October 22, 2025 • 37 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses a wildly entertaining NBA Opening Night featuring the Oklahoma City Thunder’s double-overtime win over Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets, as well as the Golden State Warriors spoiling Luka Doncic’s 43-point effort in Los Angeles. Later, J-Mac previews the upcoming NBA season by discussing the likelihood that Giannis Antetokounmpo actually finishes the season with the Milwaukee Bucks, the championship-or-bust expectations for the New York Knicks, why Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers deserve more respect, whether or not LeBron James will wind up retiring with the Los Angeles Lakers, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire, fam, It's me Jason McIntyre,
Straight Boyer for Wednesday, October the twenty second, and the
NBA is back. Goodness, folks. You know I love me
some hoops. Playing a mensley game last night. Tough loss.
I will boy you with the details, but we played
(00:32):
our best, our buddies. We were forced to split the
teams up. I'm not going to get into it. It
wasn't my fault as the GM the greatest GM ever
in South Bay history, that's obvious, but we lost by two,
missing our two best players. No liner last night. I
was terrible, but the better basketball was happening obviously. In
(00:53):
the NBA NBA debuted, we had Okase versus Houston and
a thriller. Now I didn't get this out on the pod,
but I did post it on IG before the game,
like an hour before the game. I bet Okase. I'm sorry,
I bet Houston getting seven that hit. Houston loses a
double overtime, just a great, great finish against the defending
(01:14):
champion OKSE thunder SGA the free throw birch At couldn't
make a shot from the perimeter one or nine for three,
but got you know, a series of fakes and eventually
Kevin Durant fausan with like I don't know, two seconds left,
he makes two free throws, so that's a rap. They
just an outstanding game, great back and forth. I love
me some rockets. Oh my gosh. Shen Goon thirty nine,
(01:34):
eleven and seven, and he was such a problem. They
had Alex Caruso guarding him at the end because he's
a pesky you know, he's just a pesky defender, and
you know KD had a had a solid game, but
he definitely wore down at the end. I had a
buddy text me, KD looks old. Finished with twenty three
(01:56):
on sixteen shots. I did find it a little interesting,
and listen, Katy's the new guy. He's not going to
just dominate the ball. But I did find it interesting
that I'm and Thompson took more shots than kat Jabari
Smith took one less shot than KD. Durant missed all
four of his threes, and Shengon is their horse twelve
(02:17):
to twenty four. KT only took sixteen shots. But it's
opening that you don't want to get caught up in
these sweeping overreactions. Obviously, turnovers are going to be an
issue when you don't have a point guard. The Rockets
had twenty one of them. It seemed like late in
the game when OKC picked up full court, essentially the
Rockets struggled to get into their half court sets and
were kind of bogged down. But again they lost by one. Now,
(02:40):
OKAC obviously was without j dubb who's recovering from the
injury or sorry the surgery. Chet was good with twenty
eight SGA had thirty five on twenty six shots. Congrats,
it's a good win for the defending champion. They will not,
obviously not win the title this year. And you could
go ahead and clip this off, throw it on my face,
laugh at me if they do. That's fine. I just
(03:02):
it was a really good title last year, scraping by
the Pacers, who you know, lost Tyree Saliburton in Game seven,
did not have to face the Lakers, and Luca and
Lebron did not have to face Steph Curry. Their path was,
you know, after knocking off the Nuggets in seven, their
(03:23):
path was fairly easy. They're obviously a very good team
with very good players, and that was a good, really
good opening night for the NBA, and it felt bigger
going to NBC and Peacock Mike Tarico on the call listen.
I said it online like I'm a Tourico guy. He
gets into the game and you can tell in his
(03:47):
voice he's having fun and enjoying it. I'm not out
here to bash people, but there's plenty of NFL announcers
who were trying to like play it too cool and
just be like Pat Summer all for guys who remember
Pat Summer all back in the day. Some aer all
on Madden were like the goats when it came to
NFL announcing, And I feel like a lot of people
try to act like some are all just dry bland.
(04:08):
Just tell us what's happening. Don't get oh my gosh,
I mean I get it. Some are all was amazing
back in the day. But give me energy, give me
the Gus Johnson. Oh my god. People losing their minds. Listen,
sixty thousand fans in an NFL stadium or fifteen thousand
fans in an NBA arena, they're losing their minds. You know,
fifty thousand people at a Dodgers game or whatever. The
(04:30):
number is and then millions more watching it home. Everybody's
losing their mind. Why can't they announcer get into it?
And I think Tarico's does a great, great job. The
nightcap was Lakers and Warriors and my buddies, a couple
of young guys I play hoops with their texting me, Oh,
it must be so painful to be a Lakers fan.
DeAndre aight and stinks. They're just so negative. I'm like, guys, guy,
(04:52):
can we settle down. It's one game. You played a
veteran team with Curry who twenty three and the silencer
at the end, Jimmy Butler, who was sixteen for sixteen
on free throws, had thirty one. Like, the Warriors are
a really good team, Buddy, Heels hit five threes off
the bench, wars it seventeen threes, Lakers said eight. I
(05:12):
mean that right, there is the difference. In addition to
the Lakers missing eleven free throws, Warriors missed three. Titan
stuff up and oh, by the way, Lebron will be back. Yeah, okay,
Lebron did not play. DeAndre Ayden obviously a little clunky
in his first freaking game with the team. Can we
settle down. Gabe Vincent got the start. Remember he had
like what are he hit nine threes the other night
in the preseason game. Yea won a four in the opener. Listen,
(05:36):
they're tinkering. Marcus Smart played the most minutes off the bench.
Wasn't even on the team last year. Jack Laaravia played
second most minutes off the bench. Wasn't on the team
last year. So like there's a lot of newness. They're
gonna work out the Kings. I'm not gonna overreact to
the Lakers losing at home to the Golden State Warriors.
If you want to overreact to anything, Skinny Luca forty
(05:59):
three to twelve and nine, let me repeat, forty three points,
twelve rebounds nine sis. I honestly believe that at this juncture,
and this is just me, the three best players in
the NBA Luka, Doncic, Janis and Jokic. I think they're
(06:20):
a cut above everyone else. Jokic makes everyone around it better.
He's unstoppable. Luca makes everyone around it better. He's unstoppable.
And Yannis is a unicorn. Wemby will get there. I
Sga is very very good, gets to the foul line
like a champ. I just can't put him in that discussion.
He's not racking up the assists of those guys, and
he's not unstoppable like Yiannis. He's just really, really, really good.
(06:44):
I don't know. That's just not gonna be enough for
some people. And you're gonna call me a hater. I'm not.
I'm just saying he's not in the class of those
three guys. And you know, you watch Luca and you're like, geez,
I mean, you throw Jimmy Butler on him, you throw
Kuminga on him, you throw Draymond, it doesn't matter. Nobody
can go unguardable he gets off his shot. I mean,
it's just unbelievable. And I already see people like, oh, well,
(07:05):
Austin Reeves, he's going to be in the trade package
for Giannis. Let's settle down, Okay, Austin Reeve is one
of the best contracts in the league. Twenty six points NINAS.
His spear had a huge late run to get them within.
I think it was for Austin reed is just a
winning player, smart player. I love that guy. I'm a
big fan. I think the Lakers are going to be fine.
I know people want to go overboard. Rob G and
(07:27):
I are about to preview the season. We recorded this
early on Tuesday ahead of the games. If you are
interested in looking to tonight's games, Holy hell, the slate
is massive. Calvs. Nicks is a good one. That's gonna
be really good. Those are two teams expected to contend
to come out of the East. I guess Zion's playing,
(07:50):
and maybe even John Morant. That's another smartly scheduled game.
Wizard's Bucks not so much. Let's see anything good. Sixer
Celtics could be interesting. As you'll hear in the preview,
I am somewhat bullish on the seventy six ers, only
because nobody else is anymore. Everybody usually loves them and
I never did. Now I like them. I think the
(08:14):
Spurs MAVs is a great game on ESPN tonight at
six point thirty. MAVs are laying two and a half.
