May 14, 2025 • 31 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses how the Oklahoma City Thunder were able to overcome Nikola Jokic’s virtuoso performance to take a 3-2 series lead, and what went wrong for the Cleveland Cavaliers after having such a charmed regular season only to flame out in the postseason. Later, The Athletic’s Christian Clark swings by to discuss the mood around the Dallas Mavericks after they won the NBA Draft Lottery, the likelihood that the Mavs flip Cooper Flagg for an established star like Giannis Antetokounmpo, how Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis might figure into the team’s future plans alongside Flagg, Nico Harrison’s sudden ‘redemption story’, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, straight Fire?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
I am It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Wednesday,
May the fourteenth. Oh boy, did we have a night
in the association.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I'm not on the hardwood now.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I did not gamble on the games, but oh my gosh,
they were good. We'll talk about them shortly. I do
need to tell you this got a great guest on
the podcast. This gentleman, first time are on the podcast.
Him and his wife. They had a baby last week
and he was still willing to jump on a podcast
(00:44):
to talk about that. Dallas Mavericks winning the draft lottery.
Christian Clark of the Athletic Listen a lot of insight
into the MAVs what they might do. He says, no
trade for Giannis.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I don't know. I don't know that.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I'm one hundred percent with him, but you know, again,
Nico Harrison's unpretty the ble. We don't know what that
guy's gonna do. I can't imagine I'm trading Cooper flyag.
But you'll like the convo with Christian Clark before we
get to that. I just think we just briefly have
to start with the Indiana Pacers. Who I predict. I
think I was out on a limb. I didn't see
(01:18):
any unter National media folks picked the Pacers to take
down on Calves. They do it in five games, relatively
easy fashion. Now that game too, where Hallie hit the
step back through over ty jer Rome in a crazy
comeback in the final forty seconds.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
That felt like the dagger.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Even though the Calves won Game three, they got healthy,
it didn't matter. Pacers rolled him in Game four and
what I called the gutlass showing by the Calves, and
then he gave five back in Cleveland. Cleveland again up,
I think it was seventeen in the first half. Crazy
and then Tyre's Haliburton goes off showing, Hey, guys, Donovan
Mitchell is really good. But you know who else is
(01:56):
I am? I'm him Terry's Haliburton plus twenty last night
thirty one points, eight assists, six boards. He was phenomenal
and uh oh boy, a little soul searching in Cleveland.
I have a stat for you. This one's good. So
twenty eight teams in the history of the NBA, only
(02:16):
twenty eight have won sixty four or more games in
a season. Okay, the Calves are just the fourth of
those twenty eight teams to not make the conference finals. Now,
I know everybody wants to call him a fraudited joker.
They did have the injury Darius Garland. Obviously, the toe
bothered him. He had another rotten game, four for sixteen
(02:37):
over six from three. He was not himself in the series.
I saw people online calling him Darius Garbage. Felt like
that was a little harsh. Obviously, losing Evan Mobley for
a game hurt. He count came back really strong last
night twenty four and eleven. Mitchell was good, but like
thed DeAndre Hunter, I thought he was going to be
a factor for them, was not.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Max Struse.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
According to the telecast last night, Max Strus sent out
a group text message pumping everybody up. If you know,
if you don't want this, stay home. Blah blah blah
blah blah. Max Strus twenty six minutes, oh for nine,
oh for six from three, zero points out there getting
some cardio Max Stru's former Miami Heat player. Anyways, the
Pacers advanced to face the Knicks. I talked a little
about that series on yesterday's pod. I think it's I
(03:24):
think Nicks are gonna be okay. Obviously, Pacers really really good.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I like them a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
I had listen back to back conference finals. Is Hella
good for the Indiana Pacers. And to do it on
Cleveland floor, I mean Nemhard was cooking. Pascal Siakam is
a problem. I just think the Knicks defensively match up.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Really well.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
With the with the Pacers, And I talked about it
yesterday Bridges and Anonobi. My guess is they're on Siakam
and Haliburton. That would be my guest. Now, Miles Turner
could have a field day, but it's basically two stretch
fives in Turner and Karl Anthony Town's edge to the Pacers.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Bend TJ.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
McConnell went bonkers last year in the series. It should
be a good one. Now the nightcap. If you didn't
stay up for this, you missed an amazing basketball game.
Thunder come out on top one twelve, one oh five.
They outscore the Nuggets thirty four to nineteen in the
fourth quarter. Second straight game that Denver flat out ran
(04:20):
out of gas. They led by double digits in the third.
I think they led by seven. Okay, See this is
crazy so Denver in the fourth quarter. It wasn't the
Oka se defense. Obviously the defense is fine, it's good.
But Denver was five of twenty one. When Jamal Murray
has his hands on his knees and is tugging on
his shorts with like eight minutes left, He's tired and
(04:41):
he was out of gas. He couldn't do anything in
the fourth quarter. Murray listen man. Murray had a good
third quarter. I think he had eleven or thirteen points.
Fourth quarter he had like a garbage time layup. He
was ten of twenty seven, shooting three of thirteen from three.
He had twenty eight points on twenty seven shots. That's
not gonna cut at Jamal Murray.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
It's just not.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Christian Brown couldn't throw in the ocean. Russell Westbrook non factor,
Michael Porter Junior zero for five from three, had a
shot to tie it late. I mean, they just they
ran out of gas. They settled for forty six three pointers.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
And I have in my notes. So in what was it?
In Game four?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
The Denver Nuggets shot a season high right, Oh, I'm sorry,
most threes they've attempted in playoff history in Game four
that was forty five. They attempted forty six in Game five.
They're out of gas, they're tired to attack, and they
settle for threes. That being said, Nikola Jokic was heroic. Guys, Listen,
(05:39):
anybody who watches this series knows sure you could give
Sga the MVP, but the best player on the court,
the best player in the league.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And I've been reluctant, you know, I've been a Luca guy.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Nikolea Jokicic forty four fifteen five assists. He had an
amazing three in the fourth with the shot clock winding down,
like fading off one foot over check.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
It was spectacular to tie it.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I was like, oh my gosh. But then you know, listen,
they had to end up doubling Shay and uh, what's
a j Dubb got a wide open three and he
hit it. Then Sga hit another three and that was
it was a rap. But that's a tough one for
Denver Man. The bench just not showing a bench game
ten points. Peyton Watson I thought had good minutes, good energy,
but ultimately an impressive comeback win by Okay. See, this
(06:27):
has taken a lot out of them. You can see
this team's tired, Caruso showed well off the bench. You
didn't get much from Wiggins and case on Wallace. I
thought the guy here was lou Dort, who was having
an abysmal series, borderline unplayable in several games in the series.
The guy errupts. I believe he hit three threes in
the fourth quarter. So Denver made five buckets in the fourth.
(06:51):
Okase made five threes in the fourth. In the first
three quarters, the Thunder had seven three pointers. They were
not shooting it well, and then they go off for
five threes in the fourth and it looks like a
good shooting performance.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Of three and there you go.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I mean, it's just an unbelievable turn of events where Denver,
I think you could make a credible case forget about
the plus minus because of Game two. Denver was better
down the stretch in Game one, Denver was better down
the stretch in Game three, and Denver ran out of gas.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Down the stretch. In Game four and five. They were
right there, but you get exhausted when you have a
bench and stinks.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And now the Thunder go to Denver to wrap up
the series, and likely we're looking at a Pacers Knicks
conference Finals and a Denver I'm sorry, and at OKC
Minnesota Conference Finals.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Not anybody had that one before the playoffs began.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
All right, without further ado, let's get to our guests,
the Athletics Christian Clark.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
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. Alright, Jason likes to think he knows everything
when it comes to sports.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I know what sports fans wants, but for.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Everything he doesn't. He knows a guy who does.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows a
guy who knows another guy.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
All right, let's welcome into straight Fire, a first time
guest on the podcast, and man he is. This guy's
going to be the center of attention for I don't
know what the next at least seven weeks. Christian Clark
from the Athletic.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
How you doing, man?
