June 19, 2024 • 48 mins
Chris Haynes and Marc Stein unite for an all-new #thisleague UNCUT to discuss the Boston Celtics topping off their dominant season with a game 5 win at home to close out the Finals and capture the Larry O’Brien trophy. The talk about Jaylen Brown being awarded Finals MVP, what that means for Jayson Tatum and if this team can repeat as champions next season. They finish with a look ahead to the offseason and why a 9x All-Star could be on the move in free agency.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Boston Celtics are the champions. What does this momentous
achievement mean for Jason Tatum, for Jalen Brown and the
natural question can they repeat? As well as our first
look ahead to the off season, we will talk Paul George,
we will start looking at free agency, and we've got
(00:22):
some dunk tales from Chris Haynes. All that's next. You're
on a new edition of this League Uncut. Welcome to
this League Uncut in the world of twenty four hour NBA.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
News miters, you louse, Chris Haynes, It's time, work's time.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It's so time. This League Uncut is underway and on fire.
This should be a good one. Hello to all, and
welcome in to a new edition of this League Uncut.
(01:03):
Mark Stein here with Chris Haynes on the evening of
June eighteenth. The twenty twenty three to twenty four season
is officially over the Boston Celtics on Monday night on
June seventeenth, Just like they did in two thousand and eight,
(01:25):
the team based in the six one seven wins the championship.
On six seventeen, the Boston Celtics putting the Dallas Mavericks
away finishing the NBA Finals. That means today Tuesday was
the start of the NBA offseason, and we will get
(01:46):
to that because it's the fastest start to an NBA
offseason ever, thanks to the new rules that allow teams
to start speaking to their free agents immediately the day
after the NBA Finals. But first, of course, Chris Haynes,
we must pay homage to the Celtics. To me, they
(02:10):
were and they are the team of the season, and
they really showed us something during these finals, winning in
five and holding the high powered Mavericks under one hundred
points in all four games. They won, very impressive.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Starin Let's just you know, let's just go back a
little bit before the series started. You had a prediction.
What was it?
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I do not remember.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Oh, I will remind you you picked the Dallas Mavericks.
I believe you picked. It is true.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
If you look it up, you don't have to look
too hard to find it. It is true. Look, man,
this is the way I operated during these playoffs. The
timberwol and I was wrong every step of the way.
The Timberwolves beat Denver, and I said, you know what,
if Minnesota can win three times on the Nuggets floor,
they are the new favorites. And then the Mavericks they
(03:17):
won three times on Minnesota's floor, and I said, if
Dallas can go to Soda and win three times, they're
the new favorites. And then the Celtics said, you know what, Stein,
if you haven't looked dumb enough twice, let's let's let
you go for the hat trick. And the Celtics just
(03:37):
dismantled the MAVs. So, yes, thank you, thank you for
bringing that up. Greatly appreciated.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, my apologies. But then again, you know, if you
look at what the Celtics did, I think a lot
of people gave them grief for the path that they
had getting to the NBA Finals. And look, all you
can do is play your opponent. That's all you can do.
And we saw how and if they were they was
in the regular season. They were, They were the best
(04:03):
team in the regular season, and they took care of business.
And you know, I'm happy for Jason Tatum, I'm happy
for Jaylen Brown. You know, it's hard to root against
a Drew Holiday. If you're an NBA fan, you know,
Derek White has an amazing story. Chris Christaps Persingis gets
(04:24):
a championship defending his old team. You know, this this
was it was. It wasn't the most compelling series because
it only went five games, but you know, there there
were there were times and sequences and in each of
the five games which made this series compelling. I don't
know as far as viewership how it did. That slipped
(04:48):
my my eyesight to see how it did viewership wise,
but you know, Celtics, they're they're legitimate, they're champs. Happy
for them. I spent, you know, spend some time with
of my there for three or four with you in Dallas,
and I didn't go to the clincher Game five in Boston,
but you know, I had seen enough at that point
(05:10):
to let me know that I was pretty confident there
wouldn't be a game six.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
So the MAVs winning Game four by thirty eight didn't
give you any pause, any thought they can at least
drag this thing to six.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
No, not at all. I didn't. I think the Dallas
Mavericks show that they had pride, they didn't want to
get swept, and they did that. That took a lot
out of them. I did not see them winning in Boston,
So you know, it became pretty appearing early on in
that game. In Game five too, that Boston you know,
they were, they were focused, They wanted to win on
(05:50):
their home court. They wanted to celebrate in their city
like you that would. No team has ever came back
come back from a three deficit. But you know, you
start to if they were to lose Game six, likelihood
most likely lose game I mean, excuse me, if they lose,
if they lost Game five, the likelihood is they lose
(06:14):
Game six in Dallas, and now it's up. Game seven
is up in the air, even if it is in Boston,
because at that point the team has won three in
a row. The losing team is rattled, they're shaken their start,
they start doubting themselves. So you know, it's a whole
mind game that goes along with a path like that.
(06:36):
But no, I didn't. I didn't see Dallas keeping the
series alive to get it to Game six in Dallas.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I mean, this whole thing is huge validation for the
Boston Celtics because this team has known very little but
playoff disappointment for the last six or seven years. They've
resisted very loud calls from the outside to break up
Tatum and Brown. And I can remember before we started
(07:06):
this podcast, when I was still doing locker rooms that
became Spotify Live sessions, and I would do these Spotify
lives where basically listeners readers could come on stage and
ask me questions. I would always get the question, isn't
it time to break these guys up? They're never going
(07:27):
to get it done. And the way you heard both
Brown and Tatum talk last night, I mean they heard
every word of it. They've been living with this, and
Brad Stevens replaced Danny Ainge and he just said, no,
we are not breaking these guys up. And my answer
always was whenever I was asked a question, my answer
(07:50):
always was, in today's NBA, where you lean on two
way wings more than we ever have in the history
of the game because of their ability to play on
both sides the ball, stretch the floor with the three
ball guard basically one to four switchable, just how important
(08:12):
wings like Tatum and Brown are in the modern game. No,
you cannot break that duo up, but they carried so
much pressure this season. Hours before training camp, Brad Stevens
trades for Drew Holliday. So think about what Brad Stevens
has done as a GM. He's been a better GM
(08:33):
than he was as a coach, and he did pretty
well as a coach. But Brad Stevens resisting all those calls,
years and years and years of outsider screaming, you gotta
break these two up. They're never gonna do it. Instead,
over the past few years, Stevens went out and he
traded for Al Horford, Then he traded for Derek White,
(08:56):
Then he traded for Christaps Porzingis and had to give
up Marcus Smart in the process, which was not the
most popular move in Boston. And then he went out
and got Holiday and the two J's with such high
level help. This season, they had a team nobody can touch,
(09:17):
and you touched on it. People are disappointed because they
didn't get pushed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and look
the playoffs as a whole. We can't sit here and lie.
In a lot of ways, it was not a great postseason.
There were too many injuries, too many blowouts, too many
(09:38):
series that ended fast. It just wasn't in the grand
scheme of things, a postseason that we're going to look
back on and say that was riveting. Theater but the Celtics,
I mean, the Celtics won the East by fourteen games.
We haven't seen that. You got to go all the
way back to nineteen seventy five, seven six, when Golden
(10:02):
State won the West by sixteen games. It was the
biggest margin. They were the class of the league all
season long, and they rose to the occasion. They completely
discombobulated the Mavericks. They made Luke you know, you know,
I see a ton of Luka Dantich and Kyrie Irving.
They made Luca and Kyrie work harder than any team
(10:25):
I've seen. And just, yeah, my hat is off. My
hat is off to these guys because they had to win.
They faced tremendous pressure. They would have been destroyed if
they didn't win, and they took all doubt out of
the equation.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
And I think, stein, I think there's something to be
said about staying the course, not giving up too prematurely.
We see that all the time. We see that with
here coaches being let go, We see that with roster decisions,
and sometimes it's nothing wrong at all with let allowing
(11:06):
players and personnel to jail, allowing people to make mistakes
and then learn from them, and that includes head coaches
as well. We're so quick to just move on trade fire,
you know, like wave, come on now, like come on,
(11:28):
look look at what they were saying about Jalen and
Jason like people. I think people forget, you know, because
that's just the society we live in today, where you
forget about what even happened yesterday. But this was this
was a tremendous feat And you know I've seen again.
(11:50):
I'm not on social media like I used to be,
but something did come across me where I saw a
talking point of it. You know, is this one of
the greatest Celtics teams? Like, let's not go that far.
