May 23, 2024 • 34 mins
Super Producer Rob G is in for Chris, and he and Rob debate whether The Ringer slighted Luka Doncic by playing him fourth on their Top 25 Under 25 in the NBA. Later, Chris and Rob tell us how NBA networks should handle the impending dissolution of Inside the NBA on TNT. Plus, actor, singer and Boston Celtics super fan Donnie Wahlberg swings by to discuss the Celtics’ thrilling Game 1 win over the Indiana Pacers, the narrative that the Celtics have been underwhelming so far in these playoffs, why Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown might actually be under appreciated, his expectations for the team the rest of the season and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
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Speaker 2 (00:12):
Find your local station for The Odd.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
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Speaker 3 (00:22):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Brusson and Ron Harker.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
First, rob G, you just heard Manti with the All
NBA teams. No shakra that four of the five and
the first team foreign players, right, Jason Tatum was the
only American holding it down. I know, my god. But
rob G, you want to go over and Luca? What
(00:50):
is that five years in a row.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Yeah, Luca missed the unanimous by one vote. So Shay
and Jokis we're both unanimous First Team. Luca missed it
by one. I don't know how that's pot how you
could vote not vote Luca first team all that's surprising. Yeah,
but now with his fifth first Team All NBA selection
at the age of twenty five, he now has more
(01:12):
First Team All NBA nods. Then get this, rob These
are like Hall of Famers, Dirk KG, Chris Paul, Steph Curry,
Steve Nash, Alan Iverson, the Joker Westbrook, Tracy McGrady, Dwayne Wade.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
That's pretty impressive. That's an impressive list, no doubt about it.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
And yet Rob, with all of that in mind, historically
often one of the greatest stars we've ever seen for
an NBA basketball player. The folks at the ring are
who mostly do good stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Are you saying that didn't do good stuffs your opinion?
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Yeah, exactly, That's exactly what I'm saying. If I disagree
with him, it's it's bad content. They put out a
list of the top twenty five players under twenty five
in the NBA, and they did under this framework, what
if you done in the past, what are you currently doing,
and what will you.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Do and what.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Will you do in the future.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
And for whatever reason, Luka Doncic, who is only twenty
five and just came off averaging thirty forty.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Nine, he's an old twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Five, came in at number four on their list, number one.
Going order here, Victor winn Banyama number two, Anthony Edwards
number three, Shay Gilges, Alexander number four, Luka Donji's rounding
out the top five, number five.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Tyres Alibert, All right, well you got an issue with that.
What is so bad about that being in the top four?
What do you want to do? So he should be
three or two, like we should be number one.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
No, we should not rob Everybody else in the top
of that list ahead of him has potential, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
But they got other things. They got youth on their side,
and I know he's twenty.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Five, but none of them have the same skins on
the wall that Luka Danci tak.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, but I do believe. And Eddie House we hadn't talked.
He backed me up as soon as he heard the
same thing.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
What he say.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
He was talking about the ceiling and whether or not
those other guys who were just getting started have bigger,
higher ceilings than he does. We Luca might have plateaued,
and I'm a hell of a plateau It's Mount Everest.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I did it. It's Mount Ever.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
But there's also stuff like he's always banged up, he
doesn't always look like he's in the best shape.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Now he's dowey. Yeah, he's dowey.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I mean, if you were close to him and you
were at a game and you have great seats and
he walked by you, you just might stick your finger
in his stomach.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
You just, oh my god, oh no, you just might.
Is that fair? I?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yes, And I just think that they're way more excited
about these younger wemby How old.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Is he twenty?
Speaker 4 (04:05):
But his is all off potential?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
No, I get it, I had a great year. He
only played twenty eight minutes. I get he won defensive Player.
He lost all these games.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
You weren't you the guy who said the lot of the
eighteen in a row got be that good? But now
you're like, hey, all the potential.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Though on that because of it says what you're doing
now you know, and the and the future, and it's not.
And I think you're right, Like we've seen what Luca
has done and you expect kind of the same. These
other guys could be off the chart. When you start
talking about ant Man being twenty two and even mentioning
(04:39):
with Michael Jordan, whether it's legit or not, sure, it
tells you about what expectations people have.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Is that fair? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:47):
But like what they could be. And we talked about
this earlier before the show.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
But the one like he's in the top he was
number ten, he's not four, right, So with that that
he had work specific because that SGA is also twenty five.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
So even though he's kind of a late bloomer, I
think to say that he has more upside than than
Luca is a little bit disingenuoscausey at the same age,
it just so happens that Luca's been great out of
the gay and SGA has been like a steady rise
up the up there.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Right, and then this year to take that team he
was great.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
He was not there for MVP so and not to
take away from him, he was not, but he just
does not have just wastly that in there. He doesn't
have the same resume that Luca had. And with Anthony Edwards,
I like at the Edwards I think he's gonna be
a great player. He could be on that short list
of faces of the NBA once the Lebron steph kd
era is officially closed. We're kind of at the very
(05:35):
very very tail end of it right now. It could
be ending any minute now. But Anthony Edwards is getting
a lot of credit at rightfu Leazo for what he
did against Minnesota and against Phoenix. He was fantastic. You know,
that Game six performance that he had where they won
by forty five. He was great. But they're making it
seem like we've never seen this before, like we've never
(05:56):
seen a twenty two year old, you know, take the
bull by the horns and kind of announced his arrival
to the NBA.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I agree with that. Jason Tatum did the exact same thing. No,
I agree, And I think we are caught up in
this sports world that we're in now, prisoner of the moment.
Everything that happened yesterday is the greatest thing that ever happened, Rob.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
You know that there's no context.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
That's why Chris and I are always trying to tell
people to pump the brakes, stop with the uh, you know,
everything is great and oh my god, this guy is
that guy and he's better than Jordan and he's better
than this guy bad.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Just relax, give people a chance. Uh two.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Have a body of work and not off of one
series or anything.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And that's why I think that that this thing.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Here, if this was about uh, if this, if this
Ringer story right and and and list, Rob G was
about just what you've done, then obviously Luca would be higher, right,
But it's a projection and and and and with the
spense of projection, you want to be able to put
(07:07):
some fresh faces and say this guy is a chance
to be that you. And I think that's why Luca
not out of disrespect, because if it was not in
the top ten, then you gotta I.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Got an argument with you, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Number four is not like they're not looking at you
or look in that same way. It's just that they
think these other three guys have a bigger upside. And
we've seen Luca and maybe he has plateau. It's possible.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
In the in the article they explained the reasonings for
they call reason for doubt, so the reason why maybe
you wouldn't be as high on him as some other people.
