On today's episode, Jason talks with Tim MacMahon, ESPN NBA Writer and Author of "The Wonder Boy: Luka Doncic and the Curse of Greatness." MacMahon breaks down how Luka's final year in Dallas culminated in his trade to the Lakers. MacMahon gives his thoughts on Nico Harrison and explains how he fell out of Harrison's favor through his reporting. MacMahon discusses the state of the Dallas Mavericks and looks ahead to what the remainder of Luka's career could look like with the Lakers. Plus, Jalen Brunson proved on Thursday night why he is the Clutch Player of the Year!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire, Bamp, It's me Jason McIntyre,
Straight Fire for Friday, May the second. This is a
great podcast today, folks, ladies and gentlemen. Oh boy, we
got a great guest, Tim McMahon, who wrote a book
recently on Luka Doncic.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
He stops by.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
The book is called The Wonder Boy, Luka Doncic and
the Curse of Greatness. Oh, my goodness, you want to
hear about dysfunction. Dysfunction. Thy name is Dallas. Oh, the
Mavericks are such a mess and they were leading up
to the Lucas trade.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
You're gonna love this U and Laker fans, you're gonna.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Want to listen a little bit closely as off season
speculation starts mighty quick. But before we get to Tim McMahon,
obviously I'll be hosting the Herd today should be a
little spicy. I've got some incendiary takes so hot you're
gonna melch your phone, kind of sort of like Jalen
Brunson's Clutchness. Folks, so you've heard the saying like Frank
(01:07):
Sinatra was born to sing, right, Jimmy Hendrix born to
play the guitar. Jalen Brunson born for clutch moments in
the NBA.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Does anyone deliver better than mister Clutch. Jalen Brunson the
clutch player of the Year in the NBA this season,
Totally dominant when it matters most. And the Knicks were
down seven with about two thirty five left, and of
course Jalen Brunson scores eight points in the final two
thirty five. They storm back with an eleven to one run.
(01:38):
Fascinating drama in Detroit, a great game and the best
part about this even if you don't like the Knicks,
you don't like Brunson, which is very hard to do.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Bruns is so likable.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Jalen Brunson was getting flogged all series long in Detroit.
The crowd was called I mean, they were getting nasty
with him, the cuss words and stuff. That's fine, But
then it was Channing Flopper at runs in and there
was one that he tried to draw the foul it
was overturned on a replay, and the crowd went nuts.
They were getting on Brunson's case, and then he in
(02:08):
a move that listen if you want to call this
up on YouTube. You tell me that these aren't carbon copies.
Michael Jordan discarding Byron Russell with the pushoff in the
NBA Finals in ninety eight in Utah for the game winner.
Pretty sure it was ninety eight. And then you look
at Jalen Brunson discard on sar Thompson to get the
(02:30):
separation and splash the game winning three. Folks, it was
almost identical, except, of course Brunston hit a three. But
the beauty of it, the crowd had been getting on
Brunson's case. He turns to the crowd, pulls the you know,
the three fingers for the three pointer, and then blows
kisses to them. It was spectacular theater. Nicks win the
series for two, advanced to play the Celtics, and listen, man,
(02:52):
this is a tall order, but we're gonna for a moment,
we're gonna just enjoy the Knicks win. Jalen Brunson averaging
in these playoffs, I know, it's only six games, averaging
thirteen points in the first quarter, in the fourth quarter,
averaging thirteen points in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
How clutch is that?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Who's better than him when it matters? As you know,
who could have used him, the friggin' Lakers who could
not score at the end of games against Minnesota orget
stops and Brunson was just everywhere. Now, I will say this,
Bigger Staff, I thought, did a tremendous job for Detroit
this series. My one issue was he would toggle between
a sar Thompson who's a great defender but not much offensively,
(03:30):
although he had a good Game five in New York,
and Dennis Schreuder. Now he I don't know why they
didn't consider playing all three of them, but I guess
for shooting purposes, they need another another shooter out there,
whether it was Hardaway or Beasley. But onsar Thompson had
held Jalen Brunston in total check. He stripped it and
(03:50):
forced a twenty four second shot clock violation. Brunston started
the fourth two for ten okay, But with about five
minutes left, I mean, Bigger Staff's gonna have to answer this.
He pulls on sar Thompson and insert shooter for offense,
and you know that's gonna be a heavily scrutinized move.
(04:10):
And of course, instantly Brunson just goes right at Dennis
shooter who's you know. Dennis Shooter is an assassin, He's
a hired gun. He's played on like fifteen teams in
the last like nine years, and he could get buckets
by the way as a teas Tim McMahon, I think
it was Tim McMahon speculated that maybe Dennis Shooter could
(04:30):
be the kind of guy who goes on, say the
Dallas Mavericks next year. They're gonna need somebody to get
buckets without Kyrie. It's an interesting point. You should at
least take a listen. But Shooter is just not known
as a defender. He just really doesn't defend. And Jalen
Brunson cooked him when it mattered most, and then Brunson
(04:51):
was so hot at the end he just decided, I'm
not worried about on Star Thompson and just gave it
back to It was tremendous reader Nick's eleven to one
run to end the game. Cad Cunningham. Listen, man, he's
going to be a special player. You gotta build aroun him.
You gotta get reliable shooters. Hard Away and Beasley way
too streaky for my liking. Cad twenty three, eight and seven,
but oh for eight on three pointers, badly bricked a
(05:13):
lefty layup in a tie game which set the stage
for Brunson's game winner. But just an incredible series this game,
I mean, every game was close. And I did have
a buddy text me, why is nobody giving the Knicks
a chance against the Celtics? Because I don't know that
Detroit's that good. They're just a plucky team that matched
up well with the next. Playoffs are all about matchups,
(05:35):
and it's Celtics is a much taller order. I will
say this, if I opened it up, who had the
better call? Mike Breen with a double bang on the
Brunson game winner, or wait for it, I an eagle
with the Brunson burner ignited. Oh come on, who didn't
(05:55):
love a good Bunsen burner back in? Was it Earth
science and middle high school, high school or science? Yeah,
Bunsen Berner incredible stuff. Jalen Brunson man, you gotta love that.
I don't know how anybody doesn't like him. He's so likable.
I mean all he does is win everywhere he goes.
Villanova High School, Dallas. They got to the conference finals
and then Dallas butchered it. And now he's with the
(06:16):
Knickson man.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
What a player?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
All right, Without further ado, let's get to our guest,
Tim McMahon of ESPN. He wrote a book on Luka
Doncic called The Wonder Boy.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live. You know a guy, Jason likes to think
he knows everything when it comes to sports.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I know what sports fans.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Want, but for everything he doesn't. He knows a guy
who does.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows the
guy who knows another guy.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
All right, let's welcome a special guest to straight fire
first timer. Anytime we get a real hooper, a guy
who actually plays, you gotta do it. And oh, by
the way, he wrote a book on Luca Dodgic, The
Wonder Boy, Luka Doncic and the Curse of Greatness.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Tim McMahon, how are you man.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Howdie partner, I did write a book that is true.
Real hooper is a bit of a stretch. I get
out there and kind of trot up and down the
court every once in a while, but what I'm doing
at this age ain't real hoop, and that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Okay, Well, you know, if there's a media game out
here for if the Clippers survived the Nuggets, you know,
and Dave McManamon gets in in the game, Hey, you
gotta do the tenth.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
I'm in. I'll just show up any time. Just fire
from deep.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
It's fun. Yeah, mcminnimhon is kind of like the Lakers.
