Nick Wright breaks down the Oklahoma City Thunder blowing out the Minnesota Timberwolves and what to expect out of them in the NBA Finals. Then, Nick discusses the Eastern Conference Finals and if there is any hope left for the New York Knicks to come back from down 3-1 vs. the Indiana Pacers. Later, Nick recaps Club Superstar and the process behind the exclusive list. Finally, as always, Nick and Damonza answer your questions. #Volume
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Wright Episode three thirty five,
As we have one half of the NBA Final set.
We did Tuesday's show as if that half of the
Finals was already set after Oklahoma City escaped in Game
four against Minnesota because we thought Game five might go
(00:21):
the exact way it did. We will get to that.
We will also get to Demanse. I mean, I don't
want to step on something. You're going to be asking
me in a moment, but Rick Richard Jefferson, Oh, Demonse's
not locked in right now. We have technical difficulties. If
you can hear me, great, If not, I'll just talk
to myself. The Richard Jefferson, I mean American hero getting
(00:48):
the what my take of the year name dropped during
a Conference finals broadcast. More on that in a moment.
First we'll get to what missed the cut? Demanse. Back
in it, I thought Demons was just uninterested in what
I was saying. Turns out he was. Look he was
texting furiously trying to get his audio working. But what
(01:10):
missed the cut? Today College Football twenty six cover has
been revealed. The Bears want Caleb to fix his body language.
That's a fair critique and somebody want a cheese rolling contest.
This is put that in the bucket of stories. The
producers wish I was interested in speaking. By the way,
he started to do this on the cheese rolling stuff,
(01:30):
I understand people are into it. I'm not into it.
I understand other people are into it. I should have
asked you guys this beforehand. Let me try this on
my own, on your guys in and on for our
people watching live on YouTube. And by the way, like great,
subscribe review there we go. For some reason, my return
was all fuzzy, but now it looks fine to me. Yeah,
(01:52):
subscribe on YouTube. I don't know. Are we up to
two hundred and ten thousand yet? We gotta be close.
I'm gonna I'm gonna check right now, we're doing it.
Subscribe on iTunes Spotify two hundred and seven thousand and change,
So that's good. I don't know when two fifty can
be expected. We'd love to get there by I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Thanksgivings, Oh, Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I was gonna say Thanksgiving. Yeah, No, maybe you're right.
I'm just shooting. I'm just giving a you know, a
request out there. But let's get to an utterly and
thoroughly dominant game, which is, by the way, what the
thunder have been doing at home this entire postseason, which
(02:38):
was another thing we discussed on Tuesday. Demons go ahead.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, I just want to apologize for being childish and
asking if Minnesota could have potentially came back playing around
with that question.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Is obvious that that was not possible.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Alsten, Oklahoma City dominated Minnesota last night. The defense was humming.
All of OKC stars were looking good. I want to
talk about the probability of this being a dynasty. You
think they should hold the brakes on it or is
ODC gutting for here? Historically?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Well, listen, they are four wins away Demons from one
of the single greatest seasons in NBA history. Like that
part is that has to be There's two real metrics
for two hard metrics for how good your seat, like
(03:33):
how good your season was, and then some softer metrics.
But the first one is how many games did you win?
What was your record? And they have now become the
fourth team ever to enter the finals with eighty victories.
And now when we go long to long term history,
(03:55):
you got to recognize that the playoffs have expanded a
bit and changed but a shorthand. You know, the ninety
six Bulls who won seventy two regular season games did it.
The ninety seven Bulls who won sixty nine regular season
games did it. And the seventy three win Warriors who
(04:17):
won seventy three regular season games but did not win
the championship. They all did it. They all got to
eighty wins before the start of the NBA Finals. So
check off that box. As far as you know, that's
really a regular season stat. It means how many regular
season wins did you get, But we already knew sixty
(04:39):
eight wins. The list of teams to win more than
sixty eight games in a single season are those two
seventy the seventy two win Balls, the sixty nine win
Balls that I mentioned, the seventy three win war and
(05:00):
then one other team, the sixty nine Lakers that they
went on to win the championship. That's every team that
won more regular season games than these thunder The teams
to win sixty eight games are also at least well,
one of them is an all time team. The other
(05:23):
one came up short to the Knicks in the conference finals.
You have the eighty three Sixers, who I'm sorry, not
the eighty three sixers, the sixty seven sixers, the eighty
three sixers that were. I put them there because I
think they're one of the greatest teams ever, the faux
Fox Fox Sixers, but that was not they were not
(05:45):
the dominant regular season team. These teams were. And then
the seventy three Celtics, which came up short, and then
this thunder team. If we lower the threshold to sixty
seven wins, then it gets a little fuzzier because you
have some great teams and some not so great teams.
Sixty seven wins, the eighty six Celtics in the short
(06:08):
on the short list of greatest team of all time, Like,
that's pretty undeniable that you've got to at least include
them when you are discussing who are the greatest teams
of all time? The eighty six Celtics have to be
on that list. The ninety two Bowls, who I actually
think might be maybe the best of the Bulls teams
(06:34):
that finished off the first three peat. There's at least
an argument there. The two thousand Lakers, the first championship
with Shaq and Kobe, the twenty fifteen Warriors, which is
the first championship with Steph, the twenty seventeen Warriors, the
(06:57):
first championship with Stephan Durant, and then a couple teams.
One that gets kind of is a punchline, and the
other is an all time great team that ran up
against another all time great team. The punchline is the
seven MAVs who lost in round one after winning sixty
(07:18):
seven games. For that we believe Warriors, and the other
one is the twenty sixteen Spurs who just happened to
be it. I mean that team was unbelievable. They got
clipped in round two by the twenty sixteen Thunder who
then ran into the twenty sixteen Warriors, who then ran
(07:40):
into Pekee Lebron James. But so to do this quickly,
teams to win sixty seven plus you have first year
Steph won a title, first year Stephan kd won a
title together, you have the first year Shaq and Kobe
(08:02):
won a title. You have Jordan's Bulls the third time
they won a title, and the best Celtics team of
all time, the eighty six Celtics. Those are the sixty
seven win teams plus the two with that I just
mentioned that didn't win the title. The sixty eight win
teams are this year's Thunder, and then you add to
(08:22):
it the seventy three Celtics not you know, at a
disappointing playoffs, and then sixty seven six Ers with Wilt
won the title, and then sixty nine win teams Jordan's
Bowls the fifth championship, the Laker team that had the
thirty three game winning streak in seventy two, the ninety
(08:44):
six Bulls won seventy two, and then the Warriors the
seventy three win Warriors. So that's the company they keep.
So there's one kind of hard piece of data, how
many games did you win? The other one is were
you blowing people out? And teams that finished the year
(09:07):
with a ten plus point differential. It is last year's Celtics,
and then the eight Celtics, Kareem's Bucks in seventy one,
the Durant first year Durant Warriors, that other Warriors team
(09:28):
the first year they won the title, the Bowls a
couple times, and the Lakers in seventy two. The Thunder
beaten teams this year by almost thirteen points per game,
so they check both of the hard metric boxes. You
(09:49):
then add the kind of softer factors. How good was
the league in that time? I think the league's as
talented as it's ever been. What was their path to
the finals and to a championship? That one probably cuts
against them a bit. They are not going through legendary
(10:12):
opponents en route, and they won't face a legendary opponent
in the finals. They did, however, go through a legendary
player in Joker, and that was a classic seven game series.
Another kind of soft factor. Did they have an all
time player on their team all time? I don't know yet,
(10:35):
but the guy who had the best season this year
and Shae, Yeah they did. I mean, Shay was unbelievable
in the regular season, has been almost as good in
the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Would not have would not have an all time player
make it a better feat.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
It might make it more impressive, but it's hard to argue.
When you're talking about the best single seasons in NBA history.
It's and I left out some of the sixty six
win teams, and some of the best teams ever were
sixty six win teams. Lebron's Heat that had the twenty
seven game winning streak I mentioned earlier the eight Celtics,
(11:16):
which were awesome. Those were the margin of victories. I
mentioned Kareem's bucks that you know there are some a
couple Lakers teams, one with Magic, one with Kobe. Oh
those were sixty five, not sixty six, but it would
make it more impressive. Maybe demands. But when we're talking
about who the greatest teams of all time are, and
(11:36):
if we're trying to do the hypothetical if they were
to match up against each other, right right, you want
to be able to say our guy can at least
kind of look eye to eye with your guy. And
if your guy is peak Wilt Chamberlain or peak Michael Jordan,
or peak Larry Bird, and my guy is Chauncey Billers
(12:04):
and again, and I'm just picking a team that won
the title, even though they're not in the all time
team discussion. That's gonna be a harder argument to make.
Shay is making an argument that he's building an all
time resume. It's a weird one because of how he
started and it was a slow progression, but he's just
gotten better and better and better every single year. So
(12:27):
I am okay with saying this is an all time
single season. I am not okay with saying this is
an all time team because what the other all time
teams had was stacked accomplishments, you know, multiple finals, appearances,
(12:48):
multiple championships, and the teams kind of bleed together. But
single season it's that. But that thing gets us to
the point you were making. And I understand Pacer fans maybe,
or Nick fans even, or like, my god, you're acting
like they won the championship yesterday, And to that I
(13:09):
would say, no, I'm not. I actually acted like they
won the championship on Monday night, because to me, they
did that was the end of the competitive portion of
this year's NBA season. And that's not to say the
Pacers are the Knicks can't beat them in a game.
But when a team has home court and that team
(13:32):
beats people in the playoffs at home by fifty one, nineteen,
forty three, seven, thirty two, twenty six, fifteen, and thirty
(13:53):
with one loss coming on a buzzer beater, they're gonna
win the championship when they also are a team that
can if it were to happen. Demon's deal with injury
better than any other team, and now they can't deal
with an injury to Shay, But nobody can lose their
(14:14):
best player. They could, but they they could lose j
Dub or Chet and still win the championship. No much
less lose what I mean, go ahead?
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Oh no, yeah, I don't know. I feel like Chet
is such a presence. Chet losing Check probably put them.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Oh, I think it would change them, but I wouldn't.
Like I wouldn't write them off any of these other
teams if they lost one of their three best guys,
you would basically just write them off. You couldn't do
it with this team because of how deep they are.
So I have and I'm not trying to give myself
(14:56):
credit here, I am trying to reminded the audience. I
guess I was not one of the loud Thunder skeptics. Now.
I didn't pick them to win the championship because I
thought the Lakers could beat them. After I saw the
Lakers beat them in a game the Thunder wanted, and
then the Lakers play them to a tie until Luca
(15:18):
got kicked out, and I was like, Okay, I think
the Lakers are the one team that can give them
real problems. Maybe Boston. But I thought the Thunder were
a legitimate championship caliber team all year, and the moment
the Lakers went out, I said, I think they're going
to win the title. With all that said, I think
(15:40):
the dynasty talk is so silly, and I understand folks
argument is they are set up so well. And I
will just make the point that I made on Tuesday again.
We think think every team almost is set up so
(16:02):
well when they're in the midst of winning, and to
which some people will reply, yeah, but those teams weren't
as young. That's true that the Bucks in twenty twenty one,
or the Nuggets in twenty twenty three, or even the
Celtics last year weren't as young. However, with the Bucks
(16:24):
and the Nuggets, we did feel like their best player
was in already in once they won the title, the
historically great conversation, and Shay isn't quite in that yet.
Like we thought, yes, this Thunder team's younger, but we
(16:45):
thought that Giannis and Joker in that moment were a
tick above where Shay is in this moment. And the
other argument people are going to make is yes, but
the nugget it's for the Thunder, it's all that draft
capital that they have, and that is true, but it's
(17:08):
also a little misleading. So the Thunder's draft capital is
more quantity than quality. So I'm going to go through
it just too. And this is courtesy of real GM
(17:31):
to remind people what they have, because what you're going
to see is it's a ton of stuff, and it's
a ton of stuff that theoretically they could use in trades.
