February 18, 2025 • 31 mins
The NBA All-star game was a boring, and fans hated the format (and energy and effort the players give). Not even Kevin Durant, James Harden, Steph Curry, and Kyrie Irving could save the game. Most people don’t like the dunk contest, skill challenge, especially after Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul tried to rig the game. Warriors former All-Star Draymond Green even chimed in with harsh words. And LeBron James skipped the All Star Game. Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin saga about bullying at the Miami Dolphins has been ongoing for over 10 years and now the truth is finally coming out. Finally, George lets his viewers know who the top 5 picks in the 2025 NFL draft should be….
Chapters: 00:00- Intro
01:08- Another failed NBA All-Star Weekend
09:20- Lack of effort could eventually cost NBA players money
12:50- Mac McClung three-peats in the dunk contest, now it's time for change
15:51- It's time for one-on-one basketball at All-Star Weekend
18:32- New Jonathan Martin revelations have Richie Incognito HEATED
24:30- The top 5 picks in the 2025 NFL Draft Should be...
#nba #nbaallstar #wemby #stephencurry #victorwembanyama #lebronjames #nfl #nflnews #nfldraft #shedeur #travishunter #nfldraft2025
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
The NBA All Star Game was an utter disaster, and
I got ways to fix it. And also there was
pushback from the players, Draymond Green and all of this stuff.
And you know who actually broke it. It was the players,
and I'll explain to you why in just a few minutes.
But also the story about Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin,
(00:22):
the bullying incident with the Miami Dolphins. I told you
all this years ago, but now the truth comes out
and Richie Incognito feels like he's vindicated, but hell no,
you're not not at all. And also, the NFL Draft
is coming up. Who are your top five picks right
now with the teams that currently have them? Well, I
(00:43):
got that and so much more here on the Unafraid Show.
Make sure that you like, subscribe, get notifications, and most importantly,
tell a friend and share the show. Let's get to it.
(01:08):
It has been years since the NBA put on a
good All Star Game. It's been a minute, and now
the players are starting to feel the pushback. You got
Kevin Durant on Twitter saying, well, why don't you just
give us a week off instead of if you hate
the game so much? And this and that Draymond Green
is upset that the Rising Stars actually played on the
(01:29):
same floor as the NBA All Stars. So there's so
much to break down, everything from the format to what's
going on, how to fix it, dunk contest, three point contests,
and a one on one game that we're probably gonna
get next year. But we're gonna start with just the
pushback from the players. And here is the biggest problem
(01:49):
with the NBA is that the players have forgotten that
there is a relationship between them and the fans, that
there is an unspoken contract between them and the fans
about you show up and play hard, will show up
with our time and our money. And players are now like, yo,
I mean y'all, y'all supposed to show up. We're supposed
(02:11):
to get get paid. This is the NBA All Star Game.
We're gonna do it how we want to do it.
And then they're upset that people are pushing back and
even they're complaining about it. And we're gonna start with
the Draymond Green Green complaint. Actually, no, no, no, no, We're
actually gonna start with the disaster that actually started first
on Saturday night, which was the skills competition the three
(02:35):
point contest and the dunk contest. We're gonna start with
the skills competition because Victor Winbanyama and Chris Paul, former
head of the Players Association, that Chris Paul NBA veteran
long time Hall of Fame guy. So at first, when
(02:57):
him and Victor women Yama went up there and they
were doing the ski challenge, You're thinking, Okay, this is
a cool little pairing. They just instead of shooting the
ball like they normally would, they just threw them at
the basket. They were going for time because they knew
that they could execute it in time and get passed
even if they didn't make the baskets. So that was
an issue. And then so they essentially tried to cheat
(03:20):
the system. And initially this was pinned on Chris Paul,
and I was like, Chris Paul, what's up with you, bro?
You're too old for this. You were the president of
the Players Association. You can't be doing this. This is ridiculous.
But then we find out that it was Victor winbn
Yama's idea, and this is his second year in the NBA,
so that means that Chris Paul, the savvy veteran, the
(03:41):
guy who knows the inner workings and understands the stuff
about the ratings, everything that's going on with the NBA,
the pushback from the fans, and he went along with this.
That's the issue. You got the blind leading the blind
right now. And Chris Paul is too old, too long
the league. He was playing when all Star games were good,
(04:03):
and now all of a sudden you went along with
this BS to like cheat the fans. Do you realize
it was people in France that stayed up to watch
this trash that they put out and they're like, yeah, yeah,
we're gonna move on to the finals. We're gonna win,
we're gonna get a tighter we're gonna get the check.
Forgetting about the entertainment value for the fans. That's the
(04:27):
most important thing. Everybody keeps putting all this emphasis on championships.
Championships are the the furthest thing from what fans need
and deserve because a particular fan base, yes they want
a championship, but NBA fans and basketball fans in general,
they want great basketball play, entertaining games, and stars to play.
(04:52):
That's what fans want, and the idea that the players
are putting this trash out there is ridiculous. And then
and when calls for change happened, they're like, oh wait, wait,
wait no, just just pay us more money, shake Gildess.
Alexander said that after his first NBA All Star Game,
and it turned me off from him, not permanently, but
(05:13):
at least for a while. He's standing there in a
mink coat making twenty thirty million dollars a year saying, oh, well,
I mean hell, if you pay us more, will will
play hard in the All Star Game. That is an
absolute utter lie. You could pay these dudes a million
dollars each to win the game and they still won't
(05:36):
play hard. You know why? Because this is an internal issue.
Do you know why? Kobe and Michael Jordan played hard
because it was important to them And the older players
Lebron James who I love, Kevin Durant who I love,
Steph Curry who I love. These dudes have allowed this.
These players who I love, the Kevin, all of the
(05:58):
great players. Pay dudes have been the face of the NBA.
They allowed this. They are responsible for this. Yeah, who
else are you going to blame? This ain't the league's fault.