Is not a lot of defense there.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Ouch, we'll get to the Lakers collapse obviously. But I'm
curious about the book. I did see a funny recap
that essentially you had finished the book and then the
trade happens. I mean, what do you remember where you
were obviously when that went down.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Yeah, I was in Cleveland. I'd actually had traveled from
San Francisco to Cleveland, so I was meeting the Mavericks
on that part of the road trip, and so I
just happened to be in the right spot. But I
was just about to go to bed, was a little
bit after midnight in Cleveland, and yeah, sure enough my
life changed just a little bit there. And yeah, so
(08:19):
the first print run had already happened, obviously, I'm reporting
that night, you know, we're recording emergency podcast on Sports Center,
all those kind of things. But within the first hour
and a half or so, I'd emailed people with the
publishing company and my book agent basically said hey, we
got to talk, we got to figure something out, and
(08:40):
I was able to write a final chapter explaining it
just how the hell they went for because the whole
books about the pressure on a franchise when you draft
a prodigy and build it or you're putting yourself in
danger of losing them. Right, they managed to make their
way through all that, despite all kinds of crazy missteps
and just chaos and drama and dysfunctioned the organization. They
(09:04):
went to the finals and then they dumped him months later,
so they're definitely another chapter was necessary. Yeah, the previous
ending was upbeat. I mean, the hell they just went
to the finals. Yeah, And so people who buy the
books that don't have that final chapter, you can go
to my x account. There's a link that's pinned to
the top. Well, you'll get the things sent to you PDF,
and then it's in the audiobook. It's in the uh,
(09:25):
you know, if you're a Kindle reader and all that.
But little plot twist at the end.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, just a just a small one. It's been a
wild ride for you with the MAVs. So you obviously
have a history with Mark Cuban. You know, you report
tough stuff, and you know Cuban revoked your credentials.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Jason Kidd has called you out.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I mean, I don't want to say it's a badge
of honor, but you know it means you're doing something right.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Obviously, how would you characterize the MAVs organization going from
Cuban to the new ownership and then Nico Harrison, So.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
You know, Nico was hired by Cuban, and then once
the new owners came in, Nico did a very effective
job of boxing out Cuban, certainly much better than the
Lakers did against Ruby Gobert last night. Completely boxed Cuban
out of basketball operations. Where you know, when Cuban sold
the franchise and then he's still in his twenty seven percent,
(10:18):
but when he gave up the majority control, the controlling
share of the franchise, he told everybody who would listen, hey,
I'm still in charge of basketball operations. There was never
any language like that in the contract there was not
language like that removed from the contract. I was told
there was language removed that Basie said he would allow
to be allowed to continue to be involved, but nothing
(10:39):
about control. I don't know if Cuban was trying to
speak it into existence or bully his way into it happening,
or just you know, flat out not telling the truth,
which he'll do from time to time. But he went
from running the show to having no more juice than
any other court side season ticket holder, just like that.
(10:59):
And Nico successfully convinced Patrick Dumont, you know, the new governor,
kind of the face of the new ownership group, that hey,
I know what I'm doing. You know, I got us
to the finals last year. Listen to me. My voice
is all you need to hear. And I would say
that that completely backfired on the Mavericks and Patrick Dumont
(11:23):
now has realized there needs to be checks and balances,
you know. Nico Harrison, I believe will have at least
one more year as the Mavericks general manager. I would
say that the seat has gotten warm at least. And
the in Nico we trust era was very brief.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, let's be real, Tim, he got a little lucky.
The trade for Kyrie did not work out. Initially they
had to tank to keep their pick, but then it
turned into lively.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
He trades for PJ.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Washington and Gaffert and those all hit and they go
to the finals. So he looks like a genius and
now he kind of looks like a dope. But there
are segments of the Twitter whatever that's called that are like, hey, man,
Nico was right, Luca doesn't play.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
D but like, I'm not buying that crap. I'm just curious.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
How ugly did it get for Luca and Nico in
the weeks leading up to the end.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
For Luca, Yeah, and I certainly cover this sum in
that final chapter. Also wrote about it recently on ESPN
dot com. Their relationship at best was frigid, and you know,
it goes. It really does go back to You can
say the root of it was Luca's conditioning concerns, and
if you're looking at from Nico's perspective, you could say
(12:34):
that caused Nico to make some of the personnel decisions
he made with behind the scenes staffers. But he ran
out people that Luca knew, liked, trusted, and respected. And
these are people who were with Luca the entire time
he was in Dallas, helped him make this massive cultural transition.
(12:55):
And you know, again it's not people that are household names,
but Casey Smith and their Health and Performance Group. One
of the most respected people in the athletic training industry,
you know, it was is now with the New York
Knicks running their group. Jeremy holsopple of you know, a
guy who won the NBA Strength Coach of the Year
award a few years ago. Casey Spangler, you know, a
(13:17):
massage therapist in our In a related move, it was
his decision, but Scott Tomlin, their longtime VP in charge
of the PR group, he left to go work for
Dirk Kavinski. By the way, Dirk the way that Casey
Smith got fired. That led to Dirk basically saying, I
don't want anything to do with this organization, Like I'm
not going to baden out them, but I'm not going
to be involved. And he's done for the time being
(13:40):
as far as being any sort of ambassador for the
matter Ficks. So Nico really kind of isolated Luca and
made it an adversarial situation with Luca's quote unquote body team.
Uh and and the MAVs staffers that you know, Nico's
guys is the way that they are perceived, uh within
(14:00):
the building and certainly by Luca and Luca's camp, and
it led to a lot of friction. It led to,
you know, a lot of I would say passive aggressiveness
more than anything. It's not like they were yelling and
screaming in each other's face. Luca just wasn't really speaking
to Nico, and the communication between Nico and his hires
(14:22):
and Luca's camp was tense, was usually unproductive. Having said
all that, Luca fully planned as sign the super Maxis summer,
he fully planned to spend the rest of his career
in Dallas. You know, I can't say this with one
hundred percent certainty, but my educated guess is Luca felt like,
I'll be here a lot longer than Nico will be. Yeah,
(14:44):
and he was wrong.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
So we see this in politics, music, high level NBA players.
Everybody surrounds himself with yes, men, don't tell me what
I don't want to hear. Right, it sounds like the
way Nico was gutting all of Dirk'sky's Cubans guys because
guys that he just wanted his own people there.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Hey, I know Kyrie from back in the day.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I know a d Let me get in these known
quantities who aren't going to really challenge you.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Would you say that's a fair assumption for Nico.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
That's certainly the perception within the building, and that's absolutely
the perception from Luca's camp, you know, and you look
the way that Nico has built this roster. There definitely
is a tendency towards going with guys, with players who
he has known since they were teenagers. His relation and
you know, Nico, for people who don't know, long time
(15:33):
Nike executive was the VP run of North American basketball
operations for Nike for years and so it was very
involved with the grassroots basketball scene. And he had relationship
with Kyrie dating back to when Kyrie was a teenager.
Same thing with PJ. Washington, same thing with Anthony Davis.
And look, I think if you are evaluating the job
(15:54):
that Nico has done as a general manager of the Mavericks,
one's buddy before Cuban sold the control and share it
because Cuban was the general manager, right and how you
know which decisions were Nico's? Did Nico really have Saya,
which weren't you know that that gets pretty dicey. But
he did succeed in building a finals team around Luka Doncic.
(16:19):
That was the mission to build a contender around Luca.
He succeeded in that right up until beginning of February
this year. I think you would have to give Nico
credit and say, hey, this has been a success. He's
done what he was brought in here to do. But
the logic of this deal really falls apart in a
(16:40):
lot of different ways. And the one that I just
I've asked Nico, I pressed Niko on and he just
goes back to defense wins championships, which doesn't explain his
decision is in building this team around Luca that went
to the finals before he hit his prime, you gave
up your draft capital, either outright or via swaps seven,
(17:01):
nine and thirty. You put together a team that, in
Nico's own words, has a three to four year time
frame that runs right to when the credit card bills due,
and then you're screwed. And I've asked him for his
logic on that, how that's in the long term best interest,
and again he just goes back to defense wins championships.
In his mind, he put together a championship calber team.
(17:24):
We saw it for two and a half quarters, as
he says, which yeah, they look great for two and
a half quarters for its rockets. But it's a hard sell,
especially for the fans. Look, there's obviously emotional attachment to Luca,
and that goes back to taking the torch from Dirk
and all that. But these fans also just watched Luca
take this team, this franchise to a finals last year.
(17:47):
So it's a hard sell to tell them he did
it at twenty five, he can't do it again for
the rest of his career.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR
to listen live.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
We'll get to Luca and maybe Fat Luca with the Lakers.