But it's not like, oh man, that could be the
third pick of the draft. Okay, so this year they
(17:52):
have the fifteenth pick for Miami and the twenty fourth
pick from the Clippers. At least I think fact check
me in the because I don't have this year's pulled up.
Fact check me in the doc if I'm wrong about
this year. But they the then next year, what they
have They have Houston's pick next season protected one through four,
(18:20):
so Houston. We think Houston's going to be quite good
next year, So a late pick next year, and then
they have I want to make sure I get this right,
the Clippers pick next year. So I think the Clippers
(18:41):
showed us this year that they are going to be
at least a credible team, and so are those are
fine picks, but none of those appear or feel like
those are going to be uh, you know, lottery top
(19:05):
ten picks, right, And then they have Phillies pick next
year potentially, and again they only get two of these,
so these are the best ones they could get Phillies
pick if it falls outside of the top four and
Utah's pick if it falls outside of the top eight.
The moral of the story is next year they are
gonna have a bunch of extra picks, and they all
(19:28):
look like they are not going to be lottery picks
because Utah is the only team on that list that
is likely going to be in the lottery, and Utah
likely is going to be able to keep their pick
because it'll be in the top eight. In twenty twenty seven,
they again they get the Clippers pick, and that's unprotected.
(19:48):
Maybe that could be good maybe, And Denver's pick, which
assuming Joker doesn't retire, is not going to be that good.
And in twenty twenty eight they can swap with Dallas again.
Do we think Dallas, now that they have Cooper Flag
(20:11):
and Anthony Davis is there, that that's going to be
a top five pick. No, And then that's really I
think they have one more Denver pick later. But again,
unless we think Joker is going to retire. So the
point I'm making in a somewhat convoluted fashion is it's
a lot of stuff, but it's not great stuff. Now
(20:35):
the argument there would be demons. Yeah, but they can
package that stuff for a star. And that then gets
to to me the next interesting domino for the Thunder,
which is, yeah, are they going to want to be expensive?
(20:55):
Are they going to want to for the first time
in franchise history, be a big luxury tax butt up
against the APRN type of team. And my answer to
that question is I don't see why they would now.
And you can say, well, they want to chick correct,
(21:18):
they didn't want to pay it then. And you can
be like, well, but now they've won a championship. That
could cut either way. Maybe you would be like, they
want a championship now they just want to win, win, win.
They also want to be like, we want a championship
without having a super expensive team, so why do we
need one? And so it is a different NBA guys,
(21:41):
and it's a different NBA. Also in this regard the
onl like the guys who have reeled off a bunch
are guys who are top ten all time players. The
(22:05):
one guy who is pretty consensus outside of the top
ten who reeled off even two is Isaiah Thomas, and
he's firmly in the top twenty, but outside the top ten.
So Joker would have checked those boxes. Little unlucky some
(22:27):
Jamal Murray's injuries, you know, Jannis could have potentially little unlucky.
Uh didn't have you know, this type of pick bounty though,
to be fair in Milwaukee to make up for some
of those mistakes. And I'm not saying Shay is not Shaye.
I said all year was the MVP. But it is
(22:49):
surprising to me how many people who a month ago
were quite convince the Celtics were about to reel off
a bunch of championships are now convinced the thunder are
about to reel off a bunch of championships. And so
(23:11):
I you know too long, didn't listen all time single
season team. Yes, set up pretty well for the future. Yes,
going to win this championship without a doubt. Yes. Ready
(23:33):
to pencil them in for multiple titles. No, So that's
where I land on Oklahoma City. They will be in
the mix for years to come. But as a lot
of teams can attest in the mix doesn't really buy
you anything in the modern NBA.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
So if they were in the same situation next year,
you'd be a little bit more at it or ready.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
To call it a dynasty. I think, oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
They're back in the finals next year, because that's the
other thing. We haven't had a defending champ make the finals.
We haven't had a defending champ make round three since
the Durant Steph Warriors. Think about that. We haven't had
(24:27):
a defending champ even come close to defending their championship
in seven years. So yeah, if they were Hell, if
they just get back to the conference finals next year,
that'll be noteworthy. We haven't had anybody do.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
It, right, I don't see any reason.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I feel like, Okay, so he's more likely to have
learned their last lesson from breaking up their last Big
three than to straight I don't want to think. I
don't think they're more players on top of.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
It, correct. I don't think are going to break this
crew up between now and next year. My guess is
they run it back. But so did Boston, so did Milwaukee.
You're like, you know what I mean, Like most of
these TEAMSS did exactly that the defense has been great.
All right, what let's do some follow ups here?
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Do you think SGA, JAB and CHET are the best
trio in the league right now?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
It's it's not only demands and I should have probably
prepped this question a little more. It's not only that
I think they're the best trio.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah, I mean, there's really no other trios.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Right, That's the thing, Like, who like the other teams
that would argue they have a trio? I guess the
Calves like it's a it's a trio. Boston is a
duo with really good supporting.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
That's what dat want to throw Derek White in there,
like maybe.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, but yeah, but it's not you know, I mean,
like the Knicks are a duo. The Pacers are, in
my opinion, a duo. Like again, I like their supporting
cast a lot, but to me, the trademark of a trio.
(26:17):
I'm kind of making this up on the fly, but
I just thought of it. It makes sense. It's where
there's a real argument on who the second best guy
is that there could be, you know what I mean
like that some nights it's one like so the the
Bucks win healthy are a duo. Right, and then we
(26:39):
go to the West. The Rockets, I don't even know
if they're a like they have shingoon and a bunch
of really nice complimentary pieces. The Lakers are a duo,
like there is. Austin Reeves is a nice third player,
but we know who their top two guys are.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Say it again, The Maps could end up being a
trio next.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Year because a Cooper flag.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Yeah, but they unless you want to say Kyrie is
getting a little older.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Well, remember Kyrie is going to be out.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Next season at all.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
I didn't know, well, I mean he was out for
next season entirely. Well no, no, no, he's not out for
all of next season. But I mean he tore his
acl you know, at with a month left in this season,
so he's going to be out at least in the beginning.
But the Nuggets are a duo, The Clippers are a duo.
The Warriors are a duo that you know what I mean,
like eies. So there are no It's not only that
(27:39):
the Thunder or the best trio. The Thunder might be
the only trio. And then there's the Calves, who are
really a quartet because of Donovan Garland Mobley and Allen,
but it doesn't quite work. It would appear you know what.
So yeah, they are clearly the best trio.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
In the league.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
The next one, who is okay see rooting for you
think New York or the Pacers?
Speaker 1 (28:08):
H Well, tonight they are definitely rooting for New York
the next two games because what they want is the
to have a huge rest.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
I feel like if I were, if I were okay see,
I'd be rooting for New York to get to the finals.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Tell me why. I just think it'd be an easier matchup.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
I think like I like the Pacers more and I
think they put up more of a fight against ok See.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
You did pick the Pacers to beat the Knicks, didn't you.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Yeah, in the in the last uh our last part
said oh those Pacers and six, Well.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, and you might have sold them short. They might
end up we'll see if they gets the six. So
I think that it's definite. The Thunder would rather the
Knicks win the next two games just so it goes seven.
But I also think you're right. The Pacers are just
(29:10):
they play such a breakneck style. Now that would be
it'd be fun Pacers Thunder. That's the number one offense
against the number one defense. But the other reason the Pacers.
Maybe I should and maybe I should be giving the
Pacers a bigger chance than I'm giving them as I'm
already talking about the Thunder. Is this all time team?
And also maybe it's bad strategy as a podcaster, because
(29:32):
then what what topics am I supposed to do the
days after the Thunder win the championship? I've already done
it is the Pacers don't turn the ball over because
Haliber doesn't turn the ball over. Yeah, and that's where
the Thunder, you know, dominate teams.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
And more liabilities on New York's defense than the Pacers
in my opinion. So it's like, would you as the
offense on Okay, see.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
That there's no question about all right, we should have
probably led with this follow up demanse.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Yeah, so last night you got a shout out on
the broadcast. Richard Jefferson came out and said Nick Wright
said something really smart yesterday about your take of the year.
It's an automatic, it's an automatic review. So how did
you feel about that cloud Chaser?
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Well, first of all, shout out, r J.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Shout out.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
It's like, I mean, little known fact in the first
iteration of first Things First, Richard Jefferson was an in
studio guest a handful of times. Yeah, yeah, I mean
Richard Jefferson used to come in studio with us. I
(30:56):
like him a lot, Yeah, I like him a lot.
But he and I, he and I haven't like talked
in person, probably since before the pandemic, you know, the
I'm not at as when I go to NBA games,
(31:19):
I have tickets, not press passes, so I can't get
down on the floor. And you know, he and I
obviously work for different companies, but I think our Jay
is awesome. And I happen to think the Breen RJ.
Doris Booth has gotten a little too much flack, especially
when and now again it might be for me it's
(31:43):
just a nice respite from the Reggie commentary. But I I.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Like him on the trio him too.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
People are wistful about Van Gundy and Jackson, like but
Van Gundy, Jackson and Breen worked together for so long,
you know what I mean that they had such a
rapport in a chemistry that just takes time to build.
But set that aside. Richard Jefferson bringing to a massive
(32:12):
audience the idea that hey, let guys challenge when they
want to challenge. And I don't think Breen initially totally
understood it, because Breen was.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Like, oh no, I.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
But I think Breen didn't necessarily, I mean, because RJ
couldn't explain it in full in that moment, and then
he tried to explain it a bit. I don't think
he understood that you would still have a limit, your
same limited amount of challenges one wrong or two maximum.
(32:47):
So I think Breen's initial reaction was, Man, we're gonna
be challenging every play, which is why he had such
an allergy to it. But when you again, there's a
sometime it's not often, it's a little often, but it's
not always. I have an idea and I'm like, oh,
(33:10):
this is people are going to immediately respond to this.
Sometimes I think they're going to respond negatively, and sometimes like,
people are going to love this, And it is really gratifying.
In such a uh populated take landscape, where there's so
(33:32):
many people giving so many opinions at all hours of
every day, it's very hard to actually say something no
one is said and so yeah, and so the fact
that I was able to kind of plant my flag
on that and then have RJ publicize it to a
wider audience.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Right, Cloye, absolutely, And I haven't even played our Let
me try to see if I can get our friend
of the pod, Michelle Roberts, to set up a meeting
with me and Commissioner Silver to.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Just pitch a few of these ideas. All right, let's
go to the Minnesota side of things.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
All right, Yeah, So Minnesota they got their butts whipped
last night in the Western Conference Finals for a second
year in a row. Do we think that this is
their ceiling that they need add any pieces? What's going
on here? Can they break through?
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Well? No, I this clearly is this iteration of this
team ceiling, Like that's obvious. But the way they get
to a higher level is ant improofs. And I'm not
putting this series like on ant For as good as
Julius was the first two rounds, he kind of came
(34:48):
crashing back down to earth in the Conference finals, which
is a bummer. And you know, Minnesota already cleaned up
their book looks a bit by trading towns, like the
town's trade was somewhat about shaking the snow globe, But
(35:10):
it was also about getting off that contract. Now they're
in a tricky spot because I think a lot of
people thought Julius Randall was going to opt in to
his thirty one million dollars next year. Was he good
enough in this playoffs that he opts out and looks
(35:30):
for a longer deal, and does Minnesota want to give
that to him? I don't. Nas Reed is definitely opting
out and definitely getting money from somewhere. I think they're
not going to be able to keep both of those guys,
but what they do have, and then also Nikhil Alexander
(35:52):
Walker is also it could heal leave That's a question mark.
But Ant is locked, go Bet is locked, Jaden is locked,
Dante is locked. Conley has got one year left, assuming
he doesn't. I mean, he could retire, but that would
just be him giving up eleven million bucks. Rob Dillingham
(36:14):
their draft pick from this year. You know he'll be back,
and I like Terren Shannon another draft pick. So I
think they are, you know, positioned fine. And I'm not
acting as if Aunt let him down or anything like that.
My point is the way they get to the next
step is their twenty three year old be better in
(36:36):
year twenty four than he was in year twenty three,
and that this is this is a point that I
that I made yesterday on TV, but I want to
make it again here. When Shay was Aunt's age, he
had won zero playoff games. When Yiannis and Jokic were
(37:02):
Ant's age, they had never been to a conference finals.
