March 24, 2023 • 49 mins
On the latest episode of #thisleague UNCUT, after Chris Haynes' arrival for their latest recording was delayed slightly by a one-on-one chat he had to finish up with a Knicks star, Chris joined Marc Stein to discuss all the latest major injury news in the West surrounding Paul George, LeBron James and Zion Williamson and how injuries have affected the strange-looking West standings. They also naturally talked about the Dallas Mavericks' looming protest of their Wednesday night home loss to Golden State, delved into the tenuous climate for referees in today's NBA and closed, unexpectedly, with some moving remembrances of former Trail Blazers forward Jerome Kersey.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to this week Uncut in the world of NBA News.
Chris Hans Stein, it's some time this Lincoln Cut is
underway and then fire. This should be a good one,
(00:24):
Stein Haynes, This League Uncut back with you for a
new episode. We're recording on Wednesday night for a Thursday
morning drop of the pod. We're getting off to a
slightly delayed start because just as we were gonna start recording,
of course, Chris Haynes's phone rang and a bigger name.
(00:46):
He had a bigger name on the other line. So
that means Stein goes back to the end of the queue,
as we would say in England, and uh, he had
to take are you at Liberty to share with us
who you were speaking to? Think it would be okay
because the story would be out in the morning already,
so the news would have already dropped. But I had
(01:06):
reached out to Jalen Brunson, who's having an incredible year
with the New York Knicks. They're doing really good things
out there at fifth seed in Eastern Conference standards and
Jayalen playing playing at the All star level. But I
reached out to him earlier in the day about you know,
giving me some time, can he call me at some
point in the next few days. And I didn't hear
(01:27):
nothing anything Stein And so he actually texts me at
halftime of the Knicks Magic game, and so like he
was like, hey, Chris, my bad. I'm just seeing your text. Hey,
what'll we call you after the game. We're a halftime
right now. I'm like halftime, I said, bro Kiah hit
(01:47):
me upat there. I said, get back in the game. Man,
don't worry about this. He said, no, I'm not playing tonight,
so it's all good. He said, So I'll call you.
I'll call you after the game. And so he ended
up calling in my bad styne because usually year the
one that always has something to do right before we
go on and hold us up. So this time it
was mine. I wish it was because of NBA All
Stars or near all stars calling me for interviews, but
(02:10):
that's usually it's usually because I messed up somehow, not
because I have not because I have a Yeah, I
couldn't tell I understand, I understand, but I couldn't tell Jayleen. Hey,
you know what, man, let's do it tomorrow. I'm wait
after the pod. So now so it's we'll have a story.
(02:31):
It'll be it's on Bleacher Report as a right now,
y'all can check it out. Yeah, it'll be interesting to
see if that story. Does that story come out before
this pod, we'll see. It'll be a race. Well, we'll see.
We'll see which comes out first. But put me down
as jealous, like everyone in Dallas, I missed Jayto he
has he has some Dallas comments, so yeah, yeah, peep
(02:54):
it out. Yeah, no, I mean he is. He has
definitely missed. He was just great to watch and great
to cover. The guy gets better every single year and
just an absolute pro. So it's been you know, I
thought he was stepping in, really stepping into a pressure
cooker situation where you know, all the microscope was going
to be on him, and he is just zoomed past
(03:17):
all expectations yet again for a former second round pick.
Just one of the season's better stories. The Knicks and
Jalen Brunson two of the season's better story. So, as
we are recording this on a Wednesday night, very important
game taking place as we speak, the Clippers playing their
first game since Paul George went down with that really
(03:41):
really hard to watch knee injury. Thankfully, it appears to
be one of those knee sprains that just looks stomach
turning when you factor in the injury history that Paul
George already has from the Team USA disaster from almost
(04:01):
a decade ago. Now, just just terrible to see that,
and then you know, thankfully, it looks like it's not
as severe as it looked, but there's still a great
deal of uncertainty. The Clippers have basically said that Paul
George is essentially out for the rest of the regular season.
It's going to be two to three weeks before he's reevaluated.
That's realistically going to consume the rest of the regular season.
(04:24):
So a Clipper team that had won five of six
and was starting to trend in the right direction is
now most likely going to have to survive the rest
of the regular season at least and see if they
can preserve their top six status without Paul George. I
tweeted the stat earlier on Wednesday night. They are twenty
(04:45):
four and fourteen with both of their stars in uniform
four and two, with Kauai only entering this Wednesday night
game with Okase. You'll know the result by the time
this drops in the morning, eight and ten with PG
only two and nine with both fout. We've got injury
news with the Lakers as well. But I know the
Clippers are a team you are around a lot. I
(05:06):
know you know PG pretty well. I mean, I've had
trouble figuring out what I mean. We've been waiting. I mean,
we've been waiting for years. Are they ever gonna have
their whole team? And yet again we're saying they're not.
And I mean, the thing is that it seemed like
this type of situation is going around the league a lot.
(05:28):
You know, there's a lot of teams, Lakers right there, Phoenix,
Suns right there as well, dealing with injuries and New Orleans, Dallas,
New Orleans guys. It's happened a lot, and it's unfortunate
because for the Clippers, from their perspective, been waiting for
a while, and they get it, got out, the guys back,
and Tylu finally has the pieces where he can try
(05:51):
to mix and match and try to assemble the right
type of rotation and start line up together. And they're
kind of like they're rolling a little bit going into
the postseason, which is the right time to be rolling.
And then this happens Stein. Were you there in Vegas
that year Paul George had that catastrophe moment and listen,
(06:12):
I feel I still feel guilty about how this went
down because that was in the midst of I got
to cover three straight Team USA runs for ESPN, the
twenty twelve Olympics in London, twenty fourteen Worlds in Spain,
and the twenty sixteen Olympics in Rio, and I always
(06:33):
say those are probably the three best assignments of my career.
Brazil was tough. Brazil. The workload was crazy because I
was doing writing and TV the first time I really
had to do well. I mean I really had to
do both at at at a heavy level. And the
security issues in Brazil. I was really looking forward to
(06:55):
go into Brazil because it's a country i'd never been.
And I know, you beat me there, you went there,
you went there with the Yeah, I was really looking
forward to going. And because of the security situation and
the workload and just the way, like I really, I
saw very little of Brazil. They didn't want us going
anywhere but but London. You know how much I love England,
(07:16):
so to be to basically have my own apartment in
London for a month was off the charts. And then honestly,
twenty fourteen, I was with Team USA for thirty five days,
most of it in Spain and just incredible assignment. So
in advance of that, I actually said I better take
a between free agency and that I'm like, I better
(07:38):
take a break. And so Ramona and Windy covered that game,
and that was such a scary situation with Paul George.
I think Ramona was doing like live hits from the
hospital before the sun came up. I mean it was
like they I felt so bad that, you know, they
stepped in for me thinking, oh, it's just the Team
USA scrimmage, and they ended up working round the clock
(08:03):
because I mean, not Paul George. I mean, we don't.
We don't need to go back because everybody who saw
it remembers how ghastly it was. And knock on Wood,
thank god that he bounced back from that and got
past it and has had the career he's had, because man,
that was just seeing it on TV was bad enough.
I can't even imagine being there and trying to cover that.
(08:25):
That was my I want to say that that matter
of fact, that was my first year of covering Team
USA that summer before they went off to I believe.
I believe they were going off to play a couple
of exhibitions in Chicago or New York or something like that,
and that I was there and I've seen a bunch
(08:47):
of gruesome I can't say a bunch, but a few
gruesome leg injuries, but that was the only one that
I've seen in person actually being off that was tough. Um.
But yes, definitely you see in the replay of of
his latest injury, it definitely, you know, jobs your mind
(09:07):
back to to that that point. But thankfully it's nothing seriously,
And I was able to talk to some members of
the Clippers before we got on and they think that
he'll be back for the playoffs. Oh really, they yeah,
they think he has a chance to be back for
the playoffs. They're they're optimistic, I should say, And that
(09:27):
would be amazing, because again, it just it would that's
those injuries though, like and look like believe me, I'm
no doctor, but I but I had, like you do,
see those nie brains that sometimes they just look so
bad and then knock on wood, they turn out to
be not as severe as they look in the momentum,
(09:50):
not a whole lot of injuries that that we seem
able to say that. But but you know, let's hope, man,
I mean, I you know, I don't know where the
Clippers are gonna end up. I mean, I think Kauai's
off to a seven for seven start from the field
and this game that's gone on while we're on, So
they're still going to be quite formidable if Kawhi can
(10:11):
play these last nine games and they you know, they
have a deep team, one of the deepest really, so
they should still be able to get into the playoffs.
But yeah, think this this. You know, I still keep
saying it about the West. You know this, the injuries
are not everything. The West should not be as mid
(10:31):
if I can use that word again as it's been, like,
the record shouldn't be this average, in this mediocre. But
I mean the injuries, I mean, really, Sacramento's success has
been fueled in a lot by the fact that they've
mostly avoided it. You know, They've they've lost Kevin Hurder
here recently, really in their in their top rotation, they
(10:52):
haven't had to deal with They've they've largely stayed healthy
and just everywhere else you look, you know, Phoenix might
have to go into the playoffs with Durant playing maybe
less than five games. The Lakers, Lebron and a d
have both missed significant time. Dallas cannot get Luca and
Kyrie Irving on the court together. New Orleans hasn't seen
(11:14):
Zion Williamson since January second. Just on and on and on,
And you don't think an argument can be made that
the reason the wins are down in the Western Conference
is due primarily to injuries. It's undoubtedly a factor, but
I still say that the clump of teams in the
(11:36):
five hundred range is still abnormal. And look, something else
we always see we not always something else. We also
see frequently in the NBA are teams that lose a
key player and still find a way to put wins together.