But I am curious you watched him his entire career
in Dallas, Like I saw a stat that he only
had two dunks this season, whereas he had like thirty
nine last year or whatever the number was. I guess
there's no other way to ask us, Like, what's the
deal with the weight game.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Well, and look that it's not new, right. I mean,
if you go back to the pre draft concerns, how
the hell did three teams pass on this guy? You're
kidding me? You know, euro League MVP, your League Final
four MVP, the most accomplished team prospect in European history,
if not international basketball history. The conditioning concerns have existed.
(18:47):
They existed then, and they've continued throughout the course of
his career. Those have been constant. At the same time,
he's been a five time first team All NBA selection. Yeah,
it his prime. At the same time, the guy averaged
thirty four to ten and nine for a team that
went to the finals last year. So, uh, you know,
he was never a high flyer, you know, he and
(19:11):
he's he is a highlight machine despite the fact that
he's not a high flyer. But the condition is absolutely
a concern. Yeah, and it has been it continues to be.
I think it's been. It's tough to tell a guy
because the thing about it, he came in his rookie year.
He's putting up teenage numbers. You know, nobody else that
(19:33):
age either than Lebron It put up those kind of numbers.
The very next year before he can buy a beer
legally in America. He's an MVP candidate. And that's continued,
you know, right up until this year, you know, which
is the first time that he's had really extended injury absences.
So it's been hard to say, dude, your way is
not working because it did work. Now is there more
(19:57):
meat on the bone, so to speak? Like is there
more potential to be had? Yeah? There is. And it
does get back to that conditioning. And look, if he's
not going to really buy and there's been there's been times,
there's been a summer here, summer there where he has
really committed to it. If he's not going to do
that on a regular basis after being slapped in the
(20:18):
face by this trade and this first round exit, then
you know he probably never will. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
I mean you remember Shack had weight issues with the Lakers.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Kobe would get on his case about coming to camp
out of shape. I am curious, and you're reporting on
Luca's background. You know, there's no deft way to ask this,
but like, does he come from a big boned family
or is everybody overweight? Like I it does feel like
when you look at highlights, remember the Clippers when he
would just destroy them in the first round by himself
and they would lose in six or seven.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
He was it looked like twenty pounds later.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
No, yeah, no, he's definitely he's definitely beefed up since
early in his career he was listed to thirty as
a rookie. I don't think he was ever maybe he
was two thirty five, I've been sure about that. His weight,
he plays often in the two fifties, sometimes in the
two sixties. The two sixties is when it really gets alarment.
(21:12):
But yeah, his dad, who is a you know, Slovenian
basketball His dad's kind of the Charles Barkley at Slovenia.
Just to just to give you an idea where he
was a multi time all star in the Agiodical League,
which is you know, which is their league over there.
But you know, he's a guy who if you talk
to people in the Slovenian basketball circus, they are like, yeah,
(21:33):
he was really good man. He could have been a
lot better, you know. And it's the same thing like
the guy likes to eat, you know, he liked it.
Like the way I put it in the book is
he's a guy Sasha as his dad, a big, gregarious
personality like Barkley, but he's he's a guy who everybody
in Slovenia wants to have a beer with or you know,
(21:54):
or a glass of wine. And a great many have succeeded,
you know, like he had a pub down by the
Lubiana train station late in his career, and he would
have magging injuries that would cause him to miss road
trips and it wouldn't be hard to find. So but
and his dad is a you know, like he's a
big framed guy. And again like there were conditioning concerns
(22:19):
with him throughout the course of his career. It's been
the same thing with Luca. Now. I will say part
of Luca's, part of the reason he's been able to
be so dominant is because of that big body. Because
I mean he's a strong dude. Like as much as
you'd like him to commit to conditioning more than he does.
(22:41):
If you ask guys who've been in the weight room
with him, or ask like the math strength and conditioning coaches,
like what's Luca like in the weight room? As far
as like the leg strength. I mean, he is top
of the charts and he moves people. He's hard. One
reason he's so damn hard to guard is because he's
stronger than pretty much every defender in the league. And
he can you know, he can move him where he
(23:03):
wants him to go. Now, to forty five, he could
do that. You know, that'd be a great way for him.
If Luca really commits and gets himself from peak shape,
he's probably going to be to forty five. And he
plays in the two fifties on a regular basis, it's
gotten up into the two sixties, in the high two sixties,
I was told earlier this year.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
So it's like defensive end.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Well, what I would always say is there's certainly been
times he looks more like a pulling guard for the
Dallas Cowboys in a point guard for the Dallas Mavericks.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
See that's harsh.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
So I happened hoop with a guy out here in
LA who knows Rick Carlisle a little bit. And apparently
during Luca's first year was Dennis Smith there his.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
First year lucas for the first half.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, so apparently there was some major major beef between
Carlisle and Smith, and it was about Luka Dancic. Do
you cover any of that in the book or what
went down between those guys.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
I get into a lot of it, and I would
push back on it being about Luka doncic Oh. It
was about Rick Cardisle did not believe in Dennis Smith
Junior understood it was something that you know, that was
something Rick was out on Dennis by midway through Dennis's
rookie year, you know, when the MAVs were tanking to
try to get Luke and all that. But Ricky decided
this guy is not a not only is he not
(24:20):
a franchise player, like, he's not a player that I want,
and I get into a meeting. It was literally one
week into Luca's career. They were two and two at
the time, but they'd just blown a twenty six point
lead in Atlanta and you know, terrible loss TNT game
Luca versus Tree Young, you know, right behind it, get
(24:41):
on the plane, they go to Toronto. They've got a game.
A couple days later. It's just your typical next day
film session team meeting in the Ritz Carlton Ballroom in Toronto.
And Rick is just furious, and he's like just getting
madder and madder and madder, and like you can see
the veins popping out of his forehead and you know,
through his bald head. And that was the meeting where
(25:04):
he called Dennis Smith Junior out in front of the
whole team you're jealous of Luca, and Dennis is like, bro,
and like he looked literally he looks at Luca. He's like,
are we good? Luca's like yeah, like the basketball fit,
they were a bad basketball fit. Yeah yeah, But Dennis
was not, like he was trying to be like a
(25:25):
good teammate and a friend. Man. There's still buddies to
this day. Like Dennis came to Luca's first press conference.
You know, they lived in the same building, and Dennis
is like, dude, I'll show you around, like hang out
with me. It was Dory and Phinney Smith and Dennis
were really tight, so it was like, you know, hang
out with me and Dodo. You know, like like Dennis
is like, dude, I don't even like Fortnite, but I'd
(25:46):
play it because that's what he wanted to do, right,
And so there was definitely like Rick tried to make
it about Luca. Dennis had no issues with Luca. Luca
had no issues with Dennis. Like the basketball fit, wasn't there.
But whatever they were fine. Rick tried to make it
about Luca when his Rick had a problem with Dennis
(26:09):
because he didn't believe in him, and you can, I
would say this, you can. You can definitely say hey,
Rick's player evaluation was on point, but his approach was
dead wrong, right, Yeah, And that meeting got worse and
worse and worse, to the point where Rick lost the
locker room. In that meeting again a week into Luca's career,
he cracked the foundation. Forget like that locker room, he
(26:31):
cracked the foundation and his relationship with Luca one week
into his career with that team meeting not great.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
I am curious, like this Kyrie Irving injury the MAVs
next year? Is there any world where they're a playoff
team next year? I mean it sounds like Kyrie's probably
out until the All Star break January at best.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
I don't know, Yeah, I mean his goal is to
get back at January. I think you've got to give
him some grace if he doesn't reach that goal. Coming
off of to warn acl at the age of thirty three,
you know he's going to miss somewhere around half the season.
And then you know, is he going to be like,
is it going to be back to himself at any
(27:11):
point next next season. It's asking a lot out of
a guy that age coming off of that sort of injury.
But look, is there a world where they're a playoff team. Yeah,
they've got to find a stop gap creator for sure.
And I don't you know, I'm just throwing this name
out off the top of my head. This isn't like
a source name, but like a guy like a Dennis
shrewder right, like a veteran who there might not be
(27:35):
a big free agency market for. But you know, hey,
if you put the ball in this guy's hands, like
he's going to be able to degenerate some offense, he's
going to be able to score. And you know, Niko's
thing is, you can't judge this yet because of the injuries.
