On today’s episode, Jason discusses Caitlin Clark being on the verge of a lucrative shoe deal with Nike and why he expects her popularity to grown even more as the face of the WNBA, Nic Batum’s out-of-body experience in the Philadelphia 76ers’ play-in victory over the Miami Heat, why Jimmy Butler’s knee injury could result in the Heat missing the postseason altogether, which team makes the most sense for Trae Young in a trade this offseason (Los Angeles Lakers? Brooklyn Nets? San Antonio Spurs?) and who he’s betting on to make the NBA Finals.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Straight firefam HiT's me Jason McIntyre Straight Fire for Thursday,
April eighteenth. The NBA was not as good as the
Western Conference, but we knew that was going to happen.
Really really interesting victory for the Sixers. I don't think
we'll spend much time on Bulls Hawks, but I do
(00:33):
want to start before we get to the NBA with
a really fascinating story on Caitlin Clark. And I'm sorry
for those of you who are over Kitlin Clark. You
can just bear with me for ninety seconds. So I
do remember after they lost to South Carolina, a lot
of people saying she should stay in college, she should
not go to the WNBA. The salary is like seventy
eight thousand dollars a year. Some of her college teammates
(00:57):
might get better jobs in sales, like don't go to
then there's more money to be made in college with
the nil Okay, I heard it. I laughed, I scoffed.
I said, you guys are crazy. Do you know what
endorsement money is? Like that's a real thing, and everybody's
so well, no, you can't get endorsement money in the WNBA.
Do you understand what's happening right now with Kaitlin Clark.
Just to put it in perspective, Okay, the TV ratings
(01:21):
for the NBA WNBA draft were like four times what
they were, the highest one ever. Okay, and this is
the Kaitlin Clark impact. Yes, obviously people were tuning in
for some of the other people, but not in the
it was. It was driven fully by Kitlin Clark. Regardless
of what you want to think about Angel Reese and
the girl from South Carolina and Cameron bh blah blah blah,
it's all Kaitlin Clark. And this is how interesting it got.
(01:43):
Some of these like high end female company Prada sells
a lot of women's fashion, Gucci versus. All these big
high end fashion companies noticed what was happening and they said,
ooh oh, let me, let me make link up with
Kitlin clarka we'll get her in Prada and we'll get
(02:04):
massive free publicity on the red carpet when she's on
the stage and the afterword blah blah blah blah. Those companies,
those businesses, by the way, which print money, saw the
Caitlin Clark phenomenon and jumped on it. Well, you know
who else jumping on board? Nike kind of a decent
company in the apparel space, right, Apparently, according to the
Athletic under Armour, an Adidas made huge pitches for Caitlin
(02:28):
Clark and she's ultimately gonna sign a lucrative eight figure
endorsement deal with Nike. Yes, it's true, Kaitlyn Clark is
getting paid. You guys can talk about Nio money on
you want, and that's an iol. Money's great. You know,
Caleb Williams, the quarterback at USC, A lot of guys
are making you know, nice money. I'm sure two, three,
four or five six, maybe seven million dollars. Okay, Caitlin
(02:52):
Clark is going to destroy and obliterate that with this
deal with Nike. Okay, Now, I don't know the history
of WNBA players getting into the league and instantly getting
a ton of sponsors. She Caitlin Crk already has endorsement
deals with Gatorade, State Farm and Panini. Okay, She's now
(03:13):
gonna get in with Iowa. Kaitlin Clark is the business.
I tried to explain this guys, the business of Taylor
Swift was a thing. She would go to certain cities
on this tour and the economy would just surge people
to flock to the city hotels, airfare, restaurants. This is
I'm not making this up. That Wall Street Journal many
outlets have written about the Taylor Swift impact. This on
(03:36):
a lesser extent is gonna start happening with Caitlin Clark.
She's gonna fill out arenas And I know, Jason, it's
just a blip. It's just a rookie year. Oh that's fine, Okay,
maybe it's just the rookie year. Maybe it extends beyond that.
We'll see, Like, I don't know why you would say something, Oh,
it's just gonna be the rookie year. That it's back
to reality. I'm sure that's possible, but you know, us
as possible that this thing continues to grow and snowballs
(03:59):
Clayland Clark becomes I don't know, is she gonna be
I should I didn't want to say this name, but like,
is she gonna have a Michael Jordan type impact on
women's sports? That's possible. Now we saw like the women's
US soccer team had a major moment when they're winning
World cups. But it wasn't like one person popped. It
was like Alex Morgan was a thing, and Rippino was
(04:22):
a big deal, and and you know a lot of players.
It was like a team effort. This is Kaitland Clark.
You guys can say what you want. Yes, some of
the other players matter and they're interesting. This is all
about Caitlin Clark. And my guess, between salary, which is
a pittance and sponsorship money, she's probably gonna make thirty
million dollars this year, just bit bowling. I don't know,
(04:48):
is that too high? Twenty five? All I know is,
if I'm by the way, I know a buddy who
my daughter plays volleyball with her daughter. He's like in
the collectible's card space. He is. It happens to be
from Iowa, and so he's a huge Caitlin Clark fan
and he has been loading up on Caitlin Clark cards
for a while. He has seen the prices over the
(05:08):
last I don't know, twelve months. Just absolutely go to
the moon for Kitlin Clark cards and apparel. Now, of
course I'm an idiot. I missed all this stuff. But
you can only invest in so many things, you know,
the Mexican soccer team takes up a lot of my time.
That's honestly my top priority outside of the work in
the podcast. But I'm just saying, let's just be real.
The Caitlin Clark business is going to be a thing.
(05:29):
She's going to be everywhere. And if she backs it
up on the court, and if Kitlin Clark is able
to I don't know she first team all WNBA. Is
she gonna be in the MVP mix? Somebody told me
she's fourth in MVP odds as a rookie already hasn't
played a game. Now, listen, wem ben Yama had a
big impact. Everybody's excited to see wehm bin Yama. Oh
got it, gotta see wehm ban Yama.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Year one.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
First week, everybody's excited. Ben Yama delivered. Wem ben Yama delivered.
Everybody loves it. But this is different TV people, fans, apparel,
none of it is getting the attraction of wemen Yama,
who's more of a unicorn. It's a little tough to
relate to, like, you know what, seven foot four, but
moves like Kevin Durant. You know, it's just it a
little weird. He's not gonna have. He's not gonna move
(06:13):
merch and shoes the way Caitlin Clark can. And I
just need you guys to understand that because this is,
you know, assuming she stays healthy like she's on Saturday Live.
And if you go on Instagram and watch the video
or go on YouTube, it's got millions of views, millions,
like overnight, people are into it. It works when we
put Kaitlin Clark in the headline for this podcast, it
(06:36):
will help do numbers because there is a large segment
of the population that's just into anything Kaitlin Clark. They
want to consume at all. So we're not gonna force
feed you Kaitlin Cark. We're gonna give you the good stuff.