So I just I cannot believe that when you look
(11:58):
at the standings that again, from from four through you know,
I think the Blazers have pretty much removed them you know,
they're they're removing themselves from this conversation. So from four
to twelve that you know, we still have that it's
still still so compact. It's to me, it's just it's
not all injuries. Injuries one hundred percent are a significant factor.
(12:20):
But it ain't all injuries, I understand. But those teams
that you're talking about that at five hundred, Pelicans significant injuries, Lakers,
significant injuries, Dallas Mavericks, they've dealt with their their share.
Minnesota yes, significant injuries, Golden State yes, significant injuries, Clippers yes,
Phoenix yes. Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Chris paul Is. Sometimes
(12:44):
Sacramento is the only team like you mentioned, so nobody
can rise above it. I mean, remember last year, here's
a classic example. Last year Memphis went twenty and five
without job. That's what I'm saying, Like, you know what,
shouldn't we have seen one or two of these teams.
You know, Phoenix got themselves in a big hole with
(13:05):
the way they were playing before, you know, long before
the Durant trade. So again, I den Booker was out,
no question Bookers, I mean, Bookers missed a zillion games.
I mean, I just think, I just I just think
it's this is such an anomaly. It just is so
strange that everybody is in this clump together that because
(13:31):
I think that's that's a question that's kind of gone
on all season. Will we see this again? Is this
the new normal? I do not think this is the
new normal, Like this is this is just so abnormal.
Oh here's another one. Okay, Golden State. No question, they've
had injuries, stepsmissed twenty six games, but that doesn't account
for you know, what are they what are they on
(13:52):
the road nine and twenty nine now and they were
seven and twenty nine before winning the last two. I
mean the Warriors, the Warriors trade the Warriors playoff hallmark
has been the fact that they've won an NBA record,
They've won a road game in a league record twenty
seven consecutive series. Like they're they've they've always been great
(14:13):
on the road, and this year, going into the Dallas
game the other night, they were twenty eighth in the
league in defense in road games and tied for third
in defense in home games. So again, it's not all injuries.
There's some there's some suspect play in the mix as
well for somebody. I mean, because look, I look at
(14:35):
the Lakers now they're I mean, they're they're winning games
without Lebron. I mean they've now that they've made all
these moves since the deadline. I mean that's saying you can.
You're supposed to be able to weather one injury absence
for a little bit of time when you're a good team.
But hey, it's just one man's theory. Maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe maybe it's all injuries and I'm just a doomsayer.
(14:57):
Now you're supposed to. But if you look at the
the teams that are thriving in the Western Conference, they've
relatively been healthy all year long and right now and
right now, nobody's really nobody's thriving in the West. I
mean Memphis, given everything they've gone through with the Josh
suspension and now getting him back, I mean, they've they've
actually been They had a terrible, a terrible wobble early,
(15:22):
you know, before the All Star break, but they've they've
they've really been good here lately. And they've it's not
just Job. I mean they've they've lost Brandon Clark for
the year and they have no Steven Adams, so they
they've the Grizzlies have actually shown a lot of toughness
here and very quietly have a thirty one and five
record at home. So I mean, what about the Lakers.
(15:44):
There were multiple reports, including from one Sea Haynes of
Turner Sports about there's there's some hope in Laker Land
that Lebron might come back for the last few games
of the season. And to be very clear, those reports
followed an official bulletin from the Lakers about how Lebron
has been cleared for more on court activity. Lebron, though,
(16:08):
followed that up with his own update. There wasn't an
evaluation today and there hasn't been any target for my return.
I'm just working around the clock every day, three times
a day, to give myself the best chance of coming
back full strength whenever that is God bless y'all sources.
I speak for myself. So there it is from NA shuts,
(16:34):
not at you. That was just everybody else, everybody else. Yeah,
I don't like I said. I don't know why he
was so mad because the initial bulletin, again came direct
from the Lakers. The Lakers told their beat writers before
that Lebron tweet Lebron James has begun on court activity
(16:54):
and gradual basketball movement progression. There is no specific timeline
for his return. Further updates will be provided as appropriate.
So I guess he probably didn't love the He wants
to play in the last few games. But man, is
that I mean, but then he had let me see,
he said there wasn't an evaluation today and there hasn't
(17:15):
been a target date for my return. Who who reported
or said anything about an evaluation. I'm assuming he's talking
about what the Lakers put out and probably assumed that
everyone was reporting that an evaluation took place, which led
(17:36):
to the Lakers releasing their update. I don't know. I
don't know King James is controlling the message. He's letting
it be known. You're going to hear it first and
foremost from him and f y'all sources. That's what he's saying. Look,
I mean, I would I don't think it seems like
a grand leap to assume that he would want to
play in the last couple of games. He surely doesn't
(17:58):
want to just have to come back in the playoffs
with no semblance of Rampa. But I mean, look, the
Pelicans won't go away, the Jazz won't go away. I mean,
the Lakers still have to secure a playing spot. I
don't think they're going to move up into the top
six without Lebron, even if he is able to come
back for one of those last couple But Lakers play
(18:21):
April fifth against the Clippers. That's at Staples. Then obviously
at Staples. Yeah, I'm gonna call it Staples. It's at Staples.
And then then they got home games to finish the
season on the seventh and the ninth. So the Lakers
last three games are in LA. I think whether or not,
no matter what was said and tweeted today, I think
we're all kind of going to be looking at that
to see if, if, if Lebron is able to make
(18:44):
a comeback. By then, Braun said, I speak for myself.
That's how he entered it. I started texting, like, what's
what's you're talking about? Broun, What's what's on your mind?
I started text him. I'm like, Naali Belone, I say
that for down the road. Um, will you see the
Lakers anytime soon? I scheduled to see them anytime soon
(19:09):
right now. My next game is Golden State Golden State
in New Orleans in San Francisco this coming up Tuesday. Nice,
So I expect we'll get some Zion Williamson details from you. Perhaps.
Oh that's another thing, right, that's man? It do you
(19:30):
if you had if you were if you, I what
did your gut tell you, Stein? Does your gut tell
you Stein that Zion is out for the rest of
the season? I mean, yes, if I was forced to
make a choice, I can't like because again, that too
is it's the same thing as like the ramp up,
you know, I mean, what kind of ramp up is
(19:51):
he gonna be able to have? If you know, I
think same thing. They said they were going to evaluate
him in two more weeks, so he's he's only going
to have a couple more a couple of games before
the end of the regular season to just run out there.
But you know, the Pelicant, you know, Willie Green and
the Pelicans have been adamant that no decision has been
made yet and the door is still open for him
(20:12):
to potentially to return at the end of the season.
But it's just been so long since we've seen him
that and you think about what what details are ramp up?
You know, you have to you definitely have to take
into consideration Zion's injury history and is a ramp up
(20:32):
at the later part of the season when you're talking
about the end of the regular season when games matter,
or even potentially a play in does that make sense,
And teams aren't even practicing at this point. They're not
they're not they're not practicing. These are high stakes games
where they're going at it hard. Can you put Zion
into a playing game, can't you know, for his first
(20:54):
couple of games, if he if he, if he's able
to come back at that time, it's it's just not
a good like if this was anybody else, Yeah, like
Lebron is going to go through it, But Zion hasn't
played in a minute, and his history, his injury history,
tells you that you gotta be cautious with the guy,
(21:15):
and you gotta take all precautions. And so I don't
see them. I can't see it. I don't know. I
don't have any intil I just can't see it. And
so I kind of agree with you with it. But
that's why it's a good thing that we'll be putting
you on the on the this League uncut private jet
and having you attend that game, attend your first game
(21:36):
back after the NCAA's is a Pelicans game, so we
can dispatch you to get some answers. I was definitely
asked for some answers. I don't I don't know if
I'll get them, but I'll ask kind of some unfair
pressure on put I'll ask not the first time. You
know what people always ask me, like what do you
(21:57):
miss about not being at ESPN? And I'm all always
going to give the same, the same two answers. I
loved ESPN Radio, even though I have a face for
radio and a voice for print. As one tweeter once
told me, I loved radio is one of my favorite
Radio is probably tied with writing is my favorite medium.
(22:18):
I absolutely loved working for ESPN Radio. But the other
thing is ESPN had an armada of research studs, just
stupendous research people who would just give me nugget after
nugget after nugget. I mean helped me. So you know,
to have to have the might of ESPN stats and
(22:42):
info to back me up assembling the power rankings for
fifteen years. And this week, one of my former colleagues
from ESPN Research, Micah Adams, who is now a managing
editor at The Sporting News, but he was he was
an ace researcher for ESPN. We worked together. He had
an incredible stat this week. Did you realize that Lebron
(23:02):
and KD. Now, Katie's been on multiple teams in this stretch.
But Wednesday night, when the Lakers beat the Suns, it
was the seventeenth straight game between Lebron's team and Kd's
team that they did not play. Wow, they have not
played each other in nearly fifteen hundred and fifty days.
