March 15, 2025 • 10 mins
US sports correspondent Leon Busby joined Piney to recap a full week out of the NBA.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks Edby.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A regular feature on the show this year is going
to be state Side, as we keep you up to
date on a regular basis with the big sporting stories
coming out of the United States of America. Leon Busby
is our state side man. He's with us now. Thanks
for joining us, Leon.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yeah, Pine, it's great to be back on your show
and now appreciate you making the time for me. We've
got a lot to cover, so let's get straight into it.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Let's do that, mate. Look, you're sounding more like me.
Try to get things going.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Let's start, okay with the NBA around what fifteen sixteen
games to go in the regular season before the playoffs.
Who's standing out in each of the Western and Eastern conferences?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
So in the Association. In the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers
are dominating, have the best record on the NBA. They're
fifty six and ten and are on a sixteen game
win street sick in behind them are the defending champion
Boston Celtics for the forty eight and nineteen record. Now,
over in the West, the o OC SORR Oklahoma City
(01:12):
Thunder have a fifty four and twelve records, so they're
about THREEEN wins better than the second place Denver Nugget
two on forty three and thirty four. So although the
Cavaliers and Thunder will most likely finish top seeds of
their conferences with home court advantanced throughout the postseason, there
are a lot of lingering doubts whether they can win
it or due to their lack of playoff experience. The
(01:33):
huge difference between the regular post season, as they'll both
soon find.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Out, which is the stronger conference overall? Leon if you
look at the you know, the overall strength of the
East and the West, which is more competitive, Which is stronger.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah, you'd have to say that, Yeah, the West is
probably more top heavy than the East, so they've got
probably more content. It's going to be a real battle
between those top teams to get through to the conference final.
But yeah, if you look at the Eastern Conference, Boston
and Cleveland deffinitely blight years ahead of all the other teams.
(02:08):
So it's it's pretty likely that those two are going
to meet in the conference finals.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
All right, We'll look forward to seeing what plays out there.
What to add off the court, there's always some storylines
happening off the court and all the sport we talk,
what about basketball? What are the big off court stories
at the moment?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, so in the MVP rate, okay, see point guard
Shi Gilder, Alexander is the clear odds on the favorite
winner's first major award for MVP despite three time winner
Nikolay Yokochov. Again the Nuggets putting up historical numbers. So
rounding out the top five, we've got giannath and its
compo of the Milwaukee Bucks, Jatson Tatum of the Celtics,
(02:42):
and Karl Anthony Towns of the New York Nook. So
there's been a lot of debate around that that even
though they call him SGA had put up some really
good numbers this year, should really be the MVP winner
even though his team doesn't have a better record. But
so there's a lot of debate around that argument as well.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
And what about load management the player participation policy. I've
seen this talked about a bit in recent times.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, so this is a bit of a slightly negative
note in terms of the NBA. So the front offs
is also cracking down on teams that are bleedingtly violating
the player Participation policy, more commonly referred to as load management.
So a number of teams are currently being investigated for
sitting star players even though they're not injured, denying pain
fans opportunity to watch their favorite players up placemen attending games.
