May 5, 2025 • 46 mins
DP reacts to the Clippers' game 7 loss to the Nuggets. With another disappointing Game 7 performance from James Harden, how will history look back on his career? NBA insider Tim MacMahon debates James Harden vs. Russell Westbook and breaks down where Dirk Nowitzki ranks among the greatest shooting big men ever. And hoops analyst Jim Jackson predicts the first $100 million per year player, and shares why today's stars might be testing fans' patience with load management.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
A gift that keeps on giving is James Harden. And
you know, when you look at the regular season, regular
season James Harden, I think twenty two points eight assist.
We like the Clippers. People thought, oh you got a
healthy Kawhi Leonard. Okay, they can do some damage. They
can knock off Denver, they could give Oklahoma City a
real tussle. But last night they were blown It was
(00:27):
a no show. They were blown out or over the
week id of should say, and then you have you
know what happened. So the Nuggets end up winning, Golden
State ends up winning. Now you got some pretty interesting matchups,
but we tend to focus on the team that just lost.
So with what happened with the Clippers, and once again
James Harden in a game seven is a no show.
(00:49):
Here is his head coach, Ty Lou on the Clippers losing.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
You know, it's tough loss, and.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
I said, not playing our best game in a situation
like this, and you know, a lot of emotions, and
so just tell the guys bring it in, you know,
one last hug and you know we'll we'll talk tomorrow.
But you know, they came out I thought we came
out with a with a decent mindset. They went to
that zone and kind of made a stacking offensively because
the way we were attacking them. And then I thought,
you know, when they went to that zone, its kind
(01:19):
of slowed us down offensively and then defensively didn't We
didn't really you know, get into them, get closer to
the guys and have that pressure, and so they were
able to pick us apart.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Okay, and this isn't all on James Harden, but there
is a pattern here. It is last thirteen elimination games,
James Harden's teams are two and eleven, and the numbers
are even worse after that. By the way, he was
a no show after their losses. He didn't meet with
the media. But James, now, he did have twenty six,
(01:50):
twenty eight points I think game six, So I thought, okay,
maybe this is going to be different for him. Thirteen
elimination games, he shot thirty nine percent from the floor.
Team is two and eleven. Uh, He's averaged fourteen points
on thirty eight percent shooting. And then you look at
(02:11):
some of the other numbers here. Steph Curry fourteen career
elimination games, he has scored I think one time under
twenty points once in sixteen career elimination games. Kevin Durant
under twenty points Lebron James twenty nine career elimination games
has never been held under twenty points. Meanwhile, Hardin has
(02:33):
scored less than twenty points in twelve of twenty six
career elimination games, including seven of his last thirteen.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Stell of a day stand a.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Day, Stata Day, Stanta Day.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
This is the Stele of the Day, brought to you
by Panini America. Even more emphatic and embarrassed James Harden's
last three game sevens. He scored seven points, he scored
nine points, he scored twenty two points. He went two
for eight, he went three for eleven that was in
(03:11):
a loss to Boston, and five of seventeen in a
lost to Milwaukee back in twenty twenty one. I can't
have one of my best scores, one of the great
scores in the history of the league, get eight shots. Now,
he did have double digit assist Okay, but I want
him to score. I need him to score, I need
him to shoot. I mean, I'd rather that he was
(03:34):
two for eighteen than two for eight I gotta have
him getting shots up. But once again he no showed
the Clippers bow out dramatic fashion. And you know, we're
left to wonder, how many more years, how many more
postseasons will you get with Kawhi Leonard where he's healthy
and playing well. And then you got Harden who had
(03:56):
a good regular season, but trying to match them up
in the season and get maybe some magic here. And
you start to look and you go, okay, where do
you kind of fit in here? It looks like the
Rockets are going to be here to stay now. They
might add I know we've talked about Kevin Durant, but
you know, if I'm them, I do what Oklahoma City did.
(04:18):
Stay the course, keep your nucleus. I don't want to
bring in a thirty five, thirty six year old Kevin Durant.
I'm not trying to catch magic in one year. I'm
going to try to do this, you know, make this sustainable,
make this just like Okasee and okayc is going to
be here for a while. Now you have to look
and go if you're the Clippers, where are we We're
(04:40):
kind of in the middle. You know, Denver's got in depth,
they got bench is really contributed. You still got Joker
playing at a high level for a few more years.
Can Jamal Murray stay healthy? You know, so that could
be sustainable for a few more years to be a
contender there Golden State. I mean, you're kind of looking
at the last go round. It feels like or at
(05:02):
least maybe one more go round. What about the Lakers
with Lebron You know, you start to look at where
you are in your division, in your conference, and that's
what I start to wonder about the Clippers. They're kind
of a no man's land good team, potentially a really
good team. The problem is is age, injuries, and you're
(05:24):
always going to have James Harden not showing up in
big games. But now we sometimes look at these teams
as they exit and go, okay, what is the future here?
As I said with Detroit, I think they got a
bright future. Don't go crazy. And I do think depth
is really the important thing to keep an eye on
in the playoffs. Denver showed depth. You gotta have more
(05:47):
than six seven guys. OKC has depth, Cleveland has depth.
Indiana has depth. That's sort of the new thing. I
don't need three stars, I need two stars and depth.
Celtics they got a lot of depth. They got two
big stars, a lot of depth. That's what I would
be concentrating on if I'm trying to build my team
(06:09):
or continue to build my team. Depth. Don't go out
there and get a big ticket item. If you have
a young nucleus and you're sold on them, let them
grow together. Hopefully you get a star or two. I mean,
OKC has one star, he's going to be the MVP.
But you have a couple other guys who are at
least in the conversation of being a star, and that's
(06:30):
really important. But Boston, Boston is so deep. Cleveland deep,
Indiana deep. Just feels like that's the new wave with
luxury taxes, the apron as they like to call that.
So just some things to keep an eye on in
the off season with these teams. Speaking of Denver Russell
Westbrook Junior the third, this might be as honest of
(06:54):
an answer as you're going to get from an athlete
who is assessing his talents.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
You know, my ability to be able to be a
force of nature on the floor is what I pride
myself phone. So whatever that looks.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Like it may be a turnover, it may be a misshot,
but it may be a steal, maybe a dunk, maybe
a mystery, maybe a may three.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
It's gonna be all of that. It's gonna be everything.
So you just take it, take it.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
But how it comes and whatever happens, you go with it.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Okay, he's gonna help somebody win. I don't know if
it's his team or your team, but he's gonna help.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
But he's and you know, he gives you that jolt
of energy coming off the bench. And this used to
be so important. You know, we came up with sixth
Man of the Year that award John Habilcheck. I think
they invented the award for him with the Celtics. You
come off the bench and you give that blast of energy.
Kevin McHale was a sixth man. Yet guys man who genobily.
(07:53):
They came in and they gave you that boost. That's
why I'd love to see Austin Reeves be that sixth
man for the Lakers. You come in and all of
a sudden, you're better than everybody else in that second
unit for the other team, and you're able to put
up some offense. Russell Westbrook brings you energy and he
had to accept coming off the bench as well. But
(08:13):
he's fun. He's fun to watch. Buddy Healed went off
last night. He was nine of eleven from three point range.
And that's one of those where if you're Houston and
you go we're still trailing and Steph Curry hasn't done much,
you know you're in trouble because Buddy Healed went off
and then Steph had like fourteen points in the fourth quarter.
(08:36):
But that was Golden State showing Houston, hey, nice, try
get experience and then try it again next year. That
was the feeling I got with Houston. Thought they were
going to be a team to contend with this year.
Maybe not a contender, but to contend with. And that
proved to be true. And I thought that this was
(08:57):
a fact finding mission, just like with Detroit. You go
into the season, let's kind of figure out what do
you need. And you saw a team, you saw a coach,
they knew what they were doing in that game. It
was just experience. Now you do have Steph. You didn't
think Buddy Heal was going to go off, but with
Golden State it's fun, fun to see them out there,
(09:18):
you know, in the latter stages of careers.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Seeton.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
What's poll question today?
Speaker 6 (09:22):
For the first hour, it feels like we're kind of
kicking one around about James Harden's legacy. Maybe maybe we're
going to stumble onto one of those.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
But can you think of a first Ballance Hall of
Famer who is this flawed?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
See right?
Speaker 6 (09:41):
While also he's an absolute Hall of Famer, he's one
of the greatest scoring players of all time probably right.
He's revolutionized the game in how you draw fouls, how
you do certain things. He's had a massive impact on
the game. Well maybe not always getting the credit for that,
and then unfortunately doesn't have the success to show for
(10:03):
it other than.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
For the most part, extremely great play. Yeah, I don't
know if there's another NBA comp for this where that
guy was so great then he didn't show up in
the postseason. And he's done this with all the teams
he's been with. It's not just the Clippers, but to
have the highest of highs where you're averaging thirty five
a game, you change the game at least with one
(10:28):
move that you make. But you kind of look at
him you go, yeah, but yeah pulling.
Speaker 7 (10:35):
James Harden led the league in scoring three years in
a row. He's led the league and assist two times. Really,
the only modern day Camp might be Russell Westbrook. Russell
led the league in scoring twice, He's led the league
and assist three times. And Russell had the bonus of
he had four different seasons where he averaged ten or
more rebounds.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Is nuts, Yeah, but it's weird. I never look at
Russell Westbrook as that's the guy I gotta stop. Like
I was always curious about him. You know, he wasn't
a good shooter. He scored. But Harden, I think you
look at and you go, nobody can stop him. Like
when he gets on a run, nobody's gonna stop him.
