How To DESTROY A Franchise in 9 Months: Gilbert Arenas & Matt Barnes React to Nico Harrison Firing

Gilbert Arenas joins Matt Barnes on ALL THE SMOKE: Unplugged to react to the shake-up in Dallas as the Mavericks part ways with GM Nico Harrison after a turbulent start to the season.

 Is Nico the scapegoat for deeper issues inside the organization? What role did ownership and front office politics play in this move? And how does Luka Doncic's early success with the Lakers play into the latest moves.

PLUS: The guys dive into the latest NBA betting scandals involving Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier, and more.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to Unplugged. This episode has presented you by
Draft Kings. Crown is Yours. We've had some crazy NBA
news dropped this morning, so I had to call my
guy to help me break it down. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Yeah, I know, Mavericks, I know, right.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
You know, the Mavericks went from the finals a year
and a half ago to the worst record in the
Western Conference right now. But let's keep it real. They're
missing two of the best players in the game, and
Kyrie and Anthony Davis. Obviously, Nico Harris was just fired.

(00:40):
What are your thoughts on just this whole debacle that's
kind of been what Dallas is the last I'm.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Trying to figure out who personal feelings got hurt. Okay, right,
you know Nico's you know, he's he's been around the
game long enough to know there's a special talent in Luca.
He's been under rob he's been with Cole MJ. So listen,

(01:12):
we can blame them. We can blame them if we
want to. It's easy.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
This is where I'm going.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
You know. But to me, it seemed like this happened.
You get a new owner, the owner wants Luca to
bend Innee that's his organization. No, no, no, that's Luca's organization.
You bought it. But those people around there know him.
Those people around there cheer for him. You coming in,
you want him to ben He's not bend in. So

(01:38):
when the idea of trade comes, you're willing to do it. Right.
You try to make the trade for Anthony Edwards for him,
they said no. Then you threw it to Spurs for Wenby.
They said no. And then you threw it to the Lakers,
and they're like, wait, hold on, wait a minute. If
you think about this, and then you guys in up

(02:00):
making that pool and it's crazy. The owner came out
and the owner gave us the The excuse is that
we ran what came from him. It didn't come from NiCoT,
came from the owner. Right. You know, Oh he's fat,
he's out of shape, he's this is that, and the
public ran with it. He was twenty eight and eight
when he when he was fat, So what you'll think

(02:21):
was gonna happen when he got skinny.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
We're gonna take we're gonna take a look at the timeline.
But I said from the beginning, and correct me if
I'm wrong. We've been in this game long enough. A
GM cannot trade a franchise player, can n franchise player.
I've been saying Nico was gonna be the Skapeboilder, and
it's almost like and we're not sure, we're just speculating.

(02:42):
But he can't even really come out and speak on
it either because it could discredit him moving. You know,
you he just has to take this ship on the cham.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh yeah, you you got paid. This is what you
got paid to do.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Remember he got an extension going into the final, and
when the team was going into the finals, you.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Ask it paid to sit in that stand? Why they
yell death threats? You gotta sit there with that stressful
look on his face because that's what your job is.
Your job is if I make a bad decision, you
take you take it right, and you know that's just
the way the game goes. But you know that guy

(03:18):
still got you to the finals. Right, you made a trade,
you got a d you re sign Kyrie, you got
the number one pick. So you're gonna blame Ad being
fat on him? Right? You know if you look at
Ad right now, you know, look like he gained a
lot of weight. Is that his fault too, Like the
record three and eight because you don't have your best players,
that's his fault too.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Like it just is I mean my question to you,
and I think we know the answer. I mean, if
you have a healthy Dallas team, Nico still has a job.
Of course, there's no questions.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
That's why I said, you can't blame the circumstances, like
you guys made this trade Cooper flag a d Kyrie's there.
That is a championship contender team. So what he did
was great. I mean it was great, l A. You know,
we not mad at Niko. I mean he got he
can have a job here. You know, we we better

(04:08):
hire room.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
And someone tell me they're building a Nico statue in
front of the stable.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
They should, yeah, they should. I mean it's it's one
of those moves where listen, it's it's the move la
Lakers always seems to get.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
It's crazy throughout history, right, you know, it just seems
like handshaking.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
When there's a superstar need to be got, we get them,
you know, and it's you know, magic Shack, you know,
the Kobe pal you know what I mean, just lebron
a d like we get our guy when Plinka hit Nico.

(04:47):
I know, listen, I know it can't. You can't, you
can't be just outright. I know you want to wait
a couple of months, maybe next year, so it don't
seem like but at this point you might as well
just be just just.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
I got some for the next game.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
He's at the gym. Hey just might as well throw
it in everybody's face at this point.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Let's take a look at the timeline. December twenty twenty three,
Mark Cuban sells the team to the Addison family. The
initial report stated that Cuban would still be on for
basketball operational decisions. I guess there was a handshake situation
and that was the bullshit that didn't happen. So now,
after the season the MAVs went on to make the Finals.

(05:29):
Nico had put together that roster pretty much trading for Gafford, PJ. Washington, Kyrie,
drafted Lively. All those players were huge rotational pieces for
this team that made a run to the finals. But
in the midst of that, in their win now endeavors,
they gave away a lot of their first round picks.
They don't have a first round pick to win thirty.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
They have the twenty twenty six pick this upcoming year,
and then twenty seven through thirty they do not have
a first pick.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
So yeah, number one our first round pick this upcoming year,
and then they're off the board until damn thirty one
until my six year olds in high school. Dumont rewarded
in the midst of this, Dumont rewarded Nico a multi
year extension because he was doing his job. MAVs loves

(06:15):
to Boston in five. In the finals, Luca looks out
of shape. The media starts tearing ampart to your point,
and then things start getting funny. They were starting to
move shit around, letting them know that this is our team,
not your team, and to your point earlier, it's it's
always going to be the Stars team. So they start
moving stuff around. Remember Mike Finley snatched the beer out
of Luca's hands, and when he did that, I knew

(06:36):
shit was over. You can't snatch nothing from the don.
So twenty four to twenty five MAVs started about five hundred,
maybe a little bit of finals residue. Twenty February comes
around and we see one of the craziest trades in
NBA history. Luca to La for Anthony Davis Max Christy

(06:58):
in a twenty nine first round pick. The thing was
crazy to me is how did they not get Austin
Reeves in there? How did they not slip him in there?
But a d and Austin Reeves would probably be a
lot for Luca. I think it was.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
Listen, this is this kind of sounded like that Boston
trade real one sided, right, It's like, you know, kg
ray Allen, it seemed real Boston, Like everybody involved was
Boston related, you know what I mean for that championship.