(03:32):
So this is unfortunately butted the game in recent years.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, what a shame. Just before we move on a producer, Andy,
As you know, I was a big Pelicans fan. They're
not going to be in the playoff picture. I think
the record's eighteen and forty nine, so that's not playoff
basketball by any stretch. But are they coming to Melbourne?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yes? So, news earlier came out this week that the
New Orleans Pelicans will be heading here in Melbourne in
October for a historic series of games against Melbourne United
and the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix. This announcement was on the
back of news at the NFL and NFL will also
be playing games in Melbourn. So been organizers are hoping
that New Orleans Stars Zion Williamson will be healthy and
(04:11):
make the trip down. Since entering the league, he has
unfortunately been plagued by injury but will undoubtedly be the
main attraction for a Pelican. So just the heads up, Lass,
and I'm sure you know that a certain producer will
be submitting a red form sometimes seen to coincide around
the time.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yes, I will take it under consideration. Leon, I'll take
it under consideration. Can we stay with basketball because March
Madness is upon us NCAA basketball College basketball for those
who are unfamiliar with it's starting on Tuesday to find
the top mens and women's college teams. First of all,
how big has March Madness become.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Here in the States. It's huge. Most people that obviously
a lot of people that went to their certain college
that they call them that Alma mado really connected with
their schools. I wanted to comment on this, but yesterday
I just want to make a quick comment about I
knew I knew a Tate Jones and how he did
a fantastic job breaking down the competition the young Kiwi
boy there. I was really impressed by the the in
(05:10):
depth knowledge of the college game, but even more so
it's great work ethic and humility which will undoubtedly take
him far in his career. So after one look forward
to following his career believing I feel like a lot
more of your listeners will be back in UC San
Diego that they already didn't have a team in NCAA tournament,
so go to Tritons. I also just reminded the audience
pointy that March Madness referred to the NCAA Division One
(05:33):
Men's and women's basketball championship tournaments. So in recent years,
the phenomenal rights and influence of one Caitlin Clark is
how popularized women's basketball, a trend known as the Caitlin
Clark Effect. It's worth mentioning that name, image, and likeness
more commonly referred to as nil and the student transfer
portal has completely changed the college forty landscape exponentially in
(05:54):
recent years, especially in regards to basketball. So both NCAA
tournaments consist of sixty four teams for the women and
sixty eight teams for the men, and they're known for
their thrilling, single elimination format where teams compete to determine
the national champion and collegiate basketball. Millions of Americans watch
their college teams on the biggest stage and take part
and what's known as the Bracket Challenge, trying to pick
(06:16):
the teams they think will advance to the Street sixteen,
the Elite eight to the Final four, and the eventual winners.
The event itself as a rich history, having started way
back in nineteen thirty nine and has become a significant
cultural phenomenon in the US and now globally.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, well, I know it's big news in our house.
My son Johnny is going to be glued to March Madness,
as are many around the world. So looking forward to that.
Can we move to Major League Baseball? The new season
is almost upon us. In fact, I think it starts
in the weak ahead. Any big preseason stories from Major
League Baseball?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yes, So the season open is taking path in Tokyo,
which they've done over the last few years. That's only
a matter of days away. Spring trainings wrapped up and
the current World Series champion LA Dodgers are taken on
the Chicago Cubs and a double header. Now, the Dodger
has spent a boatload of money bossing their roster, which
is already a men's The strong in the off season
are like clearly the favorites to repeat. Now they're widely
(07:11):
considered the so called villains of basketball because they have
all this money and they're just throwing it around Willy nilly,
their closest rivalry they've beaten the World Series. The New
York Yankees are already in trouble though, even before the
first pitch of the season is thrown. The Bronx Bombers
have a number of their key starting players injured or
even out for the whole season. With the grueling schedule
of one hundred and sixty two regular season games, it
(07:33):
really is a war of attrition before the playoffs even
roll around, So maintaining their healthy team is paramount for
success in the sport, and other teams to keep an
eye on a serious contenders are the Atlanta Bays, New
York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Ashirt and the
San Diego Padres.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Looking forward to a new season of MLB Underway soon
And can we finish with any Can we finish with
NFL that is obviously in its off season, Any big
stories around trades or contract extension? Free agency?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Leon, Yeah, definitely, there's some big stories I'm going going
to share with the audience right now. Free agency is
fun and said it with some recent big moves, so
the quarterback carousel began with Super Bowl winner Matthew Stafford
of the La Rams re signing with the franchise despite
a number of other big offers on the table. So
he was the first Domino to fall an e hectic
free agency period. In the Minnesota Vikings, you I know
(08:26):
you're done for as Jason traded their quarterback Sam Donald
to the Seattle Seahawks after Korea best season last year.