I think you're gonna be able to say that in
the next year though, because Kyrie is such a huge
(27:56):
part of this thing, and how are you going to say, Hey,
you know, you get the full version of Kyrie Irving
coming off of torn acl that's going to cause him
to miss at least the first thirty or so games.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Not ideal for Dallas.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
Listen, if Anthony Davis can stay healthy, which is obviously
been if Derek LaVey can stay healthy, which has been
a challenge. I'm curious to see if Daniel Gafford is
back for the last year of his contract or if
there's maybe if he's the guy that's moved in the
summer trade market. But they will have a big, athletic,
defensive front court, you know, like I understand the vision,
(28:36):
but they've got to get a guard who can generate
offense in there.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
It's probably not super Max Christie. But although I like him,
I just don't know that he's the guy. Let me
ask you. You know, I don't want to try to
make this a thing, but Luca and Lebron did not
seem to be like a communicating a lot at the
end of the Minnesota series, the last two games during
the season.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
You know, my buddy, Yes he's a ticket. We would
go to games and you can watch.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
And they were like, I didn't totally see that, And
I wonder this is just speculation. Do you think there's
a world where Lebron is watching the film the way
Carlisle did and it's just like, man, this guy's out
of shape, he ain't boxing out, he's not getting back.
I just wonder Lebron, we know, is like a crazy
person when it comes to working out, massages, eating, right.
Do you think there could be friction over this?
Speaker 4 (29:23):
You know, I'm not around that. I have not been
around that team on a regular basis. I think I've
seen them play four games in person since the trade.
I just don't want to put myself in a position
where I'm speculating, Yeah, that kind of drama. You know.
The one thing I will say is Lebron since Luca's
(29:46):
rookie year, has been a huge fan of the guy's game.
Like there was a ton and and Luca grew up
like Lebron was his NBA idol. You know, if you
ask him his idol, I'll tell you this guy Vanilla Spinulas.
I believe I'm pronouncing that correctly, who's like this Earl
League legend and and Lebron James uh though, you know,
Lebron was the guy who he watched like the highlights
(30:07):
of and and you know all that stuff growing up
in Slovenia, and then when he went over to Spain,
and I know that Lebron very quickly kind of embraced
Luca as his peer in terms of talent. I mean,
one of the one of the chapter titles of my
book is a bad motherfucker. And that is a direct
(30:29):
quote from Lebron in a game very early in Luca's
second year, and it was a moment where Luca put
up bonkers numbers, Lebron put up bonkers numbers. The Lakers win,
but they're dapping each other up postgame. The ESPN cameras
caught it. Lebron said, you a bad motherfucker. And if
you know, if Lebron ain't just telling that to everybody,
you know, he's telling that to Luca at the age
(30:50):
of I believe Luca was still a teenager at the time.
So again, you know, there's there's definitely respect there in
terms of, you know, what Lebron has thought of Luca's
performance or Luca's conditioning or effort and all that. I
would just be guessing, and I don't want to put myself.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah, I only brought it up because Lebron's handpicked every
guy that he's his wingman throughout his career.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
He didn't hand pick this one, the best we can tell,
So I just.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
The other thing there is Lebron's the wingman? Now? Yes,
I mean, let's just be real, and that's no not Hey,
Lebron is going to be an All NBA player this
year at the age of forty, which is insane. It's insane.
But Luca is the guy who that franchise is going
to revolve around for the next decade or so.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yeah, when you approached Luca about the book, I'm curious,
how did he take it? Was he open to this,
did he want to meet with you a lot? Was
he just like, hey, do whatever, I'm not involved? Like,
how did that go down?
Speaker 4 (31:49):
I didn't approach him about it. Oh, and I didn't
anticipate any cooperation from him, And that was fine, you know.
And again that's why I didn't approach It's like some
pure biography one. I think it's premature for just a
buch Piana guy, right, But that's why I kind of
I tried to approach on the pressure on a franchise.
When you drafted Prodigy through the prism of Luca and
(32:12):
the Mavericks, and they're already this was a few years
ago that I started the project. There are already being
all kinds of twists and turns and drama and dysfunction
and chaos and success, and that obviously continued over the
next few years, but Luca didn't. He wasn't fond of it.
And actually when I went to Slovenia and then followed
(32:35):
his team his national team in Germany for group play
of Euroa Basket sumwhere twenty two, he didn't make out
eye contact with me the whole trip, which wasn't necessarily unusual.
Luca was, especially at that point, was not one who
and look, we butted heads Mavericks fans, I remember that, yeah,
(32:56):
and all that kind of silly stuff, but which is
fine now. He didn't once I talked to, you know,
to people in his camp, his agent, Bill Duffy, his
business manager Laura Beth Seger, and said, listen, I'm not
digging into like Luca's private life. For his personal life,
(33:17):
that's awful limits. This is a book about basketball in
the business of basketball. He at least was okay with it,
okay in the sense of like there wasn't like an
not that we never butted heads again, but like the
book wasn't like some big adversarial issue between us and
his voice is in their plenty. He never sat down
(33:38):
with me specifically for the book, but obviously I've covered
the guy's entire career, so his voice is in their plenty.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
And it seems like there's no sordid Luca off the
court stuff, Like Anthony Edwards is out here knocking up
all these Instagram influencers, and Zion's got whatever he's got
going on with adult film stars. But Lucas seems and again,
you know him way better. He seems like kind of
a clean cut dude who is easy to root for.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Maybe I would say Mavericks fans certainly found him easy
to root for. You know, I think the Lakers fans
are as well. Yeah, there's not Luca has not created
any sort of a scandal off the court. How yeah,
that I am comfortable saying.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
We could wrap up with this tim over under one
and a half titles for Luca in his NBA career.
We don't know what the injuries or how the body's
going to hold up into his thirties.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Probably won't be playing at forty like Lebron.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
But I'm just I think he's one of the best
players in the world, if not the best, although right
now that's tough to say.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
But I'll set it at one and a half.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
That's a good overrunner. I set the overrunner at his
MVPs at one and a half after his rookie year.
I would still take the over on that. Yeah, you know,
and again I think a lot of this does come
down to what kind of commitment year round, twenty four
hours a day, not just conditioning but diet lifestyle is
(35:00):
he willing to make. I think that his chances of
winning championships improved with his trade, and not immediately right. Obviously,
they have bounced in five games after to the finals
the year before. But it's not hard to attract talent
to play for the Lakers in LA, right, So for example,
(35:23):
they have a glaring void for a rim running, rim
protecting center. Those type of players are going to be
lining up trying to get to La to play with
Luca for the Lakers. So I would take the over. Obviously,
the Lakers franchise has a track record of being able
to win with these sort of generational talents. Somehow they're
(35:46):
able to keep getting these guys even when you know,
like just delivered to them. But yeah, I would still
take the over on that.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
You mentioned Gafford earlier, I'm looking at his contract, so
he's got one more year.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
I'm sure he would be itching.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
To get back with Luca as opposed to be like
the third Banana but behind lively ad.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
But I don't know how. I don't know how the
Lakers can get him.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
I mean, they're definitely pathways. The question is, would Nico
Harrison be willing to make another trade for the Lakers
that would really benefit uh? Luka doncis you would have
to obviously be a win win type of deal. But
you know, I'm that you mentioned and that's not the
first time that possibility has crossed my mind. By the way,
with Gaffer, Luca's been trying to recruit him to play
(36:30):
for the Slovenian national team. Wow. You know, you can
become a naturalized citizen. They can have one naturalized citizen.
It's always with Luca. It's always an American lob threat.
Hadn't been an NBA American lob threat, but they have been.