And I'm just telling you right now. If you heard
anybody say she should stay in school for nil money,
they don't know what they're talking about.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Now, let's get to the NBA where the seventy six
ers looked like as my son says, I guess this
is in middle school. Saying, and I feel old that
even saying it out loud. But the seventy six ers
look like dog water in the first half at home,
scoring a minuscule thirty nine points. They took an early
lead on the heat and then the heat went zone
and I was donn Nick Nurse looked like he had
no idea what he was doing. The Sixers were fluck summoned. Yeah,
(07:28):
that's the word. Joel Embiid was confused. They were turning
the ball over an alarming rate. It was ugly. Miami
looked like they were gonna run away, and then out
of the blue, I don't know where I mean, I'll
be honest, I did not know. He was still like
a factor. But Nick Batoom, who's thirty five, almost thirty
five and a half years old, emerges in the third
(07:50):
quarter and just starts splashing threes. And of all the people,
it wasn't Tyreese Maxy, it wasn't Kelly Ubray, certainly was
not Tobias Harris, and Embiid was struggling Nick Batoom. And
we just said this the other night. Boy Keegan Murray
sure picked a fine time to score thirty two points
and have his best game of the season, maybe career
(08:12):
and help the Kings. Okay, boy, Nick batoum sure picked
a fine time for a season high twenty points to
keep the Sixers afloat in the third quarter when they
I think trail by twelve and Batum just kept firing,
hit six threes season high, twenty points season high, and
then in the fourth quarter, close game, it Joel Embiid
(08:33):
finally delivers. I know, Joel Embiid delivering in a big
game in the postseason, somewhat rare. He did have twenty
three and fifteen. I think he had three straight possessions
in the fourth with some big buckets or passes, five assists.
Embiid comes up and Miami falls a little bit short,
losing by one, and they did cover the spread if
you got it on that action. I'll just say this
(08:55):
a it looked like a rock fight in the first half.
I mean, thirty nine points, Like I don't want no
thank you. It was ugly. The rest called two fouls
on Bam on a bay in the first like six minutes.
I was like, jim can't come ont Jimmy Butler goes down.
Now here's the interesting thing. So Jimmy Butler somebody landed
on him in the first half and I was like, ooh,
he was down. I didn't know if he's gonna be
able to continue. He ends up five of eighteen shooting.
(09:16):
Now we know Jimmy Butler's a warrior, Jimmy Bucket's playoff Jimmy.
He finished with nineteen five ass his four rebounds, five steals.
I mean, the numbers are good, but he was down
the stretch. He looked like it was like swelling or
he just couldn't move as quick and they had to
run through Tyler Hero. Listen, when Tyler Hero is jacking
twenty seven shots, you're probably not winning. Now here's what's
fascinating about the heat down the stretch due to the
(09:40):
injuries down the stretch, the heat. We're rocking with Butler, Bam,
Tyler Hero and then high Smith and the rookie Hotkez
Junior who I love from UCLA, hake As Junior. Oh,
that guy's a player. That guy really can go. He
was no fear going right at MBAT he ended up
with fifteen. I thought he had a really good game
(10:02):
fifteen and twenty two minutes. Remember Tyler Hero twenty five
points on twenty seven shots. No, he did distribute well,
but he also had five turnovers. I don't know. You guys,
remember my one remaining season long bet that's out there
is will the Heat make the playoff? Well it wasn't.
Will they make it? Yes or no? It was Heat,
no playoffs. And if you're the Heat and Terry Rozier's
(10:24):
not ready to get back, he's not gonna Duncan Robinson
sat out injured and now Jimmy Butler's hurt, Listen, I
I just I don't know how they win and then
the Heat missed, but some kind of sort of rooting
for the Heat to lose in their next playing game.
I will talk quickly about the Sixers chances against the Knicks,
(10:45):
because I did say on here on the Herd I
like the Knicks in that series. I do. I know
you guys can say what you want about Joel Embiid
being back. He does not look like he's one hundred
percent back. And I mean the guy missed like what
thirty games, forty games. You're just not gonna be back overnight.
And the playoffs are tough. We know Thibodau and the
Knicks play physical brand of basketball. I don't think the
(11:07):
Knicks are fearing the Sixers at all. Here just no
fear from this Knicks team, the whole brunts and thing
what like down the stretch. They put Nick Batum was
the stopper last night. I'm not even kidding. Batum was
the stopper. It was like Max, he was doing an
okay job. But then Tyler Hero started to go off
and they put Patom on him in the final like
ninety seconds or two minutes. I was like, really, Nick,
(11:29):
Patom is your stopper, now can he do everything?
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Well?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Good luck putting Batom on Jalen Brunson. Now the counter,
of course is Nick Nurse will probably Nick Nurse of
course the champion of the junk defense. If you guys
remember they threw a box in one at Steph Curry
in the NBA Finals after KD went down, I think
after clay Wood. I don't know if it was after
clay went down, but they threw a box in one
at Curry and it was kind of effective. Fred van
Vliet was kind of on his way to the MVP
(11:53):
Award for his defense on Curry, which was good. But
I don't know. I still think the Knicks will be
all right. Essentially, Nurse is gonna say anybody could beat
us except Brunson. Go ahead, you know, og An andob
good luck. You know we're not afraid of him. We're
not really afraid of anybody on the next and that's understandable.
(12:14):
But what you can underestimate is if you load up
on Brunson, he's not gonna force stuff. He's gonna make
the basketball play and find the Vincenzo. And they've got
Josh Hart. They have home court advantage. I need to
dig more into the Hart and Stein versus embiid Mitchell Robinson.
You know I like Bogdanovic. I'm just telling you I
think the Knicks are gonna be live in this series,
and I will be betting them to win. I also
(12:35):
told one of my buddies that I think an interesting parlay,
and again, you know parlay's can be risky. I think
Suns to win the series against the Timberwolves, parlayed with
the Pacers to beat the Bucks. It pays pretty well.
Now you just have to hope that Jannis misses more games.
I found it interesting that on Monday, Okay, they announced
(12:59):
Yanna would not be ready for the beginning of the series.
That wasn't like, that's not even close. I mean that's
five days before the game. That means he's not remotely close.
That means it's not like a game time decision or
anything close to that. It essentially means, damn, he definitely
can't go at the beginning of the series. So I'm
not optimistic for Giannis to play. So thus the Pacers bet.
(13:21):
But yeah, I think I'm gonna go ahead and take
the Knicks against the Sixers. Obviously i'd be rooting Knicks.
I do not hate the Sixers. I promise. It's funny.
My son, I don't know if I told this story yet.
He got a new partner in like science class, and
it just so happens. This kid's a really good athlete.