I'm gonna consider betting the Spurs in that one, and yeah,
it should be a good, great night. But Rob G
and I recorded this kind of previewing the league. A
lot of Yannis stuff, a lot of East, a lot
of West, a lot of stars. I do believe the
(08:34):
Rockets will win the title. I know it may be
tough without a point guard, but I think it's a
It's a new league. Some macro trends to watch for,
we'll talk about those. Enjoy our NBA season preview.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
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 (08:58):
All right, So you know, Rob G and I love
the NBA, so we figured we put together a half
big preview prediction podcast so that we can refer to
it all the time throughout the season while we're correct
and ignore it when we're wrong. But NBA, we both
love it. You guys love it too. You don't have
to deny it. You don't like the NBA, don't be
those guys online. Oh NBA garbage, selfish players three pointers,
(09:21):
that's dumb. It's a fantastic, fun league. The players are
super popular. I'll maintain globally, after soccer, I'm pretty sure
basketball is the second most popular sport. I know some
people would push for cricket, but like, cricket's not big
in say Europe, or at least I don't think it's
as big as basketball is. I mean, hell, the NBA
(09:43):
is talking about opening another league there By the way,
I haven't even mentioned this to Rob. Randomly, last week
I heard from someone who is looking into I guess
there's this NBA Europe push coming and someone's looking into
buying a team in NBA Europe. Now they're doing this
on the hope that the NBA gets involved, And I
(10:03):
was like, hey, you know, what kind of investment are
you looking for. I would be willing to throw a
couple pennies in there, if you know, if the price
is right. But the NBA expanding NBA is just a juggernaut.
Obviously it doesn't have the week to week juice of
the NFL. But you know, I guess we could start
with Robal TV up and I'll just fire off answers.
But I think I think for me, the biggest storyline
(10:27):
this season is Yannis. He's the best player in the
Eastern Conference. Uh, He's made it clear that he's not
long from Milwaukee. We know that it's smarter to trade
a star player before he demands a trade. The longer
you hold on to him, the longer the asset loses
value and I'm not saying Yannis isn't great. I'm just
(10:47):
saying the number of suitors for him goes down with
every passing month, you know. I mean, it's not like
the Sacramento Kings are entertaining an idea for Yannis next
summer because guess what, he ain't gonna sign their long
term now. Could they rent him the way Kawhi was
rented by the Raptors. I mean, I don't think Sacramento
(11:09):
could actually pull that off. I'm just hypothetically speaking. So
I think Giannis is the biggest storyline in the league.
And frankly, for me, I think Wemby's number two. This
is year three, like can he stay healthy? Can he
get the Spurs to the playoffs? And I think once
Wemby gets to the playoffs, we finally usher in an
era that has moved on from Lebron Curry KD. Because
(11:30):
we're still in that Lebron Curry KD era. I'm sorry.
I know people want to think this is the SGA time,
Rob and I know there's no time for SGA. Sorry pal, So,
Rob G, I know you're pumped about the season. Obviously
a Lakers homer, I'm waiting for him to hatch a
Yannis trade idea that can get Giannis and Luca playing together.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
But I think that's mischief impossible for now. Oh, I've
been working on it all off season. I'm an efforting
as they say in the streets, you know, Euston Reeves
plus seven first round picks for Gianna, it seems fair
to me. No, I mean, I agree with you, Giannis,
of course at the big the big Fish, obviously in
more ways than one. The question I have for you, though,
is we were told where we found out a couple
(12:13):
of weeks ago that the Milwaukee Bucks and New York
Knicks had discussions over the offseason about Giannis, and that
was the only team that really had any kind of conversation. Now,
obviously conversation didn't get far because either Milwaukee didn't really
want to trade him or the Knicks just didn't think
that they can have to give up a lot now
when they could get him cheaper six, eight, nine months
(12:35):
from now. We've seen several stars over the years, you know,
Donovan Mitchell forced his way out, Anthony Davis force his
way out to varying degrees of success in terms of
getting to where they want to go. You know, Paul
George didn't get to Ali like you wanted. Kawhi did
not get to Ali like he wanted, Ad did, Donovan
Mitchell did not get to Miami like you wanted. Damian
(12:56):
Lillard did not get to Miami like you wanted. If
and when Jannis does ultimately get dal from Milwaukee, does
he end up where he wants to go, or, like
you referenced, is it a short term rental somewhere else?
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Are the Toronto Raptors taking a flyer on Giannis? And
the Raptors have some young pieces Washington, My guess would
be no. I think with the second Apron and all
that nonsense, I think it's made it a little more difficult.
And I think teams are a lot of teams rob
are probably starting over when it comes to team building,
seeing how I mean, the Celtics won the title two
(13:29):
years ago and then they had the injury to Tatum Brob.
Did you have you looked at their rotation for the season.
It's nothing like it was two years ago when it
appeared they were on the cusp of like some kind
of dynasty. They had so many good young players. I
mean they you know, now this is like the Milwaukee
the Boston Celtics starting lineup Derek White and Ferny Simons,
(13:50):
Jalen Brown, Sam Hauser, Nimas, Kita Tate and Pritcherders are
six man. I mean, if you don't fall college hoops,
you probably don't even no Kaita, who was a beast
at Nevada, Big, big, long Rangeye dude. Sam Hauser again,
you could bump into him at six Flags and have
no idea he's an NBA player. So teams I think
(14:11):
are going to start over when it comes to how
you build a title contender, and so as a result,
I don't think there's as big of a market for
Yannis Bocks waited too long once again.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Okay, here's another question for you. This is one that
just came to me as you were talking. Obviously, nobody
is picking the Bucks to win the Eastern Conference. You know,
as good as Yannis is and as water down as
the East is, I don't think anyone with their right
mind is going to say that Yannis alone is going
to be able to carry his team to the NBA Finals.
With that in mind, I was looking at the ESPN
(14:43):
NBA previews on Tuesday before Opening Night. Dave mcmanhamon Friend
of the Show. We love Dave. He's great, plugged in
as anybody there is in the NBA world. In his
season long prediction predicted not Oka se not the Denver Nuggets,
not the Cleveland cav not even your New York Knicks,
(15:06):
He's picking the Dallas Mavericks to win the NBA Championship.
J mack, let me ask you a question two part
of here. What does Dave know that we don't know?
Number one and number two? Is this his way of
laying the groundwork, the precursor, so to speak, to the
(15:28):
long rumored Lebron James forces his way to Dallas to
play with.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Kyrie and Ad oh Man. There's so many layers to this.
How many time do we have? No, It's fascinating because,
I mean, let's just get this out of the way early.
Do you really see the Lakers and Mavericks doing another
deal after the Luca deal? Everybody basically proclaimed, oh, the
Lakers hoisted him, it was such a steal. Then the
(15:53):
MAVs get the number one picking Cooper Flag and it's like, Okay, well,
you know, maybe the deal didn't work out that badly,
but that was just your luck in the lottery. And
unless Cooper Flag is in the deal, how on earth
is this happening? Rob? I mean, it's fun to talk about,
but I'm gonna go ahead and assume the Mavericks are
not parting with Flag, A D or Kyrie Irving, Right, So,
(16:17):
so what are we giving up? We super max Christie
going back to the Lakers, Clay you know that. I'm
sure the Lakers would love to get D'Angelo Russell back,
although there's zero chance that he could play point guard
with Luke on the team. I mean other than Derek Lively,
PJ Washington and Gafford. I just don't see where's the interest,
(16:39):
Like we're assuming Cooper Flag's off the table, right, They're not?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yeah, I mean unless, in my opinion, unless you're getting
a D back, Like I don't. I don't see what
the avenue is to get Lebron there.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, a D would be so pissed at him with me,
although a D playing with Luca has the That's the
only thing is.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
It's like, hey, at least you pay these two together
and then you figure out the rest later.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
So wait, so that would mean that Nico Harrison turned
Luka Doncic into Lebron James. No, that would mean the opposite.
That would mean that the Lakers turned a d into
Luca and Ad. Does that even make sense.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
That they turned Lebron? No, he had it right. The
Dallas Mavericks in this scenario would have turned Luka Doncic
into forty one year old Lebron James and draft picks.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, there's no way that's happening.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
So then why would they put that in there?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Like what, I guess he's a believer in Kyrie Irving?
I don't know. I mean it's interesting. Flag look good
at point guard in preseason. I'll say that solid. I
mean again, preseason. Ain't the NBA playoffs, Lay Thompson. Their
backcourt can't defend anybody, but Flag is an excellent defender.
They got the room protection in Ad and Loveley. I
(17:55):
just I don't buy it at all. And how many
balls are there to go around? When Kyrie shows up?
You know who's who's the alpha on the team. Remember
we've never seen Kyrie as a one carry a team.
It's been a disaster every single time. As a two,
he's great. Who's the one on that team? Rob Cooper?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Flag?