And Luca's dad, Sasha is now running the Slovenian uh
you know, like he's whatever. I forget the exact title
essential to GM for the Slovenian national program. They've been
(36:53):
trying to recruit gafferd to play with him there.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Wow, smart move by Luca.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
All Right, the book is The Wonder Boy Luca don
chuch in the Curse of Greatness.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
Tim, Hey, thanks a lot man for coming on.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
And uh, you know, hopefully I'll get invited to one
of your pickup games and show you what I got.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
You bet root for the Clippers. We'll definitely have a
run out there. I appreciate your brother,
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire, Bamp, It's me Jason McIntyre,
Straight Fire for Friday, May the second. This is a
great podcast today, folks, ladies and gentlemen. Oh boy, we
got a great guest, Tim McMahon, who wrote a book
recently on Luka Doncic.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
He stops by.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
The book is called The Wonder Boy, Luka Doncic and
the Curse of Greatness. Oh, my goodness, you want to
hear about dysfunction. Dysfunction. Thy name is Dallas. Oh, the
Mavericks are such a mess and they were leading up
to the Lucas trade.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
You're gonna love this U and Laker fans, you're gonna.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Want to listen a little bit closely as off season
speculation starts mighty quick. But before we get to Tim McMahon,
obviously I'll be hosting the Herd today should be a
little spicy. I've got some incendiary takes so hot you're
gonna melch your phone, kind of sort of like Jalen
Brunson's Clutchness. Folks, so you've heard the saying like Frank
(01:07):
Sinatra was born to sing, right, Jimmy Hendrix born to
play the guitar. Jalen Brunson born for clutch moments in
the NBA.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Does anyone deliver better than mister Clutch. Jalen Brunson the
clutch player of the Year in the NBA this season,
Totally dominant when it matters most. And the Knicks were
down seven with about two thirty five left, and of
course Jalen Brunson scores eight points in the final two
thirty five. They storm back with an eleven to one run.
(01:38):
Fascinating drama in Detroit, a great game and the best
part about this even if you don't like the Knicks,
you don't like Brunson, which is very hard to do.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Bruns is so likable.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Jalen Brunson was getting flogged all series long in Detroit.
The crowd was called I mean, they were getting nasty
with him, the cuss words and stuff. That's fine, But
then it was Channing Flopper at runs in and there
was one that he tried to draw the foul it
was overturned on a replay, and the crowd went nuts.
They were getting on Brunson's case, and then he in
(02:08):
a move that listen if you want to call this
up on YouTube. You tell me that these aren't carbon copies.
Michael Jordan discarding Byron Russell with the pushoff in the
NBA Finals in ninety eight in Utah for the game winner.
Pretty sure it was ninety eight. And then you look
at Jalen Brunson discard on sar Thompson to get the
(02:30):
separation and splash the game winning three. Folks, it was
almost identical, except, of course Brunston hit a three. But
the beauty of it, the crowd had been getting on
Brunson's case. He turns to the crowd, pulls the you know,
the three fingers for the three pointer, and then blows
kisses to them. It was spectacular theater. Nicks win the
series for two, advanced to play the Celtics, and listen, man,
(02:52):
this is a tall order, but we're gonna for a moment,
we're gonna just enjoy the Knicks win. Jalen Brunson averaging
in these playoffs, I know, it's only six games, averaging
thirteen points in the first quarter, in the fourth quarter,
averaging thirteen points in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
How clutch is that?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Who's better than him when it matters? As you know,
who could have used him, the friggin' Lakers who could
not score at the end of games against Minnesota orget
stops and Brunson was just everywhere. Now, I will say this,
Bigger Staff, I thought, did a tremendous job for Detroit
this series. My one issue was he would toggle between
a sar Thompson who's a great defender but not much offensively,
(03:30):
although he had a good Game five in New York,
and Dennis Schreuder. Now he I don't know why they
didn't consider playing all three of them, but I guess
for shooting purposes, they need another another shooter out there,
whether it was Hardaway or Beasley. But onsar Thompson had
held Jalen Brunston in total check. He stripped it and
(03:50):
forced a twenty four second shot clock violation. Brunston started
the fourth two for ten okay, But with about five
minutes left, I mean, Bigger Staff's gonna have to answer this.
He pulls on sar Thompson and insert shooter for offense,
and you know that's gonna be a heavily scrutinized move.
(04:10):
And of course, instantly Brunson just goes right at Dennis
shooter who's you know. Dennis Shooter is an assassin, He's
a hired gun. He's played on like fifteen teams in
the last like nine years, and he could get buckets
by the way as a teas Tim McMahon, I think
it was Tim McMahon speculated that maybe Dennis Shooter could
(04:30):
be the kind of guy who goes on, say the
Dallas Mavericks next year. They're gonna need somebody to get
buckets without Kyrie. It's an interesting point. You should at
least take a listen. But Shooter is just not known
as a defender. He just really doesn't defend. And Jalen
Brunson cooked him when it mattered most, and then Brunson
(04:51):
was so hot at the end he just decided, I'm
not worried about on Star Thompson and just gave it
back to It was tremendous reader Nick's eleven to one
run to end the game. Cad Cunningham. Listen, man, he's
going to be a special player. You gotta build aroun him.
You gotta get reliable shooters. Hard Away and Beasley way
too streaky for my liking. Cad twenty three, eight and seven,
but oh for eight on three pointers, badly bricked a
(05:13):
lefty layup in a tie game which set the stage
for Brunson's game winner. But just an incredible series this game,
I mean, every game was close. And I did have
a buddy text me, why is nobody giving the Knicks
a chance against the Celtics? Because I don't know that
Detroit's that good. They're just a plucky team that matched
up well with the next. Playoffs are all about matchups,
(05:35):
and it's Celtics is a much taller order. I will
say this, if I opened it up, who had the
better call? Mike Breen with a double bang on the
Brunson game winner, or wait for it, I an eagle
with the Brunson burner ignited. Oh come on, who didn't
(05:55):
love a good Bunsen burner back in? Was it Earth
science and middle high school, high school or science? Yeah,
Bunsen Berner incredible stuff. Jalen Brunson man, you gotta love that.
I don't know how anybody doesn't like him. He's so likable.
I mean all he does is win everywhere he goes.
Villanova High School, Dallas. They got to the conference finals
and then Dallas butchered it. And now he's with the
(06:16):
Knickson man.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
What a player?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
All right, Without further ado, let's get to our guest,
Tim McMahon of ESPN. He wrote a book on Luka
Doncic called The Wonder Boy.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live. You know a guy, Jason likes to think
he knows everything when it comes to sports.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I know what sports fans.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Want, but for everything he doesn't. He knows a guy
who does.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows the
guy who knows another guy.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
All right, let's welcome a special guest to straight fire
first timer. Anytime we get a real hooper, a guy
who actually plays, you gotta do it. And oh, by
the way, he wrote a book on Luca Dodgic, The
Wonder Boy, Luka Doncic and the Curse of Greatness.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Tim McMahon, how are you man.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Howdie partner, I did write a book that is true.
Real hooper is a bit of a stretch. I get
out there and kind of trot up and down the
court every once in a while, but what I'm doing
at this age ain't real hoop, and that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Okay, Well, you know, if there's a media game out
here for if the Clippers survived the Nuggets, you know,
and Dave McManamon gets in in the game, Hey, you
gotta do the tenth.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
I'm in. I'll just show up any time. Just fire
from deep.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
It's fun. Yeah, mcminnimhon is kind of like the Lakers.
Is not a lot of defense there.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Ouch, we'll get to the Lakers collapse obviously. But I'm
curious about the book. I did see a funny recap
that essentially you had finished the book and then the
trade happens. I mean, what do you remember where you
were obviously when that went down.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Yeah, I was in Cleveland. I'd actually had traveled from
San Francisco to Cleveland, so I was meeting the Mavericks
on that part of the road trip, and so I
just happened to be in the right spot. But I
was just about to go to bed, was a little
bit after midnight in Cleveland, and yeah, sure enough my
life changed just a little bit there. And yeah, so
(08:19):
the first print run had already happened, obviously, I'm reporting
that night, you know, we're recording emergency podcast on Sports Center,
all those kind of things. But within the first hour
and a half or so, I'd emailed people with the
publishing company and my book agent basically said hey, we
got to talk, we got to figure something out, and
(08:40):
I was able to write a final chapter explaining it
just how the hell they went for because the whole
books about the pressure on a franchise when you draft
a prodigy and build it or you're putting yourself in
danger of losing them. Right, they managed to make their
way through all that, despite all kinds of crazy missteps
and just chaos and drama and dysfunctioned the organization. They
(09:04):
went to the finals and then they dumped him months later,
so they're definitely another chapter was necessary. Yeah, the previous
ending was upbeat. I mean, the hell they just went
to the finals. Yeah, And so people who buy the
books that don't have that final chapter, you can go
to my x account. There's a link that's pinned to
the top. Well, you'll get the things sent to you PDF,
and then it's in the audiobook. It's in the uh,
(09:25):
you know, if you're a Kindle reader and all that.