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Hey man, I'm doing great. How about you?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
I'm excellent. You know, I don't cover the Mavericks like
you do. So the Cooper flag news, the Kyrie Irving injury,
Anthony Davis. I mean, there's so much happening with the
Dallas Mavericks. I was like, hey, we need to talk
to a Mavericks guy, and first of all, talked me
through the draft lottery on your end.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
How did that go?
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Well, I actually stayed home. I'll give you a peek
behind the curtain. My wife and I had our first
kid last week, so I'm technically supposed to be on
a short paternity leave. You know, I wasn't planning to
write anything. I was like, all right, they're gonna have
the the eleventh pick. There's a seventy eight percent chance
they get the eleventh pick. They need a guard, but
that can wait, you know, wait that cauld wait till
I come back from paternity leaving. You know, we'll we'll
(09:13):
get into the guards. Well that's not what happened. When
they went all the way up to number one, one
point eight percent chance of doing so, I was sitting there,
you know, on the couch, My wife baby was next
to me, and I was like, oh god, they're in
the top four. They got a chance, and you know
they go to break. I'm like, no way, Like, okay,
they're on the top four, but they're they're not one.
They're not one, right, And then it's one. It's like
what what?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Wow? So was the wife excited or more perturbed that
now you have to work?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
You know that you guys got a one week old baby.
That's crazy. Congrats on.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Probably more of the former than the ladder. But it's
it's been, you know, a fun but a little bit
stressful time around it. But it's good man, It's it's
all good stuff. I mean, this this fan base needed W.
I don't want to say this franchise. I mean, this
franchise did need a W, but I wouldn't say that
they deserved a W.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
But they got a W.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
And it is nice that the number one story going
into next season isn't going to be fan discontentment because
that was a lot of what I covered. You know,
those last for two three months of the season, and
I understand why. I mean, it's it's it was rightful,
justifiable anchor. But it is nice in the number one
story for the Mavericks go on the next season is hey,
how does Cooper f flag fit and do?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Well, let's back up before we just dive into the
roster on Offen stuff. Let me ask you what of
your dealings with Nico Harrison been like, I mean, this
is he's kind of a mysterious figure. He's well known,
but he doesn't speak a lot. How is he with
the media, I mean, if you had interactions with him,
I mean, i know it's been a tough go and
I'm sure he's shutting things down, but just talk to
me what it's been like before and after the trade.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
So, I mean I grew up in the Dallas Fort
Worth area, grew up a Mavericks fan, and you know,
was a senior in high school and they won the
championship in twenty eleven. So this is a team that
meant a lot to me. And then you know, I
did support, decided to pursue sports media professionally cover the
Pelates for five years for the newspaper and noor On.
So I saw, you know, a lot of s shows.
Well I get here in December and I'm like, all right,
(11:06):
you know they got Luca, like they're gonna be competing
for championships going into Christmas. They're nineteen and ten, you know,
number four offense, Number eleven defense, like all the signs
of contender. Luca gets hurt, Nico trades them and it
just gets weird. I I'm not gonna pretend like I
know Nico that well. You know, I don't really have
(11:27):
that much of a rapport with him. But you know,
I was there in Cleveland, you know, one of the
people asking him questions the day after he made the move.
I was a part of that small round table at
the American Airlines Center. You know, I was at his
availability at the end of the season when they finally
opened it up to all the media. I would say,
I would say, here's what's interesting about the Mavericks. There's
not that many people who actually know what's going on.
(11:47):
Nico keeps a very tight circle. I would say, there's
there's about four people who actually knows what's going on.
So if it gets out, Nico's gonna know one of
these people leaked it, and those people don't. They don't
leak a lot, gotcha.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
So when you were right, did you get any sense
at all that there was like some acrimony but between
Luca and his camp and then the internal Hobnestly, you've
read all the stuff that's come out, you know, and
probably written a bunch of it to yourself, But it
feels like this has been building for a while, or
at least the trade had.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
You know, I definitely didn't grasp the extent to which
Nico Harrison was frustrated with Luka Doncic.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
And you know, there was a story I.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Did, you know, with a couple of other writers at
you at the Athletic right after the trade. It was
the idea was who is Nico Harrison? And you know,
one of the things in there is this guy is
obsessed with nutrition and fitness, Like he will quiz just
people in his life, what did you eat today?
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Are you eating healthy? You know?
Speaker 5 (12:45):
And I just think that he's his idea of what
greatness looks like is is different than you know, Luka Doncic,
like Luca, I think, doing a lot of stuff that
normal twenty five year olds do, you know, like maybe
not the best died in the world all the time.
Maybe likes to have a beer every now and then.
I mean, that's what I like to do when I
(13:05):
was twenty five, you know. And I just think Nico
looked at that and he was like, Okay, well are
his habits going to change if we pay him three
hundred and fifty million dollars. I wouldn't have moved him
I wouldn't have done it. Yeah, but if you're gonna
do it, you have to get everything. And that was
really like the biggest failing. It's like they didn't maximize
the return for you know, this guy who's one of
the best young players ever to me. You know, Nico
(13:27):
is act acted like, well, this was this was just business,
nothing personal. But it's hard not to look at this
and be like, oh, his feelings got involved here.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
So it's weird because Cooper Flagg seems to fall into
that bucket of oh my gosh, this guy's a workout warrior,
insane work ethic all around. I mean he's I believe
he's nineteen years old, just super young and talented. This
could not have been better. And remember Nico was kind
of crushed for not getting more draft picks or Austin
Reeves or whatever in the deal, and now he gets
(13:57):
the number one pick. So I'm assuming the vibe has
changed somewhat around the team and the fan base and
everything in Dallas.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
I think a lot of the fan base is still pissed.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
It's yeah, I would say it's still pretty divided. I mean,
look there, I would say there are prominent Mavericks fans
even today calling for Nico Harrison to be fired. I
don't think he's going to be fired, you know, before
the start of next season. But I wouldn't say it's
not unanimous, that it's like everything's forgiven now. I think
(14:28):
a time, you know, things will smooth over a little bit.
I just I don't think we're gonna see, you know,
the vitriol next season that we saw last season.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
But it's still a divided fan base right now.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
M hmm.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I everybody thinks like, hey, they're gonna they're gonna keep
Cooper Flagg. But I don't know, nobody has any idea,
like you said, what this guy's gonna do.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
So I would say that I think they are gonna
keep Cooper Flagg.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
I think I think others have reported it.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
I believe it to be true just from checking in
to people, like they're gonna take Cooper flag with the
number one pick. And one thing I'll say here is that,
you know, the Mavericks have a relatively newish majority owner,
Patrick Dumont. You know, he's connected to the Sans Corp.
Mark Cuban, you know, was obviously the Mavericks majority owner
for a long time before you.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Know, Dumont and Sants took over.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
Patrick Dumont is looking at this like, I think this
is my reading of it. I think he knows it's
hard of farts. We screwed up the Luca thing and
I cannot allow that to happen again, and we have
to think long term here. So I believe that the
Mavericks is gonna make this peck and take Cooper flag.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
So you don't think.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
There's a world where they decide, hey, if we can
get Giannis. Now that's the problem. I'm trying to craft trades,
and you know, the salaries have to match and all
this second aprin nonsense. It seems like it's gonna be
kind of sort of difficult without getting a third team
involved to get the salaries to match, unless you're coming
off Kyrie Irving, and nobody's gonna want Kyrie coming off
(15:48):
an Achilles or party ways with Anthony Davis, who Nico seems
to love. So you never want to say never say never.
