football and

1:17:23

I feel bad about you know, college football. Do

1:17:26

you know what like the NBA? No, no, no, no, no.

1:17:28

I'm not like an analyst, n right, but I but

1:17:30

I feel bad about it because those kids are being exploited.

1:17:33

Oh completely, I'm I'm complicit.

1:17:36

I'm complicit. The concussions

1:17:38

are awful. These guys, these

1:17:40

dudes are like going crazy. Like by the day

1:17:42

we're seeing guys get diagnos with ct I'm

1:17:45

I gotta try to wean myself off of it. I don't know

1:17:47

if I feel guilty. I

1:17:50

do. I feel What about NFL, I'm

1:17:52

not as into that as much I can. I can, like, if

1:17:55

there's nothing going on a Sunday, I'll watch I

1:17:57

don't need the NFL, which is you know,

1:18:00

not good for you know? The ESPN is I

1:18:02

got you, I got you, But college football.

1:18:04

I love pace yourself. You're you're you're.

1:18:06

What are you taking like? You haven't had a break since

1:18:08

the see Like, what's the rest of your summer? Like

1:18:11

INTI, what is the rest of your break? Like? Well,

1:18:13

first off, I try

1:18:16

to d plug

1:18:18

whenever I can, like when I when

1:18:20

I listen. When I leave here

1:18:22

and I'm going back to the hotel, I will

1:18:24

listen to The Stern

1:18:26

Show, which is there on hiatus. One of the reasons

1:18:29

why I'm a big fan of yours because your

1:18:31

preferences performances on there. He doesn't

1:18:33

know anything nothing about it. I

1:18:35

can be on. I can listen to that show. I listen to every

1:18:37

Howard Stern show since two thousand and six when he came

1:18:39

to Serious. That's why I started listening. I

1:18:42

listen to other podcasts that are like I like listen

1:18:44

listen to I don't know anything about

1:18:47

cars, okay, okay, I can't

1:18:49

change it, only I can't change the tire. I listened to

1:18:51

card Talk podcast. I like that. When those guys are

1:18:53

dead, they're all in replace.

1:18:56

But it's comforting to me because I

1:18:58

liked just to get away from it there Hill, I

1:19:00

like those guys. What other podcasts do you like? Um?

1:19:03

Let me look at my phone. Do I mean

1:19:05

that I am Rappaport podcast. Course, Well, everybody,

1:19:07

I mean that goes because your buddy, did he do

1:19:10

the RBS is like he the over No, he

1:19:12

sounds like he sounds like do you know what I think that is? I

1:19:14

think it's ving Rams bring in the beef.

1:19:17

That's being to that's

1:19:19

being Rams. I Active Ring Rings,

1:19:22

Gimo Nettie the two thousand and fifteen

1:19:24

podcast colds here. But he doesn't

1:19:26

his voice sound like I thought like he was

1:19:28

like a voice. But now that you now that you you I

1:19:31

told you being Rams, Now you'll be like, oh you could hear

1:19:33

it's v Range bring in the beef.

1:19:35

So I listened to um Fresh

1:19:37

Air. Okay, yeah, you know, just like that. I

1:19:40

listened to Bill Simmons podcast. But dude,

1:19:42

that's not an escape from spot No. But it doesn't always

1:19:44

do NBA. When you said

1:19:47

the line the Prince was the

1:19:49

world class Coxman stickman, world

1:19:51

class Coxman, world class stickman. For sure.

1:19:53

It's one of the I had. I

1:19:55

was laughing so hard I had to pause it. Well, it's a truth.

1:19:57

It's a true statement. I mean, you know he among

1:20:00

it is being uh, you know, fantastic artists

1:20:02

and all the other things. A world class,

1:20:04

world renowned Coxman. One of the greats

1:20:06

of all time because of the longevity, right,

1:20:09

the longevity, the span

1:20:12

uh that he was laying that purple that

1:20:14

purple pipe down goes from when he first emerged

1:20:19

loaf. Yeah, he was. He was unfolding the purple

1:20:21

loaf for for for years. So great

1:20:24

Coxman. And I felt like the mainstream

1:20:26

media, you know, they mentioned purple rain No,

1:20:29

and then all of a sudden, it's like, what about the fact that this is

1:20:32

a true stickman, a fantastic

1:20:34

stickman. So what other parts this American

1:20:36

life? Um, the Mark Mark

1:20:39

Marins Pod like to nuriced this

1:20:41

this one thing called the Mystery Show which had like six

1:20:44

episodes last year and they haven't brought it back. Don't know

1:20:46

that one? Well you wouldn't because it's been gone

1:20:48

for a year, Like it's very strange. Um.