(07:35):
So it seemed like you get traded and then heightens
the Lakers. The Lakers sell naturally, everybody who benefited or
everybody who's in the league automatically benefits, right, So.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
And I explain what you mean by that though.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Okay, So the last team that sold was it was
it Dallas at four million or was it six six?
Six billions? So where they had Lakers at probably what
eight Their evaluation was that ten billion dollars when they
sold her be after Ball, after Boston, when they sold

(08:19):
you know what I'm talking about, after Boston. After Boston, them
and the Knicks were like the top. Yeah, so like
like anything. There's there's a Peggan order on you know, franchises.
So New York Knicks and Lakers are top dogs and
everybody falls under. Right, So let's say you're an owner
and I come to you with a proposal and a
proposal sa, hey, I'm getting ready to sell. I need

(08:41):
your best player though, right If I get your best player,
it helps my franchise. I can move it for ten billion.
Right now, you're worked about what four I sell? You
automatically get the six seven automatically off the rip, or
you can you know, you can keep your guy. You
know what I mean? Why you you you ought because

(09:03):
you automatically. So when that trade happens, Now, if you
look at everyone's evaluation before that trade and.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
After that trade looks very it looks like the whole league,
the number sheets looking.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Good, everybody's number sheets because he you know, it's just
a Peggan order. Everybody goes up, you knows, and that's.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Just the business of baskets.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Seven months after the Luca trade was this sale.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
So obviously the trade happens, fire Nico becomes a phenomenon.
Fans are protesting outside the arena, bringing signs uh, he
can barely show his face and it was hot. His
hair started turning gray like barocks in the front office.
But DeMont, I just don't like this guy. He goes
on the press tour and trying to justify and explaining

(09:51):
it to you. All the dirt that was throwing on
a franchise player came him out of this guy's mouth.
To me, it wasn't very professional, but I think what
he was to your point, it was they were trying
to make a splash and flex whose franchises was Because
you heard Mark Cuban come out a few times on
different shows like could have never let this happen. It's

(10:11):
Luca twenty six years old.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
You know, it's so funny. It's even when twenty five
years whenever chanting, you know, fire Nico, you always see
Mark Cuban like like you got the wrong right, you
got the wrong guy. It's not this guy. This is
more business man. They got rewarded.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
They got the number one pick, which is crazy in itself.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
Hey, they got number one pick.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
It happens to team sometimes, like it does. It's a
certain teams somehow someway, when Chicago gets a d Rose
and Cleveland gets a Lebron and.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
You know, it's like sometimes you know, you just buy
a new team and then within the first three years
you get a number one pick. I mean, you know,
it's like welcome Listen.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
You get a number one. It's like Oprah zol Show.
You get a number one one, you get a number
one pick? Are you gonna buy? I'll give you a
number one pick and thirty.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
Thirty one listen. I know what people want to speculate.
But at the end of the day, business business. Right,
If I'm running the NBA and I work for you,
and I convince you to buy this team, yeah, I
got a team for sale. Here, you buy it. You
know this is a good this is a good organization.
I treat everybody well. You know, you buy it for

(11:22):
this price. You know, and you know the balls might
bounce your way. Just no, it might bounce your way.
Youre getting number one pig and boom, you're just starting new.
It's a thing. I don't care what nobody's saying. If
I buy into your business, I better be rewarded. I
don't care how you do it. I there should be
a perk package, right, it is a perk package.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
Amen?

Speaker 2 (11:43):
At that.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
So the MAVs are sixteen and twenty eight. Since the
Luca trade, AD has played just fourteen games in a
Dallas Jersey what's eight and six. In those games, he's
been available for thirty two percent of the possible games
this team is played. But again, unfortunately that's been then
on AD. In the last seven years, he's only played
sixty games one time, so you kind of know what

(12:05):
you get again when he's on the court. One of
the best all round players we've seen. The saving Gray
seem to be when Dallas magically landed this lottery pick.
So okay, a trade Luca, we get a second chance
and you get Cooper flag And I saw something before
we went on air where someone tweeted something about Cooper

(12:29):
shouldn't have to endure fire Nico chance when he's at
the free throw line they need to get rid of
on my paraphrasing, and blah blah blah. His mom retweeted
that shit. Did you guys see it or either I
retweeted or liked it one of the two, but she
engaged in it. So here we are three and eight.
In your opinion, where does this team go out? Obviously,

(12:50):
I mean for clear basketball mind, you just have to
wait till this team gets healthy to see what they're
capable of, because on paper they're hell of a team.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, I mean, if it does get you know, it's
you have Anthony Davis who is a super talent, but
for some reason, his body just doesn't hold up. You know.
I don't know if it's diet, I don't know, if
it's you know, proper exercise, rest. You just don't know.
But he seems to always tweak little muscles here and
there that keeps him out for a long periods of time.

(13:18):
So you have to go into a season expecting big, big,
you know, moments in your season that he's gonna miss. Right,
you can only really count him on paper for forty
to sixty games. Right, then you have Kyrie, So you
got to try to figure out what your team really
looks like versus just looking at the names, right, championship

(13:43):
quality team on paper, in reality, how it's put together, injuries,
you know, declining of you know, Clay, you're looking at
first round, second round at best. I don't know, if
you blow it up. I think you try to see

(14:03):
what happens while Cooper Flags is you know, for a
year second year player, because he changes the dynamic of
that team because he can play one, three, four, a
little bit of five and him a d him lively
him like that's you can mismatch that team.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
Are we able to see the best Cooper? Because I
think he's shown he can play a little point guard
in this game, but getting him the ball in positions
where he's most effective at.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
So we have to go back to the first experiment. Right,
magic was a peer point, Right, even though he's small
forward peer point. Then you had you know, obviously Lebron,
you have our Turku Lukes, we have the lamar Odom.
You know, We've had this guy that's Scottie pippensal but
he's taking forwards Ben Simmons. But Ben was more of

(14:53):
a point. He was a point. Somebody who wasn't a
point but played like this was Greek the freak. Who
is this, coach, Jason Kidd, get the ball, take it off,
run a point a little bit. Let me see what
you do, because if you're gonna be my best player,
I have to put the ball in your hands, and
then there's gonna be moments where you're gonna have to go.

(15:15):
I don't want people to be able to just put
a big man on you put a guard on you.
So that was the first experiment, and we see what
that looks like. Right, you have your best player that
now has the vision and the skill set to make
plays on the move versus just putting him at the
three and then make a move from there, like you
have him pushing the ball up the court. So I

(15:36):
look at Cooper flag being a version of how Greek
the freat was made.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
But it's not going to be the best version of
a Cooper flag that you feel as a guy who
was playing one.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
In the NBA. No, he's not gonna be a true one, right,
He's gonna be that small for power forward that takes
it off the break and go if he has that advantage,
you know, because he's going to be faster than power
forwards and small forwards. So you know, other than that,
it's going to be getting a half court do your thing, right.

(16:08):
But the skills set, I mean, you know you're talking
about like he's all of eighteen, yeah, right, you know
he's eighteen years old. So the fact that he's scored
a double double, I mean, he's scored in double digits
besides one game. That's impressive, very right, there's no bus
here unless he gets hurt. No, absolutely, you know what

(16:29):
I mean, Like, there's not you can see, Okay, he
has talent and then from there just confidence and just
let it kick on.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Let it grow. Ad is currently out with the calf strain.
We've seen what happened when guys either try to play
through it or rush back, and obviously Tatum Halliburton to
your point, I think what Indiana is the worst team
in the Eastern Conference? Are they one and one and something?