But little plot twist at the end.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, just a just a small one. It's been a
wild ride for you with the MAVs. So you obviously
have a history with Mark Cuban. You know, you report
tough stuff, and you know Cuban revoked your credentials.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Jason Kidd has called you out.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I mean, I don't want to say it's a badge
of honor, but you know it means you're doing something right.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Obviously, how would you characterize the MAVs organization going from
Cuban to the new ownership and then Nico Harrison, So.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
You know, Nico was hired by Cuban, and then once
the new owners came in, Nico did a very effective
job of boxing out Cuban, certainly much better than the
Lakers did against Ruby Gobert last night. Completely boxed Cuban
out of basketball operations. Where you know, when Cuban sold
the franchise and then he's still in his twenty seven percent,
(10:18):
but when he gave up the majority control, the controlling
share of the franchise, he told everybody who would listen, hey,
I'm still in charge of basketball operations. There was never
any language like that in the contract there was not
language like that removed from the contract. I was told
there was language removed that Basie said he would allow
to be allowed to continue to be involved, but nothing
(10:39):
about control. I don't know if Cuban was trying to
speak it into existence or bully his way into it happening,
or just you know, flat out not telling the truth,
which he'll do from time to time. But he went
from running the show to having no more juice than
any other court side season ticket holder, just like that.
(10:59):
And Nico successfully convinced Patrick Dumont, you know, the new governor,
kind of the face of the new ownership group, that hey,
I know what I'm doing. You know, I got us
to the finals last year. Listen to me. My voice
is all you need to hear. And I would say
that that completely backfired on the Mavericks and Patrick Dumont
(11:23):
now has realized there needs to be checks and balances,
you know. Nico Harrison, I believe will have at least
one more year as the Mavericks general manager. I would
say that the seat has gotten warm at least. And
the in Nico we trust era was very brief.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, let's be real, Tim, he got a little lucky.
The trade for Kyrie did not work out. Initially they
had to tank to keep their pick, but then it
turned into lively.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
He trades for PJ.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Washington and Gaffert and those all hit and they go
to the finals. So he looks like a genius and
now he kind of looks like a dope. But there
are segments of the Twitter whatever that's called that are like, hey, man,
Nico was right, Luca doesn't play.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
D but like, I'm not buying that crap. I'm just curious.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
How ugly did it get for Luca and Nico in
the weeks leading up to the end.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
For Luca, Yeah, and I certainly cover this sum in
that final chapter. Also wrote about it recently on ESPN
dot com. Their relationship at best was frigid, and you know,
it goes. It really does go back to You can
say the root of it was Luca's conditioning concerns, and
if you're looking at from Nico's perspective, you could say
(12:34):
that caused Nico to make some of the personnel decisions
he made with behind the scenes staffers. But he ran
out people that Luca knew, liked, trusted, and respected. And
these are people who were with Luca the entire time
he was in Dallas, helped him make this massive cultural transition.
(12:55):
And you know, again it's not people that are household names,
but Casey Smith and their Health and Performance Group. One
of the most respected people in the athletic training industry,
you know, it was is now with the New York
Knicks running their group. Jeremy holsopple of you know, a
guy who won the NBA Strength Coach of the Year
award a few years ago. Casey Spangler, you know, a
(13:17):
massage therapist in our In a related move, it was
his decision, but Scott Tomlin, their longtime VP in charge
of the PR group, he left to go work for
Dirk Kavinski. By the way, Dirk the way that Casey
Smith got fired. That led to Dirk basically saying, I
don't want anything to do with this organization, Like I'm
not going to baden out them, but I'm not going
to be involved. And he's done for the time being
(13:40):
as far as being any sort of ambassador for the
matter Ficks. So Nico really kind of isolated Luca and
made it an adversarial situation with Luca's quote unquote body team.
Uh and and the MAVs staffers that you know, Nico's
guys is the way that they are perceived, uh within
(14:00):
the building and certainly by Luca and Luca's camp, and
it led to a lot of friction. It led to,
you know, a lot of I would say passive aggressiveness
more than anything. It's not like they were yelling and
screaming in each other's face. Luca just wasn't really speaking
to Nico, and the communication between Nico and his hires
(14:22):
and Luca's camp was tense, was usually unproductive. Having said
all that, Luca fully planned as sign the super Maxis summer,
he fully planned to spend the rest of his career
in Dallas. You know, I can't say this with one
hundred percent certainty, but my educated guess is Luca felt like,
I'll be here a lot longer than Nico will be. Yeah,
(14:44):
and he was wrong.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
So we see this in politics, music, high level NBA players.
Everybody surrounds himself with yes, men, don't tell me what
I don't want to hear. Right, it sounds like the
way Nico was gutting all of Dirk'sky's Cubans guys because
guys that he just wanted his own people there.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Hey, I know Kyrie from back in the day.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I know a d Let me get in these known
quantities who aren't going to really challenge you.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Would you say that's a fair assumption for Nico.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
That's certainly the perception within the building, and that's absolutely
the perception from Luca's camp, you know, and you look
the way that Nico has built this roster. There definitely
is a tendency towards going with guys, with players who
he has known since they were teenagers. His relation and
you know, Nico, for people who don't know, long time
(15:33):
Nike executive was the VP run of North American basketball
operations for Nike for years and so it was very
involved with the grassroots basketball scene. And he had relationship
with Kyrie dating back to when Kyrie was a teenager.
Same thing with PJ. Washington, same thing with Anthony Davis.
And look, I think if you are evaluating the job
(15:54):
that Nico has done as a general manager of the Mavericks,
one's buddy before Cuban sold the control and share it
because Cuban was the general manager, right and how you
know which decisions were Nico's? Did Nico really have Saya,
which weren't you know that that gets pretty dicey. But
he did succeed in building a finals team around Luka Doncic.
(16:19):
That was the mission to build a contender around Luca.
He succeeded in that right up until beginning of February
this year. I think you would have to give Nico
credit and say, hey, this has been a success. He's
done what he was brought in here to do. But
the logic of this deal really falls apart in a
(16:40):
lot of different ways. And the one that I just
I've asked Nico, I pressed Niko on and he just
goes back to defense wins championships, which doesn't explain his
decision is in building this team around Luca that went
to the finals before he hit his prime, you gave
up your draft capital, either outright or via swaps seven,
(17:01):
nine and thirty. You put together a team that, in
Nico's own words, has a three to four year time
frame that runs right to when the credit card bills due,
and then you're screwed. And I've asked him for his
logic on that, how that's in the long term best interest,
and again he just goes back to defense wins championships.
In his mind, he put together a championship calber team.
(17:24):
We saw it for two and a half quarters, as
he says, which yeah, they look great for two and
a half quarters for its rockets. But it's a hard sell,
especially for the fans. Look, there's obviously emotional attachment to Luca,
and that goes back to taking the torch from Dirk
and all that. But these fans also just watched Luca
take this team, this franchise to a finals last year.
(17:47):
So it's a hard sell to tell them he did
it at twenty five, he can't do it again for
the rest of his career.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
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Speaker 2 (18:06):
We'll get to Luca and maybe Fat Luca with the Lakers.
But I am curious you watched him his entire career
in Dallas, Like I saw a stat that he only
had two dunks this season, whereas he had like thirty
nine last year or whatever the number was. I guess
there's no other way to ask us, Like, what's the
deal with the weight game.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Well, and look that it's not new, right. I mean,
if you go back to the pre draft concerns, how
the hell did three teams pass on this guy? You're
kidding me? You know, euro League MVP, your League Final
four MVP, the most accomplished team prospect in European history,
if not international basketball history. The conditioning concerns have existed.
