June 26, 2025 • 71 mins
Nick Wright recaps a wild first round of the NBA Draft, including the Dallas Mavericks selecting Cooper Flagg and the New Orleans Pelicans disastrous trade. Then, Nick breaks down how much the East and West will change next season after big trades and the draft. Later, Nick discusses the uptick in Achilles injuries and whether or not it is actually Aaron Rodgers’ final season. Finally, as always, Nick and Damonza answer your questions.
0:00 - Straight to Voicemail - presented by Boost Mobile
3:45 - Biggest takeaway from Round 1 of NBA Draft
18:19 - Are Mavs contenders with Flagg?
28:10 - Will Spurs make a trade?
36:16 - Who is the best in the West?
52:08 - Why are Achilles injuries up?
1:00:23 - Could DEN trade Jokic?
1:04:23 - Will Rodgers retire this time?
1:08:02 - Listener Questions
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in. We'll Drive with Nick Wright episode three five
and this episode as always of What's Right with Nick Right,
as presented by our friends at boost Mobile. This is
our last show until after the fourth of July. I
will leave from here to go do the TV show
and then head out west for family reunion and then
(00:23):
head further west for a vacation with my wife and kids.
So we did a long draft show last night. We
will do a full draft recap show here today, hit
on some other things, potentially get to that Rogers story
that broke after our show on Tuesday, and then I'm
gone after first things first today. So but this is
(00:45):
kind of the right time of year to be gone.
Maybe miss the very beginning of NBA free agency, maybe
miss a potential Lakers trade. But aside from that, we
should be good. Demandsay, good to see you, Howard. All
six eggs for the Snakes still doing okay.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
One hundred percent, still going strong. No mold now that
stuff you mean? He's great?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Okay, I didn't even know mold was a thing. This
is a new anxiety for Demon's Egg's gonna get mold
on them, and also a minor existential crisis of he
is leaving town as well, and he is leaving those
snake eggs alone in his apartment. I I you know,
I I would imagine there were some Google searches of
(01:26):
what happens if like power goes out in an apartment?
Can someone get in?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I understand big bucket of water in there.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
But there you go. And luckily we've got just bring
your apartment keys with you and our friends at Blue
Duck who are in LA if we need to overnight
them to them. If something happens, I'm sure one of
our LA based people will take care of you. I'm
very confident in that. Right now, before we get to
the act, well this is the actual show, but before
(01:55):
we get to the NBA draft, straight to voicemail, brought
to you by our friends at boost Mobile. These guys
want me so every once in a while of the producers,
in a very kind way, set me up to fail.
They expect me to ron Burgundy some of this stuff
and just read what's written, and they want me to
say Wimby stunned and China photo dump. So I guess
(02:19):
that happened. The Pelicans in Washington trade CJ. McCollum for
Jordan Poole that actually kind of actually is in the show,
and Caitlyn Clark slumping maybe however, ruled out with a
left with a groin strain. I think I shouldn't say
strain ruled out with a groin injury. I believe it's
a left groin, which might have saved Wilds from the
(02:43):
reverse take of the year with Wild's kind of soft
launching the Caitlyn Clark maybe she's not good anymore take.
He didn't hard launch it, but soft launched it. Remind
her to everybody out there, like rate, subscribe review one
of the reasons to and again, these are things I
don't totally understand, but it seems like, particularly when we
(03:04):
do these live shows, the more people that click the
like button, it like populates and more up and more
YouTube hit feeds for other people. That's I guess why
the like is important, not because it serves my ego,
but because it could expand our audience. So I don't
really ever ask people to like the podcast, but I
(03:24):
guess that's helpful, So please do that if you could.
And the other reason subscribe is because sometimes we do
out of nowhere two hour live draft shows that if
you're not subscribed. You don't know we're doing all right, Demanse,
Let's get to the draft itself.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, So the draft was last night and you were
obviously live for that.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
There were some crazy moments in there, and one of
the notable ones was the Pelican trade.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
And here's your reaction to it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Did New Orleans just ear Muff's kids? Nor Orlean's just
fucking traded away their next year's first round pick unprotected
to move up from twenty three to thirteen. That might
be the most reckless draft day trade I've seen in
(04:15):
five years. Yeah. So that, I mean, we'll get more
into that in a second, but go ahead.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Another one was Brooklyn using all five picks in Portland,
taking Yang twenty five picks early. What was your single
biggest takeaway from the draft last night?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
My single biggest takeaway was what New Orleans did. And listen,
we will talk Cooper Flag, and we will talk Dylan Harper,
and we will talk Ace Bailey. But I I have
had a night to sleep on it, and I am
more entrenched that Joe Dumar's first draft since taking back
(04:56):
taking the Pelicans, Joe Dumars was not great in Detroit.
He's a great player, but was not a great executive.
And he was there for a long time, and then
he went to the league office for a long time.
And this is gonna be this is where Man TV
Show Today is gonna be a little tricky because we
(05:18):
net Obviously, we all on the show say whatever we
you know, think. However, there is I at times I
feel not because of Brew, but I personally feel a
little awkward because Brew has real relationships with a lot
of people long term, and sometimes I realize, like halfway
(05:42):
through a take, I'm like, am I talking about one
of Bruce's friends like it? And and so I don't
know whether or not Brew has a real relationship with
Joe Dumars, but I would imagine he does. And so
it is that could be, you know, a weird spot
on First Things First Today. But listen, as I always say,
(06:05):
my only obligation is to the truth, and the truth
is it's one of the craziest damn things I've ever
seen the team do. And it's New Orleans. If you
weren't watching New Orleans really like Derek Queen, I, if
you were watching our live draft show, I said, I
wouldn't hate it if New Orleans took Queen at seven
(06:28):
when they had the opportunity, that would have been a
slight overdraft. Instead they go Jeremiah Fears, and so there's
just so much. There's so much here that I find fascinating.