But are you of the belief that Yiannis will not
be in Dallastic.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Seedson, Yes, I am of the belief that Honest will
not be in Dallas next season. I think it's gonna
be Kyrie and Ad and Cooper Flaggett that rookie salary.
I think it's just gonna be the two star model
in Dallas with you know, Nico trying to put the
right pieces around them.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
See the toughest part of that.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
And I read your piece is that Dallas is gonna
be going into next season, you know, because Kyrie had
the injury. Obviously he's out probably until the All Star breakout,
maybe longer.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
They have one healthy point guard on the roster, and
that is a gentleman by the name of Brandon Williams.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Is that the kid from Arizona?
Speaker 5 (16:32):
That is the Brandon Williams from Arizona who is on
a two week deal for most of last season before
getting bumped up to a standard deal in March. He's
got some game, but it's still like that's the only
point guard. He's gonna be healthy at the start of
next one.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Well, wait a second, could super Max Christie? Can he
toggle between point or is he just strictly like a
slasher wing.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
I look at him as more a two than one.
I mean, I guess if you're in a pinch, he
could do it. But I look at Max Christie, look
at Jayden Hardy, those those guys, to me, they're more
shooting guards than point guards. I guess we're in this
positionless era. But that's just the way I look at it.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, So the roster construction with Ad Gafford, who only
has one year left on his deal, and Derek Lively
and you add Cooper Flag, that's essentially four bigs in
what I believe to be a guard wing era, with
the exception of you know, Yokic. Obviously does that even work.
I mean, they're gonna have to do something right, They're
(17:27):
gonna have to get creative with Gafford, Washington, somebody's gonna.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Have to move right.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
So I think you're looking at the next move right now.
When when you look at the Mavericks roster, they have
a ton of talent in the front court. Last season,
you know, an idea behind the Anthony Davis trade was
we'll put him at power forward next to one of
our centers, Derek Clively a second or Daniel Gafford, and
we're gonna bump PJ.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Ford.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
You know, probably more of a four down to the
three down to small Ford. Now they got Cooper Flag
and PJ Washington. They got Anthony Davis, they got Daniel Gafford,
they got Derek Clively. The second I'm looking at that
like there might be too many good players here in
not enough minutes. And when I look at you know,
the rest of the roster, they don't have, you know,
probably enough ball handling creation. As we just hit on, like,
(18:09):
I'm just kind of reading that of like, all right,
one of these guys, you know, Danie Gafferd's got one
year lifting his deal.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
PJ.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
Washington's got one year left in his deal. Is that
one way to go out and address the ball handling situation?
Because remember Kyrie Irving is not going to be back
in the floor until twenty twenty six. I mean, you're
looking at half the season without.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
Your star guard.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
I mean, I love Cooper Flag, but he needs he
needs a guard who can create too.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
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 (18:46):
The roster creation makes it very wonky.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Do you think that they're gonna be active this summer
or as Nico, you know, kind of said, we're just
gonna keep goover Flag.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
We love what we got. We're not gonna We're not
gonna mess around.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
So I mean, look, they're gonna I believe they're gonna
draft Cooper Flag. But I mean, active is Nico's middle name.
You know, I think without I would have to double
check us in Basketball Reference. But I believe he's made
sixteen trades since he became the Mavericks general manager in
twenty twenty one. There's one player who's still in the
roster from when he took over. That's Dwight Powell, Who's
you know, like your fourth big men. It's possible going
(19:23):
into the next season with no players on this team
who were there before Nico. So yeah, I mean the
guy loves to do trades. He'll trade anyone. No one's safe.
We learned that in February.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
What do you make of Klay Thompson's first year in Dallas.
I know you said you arrived in December, but like,
I don't know, just obviously the injuries have taken their
toll on him.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And he didn't get too many games.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
With Kyrie and Anthony Davis if any, I'm just curious
your thoughts on Klay Thompson. Does he fit with this
team with all these bigs and no no point guard.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
I think that he does because they're still pretty reliant
on his three point shooting. I mean, you know, I
like one of the like the stats to know from
the Mavericks last season is after they sent Luke out
and it was Anthony Davis for the those last ten
games or so. You know, I believe they were last
in the NBA and three point attempts, three point percentage,
they were.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Super low and three.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
So you know, this is a team without Luca that
just does not have a ton of outside shooting. It's
obviously something that Clay does. I was impressed by what
he did last season. He just kept playing through all
the bs. I mean, he signed up to play with
Luca and Kyrie and compete for a championship.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Like I think.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
The thing I love about Clay is that he's he's
accomplished so much, he has nothing left to prove, and
he still wants to win so badly. Like I was,
they were at points last season because of because of
health and you know, bad trades. They had like seven
active players for some games, eight active players, Like I
was in San Antonio in March and they're fighting for
a play and spot, and Klay Thompson is one of
those guys, and he's with a bunch of two way
(20:55):
guys out there.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
You know, they're grinding out.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
And the win over the Spurs in March, and they've
got seven eight active players. Like, say what you want
about Hey, he's not as athletic as he was after
two major surgeries all these seasons in the league.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
But I mean, guy wants to win.
Speaker 5 (21:10):
That's that's the thing I admire about him.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
A rank for me.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Going in well, I guess going into the offseason most
interesting teams in the state of Texas the Dallas Mavericks,
the San Antonio Spurs who have the second pick, which
I mean, come on, give me a break, and Wemby
obviously coming back, and the Houston Rockets who made the
playoffs and appear to be the front runners, and the
Jannis Sweet Stakes.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I mean, that's a tough one. Texas basketball just got fascinating.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
I don't even know how he'd ranked that, and you
know we just talked about, Hey, I don't think Giannicis
is going to be a Maverick. Maybe I'll look foolish,
but that that's what I truly believe. I mean, if
I had to, if I had to pick two teams,
I do think he'll be on. I think it would
either be the Rockets or the Spurs. You know, I
mean these guys, these teams have draft draft ass sets.
The I mean the i it's a particular ton of
(22:01):
young talent that they could they could put on the table.
And you know, if you're the Bucks, I mean, how
do you value Harper?
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Right?
Speaker 5 (22:08):
I mean the Spurs have the number two pick, Like quietly,
they've had incredible lottery luck in the past few years,
not just Wemby but Castle. This number two pick. I mean,
how do the Bucks value Dylan Harper? Because if they
think he's going to be a stud it's like, okay,
you know that's something to think about. Yeah, I like,
(22:28):
I didn't think that Dylan Harper is going to be
better than like read Shepherd or a'm and Thompson. I
mean a'm and Thompson is so good that he looks
like Houston, would you.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Know, not want to do that.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
But it's like I kind of wonder what Milwaukee's thought
processes of like Harper, Shepherd and Thompson.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
How do they feel about all those guys?
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, so you said you covered the Pelicans for five years?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Was eighty?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
They're already left.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
I started right after the Anthony Davis trade, right when
they got Zion.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
I did.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
I did the entirety of the Zion era up till December.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Interesting, so, Cooper Flag.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
We had this fun debate on the pod who had
a better first year at Duke Zion or Cooper Flag?
And I thought Zion probably won the highlight portion of it,
but statistically it appears Cooper Flag was better.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I loved Zion coming out.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
I didn't know he would, you know, just eat his
way out of the league and being a superstar and
mess around off the court. I'm just curious, do you
you saw that up close? Can Zion be salvaged at
this point?