(18:47):
They existed then, and they've continued throughout the course of
his career. Those have been constant. At the same time,
he's been a five time first team All NBA selection. Yeah,
it his prime. At the same time, the guy averaged
thirty four to ten and nine for a team that
went to the finals last year. So, uh, you know,
he was never a high flyer, you know, he and
(19:11):
he's he is a highlight machine despite the fact that
he's not a high flyer. But the condition is absolutely
a concern. Yeah, and it has been it continues to be.
I think it's been. It's tough to tell a guy
because the thing about it, he came in his rookie year.
He's putting up teenage numbers. You know, nobody else that
(19:33):
age either than Lebron It put up those kind of numbers.
The very next year before he can buy a beer
legally in America. He's an MVP candidate. And that's continued,
you know, right up until this year, you know, which
is the first time that he's had really extended injury absences.
So it's been hard to say, dude, your way is
not working because it did work. Now is there more
(19:57):
meat on the bone, so to speak? Like is there
more potential to be had? Yeah? There is. And it
does get back to that conditioning. And look, if he's
not going to really buy and there's been there's been times,
there's been a summer here, summer there where he has
really committed to it. If he's not going to do
that on a regular basis after being slapped in the
(20:18):
face by this trade and this first round exit, then
you know he probably never will. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
I mean you remember Shack had weight issues with the Lakers.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Kobe would get on his case about coming to camp
out of shape. I am curious, and you're reporting on
Luca's background. You know, there's no deft way to ask this,
but like, does he come from a big boned family
or is everybody overweight? Like I it does feel like
when you look at highlights, remember the Clippers when he
would just destroy them in the first round by himself
and they would lose in six or seven.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
He was it looked like twenty pounds later.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
No, yeah, no, he's definitely he's definitely beefed up since
early in his career he was listed to thirty as
a rookie. I don't think he was ever maybe he
was two thirty five, I've been sure about that. His weight,
he plays often in the two fifties, sometimes in the
two sixties. The two sixties is when it really gets alarment.
(21:12):
But yeah, his dad, who is a you know, Slovenian
basketball His dad's kind of the Charles Barkley at Slovenia.
Just to just to give you an idea where he
was a multi time all star in the Agiodical League,
which is you know, which is their league over there.
But you know, he's a guy who if you talk
to people in the Slovenian basketball circus, they are like, yeah,
(21:33):
he was really good man. He could have been a
lot better, you know. And it's the same thing like
the guy likes to eat, you know, he liked it.
Like the way I put it in the book is
he's a guy Sasha as his dad, a big, gregarious
personality like Barkley, but he's he's a guy who everybody
in Slovenia wants to have a beer with or you know,
(21:54):
or a glass of wine. And a great many have succeeded,
you know, like he had a pub down by the
Lubiana train station late in his career, and he would
have magging injuries that would cause him to miss road
trips and it wouldn't be hard to find. So but
and his dad is a you know, like he's a
big framed guy. And again like there were conditioning concerns
(22:19):
with him throughout the course of his career. It's been
the same thing with Luca. Now. I will say part
of Luca's, part of the reason he's been able to
be so dominant is because of that big body. Because
I mean he's a strong dude. Like as much as
you'd like him to commit to conditioning more than he does.
(22:41):
If you ask guys who've been in the weight room
with him, or ask like the math strength and conditioning coaches,
like what's Luca like in the weight room? As far
as like the leg strength. I mean, he is top
of the charts and he moves people. He's hard. One
reason he's so damn hard to guard is because he's
stronger than pretty much every defender in the league. And
he can you know, he can move him where he
(23:03):
wants him to go. Now, to forty five, he could
do that. You know, that'd be a great way for him.
If Luca really commits and gets himself from peak shape,
he's probably going to be to forty five. And he
plays in the two fifties on a regular basis, it's
gotten up into the two sixties, in the high two sixties,
I was told earlier this year.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
So it's like defensive end.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Well, what I would always say is there's certainly been
times he looks more like a pulling guard for the
Dallas Cowboys in a point guard for the Dallas Mavericks.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
See that's harsh.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
So I happened hoop with a guy out here in
LA who knows Rick Carlisle a little bit. And apparently
during Luca's first year was Dennis Smith there his.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
First year lucas for the first half.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, so apparently there was some major major beef between
Carlisle and Smith, and it was about Luka Dancic. Do
you cover any of that in the book or what
went down between those guys.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
I get into a lot of it, and I would
push back on it being about Luka doncic Oh. It
was about Rick Cardisle did not believe in Dennis Smith
Junior understood it was something that you know, that was
something Rick was out on Dennis by midway through Dennis's
rookie year, you know, when the MAVs were tanking to
try to get Luke and all that. But Ricky decided
this guy is not a not only is he not
(24:20):
a franchise player, like, he's not a player that I want,
and I get into a meeting. It was literally one
week into Luca's career. They were two and two at
the time, but they'd just blown a twenty six point
lead in Atlanta and you know, terrible loss TNT game
Luca versus Tree Young, you know, right behind it, get
(24:41):
on the plane, they go to Toronto. They've got a game.
A couple days later. It's just your typical next day
film session team meeting in the Ritz Carlton Ballroom in Toronto.
And Rick is just furious, and he's like just getting
madder and madder and madder, and like you can see
the veins popping out of his forehead and you know,
through his bald head. And that was the meeting where
(25:04):
he called Dennis Smith Junior out in front of the
whole team you're jealous of Luca, and Dennis is like, bro,
and like he looked literally he looks at Luca. He's like,
are we good? Luca's like yeah, like the basketball fit,
they were a bad basketball fit. Yeah yeah, But Dennis
was not, like he was trying to be like a
(25:25):
good teammate and a friend. Man. There's still buddies to
this day. Like Dennis came to Luca's first press conference.
You know, they lived in the same building, and Dennis
is like, dude, I'll show you around, like hang out
with me. It was Dory and Phinney Smith and Dennis
were really tight, so it was like, you know, hang
out with me and Dodo. You know, like like Dennis
is like, dude, I don't even like Fortnite, but I'd
(25:46):
play it because that's what he wanted to do, right,
And so there was definitely like Rick tried to make
it about Luca. Dennis had no issues with Luca. Luca
had no issues with Dennis. Like the basketball fit, wasn't there.
But whatever they were fine. Rick tried to make it
about Luca when his Rick had a problem with Dennis
(26:09):
because he didn't believe in him, and you can, I
would say this, you can. You can definitely say hey,
Rick's player evaluation was on point, but his approach was
dead wrong, right, Yeah, And that meeting got worse and
worse and worse, to the point where Rick lost the
locker room. In that meeting again a week into Luca's career,
he cracked the foundation. Forget like that locker room, he
(26:31):
cracked the foundation and his relationship with Luca one week
into his career with that team meeting not great.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
I am curious, like this Kyrie Irving injury the MAVs
next year? Is there any world where they're a playoff
team next year? I mean it sounds like Kyrie's probably
out until the All Star break January at best.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
I don't know, Yeah, I mean his goal is to
get back at January. I think you've got to give
him some grace if he doesn't reach that goal. Coming
off of to warn acl at the age of thirty three,
you know he's going to miss somewhere around half the season.
And then you know, is he going to be like,
is it going to be back to himself at any
(27:11):
point next next season. It's asking a lot out of
a guy that age coming off of that sort of injury.
But look, is there a world where they're a playoff team. Yeah,
they've got to find a stop gap creator for sure.
And I don't you know, I'm just throwing this name
out off the top of my head. This isn't like
a source name, but like a guy like a Dennis
shrewder right, like a veteran who there might not be
(27:35):
a big free agency market for. But you know, hey,
if you put the ball in this guy's hands, like
he's going to be able to degenerate some offense, he's
going to be able to score. And you know, Niko's
thing is, you can't judge this yet because of the injuries.