The league can't force you to go out there and
play hard. And then you got Draymond Green out there. Oh,
oh my god, this is terrible. The Rising Stars were
(06:20):
on the floor with the NBA veterans. This used to
be a sacred ground, a hollowed place for the NBA
All Star Game. You know what, On one hand, Draymond
Green's one hundred percent right. It used to be a
hollowed ground for the All Stars. It used to be
a special place where only very few got a chance
(06:43):
to step on that All Star court. Put that All
Star jersey on, and now you got dudes in the
Rising Stars game on it. He's one hundred percent right.
But do you know whose fault? That is your fault?
It's the player's fault, because the NBA would not have
needed to go to this drastic four team, single elimination tournament,
(07:06):
these many games if it weren't for the players coming
out there not playing hard. They are trying anything. They
are like parents with a bad behaving child and they're like, Okay, hey,
i'll pay you to get good grades. Okay, that's not working. Okay,
I'll cut your phone off. Okay that's not working. I'll
give you a whooping like that. They're literally trying every
(07:29):
single thing that they can to get with in without
the whooping part. In the new gentle parenting age. They're
trying everything that they can to get the players to
play hard, and the players still won't do it. So yes,
drastic changes have to be made. The NFL literally cut
(07:49):
out the Pro Bowl because players refuse to play hard.
There was nothing they could do to incentivize them. And
the same thing is true of the NBA because it
is redamndiculous that we're I've been playing in you know,
pick up games with the older guys in the NBA
when I was when when I was in my prime,
fresh jumping out the gym, and they play harder in
(08:14):
open gym and open runs in the summer. Then they
doing the NBA All Star Game. And that's for the fans.
So games that they aren't even getting paid in they
play harder than they do in the NBA All Star Game.
That's why there needs to be a fix. So you can,
they can get mad, Kevin Durant can push back on
(08:35):
the fans. Oh well, then just just get give us
a week off, give us this. Yet, this is the
issue with Jimmy Butler in his contract, Joel and b
Paul George, other guys. And I'm not saying that they
haven't been hurt at times. I'm talking about the load
management crew because there comes a point in time where
(08:59):
you are just curbing the what the fans need and
what the fans want, and you know what you're You're
gonna get what you deserve. The league is gonna get
what it deserves. There will be a pushback unless there
is some sort of change because if you keep putting
(09:21):
bad television out for fans, they will stop watching. I
don't care about Yes, they have signed lucrative TV deals,
but the difference between the NBA and the NFL is
NFL is always trying to put out competent products. The
difference in the NBA is there is a percentage of
the player salaries. It's either five or ten percent that's
(09:42):
held every single year in escrow and it's held in
case they don't meet revenue projections and then when when
they do, which they typically do, players get paid that
money back. But if not, the league keeps it. There
is going to be a year if they do not
change where the league ends up keeping that money and
(10:04):
players are not going to like that. And this is
why the Dallas Mavericks traded Luca, this is why they
have been pushing back on players contracts and everything else.
And you are going to see it more. This sixty
five game rule to make all NBA and all that stuff.
That's not going to impact the older players because they've
already gotten max deals. They're on the way out. For
(10:27):
the younger players, this is going to be huge because
you're gonna have less players qualify for max deals because
they haven't won MVP, they haven't made all NBA teams
because you're not playing enough games. So that's where they're
trying to push it back. But let's go back to
the All Star Game for a second. You had them
(10:48):
three teams drafted by TNT and inside the NBA analysts
you had Kandas Parker, Shaq Yet Kenny and you had
Charles Barkley and Candas had the Rising Stars team. But
the issue with it is it was a three hour game.
You ended up three games to forty points, so you
(11:08):
only got one hundred and twenty points from one team.
It took three damn hours, And I know I did
not mind the tribute to T and T because they
have been honestly a bigger part of the NBA then
the NBA has been, especially recently. You knew you could
count on Chuck and Shaq, Kenny and Ernie to entertain you.
(11:30):
Even if the game didn't entertain you, they were going
to entertain you. So yes, I did not mind the
saying good goodbye and all of that. But Trey Young,
Shake Gilders, Alexander Jalen Brown, all of them were frustrated
with the amount of breaks and the you know, the
long layoffs and everything else. It was terrible. It was
(11:53):
terrible for the players because they got to calm down,
get rapped up everything else. But the league and the
players have no fault but of their own. Now, if
I were a governor slash owner in the NBA, I
would be savage and I would be ruthless because on
(12:13):
one hand, I am four player empowerment. This is where
I don't want this to get lost. Is I am
all four players getting as much money as they can
in the shortest period of time that they can, being
able to have some freedom to move. But there's a
responsibility to that that the players are not holding their
end up right right now. They're not. And I'm talking
(12:35):
about the players as a whole. They're not holding up
to their end of the barget, which is to show up,
play hard, night after night. That's it. But I want
to give a shout out to the exciting whites and
the exciting whites. Mac McClung and Blanking Ship over with
(13:00):
the Philadelphia Eagles and Cooper degene over with the Philadelphia
Eagles as well. Those are the exciting whites. They are
playing positions in dB at the NFL level and playing
it at a high level, and people are not used
to that. I even had a white offensive coordinator when
I was in the NFL, when I was playing in Jacksonville,
(13:23):
and we had a call that if a white dB
came in the game. He was like, white dB, white dB,
we're throwing at him. But the exciting whites are saying, no, no, no,
not so fast. You got Mike mac mcclun over in
the NBA. Dude has only played like seventy one NBA
minutes his whole career, but he's a three time NBA
(13:47):
Dunk Contest champion, and honestly, he's been fantastic. He's been entertaining,
But here's how to fix the dunk contest. Since you
know the Lebron James is the Anthony Edwards. The current
stars now aren't getting in it, which is which is whack.