So it I don't think it's fair to act like
Ants anything other than ahead of schedule. I also think
it would be silly to act like he doesn't for
(37:25):
them to get to the next level. He doesn't need
to improve, but he said as much after now, after
the game, he was like, you know, basically, I'm not
sad about this. You know what was the exact quote
he had? We hold on. I want to I don't
want to get it wrong because it was a very
interesting quote. Ant said, I have it right here. Dusty
(37:47):
put it in our First Thing's First rundown because it's
one of the things we're talking about today. A Aunt
was asked, you know about how much this hurts, and
he said, quote, I don't know why people would think
it would hurt. It's exciting for me. I'm twenty three.
I get to do it a whole bunch of times.
I'm hurt, more so for Mike, Mike Conley, who was
(38:08):
sitting next to him. I came up short for Mike.
We tried last year, we couldn't get it. We tried
again this year. We'll try again next year. But hurt
is a terrible word to use. I'm good. And then
he went on to say I'm gonna work my butt
off this summer. No one's gonna work harder than me
this summer, I'll tell you that much. So that might
be a little like athletic bravado or you know that
(38:31):
Aunt does it, or maybe that really is how he feels.
But the reality is at twenty three, compared to where
his peers were at twenty three, he's ahead of schedule.
The only person, like one of his peers who had
(38:51):
made a conference finals at that age was Luca and
so I So, I don't think Timberwolves fans should be
like crestfallen, like oh, we missed our shot. I do
think that their best path forward is for Ant to
(39:12):
take a leap similar to how Shay did from all
NBA caliber to MVP favorite. And that's a heart that's
a very very very hard leap to take. But that's
the best path forward for them. NBA Finals almost here,
(39:33):
and every play could be the be the one that
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see DKNG dot co slash b ball. By the way,
I want to throw this at you before we get
to Nick. Spacers demand DraftKings obviously as a look aheadline.
If it is Pacers thunder, what do you think that
line is?
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Just on the series to win the series?
Speaker 3 (42:04):
No game one, game one Pacers all right?
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Okay? See minus eight Oh.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
I was going to say I thought you were going
to be far off on this because you were going
to find it disrespectful. You're closer than I thought. OKAYC
minus nine. Yeah, I mean still a little like that's
a that's a big spread for Game one of the finals.
But it speaks the fact that DraftKings been pretty confident
all year long to the thunder of the best team,
(42:34):
and they are they are thus far being proven correct.
All right, let's go to Knicks Pacers.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
So you said on Tuesday you expected New York to
come in and tie up the series. That obviously didn't happen.
The Pacers are up.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Three to one. Now did the Knicks below their best opportunity?
Speaker 1 (42:50):
You think, well, when you look at see this is
where because I the question is for the Knicks to
win the championship, is this the best chance they're going
to have had? And my answer to that question is probably,
(43:14):
like I don't look at this year as like, oh,
it's wide open, because sitting on the other side of
the bracket is a sixty eight win team that is
run rough shot you know, in round one, in round
three and you know Joker gave it, you know, gave
them their best shot in round two. But they really
(43:35):
do look like a team that is the best team
in the league. So I don't look at it as
if you were in the Western Conference in the twenty
the year the what is it the year the Nuggets
(43:55):
won and sitting coming out of the East, and by
the way, I think the Nuggets would have beaten the Celtics.
But this isn't Daniel, I'm not. This is really actually
about Lakers wistfulness. The sitting on the other side of
the bracket is the eight seed Miami Heat. If you're
(44:16):
in the West that you're like, damn, that would have
been a nice year to make the NBA finals, And
so I don't look at it that way. What I
do look at it for the Knicks is doing what
they did against Boston and then not being able to
(44:37):
close the deal and at least get to the finals
is going to feel very painful, but it is noteworthy
that that is how this has gone the last two years.
Looks like we're gonna have three years in a row
(44:57):
where a team executes a pretty shocking upset and I
don't even know if it's shocking, but executes an upset
of the defending champ in round two and then gets
pretty easily dispatched in round three. The Lakers beat the
(45:28):
Warriors in round two when the Warriors were the defending champs,
and then got swept in the conference finals. The Timberwolves
beat the Nuggets in round two and then lost in
five in the conference finals. The Knicks beat the Celtics
(45:48):
in round two and are now down three to one
in the Conference finals. Particularly when it comes to the
Knicks beating the Celtics and the Timberlves beating the nugg
it's you do feel like was there a bit of
an exhale after winning those series and then the other
team jumped out on you. The question for the Knicks
(46:10):
is are they going to simply run this team back
next year? We can discuss that more if and when
their season ends. Well I shouldn't say if. At some
point this season's gonna end, but when their season ends,
the question for me is can they win tonight? And man,
(46:31):
you gotta you gotta think the Knicks at some point
are gonna just play a really good start to finish game.
They haven't done that yet this series. Even the game
they won, they were not really good start to finish.
You also have to think or at least. I would
(46:51):
think that the Knicks that MSG tonight gives and they
haven't been that good at home in these playoffs, gives
them a little boost of energy and with the fans
having been so good for them all year, that they
don't want to go out like that. And so some
(47:12):
of the stuff to me is fixable in that even
after makes you have to get back on defense because
the Pacers are going to try to run, and you
have to take a better do a better job taking
(47:37):
care of the ball, and it is it's really if
you're a Knicks fan, it's been really frustrating to see
how many opportunities they've had in various moments in the series.
(48:02):
There are there's and they sorry I sound a little
distracted though, because we're having slight internet issues, just so
our producers know, there's the there's nobody on the Wi
Fi or anything. There's nothing that there's there's no way
to fix what we're dealing with right now. The the
(48:23):
Knicks have had I know everyone's going to point to
Game one, and Game one was a historic meltdown. Like
we talked about it in the moment, We've never seen
anything like it. But even outside of Game one, we're
yet to see them put four good quarters together. Game two,
(48:45):
they just they did a good job shutting down Halliburton.
They couldn't shut down Siakam at all, and they let
the Pacers jump out after it's close. Throughout, the Knicks
lose concentration or let go of the rope, or the
Pacers are just better for the opening few minutes of
(49:07):
the fourth quarter, and that's how they win Game three,
which which the Knicks do win. The Pacers are dominating
that game. The Knicks don't play well for the first
three quarters, Kat goes crazy and the Knicks steal it.
Game four, the Pacers are in control really the entirety
(49:29):
of that game. And now that the Knicks. For a
moment it was like, oh, man, are the Knicks going
to do to the Pacers in Game four what the
Pacers did the Knicks in Game one? But there's a
reason that had never been done in the NBA history.
It's very very hard to do. The Knicker yet to
put four great quarters together.
Speaker 3 (49:50):
Now and dealing with the Celtics team where the Pacers
are good late in these games.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
It's like that's a good point there.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
Late at the end, the Pacers can take care of business. No,
that's a good difference. They'll shut themselves out of it.
The Pacers will make the right play.
Speaker 1 (50:07):
And the other thing is the Pacers are just going
so fast, so consistently that late in these games they're
used to it and the Knicks aren't. And so I listen,
I'll go down with the ship. I'll pick the Knicks tonight.
And then Game six becomes absolute theater to see if
(50:32):
the Knicks can force a Game seven. But the it
is when you actually demands. As odd as this sounds,
when you actually go back and look at the Knicks
this postseason, there aren't many instances of them playing four
(50:57):
awesome quarters, like the close out game against the Celtics
is the one. But they listen. They blew out the
Pistons in Game one, but they were down going into
the fourth quarter of that game. Their other victories in
that series were by two points, one point, three points
(51:18):
celt There are three wins against the Celtics before Game six.
They were down fifteen in all of them, twenty and
two of them. And so like it has been, we
are seeing little instances of why the Nicks struggled against
the best teams in basketball all year long, and to
(51:41):
your point, they're now playing a team that can match
their clutch late and it hasn't turned out well for him.
I still don't think the Pacers are, you know, gentlemen
sweep better than the Knicks, which is why I think
the Knicks and win tonight. But they certainly have looked
(52:02):
like overall clearly the better team. All right, let's go
to Halliburton.
Speaker 3 (52:08):
Uh yeah, so Halliburton just went god mode the other day.
So he had thirty two, fifteen and twelve with zero turnovers.
Do you believe that he could be the best player
on a championship team.
Speaker 1 (52:21):
In today's NBA?
Speaker 2 (52:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (52:23):
Yeah, I mean, I don't don't take this the wrong way.
I don't think this version of Halliburton is substantially worse
than last year's version of Tatum. Like you know what,
I like, we just saw like the that and see
(52:47):
it right like they're yeah, it was very different. I mean,
they're dlastically different players. But I'm just saying, like when
we're tearing out the players, I don't think this version
of Haliburton is drastically different than the twenty twenty two
(53:09):
version of Steph. I mean they are very different players.
But it's just as far as like caliber, caliber of player. Now, listen,
peak Steph is a totally different animal entirely. But that's
the version of Steph that won the championship in twenty
twenty two is lesser than the you know, peak Steph Curry.
And so in today's NBA we have we have to
(53:34):
adjust for what it takes to win a championship in
the you know what's somebody on Twitter maybe smartly coined
as you know, it's not the Big Three era, it's
not the Superstar era. It's the weak link era, meaning
like do you have can you consistently put out five
(53:55):
quality players, four of which can defend? And that's the
other problem for the Knicks is, and this was the
worry when you traded for Towns is what if your
two best players are both real minus defenders. And Halliburton's
game on what night was that Tuesday night? That was
an all time game. A thirty point triple double with
(54:18):
zero turnovers in the playoffs has had been done one
time ever and it was by Baron Davis, oddly enough,
and it was to put a stranglehold on a series
to go to the finals. And so it's a hurky
jerky game. It's a weird game. The set shot is odd,
(54:41):
but he's awesome and it's you know, it's why he
got a spot in Club Superstar was not that game,
but his awesomeness. And we can get to that now.
Speaker 3 (54:52):
Yeah, so you unveiled your latest rendition of Club Superstar
and he took Donovan. You put hot Donovan, Mitchell in
and Hallean for the first time.
Speaker 2 (55:01):
You took Embiid in ad out. Could you explain to us.
Speaker 3 (55:05):
Your process and how the club management goes about getting
these guys in and out.
Speaker 1 (55:10):
Yeah so all right, so tell me. So, here are
the twelve guys in and we can put the graphic
up Halliburton, Brunson, Joker, Shay Luca, Jannis braun Steph, Donovan,
Durant and Tatum. It's a twelve person max, So if
(55:31):
you want to put someone in, you got to kick
someone out. We took out Embiid because of all the
injury stuff and ad for similar reasons. You might be like, then,
how does Tatum stay in? Tatum has been so consistent
and so durable that you know, one season long injury
(55:51):
does not get him kicked out like his spot is secure. Uh,
you seem to have I mean the heart. His call
was Donovan.
Speaker 2 (56:01):
Donovan Mitchell surprised me.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
Yeah, so who would you? Would you have any of
those guys in over him?
Speaker 2 (56:09):
That's what I was I was trying to think of.
Speaker 3 (56:12):
I mean, yeah, Anthony Davis is the because.
Speaker 1 (56:21):
In line was Wimby, Cade Shingoon and Devin Booker. Wimby
is the obvious next guy in. But he's got to
actually do it, you know what I mean, He's got
to actually earn his way in, and so I I
(56:43):
you know, we did.
Speaker 2 (56:44):
A good job with and all that. Yeah, I understand
how Donovan Mitchell slips in there.
Speaker 1 (56:52):
I'm sorry, can you hear me? Sol dem On say yes,
I've got you. Okay, good, Sorry about that. My I
knocked my AirPod out of my ear. I mean, AD
is a tough one. And the argument against Donovan is,
you know, eight years in the league, in the playoffs
every year, never in round three. It's hard, though, to
use that as an argument to put a DN over him,
(57:15):
because do I think Donovan could have you know, made
a conference finals or an NBA finals alongside Lebron like AD?