1:20:51

You know, those are the things I you know, pretty much listened

1:20:53

to um and you know, but really, my my

1:20:55

life is dominant. Like it's a challenge

1:20:58

for me every day to be able to get through the entire hour Stern

1:21:00

Show because my my my day is very fully

1:21:02

and it's like, well I missed that one segment. I gotta go back

1:21:05

to that. I'll be I'll be on there because fantasy

1:21:07

is gearing up, I know, and and they're

1:21:09

they're sort of like, oh here he comes. I

1:21:11

know that nothing I will hear on that show will

1:21:15

bring me to someplace that is like work related.

1:21:17

That that is a true escapism. Yes,

1:21:20

when I'm on that, when I he's

1:21:23

fantast and that that's why I love doing it. It's total

1:21:25

escapism. It's juvenile, delinquent

1:21:27

behavior of of of grown folks.

1:21:30

And like my wife, like I can't

1:21:32

even let her listen to it for five seconds because she will just

1:21:34

look at me like what are you what are you doing?

1:21:36

You know, she judges me. I get it. I it's

1:21:39

you know, sometimes the other day, what have enough

1:21:42

with Howard? When when you say

1:21:44

this is something I want to ask, when you

1:21:47

say my sources have told

1:21:49

me or sources have told me, who

1:21:51

are you talking about? You don't have to give your sources

1:21:54

number one? Number two, do your sources

1:21:56

have sources are number three? Are you getting

1:21:58

it directly from the source? Are you no, You're

1:22:00

I'm speaking generally. Are some people saying

1:22:03

when they say I have sources? Are

1:22:05

they just saying that to sort of instigate

1:22:08

a rumor? When you guys say as broadcasters,

1:22:10

sources have told me and Bruchard

1:22:12

is my man, he I think he brought sources to the mainstream

1:22:15

because he's the first

1:22:18

one and I do a Chris Brusard's sources

1:22:20

have told me that Lebron James

1:22:23

has met with the Miami He you know, and

1:22:25

he was the first one that I remember being like sources,

1:22:27

sources, sources. Now it's sort of a cliche.

1:22:30

But when you say sources, you don't

1:22:32

have to name names. But who are they? Are they g ms?

1:22:34

Are they people taping ankles? Like? What are you? Where you

1:22:36

getting this? Well? In some cases

1:22:38

it is non nonlike

1:22:42

official people like maybe

1:22:45

ankle tapers, but that's those

1:22:47

are rare. I got you the Lion's

1:22:50

sharef of sources are executives,

1:22:55

owners and agents.

1:22:58

Now, will they say to you, let's just blow

1:23:00

this out there, let's just do retired players. Will

1:23:04

an agent say to you, like, let's say

1:23:06

the Nicks are trying to resign Patrick Ewing,

1:23:09

okay, and the Seattle supersigence,

1:23:11

so like, you know, vying for well,

1:23:13

they give you a tip because there no you'll

1:23:15

bring it to ESPN to sort of play the middleman,

1:23:17

and like, are they almost sort of using Can you guys

1:23:20

be used in a way by those people? Can

1:23:22

lee? That's the entire game. The game

1:23:25

is mitigating how you're used so

1:23:27

that you're not totally being used so you don't

1:23:29

look like a chump. Yeah, because you don't want to break news

1:23:31

that's totally off the wall and you want to there's gotta

1:23:33

be a line, you know that you know, you're just like I'm not gonna

1:23:36

go there, right, Or they pitch you something like

1:23:38

hey how about this and he's like I can't do it? You know,

1:23:40

but um so it's a it's an ongoing

1:23:42

relationship. You're you're like today it's just gonna

1:23:44

an example for today. So yesterday Dwayne

1:23:46

Wade signs with the Heat. So this morning

1:23:49

with the heat with the bulls. This morning,

1:23:51

I'm in convert I hear that there's a

1:23:53

possibility that the heat may look to trade garand

1:23:56

Dragic. I don't know for sure if it's

1:23:58

gonna happen, but I start talking King two

1:24:00

executives, what do you think about this?