But they need to do either one or two things
with the dunk contest. Either actually make it an award
(14:10):
for the best in dunks in season dunk going from
last All Star game to this All Star game, and
you give it out an award. You turn it into
a show right of the best dunks like Shocked in
the Full and then allow the All Stars to vote
on who had the best dunk like people would be
(14:31):
going crazier for the in game dunks, which would actually
increase interest in the NBA. Or the second option that
you can do is take take Mac mcclunk, treat him
like the professor and one let dude hit the road
and find marginal basketball players who can jump out of
(14:53):
the gym and do the spectacle dunks. Because the reality
is NBA players are more focused on their moves and
skills than they are with perfecting dunks, as they should be.
So but I'm sending Mac McClung, like the Professor, on
an and one tour all over the country, find the
(15:13):
best dunkers from every single city every year and bring
them to the NBA Dunk Contest. That's it. That's it.
And with the Skills Contest, it's clearly a joke now
that Wenby and Chris Paul did what they did trying
to exploit the loophole, and they got disqualified, which I
am thankful for. Like, don't put that bs out there
(15:34):
and expect us to think it's okay, because it's not.
It's not. So you can throw the skills challenge in
the trash if you want to, and replace it with
a one on one game. That's what you need to do,
because you know what players will do. They will play
one on one and there's no hiding there, there's no
(15:58):
uh you know, of faking it. Oh, I'm not gonna
play defense because you will get embarrassed. You know who
said he would play James Hard hell of a one
on one player, Kyrie irvit. He even baked Wimby. I
want to see these one on one games. I want
to see Victor Women, y'ama plan. I want to see
Jason Tatum versus Jalen Brown. I want to see Anthony Edwards. Yeah, yeah,
(16:22):
bring all y'all to the one on one game, because
that may actually well not even may I believe you
give the winner of the one on one tournament million dollars.
Oh they're gonna show up and what they were already
gonna play hard with it, but you give him a
mill on top of it. Oh yeah, oh yeah, buddy,
I love it, love it. That will actually work one
(16:45):
on one next All Star game. The women just did it,
and this is ridiculous that the women who are just
getting All Star games. WNBA is young compared to the NBA,
and they got to show the men the way in
this come on, man, and like the women were actually
out there playing hard in their one on one tournament.
(17:07):
Loved it and the feast of caller baller. So but
here is the truth about the NBA All Star Game
is that the older players played harder and now this
generation has messed the game up. And yes, it's the
players that we love the most have messed it up,
because think about this. From nineteen seventy four to two
(17:31):
thousand and eight, there were as many overtime games in
the All Star Game as there were fifteen plus point
blowouts in six and then since two thousand and eight,
We've still had eleven games decided by ten points or less,
but the average score of the winning team has been
up over one hundred and eighty points. That means nobody's
(17:52):
even trying to play defense. These are the best players
in the world, and it is hard for the NBA
to compete with the nostalgia, like it's hard for you know, Lebron,
James Steph and all the great players now to compete
with the ghost of Michael Jordan when Michael Jordan wasn't
perfect either, because in order to get a game like
(18:14):
you had thirty years ago, you probably have to limit
three point attempts to ten or fifteen per half. You
would have to do that. But this what they're putting
out there right now ain't gonna cut it at all.
All right, next thing up, now, this is a story
that goes back to when I was playing in the NFL.
(18:36):
You got Richie Incognito versus Jonathan Martin, and ESPN did
a profile of Jonathan Martin, who is now at the
Wharton School of Business just like Josh rosen Is, and
he's moved on from football and is now into crypto.
So now Jonathan Martin also had to buy at like
a shooting threat at a high school out out here
(18:59):
as well. People just gonna glance over, but here it
is so going back. So Richie Incognito, known asshole, like
known jerk in the NFL, he was accused of bullying
Jonathan Martin. They both played offensive line, and it was
said that Richie Incognito did all sorts of stuff to
(19:20):
him and this and that, and Richie Incognito was like, yo,
actually we were a friends, right, And I have talked
about this for decades. I well for almost this has
almost been twenty years now, and I've been talking about
this this whole time whenever anybody asked me about it.
I know somebody who's making a documentary about it as well.
(19:43):
And Jonathan Martin essentially admitted that this story was not
true in terms of him being bullied. But the question
is how did it get so out of hand? So
Jonathan Martin said that he confided in his parents about
a situation with his teammates that made him uncomfortable, and
then his mom used the word bullying in a subsequent interview. Now,
(20:07):
how NFL locker rooms work is it is like the
Lord of the Flies everybody is clawing for a position
to be that alpha dog, and people will try you.
They will test you, and if you don't step up
(20:29):
and draw the line of boundary, they will continue to
push it over on you. They will. It's just the
nature of the locker room. And I was asked about
the bullying, and here's how NFL locker rooms work. And
this is true of anything in life. Because I had
(20:50):
a little kid on my team that I used this
prime example because he was being bullied by another kid.
If you stand up for yourself, people will come help you.
If you do not stand up for yourself and just
let things happen to you, people are gonna be like, oh, okay.
He was cool with it, and it wasn't that big
of a deal. He liked it. They were just joking.
(21:13):
They were just piling around. So if you don't stand
up for yourself in life, people will not stand up
for you. But if you stand up and make noise
about it, oh, now they don't have a choice. And
so after his mom came out with that, it came
down whether to whether Martin was gonna stand up to
(21:36):
his teammates and then also clear the error about a
narrative that he didn't entirely believe or he was gonna
have to participate in the Ted Wells investigation and go
along with his parents' attempt to protect him from a
toxic situation. And then now the rest is history. The
report came out, the phone call recording of Richie Incognito
(21:59):
calling John Than Martin. N word was included along with
the other accolades accusations from the other people, and then
Incognito ended up missing about a year and a half
of his career and up to about ten million dollars
in career career earnings. So now Richie Incognito, obviously after
(22:20):
hearing that his parents made it up, he's like he's
pissed and he's on the internet taking a victory lap.
Now I understand his emotions are understandable, and neither Jonathan
Martin or Incognito has had it easiest in the last
ten years. And Incognito smashed the car in his own yard.
(22:43):
Martin publicly threatened suicide that that's what I was talking about,
and people were scared on his former high school campus
out here in Cali, and then the story faded. But
with this last revival, it's back in the news cycle.