They mentioned, you know that he also has like a
kind of a pensulance when it comes to officiating. He's
always complaining he's very hot.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
It's it's it's annoying.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Right, it really is serious, like right, like every play,
like every play.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
And and they mentioned that his style of play is,
you know, kind of grating. And this is something Chris
talked about when we talked about the earlier is one
reason and even if I disagree with this, One reason
why you might not have Luca at the top of
the list is because his style of play is so heliocentric,
where he's the offense at all times, and you got
(08:17):
to find a very specific player to fit around him
because he's gonna have the ball, he's gonna be doing everything,
and it's up to you to work around him. The
other guys wemb Man and Shay have shown they can
do other things.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I agree with that, and that's gonna be easier to
put together a team to win a championship compared to Luco.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Would you agree with that.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
Yeah, definitely, because I definitely think that it's extremely difficult
to win a championship the way that he plays. And
right now, what Dallas has going for him is that
role players are playing really well and they're defending really well,
so it's working right now. I just like I said
before and you said right now, that it's really hard
to win when the offense is Luca left, Luca right,
(08:57):
Luca up the middle and hoping you can beat the
best teams that way, right, And I think it's those things, yeah,
long term that people are looking at thinking, you know,
if they want a championship, it would be amazing.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I still don't feel like they're a championship team. Still
still wow, Rob, I've just got such high standard. But
then the last thing, Rob, you touched on it earlier,
Luca's availability. Told you he's only played seventy or more
games twice in his six year career. His games by
season seventy two, sixty one, sixty six, sixty five, sixty six,
(09:35):
and seventy. So if you're always getting nicked up and
you always come in a little bit out of shape,
I can understand why you know you might be concerned
about his long term health. I just totally disagree that
his potential is so much more stunted than everybody else
that you would discount everything he's done in his career.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Already nobody's discounting it. They did it hating on Himrow.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
No.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I just think that the other guys all blossom this
year too. And you know that, you know, like people will,
oh my god, look what's coming, you know what I mean?
And and you know that the pretty girl at high
school who's been there right for a while, we all
saw her a few times, and now a new girl
just moved transferred from another school?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Who are people looking at?
Speaker 7 (10:25):
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure
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Speaker 8 (10:48):
BALI Fosco here with Tony Fusco. You know, as the
host of the number one rated Polly and Tony Fusco Show.
We get tons and tons of fanmail every day.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Piles of it.
Speaker 8 (10:57):
In fact, Tony, why don't you open up one of
those letters right now and read what's inside?
Speaker 6 (11:01):
Hey, listen to this. Dear Paulie and Tony, your sports
takes the dumbest and most terrible.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Wait, why open this other one?
Speaker 6 (11:09):
Dear Paulie and Tony, you suck more than anyone.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Wait, try this one.
Speaker 6 (11:13):
Dear Paulie and Tony, you guys are the absolute best.
There you go coming up with the stupidest takes to
get it.
Speaker 8 (11:22):
Just listen to THEA and Tony Fusco Show on the
iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, Donnie Wahlberg a guy, Donnie Wahlberg, of course, actor, singer, producer, director.
I know you watch them on Blue Bloods and all that,
and you watched them at the game in Boston. I
mean you got so much airtime, Donnie, My man, how
are you you know?
Speaker 3 (11:43):
We needed we needed good energy last night. We needed it.
I was, you know, my phone was really quiet. All
the self experiences are being real quiet until that three
pointed by Jaylen Brown and then I look down at
my phone and during the during the timeout, I had
nine thousand. Wow. Man, half of them saying let's go Celtics.
The other half's saying, your team so lucky.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
And you know what, Donnie, we were talking earlier on
the show, and I believe this.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Sure you got to have some luck.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
But to me, the Celtics winning that game when they
had no business winning it. They took advantage of it
and they made big plays Jalen Brown Tatum in overtime.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
That's what good teams do. Don't you feel good about that?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
What they do? Whenever, whenever teams put it this way,
if they lost the game, what would everyone say? You know,
they won the game? They pulled it out, Jalen made
the shots to save the game, and Tatum found his
rhythm in overtime and carried them in overtime. And that's
that's what great players do. You know, you can't give
a great player a second chance, and Tatum got a
(12:51):
second chance. And you know, I would say the great
teams started. And I'm not comparing the Celtics. Certainly we
haven't won anything yet right with this with this team,
so I'm not comparing. But you know, when teams win championships,
you need luck. You need to take advantage of opportunities.
You can't lose games like this, you know, because honestly,
you said the Celtics had no business winning the game. Really,
(13:13):
Indiana had no business being in the game the way
it started and the way the Celtics went back up
in the third. But we just kind of we got
lulled into playing their game. And that was always going
to be a dangerous situation with Indiana. You know, if
you're scoring seventy points at halftime against them, even if
you're winning, your playing their game. And we were sixty
four points, I think we played their game and we
(13:34):
got away with it. But you know, great teams and
championship teams have to win these games.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Speaking of the Pacers, we know most people didn't want them,
but they wanted the Knicks against the Celtics. Of course,
I know the networks wanted it. But my point is
the Pacers they can shoot a little bit. They shout
sixty against the Knicks and what was it last night,
fifty five? I mean, can we give them an alte
credit because they shoot the basket really well.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
They're a good team. You know, they went to the
mid season tournaments finals. They'd beat Boston to go there,
and I think that gave them a lot of beliefs
that they could beat the Celtics in this series. You know,
I think they didn't show up in the finals with
the n Season Tournament, but they really they're a tough
(14:23):
team and if you don't slow them down, you can
lose to them. And honestly, I thought the Knicks were
a phenomenal story this year, and I really was, you know,
hoping it would be New York Boston because I'm in
New York filming Blue Bloods, and I could go to
all the games and I would have fun, you know,
getting in arguments with everyone on the crew of blue
(14:45):
blood because they're all New York fans. But I thought
Indiana would wear New York out because New York had
so many injuries and just you know, if they if
they got to try to keep up with the team,
eventually it was gonna wear them down. And in many
ways it did, you know, many ways. The New York
just ran out of gas. And they probably could have
won the series, but they just ran out of gas
(15:05):
because the team does not stop and if you let
up on d they can run you right off the court.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
All right, here's what people are gonna say about your Celtics, Well,
they should get to the finals. Everybody else was hurt
in the Eastern Conference, right, The Knicks were beat up
the Miami, Right, they.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Were beat up. Who else am I missing?
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Giannis was beat up or heard uh, everybody everybody in
the East. But that has no effect on what you're doing.
All you can do, right is play who's available and
who's out there. But how important is this for the
Celtics to have a chance And do they have to win?
Donnie like like, because if they get out of the East,
(15:48):
you can say that, but they have more experience than
the Mavericks.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And the Tea Wolves.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Why shouldn't they be favorite and why shouldn't we believe
that the Celtics are finally going to get over the hurdle.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Well, first of all, Rob, I love this new kind
of Jentler. Rob, You're being so good for my Boston team.
I can't even believe what I'm hearing.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I'm just being honest.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah, because the Celtics hate is so real. Look, I
think that they definitely if they're fully healthy. And again,
we're missing one of our key players. You know, the
missing for Zingis.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Is huge loss.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, it's making Al play more minutes than he wants to.
It's putting Luke Cornette in some tough situations, It's it's
putting a lot of pressure on the team. But I
think the Celtics can and should win the championship this year.
I think they're the best team. I think it's going
to be tough whoever comes out of the West. And
they still got to finish off Indiana. This is we
(16:48):
only got one game down with them. But you know,
you can't control who you play, and this is a
very unusual year in the NBA, Like the Celtics really
haven't had any competitions so much so that even like
talking heads in Boston are like, this isn't even fun,
this is boring. We're just winning by twenty five every night.
I'm like, were you are you mad that we're winning?