One is Jeremiah Fears of high offensive upside, very questionable defender,
(06:48):
didn't really show efficiency in college. His direct comp is
kind of Jordan Poole, who New Orleans just tray for
a day before the draft. So you trade it for
Jordan Poole, you then draft Jeremiah Fears. The other guy
that they were clearly very interested in is Derek Queen,
(07:12):
a guy I like a lot, but a guy that
I said during the draft show not in athleticism, but
in strengths and weaknesses as a player. Reminds you a
lot of Zion. Where can kind of play a little
point forward is you know, has real questions defensively, Zion
(07:34):
wasn't supposed to but ended up having those. Is not
going to be a great shooter, but and it is
not going to be a real rim protector because he's
not seven feet tall or even really like you know,
a pro Zion is not even approaching seven feet tall,
and there are some work ethic concerns, there are some
(07:56):
why aren't you in better shape concerns, but the talent
is really right there it New Orleans has that guy
in Zion. They take Derek Queen, which again I don't hate,
in a vacuum, and some might say, well, that then
allows you potentially more easily to trade Zion if you
(08:19):
want to replace him with Derek Queen. All that would
make sense if they had simply taken Derreck Queen at seven,
or if they had simply traded made any other type
of trade other than trading away what is potentially, potentially
(08:40):
all things considered, the most valuable pick going into next
year's draft. And the reason I say that is not
because I think New Orleans is the team most likely
to have the worst record in basketball. The reason I
say that is that's not what they traded. So they
went from twenty three to thirteen. So to the cost
(09:05):
to move up those ten spots, they traded away unprotected
twenty twenty six draft pick that will be either New
Orleans or Milwaukee, the better of the two. So New
Orleans has I don't know, a fifteen percent chance to
(09:34):
be the worst team in the league next year, and
Milwaukee has like, here's the question, what is the chance
Yannis gets hurt slash? What is the chance or added
to the chance that Milwaukee trades Giannis? Because whatever is
that five percent? If that happens, Milwaukee's the worst team
(09:59):
in the league. Milwaukee with Dame out potentially the whole year.
If Giannis gets dinged or if they just trade him,
they become the worst team in the league. And the
other teams that are in contention for the worst team
in the league, most notably Charlotte and Brooklyn and maybe Washington,
(10:22):
those teams are in the East Utah as well as
in there. So to give away that draft pick that
might be aj Debanza or you know, or again it
will almost assuredly be a top ten pick and has
(10:45):
a real chance of being a top five pick for
not not for a superstar, not as a package to
get a player like Giannis, but to just move up
and get a guy who, if you had not moved
up and taken him, was likely going to fall out
(11:08):
of the lottery. It's just incomprehensibly bad. And I was
thinking yesterday like what version of this trade would I
have made if I were New Orleans. Would I have
offered this unprotected twenty twenty six better of New Orleans
(11:31):
or Milwaukee straight up for the thirteenth pick, not even
including the twenty third pick. No, I would not have.
Would I have done this trade demonse if it were
the opposite, meaning twenty three thirteen to four twenty three
and the worse of the two New Orleans Milwaukee picks,
(11:56):
I wouldn't have done that either, because it's on the board.
They're both both bad. Like again, I don't I think
Milwaukee should be fine, but they, more than any team
in the league, are a one man show, other than
maybe Denver, but even Denver, if Joker were to go down,
you have other pieces you like it. Would I have
(12:18):
traded twenty three and next year's unprotected number one to
move up to seven, which again wouldn't have made sense
because New Orleans already had seven, But you understand what
I mean. I wouldn't have done that. So I think
(12:39):
this will go down. We have to see, you know,
where these picks land, and we will see it. But
I think this will be like the Hawks trading Luca
for Trey, the tie of move that we reference for
(13:02):
on Draft night that we reference for years and years
and years.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Maybe the Pelicans front office is in love with that
archetype and they're just backup planes. You know, if those
the other two don't pan out, we're shipping them out
of here.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
I don't know, right, So you trade for Pool, your draft,
a guy who maybe one day can be Pool, and
Fears you have Zion.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
And you've already seen what Pool and Zion are kind
of like being in the NBA.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I don't yes, I mean, it's clearly something like that, Demante,
but it if we right now, let me check on DraftKings,
the the odds for team futures. Can we I just
(13:47):
see finals? Okay, here we go conference winner in the West,
New Orleans. There are I mean, that's the West is
so funny. There are nine teams that are twenty five
to one or better, so OKC, Houston, Minnesota, Lakers, Nuggets, Warriors, Spurs, Clippers, Mavericks.
(14:13):
Those nine teams won through nine or twenty five to one.
There are then six teams that are one hundred and
ten to one or worse. The Grizzlies, the Pels, the Kings,
the Suns, the Blazers, the Jazz. The Jazz should be
(14:34):
the worst team in the West next year. After that,
the Kings and Grizzlies want to win. The Suns obviously
want to win, and the Blazers just traded for a
thirty six year old Drew Holiday. Now it doesn't mean
those and New Orleans obviously wants to win. My point
(14:56):
is only one team in the West doesn't want to win.