(11:14):
Russ didn't shoot well enough. Where you go, man, you
got to stop that. Now his jumper looks pretty good.
He hit a couple of big shots, a couple of threes,
and I go, the form looks really good. Now I
know he's hit the side of the backboard and done.
You know he'll miss him when he misses, like, he'll
miss really bad. But I don't. I think I expect
(11:38):
Harden to win more, to be to be the guy
in these big moments. I think with Russ, I just
thought that, Okay, he's still that curiosity, he's going to
give you a triple double, but he's also gonna help
the other team. I never felt that way with Harden
until you look at these Game sevens, you look at
his postseasons. I mean, I don't know if there's another
(11:59):
comp here, Marvin, you got one, anybody who comes to mind.
Speaker 8 (12:04):
It's crazy because I don't. In the Game sevens is
really what separates him from other guys where that's a
glaring omission because he's had so many no shows in
big time Game sevens. He was a part of that
Game seven where the Rockets missed twenty seven straight three pointers. Yeah,
they almost took out the seventy three wins Warriors.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
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Speaker 9 (12:34):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David, and together we're
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(13:15):
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Speaker 2 (13:31):
Tim McMahon ESPN, NBA Reporter Band McMahon podcast on The
Hoop Collective and also the author of the new book
The Wonder Boy, Luka Doncic and The Curse of greatness
as Tim Joynes is from OKC Before we get to
that series, few other topics. Whose career would you rather have?
James Harden or Russell Westbrook?
Speaker 10 (13:55):
Howdy Dan uh kind of look at the career earnings,
They're both way up there.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I feel like.
Speaker 10 (14:03):
Harden probably when you when you rank them in terms
of the echelons of NBA great AND's. I mean, they're
both first ballot Hall of Famers and all that. I
feel like Harden lands higher on that list, but has
more scrutiny. And you know, for the reasons you guys said,
his playoff failure failures have been spectacular, where it feels
(14:25):
like most of Russ's playoff failures you kind of left
them well, you know, they just didn't have the better
team and and he didn't get the same sort of
burden on his shoulders. It's crazy how they've both become
journeyman type of guys late in their career. Now, Harden's
still doing it at a high price point and Hardens
(14:47):
still the one decided when he wants to leave where
he wants to go, whereas that's not the case with
the Russ. Russ has been traded twice to the Utah
Jazz over the last few years, and I played a second,
not played a second for that franchise, that kind of
you know, and and seriously, like with Russ, you keep
on feeling is this his last chance? Is this his
(15:07):
last chance? And then you know, then he'll get another one.
Harden's had a much better year this year, but Russ
is still playing. And you know, Russ had a much
better game seven. And right now, that's all that really matters.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Whose future mediate future do you like better? The Clippers
or the Lakers?
Speaker 10 (15:26):
Oh, I mean the Lakers just because they have a
generational talent to build around, and they've got to They've
got to build, you know, they they've got to figure
that out. Obviously, depth was a major problem for the Lakers.
I mean, they played five guys for an entire half
of a playoff game. You know, something that we've never
seen before. But one the Lakers traditionally have not had
(15:49):
a whole lot of problems, uh, convincing guys. Hey, you know,
do you like the sunshine? Do you like the glitz
and glamour, do you like the spotlight? You might want
to come here? And and you know, Luca is not
somebody who everybody maybe will want to play with, but
they've got the other guys who are going to have
the ball in their hands. They need to fill out
with the role players like the Mavericks. Did you know
(16:12):
the year before they went to the finals, and you
know the primary thing they need is that lobcatch and
rim protect and big man and those type of guys
will absolutely be lining up to try to play with
Luca in La.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I did wonder when JJ Reddick said we got to
get in championship shape, and I did think of you
because you wrote the book on Luca. How do you
think this was received by him where it's not being
called out by name, but everybody knows he's saying you
need to get in championship shape.
Speaker 10 (16:44):
Probably about the same as when Jason Kidd would do
it at end of seasons and even Rick Carlisle at
end of seasons. I mean, this has been something that
has been an issue for Luca throughout his entire career,
even going back to the pre draft process. It was
one of the knocks.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
But this is back up what the Mavericks did. Nico Harrison,
his knock on him partly was well he went in
shape and he knew he couldn't play defense.
Speaker 10 (17:09):
Well, what I have consistently said is the condition concerns
are absolutely legitimate and still an insane reason to trade
a generational talent munths removed from him leading your franchise
to the NBA Finals when he fully intended to stay
in Dallas for his entire career. So the Lakers' first
round exit does not justify the trade that was made
(17:32):
or the condition concerns legitimate. Of course they are, and
like you don't need you didn't need this to know that?
Did people like has there been some kind of like
optometrius revolution suddenly? Like did you not have eyeballs? Were
they not working? Of course, conditioning has been a concern
with him throughout his career. He's still been a five
(17:53):
time first team All NBA player. The defense, and here's
the thing where I those two things are directly related. Right,
Lucas obviously at his worst defensively when he's gassed, and well,
you know, when you play him the entire second half,
that doesn't help matters. But you can build a good
(18:14):
defense that protects Luca, that includes Luca. And I'm not
saying like hypothetically, I'm saying It's happened on multiple occasions.
The Mavericks did it the year they went to the
conference finals. They we ranked seventh in the league in defense.
They did it last year when they went to the finals.
They were the number one defense for the final quarter
of the season, and then that continued into the playoffs.
(18:36):
Even the Celtics series. Luke had some terrible defensive moments.
They lost that series because they couldn't score, because the
guys around them couldn't hit shots, and you know, and
his defensive issues didn't help. But I'm saying, so, yeah,
the flaws are the flaws, but no, it doesn't justify
the trade. And I absolutely you know, like the Lakers
(19:00):
are ecstatic to be able to have the opportunity to
try to build around this dude for the next decade.
But they've got a lot of work to do in
that regard.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Can you see a scenario where Luca doesn't stay in La.
Speaker 10 (19:11):
You know, I mean sure, I could come up with scenarios.
I would be shocked if there's not some sort of
extension this summer, you know, and what that looks like.
There's a lot of factors. I don't want to bog
you down with CPA, Minutia and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
But I.
Speaker 10 (19:32):
With what I know of Luca, and I haven't talked
to him directly about this, but you know, talking to
people who know Luca, well, I think he absolutely wants
to give the Lakers like he's fully committed La. Now,
his heart was broken, but he's fully committed to the Lakers,
and you know his goal now is to win championships
(19:56):
with that franchise.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Tim McMahon he spn NBA Report, band of McMahon podcast,
On the Hook Collective, and of course the new book
The Wonder Boy, Luka, Doncic and The Curse of Greatness.
Who has a better chance of going further? The Warriors
or the Nuggets?
Speaker 10 (20:14):
Well, I would say the Warriors because they don't have
to play Oklahoma City this round. You know, listen, man,
Okay see. The one doubt about Okay see is well,
they haven't done it before. That's really the one flow.
This is a team that set the NBA record for
point differential in the season. I mean, they've been absolutely dominant.
(20:35):
So now, if the Nuggets were playing the Wolves, well,
actually I'm sorry, if the Nuggets playing the Warriors, I
probably would pick the Nuggets in that series, but that's
not the way the brackets broke. Yeah, you know, so
I think the Warriors have a better chance to beat
the Wolves than Nuggets do beating the Thunder. I'm not
sure the Warriors have a great chance of beating the Wolves.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I'm wondering if. And I'm just looking at the playoff rosters.
So it's recency bias that you know, it used to
be it you were trying to get three big names,
three stars. Now it feels like two is great, but
you really need to have depth. Cleveland, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Indiana, Oka,
(21:17):
see Boston like they have, you know, two really good
players or one great player and then you have depth.
There is that kind of the model now moving forward
that Okac is put in front of us.
Speaker 10 (21:31):
Well, and I just think that to have a big three,
especially if they're three max guys, it's gonna be tough
to build your roster out from there with all the
handcuffs that are in the new CBA. And you know,
the Sons are kind of an extreme example of well,
they had their big three, and you know, there wasn't
a whole lot around that. Plus those three guys didn't
(21:53):
necessarily fit very well together, and really it was a
big two and then a huge third South. But yeah,
depth matters and role players matter. There's only one basketball, right,
so you're not going to have three guys scoring thirty
a game, you know, but you do. It's still a
(22:15):
superstars league. Just be clear, Like, the Houston Rockets are deep,
they're athletic, they're tough, they're relentless. They don't have a superstar.
If they get a superstar, which you know will be
an interesting summer, the Houston Rockets have a chance to
be right in the thicke of things as soon as
next season. But if you don't have and like the Thunder,
(22:37):
the Thunder have one superstar, two all star caliber guys,
I would say, and by the way, we could argue
if that Shay Jaylen Williams, chet holmewun three, chet Holme
win thing will be a big three soon. But then
they played ten guys by the first second of the
second quarter every game, and it's like a tough decision. Well,
(22:57):
which good player is not going to get in there?
You know, we got like twelve or thirteen guys with
rotation cowber dudes that matters.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Can the next beat the Celtics.