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Right?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
It's like we can't control who we're playing. It's you know,
and then we get a good game. Last night it's
a buzzer beater, and everyone's mad that it was a
closed game. I mean, you can't win right now. This team,
I think they overachieved early in their careers, Tatum and
Brown and some of the pad and you could say
the same thing about Lebron's teams that you know, who
(17:32):
did they play. They played the Celtics in the conference
finals one year with Kyrie was out for the season,
Gordon Hayward was out for the season, you know, and
they played a bunch of rookies and all the blogs
they took them a seven games. So if you can
only play who was in front of you, if Celtics
are doing what they gotta do, they've had a few
messy games and hopefully, you know, last night was a
(17:54):
messy game and they just finally won one of those,
and they'll just they'll get through this series and or
this'll be healthy and I think they should be able
to win a championship. Their shit, it's not going to
be easy because they don't give championships away. If they did,
everyone would have one, no.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Year, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
I'll guess Donnie Wahlberg, of course, actor, singer, producer, director
and a star of Blue Bloods on the CBS, and
let me let me get let me get hit this, Donnie.
So everybody loves aunt Mann and with good reason. Obviously,
he's twenty two years old. They got all the Michael
Jordan comparisons, and they're in the Western Conference finals right
that people didn't think that they'd be able to be
(18:31):
Denver and get there. But you know, they're making it
like we haven't seen a young guy do the kind
of things that ant Man did. But I hate to
remind people, but didn't Jason Tatum do the same thing
like four years ago? I mean, I think people have
forgotten about Tatum's start and what he's been able to
(18:52):
accomplish in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Absolutely, I think Tatum and Jaylen Brown have done so
much and look, you know, there there's been circumstances that
have kept them from winning I mean, I think they
should have beaten Golden State. I don't think we were
deep enough in the finals that year. I think, you know,
a couple of Sam Howser threes, if he would have
(19:15):
played more, might have got us over the top in
some of those games. But you know, I think people
just sometimes what happens is, you know, we get into
the debating about sports so much, and everybody was like jokers,
this player of.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
Do we lose them here?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Hello, yeah, we got you ahead finish.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm in I'm in the
Lincoln tunnel.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Do you see Chris. Chris got stuck in the tunnel.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
He's stuck somewhere because I can't even believe it didn't
show up for this conversation. I know, well it's okay
because he usually defends me. But now you're being so
nice to my Celtics. We don't even need I know,
but I'm just gonna say, you know, with Ant, he's
playing incredible. You know, sometimes when we put teams too
high on a pedestal, then we're at surprise when they lose.
(20:12):
Like everyone said, Denver's gonna win, Denver's gonna win the championships.
Celtics can't handle Denver, Denver, Denver, Denver. And then all
of a sudden it was like, oh, wait a minute.
They lost in the second round to a team that
no one gave credit to. And you know, they got
Minnesota if you look at them on paper. I mean,
I didn't necessarily pick them to win the series. But
(20:35):
that's the playoffs built teams structurally they got They're built
for half court, they built for interior defense.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
That's that's a tough team to play in the playoffs,
and they were kind of built to be Denver, you know,
and they're gonna be tough on whoever they play. I
don't think Dallas is gonna beat them, You're wrong, you know.
I didn't think Dallas are gonna beat OKAYC So who knows.
But regardless, I think if the Celtics you get healthy
and Porzingis comes back, and the longer we keep winning
(21:05):
games and don't have to rush him back, the better
chance we have to actually take advantage of him coming back,
because you know, it could be one of those moments
drop where they rush him back, he hurts his ankle
long term, and now we can't even compete next year.
You know. So it's they got to hopefully keep him
out as long as possible and then bring him back
when they need him, hopefully for the finals. Hopefully we
(21:27):
can beat Indiana without them. It's not going to be easy,
but hopefully we can at least win a few more
games before we got to bring him back. And then
I'll take my guys over any team if they're fully
healthy this year, and if they don't win, is it
going to be disappointment? It's going to be break up
the Celtics. I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Don Donny.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
If they don't win, Okay, now I'm gonna be mean.
If they don't win, they got to do something. You
can't keep running it back like it's set up for
them a a pretty easy roll through the East and
then the West with these young you know, different teams
and teams that don't have the experience haven't been to
the finals like the Celtics. Like and I get it
(22:07):
with poor Zingis being out, but other people got people
banged up or not playing.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
This to me seems like the Celtics year. If you
don't win it here, when are you winning it?
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Well, that's a fair question. It's a fair question. But
I'm not sure what more is out there. I mean,
we broke it up last year. You know, many people thought,
keep Rob Williams, you know, Keith Marcus Smart, pick up
one more player and we're good. And you know, the
rosters completely turned upside down. I think, you know, last
(22:39):
night a lot of people and I'm answering your question,
but I'm referencing last night as a way to answer it.
I think last night's game showed, you know, Drew Holidays mutch.
He was so clutched up in so many little plays.
He scored a lot of points. He made so many
great plays that really kept us from blowing the game.
Just take ways and loose balls. I mean, all these
(23:02):
clutch plays that don't really get recorded in the stat sheet,
although his stat line was pretty incredible. You know, if
he plays the way he can play and brings that
that leadership that you know, we we traded for him
for and for Zingis is healthy and and and the
bench guys are playing good. I will say one thing.
We're not the deepest team. Everyone's like Celtics are so deep.
(23:24):
We're really we're only playing like seven guys right now
in the playoffs. I mean, We're not the deepest team,
but hopefully, if everyone's healthy and playing good, we will
have the depth and we'll be able to pull this
thing together. And I'm not worried about next year. We
got to focus on this year. If they don't win it,
we'll deal with next year next year.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I hear you, Donnie, and we always appreciate you, my man.
Thank you so much for giving us some time. We'll
be seeing you on TV jumping around, and when they
get to the finals, we'll talk to you.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
And if they win it, you know we're going to
talk to you, Donnie.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
I look forward to it. It's always great talking to yep.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
All right and Chris senders regards. Thanks Donnie Wall joining
us here on The Odd Couple. Appreciated. Thanks for listening
to The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure to check us
out live every weekday from seven pm to ten pm
Eastern four to seven Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Odd Couple at Fox Sports
(24:18):
Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on
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Speaker 7 (24:26):
All Right, is IDNB obviously robbed. The NBA now has
deals new TV deals. They're leaving tn T. Chris, we
talked about this, didn't we.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I mean, like like when when the president or boss
of TNT said that tn T could survive without the NBA.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
That was a precursor, right. You knew because he said
that on the record.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Yep, so you knew it was coming.
Speaker 7 (24:51):
So NBA will be on what Rob G, ESPN, NBC
and Amazon Prime yep. And so now everybody's lamenting the
demise of Inside d NBA. Ernie Johnson has said he's
not leaving T and T ROB. He's sixty one years old.
He's probably comfortable in Atlanta, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (25:13):
And not only that, you know his dad worked there, Chris, Yes,
I remember for a long time their lawyer. He's loyal.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
He's not going anywhere, and at his age, you know
what I mean, Like, I don't see him not chasing
anything right, right, And and the history that they have
with their family or whatever, like there's something there and
I don't think that he wants to go out go
somewhere else. They've been very good to their families for
long for his family for a long time.