Speaker 2 (16:51):
Dame?

Speaker 1 (16:53):
You know, guys that rush back and all tour it.
So it's a scary place for Ad because I know
he hears the noise and he's it's these little tweaks.
But these calves have shown not to be played with
Kevin Durant in the finals, you know, a few years ago,
So this is something that he's really gonna have to
take his time. And you know, like I know, like
calves and hamstrings and quad like those are tricky because

(17:14):
when you're rehabbing, everything is direct, like go left, go right,
but in game it's instinctual, so you don't really know
how healthy you are until you're actually back in the fire.
So it's gonna be interesting to see what happens moving forward.
I think everyone has to just sit back and be patient.
I mean, I was working the Clipper game last night.
Similar to the Clipper game, I mean, beals out a game,
but Kawhi is out. So you don't know what you

(17:34):
have until you get at least twenty twenty five games
in and you've had all these guys playing together to
kind of see what kind of chemistry they can form.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
I'm so confused, man, with this new NBA. I don't
know how you have main guys injured in the first
ten fifteen games of the season. That's never happened before.
We had this thing called training camp. We did two
days where we have a little hamstring pools, a little

(18:03):
grown it's a little tightness, right, and we our bodies
is getting in shape to it against our peers, of
our teammates. Right. So me as a guard, I'm going
against a Steve Blake, not an Alon Iverson Steve Blake.
So I get to really like, okay, this is okay.

(18:26):
I can't do it right. And I'm getting in shape
thirty days to get my body ready to be season started.
Now they're not doing that. And then now they're going
out there playing against the.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
High level guy right in the right in the.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah, your first game. You know, I gotta guard Luca
and I ain't even in shape. Or I gotta guy
Kyrie and he's sitting there talking.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
He's sitting there talking to me.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
I'm over here, this know. I mean, like, hey, I
think this.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
Is an interesting conversation because I mean, I think you
can go several different ways with it. I mean, our
kids playing too much basketball once they finally get there.
But then at the same time, once you're there, are
you training I'm not saying they don't train hard, but
are you training the way we trained in the offseason.
We prepared to be to your point, double days in
training camp, play what eight games in the preseason.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Eight games in the preseason.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Eighty two games, and then the playoffs. Like that's how
we train. So we would kill ourselves in the summer,
kill ourself in training camp, and then the season would
get here and to your point. It's just like it's
so I think sometimes the technology fucks it up for
us because you think, well, we got all these heart
rate monitors on us and all this shit that's telling
you got to rest the body. Like sometimes you just

(19:38):
got to fight through shit and prepare yourself for the
marathon that the season is. And I just don't think
they do that.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
Again, their bodies is just like their bodies is, they're
more explosive, right, Okay, think about a bodybuilder, right, if
you're lifting every day and you you can lift that three,
you know, twenty five right, ten times? Now, take a
week off. It didn't go straight to three twenty five.

(20:03):
That's what they're doing. That's exactly what they're doing. They're
taking this rest and there you're playing against high level guys.
You're not playing against your teammates when you are the
high level guy, right, like Luca. Luca's playing against Brodny
James in practice, right, you know, I mean, I can
you know, get in shape doing against that. But if

(20:25):
I got to play against the number one, two, three
guys every night, you're you're you're I'm reacting more than
I want to. And that's what you said, Like when
you're coming back from injury, what ends up happening? This
I'm playing against somebody I know, and I know what
he can and do when I go in a real game,
and then I which John Morant, and this heit me

(20:45):
with one of those, and I'm like, I wasn't ready
three more weeks, you know, And it seems that this
is happening in real time, and these.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
Guys just can't I think in close Nko escapegoat in
this situation. I don't think we'll ever get him to
be able to say that I blame all of this Undermont,
all of it. Yeah, ever, all of it, all of
it on him, and I still go ahead, I can't
blame it.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Listen, listen, listen. If I looked at my much by
my evaluation before I trade him, and then I look
at it now, it's good ass move. It's a good
ass move. If he sold his team today, he made
money all because he he can blame whoever he wants,

(21:37):
but he made money because of that trade right there
to the Lakers that put his valuation up. So we
can you know what I mean, that's dum.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
And if he sells this team right now, he bought
it for what.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
For for six or seven that's just how business works.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
But it's not just because the rest of the league. Yeah, no,
because of the Lakers set the value. And let's and
let's say the Nick sail Let twelve million everybody move up.
Everybody moves. It's just like.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
Waiting for a quarterback in free agency that it's one
person make the markup. It just moves the ship up
and for the rest of the starting quarterbacks in the
NFL or whatever thing. So yeah, once they go up,
everybody should got to go up. So, yeah, he didn't
make some money.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
A team's value valuation now is five million and sold
for three point five millions, So to your point, and the.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
Year he's made billion, So to your point, is it
his fault? I mean I think obviously the Dallas fans,
I mean, you guys just got to be patient. I
think again, Nico was a scapegoat in this situation. If
this team can hell, it's a big if this team,
I mean, you got what Kyrie coming back at the
top of the year or late January, early February, ad

(22:53):
taking this time and being healthy. But if they can
get what they acquired on the court, this is this
is definitely a middle of the Western Conference team that
can get hot to make a run. So there ain't
no yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
Whoever the new gear general manager is when everybody get healthy,
he's gonna get credit.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Like he did something the game it's the business.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
You're the GM.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
If Jumont hires both of you guys, what do you do?

Speaker 2 (23:16):
What's what's the path forward? You stay patient, try and
get everyone healthy.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yeah, I don't think they really have much to play with.
I mean, they have some assets to trade, but I
don't I think what they have a solid?

Speaker 2 (23:26):
No, what they have a solid? I mean, you know,
Max Christy, you gotta you gotta see what these guys have, right,
you got them. He looked good last year, right, you know,
we thought he would get good minutes this year, so
you know, seeing what he can bring, seeing how to
put I mean, they got to figure out how to
get Clay.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
And they don't have a point guard. They can get
him the ball though. I think Clay has always had
sets ran and opportunities and guys getting downhill and spraying.
He doesn't really who does that out there on the court.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
I got a question, I noticed how much of this?
How much is j Kidd involved in this new process
and making sure his team gets better and able to
get to get.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
To the well.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
I think to Gill's point, and it's great, his focus
right now is developing this number one pick a d
out Kyrie out. I'm gonna give you the kids and
see what you can do.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, you got to think about it from Jake kid point. Right.
He can only cook at you know what's at this table, right.
You know, I was planning on making the big things
given it's gonna be a good deal, but didn't come.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
Befits didn't come.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
So this is what I got for you. Yeah, I
guess some uh some some spam, some left over, you know.
So that's so he can only look at what he has.
And you know, he don't have Kyrie, he don't have
a D. So it's like, all right, you know what,
let me put you at the point. Let you get
pressured that you feel this pain now you're yeah, you know,

(24:54):
and it's it's it's it's I can fast forward you.
So when these guys come back, you got a new
skill that you didn't have season.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah. I agree. Let's take a look at the beneficiaries
that we're able to trade for Luca. You're LA Lakers
minus Lebron, top three in the Western Conference through your
first ten games. This is a team that you stream
a lot. You know, an elephant in the room. Bron

(25:22):
hasn't played in. This team is eight and three. Lucas
at what thirty seven a game? Ar is at thirty
one a game? GM, Gilbert, what are we doing? We're
we looking Let's say at first I had if we
was five and five.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
I was like, bro, we did it right, we we
we didn't?