So you got Incognito acting like he's an innocent victim
in the situation, but he's not. You called the dude
(23:05):
the N word on the on the voicemail, and we
supposed to feel sorry for you. No, you you were
not vindicated like you were some like there. You were
not guilty. That's what it was. You were not guilty,
Richie Incognito of the bully, but you are not innocent.
Those are two separate things. There is innocence and then
(23:28):
there is being not guilty. This was an this isn't
a circumstance of being not guilty. Yes, Richie Incognito is
not innocent. He is this two days he wasn't the
best person around in a Walter Payton Man of the Year.
Nobody would ever describe that about Richie Incognito, got kicked
(23:49):
out of college, got and all of that. So we
were not even finish. Sit here and act like the
dude is innocent. But and this is what I will
tell parents, This is what I would tell people out
in the world. Stand up for yourself, make enough noise
if people are bothering you, because otherwise people will say
that you liked it and then if somebody lies, man,
(24:12):
this is like somebody making a false allegation. You cost
this man ten million dollars. He should sue you or
you should be thrown in jail. This is what I believe.
You make false allegations on people, you should have your
ass in jail. Book it all right. The last thing
I want to talk about is in the NFL. The
NFL Draft is coming up, and the top five draft selections, well,
(24:36):
top five picks right now are as follows Tennessee Titans
and one Browns, two Giants, three Patriots for Jaguars five. Now,
four of these five teams stink that. I think the
Jaguars roster is the best out of all five of
those teams. But then you get to talking about who
is going to be drafted where, And I have looked
(24:58):
at this. I like Shador Sanders, I like cam Ward Love,
Travis Hunter, super Love, Mason Graham out of Michigan, like
Abdual Carter, Love Aston gent Love, Will Carter, like Tyler
(25:21):
Warren Love, Coaston Lovelin. That's where I'm at right now,
at the top of the draft, and everybody's like, oh, well,
you gotta pick Travis Hunter number one. If you're the Titans, No,
you don't. Picking Travis Hunter number one if you are
the Tennessee Titans makes zero sense. Travis Hunter, as good
as he is, even if he turns into an All Pro,
(25:44):
has zero impact or minimal impact on winning and losing.
Look at Myles Garrett with the Browns, who got the
second pick. Dude is an MVP, a defensive MVP caliber
player for the last three or four years. And you
know what team stinks teams drafting number two. Overall, you
(26:04):
have to boaster the offensive line. Yes, your defensive line matters,
but your offensive line matters, and you gotta find a quarterback.
That's what you gotta have. So if you're the Tennessee
Titans and you're not in love with Sharda Sanders or
cam Ward, you need to trade this pickback, trade back
(26:25):
and let somebody else like the Jaguars, who have a quarterback.
Let them move up to one and pick Travis Hunter.
Let that happen. But the Patriots, the Giants, well, actually
the Patriots have a quarterback too. But the Giants, the Browns,
and the Titans, any one of them. Drafting Travis Hunter
at the beginning of the draft makes no sense. This
(26:45):
was like the Browns. The Giants draft in Sakuon Barkley
and then not having a quarterback and then being like, oh, well,
we're not gonna pay Sakwan you don't have a quarterback.
Running Backs are useless without a quarterback. They just are.
They're useless without an offensive line. This is just the
reality of the situation the Browns. So if with the
current draft order from the Titans, I'm probably taking cam
(27:10):
Wored because I like my offensive line is okay, Then
if I am the Browns probably taking Shador Sanders. Now
do I think that either one of those two dudes
is the two best dudes in the draft? Absolutely not.
But you gotta go with what you need at this
point in time. And then if I'm the Giants offensive line,
(27:32):
probably I gotta go offensive line, or I mean because
Mason Graham helps. And then there's a lot of people
who are on the Abdul Carter train. I think a
Carter is a little bit undersized, and that may matter.
But if if the top five picks are going to
be Shaduur, Travis Hunter, Camore, Mason Graham, and Abdul Carter,
(27:58):
then the needs have to matter the most. Because the
Raiders are sitting at six, Jets are sitting at seven,
and they need a quarterback as well. So if you're
any one of those two team, any one of those teams,
up front, I'm trading back. I'm adding draft picks. I
am taking the Oklahoma City Thunder roundabout way to get good.
(28:20):
I am getting rid of all my bad I'm getting
rid of all the dead weight. I'm getting rid of
all I will trade away a good player like Miles
Garrett for significant draft capital. I wouldn't even think twice
about it. If you go on the price is right
and you win a Bugatti, a two million dollar Bugatti,
(28:43):
and you can't pay your bills. Prior to that, you're
barely making ends. Me sell the Bugatti, and then your
life you can be debt free. You can just have
a whole new life and start over fresh. That's what
these teams need to do, instead of trying to hoard
your good players. Nope, Nope, because eventually you're gonna have
(29:06):
to pay them, and then you're gonna be having a
player like Miles Garrett on a super big contract when
your team is bad. Nope, reset that whole thing and
just draft year after year after year after year, multiple
first round picks. I'm trading away. Everything is not nailed
down right now if I am the Titans, and if
(29:27):
I am the if I'm the Titans, if I am
the Browns, trading away everything about Giants too, even on
down to the Raiders at six, Jets at seven. Everything
must go that is not on a rookie deal right now.
Anything that anybody else wants, you can have it now.
(29:51):
Then there goes to Deon Sanders factor. Is he going
to step in and prevent any of these teams from
drafting Shadoor Sanders and Travis Hunt. I do not believe
he would stop either of them from going to the
Giants because he wants especially Shador. He wants him in
(30:11):
a big city, because he knows big city quarterbacks make money.
Big city quarterbacks, you can be a star, you can
be a megastar. So he will not object from there.
And the Patriots and Jaguars ain't drafted Shoudre. But as
far as Travis Hunter goes, he's marched to his own drum.
I tell you he's gonna have to fin for hisself.
(30:35):
He is not going to stop any team from drafting him.