He was like a sleeper in our local basketball draft
and I was like, oh, I'll get him in the
(13:42):
mid rounds, and somebody snatched him up early. It turns
out he's really good, and he was on the undefeated team,
of course, and he guarded our best player like full
court the entire game. He's a good athlete and a
nice kid. And he says to my son in science class, Hey, Bryce,
why why is your dad so harsh on the Eagles
and like Philly in general, and my son's like, what
(14:03):
what are you talking about? My son does not know
all my takes. But it's funny because then later on,
you know, he we're talking about some stuff and he's like, oh, yeah, Dad,
this guy asked about you. You're Himothy And we started
laughing at joking right, anyway, too much about me, although
it is always about me. So on to the nightcap,
the Tray Young audition tape, Hey Lakers, any interest in
(14:26):
no defense playing Tray Young? Who got lit the bleep
up by I don't know anyone who had the ball?
And DeRozan went for twenty two, Kobe White went for
forty two. The bullshot fifty six percent, scored one hundred
and thirty one points. They got seventy three in the
first half. And listen, it's all obviously not all on
Trey Young, but he was a robust minus twenty seven
(14:50):
on the court. Like this guy's a colossal liability. He
had six turnovers and four baskets in forty three minutes.
De Jonta Murray visibly upset with him. I don't know,
rob This to me feels like the Swan song for
the Hawks. I applauded them two summers ago for going
all in and getting to Jona Murray. I like the
move at the time. You went with the warriors ish backcourt,
(15:12):
Trey and the Curry role, de Jona Murray and the
Clay kind of two way roll. They could never figure out.
The coach, Quinn Snyder not really working. DeAndre Hunter, who
they drafted in the lottery, was coming out of Virginia,
supposed to be the guy the small forward just shows
how hard it is like that Harrison Barnes Andrea Gudalar role.
DeAndre Hunter three for sixteen, oh for seven on threes. Again,
(15:36):
Keegan Murray. I referenced him earlier. Keegan Murray was a
revelation for the Kings. He looks like he belongs in
this league. He looks like an All Star. Here we
are DeAndre Hunter, and it's like, what do we have?
You know, I listen. Obviously, the playoffs are a referendum
on the entire season, and when you boil it down
to one game, it can sometimes be unfair. But rob
(15:59):
the only take is the Hawks absolutely have to do
something about this backcourt. I mean, I guess Trey Young
maybe has more value in whatever star power he might
still have living off that awesome win in the playoffs
in the Garden. But I'm gonna be honest, since that postseason,
I have not seen much out of him at either end.
(16:20):
And I don't want to hear Jay come on, He's
a thirty to ten guy. Those are hollow numbers. This
team is underachieved woefully the last two years. I don't
know that Trey Young's gotten better. I'll be honest. If
I'm the Lakers, I'm like, no, thanks. I don't know, Rob,
maybe you feel differently, but give me Donovan Mitchell, I
would I would do consider just keeping the end law.
(16:42):
So I just don't see how Trey Young does much.
Maybe he thrives alongside Ad with the spacing, but I
don't know, man, I just disappointing performance against a not
great Bulls team. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I have zero interested in Trey Young becoming a Laker.
I mean, the hashtag future Laker moniker is only reserved
for the best of the best, and Trey Young, despite
his stats, just does not meet that criteria. Look, just
to give you an idea as to how bad the
Tray Young, de Jon te Murray backcourt has been you know,
in the last year and a half. Just last night,
they were a minus thirty four point three net rating
(17:16):
on the floor in thirty seven minutes together. Okay, they
were a minus six point five net together on the
floor this year in fifty games playing in the Eastern Conference.
And this might be the most damning part of all
given their contracts, on what they gave up to get
to Jontey Murray. There across two seasons, they will have
played in five total playoff games and were a minus
(17:38):
fourteen point eight during those five games. This pairing doesn't work.
Your two point guards doesn't work. And the biggest reason
is that Trey Young, despite the gaudy numbers, is inefficient
and he plays zero defense. And I don't think I'm
(18:00):
speaking out of turn when I say that it seems
like his teammates just don't like playing with him. Yeah,
Like I don't got to be in the Atlanta Hawks
locker room to watch a game and watch their body language,
and you can tell that there's just something about him
that runs people the wrong way. And when you look
the ahead of this summer, it's pretty clear they're going
to break up that duo, and I don't know which
one they're going to keep. I imagine they're probably gonna
(18:22):
trade Tree Young because you would assume you can get
more for him, given his accomplishment and the fact that
he can put up twenty five and ten, you know,
pretty regularly. Is something that would appeal to a lot
of teams. But as a Laker fan, there is no
interest from me to cobble together three contracts in this
(18:42):
case probably have to be like Austin Reeves Hotcha Morroll
and gave Vincent plus three first round picks to take
on one hundred and fifty million dollars. That's to Trey Young,
who doesn't play defense and isn't as good of a
shooter as people think he is. So Drey Young, I'm
sure he's gonna be in a new uniform. Stay far
(19:03):
away from Los Angeles, my guy.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, I come on, no way, Even if the idea
of keeping a Reeves Trey Young backcourt, like, is that
better than a D'Angelo Russell and h Reeves backcourt? And again,
you know you want to go. You don't want to
boil it down to one game sample size. And I
haven't seen any defensive numbers but this is what's troubling rub. So,
it's Trey Young has moved a little off the ball
(19:26):
since Dejonta Marie arrived, just a little bit. His assist
are up, but some were his turnovers. His shots are
a little bit down. He hasn't hot shot the three
as well since before Dejona got there. I just think
it doesn't work. As for the Bulls. Alex Caruso injuries bad.
It sounds like he's not gonna be able to go
against the Heat. I mean, I just bolls teams. I
(19:48):
mean they you could shoot fifty eight percent sure against
the Hawks, who play no defense, But there's no way
that they that the Miami Heat are gonna let these guys.
Io Desumo, the Illinois point guard, I can't belie if
he's eight of guy to look like an All Star
out there. You know this is this is not not
really a great team, and one of these teams is
gonna be and I'm sorry, even the Heat is gonna
be fodder for the Boston Celtics. I'm just curious, though, Rob, like,
(20:13):
what do you think, what do you think the market
is like for Trey Young. Let's just let's remove the
Lakers from the equation like just you know, you go
through the league and point guards. I don't want to
say they're a dime a dozen, but rob like I
thought Trey Young was like a top seven point guard.
I don't know, you know, you give me like a
Mike Conley, a steady, unselfish Mike Conley, and I might
(20:37):
take him over Trey Young again, like if you want
to say, okay, the Detroit Pistons are like gonna move kid,
cutting him off the ball, and they want Trey Young,
Like okay, you can try that, like good luck, but
where where does he exactly fit? There's no playoff? Like
the six sixers are like they're not going to be
interested in Trey Young. The Pacers have Halliburton. I guess
you could make an argument that the Orlando Magic, but
(20:58):
they have Jalen Suggs, who's a sent and plays a
lot of defense. Calves have Garland and Mitchell, Bucks have
Dame Jalen Brunson. And then on the Knicks and then
the Celtics obviously is no fly zone, Like where do
you put them who's clamoring to get in the tray?