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Oh? Stop.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
I mean, like that's that's the only way that it's
gonna work. Because I agree with you. The history says
that Kyrie Irving as great and as talented, he's your
favorite player's favorite player as he is when he is
the man on your team, your team wins thirty three games.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
No, it's just not a it doesn't work. M Well,
maybe he knows something, but I'll go with he don't
know anything. He's just he likes he likes Kyrie Irving
or or something not.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
He's a bis, a real big believer in the three
center lineup. Maybe that's what it is.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Well that listen that the biggest trend around the league
is sizes back. We want, you want offensive rebounding for
all the mysteries that everybody takes, and the Rockets are
touching starting the lineup. I think with like three or
four guys almost seven feet tall. We know the Denver
Nuggets got bigger pairing Cam Johnson with Jokic and Aaron Gordon.
(19:09):
And I say bigger because Michael Porter is more of
a perimeter guy. Cam Johnson actually can get rebounds for you.
The Mavericks obviously going to be big. It feels like
size is back around the league, And yeah, it is
interesting because the one team that I love, the Golden
State Warriors, don't have it and they're still stuck in
their three ball era unless you count Al Horford is
(19:31):
your big.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Well that was gonna make My next question was everybody
is very high on the Golden State Warriors because of
the way they ended the season the regular season after
the Jimmy Butler trade and the way they looked in
the playoffs before Steph's injury? Am I wrong for thinking
that this team all their best players are thirty five
and up? How on earth am I supposed to believe
(19:53):
that a quartet of Steph, Jimmy Butler, Draymond and Horford
all pushing forty is gonna have number one, the legs,
Number two the stamina to make it through an eighty
two regular season season. Ideally avoid the top the play
(20:13):
in because you know you got arrest those guys at
some point. You canna have them playing back to backs
and then still have enough left in the tank to
make a run and win four round to the playoff.
I don't see it.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, no, that's a good point. It seems like healed
and Kumingo will come off the bench. Moses Moody may start.
I forgot they have tjd at center and Quentin Posts.
They do have bigs, No they don't. Yeah, it is tough,
but you're right. They dispatch the Rockets and seven. I'm
pretty sure they beat the Timberwolves in the game game one,
when Curry got hurt and then they fell apart aging
(20:43):
nothing but a number Rockie. You know, maybe this is
Tom Brady with the Bucks. I don't know. I'm obviously
I think the league is better when Steph Curry's playing
and a factor. So I know Cowhard doesn't even think
they're a playoff team, which I think is insane. The
West is loaded. I think the Warriors will be fine, obviously. Yeah,
they got to manage minutes and if pot if you
(21:04):
can have Curry at thirty minutes a game, which sounds impossible,
and POD's soaking up minutes so that in the playoffs
Curry's fine.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yeah, Okay, here's another one for you. There are obviously,
there's the heavy hitters everyone's talking about. You mentioned with
the Warriors. The Lakers are gonna dominate headlines with Luke
and Lebron. Okay, see Denver and then in the East
you got the Knicks and the Calves. Who is a
team that we're not talking about enough right now heading
into the start of the regular season or week of
NBA regular season?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Oh wait, who does Houston counter know?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
I mean they've gotten a lot of pub.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Okay, it's funny because okay, see he hasn't gotten any pub.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
That's at the point.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
They're odds and they're they're super they're plus two forty
five to repeat, they're not repeating. I know they brought
back everybody. I think the Knicks are interesting. Who hasn't.
We've been all over the Orlando Magic all summer. So
when people are gassing them up, you know, can I
go sixers on this rock?
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
I like that? Tell me and listen.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
I again, I don't like you guys, don't not like
the biggest Joel Embiid fan. But when they're healthy, and
that's assuming they will be. Jared McCain, you know, had
a good flashed before the season ending injury. We know
Max he's good. Vj Edgecombe is a monster rookie.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Can Paul George stay healthy? I don't freaking know. Can
Joel Embiid say healthy? I don't know. They got guys,
And I'm just saying the East field's open. Let me
look at their win total for a second, seventy six Ers,
Jesus the windows. So they're minus two twenty to win
over forty games. Yeah, I think they're an over forty
(22:38):
win team. I think this is a I wouldn't how's this.
I'll say that Sixers are finished fourth in the East.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
That would not They're one of those teams where if
they win thirty four games or they win fifty four games,
I would not be surprised thirty or like, because so
much of it depends on Joel embid and whether or
not is available. Like, yeah, he made his triumphant return
of the court last week in a preseason game. By
(23:06):
all accounts, nobody even knew he was gonna play. Yeah
until like three hours before, Like, hey, by the way,
Joel is gonna be suiting up, and he looked like
Joel Embiid, you know, looked thinner, actually was actually was
good look for him. And credit to them and Nick Nurse.
Even when Embiid was playing, they seem to finally have
an identity and how they want to play. So when
(23:26):
Embiid's out there. If he gets a rebound, he's gonna
push it because they got speed everywhere. They got the
young guards that can fly. Paul George didn't play, so
maybe so that changes into things and moving forward. But
when they can't get out in transition, Joel's gonna trot
his way up, get to the pinch post, get to
the elbow. He's gonna operate and as much of a
(23:47):
punchline as he's become on this show and other shows,
he's still good for thirty and twelve every game, provided
that he's healthy. Yes, if he's not healthy, then what
so win.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Total forty two and a half. So they're basically a
five hundred team according to the market. I think they're
better than that. Now here's the only problem, Rob. Will
they manage em beads minutes so he's ready for the postseason.
I don't know how many games with Paul George play forty.
I don't know. I just I'm a buyer in Edgecombe
and I like Maxi a lot. I think they got
dudes and the East is open. But so I would
(24:18):
say the Sixers are one of my deeper sleepers out there.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Yeah, A big fan of that one.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
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 3 (24:36):
Here's another one for you out of a cannon. I
haven't even really thought about it myself, as I want
to pick your brain here the New York Knicks, Your
beloved New York Knicks, Our beloved New York Knicks. I
was on the train there for a minute. Decided that
the issue was not Jalen Brunton dominating the ball. The
issue was not mcal Bridges, you know, forgetting how to
(24:57):
be an offensive threat. The issue was not Karl Anthony
Town's inability to defend the rim. The issue was Tom Thibodeau,
the most successful coach that they've had in fifty years.
Was the problem. Once they brought in Mike Woodson. Mike Woodson,
Mike Brown, the decision was this guy. The benchmark now
(25:22):
is championship or bust. Because we've been already up to
the to the precipice, we couldn't break through the door.
It is what it is. If Mike Brown does not
get this team to the NBA Finals, is it a
failure in New York not a.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Failure because I think the looming specter every two or
three game losing streak. Let's go get Yannis, Let's go
get Yannis, let's dump Cat. I think that's gonna kind
of be a cloud over the Knicks all season now
if they are able to and you know, Brown's a
good defensive coach, He's got bridges in an enernobi. But
it's just such a different look, I think than what
(25:58):
Thibodeau was. Remember he would just grind his guys to dust.
Will Brown play a lot more bench guys. You know,
he's kind of animated. I like him as a coach.
I think the Knicks are gonna be good. I think
if they're not one or two in the East right
there with the Calves, and the Calves have injuries, then
then then I think it's a problem. But I would
say at conference finals at the minimum. For the next injuries,
(26:24):
you know, obviously a factor there. But if everybody's healthy,
I think the Knicks should be in the conference finals
and anything less would be yes of failure.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Now do you subscribe to the idea that it was
a Thibodeaux problem, not necessarily a roster or style of
play problem.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I mean that that Pacer series just hurts going back.
I mean it just stuck. Like they were in great shape.
They Maybe you could argue they got a little lucky
taken down the Celtics, but Tatum went down when it
was still the Knicks were in control of the series.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I think, yeah, they were about to win that game
and go up three to one before he got hurt.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Right, Yeah, so I know it is you know, it's
possible they just ran into a better team than the Pacers, who, oh,
by the way, pushed the Thunder, the Mighty Thunder to seven.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
The team the overwhelming favorites that if Aliburn doesn't play,
they probably win the championship.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Well, if aliberr yeah, he doesn't go down in the
first quarter of Game seven, Yeah they Why don't the
Pacers win? That Pacers were really good And I know
it sounds like, oh, Pacers, come on, those guys, they're
really good. That team was amazing last year. I think
they're still gonna be pretty good this year.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
They Yeah, well, I haven't looked at their win total,
but whatever it is, I'm thinking the over because like
their style of play lends itself to a lot of
regular season wins, like you're just not ready for that
on a Tuesday in Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
For what they put to the table, the one thing
is the Miles Turner loss is kind of big because
he was their rim protector. They're going with it. Sounds
like Isaiah Jackson and Jay Huff. I don't know what
they're gonna get from Jerras Walker, but I do like
the Ben matherin he's gonna get finally, this is his
time to shine. I loved him coming out of Arizona.
They got a lot of young dudes. They've drafted well.