Speaker 5 (23:33):
That's that's a great question. I don't think it can
be salvage in New Orleans. If it's ever gonna get better,
I think that he's gonna need a change of scenery.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
I mean, that's just my honest opinion.
Speaker 5 (23:43):
It did raise my eyebrows that he was the team's
representative at the draft lottery on the stage because there
have been a ton of smoke of Hey, Pelicans ownership
is done with this guy. They want to move on
from him. You know, that was in the least an
attempt for the Pelicans to say, not so fast. You know,
we'll see. I still think that was a good chance
he could get traded this summer.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
I think it. I think it's possible, it's salvageable.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
But I mean the off the court stuff is is
just not great.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
You know. That's the thing that chocked me too.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
I thought, like Cooper Flag, the word everyone uses intangible,
It's like, this guy's got a great motor, he's got
a great work ethic.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
People thought that about Zion coming out of the draft.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
A great kid, hard worker, you know, Coach k loves him.
I mean, this stuff is is hard to predict. But
it's kind of crazy that we thought the stuff about Zion.
It's like, that's just not what it was. He got
the money and then he you know, that was kind
of enough for him. I don't think that was yeah good.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
How was he the cover?
Speaker 5 (24:40):
He's a very nice person, he honestly is. I just
think he, you know, like many young men, makes some
bad decisions from time to time. I made many yeah,
and you know, I mean, look, he is a physical anomaly.
It's like an SEC defensive lineman shaped guy should not
have a fifty inch vertical And it's like, you can
do all these things to try to prevent injuries, and
(25:03):
he could be doing a whole lot more. Like, don't
get me wrong, there's a whole lot more he could
be doing. If I was him, I would get on
like the Gavon Loodie, I'm doing hot yoga six days
a week, train Like I think he needs to be
all in on flexibility and everything, and I think he
doesn't do that and he'll never do that. But at
the same time, it's like he could do all this stuff,
and it's like there just shouldn't be a guy built
(25:25):
like that who can jump as high as he can.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Yeah, and I brought up Zion because this whole like
who's the neck the face of the NBA. I largely
think it's Goofy, but there is something to hey man.
International players have taken over this league, Yo, kicch Giannis, Wemby,
on and on. They all they're all winning the MVP
Awards and you know, Luke of best Player in the
league whatever, and they're the American players have largely you know,
(25:50):
Jahn Morant supposed to have next, he's been a disaster
off the court.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Zion Williamson, same deal.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
I'm wondering, is it too much of a burden to
put that on Cooper Flag at this age?
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Man?
Speaker 5 (26:04):
You know, It's like I'm looking at Anthony Edwards right
now too. I know he's said in the past he's
like I don't want it, but it's like maybe it's yours,
Maybe it's yours.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I even well, he's also had some issues off the court,
you know that.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
He has he has, but he plays and you know,
I can't miss tw I mean, they might go to
the finals this year, you know, I mean they might
be the like this might break it away where it's
like Anthony Edwards is an NBA champion at what is
he twenty four years old or whatever he is. I
think it's a little premature to do that to Cooper Flag.
I think Cooper Flagg is awesome. Like I had an
(26:34):
you know, executive state of me today, like he reminds
me of Scottie Pippen. I've been in the game a
long time and it's like that's like makes me say
what what like we're thrown around Scottie Pippen.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Wait in a good way or not? Great?
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Oh? Good?
Speaker 5 (26:47):
Yeah, I mean I think that's to me, that's super
high praise.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I mean, obviously Scotty Piple like legend.
Speaker 5 (26:54):
Here's here's my thing on Cooper Flag. I love him.
Let's see how find and polish the offensive game is.
Like I think he's gonna immediately contribute to winning, but like,
can he be your primary creator on the offensive end?
I don't think right now? Maybe in time he can,
But I guess that's my that's my question mark about him,
(27:14):
because it's just like Luca. Luca can be your offensive
engine and get you to the finals. That's proven, right,
Like do you, I mean, I'm curious your thoughts on this.
Do you think Cooper Flag could be that guy right now?
Or do you think he can in time of just
be you know, the the offensive engine on a team
that gets to the finals.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Okay, So this is where the discussion gets complicated because like,
all right, Cooper Flag at eighteen obviously cannot right, I
would agree with you, I don't think he can be that.
But my counter to be to you would be, well,
did we see Yannis at eighteen Could he do that?
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Of course not.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
You'll catch you at eighteen, no way. And like I
like to look at guys as not what they are,
but what they can be. And like, I hear your
Scotti Pippen, and that's great that the executive thinks that
I saw.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
The measurables are similar.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
I don't know, I see kind of a Kevin Garnett
And people are like, oh, Jason, you're crazy, and I'm like, well,
remember when Kevin Garnett came in.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
He was rail thin, he was you know, not.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Really offensively polished, but he had that motor and the
drive and the desire and the tenacity defensively, and he
became an MVP and a champion. And that's the more
of the track I see Cooper flag on like a
Kevin Garnett type track. Then Pippin's more of a I
don't know, do you remember you're a young guy man, right,
So Scotty Pippen came in the league and he was like, okay,
(28:31):
he's all right, he's a decent sidekick. And then playing
alongside Jordan, he became a star and on his own
was a star.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
But my cup is a younger guy is san Antonio
Choi Leonard. That's that's what I see the most. I see,
yeah for Cooper, and I see I see why people
think a little Kevin Garnette, especially the the intensity, the
ferocity as a competitor. You know, I totally see that.
But I see like younger Kawi Leonard and san Antonio.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Interesting And when people hear that, they're gonna be like, oh,
come on, Kawhi Leonard. No way, Like guys, I know
people said Cooper folded against Houston. It wasn't totally on Cooper.
The team let him down when coach was terrible. Sorry
John Shire.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
But the reality is like Kawhi Leonard didn't.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
He didn't get to the final four in college and
he was I think a sophomore junior at San Diego State.
It's just weird when people mention flag they need to
remember he's I think still.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Eighteen years old now currently.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Right turned eighteen in December.
Speaker 5 (29:25):
I mean, he was seventeen at the start of that
college season when those clips were going around with him.
You know, on TMOSA Select team kind of the TMOSA
JV team. They played against the Tmosa team that won
gold in Paris. Like he was seventeen, you know, pulling
up in Anthony Davis's grill, splashing threes.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Yeah, running everybody.
Speaker 5 (29:43):
You know, sick putbacks like he was doing. He was
wilding people at seventeen, you know, against the best of
the best.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
By the way, we could wrap up with this like
what kind of availability will you or any reporter have
with Anthony Davis or since the season's over, is it
just like, hey, we'll see you training camp, because I
would love to hear ads thoughts on playing Cooper Flag.
I could probably dig up quotes from that, but you're
you I totally forgot about that.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Flag went total tote with him.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
I would.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
I would love to get that perspective too. I think
you know something I'm gonna try to work on the
summer is just get some guys who were on that
select team. And if I can t busa select might
be a little bit easier, you know, it might be
easier to get like Trammurph, the Anthony Davis.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
But yeah, I would. I would.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
I would love perspective from guys who were eating the gym,
you know, during that time last year in Las Vegas,
because he clearly made an impression and.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
I mean the guy's special though. The the thing I
love about him most is just the motor.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
I mean, like would he when he injured his left
ankle in the a CC tournament. When I saw that,
I was like, that looks horrific. He's not going to
play in the NCAA tournament. Like he's a number one pick.
Why would you come back?
Speaker 4 (30:49):
And it's like, yeah, not.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
Only does he come back, I mean he killed during
the tournament. That that said a whole lot to me
of he comes back quickly. I think eight days from
that awful left ankle injury and killed him.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
So yeah, all right, Christian Clark, great stuff.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
The Athletic covers, the MAVs, congrats on the new baby,
and just b my only piece of advice, not that
you asked for it or need it.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Just listen to the wife, you know. I it's the
easiest way to do that.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Yeah, I can do that.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I can do that, all right, man, Take it easy.
