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0:41

We're going to waste no time.

0:43

Ali Clifton, Richard Jefferson, Dingle McCringlebutt,

0:45

welcome to this edition of Road

0:47

Trippin. Don't forget to get all

0:49

your Road Trippin swag at omitch.com/roadtrippin.

0:52

And apparently my guys were hungry. They wanted

0:54

to start this time enjoying their lunch, but Channing

0:56

has something he wants to get off his chest. So I'm

0:58

just going to step out of the way. Just

1:01

let me let me go on my little get

1:04

on my high horse. Did y'all

1:06

not see wimpy these last few games? Seven

1:10

blocks, six blocks. Well,

1:12

like, come on, man. What more does he

1:15

have to do? When? What?

1:17

It's not his fault. He

1:19

can't score for his scrubby

1:21

team. He's not going for

1:23

MVP. He's going for defensive player.

1:29

It's like they played our, our podcast in the

1:31

locker room. They did. Okay.

1:34

Listen to, listen to both

1:36

sides. Also, let's say this.

1:39

I was wrong. Individual, individual, individually

1:42

he's doing an outstanding job. He's doing

1:44

an outstanding job. He'll be all defensive

1:46

first team. I don't think we've seen

1:48

that as a rookie since maybe Tim

1:51

Duncan. Don't

1:53

quote me on that. But yeah, it'll be all defensive.

1:55

It'll be all defensive team as a rookie, which is

1:57

insane because of his skills. But,

2:00

you know, I'm, I'm still working. So

2:02

Rudy, you're telling me Rudy changes

2:05

how Minnesota is winning. So it's not

2:08

Anthony Edwards, because he's going apeshit like

2:11

that. Chang, your, Chang, I'm not, I'm

2:13

not going to get into this. I,

2:15

if you truly believe that the rookie

2:17

whose team is, is that, that's your

2:19

opinion. No one's questioning his

2:22

greatness. No one's touching his talent. No

2:24

one's questioning, is he going to be

2:26

maybe the greatest defensive player we've ever

2:28

seen? No one's questioning that. But to

2:30

say that this year he is the

2:32

defensive rookie, our defensive player of the

2:34

year, honestly, I support your opinion. My

2:36

opinion differs. I will give you this

2:38

Richard. You were correct. It was Tim

2:40

Duncan, but it was in his second

2:42

season in 1998, 99 last NBA

2:47

player to make the all defensive first team in

2:49

his first or second season. It was Tim Duncan.

2:53

Yeah. Um, okay.

2:56

We see how that turned out for that guy. No,

2:58

no, no, I'm going to, well, there.

3:01

I'm going to put, um, I'm going to keep

3:03

Channing up on his, his Clydesdale on his high

3:05

horse, because actually that's not where I

3:07

thought you were going, Channing. Do

3:11

you want to address, can you please get closer to the

3:13

mic? I don't like when I can only faintly hear you.

3:16

Do you want to address your thoughts

3:18

about Dallas and Denver and what

3:20

you felt? Oh, I told y'all motherfuckers.

3:23

I told y'all. I

3:25

knew it. I said the last podcast

3:27

cast. I said, Hey, I

3:30

think Dallas got a chance to mess with

3:32

him a little bit. Now, obviously Kyrie

3:35

shot a shot and I was looking

3:37

at some of the comments. People go, Oh,

3:40

Kareem did that for a long time. I

3:42

go Kareem shot a right hand

3:44

hook. Give him credit. He

3:47

is not six foot three shooting over

3:49

a seven footer of his offhand.

3:52

The fact that that's even in a

3:55

repertoire for somebody. Is it's

3:58

not, uh, and it's not in a, it's. And

4:00

it's not somebody, there's one person.

4:03

There's one person that that's in his

4:05

repertoire that NBA players know. He's

4:08

capable of, we know Steph Curry is

4:11

capable of things and we're still amazed

4:13

when he does it, right? Like that

4:15

shot that he hit in OKC from

4:17

there, like all of our brains were

4:20

exploding. I would say that our brand

4:22

collectively NBA players brains exploded more on

4:24

that Kyrie shot than on that Steph

4:26

Curry deep shot. For sure. Right.

4:29

Yeah. Cause we were like, we know Steph got that. We

4:31

know for gaming, like

4:33

most guys care. He goes, I

4:35

shot this probably in a backyard a couple times. Let me

4:37

fill this up there. Like it's

4:40

not, and that's what makes him dangerous

4:42

is if he's locked in like that. But,

4:45

but this is where we start talking about the

4:47

impact on the game of basketball. This is no

4:49

lie. A shot

4:52

like that changes the impact.

4:54

It has an impact on the game

4:56

of basketball. A shot like

4:59

that reverberates throughout all of all

5:01

of the basketball world. My

5:04

kids yesterday, they were out playing and I'd throw

5:06

them the shot and they couldn't believe it and

5:08

it was all this. Do you know how many

5:10

kids went out to the park and were working

5:12

on their left hand because of that Kyrie shot?

5:15

Because they know what's capable. I guarantee you, I

5:17

know I would have as a kid. I

5:20

know I would have as a kid gone

5:22

out in my front yard and started shooting

5:24

left handed shots. No different than like Jordan,

5:26

Kobe, Bron. You're doing these fadeaways and I'm

5:29

not saying that we're going to see like

5:31

this left hand explosion, but we

5:33

would all be foolish to think that

5:35

every high school coach, every junior high

5:37

coach, every dad that's helping his son

5:39

didn't show him that video and be

5:42

like, you see a left hand

5:44

shot, a right hand shot, how important your left

5:46

hand is. That's the kind of

5:48

impact that that shot can have when I'm showing

5:50

when my kids are like, daddy, watch Tyrie and

5:52

they're showing throwing up left hand hook shots from

5:55

10 feet out. And I'm like, please don't do

5:57

that. Please don't do that. But

6:00

that's what they see and generations of people

6:02

emulate the things that they see. And now

6:04

that you know that shooting from 60 feet

6:07

and shooting left hand hook shots are possible,

6:10

the game is just going to keep growing. The

6:12

player skill level is going to go through the

6:14

roof because they know what they're capable of. I

6:18

think we are at

6:21

the golden age of

6:23

skilled players. Unless

6:26

you are, there are less and less,

6:28

which is a compliment. There are less

6:30

and less, I

6:34

would say, Giannis's or

6:36

Lebron's or those

6:39

kind of freaks of nature. And then obviously

6:41

they develop skills. But like Bron

6:44

came in, he wasn't a shooter, you have food on your lips.

6:46

But he had... I don't care, there's going to

6:48

be more. ...into more of a skilled guy on

6:50

top of his athleticism. Look at what

6:53

Jalen Brunson has done. He's

6:55

not an athletic freak and he

6:57

dominates teams. Look

6:59

at Jokic, dominates teams. And what

7:01

we're seeing is more

7:03

players are having success to

7:06

working on individual skills than just being

7:08

like, I'm athletic, let me just jump

7:10

over this guy. It don't work like

7:12

that no more. What

7:15

was the question? Are you guys talking about Kyrie?

7:17

Sorry, I obviously lost connection. We're talking about you.