1:24:02

Do you think they have to move him? Do you think you'd

1:24:04

be interested in it? And not only just on

1:24:06

the phone, which we do, which I do a lot, but also on

1:24:08

text, like I may be having conversations

1:24:11

with five executives at the same time on text when

1:24:13

we think about this while they gotta do it. No, No, they're gonna hold

1:24:15

on to them. I heard this whatever. But that's just, you

1:24:17

know, just a conversation that isn't necessarily about

1:24:19

a story that's gonna got you. But when the

1:24:21

when the when the when it goes down, you

1:24:24

got to rely on them. So like last night, for

1:24:26

example, UM, you know the

1:24:28

Wade stuff. You know, I had

1:24:31

to reach people with the bulls? Is

1:24:33

this going to happen? And sometimes they can tell you, And sometimes

1:24:35

sometimes you send a text and it just goes

1:24:37

unanswered R because they can't

1:24:39

tell you. Um, And there's just confirmation

1:24:42

and stuff like that, and you know this time of year, especially

1:24:44

agents, you know, because the teams don't

1:24:46

like to necessarily tell you how much their

1:24:48

players are getting because that's the thing they they

1:24:52

you know, they're not supposed to publicize that. But

1:24:54

obviously we all get the numbers. The agents

1:24:56

meanwhile, this is their work product. So

1:24:58

if they get and like, yeah, we I got him four

1:25:00

and seventy million, and sometimes that can be manipulated

1:25:03

like it's actually not seventy it's like sixty

1:25:05

three and they bounded up or whatever. So it's

1:25:08

but just but it's a it's a three or sixty five day a

1:25:10

year process. You're constantly in contact

1:25:12

with these people. We can't do this podcast

1:25:14

when we're talking about agents money without bringing

1:25:16

up Mike Conley. Mike

1:25:19

Conley signed a contract for is it a

1:25:21

hundred and fifty million dollars

1:25:23

or is it a hundred thirty And who the

1:25:26

fuck is his agent? And can I get

1:25:28

him to negotiate the deal? I'm trying to buy a house.

1:25:31

I want whoever negotiated that deal in

1:25:33

my life? When I'm talking to American

1:25:35

airlines and I want ticket prices down Verizon,

1:25:38

who who got Mike Conley. Who's

1:25:40

a good player. Would you say he's a great

1:25:43

player? Is he top ten point guard? I don't

1:25:45

think he's ever made the All Star Game? Right,

1:25:47

he's a good player, he's respected. Not

1:25:49

that he's twenty nine years old. He's had injuries,

1:25:52

which is sort of the apex of a point guard's career.

1:25:54

Right. Most likely his next five

1:25:56

years, most likely, not for sure, are

1:25:58

not will not be as good as a lad us five. His

1:26:01

agent, by the way, as his father, triple jump

1:26:03

gold medalist Mike Conley sor

1:26:06

um man. And what's what's the

1:26:09

on paper? From what you know? What is his contract?

1:26:11

One hundred fifty three million dollars?

1:26:14

I want to smack your face for safe.

1:26:17

A hundred and fifty three millions? Fully?

1:26:19

What the fuck is the Memphis Grizzly

1:26:22

are they? I mean, that's insanity.

1:26:24

You mean to tell me they couldn't pick up two

1:26:27

other point guards to cover up what Mike Conley

1:26:29

does. They're not winning a championship. A

1:26:31

hundred and fifty three million. Mike

1:26:34

Conley, God bless you. He's a classy guy.