He might say that publicly, but that ain't happening. And
you guys, though, we still got so much to go
here on on a praise show. Make sure you guys
tell a friend about it, like subscribe, get notifications, give
me a thumbs up, go share the show because we
(30:55):
come Monday through Friday, and coming up in a couple
of weeks we will be on Rise Network, on Google TV,
Hulu TV, well not Hulu TV, excuse me, Samsung TV,
and a bunch of other fast channels. You guys, thank
you guys for the support. We are doing it big
great things coming up in twenty twenty five. Peace out.
(31:17):
Catch you guys tomorrow with some college football action.
The NBA All Star Game was an utter disaster, and
I got ways to fix it. And also there was
pushback from the players, Draymond Green and all of this stuff.
And you know who actually broke it. It was the players,
and I'll explain to you why in just a few minutes.
But also the story about Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin,
(00:22):
the bullying incident with the Miami Dolphins. I told you
all this years ago, but now the truth comes out
and Richie Incognito feels like he's vindicated, but hell no,
you're not not at all. And also, the NFL Draft
is coming up. Who are your top five picks right
now with the teams that currently have them? Well, I
(00:43):
got that and so much more here on the Unafraid Show.
Make sure that you like, subscribe, get notifications, and most importantly,
tell a friend and share the show. Let's get to it.
(01:08):
It has been years since the NBA put on a
good All Star Game. It's been a minute, and now
the players are starting to feel the pushback. You got
Kevin Durant on Twitter saying, well, why don't you just
give us a week off instead of if you hate
the game so much? And this and that Draymond Green
is upset that the Rising Stars actually played on the
(01:29):
same floor as the NBA All Stars. So there's so
much to break down, everything from the format to what's
going on, how to fix it, dunk contest, three point contests,
and a one on one game that we're probably gonna
get next year. But we're gonna start with just the
pushback from the players. And here is the biggest problem
(01:49):
with the NBA is that the players have forgotten that
there is a relationship between them and the fans, that
there is an unspoken contract between them and the fans
about you show up and play hard, will show up
with our time and our money. And players are now like, yo,
I mean y'all, y'all supposed to show up. We're supposed
(02:11):
to get get paid. This is the NBA All Star Game.
We're gonna do it how we want to do it.
And then they're upset that people are pushing back and
even they're complaining about it. And we're gonna start with
the Draymond Green Green complaint. Actually, no, no, no, no, We're
actually gonna start with the disaster that actually started first
on Saturday night, which was the skills competition the three
(02:35):
point contest and the dunk contest. We're gonna start with
the skills competition because Victor Winbanyama and Chris Paul, former
head of the Players Association, that Chris Paul NBA veteran
long time Hall of Fame guy. So at first, when
(02:57):
him and Victor women Yama went up there and they
were doing the ski challenge, You're thinking, Okay, this is
a cool little pairing. They just instead of shooting the
ball like they normally would, they just threw them at
the basket. They were going for time because they knew
that they could execute it in time and get passed
even if they didn't make the baskets. So that was
an issue. And then so they essentially tried to cheat
(03:20):
the system. And initially this was pinned on Chris Paul,
and I was like, Chris Paul, what's up with you, bro?
You're too old for this. You were the president of
the Players Association. You can't be doing this. This is ridiculous.
But then we find out that it was Victor winbn
Yama's idea, and this is his second year in the NBA,
so that means that Chris Paul, the savvy veteran, the
(03:41):
guy who knows the inner workings and understands the stuff
about the ratings, everything that's going on with the NBA,
the pushback from the fans, and he went along with this.
That's the issue. You got the blind leading the blind
right now. And Chris Paul is too old, too long
the league. He was playing when all Star games were good,
(04:03):
and now all of a sudden you went along with
this BS to like cheat the fans. Do you realize
it was people in France that stayed up to watch
this trash that they put out and they're like, yeah, yeah,
we're gonna move on to the finals. We're gonna win,
we're gonna get a tighter we're gonna get the check.
Forgetting about the entertainment value for the fans. That's the
(04:27):
most important thing. Everybody keeps putting all this emphasis on championships.
Championships are the the furthest thing from what fans need
and deserve because a particular fan base, yes they want
a championship, but NBA fans and basketball fans in general,
they want great basketball play, entertaining games, and stars to play.
(04:52):
That's what fans want, and the idea that the players
are putting this trash out there is ridiculous. And then
and when calls for change happened, they're like, oh wait, wait,
wait no, just just pay us more money, shake Gildess.
Alexander said that after his first NBA All Star Game,
and it turned me off from him, not permanently, but
(05:13):
at least for a while. He's standing there in a
mink coat making twenty thirty million dollars a year saying, oh, well,
I mean hell, if you pay us more, will will
play hard in the All Star Game. That is an
absolute utter lie. You could pay these dudes a million
dollars each to win the game and they still won't
(05:36):
play hard. You know why? Because this is an internal issue.
Do you know why? Kobe and Michael Jordan played hard
because it was important to them And the older players
Lebron James who I love, Kevin Durant who I love,
Steph Curry who I love. These dudes have allowed this.
These players who I love, the Kevin, all of the
(05:58):
great players. Pay dudes have been the face of the NBA.
They allowed this. They are responsible for this. Yeah, who
else are you going to blame? This ain't the league's fault.
The league can't force you to go out there and
play hard. And then you got Draymond Green out there. Oh,
oh my god, this is terrible. The Rising Stars were
(06:20):
on the floor with the NBA veterans. This used to
be a sacred ground, a hollowed place for the NBA
All Star Game. You know what, On one hand, Draymond
Green's one hundred percent right. It used to be a
hollowed ground for the All Stars. It used to be
a special place where only very few got a chance
(06:43):
to step on that All Star court. Put that All
Star jersey on, and now you got dudes in the
Rising Stars game on it. He's one hundred percent right.
But do you know whose fault? That is your fault?