7:19

And there's shooting... Were you talking about the skill

7:22

set of Kyrie? Did you

7:24

guys go into that or no? Well, yeah, I was just... Yeah,

7:26

we went into that and I was basically just talking about

7:28

how it's going to change the game. Not

7:31

change the game, but I'm saying the impact. And

7:33

let me be very clear. Shots

7:35

like that have impact. Kids

7:38

around the country, kids around the world, I

7:41

guarantee we're in their front yard, in their

7:43

backyard, talking to their friends, shooting left

7:46

hand shots, yelling Kyrie's name. That's

7:48

so awesome, by the way. There's no doubt. There's no

7:50

doubt. My kids were doing that yesterday. They

7:52

were like, day, day, watch. And I wasn't telling

7:55

them that. They showed them the video. I was showing

7:57

them how crazy it was and blah, blah, blah, blah.

8:00

And all of a sudden the next day they're playing

8:02

basketball and they're playing on their hoop

8:04

in the front yard and

8:06

they're throwing up left-hand hook shots and

8:09

like yelling his name. You... That

8:11

was going on across... You said that Kyrie, were you

8:13

the one that said that Kyrie is the greatest skilled

8:15

player? Most skilled player

8:17

I've ever seen. And people were like, oh, you

8:19

forget about Kobe. And I'm like, Kobe was also

8:21

six foot six. Like six

8:23

foot two Kyrie, shooting 50%

8:26

from the field, 40% from three, 90% from the

8:28

free throw line with

8:30

an array of finishes that we've never seen

8:32

for a guy that small, posting up players

8:35

five, six inches taller than him. Sorry,

8:37

Shannon Sharp. Posting up players five or

8:40

six inches taller than him, like left-hand

8:42

finishes, right-hand finishes. Like show me something

8:44

where his skill level on 2K ain't

8:46

10 out of 10. It ain't shooting.

8:49

It ain't ball handling. It ain't finishing.

8:51

It ain't posting up. Passing

8:55

maybe. But

8:58

he can. He can pass. That's not

9:00

his weapon of choice. Yeah,

9:02

yeah. It's like a side salad to him.

9:04

That's not for me. Listen,

9:07

I played with some great shooters. Kyrie

9:10

is top three best shooter I've ever seen in

9:12

my life. Who was one of the... And

9:14

I played with guys like, huh? Who was in that one

9:16

and two? Orber, who's crazy. James Jones

9:18

is nuts. Vince Carter

9:20

was crazy. I

9:24

mean, I got to put myself up there. I had a

9:26

flamethrower. Steve Nash. Steve

9:29

Nash. Let me help you out. Let me help you out. Let

9:31

me help you out. Here we go. His

9:33

name should have been a little bit higher on that one. A

9:35

little higher. I forgot about... A little bit higher. But

9:37

like Kyrie shooting, like I'm

9:39

a great standstill shooter. Hey,

9:41

somebody pass me the ball.

9:43

Kyrie is the best

9:45

at... OK,

9:47

doesn't matter. And

9:51

not like, oh, it barely went in. No

9:54

one was even guarding him. OK, so

9:57

question to you. Because you said

9:59

this a couple of times. to Richard, are

10:01

you talking because the skill level of

10:03

Kyrie is, as we know, the mostly top

10:05

of the top, are you

10:08

adding in on how difficult yet

10:10

how easy he makes it look because of his size?

10:12

Because then I want to present this video. We were

10:15

talking about it in the pregame show the other day,

10:17

not in the show in the commercial break. I asked Robert

10:19

Ori and Big Game James if they

10:21

thought that Kyrie was the most skilled

10:23

ever as well. Rob without hesitation, absolutely.

10:25

And I don't know

10:27

if Big Game necessarily understood it as much

10:29

as I was trying to articulate it across

10:31

to him because he threw out Kevin Durant.

10:34

And then I saw on Draymond's

10:37

podcast saying that Kyrie Irving is the

10:39

score that everyone in the world thinks of Kevin

10:41

Durant. I

10:43

think that's different. I think Kyrie is more... I

10:48

felt like there was a little bit of a shot. I feel like that

10:50

was also a little bit of a shot. Yeah,

10:53

because Kevin Durant was a 50-40-90 guy

10:56

also. Yeah, right. And he's

10:59

seven feet tall. When I say

11:01

the... and this is

11:03

no disrespect. Understand we're all living in the

11:05

land of giants. To be

11:07

able to... if they're both 50-40-90 guys, if they're both average

11:09

27 points a game, if they're both

11:13

that efficient, who is it harder for it to

11:16

do from a skill level? Who is it harder

11:18

to do? There's a skill level of being that

11:20

tall and having the handle, but there's also... there's

11:22

still the advantage of the height if you can

11:24

add the skill. He will never

11:27

have that advantage in Kyrie, right?

11:29

Kevin Durant doesn't typically post up

11:31

players bigger than him. If Kevin

11:33

Durant's not playing against Wimby and

11:36

getting off these shots. Imagine living in

11:38

a world of Wimby's where Kyrie at

11:40

6'2 and a half, 6'3", is getting

11:42

these shots over 6'7 people.

11:45

That's the equivalent to Kevin Durant doing

11:47

that every single day against

11:49

50 Wimby's, right? But

11:51

you see... do you see like the scale size? And

11:53

that's not to diminish Kevin

11:56

Durant because the ability to do that as seven-footer

11:58

is next level at 6'11". to

12:00

be a guard, a two guard. That's

12:03

next level. That's also why when Kevin

12:05

Durant showed up, it was

12:07

Steph's team, but Kevin Durant was the

12:09

best player on those teams. It

12:12

was like, because at the end of this day, are you going

12:14

to give it to Steph who has to work exponentially harder to

12:16

get off that shot at the end of the game, or are

12:18

you going to give it to Kevin Durant who can just hang,

12:20

dribble, and elevate over any human being on the plant? And when

12:22

we had conversations about who we are going to double team, there

12:25

was like, why even try double team?

12:28

Like, Channing can't guard him, Tristan can't guard

12:30

him, Bronn can't guard him. Why are we

12:32

double teaming him? Like, let's

12:34

go double team somebody that might have an impact

12:37

on. What was the game plan

12:39

defensively against the 2017 Warriors? Right.

12:43

Yeah, keep it close. Right.

12:46

In the NBA Finals, what was the defensive

12:48

game plan? That you could. Because

12:51

if you shot a bad shot, you

12:55

had five guys going out. And

12:57

here's the real issue. Nobody

12:59

talks about their burst

13:01

defensively. We're like, they get a

13:03

stop three. They get another stop.

13:05

Now you're down six. You're

13:07

down six. And offensively, you're like, shit,

13:10

I need to get a good shot. So now

13:12

you're more tense offensively. And then let's

13:14

say you get a good layup, and Katie comes

13:16

out of nowhere, and is bringing the ball up

13:18

to court. How many defenders

13:20

do you have on the court to

13:23

keep up with that much shooting? No

13:25

one. Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King,

13:27

and Ric Flair would have to

13:30

be out there to guard those

13:32

dudes. Ric Flair. Well,

13:34

our game plan before was really quickly

13:38

we stayed at home. Right.

13:41

We had a lot of different game plans because we were getting our

13:43

ass whipped so much. But ideally,

13:45

we only switched when Steph and

13:47

Clay came together. When Steph and

13:49

Clay would come together in that little flip out, those were

13:52

the only time we were switched. Everything else would stay

13:54

at home unless it was in emergency situations. And

13:57

then obviously, we were switched.