In Utah, You're not gonna, you know, fall into easy
conference victories. I I just I am gobsmacked at this,
and I maybe it's a nerdy look at uh the
(15:21):
draft to be focused on this trade. I just think
it's one of the most reckless moves I've seen a
teammate in a very, very long time. And it also
does show you this is one of the cool things
about the draft, the ticking clock factor. Like if this
(15:44):
would have been done in right during the course of
regular business, would cooler heads in New Orleans have prevailed
and been like, hey, Joe, what if we offer them
this exact trade, but just say the pick has to
be top ten protected and they say no, and we say, okay,
(16:07):
top five protected, then certainly you could have done top
one protected like they you would have been able to
better massage or get a swap back or something. But
because five minutes, Yeah, you want to miss out on
your player, you gotta go. And the new I mean
(16:31):
a triple plus to the new Hawks front office. What
an opening few days got off some bad salary, added
Chris STAPs came away with an absolute it is I
don't know, a ten percent chance, No, probably higher fifteen
(16:58):
percent chance these had a top three pick. It's unbelievable.
It's really unbelievable. All right, we'll get to the big
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Speaker 1 (18:44):
All right, demonte, let's get to the top pick of
the draft.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
So, as expected, the MAVs took Cooper Flag with the
first pick, so they extended Kyrie and Gafford. The question is,
if Kyrie ends up healthy, do you think that Dallas's
contenders for Dallas ARC.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Do you think they are?
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yes? I do.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
I knew I could tell just from the look in
your face, So go ahead.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, I mean, I was just telling the guys this morning.
The balance of defense and offense on that team also
paired in with the way I know that's your guy,
but the way that Luca was looking in the playoffs
last year, it just kind of seems like Beakle might
have had a grasp on the situation and what was
going on over there.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
And I like that team.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Like if Cooper Flag pans out nicely, I hate that
it worked out for him, and you know he got
that they ended up with the number one pick. But
with that number one pick, that's a that's a squad
right there.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
So so that let's talk about the Nico piece of
this and then we'll get to the team. Because Nico
had a quote Nico said, Fortune favors the bold and
on behalf of MAVs fans everywhere. I wanted to break
a TV. Yeah, it's you do not. You do not
(19:59):
get to Trey Luca hold a press conference saying we
did this for this year because we think we are
better right now to win a championship this year or
next year, and then end up bad enough that you're
in the lottery and fall last backwards into the number
(20:21):
one pick and then be like all part of the plan.
If at that listen, honest to god, if at that
press conference he had said, listen, we are all about championships.
I even though we thought last year's finals appearance was
fool's gold, and we traded for Anthony Davis knowing he's
(20:45):
injured and by the way, he's gonna take some time
to come back this year. This is not about this season,
and we may or may not even be back in
the playoffs this year. We're okay with this because this
is a long term play. And then you end up
with Cooper, then you can say, told you a part
of the plan. Didn't expect number one pick, but we
were going to add an im back player. Fine, they
(21:08):
don't get to be like, we are doing this to
contend right now, you fall into the and and then
be in the play in and be trying to win
the play in, lose, fall into the lottery, get the
number one pick, and be like Bang told you. So
that's first of all. But they are where they are.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Go ahead, well, yeah, Just to be clear, I don't
want to give Nico. I don't want to give him
any credit for this, Like no, the Luca piece of it,
Like I kind of can see he's a little bit
onto something. It was a crazy trade, but with it
work painting out the way it did and then getting
that first pick, I think they have quite the squad
on them right now.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Okay, so that's the real question is do they And
my answer to that question is I think right now
they are more than a touch over rated. And here's
why I listen. I heard uh and again this is
not picking on him. I think other people thought this,
(22:07):
but I heard this from I heard Steven A yesterday
say that they think that he thinks they could be
Oklahoma City's biggest competitor. I disagree. And the reason I
disagree is this, I do not care how good you are,
(22:31):
how what your profile is in the modern NBA. In particular,
rookies that have to be the focal point of a
team's offense do not contribute to winning flatly. They just don't.
Like I understand Magic was great as a rookie, he
(22:51):
was not the focal point of the team's offense. Kareem
was lebron as unbelievable as he was. That Cavs team
missed the playoffs. Michael Jordan as a rookie, I think,
averaged twenty eight points a game. That Bulls team won
(23:12):
thirty eight games. Okay, like asking rookies. Hell, take the
MAVs with Luca Luca's first year he was Cooper. Flag's
not going to be better than Luca year one Luca.
When year two Luki was first Team All NBA, they
(23:32):
won thirty three games. Now, obviously those guys didn't have
an Anthony Davis on that on their team and eventually
Kyrie Irving, but so they they should be better than
those records. But the point that I am making is
as long as Kyrie is out, and I do not
(23:54):
think Kyrie. I think expecting Kyrie to be back before
the alls our break is foolish. I think Kyrie Irving,
given his you know, knee history and injury history and
his size in his age, and you just signed him
to an extension, Rushing him back would be foolish. And
(24:16):
until Kyrie comes back, you are going to be asking
your primary ball handler and your primary creator to be
an eighteen year old. Like I love Flags Upside because
of his age, but he's eighteen. He turns nineteen in December,
(24:38):
and you know, maybe Clay as a bounce back year.
He is not creating. Anthony Davis is awesome. He is
not creating Gafford and PJ. Washington and Derek Lively are
all useful players, they are not creating. You traded away
a guy who could create a bit in Quentin Grimes
(25:00):
for reasons I don't totally understand to bring in Caleb Martin.
So like your secondary main creator is gonna be Max Christie,
the other part of the A D trade until Kyrie
gets back.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
He is. He's just not good at creating shots.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
No, I don't Dinwitt, Am I wrong? I thought Dinwitty
was a free agent. Maybe I'm the I don't so
I think Dinwitty right now is the Uh. Maybe they
bring him back, but he's so he's not on the
roster right now. So they I mean so and Dinwitty is.