(23:24):
Those gems courtesy of Mica Adams. Fifteen hundred days. It's
similar to KD hasn't played in Golden State since he's left. Yeah,
it's we need to get these guys back on the court,
all of them, Katie, Lebron, Zion, Kyrie, who else? All
(23:50):
these Who am I leaving out in the West. I'm
sure I'm leaving people out all right. Style. You mentioned
what you miss about ESPN? What do you not? This was?
That was that on the list? Go ahead, don't you
brought it up? Go ahead, don't open the door if
you ain't prepared to walk down that. I did not.
(24:12):
I did not think I was opening the door to
that question. That has to be a whole pod in
its own, like that's that's like a summertime That's like
a summertime pod when we when we're not in the middle.
That's like in August when we're you know, free agencies over.
We're not in the middle of the season, like we
can't everybody. We might need, we might need hours for
that one. I tried everybody. Well, I mean, I figured
(24:34):
you would want to I mean much more newsy than that.
I figured you would want to talk about the game
I was at last night with uh, you know, Dallas
and Golden State and the Mavericks are again going to
lodge a protest. The Mavericks are the last team to
lodge a protest in the NBA. In the nineteen twenty season,
they protested a loss to Atlanta. They lost. Mark Cuban
(24:56):
was subsequently fined five hundred thousand dollars, which I had
forgotten about. Did you were you? Did you see what
happened in Dallas? Because I don't know if it was
any I don't know if it was any I hope
it was clear watching on TV, because I'm gonna tell
you I was. I had moved in the second half
from my usual press row spot. I had moved into
(25:17):
the stands to speak with someone, and so being in
the stands when all that was going on, it was
super confusing to try to figure out what happened. So no,
I mean that I've seen on TV. Just like everybody else,
you have a different, more grander perspective, So tell us talk,
talk us through that. Well, look, they're not going to
(25:40):
win the protest, but there are you know, I think,
and I think deep down they know they're not going
to win the protests because NBA protests are not one.
I mean again, I think Matt Williams from ESPN Research,
to name check ESPN Research again, I think he assembled
a piece this week that lists there's only like five
(26:01):
or six successful protests in NBA history. The last successful
one was in two thousand and seven eight, but before that,
there wasn't a successful protest since nineteen eighty two. It's
really hard to win these. And look, I do think
the Mavericks have some elements of a case in their favor.
(26:21):
There's audio of Jason Kidd telling one of the officials,
you told us it was our ball. The MAVs thought
it was their ball. And for all the confusion about
where the MAVs were on the court and all the
criticism they're getting about they were out of position. They
lost track of where the game was. They didn't know
which end they were supposed to be on. One of
the three refs, Michael Smith, he was also confused. He
(26:46):
was down where the Mavericks were, so there was sufficient
chaos on the floor that what should have happened One
of the other two refs should have realized that the
Mavericks and one of his colleagues were completely discombobulated by
what was happening over whose ball it was, which end
(27:07):
the ball was being inbounded from. There should have been
a stoppage of play to get everybody in order and
restore order to the situation. Instead, they decided to hand
the ball to the Warriors to inbound the ball with
no Mavericks in the vicinity, and Jordan Poole got to
pass to Cavan Looney for an uncontested five on nil layup.
(27:28):
But the other reality is there was more than thirteen
minutes left in the game when this happened, and the
league is inevitable is inevitably going to say that those
two points, no matter how errant they may have been,
did not change the outcome of the game, and that
the Mavericks had enough time to come back. So ultimately,
(27:51):
I don't foresee this protest succeeding. Because remember the way
NBA protests work. If the NBA were to grant this
protest and say that the Mavericks protest is successful, the
Warriors would have to be flown back to Dallas to
(28:12):
replay the game from that point. So at some point
here before the end of the season, the Warriors would
have to play the Mavericks the last one fifty plus
of the third quarter and the whole fourth quarter all
over again. That ain't happening. It's just not happening. The
Warriors are. The Warriors ain't coming back to Dallas. Although
it's it is crazy when you think that that game
(28:34):
would get quite a bit of attention if it if
it did happen, but it's it's sure, it's not that's
that's not happening from that Yeah, replaying a game or
restarting the game at that point, flying all that, you know.
That just the question I have if if the Mavericks
would have lost by four, six, eight ten on a
(28:56):
mass foul on the protest, I don't think so. And
the reason I say that is because Mark Cuban. It's
like during the game and after in the in the
in the at one at the first stoppage. After this chaos,
Mark Cuban went all the way to the ESPN broadcast team,
(29:16):
which was near where I was sitting at that point,
to try to find out what they knew, and he
told Jeff Van Gundi, who was calling the game with
Dave Pass, he said, if we lose by two, we're protesting.
But yeah, I think if it was more, If it
was more, then they really wouldn't have had a case.
But it you know, Reggie Bullock makes a late three
(29:37):
to cut it, you know, a meaningless three that cuts
into two at the buzzer, and now for the for
the yeah, for the for the fee of ten thousand dollars,
the MAVs are going to lodge this protest and this
thing will be in the news until at least next week.
And because that's how long it's gonna you know, teams
(29:58):
can take five six days to basically make their case,
or it takes at least five six days for a
case like this to be resolved, and you know it's
gonna go, Yeah, it's it's it's most likely going to
go into next week. And so it just keeps a
spotlight on, you know, yet another example of team dismay
(30:21):
with refereeing this year, which is certain by no means.
You know, this is not the only time it's happened.
I think we all remember Fred van Vleet in Toronto
just absolutely going off on Ben Taylor. Recently, we saw
Monty Williams, you know, pounding the table in frustration at
his postgame press conference after the Sun's lost to the
(30:42):
Lakers forty six to twenty free throw disparity, and Monty
basically went up, you know, went off on the officiating
and and and that was that was the totality of
the press conference. That's not not something we often see
from him. So there's a lot of I mean, there's
a lot of a lot of tension going around these days.
(31:03):
And I think the tight standings is a factor too.
That just it's so bunched up for everybody in every
single game matters right now, which is that's something the
NBA obviously does want, and that's something that's one reason
why they love the plane is because it keeps so
many teams in that hunt for a top ten spot
and you get the kind of late season standings watching
(31:25):
that we used to not get in the NBA. The
foul talent complaint is always a little it could be
comical because sometimes the reason I say that, and this
has to do with money Williams and this complaint. But
a lot of times you'll see coaches complaining about the
disparity and foul calls free throw you know, players get
into the free throw line, and the simple solution would
(31:51):
be to actually get to the paint, you know, be physical,
get into the basket. You know, you'll see a lot
of coaches, you know, if there's a huge foul to
spare there, they'll complain about it. But if you look
at it, that team might have just shot nothing but
jump shots where you're not getting all those fouls compared
(32:11):
to a team like say Milwaukee, team like the Lakers,
where you got Jannis or you got Lebron. That's gonna
always put pressure on the defense. Get into the basket,
posting up, you know, just attacking and you got to
foul a big guy like that. Opposed to being a
jump shooting team, you're not going to get that call.
And so I get why, So I get why coaches
(32:35):
do that. They want to a lot of times when
they're complaining publicly like that, and they're gonna take that fine.
They're trying to set it up for the next game,
trying to get in the referees head and and it
would be a different referee cru but these referee CRUs
they study the previous games on what was the narrative
or what was talked about in that game, and they
(32:57):
want to change it because they don't want to be
part of that narrative or that storyline. So it does
have a mental approach to it. But you know, a
lot of a lot of it a lot, you know,
nine times out of ten, you know, it's it's really
you can really look at a number of jump shots
the team and shooting and you can kind of tell, Okay,
(33:17):
why such and such team is getting to a line
a little bit more in that game. But you know,
it's cool. That's that's that's the play. That's how that's
how coaches, that's how they that's how they do that
play those mind games. That's that's always been the case.
You travel more than I do because of the nature
of your job being a sideline reporter for Turner, and
you're just you are just on the road much more
(33:39):
than me. I mean, obviously I live in Dallas, so
I just from where I live, I hear plenty of
of of reviews of the officiating. Let's politely say, I
mean it feels league wide though that like frustrations. There's
a lot of tension right now between players, teams and
the rests. I mean, are you are you feeling it?
(34:01):
Are you sensing it when you're out there? Yeah? There is.
I had a conversation, man, I wish I could say
his player's name. I had a conversation with a star
player and he was talking about, um, this certain ref
just how disrespectful um this ref? Well, actually it was this.
It was the it was the ref crew of that
(34:22):
whatever the game that was. And he was just basically saying,
you know, just how they're not held accountable. You know
how they'll they'll say something that's disrespectful, and you know,
they'll respond back saying, hey, I'm a man, you can't
talk to me about that, or they'll cuts back at them,
and then they get the text and they're the ones
(34:43):
that have to live with public scorn of being reprimanded
and they feel like the officials get off. But I
let me say, man, there's a there's a ton of
officials that I love out there. You know, ten officials
that I consider to be really good friends, and it's
a thankless job. And I do think the overwhelming majority
(35:05):
they're trying to get it right. This is a really
hard sport to officiate. But yeah, that accountability thing, I
mean that I think the public wants to see more
of what of how they're judged and you know, what
happens when there's disciplined, and the league has always been
fiercely protective of that. They don't want us to know
when referees get disciplined or what kind of discipline they face,
(35:28):
And so I think, yeah, I mean I think players
too are that kind of complaints has been more frequent
this season. Why is that? I don't know. Yeah, I
really don't know, Like I don't know why why it
seemed like it's resta boiling point this year. I couldn't
(35:52):
call you got it? You know, And I this is
such a complex subject. It's I probably shouldn't even have
tried to throw it in here at the end, because
that's things like this is my thirtieth season, Like there's
been complaining about the referees for all thirty of those seasons.