14:00

I shouted our guy Harrison Barnes. He

14:02

didn't play well, but there were a slew of guys that

14:04

didn't play well in that role. If there was somebody else

14:07

that would have stepped in, they would have done that. But

14:09

when you replace Harrison Barnes with Kevin Durant, like

14:11

we, like, so when all of that action would

14:14

go on, I could face guard, I could face

14:16

guard Kevin Durant and trying to avoid him getting

14:18

the ball, but Steph and Clay are still causing

14:20

havoc on that other side. So there, it's just,

14:22

there was no, there was no defense created. There

14:24

was no five defensive players that you could have

14:27

picked from any place in the fucking planet and

14:29

said, we're going to create a defense that would

14:31

slow this down. It didn't exist.

14:33

That's why there was no beating them. That was

14:35

a beautiful company that went off on a different

14:38

tangent. So I do want to bring this back full

14:41

circle Channing. Do you still believe

14:43

that Dallas can give

14:46

Denver? Is that where we're, is that where we're believing? I

14:48

just think, and this is going to, I don't care

14:51

if it's a hot take. It's what I truly believe.

14:54

You know, how Cam Newton said there

14:56

are game changers and then there are

14:58

game managers, Luca and

15:00

Yochich are some of the best,

15:03

if not the best game managers

15:05

in today's game. Okay.

15:07

When they go against each other,

15:10

right? They don't guard each other. So

15:13

Aaron Gordon, good luck and

15:15

lively and you know, PJ

15:18

Washington, good luck. And then

15:20

after that, it's Jamal Murray

15:22

versus Kyrie. Hmm.

15:24

And most people would say Kyrie, but that's still

15:27

going to be a good matchup. Then

15:29

you go to the extras. That's

15:31

where I think Dallas is a lot

15:33

closer than people may

15:35

think. I think adding PJ

15:37

Washington, obviously lively. Um,

15:40

God, Daniel Gafford. Um,

15:43

I think Tim Hardaway is starting to get out of

15:45

that slump, right? No, he's not. What

15:49

do you say? I

15:52

said, no, he's not. I mean, he's trying.

15:54

He's trying. Tim, we ruined for

15:56

you brother. He's in the matrix right

15:58

now. He's attending the matrix. Hey, he shoot a

16:01

deal with the entire tell a burn is to he

16:03

said I've never been in a But

16:09

it's also this is the most his uses

16:11

rate crazy has added peak that's the thing

16:13

people don't understand It takes

16:16

conditioning to play like that And

16:19

they were trending this way, but you

16:21

still are they're still doing that They were putting up

16:23

150 points in the game at the beginning of the

16:25

season. They were going crazy So if

16:27

there is a conditioning Did

16:29

I push too much do I need to up

16:31

my condition your food all of those things go

16:33

because you're talking about a race car Always

16:37

in the red you don't want to

16:39

race car always in the red But if you're pushing

16:41

it, so maybe that's where he learns and becomes a

16:43

better game manager Maybe in

16:45

December January. It's a little bit slower

16:47

right? Let me slow down the pace

16:49

right and then read back up. It's

16:51

never What's the best way

16:54

so you know how swimmer swimmers are never

16:56

always trying to get their their their best?

16:58

They they taper themselves they taper themselves for

17:00

like a couple of weeks right and then

17:02

they lead to it before an event So

17:05

they train they train they train and then

17:07

they did when you run a marathon You

17:09

don't run a marathon every single day training

17:11

for a marathon Tyree Talib

17:14

Burton was pushing it pushing it pushing

17:16

it their offense was going nuts and

17:18

now all of a sudden That motherfucker

17:20

ran out of gas full-blown gas from

17:22

three doesn't mean it won't come back But right

17:24

now he needs to take a fucking pit stop Right

17:27

maybe slow down the pace get your juice back and

17:30

then get back on that track because that's what that

17:32

stretch So here and this is Donna's truth. This is

17:35

probably not the best way to save us the truth They

17:38

ran out of talent They

17:41

have five they have five dudes who

17:43

are solid very high talented dudes Tyreese

17:46

obviously being one of them When

17:48

you start out the gate and have that much

17:51

success teams go Okay, wait till

17:53

after the break when we're really gonna

17:55

put something in wait till after the new

17:57

year when we know our team And

18:00

you've got Pascal that comes in, that's

18:02

a whole different setup. So they're trying,

18:04

he's trying to learn how to play

18:06

with them, trying to move. And

18:08

I think Tyreese is, he's not

18:10

a, and this is a great, he

18:13

has such a great

18:16

feel for basketball. The worst thing

18:18

he could ever do is think

18:20

it. He thinks

18:22

you can physically see him thinking

18:25

about where to throw the ball.

18:27

I've never seen Jason Kidd, Steve

18:29

Nash, Braun, any of these high

18:31

level guards, they throw the ball,

18:33

they throw you open because they're feeling

18:36

the game. They're seeing the game. And right

18:38

now Tyreese is not seeing the game. He's

18:40

thinking it, which is slowing him down

18:42

and making him look like he's running quick, Sam.

18:45

You actually just gave me an interesting thought, Channing. So

18:47

you guys can just humor me for a second because

18:50

you both played with Kyrie, Rich, you played with

18:52

Kyrie and Jamal Murray. If

18:55

you were a GM and you had

18:57

to choose between Kyrie or Jamal to

18:59

start your, who you taking?

19:03

They're different. No, no, no, no, no.

19:07

Kyrie is a more talented player without a

19:09

doubt, without a doubt Kyrie, Kyrie is more

19:12

talented player. But there's

19:14

also things that come with, you

19:17

know, managing different players.

19:19

There's something like, like, let me say this,

19:21

there's a difference between, let's say

19:23

there's a difference between a general

19:26

and a soldier, right?

19:29

Kyrie is a general, right?

19:33

Like Jamal Murray is a

19:35

soldier from the standpoint of like, this man is

19:37

going to grind. He's going to do everything that

19:39

you ask him to do. He's going to do

19:41

his best. He's going to go out, hit big

19:43

shots. Kyrie is more of

19:45

a person that has his

19:47

view of things is something that you have to

19:49

meet him there. You have to,

19:52

you have to get Kyrie. I don't necessarily say

19:54

to buy in, but like Kyrie, this is what

19:56

we're thinking. Like, there's a different mentality of those

19:58

two. The mentality's a problem. very different,

20:00

but skill wise, Kyrie is skill

20:03

wise and talent wise as like your leading

20:06

scorer, there's probably only Kyrie is in the

20:08

top 10 of guys that can score at

20:10

the level that he can do in the

20:12

league by far and probably the most skilled

20:14

of those 10. Luca's up there from what

20:16

Luca's up there too when we start talking

20:18

about the most skilled guys of all

20:20

time. Luca is freaking out about a shot that

20:22

should show you. Like when Luca was like, I

20:25

didn't even know he was gonna do that. That's

20:27

what I'm saying, like yeah. You're

20:30

taking Kyrie to the most skilled team around. I'm

20:34

taking this Dallas version of Kyrie, maybe

20:37

a Boston version or a Brooklyn

20:39

version. The best version of Kyrie

20:41

were Cleveland version and this version

20:43

in my opinion. The

20:45

in-between story, it's like Star Wars. The first

20:48

part was good, this part is good, that

20:50

in-between, we, you know, it just had to

20:52

work the little kinks out. I'm

20:54

done. Okay, we're gonna just

20:57

go right into playoff conversation at Chatter

20:59

because we're officially inside a month until

21:02

the NBA playoffs start, which is on April 20th. AO,

21:05

every team has roughly 15 games

21:07

left until the postseason. So

21:10

I want your take, a

21:12

team that currently has the most pressure

21:14

on them or most to prove

21:16

here on this stretch run heading

21:18

into the postseason. Set

21:22

it before I say it again, Cleveland. Say

21:26

it again, say it again for the people

21:28

in the back. It is Cleveland and it's

21:30

not even close. Like

21:33

what's your main, you mean in these 15 games

21:36

or in the postseason? That's my question.