(27:58):
Their roster pretty sick, and it makes sense.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Johnts like it fits together, unlike a lot of these
teams were like, Hey, we're just gonna assemble all the
best talent and figure it out. Like no, Like they
have a style of play, they have guys that fit
that style of play, and it's why they're such a
cohesive bunch and that's how they are able to overwhelm
a lot of teams that they face.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Wow, how about this. I just looked it up on
fan Duel. The over under for the Pacers is thirty
six and a half all over for sure. Da feels
a little light. Oh my gosh, that's so Nemhard Matherin,
Nie Smith, Siakam, Ben Shephard coming off the bench, Obi
top it. Think they kind of a good team. I
think they're an over over over thirty six. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I would be with you absolutely, I got one more
for you. I mean, Mari Day, are this one all week?
I don't know how much you watch the news, but
there was a nationwide protest going on across the country. Right.
They're protesting a guy who they say wants all the power,
doesn't want to give anything up if it's his way
or the highway. They're saying that he wants demand's loyalty
(29:01):
from everybody around him, but refuses to give any in return.
They called it the No King's Movement, and it was
about Lebron James. What is the f final chapter in
Lebron James ten year in Los Angeles? Does it end
here this season? Does it end at the trade deadline?
(29:22):
Or are we having the same conversation twelve months from now?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
All right, Okay, so Rob Rob's cracking joke. So, first
of all, Urn's coming on the pod this week to
talk about his book, and that's where the story. Kime, Look,
let me just ask you real quick about that whole
like no Kings thing with Lebron. So, according to the excerpt,
you know Will Smith was going to come meet the team.
Lebron and Ad walked out like, oh yeah, you guys
(29:45):
got this, We're good. Darvin Ham went to go get them,
right according to the to the article or in the book,
the excerpt, So Darvinham goes to get Lebron and Ad.
They come back, and then Lebron asks a bunch of questions.
Are we certain that when Darvinham got them, he didn't say, guys,
you need to show leadership. I need you asking a
(30:06):
bunch of questions. And that's why Lebron asked a million
questions one this thing when he had left prior. Now
you could counter by like, oh, come on, you think
Lebron's gonna listen to freaking Darvinham. I don't know. Uh. Obviously,
it struck me as odd, rob that on the eve
of the NBA season, when Lebron's not even healthy and
not playing, the biggest storyline was about a walking out
(30:32):
Lebron walking out from a team meeting four years ago
when they were with a different coach, and a different
roster with the Lakers. That was like the story dominating
so far this week leading up to the NBA. Does
that not feel a little like, hey, we got to
keep Lebron on the news because everybody can relate to him.
It just it feels a little, I don't want to
(30:52):
say unseemly, but there's like literally twenty other pretty decent
stories in the league. Are you surprised by that or
am I just going overboard defending the guy who I
think is the greatest basketball player of all time.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
It's a little bit of both. Well. First off, credit
to your own for number one having that story right, like,
sure if it's in the book right. Number Two, good
on him and his publisher for saying, hey, we're going
to release this book on opening days. It's out now,
and that's why we're getting him, you know, here tomorrow.
Number Three, I think the reason why it resonated so
much is that the theme behind the whole little excerpt
(31:25):
was the reason why I went bad with Westbrook was
obviously the on courtfit was terrible, but number two that
Russ just didn't like Lebron, that Lebron he thought was fake.
Lebron wanted to get everybody traded. Lebron tries to throw
a stone and hide his hand. That's kind of been
his mo for a decade plus.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Now, Wait, did Lebron not rescue Russ and bring him
to the lay?
Speaker 3 (31:45):
He did, and then he tried to trade him, and
then he went on ESPN and said it was so sad.
Maybe it's me that we couldn't trade Russ for Kyrie Irving, right, Like,
remember that was all that was the big thing that
came out of that.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Whole season, So that's tough, Rob Listen. Lebron rescued him,
then realized this isn't working, and right to move him, Like,
h riddle me this? How is that wrong? How is
that making Lebron a bad guy?
Speaker 3 (32:07):
It depends on your perspective.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
I mean, I guess you could argue Lebron should have
known this wasn't gonna work. I don't know. The Denver
Nuggets all of a sudden, remember all this tuff. Oh
we love Russ. Yoki's desperate to play with Russ Russ,
Russ Russ. And then they're like, yeah, team in three years,
we want nothing to do with him, Like, come on,
everybody jumped the guy after a year. So I just
I don't know. Maybe I'm being a little defensive. And
I'm sure you guys are gonna send me messages. Jake,
(32:31):
come on, what's going on. You're killing You're killing the
vibe here, just defending Lebron left and right. Like I
don't know Russ. Yeah, I don't want to smear the guy.
His brother Rob coaches at like the rival high school
in our area, and everybody loves him. Some kids who
my son knows from his middle school days shunned our
(32:52):
local school to go to the one just because Russ's
brother is like the wide receiver coach and he brings
in like some celebrity aspect and all this stuff. And
I'm like, apparently Russ has beloved in the community. Now,
sure basketball player totally differents. Like you said, five teams
in five years.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Right, so three years in three yeah, because he's got
waved and bought out twice.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Right, that's like iverson ish, yes.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
And so that's why I'm just this whole thing around Lebron.
We talked about it ad nauseam on this podcast, like
he doesn't seem happy, you know, this whole thing. We
full circle again, David Menhiman is floating out. The MAVs
is winning the championships, so maybe he's suggesting that eventually
Lebron forces his way out of there. It just feels like,
and I think you would agree that we're really on
thin ice with Lebron in LA And it seems like
(33:40):
because he's no longer as great as he is, no
longer capable of carrying a team the way he had
throughout most of his career, that all of the extra
stuff that comes with Lebron, the Hey, I gotta pick
my own players, and if I don't like him, I'm
gonna get him traded. But it's not me, it's the
team that did it, you know. But if it goes well,
then yes, GM, Lebron got it done properly. Like I
(34:01):
feel like the Lakers and the league as a whole
is kind of over him at this point.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
So they'll put up with the stuff as long as
you're like an All NBA player and going to the
championship and stuff. But when you're not, Yes, audios. Now
that that's an interesting angle. Let's just go hypothetical. Lebron
misses twelve games, Lakers go eight and four, does Lebron
just fall in line and hey, it's kumbaya. You guys
(34:27):
are crushing it. I'll do whatever you want me to do.
Let's say they go four and eight. Hey, y'all need
the king. You gotta let's do this. Or does he
say you're all four and eight? I don't want any
part of this crap. Just ship me. You're right, it
is kind of stunning. Maybe instead of Yannis being the
biggest storyline, Lebron is. Remember everywhere he's gone, rob he's
(34:49):
won a title. Now, he's never he's left. He left
the Calves willingly, left the heat, willingly, left the Calves
again willingly. But he's never been trade Well, I guess
a sign in trade, right, No.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
He's never actually traded, right.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Actually, like a real trade, this would be different. Well,
I'll just say this all these Lebron isn't the goat.
If he gets traded and that team wins the title
next year, I mean, how can you even get I
don't think you could argue, but that would literally be Hey,
it doesn't matter what happens wherever Lebron goes, he wins.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
A championship like that?
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Would that would that cemented? Well, there's some people who
are just gonna refuse to believe it.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Regard that would be a hell of a feather in
your cap. Though. If he does that, that's a hell
of a feather.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
And it's not like the MAVs. Let me look at
the odds here real quick draft Kings has the MAVs.
Oh my gosh, So it's Thunder Nuggets, Calves, Knicks, Rockets, Lakers, Timberwolves, Warriors, Magic,
then MAVs at twenty five hundred. So the MAVs are
currently tenth tenth best title odds. So it's not like
(35:57):
he's going to a stacked team now they have good players.
But again, Kyrie's missing up to see it.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
And I'd argue it's only that high because of the
idea of Lebron possibly going there because Kyrie's out till
the new year at the earliest. Cooper Flag is eighteen
years old. Nineteen years old, Like, yeah, realistically.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Not a real threat. Are you seeing this Jason Tatum
stuff like he thinks he could come back. He's just
I'm worried about that. Man. It sounds like Aaron Rodgers,
yes with him, Oh yeah, I can come back at
three months, bro, were you out of your fricking mind
the hell are you talking about now? Tatum went down
what was it June?
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Yes, j was May, oh well late May, early June.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah, it depends when he had the surgery, so Christmas
would be six months. I mean, you could argue if
he comes back at the after the All Star break,
it's been seven and a half months. I just I
don't want to risk it because he's still in his prime.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
You are not ramping up from an achilles into a
playoff run like that is just terrible thing. I don't
want that. All right.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Anyways, it's going to be a fun NBA season. Obviously.