Like if it was I guess I haven't heard what
the fixes. Who's gonna train, Like, who's gonna If it
(36:13):
was easy to fix, somebody would have done it by now.
It's just it's just not that easy to repair. And
you know, I'm sure, I'm sure if if refs could
speak freely, I'm sure several would say, well, you don't
know what the stuff they say to us. So, m okay,
so I don't know. Since we're on the we're on referees.
(36:37):
Let me see. The day passed already. Damn the day
pass So there is a let me see my guy.
But James Williams, referee number sixty, veteran ref, really one
of the best rests we have in the league. I
was supposed to put this out a week ago and
I'm looking back at it and I'm like, damn, I
(37:00):
missed it. So he started a it looked like it's
a website called ref Masters, and it's a it's a
site that's supposed to help fans understand what refs are
looking at like at certain points of the game, is
trying to it's a it's a site to try to
(37:20):
educate fans on what to look for, why certain calls
are being made. H So this is This is all
started by James, my brother James William. So y'all go
to Instagram at ref Masters and check him out. He
gives let me say, he did a Q and A
on March eleventh that I missed, So sorry James this
(37:43):
We're already in mark March twenty three. But go to
that site. Check him out. He's doing really good things,
trying to educate the fans on official interesting stun. I
got a question, and of course I'm coming from leftfield.
I promise you I'm going somewhere with this. But who
(38:05):
is the next player Portland Trail Blazers player that you
think will have his jersey retired by the Blazers? Man,
I do not know the Blazers as inside and out
as you, and I'm guessing you're not asking me. You're
not asking this about Dame, who's certainly years away from
retirement at this point. So obviously, no, I thought you.
(38:28):
I thought you would say Dame. This isn't because he's probablyological, Yeah,
I mean da, I mean Dame's a layup that you know,
I guess from the era previous. I mean, would Brandon
Roy be a contender because you know, obviously injury, tortured,
but he had some some really high highs as a Blazer.
(38:50):
I don't know. You know again, I'm saying that totally
as a guess. I don't have a super I don't
have my finger on the pulse of the Blazer like
you do. I'm guessing. So I bring this up for
a reason. But the only and no disrespect to I'm
not talking about Brandon Roy, not talking about la Marcus Aldreds.
(39:11):
I'm actually going I'm actually going to Era before that
and LaMarcus what has a case based off of how
the Portland Troublers that have done things in the past.
When it comes to retiring jerseys, Portland is not like
the Lakers or the Celtics. Lakers and Celtics have Hall
(39:31):
of Famers. It is no disrespect to these players, but
most of the players jerseys that's retired by the Blazers,
these players were on that seventy seventeam that won the
NBA championship. It's the Portland Troublers only championship, and so
there's not a lot of you know, you gotten trying
to think the Hall of famers on that that's retiring
(39:53):
for the Blazers. Clyde Drexler, Bill Walton, I think that
is it. Do you have a listen front doctor Jack,
doctor Jack Wickcamp. But but yeah, like, look like you're saying,
I didn't even I didn't even realize this. Lloyd Neil's
number thirty six is retired by the Portland Trailblazers. Member
of that team, Bob Gross a more well known member
(40:15):
of that team, but his number thirty also retired. And
Bob Gross only average nine point two points a game,
but obviously his role on that championship team makes him
a Blazer's legend. But yes, I see your point here.
So when I stopped so when I started covering the league,
I'm just being honest. I'm twenty eight at the time,
(40:36):
twenty seven or whatever. I'm looking up at the Raptors
and I don't I'm like, who are these guys like that?
That's just it's just it's just different. It's not like
I said, it's not Lakers, it's not the self things.
They do things differently, but based off of how they've
done things in the past. I'm sharing a story here.
So I was very close with Jerome Kersey and I've
(40:57):
never shared the story before. But I was very close
with Jerome Kersey and he kind of took me in,
like him and Michael Holton who steered there with the Blazers,
and Antonio Harvey used to be the radio guy with
the Blazers. Those guys like really took me under my
wing to try to show me the ropes on just
you know, how to navigate road life with a family
(41:20):
and everything, and just telling me all the stories back
back in the day playing in the eighties and nineties, man,
and they're just encyclopedia, man. So I just loved being
around him. But Jerome told me that the Blazers had
let him know that they had intentions of retiring his jersey,
(41:44):
and I said, man, I remember telling him back back
in the day, So this is I think he probably
told me this as early as twenty eleven. And at
that time, Jerome worked as an ambassador for the team.
So it's one of those roles where you go out
in the community represent the you know, represent the team.
So he did he did that, fourth he did that
(42:05):
for a good amount of years, and so he was
always looking forward to having his jersey lifted up there
in the Raptors. And again, no disrespect to you know
a lot of those players. But he's looking at some
of those players up there, a lot of than what
on Jerome Kurtsey's level, and people you gotta look up.
Jerome k Kirsty was a dog. He's a dog. Played
(42:26):
with Drexler and Porter. He you know, he didn't get
to stand out um like other players did on other teams,
but he was a dog. He was probably the heart
a lot of people were calling from the heart and
soul of those Portland Trail Blazer teams that went to
the finals and battled against Michael Jordan's So two Thy
fourteen happens. Twenty fourteen comes around, and this is we're right,
(42:52):
We're right. We're about to get right into the twenty
fourteen two Thy fifteen season. And Jerome calls me and
tells me, hey, the Blazers are signing Steve Blake. And
I'm like, okay, cool, you know, Steve Blake is coming back.
He's a fan favorite in Portland. And I'm like, okay,
(43:14):
that's quest a nice pick up, nice backup to dame.
He was like, he's they're giving him number twenty five.
And again I'm not, you know, it's still not registering
to me like, he was like, that's my number, man.
I was like, oh, he was like, they still ain't
(43:34):
put me like he was hurt. He was hurt. This
is twenty fourteen, two fifteen season. He was hurt that
they gave Blake his number number twenty five and basically
saying that there's no plans to no immediate plans to
(43:54):
retire his jersey. So that was in the fall of
two thousand and fourth team. Jerome passed due to a
blood clot about five months later and never got to
see it. Now, I don't know. The Blazers have changed,
(44:16):
change regimes in the front office and the business side
since then. I never knew who it was that promised
Jerome that it was in the plans to retire his jersey.
But I've always felt that him being one of the
guys that was a heart and soul of that team
(44:36):
in the nineties with Terry Porter and Clyde Director, which
those two both have their numbers up there, I felt
like it was deserving. I felt like he I felt
like he was deserving to have his number up there,
especially if he was told so, and especially if you
look at the guys that are up there right now,
and so that that was a very I've never I
(44:57):
never talked about that. I've never shared that story about
you know, when Steve Blake came around, and how Jerome
felt when they gave him his number. Um, I wish
I wish they would. I wish he would have got
a chance to see it, and not just see it,
because they still haven't done it. So you know, I
would like to see the Blazers do that. I would
(45:19):
like to one thing about Jerome. That guy don't lie.
He gonna keep it straight up. So I believe him
when he told me somebody high, a high ranking official
with the Blazers told him they planned to to retire
his jersey. So I hope they do that for his family,
for his kids, even though he can't see it, you know,
(45:41):
I you know, I want them to. I want them
to do right by them. I think I think he
deserves it consider the campaign started. That was a beautiful tribute.
I got to actually cover him, not in his Blazer days,
and you know you said it. I mean, he was
an integral part of those two Blazer teams that went
to the finals and had to deal with with Michael. Um.
(46:05):
I got to cover him, not only in San Antonio
when he was part of a championship team when the
Spurs won their first title, but when my last year
in LA as a beat writer, he was on the Lakers.
It was the Shack and Kobe year. And man, Del
I can still hear you know, Del Harris has a
very very you know, the twang of Dell's voice is
(46:28):
if you've covered him, it's very noticeable. And I can
I can still hear Dell talking about JK. I mean,
I can still, I can just hear it. Um. He
was a beloved guy on that Laker team and someone
that Del Harris really really leaned on. Um just just
a solid vet late late in his career, that kind
of you know, kind of like a you know, nobody's
(46:50):
really like Udonis has them in terms of his oneness
with the heat. But you know, you always you want
guy you know, you want a Haslem or an Igodala
on your team. You want those you know, those vets.
Jared Dudley was, you know, he filled that role on
the Lakers title team in the bubble, like you you
need those guys who've been around and seen it all.
(47:11):
And so that's that's the that's the Jerome Kersey that
I got to cover late in his career with both
the Lakers and the Spurs, so I was not as
close to him as you. But let's consider this the
start of the campaign. No doubt, man number of If
you're wrong, rest in peace, brother. All Right, everyone that
does it for another edition of this league uncut. Chris
(47:34):
and I will be back Monday, which is right in
the midst of a stretch of great importance in terms
of the regular season, in terms of the MVP race,
a stretch that people have really been looking forward to. Saturday, Nicola,
Yokich and Denver supposed to face Janis until the Koompa Milwaukee.
(47:54):
Monday is supposed to be Denver Philly, which means Yoki
versus MB and Bead's been dealing with a calf issue
this week. Hopefully he is passed it and able to
give it a full go on Monday, and then shortly
after that Philly plays Milwaukee. So we've got three interesting
head to head matchups in this MVP race. Shirley, we'll
(48:16):
be getting into that next week and whatever chaos awaits
us this weekend, everybody have a great weekend, and please,
please please rate, review, subscribe Chris and I'll be back
with you very very soon, and that'll do it for us.