21:38

Postseason, postseason. Allie.

21:40

Down the stretch heading into the

21:43

playoffs. So

21:45

before the postseason, these 15

21:48

games, which ones are most important, Channing? Wow,

21:50

did Rich just listen before Channing? Six,

22:00

seven, eight, that's a quick exit. Even

22:02

with big Joel Embiid, that's quick. One, two, get up

22:04

out of here. One, two,

22:06

buckle my shoe. Someone just said I

22:09

– I'm going to cut – – I just saw on Twitter as you

22:11

were thinking, Rich, someone just said, man, the NBA is just

22:13

not the same without Joel Embiid. Do

22:17

you agree? Do you guys feel kind of that absence?

22:22

No. Sorry, I'm all over the place, Rich. You

22:24

can finish my – No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

22:26

no, I'm saying, no, I – We are

22:28

because we miss his greatness. We

22:30

truly miss his greatness. Like, yeah, those

22:33

players don't grow on trees. He's a

22:35

once-in-a-generation player, like, without a doubt. Like,

22:37

those guys are very special.

22:40

Where we don't miss him is because

22:43

we hope that

22:45

he would impact the postseason at a

22:47

high level. We've never actually

22:49

seen him impact the postseason at

22:51

a high level. We haven't seen

22:54

– Jimmy Butler, in my

22:56

opinion, would be – not

22:58

from a branding and, like, things like – but

23:01

Jimmy, think about some of the people and teams that

23:03

Jimmy Butler had knocked off in the Miami Heat, right?

23:06

A couple years ago in the bubble, last year,

23:08

taking down Boston and Jason Tatum, taking

23:11

down – taking down – taking

23:13

down Giannis and those boys. Like,

23:16

that's – those are playoff memories

23:18

that you remember forever. That

23:20

is – that has cemented Jimmy as, like,

23:23

one of those dudes that you – not

23:25

necessarily fear, but one of those dudes that

23:27

you're kind of like, holy shit, do you

23:29

want to see them in the postseason? I

23:31

don't think we miss Embiid because he hasn't

23:33

given us a reason in the postseason to

23:36

be like, oh, once he gets there. Yeah.

23:39

No, Steph, no, LeBron in the postseason. We'd miss

23:41

them. God,

23:44

and that very likely could be the case.

23:47

Wild, we'll talk about that in a second. Who's the team that you think

23:49

has the most of it? This

23:55

is a tough one. Down the stretch, I'm – okay,

23:57

so I don't think there's a team in my opinion.

23:59

because I think if you're in those

24:02

hunts, I think teams like Phoenix have

24:04

been kind of bounced around. This is what I would

24:06

say, that top three in the West, I'm not going

24:08

to go one team, I'm going to go three teams

24:10

for one slot. Whoever is going to

24:12

get those one, two and three seeds. I know

24:14

that sounds like a cop out, but hear me

24:16

out. Those three teams are

24:19

jockeying for position. Minnesota's banged up,

24:21

no Nasri, no Karl Anthony Towns,

24:23

no Rudy Gobert, like they had

24:25

a great game just

24:27

last night against Denver. I think

24:29

Anthony Edwards had a shot, but

24:31

if they'll do start to drop down,

24:33

you might rather be three, three versus six.

24:36

I might rather be three. You get one,

24:38

two and the Lakers start hitting their stride

24:40

and we already know about all that bullshit.

24:42

And those two guys, Seth and Bron, when

24:44

they can spot blood. And so I

24:47

would say down the stretch, if we're going to pick

24:49

one team of those top three, I would say Minnesota,

24:51

because they have so many guys banged up an hour

24:54

right now. All their whole front

24:56

court. All right, let

24:58

me ask you this. What has a

25:00

better shot of happening? The

25:02

magic gaining a half game to pass the

25:04

Knicks for the four seed in the East,

25:07

or the Pelicans gaining

25:10

a half game to pass the Clippers for

25:12

the four seed in the West? Hey,

25:14

the Pelicans been balling. I

25:16

mean. Well, Zion,

25:18

they say he's lost 20 something pounds and it's like

25:20

25 pounds. 20 on him in the perp place.

25:23

But that's why I fucking fuck with you

25:25

Channing. That's why I fuck with you Channing.

25:28

That's why I fuck with you. Why you

25:30

got 25 pounds to lose in the middle

25:32

of a season in which you playing 35

25:34

a night? Five

25:37

and max. Do

25:40

you know that? I don't know how many people, I

25:42

don't know people, if you, I don't know humans will

25:44

fully understand unless you have done it. The

25:46

amount of calories that you burn playing

25:49

35 minutes of basketball and

25:51

to be in that kind of NBA player

25:53

shape cause it's physical, it's all of these

25:55

things. It's sprints, it's long distance. You

25:58

burn 10,000. calories

26:01

in a game if you're playing 35 minutes, maybe

26:03

not 10,000, but you're burning lots.

26:06

So to have that much

26:08

to lose shows a lot.

26:10

And I'm proud of him. I'm glad that

26:12

he's taken that. Even Channing's fat ass was

26:14

out of shape when he left Orlando and

26:16

came to Cleveland and we got him in

26:18

shape and he's a professional. I know it.

26:20

So I'm saying, I'm happy for that. But

26:22

you can see his balance is coming back.

26:25

Yes, his balance is coming back. His

26:27

balance is coming back. He's doing

26:29

all of these. He's 25 and 10 and this. He's

26:32

doing all of these special things because he's back

26:34

in shape. Look, if they get to the sixth

26:36

spot and they play the three. So imagine if

26:38

they played this, if it's a three six

26:41

and it's Minnesota versus them. Yeah, Anthony Edwards is

26:43

that dog. But if you don't got a front

26:45

court and Karl-Anthony Towns is banged up, Rudy Gobert

26:47

is banged up, Naz Reed is banged up. Whatever

26:49

that is, like those boys

26:52

can play really, really well.

26:54

And Zion is a full on load. And

26:56

they got Valantune is. And they got shooters

26:58

and Trey Murphy. And

27:00

Trey Murphy. So like, yeah, Anthony Edwards

27:02

is that dude. But I don't know

27:04

if Anthony Edwards is worth CJ and

27:06

Brandon Ingram. I don't know if he's,

27:09

I don't know if he's that, I don't know if he cancels

27:11

out the two of them. And

27:13

so then when you look at that, they need their

27:15

big. No Karl-Anthony Towns is big for them. That's 20

27:17

points a game that they're trying to figure out if

27:19

they're going to get back. And they got 15 games

27:21

to get back and get a bit of a rhythm.

27:23

Kevin put a human down there who's an all star.