Speaker 1 (25:41):
You know?

Speaker 2 (25:42):
I mean, if you if you start looking at some
of them names, you were like, ooh, y'all, y'all playing
in the NBA right now, So you know, I mean,
I'm just gonna be if you look at it, you
just be like, yeah, it's gonna be a zero for
twelve start off. But you know, it just shows you
how gifted Luca, ar and some of these guys are

(26:04):
at making it look easy for some of the players
that we do have on this team, and it takes
pressure offle Lebron. Right, the more these guys can do,
the longer he can stay in the league. So if
he's playing on staying two to three years, them doing
the heavy lifting helps him out.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
My question to you, though, is you've been a superstar
and then you've had to play with other superstars when
you weren't a superstar. Inserting Lebron back into this situation
is going to make everyone take a look just out
of respect or however the game flows, They're not going
to be their normal self without them. You know, when
with a superstar out, things are different with another. With

(26:46):
the superstar returning, things get different. So I mean even
to Aiden, what is Aiden at seventeen and eight, I
mean that they've been waiting for this from him for
since he was in Phoenix. So if and when he's
going to return, when Lebron retured turns, how do you
feel like that chemistry and continuity, is it something Bron
can just step into and be more of an Olympic
Bron where he's a seventeen ten and nine guy facilitating

(27:09):
to all the little shit, or is he gonna What
do you feel inserting him back in this rotation?

Speaker 2 (27:14):
Does I mean you can be the left corner of
the right corner? You know, don't work somewhere he wants
to be. But listen, last year when Luca got here,
people don't realize Luca led and points and rebounds and
assists wasn't Lebron. Right, Lebron got the easiest shot that

(27:37):
he's ever had, right because he used to get double
making his past. Now someone else is getting double and
they're rotating, and they're leading Lebron James open by himself
the league. You know what I mean, Like he's Mark,
You're smart. That's Lebron James right there. But because Luca
has all these little tricks and he's so tall you
you are forced to double him. You are forced to

(27:59):
double ar. Now Lebron James gets to walk to twenty three. Right,
So now you have three guys who IQ's are very high,
who all can play, make, who all can pass? Who
all can score?

Speaker 1 (28:14):
Take the last shot?

Speaker 2 (28:15):
Who all can take the last shot. So it's one
of those things where it depends on what Lebron wants.
You want another ring, This is your best opportunity.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
If it was that saying being like being cool with
being the second or third wheel, He's.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
The he's the he's when Luca came, he was the
second wheel, right because you you're just not You're just
it's young to be. If you are our number one option,
we're not that good no more. Right If our forty
one year old is out there trying to give us
thirty a night and control everything, we don't need it.

(28:54):
We need you to be twenty when we need you
to be twenty right, now, be forty one to sit
there and take some jumpers. He's your little layups, right,
you don't need to take all them hits. I can
take them hits a cake the hits.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Can he accept that?

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yes, we're acting like Lebron ain't being in the league
twenty something years.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Right.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
He's played on every Olympic team, He's done, play with
every selfish like, he's done, did it all, and he
survived through everybody, like he's you know what I mean.
He's played on all the All Star Games, He's won
MVPs at All Star Games with the best talent in
the world, played with shocks and the like. He's done,
went through every single thing to the point where this

(29:37):
is easy for him. So it's like when we ask
these questions sometimes we're asking as if the guy were
saying can or cannot adapt. We're challenging their intelligence. It
seems like, you know what I mean, And he's an
intelligent player. So because he's an intelligent player, he's looking

(29:58):
at these guys, so he knows how to adapt. And
if winning is the thing, and winning a championship is
that goal, you know, he knows who needs to lead
it and who needs to finish it?

Speaker 1 (30:09):
Elijah, what's going on with your son? He's had a
he's had a tough year. I mean, god, damn, y'all
been going through it. So obviously the crash and I
think we talked after that, right and then gets back

(30:30):
and then hurts yourself and now he missed And if
you don't I talked to him at a softball game
not too long ago. He ended up having two knee surgeries. Correct, Yeah,
So where is he at currently? Where we see him
at all this college season? Will he go to the
league after this city?

Speaker 2 (30:45):
Like it was some it was weird. It was one
of those things where growing too fast and then cartilage
was gone to break off. It didn't break off, it
was gonna So they were like, you can play, and
you if you irritated, to just be irritated for a
couple of days or whatever, then you can do that.

(31:07):
It's going to break off at some point in your
cam so you know you don't want it to break
off before the drive in your first year, So get
it done. If we go in and we just sacrificed
the beginning of you know, this year, go in, screw
it in. Make sure it's all good to go and
then going about your career, so that that was the

(31:28):
toughest decision. Right, You're sitting.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
There and how much as a dad, did your experience
because obviously you had your issues, did your experience way
on this because it's I'm sure he's getting a lot
of information from a lot of different people who haven't
been there. Yeah, so how much was this you and
him sitting down and kind of explaining that the marathon
picture not the sprint.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah, so I had to talk to the doctors and
just just tell me, like, you know, everything that's going on,
you know, can you play right now? There's like yeah,
you know, like this looks like it's old. Like, okay,
what's the benefits? What's the he said, we if we
drill it in, you don't have to worry about it.
Break it off right now? We can't pull it off,

(32:08):
like you know what I mean. So it's one of
those things where I have these it's going to break off,
but we don't know when, or let's just take care
of it now. And then he missed the beginning of
the season. Come back January February. See where he is.
If he's you know, healthy, do we into the draft, right,
So I told him, just like anything, do you do

(32:31):
your part right, eat right, take care of your body.
Don't sit there trying to come back too fast. If
they say January first, you're coming back at the end
of January, right, and then you can test the water
and into the draft. But that's not something that you
think about now. You have to wait until that time comes.
But right now, the most important thing is being healthy

(32:55):
and being patient. Right. You know, you're being punished, punished
because you're not patient.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
How's his mental because obviously Carter pretty much fractures ankles
almost five months and he's just getting back down his
ship is a mental roller coaster. Obviously, Elijah's still going
through the process at practice, participating. I'm sure he's eager
to get out there, but understanding what the process is.
How is his mental being? Yeah? Same, I mean they

(33:22):
be talking on the phone and playing video games all
the time, so they probably got the same mental.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
It's the same, you know, just like you know, any
any any kid or any Hooper that wants to be
out there game days and you sitting there watching knowing
you can kill you know, team losing it is gonna
go with you. So and you know anytime he's watching
the game itself or watching practice, obviously he's gonna get antsy.
So right now, you know he's training, you know, not

(33:49):
running or jumping, but you know he's he's back to moving,
lifting and all that.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
So cool. We wish him the best. This freshman class
of college freshmen are really making noise this year with
Darren Peterson's AJ boozer.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
What's the other?