(48:37):
See you next time. This league uncut is and iHeartRadio production,
Christine and Mark Steyne. It didn't matter.
Welcome to this week Uncut in the world of NBA News.
Chris Hans Stein, it's some time this Lincoln Cut is
underway and then fire. This should be a good one,
(00:24):
Stein Haynes, This League Uncut back with you for a
new episode. We're recording on Wednesday night for a Thursday
morning drop of the pod. We're getting off to a
slightly delayed start because just as we were gonna start recording,
of course, Chris Haynes's phone rang and a bigger name.
(00:46):
He had a bigger name on the other line. So
that means Stein goes back to the end of the queue,
as we would say in England, and uh, he had
to take are you at Liberty to share with us
who you were speaking to? Think it would be okay
because the story would be out in the morning already,
so the news would have already dropped. But I had
(01:06):
reached out to Jalen Brunson, who's having an incredible year
with the New York Knicks. They're doing really good things
out there at fifth seed in Eastern Conference standards and
Jayalen playing playing at the All star level. But I
reached out to him earlier in the day about you know,
giving me some time, can he call me at some
point in the next few days. And I didn't hear
(01:27):
nothing anything Stein And so he actually texts me at
halftime of the Knicks Magic game, and so like he
was like, hey, Chris, my bad. I'm just seeing your text. Hey,
what'll we call you after the game. We're a halftime
right now. I'm like halftime, I said, bro Kiah hit
(01:47):
me upat there. I said, get back in the game. Man,
don't worry about this. He said, no, I'm not playing tonight,
so it's all good. He said, So I'll call you.
I'll call you after the game. And so he ended
up calling in my bad styne because usually year the
one that always has something to do right before we
go on and hold us up. So this time it
was mine. I wish it was because of NBA All
Stars or near all stars calling me for interviews, but
(02:10):
that's usually it's usually because I messed up somehow, not
because I have not because I have a Yeah, I
couldn't tell I understand, I understand, but I couldn't tell Jayleen. Hey,
you know what, man, let's do it tomorrow. I'm wait
after the pod. So now so it's we'll have a story.
(02:31):
It'll be it's on Bleacher Report as a right now,
y'all can check it out. Yeah, it'll be interesting to
see if that story. Does that story come out before
this pod, we'll see. It'll be a race. Well, we'll see.
We'll see which comes out first. But put me down
as jealous, like everyone in Dallas, I missed Jayto he
has he has some Dallas comments, so yeah, yeah, peep
(02:54):
it out. Yeah, no, I mean he is. He has
definitely missed. He was just great to watch and great
to cover. The guy gets better every single year and
just an absolute pro. So it's been you know, I
thought he was stepping in, really stepping into a pressure
cooker situation where you know, all the microscope was going
to be on him, and he is just zoomed past
(03:17):
all expectations yet again for a former second round pick.
Just one of the season's better stories. The Knicks and
Jalen Brunson two of the season's better story. So, as
we are recording this on a Wednesday night, very important
game taking place as we speak, the Clippers playing their
first game since Paul George went down with that really
(03:41):
really hard to watch knee injury. Thankfully, it appears to
be one of those knee sprains that just looks stomach
turning when you factor in the injury history that Paul
George already has from the Team USA disaster from almost
(04:01):
a decade ago. Now, just just terrible to see that,
and then you know, thankfully, it looks like it's not
as severe as it looked, but there's still a great
deal of uncertainty. The Clippers have basically said that Paul
George is essentially out for the rest of the regular season.
It's going to be two to three weeks before he's reevaluated.
That's realistically going to consume the rest of the regular season.
(04:24):
So a Clipper team that had won five of six
and was starting to trend in the right direction is
now most likely going to have to survive the rest
of the regular season at least and see if they
can preserve their top six status without Paul George. I
tweeted the stat earlier on Wednesday night. They are twenty
(04:45):
four and fourteen with both of their stars in uniform
four and two, with Kauai only entering this Wednesday night
game with Okase. You'll know the result by the time
this drops in the morning, eight and ten with PG
only two and nine with both fout. We've got injury
news with the Lakers as well. But I know the
Clippers are a team you are around a lot. I
(05:06):
know you know PG pretty well. I mean, I've had
trouble figuring out what I mean. We've been waiting. I mean,
we've been waiting for years. Are they ever gonna have
their whole team? And yet again we're saying they're not.
And I mean, the thing is that it seemed like
this type of situation is going around the league a lot.
(05:28):
You know, there's a lot of teams, Lakers right there, Phoenix,
Suns right there as well, dealing with injuries and New Orleans, Dallas,
New Orleans guys. It's happened a lot, and it's unfortunate
because for the Clippers, from their perspective, been waiting for
a while, and they get it, got out, the guys back,
and Tylu finally has the pieces where he can try
(05:51):
to mix and match and try to assemble the right
type of rotation and start line up together. And they're
kind of like they're rolling a little bit going into
the postseason, which is the right time to be rolling.
And then this happens Stein. Were you there in Vegas
that year Paul George had that catastrophe moment and listen,
(06:12):
I feel I still feel guilty about how this went
down because that was in the midst of I got
to cover three straight Team USA runs for ESPN, the
twenty twelve Olympics in London, twenty fourteen Worlds in Spain,
and the twenty sixteen Olympics in Rio, and I always
(06:33):
say those are probably the three best assignments of my career.
Brazil was tough. Brazil. The workload was crazy because I
was doing writing and TV the first time I really
had to do well. I mean I really had to
do both at at at a heavy level. And the
security issues in Brazil. I was really looking forward to
(06:55):
go into Brazil because it's a country i'd never been.
And I know, you beat me there, you went there,
you went there with the Yeah, I was really looking
forward to going. And because of the security situation and
the workload and just the way, like I really, I
saw very little of Brazil. They didn't want us going
anywhere but but London. You know how much I love England,
(07:16):
so to be to basically have my own apartment in
London for a month was off the charts. And then honestly,
twenty fourteen, I was with Team USA for thirty five days,
most of it in Spain and just incredible assignment. So
in advance of that, I actually said I better take
a between free agency and that I'm like, I better
(07:38):
take a break. And so Ramona and Windy covered that game,
and that was such a scary situation with Paul George.
I think Ramona was doing like live hits from the
hospital before the sun came up. I mean it was
like they I felt so bad that, you know, they
stepped in for me thinking, oh, it's just the Team
USA scrimmage, and they ended up working round the clock
(08:03):
because I mean, not Paul George. I mean, we don't.
We don't need to go back because everybody who saw
it remembers how ghastly it was. And knock on Wood,
thank god that he bounced back from that and got
past it and has had the career he's had, because man,
that was just seeing it on TV was bad enough.
I can't even imagine being there and trying to cover that.
(08:25):
That was my I want to say that that matter
of fact, that was my first year of covering Team
USA that summer before they went off to I believe.
I believe they were going off to play a couple
of exhibitions in Chicago or New York or something like that,
and that I was there and I've seen a bunch
(08:47):
of gruesome I can't say a bunch, but a few
gruesome leg injuries, but that was the only one that
I've seen in person actually being off that was tough. Um.
But yes, definitely you see in the replay of of
his latest injury, it definitely, you know, jobs your mind
(09:07):
back to to that that point. But thankfully it's nothing seriously,
And I was able to talk to some members of
the Clippers before we got on and they think that
he'll be back for the playoffs. Oh really, they yeah,
they think he has a chance to be back for
the playoffs. They're they're optimistic, I should say, And that
(09:27):
would be amazing, because again, it just it would that's
those injuries though, like and look like believe me, I'm
no doctor, but I but I had, like you do,
see those nie brains that sometimes they just look so
bad and then knock on wood, they turn out to
be not as severe as they look in the momentum,
(09:50):
not a whole lot of injuries that that we seem
able to say that. But but you know, let's hope, man,
I mean, I you know, I don't know where the
Clippers are gonna end up. I mean, I think Kauai's
off to a seven for seven start from the field
and this game that's gone on while we're on, So
they're still going to be quite formidable if Kawhi can
(10:11):
play these last nine games and they you know, they
have a deep team, one of the deepest really, so
they should still be able to get into the playoffs.
But yeah, think this this. You know, I still keep
saying it about the West. You know this, the injuries
are not everything. The West should not be as mid
(10:31):
if I can use that word again as it's been, like,
the record shouldn't be this average, in this mediocre. But
I mean the injuries, I mean, really, Sacramento's success has
been fueled in a lot by the fact that they've
mostly avoided it. You know, They've they've lost Kevin Hurder
here recently, really in their in their top rotation, they
(10:52):
haven't had to deal with They've they've largely stayed healthy
and just everywhere else you look, you know, Phoenix might
have to go into the playoffs with Durant playing maybe
less than five games. The Lakers, Lebron and a d
have both missed significant time. Dallas cannot get Luca and
Kyrie Irving on the court together. New Orleans hasn't seen
(11:14):
Zion Williamson since January second. Just on and on and on,
And you don't think an argument can be made that
the reason the wins are down in the Western Conference
is due primarily to injuries. It's undoubtedly a factor, but
I still say that the clump of teams in the
(11:36):
five hundred range is still abnormal. And look, something else
we always see we not always something else. We also
see frequently in the NBA are teams that lose a
key player and still find a way to put wins together.