27:25

So he's going to make plays. And

27:27

if you think you're going to rely on Anthony

27:29

Edwards, I have not seen it. And I hope

27:31

to see it. If you think you're

27:33

going to rely on him to beat

27:36

the Pelicans four games by himself, let's

27:38

say even three, then

27:40

he's that dude. But OK,

27:42

let's do it. I think

27:44

he can do it. No, he can't. I think

27:46

he can't. OK,

27:48

what I'm saying is this. If

27:50

someone told you that Anthony Edwards

27:53

raised his game and dismantled the

27:55

Pelicans and they didn't have anybody

27:57

that could handle him, you'd be like, OK. And if

27:59

you. You said Zion Williamson had a

28:01

great series and they didn't

28:03

have anybody, you know, because think about Carl Anthony

28:06

Townes gets a chance to get people in foul

28:08

trouble. That's like if Carl Anthony Townes and Zion

28:10

Williamson are banged up and Zion goes out and

28:12

Carl Anthony Townes are both out. Now

28:15

you're looking at Brandon Ingram, Brandon Ingram.

28:17

Now you're looking at EJ McCollum. Now

28:20

you're looking at Trey. Now you're looking

28:22

at Valantunas. I just think there others

28:24

are better, but I think the best

28:26

player on the floor with the

28:29

way Zion, who's the best player on the floor? Anthony

28:31

Edwards or Zion? Anthony

28:34

Edwards is, but Zion is doing

28:36

this. The gap has closed because

28:39

Zion's in shape. His team's

28:41

got shooting and seeing. So that gap is

28:43

closing. And if you tell me 15 more

28:45

months of whatever diet and training regimen he's,

28:47

our 15 more games of whatever diet, if

28:49

he loses another 10 and that dude goes

28:52

in there looking like he might be on

28:54

that old, he goes in there. He goes

28:56

in there and started looking like Tupac instead

28:58

of Biggie. Like,

29:00

bro, bro. Zion's

29:03

one of those players that I don't

29:05

want, again, not scared or feared, but

29:07

you're like, there is no matchup answer

29:10

to him. No, he's, if

29:12

he's in shape and he's physically going north

29:14

and south, he's smaller. It

29:17

just doesn't sound crazy. Quicker. Carl is

29:19

the athletic d'Nianis. Yes.

29:22

Exactly. That's what he is. When

29:24

you watch him, people back up and then you

29:26

see him go, oh my fuck, it's me and

29:28

you. Okay. So you

29:30

did just mention that you

29:33

were keeping an eye on the top three seeds in

29:35

the West. Okay. Yes.

29:38

So I do have a question for you. Obviously the

29:40

Thunder, they're currently tied with the Nuggets for that

29:42

number one spot as it stands today. If

29:46

OKC finishes at the top

29:48

of the Western Conference, would

29:51

SGA get your MVP vote? No.

29:58

I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. elaborate.

30:03

I just, in my heart, I just

30:05

don't feel like this is his year.

30:07

I just, yeah, I can't look at your pitch

30:09

again and go, nah,

30:12

you're not the best player in the league.

30:14

You're the best player in the league. You're

30:16

the best player. Now, is SGA having a

30:19

crazy year? Absolutely. But on

30:21

nowhere, on no piece of paper,

30:23

would you ever say, regardless of

30:25

where OKC is, that you would

30:28

put them above Denver? You

30:30

wouldn't say SGA is not going

30:33

to get drafted. If you have a draft

30:35

of all the players in the league, Jokic

30:38

is going one or two. Jokic

30:41

is going one or two. SGA might

30:43

be four, five, six. Now,

30:46

that's not saying he's not. I

30:48

think he would be, I think if we were to break

30:50

that down, I think he would

30:52

be probably like seven. OK,

30:55

so five, six, seven. Seven. Seven.

30:59

No, because when you say four, five, six, I'm

31:02

like, is there any scenario where I have him

31:04

at four or five or six? And I'm like,

31:06

I don't see a scenario when we're talking about

31:08

it. People that Arizona education hits one way. No,

31:11

he said four or five six. I'm

31:13

like, dude, I don't have them in any of

31:15

those slots, in any mindset. It's not loot. You

31:17

got the, again, we forget it. The blue guys.

31:21

And Jokic. And B's, Jokic, right?

31:24

Like, yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's

31:26

the top. That's what we're going to do. We don't

31:28

even have SVA in your top three? No.

31:31

No, we're talking about for MVP. For MVP, yes.

31:33

I'm just talking about MVP. OK.

31:36

Yeah. I have him too, personally. He's

31:38

the best. Look, Jokic is

31:41

the best player in the world. He's the best player

31:43

in the world. He does the most. And

31:45

that's it, Richard. That's exactly what it is. If

31:48

they had a best, like who's

31:50

having the best year, SGA

31:53

would win that award. The

31:55

MVP is Jokic's. It's

31:58

just he's done. so

32:00

much that you finish it.

32:02

Yeah. Yeah. And you're just like, dude, God

32:04

damn, you got you finished time. You finished,

32:06

you finished a hat. Well, and again, SGA

32:09

beat them three times and a head to

32:11

head three to one, they all the tiebreakers.

32:13

So imagine if they finish, if they finish

32:15

one, you're like, Oh, obviously it's them. Right?

32:17

You're like, Oh, if they finish in the

32:19

top two, you're like, yo, he's a reigning

32:21

finals MVP, reigning champion. They finished two in

32:23

the West. He's putting up a ridiculous numbers,

32:25

all of the things. I'm

32:28

like, I'm, you know, I'm sorry.

32:30

Take that, give it to him,

32:32

give him a little pony and ride that award right on

32:34

over to Yocha. Does the,

32:38

the MVP

32:40

fatigue factor in the voting? Not

32:44

this year, not this year. Would it

32:46

be that statistically the vote, the numbers

32:48

that in bead were putting up to

32:50

me that that might have lent lent

32:53

to some, I

32:56

think he was kind of the front runner at the

32:58

time that he had gone down, right? And this is

33:00

where, but this is

33:03

also where, this is where in beat are

33:05

at nine beat, but Yoko choose one out

33:07

many times. Like there's other guys that have

33:09

gotten banged up that fallen flat at the

33:12

end of the year. And Yoko two doesn't

33:14

miss many games. And as always, he's been

33:16

a beacon of consistency for the last four

33:18

or five years for his team, putting up

33:20

triple double numbers. He's averaging nine assists, 11

33:22

rebounds in 23 or whatever

33:24

points a game. He's not out here trying

33:26

to like go crazy on the numbers

33:29

side. He's just trying to do enough to win and

33:31

get to the post-season healthy. Yeah. All

33:33

right. We reached that point of the

33:35

episode. I need your top players from last

33:37

week. These are our under armor

33:39

game changers of the week, which

33:42

players were coaches impressed you guys

33:44

the most. I will say this.

33:46

I was wrong about Anthony Edwards. I

33:49

didn't think he could quickly. I said

33:51

last week, I don't know how much more

33:53

he has to give. And then he

33:56

comes out and says, hold my beer. It

34:00

says I'm only at a five still. Now

34:02

obviously Taylor's interviewing him, so people are going

34:04

to talk crazy, Taylor Rooks.