Speaker 10 (23:09):
I mean can I guess it's hard for me to
kind of figure out the pathway. The Celtics have a
clean injury report now, which is huge obviously with Drew
Holiday missing time last series and Jaylen Brown's been banged up. Porzingis,
(23:29):
you know, the next need Jalden Brunson to be an
absolute superhero and he's dealing with Drew Holliday and Derek
White and a little bit of Jaylen Brown and then
you know Porzingis and Horford and the paint. I don't know.
Maybe call Anthony Towns has a series of his life,
but this would be a massive upset.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Karl Anthony Townes, you mean the greatest shooting big men
of all time?
Speaker 10 (23:54):
Spiks promote self proclaimed greatest shooting big man of all time.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Who is the greatest shooting big man of all time?
Speaker 10 (24:01):
I mean, you know, I'm based in Dallas. There's a
German seven foot fellow by the name of Dirt Novitski
who probably would stay claim of that title. I mean,
I guess you could tell me, well, he was a
power forward, not a big man, but that's the guy
who revolutionized the league as a seven footer who was
bombing away. And that's the dude who's six all time
on the score and the list gave him the.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Nod best shooting center of all time.
Speaker 10 (24:26):
Now Cat has a claim there, He has a real
claim there.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Now you know the knock there would be.
Speaker 10 (24:35):
Yeah, but he's had his most playoff success when they
had to pair him with another big man because he's
not a defensive anchor. And nobody ever accused Dirk of
being a defensive anchor either.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
He was an anchor. He was being weighed down. He
had an anchor on his back there. But you know,
we were talking about this when you talk about players
who had a signature move that changed the game or
a style like Dirk changed the game for all big men.
Steph with his ability to shoot threes, Harden to a
(25:10):
certain degree, with his.
Speaker 10 (25:12):
To one hundred percent degree. Okay, well now that step back,
that step back changed the game for sure. And what
Luca has done with that that started with Harden one
hundred percent, Like Harden was launching more step back threes
than like the rest of the league combined. Early on
(25:32):
during that that Houston run and the step back three
became a common weapon because of Harden, just like that
one legged fadeaway became a common weapon because of Dirk,
so Harden absolutely gets credit for the step back revolution.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Now does Sharunus Marshall onas or who gets credit for
the euro step?
Speaker 10 (25:54):
I would say is most commonly associated with Genobili, and
Genoba's the guy who took it to the next level,
which is always fun to me. I know he played
in Europe, but he's not European, so but no, Genobli
is the one who that became a move that's in
everybody's bag because Genobili had so much success with it.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
But it's okay, out of all those moves, what move
is used more by more players more often? Is it
the eurostep?
Speaker 10 (26:26):
Yeah, it's probably got to beat the eurostep. I think
every every ballhandler has the eurostep. And you know, it's
become a thing where there's so many different variations of
it now and now there's the deceleration where these guys,
I mean, it's really some of the balance is amazing,
where these guys are like balancing on one foot and
(26:48):
just letting traffic pass by, or you know, I mean,
so it just it gets added on more and more
and more and more every year. But yeah, the Eurostep.
I will go Eurostep probably the one lager after that,
because it's not just the big man, like I mean,
Durant has it, Lebron has it. You know a bunch
of these, you know, bigger wings and guards had that
(27:12):
as well as the big man. And then you know
the step back three And I would say you could
argue the step back three is maybe the most abused
move of those because there are definitely people who are
taking step back threees. You're like, yeah, maybe maybe we
should just move the ball there.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Have fun. We appreciate you joining us, Tim, Thank you
all right, appreciate you having me, Tim McMahon.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
NBA College Basketball Analyst played fourteen seasons in the NBA.
He was there for the call the Clippers and the
Nuggets and Jim Joints is on the program. First big
concert you ever went to.
Speaker 5 (27:58):
Oh Man back in the day was from Toledo, so
I thinkured it was a place we used to go
to called the Sports Arena and it was ll Cuja
run dmc okay, yeah, yeah, that was it.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Did you ever meet those guys once you became famous?
Speaker 5 (28:17):
Yes, okay, L L run dmc jed message when I
was old. Yeah, when I got to the league, I
got a chance to run across his back.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
You know. The funny part is Dan back in the nineties.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
Now, I came in the league in ninety two. That's
when hip hop was just turning the corner from the
late eighties to nineties. So and I used to be
in New York and LA a lot, so we would
run into We would all be kind of at the
same kind of places, whether that's restaurants or nightclubs or
event or whatever. So it was it was funny because
(28:50):
back then it was just they were big. They were big,
don't get me wrong, but you know, you didn't have
the social media and everything like that, and hip hop
was just starting to take off. So I got a
chance to meet a lot of the early hip hop artists, actresses, actors,
uh uh, things like that back in the day that
we see now that are older, of course, but during
(29:12):
that time and it was it was a different time period.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Did you ever flirt during a game?
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Of course, to who I'm not telling you that.
Speaker 10 (29:22):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Because some limitations is all.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I'm old.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I forgot like Hallie Barry, did you I've never.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
Seen Hollie at a game. I went to a Janet show.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Did you flirt with Janet Jackson?
Speaker 3 (29:37):
She never was at it? Well, no, she was at
a game.
Speaker 10 (29:40):
Hey.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
Actually, I tell you the truth. One year her concerts
concert tour. Uh it was? It was it velvet rope.
I figure it was. I saw it three times Dallas, Detroit,
and I was at the close out show in New York.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
If Janet Jackson said, would you get fifty for me? Jimmy,
what points would would?
Speaker 3 (30:07):
You wouldn't try to get no.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
No, no, Wait for Janet Jackson, you wouldn't.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
No, no, no, no no. I would try to get
fifty for myself. Oh and then she could witness it.
But no, not for her. That three that'll throw your game. O, Dan,
you're trying too hard.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I try to you get your teammates looking at you
like you're crazy. Man.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
All right, you saw up close and personal Clippers vow
out and the James Harden question. What happens to him
in these big games?
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Man?
Speaker 5 (30:41):
It's it's a tough one because I'm really close to.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
The situation because I covered the Clippers all year.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
And this this year, Jane, I just thought this was
with everything coming together, Kawhi coming back, James basically manning
the ship the entire year until I mean, you know
to the games where Kawahi came back along with you
feature Zuba to improve. He mentally was up for you know,
(31:06):
most Improved Player of the Year, then Norman Norman Pole,
who was up for six Men of the Year. And
going into this series, I knew Denver was gonna be
tough just because and despite firing Michael Malone, they were
just connected a little bit different.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
They've been playing not.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
As well go down the stretch of the season, but
they just it was just something about him. And James
was up and down in this series. When he was good,
he was good. When he wasn't, He wasn't when he
was engaged early, like in Game six he was a
difference maker. In Game seven, that same engagement just wasn't there.
(31:44):
And a lot of what happens with the Clippers is
based around the temperament of James and when I mean
his body language, when he's really aggressive offensively, the team
tends to follow that. I thought the first quarter was great.
I thought, okay, I said, okay, we got something here
Game seven in Denver, but too many mental errors and
(32:05):
mistakes limited to that and James never found his rhythm.
And I thought, this year, Dan, if any, this is
when he could have quieted a lot of that noise
about lack of playoff success, especially in game seven, because
with Dan, James didn't have to go score twenty five
(32:25):
to thirty points. But if he gives you eighteen with
tennis sists, twelve assistant he's controlling temple and he's getting
guys the ball, and he's actively being defensive minded, then
a lot of that narrative and out of that noise,
a lot of that chirping.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
A lot of people now.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
Say, well, James has done a great job leading the Clippers,
but that didn't happen, and as a result, a team
that I thought could get to the Western Conference finals,
you know, lost to a great team with the Nuggets.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Would you rather have James Harden's career? Russell westbrooks.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Oh oh. I think both are gonna be Hall of famers.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
First balance, both are.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Going to have asterisk by it.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
Russ still has a chance right now because whatever Denver does,
it's going to be on his record, you know. So
if they do something special, I say, that's a great question, Dan,
because both have accomplished so much.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Where there's MVPs, where there's.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
Scoring titles with James, you know, triple double crowns for Russell.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Man.
Speaker 5 (33:46):
I don't know, that's it. That's a good one right there, Dan,
I don't know. I would really have to dig into it,
but off hand I would say, I would say, James.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Watching the Nuggets and I was curious how they respond,
you know, firing Michael Malone. Yeah, but you're saying you
see a different team now then maybe we saw at
the end of the year or you know when he
got fired. What kind of chance do you give them
against OKC?
Speaker 3 (34:19):
So I'll give them a great chance now. But here's
the difference.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
It's okay, see, I mean they're coming off a tough turnaround.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
You just played Saturday and.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
Now you gotta go to an Okay, see who's been
sitting for It's not it feels like two weeks now
like they's been sitting out.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
But that's a tough turnaround, Okay.
Speaker 5 (34:38):
The thing about it is leadership, a voice when things
go left Yoki's just stepped up in that manner, and
I saw a lot of that in our series. Despite
Adamman not having the experience on the bench, you got
it on the court where Aaron Gordon, Christian Brown has
been there, h Jamal Murray and Jokis. Of course they've
(35:02):
been there. They've been in those dog fights, so you
lean into that a little bit more. They're gonna have
to lean in that, into that and the tough Okac
team defensively, Who're gonna take a lot away because the
thing about beating Denver is this Jokis beat you and
he gets forty points, Okay, but he beats you when
he's spraying the ball around and you're helping and Christal
(35:23):
Brown is going back door and he's throwing the lot
to Aaron Gordon. I think okay See is disciplined enough
that they can play one on one with Jokic, stay
at home with the other players, and just force Jokis
to have to beat them one on one. And I
think that's the key advantage that Denver has. I mean
the Nuggets have because they get throw so many bodies
(35:45):
at those other guys.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Talking to Jim Jackson, Fox Turner, NBA college basketball analyst.