I mean, there's a reason that Dinwitti's last few last
(25:46):
contract was for the league minimum, you know what I mean,
Like he he can be a microwave offense, but he is.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
He was about to say, if it's if it's for
the purpose of making it to where Cooper Flag isn't
your main guy, then you know, well, din Winnie's the alternative.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Sure something, And maybe that's something. And free agency hasn't
happened yet, and they obviously will you know, add some
some pieces. They will add some things. I understand that,
but I I do not think it is rational to
expect the MAVs this next year with Kyrie playing. I
(26:26):
don't know. I would say thirty games at best, And
I would take the strong under on that with Anthony Davis.
And you know, if you if you right now as
a MAVs fan, if you were like, hey, eighty is
gonna play sixty five games on the nose, you would
be like take it, like, you know, I'll sign up
for that immediately. And with Cooper Flag being the youngest
(26:50):
kid in this draft class, and you know, having a
lot on his plate. I don't think in twenty twenty
this coming season, the MAVs are contenders. I do think
that if Kyrie comes back from that knee injury and
(27:13):
looks like he did before the knee injury, and Cooper
Flag is the guy that a lot of people think
he can be that in the season after this one,
they can be really good. So I don't. If I
am power ranking the West going into this coming season,
(27:39):
I personally would power rank it thunder Rockets, Lakers with
an asterisk, the asterisk being I'm assuming they are going
to add a major piece in the next ten days. Nuggets,
(28:01):
Minnesota four five, Golden State six, and then Dallas alongside
the Clipper Clippers seven eight. That's where that's where I
think they will be for next year. Now, in two years,
(28:22):
I think that could be different. And that does not,
by the way, take into account much of what the
Spurs can potentially be. And so let's get to the
Spurs here. Demonse.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah, so everybody figured he was going to go number
two to the Spurs, but nobody else but oh Dylan Harper,
Sorry I specific, but they still have.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Harper, Castle and Fox. What is do you think they're
going to trade something.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Yeah, so here listen. It's an interesting triumvirn of guards
because I like them all, but they all not only
have kind of, at least at the moment, a weakness,
but it's all the same weakness, which is, they all
(29:18):
like to do most of their damage inside the three
point arc. And none of them are great perimeter shooters.
Castle and again Castle, these guys are young. Fox isn't
Fox is thirty three percent for his career, Castle last
year twenty eight percent. Dylan Harper at Rutgers was not
(29:40):
a was not great from three himself, and so and
I'm pulling it up right now, or at least I'm
much okay. They switched it to his pro stats. At
Rutgers he was thirty three percent. So those three guys
having you can play a three guard lineup at times
you cannot play a three guard non shooting lineup. I
(30:03):
also think the Spur so Dylan Harper was a no
doubt gotta pick him guy at number two. I also
think the Spurs are really going to ease in to
the Wimby era. They're gonna let Harper, Fox and Castle
(30:27):
compete try different things. And one of those guys is
going to be a key piece in a major trade
like that? Is that I am very confident in now.
I think they would love to pair Harper alongside Wimby
(30:48):
for the next ten years. But if Yiannis were to
come available and the Bucks want Harper, then you trade
the Bucks Harper like if a and if Joannis doesn't
come available, but a different tier type of guy does,
and who would that be? Katie just got traded. There's
(31:14):
the top tier guys who are just not coming available.
Let me pull up my latest King of the Hill
just as a quick, uh kind of a shorthand for
me of the best players in the league. So Yo
Kic's not coming well, I mean, yo, we don't think
yoj coming available. Josh Cronky's like, we don't want to
(31:35):
trade him, but you know, shit happens. So who's a
good example. Okay, here's a great one. Let's say Devin
Booker has a change of heart after another shit year
in Phoenix. It's like, you know what, I can get
(31:56):
my cars shipped to Texas and I I want to
play in big games. I played in the finals as
a kid, and that you know, next level star player,
but not yoh, honest, then you maybe you don't have
to trade Harper in that, but you trade Castle and
(32:18):
Fox like there's different You have now I think three
legitimate assets that other teams would want to varying degrees like.
And now the tricky thing is on the Fox point.
(32:38):
This is am I right about this? Yeah, this is
the last year of his deal. So the other thing
that could happen is that Fox walks after this year.
I would imagine that's not how this plays. I would
imagine that they would try to, you know, pally move
(33:01):
Fox at the deadline if need be, so they get
something back from him. But they have Castle and Harper
on rookie deals. They will see how all of them
play next to Wimby. But the Spurs right now are
in a I think a very good position, but a
unique position because their four most valuable assets or players
(33:26):
are all guys who like to shoot, except for Castle
is not a big shooter, like to shoot threes, and
I'm including Wimby in this, and none of them are
guys who are that good at shooting threes.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
So the say it again, He says, you got to
take Wimby out. Then you said, not good? What do
you mean he's not terrible? I like Winby shooting threes.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Wimby doesn't need to shoot nine threes a game. Shooting
nine a game. I mean, I like Wimby's a Wimby's
shot diet and I don't like that term, but it's
become like a new term. Shot Diet needs to get
needs to reflect a little bit more that he's the
(34:12):
tallest guy on the court by six inches most of
the time. And so I the the spurs you take, Harper,
you figure it out later, but you don't. Those three
guys are not going to be there, you know, forever
(34:33):
what I know? Oh, by the way, like, rate, subscribe, review.