34:07

But he's got to be. Look

34:09

what he's been doing. Like, it's

34:11

been, I don't care about the wins and losses. I care

34:13

about his attitude of like,

34:16

put it on me to win this game. And

34:18

does he give his team a chance to win? And he's been,

34:21

he's been going crazy. I want to say

34:23

Kyrie based off of that last shot,

34:27

just because I know we already revisited that, but

34:30

I'm going to give him his flowers. I think that

34:32

type of play, if you make a play that has

34:34

kids, that have

34:37

kids around the globe, really, if we're being

34:39

honest, going into their backyard and going out

34:41

to their hope and trying something new, I

34:43

think that is, that

34:45

is impactful in a way that, that's impactful

34:47

in a way. So I know it's a

34:50

little cheating and we already gave him his flowers early, but if we're

34:52

going to talk about the player, then that to me impacted the game.

34:56

When I hear my kids throwing up left handed

34:58

shots like Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, watch Kyrie, and

35:01

then throwing up a brick from five feet with their

35:03

left hand. Yeah, yeah. That to me is like, oh,

35:06

that dude had a lasting impact on a lot of

35:08

people with the things he

35:10

did with that shot that he hit. Road

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36:53

Speaking of Anthony Edwards. Another

36:57

week, another Monster Dunk. We

37:00

had a couple actually. Trace

37:02

Jackson Davis on Victor. Crazy. And

37:07

then you had the Aunt Edwards on John

37:10

Collins. You had the Jalen

37:12

Johnson on Austin Reeves. Which

37:14

was hilarious. The

37:17

reaction was even better when a

37:19

reporter asked for his take. And he said, this is

37:21

why I don't like you. He asked it for

37:23

his view. Because he didn't want

37:25

my view. He said everyone told

37:28

it. Yeah, that was hilarious. No, I give Dan

37:30

Woyke. They've got a great

37:32

relationship. Dan and Austin go golf together. Wait,

37:34

wait, wait, wait really quickly. I'm not firing at, what's the name,

37:36

Dan? Dan Woyke. Dan Woyke.

37:39

Dan, I'm not giving you shit. But

37:42

Dan, you were starting shit. You were starting

37:45

shit. In the best way possible. In the

37:47

best way possible. But you're starting shit. And

37:49

I can see by Austin's reaction. Reaction.

37:51

Reaction that it was that. But it's like, you

37:53

knew what you were doing. Here's the thing though.

37:56

No different than Grady Dick and our other guys.

38:00

Yeah, you guys knew what you knew what you were up to. You

38:02

guys knew what you were up to.

38:04

Also, that's hilarious. And whether they did

38:06

that on purpose, I give

38:08

them a lot of...worth it. It's too

38:10

much. Nobody's been talking about Grady Dick all year.

38:13

First of all, no one's

38:15

talking about Grady Dick, period. That's

38:17

not true. That's not true. My

38:19

point is, no, not

38:21

the individual. I have broadcasters

38:24

that are like, I finally get

38:26

my first Grady Dick game. They're

38:28

excited. Everyone's excited. I didn't mean

38:30

the person I met because of the names that

38:32

have come since. That's my point. Back to

38:34

the Dan Wike thing, I did ask him

38:36

today at practice, had the team lost? Because

38:39

Austin even said it was a big momentum

38:42

moment for Atlanta. So had the team lost, would

38:44

you still ask? That's when I feel

38:46

like he would have been trying to start shit. Because

38:48

he did it in the environment, in the wind.

38:50

Yeah, in a wind, you can ask those questions.

38:52

But I feel like he said it was momentum.

38:54

Wasn't the score like zero, zero? No,

38:57

it wasn't. Thanks for watching, though. It

39:00

was really... No, not for every single game.

39:02

What was the score? What was the score of

39:04

that down? Can you relax? You

39:07

watch all the games. What was this... Was

39:09

that not one of the first plays of the game? What was the

39:11

score? No. I

39:14

think it was like 14-17 or something, 14. It

39:17

was early in the game. It was

39:19

early. Double check it when it was. Double check

39:22

it then. Double check it. Can you watch the

39:24

game? Chani, what? Don't

39:26

worry about it. Be careful, Chani. You got

39:28

quiet. You're like, don't know. I didn't see

39:30

anything. Okay, so

39:32

all of that, to ask the question,

39:35

the best poster dunk of all time

39:37

in your mind is... Chani,

39:40

have you ever got one? Oh, my

39:42

God. What? Oh, God,

39:44

yeah. Stromow Swift

39:46

got me crazy. Shaq. Blake

39:50

Prime, Blake Griffin got me crazy. No.

39:53

What's the best poster dunk? What's the best poster

39:55

dunk? Oh, when Vince Carter jumped over a 7-foot

39:57

human. It's not even close. It's

40:01

my My

40:04

my my basketball ego is I

40:09

would say average for very high player. No,

40:11

no, no, I think that we all have

40:14

a professional ego You can't do it. My

40:17

my dunking ego is

40:19

very high my dunking ego I just

40:21

might yeah my my dunking

40:23

ego is very high Can you

40:26

at least fucking cover up my towel are

40:28

your your fucking can your your

40:30

your camera? You can still do that anyways

40:33

My dunking ego is high my dunking ego

40:35

is very very high So when

40:37

I look at him like I see

40:39

people do dunks I'm like, oh I could have done that or

40:42

I could have got that when he does some shit. I'm like,

40:44

oh Now

40:46

he might be a anti-adwers. He

40:49

might and he might be on

40:51

a different Level because the

40:53

way I viewed it is that there was Vince

40:55

Carter and then everyone else

40:57

everyone else was in tier two For

41:00

game dunkers. He's reached the level where

41:02

he's in he's in that tier two

41:05

to pass Vince No one's gonna pass

41:07

Vince. No one's gonna pass Vince No

41:11

one's gonna pass Vince and Vince Carter has the

41:13

greatest in-game dunk of all time Blake

41:15

Griffin has a A But

41:19

like nobody is viciously mean wanting

41:21

to embarrass you like that other

41:24

than Giannis like

41:26

yeah, yeah Andrei Andre Jordan old

41:28

DeAndre Jordan old Sean Kim old

41:30

Sean Kim There

41:32

were guys again. We forget what job was

41:34

doing when he was playing John was catching

41:36

bodies like that and when you look at

41:39

what's more impressive Job

41:41

doing that or as the antlers doing that

41:43

is job that shit is it kind of

41:45

like the Kyrie thing It's like to be

41:47

that size bringing it that far

41:49

back and Punching it down

41:51

on people and just taking off with

41:53

no regard for your life at

41:55

six foot two That shit is

41:57

wild six foot seven. I got a distance

42:00

to land. Six two dudes are taking

42:02

off. That's another, that's a whole another

42:04

land. So the greatest one is still

42:06

Vince, but Anthony Edwards, he is in

42:08

tier two and I don't know if

42:11

anybody can get to tier one. Like

42:13

MJ, Kobe, they're all tier two. By

42:16

the way, the score was zero zero for Austin Ray.

42:19

I didn't want people

42:21

to call me out. Yeah. Yeah. I was

42:23

like, can you say the momentum? No, it's

42:25

just that the Hawks started

42:29

on a big run. Okay.

42:32

So we're gonna stick with the Lakers for

42:34

a second. D'Angelo

42:37

Russell, he is soon about

42:39

to hold two franchise records for most three

42:41

pointers in a season. He

42:43

owns the one in Brooklyn from

42:46

the 2018-19 season, his All-Star

42:48

season. And now he

42:50

is tied with Nick Van Exel for

42:52

183 threes made with 13

42:58

games to go for the Lakers. You almost hit

43:00

200, Van Exel almost hit 200 threes in the

43:05

90s. Yeah. Let's think about

43:08

that. That's crazy. Like Nick the Quick,

43:10

if y'all don't know Nick the Quick,

43:12

Nick the Quick had a lot of,

43:14

had a lot of Kyrie in him.