Tomorrow will have an NBA guest. We'll get back to
NFL obviously later in the week. We know, we know
you guys love the NFL and some people you hate
the NBA. Listen, I might start betting with the NBA.
I don't know, maybe we'll do it. Talk to you tomorrow.
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up straight Fire, fam, It's me Jason McIntyre,
Straight Boyer for Wednesday, October the twenty second, and the
NBA is back. Goodness, folks. You know I love me
some hoops. Playing a mensley game last night. Tough loss.
I will boy you with the details, but we played
(00:32):
our best, our buddies. We were forced to split the
teams up. I'm not going to get into it. It
wasn't my fault as the GM the greatest GM ever
in South Bay history, that's obvious, but we lost by two,
missing our two best players. No liner last night. I
was terrible, but the better basketball was happening obviously. In
(00:53):
the NBA NBA debuted, we had Okase versus Houston and
a thriller. Now I didn't get this out on the pod,
but I did post it on IG before the game,
like an hour before the game. I bet Okase. I'm sorry,
I bet Houston getting seven that hit. Houston loses a
double overtime, just a great, great finish against the defending
(01:14):
champion OKSE thunder SGA the free throw birch At couldn't
make a shot from the perimeter one or nine for three,
but got you know, a series of fakes and eventually
Kevin Durant fausan with like I don't know, two seconds left,
he makes two free throws, so that's a rap. They
just an outstanding game, great back and forth. I love
me some rockets. Oh my gosh. Shen Goon thirty nine,
(01:34):
eleven and seven, and he was such a problem. They
had Alex Caruso guarding him at the end because he's
a pesky you know, he's just a pesky defender, and
you know KD had a had a solid game, but
he definitely wore down at the end. I had a
buddy text me, KD looks old. Finished with twenty three
(01:56):
on sixteen shots. I did find it a little interesting,
and listen, Katy's the new guy. He's not going to
just dominate the ball. But I did find it interesting
that I'm and Thompson took more shots than kat Jabari
Smith took one less shot than KD. Durant missed all
four of his threes, and Shengon is their horse twelve
(02:17):
to twenty four. KT only took sixteen shots. But it's
opening that you don't want to get caught up in
these sweeping overreactions. Obviously, turnovers are going to be an
issue when you don't have a point guard. The Rockets
had twenty one of them. It seemed like late in
the game when OKC picked up full court, essentially the
Rockets struggled to get into their half court sets and
were kind of bogged down. But again they lost by one. Now,
(02:40):
OKAC obviously was without j dubb who's recovering from the
injury or sorry the surgery. Chet was good with twenty
eight SGA had thirty five on twenty six shots. Congrats,
it's a good win for the defending champion. They will not,
obviously not win the title this year. And you could
go ahead and clip this off, throw it on my face,
laugh at me if they do. That's fine. I just
(03:02):
it was a really good title last year, scraping by
the Pacers, who you know, lost Tyree Saliburton in Game seven,
did not have to face the Lakers, and Luca and
Lebron did not have to face Steph Curry. Their path was,
you know, after knocking off the Nuggets in seven, their
(03:23):
path was fairly easy. They're obviously a very good team
with very good players, and that was a good, really
good opening night for the NBA, and it felt bigger
going to NBC and Peacock Mike Tarico on the call listen.
I said it online like I'm a Tourico guy. He
gets into the game and you can tell in his
(03:47):
voice he's having fun and enjoying it. I'm not out
here to bash people, but there's plenty of NFL announcers
who were trying to like play it too cool and
just be like Pat Summer all for guys who remember
Pat Summer all back in the day. Some aer all
on Madden were like the goats when it came to
NFL announcing, And I feel like a lot of people
try to act like some are all just dry bland.
(04:08):
Just tell us what's happening. Don't get oh my gosh,
I mean I get it. Some are all was amazing
back in the day. But give me energy, give me
the Gus Johnson. Oh my god. People losing their minds. Listen,
sixty thousand fans in an NFL stadium or fifteen thousand
fans in an NBA arena, they're losing their minds. You know,
fifty thousand people at a Dodgers game or whatever. The
(04:30):
number is and then millions more watching it home. Everybody's
losing their mind. Why can't they announcer get into it?
And I think Tarico's does a great, great job. The
nightcap was Lakers and Warriors and my buddies, a couple
of young guys I play hoops with their texting me, Oh,
it must be so painful to be a Lakers fan.
DeAndre aight and stinks. They're just so negative. I'm like, guys, guy,
(04:52):
can we settle down. It's one game. You played a
veteran team with Curry who twenty three and the silencer
at the end, Jimmy Butler, who was sixteen for sixteen
on free throws, had thirty one. Like, the Warriors are
a really good team, Buddy, Heels hit five threes off
the bench, wars it seventeen threes, Lakers said eight. I
(05:12):
mean that right, there is the difference. In addition to
the Lakers missing eleven free throws, Warriors missed three. Titan
stuff up and oh, by the way, Lebron will be back. Yeah, okay,
Lebron did not play. DeAndre Ayden obviously a little clunky
in his first freaking game with the team. Can we
settle down. Gabe Vincent got the start. Remember he had
like what are he hit nine threes the other night
in the preseason game. Yea won a four in the opener. Listen,
(05:36):
they're tinkering. Marcus Smart played the most minutes off the bench.
Wasn't even on the team last year. Jack Laaravia played
second most minutes off the bench. Wasn't on the team
last year. So like there's a lot of newness. They're
gonna work out the Kings. I'm not gonna overreact to
the Lakers losing at home to the Golden State Warriors.
If you want to overreact to anything, Skinny Luca forty
(05:59):
three to twelve and nine, let me repeat, forty three points,
twelve rebounds nine sis. I honestly believe that at this juncture,
and this is just me, the three best players in
the NBA Luka, Doncic, Janis and Jokic. I think they're
(06:20):
a cut above everyone else. Jokic makes everyone around it better.
He's unstoppable. Luca makes everyone around it better. He's unstoppable.
And Yannis is a unicorn. Wemby will get there. I
Sga is very very good, gets to the foul line
like a champ. I just can't put him in that discussion.
He's not racking up the assists of those guys, and
he's not unstoppable like Yiannis. He's just really, really, really good.
(06:44):
I don't know. That's just not gonna be enough for
some people. And you're gonna call me a hater. I'm not.
I'm just saying he's not in the class of those
three guys. And you know, you watch Luca and you're like, geez,
I mean, you throw Jimmy Butler on him, you throw
Kuminga on him, you throw Draymond, it doesn't matter. Nobody
can go unguardable he gets off his shot. I mean,
it's just unbelievable. And I already see people like, oh, well,
(07:05):
Austin Reeves, he's going to be in the trade package
for Giannis. Let's settle down, Okay, Austin Reeve is one
of the best contracts in the league. Twenty six points NINAS.
His spear had a huge late run to get them within.
I think it was for Austin reed is just a
winning player, smart player. I love that guy. I'm a
big fan. I think the Lakers are going to be fine.
I know people want to go overboard. Rob G and
(07:27):
I are about to preview the season. We recorded this
early on Tuesday ahead of the games. If you are
interested in looking to tonight's games, Holy hell, the slate
is massive. Calvs. Nicks is a good one. That's gonna
be really good. Those are two teams expected to contend
to come out of the East. I guess Zion's playing,
(07:50):
and maybe even John Morant. That's another smartly scheduled game.
Wizard's Bucks not so much. Let's see anything good. Sixer
Celtics could be interesting. As you'll hear in the preview,
I am somewhat bullish on the seventy six ers, only
because nobody else is anymore. Everybody usually loves them and
I never did. Now I like them. I think the
(08:14):
Spurs MAVs is a great game on ESPN tonight at
six point thirty. MAVs are laying two and a half.
I'm gonna consider betting the Spurs in that one, and yeah,
it should be a good, great night. But Rob G
and I recorded this kind of previewing the league. A
lot of Yannis stuff, a lot of East, a lot
of West, a lot of stars. I do believe the
(08:34):
Rockets will win the title. I know it may be
tough without a point guard, but I think it's a
It's a new league. Some macro trends to watch for,
we'll talk about those. Enjoy our NBA season preview.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
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 (08:58):
All right, So you know, Rob G and I love
the NBA, so we figured we put together a half
big preview prediction podcast so that we can refer to
it all the time throughout the season while we're correct
and ignore it when we're wrong. But NBA, we both
love it. You guys love it too. You don't have
to deny it. You don't like the NBA, don't be
those guys online. Oh NBA garbage, selfish players three pointers,
(09:21):
that's dumb. It's a fantastic, fun league. The players are
super popular. I'll maintain globally, after soccer, I'm pretty sure
basketball is the second most popular sport. I know some
people would push for cricket, but like, cricket's not big
in say Europe, or at least I don't think it's
as big as basketball is. I mean, hell, the NBA
(09:43):
is talking about opening another league there By the way,
I haven't even mentioned this to Rob. Randomly, last week
I heard from someone who is looking into I guess
there's this NBA Europe push coming and someone's looking into
buying a team in NBA Europe. Now they're doing this
on the hope that the NBA gets involved, And I
(10:03):
was like, hey, you know, what kind of investment are
you looking for. I would be willing to throw a
couple pennies in there, if you know, if the price
is right. But the NBA expanding NBA is just a juggernaut.