Did I do like whenn ad was the guy he
never got passed round one. It's a tricky spot. Donovan
is for a guy who hasn't been deep in the playoffs,
(57:39):
he's not a playoff dropper, Like you know what I mean?
He puts up huge numbers, and Brew raised the question,
do we not have twelve superstars?
Speaker 2 (57:50):
Right? That's the other thing I was kind of but
go ahead.
Speaker 3 (57:53):
It's just like no good team. Was just looking around
at the teams. I'm like, who can get in over
this guy? But it's like it's a little right.
Speaker 1 (58:01):
It's a weird because the league is so deep on
really good players, but maybe a little thin on great
great players. Because the other argument was should Kevin Durant
be out? And my answer to that question is he's
such an iconic player who still plays at a high
(58:22):
enough level. I don't feel comfort He's still twenty seven
a game, you know what, I don't feel comfortable yeah,
taking him out? So to me, those are the twelve
What are your follow ups here?
Speaker 3 (58:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (58:38):
I care to explain how Joki took Lebron's throne.
Speaker 1 (58:43):
That was an editorial choice made by the artist Jack Perkins,
who does a great job. You can followhim on Twitter
at Pure Hoop and listen, I give him the lists,
he makes the picture. I gotta tell you, I wasn't
thrilled with seeing Lebron out of the throne, but I
guess jokers earned it for now. But yeah, that was
(59:07):
not I didn't trust me. I didn't I didn't demand that.
Now I did hear that. I'm okay with Lebron being
moved out of the throne because he's no longer in
the argument for the best player in the league. Mike
pal Simmons yesterday did a top fifteen player pyramid and
didn't have Lebron on that. Now that's an outrage, Like
(59:31):
that's just objectively that. Here's the thing about the Lebron
rankings that is so irritating to me. At times, people
keep prematurely downgrading him because of his age when we
just saw it. He just finished sixth in MVP voting, sixth.
(59:52):
He just finished firmly second team All NBA. So why,
all of of a sudden, is he not one of
the fifteen best players in the league. Like you, the
Lebron is anywhere you you could fairly argue for Lebron
(01:00:13):
to be as high as fifth and as low as
tenth best player in the league. But that's it. And
the what is frustrating to me about Bill's ranking specifically,
is the he still has Steph Curry as like the
(01:00:36):
seventh best guy. There's no there's there's no way to
look at this NBA season and say Steph was better
than Lebron, not by stats, not by team record, not
by individual accolades, not by any of it. Now you
can say his team made it one round further in
the playoffs, so be it that that part is true,
(01:00:57):
But that's it was that, but that team also was
and be like, well, how much of Lebron's team success
this year was because they traded for Luca. STEP's team
was sub five hundred when they traded for Jimmy Like,
that's a weird one for me. But set that aside.
Lebron obviously still superstar. Steph's obviously still a superstar. And
(01:01:19):
that's you know, that's where we're at all, right.
Speaker 3 (01:01:22):
Next, do you think that Halliburton still would you have
still given him a spot if he would have lost
in round one?
Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
No? Now, I submitted this list before round one was over.
I submitted this list. I took a screenshot of it
yesterday to send to Gianna of when I submitted this list.
I submitted this list May seventh. So let's see where
we were in the playoffs on May seventh. I've got
(01:01:54):
to I can pull that up quickly. So when I
submitted this list, we were the games that had just
been played. Is the Pacers had just taken a two
to zero lead on the Caves. Oh, so that's interesting.
I didn't even realize that I submitted this list the
(01:02:18):
morning after Halliburton executed that insane comeback on the Calves.
And so maybe I, you know, maybe I was kind
of in the afterglow of that. But he's proven me
right by his performances throughout. And the other thing is
so no losing in round one. No, but had they
(01:02:41):
ended up losing in round two, I would have still
been comfortable with it. All right, go some more follow
ups here before.
Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
So Wimby, it sounded like you had said, you said,
Wimby's got to do. It isn't intentional him being walking
inside of the club, Well.
Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
It seems inevitable, but he's not in yet. It's the
second straight year he's been trying to walk in. He's
not in yet. And I also the other thing I
could have done, Demons is put Paolo in line. The
Pallo to me is he's on the same par on
(01:03:16):
par with Shingoon, So I could have put Polo in line.
We just didn't. All right, let's let's do the NFL
stuff another day. I'm just not into it today. I'm
still in basketball mode. And I'll be honest with you,
I'm not just in basketball mode. I know, I talked
about it on the Pot on Tuesday. I think I'm
(01:03:37):
also really, really in poker mode. I am so incredibly
excited for the World Series of Poker. I am the
studying in the way I study, which is not like
study solvers and stuff, because I'm playing mixed games, but
by watching old tournaments and listening to the commentary and
(01:04:00):
seeing how guys play different spots. I am we have
a you know, I've got my room set, I've got
the app verified. I am. I'm so excited about go
about going to this tournament or going to these tournaments.
(01:04:20):
And so I my work brain right now is occupied
by the NBA. My personal brain is oper is occupied
by poker stuff and uh the like the NFL OTAs
we'll talk about it someone on the TV show. But
I'm not I'm not dialed in on that right now.
(01:04:42):
If I'm being totally honest, reminder of the audience, like
rate subscribe review to the pod. Let's have some of
the audience members who are watching us live. They have
some questions. Let's go ahead and get to them.
Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
Uh, Producers.
Speaker 3 (01:04:56):
After Demandsay said he thought James Dolan was Brew, Bruce
said on TV that he thought Bryce Young was Demonse.
Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
Is there beef Brewing?
Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
No, there's no beef. How did that happen? Do you
remember this?
Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
I think it was you guys were in New Orleans.
You guys were in New Orleans and you were talking
to Brew. No, Brew was talking to Bryce Young. Oh
he walked by him or something like that.
Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
He came up to you and it was like, I
didn't know Demond was here.
Speaker 3 (01:05:25):
It's is crazy because I've seen him in person before,
and like Bryce Young.
Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
Is I feel like he's like six.
Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
Six, maybe seven or eight inches shorter than you. Yeah,
the no, that's all true. If you guys do have
a similar look.
Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
On the virus style and the hair, facial air, skin tone.
Speaker 1 (01:05:47):
But yeah, but that part is true. All right, let's
keep going.
Speaker 3 (01:05:52):
Kyle says, Hey, Nick, is the reason you don't call
out Brunson's defense more aggressively because you're a donegice guy.
Speaker 1 (01:05:59):
No, So I I think that at times we can
be misleading, we can be disingenuous. I guess on how
much we what's the right way to put it? Team
(01:06:25):
defense is incredibly important to winning a championship, however, and
individual players overall impact on your team for stars is
so much more heavily influenced by how impactful they are offensively.
(01:06:45):
It is why there is the All NBA Team and
then separately the All Defense team, because there are guys
who might be first team All Defense who don't have
a shot at being on the All NBA team. And
so I it's not Jalen Brunson is obviously a minus defender.
(01:07:08):
It is in my opinion, and that does put a
ceiling on where he can be in the overall hierarchy
of the league. But it is the team and the
coaches job to figure out how to make do with
the fact that our superstar is a minus defender. And
it's just I don't think it's for lack of effort,
for Jalen Brunson. He's just not big enough and not
(01:07:30):
the athlete that he would need to be the All right,
let's go on to the next one.
Speaker 3 (01:07:36):
Platonic Zombie. F YI, you forgot the Suns with the
trio discussion.
Speaker 1 (01:07:42):
I assume that's a joke. I mean the Sons are
a duo as well with Katie and Booker. I assume
that's a joke.
Speaker 3 (01:07:51):
Joshua has what a title for SGA make him the
best thunder of all time?
Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
Kdi's got an MVP there and a finals appearance. Russ
has an MVP there and a finals appearance as the
co star. If Shay wins an MVP there and wins
the championship.
Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
And finally VP, probably.
Speaker 1 (01:08:20):
The I yeah, and finals MVP. I guess I don't
know that I'll feel that way, but I but that's he.
I don't know that I would look at him that way,
but he probably would be. All right, let's go to Eric.
Speaker 3 (01:08:36):
Eric says Demond's ay, I saw you hooping on Tuesday.
Look like you at least didn't get to deput up
happy you got the win. What's your record? Have you
played and are you ready for playoffs?
Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
So what's this about.
Speaker 3 (01:08:52):
So I'm in a rec league or a Culver City
league with a couple.
Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
Of my guys at work.
Speaker 3 (01:08:58):
Oh really, actually yeah, I actually got a I did
it the last game.
Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
You got ejected from a direct league game directly game.
Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
Yeah, they didn't even give you a warning though, Like
it was what you know, the guy.
Speaker 3 (01:09:09):
The guy was like tugging on my arm, just doing
a bunch of unnecessary Draymond green Es things, and I
pushed and I was like, hey man, you know, watch out,
and the ref was like you got to go sit down,
and he's like, actually, you can't be in the gym.
Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
I was like, all right, team, and I think we're
like two and seven right now I've played.
Speaker 1 (01:09:30):
Yeah, we're terrible. This is only my I.
Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
Played in one game before that, and then this is
my second fold.
Speaker 2 (01:09:36):
I played in three. The second game I got.
Speaker 3 (01:09:38):
Ejected like two minutes into it, and then this last
game I played the entire time. They've been doing a
lot of losing without me, but the schedule just conflicts
a lot with like a lot done back there.
Speaker 1 (01:09:52):
Team the bus first, was I supposed to lie about
our record doing a lot of losing without me? No,
I didn't mean it like that.
Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
I was just saying, like these games, I didn't see
those losses. I can't. I don't know what happened there.
Speaker 3 (01:10:07):
But uh, but yeah, you ejected once or twice one time, and.
Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
Okay, so when you described misunderstood, the.
Speaker 2 (01:10:14):
Games have been super late.
Speaker 3 (01:10:15):
They conflict and it's just like I can't like some
of these I can't make Yeah, but uh but yeah,
so every every team goes to the playoffs and we'll
be there and next time.
Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
Okay, coming down.
Speaker 1 (01:10:26):
So you have a chance to to go on a
Cinderella run, but no, we're are you how what? What
percent are you that you were pre achilles.
Speaker 3 (01:10:44):
As far as like leaping ability and all that, I'm
probably at like eighty five ninety, Like it's not all
the way there, but I'd say a lot of it's
still there.
Speaker 1 (01:10:52):
Though a lot of it's still there. And uh, and
it didn't affect your shot or anything else.
Speaker 3 (01:10:58):
No, the only thing that's really affected my I feel
like it's my broken my permanent broken finger. But but no,
it did take a little bit to get my legs
up underneath me though, like I felt like.
Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
Like I'm glad you're playing. Are you playing at I
still say where.
Speaker 3 (01:11:13):
I still play at the gym, and I just play
at this rec League center every Monday or Tuesday whenever.
Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
But the gym that you have a membership for, I
still go there. That's great, Okay, great, I didn't know
you were playing, Eric, you go. Yeah, so you did
see de monster.
Speaker 2 (01:11:28):
Yeah, that was definitely my Hopefully we see you guys
in the season.
Speaker 1 (01:11:32):
Yeah, and hopefully you don't get it. Can't maximum one
ejection a season.
Speaker 2 (01:11:37):
You know, it was so embarrassing like that, will not
have it again. I was really embarrassed.
Speaker 1 (01:11:42):
Well, especially when you said it happened two minutes in.
Speaker 3 (01:11:46):
That was important. Crazy party. I had six points, Like
it was in like thirty seconds. I scored the six points.
Another guy, get me out of the game. I was
already annoyed about some stuff when I walked in the gym.
But you gotta you know basketball is an escape. Leave
that stuff out the way.
Speaker 1 (01:12:00):
I love to hear it. All right, Good job Blue Duck,
good job Volume, Thank you to DraftKings. We will the
reminder and for the Blue Duck folks and Volume folks
all get the details on how we're gonna do this
next Thursday. Shows from Vegas Tuesday, regularly scheduled show, maybe
(01:12:21):
a quick show over the weekend to react. If this
series wraps up on Saturday night, maybe even one tomorrow.