Donald inked a three year deal with one hundred and
ten million with fifty five million guaranteed. It is a
gamble of thoughts for Seattle, give him the statu of
their offensive line and a new offensive coordinator. Some other
big trades or Super Bowl winning defensive tackled. Milton Williams,
(08:48):
who was a major fact in Super Bowl fifty nine,
traded from the Philadelphia Eagles to the New England Pattriod.
He agreed to terms on a four year deal with
one hundred and four million, including a twenty four million
signing bonus, sixty three million guaranteed, and an average annual
base salary of twenty six million. As you can see,
plinty of these numbers are staggering. If we put that
into context, Currently, the fifty highest paid players in the
(09:11):
NRL delectively earned forty five million Australian dollars, which equates
to about twenty nine million dollars US. It's almost as
if the NFL are putting their own money. It's crazy incredible. Yeah,
so what Probably one of the biggest stories to come
out of the NFL was Buffalo Bills quarterback and regular
season MVP Josh Allen got has bag that people use
that phrase to refer to, you know, people getting paid.
(09:34):
He signed a sixty extension on a record setting deal.
They get this, He'll received three hundred and thirty million,
including a record two hundred and fifty million guarantees. And
he's not even the highest paid player in the league.
That his numbers are staggering. In a sport that is
a hard salary cap and true free agency, the NFL
has been structured in a way towards parody compared to
any of US professional sports league, so the sort of
(09:57):
money being thrown around as unprecedented. Finally, the betting market
has already released the odds for Super Bowl sixty. No surprise,
as defending champion Philadelphia Eagles are clear favorites. After they
just mentled Candidcy in the recent Super Bowl. The Chiefs
are second favorite sister, ahead of the Baltimore Ravens, Films
and Detroit Lyons.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
So much going on Stateside, Leon, Thank you so much
for your comprehensive rap of it all. We look forward
to catching up regularly across the year here on Weekend Sport.
Always some terrific storylines coming out of the United States,
and we look forward to you keeping us up to
date with all of them. Thanks for your time.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Thank you for having me on today, Jess and I
look forward to doing it again. Sometimes seem cheers mate.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Now good on you, Leon. Thanks and day, Leon busby
Stateside a big part of our Weekend Sport agenda for
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news Talks ed b weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks Edby.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A regular feature on the show this year is going
to be state Side, as we keep you up to
date on a regular basis with the big sporting stories
coming out of the United States of America. Leon Busby
is our state side man. He's with us now. Thanks
for joining us, Leon.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yeah, Pine, it's great to be back on your show
and now appreciate you making the time for me. We've
got a lot to cover, so let's get straight into it.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Let's do that, mate. Look, you're sounding more like me.
Try to get things going.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Let's start, okay with the NBA around what fifteen sixteen
games to go in the regular season before the playoffs.
Who's standing out in each of the Western and Eastern conferences?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
So in the Association. In the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers
are dominating, have the best record on the NBA. They're
fifty six and ten and are on a sixteen game
win street sick in behind them are the defending champion
Boston Celtics for the forty eight and nineteen record. Now,
over in the West, the o OC SORR Oklahoma City
(01:12):
Thunder have a fifty four and twelve records, so they're
about THREEEN wins better than the second place Denver Nugget
two on forty three and thirty four. So although the
Cavaliers and Thunder will most likely finish top seeds of
their conferences with home court advantanced throughout the postseason, there
are a lot of lingering doubts whether they can win
it or due to their lack of playoff experience. The
(01:33):
huge difference between the regular post season, as they'll both
soon find.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Out, which is the stronger conference overall? Leon if you
look at the you know, the overall strength of the
East and the West, which is more competitive, Which is stronger.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah, you'd have to say that, Yeah, the West is
probably more top heavy than the East, so they've got
probably more content. It's going to be a real battle
between those top teams to get through to the conference final.
But yeah, if you look at the Eastern Conference, Boston
and Cleveland deffinitely blight years ahead of all the other teams.
(02:08):
So it's it's pretty likely that those two are going
to meet in the conference finals.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
All right, We'll look forward to seeing what plays out there.