Speaker 1 (34:08):
Caleb Williams, what has been your thoughts? And these are
actually kids who are the right age, in the right grade.
We're seeing the NCAA do crazy shit get with twenty
seven and twenty eight year old twenty six year olds,
which is the whole other conversation. We could talk all
day about but clogging up the pipeline. But what have
you seen? How impressed have you been with this freshman

(34:29):
class that's in college right now?

Speaker 2 (34:30):
This is a this is a talented like you know,
it's it comes in goals and this is one of
those ultra talented drafts. If all these kids come out.
I mean, you have the kid from Tennessee, yeah, huh,
new Yort Nate right where. I don't know what he's

(34:51):
doing right now, but I don't care who the jem is.
He's top five, right, and then you have the I
don't know if you've seen the French kid. Oh my lord,
the six nine point guard, right, Luca is she I've
watched his movements. I'm like Jesus Christ, he's gonna come
into the draft. Yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Kale Pete, Yeah, kid from Arizona.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
Yeah. Co oh yeah col right it's and he got
the guard burst, right, So you have a lot of
It's a stacked freshman class. So we know at least
this draft coming up, in the next draft is going
to be some dogs in it. I think the biggest

(35:34):
thing for this class is were you going to be
drafted at?

Speaker 1 (35:39):
Because I think depending on who were the lottery boss fall,
there could be two or three different number one picks
in this class.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
And if I'm you know, one of those parents in
my my child is you know, like one of these
three one, two or three is meaningless? Right, It's who
is there when you get there? Right? If you're Peterson, right,
you don't want san Antonio to be a number one pick, right.

(36:06):
You don't want no team that has a young, high
level guard where you're going to be sitting there like
school Henderson sitting right. You know your top with four pick,
but you ain't. You ain't played in three years, right,
so you don't want to be that guy. So it's
not always about that number anymore. It's about where my franchise,

(36:27):
Like what franchise? Who's in front of me? Like? Am
I going to get playing time today? Right? You know
I'll sacrifice full five million to be the third pick
and I get to play thirty eight minutes? Kill for you?
You were someone when you were going to be drafted,
were projected kind of around the lottery, and then you
pushed a little later in the draft a little later,
I think said a little a little like like like lottery,

(36:50):
like eighteen to twenty one. That's a little later.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
What are you telling your son in regards to that?

Speaker 4 (36:58):
Because you have some personal experience where you like you
could have been one place and then you might be another.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
Don't do stupid ship before the draft, all right? These
people take this shit seriously. Hey, being funny, it's not
everybody don't have a sister, Hugh, I can tell you that,
But I don't.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
Think it's structured the same way it was when you
were a second round player. Because second depending on where
you fell right in the first because memory that next
year you was a totally unrestricted free agent. You can
go get whatever money. So I don't know if it's still.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
They didn't close that. They fixed it with me, and
then when Boozer came and he tricked, he tricked them
to let him out and then he left and went
to Utah. It's it's the second round is very different,
and I think Brownie James exposed it because no one
ever knew what second rounds got paid, so they was like,

(37:53):
how did he get guaranteed?

Speaker 1 (37:55):
You know?

Speaker 2 (37:56):
And then wind up with what I did was I
looked at everybody in the second round. I was like,
god damn, like why is this money so different? Like, okay,
you know, the first pick got six million guaranteed, the
next pick got twelve, then seven, then eleven, Like what's
going on? And they said, now in the second round,
you're negotiating, you're on deals, so there's really no slot anymore.

(38:20):
So some guy who is like, let's say, you know Dallas, right,
since we talked about Dallas, Dallas has the forty second pick,
and I'm the guy they want and I supposed to
be going the first pick in the second round. I'm like, yo,
they don't pick me. I already got to deal with Dallas, right,
and me and Dallas already did a deal. They got

(38:41):
me a twelve million. Everybody in front of me signed
for six, you know, and I'm sitting here at twelve
because I was supposed to be here, but I took
the money here to go here. And that's what they're
doing in the second round now.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
Interesting.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
So if you go through that, you'll be looking like
God didn't know they was making money like this. They
are literally making there's kids in the second round. That's
making my draft class number twelve million guarantees?

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Brownie got eight? Didn't he eight guarantee? So we started
obviously were announcing you were coming on the show. We
started a hotline maybe a month ago for fans to
participate and have their questions right on camera and do this.
And we want to read it when we announced you
were coming on, We want to read it or let
you hear a voice audio.

Speaker 5 (39:28):
Yeah. My question for Gilbert is why did he talk
so much? He boots and says things in terms of
the gambling controversy that makes you look really bad. It's
like he seems to rebel is just saying stuff that
can it puts him to really negative light. So that's
my question is why the hell did you do that?

Speaker 1 (39:50):
But before you answer that question, I've got a chance
to know you really well over the last since we
had kids with sisters, and one thing I realized about
you is like every you keep a smile on your face.
Everything is fun, but you're really strategic outside of that smile.
And you've always been that way. This that we've been

(40:11):
having conversations. We're obviously gonna go into the gambling side
of this, and we've been having conversations kind of throughout this.
You'd send me ship, I'll send you ship. We go
back and forth, kind of explain your thinking with this whole.
The latest thing is the gambling process which you were
cleared of at the time, or your situation. Okay, so

(40:31):
your situation answer that question first.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
Okay, First of all, he said the most important thing,
he said, light. I don't give if it's negative a positive.
The light is all I don't care about. I don't
care about the light. So you know, I'm gonna shoe
this shining idea. I'm gonna walk in it, right and
you know. That's my personality. I'm a content creator. I'm
I'm an entertainer. So like you, like you said, everything

(40:58):
to me is about the fun. So if I can
find fun in something negative, I'm gonna tap into it.
It's just my personality. Man, it's you know, I'm fun, right,
So I'm not malicious. I'm not you know, dangerous. I'm fun,
you know, And that's how I see everything. So even
if it makes me look stupid, if I can laugh
at it, because I know you want to.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
Laugh, so I'm gonna laugh too myself, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
I'm just gonna tell a joke a little bit better
because you know me getting you know, arrested, You're gonna laugh,
so why can't I? But that's the problem with mature
and immature. That's the only thing mature people supposed to
be mature when serious things are serious. Immature is you
don't take nothing serious. So where are you laying at?