We'll see how the playoffs go, but we'll see all
Then heading to work to go on TV. See you
guys on First Things First in a few hours. Thank you. Also,
Richard Jefferson, What's right?
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Wright Episode three thirty five,
As we have one half of the NBA Final set.
We did Tuesday's show as if that half of the
Finals was already set after Oklahoma City escaped in Game
four against Minnesota because we thought Game five might go
(00:21):
the exact way it did. We will get to that.
We will also get to Demanse. I mean, I don't
want to step on something. You're going to be asking
me in a moment, but Rick Richard Jefferson, Oh, Demonse's
not locked in right now. We have technical difficulties. If
you can hear me, great, If not, I'll just talk
to myself. The Richard Jefferson, I mean American hero getting
(00:48):
the what my take of the year name dropped during
a Conference finals broadcast. More on that in a moment.
First we'll get to what missed the cut? Demanse. Back
in it, I thought Demons was just uninterested in what
I was saying. Turns out he was. Look he was
texting furiously trying to get his audio working. But what
(01:10):
missed the cut? Today College Football twenty six cover has
been revealed. The Bears want Caleb to fix his body language.
That's a fair critique and somebody want a cheese rolling contest.
This is put that in the bucket of stories. The
producers wish I was interested in speaking. By the way,
he started to do this on the cheese rolling stuff,
(01:30):
I understand people are into it. I'm not into it.
I understand other people are into it. I should have
asked you guys this beforehand. Let me try this on
my own, on your guys in and on for our
people watching live on YouTube. And by the way, like great,
subscribe review there we go. For some reason, my return
was all fuzzy, but now it looks fine to me. Yeah,
(01:52):
subscribe on YouTube. I don't know. Are we up to
two hundred and ten thousand yet? We gotta be close.
I'm gonna I'm gonna check right now, we're doing it.
Subscribe on iTunes Spotify two hundred and seven thousand and change,
So that's good. I don't know when two fifty can
be expected. We'd love to get there by I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Thanksgivings, Oh, Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I was gonna say Thanksgiving. Yeah, No, maybe you're right.
I'm just shooting. I'm just giving a you know, a
request out there. But let's get to an utterly and
thoroughly dominant game, which is, by the way, what the
thunder have been doing at home this entire postseason, which
(02:38):
was another thing we discussed on Tuesday. Demons go ahead.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, I just want to apologize for being childish and
asking if Minnesota could have potentially came back playing around
with that question.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Is obvious that that was not possible.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Alsten, Oklahoma City dominated Minnesota last night. The defense was humming.
All of OKC stars were looking good. I want to
talk about the probability of this being a dynasty. You
think they should hold the brakes on it or is
ODC gutting for here? Historically?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Well, listen, they are four wins away Demons from one
of the single greatest seasons in NBA history. Like that
part is that has to be There's two real metrics
for two hard metrics for how good your seat, like
(03:33):
how good your season was, and then some softer metrics.
But the first one is how many games did you win?
What was your record? And they have now become the
fourth team ever to enter the finals with eighty victories.
And now when we go long to long term history,
(03:55):
you got to recognize that the playoffs have expanded a
bit and changed but a shorthand. You know, the ninety
six Bulls who won seventy two regular season games did it.
The ninety seven Bulls who won sixty nine regular season
games did it. And the seventy three win Warriors who
(04:17):
won seventy three regular season games but did not win
the championship. They all did it. They all got to
eighty wins before the start of the NBA Finals. So
check off that box. As far as you know, that's
really a regular season stat. It means how many regular
season wins did you get, But we already knew sixty
(04:39):
eight wins. The list of teams to win more than
sixty eight games in a single season are those two
seventy the seventy two win Balls, the sixty nine win
Balls that I mentioned, the seventy three win war and
(05:00):
then one other team, the sixty nine Lakers that they
went on to win the championship. That's every team that
won more regular season games than these thunder The teams
to win sixty eight games are also at least well,
one of them is an all time team. The other
(05:23):
one came up short to the Knicks in the conference finals.
You have the eighty three Sixers, who I'm sorry, not
the eighty three sixers, the sixty seven sixers, the eighty
three sixers that were. I put them there because I
think they're one of the greatest teams ever, the faux
Fox Fox Sixers, but that was not they were not
(05:45):
the dominant regular season team. These teams were. And then
the seventy three Celtics, which came up short, and then
this thunder team. If we lower the threshold to sixty
seven wins, then it gets a little fuzzier because you
have some great teams and some not so great teams.
Sixty seven wins, the eighty six Celtics in the short
(06:08):
on the short list of greatest team of all time, Like,
that's pretty undeniable that you've got to at least include
them when you are discussing who are the greatest teams
of all time? The eighty six Celtics have to be
on that list. The ninety two Bowls, who I actually
think might be maybe the best of the Bulls teams
(06:34):
that finished off the first three peat. There's at least
an argument there. The two thousand Lakers, the first championship
with Shaq and Kobe, the twenty fifteen Warriors, which is
the first championship with Steph, the twenty seventeen Warriors, the
(06:57):
first championship with Stephan Durant, and then a couple teams.
One that gets kind of is a punchline, and the
other is an all time great team that ran up
against another all time great team. The punchline is the
seven MAVs who lost in round one after winning sixty
(07:18):
seven games. For that we believe Warriors, and the other
one is the twenty sixteen Spurs who just happened to
be it. I mean that team was unbelievable. They got
clipped in round two by the twenty sixteen Thunder who
then ran into the twenty sixteen Warriors, who then ran
(07:40):
into Pekee Lebron James. But so to do this quickly,
teams to win sixty seven plus you have first year
Steph won a title, first year Stephan kd won a
title together, you have the first year Shaq and Kobe
(08:02):
won a title. You have Jordan's Bulls the third time
they won a title, and the best Celtics team of
all time, the eighty six Celtics. Those are the sixty
seven win teams plus the two with that I just
mentioned that didn't win the title. The sixty eight win
teams are this year's Thunder, and then you add to
(08:22):
it the seventy three Celtics not you know, at a
disappointing playoffs, and then sixty seven six Ers with Wilt
won the title, and then sixty nine win teams Jordan's
Bowls the fifth championship, the Laker team that had the
thirty three game winning streak in seventy two, the ninety
(08:44):
six Bulls won seventy two, and then the Warriors the
seventy three win Warriors. So that's the company they keep.
So there's one kind of hard piece of data, how
many games did you win? The other one is were
you blowing people out? And teams that finished the year
(09:07):
with a ten plus point differential. It is last year's Celtics,
and then the eight Celtics, Kareem's Bucks in seventy one,
the Durant first year Durant Warriors, that other Warriors team
(09:28):
the first year they won the title, the Bowls a
couple times, and the Lakers in seventy two. The Thunder
beaten teams this year by almost thirteen points per game,
so they check both of the hard metric boxes. You
(09:49):
then add the kind of softer factors. How good was
the league in that time? I think the league's as
talented as it's ever been. What was their path to
the finals and to a championship? That one probably cuts
against them a bit. They are not going through legendary
(10:12):
opponents en route, and they won't face a legendary opponent
in the finals. They did, however, go through a legendary
player in Joker, and that was a classic seven game series.
Another kind of soft factor. Did they have an all
time player on their team all time? I don't know yet,
(10:35):
but the guy who had the best season this year
and Shae, Yeah they did. I mean, Shay was unbelievable
in the regular season, has been almost as good in
the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Would not have would not have an all time player
make it a better feat.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
It might make it more impressive, but it's hard to argue.
When you're talking about the best single seasons in NBA history.
It's and I left out some of the sixty six
win teams, and some of the best teams ever were
sixty six win teams. Lebron's Heat that had the twenty
seven game winning streak I mentioned earlier the eight Celtics,
(11:16):
which were awesome. Those were the margin of victories. I
mentioned Kareem's bucks that you know there are some a
couple Lakers teams, one with Magic, one with Kobe. Oh
those were sixty five, not sixty six, but it would
make it more impressive. Maybe demands. But when we're talking
about who the greatest teams of all time are, and
(11:36):
if we're trying to do the hypothetical if they were
to match up against each other, right right, you want
to be able to say our guy can at least
kind of look eye to eye with your guy. And
if your guy is peak Wilt Chamberlain or peak Michael Jordan,
or peak Larry Bird, and my guy is Chauncey Billers
(12:04):
and again, and I'm just picking a team that won
the title, even though they're not in the all time
team discussion. That's gonna be a harder argument to make.
Shay is making an argument that he's building an all
time resume. It's a weird one because of how he
started and it was a slow progression, but he's just
gotten better and better and better every single year. So
(12:27):
I am okay with saying this is an all time
single season. I am not okay with saying this is
an all time team because what the other all time
teams had was stacked accomplishments, you know, multiple finals, appearances,
(12:48):
multiple championships, and the teams kind of bleed together. But
single season it's that. But that thing gets us to
the point you were making. And I understand Pacer fans maybe,
or Nick fans even, or like, my god, you're acting
like they won the championship yesterday, And to that I
(13:09):
would say, no, I'm not. I actually acted like they
won the championship on Monday night, because to me, they
did that was the end of the competitive portion of
this year's NBA season. And that's not to say the
Pacers are the Knicks can't beat them in a game.
But when a team has home court and that team
(13:32):
beats people in the playoffs at home by fifty one, nineteen,
forty three, seven, thirty two, twenty six, fifteen, and thirty
(13:53):
with one loss coming on a buzzer beater, they're gonna
win the championship when they also are a team that
can if it were to happen. Demon's deal with injury
better than any other team, and now they can't deal
with an injury to Shay, But nobody can lose their
(14:14):
best player. They could, but they they could lose j
Dub or Chet and still win the championship. No much
less lose what I mean, go ahead?
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Oh no, yeah, I don't know. I feel like Chet
is such a presence. Chet losing Check probably put them.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Oh, I think it would change them, but I wouldn't.
Like I wouldn't write them off any of these other
teams if they lost one of their three best guys,
you would basically just write them off. You couldn't do
it with this team because of how deep they are.
So I have and I'm not trying to give myself
(14:56):
credit here, I am trying to reminded the audience. I
guess I was not one of the loud Thunder skeptics. Now.
I didn't pick them to win the championship because I
thought the Lakers could beat them. After I saw the
Lakers beat them in a game the Thunder wanted, and
then the Lakers play them to a tie until Luca
(15:18):
got kicked out, and I was like, Okay, I think
the Lakers are the one team that can give them
real problems. Maybe Boston. But I thought the Thunder were
a legitimate championship caliber team all year, and the moment
the Lakers went out, I said, I think they're going
to win the title. With all that said, I think
(15:40):
the dynasty talk is so silly, and I understand folks
argument is they are set up so well. And I
will just make the point that I made on Tuesday again.
We think think every team almost is set up so
(16:02):
well when they're in the midst of winning, and to
which some people will reply, yeah, but those teams weren't
as young. That's true that the Bucks in twenty twenty one,
or the Nuggets in twenty twenty three, or even the
Celtics last year weren't as young. However, with the Bucks
(16:24):
and the Nuggets, we did feel like their best player
was in already in once they won the title, the
historically great conversation, and Shay isn't quite in that yet.
Like we thought, yes, this Thunder team's younger, but we
(16:45):
thought that Giannis and Joker in that moment were a
tick above where Shay is in this moment. And the
other argument people are going to make is yes, but
the nugget it's for the Thunder, it's all that draft
capital that they have, and that is true, but it's
(17:08):
also a little misleading. So the Thunder's draft capital is
more quantity than quality. So I'm going to go through
it just too. And this is courtesy of real GM
(17:31):
to remind people what they have, because what you're going
to see is it's a ton of stuff, and it's
a ton of stuff that theoretically they could use in trades.
But it's not like, oh man, that could be the
third pick of the draft. Okay, so this year they
(17:52):
have the fifteenth pick for Miami and the twenty fourth
pick from the Clippers. At least I think fact check
me in the because I don't have this year's pulled up.