So I just I cannot believe that when you look
(11:58):
at the standings that again, from from four through you know,
I think the Blazers have pretty much removed them you know,
they're they're removing themselves from this conversation. So from four
to twelve that you know, we still have that it's
still still so compact. It's to me, it's just it's
not all injuries. Injuries one hundred percent are a significant factor.
(12:20):
But it ain't all injuries, I understand. But those teams
that you're talking about that at five hundred, Pelicans significant injuries, Lakers,
significant injuries, Dallas Mavericks, they've dealt with their their share.
Minnesota yes, significant injuries, Golden State yes, significant injuries, Clippers yes,
Phoenix yes. Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Chris paul Is. Sometimes
(12:44):
Sacramento is the only team like you mentioned, so nobody
can rise above it. I mean, remember last year, here's
a classic example. Last year Memphis went twenty and five
without job. That's what I'm saying, Like, you know what,
shouldn't we have seen one or two of these teams.
You know, Phoenix got themselves in a big hole with
(13:05):
the way they were playing before, you know, long before
the Durant trade. So again, I den Booker was out,
no question Bookers, I mean, Bookers missed a zillion games.
I mean, I just think, I just I just think
it's this is such an anomaly. It just is so
strange that everybody is in this clump together that because
(13:31):
I think that's that's a question that's kind of gone
on all season. Will we see this again? Is this
the new normal? I do not think this is the
new normal, Like this is this is just so abnormal.
Oh here's another one. Okay, Golden State. No question, they've
had injuries, stepsmissed twenty six games, but that doesn't account
for you know, what are they what are they on
(13:52):
the road nine and twenty nine now and they were
seven and twenty nine before winning the last two. I
mean the Warriors, the Warriors trade the Warriors playoff hallmark
has been the fact that they've won an NBA record,
They've won a road game in a league record twenty
seven consecutive series. Like they're they've they've always been great
(14:13):
on the road, and this year, going into the Dallas
game the other night, they were twenty eighth in the
league in defense in road games and tied for third
in defense in home games. So again, it's not all injuries.
There's some there's some suspect play in the mix as
well for somebody. I mean, because look, I look at
(14:35):
the Lakers now they're I mean, they're they're winning games
without Lebron. I mean they've now that they've made all
these moves since the deadline. I mean that's saying you can.
You're supposed to be able to weather one injury absence
for a little bit of time when you're a good team.
But hey, it's just one man's theory. Maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe maybe it's all injuries and I'm just a doomsayer.
(14:57):
Now you're supposed to. But if you look at the
the teams that are thriving in the Western Conference, they've
relatively been healthy all year long and right now and
right now, nobody's really nobody's thriving in the West. I
mean Memphis, given everything they've gone through with the Josh
suspension and now getting him back, I mean, they've they've
actually been They had a terrible, a terrible wobble early,
(15:22):
you know, before the All Star break, but they've they've
they've really been good here lately. And they've it's not
just Job. I mean they've they've lost Brandon Clark for
the year and they have no Steven Adams, so they
they've the Grizzlies have actually shown a lot of toughness
here and very quietly have a thirty one and five
record at home. So I mean, what about the Lakers.
(15:44):
There were multiple reports, including from one Sea Haynes of
Turner Sports about there's there's some hope in Laker Land
that Lebron might come back for the last few games
of the season. And to be very clear, those reports
followed an official bulletin from the Lakers about how Lebron
has been cleared for more on court activity. Lebron, though,
(16:08):
followed that up with his own update. There wasn't an
evaluation today and there hasn't been any target for my return.
I'm just working around the clock every day, three times
a day, to give myself the best chance of coming
back full strength whenever that is God bless y'all sources.
I speak for myself. So there it is from NA shuts,
(16:34):
not at you. That was just everybody else, everybody else. Yeah,
I don't like I said. I don't know why he
was so mad because the initial bulletin, again came direct
from the Lakers. The Lakers told their beat writers before
that Lebron tweet Lebron James has begun on court activity
(16:54):
and gradual basketball movement progression. There is no specific timeline
for his return. Further updates will be provided as appropriate.
So I guess he probably didn't love the He wants
to play in the last few games. But man, is
that I mean, but then he had let me see,
he said there wasn't an evaluation today and there hasn't
(17:15):
been a target date for my return. Who who reported
or said anything about an evaluation. I'm assuming he's talking
about what the Lakers put out and probably assumed that
everyone was reporting that an evaluation took place, which led
(17:36):
to the Lakers releasing their update. I don't know. I
don't know King James is controlling the message. He's letting
it be known. You're going to hear it first and
foremost from him and f y'all sources. That's what he's saying. Look,
I mean, I would I don't think it seems like
a grand leap to assume that he would want to
play in the last couple of games. He surely doesn't
(17:58):
want to just have to come back in the playoffs
with no semblance of Rampa. But I mean, look, the
Pelicans won't go away, the Jazz won't go away. I mean,
the Lakers still have to secure a playing spot. I
don't think they're going to move up into the top
six without Lebron, even if he is able to come
back for one of those last couple But Lakers play
(18:21):
April fifth against the Clippers. That's at Staples. Then obviously
at Staples. Yeah, I'm gonna call it Staples. It's at Staples.
And then then they got home games to finish the
season on the seventh and the ninth. So the Lakers
last three games are in LA. I think whether or not,
no matter what was said and tweeted today, I think
we're all kind of going to be looking at that
to see if, if, if Lebron is able to make
(18:44):
a comeback. By then, Braun said, I speak for myself.
That's how he entered it. I started texting, like, what's
what's you're talking about? Broun, What's what's on your mind?
I started text him. I'm like, Naali Belone, I say
that for down the road. Um, will you see the
Lakers anytime soon? I scheduled to see them anytime soon
(19:09):
right now. My next game is Golden State Golden State
in New Orleans in San Francisco this coming up Tuesday. Nice,
So I expect we'll get some Zion Williamson details from you. Perhaps.
Oh that's another thing, right, that's man? It do you
(19:30):
if you had if you were if you, I what
did your gut tell you, Stein? Does your gut tell
you Stein that Zion is out for the rest of
the season? I mean, yes, if I was forced to
make a choice, I can't like because again, that too
is it's the same thing as like the ramp up,
you know, I mean, what kind of ramp up is
(19:51):
he gonna be able to have? If you know, I
think same thing. They said they were going to evaluate
him in two more weeks, so he's he's only going
to have a couple more a couple of games before
the end of the regular season to just run out there.
But you know, the Pelicant, you know, Willie Green and
the Pelicans have been adamant that no decision has been
made yet and the door is still open for him
(20:12):
to potentially to return at the end of the season.
But it's just been so long since we've seen him
that and you think about what what details are ramp up?
You know, you have to you definitely have to take
into consideration Zion's injury history and is a ramp up
(20:32):
at the later part of the season when you're talking
about the end of the regular season when games matter,
or even potentially a play in does that make sense,
And teams aren't even practicing at this point. They're not
they're not they're not practicing. These are high stakes games
where they're going at it hard. Can you put Zion
into a playing game, can't you know, for his first
(20:54):
couple of games, if he if he, if he's able
to come back at that time, it's it's just not
a good like if this was anybody else, Yeah, like
Lebron is going to go through it, But Zion hasn't
played in a minute, and his history, his injury history,
tells you that you gotta be cautious with the guy,
(21:15):
and you gotta take all precautions. And so I don't
see them. I can't see it. I don't know. I
don't have any intil I just can't see it. And
so I kind of agree with you with it. But
that's why it's a good thing that we'll be putting
you on the on the this League uncut private jet
and having you attend that game, attend your first game
(21:36):
back after the NCAA's is a Pelicans game, so we
can dispatch you to get some answers. I was definitely
asked for some answers. I don't I don't know if
I'll get them, but I'll ask kind of some unfair
pressure on put I'll ask not the first time. You
know what people always ask me, like what do you
(21:57):
miss about not being at ESPN? And I'm all always
going to give the same, the same two answers. I
loved ESPN Radio, even though I have a face for
radio and a voice for print. As one tweeter once
told me, I loved radio is one of my favorite
Radio is probably tied with writing is my favorite medium.
(22:18):
I absolutely loved working for ESPN Radio. But the other
thing is ESPN had an armada of research studs, just
stupendous research people who would just give me nugget after
nugget after nugget. I mean helped me. So you know,
to have to have the might of ESPN stats and
(22:42):
info to back me up assembling the power rankings for
fifteen years. And this week, one of my former colleagues
from ESPN Research, Micah Adams, who is now a managing
editor at The Sporting News, but he was he was
an ace researcher for ESPN. We worked together. He had
an incredible stat this week. Did you realize that Lebron
(23:02):
and KD. Now, Katie's been on multiple teams in this stretch.
But Wednesday night, when the Lakers beat the Suns, it
was the seventeenth straight game between Lebron's team and Kd's
team that they did not play. Wow, they have not
played each other in nearly fifteen hundred and fifty days.
(23:24):
Those gems courtesy of Mica Adams. Fifteen hundred days. It's
similar to KD hasn't played in Golden State since he's left. Yeah,
it's we need to get these guys back on the court,
all of them, Katie, Lebron, Zion, Kyrie, who else? All
(23:50):
these Who am I leaving out in the West. I'm
sure I'm leaving people out all right. Style. You mentioned
what you miss about ESPN? What do you not? This was?
That was that on the list? Go ahead, don't you
brought it up? Go ahead, don't open the door if
you ain't prepared to walk down that. I did not.