(41:43):
I don't take nothing serious? You know what I mean?
It's just like you know what I mean my questions,
it just seems very stressful being mature. I'm just and
that ship looks like it's hard work out.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
We had this conversation. Obviously, your situation hit where you know,
it's an ongoing process, so we're not going to discuss it.
Your situation hit, and then this new stuff with Chauncey
and Rosier come up, and you've kind of been again
creating content, and we had this conversation. I'm like, bro,
you're putting yourself in this situation because someone that you know,
I'm close to and in the day at drop and

(42:22):
said like, yo, this is out of line. When Rachel
just without saying it, kind of insinuated that you were
involved in this new situation and how did that you
and I had that conversation, how did that affect you?

Speaker 2 (42:31):
Like? Okay, so okay, I gotta start with the blame, right,
you know, me trolling my own case and I'm ready
to snitch, right, So when I wake up, you know,
I'm watching the feed what the fuck? And then and
then you know, someone sends me, you know, Rachel's thing,

(42:53):
and I'm sitting here like why did you the fuck
this guy doing me? Like you know what I mean? Like,
and then I'm looking at the case like, all right,
Chauncey Rogier, what the fuck they gotta do with each other?
Why is a poker charge mixed with gambling, Like, it's

(43:13):
two different things. Why are they bunching them up together?
This doesn't even make sense, right, So what happened is
We're getting ready to go on the show.

Speaker 1 (43:24):
So I'm like, here we go, here we go, that
wheel starts turning.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
I'm not gonna mess this moment up. I gonna mess
this moment up, right, So I grab was it Taylor
six Man jersey? You know the six Man? So people
don't even pay attention. So you know the six Man,
you know the movie?

Speaker 1 (43:46):
Right?

Speaker 2 (43:46):
So I have the jersey, so he's basically the ghost
behind the scenes. So I have that jersey, and then
I had the people at the lunch, you know, right
on the thing. And then I'm coming in like and
for minute lunch, you know, so I had to inform it,
you know, so I have to inform the lunch and.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
My coffee too, diabolical. I didn't even peep the jersey
part though.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
You know what I mean. You know, so you know,
I'm so who was that?

Speaker 1 (44:12):
Marla? Ways? Now that was who was in the Sixth Man.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
He's in the movie.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
Yeah, the wind that passed right?

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Yeah? Okay, So you know I really didn't you know.
I didn't know because you know, I'm reading on real
time and then you know, going on the show, I
didn't know how serious that was. And then once I
realized how serious it was, it kind of scared me.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
The crime family, like I've heard these names of folk, but.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
You know, like I'm you know, I'm watching you because
I watched Datelines and I watched you know, all this
mob ship, so I be watching like, you know, okay,
got it. Got an argument at a restaurant next day,
restaurant blew up? Okay, car blew up? Whoa Like okay,
so they're serious about their business on just arguments. So wait,

(45:04):
wait now I'm mad at Rachel because Yo, why would
you even put my name associate? This is real, This
is four families and my name is in it for
no damn reason. Do they think this is real? Do
they think I'm a part of it?

Speaker 1 (45:18):
And then you bullshit and play into with the bag?

Speaker 2 (45:21):
And I did that before. I don't know, Yeah, I
know I read after like oh ship, like I started
looking out today, like I started looking at my car.
Is there any Italians out here? I didn't listen. I
didn't get in my fucking car for about a week
and a half. Hey don't know. Fuck no, did you
see the names on it? It's that families. This said families,

(45:44):
you know, just it's just a regular person's name. Cool,
but they had full families and they are local. They're
in the United States of America. Man, I did not
turn that goddamn key over for shiite. Y'all thought I
was playing that. Y'all was all tesla of tesla. I'm

(46:05):
gonna try my son, Rode. I'm safer in my son round,
like I swear to God at him turn that car over.
I was mad, like, yo, they might mistaken and really
think this is real. So you know, I had to
call somebody who's you know, in that underworld. Hey, man,
can you find out if they are like you know
what I mean, Like, can you find out and see
if they think I'm part of this? And you know,
I got a call back like, nah, they they know

(46:26):
you're not even closer to that, Like I'm seriously, I
was like, because I was trying to figure out, like
like Rachel, it clearly said this says Italian. My shit
says Israel, Russian, two different peoples, Los Angeles, my house,
New York City two Thoy ninety not even in the

(46:50):
same realm. You gotta do your due diligence.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
Yeah, and I mean I think that that brings the
point up. And we talked about, you know, when Pablo
Torre mentioned that Kevin Garnet was out of situation and
then it came clean and he tried to delete. It's
just like, once it's out there, the damage is done.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
Yeah, So so things like that, man, like you know
when you when you go behind. Okay, this is not
a this is not a poker case, right, and unless
you read it, you you're still trying to figure out
what do they both have to do with each other? Right?

(47:27):
So you have one that's gambling on games and then
you have one that's poker. Two different worlds right from
the outside. What ends up happening is you know this
this case started in twenty twenty three. Two players got
in trouble for allegedly betting on games. One got scared

(47:49):
for his life because his bookie said he's gonna break
his legs, so told on his bookie. Now what does
the book you have? You got other names, got a
whole lot of other names, right, So what ends up
happening is he gets jammed up so bad he just
opens his mouth right, just like a you know, I mean,

(48:11):
I don't want to go trying to you know, he's
So what ends up happening is he gives them his
black book, and then that black book poker. So how
chance he gets pulled into it is the guy that
is doing the bedding and the booking also created the machine,
the table, the glasses and all that. That's how the

(48:34):
FEDS got this stuff. See this case of poker is
twenty nineteen. There's no victims here because none of those
players who got scammed, we don't know. They never came
out right, they didn't. It's not like they reported it right.
So what ends up happening is the bookie gives this
because this ties to them families, right, This ties hit

(48:58):
him family. So they're like, well, how do we believe you? Oh,
I'm the one who created here's my machine, here's the table,
here's the glasses, here's the cards, here's my ledger, here's
my bank accounts, here's my wires. And they just looking
at them names like oh shit, and then just like anything.
For the next two years, they try to siphon through

(49:18):
all this, see what's real, see what's fake? And then
no one knows that these families like that, we know
these NBA players, We're gonna use these names to make
this big old splash, and that's what ends up happening.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
So what do you think, kind of knowing more than
the average person does on this Chauncey situation, what do
you kind of think is? What do you kind of
think possibly could happen?

Speaker 2 (49:43):
When I first heard about the case, I'm like, I
thought Chauncey when his name got called, he was a fish,
So a fishes? Is this? In the poker world, NBA
players are targets to get to uf like this right,
where you go sit down at a house table, you're

(50:05):
trying to figure out how many people play together, right,
how many of y'all are friends trying to take my money? Right?
And that's what happens at these tables. So I'm like,
he must have got scammed, and that's why his name
is on a on a ledger. So it's like figuring
out for him to be the face of it, he
must have got he must have got licked at one

(50:27):
point and then they turned them and basically forced him
to do it. So I think him Damon Jones basically
are the same as Johnty, Like these people scammed me first.
I'm the first victim, right because there's no way, like,
there's no way, we're we're we're we're gamblers, right, we

(50:48):
we we're paying, we're playing. We're not We're not running
no organization, We're not. That's not our world, right, We're
coming for the excitement. I want to take you money,
you want to take my money? You know what I mean?
That that's all this is is and that's where it starts.
So I don't I don't think that the poker side
of it is going to be no issues now it

(51:10):
all the only problem that he's going to have is
as a coach, what did you give that man? And
that's that's where the case will be lying with him
when he became a coach, because you know, twenty nineteen,
that's that world. He becomes a coach after that, what
happened during that time?