Fact check me in the doc if I'm wrong about
this year. But they the then next year, what they
have They have Houston's pick next season protected one through four,
(18:20):
so Houston. We think Houston's going to be quite good
next year, So a late pick next year, and then
they have I want to make sure I get this right,
the Clippers pick next year. So I think the Clippers
(18:41):
showed us this year that they are going to be
at least a credible team, and so are those are
fine picks, but none of those appear or feel like
those are going to be uh, you know, lottery top
(19:05):
ten picks, right, And then they have Phillies pick next
year potentially, and again they only get two of these,
so these are the best ones they could get Phillies
pick if it falls outside of the top four and
Utah's pick if it falls outside of the top eight.
The moral of the story is next year they are
gonna have a bunch of extra picks, and they all
(19:28):
look like they are not going to be lottery picks
because Utah is the only team on that list that
is likely going to be in the lottery, and Utah
likely is going to be able to keep their pick
because it'll be in the top eight. In twenty twenty seven,
they again they get the Clippers pick, and that's unprotected.
(19:48):
Maybe that could be good maybe, And Denver's pick, which
assuming Joker doesn't retire, is not going to be that good.
And in twenty twenty eight they can swap with Dallas again.
Do we think Dallas, now that they have Cooper Flag
(20:11):
and Anthony Davis is there, that that's going to be
a top five pick. No, And then that's really I
think they have one more Denver pick later. But again,
unless we think Joker is going to retire. So the
point I'm making in a somewhat convoluted fashion is it's
a lot of stuff, but it's not great stuff. Now
(20:35):
the argument there would be demons. Yeah, but they can
package that stuff for a star. And that then gets
to to me the next interesting domino for the Thunder,
which is, yeah, are they going to want to be expensive?
(20:55):
Are they going to want to for the first time
in franchise history, be a big luxury tax butt up
against the APRN type of team. And my answer to
that question is I don't see why they would now.
And you can say, well, they want to chick correct,
(21:18):
they didn't want to pay it then. And you can
be like, well, but now they've won a championship. That
could cut either way. Maybe you would be like, they
want a championship now they just want to win, win, win.
They also want to be like, we want a championship
without having a super expensive team, so why do we
need one? And so it is a different NBA guys,
(21:41):
and it's a different NBA. Also in this regard the
onl like the guys who have reeled off a bunch
are guys who are top ten all time players. The
(22:05):
one guy who is pretty consensus outside of the top
ten who reeled off even two is Isaiah Thomas, and
he's firmly in the top twenty, but outside the top ten.
So Joker would have checked those boxes. Little unlucky some
(22:27):
Jamal Murray's injuries, you know, Jannis could have potentially little unlucky.
Uh didn't have you know, this type of pick bounty though,
to be fair in Milwaukee to make up for some
of those mistakes. And I'm not saying Shay is not Shaye.
I said all year was the MVP. But it is
(22:49):
surprising to me how many people who a month ago
were quite convince the Celtics were about to reel off
a bunch of championships are now convinced the thunder are
about to reel off a bunch of championships. And so
(23:11):
I you know too long, didn't listen all time single
season team. Yes, set up pretty well for the future. Yes,
going to win this championship without a doubt. Yes. Ready
(23:33):
to pencil them in for multiple titles. No, So that's
where I land on Oklahoma City. They will be in
the mix for years to come. But as a lot
of teams can attest in the mix doesn't really buy
you anything in the modern NBA.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
So if they were in the same situation next year,
you'd be a little bit more at it or ready.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
To call it a dynasty. I think, oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
They're back in the finals next year, because that's the
other thing. We haven't had a defending champ make the finals.
We haven't had a defending champ make round three since
the Durant Steph Warriors. Think about that. We haven't had
(24:27):
a defending champ even come close to defending their championship
in seven years. So yeah, if they were Hell, if
they just get back to the conference finals next year,
that'll be noteworthy. We haven't had anybody do.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
It, right, I don't see any reason.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I feel like, Okay, so he's more likely to have
learned their last lesson from breaking up their last Big
three than to straight I don't want to think. I
don't think they're more players on top of.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
It, correct. I don't think are going to break this
crew up between now and next year. My guess is
they run it back. But so did Boston, so did Milwaukee.
You're like, you know what I mean, Like most of
these TEAMSS did exactly that the defense has been great.
All right, what let's do some follow ups here?
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Do you think SGA, JAB and CHET are the best
trio in the league right now?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
It's it's not only demands and I should have probably
prepped this question a little more. It's not only that
I think they're the best trio.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah, I mean, there's really no other trios.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Right, That's the thing, Like, who like the other teams
that would argue they have a trio? I guess the
Calves like it's a it's a trio. Boston is a
duo with really good supporting.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
That's what dat want to throw Derek White in there,
like maybe.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, but yeah, but it's not you know, I mean,
like the Knicks are a duo. The Pacers are, in
my opinion, a duo. Like again, I like their supporting
cast a lot, but to me, the trademark of a trio.
(26:17):
I'm kind of making this up on the fly, but
I just thought of it. It makes sense. It's where
there's a real argument on who the second best guy
is that there could be, you know what I mean
like that some nights it's one like so the the
Bucks win healthy are a duo. Right, and then we
(26:39):
go to the West. The Rockets, I don't even know
if they're a like they have shingoon and a bunch
of really nice complimentary pieces. The Lakers are a duo,
like there is. Austin Reeves is a nice third player,
but we know who their top two guys are.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Say it again, The Maps could end up being a
trio next.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Year because a Cooper flag.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Yeah, but they unless you want to say Kyrie is
getting a little older.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Well, remember Kyrie is going to be out.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Next season at all.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
I didn't know, well, I mean he was out for
next season entirely. Well no, no, no, he's not out for
all of next season. But I mean he tore his
acl you know, at with a month left in this season,
so he's going to be out at least in the beginning.
But the Nuggets are a duo, The Clippers are a duo.
The Warriors are a duo that you know what I mean,
like eies. So there are no It's not only that
(27:39):
the Thunder or the best trio. The Thunder might be
the only trio. And then there's the Calves, who are
really a quartet because of Donovan Garland Mobley and Allen,
but it doesn't quite work. It would appear you know what.
So yeah, they are clearly the best trio.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
In the league.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
The next one, who is okay see rooting for you
think New York or the Pacers?
Speaker 1 (28:08):
H Well, tonight they are definitely rooting for New York
the next two games because what they want is the
to have a huge rest.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
I feel like if I were, if I were okay see,
I'd be rooting for New York to get to the finals.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Tell me why. I just think it'd be an easier matchup.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
I think like I like the Pacers more and I
think they put up more of a fight against ok See.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
You did pick the Pacers to beat the Knicks, didn't you.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Yeah, in the in the last uh our last part
said oh those Pacers and six, Well.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, and you might have sold them short. They might
end up we'll see if they gets the six. So
I think that it's definite. The Thunder would rather the
Knicks win the next two games just so it goes seven.
But I also think you're right. The Pacers are just
(29:10):
they play such a breakneck style. Now that would be
it'd be fun Pacers Thunder. That's the number one offense
against the number one defense. But the other reason the Pacers.
Maybe I should and maybe I should be giving the
Pacers a bigger chance than I'm giving them as I'm
already talking about the Thunder. Is this all time team?
And also maybe it's bad strategy as a podcaster, because
(29:32):
then what what topics am I supposed to do the
days after the Thunder win the championship? I've already done
it is the Pacers don't turn the ball over because
Haliber doesn't turn the ball over. Yeah, and that's where
the Thunder, you know, dominate teams.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
And more liabilities on New York's defense than the Pacers
in my opinion. So it's like, would you as the
offense on Okay, see.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
That there's no question about all right, we should have
probably led with this follow up demanse.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Yeah, so last night you got a shout out on
the broadcast. Richard Jefferson came out and said Nick Wright
said something really smart yesterday about your take of the year.
It's an automatic, it's an automatic review. So how did
you feel about that cloud Chaser?
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Well, first of all, shout out, r J.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Shout out.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
It's like, I mean, little known fact in the first
iteration of first Things First, Richard Jefferson was an in
studio guest a handful of times. Yeah, yeah, I mean
Richard Jefferson used to come in studio with us. I
(30:56):
like him a lot, Yeah, I like him a lot.
But he and I, he and I haven't like talked
in person, probably since before the pandemic, you know, the
I'm not at as when I go to NBA games,
(31:19):
I have tickets, not press passes, so I can't get
down on the floor. And you know, he and I
obviously work for different companies, but I think our Jay
is awesome. And I happen to think the Breen RJ.
Doris Booth has gotten a little too much flack, especially
when and now again it might be for me it's
(31:43):
just a nice respite from the Reggie commentary. But I I.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Like him on the trio him too.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
People are wistful about Van Gundy and Jackson, like but
Van Gundy, Jackson and Breen worked together for so long,
you know what I mean that they had such a
rapport in a chemistry that just takes time to build.
But set that aside. Richard Jefferson bringing to a massive
(32:12):
audience the idea that hey, let guys challenge when they
want to challenge. And I don't think Breen initially totally
understood it, because Breen was.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Like, oh no, I.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
But I think Breen didn't necessarily, I mean, because RJ
couldn't explain it in full in that moment, and then
he tried to explain it a bit. I don't think
he understood that you would still have a limit, your
same limited amount of challenges one wrong or two maximum.
(32:47):
So I think Breen's initial reaction was, Man, we're gonna
be challenging every play, which is why he had such
an allergy to it. But when you again, there's a
sometime it's not often, it's a little often, but it's
not always. I have an idea and I'm like, oh,
(33:10):
this is people are going to immediately respond to this.
Sometimes I think they're going to respond negatively, and sometimes like,
people are going to love this, And it is really gratifying.
In such a uh populated take landscape, where there's so
(33:32):
many people giving so many opinions at all hours of
every day, it's very hard to actually say something no
one is said and so yeah, and so the fact
that I was able to kind of plant my flag
on that and then have RJ publicize it to a
wider audience.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Right, Cloye, absolutely, And I haven't even played our Let
me try to see if I can get our friend
of the pod, Michelle Roberts, to set up a meeting
with me and Commissioner Silver to.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Just pitch a few of these ideas. All right, let's
go to the Minnesota side of things.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
All right, Yeah, So Minnesota they got their butts whipped
last night in the Western Conference Finals for a second
year in a row. Do we think that this is
their ceiling that they need add any pieces? What's going
on here? Can they break through?
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Well? No, I this clearly is this iteration of this
team ceiling, Like that's obvious. But the way they get
to a higher level is ant improofs. And I'm not
putting this series like on ant For as good as
Julius was the first two rounds, he kind of came
(34:48):
crashing back down to earth in the Conference finals, which
is a bummer. And you know, Minnesota already cleaned up
their book looks a bit by trading towns, like the
town's trade was somewhat about shaking the snow globe, But
(35:10):
it was also about getting off that contract. Now they're
in a tricky spot because I think a lot of
people thought Julius Randall was going to opt in to
his thirty one million dollars next year. Was he good
enough in this playoffs that he opts out and looks
(35:30):
for a longer deal, and does Minnesota want to give
that to him? I don't. Nas Reed is definitely opting
out and definitely getting money from somewhere. I think they're
not going to be able to keep both of those guys,
but what they do have, and then also Nikhil Alexander
(35:52):
Walker is also it could heal leave That's a question mark.
But Ant is locked, go Bet is locked, Jaden is locked,
Dante is locked. Conley has got one year left, assuming
he doesn't. I mean, he could retire, but that would
just be him giving up eleven million bucks. Rob Dillingham
(36:14):
their draft pick from this year. You know he'll be back,
and I like Terren Shannon another draft pick. So I
think they are, you know, positioned fine. And I'm not
acting as if Aunt let him down or anything like that.
My point is the way they get to the next
step is their twenty three year old be better in
(36:36):
year twenty four than he was in year twenty three,
and that this is this is a point that I
that I made yesterday on TV, but I want to
make it again here. When Shay was Aunt's age, he
had won zero playoff games. When Yiannis and Jokic were
(37:02):
Ant's age, they had never been to a conference finals.