What to add off the court, there's always some storylines
happening off the court and all the sport we talk,
what about basketball? What are the big off court stories
at the moment?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, so in the MVP rate, okay, see point guard
Shi Gilder, Alexander is the clear odds on the favorite
winner's first major award for MVP despite three time winner
Nikolay Yokochov. Again the Nuggets putting up historical numbers. So
rounding out the top five, we've got giannath and its
compo of the Milwaukee Bucks, Jatson Tatum of the Celtics,
(02:42):
and Karl Anthony Towns of the New York Nook. So
there's been a lot of debate around that that even
though they call him SGA had put up some really
good numbers this year, should really be the MVP winner
even though his team doesn't have a better record. But
so there's a lot of debate around that argument as well.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
And what about load management the player participation policy. I've
seen this talked about a bit in recent times.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, so this is a bit of a slightly negative
note in terms of the NBA. So the front offs
is also cracking down on teams that are bleedingtly violating
the player Participation policy, more commonly referred to as load management.
So a number of teams are currently being investigated for
sitting star players even though they're not injured, denying pain
fans opportunity to watch their favorite players up placemen attending games.
(03:32):
So this is unfortunately butted the game in recent years.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, what a shame. Just before we move on a producer, Andy,
As you know, I was a big Pelicans fan. They're
not going to be in the playoff picture. I think
the record's eighteen and forty nine, so that's not playoff
basketball by any stretch. But are they coming to Melbourne?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yes? So, news earlier came out this week that the
New Orleans Pelicans will be heading here in Melbourne in
October for a historic series of games against Melbourne United
and the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix. This announcement was on the
back of news at the NFL and NFL will also
be playing games in Melbourn. So been organizers are hoping
that New Orleans Stars Zion Williamson will be healthy and
(04:11):
make the trip down. Since entering the league, he has
unfortunately been plagued by injury but will undoubtedly be the
main attraction for a Pelican. So just the heads up, Lass,
and I'm sure you know that a certain producer will
be submitting a red form sometimes seen to coincide around
the time.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yes, I will take it under consideration. Leon, I'll take
it under consideration. Can we stay with basketball because March
Madness is upon us NCAA basketball College basketball for those
who are unfamiliar with it's starting on Tuesday to find
the top mens and women's college teams. First of all,
how big has March Madness become.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Here in the States. It's huge. Most people that obviously
a lot of people that went to their certain college
that they call them that Alma mado really connected with
their schools. I wanted to comment on this, but yesterday
I just want to make a quick comment about I
knew I knew a Tate Jones and how he did
a fantastic job breaking down the competition the young Kiwi
boy there. I was really impressed by the the in
(05:10):
depth knowledge of the college game, but even more so
it's great work ethic and humility which will undoubtedly take
him far in his career. So after one look forward
to following his career believing I feel like a lot
more of your listeners will be back in UC San
Diego that they already didn't have a team in NCAA tournament,
so go to Tritons. I also just reminded the audience
pointy that March Madness referred to the NCAA Division One
(05:33):
Men's and women's basketball championship tournaments. So in recent years,
the phenomenal rights and influence of one Caitlin Clark is
how popularized women's basketball, a trend known as the Caitlin
Clark Effect. It's worth mentioning that name, image, and likeness
more commonly referred to as nil and the student transfer
portal has completely changed the college forty landscape exponentially in
(05:54):
recent years, especially in regards to basketball. So both NCAA
tournaments consist of sixty four teams for the women and
sixty eight teams for the men, and they're known for
their thrilling, single elimination format where teams compete to determine
the national champion and collegiate basketball. Millions of Americans watch
their college teams on the biggest stage and take part
and what's known as the Bracket Challenge, trying to pick
(06:16):
the teams they think will advance to the Street sixteen,
the Elite eight to the Final four, and the eventual winners.
The event itself as a rich history, having started way
back in nineteen thirty nine and has become a significant
cultural phenomenon in the US and now globally.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, well, I know it's big news in our house.
My son Johnny is going to be glued to March Madness,
as are many around the world. So looking forward to that.