Speaker 7 (25:40):
And yeah, and but as everybody's talking about oldest shows
over the shows over I'm just thinking, well, one of
these other networks should pick up inside DNBA. Now, you
won't get Ernie, but if you get Charles, Kenny and Shack,
you can get a host in there.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
He maybe, you know, and I'm not saying he might.
Speaker 7 (26:00):
Be as good as won't will be as good as
Ernie Johnson, but you can get a host as great
as Ernie is. Those three are in particularly Barkley, Rob
are the draw and so I think that that is
a simple thing that one of these networks should do. Now,
ESPN they have been trying to get Barkley for a
(26:20):
long time. And you know what, a lot of the
players that don't go to ESPN SA Rob. ESPN wants
you to work too hard.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I remember Charles Bunking one of the all time funny
quotes about that. He said, if I went and signed there,
I'd be on deportest.
Speaker 5 (26:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
I mean they have me doing stuff on the port.
Speaker 7 (26:40):
They will want him on first Take, they will want
him on Get Up, they will want him on obviously
the pregame show for the NBA and other stuff. Right,
And some of these guys Charles Barkley don't have to
do that. He's in such demand. He doesn't have to
do that shock same thing. So I mean, maybe it'll
be in. But again, that is a no brainer for
(27:03):
one of these networks.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
I think Chris like, because Ernie's not going to be there,
and it's not going to be the same show. If
I'm looking at I'm NBC, I'm going to bring in
my own host and I might bring in a different
third person because it's not the same show.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
To me, Charles Barkley is a layup. That's the guy
you want.
Speaker 7 (27:27):
That's okay, but the other thing shows success and as
good as all the other guys are, it's Barkley.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
No, it's Barkley. So that's not that's not a debate.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, But but I thought to myself, if I had
to Chris, if you were NBC and said that they
just wanted to bring one of their own guys and
obviously their own hosts, right right, and they had to
pick two out of the three that's left, it's different.
If Ernie was coming, then you bring the whole show,
right Well, I think.
Speaker 7 (27:57):
You should bring the whole show anyway, but I think
you should bring the whole Yeah, yeah, Ernie's not going,
but I'm just saying I think they should bring Chuck,
Shaq and Kenny. But I'll play along with you if
you want to, you know, say which two.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
If you had to pick two, If you had to
pick two, where would you go?
Speaker 7 (28:17):
Well, like you said, Barkley's a nobody becomes that ESPN
and we you know, I did the Countdown show for
a year with Magic and John Berry and Michael Wilbin
and our show. It was it was did well, it
was popular and everything. We we thought for sure they
bring it back.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
They didn't.
Speaker 7 (28:34):
They switched it up a little got rid of me.
John Berry switched it every every year, man, like it
was nothing you could no.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
No, no, no, it was. They switched it every year. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (28:45):
But but my point is, row I know they were
always trying to figure out, Okay, how can we get
as good as inside the NBA. And I'm like Barkley,
like Rob that that's the only thing. He's the difference.
Wouldn't you agree?
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Like, no, you can't somebody that's as good as it's nobody.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
You can't duplicate it. And that's what they think. Well
do what they do? You know?
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Like no, no, no, no, no, there's something about Barkley and
what he's saying and whatnot. You just can't always copy everything.
We know everything. They try to copy it, do it.
Speaker 7 (29:24):
Right, but sometimes you look silly if you try, you know,
and you just don't have it. But to your point, Okay,
if I could only choose to so we're basically talking
about Charles, Kenny or Shack, with all due respect to
Slacked Diesel, it would be Charles and Kenny, So.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
You would be on that.
Speaker 7 (29:44):
I don't think it's I don't even think it's a question. Well,
you know what, you know what, Here's why. Here's why
I say that Rob Charles Shack is obviously he's not Charles,
but they're similar in that their greatness is not in
them breaking down the games and giving great analysis and
(30:05):
things like that.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
It's in their personalities and the.
Speaker 7 (30:10):
Humor they bring, their experience having been all time great players.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
That's what they bring.
Speaker 7 (30:18):
So if I've got Kenny brings a little more in
depth analysis.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Right to squeeze, pointing out stuff like the.
Speaker 7 (30:30):
Shock right right, if I've got just got chucking shock,
then it's just it's kind of.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
What's the word repetitive.
Speaker 7 (30:39):
I guess they're they're similar and nobody's really bringing that
hardcore analysis, uh to the extent that Kenny brings it.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
So that's what I think.
Speaker 7 (30:49):
And remember you did have those two without shock for years,
right before Shaq joined in twenty eleven or whatever it was.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
But Chris, it's funny because I'm with you. I think
it would be Kenny and Charles. But when I went
into you know, here at Fox Sports Radio, and I
went in and I threw it out to some of
the staff here, Manty was in the room. Ian was
in the room, and I asked him that question. Chris,
they both said, without even hesitation, Shaq and Charles.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
They those two. Everybody with else was picking.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
So Manty tell us why because Chris gave his reason
about Kenny.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
But you thought it should be Shaq and Chaws.
Speaker 9 (31:30):
And I think what Chris said is one accurate. But
if we are not going to have inside the NBA
on TNT, then we're not going to have that anymore.
And what I like is the relationship between Shaq and Charles.
So once once we move on, we move on completely,
you know what I mean, It's not going to be
the same, but their relationship and what they you know,
(31:51):
do to each other is entertaining, and I agree with
Chris that it may be repetitive, but it's still entertaining.
Speaker 7 (32:00):
But you also need some so somebody else is gonna
be there really giving you some legitimate I don't want
to just you know, but like, no, no, no, right,
in that finalesis, they would have to.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Replace Kenny with what somebody old guy Chris, Right, that's
what we're talking about.
Speaker 9 (32:15):
Yes, and I think that's what would happen, because again,
you can't if this isn't it, then it's got to
be something different. But I think keeping those two together
would still bring the eyeballs.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
I got the idea they can.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
They can bring in JJ Reddick if think it gets
fired by the lady.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Is that all right? I'm sorry? Did I say.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
That that's good?
Speaker 1 (32:34):
No?
Speaker 2 (32:34):
That that that Actually?
Speaker 7 (32:36):
You know it's funny now, Manze, that makes sense. That
does make sense. Now, Look, I'll be honest if I'm
NBC or Prime or whichever one, if one of them
does do it, I I'll be honest.
Speaker 5 (32:49):
I'm kind of trying to recreate with inside d NBA.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
See what happens is, Chris is it's not the same,
and you gotta be careful because people right away going
to be like, it ain't the same.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Look, there's no Ernie.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
It doesn't feel the same, and so that's why you
want to put your own stamp on it. If Ernie
was there, then there's no doubt. You take all four
and it's essentially.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
You know what I mean to get Adam Lefko, who
fills in for Ernie a good number amountain.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
No, I know he does, but I'm just if Ernie's there,
it's a no brainer.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
But without Ernie, you want to put your own little
twist to it. NBC, you've got to remember Chris. They
got their own people. They're paying a lot of money.
Someone's gonna be their main guy. They used to do
the NBA.
Speaker 5 (33:35):
They're like, man that way we were kids when.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Right, It was a long time.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
But they know if they have people who they have well, no, no,
I mean Marie and Taylor. She might be the right
would she be the the host?