Please look at we just well, when you look at.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
The resume, you know, we had Sean Grandy on the
other day, and when you look at this team's overall resume.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I mean, those teams are not bad than Larry Bird
Kevin McHale days. It's not, no, but not.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
There's a difference between. If you're simply saying, is this
one of the best Celtics teams ever? I mean they
went eighty and twenty one when you add up playoffs
in regular season, there's only one team in the Celtics
history the eighty five eighty six Powerhouse, which is probably
one of the five greatest teams of all time. That's
the only Celtics team that has a better record over
(12:40):
the course of a season.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I definitely understand that. And again I'm not trying to
diminish the Boston Celtics because again I said it already
to start. The pid is that all you can do
is play the opponent that you're squared up against. But
if you're talking the greatest team of all time, you
have to take into consideration the competition. So that's the
only time I will throw the competition in there is
(13:03):
if if we're talking about greatest, you got to talk about, Okay,
who did you face who? It doesn't matter like you're
a CHAMPIONI champion. The champion is a champion. But when
we're talking greatest of all time, we have to talk about, Okay,
who did you face to get to that point. That's
the only difference. So with that being said, no, I
don't put them great season. Is it one of the
(13:24):
best seasons to statistically, yes, but better team no, not
in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Before I ask you a question, before I ask you
a difficult question, you mentioned staying the course. There's two
things I want to say about that. I think from
the Dallas side of the equation. One of the things
that kind of helps them through this is what they
are clearly telling themselves now is hey, as a group,
we've only been together five months since the trade deadline,
(13:55):
not even five months really since the trade deadline when
the team changed so dramatically when they made the moves
for Daniel Gafford and PJ. Washington. So you know, they're
trying to look at it optimistically and say, you know,
they came a long way in four or five months,
won the West, which in itself is very difficult to do.
(14:18):
So the Mavericks want to believe that with time and
some tweaks that they can get back to this level.
But when you talk about staying the course, I think
that's again where I have a lot of admiration for
the Celtics resolve here. I do not want to slight
the Denver Nuggets because they did something similar. They stayed
(14:41):
the course their power triumvirate of Nikola jokicch Jamal Murray,
Michael Malone. They endured many playoff disappointments and they won
it all last season and were lauded for staying the course.
I would just say, as a media collect we just
(15:01):
don't cover the Nuggets with the same intensity that we
cover the Boston Celtics. So for them to stay the
course in the face of a lot more noise, it
really shows some steal that Boston did what it believed
it should do and didn't break these guys up. And
now I'm gonna ask you this question. Jalen Brown won
(15:24):
finals MVP, just like he won Eastern Conference Finals MVP.
You know Jason Tatum very well. You did a piece
on Tatum after you got some time with him. Not
really sure how you pulled that off here in Dallas.
One minute, we're talking. Next minute, I know you. You've
(15:44):
got Jason Tatum cornered somehow, So you know Tatum much
better than I do. If I ask you, which is
probably unfair, but I'm gonna ask you anyway, to jump
inside his head? How okay? Do you think he is
deep down that Jalen Brown won finals MVP and he.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Did not No, I'm telling you right now, this is
no BS and as in twenty twenty four what they say,
this is no CAP. He does not care. He wanted
to be a champion. He made that clear to me,
and that the story I did the time he gave
(16:24):
me after what was that was after Game three, after
they went up three to zero, and I spoke with
a little bit via text after the championship he is ecstatic.
Stein ecstatic, like this was all he wanted. He felt
like this validated, you know, his career. He he hold,
(16:46):
you know, he's somebody who who listens to the naysayers.
I don't know how much he listened to him, but
I know he does. And he always wants to prove
people wrong, and this was his opportunity to prove his
critics wrong. And he he was you know, listen, he
(17:07):
was always happy for Jalen Brown to play. He said. Listen,
he said, I'm I felt like I had to empower
Jaylen Brown to be his best. He said, I want
everybody to be their best, and whatever individual wars come
with that, they come with that. But he said, individual
wars are not going to stand in the way of them,
(17:28):
you know, winning a championship or competing for a championship.
So man, he's out there living it up. He got
that trophy's taking it everywhere. He's like you saw how
emotionally he was at the end of the game, Like
those are genuine emotions, and listen, does a player of
his caliber. We all know that when players of his
caliber reached to the you know, reach the point there
(17:50):
to where they're playing in the NBA Finals and they win. Yes,
of course you would like to be holding that other
hard ware. The finals MVP a war work, but first
and foremost, it's about winning the championship. We saw Steph
went through that with the first what three years, three championships,
and he didn't get it until they won the fourth
(18:12):
when they beat Boston. So you asked, Steph, did that
take any luster off of those three championships? Heck, no,
it didn't. So I'm being genuine Like the conversations I've
had with him on and off the record, they echoed
the same sentiment. He is just so thrilled about being
(18:34):
a champion and right now he's he's still out there celebrating.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Had you been out there, do you know who you
would have voted for for Finals MVP. I do think
Jalen Brown was the right choice. I think the series
he had, the defensive work he put in against Luka
Doncic again, the Celtics, with Jalen leading the effort, made
(19:01):
Luka Doncic work as hard as any team I've ever
seen defending him. So I do think Jalen Brown probably
had a stronger series start to finish, although like I said,
I jokingly not so jokingly wrote it today in my
written substacked look at these finals. Brad Stevens is my
(19:23):
Finals MVP for all the moves he's made to put
this team together. But obviously only a player could win
finals MVP in real life. Were you okay with the
Jalen Brown selection?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yep? Yep? In order to tat him to get it,
the series would have had to be extended, and he
would have had to stream together a couple more solid
outings like he did in Game five Jalen Brown, when
he did offensively and defensively, Nah, in five games he
was the he was the most consistent player, So I'd
(19:59):
have no p I mean, if I had a vote,
I would have voted for Jail myself.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
These Celtics. As We've been noting all season long, this
is a storyline that I've been particularly fixated on. It's funny.
I went back earlier today and I found my preseason
welcome Back essay that I did for Bally Sports Southwest
so it could run on the MAVs pregame show and
(20:33):
the Pelicans pregame show. Before the first game of the season,
I went back and looked at my Welcome Back NBA
essay kind of previewing the season, and it was the
first thing that I talk about in this essay that
this season we had the chance to see a sixth
different champion in a span of six seasons, and it happened.
(20:55):
It has not happened since the late seventies when I
was just starting to fall in love with the sport.
Seventy four to seventy five Warriors, seventy five to seventy
six Celtics, seventy six seventy seven Blazers, seventy seven seventy
eight Bullets, seventy eight to seventy nine Sonics, and then
(21:18):
the seventy nine eighty Lakers, those Lakers winning it all
with Magic Johnson as a rookie and of course famously
playing center in Kareem Abdul Jabbar's place in the clinching
Game six at Philadelphia in nineteen eighty. It has been
a long, long, long time since we've seen this level
(21:41):
of parody, and the new collective barning agreement is designed
to keep that kind of parody going, because we know
in the new luxury tax era, with so many team
building restrictions imposed on the teams in this league that
spend the most, it's going to get crazy expensive for
(22:03):
the Celtics now because they're going to extend Jason Tatum soon.
Tatum's going to get a five year deal worth three
hundred and fifteen million. Derek White's going to get extended
this summer by all indications, and he's up for a
four year deal and one hundred and twenty five million range.
That means Tatum and Brown are going to be making
more than six hundred million just the two of them.
(22:26):
Drew Holliday and Derek White will be making more than
two fifty million the two of them and the backcourt,
and Porzingis has an extension about to kick in. So
the Celtics have an incredibly top heavy roster. But after
saying all that, I would also make the argument that
(22:49):
they are set up better to repeat next season than
any recent champion we've seen during this run that started
with the twenty nineteen Raptors, six different champions in six seasons.
What do you see in the future. What are you
expecting when next season starts. Obviously, we still got a
(23:09):
whole offseason to go through to give these other teams
a chance to make moves to counter this Boston squad.