If you're watching on YouTube, click the like button. Please.
If you're watching on YouTube, not subscribe, please subscribe and
subscribe to us on iTunes and Spotify. We have a
live question from someone watching on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Yeah, RULESAI, what about Devin vessel.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Vecell, So listen, I the no all good? I yeah,
I mean he's right now. I think their fifth most
valuable piece, if you will, like he is, Wimby is
their most valuable piece with a bullet huge gap, and
then Dylan Harper is now their second most valuable piece
(35:14):
with a bullet huge gap. And then Castle Fox is
kind of eye of the beholder. I don't think Castle
will ever be as good as Dearn Fox. But dude,
is the fact that Castle is so much younger and
for at least the next three years on such a
great contract, and Fox is a guy you're probably gonna
(35:37):
have to max out, you know, or come close to
it a year from now. Does that make him more
valuable than to that team than to others or you know,
two different teams. And so I think that I think
the Spurs have very interesting choices ahead of them, but
(36:06):
I'm very confident that their long term plan is not
Castle Fox Harper. I also think it's totally fair, and
it's not totally fair. I know I'm right. When they
traded for Fox, they didn't think they were gonna get
the second pick of the draft. When they traded for Fox,
(36:28):
Wmby was still healthy. They were fighting to get to
play in They didn't think, you know, we're our point
guard of the next decade is gonna be taken care
of in this draft. In Dylan Harper, it's just how
it turned out, all right, Let's get to the rest
of the West, demase, So.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
The West is as dangerous as ever. Obviously, Katie just
went to the Rockets. It's gonna be the Lakers first
full season with Luca, and teams like Spurs and the
MAVs could take the leap.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Yeah. Who are the best players? Who are the real
players in the West?
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Yeah, So listen. I did this a bit on I
think there is a it's clearly Oklahoma City at the top,
but I think the next best two teams are the
Rockets and the Lakers. And I the LUCA over correction.
(37:18):
Negativity has gone too far. And I did this on
the TV show yesterday. I just want to reiterate it.
Luca five best players in the league. Okay, Joker is thirty,
he won his title at twenty eight. Giannis is thirty,
he won his title at twenty six. Tatum is twenty seven.
(37:41):
He won his title at twenty six. Shay is twenty six,
turns twenty seven in two weeks. He just won the title.
Luca the youngest of all of them, twenty six, will
be twenty six during the first couple months of next season.
The idea that he is behind schedule or off schedule
is incorrect right now, Shae understandably, his star could not
(38:06):
be shining brighter. I get that, and he deserves it. However,
and we also can't compare Luca and Shae career numbers
because Luca was good instantly and Shae grew into it.
So if we simply just take the last two years
for Shay, which are far and away the best two
(38:29):
years of his career, and compare them to the last
two years for Luca, which includes far and away the
worst year of his career. This past year, the numbers
are identical. Playoffs and regular season identical, except for Luca
beats him in assists considerably and rebounds by a bit,
but the scoring and efficiencies are nearly identical. One guy
(38:52):
made the finals demanse and lost to a team some
people thought was going to turn into a dynasty in Boston.
The other guy made the finals and went seven with
a team people thought was the most unlikely finalist in
modern NBA history. So to add like, I don't think
it's fair to be like, well, you can win with
(39:14):
one guy, you can't win with the other. Now, Shay
is coming off as best year, Lucas coming off his worst.
That's undeniable, but it is there's too big of a
discussion gap amongst the two. So that's one of the
reasons that I am a believer in the Lakers, and
I'm gonna do this in reverse order three two. One
(39:36):
second reason I'm a believer in the Lakers is I
do think they are going to make a substantial move
in the next week. I think they are going to
address some of their roster holes, and I think they
have the assets to do it. And the last reason
(39:57):
I'm a believer in the Lakers is, let me call
it a informed opinion that people that think Lebron is
(40:17):
resigned to the idea that he's not like that making
finals and competing for championships, that that phase of his
career is over, are unabashedly, unequivocally wrong. Now, maybe if
(40:39):
your opinion is whatever he thinks is going on, you
know doesn't matter, you know that phase is over. That's
an opinion and you're allowed to have. But if you
think Lebron is like, Okay, at this point, it's just
about playing with my son, you know, at some point
having a farewell tour. I love the game. You can
(41:00):
debt that right now. And I think these finals and
watching Oklahoma City struggle with Indiana and watching what these
finals looked like. Only Surge emboldened Lebron to feel like
(41:28):
I can get back there. And so if you have
Chip on his shoulder, Luca wants one last dance at
some point deep in the postseason. Lebron and some slight
roster tweaking, that to me makes the Lakers a contender.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
You think Austin Reeves is there next year?
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Probably not, maybe at the beginning, probably not through the year.
I just think Austin Reeves he's your most valuable, tradable asset,
and because of Luca, he's a little redundant. When you
have Anthony Davis there, Austin Reeves is critical because without
(42:12):
Austin Reeves, your only creators the oldest guy in the
league and Lebron. But with Luca there, he becomes. And
I really like Austin. I you know what I mean.
The I was the first person tell you Austin Rives
better than Bradley Beal. Everybody called me crazy, but I
just think sometimes he is right now a luxury and
(42:38):
the Lakers have some necessities. So I would put if
I were stacking it, I should have started. I think
the Nuggets, I should have said included them. I think
they are a real player based off the strength of
Yokich alone, and I think they will, you know, manicure
around the edges, and maybe they were over Michael Malone
(43:01):
and maybe what we saw them do in the playoffs
under Adlman is something sustainable. And then we see Michael
Porter Junior come back healthy and Aaron Gordon come back healthy.