Speaker 5 (33:49):
They could try that, right, she could be the host.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
That'd be interesting, Yeah, And then they'd have to add
one NBA person who they would want to go out
and get to try to you know what i mean,
add some new and then there's there's people who fill
in on on TNT. They might grab one of those guys.
They might get somebody totally out of the box, out
the box, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yeah, yeah, I think it's interesting, that's all
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Find your local station for The Odd.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Brusson and Ron Harker.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
First, rob G, you just heard Manti with the All
NBA teams. No shakra that four of the five and
the first team foreign players, right, Jason Tatum was the
only American holding it down. I know, my god. But
rob G, you want to go over and Luca? What
(00:50):
is that five years in a row.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Yeah, Luca missed the unanimous by one vote. So Shay
and Jokis we're both unanimous First Team. Luca missed it
by one. I don't know how that's pot how you
could vote not vote Luca first team all that's surprising. Yeah,
but now with his fifth first Team All NBA selection
at the age of twenty five, he now has more
(01:12):
First Team All NBA nods. Then get this, rob These
are like Hall of Famers, Dirk KG, Chris Paul, Steph Curry,
Steve Nash, Alan Iverson, the Joker Westbrook, Tracy McGrady, Dwayne Wade.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
That's pretty impressive. That's an impressive list, no doubt about it.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
And yet Rob, with all of that in mind, historically
often one of the greatest stars we've ever seen for
an NBA basketball player. The folks at the ring are
who mostly do good stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Are you saying that didn't do good stuffs your opinion?
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Yeah, exactly, That's exactly what I'm saying. If I disagree
with him, it's it's bad content. They put out a
list of the top twenty five players under twenty five
in the NBA, and they did under this framework, what
if you done in the past, what are you currently doing,
and what will you.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Do and what.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Will you do in the future.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
And for whatever reason, Luka Doncic, who is only twenty
five and just came off averaging thirty forty.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Nine, he's an old twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Five, came in at number four on their list, number one.
Going order here, Victor winn Banyama number two, Anthony Edwards
number three, Shay Gilges, Alexander number four, Luka Donji's rounding
out the top five, number five.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Tyres Alibert, All right, well you got an issue with that.
What is so bad about that being in the top four?
What do you want to do? So he should be
three or two, like we should be number one.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
No, we should not rob Everybody else in the top
of that list ahead of him has potential, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
But they got other things. They got youth on their side,
and I know he's twenty.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Five, but none of them have the same skins on
the wall that Luka Danci tak.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, but I do believe. And Eddie House we hadn't talked.
He backed me up as soon as he heard the
same thing.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
What he say.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
He was talking about the ceiling and whether or not
those other guys who were just getting started have bigger,
higher ceilings than he does. We Luca might have plateaued,
and I'm a hell of a plateau It's Mount Everest.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I did it. It's Mount Ever.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
But there's also stuff like he's always banged up, he
doesn't always look like he's in the best shape.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Now he's dowey. Yeah, he's dowey.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I mean, if you were close to him and you
were at a game and you have great seats and
he walked by you, you just might stick your finger
in his stomach.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
You just, oh my god, oh no, you just might.
Is that fair? I?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yes, And I just think that they're way more excited
about these younger wemby How old.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Is he twenty?
Speaker 4 (04:05):
But his is all off potential?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
No, I get it, I had a great year. He
only played twenty eight minutes. I get he won defensive Player.
He lost all these games.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
You weren't you the guy who said the lot of the
eighteen in a row got be that good? But now
you're like, hey, all the potential.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Though on that because of it says what you're doing
now you know, and the and the future, and it's not.
And I think you're right, Like we've seen what Luca
has done and you expect kind of the same. These
other guys could be off the chart. When you start
talking about ant Man being twenty two and even mentioning
(04:39):
with Michael Jordan, whether it's legit or not, sure, it
tells you about what expectations people have.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Is that fair? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:47):
But like what they could be. And we talked about
this earlier before the show.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
But the one like he's in the top he was
number ten, he's not four, right, So with that that
he had work specific because that SGA is also twenty five.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
So even though he's kind of a late bloomer, I
think to say that he has more upside than than
Luca is a little bit disingenuoscausey at the same age,
it just so happens that Luca's been great out of
the gay and SGA has been like a steady rise
up the up there.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Right, and then this year to take that team he
was great.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
He was not there for MVP so and not to
take away from him, he was not, but he just
does not have just wastly that in there. He doesn't
have the same resume that Luca had. And with Anthony Edwards,
I like at the Edwards I think he's gonna be
a great player. He could be on that short list
of faces of the NBA once the Lebron steph kd
era is officially closed. We're kind of at the very
(05:35):
very very tail end of it right now. It could
be ending any minute now. But Anthony Edwards is getting
a lot of credit at rightfu Leazo for what he
did against Minnesota and against Phoenix. He was fantastic. You know,
that Game six performance that he had where they won
by forty five. He was great. But they're making it
seem like we've never seen this before, like we've never
(05:56):
seen a twenty two year old, you know, take the
bull by the horns and kind of announced his arrival
to the NBA.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I agree with that. Jason Tatum did the exact same thing. No,
I agree, And I think we are caught up in
this sports world that we're in now, prisoner of the moment.
Everything that happened yesterday is the greatest thing that ever happened, Rob.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
You know that there's no context.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
That's why Chris and I are always trying to tell
people to pump the brakes, stop with the uh, you know,
everything is great and oh my god, this guy is
that guy and he's better than Jordan and he's better
than this guy bad.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Just relax, give people a chance. Uh two.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Have a body of work and not off of one
series or anything.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And that's why I think that that this thing.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Here, if this was about uh, if this, if this
Ringer story right and and and list, Rob G was
about just what you've done, then obviously Luca would be higher, right,
But it's a projection and and and and with the
spense of projection, you want to be able to put
(07:07):
some fresh faces and say this guy is a chance
to be that you. And I think that's why Luca
not out of disrespect, because if it was not in
the top ten, then you gotta I.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Got an argument with you, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Number four is not like they're not looking at you
or look in that same way. It's just that they
think these other three guys have a bigger upside. And
we've seen Luca and maybe he has plateau. It's possible.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
In the in the article they explained the reasonings for
they call reason for doubt, so the reason why maybe
you wouldn't be as high on him as some other people.
They mentioned, you know that he also has like a
kind of a pensulance when it comes to officiating. He's
always complaining he's very hot.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
It's it's it's annoying.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Right, it really is serious, like right, like every play,
like every play.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
And and they mentioned that his style of play is,
you know, kind of grating. And this is something Chris
talked about when we talked about the earlier is one
reason and even if I disagree with this, One reason
why you might not have Luca at the top of
the list is because his style of play is so heliocentric,
where he's the offense at all times, and you got
(08:17):
to find a very specific player to fit around him
because he's gonna have the ball, he's gonna be doing everything,
and it's up to you to work around him. The
other guys wemb Man and Shay have shown they can
do other things.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I agree with that, and that's gonna be easier to
put together a team to win a championship compared to Luco.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Would you agree with that.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
Yeah, definitely, because I definitely think that it's extremely difficult
to win a championship the way that he plays. And
right now, what Dallas has going for him is that
role players are playing really well and they're defending really well,
so it's working right now. I just like I said
before and you said right now, that it's really hard
to win when the offense is Luca left, Luca right,
(08:57):
Luca up the middle and hoping you can beat the
best teams that way, right, And I think it's those things, yeah,
long term that people are looking at thinking, you know,
if they want a championship, it would be amazing.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I still don't feel like they're a championship team. Still
still wow, Rob, I've just got such high standard. But
then the last thing, Rob, you touched on it earlier,
Luca's availability. Told you he's only played seventy or more
games twice in his six year career. His games by
season seventy two, sixty one, sixty six, sixty five, sixty six,
(09:35):
and seventy. So if you're always getting nicked up and
you always come in a little bit out of shape,
I can understand why you know you might be concerned
about his long term health. I just totally disagree that
his potential is so much more stunted than everybody else
that you would discount everything he's done in his career.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Already nobody's discounting it. They did it hating on Himrow.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
No.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I just think that the other guys all blossom this
year too. And you know that, you know, like people will,
oh my god, look what's coming, you know what I mean?