Speaker 1 (51:30):
So interesting? Interesting? Interesting. Before we get you out of here,
tell us about the football. What's going on at the arena?
And you got a lot of basketball heavy Now you're
into the football space as well. You're streaming what you
got going.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
On a little bit.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
Yeah, just a.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
Little bit of everything. Man, you know, it's so what
happened is me and Skip had our or backing. Well,
it wasn't a back and forth right too. He jumped
out the window and then I knocked his ass, you know,
because it was one of these things right where you
don't really get opportunity sometime to get one of them legends, right.

(52:08):
And when he came at me, it was nine minutes
and you was talking about you now he was basically
it was I said something, you know, for Lebron, and
then he went down this hole, you know, basically you know,
going at me like I didn't know, you know, the sports.
So I'm you know, I'm listening to him, and I'm like, man,

(52:28):
that's wrong. That's one sided. You're not looking at that,
you know. And I was like, you know what, I'm
gonna use this. I'm gonna use this and make this
a show. I'm not just gonna go out here. I'm
gonna take these nine minutes and I turned it into
like three and a half hours, and I went through

(52:50):
every word, every mistake, everything entertaining, just you know, did
the whole Michael Jordan thing like I went into character,
and he watched it about nine times because now first
of all, he's watching it to see what I got
wrong so he can respond, and then him and his

(53:13):
wife there watching it like this was entertaining. Like he
literally entertained me. He wanted to have dinner, so we
had to sit down.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
We had three sit downs.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
Coolest shit, like we we golf buddies now, and he
was like, yeah, it's like I want to He wanted
to work, so he's like, you know, Ernestine Bernsteine, So
he's like, let's work together. I want I want to
work with you. But I think you're the most talented
that you know, he said, stephen A has his thing,
Shannon has his thing. You have just something different. So

(53:46):
you know, I go to the Underdog and say, I
got Skip. Skip wants to do a show together. I
know he's in the football because I did the back,
you know, back thing on him. So if y'all are
looking for a football show, we can create one, right,
and then we just surrounded with talent and go from there.
He was on board. They was on board.

Speaker 1 (54:08):
Created grid iron arena. What's it called the arena?

Speaker 2 (54:12):
Grid Iron?

Speaker 1 (54:13):
Grid Iron? I love it. How's this been, Because again,
you're someone who kind of took this space by storm.
It was funny. We were at an event with it
two weeks ago, and it's like I wanted to do
what you did, but you fucked it up. You guys
are too good. So I went and did no, yea.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
Yeah, yah yea yea yeah. Yeah. You know you know
I was in it, you know, twenty eighteen. You know
it was local, getting my little my little guest, you know,
getting my little B C. D Celerity guests, you know
what I mean. Then y'all came in and then the guests.
I couldn't compete, you know what I mean, I just

(54:49):
I'm not, you know, like I did Listen, I did
somehow get the White Howard and and Katie. I did
get there, but you know what I mean, Like when
we was looking at rosters, you had the All Star Game,
you know what I mean? I had, I had, I had,
I had the rookie I had the Rookie All Star Game, right,
and you know it was it was one of those
things where you know, my game was on Friday, yours

(55:11):
is on Sunday, and you know, so I'm like, hey, man,
can we get any like like guest guests, right, and
then it was it was it just started getting frustrated.
And then it was like I don't want to do this.
No more right, It's just I don't want to do
this still. Boy man, I'm like the biggest guess we

(55:32):
got to speaking. They go, hey, I got irons, said
they got gray here they we don't know, nobody, don't
know nobody, just my teammates. Like I'm good my teammate.
So it was one of those things where I wasn't
consistent with it, and then COVID hit and I was like, oh,

(55:56):
so celebrities ain't moving around they scared.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
I was with you when you kind of conceptualized this.
You brought me over, like we sat at the house
and what do we watch a game? Right, and we
were drinking and smoking and ship it was me and
U T Mac. It was me ut Mac, he kmart right,
and like what's his name?

Speaker 2 (56:17):
Jee Jefferson drink Jared.

Speaker 1 (56:22):
But that's when you kind of came up with the concept.
But I thought it was dope. Yeah, and then from
there you just ran with me did we did that?
And you know what happened is we did it. We
watched it and then I didn't even pay attention to it.
And then when I went back and looked at the views,
it had, damn there full five hundred thousand and all

(56:44):
the lives on that page four thousand and six thousand,
and then I was like, wait what And then I
started reading the comments. So then it was like, okay,
there's something here, right, there's something. This is something right,
I don't know what it is yet. So while you know,
you know, the COVID happened, all that I had in my.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
Contract I can do. I can produce two shows in
your Underdog No no, no before Underdog, that's right. So
this is where poker comes in at to wrap it
back around. So I'm like, I can do it. I
talked to my guy Hollywood, who could I mean Hollywood
Hustles because you know, so like, hey, you guys have

(57:28):
a live show. I can if you guys we can
partner up and then I can do a celebrity live
show from my house. You guys do everything you know
said it, you know, we can do it like that.
So they were on board. Then I was like, okay,
I can do uh like listen, you know, beef Roast
League you know, on YouTube. So I got these two things.

(57:50):
So I'm shooting pilots hints while my table was at
the house right that ten that ten alligator skinned all
gold table came for. You think I was spending that
kind of money for the niggas playing five five days. No, man, Like,
I'm just be real, man, that table is too fixing

(58:12):
for that. So even in their photos there's nobody there's
fifty four people in the house from where they said,
nobody's on that table. And then the chips is st
all in plastic because it was four there. So I
think it only got there that week or two weeks before,
and I was going to be shooting a pilot, which
I ended up shooting a pilot because I wanted to

(58:33):
shoot it. See how it looks.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
How misinformation gets out there and unless you really it's crazy, right,
So so it.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Was for that, like, but I have all the emails
and all that stuff from you know, for for that case.
So what I'm looking at, I'm trying to figure out.
I don't know if this is a thing, right, This
might just be a thing that I like to do,
but I don't know if this is a thing everybody
wants to watch, right, So I go back to our

(59:01):
episode and then while we have our episode on, then
I'm looking at you know, Charles Barklay now and I'm
sitting here like, is there a live show on YouTube
that talks sports? Then I google Pat McAfee comes up,

(59:21):
so okay, football, what's basketball? Nothing? Mm hm, so there's
you know what I mean? So okay, Pat McAfee did.
So that's when the idea is, like, all right, just
do a live podcast show every day talking sports, just