Obviously it doesn't have the week to week juice of
the NFL. But you know, I guess we could start
with Robal TV up and I'll just fire off answers.
But I think I think for me, the biggest storyline
(10:27):
this season is Yannis. He's the best player in the
Eastern Conference. Uh, He's made it clear that he's not
long from Milwaukee. We know that it's smarter to trade
a star player before he demands a trade. The longer
you hold on to him, the longer the asset loses
value and I'm not saying Yannis isn't great. I'm just
(10:47):
saying the number of suitors for him goes down with
every passing month, you know. I mean, it's not like
the Sacramento Kings are entertaining an idea for Yannis next
summer because guess what, he ain't gonna sign their long
term now. Could they rent him the way Kawhi was
rented by the Raptors. I mean, I don't think Sacramento
(11:09):
could actually pull that off. I'm just hypothetically speaking. So
I think Giannis is the biggest storyline in the league.
And frankly, for me, I think Wemby's number two. This
is year three, like can he stay healthy? Can he
get the Spurs to the playoffs? And I think once
Wemby gets to the playoffs, we finally usher in an
era that has moved on from Lebron Curry KD. Because
(11:30):
we're still in that Lebron Curry KD era. I'm sorry.
I know people want to think this is the SGA time,
Rob and I know there's no time for SGA. Sorry pal, So,
Rob G, I know you're pumped about the season. Obviously
a Lakers homer, I'm waiting for him to hatch a
Yannis trade idea that can get Giannis and Luca playing together.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
But I think that's mischief impossible for now. Oh, I've
been working on it all off season. I'm an efforting
as they say in the streets, you know, Euston Reeves
plus seven first round picks for Gianna, it seems fair
to me. No, I mean, I agree with you, Giannis,
of course at the big the big Fish, obviously in
more ways than one. The question I have for you, though,
is we were told where we found out a couple
(12:13):
of weeks ago that the Milwaukee Bucks and New York
Knicks had discussions over the offseason about Giannis, and that
was the only team that really had any kind of conversation. Now,
obviously conversation didn't get far because either Milwaukee didn't really
want to trade him or the Knicks just didn't think
that they can have to give up a lot now
when they could get him cheaper six, eight, nine months
(12:35):
from now. We've seen several stars over the years, you know,
Donovan Mitchell forced his way out, Anthony Davis force his
way out to varying degrees of success in terms of
getting to where they want to go. You know, Paul
George didn't get to Ali like you wanted. Kawhi did
not get to Ali like he wanted, Ad did, Donovan
Mitchell did not get to Miami like you wanted. Damian
(12:56):
Lillard did not get to Miami like you wanted. If
and when Jannis does ultimately get dal from Milwaukee, does
he end up where he wants to go, or, like
you referenced, is it a short term rental somewhere else?
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Are the Toronto Raptors taking a flyer on Giannis? And
the Raptors have some young pieces Washington, My guess would
be no. I think with the second Apron and all
that nonsense, I think it's made it a little more difficult.
And I think teams are a lot of teams rob
are probably starting over when it comes to team building,
seeing how I mean, the Celtics won the title two
(13:29):
years ago and then they had the injury to Tatum Brob.
Did you have you looked at their rotation for the season.
It's nothing like it was two years ago when it
appeared they were on the cusp of like some kind
of dynasty. They had so many good young players. I
mean they you know, now this is like the Milwaukee
the Boston Celtics starting lineup Derek White and Ferny Simons,
(13:50):
Jalen Brown, Sam Hauser, Nimas, Kita Tate and Pritcherders are
six man. I mean, if you don't fall college hoops,
you probably don't even no Kaita, who was a beast
at Nevada, Big, big, long Rangeye dude. Sam Hauser again,
you could bump into him at six Flags and have
no idea he's an NBA player. So teams I think
(14:11):
are going to start over when it comes to how
you build a title contender, and so as a result,
I don't think there's as big of a market for
Yannis Bocks waited too long once again.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Okay, here's another question for you. This is one that
just came to me as you were talking. Obviously, nobody
is picking the Bucks to win the Eastern Conference. You know,
as good as Yannis is and as water down as
the East is, I don't think anyone with their right
mind is going to say that Yannis alone is going
to be able to carry his team to the NBA Finals.
With that in mind, I was looking at the ESPN
(14:43):
NBA previews on Tuesday before Opening Night. Dave mcmanhamon Friend
of the Show. We love Dave. He's great, plugged in
as anybody there is in the NBA world. In his
season long prediction predicted not Oka se not the Denver Nuggets,
not the Cleveland cav not even your New York Knicks,
(15:06):
He's picking the Dallas Mavericks to win the NBA Championship.
J mack, let me ask you a question two part
of here. What does Dave know that we don't know?
Number one and number two? Is this his way of
laying the groundwork, the precursor, so to speak, to the
(15:28):
long rumored Lebron James forces his way to Dallas to
play with.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Kyrie and Ad oh Man. There's so many layers to this.
How many time do we have? No, It's fascinating because,
I mean, let's just get this out of the way early.
Do you really see the Lakers and Mavericks doing another
deal after the Luca deal? Everybody basically proclaimed, oh, the
Lakers hoisted him, it was such a steal. Then the
(15:53):
MAVs get the number one picking Cooper Flag and it's like, Okay, well,
you know, maybe the deal didn't work out that badly,
but that was just your luck in the lottery. And
unless Cooper Flag is in the deal, how on earth
is this happening? Rob? I mean, it's fun to talk about,
but I'm gonna go ahead and assume the Mavericks are
not parting with Flag, A D or Kyrie Irving, Right, So,
(16:17):
so what are we giving up? We super max Christie
going back to the Lakers, Clay you know that. I'm
sure the Lakers would love to get D'Angelo Russell back,
although there's zero chance that he could play point guard
with Luke on the team. I mean other than Derek Lively,
PJ Washington and Gafford. I just don't see where's the interest,
(16:39):
Like we're assuming Cooper Flag's off the table, right, They're not?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yeah, I mean unless, in my opinion, unless you're getting
a D back, Like I don't. I don't see what
the avenue is to get Lebron there.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, a D would be so pissed at him with me,
although a D playing with Luca has the That's the
only thing is.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
It's like, hey, at least you pay these two together
and then you figure out the rest later.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
So wait, so that would mean that Nico Harrison turned
Luka Doncic into Lebron James. No, that would mean the opposite.
That would mean that the Lakers turned a d into
Luca and Ad. Does that even make sense.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
That they turned Lebron? No, he had it right. The
Dallas Mavericks in this scenario would have turned Luka Doncic
into forty one year old Lebron James and draft picks.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, there's no way that's happening.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
So then why would they put that in there?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Like what, I guess he's a believer in Kyrie Irving?
I don't know. I mean it's interesting. Flag look good
at point guard in preseason. I'll say that solid. I
mean again, preseason. Ain't the NBA playoffs, Lay Thompson. Their
backcourt can't defend anybody, but Flag is an excellent defender.
They got the room protection in Ad and Loveley. I
(17:55):
just I don't buy it at all. And how many
balls are there to go around? When Kyrie shows up?
You know who's who's the alpha on the team. Remember
we've never seen Kyrie as a one carry a team.
It's been a disaster every single time. As a two,
he's great. Who's the one on that team? Rob Cooper?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Flag?
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Oh? Stop.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
I mean, like that's that's the only way that it's
gonna work. Because I agree with you. The history says
that Kyrie Irving as great and as talented, he's your
favorite player's favorite player as he is when he is
the man on your team, your team wins thirty three games.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
No, it's just not a it doesn't work. M Well,
maybe he knows something, but I'll go with he don't
know anything. He's just he likes he likes Kyrie Irving
or or something not.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
He's a bis, a real big believer in the three
center lineup. Maybe that's what it is.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Well that listen that the biggest trend around the league
is sizes back. We want, you want offensive rebounding for
all the mysteries that everybody takes, and the Rockets are
touching starting the lineup. I think with like three or
four guys almost seven feet tall. We know the Denver
Nuggets got bigger pairing Cam Johnson with Jokic and Aaron Gordon.