1:26:36

I followed your dad in the Olympics. I've always

1:26:38

liked them. What Ohio State Yo,

1:26:42

three million dollars, Like, Yo, isn't

1:26:45

he next year? Isn't he making more

1:26:47

than Lebron and Steph Curry combined

1:26:50

next season? No, but it's

1:26:52

not You're not way off, yo. What

1:26:54

is he's making more than Clay Thompson? What is

1:26:56

the rationale of a hundred and fifty three a

1:26:58

million dollars for Clay Mike Conley? I don't

1:27:01

understand how how how he I

1:27:03

get the k DS, I get the Clays and get the

1:27:05

Steps. I get the mainstream dudes who

1:27:07

were, like, you know, either in their prime are gonna be

1:27:09

a hundred and fifty three million dollars? Just gotta

1:27:12

be resenting. What the fuck is a hundred

1:27:14

and fifty three million dollars? And I'm

1:27:17

not knocking the player. I'm not in the game. Like, I just

1:27:19

don't understand, Like what Memphis, They're not winning

1:27:21

a championship next year. There's no way they're winning

1:27:23

a championship. They also gave a cha on their Parsons

1:27:25

four million dollars and he has missed

1:27:28

the last two years. Your

1:27:30

face, man, So it's

1:27:32

it's leverage. It's leverage.

1:27:34

It's because Memphis can't get

1:27:36

star players. They just can't get him to come

1:27:39

there. And there was twenty teams

1:27:41

that could have offered Mike Conley that money. They would

1:27:43

have there's other places that would have offered him a hundred

1:27:47

to a hundred fifty. They could have got like a hundred fifteen

1:27:49

the extra fifth year. So look, here's the

1:27:51

thing. Like Al Horford, for example, Al Horford

1:27:54

goes to Boston, right and you're like, the Hawks,

1:27:56

how can the Hawks let him go? Well,

1:27:58

that's why because the Hawks it was same parameters.

1:28:01

The Hawks said, we can't give out Horford

1:28:03

a hundred fifty million. We just can't do it. And

1:28:06

Horford has been an All Star four times and

1:28:08

Horford's I mean, they've had deep playoff runs

1:28:11

and I like out Horford and the Hawks

1:28:13

were just like, we can't do it. We're

1:28:15

like, we can give you a hundred and thirty

1:28:17

million, we can't give you a hundred fifty

1:28:19

million. And Alfour if it's like all right, I'm out of here. And

1:28:21

then what did he get from Boston? And

1:28:25

it's a shorter period of time four years,

1:28:27

a D thirteen. What is Lebron James getting

1:28:29

next season right now? If

1:28:31

he wants it depends on whether he wants to

1:28:34

sign a contract for that long because

1:28:36

he could only take a one you take one year contracts.

1:28:39

He could get up to a hundred and

1:28:41

for one year. No nous,

1:28:44

christ, Oh you mean

1:28:46

for for for how many years? Could he get five for five?

1:28:48

Well, he's worth it and next year so he he

1:28:51

just points up the because he's doing one in dunes, right,

1:28:53

he has been. But at some point you're gonna invest.

1:28:56

You know, you're gonna say, I'm gonna be here. I don't know if he's gonna

1:28:58

do that or not. Okay, So the highest

1:29:00

paid player in NBA history isn't

1:29:02

was Michael Jordan's made

1:29:05

thirty three million. That's like dogship

1:29:07

compared to it, like it's not, But

1:29:09

it's not because nobody's nobody's

1:29:12

made that money in one year. The only

1:29:15

two players have ever made over thirty million

1:29:17

in one season. K Um

1:29:19

kg never made it. He was close a bunch of times. Um

1:29:23

Kobe made it one year. Okay, So give

1:29:25

me another profession now, I agree Michael

1:29:28

Jordan was otherworldly. Find

1:29:30

me another profession where the highest paid

1:29:32

player in a profession

1:29:35

twenty years ago, or the highest paid person

1:29:38

is not twenty years later. Still not making like,

1:29:41

well, the greatest thorastic

1:29:43

surgeon in nineteen seventy six, you

1:29:46

know, even an average

1:29:48

you know surgeon was probably making more kind of what

1:29:51

kind of what is thorastic? What

1:29:54

kind of surgeon? I think that's like a complex surgery,

1:29:56

orthopedic, like like your boys in

1:29:58

New York are gonna need by the the growth. Yes,

1:30:01

you know what my point is for all this

1:30:03

complaining about the NBA um

1:30:06

the NBA economy, the

1:30:09

top players are kind of been getting screwed because

1:30:11

the highest paid top player was twenty years ago. No, I granted

1:30:13

it was the greatest player of all time. So

1:30:16

finally next year Michael's

1:30:18

gonna get knocked off his perch because

1:30:20

Lebron or Durant are

1:30:23

going to hit that thirty five million dollars. Well

1:30:25

step, because it isn't Steff getting like seven million

1:30:27

dollars making twelve million this year.