So I'd have them for Lakers three. The Rockets, to
me are they can win the championship. And I say
this with no disrespect du to Oklahoma City at all,
(43:23):
but man a Lakers Rockets Western Conference Finals, which I
think check me on this, producers. I think we got
that once in league history, and it was nineteen eighty six,
(43:44):
a team's second year, when everyone thought we were gonna
get Lakers Celtics in the finals. Again, I know the Lakers.
The Rockets beat the Lakers in the playoffs in nineteen
eighty six. I think it was the conference finals and
(44:05):
the the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
Okay, the hold on the Lakers won the series.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
Though, hold on a second that that's wrong. I'm just
telling you right now.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
The the you asked the producer, I'm.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
Telling you right now. I'm telling you right now that
reads to me. I'm about to be This is a
good lesson for everybody. PA pause the show, but stay
on the air. What they just put in the doc
reads like it was some AI bot wrote it one
thousand percent. It's what it reads like. And I'm here
telling you that AI bot doesn't know what the hell
(44:47):
it's talking about.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
That.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
I'm telling you right now you cannot trust the AI
chat bots when it comes to uh sports history. So
I'm just the I'm gonna do my thing here.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Am I gonna get good here?
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Oh? Wait?
Speaker 3 (45:10):
No, it says uh nineteen City versus Houston.
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Okay, everybody stopped? Does everybody stop for a second?
Speaker 3 (45:18):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (45:20):
The the in nineteen eighty six the NBA Finals, without
a shadow of a doubt, guys, were the eighty six
Celtics maybe the greatest team ever against the chem Olajuan
Ralph Sampson Rockets. That is not up for debate. So
(45:46):
the I my question was was the conference finals Lakers Rockets?
Speaker 3 (45:52):
All?
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Look that up? The Rockets beat the Lakers in the
Conference finals. For one, guys, audience, AI chatbots don't fucking
know sports. I'm telling you right now, ask like when
you're done with the done with the show, ask an
(46:14):
AI chatbot, like very basic things like tell me the
top ten running backs in the NFL right now, and
they're gonna spit at you, Adrian Peterson like. So it's
just maybe they're good for some term papers, but they're
(46:35):
not good with sports. So the the Rockets have played
the Lakers in I the conference finals, I believe that's
the only time. I believe it's nineteen eighty six. I
know they I am looking at it now. I know they
played in nineteen eighty six, but I think that's the
(46:56):
only time. Sorry for the sidebar point, I was trying
to make it with no respect to Oklahoma City. A
Durant Lebron conference finals, which we've never gotten by the way,
we got it, and a Durant Lebron playoff series that
(47:19):
felt like a fair fight, which we've only gotten once ever,
in the twenty twelve NBA Finals, which I know listen
Bron won in five. But that was a great series
until Game five. Like those first four games all were
in the balance in the fourth quarter, and you can
(47:39):
say that wasn't a fair fight because the heat were
veterans and the Thunder were young. A fun fact that
no one believes, but it is true. Twenty the Heat
over the MAVs they lost in twenty eleven. The Heat
(48:02):
were the same size favorite over the MAVs in twenty eleven,
minus won seventy five as the Thunder were over the Heat.
When the Heat won their first title with Lebron and
Wade in twenty twelve, the Thunder were minus won seventy
five favorites going into those finals because the Heat, remember
(48:25):
they had lost the year before, and they had damn
near lost to Boston, and the Thunder had just like
exploded onto the scene and become this seemingly unstoppable force
of nature. Again, this is off top of my head,
but the that Thunder team in the conference finals played
(48:45):
the Spurs, who the Spurs had won demons the final
ten games of the regular season and then were ten
to zero in the playoffs, up two to zero in
the conference finals on a twin any game winning streak
and then the Thunder one four straight and made the
finals like that Thunder team. It was like, holy shitty, yeah,
(49:11):
and so it was really a remarkable thing. But okay, sorry,
we're way off topic. The point I'm trying to make
is I think the Rockets have all the pieces you
need if Durant stays healthy.
Speaker 3 (49:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
I like Shingoon as the fulcrum of the offense. I
like that Durant ads scoring. I think they're gonna get
more from Shephard. I think Udoaka is excellent. I like
all of it. And then there's Oklahoma City that has
(49:47):
everyone coming back and everyone but Crusoe is super young
and should only get better. But there's a lot of
plays to balance there. One hundred and five game season.
Are you satisfied after a championship? You know, does the
(50:12):
Oklahoma City got lucky? All putting quotes that the injury
bug hit them early instead of late, Like, it's not
right to say Oklahoma City, you know, had great injury
luck this year. They you know, key players missed real time,
but they suffered it early in the year instead of
(50:34):
going into the postseason.
Speaker 3 (50:35):
So type of man for Katie with the Rockets.
Speaker 2 (50:40):
You know, the Rockets already being a nice team, them
trying to mitigate his injuries.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
Yeah, yes, and no, I would. I think you've got
to be careful with a guy who's thirty seven. I
don't think that they're going to put him on like
a sixty game plan. And I also think for a
lot of these legends, they want to be eligible for
(51:08):
the awards, and that sixty five game marker is like
they they want KD. I'm sure is I bet KD
is pissed that he was not eligible for All NBA
this year. It's like I played sixty two games, I
was All NBA caliber and so yet you know what
I mean. So that's what I think they'll do, all right,
(51:30):
real quickly, remind you, guys that this is a message
that applies to ninety nine percent of you listening right now,
because that's how many of you can be covered by
fast and reliable service on the Boost Mobile network with
ninety nine percent nationwide coverage. And if you don't think
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(51:53):
you can get iPhone fifteen with dynamic island and a
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(52:16):
really good freaking deal in store offer thirty five dollars.