(19:09):
And I say bigger because Michael Porter is more of
a perimeter guy. Cam Johnson actually can get rebounds for you.
The Mavericks obviously going to be big. It feels like
size is back around the league, And yeah, it is
interesting because the one team that I love, the Golden
State Warriors, don't have it and they're still stuck in
their three ball era unless you count Al Horford is
(19:31):
your big.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Well that was gonna make My next question was everybody
is very high on the Golden State Warriors because of
the way they ended the season the regular season after
the Jimmy Butler trade and the way they looked in
the playoffs before Steph's injury? Am I wrong for thinking
that this team all their best players are thirty five
and up? How on earth am I supposed to believe
(19:53):
that a quartet of Steph, Jimmy Butler, Draymond and Horford
all pushing forty is gonna have number one, the legs,
Number two the stamina to make it through an eighty
two regular season season. Ideally avoid the top the play
(20:13):
in because you know you got arrest those guys at
some point. You canna have them playing back to backs
and then still have enough left in the tank to
make a run and win four round to the playoff.
I don't see it.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, no, that's a good point. It seems like healed
and Kumingo will come off the bench. Moses Moody may start.
I forgot they have tjd at center and Quentin Posts.
They do have bigs, No they don't. Yeah, it is tough,
but you're right. They dispatch the Rockets and seven. I'm
pretty sure they beat the Timberwolves in the game game one,
when Curry got hurt and then they fell apart aging
(20:43):
nothing but a number Rockie. You know, maybe this is
Tom Brady with the Bucks. I don't know. I'm obviously
I think the league is better when Steph Curry's playing
and a factor. So I know Cowhard doesn't even think
they're a playoff team, which I think is insane. The
West is loaded. I think the Warriors will be fine, obviously. Yeah,
they got to manage minutes and if pot if you
(21:04):
can have Curry at thirty minutes a game, which sounds impossible,
and POD's soaking up minutes so that in the playoffs
Curry's fine.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yeah, Okay, here's another one for you. There are obviously,
there's the heavy hitters everyone's talking about. You mentioned with
the Warriors. The Lakers are gonna dominate headlines with Luke
and Lebron. Okay, see Denver and then in the East
you got the Knicks and the Calves. Who is a
team that we're not talking about enough right now heading
into the start of the regular season or week of
NBA regular season?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Oh wait, who does Houston counter know?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
I mean they've gotten a lot of pub.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Okay, it's funny because okay, see he hasn't gotten any pub.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
That's at the point.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
They're odds and they're they're super they're plus two forty
five to repeat, they're not repeating. I know they brought
back everybody. I think the Knicks are interesting. Who hasn't.
We've been all over the Orlando Magic all summer. So
when people are gassing them up, you know, can I
go sixers on this rock?
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
I like that? Tell me and listen.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
I again, I don't like you guys, don't not like
the biggest Joel Embiid fan. But when they're healthy, and
that's assuming they will be. Jared McCain, you know, had
a good flashed before the season ending injury. We know
Max he's good. Vj Edgecombe is a monster rookie.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Can Paul George stay healthy? I don't freaking know. Can
Joel Embiid say healthy? I don't know. They got guys,
And I'm just saying the East field's open. Let me
look at their win total for a second, seventy six Ers,
Jesus the windows. So they're minus two twenty to win
over forty games. Yeah, I think they're an over forty
(22:38):
win team. I think this is a I wouldn't how's this.
I'll say that Sixers are finished fourth in the East.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
That would not They're one of those teams where if
they win thirty four games or they win fifty four games,
I would not be surprised thirty or like, because so
much of it depends on Joel embid and whether or
not is available. Like, yeah, he made his triumphant return
of the court last week in a preseason game. By
(23:06):
all accounts, nobody even knew he was gonna play. Yeah
until like three hours before, Like, hey, by the way,
Joel is gonna be suiting up, and he looked like
Joel Embiid, you know, looked thinner, actually was actually was
good look for him. And credit to them and Nick Nurse.
Even when Embiid was playing, they seem to finally have
an identity and how they want to play. So when
(23:26):
Embiid's out there. If he gets a rebound, he's gonna
push it because they got speed everywhere. They got the
young guards that can fly. Paul George didn't play, so
maybe so that changes into things and moving forward. But
when they can't get out in transition, Joel's gonna trot
his way up, get to the pinch post, get to
the elbow. He's gonna operate and as much of a
(23:47):
punchline as he's become on this show and other shows,
he's still good for thirty and twelve every game, provided
that he's healthy. Yes, if he's not healthy, then what
so win.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Total forty two and a half. So they're basically a
five hundred team according to the market. I think they're
better than that. Now here's the only problem, Rob. Will
they manage em beads minutes so he's ready for the postseason.
I don't know how many games with Paul George play forty.
I don't know. I just I'm a buyer in Edgecombe
and I like Maxi a lot. I think they got
dudes and the East is open. But so I would
(24:18):
say the Sixers are one of my deeper sleepers out there.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Yeah, A big fan of that one.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
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Speaker 3 (24:36):
Here's another one for you out of a cannon. I
haven't even really thought about it myself, as I want
to pick your brain here the New York Knicks, Your
beloved New York Knicks, Our beloved New York Knicks. I
was on the train there for a minute. Decided that
the issue was not Jalen Brunton dominating the ball. The
issue was not mcal Bridges, you know, forgetting how to
(24:57):
be an offensive threat. The issue was not Karl Anthony
Town's inability to defend the rim. The issue was Tom Thibodeau,
the most successful coach that they've had in fifty years.
Was the problem. Once they brought in Mike Woodson. Mike Woodson,
Mike Brown, the decision was this guy. The benchmark now
(25:22):
is championship or bust. Because we've been already up to
the to the precipice, we couldn't break through the door.
It is what it is. If Mike Brown does not
get this team to the NBA Finals, is it a
failure in New York not a.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Failure because I think the looming specter every two or
three game losing streak. Let's go get Yannis, Let's go
get Yannis, let's dump Cat. I think that's gonna kind
of be a cloud over the Knicks all season now
if they are able to and you know, Brown's a
good defensive coach, He's got bridges in an enernobi. But
it's just such a different look, I think than what
(25:58):
Thibodeau was. Remember he would just grind his guys to dust.
Will Brown play a lot more bench guys. You know,
he's kind of animated. I like him as a coach.
I think the Knicks are gonna be good. I think
if they're not one or two in the East right
there with the Calves, and the Calves have injuries, then
then then I think it's a problem. But I would
say at conference finals at the minimum. For the next injuries,
(26:24):
you know, obviously a factor there. But if everybody's healthy,
I think the Knicks should be in the conference finals
and anything less would be yes of failure.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Now do you subscribe to the idea that it was
a Thibodeaux problem, not necessarily a roster or style of
play problem.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I mean that that Pacer series just hurts going back.
I mean it just stuck. Like they were in great shape.
They Maybe you could argue they got a little lucky
taken down the Celtics, but Tatum went down when it
was still the Knicks were in control of the series.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I think, yeah, they were about to win that game
and go up three to one before he got hurt.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Right, Yeah, so I know it is you know, it's
possible they just ran into a better team than the Pacers, who, oh,
by the way, pushed the Thunder, the Mighty Thunder to seven.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
The team the overwhelming favorites that if Aliburn doesn't play,
they probably win the championship.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Well, if aliberr yeah, he doesn't go down in the
first quarter of Game seven, Yeah they Why don't the
Pacers win? That Pacers were really good And I know
it sounds like, oh, Pacers, come on, those guys, they're
really good. That team was amazing last year. I think
they're still gonna be pretty good this year.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
They Yeah, well, I haven't looked at their win total,
but whatever it is, I'm thinking the over because like
their style of play lends itself to a lot of
regular season wins, like you're just not ready for that
on a Tuesday in Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
For what they put to the table, the one thing
is the Miles Turner loss is kind of big because
he was their rim protector. They're going with it. Sounds
like Isaiah Jackson and Jay Huff. I don't know what
they're gonna get from Jerras Walker, but I do like
the Ben matherin he's gonna get finally, this is his
time to shine. I loved him coming out of Arizona.
They got a lot of young dudes. They've drafted well.