Young business? I just don't see the team now. Maybe
(21:20):
there's some wacky scenario where the paper clips say we're
gonna let trade away Paul George, We're gonna let go
of James Harden, We're gonna rebuild around Kawhi and Trey Young.
Maybe that's the scenario, But Rob, I challenge you to
find a team in the top ten of in the
East or West that would be interested in Trey Young.
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
It's funny that you bring that up, because just a
day and a half ago I was on Twitter and
front of the show Eric pink is putting the out
on bleacher Report suggesting this exact thing, Like you know,
assuming that the Hawks don't make the playoffs, the officially
eliminated what's next for Trey Young? Where could he wind up?
And the first team on the list has been the
case for almost everybody is the Lakers because of the
clutchboards connection and basically anybody's ripped by clutches linked to
(22:02):
the Lakers. There are only other two other teams on
his list. Okay, one of them, I'm not too excited
about one of them. I'm very excited about. The second
team he listed was the Brooklyn Nets. The Brooklyn Nets
are at a stage right now where they just want
to be relevant, right like they clearly do not have
(22:23):
a team that's built to win. Mcal Bridges is a
fine player, but if he's your best player, then you
are not going anywhere.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Wait a minute, wait, they got they got Ben Simmons.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
And Ben Simmons' contract, and they have all those Houston
Rockets picks. So if you really wanted to take a
swing for Trey Young, you attach the massive expiring deal
of Ben Simmons and whatever else you got to do.
You can hold on to mackel Bridges, you can hold
on at Cameron Johnson, you can hold on to a
number of Hell, you could even throw in Cam Thomas
(22:53):
if you really wanted to, cause you think he gets
bucket because you think their their skill sets are kind
of duplicate. But you can throw in a pretty easy
way to match the contract because of the Ben Simmons
and you have the Houston pick. So for a relatively
low risk, you can take Trey Young and surround him
with wing defenders. And that's basically the only way that
(23:14):
he's gonna work is yet to have people who can
cover up for him. The other team that was brought
up is the one I'm actually was excited about is
the San Antonio Spurs, because all they would have to
do basically is say, here, Atlanta, take back all your
first round picks that you gave us for de Jonte Murray,
so you can truly bought him out and you have
an incentive then to tank because of the way things
(23:37):
are right now. If you don't own your own picks,
you have no reason to want to tank, and if
you are San Antonio, when Benyama is obviously the real deal,
he's ahead of schedule even more than I think even
the staunchest defenders thought he would be. All they really
need is a point guard, is someone to get him
the ball and let him be the freak of nature
that he is. And Trey Young, for all of his faults,
(23:58):
can set people up with the best of him, and
Victor Wambognan is going to cover up a lot of
his defensive issues. So right off the bat, the team
that I will be keeping an eye on this summer
is definitely San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, I know the idea. Do you remember when Popovich
got started to get pissed with Kawhi Leonard for being
soft and they didn't understand his injury that he said
he was hurt, but like the doctors couldn't find anything.
How's he going to handle the softness of Trey Young?
Who just I mean, he just whinds a lot. And
remember this is a guy who was basically traded for
(24:33):
Luka Doncic. It would be poetic justice if Luka Doncic
won the title or went to the finals. And oh look,
the guy that he was traded for, Trey Young, is
gonna is about to get dubbed by the Hawks. Like man,
that is the NBA is just wild, all right, So
I guess we'll come back tomorrow with official Well I
(24:56):
guess no, we'd have to wait till Monday for the
official playoffics. We might as well get him in now,
Rob because the final playing games are Friday and obviously
no podcast Saturday. Who you got? Who you got? Coming
out of the East and West, I.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Mean, the way that the brackets shape up has really
shaped my opinion. I was not as high on the
Mavericks as you were entering this postseason, but the way
things have shaken out, Kawhi Leonard's very iffy. They avoid
Denver until potentially the Western Conference finals. I feel really
good about, you know, taking Denver's easy option. But if
(25:30):
I'm trying to make some money, I'm definitely putting it
down on Luca Dodgies and the mask coming out of
the West in the Eastern Conference, I think it's Boston
and everybody else. So give me Boston, give me the chalkiness,
and I'll take care.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
If you had to pick someone other than Boston, though,
who would it be?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
The New York Knicks?
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Really? I love so you think Knicks take down the
six Sixers.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Huh yeah, I mean we saw from the Sixers last
night that for all the things that we love about
Joellenbiat in the regular season, that just does never, never
seems to, you know, show up in the postseason, like
all the things that you love about him, the foul
merchanting and the sweet jumper, anything like that, Like when
you outweigh your next closest defender by sixty pounds and
(26:11):
you're insisting on staying at the top of the key
and the free throw line, Like I don't understand that.
And it seems like, you know, the narrative on social
media and he's like he's a regular season player. I
wouldn't go that far, but he definitely does not play
up to his full capabilities in the postseason. And I
think the New York Knicks are one of those scrappy
teams where no matter who they're going against is gonna
(26:32):
they're gonna get their pound of flesh from them.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
So yeah, how about the the storyline of oh, Joel embiid,
you're gonna lose in the first round to the next
do you want to go there now? Isn't that Verry
Kevin Duranty?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah? Yeah, but if they the first to get there,
it would be different than a free agent move.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Well, if he demands out, oh yeah, because I mean
if they lose in the first round, you know more,
he's gonna lay, Okay, who do you want Paul George?
You want Paul George? Or go get Paul George And
he'll try to convince them that they have and they
have the money to get out of the Max guy.
But is that going to be enough for Joel and beaters?
He just be like, guys, we've gone backwards essentially, you know.
(27:12):
I don't know that. I think officially is now the
new most interesting first round series over mas Clippers. Obviously
Bucks Pacers is interesting, but the Jannis injury changes things.
I just I'm very curious if Joel Embiid loses this series.
You know, if Nick Batomb can't bail him out, does
he ask out? Is he just like guys we tried,
(27:33):
you know, And I got no problem with these guys
asking out. I just I think that's super fascinating. Now,
if the Knicks lose, well, Jylan Brunson can't do it,
and by himself, well, come on, he lost his Robin
and Julius Randall like he shouldn't have even been able
to get the number two seeds. So playoffs start this weekend.
I will I will go MAVs Celtics in the finals.
You're right, it's too easy to pick the Nuggets. I
think upsets. I think the Suns win over the Timberwolves.