And and you know that the pretty girl at high
school who's been there right for a while, we all
saw her a few times, and now a new girl
just moved transferred from another school?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Who are people looking at?
Speaker 7 (10:25):
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure
to catch us live every weekday from seven pm to
ten pm Eastern four to seven pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd Couple
at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live
every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 8 (10:48):
BALI Fosco here with Tony Fusco. You know, as the
host of the number one rated Polly and Tony Fusco Show.
We get tons and tons of fanmail every day.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Piles of it.
Speaker 8 (10:57):
In fact, Tony, why don't you open up one of
those letters right now and read what's inside?
Speaker 6 (11:01):
Hey, listen to this. Dear Paulie and Tony, your sports
takes the dumbest and most terrible.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Wait, why open this other one?
Speaker 6 (11:09):
Dear Paulie and Tony, you suck more than anyone.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Wait, try this one.
Speaker 6 (11:13):
Dear Paulie and Tony, you guys are the absolute best.
There you go coming up with the stupidest takes to
get it.
Speaker 8 (11:22):
Just listen to THEA and Tony Fusco Show on the
iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, Donnie Wahlberg a guy, Donnie Wahlberg, of course, actor, singer, producer, director.
I know you watch them on Blue Bloods and all that,
and you watched them at the game in Boston. I
mean you got so much airtime, Donnie, My man, how
are you you know?
Speaker 3 (11:43):
We needed we needed good energy last night. We needed it.
I was, you know, my phone was really quiet. All
the self experiences are being real quiet until that three
pointed by Jaylen Brown and then I look down at
my phone and during the during the timeout, I had
nine thousand. Wow. Man, half of them saying let's go Celtics.
The other half's saying, your team so lucky.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
And you know what, Donnie, we were talking earlier on
the show, and I believe this.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Sure you got to have some luck.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
But to me, the Celtics winning that game when they
had no business winning it. They took advantage of it
and they made big plays Jalen Brown Tatum in overtime.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
That's what good teams do. Don't you feel good about that?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
What they do? Whenever, whenever teams put it this way,
if they lost the game, what would everyone say? You know,
they won the game? They pulled it out, Jalen made
the shots to save the game, and Tatum found his
rhythm in overtime and carried them in overtime. And that's
that's what great players do. You know, you can't give
a great player a second chance, and Tatum got a
(12:51):
second chance. And you know, I would say the great
teams started. And I'm not comparing the Celtics. Certainly we
haven't won anything yet right with this with this team,
so I'm not comparing. But you know, when teams win championships,
you need luck. You need to take advantage of opportunities.
You can't lose games like this, you know, because honestly,
you said the Celtics had no business winning the game. Really,
(13:13):
Indiana had no business being in the game the way
it started and the way the Celtics went back up
in the third. But we just kind of we got
lulled into playing their game. And that was always going
to be a dangerous situation with Indiana. You know, if
you're scoring seventy points at halftime against them, even if
you're winning, your playing their game. And we were sixty
four points, I think we played their game and we
(13:34):
got away with it. But you know, great teams and
championship teams have to win these games.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Speaking of the Pacers, we know most people didn't want them,
but they wanted the Knicks against the Celtics. Of course,
I know the networks wanted it. But my point is
the Pacers they can shoot a little bit. They shout
sixty against the Knicks and what was it last night,
fifty five? I mean, can we give them an alte
credit because they shoot the basket really well.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
They're a good team. You know, they went to the
mid season tournaments finals. They'd beat Boston to go there,
and I think that gave them a lot of beliefs
that they could beat the Celtics in this series. You know,
I think they didn't show up in the finals with
the n Season Tournament, but they really they're a tough
(14:23):
team and if you don't slow them down, you can
lose to them. And honestly, I thought the Knicks were
a phenomenal story this year, and I really was, you know,
hoping it would be New York Boston because I'm in
New York filming Blue Bloods, and I could go to
all the games and I would have fun, you know,
getting in arguments with everyone on the crew of blue
(14:45):
blood because they're all New York fans. But I thought
Indiana would wear New York out because New York had
so many injuries and just you know, if they if
they got to try to keep up with the team,
eventually it was gonna wear them down. And in many
ways it did, you know, many ways. The New York
just ran out of gas. And they probably could have
won the series, but they just ran out of gas
(15:05):
because the team does not stop and if you let
up on d they can run you right off the court.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
All right, here's what people are gonna say about your Celtics, Well,
they should get to the finals. Everybody else was hurt
in the Eastern Conference, right, The Knicks were beat up
the Miami, Right, they.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Were beat up. Who else am I missing?
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Giannis was beat up or heard uh, everybody everybody in
the East. But that has no effect on what you're doing.
All you can do, right is play who's available and
who's out there. But how important is this for the
Celtics to have a chance And do they have to win?
Donnie like like, because if they get out of the East,
(15:48):
you can say that, but they have more experience than
the Mavericks.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And the Tea Wolves.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Why shouldn't they be favorite and why shouldn't we believe
that the Celtics are finally going to get over the hurdle.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Well, first of all, Rob, I love this new kind
of Jentler. Rob, You're being so good for my Boston team.
I can't even believe what I'm hearing.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I'm just being honest.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah, because the Celtics hate is so real. Look, I
think that they definitely if they're fully healthy. And again,
we're missing one of our key players. You know, the
missing for Zingis.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Is huge loss.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Yeah, it's making Al play more minutes than he wants to.
It's putting Luke Cornette in some tough situations, It's it's
putting a lot of pressure on the team. But I
think the Celtics can and should win the championship this year.
I think they're the best team. I think it's going
to be tough whoever comes out of the West. And
they still got to finish off Indiana. This is we
(16:48):
only got one game down with them. But you know,
you can't control who you play, and this is a
very unusual year in the NBA, Like the Celtics really
haven't had any competitions so much so that even like
talking heads in Boston are like, this isn't even fun,
this is boring. We're just winning by twenty five every night.
I'm like, were you are you mad that we're winning?