So it I don't think it's fair to act like
Ants anything other than ahead of schedule. I also think
it would be silly to act like he doesn't for
(37:25):
them to get to the next level. He doesn't need
to improve, but he said as much after now, after
the game, he was like, you know, basically, I'm not
sad about this. You know what was the exact quote
he had? We hold on. I want to I don't
want to get it wrong because it was a very
interesting quote. Ant said, I have it right here. Dusty
(37:47):
put it in our First Thing's First rundown because it's
one of the things we're talking about today. A Aunt
was asked, you know about how much this hurts, and
he said, quote, I don't know why people would think
it would hurt. It's exciting for me. I'm twenty three.
I get to do it a whole bunch of times.
I'm hurt, more so for Mike, Mike Conley, who was
(38:08):
sitting next to him. I came up short for Mike.
We tried last year, we couldn't get it. We tried
again this year. We'll try again next year. But hurt
is a terrible word to use. I'm good. And then
he went on to say I'm gonna work my butt
off this summer. No one's gonna work harder than me
this summer, I'll tell you that much. So that might
be a little like athletic bravado or you know that
(38:31):
Aunt does it, or maybe that really is how he feels.
But the reality is at twenty three, compared to where
his peers were at twenty three, he's ahead of schedule.
The only person, like one of his peers who had
(38:51):
made a conference finals at that age was Luca and
so I So, I don't think Timberwolves fans should be
like crestfallen, like oh, we missed our shot. I do
think that their best path forward is for Ant to
(39:12):
take a leap similar to how Shay did from all
NBA caliber to MVP favorite. And that's a heart that's
a very very very hard leap to take. But that's
the best path forward for them. NBA Finals almost here,
(39:33):
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see DKNG dot co slash b ball. By the way,
I want to throw this at you before we get
to Nick. Spacers demand DraftKings obviously as a look aheadline.
If it is Pacers thunder, what do you think that
line is?
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Just on the series to win the series?
Speaker 3 (42:04):
No game one, game one Pacers all right?
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Okay? See minus eight Oh.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
I was going to say I thought you were going
to be far off on this because you were going
to find it disrespectful. You're closer than I thought. OKAYC
minus nine. Yeah, I mean still a little like that's
a that's a big spread for Game one of the finals.
But it speaks the fact that DraftKings been pretty confident
all year long to the thunder of the best team,
(42:34):
and they are they are thus far being proven correct.
All right, let's go to Knicks Pacers.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
So you said on Tuesday you expected New York to
come in and tie up the series. That obviously didn't happen.
The Pacers are up.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Three to one. Now did the Knicks below their best opportunity?
Speaker 1 (42:50):
You think, well, when you look at see this is
where because I the question is for the Knicks to
win the championship, is this the best chance they're going
to have had? And my answer to that question is probably,
(43:14):
like I don't look at this year as like, oh,
it's wide open, because sitting on the other side of
the bracket is a sixty eight win team that is
run rough shot you know, in round one, in round
three and you know Joker gave it, you know, gave
them their best shot in round two. But they really
(43:35):
do look like a team that is the best team
in the league. So I don't look at it as
if you were in the Western Conference in the twenty
the year the what is it the year the Nuggets
(43:55):
won and sitting coming out of the East, and by
the way, I think the Nuggets would have beaten the Celtics.
But this isn't Daniel, I'm not. This is really actually
about Lakers wistfulness. The sitting on the other side of
the bracket is the eight seed Miami Heat. If you're
(44:16):
in the West that you're like, damn, that would have
been a nice year to make the NBA finals, And
so I don't look at it that way. What I
do look at it for the Knicks is doing what
they did against Boston and then not being able to
(44:37):
close the deal and at least get to the finals
is going to feel very painful, but it is noteworthy
that that is how this has gone the last two years.
Looks like we're gonna have three years in a row
(44:57):
where a team executes a pretty shocking upset and I
don't even know if it's shocking, but executes an upset
of the defending champ in round two and then gets
pretty easily dispatched in round three. The Lakers beat the
(45:28):
Warriors in round two when the Warriors were the defending champs,
and then got swept in the conference finals. The Timberwolves
beat the Nuggets in round two and then lost in
five in the conference finals. The Knicks beat the Celtics
(45:48):
in round two and are now down three to one
in the Conference finals. Particularly when it comes to the
Knicks beating the Celtics and the Timberlves beating the nugg
it's you do feel like was there a bit of
an exhale after winning those series and then the other
team jumped out on you. The question for the Knicks
(46:10):
is are they going to simply run this team back
next year? We can discuss that more if and when
their season ends. Well I shouldn't say if. At some
point this season's gonna end, but when their season ends,
the question for me is can they win tonight? And man,
(46:31):
you gotta you gotta think the Knicks at some point
are gonna just play a really good start to finish game.
They haven't done that yet this series. Even the game
they won, they were not really good start to finish.
You also have to think or at least. I would
(46:51):
think that the Knicks that MSG tonight gives and they
haven't been that good at home in these playoffs, gives
them a little boost of energy and with the fans
having been so good for them all year, that they
don't want to go out like that. And so some
(47:12):
of the stuff to me is fixable in that even
after makes you have to get back on defense because
the Pacers are going to try to run, and you
have to take a better do a better job taking
(47:37):
care of the ball, and it is it's really if
you're a Knicks fan, it's been really frustrating to see
how many opportunities they've had in various moments in the series.
(48:02):
There are there's and they sorry I sound a little
distracted though, because we're having slight internet issues, just so
our producers know, there's the there's nobody on the Wi
Fi or anything. There's nothing that there's there's no way
to fix what we're dealing with right now. The the
(48:23):
Knicks have had I know everyone's going to point to
Game one, and Game one was a historic meltdown. Like
we talked about it in the moment, We've never seen
anything like it. But even outside of Game one, we're
yet to see them put four good quarters together. Game two,
(48:45):
they just they did a good job shutting down Halliburton.
They couldn't shut down Siakam at all, and they let
the Pacers jump out after it's close. Throughout, the Knicks
lose concentration or let go of the rope, or the
Pacers are just better for the opening few minutes of
(49:07):
the fourth quarter, and that's how they win Game three,
which which the Knicks do win. The Pacers are dominating
that game. The Knicks don't play well for the first
three quarters, Kat goes crazy and the Knicks steal it.
Game four, the Pacers are in control really the entirety
(49:29):
of that game. And now that the Knicks. For a
moment it was like, oh, man, are the Knicks going
to do to the Pacers in Game four what the
Pacers did the Knicks in Game one? But there's a
reason that had never been done in the NBA history.
It's very very hard to do. The Knicker yet to
put four great quarters together.
Speaker 3 (49:50):
Now and dealing with the Celtics team where the Pacers
are good late in these games.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
It's like that's a good point there.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
Late at the end, the Pacers can take care of business. No,
that's a good difference. They'll shut themselves out of it.
The Pacers will make the right play.
Speaker 1 (50:07):
And the other thing is the Pacers are just going
so fast, so consistently that late in these games they're
used to it and the Knicks aren't. And so I listen,
I'll go down with the ship. I'll pick the Knicks tonight.
And then Game six becomes absolute theater to see if
(50:32):
the Knicks can force a Game seven. But the it
is when you actually demands. As odd as this sounds,
when you actually go back and look at the Knicks
this postseason, there aren't many instances of them playing four
(50:57):
awesome quarters, like the close out game against the Celtics
is the one. But they listen. They blew out the
Pistons in Game one, but they were down going into
the fourth quarter of that game. Their other victories in
that series were by two points, one point, three points
(51:18):
celt There are three wins against the Celtics before Game six.
They were down fifteen in all of them, twenty and
two of them. And so like it has been, we
are seeing little instances of why the Nicks struggled against
the best teams in basketball all year long, and to
(51:41):
your point, they're now playing a team that can match
their clutch late and it hasn't turned out well for him.
I still don't think the Pacers are, you know, gentlemen
sweep better than the Knicks, which is why I think
the Knicks and win tonight. But they certainly have looked
(52:02):
like overall clearly the better team. All right, let's go
to Halliburton.
Speaker 3 (52:08):
Uh yeah, so Halliburton just went god mode the other day.
So he had thirty two, fifteen and twelve with zero turnovers.
Do you believe that he could be the best player
on a championship team.
Speaker 1 (52:21):
In today's NBA?
Speaker 2 (52:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (52:23):
Yeah, I mean, I don't don't take this the wrong way.
I don't think this version of Halliburton is substantially worse
than last year's version of Tatum. Like you know what,
I like, we just saw like the that and see
(52:47):
it right like they're yeah, it was very different. I mean,
they're dlastically different players. But I'm just saying, like when
we're tearing out the players, I don't think this version
of Haliburton is drastically different than the twenty twenty two
(53:09):
version of Steph. I mean they are very different players.
But it's just as far as like caliber, caliber of player. Now, listen,
peak Steph is a totally different animal entirely. But that's
the version of Steph that won the championship in twenty
twenty two is lesser than the you know, peak Steph Curry.
And so in today's NBA we have we have to
(53:34):
adjust for what it takes to win a championship in
the you know what's somebody on Twitter maybe smartly coined
as you know, it's not the Big Three era, it's
not the Superstar era. It's the weak link era, meaning
like do you have can you consistently put out five
(53:55):
quality players, four of which can defend? And that's the
other problem for the Knicks is, and this was the
worry when you traded for Towns is what if your
two best players are both real minus defenders. And Halliburton's
game on what night was that Tuesday night? That was
an all time game. A thirty point triple double with
(54:18):
zero turnovers in the playoffs has had been done one
time ever and it was by Baron Davis, oddly enough,
and it was to put a stranglehold on a series
to go to the finals. And so it's a hurky
jerky game. It's a weird game. The set shot is odd,
(54:41):
but he's awesome and it's you know, it's why he
got a spot in Club Superstar was not that game,
but his awesomeness. And we can get to that now.
Speaker 3 (54:52):
Yeah, so you unveiled your latest rendition of Club Superstar
and he took Donovan. You put hot Donovan, Mitchell in
and Hallean for the first time.
Speaker 2 (55:01):
You took Embiid in ad out. Could you explain to us.
Speaker 3 (55:05):
Your process and how the club management goes about getting
these guys in and out.
Speaker 1 (55:10):
Yeah so all right, so tell me. So, here are
the twelve guys in and we can put the graphic
up Halliburton, Brunson, Joker, Shay Luca, Jannis braun Steph, Donovan,
Durant and Tatum. It's a twelve person max, So if
(55:31):
you want to put someone in, you got to kick
someone out. We took out Embiid because of all the
injury stuff and ad for similar reasons. You might be like, then,
how does Tatum stay in? Tatum has been so consistent
and so durable that you know, one season long injury
(55:51):
does not get him kicked out like his spot is secure. Uh,
you seem to have I mean the heart. His call
was Donovan.
Speaker 2 (56:01):
Donovan Mitchell surprised me.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
Yeah, so who would you? Would you have any of
those guys in over him?
Speaker 2 (56:09):
That's what I was I was trying to think of.
Speaker 3 (56:12):
I mean, yeah, Anthony Davis is the because.
Speaker 1 (56:21):
In line was Wimby, Cade Shingoon and Devin Booker. Wimby
is the obvious next guy in. But he's got to
actually do it, you know what I mean, He's got
to actually earn his way in, and so I I
(56:43):
you know, we did.
Speaker 2 (56:44):
A good job with and all that. Yeah, I understand
how Donovan Mitchell slips in there.
Speaker 1 (56:52):
I'm sorry, can you hear me? Sol dem On say yes,
I've got you. Okay, good, Sorry about that. My I
knocked my AirPod out of my ear. I mean, AD
is a tough one. And the argument against Donovan is,
you know, eight years in the league, in the playoffs
every year, never in round three. It's hard, though, to
use that as an argument to put a DN over him,
(57:15):
because do I think Donovan could have you know, made
a conference finals or an NBA finals alongside Lebron like AD?
Did I do like whenn ad was the guy he
never got passed round one. It's a tricky spot. Donovan
is for a guy who hasn't been deep in the playoffs,
(57:39):
he's not a playoff dropper, Like you know what I mean?