Can we move to Major League Baseball? The new season
is almost upon us. In fact, I think it starts
in the weak ahead. Any big preseason stories from Major
League Baseball?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yes, So the season open is taking path in Tokyo,
which they've done over the last few years. That's only
a matter of days away. Spring trainings wrapped up and
the current World Series champion LA Dodgers are taken on
the Chicago Cubs and a double header. Now, the Dodger
has spent a boatload of money bossing their roster, which
is already a men's The strong in the off season
are like clearly the favorites to repeat. Now they're widely
(07:11):
considered the so called villains of basketball because they have
all this money and they're just throwing it around Willy nilly,
their closest rivalry they've beaten the World Series. The New
York Yankees are already in trouble though, even before the
first pitch of the season is thrown. The Bronx Bombers
have a number of their key starting players injured or
even out for the whole season. With the grueling schedule
of one hundred and sixty two regular season games, it
(07:33):
really is a war of attrition before the playoffs even
roll around, So maintaining their healthy team is paramount for
success in the sport, and other teams to keep an
eye on a serious contenders are the Atlanta Bays, New
York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Ashirt and the
San Diego Padres.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Looking forward to a new season of MLB Underway soon
And can we finish with any Can we finish with
NFL that is obviously in its off season, Any big
stories around trades or contract extension? Free agency?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Leon, Yeah, definitely, there's some big stories I'm going going
to share with the audience right now. Free agency is
fun and said it with some recent big moves, so
the quarterback carousel began with Super Bowl winner Matthew Stafford
of the La Rams re signing with the franchise despite
a number of other big offers on the table. So
he was the first Domino to fall an e hectic
free agency period. In the Minnesota Vikings, you I know
(08:26):
you're done for as Jason traded their quarterback Sam Donald
to the Seattle Seahawks after Korea best season last year.
Donald inked a three year deal with one hundred and
ten million with fifty five million guaranteed. It is a
gamble of thoughts for Seattle, give him the statu of
their offensive line and a new offensive coordinator. Some other
big trades or Super Bowl winning defensive tackled. Milton Williams,
(08:48):
who was a major fact in Super Bowl fifty nine,
traded from the Philadelphia Eagles to the New England Pattriod.
He agreed to terms on a four year deal with
one hundred and four million, including a twenty four million
signing bonus, sixty three million guaranteed, and an average annual
base salary of twenty six million. As you can see,
plinty of these numbers are staggering. If we put that
into context, Currently, the fifty highest paid players in the
(09:11):
NRL delectively earned forty five million Australian dollars, which equates
to about twenty nine million dollars US. It's almost as
if the NFL are putting their own money. It's crazy incredible. Yeah,
so what Probably one of the biggest stories to come
out of the NFL was Buffalo Bills quarterback and regular
season MVP Josh Allen got has bag that people use
that phrase to refer to, you know, people getting paid.
(09:34):
He signed a sixty extension on a record setting deal.
They get this, He'll received three hundred and thirty million,
including a record two hundred and fifty million guarantees. And
he's not even the highest paid player in the league.
That his numbers are staggering. In a sport that is
a hard salary cap and true free agency, the NFL
has been structured in a way towards parody compared to
any of US professional sports league, so the sort of
(09:57):
money being thrown around as unprecedented. Finally, the betting market
has already released the odds for Super Bowl sixty. No surprise,
as defending champion Philadelphia Eagles are clear favorites. After they
just mentled Candidcy in the recent Super Bowl. The Chiefs
are second favorite sister, ahead of the Baltimore Ravens, Films
and Detroit Lyons.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
So much going on Stateside, Leon, Thank you so much
for your comprehensive rap of it all. We look forward
to catching up regularly across the year here on Weekend Sport.
Always some terrific storylines coming out of the United States,
and we look forward to you keeping us up to
date with all of them. Thanks for your time.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Thank you for having me on today, Jess and I
look forward to doing it again. Sometimes seem cheers mate.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Now good on you, Leon. Thanks and day, Leon busby
Stateside a big part of our Weekend Sport agenda for
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news Talks ed b weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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