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, straight Fire?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
I am It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Wednesday,
May the fourteenth. Oh boy, did we have a night
in the association.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I'm not on the hardwood now.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I did not gamble on the games, but oh my gosh,
they were good. We'll talk about them shortly. I do
need to tell you this got a great guest on
the podcast. This gentleman, first time are on the podcast.
Him and his wife. They had a baby last week
and he was still willing to jump on a podcast
(00:44):
to talk about that. Dallas Mavericks winning the draft lottery.
Christian Clark of the Athletic Listen a lot of insight
into the MAVs what they might do. He says, no
trade for Giannis.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I don't know. I don't know that.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I'm one hundred percent with him, but you know, again,
Nico Harrison's unpretty the ble. We don't know what that
guy's gonna do. I can't imagine I'm trading Cooper flyag.
But you'll like the convo with Christian Clark before we
get to that. I just think we just briefly have
to start with the Indiana Pacers. Who I predict. I
think I was out on a limb. I didn't see
(01:18):
any unter National media folks picked the Pacers to take
down on Calves. They do it in five games, relatively
easy fashion. Now that game too, where Hallie hit the
step back through over ty jer Rome in a crazy
comeback in the final forty seconds.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
That felt like the dagger.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Even though the Calves won Game three, they got healthy,
it didn't matter. Pacers rolled him in Game four and
what I called the gutlass showing by the Calves, and
then he gave five back in Cleveland. Cleveland again up,
I think it was seventeen in the first half. Crazy
and then Tyre's Haliburton goes off showing, Hey, guys, Donovan
Mitchell is really good. But you know who else is
(01:56):
I am? I'm him Terry's Haliburton plus twenty last night
thirty one points, eight assists, six boards. He was phenomenal
and uh oh boy, a little soul searching in Cleveland.
I have a stat for you. This one's good. So
twenty eight teams in the history of the NBA, only
(02:16):
twenty eight have won sixty four or more games in
a season. Okay, the Calves are just the fourth of
those twenty eight teams to not make the conference finals. Now,
I know everybody wants to call him a fraudited joker.
They did have the injury Darius Garland. Obviously, the toe
bothered him. He had another rotten game, four for sixteen
(02:37):
over six from three. He was not himself in the series.
I saw people online calling him Darius Garbage. Felt like
that was a little harsh. Obviously, losing Evan Mobley for
a game hurt. He count came back really strong last
night twenty four and eleven. Mitchell was good, but like
thed DeAndre Hunter, I thought he was going to be
a factor for them, was not.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Max Struse.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
According to the telecast last night, Max Strus sent out
a group text message pumping everybody up. If you know,
if you don't want this, stay home. Blah blah blah
blah blah. Max Strus twenty six minutes, oh for nine,
oh for six from three, zero points out there getting
some cardio Max Stru's former Miami Heat player. Anyways, the
Pacers advanced to face the Knicks. I talked a little
about that series on yesterday's pod. I think it's I
(03:24):
think Nicks are gonna be okay. Obviously, Pacers really really good.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I like them a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
I had listen back to back conference finals. Is Hella
good for the Indiana Pacers. And to do it on
Cleveland floor, I mean Nemhard was cooking. Pascal Siakam is
a problem. I just think the Knicks defensively match up.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Really well.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
With the with the Pacers, And I talked about it
yesterday Bridges and Anonobi. My guess is they're on Siakam
and Haliburton. That would be my guest. Now, Miles Turner
could have a field day, but it's basically two stretch
fives in Turner and Karl Anthony Town's edge to the Pacers.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Bend TJ.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
McConnell went bonkers last year in the series. It should
be a good one. Now the nightcap. If you didn't
stay up for this, you missed an amazing basketball game.
Thunder come out on top one twelve, one oh five.
They outscore the Nuggets thirty four to nineteen in the
fourth quarter. Second straight game that Denver flat out ran
(04:20):
out of gas. They led by double digits in the third.
I think they led by seven. Okay, See this is
crazy so Denver in the fourth quarter. It wasn't the
Oka se defense. Obviously the defense is fine, it's good.
But Denver was five of twenty one. When Jamal Murray
has his hands on his knees and is tugging on
his shorts with like eight minutes left, He's tired and
(04:41):
he was out of gas. He couldn't do anything in
the fourth quarter. Murray listen man. Murray had a good
third quarter. I think he had eleven or thirteen points.
Fourth quarter he had like a garbage time layup. He
was ten of twenty seven, shooting three of thirteen from three.
He had twenty eight points on twenty seven shots. That's
not gonna cut at Jamal Murray.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
It's just not.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Christian Brown couldn't throw in the ocean. Russell Westbrook non factor,
Michael Porter Junior zero for five from three, had a
shot to tie it late. I mean, they just they
ran out of gas. They settled for forty six three pointers.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
And I have in my notes. So in what was it?
In Game four?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
The Denver Nuggets shot a season high right, Oh, I'm sorry,
most threes they've attempted in playoff history in Game four
that was forty five. They attempted forty six in Game five.
They're out of gas, they're tired to attack, and they
settle for threes. That being said, Nikola Jokic was heroic. Guys, Listen,
(05:39):
anybody who watches this series knows sure you could give
Sga the MVP, but the best player on the court,
the best player in the league.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And I've been reluctant, you know, I've been a Luca guy.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Nikolea Jokicic forty four fifteen five assists. He had an
amazing three in the fourth with the shot clock winding down,
like fading off one foot over check.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
It was spectacular to tie it.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I was like, oh my gosh. But then you know, listen,
they had to end up doubling Shay and uh, what's
a j Dubb got a wide open three and he
hit it. Then Sga hit another three and that was
it was a rap. But that's a tough one for
Denver Man. The bench just not showing a bench game
ten points. Peyton Watson I thought had good minutes, good energy,
but ultimately an impressive comeback win by Okay. See, this
(06:27):
has taken a lot out of them. You can see
this team's tired, Caruso showed well off the bench. You
didn't get much from Wiggins and case on Wallace. I
thought the guy here was lou Dort, who was having
an abysmal series, borderline unplayable in several games in the series.
The guy errupts. I believe he hit three threes in
the fourth quarter. So Denver made five buckets in the fourth.
(06:51):
Okase made five threes in the fourth. In the first
three quarters, the Thunder had seven three pointers. They were
not shooting it well, and then they go off for
five threes in the fourth and it looks like a
good shooting performance.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Of three and there you go.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I mean, it's just an unbelievable turn of events where Denver,
I think you could make a credible case forget about
the plus minus because of Game two. Denver was better
down the stretch in Game one, Denver was better down
the stretch in Game three, and Denver ran out of gas.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Down the stretch. In Game four and five. They were
right there, but you get exhausted when you have a
bench and stinks.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And now the Thunder go to Denver to wrap up
the series, and likely we're looking at a Pacers Knicks
conference Finals and a Denver I'm sorry, and at OKC
Minnesota Conference Finals.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Not anybody had that one before the playoffs began.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
All right, without further ado, let's get to our guests,
the Athletics Christian Clark.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
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. Alright, Jason likes to think he knows everything
when it comes to sports.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I know what sports fans wants, but for.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Everything he doesn't. He knows a guy who does.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows a
guy who knows another guy.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
All right, let's welcome into straight Fire, a first time
guest on the podcast, and man he is. This guy's
going to be the center of attention for I don't
know what the next at least seven weeks. Christian Clark
from the Athletic.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
How you doing, man?