But will the Celtics be your favorite when next season starts?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
That's really tough, really tough. There were definitely injuries that
occurred to some teams in the playoffs that limited the
capacity in which they can climb. I'm going to say yes,
(23:49):
I'm not like I'm not going out there and seeing
it with all.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
You're not saying it with your chests.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Nah, I'm not putting my chest out. I'm kind of
saying it with my head down a little bit.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
By the way, do you know what my kids would
do to me if I said no cap? You know
the looks I would get? I would would.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I will, I will. I would love to see the reaction.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Because luckily they are not They will not be listening
to this podcast, so they're not going to know I
just said it.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Let me let me say it, Stele, One thing about
you not gonna give you props for this one? Thing
about you. You know, I know you give yourself a
lot of flak for you know, not not being allowed
to say some of the the current lines and phrases
words that are used today today. But stole one thing.
I want to give you props on you're a tire.
(24:44):
Your your style like you, you are on point with
your attire when you come like your your your suits
they're on point, they're tailored. And then there's times when
you wear some jeans with a sport with a nice
sports like you don't. You don't dress your age. I
don't know if anybody's ever told you that. I gotta
(25:05):
give you props on that, like you give yourself all
this talk about being an old head. But Yo, you
got style, brother, you got style. Has anybody ever told
you that?
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I appreciate that some people have said similar things. Certain
and certain people who live in this household have a
differing opinion from what you just stated. Problem of my
game night attire is that right?
Speaker 2 (25:34):
No, I gotta give you prop style. That's one thing
I can say. Man, you are current and up to
date with your style. Man, you don't see. I'll shut
up now because as soon as we'll get to a
point man for you for somebody your age. You you
really you really can dress.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
You talk about me being old, You will never hurt
my feelings, And I'll tell you why. When I started,
I was the youngest traveling beat writer in the league.
I love that I'm still here and I love being
an old head, so I like I want to be.
I'm fine if people want to say I'm old or whatever,
(26:15):
like I'm I'm glad. You know, there's not many guys
still doing it who were doing it before me, like
the legend David Aldridge, Sean Powell, Ira Wnderman, and here
in Dallas, we've got a few guys who we're all
on the beat before me. We got Eddie Sefko, Brad
(26:37):
Townsend your guy, Dwayne Price. But there really aren't that
many who are still out here grinding. So I am
you can never hurt my feelings calling me old.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Respect, all due respect, but I just wanted to make
sure I put that out there. Stan, you have impeccable style, man,
I gotta give you.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Now, I I'd have to have Ryan clip that and
I might have to send that to missus Studde I
might want to debate you on that one. Now, back
to the Celtics and their title defense. Look, the East
has got to be more competitive next season. The injuries
just up and down the conference. It did certainly factor
(27:21):
into the playoff race. And Derek White had an interesting
line after the game saying, you guys didn't think we
were battle tests, and what do you consider the last
couple of years in the playoffs? And that's true. On
the road to the NBA Finals that they lost to
the Warriors in twenty twenty two and the roller coaster
of the Eastern Conference finals in twenty twenty three, those
(27:44):
were obviously tough tests that this group of Celtics did
not pass. But that was pre poorzingis and pre holiday
and the competition they faced. They didn't have to deal
with Philadelphia or Milwake, two teams that were certainly affected
by injuries. The Knicks as well in the second round.
(28:05):
So I have to think, now that we're here, now
that we're in this offseason, what's Philly gonna do with
that cap space. We know they want to make a
run at Paul George. If they don't get Paul George,
can the Sixers make some other significant addition on the wing.
We know they want a two way wing of their
own to assist Joel Embiid and Tyrese MAXI how are
(28:29):
the Bucks going to bounce back? I mean, obviously the
Bucks they made their big move for Damian Lillard, but
they had to surrender Drew Holliday in the process, and
the Celtics pounced on Drew Holliday immediately. And now Drew
Holliday has helped another team win a championship in his
(28:51):
first year. He's done it with the Bucks, He's done
it with the Celtics, and he's the only high minute
player in league history to do that with two different teams,
to go to a new team and win it all.
But Indiana will keep getting better. The Knicks are gonna
get healthier. Miami will see what happens with Jimmy Butler.
(29:16):
Do they extend him? What other moves can the Heat make?
I have to think as well. Set up as the
Celtics are to repeat next season and again better than
any recent champion you could name, the East has gotta
be tougher next season. And that's going to make and
that has to make a path two back to back
(29:39):
championships tougher. That has to there the road just getting
back to the finals has to have more obstacles next season.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
And that's why I didn't say it with my chest
when I said, you know, that's Celtics the favorites, right,
That's that's that was what I was. Those are the
f in my thought process. But as you know, injuries
always happened each season, and again all you can do
is play the team and play the players that are
(30:11):
on the court. So no knock on the boss himself,
it's they're the champs, worthy champs.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I have to say, though, last thing on the Celtics.
I am really curious to see next season now that
they've survived this championship or bust pressure. Now that that
is lifted, what kind of Tatum and Brown are we
gonna get next season when instead of all the doubt
and the naysayers, which, as you said, we both know
(30:38):
they do hear it. They've heard every word. When you
saw that Jordan Brand commercial that Tatum had out seconds
after Game five was over, that let you know he's
heard it all. But with that now having answered all
that and being able to put that in the rear
view mirror, to see them play a season where they
(30:59):
know they've got to the finish line. Once they know
their champions, going to be fascinating to see what that
does for their confidence. But look, going forward the next
several podcasts, obviously we're going to be laser focused on
the off season, which has already started. And I know
you are weary when I even bring up the Lakers
(31:22):
and their ongoing coaching search that we now expect to
conclude at some point here in the near future. The
growing expectation around the league is that they will ultimately
hire JJ Reddick after offering the job to Yukon's Dan Hurley,
So we await that resolution. And I know you're kind
(31:46):
of talked out about the Lakers at this point, so
I'm going to ask you something different. What is what
is the off season storyline? Topic? Development, potential player move
What are you most curious about as we move into
the draft in god eight days, seven eight days, the draft,
(32:10):
and then free agency starts shortly after that. Before you
know it will be in Vegas for Summer League. What
is most on your mind as we move into offseason mode?
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Well, anything can change. Around this time. You start to
hear rumbles a little bit more concrete rumbles of players
looking to move elsewhere players in the contract looking to
move elsewhere via a trade. But with that being said,
(32:41):
as of right now, Paul George is the player that
I'm monitoring. When Kawhi leonard eked his extension, I believe
it was r around the midway point during the season
j January. It was a surprise to most at the time,
but the thought within league circles was that Paul George's
(33:06):
extension would follow soon after. That did not happen, And
I remember I first said this. I believe it was
trade deadline day. I had to do some TV work
and I do a few live streams, and it was
around then when I said when I first said, watch
for Philly because Philly can make a play for a
(33:30):
MAX player this summer. Watch for Philly to get into
Paul George mix if he still does not have an
extension by that time. Said that in February, and Paul
George still does not have an extension right now. And
we've got to remember the Los Angeles Clippers moving into
(33:52):
that brand new into it Don Marina for the next season.
They want all their horses in the fold. They want
to have a championship caliber team going into that Arena
for next season. Paul George potentially going to Philly is
a game changer. Also would be a domino effect. What
(34:16):
would the Clippers do from there if Paul George did
indeed leave. Paul George has a player option.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Keep that in mind you buying the talk that they
would pivot to DeMar DeRozan if they lost Paul George.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Would the Clippers pivot to DeMar DeRozan? Yeah, I think
they have to pivot to somebody, and DeMar Deroza would
be a logical secondary option for sure. So I'm not
saying that I've heard that from my own intel, but
that would seem like a logical move. Mar de Rozan
(34:53):
from La as well, he actually wanted to go to
the Lakers before he went to the Bulls. Hawks didn't
as far as financially, didn't get to the point to
where de Rozan could seriously consider that offer, so he
ends up in Chicago. But I can see that, I
can definitely see that.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
I can't see George leaving. But every time I say that,
I mean, look, as we're taping this, it's June eighteenth.
The Clippers have until June thirtieth to get him extended.
But they've had months and months and months and there's
no extension. They did not sign Kawhi Leonard to the max.
(35:35):
They clearly want Paul George to come in under the max.
The Sixers have all this cap space, they have to
take advantage of it now. So the assumption is they
are going to offer Paul George the max so he
can get it if he's willing to leave. Orlando's another
team that's been mentioned a lot with Paul George, because
(35:56):
we know the Magic want two way players. They want
to add shooting before next season. But you know, Paul
George is a Southern California guy, like Kawhi, like Harden,
like Russell Westbrook. I guess I've always kind of been
sitting here waiting for the Clippers and Paul George to
(36:18):
figure this thing out. But we're running out of time.