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Right?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
It's like we can't control who we're playing. It's you know,
and then we get a good game. Last night it's
a buzzer beater, and everyone's mad that it was a
closed game. I mean, you can't win right now. This team,
I think they overachieved early in their careers, Tatum and
Brown and some of the pad and you could say
the same thing about Lebron's teams that you know, who
(17:32):
did they play. They played the Celtics in the conference
finals one year with Kyrie was out for the season,
Gordon Hayward was out for the season, you know, and
they played a bunch of rookies and all the blogs
they took them a seven games. So if you can
only play who was in front of you, if Celtics
are doing what they gotta do, they've had a few
messy games and hopefully, you know, last night was a
(17:54):
messy game and they just finally won one of those,
and they'll just they'll get through this series and or
this'll be healthy and I think they should be able
to win a championship. Their shit, it's not going to
be easy because they don't give championships away. If they did,
everyone would have one, no.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Year, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
I'll guess Donnie Wahlberg, of course, actor, singer, producer, director
and a star of Blue Bloods on the CBS, and
let me let me get let me get hit this, Donnie.
So everybody loves aunt Mann and with good reason. Obviously,
he's twenty two years old. They got all the Michael
Jordan comparisons, and they're in the Western Conference finals right
that people didn't think that they'd be able to be
(18:31):
Denver and get there. But you know, they're making it
like we haven't seen a young guy do the kind
of things that ant Man did. But I hate to
remind people, but didn't Jason Tatum do the same thing
like four years ago? I mean, I think people have
forgotten about Tatum's start and what he's been able to
(18:52):
accomplish in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Absolutely, I think Tatum and Jaylen Brown have done so
much and look, you know, there there's been circumstances that
have kept them from winning I mean, I think they
should have beaten Golden State. I don't think we were
deep enough in the finals that year. I think, you know,
a couple of Sam Howser threes, if he would have
(19:15):
played more, might have got us over the top in
some of those games. But you know, I think people
just sometimes what happens is, you know, we get into
the debating about sports so much, and everybody was like jokers,
this player of.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
Do we lose them here?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Hello, yeah, we got you ahead finish.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm in I'm in the
Lincoln tunnel.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Do you see Chris. Chris got stuck in the tunnel.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
He's stuck somewhere because I can't even believe it didn't
show up for this conversation. I know, well it's okay
because he usually defends me. But now you're being so
nice to my Celtics. We don't even need I know,
but I'm just gonna say, you know, with Ant, he's
playing incredible. You know, sometimes when we put teams too
high on a pedestal, then we're at surprise when they lose.
(20:12):
Like everyone said, Denver's gonna win, Denver's gonna win the championships.
Celtics can't handle Denver, Denver, Denver, Denver. And then all
of a sudden it was like, oh, wait a minute.
They lost in the second round to a team that
no one gave credit to. And you know, they got
Minnesota if you look at them on paper. I mean,
I didn't necessarily pick them to win the series. But
(20:35):
that's the playoffs built teams structurally they got They're built
for half court, they built for interior defense.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
That's that's a tough team to play in the playoffs,
and they were kind of built to be Denver, you know,
and they're gonna be tough on whoever they play. I
don't think Dallas is gonna beat them, You're wrong, you know.
I didn't think Dallas are gonna beat OKAYC So who knows.
But regardless, I think if the Celtics you get healthy
and Porzingis comes back, and the longer we keep winning
(21:05):
games and don't have to rush him back, the better
chance we have to actually take advantage of him coming back,
because you know, it could be one of those moments
drop where they rush him back, he hurts his ankle
long term, and now we can't even compete next year.
You know. So it's they got to hopefully keep him
out as long as possible and then bring him back
when they need him, hopefully for the finals. Hopefully we
(21:27):
can beat Indiana without them. It's not going to be easy,
but hopefully we can at least win a few more
games before we got to bring him back. And then
I'll take my guys over any team if they're fully
healthy this year, and if they don't win, is it
going to be disappointment? It's going to be break up
the Celtics. I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Don Donny.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
If they don't win, Okay, now I'm gonna be mean.
If they don't win, they got to do something. You
can't keep running it back like it's set up for
them a a pretty easy roll through the East and
then the West with these young you know, different teams
and teams that don't have the experience haven't been to
the finals like the Celtics. Like and I get it
(22:07):
with poor Zingis being out, but other people got people
banged up or not playing.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
This to me seems like the Celtics year. If you
don't win it here, when are you winning it?
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Well, that's a fair question. It's a fair question. But
I'm not sure what more is out there. I mean,
we broke it up last year. You know, many people thought,
keep Rob Williams, you know, Keith Marcus Smart, pick up
one more player and we're good. And you know, the
rosters completely turned upside down. I think, you know, last
(22:39):
night a lot of people and I'm answering your question,
but I'm referencing last night as a way to answer it.
I think last night's game showed, you know, Drew Holidays mutch.
He was so clutched up in so many little plays.
He scored a lot of points. He made so many
great plays that really kept us from blowing the game.
Just take ways and loose balls. I mean, all these
(23:02):
clutch plays that don't really get recorded in the stat sheet,
although his stat line was pretty incredible. You know, if
he plays the way he can play and brings that
that leadership that you know, we we traded for him
for and for Zingis is healthy and and and the
bench guys are playing good. I will say one thing.
We're not the deepest team. Everyone's like Celtics are so deep.
(23:24):
We're really we're only playing like seven guys right now
in the playoffs. I mean, We're not the deepest team,
but hopefully, if everyone's healthy and playing good, we will
have the depth and we'll be able to pull this
thing together. And I'm not worried about next year. We
got to focus on this year. If they don't win it,
we'll deal with next year next year.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I hear you, Donnie, and we always appreciate you, my man.
Thank you so much for giving us some time. We'll
be seeing you on TV jumping around, and when they
get to the finals, we'll talk to you.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
And if they win it, you know we're going to
talk to you, Donnie.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
I look forward to it. It's always great talking to yep.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
All right and Chris senders regards. Thanks Donnie Wall joining
us here on The Odd Couple. Appreciated. Thanks for listening
to The Odd Couple podcasts. Be sure to check us
out live every weekday from seven pm to ten pm
Eastern four to seven Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
your local station for The Odd Couple at Fox Sports
(24:18):
Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on
the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
All Right, is IDNB obviously robbed. The NBA now has
deals new TV deals. They're leaving tn T. Chris, we
talked about this, didn't we.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I mean, like like when when the president or boss
of TNT said that tn T could survive without the NBA.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
That was a precursor, right. You knew because he said
that on the record.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Yep, so you knew it was coming.
Speaker 7 (24:51):
So NBA will be on what Rob G, ESPN, NBC
and Amazon Prime yep. And so now everybody's lamenting the
demise of Inside d NBA. Ernie Johnson has said he's
not leaving T and T ROB. He's sixty one years old.
He's probably comfortable in Atlanta, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (25:13):
And not only that, you know his dad worked there, Chris, Yes,
I remember for a long time their lawyer. He's loyal.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
He's not going anywhere, and at his age, you know
what I mean, Like, I don't see him not chasing
anything right, right, And and the history that they have
with their family or whatever, like there's something there and
I don't think that he wants to go out go
somewhere else. They've been very good to their families for
long for his family for a long time.
Speaker 7 (25:40):
And yeah, and but as everybody's talking about oldest shows
over the shows over I'm just thinking, well, one of
these other networks should pick up inside DNBA. Now, you
won't get Ernie, but if you get Charles, Kenny and Shack,
you can get a host in there.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
He maybe, you know, and I'm not saying he might.