1:30:29

This year coming up next year, he'll probably hit

1:30:32

twenty six million. Okay, alright,

1:30:34

And I know you felt bad about about about

1:30:36

him only making twelve Well, I just think that, I

1:30:39

mean, your ten percent taxes in California,

1:30:41

that's crazy. I can't believe what you guys pat here.

1:30:44

But yeah, it's terrible. But

1:30:46

but the the Mike Conley thing is the craziest

1:30:48

thing ever, that is the most wild.

1:30:50

So what is just just to end this? I gotta let you

1:30:52

go. I gotta go. What is Mike Conley

1:30:55

making for the two thousand and sixteen seventeen

1:30:57

season that's coming up thirty eight

1:31:00

million? So he'll

1:31:02

be the third. So here here we

1:31:04

have the thirty million dollar men. Ready, Michael

1:31:07

Jordan's Kobe Bryant.

1:31:10

Unbelievable. All right, be win

1:31:13

Hurst. I appreciate you doing the Iron Rapports

1:31:15

stereo punk. You for having me, thank you for just bringing me out

1:31:17

to this incredible place taking photos

1:31:20

I'm walking around of course, the studio the

1:31:22

Charlie Chaplin built. Um, it

1:31:24

was a pleasure. I would love to have you back on again.

1:31:27

Enjoy your summer. Thank you. I hope you can decompress

1:31:30

from I hope he could go twenty four hours without

1:31:32

hearing K D D k UM

1:31:35

and any of this stuff, because as much as I love

1:31:37

it, even sometimes I I can't. I

1:31:39

can't deal with it. Although once once

1:31:41

it's brought up, it's like it's like just pulling

1:31:43

back a scab and I and it's like I'm on a road.

1:31:45

I I don't even know how I got on the road of that content thing.

1:31:48

It was that that was that was great to witness

1:31:50

in person. I don't know what that is. Three

1:31:54

million. I want to hang out with his pops because

1:31:56

he's probably like I didn't. He

1:31:58

pays his foil. I don't know what. You know, anybody could

1:32:01

make an agreement, but the typical agreements four percent.

1:32:03

These NBA players got it good. You know what the actors

1:32:06

pay our agents, say my agent, my

1:32:08

agent geercent percent out here with their

1:32:11

with their share paying. By

1:32:13

the way, I just can't believe taxes

1:32:16

tem percent to your agent manager. We're

1:32:19

already cutting deep and

1:32:21

he's paying four percent to the So

1:32:23

the athletes because they make it so much money. The

1:32:26

way that for some of these guys negotiate down

1:32:28

and say, well three two percent. You know

1:32:30

what somebody told me. He said, listen, you need to tell

1:32:32

these people. If you don't

1:32:34

kill it, you don't need it. That's

1:32:36

how it works. If you if you you know, like somebody like

1:32:38

I know, some of these players don't have ages because it's

1:32:40

like, listen, it is what it is. Tom Cruise paying

1:32:43

ten percent, I don't know what

1:32:45

Tom Cruise is playing. I know that it depends

1:32:47

on some of the actors. You

1:32:49

know, it varies, so I know some of them are like, yo, you

1:32:52

listen, especially when the show gets into syndication.

1:32:54

You hear like these actors making you know, hundred

1:32:57

million dollars for being on whatever

1:32:59

sitcom. They tell them say, Yo, no,

1:33:02

you're gonna get this and you're gonna get that. Some of them

1:33:04

are just like, I'm too loyal, I'll get it. Varies.

1:33:07

I don't know what Tom Cruise is paying, but I

1:33:09

know that the the the actors that I know that make

1:33:11

big, big money, a lot of them have been with the same

1:33:13

people. And at that point you're

1:33:15

making so much money, it's

1:33:17

like write off. It's like

1:33:19

it's benefiting you know it take twelve because

1:33:22

it's a better write off. I

1:33:24

appreciate you doing this. Um Jann

1:33:26

Rapports stereo podcast coming live from Henton

1:33:28

Studios with my man Brian Winners and we're

1:33:31

done.