I mean, this is the Clippers had months to get
this done and they clearly want Paul George at their price,
and Paul George it hasn't happened. So ten days and
change the Clippers have left to get an extension done
(36:40):
and keep Paul George from even making it to the
free agent market. And in the modern NBA, we are
so accustomed in recent years to almost every star nowadays
does the extension and doesn't even make it to free agency.
It's very rare. Bradley was one of the few recent
(37:01):
cases where a guy actually could have done a lucrative
extension opted for free agency, and by doing so, Bradley
Beal did still resign with the Wizards, but by going
to free agency and not just doing an extension, Bradley
Beal was able to get a no trade clause that's
obviously been very noosy and played a huge role in
(37:23):
him landing in Phoenix rather than Miami last summer. So, yeah,
I think you're right. The Paul George situation, it definitely
has the potential to spice up free agency in a big,
big way, because again, we are so accustomed in the
modern NBA to stars doing extensions that keep them from
(37:43):
ever hitting the open market. Paul George making it all
the way to the open market would be something. And
like I said, there will be much more chatter and
discussion and dissection of the off season ahead, but we're
(38:07):
going to sign off when you want to talk about
a headline happening something that really shook up NBA Twitter.
Was I seeing things or was that actually footage of
our very own Chris Haynes, now in his early forties.
(38:27):
According to sources, Chris Haynes throwing down a dunk. Was
that real? Or are we are we seeing things? I
know Producer Ryan was excited.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
As he should have been. First of all, the footage
came from me, So if it came from me.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
It was valid and not AI generated. That was real.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
We don't do We don't do any of that stuff.
And Producer Ryan feel free to weigh in and chime man.
So I've been telling y'all. You know, I talk about
my stories, my lor days of playing in the Filipino
League here it's the two Marc Bow League here in
the Sacramento area.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Too, dominating the Filipino League.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
You could say that I like to be humble.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Producer Ryan is the most loyal hype mans.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I like to be humble. But it's good to have
a producer Ryan on your side who could just tell
it how it is, because I I can't say that
without you know, coming off as a as a jerk.
But yes, I mean I do, I do all right,
but stein that you know, so the footage I sent
you was of this past Saturday dunking thirty seconds left
in the game, stilling the victory. But I actually dunked
(39:41):
the week before that, last Saturday's game, and Stein and
producer Ryan, I want you guys to know that the
dunk from last week, that was my first dunk in
seven years. I am forty two. And you say, how,
you know, how does that make sense? Well, I lost
of working on my legs a little bit more. I
(40:02):
lost about eleven pounds and three weeks or something like that,
I've been hitting the weights. I'm feeling good. Like I think.
I told y'all off air that over the last three years,
I've been playing basketball with knee pads, and I've always
hated how I look because growing up, the people that
(40:25):
wore knee pass while playing basketball were old guys, and
so I just hated how I look with knee pads on.
But I started not wearing my knee pass and I'm
feeling good. Starn Brian like my legs feeling good. I
never thought out I never thought I would dunk again.
I'm being honest. I never thought I would dunk again.
(40:45):
And I've gotten two dunks and consecutive weeks in the game.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
First dunks in seven years.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Yeah, so I'm cool. You should see the comments on
my ig I got Earl Watson, Tombo, I need to
be tested immediately, you know, turning back the clock, and
they accused me of using drugs. Stein like like, it's
just not like I can't just you know, come with
hard work and dedication to get me to that point. Man, Stein,
(41:12):
they gotta, they gotta, I have to resort to to drugs. No,
I'm drug free.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
Never know what it really was. I know what it was.
It was meeting Latrell Spretty. Well this spring, oh that
has put that has brought your hops back. Meeting your
boyhood idol and becoming and becoming friends with your boyhood
idol that you see, that has put some spring back
into your legs.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Stein. If you look at the jersey number for my
my jersey in this league, number fifteen, number fifteen, the
number he wore with the Golden State Warriors. So no,
I'm cool, man, I feel like I'm feeling it's cool.
I just never thought I would duck again. So it's
(41:58):
cool to to get to get in some good shape, uh,
and to be able to work myself back to that point,
because it's gonna come a day that I won't be
able to get up there anymore. And I've been dunking
since I was fourteen, so uh, it's yeah, it's cool, man.
(42:20):
So I had to post that. I had to share that.
I'm sorry I had to.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
But what about the great? Like we see the great
Marcus Johnson still announcing for the Bucks every year.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
But let me tell you this, he tweets out.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
His dunk of the year just to show people he
can still do it.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
I get that, but let me tell you this. Let
me tell you the difference. Let me tell you the difference.
The difference is I'm six two. I'm not six ' six,
not six seven. I am six two. That's that's that takes.
That takes a little bit more effort. I take a
little bit more hops, I take a little bit more.
(42:55):
You know, you can't you six two and forty two.
You probably they can't just do a vertical jump and dunk.
It's gonna take some little bit running, a little bit momentum.
It takes a lot, you know what I mean. You
work in some muscles and bones, some joints. It takes
a lot. So Uh, that's the that's the difference. You know.
I seen They was like, doctor Jake is still dunk
(43:17):
That's great. He's sixty years old. Doctor j is six ' eight.
It's a little you know what I'm you know, listen,
it's still hey about trying to about six.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
But he is one of the greatest dunkers in the
sports history.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
Hold on, and he's long, and he Kapalma basketball. When
you kapama basketball, you don't have to jump that high.
I can't Pama basketball. So if you see I dunk
with two hands, I've always been a two hand dunker
because I can't palma ball. Like the ball will slip
up my hands if I try to go for one.
(43:52):
And if you know, and if you know about for
those who know about dunkin, like when you're a two
handed dunker, you gotta be you gotta have a little
bit more extra hops to get it up.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
Ryan, I think he was suggesting there that I do
not know anything about. Yeah, Stein will just go ahead
and say he was talking to me there. Something tells me,
as an ex volleyball player, you sneaked a dunk in somewhere.
Is that true? Is that a good guess I would
say I could dunk a volleyball, but to Chris's point,
(44:24):
I could never palm a basketball, so I can never
quite figure it out.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
Yeah, it's tough.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
When you first dunk at fourteen, you remember it.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah, Boys and Girls Club, West Side, Fresno. Boys and
Girls Club surprised the hell out of me, just like
I surprised the hell out of me on these last
two dunks. Yeah, fourteen years old, So it's cool. Man,
like Stein, I feel like a new man. I'm over
here to the gym I go to. They've seen the clip.
(44:56):
They was like, man, what are you doing? Like tell
me your workout regiment? Like, what are you doing? How
can we get at Like I really got new legs.
I do feel like I got new legs and new knees.
I'm serious, but don't get me wrong. Like I I
was sore about twenty four hours after that dunk. I'm
not gonna lie. I can't just get up and do
it all over again the next day. But No, it's cool.
(45:19):
I'm cool. I'm glad I'm playing back again, and I'm
glad I can get up. Well.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
That puts a nice bow on the season for us.
The twenty twenty three twenty four season is in the books,
the NBA's seventy eighth season, and for this show's purposes,
it shall be remembered as the season that Chris Haynes
got his dunk mojo back, first dunk in seven years,
(45:49):
turning back the clock.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Beautiful time, beautiful time.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
All right. That will do it for this edition of
this League Uncut. As I mentioned, Chris and I will
be getting together several times over the next month to
really dig in to this NBA postseason. The draft is
now a two night affair June twenty sixth June twenty seventh,
(46:15):
we'll see if Atlanta indeed keeps the number one overall pick,
as the Hawks have been trying to convince skeptical teams
that they will keep number one rather than trading it.
We will get those answers here in the next week plus.
Free agency to a degree already underway. Teams are allowed
(46:35):
to speak to their own free agents. June thirtieth, six
pm Eastern Time is when the marketplace truly opens up.