Device set up fee may apply, requires credit qualification, ID
verification and activation on sixty dollars plan taxes, extra five
G speed not available in all areas. All right, demonte,
Let's quickly get through some of this other stuff before
(52:36):
I got to go.
Speaker 2 (52:37):
So we talked about the Halliburton Achilles injury on Tuesday.
Dame and Tatum had the same injury in the playoffs,
and a handful of other guys like Jontae Morey who
tour his during the regular season. So you're obviously not
a doctor, but what do you think of the uptick
of the Achilles injuries in the NBA?
Speaker 1 (52:54):
So this used to be an old guy injury, It
doesn't seem to be that anymore, Like people suffered Achilles
tears that were old pro athletes or sorry people in
your situation, pal, where it's like guys who just didn't
(53:17):
do yeah time off, didn't do like you know, didn't
stretch or you do everything. But it wasn't young prime.
It wasn't people your age, like when you suffered yours
who also played basketball at he you know what I mean, right,
and had professional trainers and all of that. And so
(53:41):
I have heard a bunch of different theories. I don't
I this is not my theory, and I would credit
the person whose it is, but I heard it secondhand,
and I don't know if this person wanted their name
associated with it. But I think it's a fast and
eating theory, and that theory is the shoes are too good.
(54:07):
The theory being that in the past you slid a
bit when you planted, your shoes gave a little, and
now the grip on the bottom and the tightness in
how they work, that the shoes don't give at all,
(54:30):
and so the pressure puts on your joints and everything else.
I think that's interesting. I heard Doc Rivers talk about
how guys used to just play all the year round
on blacktop and everything, and because of that, their knees went,
(54:51):
but their achilles and everything was fine. Obviously a huge
part of it is, while the season's always been eighty
two games, the amount of movement you have to do,
particularly on defense, and with how spread out the game is,
(55:12):
there's just so much more start stop, that puts pressure
on it. I know some people have questioned if it's
about guys specializing in things. I saw a pretty interesting
negative Twitter video.
Speaker 3 (55:25):
Say it again, the negative step or different.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
Yeah, no, that's exactly what I was gonna say. We
must see the same thing that like this, this, like
net what they called a negative step, like this backward
step to get going is not something that used to
be done. And it's how a bunch of these are happening.
So I don't know. I do know that I truly
(55:55):
believe this needs to be at the forefront of Adam
Silver's agenda for the next eighteen months because you cannot
have the achilles in the NBA become Tommy john in baseball,
where it's just oh yeah, this half dozen guys are
(56:17):
out twelve to eighteen months with an achilles, and particularly
because baseball you have you know, the numbers are just
so you have more players, you have more pitchers, the
numbers are different.
Speaker 2 (56:36):
But god, I don't know if we ever talked about
it on Tuesday, but do you think, like now, if
a player feels like calf tightness, it's like an instant
three months out, Like it's just like.
Speaker 1 (56:45):
Not three months but I I think it's three to four.
What I was told by a long tenured NBA player
was a calf strain you have to simply take a
month off, and even if you feel like you can play,
(57:09):
the only way it heals is if you simply rest
it for a month. And I that seems dramatic. Now.
The other the other piece of this that I would
say is figuring out what leads to calf strains and
(57:32):
how to prevent those. And some of that is preventative,
Like yeah, like I know that, and again I don't know.
What I do know is that most soft tissue injuries,
not all, most are preventable, like hamstrings, groins, quads. Usually
(57:53):
those are. It is guys who regularly have them are
not doing all the things they need to do. I
don't know how calves work. I really don't.
Speaker 2 (58:08):
Man in the NBA now mandatory joga, I don't know
for the guard.
Speaker 1 (58:14):
But it is, but it is. It's stunning that this
is where we're at. And I thought Jay Caspi and
Kang had a really interesting tweet where he was like
the majority of people watching the finals have no idea
if they're watching zone or man de man defense but
they all know what an achilles tear looks like. And
(58:37):
I'm like, damn, that's right, Like we can all diagnose
from TV. Oh wow, look, yeah there was that thing
where you saw it snap up, go back. We're like, yep,
we know what that is. And that is in a Again,
this is not apples to apples obviously, but the same
way we know watching football when a guy the fencing posture,
(59:02):
we're like, oh, that's a concussion, you know what I mean,
Like we just we know it. And so John in
the chat says, more players now than ever wear low
top shoes. Yeah, I don't know, I don't know. I
do know that this should be a top top priority
(59:25):
for the league because the only year, the only I'll
take the NFL, which seemingly is a ratings you know,
not seemingly is a ratings behemoth, unstoppable for us. The
only year of the NFL had real ratings you know,
issues is the wrong word, but dips was the year
(59:46):
all those quarterbacks got hurt. People. There there is a
star and there's no league where the star power matters
more than the NBA. And out you know, the achilles
not a quick one either, Like what has changed is
we have seen guys come back and be as good
(01:00:09):
as they were. What has not changed is it's twelve
to eighteen months. You look at me skeptical about as
good as they were.
Speaker 2 (01:00:18):
Yeah, I was about to say, I think it's actually
been pretty rare. But the guys Katie's like the only
person I think that's torn as Achilles recently that like
came back and was the same or a little bit
better than when here Achilles.
Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
So no, that's fair. But again in the past that
it was old guys, so you'dn't expect him to be better.