(27:57):
I do think okay See will win against whoever they play,
And the tough one is Nuggets Lakers. I'll go for
two Nuggets. I think Lakers can get too often. I
don't think the Nuggets are as bulletproof as they were
last year. And in the East. If I'm looking upset,
like I said earlier, Pacers, I think they could take
down the Bucks. But Hawks. Let me down on Wednesday. Man, yeah,
(28:20):
all right, that's it for today. We are back tomorrow.
Talk to you then,
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Straight firefam HiT's me Jason McIntyre Straight Fire for Thursday,
April eighteenth. The NBA was not as good as the
Western Conference, but we knew that was going to happen.
Really really interesting victory for the Sixers. I don't think
we'll spend much time on Bulls Hawks, but I do
(00:33):
want to start before we get to the NBA with
a really fascinating story on Caitlin Clark. And I'm sorry
for those of you who are over Kitlin Clark. You
can just bear with me for ninety seconds. So I
do remember after they lost to South Carolina, a lot
of people saying she should stay in college, she should
not go to the WNBA. The salary is like seventy
eight thousand dollars a year. Some of her college teammates
(00:57):
might get better jobs in sales, like don't go to
then there's more money to be made in college with
the nil Okay, I heard it. I laughed, I scoffed.
I said, you guys are crazy. Do you know what
endorsement money is? Like that's a real thing, and everybody's
so well, no, you can't get endorsement money in the WNBA.
Do you understand what's happening right now with Kaitlin Clark.
Just to put it in perspective, Okay, the TV ratings
(01:21):
for the NBA WNBA draft were like four times what
they were, the highest one ever. Okay, and this is
the Kaitlin Clark impact. Yes, obviously people were tuning in
for some of the other people, but not in the
it was. It was driven fully by Kitlin Clark. Regardless
of what you want to think about Angel Reese and
the girl from South Carolina and Cameron bh blah blah blah,
it's all Kaitlin Clark. And this is how interesting it got.
(01:43):
Some of these like high end female company Prada sells
a lot of women's fashion, Gucci versus. All these big
high end fashion companies noticed what was happening and they said,
ooh oh, let me, let me make link up with
Kitlin clarka we'll get her in Prada and we'll get
(02:04):
massive free publicity on the red carpet when she's on
the stage and the afterword blah blah blah blah. Those companies,
those businesses, by the way, which print money, saw the
Caitlin Clark phenomenon and jumped on it. Well, you know
who else jumping on board? Nike kind of a decent
company in the apparel space, right, Apparently, according to the
Athletic under Armour, an Adidas made huge pitches for Caitlin
(02:28):
Clark and she's ultimately gonna sign a lucrative eight figure
endorsement deal with Nike. Yes, it's true, Kaitlyn Clark is
getting paid. You guys can talk about Nio money on
you want, and that's an iol. Money's great. You know,
Caleb Williams, the quarterback at USC, A lot of guys
are making you know, nice money. I'm sure two, three,
four or five six, maybe seven million dollars. Okay, Caitlin
(02:52):
Clark is going to destroy and obliterate that with this
deal with Nike. Okay, Now, I don't know the history
of WNBA players getting into the league and instantly getting
a ton of sponsors. She Caitlin Crk already has endorsement
deals with Gatorade, State Farm and Panini. Okay, She's now
(03:13):
gonna get in with Iowa. Kaitlin Clark is the business.
I tried to explain this guys, the business of Taylor
Swift was a thing. She would go to certain cities
on this tour and the economy would just surge people
to flock to the city hotels, airfare, restaurants. This is
I'm not making this up. That Wall Street Journal many
outlets have written about the Taylor Swift impact. This on
(03:36):
a lesser extent is gonna start happening with Caitlin Clark.
She's gonna fill out arenas And I know, Jason, it's
just a blip. It's just a rookie year. Oh that's fine, Okay,
maybe it's just the rookie year. Maybe it extends beyond that.
We'll see, Like, I don't know why you would say something, Oh,
it's just gonna be the rookie year. That it's back
to reality. I'm sure that's possible, but you know, us
as possible that this thing continues to grow and snowballs
(03:59):
Clayland Clark becomes I don't know, is she gonna be
I should I didn't want to say this name, but like,
is she gonna have a Michael Jordan type impact on
women's sports? That's possible. Now we saw like the women's
US soccer team had a major moment when they're winning
World cups. But it wasn't like one person popped. It
was like Alex Morgan was a thing, and Rippino was
(04:22):
a big deal, and and you know a lot of players.
It was like a team effort. This is Kaitland Clark.
You guys can say what you want. Yes, some of
the other players matter and they're interesting. This is all
about Caitlin Clark. And my guess, between salary, which is
a pittance and sponsorship money, she's probably gonna make thirty
million dollars this year, just bit bowling. I don't know,
(04:48):
is that too high? Twenty five? All I know is,
if I'm by the way, I know a buddy who
my daughter plays volleyball with her daughter. He's like in
the collectible's card space. He is. It happens to be
from Iowa, and so he's a huge Caitlin Clark fan
and he has been loading up on Caitlin Clark cards
for a while. He has seen the prices over the
(05:08):
last I don't know, twelve months. Just absolutely go to
the moon for Kitlin Clark cards and apparel. Now, of
course I'm an idiot. I missed all this stuff. But
you can only invest in so many things, you know,
the Mexican soccer team takes up a lot of my time.
That's honestly my top priority outside of the work in
the podcast. But I'm just saying, let's just be real.
The Caitlin Clark business is going to be a thing.
(05:29):
She's going to be everywhere. And if she backs it
up on the court, and if Kitlin Clark is able
to I don't know she first team all WNBA. Is
she gonna be in the MVP mix? Somebody told me
she's fourth in MVP odds as a rookie already hasn't
played a game. Now, listen, wem ben Yama had a
big impact. Everybody's excited to see wehm bin Yama. Oh
got it, gotta see wehm ban Yama.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Year one.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
First week, everybody's excited. Ben Yama delivered. Wem ben Yama delivered.
Everybody loves it. But this is different TV people, fans, apparel,
none of it is getting the attraction of wemen Yama,
who's more of a unicorn. It's a little tough to
relate to, like, you know what, seven foot four, but
moves like Kevin Durant. You know, it's just it a
little weird. He's not gonna have. He's not gonna move
(06:13):
merch and shoes the way Caitlin Clark can. And I
just need you guys to understand that because this is,
you know, assuming she stays healthy like she's on Saturday Live.
And if you go on Instagram and watch the video
or go on YouTube, it's got millions of views, millions,
like overnight, people are into it. It works when we
put Kaitlin Clark in the headline for this podcast, it
(06:36):
will help do numbers because there is a large segment
of the population that's just into anything Kaitlin Clark. They
want to consume at all. So we're not gonna force
feed you Kaitlin Cark. We're gonna give you the good stuff.