Both Chris and I will be in Las Vegas for
Summer League. Before Summer League, Team USA will have a
training camp there and some exhibition games July second through
the seventh last chance Olympic qualifying four six team groups
(47:00):
filled with NBA players, Teams competing for the last four
spots in the Olympic Tournament. At the end of July,
only twelve spots in both men's and women's basketball. Only
twelve nations compete in the Olympics, compared to thirty two
at the World Cup. So lots of transactions, lots of chatter,
still lots of basketball in front of us between now
(47:25):
and early August, and we will stay on top of
it all right here on This League Uncut. One more
episode to come this week, so Chris and I will
be back together with you very very soon. Thanks everyone
for listening, and that'll do it for us. See you
next time. This League Uncut is an iHeartRadio production Chris
(47:52):
Haynes and Mark Stein
The Boston Celtics are the champions. What does this momentous
achievement mean for Jason Tatum, for Jalen Brown and the
natural question can they repeat? As well as our first
look ahead to the off season, we will talk Paul George,
we will start looking at free agency, and we've got
(00:22):
some dunk tales from Chris Haynes. All that's next. You're
on a new edition of this League Uncut. Welcome to
this League Uncut in the world of twenty four hour NBA.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
News miters, you louse, Chris Haynes, It's time, work's time.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It's so time. This League Uncut is underway and on fire.
This should be a good one. Hello to all, and
welcome in to a new edition of this League Uncut.
(01:03):
Mark Stein here with Chris Haynes on the evening of
June eighteenth. The twenty twenty three to twenty four season
is officially over the Boston Celtics on Monday night on
June seventeenth, Just like they did in two thousand and eight,
(01:25):
the team based in the six one seven wins the championship.
On six seventeen, the Boston Celtics putting the Dallas Mavericks
away finishing the NBA Finals. That means today Tuesday was
the start of the NBA offseason, and we will get
(01:46):
to that because it's the fastest start to an NBA
offseason ever, thanks to the new rules that allow teams
to start speaking to their free agents immediately the day
after the NBA Finals. But first, of course, Chris Haynes,
we must pay homage to the Celtics. To me, they
(02:10):
were and they are the team of the season, and
they really showed us something during these finals, winning in
five and holding the high powered Mavericks under one hundred
points in all four games. They won, very impressive.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Starin Let's just you know, let's just go back a
little bit before the series started. You had a prediction.
What was it?
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I do not remember.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Oh, I will remind you you picked the Dallas Mavericks.
I believe you picked. It is true.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
If you look it up, you don't have to look
too hard to find it. It is true. Look, man,
this is the way I operated during these playoffs. The
timberwol and I was wrong every step of the way.
The Timberwolves beat Denver, and I said, you know what,
if Minnesota can win three times on the Nuggets floor,
they are the new favorites. And then the Mavericks they
(03:17):
won three times on Minnesota's floor, and I said, if
Dallas can go to Soda and win three times, they're
the new favorites. And then the Celtics said, you know what, Stein,
if you haven't looked dumb enough twice, let's let's let
you go for the hat trick. And the Celtics just
(03:37):
dismantled the MAVs. So, yes, thank you, thank you for
bringing that up. Greatly appreciated.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, my apologies. But then again, you know, if you
look at what the Celtics did, I think a lot
of people gave them grief for the path that they
had getting to the NBA Finals. And look, all you
can do is play your opponent. That's all you can do.
And we saw how and if they were they was
in the regular season. They were, They were the best
(04:03):
team in the regular season, and they took care of business.
And you know, I'm happy for Jason Tatum, I'm happy
for Jaylen Brown. You know, it's hard to root against
a Drew Holiday. If you're an NBA fan, you know,
Derek White has an amazing story. Chris Christaps Persingis gets
(04:24):
a championship defending his old team. You know, this this
was it was. It wasn't the most compelling series because
it only went five games, but you know, there there
were there were times and sequences and in each of
the five games which made this series compelling. I don't
know as far as viewership how it did. That slipped
(04:48):
my my eyesight to see how it did viewership wise,
but you know, Celtics, they're they're legitimate, they're champs. Happy
for them. I spent, you know, spend some time with
of my there for three or four with you in Dallas,
and I didn't go to the clincher Game five in Boston,
but you know, I had seen enough at that point
(05:10):
to let me know that I was pretty confident there
wouldn't be a game six.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
So the MAVs winning Game four by thirty eight didn't
give you any pause, any thought they can at least
drag this thing to six.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
No, not at all. I didn't. I think the Dallas
Mavericks show that they had pride, they didn't want to
get swept, and they did that. That took a lot
out of them. I did not see them winning in Boston,
So you know, it became pretty appearing early on in
that game. In Game five too, that Boston you know,
they were, they were focused, They wanted to win on
(05:50):
their home court. They wanted to celebrate in their city
like you that would. No team has ever came back
come back from a three deficit. But you know, you
start to if they were to lose Game six, likelihood
most likely lose game I mean, excuse me, if they lose,
if they lost Game five, the likelihood is they lose
(06:14):
Game six in Dallas, and now it's up. Game seven
is up in the air, even if it is in Boston,
because at that point the team has won three in
a row. The losing team is rattled, they're shaken their start,
they start doubting themselves. So you know, it's a whole
mind game that goes along with a path like that.
(06:36):
But no, I didn't. I didn't see Dallas keeping the
series alive to get it to Game six in Dallas.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I mean, this whole thing is huge validation for the
Boston Celtics because this team has known very little but
playoff disappointment for the last six or seven years. They've
resisted very loud calls from the outside to break up
Tatum and Brown. And I can remember before we started
(07:06):
this podcast, when I was still doing locker rooms that
became Spotify Live sessions, and I would do these Spotify
lives where basically listeners readers could come on stage and
ask me questions. I would always get the question, isn't
it time to break these guys up? They're never going
(07:27):
to get it done. And the way you heard both
Brown and Tatum talk last night, I mean they heard
every word of it. They've been living with this, and
Brad Stevens replaced Danny Ainge and he just said, no,
we are not breaking these guys up. And my answer
always was whenever I was asked a question, my answer
(07:50):
always was, in today's NBA, where you lean on two
way wings more than we ever have in the history
of the game because of their ability to play on
both sides the ball, stretch the floor with the three
ball guard basically one to four switchable, just how important
(08:12):
wings like Tatum and Brown are in the modern game. No,
you cannot break that duo up, but they carried so
much pressure this season. Hours before training camp, Brad Stevens
trades for Drew Holliday. So think about what Brad Stevens
has done as a GM. He's been a better GM
(08:33):
than he was as a coach, and he did pretty
well as a coach. But Brad Stevens resisting all those calls,
years and years and years of outsider screaming, you gotta
break these two up. They're never gonna do it. Instead,
over the past few years, Stevens went out and he
traded for Al Horford, Then he traded for Derek White,
(08:56):
Then he traded for Christaps Porzingis and had to give
up Marcus Smart in the process, which was not the
most popular move in Boston. And then he went out
and got Holiday and the two J's with such high
level help. This season, they had a team nobody can touch,
(09:17):
and you touched on it. People are disappointed because they
didn't get pushed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and look
the playoffs as a whole. We can't sit here and lie.
In a lot of ways, it was not a great postseason.
There were too many injuries, too many blowouts, too many
(09:38):
series that ended fast. It just wasn't in the grand
scheme of things, a postseason that we're going to look
back on and say that was riveting. Theater but the Celtics,
I mean, the Celtics won the East by fourteen games.
We haven't seen that. You got to go all the
way back to nineteen seventy five, seven six, when Golden
(10:02):
State won the West by sixteen games. It was the
biggest margin. They were the class of the league all
season long, and they rose to the occasion. They completely
discombobulated the Mavericks. They made Luke you know, you know,
I see a ton of Luka Dantich and Kyrie Irving.
They made Luca and Kyrie work harder than any team
(10:25):
I've seen. And just, yeah, my hat is off. My
hat is off to these guys because they had to win.
They faced tremendous pressure. They would have been destroyed if
they didn't win, and they took all doubt out of
the equation.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
And I think, stein, I think there's something to be
said about staying the course, not giving up too prematurely.
We see that all the time. We see that with
here coaches being let go, We see that with roster decisions,
and sometimes it's nothing wrong at all with let allowing
(11:06):
players and personnel to jail, allowing people to make mistakes
and then learn from them, and that includes head coaches
as well. We're so quick to just move on trade fire,
you know, like wave, come on now, like come on,
(11:28):
look look at what they were saying about Jalen and
Jason like people. I think people forget, you know, because
that's just the society we live in today, where you
forget about what even happened yesterday. But this was this
was a tremendous feat And you know I've seen again.
(11:50):
I'm not on social media like I used to be,
but something did come across me where I saw a
talking point of it. You know, is this one of
the greatest Celtics teams? Like, let's not go that far.