43:16

Right. A lot of Kyrie like that

43:18

style. Could shoot, could go down with

43:20

paint, left-handed, hard to guard, Herky

43:22

Jerky, Damon Sotomayor type. He

43:25

was that, Nick the Quick

43:27

was, shout out my boy Eric, that

43:29

was his favorite player, it was Van Exel. But

43:31

Van Exel was special for a guy who was

43:33

a small player too, had some

43:35

Jamal Crawford like cross you over,

43:37

make you fall. But they almost

43:39

hit 200 threes for the

43:41

Lakers in the 90s when the game wasn't what it

43:43

is now. Like

43:45

that's, that shows you what he, the

43:47

record nowadays should not be counted past

43:50

2010. Right.

43:52

Like I put this way in 2010

43:54

on the Suns, I made 172 in a year. Right. That

44:00

was a lot. But look at players

44:02

now making one game

44:04

is different. No, but the

44:06

game is different. But the game is

44:09

different. But we

44:11

can highlight. Nick Van Akso. We need to

44:13

have an asterisk because in a

44:15

game where it was

44:17

not, they weren't shooting 23s a game. So

44:19

he was five for five a lot.

44:22

Six for six. Six for eight. The

44:24

thing that's so crazy is we know the

44:26

greatness of Stephen Curry. And he's approaching 300

44:28

if he's not already there by now for

44:31

the fifth time. But like, I

44:34

guess, DeAngelo, 183, 13 games to go.

44:38

He's obviously going to get over 200. You imagine

44:40

barring anything. He's shooting it at a 42% clip. He

44:43

is a volume guy as well when it comes to the three

44:45

ball. But just Steph, he's over

44:47

300 threes again. Like

44:50

what? 300

44:53

is, it doesn't even make sense. That's

44:56

not. It's not real. And

44:58

by the way, like, he missed like a

45:01

handful of games this year. Like. But

45:05

DeAngelo was the best player on the team.

45:07

And he is the third best player on

45:09

this team. And he's almost hitting 200. If

45:12

he was shooting the way he was.

45:14

And again, there's different levels. But if

45:16

he was, Steph is different because Steph

45:18

is, that's their primary weapon. I always

45:20

say it's different. Like I stand by

45:22

that I think Kevin Durant, if he

45:24

only wanted to shoot threes, I

45:26

think he would be in the Steph level. I

45:29

think he would be in the Steph level. But he has so

45:31

much more that he could go do. Steph

45:33

depends on that as an assassin,

45:36

as a sniper to do it from distance.

45:38

Kevin Durant can beat you in multiple ways.

45:40

It's just a part of his arsenal. I

45:45

know people love us talking about the ninth and 10th seeds

45:47

in the Western Conference right now. But we're going to talk

45:49

about it for a second. Because if you've

45:51

got a healthy LeBron and a healthy Anthony Davis,

45:53

which by the way, Anthony Davis just played

45:55

65 games. So now he is eligible for

45:58

postseason awards. Having said that, some of the things against these flights

46:00

since the 2017-18 season, I believe.

46:05

No. Having said that, take a

46:07

drink. Is it fair to

46:09

say that healthy LeBron, healthy AD, the

46:13

Lakers will go

46:15

as far as DeAngelo Russell and his

46:17

shooting allows

46:20

them to go? Matchups. I saw

46:22

that coming into the season, he is the team's X factor.

46:25

Matchups. Matchups. And you know what? What

46:29

else does Darvin Ham got in that handbag? What's

46:34

up with Vanderbilt? Yeah,

46:37

what's up with him? There's

46:40

an update coming. Is

46:43

he going to play? There's

46:45

hope. OK, that's

46:47

all. Yeah, as long as there's hope. And Gabe. There's

46:52

what? Cam Reddish is

46:54

expected back on Friday. Again,

46:57

the Lakers 13 games ago, Cam Reddish is

47:00

expected back. There's 13 games. There's

47:03

an update coming on Gabe and what's

47:07

his name? Jared Vanderbilt. And then Christian Wood

47:09

likely will not be playing. He just had

47:12

surgery yesterday for the remaining

47:14

season. Richard, let me ask

47:16

you this question. Here's a question about the Suns. The

47:20

Suns are what

47:23

are they, eighth? No. Is

47:25

the toughest remaining schedule or the second

47:27

toughest remaining something ridiculous like that? They

47:29

are eighth. Let's

47:32

say the Suns make it to the

47:34

play-in and lose in

47:36

the first round. Do you have them finishing in

47:38

eighth? Because the Lakers are

47:41

how far behind them and the Lakers have

47:43

the tiebreaker? They

47:45

are two and a half games.

47:50

Can the Lakers catch them who have the 20

47:52

games? Yeah, 15. You've got to play well.

47:54

If you've got 15 games left, you've got to get me with a... 11

48:00

and 4 record, a 12 and 3 record. I

48:04

just want to know, based off of your question, if

48:06

they're going to have to win two playing games or one

48:08

playing game, because that is a different story. The

48:11

Lakers? No, the Suns. I think the Lakers are

48:13

going to have to win two playing games. Oh, the

48:15

Suns. I think the Suns are going to have to win two

48:17

playing games. I think the Suns are

48:20

going to have to win two. My

48:22

question to you guys is this, this

48:26

thing with KD and

48:29

Booker and Beal, and

48:32

it's wild that

48:34

that is a quote unquote, I don't want to say

48:36

it, I hate saying super team. That

48:38

is a highly talented team that

48:41

is under producing for

48:43

various reasons, not anyone individually.

48:47

How many more years do you think we

48:50

don't look at some of them individually and say maybe

48:52

some of these guys just don't work here? How

48:55

many years do you give this set up? How many

48:57

years has it been? Less

49:01

than one. Exactly, exactly. Three?

49:04

To answer

49:07

your question, it's like, yeah, you look at this talent, but

49:10

I also look at it again. There's so

49:12

many times you win championships when the collective group

49:14

has been together a little bit of time. They

49:18

need to get one or

49:20

two more guys that are like, oh, look

49:22

at all of this talent. I can live

49:24

in Phoenix, Arizona. I'm going to take the

49:26

minimum versus taking $3 million someplace else. So

49:30

they're going to be on the market. I don't know how much

49:32

money. They don't have a lot of cash space. They don't have

49:34

any of that stuff. Their owner is trying to win. He

49:37

wants to spend money. So going over the

49:39

cap and doing those things, they don't have

49:41

a lot of draft capital. They don't have a lot

49:43

of assets. But I think that they

49:45

could build out. I think that

49:47

there are one or two players away, two

49:49

or three players away. And it doesn't have

49:51

to be high level. It could be veteran.

49:53

It could be different things. I think if they

49:55

fill out the roster, I think next year is

49:58

their team. Bradley Beale gets right. Devin Booker. typically

50:00

pretty consistent. Kevin Durant is healthy. So I

50:02

think this year, the fact that they've been

50:05

in the middle when the West is really

50:07

good. Minnesota made a jump. OKC

50:11

made a jump. New Orleans made a jump.

50:14

So it's like you look at these and

50:16

there seems like Sacramento that have dropped off,

50:18

right? The Clippers have made a jump. So

50:20

they're also in a Western conference that is

50:22

far better. Kawhi and Paul George have been

50:25

healthy this year and they added James Harden.