(24:12):
I did not think I was opening the door to
that question. That has to be a whole pod in
its own, like that's that's like a summertime That's like
a summertime pod when we when we're not in the middle.
That's like in August when we're you know, free agencies over.
We're not in the middle of the season, like we
can't everybody. We might need, we might need hours for
that one. I tried everybody. Well, I mean, I figured
(24:34):
you would want to I mean much more newsy than that.
I figured you would want to talk about the game
I was at last night with uh, you know, Dallas
and Golden State and the Mavericks are again going to
lodge a protest. The Mavericks are the last team to
lodge a protest in the NBA. In the nineteen twenty season,
they protested a loss to Atlanta. They lost. Mark Cuban
(24:56):
was subsequently fined five hundred thousand dollars, which I had
forgotten about. Did you were you? Did you see what
happened in Dallas? Because I don't know if it was
any I don't know if it was any I hope
it was clear watching on TV, because I'm gonna tell
you I was. I had moved in the second half
from my usual press row spot. I had moved into
(25:17):
the stands to speak with someone, and so being in
the stands when all that was going on, it was
super confusing to try to figure out what happened. So no,
I mean that I've seen on TV. Just like everybody else,
you have a different, more grander perspective, So tell us talk,
talk us through that. Well, look, they're not going to
(25:40):
win the protest, but there are you know, I think,
and I think deep down they know they're not going
to win the protests because NBA protests are not one.
I mean again, I think Matt Williams from ESPN Research,
to name check ESPN Research again, I think he assembled
a piece this week that lists there's only like five
(26:01):
or six successful protests in NBA history. The last successful
one was in two thousand and seven eight, but before that,
there wasn't a successful protest since nineteen eighty two. It's
really hard to win these. And look, I do think
the Mavericks have some elements of a case in their favor.
(26:21):
There's audio of Jason Kidd telling one of the officials,
you told us it was our ball. The MAVs thought
it was their ball. And for all the confusion about
where the MAVs were on the court and all the
criticism they're getting about they were out of position. They
lost track of where the game was. They didn't know
which end they were supposed to be on. One of
the three refs, Michael Smith, he was also confused. He
(26:46):
was down where the Mavericks were, so there was sufficient
chaos on the floor that what should have happened One
of the other two refs should have realized that the
Mavericks and one of his colleagues were completely discombobulated by
what was happening over whose ball it was, which end
(27:07):
the ball was being inbounded from. There should have been
a stoppage of play to get everybody in order and
restore order to the situation. Instead, they decided to hand
the ball to the Warriors to inbound the ball with
no Mavericks in the vicinity, and Jordan Poole got to
pass to Cavan Looney for an uncontested five on nil layup.
(27:28):
But the other reality is there was more than thirteen
minutes left in the game when this happened, and the
league is inevitable is inevitably going to say that those
two points, no matter how errant they may have been,
did not change the outcome of the game, and that
the Mavericks had enough time to come back. So ultimately,
(27:51):
I don't foresee this protest succeeding. Because remember the way
NBA protests work. If the NBA were to grant this
protest and say that the Mavericks protest is successful, the
Warriors would have to be flown back to Dallas to
(28:12):
replay the game from that point. So at some point
here before the end of the season, the Warriors would
have to play the Mavericks the last one fifty plus
of the third quarter and the whole fourth quarter all
over again. That ain't happening. It's just not happening. The
Warriors are. The Warriors ain't coming back to Dallas. Although
it's it is crazy when you think that that game
(28:34):
would get quite a bit of attention if it if
it did happen, but it's it's sure, it's not that's
that's not happening from that Yeah, replaying a game or
restarting the game at that point, flying all that, you know.
That just the question I have if if the Mavericks
would have lost by four, six, eight ten on a
(28:56):
mass foul on the protest, I don't think so. And
the reason I say that is because Mark Cuban. It's
like during the game and after in the in the
in the at one at the first stoppage. After this chaos,
Mark Cuban went all the way to the ESPN broadcast team,
(29:16):
which was near where I was sitting at that point,
to try to find out what they knew, and he
told Jeff Van Gundi, who was calling the game with
Dave Pass, he said, if we lose by two, we're protesting.
But yeah, I think if it was more, If it
was more, then they really wouldn't have had a case.
But it you know, Reggie Bullock makes a late three
(29:37):
to cut it, you know, a meaningless three that cuts
into two at the buzzer, and now for the for
the yeah, for the for the fee of ten thousand dollars,
the MAVs are going to lodge this protest and this
thing will be in the news until at least next week.
And because that's how long it's gonna you know, teams
(29:58):
can take five six days to basically make their case,
or it takes at least five six days for a
case like this to be resolved, and you know it's
gonna go, Yeah, it's it's it's most likely going to
go into next week. And so it just keeps a
spotlight on, you know, yet another example of team dismay
(30:21):
with refereeing this year, which is certain by no means.
You know, this is not the only time it's happened.
I think we all remember Fred van Vleet in Toronto
just absolutely going off on Ben Taylor. Recently, we saw
Monty Williams, you know, pounding the table in frustration at
his postgame press conference after the Sun's lost to the
(30:42):
Lakers forty six to twenty free throw disparity, and Monty
basically went up, you know, went off on the officiating
and and and that was that was the totality of
the press conference. That's not not something we often see
from him. So there's a lot of I mean, there's
a lot of a lot of tension going around these days.
(31:03):
And I think the tight standings is a factor too.
That just it's so bunched up for everybody in every
single game matters right now, which is that's something the
NBA obviously does want, and that's something that's one reason
why they love the plane is because it keeps so
many teams in that hunt for a top ten spot
and you get the kind of late season standings watching
(31:25):
that we used to not get in the NBA. The
foul talent complaint is always a little it could be
comical because sometimes the reason I say that, and this
has to do with money Williams and this complaint. But
a lot of times you'll see coaches complaining about the
disparity and foul calls free throw you know, players get
into the free throw line, and the simple solution would
(31:51):
be to actually get to the paint, you know, be physical,
get into the basket. You know, you'll see a lot
of coaches, you know, if there's a huge foul to
spare there, they'll complain about it. But if you look
at it, that team might have just shot nothing but
jump shots where you're not getting all those fouls compared
(32:11):
to a team like say Milwaukee, team like the Lakers,
where you got Jannis or you got Lebron. That's gonna
always put pressure on the defense. Get into the basket,
posting up, you know, just attacking and you got to
foul a big guy like that. Opposed to being a
jump shooting team, you're not going to get that call.
And so I get why, So I get why coaches
(32:35):
do that. They want to a lot of times when
they're complaining publicly like that, and they're gonna take that fine.
They're trying to set it up for the next game,
trying to get in the referees head and and it
would be a different referee cru but these referee CRUs
they study the previous games on what was the narrative
or what was talked about in that game, and they
(32:57):
want to change it because they don't want to be
part of that narrative or that storyline. So it does
have a mental approach to it. But you know, a
lot of a lot of it a lot, you know,
nine times out of ten, you know, it's it's really
you can really look at a number of jump shots
the team and shooting and you can kind of tell, Okay,
(33:17):
why such and such team is getting to a line
a little bit more in that game. But you know,
it's cool. That's that's that's the play. That's how that's
how coaches, that's how they that's how they do that
play those mind games. That's that's always been the case.
You travel more than I do because of the nature
of your job being a sideline reporter for Turner, and
you're just you are just on the road much more
(33:39):
than me. I mean, obviously I live in Dallas, so
I just from where I live, I hear plenty of
of of reviews of the officiating. Let's politely say, I
mean it feels league wide though that like frustrations. There's
a lot of tension right now between players, teams and
the rests. I mean, are you are you feeling it?
(34:01):
Are you sensing it when you're out there? Yeah? There is.
I had a conversation, man, I wish I could say
his player's name. I had a conversation with a star
player and he was talking about, um, this certain ref
just how disrespectful um this ref? Well, actually it was this.
It was the it was the ref crew of that
(34:22):
whatever the game that was. And he was just basically saying,
you know, just how they're not held accountable. You know
how they'll they'll say something that's disrespectful, and you know,
they'll respond back saying, hey, I'm a man, you can't
talk to me about that, or they'll cuts back at them,
and then they get the text and they're the ones
(34:43):
that have to live with public scorn of being reprimanded
and they feel like the officials get off. But I
let me say, man, there's a there's a ton of
officials that I love out there. You know, ten officials
that I consider to be really good friends, and it's
a thankless job. And I do think the overwhelming majority
(35:05):
they're trying to get it right. This is a really
hard sport to officiate. But yeah, that accountability thing, I
mean that I think the public wants to see more
of what of how they're judged and you know, what
happens when there's disciplined, and the league has always been
fiercely protective of that. They don't want us to know
when referees get disciplined or what kind of discipline they face,
(35:28):
And so I think, yeah, I mean I think players
too are that kind of complaints has been more frequent
this season. Why is that? I don't know. Yeah, I
really don't know, Like I don't know why why it
seemed like it's resta boiling point this year. I couldn't
(35:52):
call you got it? You know, And I this is
such a complex subject. It's I probably shouldn't even have
tried to throw it in here at the end, because
that's things like this is my thirtieth season, Like there's
been complaining about the referees for all thirty of those seasons.
Like if it was I guess I haven't heard what
the fixes. Who's gonna train, Like, who's gonna If it
(36:13):
was easy to fix, somebody would have done it by now.