Please look at we just well, when you look at.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
The resume, you know, we had Sean Grandy on the
other day, and when you look at this team's overall resume.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I mean, those teams are not bad than Larry Bird
Kevin McHale days. It's not, no, but not.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
There's a difference between. If you're simply saying, is this
one of the best Celtics teams ever? I mean they
went eighty and twenty one when you add up playoffs
in regular season, there's only one team in the Celtics
history the eighty five eighty six Powerhouse, which is probably
one of the five greatest teams of all time. That's
the only Celtics team that has a better record over
(12:40):
the course of a season.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I definitely understand that. And again I'm not trying to
diminish the Boston Celtics because again I said it already
to start. The pid is that all you can do
is play the opponent that you're squared up against. But
if you're talking the greatest team of all time, you
have to take into consideration the competition. So that's the
only time I will throw the competition in there is
(13:03):
if if we're talking about greatest, you got to talk about, Okay,
who did you face who? It doesn't matter like you're
a CHAMPIONI champion. The champion is a champion. But when
we're talking greatest of all time, we have to talk about, Okay,
who did you face to get to that point. That's
the only difference. So with that being said, no, I
don't put them great season. Is it one of the
(13:24):
best seasons to statistically, yes, but better team no, not
in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Before I ask you a question, before I ask you
a difficult question, you mentioned staying the course. There's two
things I want to say about that. I think from
the Dallas side of the equation. One of the things
that kind of helps them through this is what they
are clearly telling themselves now is hey, as a group,
we've only been together five months since the trade deadline,
(13:55):
not even five months really since the trade deadline when
the team changed so dramatically when they made the moves
for Daniel Gafford and PJ. Washington. So you know, they're
trying to look at it optimistically and say, you know,
they came a long way in four or five months,
won the West, which in itself is very difficult to do.
(14:18):
So the Mavericks want to believe that with time and
some tweaks that they can get back to this level.
But when you talk about staying the course, I think
that's again where I have a lot of admiration for
the Celtics resolve here. I do not want to slight
the Denver Nuggets because they did something similar. They stayed
(14:41):
the course their power triumvirate of Nikola jokicch Jamal Murray,
Michael Malone. They endured many playoff disappointments and they won
it all last season and were lauded for staying the course.
I would just say, as a media collect we just
(15:01):
don't cover the Nuggets with the same intensity that we
cover the Boston Celtics. So for them to stay the
course in the face of a lot more noise, it
really shows some steal that Boston did what it believed
it should do and didn't break these guys up. And
now I'm gonna ask you this question. Jalen Brown won
(15:24):
finals MVP, just like he won Eastern Conference Finals MVP.
You know Jason Tatum very well. You did a piece
on Tatum after you got some time with him. Not
really sure how you pulled that off here in Dallas.
One minute, we're talking. Next minute, I know you. You've
(15:44):
got Jason Tatum cornered somehow, So you know Tatum much
better than I do. If I ask you, which is
probably unfair, but I'm gonna ask you anyway, to jump
inside his head? How okay? Do you think he is
deep down that Jalen Brown won finals MVP and he.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Did not No, I'm telling you right now, this is
no BS and as in twenty twenty four what they say,
this is no CAP. He does not care. He wanted
to be a champion. He made that clear to me,
and that the story I did the time he gave
(16:24):
me after what was that was after Game three, after
they went up three to zero, and I spoke with
a little bit via text after the championship he is ecstatic.
Stein ecstatic, like this was all he wanted. He felt
like this validated, you know, his career. He he hold,
(16:46):
you know, he's somebody who who listens to the naysayers.
I don't know how much he listened to him, but
I know he does. And he always wants to prove
people wrong, and this was his opportunity to prove his
critics wrong. And he he was you know, listen, he
(17:07):
was always happy for Jalen Brown to play. He said. Listen,
he said, I'm I felt like I had to empower
Jaylen Brown to be his best. He said, I want
everybody to be their best, and whatever individual wars come
with that, they come with that. But he said, individual
wars are not going to stand in the way of them,
(17:28):
you know, winning a championship or competing for a championship.
So man, he's out there living it up. He got
that trophy's taking it everywhere. He's like you saw how
emotionally he was at the end of the game, Like
those are genuine emotions, and listen, does a player of
his caliber. We all know that when players of his
caliber reached to the you know, reach the point there
(17:50):
to where they're playing in the NBA Finals and they win. Yes,
of course you would like to be holding that other
hard ware. The finals MVP a war work, but first
and foremost, it's about winning the championship. We saw Steph
went through that with the first what three years, three championships,
and he didn't get it until they won the fourth
(18:12):
when they beat Boston. So you asked, Steph, did that
take any luster off of those three championships? Heck, no,
it didn't. So I'm being genuine Like the conversations I've
had with him on and off the record, they echoed
the same sentiment. He is just so thrilled about being
(18:34):
a champion and right now he's he's still out there celebrating.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Had you been out there, do you know who you
would have voted for for Finals MVP. I do think
Jalen Brown was the right choice. I think the series
he had, the defensive work he put in against Luka
Doncic again, the Celtics, with Jalen leading the effort, made
(19:01):
Luka Doncic work as hard as any team I've ever
seen defending him. So I do think Jalen Brown probably
had a stronger series start to finish, although like I said,
I jokingly not so jokingly wrote it today in my
written substacked look at these finals. Brad Stevens is my
(19:23):
Finals MVP for all the moves he's made to put
this team together. But obviously only a player could win
finals MVP in real life. Were you okay with the
Jalen Brown selection?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yep? Yep? In order to tat him to get it,
the series would have had to be extended, and he
would have had to stream together a couple more solid
outings like he did in Game five Jalen Brown, when
he did offensively and defensively, Nah, in five games he
was the he was the most consistent player, So I'd
(19:59):
have no p I mean, if I had a vote,
I would have voted for Jail myself.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
These Celtics. As We've been noting all season long, this
is a storyline that I've been particularly fixated on. It's funny.
I went back earlier today and I found my preseason
welcome Back essay that I did for Bally Sports Southwest
so it could run on the MAVs pregame show and
(20:33):
the Pelicans pregame show. Before the first game of the season,
I went back and looked at my Welcome Back NBA
essay kind of previewing the season, and it was the
first thing that I talk about in this essay that
this season we had the chance to see a sixth
different champion in a span of six seasons, and it happened.
(20:55):
It has not happened since the late seventies when I
was just starting to fall in love with the sport.
Seventy four to seventy five Warriors, seventy five to seventy
six Celtics, seventy six seventy seven Blazers, seventy seven seventy
eight Bullets, seventy eight to seventy nine Sonics, and then
(21:18):
the seventy nine eighty Lakers, those Lakers winning it all
with Magic Johnson as a rookie and of course famously
playing center in Kareem Abdul Jabbar's place in the clinching
Game six at Philadelphia in nineteen eighty. It has been
a long, long, long time since we've seen this level
(21:41):
of parody, and the new collective barning agreement is designed
to keep that kind of parody going, because we know
in the new luxury tax era, with so many team
building restrictions imposed on the teams in this league that
spend the most, it's going to get crazy expensive for
(22:03):
the Celtics now because they're going to extend Jason Tatum soon.
Tatum's going to get a five year deal worth three
hundred and fifteen million. Derek White's going to get extended
this summer by all indications, and he's up for a
four year deal and one hundred and twenty five million range.
That means Tatum and Brown are going to be making
more than six hundred million just the two of them.
(22:26):
Drew Holliday and Derek White will be making more than
two fifty million the two of them and the backcourt,
and Porzingis has an extension about to kick in. So
the Celtics have an incredibly top heavy roster. But after
saying all that, I would also make the argument that
(22:49):
they are set up better to repeat next season than
any recent champion we've seen during this run that started
with the twenty nineteen Raptors, six different champions in six seasons.
What do you see in the future. What are you
expecting when next season starts. Obviously, we still got a
(23:09):
whole offseason to go through to give these other teams
a chance to make moves to counter this Boston squad.
But will the Celtics be your favorite when next season starts?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
That's really tough, really tough. There were definitely injuries that
occurred to some teams in the playoffs that limited the
capacity in which they can climb. I'm going to say yes,
(23:49):
I'm not like I'm not going out there and seeing
it with all.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
You're not saying it with your chests.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Nah, I'm not putting my chest out. I'm kind of
saying it with my head down a little bit.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
By the way, do you know what my kids would
do to me if I said no cap? You know
the looks I would get? I would would.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I will, I will. I would love to see the reaction.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Because luckily they are not They will not be listening
to this podcast, so they're not going to know I
just said it.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Let me let me say it, Stele, One thing about
you not gonna give you props for this one? Thing
about you. You know, I know you give yourself a
lot of flak for you know, not not being allowed
to say some of the the current lines and phrases
words that are used today today. But stole one thing.