And I'm just telling you right now. If you heard
anybody say she should stay in school for nil money,
they don't know what they're talking about.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Now, let's get to the NBA where the seventy six
ers looked like as my son says, I guess this
is in middle school. Saying, and I feel old that
even saying it out loud. But the seventy six ers
look like dog water in the first half at home,
scoring a minuscule thirty nine points. They took an early
lead on the heat and then the heat went zone
and I was donn Nick Nurse looked like he had
no idea what he was doing. The Sixers were fluck summoned. Yeah,
(07:28):
that's the word. Joel Embiid was confused. They were turning
the ball over an alarming rate. It was ugly. Miami
looked like they were gonna run away, and then out
of the blue, I don't know where I mean, I'll
be honest, I did not know. He was still like
a factor. But Nick Batoom, who's thirty five, almost thirty
five and a half years old, emerges in the third
(07:50):
quarter and just starts splashing threes. And of all the people,
it wasn't Tyreese Maxy, it wasn't Kelly Ubray, certainly was
not Tobias Harris, and Embiid was struggling Nick Batoom. And
we just said this the other night. Boy Keegan Murray
sure picked a fine time to score thirty two points
and have his best game of the season, maybe career
(08:12):
and help the Kings. Okay, boy, Nick batoum sure picked
a fine time for a season high twenty points to
keep the Sixers afloat in the third quarter when they
I think trail by twelve and Batum just kept firing,
hit six threes season high, twenty points season high, and
then in the fourth quarter, close game, it Joel Embiid
(08:33):
finally delivers. I know, Joel Embiid delivering in a big
game in the postseason, somewhat rare. He did have twenty
three and fifteen. I think he had three straight possessions
in the fourth with some big buckets or passes, five assists.
Embiid comes up and Miami falls a little bit short,
losing by one, and they did cover the spread if
you got it on that action. I'll just say this
(08:55):
a it looked like a rock fight in the first half.
I mean, thirty nine points, Like I don't want no
thank you. It was ugly. The rest called two fouls
on Bam on a bay in the first like six minutes.
I was like, jim can't come ont Jimmy Butler goes down.
Now here's the interesting thing. So Jimmy Butler somebody landed
on him in the first half and I was like, ooh,
he was down. I didn't know if he's gonna be
able to continue. He ends up five of eighteen shooting.
(09:16):
Now we know Jimmy Butler's a warrior, Jimmy Bucket's playoff Jimmy.
He finished with nineteen five ass his four rebounds, five steals.
I mean, the numbers are good, but he was down
the stretch. He looked like it was like swelling or
he just couldn't move as quick and they had to
run through Tyler Hero. Listen, when Tyler Hero is jacking
twenty seven shots, you're probably not winning. Now here's what's
fascinating about the heat down the stretch due to the
(09:40):
injuries down the stretch, the heat. We're rocking with Butler, Bam,
Tyler Hero and then high Smith and the rookie Hotkez
Junior who I love from UCLA, hake As Junior. Oh,
that guy's a player. That guy really can go. He
was no fear going right at MBAT he ended up
with fifteen. I thought he had a really good game
(10:02):
fifteen and twenty two minutes. Remember Tyler Hero twenty five
points on twenty seven shots. No, he did distribute well,
but he also had five turnovers. I don't know. You guys,
remember my one remaining season long bet that's out there
is will the Heat make the playoff? Well it wasn't.
Will they make it? Yes or no? It was Heat,
no playoffs. And if you're the Heat and Terry Rozier's
(10:24):
not ready to get back, he's not gonna Duncan Robinson
sat out injured and now Jimmy Butler's hurt, Listen, I
I just I don't know how they win and then
the Heat missed, but some kind of sort of rooting
for the Heat to lose in their next playing game.
I will talk quickly about the Sixers chances against the Knicks,
(10:45):
because I did say on here on the Herd I
like the Knicks in that series. I do. I know
you guys can say what you want about Joel Embiid
being back. He does not look like he's one hundred
percent back. And I mean the guy missed like what
thirty games, forty games. You're just not gonna be back overnight.
And the playoffs are tough. We know Thibodau and the
Knicks play physical brand of basketball. I don't think the
(11:07):
Knicks are fearing the Sixers at all. Here just no
fear from this Knicks team, the whole brunts and thing
what like down the stretch. They put Nick Batum was
the stopper last night. I'm not even kidding. Batum was
the stopper. It was like Max, he was doing an
okay job. But then Tyler Hero started to go off
and they put Patom on him in the final like
ninety seconds or two minutes. I was like, really, Nick,
(11:29):
Patom is your stopper, now can he do everything?
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Well?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Good luck putting Batom on Jalen Brunson. Now the counter,
of course is Nick Nurse will probably Nick Nurse of
course the champion of the junk defense. If you guys
remember they threw a box in one at Steph Curry
in the NBA Finals after KD went down, I think
after clay Wood. I don't know if it was after
clay went down, but they threw a box in one
at Curry and it was kind of effective. Fred van
Vliet was kind of on his way to the MVP
(11:53):
Award for his defense on Curry, which was good. But
I don't know. I still think the Knicks will be
all right. Essentially, Nurse is gonna say anybody could beat
us except Brunson. Go ahead, you know, og An andob
good luck. You know we're not afraid of him. We're
not really afraid of anybody on the next and that's understandable.
(12:14):
But what you can underestimate is if you load up
on Brunson, he's not gonna force stuff. He's gonna make
the basketball play and find the Vincenzo. And they've got
Josh Hart. They have home court advantage. I need to
dig more into the Hart and Stein versus embiid Mitchell Robinson.
You know I like Bogdanovic. I'm just telling you I
think the Knicks are gonna be live in this series,
and I will be betting them to win. I also
(12:35):
told one of my buddies that I think an interesting parlay,
and again, you know parlay's can be risky. I think
Suns to win the series against the Timberwolves, parlayed with
the Pacers to beat the Bucks. It pays pretty well.
Now you just have to hope that Jannis misses more games.
I found it interesting that on Monday, Okay, they announced
(12:59):
Yanna would not be ready for the beginning of the series.
That wasn't like, that's not even close. I mean that's
five days before the game. That means he's not remotely close.
That means it's not like a game time decision or
anything close to that. It essentially means, damn, he definitely
can't go at the beginning of the series. So I'm
not optimistic for Giannis to play. So thus the Pacers bet.
(13:21):
But yeah, I think I'm gonna go ahead and take
the Knicks against the Sixers. Obviously i'd be rooting Knicks.
I do not hate the Sixers. I promise. It's funny.
My son, I don't know if I told this story yet.
He got a new partner in like science class, and
it just so happens. This kid's a really good athlete.