Speaker 7 (26:00):
Be as good as won't will be as good as
Ernie Johnson, but you can get a host as great
as Ernie is. Those three are in particularly Barkley, Rob
are the draw and so I think that that is
a simple thing that one of these networks should do. Now,
ESPN they have been trying to get Barkley for a
(26:20):
long time. And you know what, a lot of the
players that don't go to ESPN SA Rob. ESPN wants
you to work too hard.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I remember Charles Bunking one of the all time funny
quotes about that. He said, if I went and signed there,
I'd be on deportest.
Speaker 5 (26:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
I mean they have me doing stuff on the port.
Speaker 7 (26:40):
They will want him on first Take, they will want
him on Get Up, they will want him on obviously
the pregame show for the NBA and other stuff. Right,
And some of these guys Charles Barkley don't have to
do that. He's in such demand. He doesn't have to
do that shock same thing. So I mean, maybe it'll
be in. But again, that is a no brainer for
(27:03):
one of these networks.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
I think Chris like, because Ernie's not going to be there,
and it's not going to be the same show. If
I'm looking at I'm NBC, I'm going to bring in
my own host and I might bring in a different
third person because it's not the same show.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
To me, Charles Barkley is a layup. That's the guy
you want.
Speaker 7 (27:27):
That's okay, but the other thing shows success and as
good as all the other guys are, it's Barkley.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
No, it's Barkley. So that's not that's not a debate.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, But but I thought to myself, if I had
to Chris, if you were NBC and said that they
just wanted to bring one of their own guys and
obviously their own hosts, right right, and they had to
pick two out of the three that's left, it's different.
If Ernie was coming, then you bring the whole show,
right Well, I think.
Speaker 7 (27:57):
You should bring the whole show anyway, but I think
you should bring the whole Yeah, yeah, Ernie's not going,
but I'm just saying I think they should bring Chuck,
Shaq and Kenny. But I'll play along with you if
you want to, you know, say which two.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
If you had to pick two, If you had to
pick two, where would you go?
Speaker 7 (28:17):
Well, like you said, Barkley's a nobody becomes that ESPN
and we you know, I did the Countdown show for
a year with Magic and John Berry and Michael Wilbin
and our show. It was it was did well, it
was popular and everything. We we thought for sure they
bring it back.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
They didn't.
Speaker 7 (28:34):
They switched it up a little got rid of me.
John Berry switched it every every year, man, like it
was nothing you could no.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
No, no, no, it was. They switched it every year. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (28:45):
But but my point is, row I know they were
always trying to figure out, Okay, how can we get
as good as inside the NBA. And I'm like Barkley,
like Rob that that's the only thing. He's the difference.
Wouldn't you agree?
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Like, no, you can't somebody that's as good as it's nobody.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
You can't duplicate it. And that's what they think. Well
do what they do? You know?
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Like no, no, no, no, no, there's something about Barkley and
what he's saying and whatnot. You just can't always copy everything.
We know everything. They try to copy it, do it.
Speaker 7 (29:24):
Right, but sometimes you look silly if you try, you know,
and you just don't have it. But to your point, Okay,
if I could only choose to so we're basically talking
about Charles, Kenny or Shack, with all due respect to
Slacked Diesel, it would be Charles and Kenny, So.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
You would be on that.
Speaker 7 (29:44):
I don't think it's I don't even think it's a question. Well,
you know what, you know what, Here's why. Here's why
I say that Rob Charles Shack is obviously he's not Charles,
but they're similar in that their greatness is not in
them breaking down the games and giving great analysis and
(30:05):
things like that.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
It's in their personalities and the.
Speaker 7 (30:10):
Humor they bring, their experience having been all time great players.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
That's what they bring.
Speaker 7 (30:18):
So if I've got Kenny brings a little more in
depth analysis.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Right to squeeze, pointing out stuff like the.
Speaker 7 (30:30):
Shock right right, if I've got just got chucking shock,
then it's just it's kind of.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
What's the word repetitive.
Speaker 7 (30:39):
I guess they're they're similar and nobody's really bringing that
hardcore analysis, uh to the extent that Kenny brings it.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
So that's what I think.
Speaker 7 (30:49):
And remember you did have those two without shock for years,
right before Shaq joined in twenty eleven or whatever it was.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
But Chris, it's funny because I'm with you. I think
it would be Kenny and Charles. But when I went
into you know, here at Fox Sports Radio, and I
went in and I threw it out to some of
the staff here, Manty was in the room. Ian was
in the room, and I asked him that question. Chris,
they both said, without even hesitation, Shaq and Charles.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
They those two. Everybody with else was picking.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
So Manty tell us why because Chris gave his reason
about Kenny.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
But you thought it should be Shaq and Chaws.
Speaker 9 (31:30):
And I think what Chris said is one accurate. But
if we are not going to have inside the NBA
on TNT, then we're not going to have that anymore.
And what I like is the relationship between Shaq and Charles.
So once once we move on, we move on completely,
you know what I mean, It's not going to be
the same, but their relationship and what they you know,
(31:51):
do to each other is entertaining, and I agree with
Chris that it may be repetitive, but it's still entertaining.
Speaker 7 (32:00):
But you also need some so somebody else is gonna
be there really giving you some legitimate I don't want
to just you know, but like, no, no, no, right,
in that finalesis, they would have to.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Replace Kenny with what somebody old guy Chris, Right, that's
what we're talking about.
Speaker 9 (32:15):
Yes, and I think that's what would happen, because again,
you can't if this isn't it, then it's got to
be something different. But I think keeping those two together
would still bring the eyeballs.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
I got the idea they can.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
They can bring in JJ Reddick if think it gets
fired by the lady.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Is that all right? I'm sorry? Did I say.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
That that's good?
Speaker 1 (32:34):
No?
Speaker 2 (32:34):
That that that Actually?
Speaker 7 (32:36):
You know it's funny now, Manze, that makes sense. That
does make sense. Now, Look, I'll be honest if I'm
NBC or Prime or whichever one, if one of them
does do it, I I'll be honest.
Speaker 5 (32:49):
I'm kind of trying to recreate with inside d NBA.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
See what happens is, Chris is it's not the same,
and you gotta be careful because people right away going
to be like, it ain't the same.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Look, there's no Ernie.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
It doesn't feel the same, and so that's why you
want to put your own stamp on it. If Ernie
was there, then there's no doubt. You take all four
and it's essentially.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
You know what I mean to get Adam Lefko, who
fills in for Ernie a good number amountain.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
No, I know he does, but I'm just if Ernie's there,
it's a no brainer.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
But without Ernie, you want to put your own little
twist to it. NBC, you've got to remember Chris. They
got their own people. They're paying a lot of money.
Someone's gonna be their main guy. They used to do
the NBA.
Speaker 5 (33:35):
They're like, man that way we were kids when.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Right, It was a long time.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
But they know if they have people who they have well, no, no,
I mean Marie and Taylor. She might be the right
would she be the the host?
Speaker 5 (33:49):
They could try that, right, she could be the host.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
That'd be interesting, Yeah, And then they'd have to add
one NBA person who they would want to go out
and get to try to you know what i mean,
add some new and then there's there's people who fill
in on on TNT. They might grab one of those guys.
They might get somebody totally out of the box, out
the box, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yeah, yeah, I think it's interesting, that's all
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