I think you're gonna be able to say that in
the next year though, because Kyrie is such a huge
(27:56):
part of this thing, and how are you going to say, Hey,
you know, you get the full version of Kyrie Irving
coming off of torn acl that's going to cause him
to miss at least the first thirty or so games.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Not ideal for Dallas.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
Listen, if Anthony Davis can stay healthy, which is obviously
been if Derek LaVey can stay healthy, which has been
a challenge. I'm curious to see if Daniel Gafford is
back for the last year of his contract or if
there's maybe if he's the guy that's moved in the
summer trade market. But they will have a big, athletic,
defensive front court, you know, like I understand the vision,
(28:36):
but they've got to get a guard who can generate
offense in there.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
It's probably not super Max Christie. But although I like him,
I just don't know that he's the guy. Let me
ask you. You know, I don't want to try to
make this a thing, but Luca and Lebron did not
seem to be like a communicating a lot at the
end of the Minnesota series, the last two games during
the season.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
You know, my buddy, Yes he's a ticket. We would
go to games and you can watch.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
And they were like, I didn't totally see that, And
I wonder this is just speculation. Do you think there's
a world where Lebron is watching the film the way
Carlisle did and it's just like, man, this guy's out
of shape, he ain't boxing out, he's not getting back.
I just wonder Lebron, we know, is like a crazy
person when it comes to working out, massages, eating, right.
Do you think there could be friction over this?
Speaker 4 (29:23):
You know, I'm not around that. I have not been
around that team on a regular basis. I think I've
seen them play four games in person since the trade.
I just don't want to put myself in a position
where I'm speculating, Yeah, that kind of drama. You know.
The one thing I will say is Lebron since Luca's
(29:46):
rookie year, has been a huge fan of the guy's game.
Like there was a ton and and Luca grew up
like Lebron was his NBA idol. You know, if you
ask him his idol, I'll tell you this guy Vanilla Spinulas.
I believe I'm pronouncing that correctly, who's like this Earl
League legend and and Lebron James uh though, you know,
Lebron was the guy who he watched like the highlights
(30:07):
of and and you know all that stuff growing up
in Slovenia, and then when he went over to Spain,
and I know that Lebron very quickly kind of embraced
Luca as his peer in terms of talent. I mean,
one of the one of the chapter titles of my
book is a bad motherfucker. And that is a direct
(30:29):
quote from Lebron in a game very early in Luca's
second year, and it was a moment where Luca put
up bonkers numbers, Lebron put up bonkers numbers. The Lakers win,
but they're dapping each other up postgame. The ESPN cameras
caught it. Lebron said, you a bad motherfucker. And if
you know, if Lebron ain't just telling that to everybody,
you know, he's telling that to Luca at the age
(30:50):
of I believe Luca was still a teenager at the time.
So again, you know, there's there's definitely respect there in
terms of, you know, what Lebron has thought of Luca's
performance or Luca's conditioning or effort and all that. I
would just be guessing, and I don't want to put myself.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah, I only brought it up because Lebron's handpicked every
guy that he's his wingman throughout his career.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
He didn't hand pick this one, the best we can tell,
So I just.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
The other thing there is Lebron's the wingman? Now? Yes,
I mean, let's just be real, and that's no not Hey,
Lebron is going to be an All NBA player this
year at the age of forty, which is insane. It's insane.
But Luca is the guy who that franchise is going
to revolve around for the next decade or so.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yeah, when you approached Luca about the book, I'm curious,
how did he take it? Was he open to this,
did he want to meet with you a lot? Was
he just like, hey, do whatever, I'm not involved? Like,
how did that go down?
Speaker 4 (31:49):
I didn't approach him about it. Oh, and I didn't
anticipate any cooperation from him, And that was fine, you know.
And again that's why I didn't approach It's like some
pure biography one. I think it's premature for just a
buch Piana guy, right, But that's why I kind of
I tried to approach on the pressure on a franchise.
When you drafted Prodigy through the prism of Luca and
(32:12):
the Mavericks, and they're already this was a few years
ago that I started the project. There are already being
all kinds of twists and turns and drama and dysfunction
and chaos and success, and that obviously continued over the
next few years, but Luca didn't. He wasn't fond of it.
And actually when I went to Slovenia and then followed
(32:35):
his team his national team in Germany for group play
of Euroa Basket sumwhere twenty two, he didn't make out
eye contact with me the whole trip, which wasn't necessarily unusual.
Luca was, especially at that point, was not one who
and look, we butted heads Mavericks fans, I remember that, yeah,
(32:56):
and all that kind of silly stuff, but which is
fine now. He didn't once I talked to, you know,
to people in his camp, his agent, Bill Duffy, his
business manager Laura Beth Seger, and said, listen, I'm not
digging into like Luca's private life. For his personal life,
(33:17):
that's awful limits. This is a book about basketball in
the business of basketball. He at least was okay with it,
okay in the sense of like there wasn't like an
not that we never butted heads again, but like the
book wasn't like some big adversarial issue between us and
his voice is in their plenty. He never sat down
(33:38):
with me specifically for the book, but obviously I've covered
the guy's entire career, so his voice is in their plenty.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
And it seems like there's no sordid Luca off the
court stuff, Like Anthony Edwards is out here knocking up
all these Instagram influencers, and Zion's got whatever he's got
going on with adult film stars. But Lucas seems and again,
you know him way better. He seems like kind of
a clean cut dude who is easy to root for.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Maybe I would say Mavericks fans certainly found him easy
to root for. You know, I think the Lakers fans
are as well. Yeah, there's not Luca has not created
any sort of a scandal off the court. How yeah,
that I am comfortable saying.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
We could wrap up with this tim over under one
and a half titles for Luca in his NBA career.
We don't know what the injuries or how the body's
going to hold up into his thirties.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Probably won't be playing at forty like Lebron.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
But I'm just I think he's one of the best
players in the world, if not the best, although right
now that's tough to say.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
But I'll set it at one and a half.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
That's a good overrunner. I set the overrunner at his
MVPs at one and a half after his rookie year.
I would still take the over on that. Yeah, you know,
and again I think a lot of this does come
down to what kind of commitment year round, twenty four
hours a day, not just conditioning but diet lifestyle is
(35:00):
he willing to make. I think that his chances of
winning championships improved with his trade, and not immediately right. Obviously,
they have bounced in five games after to the finals
the year before. But it's not hard to attract talent
to play for the Lakers in LA, right, So for example,
(35:23):
they have a glaring void for a rim running, rim
protecting center. Those type of players are going to be
lining up trying to get to La to play with
Luca for the Lakers. So I would take the over. Obviously,
the Lakers franchise has a track record of being able
to win with these sort of generational talents. Somehow they're
(35:46):
able to keep getting these guys even when you know,
like just delivered to them. But yeah, I would still
take the over on that.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
You mentioned Gafford earlier, I'm looking at his contract, so
he's got one more year.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
I'm sure he would be itching.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
To get back with Luca as opposed to be like
the third Banana but behind lively ad.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
But I don't know how. I don't know how the
Lakers can get him.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
I mean, they're definitely pathways. The question is, would Nico
Harrison be willing to make another trade for the Lakers
that would really benefit uh? Luka doncis you would have
to obviously be a win win type of deal. But
you know, I'm that you mentioned and that's not the
first time that possibility has crossed my mind. By the way,
with Gaffer, Luca's been trying to recruit him to play
(36:30):
for the Slovenian national team. Wow. You know, you can
become a naturalized citizen. They can have one naturalized citizen.
It's always with Luca. It's always an American lob threat.
Hadn't been an NBA American lob threat, but they have been.
And Luca's dad, Sasha is now running the Slovenian uh
you know, like he's whatever. I forget the exact title
essential to GM for the Slovenian national program. They've been
(36:53):
trying to recruit gafferd to play with him there.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Wow, smart move by Luca.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
All Right, the book is The Wonder Boy Luca don
chuch in the Curse of Greatness.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
Tim, Hey, thanks a lot man for coming on.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
And uh, you know, hopefully I'll get invited to one
of your pickup games and show you what I got.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
You bet root for the Clippers. We'll definitely have a
run out there. I appreciate your brother,
Fox Sports Radio News
Host
Jonas Knox
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