He was like a sleeper in our local basketball draft
and I was like, oh, I'll get him in the
(13:42):
mid rounds, and somebody snatched him up early. It turns
out he's really good, and he was on the undefeated team,
of course, and he guarded our best player like full
court the entire game. He's a good athlete and a
nice kid. And he says to my son in science class, Hey, Bryce,
why why is your dad so harsh on the Eagles
and like Philly in general, and my son's like, what
(14:03):
what are you talking about? My son does not know
all my takes. But it's funny because then later on,
you know, he we're talking about some stuff and he's like, oh, yeah, Dad,
this guy asked about you. You're Himothy And we started
laughing at joking right, anyway, too much about me, although
it is always about me. So on to the nightcap,
the Tray Young audition tape, Hey Lakers, any interest in
(14:26):
no defense playing Tray Young? Who got lit the bleep
up by I don't know anyone who had the ball?
And DeRozan went for twenty two, Kobe White went for
forty two. The bullshot fifty six percent, scored one hundred
and thirty one points. They got seventy three in the
first half. And listen, it's all obviously not all on
Trey Young, but he was a robust minus twenty seven
(14:50):
on the court. Like this guy's a colossal liability. He
had six turnovers and four baskets in forty three minutes.
De Jonta Murray visibly upset with him. I don't know,
rob This to me feels like the Swan song for
the Hawks. I applauded them two summers ago for going
all in and getting to Jona Murray. I like the
move at the time. You went with the warriors ish backcourt,
(15:12):
Trey and the Curry role, de Jona Murray and the
Clay kind of two way roll. They could never figure out.
The coach, Quinn Snyder not really working. DeAndre Hunter, who
they drafted in the lottery, was coming out of Virginia,
supposed to be the guy the small forward just shows
how hard it is like that Harrison Barnes Andrea Gudalar role.
DeAndre Hunter three for sixteen, oh for seven on threes. Again,
(15:36):
Keegan Murray. I referenced him earlier. Keegan Murray was a
revelation for the Kings. He looks like he belongs in
this league. He looks like an All Star. Here we
are DeAndre Hunter, and it's like, what do we have?
You know, I listen. Obviously, the playoffs are a referendum
on the entire season, and when you boil it down
to one game, it can sometimes be unfair. But rob
(15:59):
the only take is the Hawks absolutely have to do
something about this backcourt. I mean, I guess Trey Young
maybe has more value in whatever star power he might
still have living off that awesome win in the playoffs
in the Garden. But I'm gonna be honest, since that postseason,
I have not seen much out of him at either end.
(16:20):
And I don't want to hear Jay come on, He's
a thirty to ten guy. Those are hollow numbers. This
team is underachieved woefully the last two years. I don't
know that Trey Young's gotten better. I'll be honest. If
I'm the Lakers, I'm like, no, thanks. I don't know, Rob,
maybe you feel differently, but give me Donovan Mitchell, I
would I would do consider just keeping the end law.
(16:42):
So I just don't see how Trey Young does much.
Maybe he thrives alongside Ad with the spacing, but I
don't know, man, I just disappointing performance against a not
great Bulls team. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I have zero interested in Trey Young becoming a Laker.
I mean, the hashtag future Laker moniker is only reserved
for the best of the best, and Trey Young, despite
his stats, just does not meet that criteria. Look, just
to give you an idea as to how bad the
Tray Young, de Jon te Murray backcourt has been you know,
in the last year and a half. Just last night,
they were a minus thirty four point three net rating
(17:16):
on the floor in thirty seven minutes together. Okay, they
were a minus six point five net together on the
floor this year in fifty games playing in the Eastern Conference.
And this might be the most damning part of all
given their contracts, on what they gave up to get
to Jontey Murray. There across two seasons, they will have
played in five total playoff games and were a minus
(17:38):
fourteen point eight during those five games. This pairing doesn't work.
Your two point guards doesn't work. And the biggest reason
is that Trey Young, despite the gaudy numbers, is inefficient
and he plays zero defense. And I don't think I'm
(18:00):
speaking out of turn when I say that it seems
like his teammates just don't like playing with him. Yeah,
Like I don't got to be in the Atlanta Hawks
locker room to watch a game and watch their body language,
and you can tell that there's just something about him
that runs people the wrong way. And when you look
the ahead of this summer, it's pretty clear they're going
to break up that duo, and I don't know which
one they're going to keep. I imagine they're probably gonna
(18:22):
trade Tree Young because you would assume you can get
more for him, given his accomplishment and the fact that
he can put up twenty five and ten, you know,
pretty regularly. Is something that would appeal to a lot
of teams. But as a Laker fan, there is no
interest from me to cobble together three contracts in this
(18:42):
case probably have to be like Austin Reeves Hotcha Morroll
and gave Vincent plus three first round picks to take
on one hundred and fifty million dollars. That's to Trey Young,
who doesn't play defense and isn't as good of a
shooter as people think he is. So Drey Young, I'm
sure he's gonna be in a new uniform. Stay far
(19:03):
away from Los Angeles, my guy.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, I come on, no way, Even if the idea
of keeping a Reeves Trey Young backcourt, like, is that
better than a D'Angelo Russell and h Reeves backcourt? And again,
you know you want to go. You don't want to
boil it down to one game sample size. And I
haven't seen any defensive numbers but this is what's troubling rub. So,
it's Trey Young has moved a little off the ball
(19:26):
since Dejonta Marie arrived, just a little bit. His assist
are up, but some were his turnovers. His shots are
a little bit down. He hasn't hot shot the three
as well since before Dejona got there. I just think
it doesn't work. As for the Bulls. Alex Caruso injuries bad.
It sounds like he's not gonna be able to go
against the Heat. I mean, I just bolls teams. I
(19:48):
mean they you could shoot fifty eight percent sure against
the Hawks, who play no defense, But there's no way
that they that the Miami Heat are gonna let these guys.
Io Desumo, the Illinois point guard, I can't belie if
he's eight of guy to look like an All Star
out there. You know this is this is not not
really a great team, and one of these teams is
gonna be and I'm sorry, even the Heat is gonna
be fodder for the Boston Celtics. I'm just curious, though, Rob, like,
(20:13):
what do you think, what do you think the market
is like for Trey Young. Let's just let's remove the
Lakers from the equation like just you know, you go
through the league and point guards. I don't want to
say they're a dime a dozen, but rob like I
thought Trey Young was like a top seven point guard.
I don't know, you know, you give me like a
Mike Conley, a steady, unselfish Mike Conley, and I might
(20:37):
take him over Trey Young again, like if you want
to say, okay, the Detroit Pistons are like gonna move kid,
cutting him off the ball, and they want Trey Young,
Like okay, you can try that, like good luck, but
where where does he exactly fit? There's no playoff? Like
the six sixers are like they're not going to be
interested in Trey Young. The Pacers have Halliburton. I guess
you could make an argument that the Orlando Magic, but
(20:58):
they have Jalen Suggs, who's a sent and plays a
lot of defense. Calves have Garland and Mitchell, Bucks have
Dame Jalen Brunson. And then on the Knicks and then
the Celtics obviously is no fly zone, Like where do
you put them who's clamoring to get in the tray?