It's just it's just not that easy to repair. And
you know, I'm sure, I'm sure if if refs could
speak freely, I'm sure several would say, well, you don't
know what the stuff they say to us. So, m okay,
so I don't know. Since we're on the we're on referees.
(36:37):
Let me see. The day passed already. Damn the day
pass So there is a let me see my guy.
But James Williams, referee number sixty, veteran ref, really one
of the best rests we have in the league. I
was supposed to put this out a week ago and
I'm looking back at it and I'm like, damn, I
(37:00):
missed it. So he started a it looked like it's
a website called ref Masters, and it's a it's a
site that's supposed to help fans understand what refs are
looking at like at certain points of the game, is
trying to it's a it's a site to try to
(37:20):
educate fans on what to look for, why certain calls
are being made. H So this is This is all
started by James, my brother James William. So y'all go
to Instagram at ref Masters and check him out. He
gives let me say, he did a Q and A
on March eleventh that I missed, So sorry James this
(37:43):
We're already in mark March twenty three. But go to
that site. Check him out. He's doing really good things,
trying to educate the fans on official interesting stun. I
got a question, and of course I'm coming from leftfield.
I promise you I'm going somewhere with this. But who
(38:05):
is the next player Portland Trail Blazers player that you
think will have his jersey retired by the Blazers? Man,
I do not know the Blazers as inside and out
as you, and I'm guessing you're not asking me. You're
not asking this about Dame, who's certainly years away from
retirement at this point. So obviously, no, I thought you.
(38:28):
I thought you would say Dame. This isn't because he's probablyological, Yeah,
I mean da, I mean Dame's a layup that you know,
I guess from the era previous. I mean, would Brandon
Roy be a contender because you know, obviously injury, tortured,
but he had some some really high highs as a Blazer.
(38:50):
I don't know. You know again, I'm saying that totally
as a guess. I don't have a super I don't
have my finger on the pulse of the Blazer like
you do. I'm guessing. So I bring this up for
a reason. But the only and no disrespect to I'm
not talking about Brandon Roy, not talking about la Marcus Aldreds.
(39:11):
I'm actually going I'm actually going to Era before that
and LaMarcus what has a case based off of how
the Portland Troublers that have done things in the past.
When it comes to retiring jerseys, Portland is not like
the Lakers or the Celtics. Lakers and Celtics have Hall
(39:31):
of Famers. It is no disrespect to these players, but
most of the players jerseys that's retired by the Blazers,
these players were on that seventy seventeam that won the
NBA championship. It's the Portland Troublers only championship, and so
there's not a lot of you know, you gotten trying
to think the Hall of famers on that that's retiring
(39:53):
for the Blazers. Clyde Drexler, Bill Walton, I think that
is it. Do you have a listen front doctor Jack,
doctor Jack Wickcamp. But but yeah, like, look like you're saying,
I didn't even I didn't even realize this. Lloyd Neil's
number thirty six is retired by the Portland Trailblazers. Member
of that team, Bob Gross a more well known member
(40:15):
of that team, but his number thirty also retired. And
Bob Gross only average nine point two points a game,
but obviously his role on that championship team makes him
a Blazer's legend. But yes, I see your point here.
So when I stopped so when I started covering the league,
I'm just being honest. I'm twenty eight at the time,
(40:36):
twenty seven or whatever. I'm looking up at the Raptors
and I don't I'm like, who are these guys like that?
That's just it's just it's just different. It's not like
I said, it's not Lakers, it's not the self things.
They do things differently, but based off of how they've
done things in the past. I'm sharing a story here.
So I was very close with Jerome Kersey and I've
(40:57):
never shared the story before. But I was very close
with Jerome Kersey and he kind of took me in,
like him and Michael Holton who steered there with the Blazers,
and Antonio Harvey used to be the radio guy with
the Blazers. Those guys like really took me under my
wing to try to show me the ropes on just
you know, how to navigate road life with a family
(41:20):
and everything, and just telling me all the stories back
back in the day playing in the eighties and nineties, man,
and they're just encyclopedia, man. So I just loved being
around him. But Jerome told me that the Blazers had
let him know that they had intentions of retiring his jersey,
(41:44):
and I said, man, I remember telling him back back
in the day, So this is I think he probably
told me this as early as twenty eleven. And at
that time, Jerome worked as an ambassador for the team.
So it's one of those roles where you go out
in the community represent the you know, represent the team.
So he did he did that, fourth he did that
(42:05):
for a good amount of years, and so he was
always looking forward to having his jersey lifted up there
in the Raptors. And again, no disrespect to you know
a lot of those players. But he's looking at some
of those players up there, a lot of than what
on Jerome Kurtsey's level, and people you gotta look up.
Jerome k Kirsty was a dog. He's a dog. Played
(42:26):
with Drexler and Porter. He you know, he didn't get
to stand out um like other players did on other teams,
but he was a dog. He was probably the heart
a lot of people were calling from the heart and
soul of those Portland Trail Blazer teams that went to
the finals and battled against Michael Jordan's So two Thy
fourteen happens. Twenty fourteen comes around, and this is we're right,
(42:52):
We're right. We're about to get right into the twenty
fourteen two Thy fifteen season. And Jerome calls me and
tells me, hey, the Blazers are signing Steve Blake. And
I'm like, okay, cool, you know, Steve Blake is coming back.
He's a fan favorite in Portland. And I'm like, okay,
(43:14):
that's quest a nice pick up, nice backup to dame.
He was like, he's they're giving him number twenty five.
And again I'm not, you know, it's still not registering
to me like, he was like, that's my number, man.
I was like, oh, he was like, they still ain't
(43:34):
put me like he was hurt. He was hurt. This
is twenty fourteen, two fifteen season. He was hurt that
they gave Blake his number number twenty five and basically
saying that there's no plans to no immediate plans to
(43:54):
retire his jersey. So that was in the fall of
two thousand and fourth team. Jerome passed due to a
blood clot about five months later and never got to
see it. Now, I don't know. The Blazers have changed,
(44:16):
change regimes in the front office and the business side
since then. I never knew who it was that promised
Jerome that it was in the plans to retire his jersey.
But I've always felt that him being one of the
guys that was a heart and soul of that team
(44:36):
in the nineties with Terry Porter and Clyde Director, which
those two both have their numbers up there, I felt
like it was deserving. I felt like he I felt
like he was deserving to have his number up there,
especially if he was told so, and especially if you
look at the guys that are up there right now,
and so that that was a very I've never I
(44:57):
never talked about that. I've never shared that story about
you know, when Steve Blake came around, and how Jerome
felt when they gave him his number. Um, I wish
I wish they would. I wish he would have got
a chance to see it, and not just see it,
because they still haven't done it. So you know, I
would like to see the Blazers do that. I would
(45:19):
like to one thing about Jerome. That guy don't lie.
He gonna keep it straight up. So I believe him
when he told me somebody high, a high ranking official
with the Blazers told him they planned to to retire
his jersey. So I hope they do that for his family,
for his kids, even though he can't see it, you know,
(45:41):
I you know, I want them to. I want them
to do right by them. I think I think he
deserves it consider the campaign started. That was a beautiful tribute.
I got to actually cover him, not in his Blazer days,
and you know you said it. I mean, he was
an integral part of those two Blazer teams that went
to the finals and had to deal with with Michael. Um.
(46:05):
I got to cover him, not only in San Antonio
when he was part of a championship team when the
Spurs won their first title, but when my last year
in LA as a beat writer, he was on the Lakers.
It was the Shack and Kobe year. And man, Del
I can still hear you know, Del Harris has a
very very you know, the twang of Dell's voice is
(46:28):
if you've covered him, it's very noticeable. And I can
I can still hear Dell talking about JK. I mean,
I can still, I can just hear it. Um. He
was a beloved guy on that Laker team and someone
that Del Harris really really leaned on. Um just just
a solid vet late late in his career, that kind
of you know, kind of like a you know, nobody's
(46:50):
really like Udonis has them in terms of his oneness
with the heat. But you know, you always you want
guy you know, you want a Haslem or an Igodala
on your team. You want those you know, those vets.
Jared Dudley was, you know, he filled that role on
the Lakers title team in the bubble, like you you
need those guys who've been around and seen it all.
(47:11):
And so that's that's the that's the Jerome Kersey that
I got to cover late in his career with both
the Lakers and the Spurs, so I was not as
close to him as you. But let's consider this the
start of the campaign. No doubt, man number of If
you're wrong, rest in peace, brother. All Right, everyone that
does it for another edition of this league uncut. Chris
(47:34):
and I will be back Monday, which is right in
the midst of a stretch of great importance in terms
of the regular season, in terms of the MVP race,
a stretch that people have really been looking forward to. Saturday, Nicola,
Yokich and Denver supposed to face Janis until the Koompa Milwaukee.
(47:54):
Monday is supposed to be Denver Philly, which means Yoki
versus MB and Bead's been dealing with a calf issue
this week. Hopefully he is passed it and able to
give it a full go on Monday, and then shortly
after that Philly plays Milwaukee. So we've got three interesting
head to head matchups in this MVP race. Shirley, we'll
(48:16):
be getting into that next week and whatever chaos awaits
us this weekend, everybody have a great weekend, and please,
please please rate, review, subscribe Chris and I'll be back
with you very very soon, and that'll do it for us.
(48:37):
See you next time. This league uncut is and iHeartRadio production,
Christine and Mark Steyne. It didn't matter.
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