I want to give you props on you're a tire.
(24:44):
Your your style like you, you are on point with
your attire when you come like your your your suits
they're on point, they're tailored. And then there's times when
you wear some jeans with a sport with a nice
sports like you don't. You don't dress your age. I
don't know if anybody's ever told you that. I gotta
(25:05):
give you props on that, like you give yourself all
this talk about being an old head. But Yo, you
got style, brother, you got style. Has anybody ever told
you that?
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I appreciate that some people have said similar things. Certain
and certain people who live in this household have a
differing opinion from what you just stated. Problem of my
game night attire is that right?
Speaker 2 (25:34):
No, I gotta give you prop style. That's one thing
I can say. Man, you are current and up to
date with your style. Man, you don't see. I'll shut
up now because as soon as we'll get to a
point man for you for somebody your age. You you
really you really can dress.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
You talk about me being old, You will never hurt
my feelings, And I'll tell you why. When I started,
I was the youngest traveling beat writer in the league.
I love that I'm still here and I love being
an old head, so I like I want to be.
I'm fine if people want to say I'm old or whatever,
(26:15):
like I'm I'm glad. You know, there's not many guys
still doing it who were doing it before me, like
the legend David Aldridge, Sean Powell, Ira Wnderman, and here
in Dallas, we've got a few guys who we're all
on the beat before me. We got Eddie Sefko, Brad
(26:37):
Townsend your guy, Dwayne Price. But there really aren't that
many who are still out here grinding. So I am
you can never hurt my feelings calling me old.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Respect, all due respect, but I just wanted to make
sure I put that out there. Stan, you have impeccable style, man,
I gotta give you.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Now, I I'd have to have Ryan clip that and
I might have to send that to missus Studde I
might want to debate you on that one. Now, back
to the Celtics and their title defense. Look, the East
has got to be more competitive next season. The injuries
just up and down the conference. It did certainly factor
(27:21):
into the playoff race. And Derek White had an interesting
line after the game saying, you guys didn't think we
were battle tests, and what do you consider the last
couple of years in the playoffs? And that's true. On
the road to the NBA Finals that they lost to
the Warriors in twenty twenty two and the roller coaster
of the Eastern Conference finals in twenty twenty three, those
(27:44):
were obviously tough tests that this group of Celtics did
not pass. But that was pre poorzingis and pre holiday
and the competition they faced. They didn't have to deal
with Philadelphia or Milwake, two teams that were certainly affected
by injuries. The Knicks as well in the second round.
(28:05):
So I have to think, now that we're here, now
that we're in this offseason, what's Philly gonna do with
that cap space. We know they want to make a
run at Paul George. If they don't get Paul George,
can the Sixers make some other significant addition on the wing.
We know they want a two way wing of their
own to assist Joel Embiid and Tyrese MAXI how are
(28:29):
the Bucks going to bounce back? I mean, obviously the
Bucks they made their big move for Damian Lillard, but
they had to surrender Drew Holliday in the process, and
the Celtics pounced on Drew Holliday immediately. And now Drew
Holliday has helped another team win a championship in his
(28:51):
first year. He's done it with the Bucks, He's done
it with the Celtics, and he's the only high minute
player in league history to do that with two different teams,
to go to a new team and win it all.
But Indiana will keep getting better. The Knicks are gonna
get healthier. Miami will see what happens with Jimmy Butler.
(29:16):
Do they extend him? What other moves can the Heat make?
I have to think as well. Set up as the
Celtics are to repeat next season and again better than
any recent champion you could name, the East has gotta
be tougher next season. And that's going to make and
that has to make a path two back to back
(29:39):
championships tougher. That has to there the road just getting
back to the finals has to have more obstacles next season.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
And that's why I didn't say it with my chest
when I said, you know, that's Celtics the favorites, right,
That's that's that was what I was. Those are the
f in my thought process. But as you know, injuries
always happened each season, and again all you can do
is play the team and play the players that are
(30:11):
on the court. So no knock on the boss himself,
it's they're the champs, worthy champs.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I have to say, though, last thing on the Celtics.
I am really curious to see next season now that
they've survived this championship or bust pressure. Now that that
is lifted, what kind of Tatum and Brown are we
gonna get next season when instead of all the doubt
and the naysayers, which, as you said, we both know
(30:38):
they do hear it. They've heard every word. When you
saw that Jordan Brand commercial that Tatum had out seconds
after Game five was over, that let you know he's
heard it all. But with that now having answered all
that and being able to put that in the rear
view mirror, to see them play a season where they
(30:59):
know they've got to the finish line. Once they know
their champions, going to be fascinating to see what that
does for their confidence. But look, going forward the next
several podcasts, obviously we're going to be laser focused on
the off season, which has already started. And I know
you are weary when I even bring up the Lakers
(31:22):
and their ongoing coaching search that we now expect to
conclude at some point here in the near future. The
growing expectation around the league is that they will ultimately
hire JJ Reddick after offering the job to Yukon's Dan Hurley,
So we await that resolution. And I know you're kind
(31:46):
of talked out about the Lakers at this point, so
I'm going to ask you something different. What is what
is the off season storyline? Topic? Development, potential player move
What are you most curious about as we move into
the draft in god eight days, seven eight days, the draft,
(32:10):
and then free agency starts shortly after that. Before you
know it will be in Vegas for Summer League. What
is most on your mind as we move into offseason mode?
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Well, anything can change. Around this time. You start to
hear rumbles a little bit more concrete rumbles of players
looking to move elsewhere players in the contract looking to
move elsewhere via a trade. But with that being said,
(32:41):
as of right now, Paul George is the player that
I'm monitoring. When Kawhi leonard eked his extension, I believe
it was r around the midway point during the season
j January. It was a surprise to most at the time,
but the thought within league circles was that Paul George's
(33:06):
extension would follow soon after. That did not happen, And
I remember I first said this. I believe it was
trade deadline day. I had to do some TV work
and I do a few live streams, and it was
around then when I said when I first said, watch
for Philly because Philly can make a play for a
(33:30):
MAX player this summer. Watch for Philly to get into
Paul George mix if he still does not have an
extension by that time. Said that in February, and Paul
George still does not have an extension right now. And
we've got to remember the Los Angeles Clippers moving into
(33:52):
that brand new into it Don Marina for the next season.
They want all their horses in the fold. They want
to have a championship caliber team going into that Arena
for next season. Paul George potentially going to Philly is
a game changer. Also would be a domino effect. What
(34:16):
would the Clippers do from there if Paul George did
indeed leave. Paul George has a player option.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Keep that in mind you buying the talk that they
would pivot to DeMar DeRozan if they lost Paul George.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Would the Clippers pivot to DeMar DeRozan? Yeah, I think
they have to pivot to somebody, and DeMar Deroza would
be a logical secondary option for sure. So I'm not
saying that I've heard that from my own intel, but
that would seem like a logical move. Mar de Rozan
(34:53):
from La as well, he actually wanted to go to
the Lakers before he went to the Bulls. Hawks didn't
as far as financially, didn't get to the point to
where de Rozan could seriously consider that offer, so he
ends up in Chicago. But I can see that, I
can definitely see that.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
I can't see George leaving. But every time I say that,
I mean, look, as we're taping this, it's June eighteenth.
The Clippers have until June thirtieth to get him extended.
But they've had months and months and months and there's
no extension. They did not sign Kawhi Leonard to the max.
(35:35):
They clearly want Paul George to come in under the max.
The Sixers have all this cap space, they have to
take advantage of it now. So the assumption is they
are going to offer Paul George the max so he
can get it if he's willing to leave. Orlando's another
team that's been mentioned a lot with Paul George, because
(35:56):
we know the Magic want two way players. They want
to add shooting before next season. But you know, Paul
George is a Southern California guy, like Kawhi, like Harden,
like Russell Westbrook. I guess I've always kind of been
sitting here waiting for the Clippers and Paul George to
(36:18):
figure this thing out. But we're running out of time.
I mean, this is the Clippers had months to get
this done and they clearly want Paul George at their price,
and Paul George it hasn't happened. So ten days and
change the Clippers have left to get an extension done
(36:40):
and keep Paul George from even making it to the
free agent market. And in the modern NBA, we are
so accustomed in recent years to almost every star nowadays
does the extension and doesn't even make it to free agency.