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Hey man, I'm doing great. How about you?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
I'm excellent. You know, I don't cover the Mavericks like
you do. So the Cooper flag news, the Kyrie Irving injury,
Anthony Davis. I mean, there's so much happening with the
Dallas Mavericks. I was like, hey, we need to talk
to a Mavericks guy, and first of all, talked me
through the draft lottery on your end.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
How did that go?
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Well, I actually stayed home. I'll give you a peek
behind the curtain. My wife and I had our first
kid last week, so I'm technically supposed to be on
a short paternity leave. You know, I wasn't planning to
write anything. I was like, all right, they're gonna have
the the eleventh pick. There's a seventy eight percent chance
they get the eleventh pick. They need a guard, but
that can wait, you know, wait that cauld wait till
I come back from paternity leaving. You know, we'll we'll
(09:13):
get into the guards. Well that's not what happened. When
they went all the way up to number one, one
point eight percent chance of doing so, I was sitting there,
you know, on the couch, My wife baby was next
to me, and I was like, oh god, they're in
the top four. They got a chance, and you know
they go to break. I'm like, no way, Like, okay,
they're on the top four, but they're they're not one.
They're not one, right, And then it's one. It's like
what what?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Wow? So was the wife excited or more perturbed that
now you have to work?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
You know that you guys got a one week old baby.
That's crazy. Congrats on.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Probably more of the former than the ladder. But it's
it's been, you know, a fun but a little bit
stressful time around it. But it's good man, It's it's
all good stuff. I mean, this this fan base needed W.
I don't want to say this franchise. I mean, this
franchise did need a W, but I wouldn't say that
they deserved a W.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
But they got a W.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
And it is nice that the number one story going
into next season isn't going to be fan discontentment because
that was a lot of what I covered. You know,
those last for two three months of the season, and
I understand why. I mean, it's it's it was rightful,
justifiable anchor. But it is nice in the number one
story for the Mavericks go on the next season is hey,
how does Cooper f flag fit and do?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Well, let's back up before we just dive into the
roster on Offen stuff. Let me ask you what of
your dealings with Nico Harrison been like, I mean, this
is he's kind of a mysterious figure. He's well known,
but he doesn't speak a lot. How is he with
the media, I mean, if you had interactions with him,
I mean, i know it's been a tough go and
I'm sure he's shutting things down, but just talk to
me what it's been like before and after the trade.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
So, I mean I grew up in the Dallas Fort
Worth area, grew up a Mavericks fan, and you know,
was a senior in high school and they won the
championship in twenty eleven. So this is a team that
meant a lot to me. And then you know, I
did support, decided to pursue sports media professionally cover the
Pelates for five years for the newspaper and noor On.
So I saw, you know, a lot of s shows.
Well I get here in December and I'm like, all right,
(11:06):
you know they got Luca, like they're gonna be competing
for championships going into Christmas. They're nineteen and ten, you know,
number four offense, Number eleven defense, like all the signs
of contender. Luca gets hurt, Nico trades them and it
just gets weird. I I'm not gonna pretend like I
know Nico that well. You know, I don't really have
(11:27):
that much of a rapport with him. But you know,
I was there in Cleveland, you know, one of the
people asking him questions the day after he made the move.
I was a part of that small round table at
the American Airlines Center. You know, I was at his
availability at the end of the season when they finally
opened it up to all the media. I would say,
I would say, here's what's interesting about the Mavericks. There's
not that many people who actually know what's going on.
(11:47):
Nico keeps a very tight circle. I would say, there's
there's about four people who actually knows what's going on.
So if it gets out, Nico's gonna know one of
these people leaked it, and those people don't. They don't
leak a lot, gotcha.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
So when you were right, did you get any sense
at all that there was like some acrimony but between
Luca and his camp and then the internal Hobnestly, you've
read all the stuff that's come out, you know, and
probably written a bunch of it to yourself, But it
feels like this has been building for a while, or
at least the trade had.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
You know, I definitely didn't grasp the extent to which
Nico Harrison was frustrated with Luka Doncic.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
And you know, there was a story I.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Did, you know, with a couple of other writers at
you at the Athletic right after the trade. It was
the idea was who is Nico Harrison? And you know,
one of the things in there is this guy is
obsessed with nutrition and fitness, Like he will quiz just
people in his life, what did you eat today?
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Are you eating healthy? You know?
Speaker 5 (12:45):
And I just think that he's his idea of what
greatness looks like is is different than you know, Luka Doncic,
like Luca, I think, doing a lot of stuff that
normal twenty five year olds do, you know, like maybe
not the best died in the world all the time.
Maybe likes to have a beer every now and then.
I mean, that's what I like to do when I
(13:05):
was twenty five, you know. And I just think Nico
looked at that and he was like, Okay, well are
his habits going to change if we pay him three
hundred and fifty million dollars. I wouldn't have moved him
I wouldn't have done it. Yeah, but if you're gonna
do it, you have to get everything. And that was
really like the biggest failing. It's like they didn't maximize
the return for you know, this guy who's one of
the best young players ever to me. You know, Nico
(13:27):
is act acted like, well, this was this was just business,
nothing personal. But it's hard not to look at this
and be like, oh, his feelings got involved here.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
So it's weird because Cooper Flagg seems to fall into
that bucket of oh my gosh, this guy's a workout warrior,
insane work ethic all around. I mean he's I believe
he's nineteen years old, just super young and talented. This
could not have been better. And remember Nico was kind
of crushed for not getting more draft picks or Austin
Reeves or whatever in the deal, and now he gets
(13:57):
the number one pick. So I'm assuming the vibe has
changed somewhat around the team and the fan base and
everything in Dallas.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
I think a lot of the fan base is still pissed.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
It's yeah, I would say it's still pretty divided. I mean,
look there, I would say there are prominent Mavericks fans
even today calling for Nico Harrison to be fired. I
don't think he's going to be fired, you know, before
the start of next season. But I wouldn't say it's
not unanimous, that it's like everything's forgiven now. I think
(14:28):
a time, you know, things will smooth over a little bit.
I just I don't think we're gonna see, you know,
the vitriol next season that we saw last season.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
But it's still a divided fan base right now.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
M hmm.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I everybody thinks like, hey, they're gonna they're gonna keep
Cooper Flagg. But I don't know, nobody has any idea,
like you said, what this guy's gonna do.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
So I would say that I think they are gonna
keep Cooper Flagg.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
I think I think others have reported it.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
I believe it to be true just from checking in
to people, like they're gonna take Cooper flag with the
number one pick. And one thing I'll say here is that,
you know, the Mavericks have a relatively newish majority owner,
Patrick Dumont. You know, he's connected to the Sans Corp.
Mark Cuban, you know, was obviously the Mavericks majority owner
for a long time before you.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Know, Dumont and Sants took over.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
Patrick Dumont is looking at this like, I think this
is my reading of it. I think he knows it's
hard of farts. We screwed up the Luca thing and
I cannot allow that to happen again, and we have
to think long term here. So I believe that the
Mavericks is gonna make this peck and take Cooper flag.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
So you don't think.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
There's a world where they decide, hey, if we can
get Giannis. Now that's the problem. I'm trying to craft trades,
and you know, the salaries have to match and all
this second aprin nonsense. It seems like it's gonna be
kind of sort of difficult without getting a third team
involved to get the salaries to match, unless you're coming
off Kyrie Irving, and nobody's gonna want Kyrie coming off
(15:48):
an Achilles or party ways with Anthony Davis, who Nico seems
to love. So you never want to say never say never.
But are you of the belief that Yiannis will not
be in Dallastic.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Seedson, Yes, I am of the belief that Honest will
not be in Dallas next season. I think it's gonna
be Kyrie and Ad and Cooper Flaggett that rookie salary.