He was on the call for the Clippers and the Nuggets.
If you look at top five players in the NBA
right now, who would you say they are? I was
going to ask you, I'm the host.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Uh, I'll try to put it back on you dead.
I wanted to see what what you gonna say?
Speaker 2 (36:10):
I'm the captain now, okay, all right, all right? So
who's your top five?
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Top five?
Speaker 5 (36:17):
Steph Jokic, Steph Jokich, Giannis s g A, s g
A because those sort of m VP. I think SGA
ends up winning it this year.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
So you think Steph's a top five player?
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Yeah, I still think he is.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
You would take him over Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
Now put Anthony Edwards right, I mean right now? Yeah,
if I'm picking my five, I'm picking those five right there.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Okay, So Joker, s g A, Steph Jannis and Anthony Edwards,
Anthony Edwards, Jason Tatum doesn't make it in Huh.
Speaker 5 (36:57):
He's right, he's right there. I mean again, it's not
a slight on anybody.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
But that he's like.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Jason.
Speaker 5 (37:06):
I think Jason is like Steth, like all of those guys.
I think have something that they do great. Jason doesn't
have anything he does great, but he's a great player.
He does so many things well. He can shoot it,
he can post up, he can defend, he can rebound.
(37:27):
Steph has something, you know what I mean, that's different.
Jokis has something that's different. Sga has something that's different,
and so does Anthony Edwards. But you look at Jason
the totality in which he plays. I love to have
him on my team. That would be because he can
do a little bit of everything. It's not that he
has one quality that stands out amongst above everything else,
(37:51):
but he's so good at what he does. I think
a lot of people take it for granted. I really do,
because you look at the face of the league and
things of that nature, Jason Tatum name comes up.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
But if you're talking about actually.
Speaker 5 (38:01):
Winning and playing the game, he does it as well
as anybody. So that's not a slight to me on
Jason Tatum of not being in the top five.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
But Luca's not in your top five, No, what happened?
He never was. Luca was never a top final players fan.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
No, No, I think Luca and I give Steph this
and that.
Speaker 5 (38:24):
Teeter with that fifth one, because you got Steph, you
got Luca, you got Jason Tatum.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
You can flip fop those three all day long and
I wouldn't be mad. And I love.
Speaker 5 (38:32):
Luca, but I went back and looked at some film
of Luca when he first got in the league, and
how slim Luca was, and how quick his first step was,
how dedicated he was to getting well. But he's a
dedicated player, but his defensive level has dropped off, and
that hurts because he compromises. And I'm not saying nothing.
Steve Nash wasn't a great defensive player. Steph is not
(38:55):
a great defensive player. But they did give the effort.
They did give the effort. Now you can have you
can go through examples of every player and pull out
film of them getting beat defensively. Okay, especially when you're
Steph or Luca, Steve Nash, guys like that.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
You can always do that.
Speaker 5 (39:15):
But the latter two gave the effort a lot more
and a lot of times. That's the deterrent with Luca
is that if you saw that series in Minnesota, they
went after, they made sure they put him in actions.
They did that with Steph, they did it with Steve.
But at least they gave that consistent effort to try
to play, to try to get over a pick and roll,
(39:37):
to try to get back in front of their guy.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
A lot of times. Luca, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (39:41):
Maybe he's preserving a lot of that energy for the
offensive end and not being in tip top shape because
if he does that, Dan, it's unbelievable. If he gets
back to if he drops ten to fifteen pounds and
gets back to that and dedicates himself with a little
bit more at a little bit more on the defensive end,
(40:02):
I mean, it's unbelievable what he can do in the court.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
How long before we have a guy making one hundred
million in a season.
Speaker 5 (40:09):
Well, part of that, I mean, part of the decision
with I think the Mavericks dead was that three hundred
and fifty million by five years they weren't willing to pay,
you know, to Luca, we're getting close. Wimby maybe that guy,
because Wemby goes through his rookie deal, signs a extension
(40:34):
and then plays a couple of years of that and
then boom, if he's Winby, like we think, I think
he'll be that guy that gets a hundred million, because
where he's tracking right now, if he gets to that point.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
How do you think crowds are going to react when
somebody's making a hundred million and they're in street clothes?
Speaker 5 (40:58):
It will be flat out anarchy. I mean, now, how
how is he in street cloths? Is he always in
street clothes?
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Well, load management, Let's just say it's loading management, you know,
because used to be you guys took great pride in
trying to play it.
Speaker 5 (41:12):
Every game we did, you did and guys wanted to play.
And I'm not saying guys, listen, I'll tell you what
we're talking about. James Harden, right, this dude want to
who No matter what you want to say about James Harden,
he wants to play a lot of guys in the
league want to put it now, you again, you're talking
about the top one percent of the league that we're
talking about here that are in street clothes that people
(41:34):
are going to be upset about. They're not going to
be upset if Rudy Gobert is in the street clothes,
or you know, if it's Kristan Brown.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I mean, seriously, but we're talking about the lead of
the league. Now.
Speaker 5 (41:45):
The NBA just signed this big TV deal. You got
now Amazon coming on board, you got NBC, maybe Netflix,
you got still the ESPNS. So the product is dependent
upon the superstars playing. But how do you enforce that
because to the detriment of the league in some aspects,
with the analytics and the teams, they dictate more than
(42:07):
anything who plays, how and when, and how many games
and minutes and sits out. So a coach a lot
of times and or a player doesn't have full control
of that situation. And that's the troubling part of it
because the product is dependent upon the superstars playing. At
(42:31):
the end of the day, as you know, I don't
care what sport it is. And the beauty about football
is you got sixteen eighteen games. Each one matters, right,
those superstars are out there playing, so you got a
finite time period to watch them play, and they got
to play in order to get to a super Bowl.
They got to be out there. And if they're injured,
(42:53):
they can play. If they're hurt, they're not. That's the difference,
and it's hurt the product. I think in a lot
of aspects. Know where you're going with that question, and
it would be somebody out there now a guy like Wenby.
I think like Giannis, who loves to play. I don't
think fits in that category because they just want to
get out there and play.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
I can't imagine pat Riley saying the magic I'm gonna
have you sit, or Phil Jackson saying to Michael, Hey,
I'm gonna have you sit, or you know, Tommy Heinzen
telling Larry Murdy, You're gonna have to sit. I just
I can't envision.
Speaker 5 (43:28):
Phil Jackson telling that to Kobe Yeah, are you kidding me?
But just what I try to understand.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
But it's part of Pop's legacy that Papovich had no
problem telling his stars I'm gonna rest you.
Speaker 5 (43:42):
But it wasn't but it was see at the time,
it felt bad because it was new, but it wasn't
as much as it was strategical when he did it,
especially when it got later in the year getting ready
for the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
He knew his position.
Speaker 5 (43:57):
He knew that, okay, maybe we were not the number
one seed, but we're good enough that in that first
round series, we get the game on the road, we
got home court advantage. That's what he used it for
in my viewpoint, my opinion, But at the time that
he did it. It was so new and he was
so honest, but why he was doing it just shocked everybody.
(44:20):
But you think about this, Dan, it's and and my
son is thirty two and I grew up you know,
AAU side and social media with him. You got to
meet these young men and women where they're at. What
they know is what they know that's in front of them,
how I played eighty two games in the nineties and
rough and they understand it, they saw it, but they
(44:42):
don't have a reality of it because their reality is
what they see now. So I got to meet them
where they're at and talk to them in that bas
and my expectations are not limited, but I can't expect
them what they're seeing when see. The problem is it's
okay for a lot of guys that when they say
(45:04):
you don't have to play, they're fine with it. They're
fine with it. And that is a problem. And how
do you change that with a generation that has grown
up seeing that and knowing.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
That it's okay to miss games.
Speaker 5 (45:21):
When I was coming in, it wasn't okay one because
you're worried about one losing that position in that spot,
you know, and the perception wise that you I think
we took At that time it was a pride thing
to see how many, how close you could get to
play an eighty two games.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
That was a badge of honor.
Speaker 5 (45:41):
But a lot of the participants today don't look at
it like that.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
It's how good I can be in what number of games?
Speaker 5 (45:50):
And that's it now and that But that's not all
Anthony Edwards wants to play. I mean you can't. You
got to rip him off the court. So you know,
it goes both ways. And it'll be interesting to see
with this new crop of young players that are going
to lead the league. She Alexander he loves to play, okay,
(46:11):
that they want to be out there on the court,
and if it adjusts a little bit more. And I
hate the conversation too about why should we have to
peel back and shorten the season. I mean, you can't
do it anyway because the TV is too much money.
Those eighty two games matter. You take off ten, that's
that's money lost, millions and millions of dollars lost. That's
(46:33):
not gonna happen. Well, you don't think they get rid
of All Star Game and all of that is money.
It's tied into your TV contract. Why you think they're
adding into you know the play ad and you know
the postseason because it's part of TV, so you can't.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
You're not going to shorten the season.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Always great to connect with you have fun in the offseason.
Thanks for joining us. You got a captain that is
Jim Jackson.