It's the player's fault, because the NBA would not have
needed to go to this drastic four team, single elimination tournament,
(07:06):
these many games if it weren't for the players coming
out there not playing hard. They are trying anything. They
are like parents with a bad behaving child and they're like, Okay, hey,
i'll pay you to get good grades. Okay, that's not working. Okay,
I'll cut your phone off. Okay that's not working. I'll
give you a whooping like that. They're literally trying every
(07:29):
single thing that they can to get with in without
the whooping part. In the new gentle parenting age. They're
trying everything that they can to get the players to
play hard, and the players still won't do it. So yes,
drastic changes have to be made. The NFL literally cut
(07:49):
out the Pro Bowl because players refuse to play hard.
There was nothing they could do to incentivize them. And
the same thing is true of the NBA because it
is redamndiculous that we're I've been playing in you know,
pick up games with the older guys in the NBA
when I was when when I was in my prime,
fresh jumping out the gym, and they play harder in
(08:14):
open gym and open runs in the summer. Then they
doing the NBA All Star Game. And that's for the fans.
So games that they aren't even getting paid in they
play harder than they do in the NBA All Star Game.
That's why there needs to be a fix. So you can,
they can get mad, Kevin Durant can push back on
(08:35):
the fans. Oh well, then just just get give us
a week off, give us this. Yet, this is the
issue with Jimmy Butler in his contract, Joel and b
Paul George, other guys. And I'm not saying that they
haven't been hurt at times. I'm talking about the load
management crew because there comes a point in time where
(08:59):
you are just curbing the what the fans need and
what the fans want, and you know what you're You're
gonna get what you deserve. The league is gonna get
what it deserves. There will be a pushback unless there
is some sort of change because if you keep putting
(09:21):
bad television out for fans, they will stop watching. I
don't care about Yes, they have signed lucrative TV deals,
but the difference between the NBA and the NFL is
NFL is always trying to put out competent products. The
difference in the NBA is there is a percentage of
the player salaries. It's either five or ten percent that's
(09:42):
held every single year in escrow and it's held in
case they don't meet revenue projections and then when when
they do, which they typically do, players get paid that
money back. But if not, the league keeps it. There
is going to be a year if they do not
change where the league ends up keeping that money and
(10:04):
players are not going to like that. And this is
why the Dallas Mavericks traded Luca, this is why they
have been pushing back on players contracts and everything else.
And you are going to see it more. This sixty
five game rule to make all NBA and all that stuff.
That's not going to impact the older players because they've
already gotten max deals. They're on the way out. For
(10:27):
the younger players, this is going to be huge because
you're gonna have less players qualify for max deals because
they haven't won MVP, they haven't made all NBA teams
because you're not playing enough games. So that's where they're
trying to push it back. But let's go back to
the All Star Game for a second. You had them
(10:48):
three teams drafted by TNT and inside the NBA analysts
you had Kandas Parker, Shaq Yet Kenny and you had
Charles Barkley and Candas had the Rising Stars team. But
the issue with it is it was a three hour game.
You ended up three games to forty points, so you
(11:08):
only got one hundred and twenty points from one team.
It took three damn hours, And I know I did
not mind the tribute to T and T because they
have been honestly a bigger part of the NBA then
the NBA has been, especially recently. You knew you could
count on Chuck and Shaq, Kenny and Ernie to entertain you.
(11:30):
Even if the game didn't entertain you, they were going
to entertain you. So yes, I did not mind the
saying good goodbye and all of that. But Trey Young,
Shake Gilders, Alexander Jalen Brown, all of them were frustrated
with the amount of breaks and the you know, the
long layoffs and everything else. It was terrible. It was
(11:53):
terrible for the players because they got to calm down,
get rapped up everything else. But the league and the
players have no fault but of their own. Now, if
I were a governor slash owner in the NBA, I
would be savage and I would be ruthless because on
(12:13):
one hand, I am four player empowerment. This is where
I don't want this to get lost. Is I am
all four players getting as much money as they can
in the shortest period of time that they can, being
able to have some freedom to move. But there's a
responsibility to that that the players are not holding their
end up right right now. They're not. And I'm talking
(12:35):
about the players as a whole. They're not holding up
to their end of the barget, which is to show up,
play hard, night after night. That's it. But I want
to give a shout out to the exciting whites and
the exciting whites. Mac McClung and Blanking Ship over with
(13:00):
the Philadelphia Eagles and Cooper degene over with the Philadelphia
Eagles as well. Those are the exciting whites. They are
playing positions in dB at the NFL level and playing
it at a high level, and people are not used
to that. I even had a white offensive coordinator when
I was in the NFL, when I was playing in Jacksonville,
(13:23):
and we had a call that if a white dB
came in the game. He was like, white dB, white dB,
we're throwing at him. But the exciting whites are saying, no, no, no,
not so fast. You got Mike mac mcclun over in
the NBA. Dude has only played like seventy one NBA
minutes his whole career, but he's a three time NBA
(13:47):
Dunk Contest champion, and honestly, he's been fantastic. He's been entertaining,
But here's how to fix the dunk contest. Since you
know the Lebron James is the Anthony Edwards. The current
stars now aren't getting in it, which is which is whack.
But they need to do either one or two things
with the dunk contest. Either actually make it an award
(14:10):
for the best in dunks in season dunk going from
last All Star game to this All Star game, and
you give it out an award. You turn it into
a show right of the best dunks like Shocked in
the Full and then allow the All Stars to vote
on who had the best dunk like people would be
(14:31):
going crazier for the in game dunks, which would actually
increase interest in the NBA. Or the second option that
you can do is take take Mac mcclunk, treat him
like the professor and one let dude hit the road
and find marginal basketball players who can jump out of
(14:53):
the gym and do the spectacle dunks. Because the reality
is NBA players are more focused on their moves and
skills than they are with perfecting dunks, as they should be.
So but I'm sending Mac McClung, like the Professor, on
an and one tour all over the country, find the
(15:13):
best dunkers from every single city every year and bring
them to the NBA Dunk Contest. That's it. That's it.