I think it's just gonna be the two star model
in Dallas with you know, Nico trying to put the
right pieces around them.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
See the toughest part of that.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
And I read your piece is that Dallas is gonna
be going into next season, you know, because Kyrie had
the injury. Obviously he's out probably until the All Star breakout,
maybe longer.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
They have one healthy point guard on the roster, and
that is a gentleman by the name of Brandon Williams.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Is that the kid from Arizona?
Speaker 5 (16:32):
That is the Brandon Williams from Arizona who is on
a two week deal for most of last season before
getting bumped up to a standard deal in March. He's
got some game, but it's still like that's the only
point guard. He's gonna be healthy at the start of
next one.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Well, wait a second, could super Max Christie? Can he
toggle between point or is he just strictly like a
slasher wing.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
I look at him as more a two than one.
I mean, I guess if you're in a pinch, he
could do it. But I look at Max Christie, look
at Jayden Hardy, those those guys, to me, they're more
shooting guards than point guards. I guess we're in this
positionless era. But that's just the way I look at it.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, So the roster construction with Ad Gafford, who only
has one year left on his deal, and Derek Lively
and you add Cooper Flag, that's essentially four bigs in
what I believe to be a guard wing era, with
the exception of you know, Yokic. Obviously does that even work.
I mean, they're gonna have to do something right, They're
(17:27):
gonna have to get creative with Gafford, Washington, somebody's gonna.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Have to move right.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
So I think you're looking at the next move right now.
When when you look at the Mavericks roster, they have
a ton of talent in the front court. Last season,
you know, an idea behind the Anthony Davis trade was
we'll put him at power forward next to one of
our centers, Derek Clively a second or Daniel Gafford, and
we're gonna bump PJ.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Ford.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
You know, probably more of a four down to the
three down to small Ford. Now they got Cooper Flag
and PJ Washington. They got Anthony Davis, they got Daniel Gafford,
they got Derek Clively. The second I'm looking at that
like there might be too many good players here in
not enough minutes. And when I look at you know,
the rest of the roster, they don't have, you know,
probably enough ball handling creation. As we just hit on, like,
(18:09):
I'm just kind of reading that of like, all right,
one of these guys, you know, Danie Gafferd's got one
year lifting his deal.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
PJ.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
Washington's got one year left in his deal. Is that
one way to go out and address the ball handling situation?
Because remember Kyrie Irving is not going to be back
in the floor until twenty twenty six. I mean, you're
looking at half the season without.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
Your star guard.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
I mean, I love Cooper Flag, but he needs he
needs a guard who can create too.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
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Speaker 2 (18:46):
The roster creation makes it very wonky.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Do you think that they're gonna be active this summer
or as Nico, you know, kind of said, we're just
gonna keep goover Flag.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
We love what we got. We're not gonna We're not
gonna mess around.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
So I mean, look, they're gonna I believe they're gonna
draft Cooper Flag. But I mean, active is Nico's middle name.
You know, I think without I would have to double
check us in Basketball Reference. But I believe he's made
sixteen trades since he became the Mavericks general manager in
twenty twenty one. There's one player who's still in the
roster from when he took over. That's Dwight Powell, Who's
you know, like your fourth big men. It's possible going
(19:23):
into the next season with no players on this team
who were there before Nico. So yeah, I mean the
guy loves to do trades. He'll trade anyone. No one's safe.
We learned that in February.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
What do you make of Klay Thompson's first year in Dallas.
I know you said you arrived in December, but like,
I don't know, just obviously the injuries have taken their
toll on him.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And he didn't get too many games.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
With Kyrie and Anthony Davis if any, I'm just curious
your thoughts on Klay Thompson. Does he fit with this
team with all these bigs and no no point guard.
Speaker 5 (19:57):
I think that he does because they're still pretty reliant
on his three point shooting. I mean, you know, I
like one of the like the stats to know from
the Mavericks last season is after they sent Luke out
and it was Anthony Davis for the those last ten
games or so. You know, I believe they were last
in the NBA and three point attempts, three point percentage,
they were.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Super low and three.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
So you know, this is a team without Luca that
just does not have a ton of outside shooting. It's
obviously something that Clay does. I was impressed by what
he did last season. He just kept playing through all
the bs. I mean, he signed up to play with
Luca and Kyrie and compete for a championship.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Like I think.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
The thing I love about Clay is that he's he's
accomplished so much, he has nothing left to prove, and
he still wants to win so badly. Like I was,
they were at points last season because of because of
health and you know, bad trades. They had like seven
active players for some games, eight active players, Like I
was in San Antonio in March and they're fighting for
a play and spot, and Klay Thompson is one of
those guys, and he's with a bunch of two way
(20:55):
guys out there.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
You know, they're grinding out.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
And the win over the Spurs in March, and they've
got seven eight active players. Like, say what you want
about Hey, he's not as athletic as he was after
two major surgeries all these seasons in the league.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
But I mean, guy wants to win.
Speaker 5 (21:10):
That's that's the thing I admire about him.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
A rank for me.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Going in well, I guess going into the offseason most
interesting teams in the state of Texas the Dallas Mavericks,
the San Antonio Spurs who have the second pick, which
I mean, come on, give me a break, and Wemby
obviously coming back, and the Houston Rockets who made the
playoffs and appear to be the front runners, and the
Jannis Sweet Stakes.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I mean, that's a tough one. Texas basketball just got fascinating.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
I don't even know how he'd ranked that, and you
know we just talked about, Hey, I don't think Giannicis
is going to be a Maverick. Maybe I'll look foolish,
but that that's what I truly believe. I mean, if
I had to, if I had to pick two teams,
I do think he'll be on. I think it would
either be the Rockets or the Spurs. You know, I
mean these guys, these teams have draft draft ass sets.
The I mean the i it's a particular ton of
(22:01):
young talent that they could they could put on the table.
And you know, if you're the Bucks, I mean, how
do you value Harper?
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Right?
Speaker 5 (22:08):
I mean the Spurs have the number two pick, Like quietly,
they've had incredible lottery luck in the past few years,
not just Wemby but Castle. This number two pick. I mean,
how do the Bucks value Dylan Harper? Because if they
think he's going to be a stud it's like, okay,
you know that's something to think about. Yeah, I like,
(22:28):
I didn't think that Dylan Harper is going to be
better than like read Shepherd or a'm and Thompson. I
mean a'm and Thompson is so good that he looks
like Houston, would you.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Know, not want to do that.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
But it's like I kind of wonder what Milwaukee's thought
processes of like Harper, Shepherd and Thompson.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
How do they feel about all those guys?
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, so you said you covered the Pelicans for five years?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Was eighty?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
They're already left.
Speaker 5 (22:53):
I started right after the Anthony Davis trade, right when
they got Zion.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
I did.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
I did the entirety of the Zion era up till December.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Interesting, so, Cooper Flag.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
We had this fun debate on the pod who had
a better first year at Duke Zion or Cooper Flag?
And I thought Zion probably won the highlight portion of it,
but statistically it appears Cooper Flag was better.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I loved Zion coming out.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
I didn't know he would, you know, just eat his
way out of the league and being a superstar and
mess around off the court. I'm just curious, do you
you saw that up close? Can Zion be salvaged at
this point?
Speaker 5 (23:33):
That's that's a great question. I don't think it can
be salvage in New Orleans. If it's ever gonna get better,
I think that he's gonna need a change of scenery.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
I mean, that's just my honest opinion.