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
A gift that keeps on giving is James Harden. And
you know, when you look at the regular season, regular
season James Harden, I think twenty two points eight assist.
We like the Clippers. People thought, oh you got a
healthy Kawhi Leonard. Okay, they can do some damage. They
can knock off Denver, they could give Oklahoma City a
real tussle. But last night they were blown It was
(00:27):
a no show. They were blown out or over the
week id of should say, and then you have you
know what happened. So the Nuggets end up winning, Golden
State ends up winning. Now you got some pretty interesting matchups,
but we tend to focus on the team that just lost.
So with what happened with the Clippers, and once again
James Harden in a game seven is a no show.
(00:49):
Here is his head coach, Ty Lou on the Clippers losing.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
You know, it's tough loss, and.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
I said, not playing our best game in a situation
like this, and you know, a lot of emotions, and
so just tell the guys bring it in, you know,
one last hug and you know we'll we'll talk tomorrow.
But you know, they came out I thought we came
out with a with a decent mindset. They went to
that zone and kind of made a stacking offensively because
the way we were attacking them. And then I thought,
you know, when they went to that zone, its kind
(01:19):
of slowed us down offensively and then defensively didn't We
didn't really you know, get into them, get closer to
the guys and have that pressure, and so they were
able to pick us apart.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Okay, and this isn't all on James Harden, but there
is a pattern here. It is last thirteen elimination games,
James Harden's teams are two and eleven, and the numbers
are even worse after that. By the way, he was
a no show after their losses. He didn't meet with
the media. But James, now, he did have twenty six,
(01:50):
twenty eight points I think game six, So I thought, okay,
maybe this is going to be different for him. Thirteen
elimination games, he shot thirty nine percent from the floor.
Team is two and eleven. Uh, He's averaged fourteen points
on thirty eight percent shooting. And then you look at
(02:11):
some of the other numbers here. Steph Curry fourteen career
elimination games, he has scored I think one time under
twenty points once in sixteen career elimination games. Kevin Durant
under twenty points Lebron James twenty nine career elimination games
has never been held under twenty points. Meanwhile, Hardin has
(02:33):
scored less than twenty points in twelve of twenty six
career elimination games, including seven of his last thirteen.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Stell of a day stand a.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Day, Stata Day, Stanta Day.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
This is the Stele of the Day, brought to you
by Panini America. Even more emphatic and embarrassed James Harden's
last three game sevens. He scored seven points, he scored
nine points, he scored twenty two points. He went two
for eight, he went three for eleven that was in
(03:11):
a loss to Boston, and five of seventeen in a
lost to Milwaukee back in twenty twenty one. I can't
have one of my best scores, one of the great
scores in the history of the league, get eight shots. Now,
he did have double digit assist Okay, but I want
him to score. I need him to score, I need
him to shoot. I mean, I'd rather that he was
(03:34):
two for eighteen than two for eight I gotta have
him getting shots up. But once again he no showed
the Clippers bow out dramatic fashion. And you know, we're
left to wonder, how many more years, how many more
postseasons will you get with Kawhi Leonard where he's healthy
and playing well. And then you got Harden who had
(03:56):
a good regular season, but trying to match them up
in the season and get maybe some magic here. And
you start to look and you go, okay, where do
you kind of fit in here? It looks like the
Rockets are going to be here to stay now. They
might add I know we've talked about Kevin Durant, but
you know, if I'm them, I do what Oklahoma City did.
(04:18):
Stay the course, keep your nucleus. I don't want to
bring in a thirty five, thirty six year old Kevin Durant.
I'm not trying to catch magic in one year. I'm
going to try to do this, you know, make this sustainable,
make this just like Okasee and okayc is going to
be here for a while. Now you have to look
and go if you're the Clippers, where are we We're
(04:40):
kind of in the middle. You know, Denver's got in depth,
they got bench is really contributed. You still got Joker
playing at a high level for a few more years.
Can Jamal Murray stay healthy? You know, so that could
be sustainable for a few more years to be a
contender there Golden State. I mean, you're kind of looking
at the last go round. It feels like or at
(05:02):
least maybe one more go round. What about the Lakers
with Lebron You know, you start to look at where
you are in your division, in your conference, and that's
what I start to wonder about the Clippers. They're kind
of a no man's land good team, potentially a really
good team. The problem is is age, injuries, and you're
(05:24):
always going to have James Harden not showing up in
big games. But now we sometimes look at these teams
as they exit and go, okay, what is the future here?
As I said with Detroit, I think they got a
bright future. Don't go crazy. And I do think depth
is really the important thing to keep an eye on
in the playoffs. Denver showed depth. You gotta have more
(05:47):
than six seven guys. OKC has depth, Cleveland has depth.
Indiana has depth. That's sort of the new thing. I
don't need three stars, I need two stars and depth.
Celtics they got a lot of depth. They got two
big stars, a lot of depth. That's what I would
be concentrating on if I'm trying to build my team
(06:09):
or continue to build my team. Depth. Don't go out
there and get a big ticket item. If you have
a young nucleus and you're sold on them, let them
grow together. Hopefully you get a star or two. I mean,
OKC has one star, he's going to be the MVP.
But you have a couple other guys who are at
least in the conversation of being a star, and that's
(06:30):
really important. But Boston, Boston is so deep. Cleveland deep,
Indiana deep. Just feels like that's the new wave with
luxury taxes, the apron as they like to call that.
So just some things to keep an eye on in
the off season with these teams. Speaking of Denver Russell
Westbrook Junior the third, this might be as honest of
(06:54):
an answer as you're going to get from an athlete
who is assessing his talents.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
You know, my ability to be able to be a
force of nature on the floor is what I pride
myself phone. So whatever that looks.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Like it may be a turnover, it may be a misshot,
but it may be a steal, maybe a dunk, maybe
a mystery, maybe a may three.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
It's gonna be all of that. It's gonna be everything.
So you just take it, take it.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
But how it comes and whatever happens, you go with it.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Okay, he's gonna help somebody win. I don't know if
it's his team or your team, but he's gonna help.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
But he's and you know, he gives you that jolt
of energy coming off the bench. And this used to
be so important. You know, we came up with sixth
Man of the Year that award John Habilcheck. I think
they invented the award for him with the Celtics. You
come off the bench and you give that blast of energy.
Kevin McHale was a sixth man. Yet guys man who genobily.
(07:53):
They came in and they gave you that boost. That's
why I'd love to see Austin Reeves be that sixth
man for the Lakers. You come in and all of
a sudden, you're better than everybody else in that second
unit for the other team, and you're able to put
up some offense. Russell Westbrook brings you energy and he
had to accept coming off the bench as well. But
(08:13):
he's fun. He's fun to watch. Buddy Healed went off
last night. He was nine of eleven from three point range.
And that's one of those where if you're Houston and
you go we're still trailing and Steph Curry hasn't done much,
you know you're in trouble because Buddy Healed went off
and then Steph had like fourteen points in the fourth quarter.
(08:36):
But that was Golden State showing Houston, hey, nice, try
get experience and then try it again next year. That
was the feeling I got with Houston. Thought they were
going to be a team to contend with this year.
Maybe not a contender, but to contend with. And that
proved to be true. And I thought that this was
(08:57):
a fact finding mission, just like with Detroit. You go
into the season, let's kind of figure out what do
you need. And you saw a team, you saw a coach,
they knew what they were doing in that game. It
was just experience. Now you do have Steph. You didn't
think Buddy Heal was going to go off, but with
Golden State it's fun, fun to see them out there,
(09:18):
you know, in the latter stages of careers.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Seeton.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
What's poll question today?
Speaker 6 (09:22):
For the first hour, it feels like we're kind of
kicking one around about James Harden's legacy. Maybe maybe we're
going to stumble onto one of those.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
But can you think of a first Ballance Hall of
Famer who is this flawed?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
See right?
Speaker 6 (09:41):
While also he's an absolute Hall of Famer, he's one
of the greatest scoring players of all time probably right.
He's revolutionized the game in how you draw fouls, how
you do certain things. He's had a massive impact on
the game. Well maybe not always getting the credit for that,
and then unfortunately doesn't have the success to show for
(10:03):
it other than.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
For the most part, extremely great play. Yeah, I don't
know if there's another NBA comp for this where that
guy was so great then he didn't show up in
the postseason. And he's done this with all the teams
he's been with. It's not just the Clippers, but to
have the highest of highs where you're averaging thirty five
a game, you change the game at least with one
(10:28):
move that you make. But you kind of look at
him you go, yeah, but yeah pulling.
Speaker 7 (10:35):
James Harden led the league in scoring three years in
a row. He's led the league and assist two times. Really,
the only modern day Camp might be Russell Westbrook. Russell
led the league in scoring twice, He's led the league
and assist three times. And Russell had the bonus of
he had four different seasons where he averaged ten or
more rebounds.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Is nuts, Yeah, but it's weird. I never look at
Russell Westbrook as that's the guy I gotta stop. Like
I was always curious about him. You know, he wasn't
a good shooter. He scored. But Harden, I think you
look at and you go, nobody can stop him. Like
when he gets on a run, nobody's gonna stop him.
(11:14):
Russ didn't shoot well enough. Where you go, man, you
got to stop that. Now his jumper looks pretty good.
He hit a couple of big shots, a couple of threes,
and I go, the form looks really good. Now I
know he's hit the side of the backboard and done.