(27:58):
Their roster pretty sick, and it makes sense.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Johnts like it fits together, unlike a lot of these
teams were like, Hey, we're just gonna assemble all the
best talent and figure it out. Like no, Like they
have a style of play, they have guys that fit
that style of play, and it's why they're such a
cohesive bunch and that's how they are able to overwhelm
a lot of teams that they face.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Wow, how about this. I just looked it up on
fan Duel. The over under for the Pacers is thirty
six and a half all over for sure. Da feels
a little light. Oh my gosh, that's so Nemhard Matherin,
Nie Smith, Siakam, Ben Shephard coming off the bench, Obi
top it. Think they kind of a good team. I
think they're an over over over thirty six. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I would be with you absolutely, I got one more
for you. I mean, Mari Day, are this one all week?
I don't know how much you watch the news, but
there was a nationwide protest going on across the country. Right.
They're protesting a guy who they say wants all the power,
doesn't want to give anything up if it's his way
or the highway. They're saying that he wants demand's loyalty
(29:01):
from everybody around him, but refuses to give any in return.
They called it the No King's Movement, and it was
about Lebron James. What is the f final chapter in
Lebron James ten year in Los Angeles? Does it end
here this season? Does it end at the trade deadline?
(29:22):
Or are we having the same conversation twelve months from now?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
All right, Okay, so Rob Rob's cracking joke. So, first
of all, Urn's coming on the pod this week to
talk about his book, and that's where the story. Kime, Look,
let me just ask you real quick about that whole
like no Kings thing with Lebron. So, according to the excerpt,
you know Will Smith was going to come meet the team.
Lebron and Ad walked out like, oh yeah, you guys
(29:45):
got this, We're good. Darvin Ham went to go get them,
right according to the to the article or in the book,
the excerpt, So Darvinham goes to get Lebron and Ad.
They come back, and then Lebron asks a bunch of questions.
Are we certain that when Darvinham got them, he didn't say, guys,
you need to show leadership. I need you asking a
(30:06):
bunch of questions. And that's why Lebron asked a million
questions one this thing when he had left prior. Now
you could counter by like, oh, come on, you think
Lebron's gonna listen to freaking Darvinham. I don't know. Uh. Obviously,
it struck me as odd, rob that on the eve
of the NBA season, when Lebron's not even healthy and
not playing, the biggest storyline was about a walking out
(30:32):
Lebron walking out from a team meeting four years ago
when they were with a different coach, and a different
roster with the Lakers. That was like the story dominating
so far this week leading up to the NBA. Does
that not feel a little like, hey, we got to
keep Lebron on the news because everybody can relate to him.
It just it feels a little, I don't want to
(30:52):
say unseemly, but there's like literally twenty other pretty decent
stories in the league. Are you surprised by that or
am I just going overboard defending the guy who I
think is the greatest basketball player of all time.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
It's a little bit of both. Well. First off, credit
to your own for number one having that story right, like,
sure if it's in the book right. Number Two, good
on him and his publisher for saying, hey, we're going
to release this book on opening days. It's out now,
and that's why we're getting him, you know, here tomorrow.
Number Three, I think the reason why it resonated so
much is that the theme behind the whole little excerpt
(31:25):
was the reason why I went bad with Westbrook was
obviously the on courtfit was terrible, but number two that
Russ just didn't like Lebron, that Lebron he thought was fake.
Lebron wanted to get everybody traded. Lebron tries to throw
a stone and hide his hand. That's kind of been
his mo for a decade plus.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Now, Wait, did Lebron not rescue Russ and bring him
to the lay?
Speaker 3 (31:45):
He did, and then he tried to trade him, and
then he went on ESPN and said it was so sad.
Maybe it's me that we couldn't trade Russ for Kyrie Irving, right, Like,
remember that was all that was the big thing that
came out of that.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Whole season, So that's tough, Rob Listen. Lebron rescued him,
then realized this isn't working, and right to move him, Like,
h riddle me this? How is that wrong? How is
that making Lebron a bad guy?
Speaker 3 (32:07):
It depends on your perspective.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
I mean, I guess you could argue Lebron should have
known this wasn't gonna work. I don't know. The Denver
Nuggets all of a sudden, remember all this tuff. Oh
we love Russ. Yoki's desperate to play with Russ Russ,
Russ Russ. And then they're like, yeah, team in three years,
we want nothing to do with him, Like, come on,
everybody jumped the guy after a year. So I just
I don't know. Maybe I'm being a little defensive. And
I'm sure you guys are gonna send me messages. Jake,
(32:31):
come on, what's going on. You're killing You're killing the
vibe here, just defending Lebron left and right. Like I
don't know Russ. Yeah, I don't want to smear the guy.
His brother Rob coaches at like the rival high school
in our area, and everybody loves him. Some kids who
my son knows from his middle school days shunned our
(32:52):
local school to go to the one just because Russ's
brother is like the wide receiver coach and he brings
in like some celebrity aspect and all this stuff. And
I'm like, apparently Russ has beloved in the community. Now,
sure basketball player totally differents. Like you said, five teams
in five years.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Right, so three years in three yeah, because he's got
waved and bought out twice.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Right, that's like iverson ish, yes.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
And so that's why I'm just this whole thing around Lebron.
We talked about it ad nauseam on this podcast, like
he doesn't seem happy, you know, this whole thing. We
full circle again, David Menhiman is floating out. The MAVs
is winning the championships, so maybe he's suggesting that eventually
Lebron forces his way out of there. It just feels like,
and I think you would agree that we're really on
thin ice with Lebron in LA And it seems like
(33:40):
because he's no longer as great as he is, no
longer capable of carrying a team the way he had
throughout most of his career, that all of the extra
stuff that comes with Lebron, the Hey, I gotta pick
my own players, and if I don't like him, I'm
gonna get him traded. But it's not me, it's the
team that did it, you know. But if it goes well,
then yes, GM, Lebron got it done properly. Like I
(34:01):
feel like the Lakers and the league as a whole
is kind of over him at this point.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
So they'll put up with the stuff as long as
you're like an All NBA player and going to the
championship and stuff. But when you're not, Yes, audios. Now
that that's an interesting angle. Let's just go hypothetical. Lebron
misses twelve games, Lakers go eight and four, does Lebron
just fall in line and hey, it's kumbaya. You guys
(34:27):
are crushing it. I'll do whatever you want me to do.
Let's say they go four and eight. Hey, y'all need
the king. You gotta let's do this. Or does he
say you're all four and eight? I don't want any
part of this crap. Just ship me. You're right, it
is kind of stunning. Maybe instead of Yannis being the
biggest storyline, Lebron is. Remember everywhere he's gone, rob he's
(34:49):
won a title. Now, he's never he's left. He left
the Calves willingly, left the heat, willingly, left the Calves
again willingly. But he's never been trade Well, I guess
a sign in trade, right, No.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
He's never actually traded, right.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Actually, like a real trade, this would be different. Well,
I'll just say this all these Lebron isn't the goat.
If he gets traded and that team wins the title
next year, I mean, how can you even get I
don't think you could argue, but that would literally be Hey,
it doesn't matter what happens wherever Lebron goes, he wins.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
A championship like that?
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Would that would that cemented? Well, there's some people who
are just gonna refuse to believe it.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Regard that would be a hell of a feather in
your cap. Though. If he does that, that's a hell
of a feather.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
And it's not like the MAVs. Let me look at
the odds here real quick draft Kings has the MAVs.
Oh my gosh, So it's Thunder Nuggets, Calves, Knicks, Rockets, Lakers, Timberwolves, Warriors, Magic,
then MAVs at twenty five hundred. So the MAVs are
currently tenth tenth best title odds. So it's not like
(35:57):
he's going to a stacked team now they have good players.
But again, Kyrie's missing up to see it.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
And I'd argue it's only that high because of the
idea of Lebron possibly going there because Kyrie's out till
the new year at the earliest. Cooper Flag is eighteen
years old. Nineteen years old, Like, yeah, realistically.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Not a real threat. Are you seeing this Jason Tatum
stuff like he thinks he could come back. He's just
I'm worried about that. Man. It sounds like Aaron Rodgers,
yes with him, Oh yeah, I can come back at
three months, bro, were you out of your fricking mind
the hell are you talking about now? Tatum went down
what was it June?
Speaker 3 (36:30):
Yes, j was May, oh well late May, early June.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah, it depends when he had the surgery, so Christmas
would be six months. I mean, you could argue if
he comes back at the after the All Star break,
it's been seven and a half months. I just I
don't want to risk it because he's still in his prime.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
You are not ramping up from an achilles into a
playoff run like that is just terrible thing. I don't
want that. All right.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Anyways, it's going to be a fun NBA season. Obviously.
Tomorrow will have an NBA guest. We'll get back to
NFL obviously later in the week. We know, we know
you guys love the NFL and some people you hate
the NBA. Listen, I might start betting with the NBA.
I don't know, maybe we'll do it. Talk to you tomorrow.
Host
Jason McIntyre
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