Speaker 5 (23:43):
It did raise my eyebrows that he was the team's
representative at the draft lottery on the stage because there
have been a ton of smoke of Hey, Pelicans ownership
is done with this guy. They want to move on
from him. You know, that was in the least an
attempt for the Pelicans to say, not so fast. You know,
we'll see. I still think that was a good chance
he could get traded this summer.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
I think it. I think it's possible, it's salvageable.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
But I mean the off the court stuff is is
just not great.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
You know. That's the thing that chocked me too.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
I thought, like Cooper Flag, the word everyone uses intangible,
It's like, this guy's got a great motor, he's got
a great work ethic.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
People thought that about Zion coming out of the draft.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
A great kid, hard worker, you know, Coach k loves him.
I mean, this stuff is is hard to predict. But
it's kind of crazy that we thought the stuff about Zion.
It's like, that's just not what it was. He got
the money and then he you know, that was kind
of enough for him. I don't think that was yeah good.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
How was he the cover?
Speaker 5 (24:40):
He's a very nice person, he honestly is. I just
think he, you know, like many young men, makes some
bad decisions from time to time. I made many yeah,
and you know, I mean, look, he is a physical anomaly.
It's like an SEC defensive lineman shaped guy should not
have a fifty inch vertical And it's like, you can
do all these things to try to prevent injuries, and
(25:03):
he could be doing a whole lot more. Like, don't
get me wrong, there's a whole lot more he could
be doing. If I was him, I would get on
like the Gavon Loodie, I'm doing hot yoga six days
a week, train Like I think he needs to be
all in on flexibility and everything, and I think he
doesn't do that and he'll never do that. But at
the same time, it's like he could do all this stuff,
and it's like there just shouldn't be a guy built
(25:25):
like that who can jump as high as he can.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Yeah, and I brought up Zion because this whole like
who's the neck the face of the NBA. I largely
think it's Goofy, but there is something to hey man.
International players have taken over this league, Yo, kicch Giannis, Wemby,
on and on. They all they're all winning the MVP
Awards and you know, Luke of best Player in the
league whatever, and they're the American players have largely you know,
(25:50):
Jahn Morant supposed to have next, he's been a disaster
off the court.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Zion Williamson, same deal.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
I'm wondering, is it too much of a burden to
put that on Cooper Flag at this age?
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Man?
Speaker 5 (26:04):
You know, It's like I'm looking at Anthony Edwards right
now too. I know he's said in the past he's
like I don't want it, but it's like maybe it's yours,
Maybe it's yours.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I even well, he's also had some issues off the court,
you know that.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
He has he has, but he plays and you know,
I can't miss tw I mean, they might go to
the finals this year, you know, I mean they might
be the like this might break it away where it's
like Anthony Edwards is an NBA champion at what is
he twenty four years old or whatever he is. I
think it's a little premature to do that to Cooper Flag.
I think Cooper Flagg is awesome. Like I had an
(26:34):
you know, executive state of me today, like he reminds
me of Scottie Pippen. I've been in the game a
long time and it's like that's like makes me say
what what like we're thrown around Scottie Pippen.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Wait in a good way or not? Great?
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Oh? Good?
Speaker 5 (26:47):
Yeah, I mean I think that's to me, that's super
high praise.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
I mean, obviously Scotty Piple like legend.
Speaker 5 (26:54):
Here's here's my thing on Cooper Flag. I love him.
Let's see how find and polish the offensive game is.
Like I think he's gonna immediately contribute to winning, but like,
can he be your primary creator on the offensive end?
I don't think right now? Maybe in time he can,
But I guess that's my that's my question mark about him,
(27:14):
because it's just like Luca. Luca can be your offensive
engine and get you to the finals. That's proven, right,
Like do you, I mean, I'm curious your thoughts on this.
Do you think Cooper Flag could be that guy right now?
Or do you think he can in time of just
be you know, the the offensive engine on a team
that gets to the finals.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Okay, So this is where the discussion gets complicated because like,
all right, Cooper Flag at eighteen obviously cannot right, I
would agree with you, I don't think he can be that.
But my counter to be to you would be, well,
did we see Yannis at eighteen Could he do that?
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Of course not.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
You'll catch you at eighteen, no way. And like I
like to look at guys as not what they are,
but what they can be. And like, I hear your
Scotti Pippen, and that's great that the executive thinks that
I saw.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
The measurables are similar.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
I don't know, I see kind of a Kevin Garnett
And people are like, oh, Jason, you're crazy, and I'm like, well,
remember when Kevin Garnett came in.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
He was rail thin, he was you know, not.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Really offensively polished, but he had that motor and the
drive and the desire and the tenacity defensively, and he
became an MVP and a champion. And that's the more
of the track I see Cooper flag on like a
Kevin Garnett type track. Then Pippin's more of a I
don't know, do you remember you're a young guy man, right,
So Scotty Pippen came in the league and he was like, okay,
(28:31):
he's all right, he's a decent sidekick. And then playing
alongside Jordan, he became a star and on his own
was a star.
Speaker 5 (28:37):
But my cup is a younger guy is san Antonio
Choi Leonard. That's that's what I see the most. I see,
yeah for Cooper, and I see I see why people
think a little Kevin Garnette, especially the the intensity, the
ferocity as a competitor. You know, I totally see that.
But I see like younger Kawi Leonard and san Antonio.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Interesting And when people hear that, they're gonna be like, oh,
come on, Kawhi Leonard. No way, Like guys, I know
people said Cooper folded against Houston. It wasn't totally on Cooper.
The team let him down when coach was terrible. Sorry
John Shire.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
But the reality is like Kawhi Leonard didn't.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
He didn't get to the final four in college and
he was I think a sophomore junior at San Diego State.
It's just weird when people mention flag they need to
remember he's I think still.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Eighteen years old now currently.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Right turned eighteen in December.
Speaker 5 (29:25):
I mean, he was seventeen at the start of that
college season when those clips were going around with him.
You know, on TMOSA Select team kind of the TMOSA
JV team. They played against the Tmosa team that won
gold in Paris. Like he was seventeen, you know, pulling
up in Anthony Davis's grill, splashing threes.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Yeah, running everybody.
Speaker 5 (29:43):
You know, sick putbacks like he was doing. He was
wilding people at seventeen, you know, against the best of
the best.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
By the way, we could wrap up with this like
what kind of availability will you or any reporter have
with Anthony Davis or since the season's over, is it
just like, hey, we'll see you training camp, because I
would love to hear ads thoughts on playing Cooper Flag.
I could probably dig up quotes from that, but you're
you I totally forgot about that.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Flag went total tote with him.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
I would.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
I would love to get that perspective too. I think
you know something I'm gonna try to work on the
summer is just get some guys who were on that
select team. And if I can t busa select might
be a little bit easier, you know, it might be
easier to get like Trammurph, the Anthony Davis.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
But yeah, I would. I would.
Speaker 5 (30:28):
I would love perspective from guys who were eating the gym,
you know, during that time last year in Las Vegas,
because he clearly made an impression and.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
I mean the guy's special though. The the thing I
love about him most is just the motor.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
I mean, like would he when he injured his left
ankle in the a CC tournament. When I saw that,
I was like, that looks horrific. He's not going to
play in the NCAA tournament. Like he's a number one pick.
Why would you come back?
Speaker 4 (30:49):
And it's like, yeah, not.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
Only does he come back, I mean he killed during
the tournament. That that said a whole lot to me
of he comes back quickly. I think eight days from
that awful left ankle injury and killed him.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
So yeah, all right, Christian Clark, great stuff.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
The Athletic covers, the MAVs, congrats on the new baby,
and just b my only piece of advice, not that
you asked for it or need it.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Just listen to the wife, you know. I it's the
easiest way to do that.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Yeah, I can do that.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
I can do that, all right, man, Take it easy.
Host
Jason McIntyre
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