You know he'll miss him when he misses, like, he'll
miss really bad. But I don't. I think I expect
(11:38):
Harden to win more, to be to be the guy
in these big moments. I think with Russ, I just
thought that, Okay, he's still that curiosity, he's going to
give you a triple double, but he's also gonna help
the other team. I never felt that way with Harden
until you look at these Game sevens, you look at
his postseasons. I mean, I don't know if there's another
(11:59):
comp here, Marvin, you got one, anybody who comes to mind.
Speaker 8 (12:04):
It's crazy because I don't. In the Game sevens is
really what separates him from other guys where that's a
glaring omission because he's had so many no shows in
big time Game sevens. He was a part of that
Game seven where the Rockets missed twenty seven straight three pointers. Yeah,
they almost took out the seventy three wins Warriors.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 9 (12:34):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David, and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
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iHeartRadio app. Why should you listen to Cavino and Rich.
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Going on in the world.
Speaker 9 (12:52):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
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mean that says something, right, So check us out. We
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(13:15):
show on planetar. Be sure to check out Cavino and
Rich live on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app
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and if you miss any of the live show, just
search Covin on Rich wherever you get your podcast, and
of course on social media that's Covino and Rich.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Tim McMahon ESPN, NBA Reporter Band McMahon podcast on The
Hoop Collective and also the author of the new book
The Wonder Boy, Luka Doncic and The Curse of greatness
as Tim Joynes is from OKC Before we get to
that series, few other topics. Whose career would you rather have?
James Harden or Russell Westbrook?
Speaker 10 (13:55):
Howdy Dan uh kind of look at the career earnings,
They're both way up there.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I feel like.
Speaker 10 (14:03):
Harden probably when you when you rank them in terms
of the echelons of NBA great AND's. I mean, they're
both first ballot Hall of Famers and all that. I
feel like Harden lands higher on that list, but has
more scrutiny. And you know, for the reasons you guys said,
his playoff failure failures have been spectacular, where it feels
(14:25):
like most of Russ's playoff failures you kind of left
them well, you know, they just didn't have the better
team and and he didn't get the same sort of
burden on his shoulders. It's crazy how they've both become
journeyman type of guys late in their career. Now, Harden's
still doing it at a high price point and Hardens
(14:47):
still the one decided when he wants to leave where
he wants to go, whereas that's not the case with
the Russ. Russ has been traded twice to the Utah
Jazz over the last few years, and I played a second,
not played a second for that franchise, that kind of
you know, and and seriously, like with Russ, you keep
on feeling is this his last chance? Is this his
(15:07):
last chance? And then you know, then he'll get another one.
Harden's had a much better year this year, but Russ
is still playing. And you know, Russ had a much
better game seven. And right now, that's all that really matters.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Whose future mediate future do you like better? The Clippers
or the Lakers?
Speaker 10 (15:26):
Oh, I mean the Lakers just because they have a
generational talent to build around, and they've got to They've
got to build, you know, they they've got to figure
that out. Obviously, depth was a major problem for the Lakers.
I mean, they played five guys for an entire half
of a playoff game. You know, something that we've never
seen before. But one the Lakers traditionally have not had
(15:49):
a whole lot of problems, uh, convincing guys. Hey, you know,
do you like the sunshine? Do you like the glitz
and glamour, do you like the spotlight? You might want
to come here? And and you know, Luca is not
somebody who everybody maybe will want to play with, but
they've got the other guys who are going to have
the ball in their hands. They need to fill out
with the role players like the Mavericks. Did you know
(16:12):
the year before they went to the finals, and you
know the primary thing they need is that lobcatch and
rim protect and big man and those type of guys
will absolutely be lining up to try to play with
Luca in La.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I did wonder when JJ Reddick said we got to
get in championship shape, and I did think of you
because you wrote the book on Luca. How do you
think this was received by him where it's not being
called out by name, but everybody knows he's saying you
need to get in championship shape.
Speaker 10 (16:44):
Probably about the same as when Jason Kidd would do
it at end of seasons and even Rick Carlisle at
end of seasons. I mean, this has been something that
has been an issue for Luca throughout his entire career,
even going back to the pre draft process. It was
one of the knocks.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
But this is back up what the Mavericks did. Nico Harrison,
his knock on him partly was well he went in
shape and he knew he couldn't play defense.
Speaker 10 (17:09):
Well, what I have consistently said is the condition concerns
are absolutely legitimate and still an insane reason to trade
a generational talent munths removed from him leading your franchise
to the NBA Finals when he fully intended to stay
in Dallas for his entire career. So the Lakers' first
round exit does not justify the trade that was made
(17:32):
or the condition concerns legitimate. Of course they are, and
like you don't need you didn't need this to know that?
Did people like has there been some kind of like
optometrius revolution suddenly? Like did you not have eyeballs? Were
they not working? Of course, conditioning has been a concern
with him throughout his career. He's still been a five
(17:53):
time first team All NBA player. The defense, and here's
the thing where I those two things are directly related. Right,
Lucas obviously at his worst defensively when he's gassed, and well,
you know, when you play him the entire second half,
that doesn't help matters. But you can build a good
(18:14):
defense that protects Luca, that includes Luca. And I'm not
saying like hypothetically, I'm saying It's happened on multiple occasions.
The Mavericks did it the year they went to the
conference finals. They we ranked seventh in the league in defense.
They did it last year when they went to the finals.
They were the number one defense for the final quarter
of the season, and then that continued into the playoffs.
(18:36):
Even the Celtics series. Luke had some terrible defensive moments.
They lost that series because they couldn't score, because the
guys around them couldn't hit shots, and you know, and
his defensive issues didn't help. But I'm saying, so, yeah,
the flaws are the flaws, but no, it doesn't justify
the trade. And I absolutely you know, like the Lakers
(19:00):
are ecstatic to be able to have the opportunity to
try to build around this dude for the next decade.
But they've got a lot of work to do in
that regard.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Can you see a scenario where Luca doesn't stay in La.
Speaker 10 (19:11):
You know, I mean sure, I could come up with scenarios.
I would be shocked if there's not some sort of
extension this summer, you know, and what that looks like.
There's a lot of factors. I don't want to bog
you down with CPA, Minutia and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
But I.
Speaker 10 (19:32):
With what I know of Luca, and I haven't talked
to him directly about this, but you know, talking to
people who know Luca, well, I think he absolutely wants
to give the Lakers like he's fully committed La. Now,
his heart was broken, but he's fully committed to the Lakers,
and you know his goal now is to win championships
(19:56):
with that franchise.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Tim McMahon he spn NBA Report, band of McMahon podcast,
On the Hook Collective, and of course the new book
The Wonder Boy, Luka, Doncic and The Curse of Greatness.
Who has a better chance of going further? The Warriors
or the Nuggets?
Speaker 10 (20:14):
Well, I would say the Warriors because they don't have
to play Oklahoma City this round. You know, listen, man,
Okay see. The one doubt about Okay see is well,
they haven't done it before. That's really the one flow.
This is a team that set the NBA record for
point differential in the season. I mean, they've been absolutely dominant.
(20:35):
So now, if the Nuggets were playing the Wolves, well,
actually I'm sorry, if the Nuggets playing the Warriors, I
probably would pick the Nuggets in that series, but that's
not the way the brackets broke. Yeah, you know, so
I think the Warriors have a better chance to beat
the Wolves than Nuggets do beating the Thunder. I'm not
sure the Warriors have a great chance of beating the Wolves.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I'm wondering if. And I'm just looking at the playoff rosters.
So it's recency bias that you know, it used to
be it you were trying to get three big names,
three stars. Now it feels like two is great, but
you really need to have depth. Cleveland, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Indiana, Oka,
(21:17):
see Boston like they have, you know, two really good
players or one great player and then you have depth.
There is that kind of the model now moving forward
that Okac is put in front of us.
Speaker 10 (21:31):
Well, and I just think that to have a big three,
especially if they're three max guys, it's gonna be tough
to build your roster out from there with all the
handcuffs that are in the new CBA. And you know,
the Sons are kind of an extreme example of well,
they had their big three, and you know, there wasn't
a whole lot around that. Plus those three guys didn't
(21:53):
necessarily fit very well together, and really it was a
big two and then a huge third South. But yeah,
depth matters and role players matter. There's only one basketball, right,
so you're not going to have three guys scoring thirty
a game, you know, but you do. It's still a
(22:15):
superstars league. Just be clear, Like, the Houston Rockets are deep,
they're athletic, they're tough, they're relentless. They don't have a superstar.
If they get a superstar, which you know will be
an interesting summer, the Houston Rockets have a chance to
be right in the thicke of things as soon as
next season. But if you don't have and like the Thunder,
(22:37):
the Thunder have one superstar, two all star caliber guys,
I would say, and by the way, we could argue
if that Shay Jaylen Williams, chet holmewun three, chet Holme
win thing will be a big three soon. But then
they played ten guys by the first second of the
second quarter every game, and it's like a tough decision. Well,
(22:57):
which good player is not going to get in there?
You know, we got like twelve or thirteen guys with
rotation cowber dudes that matters.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Can the next beat the Celtics.
Speaker 10 (23:09):
I mean can I guess it's hard for me to
kind of figure out the pathway. The Celtics have a
clean injury report now, which is huge obviously with Drew
Holiday missing time last series and Jaylen Brown's been banged up. Porzingis,
(23:29):
you know, the next need Jalden Brunson to be an
absolute superhero and he's dealing with Drew Holliday and Derek
White and a little bit of Jaylen Brown and then
you know Porzingis and Horford and the paint. I don't know.