(59:44):
like them up there. And then the idea is, if
we say something that's worth being viral, they're forced because
they have producers that's gonna always go for stuff that's trending.
They're gonna take these taken put it on the show.
So I don't even need to ever be on there
because they're.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
Gonna put Yeah, they're gonna take much it anyway.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
And then that's where that's where the show was created.
So when they asked me, I was like, listen, I
don't know where the show is going to be taken,
but you give me a year. I'll get I'm gonna
make y'all some money. Just give me a year and
let me process and go through it six months later,
not even the end of the season. By the time
it's going to go on. In season two, we started

(01:00:26):
in February, so we came in at the All Star
All Star weekend. By the time we hit the summer,
when the season was over, it we all was cutting
up our contracts, signed.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
A congrats, anything else cooking in that. Let's gaming gaming, you.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
Know with with you know, I'm pretty sure you done
peeped it right. Amazon has live. Amazon is looking for content.
Netflix has live. They looking for content, you know what
I mean. I'll be I'll be looking so as I
see a live button, come on, like, wait a minute,
is that Cat Williams Live? I know lives. So you know,

(01:01:03):
I'm sitting there watching like this is really And then
now I gotta think about my show. So now I
gotta think about the flaws of it, like, okay, how
can this show be on here for me to even
pitch it? We're every day, so how can it stay
on if this game already happened? So now it has
to be like these evergreen type of deals or you know,
like you know what I mean. So I'm going through

(01:01:24):
all of it just watching, okay, reddick, I know Redick
is gonna jump into it, Hulu, Like you know, all
these platforms are starting to look for content creators, which
means all production esp and all of them are eventually
gonna fall because what you guys have is corporate conversations

(01:01:49):
and America and human beings.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
Don't want it anymore, not anymore, And they're empowering the
content creators.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
Because it's all organically done, right, Like if you see Skip,
he's cussing now, right, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
If you look at Don Lemon, he's cussing that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
If you look at some of those shows now they're
dressing up for Halloween and doing all the fun. Yeah,
you know what I mean. So they're incorporated trying to
keep up because they're getting drowned out right, because you
can only go for thirty minutes or an hour. We
can go on every single day anytime we want. We
can beat you to all topics, you know we can.

(01:02:32):
We can make fun of you, we can go deep dive, right,
I can cuss you the fuck out on this platform.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
You got to pay a by your rules, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
So you know, corporate is at a disadvantage, and we
get the same sponsors because we have more viewers that
already accepted.

Speaker 1 (01:02:50):
For people don't understand, like our Shoes shows do more
views than the network shows, and people don't understand.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
That network sure comes on and it goes off, comes
on and goes off, a whole new one comes on.
We they get to rewatching, rewatching, We get clip, clip,
clip and clip and pushing, push and push it. And
the audience that's watching our show already accept us who
we are, so you don't have to sell, you know

(01:03:20):
what I mean. So you're gonna get yeah, you right,
You're never gonna get a sponsor saying, well, you know safe, Brandy,
you know we're gonna get a pushback. My fans love it.
There's there's twenty five thousand people in here. We have
more people in here than the the Laker game, the Clipper,

(01:03:42):
whatever game you want that sold out. We're doing that
every day, right, And that's that's that's that's how it is.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
It's tough to see. It's been up to watch the
journey man keep doing thing for everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
Man, it's you remember we first got in. We didn't
know what it was, right, and that's why we are
always talked because if we're not communicating with each other.
We don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
What there's no bar set. Yes, yes, there was no
bar set, and that's what Gilbert, I definitely credit you.
And then you know, we started talking to Cam and
Mace or excuse me, Cam and Joe Button's Joe Gillian
Wallow because there was no like, we're sitting at the top,
and no one was really willing to like, if we
don't know what we're making, we don't know if it
was good. I was supposed to push the line. So

(01:04:26):
like that, those internal conversations we had kind of helped
set the bar and now, shit, we're doing it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
Now there's bags because now they can't you you can't
trick nobody into a deal because if I say I'm
making ten million a year and your numbers is better
than me, you know, you have a starting point. So
you're like, yo, you're motherfucker's trying to give me.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
Ten thousand an episode, right, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
I'm thinking that's good. Ten million a year. Hey, hey, homeboy,
peap this real quick. You see this text, You see
these numbers. My numbers are right here, right, So now
we have that's Pat McAfee's and all that because they
set the bar. They set the bar at one hundred
and twenty million, Right, you have Shennon Sharp who is

(01:05:10):
asking for one hundred. So all we have to do
is look at the numbers.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
Look at the reach and say, hey, key building, I
mean I think it's similar. It circles all the way
back before we get out of here. How the Luca
trade triggered higher valuations for franchises, the same thing for us.
So everyone is helping each other. So appreciate you bro
By today. Good luck with everything. Shout out to my
guys ever at Stone of Sports. You guys gotta start
tapping in with them. Man, the two of the best

(01:05:35):
dudes on the internet. Each week on Unplugged, they'll get
us caught up on what you may have missed during
the week. Take a look.

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
The NBA just.

Speaker 4 (01:05:42):
Had its most lit nite in history, Jayo, I know
you've seen d Mitch with the switch for the calves
last night.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
What a shout?

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
We going to ot that?

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):
Boy?

Speaker 4 (01:05:49):
Andrew Wiggins said, no, the fuck we not this. The
Stoner's sixty percent by Unplugged.

Speaker 6 (01:05:54):
Most I've seen the Trailblazers do this off the inbounds.

Speaker 2 (01:05:56):
I thought it was.

Speaker 6 (01:05:56):
Over to the very next play. Paolo went to the
cup grown ass man and smoke the free throw, though,
but the new guy said, let me see that one time.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Let me hurt.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
My key has been paid, said let's go home. Winners.

Speaker 4 (01:06:05):
Jayo, you want to talk about winners, Dennis Jenkins said, Cade,
you've done enough. We got a midplay collision. Dennis Jenkins said, Kate,
I got you.

Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
I got up. That boy went two for two.

Speaker 4 (01:06:13):
In the last six second, and you already know Big.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
Dog brought him home.

Speaker 4 (01:06:16):
Lady Jayo, what that boy wouldn't be do?

Speaker 6 (01:06:18):
Lo chill out see out there waving people off. Now
he turned a shy right to area fifty one. The
league ain't ready for this alien takeover, No loast did
he just staggered that man pull up three, get it
out the net.

Speaker 4 (01:06:27):
That boy Cooper said, I'm young, but I'm ready tween spin.
Oh my goodness, and that boy went right at the
freak like me.

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
The Bucks went up with the.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
MAVs got a change. The flag has fallen.

Speaker 4 (01:06:36):
That boy cools my eisted with the two hand yammer.
Appreciate you tapping it with the Stoner sixty presented by Unplugged.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
That's a wrap unplugged. My brother Gilbert Arenas. You can
catch us on all the smoke productions you two in
the DraftKings Network. We'll see y'all next week.