Young business? I just don't see the team now. Maybe
(21:20):
there's some wacky scenario where the paper clips say we're
gonna let trade away Paul George, We're gonna let go
of James Harden, We're gonna rebuild around Kawhi and Trey Young.
Maybe that's the scenario, But Rob, I challenge you to
find a team in the top ten of in the
East or West that would be interested in Trey Young.
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
It's funny that you bring that up, because just a
day and a half ago I was on Twitter and
front of the show Eric pink is putting the out
on bleacher Report suggesting this exact thing, Like you know,
assuming that the Hawks don't make the playoffs, the officially
eliminated what's next for Trey Young? Where could he wind up?
And the first team on the list has been the
case for almost everybody is the Lakers because of the
clutchboards connection and basically anybody's ripped by clutches linked to
(22:02):
the Lakers. There are only other two other teams on
his list. Okay, one of them, I'm not too excited
about one of them. I'm very excited about. The second
team he listed was the Brooklyn Nets. The Brooklyn Nets
are at a stage right now where they just want
to be relevant, right like they clearly do not have
(22:23):
a team that's built to win. Mcal Bridges is a
fine player, but if he's your best player, then you
are not going anywhere.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Wait a minute, wait, they got they got Ben Simmons.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
And Ben Simmons' contract, and they have all those Houston
Rockets picks. So if you really wanted to take a
swing for Trey Young, you attach the massive expiring deal
of Ben Simmons and whatever else you got to do.
You can hold on to mackel Bridges, you can hold
on at Cameron Johnson, you can hold on to a
number of Hell, you could even throw in Cam Thomas
(22:53):
if you really wanted to, cause you think he gets
bucket because you think their their skill sets are kind
of duplicate. But you can throw in a pretty easy
way to match the contract because of the Ben Simmons
and you have the Houston pick. So for a relatively
low risk, you can take Trey Young and surround him
with wing defenders. And that's basically the only way that
(23:14):
he's gonna work is yet to have people who can
cover up for him. The other team that was brought
up is the one I'm actually was excited about is
the San Antonio Spurs, because all they would have to
do basically is say, here, Atlanta, take back all your
first round picks that you gave us for de Jonte Murray,
so you can truly bought him out and you have
an incentive then to tank because of the way things
(23:37):
are right now. If you don't own your own picks,
you have no reason to want to tank, and if
you are San Antonio, when Benyama is obviously the real deal,
he's ahead of schedule even more than I think even
the staunchest defenders thought he would be. All they really
need is a point guard, is someone to get him
the ball and let him be the freak of nature
that he is. And Trey Young, for all of his faults,
(23:58):
can set people up with the best of him, and
Victor Wambognan is going to cover up a lot of
his defensive issues. So right off the bat, the team
that I will be keeping an eye on this summer
is definitely San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, I know the idea. Do you remember when Popovich
got started to get pissed with Kawhi Leonard for being
soft and they didn't understand his injury that he said
he was hurt, but like the doctors couldn't find anything.
How's he going to handle the softness of Trey Young?
Who just I mean, he just whinds a lot. And
remember this is a guy who was basically traded for
(24:33):
Luka Doncic. It would be poetic justice if Luka Doncic
won the title or went to the finals. And oh look,
the guy that he was traded for, Trey Young, is
gonna is about to get dubbed by the Hawks. Like man,
that is the NBA is just wild, all right, So
I guess we'll come back tomorrow with official Well I
(24:56):
guess no, we'd have to wait till Monday for the
official playoffics. We might as well get him in now,
Rob because the final playing games are Friday and obviously
no podcast Saturday. Who you got? Who you got? Coming
out of the East and West, I.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Mean, the way that the brackets shape up has really
shaped my opinion. I was not as high on the
Mavericks as you were entering this postseason, but the way
things have shaken out, Kawhi Leonard's very iffy. They avoid
Denver until potentially the Western Conference finals. I feel really
good about, you know, taking Denver's easy option. But if
(25:30):
I'm trying to make some money, I'm definitely putting it
down on Luca Dodgies and the mask coming out of
the West in the Eastern Conference, I think it's Boston
and everybody else. So give me Boston, give me the chalkiness,
and I'll take care.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
If you had to pick someone other than Boston, though,
who would it be?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
The New York Knicks?
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Really? I love so you think Knicks take down the
six Sixers.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Huh yeah, I mean we saw from the Sixers last
night that for all the things that we love about
Joellenbiat in the regular season, that just does never, never
seems to, you know, show up in the postseason, like
all the things that you love about him, the foul
merchanting and the sweet jumper, anything like that, Like when
you outweigh your next closest defender by sixty pounds and
(26:11):
you're insisting on staying at the top of the key
and the free throw line, Like I don't understand that.
And it seems like, you know, the narrative on social
media and he's like he's a regular season player. I
wouldn't go that far, but he definitely does not play
up to his full capabilities in the postseason. And I
think the New York Knicks are one of those scrappy
teams where no matter who they're going against is gonna
(26:32):
they're gonna get their pound of flesh from them.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
So yeah, how about the the storyline of oh, Joel embiid,
you're gonna lose in the first round to the next
do you want to go there now? Isn't that Verry
Kevin Duranty?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah? Yeah, but if they the first to get there,
it would be different than a free agent move.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Well, if he demands out, oh yeah, because I mean
if they lose in the first round, you know more,
he's gonna lay, Okay, who do you want Paul George?
You want Paul George? Or go get Paul George And
he'll try to convince them that they have and they
have the money to get out of the Max guy.
But is that going to be enough for Joel and beaters?
He just be like, guys, we've gone backwards essentially, you know.
(27:12):
I don't know that. I think officially is now the
new most interesting first round series over mas Clippers. Obviously
Bucks Pacers is interesting, but the Jannis injury changes things.
I just I'm very curious if Joel Embiid loses this series.
You know, if Nick Batomb can't bail him out, does
he ask out? Is he just like guys we tried,
(27:33):
you know, And I got no problem with these guys
asking out. I just I think that's super fascinating. Now,
if the Knicks lose, well, Jylan Brunson can't do it,
and by himself, well, come on, he lost his Robin
and Julius Randall like he shouldn't have even been able
to get the number two seeds. So playoffs start this weekend.
I will I will go MAVs Celtics in the finals.
You're right, it's too easy to pick the Nuggets. I
think upsets. I think the Suns win over the Timberwolves.
(27:57):
I do think okay See will win against whoever they play,
And the tough one is Nuggets Lakers. I'll go for
two Nuggets. I think Lakers can get too often. I
don't think the Nuggets are as bulletproof as they were
last year. And in the East. If I'm looking upset,
like I said earlier, Pacers, I think they could take
down the Bucks. But Hawks. Let me down on Wednesday. Man, yeah,
(28:20):
all right, that's it for today. We are back tomorrow.
Talk to you then,
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