Maybe call Anthony Towns has a series of his life,
but this would be a massive upset.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Karl Anthony Townes, you mean the greatest shooting big men
of all time?
Speaker 10 (23:54):
Spiks promote self proclaimed greatest shooting big man of all time.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Who is the greatest shooting big man of all time?
Speaker 10 (24:01):
I mean, you know, I'm based in Dallas. There's a
German seven foot fellow by the name of Dirt Novitski
who probably would stay claim of that title. I mean,
I guess you could tell me, well, he was a
power forward, not a big man, but that's the guy
who revolutionized the league as a seven footer who was
bombing away. And that's the dude who's six all time
on the score and the list gave him the.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Nod best shooting center of all time.
Speaker 10 (24:26):
Now Cat has a claim there, He has a real
claim there.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Now you know the knock there would be.
Speaker 10 (24:35):
Yeah, but he's had his most playoff success when they
had to pair him with another big man because he's
not a defensive anchor. And nobody ever accused Dirk of
being a defensive anchor either.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
He was an anchor. He was being weighed down. He
had an anchor on his back there. But you know,
we were talking about this when you talk about players
who had a signature move that changed the game or
a style like Dirk changed the game for all big men.
Steph with his ability to shoot threes, Harden to a
(25:10):
certain degree, with his.
Speaker 10 (25:12):
To one hundred percent degree. Okay, well now that step back,
that step back changed the game for sure. And what
Luca has done with that that started with Harden one
hundred percent, Like Harden was launching more step back threes
than like the rest of the league combined. Early on
(25:32):
during that that Houston run and the step back three
became a common weapon because of Harden, just like that
one legged fadeaway became a common weapon because of Dirk,
so Harden absolutely gets credit for the step back revolution.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Now does Sharunus Marshall onas or who gets credit for
the euro step?
Speaker 10 (25:54):
I would say is most commonly associated with Genobili, and
Genoba's the guy who took it to the next level,
which is always fun to me. I know he played
in Europe, but he's not European, so but no, Genobli
is the one who that became a move that's in
everybody's bag because Genobili had so much success with it.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
But it's okay, out of all those moves, what move
is used more by more players more often? Is it
the eurostep?
Speaker 10 (26:26):
Yeah, it's probably got to beat the eurostep. I think
every every ballhandler has the eurostep. And you know, it's
become a thing where there's so many different variations of
it now and now there's the deceleration where these guys,
I mean, it's really some of the balance is amazing,
where these guys are like balancing on one foot and
(26:48):
just letting traffic pass by, or you know, I mean,
so it just it gets added on more and more
and more and more every year. But yeah, the Eurostep.
I will go Eurostep probably the one lager after that,
because it's not just the big man, like I mean,
Durant has it, Lebron has it. You know a bunch
of these, you know, bigger wings and guards had that
(27:12):
as well as the big man. And then you know
the step back three And I would say you could
argue the step back three is maybe the most abused
move of those because there are definitely people who are
taking step back threees. You're like, yeah, maybe maybe we
should just move the ball there.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Have fun. We appreciate you joining us, Tim, Thank you
all right, appreciate you having me, Tim McMahon.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
NBA College Basketball Analyst played fourteen seasons in the NBA.
He was there for the call the Clippers and the
Nuggets and Jim Joints is on the program. First big
concert you ever went to.
Speaker 5 (27:58):
Oh Man back in the day was from Toledo, so
I thinkured it was a place we used to go
to called the Sports Arena and it was ll Cuja
run dmc okay, yeah, yeah, that was it.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Did you ever meet those guys once you became famous?
Speaker 5 (28:17):
Yes, okay, L L run dmc jed message when I
was old. Yeah, when I got to the league, I
got a chance to run across his back.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
You know. The funny part is Dan back in the nineties.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
Now, I came in the league in ninety two. That's
when hip hop was just turning the corner from the
late eighties to nineties. So and I used to be
in New York and LA a lot, so we would
run into We would all be kind of at the
same kind of places, whether that's restaurants or nightclubs or
event or whatever. So it was it was funny because
(28:50):
back then it was just they were big. They were big,
don't get me wrong, but you know, you didn't have
the social media and everything like that, and hip hop
was just starting to take off. So I got a
chance to meet a lot of the early hip hop artists, actresses, actors,
uh uh, things like that back in the day that
we see now that are older, of course, but during
(29:12):
that time and it was it was a different time period.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Did you ever flirt during a game?
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Of course, to who I'm not telling you that.
Speaker 10 (29:22):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Because some limitations is all.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I'm old.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I forgot like Hallie Barry, did you I've never.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
Seen Hollie at a game. I went to a Janet show.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Did you flirt with Janet Jackson?
Speaker 3 (29:37):
She never was at it? Well, no, she was at
a game.
Speaker 10 (29:40):
Hey.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
Actually, I tell you the truth. One year her concerts
concert tour. Uh it was? It was it velvet rope.
I figure it was. I saw it three times Dallas, Detroit,
and I was at the close out show in New York.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
If Janet Jackson said, would you get fifty for me? Jimmy,
what points would would?
Speaker 3 (30:07):
You wouldn't try to get no.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
No, no, Wait for Janet Jackson, you wouldn't.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
No, no, no, no no. I would try to get
fifty for myself. Oh and then she could witness it.
But no, not for her. That three that'll throw your game. O, Dan,
you're trying too hard.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I try to you get your teammates looking at you
like you're crazy. Man.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
All right, you saw up close and personal Clippers vow
out and the James Harden question. What happens to him
in these big games?
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Man?
Speaker 5 (30:41):
It's it's a tough one because I'm really close to.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
The situation because I covered the Clippers all year.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
And this this year, Jane, I just thought this was
with everything coming together, Kawhi coming back, James basically manning
the ship the entire year until I mean, you know
to the games where Kawahi came back along with you
feature Zuba to improve. He mentally was up for you know,
(31:06):
most Improved Player of the Year, then Norman Norman Pole,
who was up for six Men of the Year. And
going into this series, I knew Denver was gonna be
tough just because and despite firing Michael Malone, they were
just connected a little bit different.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
They've been playing not.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
As well go down the stretch of the season, but
they just it was just something about him. And James
was up and down in this series. When he was good,
he was good. When he wasn't, He wasn't when he
was engaged early, like in Game six he was a
difference maker. In Game seven, that same engagement just wasn't there.
(31:44):
And a lot of what happens with the Clippers is
based around the temperament of James and when I mean
his body language, when he's really aggressive offensively, the team
tends to follow that. I thought the first quarter was great.
I thought, okay, I said, okay, we got something here
Game seven in Denver, but too many mental errors and
(32:05):
mistakes limited to that and James never found his rhythm.
And I thought, this year, Dan, if any, this is
when he could have quieted a lot of that noise
about lack of playoff success, especially in game seven, because
with Dan, James didn't have to go score twenty five
(32:25):
to thirty points. But if he gives you eighteen with
tennis sists, twelve assistant he's controlling temple and he's getting
guys the ball, and he's actively being defensive minded, then
a lot of that narrative and out of that noise,
a lot of that chirping.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
A lot of people now.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
Say, well, James has done a great job leading the Clippers,
but that didn't happen, and as a result, a team
that I thought could get to the Western Conference finals,
you know, lost to a great team with the Nuggets.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Would you rather have James Harden's career? Russell westbrooks.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Oh oh. I think both are gonna be Hall of famers.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
First balance, both are.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Going to have asterisk by it.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
Russ still has a chance right now because whatever Denver does,
it's going to be on his record, you know. So
if they do something special, I say, that's a great question, Dan,
because both have accomplished so much.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Where there's MVPs, where there's.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
Scoring titles with James, you know, triple double crowns for Russell.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Man.
Speaker 5 (33:46):
I don't know, that's it. That's a good one right there, Dan,
I don't know. I would really have to dig into it,
but off hand I would say, I would say, James.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Watching the Nuggets and I was curious how they respond,
you know, firing Michael Malone. Yeah, but you're saying you
see a different team now then maybe we saw at
the end of the year or you know when he
got fired. What kind of chance do you give them
against OKC?
Speaker 3 (34:19):
So I'll give them a great chance now. But here's
the difference.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
It's okay, see, I mean they're coming off a tough turnaround.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
You just played Saturday and.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
Now you gotta go to an Okay, see who's been
sitting for It's not it feels like two weeks now
like they's been sitting out.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
But that's a tough turnaround, Okay.
Speaker 5 (34:38):
The thing about it is leadership, a voice when things
go left Yoki's just stepped up in that manner, and
I saw a lot of that in our series. Despite
Adamman not having the experience on the bench, you got
it on the court where Aaron Gordon, Christian Brown has
been there, h Jamal Murray and Jokis. Of course they've
(35:02):
been there. They've been in those dog fights, so you
lean into that a little bit more. They're gonna have
to lean in that, into that and the tough Okac
team defensively, Who're gonna take a lot away because the
thing about beating Denver is this Jokis beat you and
he gets forty points, Okay, but he beats you when
he's spraying the ball around and you're helping and Christal
(35:23):
Brown is going back door and he's throwing the lot
to Aaron Gordon. I think okay See is disciplined enough
that they can play one on one with Jokic, stay
at home with the other players, and just force Jokis
to have to beat them one on one. And I
think that's the key advantage that Denver has. I mean
the Nuggets have because they get throw so many bodies
(35:45):
at those other guys.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Talking to Jim Jackson, Fox Turner, NBA college basketball analyst.