And with the Skills Contest, it's clearly a joke now
that Wenby and Chris Paul did what they did trying
to exploit the loophole, and they got disqualified, which I
am thankful for. Like, don't put that bs out there
(15:34):
and expect us to think it's okay, because it's not.
It's not. So you can throw the skills challenge in
the trash if you want to, and replace it with
a one on one game. That's what you need to do,
because you know what players will do. They will play
one on one and there's no hiding there, there's no
(15:58):
uh you know, of faking it. Oh, I'm not gonna
play defense because you will get embarrassed. You know who
said he would play James Hard hell of a one
on one player, Kyrie irvit. He even baked Wimby. I
want to see these one on one games. I want
to see Victor Women, y'ama plan. I want to see
Jason Tatum versus Jalen Brown. I want to see Anthony Edwards. Yeah, yeah,
(16:22):
bring all y'all to the one on one game, because
that may actually well not even may I believe you
give the winner of the one on one tournament million dollars.
Oh they're gonna show up and what they were already
gonna play hard with it, but you give him a
mill on top of it. Oh yeah, oh yeah, buddy,
I love it, love it. That will actually work one
(16:45):
on one next All Star game. The women just did it,
and this is ridiculous that the women who are just
getting All Star games. WNBA is young compared to the NBA,
and they got to show the men the way in
this come on, man, and like the women were actually
out there playing hard in their one on one tournament.
(17:07):
Loved it and the feast of caller baller. So but
here is the truth about the NBA All Star Game
is that the older players played harder and now this
generation has messed the game up. And yes, it's the
players that we love the most have messed it up,
because think about this. From nineteen seventy four to two
(17:31):
thousand and eight, there were as many overtime games in
the All Star Game as there were fifteen plus point
blowouts in six and then since two thousand and eight,
We've still had eleven games decided by ten points or less,
but the average score of the winning team has been
up over one hundred and eighty points. That means nobody's
(17:52):
even trying to play defense. These are the best players
in the world, and it is hard for the NBA
to compete with the nostalgia, like it's hard for you know, Lebron,
James Steph and all the great players now to compete
with the ghost of Michael Jordan when Michael Jordan wasn't
perfect either, because in order to get a game like
(18:14):
you had thirty years ago, you probably have to limit
three point attempts to ten or fifteen per half. You
would have to do that. But this what they're putting
out there right now ain't gonna cut it at all.
All right, next thing up, now, this is a story
that goes back to when I was playing in the NFL.
(18:36):
You got Richie Incognito versus Jonathan Martin, and ESPN did
a profile of Jonathan Martin, who is now at the
Wharton School of Business just like Josh rosen Is, and
he's moved on from football and is now into crypto.
So now Jonathan Martin also had to buy at like
a shooting threat at a high school out out here
(18:59):
as well. People just gonna glance over, but here it
is so going back. So Richie Incognito, known asshole, like
known jerk in the NFL, he was accused of bullying
Jonathan Martin. They both played offensive line, and it was
said that Richie Incognito did all sorts of stuff to
(19:20):
him and this and that, and Richie Incognito was like, yo,
actually we were a friends, right, And I have talked
about this for decades. I well for almost this has
almost been twenty years now, and I've been talking about
this this whole time whenever anybody asked me about it.
I know somebody who's making a documentary about it as well.
(19:43):
And Jonathan Martin essentially admitted that this story was not
true in terms of him being bullied. But the question
is how did it get so out of hand? So
Jonathan Martin said that he confided in his parents about
a situation with his teammates that made him uncomfortable, and
then his mom used the word bullying in a subsequent interview. Now,
(20:07):
how NFL locker rooms work is it is like the
Lord of the Flies everybody is clawing for a position
to be that alpha dog, and people will try you.
They will test you, and if you don't step up
(20:29):
and draw the line of boundary, they will continue to
push it over on you. They will. It's just the
nature of the locker room. And I was asked about
the bullying, and here's how NFL locker rooms work. And
this is true of anything in life. Because I had
(20:50):
a little kid on my team that I used this
prime example because he was being bullied by another kid.
If you stand up for yourself, people will come help you.
If you do not stand up for yourself and just
let things happen to you, people are gonna be like, oh, okay.
He was cool with it, and it wasn't that big
of a deal. He liked it. They were just joking.
(21:13):
They were just piling around. So if you don't stand
up for yourself in life, people will not stand up
for you. But if you stand up and make noise
about it, oh, now they don't have a choice. And
so after his mom came out with that, it came
down whether to whether Martin was gonna stand up to
(21:36):
his teammates and then also clear the error about a
narrative that he didn't entirely believe or he was gonna
have to participate in the Ted Wells investigation and go
along with his parents' attempt to protect him from a
toxic situation. And then now the rest is history. The
report came out, the phone call recording of Richie Incognito
(21:59):
calling John Than Martin. N word was included along with
the other accolades accusations from the other people, and then
Incognito ended up missing about a year and a half
of his career and up to about ten million dollars
in career career earnings. So now Richie Incognito, obviously after
(22:20):
hearing that his parents made it up, he's like he's
pissed and he's on the internet taking a victory lap.
Now I understand his emotions are understandable, and neither Jonathan
Martin or Incognito has had it easiest in the last
ten years. And Incognito smashed the car in his own yard.
(22:43):
Martin publicly threatened suicide that that's what I was talking about,
and people were scared on his former high school campus
out here in Cali, and then the story faded. But
with this last revival, it's back in the news cycle.
So you got Incognito acting like he's an innocent victim
in the situation, but he's not. You called the dude
(23:05):
the N word on the on the voicemail, and we
supposed to feel sorry for you. No, you you were
not vindicated like you were some like there. You were
not guilty. That's what it was. You were not guilty,
Richie Incognito of the bully, but you are not innocent.
Those are two separate things. There is innocence and then
(23:28):
there is being not guilty. This was an this isn't
a circumstance of being not guilty. Yes, Richie Incognito is
not innocent. He is this two days he wasn't the
best person around in a Walter Payton Man of the Year.