He puts up huge numbers, and Brew raised the question,
do we not have twelve superstars?
Speaker 2 (57:50):
Right? That's the other thing I was kind of but
go ahead.
Speaker 3 (57:53):
It's just like no good team. Was just looking around
at the teams. I'm like, who can get in over
this guy? But it's like it's a little right.
Speaker 1 (58:01):
It's a weird because the league is so deep on
really good players, but maybe a little thin on great
great players. Because the other argument was should Kevin Durant
be out? And my answer to that question is he's
such an iconic player who still plays at a high
(58:22):
enough level. I don't feel comfort He's still twenty seven
a game, you know what, I don't feel comfortable yeah,
taking him out? So to me, those are the twelve
What are your follow ups here?
Speaker 3 (58:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (58:38):
I care to explain how Joki took Lebron's throne.
Speaker 1 (58:43):
That was an editorial choice made by the artist Jack Perkins,
who does a great job. You can followhim on Twitter
at Pure Hoop and listen, I give him the lists,
he makes the picture. I gotta tell you, I wasn't
thrilled with seeing Lebron out of the throne, but I
guess jokers earned it for now. But yeah, that was
(59:07):
not I didn't trust me. I didn't I didn't demand that.
Now I did hear that. I'm okay with Lebron being
moved out of the throne because he's no longer in
the argument for the best player in the league. Mike
pal Simmons yesterday did a top fifteen player pyramid and
didn't have Lebron on that. Now that's an outrage, Like
(59:31):
that's just objectively that. Here's the thing about the Lebron
rankings that is so irritating to me. At times, people
keep prematurely downgrading him because of his age when we
just saw it. He just finished sixth in MVP voting, sixth.
(59:52):
He just finished firmly second team All NBA. So why,
all of of a sudden, is he not one of
the fifteen best players in the league. Like you, the
Lebron is anywhere you you could fairly argue for Lebron
(01:00:13):
to be as high as fifth and as low as
tenth best player in the league. But that's it. And
the what is frustrating to me about Bill's ranking specifically,
is the he still has Steph Curry as like the
(01:00:36):
seventh best guy. There's no there's there's no way to
look at this NBA season and say Steph was better
than Lebron, not by stats, not by team record, not
by individual accolades, not by any of it. Now you
can say his team made it one round further in
the playoffs, so be it that that part is true,
(01:00:57):
But that's it was that, but that team also was
and be like, well, how much of Lebron's team success
this year was because they traded for Luca. STEP's team
was sub five hundred when they traded for Jimmy Like,
that's a weird one for me. But set that aside.
Lebron obviously still superstar. Steph's obviously still a superstar. And
(01:01:19):
that's you know, that's where we're at all, right.
Speaker 3 (01:01:22):
Next, do you think that Halliburton still would you have
still given him a spot if he would have lost
in round one?
Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
No? Now, I submitted this list before round one was over.
I submitted this list. I took a screenshot of it
yesterday to send to Gianna of when I submitted this list.
I submitted this list May seventh. So let's see where
we were in the playoffs on May seventh. I've got
(01:01:54):
to I can pull that up quickly. So when I
submitted this list, we were the games that had just
been played. Is the Pacers had just taken a two
to zero lead on the Caves. Oh, so that's interesting.
I didn't even realize that I submitted this list the
(01:02:18):
morning after Halliburton executed that insane comeback on the Calves.
And so maybe I, you know, maybe I was kind
of in the afterglow of that. But he's proven me
right by his performances throughout. And the other thing is
so no losing in round one. No, but had they
(01:02:41):
ended up losing in round two, I would have still
been comfortable with it. All right, go some more follow
ups here before.
Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
So Wimby, it sounded like you had said, you said,
Wimby's got to do. It isn't intentional him being walking
inside of the club, Well.
Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
It seems inevitable, but he's not in yet. It's the
second straight year he's been trying to walk in. He's
not in yet. And I also the other thing I
could have done, Demons is put Paolo in line. The
Pallo to me is he's on the same par on
(01:03:16):
par with Shingoon, So I could have put Polo in line.
We just didn't. All right, let's let's do the NFL
stuff another day. I'm just not into it today. I'm
still in basketball mode. And I'll be honest with you,
I'm not just in basketball mode. I know, I talked
about it on the Pot on Tuesday. I think I'm
(01:03:37):
also really, really in poker mode. I am so incredibly
excited for the World Series of Poker. I am the
studying in the way I study, which is not like
study solvers and stuff, because I'm playing mixed games, but
by watching old tournaments and listening to the commentary and
(01:04:00):
seeing how guys play different spots. I am we have
a you know, I've got my room set, I've got
the app verified. I am. I'm so excited about go
about going to this tournament or going to these tournaments.
(01:04:20):
And so I my work brain right now is occupied
by the NBA. My personal brain is oper is occupied
by poker stuff and uh the like the NFL OTAs
we'll talk about it someone on the TV show. But
I'm not I'm not dialed in on that right now.
(01:04:42):
If I'm being totally honest, reminder of the audience, like
rate subscribe review to the pod. Let's have some of
the audience members who are watching us live. They have
some questions. Let's go ahead and get to them.
Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
Uh, Producers.
Speaker 3 (01:04:56):
After Demandsay said he thought James Dolan was Brew, Bruce
said on TV that he thought Bryce Young was Demonse.
Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
Is there beef Brewing?
Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
No, there's no beef. How did that happen? Do you
remember this?
Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
I think it was you guys were in New Orleans.
You guys were in New Orleans and you were talking
to Brew. No, Brew was talking to Bryce Young. Oh
he walked by him or something like that.
Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
He came up to you and it was like, I
didn't know Demond was here.
Speaker 3 (01:05:25):
It's is crazy because I've seen him in person before,
and like Bryce Young.
Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
Is I feel like he's like six.
Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
Six, maybe seven or eight inches shorter than you. Yeah,
the no, that's all true. If you guys do have
a similar look.
Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
On the virus style and the hair, facial air, skin tone.
Speaker 1 (01:05:47):
But yeah, but that part is true. All right, let's
keep going.
Speaker 3 (01:05:52):
Kyle says, Hey, Nick, is the reason you don't call
out Brunson's defense more aggressively because you're a donegice guy.
Speaker 1 (01:05:59):
No, So I I think that at times we can
be misleading, we can be disingenuous. I guess on how
much we what's the right way to put it? Team
(01:06:25):
defense is incredibly important to winning a championship, however, and
individual players overall impact on your team for stars is
so much more heavily influenced by how impactful they are offensively.
(01:06:45):
It is why there is the All NBA Team and
then separately the All Defense team, because there are guys
who might be first team All Defense who don't have
a shot at being on the All NBA team. And
so I it's not Jalen Brunson is obviously a minus defender.
(01:07:08):
It is in my opinion, and that does put a
ceiling on where he can be in the overall hierarchy
of the league. But it is the team and the
coaches job to figure out how to make do with
the fact that our superstar is a minus defender. And
it's just I don't think it's for lack of effort,
for Jalen Brunson. He's just not big enough and not
(01:07:30):
the athlete that he would need to be the All right,
let's go on to the next one.
Speaker 3 (01:07:36):
Platonic Zombie. F YI, you forgot the Suns with the
trio discussion.
Speaker 1 (01:07:42):
I assume that's a joke. I mean the Sons are
a duo as well with Katie and Booker. I assume
that's a joke.
Speaker 3 (01:07:51):
Joshua has what a title for SGA make him the
best thunder of all time?
Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
Kdi's got an MVP there and a finals appearance. Russ
has an MVP there and a finals appearance as the
co star. If Shay wins an MVP there and wins
the championship.
Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
And finally VP, probably.
Speaker 1 (01:08:20):
The I yeah, and finals MVP. I guess I don't
know that I'll feel that way, but I but that's he.
I don't know that I would look at him that way,
but he probably would be. All right, let's go to Eric.
Speaker 3 (01:08:36):
Eric says Demond's ay, I saw you hooping on Tuesday.
Look like you at least didn't get to deput up
happy you got the win. What's your record? Have you
played and are you ready for playoffs?
Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
So what's this about.
Speaker 3 (01:08:52):
So I'm in a rec league or a Culver City
league with a couple.
Speaker 2 (01:08:56):
Of my guys at work.
Speaker 3 (01:08:58):
Oh really, actually yeah, I actually got a I did
it the last game.
Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
You got ejected from a direct league game directly game.
Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
Yeah, they didn't even give you a warning though, Like
it was what you know, the guy.
Speaker 3 (01:09:09):
The guy was like tugging on my arm, just doing
a bunch of unnecessary Draymond green Es things, and I
pushed and I was like, hey man, you know, watch out,
and the ref was like you got to go sit down,
and he's like, actually, you can't be in the gym.
Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
I was like, all right, team, and I think we're
like two and seven right now I've played.
Speaker 1 (01:09:30):
Yeah, we're terrible. This is only my I.
Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
Played in one game before that, and then this is
my second fold.
Speaker 2 (01:09:36):
I played in three. The second game I got.
Speaker 3 (01:09:38):
Ejected like two minutes into it, and then this last
game I played the entire time. They've been doing a
lot of losing without me, but the schedule just conflicts
a lot with like a lot done back there.
Speaker 1 (01:09:52):
Team the bus first, was I supposed to lie about
our record doing a lot of losing without me? No,
I didn't mean it like that.
Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
I was just saying, like these games, I didn't see
those losses. I can't. I don't know what happened there.
Speaker 3 (01:10:07):
But uh, but yeah, you ejected once or twice one time, and.
Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
Okay, so when you described misunderstood, the.
Speaker 2 (01:10:14):
Games have been super late.
Speaker 3 (01:10:15):
They conflict and it's just like I can't like some
of these I can't make Yeah, but uh but yeah,
so every every team goes to the playoffs and we'll
be there and next time.
Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
Okay, coming down.
Speaker 1 (01:10:26):
So you have a chance to to go on a
Cinderella run, but no, we're are you how what? What
percent are you that you were pre achilles.
Speaker 3 (01:10:44):
As far as like leaping ability and all that, I'm
probably at like eighty five ninety, Like it's not all
the way there, but I'd say a lot of it's
still there.
Speaker 1 (01:10:52):
Though a lot of it's still there. And uh, and
it didn't affect your shot or anything else.
Speaker 3 (01:10:58):
No, the only thing that's really affected my I feel
like it's my broken my permanent broken finger. But but no,
it did take a little bit to get my legs
up underneath me though, like I felt like.
Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
Like I'm glad you're playing. Are you playing at I
still say where.
Speaker 3 (01:11:13):
I still play at the gym, and I just play
at this rec League center every Monday or Tuesday whenever.
Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
But the gym that you have a membership for, I
still go there. That's great, Okay, great, I didn't know
you were playing, Eric, you go. Yeah, so you did
see de monster.
Speaker 2 (01:11:28):
Yeah, that was definitely my Hopefully we see you guys
in the season.
Speaker 1 (01:11:32):
Yeah, and hopefully you don't get it. Can't maximum one
ejection a season.
Speaker 2 (01:11:37):
You know, it was so embarrassing like that, will not
have it again. I was really embarrassed.
Speaker 1 (01:11:42):
Well, especially when you said it happened two minutes in.
Speaker 3 (01:11:46):
That was important. Crazy party. I had six points, Like
it was in like thirty seconds. I scored the six points.
Another guy, get me out of the game. I was
already annoyed about some stuff when I walked in the gym.
But you gotta you know basketball is an escape. Leave
that stuff out the way.
Speaker 1 (01:12:00):
I love to hear it. All right, Good job Blue Duck,
good job Volume, Thank you to DraftKings. We will the
reminder and for the Blue Duck folks and Volume folks
all get the details on how we're gonna do this
next Thursday. Shows from Vegas Tuesday, regularly scheduled show, maybe
(01:12:21):
a quick show over the weekend to react. If this
series wraps up on Saturday night, maybe even one tomorrow.
We'll see how the playoffs go, but we'll see all
Then heading to work to go on TV. See you
guys on First Things First in a few hours. Thank you. Also,
Richard Jefferson, What's right?
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