He was on the call for the Clippers and the Nuggets.
If you look at top five players in the NBA
right now, who would you say they are? I was
going to ask you, I'm the host.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Uh, I'll try to put it back on you dead.
I wanted to see what what you gonna say?
Speaker 2 (36:10):
I'm the captain now, okay, all right, all right? So
who's your top five?
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Top five?
Speaker 5 (36:17):
Steph Jokic, Steph Jokich, Giannis s g A, s g
A because those sort of m VP. I think SGA
ends up winning it this year.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
So you think Steph's a top five player?
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Yeah, I still think he is.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
You would take him over Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
Now put Anthony Edwards right, I mean right now? Yeah,
if I'm picking my five, I'm picking those five right there.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Okay, So Joker, s g A, Steph Jannis and Anthony Edwards,
Anthony Edwards, Jason Tatum doesn't make it in Huh.
Speaker 5 (36:57):
He's right, he's right there. I mean again, it's not
a slight on anybody.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
But that he's like.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
Jason.
Speaker 5 (37:06):
I think Jason is like Steth, like all of those guys.
I think have something that they do great. Jason doesn't
have anything he does great, but he's a great player.
He does so many things well. He can shoot it,
he can post up, he can defend, he can rebound.
(37:27):
Steph has something, you know what I mean, that's different.
Jokis has something that's different. Sga has something that's different,
and so does Anthony Edwards. But you look at Jason
the totality in which he plays. I love to have
him on my team. That would be because he can
do a little bit of everything. It's not that he
has one quality that stands out amongst above everything else,
(37:51):
but he's so good at what he does. I think
a lot of people take it for granted. I really do,
because you look at the face of the league and
things of that nature, Jason Tatum name comes up.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
But if you're talking about actually.
Speaker 5 (38:01):
Winning and playing the game, he does it as well
as anybody. So that's not a slight to me on
Jason Tatum of not being in the top five.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
But Luca's not in your top five, No, what happened?
He never was. Luca was never a top final players fan.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
No, No, I think Luca and I give Steph this
and that.
Speaker 5 (38:24):
Teeter with that fifth one, because you got Steph, you
got Luca, you got Jason Tatum.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
You can flip fop those three all day long and
I wouldn't be mad. And I love.
Speaker 5 (38:32):
Luca, but I went back and looked at some film
of Luca when he first got in the league, and
how slim Luca was, and how quick his first step was,
how dedicated he was to getting well. But he's a
dedicated player, but his defensive level has dropped off, and
that hurts because he compromises. And I'm not saying nothing.
Steve Nash wasn't a great defensive player. Steph is not
(38:55):
a great defensive player. But they did give the effort.
They did give the effort. Now you can have you
can go through examples of every player and pull out
film of them getting beat defensively. Okay, especially when you're
Steph or Luca, Steve Nash, guys like that.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
You can always do that.
Speaker 5 (39:15):
But the latter two gave the effort a lot more
and a lot of times. That's the deterrent with Luca
is that if you saw that series in Minnesota, they
went after, they made sure they put him in actions.
They did that with Steph, they did it with Steve.
But at least they gave that consistent effort to try
to play, to try to get over a pick and roll,
(39:37):
to try to get back in front of their guy.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
A lot of times. Luca, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (39:41):
Maybe he's preserving a lot of that energy for the
offensive end and not being in tip top shape because
if he does that, Dan, it's unbelievable. If he gets
back to if he drops ten to fifteen pounds and
gets back to that and dedicates himself with a little
bit more at a little bit more on the defensive end,
(40:02):
I mean, it's unbelievable what he can do in the court.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
How long before we have a guy making one hundred
million in a season.
Speaker 5 (40:09):
Well, part of that, I mean, part of the decision
with I think the Mavericks dead was that three hundred
and fifty million by five years they weren't willing to pay,
you know, to Luca, we're getting close. Wimby maybe that guy,
because Wemby goes through his rookie deal, signs a extension
(40:34):
and then plays a couple of years of that and
then boom, if he's Winby, like we think, I think
he'll be that guy that gets a hundred million, because
where he's tracking right now, if he gets to that point.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
How do you think crowds are going to react when
somebody's making a hundred million and they're in street clothes?
Speaker 5 (40:58):
It will be flat out anarchy. I mean, now, how
how is he in street cloths? Is he always in
street clothes?
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Well, load management, Let's just say it's loading management, you know,
because used to be you guys took great pride in
trying to play it.
Speaker 5 (41:12):
Every game we did, you did and guys wanted to play.
And I'm not saying guys, listen, I'll tell you what
we're talking about. James Harden, right, this dude want to
who No matter what you want to say about James Harden,
he wants to play a lot of guys in the
league want to put it now, you again, you're talking
about the top one percent of the league that we're
talking about here that are in street clothes that people
(41:34):
are going to be upset about. They're not going to
be upset if Rudy Gobert is in the street clothes,
or you know, if it's Kristan Brown.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I mean, seriously, but we're talking about the lead of
the league. Now.
Speaker 5 (41:45):
The NBA just signed this big TV deal. You got
now Amazon coming on board, you got NBC, maybe Netflix,
you got still the ESPNS. So the product is dependent
upon the superstars playing. But how do you enforce that
because to the detriment of the league in some aspects,
with the analytics and the teams, they dictate more than
(42:07):
anything who plays, how and when, and how many games
and minutes and sits out. So a coach a lot
of times and or a player doesn't have full control
of that situation. And that's the troubling part of it
because the product is dependent upon the superstars playing. At
(42:31):
the end of the day, as you know, I don't
care what sport it is. And the beauty about football
is you got sixteen eighteen games. Each one matters, right,
those superstars are out there playing, so you got a
finite time period to watch them play, and they got
to play in order to get to a super Bowl.
They got to be out there. And if they're injured,
(42:53):
they can play. If they're hurt, they're not. That's the difference,
and it's hurt the product. I think in a lot
of aspects. Know where you're going with that question, and
it would be somebody out there now a guy like Wenby.
I think like Giannis, who loves to play. I don't
think fits in that category because they just want to
get out there and play.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
I can't imagine pat Riley saying the magic I'm gonna
have you sit, or Phil Jackson saying to Michael, Hey,
I'm gonna have you sit, or you know, Tommy Heinzen
telling Larry Murdy, You're gonna have to sit. I just
I can't envision.
Speaker 5 (43:28):
Phil Jackson telling that to Kobe Yeah, are you kidding me?
But just what I try to understand.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
But it's part of Pop's legacy that Papovich had no
problem telling his stars I'm gonna rest you.
Speaker 5 (43:42):
But it wasn't but it was see at the time,
it felt bad because it was new, but it wasn't
as much as it was strategical when he did it,
especially when it got later in the year getting ready
for the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
He knew his position.
Speaker 5 (43:57):
He knew that, okay, maybe we were not the number
one seed, but we're good enough that in that first
round series, we get the game on the road, we
got home court advantage. That's what he used it for
in my viewpoint, my opinion, But at the time that
he did it. It was so new and he was
so honest, but why he was doing it just shocked everybody.
(44:20):
But you think about this, Dan, it's and and my
son is thirty two and I grew up you know,
AAU side and social media with him. You got to
meet these young men and women where they're at. What
they know is what they know that's in front of them,
how I played eighty two games in the nineties and
rough and they understand it, they saw it, but they
(44:42):
don't have a reality of it because their reality is
what they see now. So I got to meet them
where they're at and talk to them in that bas
and my expectations are not limited, but I can't expect
them what they're seeing when see. The problem is it's
okay for a lot of guys that when they say
(45:04):
you don't have to play, they're fine with it. They're
fine with it. And that is a problem. And how
do you change that with a generation that has grown
up seeing that and knowing.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
That it's okay to miss games.
Speaker 5 (45:21):
When I was coming in, it wasn't okay one because
you're worried about one losing that position in that spot,
you know, and the perception wise that you I think
we took At that time it was a pride thing
to see how many, how close you could get to
play an eighty two games.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
That was a badge of honor.
Speaker 5 (45:41):
But a lot of the participants today don't look at
it like that.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
It's how good I can be in what number of games?
Speaker 5 (45:50):
And that's it now and that But that's not all
Anthony Edwards wants to play. I mean you can't. You
got to rip him off the court. So you know,
it goes both ways. And it'll be interesting to see
with this new crop of young players that are going
to lead the league. She Alexander he loves to play, okay,
(46:11):
that they want to be out there on the court,
and if it adjusts a little bit more. And I
hate the conversation too about why should we have to
peel back and shorten the season. I mean, you can't
do it anyway because the TV is too much money.
Those eighty two games matter. You take off ten, that's
that's money lost, millions and millions of dollars lost. That's
(46:33):
not gonna happen. Well, you don't think they get rid
of All Star Game and all of that is money.
It's tied into your TV contract. Why you think they're
adding into you know the play ad and you know
the postseason because it's part of TV, so you can't.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
You're not going to shorten the season.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
Always great to connect with you have fun in the offseason.
Thanks for joining us. You got a captain that is
Jim Jackson.
Hosts And Creators
Todd "Fritzy" Fritz
Dan Patrick
Patrick "Seton" O'Connor
Paul Pabst
Marvin Prince
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