Nobody would ever describe that about Richie Incognito, got kicked
(23:49):
out of college, got and all of that. So we
were not even finish. Sit here and act like the
dude is innocent. But and this is what I will
tell parents, This is what I would tell people out
in the world. Stand up for yourself, make enough noise
if people are bothering you, because otherwise people will say
that you liked it and then if somebody lies, man,
(24:12):
this is like somebody making a false allegation. You cost
this man ten million dollars. He should sue you or
you should be thrown in jail. This is what I believe.
You make false allegations on people, you should have your
ass in jail. Book it all right. The last thing
I want to talk about is in the NFL. The
NFL Draft is coming up, and the top five draft selections, well,
(24:36):
top five picks right now are as follows Tennessee Titans
and one Browns, two Giants, three Patriots for Jaguars five. Now,
four of these five teams stink that. I think the
Jaguars roster is the best out of all five of
those teams. But then you get to talking about who
is going to be drafted where, And I have looked
(24:58):
at this. I like Shador Sanders, I like cam Ward Love,
Travis Hunter, super Love, Mason Graham out of Michigan, like
Abdual Carter, Love Aston gent Love, Will Carter, like Tyler
(25:21):
Warren Love, Coaston Lovelin. That's where I'm at right now,
at the top of the draft, and everybody's like, oh, well,
you gotta pick Travis Hunter number one. If you're the Titans, No,
you don't. Picking Travis Hunter number one if you are
the Tennessee Titans makes zero sense. Travis Hunter, as good
as he is, even if he turns into an All Pro,
(25:44):
has zero impact or minimal impact on winning and losing.
Look at Myles Garrett with the Browns, who got the
second pick. Dude is an MVP, a defensive MVP caliber
player for the last three or four years. And you
know what team stinks teams drafting number two. Overall, you
(26:04):
have to boaster the offensive line. Yes, your defensive line matters,
but your offensive line matters, and you gotta find a quarterback.
That's what you gotta have. So if you're the Tennessee
Titans and you're not in love with Sharda Sanders or
cam Ward, you need to trade this pickback, trade back
(26:25):
and let somebody else like the Jaguars, who have a quarterback.
Let them move up to one and pick Travis Hunter.
Let that happen. But the Patriots, the Giants, well, actually
the Patriots have a quarterback too. But the Giants, the Browns,
and the Titans, any one of them. Drafting Travis Hunter
at the beginning of the draft makes no sense. This
(26:45):
was like the Browns. The Giants draft in Sakuon Barkley
and then not having a quarterback and then being like, oh, well,
we're not gonna pay Sakwan you don't have a quarterback.
Running Backs are useless without a quarterback. They just are.
They're useless without an offensive line. This is just the
reality of the situation the Browns. So if with the
current draft order from the Titans, I'm probably taking cam
(27:10):
Wored because I like my offensive line is okay, Then
if I am the Browns probably taking Shador Sanders. Now
do I think that either one of those two dudes
is the two best dudes in the draft? Absolutely not.
But you gotta go with what you need at this
point in time. And then if I'm the Giants offensive line,
(27:32):
probably I gotta go offensive line, or I mean because
Mason Graham helps. And then there's a lot of people
who are on the Abdul Carter train. I think a
Carter is a little bit undersized, and that may matter.
But if if the top five picks are going to
be Shaduur, Travis Hunter, Camore, Mason Graham, and Abdul Carter,
(27:58):
then the needs have to matter the most. Because the
Raiders are sitting at six, Jets are sitting at seven,
and they need a quarterback as well. So if you're
any one of those two team, any one of those teams,
up front, I'm trading back. I'm adding draft picks. I
am taking the Oklahoma City Thunder roundabout way to get good.
(28:20):
I am getting rid of all my bad I'm getting
rid of all the dead weight. I'm getting rid of
all I will trade away a good player like Miles
Garrett for significant draft capital. I wouldn't even think twice
about it. If you go on the price is right
and you win a Bugatti, a two million dollar Bugatti,
(28:43):
and you can't pay your bills. Prior to that, you're
barely making ends. Me sell the Bugatti, and then your
life you can be debt free. You can just have
a whole new life and start over fresh. That's what
these teams need to do, instead of trying to hoard
your good players. Nope, Nope, because eventually you're gonna have
(29:06):
to pay them, and then you're gonna be having a
player like Miles Garrett on a super big contract when
your team is bad. Nope, reset that whole thing and
just draft year after year after year after year, multiple
first round picks. I'm trading away. Everything is not nailed
down right now if I am the Titans, and if
(29:27):
I am the if I'm the Titans, if I am
the Browns, trading away everything about Giants too, even on
down to the Raiders at six, Jets at seven. Everything
must go that is not on a rookie deal right now.
Anything that anybody else wants, you can have it now.
(29:51):
Then there goes to Deon Sanders factor. Is he going
to step in and prevent any of these teams from
drafting Shadoor Sanders and Travis Hunt. I do not believe
he would stop either of them from going to the
Giants because he wants especially Shador. He wants him in
(30:11):
a big city, because he knows big city quarterbacks make money.
Big city quarterbacks, you can be a star, you can
be a megastar. So he will not object from there.
And the Patriots and Jaguars ain't drafted Shoudre. But as
far as Travis Hunter goes, he's marched to his own drum.
I tell you he's gonna have to fin for hisself.
(30:35):
He is not going to stop any team from drafting him.
He might say that publicly, but that ain't happening. And
you guys, though, we still got so much to go
here on on a praise show. Make sure you guys
tell a friend about it, like subscribe, get notifications, give
me a thumbs up, go share the show because we
(30:55):
come Monday through Friday, and coming up in a couple
of weeks we will be on Rise Network, on Google TV,
Hulu TV, well not Hulu TV, excuse me, Samsung TV,
and a bunch of other fast channels. You guys, thank
you guys for the support. We are doing it big
great things coming up in twenty twenty five. Peace out.
(31:17):
Catch you guys tomorrow with some college football action.
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