50:27

When you start looking at this same Phoenix

50:29

un-team last year, it might have

50:31

been third or fourth. Now

50:33

this year they're hovering around the play-in and it looks

50:36

a little bit more dicey. I think next year will

50:38

be the best version. At the end of next year

50:40

is when you make an evaluation. When

50:42

it comes to the Warriors, remember that conversation

50:45

that we had about what to do at

50:47

the trade deadline? Steph, rebuild, Clay, yada, yada,

50:49

yada. OK, so for the last two months,

50:51

Jonathan Kominga has been averaging over 20 a

50:53

game. They're 16 and 8 in that stretch.

50:56

Is he enough to help the Warriors

50:59

help Steph and the Warriors

51:01

make a deep playoff run? No.

51:04

Steve Kerr said he's going to channel that. Miami got

51:06

the 8 seed last year. You saw what they did

51:08

if they're able to get into the postseason. Yeah,

51:11

that ain't it. That ain't the

51:13

same. This ain't that. This

51:16

ain't that. They can –

51:18

look, they can make noise.

51:20

Oh, for sure. But if they

51:23

weren't the Warriors, we wouldn't be talking

51:25

about them. So that says from the

51:28

defensive numbers, the offensive numbers,

51:30

how they have played their

51:33

overall performance consistency, right? But

51:36

we're giving them credit, rightfully so, because

51:38

of their veteran leadership, because of the

51:41

success they had, the same way that

51:43

we are doubting OKC in Minnesota because

51:45

they don't have any collective success, because

51:47

they don't have any experience. That's why

51:49

Balance is a really very good team

51:52

all year long that doesn't have a

51:54

lot of experience. We feel like that

51:56

drops down. A team that's been struggling

51:58

all year long but has a – of

52:00

championship experience, that's what we think raises

52:02

a level. But I think ultimately in

52:04

the playoffs, in seven games, your

52:07

consistency is the key. Consistency

52:10

is the key in that space. So

52:12

it's like, if you've been inconsistent, even

52:14

when they won the championship and they

52:16

had some injuries and they stumbled into

52:18

the postseason, the first 40 games, they

52:21

were 30 and 10. So

52:23

they had that to fall back on from

52:25

a mentality. They don't have that. They're going

52:27

to be pulling from stuff a few years

52:29

ago to increase their mentality for what they

52:31

can go accomplish. But they know, there's three

52:33

guys on that team that won 73 games.

52:36

They know their team isn't consistent or good or

52:38

performing at a high level because they've

52:40

seen what high-level performing teams are and they know

52:42

that they are not one. Let's

52:48

finish this episode with a little bit of fun. One,

52:50

I want to give a shout out to Isaiah Thomas. I

52:53

like seeing awesome people win and I think

52:55

it's great. His 10-day contract signing with

52:58

the Phoenix Suns, I believe that begins tonight

53:00

as we're recording this. Let's go! So

53:02

shout out to IT. He got some of our road trip

53:04

and swag. He was super pumped about it. Keeping

53:08

in touch with him, he's been on this episode, or he's

53:10

been on the podcast. All

53:12

right. When

53:14

this podcast comes out, the

53:16

madness has arrived. The NCAA

53:18

tournament has begun. My

53:22

Rockets didn't get it done. As

53:25

you do. Unlike last year. Excuse

53:29

me. They've won the MAC outright

53:32

the last three seasons. Wait,

53:35

your women's team or your men's team? My

53:39

women's team. Oh, I thought we were

53:41

talking about men. My men didn't get it done either.

53:45

After winning the MAC outright the last four years. All

53:48

right, but you guys, you

53:51

big cats, are the two of

53:53

seed. The two of seed. Are

53:57

you nervous? Are your buttholes. getting

54:00

tight is that what I'm saying? My butt

54:02

almost faced him. It's getting tight.

54:04

It's getting tight. So

54:07

Gilbert, so Gilbert, Gilbert posted, he

54:09

posted some highlights. Gilbert posted some

54:11

highlights on his Twitter from the

54:13

Illinois. It

54:15

was the Illinois versus whatever game

54:18

in the Elite Eight. And

54:20

so he posted the highlights. And...

54:22

Illinois and Jennings? That was a lot. No,

54:25

no, no, no, but I'm saying, no, no. No, versus

54:27

our team, versus our team. When we played against them.

54:29

Oh, okay. We beat Illinois in

54:31

the eight to go to the final four. So

54:33

my point is, is that when I

54:36

go back and look at that team, I believe our

54:38

Arizona team has talent. I believe we have guys, we

54:40

have multiple guys that have played in the national championship

54:42

game all of these days. I believe in

54:44

them. But I also am

54:47

very stressed because we're not playing consistent

54:49

basketball right now. We

54:51

lose, don't play well in the conference. And we're

54:53

not. We lose the USC after getting a share

54:56

of the title against UCLA. Because they were parting

54:58

with you in the locker room. Look,

55:01

if you can't handle it on both ends,

55:03

then that's on you, bro. Whoa! You

55:05

can't handle it on both ends. Yeah,

55:08

yeah, yeah. And they took it on the... Oh,

55:10

God, I really sense you guys

55:12

are very nervous. I don't want

55:14

us to become against that. I'm not playing. I

55:18

am not, I am not, I am

55:20

not playing. So I am not nervous. I root

55:22

for them. I feel when we

55:24

talk about like the coach. I feel like

55:26

he's nervous, right? When Tommy

55:29

Lloyd is like, I have another two

55:31

seed. I have a great team. And

55:33

he does. Veterans shooting, depth. They have

55:35

all the things. The man that is

55:37

coaching against us, and there's

55:39

a lot of Cinderella stories that involve

55:41

Arizona. There's like, there's a

55:43

lot of that because we're one of those

55:45

teams. So that's the part where

55:48

it's like, wait, we're getting Long Beach State that

55:50

has a Cinderella story. And the

55:52

more it continues, the more it just turns

55:54

into like, God. Fair. How

55:57

are you able to call the broadcast, Richard, as

55:59

you did? Arizona UCLA

56:01

on ESPN and then go in and party in the

56:05

locker room how that works out how am

56:07

I able how am I able to yeah

56:10

two feet in a prayer two

56:12

feet in a prayer I'm

56:15

feeling that line put it on a t-shirt two

56:19

feet in a prayer well look we're

56:21

just Wildcats I fill out

56:23

my bracket backwards I put in Arizona as a

56:25

champion and then I work my way backwards okay

56:29

fair Houston and you kind

56:31

of nice okay all right I went

56:34

to Lakers practice today

56:36

and apparently our friend

56:42

LeBron James was gonna speak to

56:44

the media and then there was a something

56:47

that deterred him I think there was some NBA

56:49

meetings or something and instead he said just tell

56:51

him to subscribe to the pod so

56:54

is there any advice you guys would give LeBron and welcome

56:57

to the family brought what a welcome to

56:59

the welcome welcome to the family

57:01

brought welcome to the family we'll sign you

57:04

no no we're all

57:06

we're all on the we're

57:08

all in the same family Ron welcome

57:10

we're all good send them ads this

57:13

way well we're all welcome to the

57:15

family run yeah welcome to what we're

57:17

doing welcome to the dark side all

57:22

right you guys are amazing we've got

57:24

a lot of edits in this episode