It's very rare. Bradley was one of the few recent
(37:01):
cases where a guy actually could have done a lucrative
extension opted for free agency, and by doing so, Bradley
Beal did still resign with the Wizards, but by going
to free agency and not just doing an extension, Bradley
Beal was able to get a no trade clause that's
obviously been very noosy and played a huge role in
(37:23):
him landing in Phoenix rather than Miami last summer. So, yeah,
I think you're right. The Paul George situation, it definitely
has the potential to spice up free agency in a big,
big way, because again, we are so accustomed in the
modern NBA to stars doing extensions that keep them from
(37:43):
ever hitting the open market. Paul George making it all
the way to the open market would be something. And
like I said, there will be much more chatter and
discussion and dissection of the off season ahead, but we're
(38:07):
going to sign off when you want to talk about
a headline happening something that really shook up NBA Twitter.
Was I seeing things or was that actually footage of
our very own Chris Haynes, now in his early forties.
(38:27):
According to sources, Chris Haynes throwing down a dunk. Was
that real? Or are we are we seeing things? I
know Producer Ryan was excited.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
As he should have been. First of all, the footage
came from me, So if it came from me.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
It was valid and not AI generated. That was real.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
We don't do We don't do any of that stuff.
And Producer Ryan feel free to weigh in and chime man.
So I've been telling y'all. You know, I talk about
my stories, my lor days of playing in the Filipino
League here it's the two Marc Bow League here in
the Sacramento area.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Too, dominating the Filipino League.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
You could say that I like to be humble.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Producer Ryan is the most loyal hype mans.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I like to be humble. But it's good to have
a producer Ryan on your side who could just tell
it how it is, because I I can't say that
without you know, coming off as a as a jerk.
But yes, I mean I do, I do all right,
but stein that you know, so the footage I sent
you was of this past Saturday dunking thirty seconds left
in the game, stilling the victory. But I actually dunked
(39:41):
the week before that, last Saturday's game, and Stein and
producer Ryan, I want you guys to know that the
dunk from last week, that was my first dunk in
seven years. I am forty two. And you say, how,
you know, how does that make sense? Well, I lost
of working on my legs a little bit more. I
(40:02):
lost about eleven pounds and three weeks or something like that,
I've been hitting the weights. I'm feeling good. Like I think.
I told y'all off air that over the last three years,
I've been playing basketball with knee pads, and I've always
hated how I look because growing up, the people that
(40:25):
wore knee pass while playing basketball were old guys, and
so I just hated how I look with knee pads on.
But I started not wearing my knee pass and I'm
feeling good. Starn Brian like my legs feeling good. I
never thought out I never thought I would dunk again.
I'm being honest. I never thought I would dunk again.
(40:45):
And I've gotten two dunks and consecutive weeks in the game.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
First dunks in seven years.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Yeah, so I'm cool. You should see the comments on
my ig I got Earl Watson, Tombo, I need to
be tested immediately, you know, turning back the clock, and
they accused me of using drugs. Stein like like, it's
just not like I can't just you know, come with
hard work and dedication to get me to that point. Man, Stein,
(41:12):
they gotta, they gotta, I have to resort to to drugs. No,
I'm drug free.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
Never know what it really was. I know what it was.
It was meeting Latrell Spretty. Well this spring, oh that
has put that has brought your hops back. Meeting your
boyhood idol and becoming and becoming friends with your boyhood
idol that you see, that has put some spring back
into your legs.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Stein. If you look at the jersey number for my
my jersey in this league, number fifteen, number fifteen, the
number he wore with the Golden State Warriors. So no,
I'm cool, man, I feel like I'm feeling it's cool.
I just never thought I would duck again. So it's
(41:58):
cool to to get to get in some good shape, uh,
and to be able to work myself back to that point,
because it's gonna come a day that I won't be
able to get up there anymore. And I've been dunking
since I was fourteen, so uh, it's yeah, it's cool, man.
(42:20):
So I had to post that. I had to share that.
I'm sorry I had to.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
But what about the great? Like we see the great
Marcus Johnson still announcing for the Bucks every year.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
But let me tell you this, he tweets out.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
His dunk of the year just to show people he
can still do it.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
I get that, but let me tell you this. Let
me tell you the difference. Let me tell you the difference.
The difference is I'm six two. I'm not six ' six,
not six seven. I am six two. That's that's that takes.
That takes a little bit more effort. I take a
little bit more hops, I take a little bit more.
(42:55):
You know, you can't you six two and forty two.
You probably they can't just do a vertical jump and dunk.
It's gonna take some little bit running, a little bit momentum.
It takes a lot, you know what I mean. You
work in some muscles and bones, some joints. It takes
a lot. So Uh, that's the that's the difference. You know.
I seen They was like, doctor Jake is still dunk
(43:17):
That's great. He's sixty years old. Doctor j is six ' eight.
It's a little you know what I'm you know, listen,
it's still hey about trying to about six.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
But he is one of the greatest dunkers in the
sports history.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
Hold on, and he's long, and he Kapalma basketball. When
you kapama basketball, you don't have to jump that high.
I can't Pama basketball. So if you see I dunk
with two hands, I've always been a two hand dunker
because I can't palma ball. Like the ball will slip
up my hands if I try to go for one.
(43:52):
And if you know, and if you know about for
those who know about dunkin, like when you're a two
handed dunker, you gotta be you gotta have a little
bit more extra hops to get it up.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
Ryan, I think he was suggesting there that I do
not know anything about. Yeah, Stein will just go ahead
and say he was talking to me there. Something tells me,
as an ex volleyball player, you sneaked a dunk in somewhere.
Is that true? Is that a good guess I would
say I could dunk a volleyball, but to Chris's point,
(44:24):
I could never palm a basketball, so I can never
quite figure it out.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
Yeah, it's tough.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
When you first dunk at fourteen, you remember it.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah, Boys and Girls Club, West Side, Fresno. Boys and
Girls Club surprised the hell out of me, just like
I surprised the hell out of me on these last
two dunks. Yeah, fourteen years old, So it's cool. Man,
like Stein, I feel like a new man. I'm over
here to the gym I go to. They've seen the clip.
(44:56):
They was like, man, what are you doing? Like tell
me your workout regiment? Like, what are you doing? How
can we get at Like I really got new legs.
I do feel like I got new legs and new knees.
I'm serious, but don't get me wrong. Like I I
was sore about twenty four hours after that dunk. I'm
not gonna lie. I can't just get up and do
it all over again the next day. But No, it's cool.
(45:19):
I'm cool. I'm glad I'm playing back again, and I'm
glad I can get up. Well.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
That puts a nice bow on the season for us.
The twenty twenty three twenty four season is in the books,
the NBA's seventy eighth season, and for this show's purposes,
it shall be remembered as the season that Chris Haynes
got his dunk mojo back, first dunk in seven years,
(45:49):
turning back the clock.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Beautiful time, beautiful time.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
All right. That will do it for this edition of
this League Uncut. As I mentioned, Chris and I will
be getting together several times over the next month to
really dig in to this NBA postseason. The draft is
now a two night affair June twenty sixth June twenty seventh,
(46:15):
we'll see if Atlanta indeed keeps the number one overall pick,
as the Hawks have been trying to convince skeptical teams
that they will keep number one rather than trading it.
We will get those answers here in the next week plus.
Free agency to a degree already underway. Teams are allowed
(46:35):
to speak to their own free agents. June thirtieth, six
pm Eastern Time is when the marketplace truly opens up.
Both Chris and I will be in Las Vegas for
Summer League. Before Summer League, Team USA will have a
training camp there and some exhibition games July second through
the seventh last chance Olympic qualifying four six team groups
(47:00):
filled with NBA players, Teams competing for the last four
spots in the Olympic Tournament. At the end of July,
only twelve spots in both men's and women's basketball. Only
twelve nations compete in the Olympics, compared to thirty two
at the World Cup. So lots of transactions, lots of chatter,
still lots of basketball in front of us between now
(47:25):
and early August, and we will stay on top of
it all right here on This League Uncut. One more
episode to come this week, so Chris and I will
be back together with you very very soon. Thanks everyone
for listening, and that'll do it for us. See you
next time. This League Uncut is an iHeartRadio production Chris
(47:52):
Haynes and Mark Stein
Hosts And Creators
Chris Haynes
Marc Stein
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