The only other like Star that I'm thinking of that
we've seen the full run of other than KD is Clay.
But Clay suffered multiple catastrophicyuries in the same lay, you
know what I mean. So that's a different situation. I
(01:00:53):
do think Tatum will be like old Tatum. I do.
Maybe I'm wrong, But but what doesn't What hasn't changed,
demon'say is oh and now you're back in six months, right,
Like that's not that's not been the case. All right,
Let's go to Joker real quick before we.
Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Go, uh So, Nuggets president Josh Crockey had some interesting
things to say.
Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
So, Yeah, he says, I think that.
Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
There are rules around it that we need to be
very careful of with our injury history. The wrong person
gets injured, and very quickly you're into a scenario that
I never want to contemplate, and that's trading number fifteen.
So he tried to clarify that they do plan on
extending him. But what will be the purpose in saying
something like this.
Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
I think it's a big mistake. I think he made
a big mistake. And I when I say a big mistake,
I don't mean like you can't recover from it. But
I think it is a significant mistake that he needs
to clean up with Joker Joker right, because what he's
talking about. If I'm Joker and I guess off my
(01:02:00):
horse and somebody shows me this clip, I reason, I
think it's totally reasonable for him to be like, hold
on a second, what you're saying there is are you
telling me there is a scenario where I want to
be a nugget and you guys decide you're trading me?
(01:02:24):
Because I didn't think that's the deal we had. I
thought the deal we had was as long as I
want to be here, I will be here and and
so like the and I know Kronky's like it's you know,
it's only a catastrophe whatever. Like if I'm Joker, I'm like,
that's not how this works. Just so you know, the
(01:02:45):
way this works is the only way you guys trade
me is if I come to you and say trade me.
And by the way, I expect if I do that
for you guys to be like please please, mister Joker
or no, like no, no, no, and so uh I
the you can ask the follow up here if you'd like.
Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
On a scale one to ten, how scared your producer
Daniel will be about the Nuggets messing this up somehow?
Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
Well, I I think they've already kind of messed it
up over the last couple of years and not really
letting him defend his title in full. I don't think
they're going to trade Joker, but I do think that
they need to tighten up, Like I just think they
need to tighten up. Argent says, should the Bucks trade
(01:03:34):
be honest for jokers? Straight up? Denver would not do that?
The Bucks would do that, like the I think that
right now.
Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
There are what would they for jokers? Straight up? The
Bucks would would take Joker over you honest.
Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
Uh, yes, because of the contract. I do think Jokers
are slightly better player at this point, and because they
might have to trade Giannis anyways either way, and they
don't have their own pick so they can't tank. I
think there are right now. I think there are three
players that teams would not trade straight up for Giannis, Joker, Shay,
(01:04:20):
and Luca. And it's not to say, by the way,
Shay and Luca are better than Yannis. I don't actually
think they are necessarily. I'm just telling you because of
the age difference, and Shay obviously just won the title
of that stuff, they wouldn't trade him them for for Joker. Oh,
Wimby as well, Thank you, Daniel Wimby as well. Wimby.
(01:04:43):
I didn't think about that because you couldn't trade him
straight up because the salaries. But yeah, Wimby, I don't think.
I don't think san Antonio would trade Wimby for Joker.
I think Jokers like that's an interest. I don't think
(01:05:04):
they would. Maybe they would, but I don't think they would.
All right, let's do Aaron Rodgers real quick for it.
We get to the listener questions.
Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
He's hinting at retirement against that time of year, he said,
I'm pretty sure that this is my last season. That's
why I just did a one year deal. Do you
believe him?
Speaker 1 (01:05:23):
So here's the thing. I do think this is Aaron
rodgers last year. I also do not think Aaron Rodgers
is a credible narrator, and I think the media needs
stop treating him like a credible narrator, even of his
own life, because within five minutes of him saying I'm
pretty sure this is my last season, he also said, paraphrasing,
(01:05:47):
he doesn't like being in the public eye, and when
he's done playing football, he won't be in the public
eye anymore. And the only reason he is in the
public eye is because he's playing football, which is just
an uproarious comment from a guy who, in the last
thirty six months has tried to become the full time
host of Jeopardy when that did not work out, flirted
(01:06:07):
with becoming the vice president of the United States. And
one of the reasons we know about those things is
because they were discussed in the documentary about Aaron Rodgers
produced by Aaron Rodgers. Like Nothing screams whoa, whoa, WHOA?
I hate this intention, like you personally paying a camera
(01:06:29):
crew to follow you around to create a movie about you. Like,
So I just don't. I don't find him to be
a credible narrator of his own events. And also, and
I'm just going to wink at this, do you guys,
(01:06:57):
remember when Aaron Rodd was asked, of course you do,
because he thinks this is the end all, be all
of any issue anyone could possibly have with him. Is
this one comment? Because God knows, he hasn't done anything else.
Wildly aggravating when he was asked if he had gotten
(01:07:21):
the vaccine and he said, yeah, I've been, I've been well,
he didn't say hey, he said I've been immunized. And
then he was like, I didn't lie to you, guys,
I'm not I'm not saying anything I am saying. There
(01:07:44):
was a very similar turn of phrase about at his
introductory press conference about his wedding ring that I found interesting,
that's all. I just found it interesting. And so I
(01:08:04):
just don't find Aaron to be a reliable narrator of
events you care to share. Well, he was asked what
he was wearing and he said, it's a wedding ring
or somebody said, is that a wedding ring? And he
said yes, But I I know, I know what for
(01:08:24):
everyone else that would mean. I also know that it
wouldn't necessarily be a lie.
Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
I'm not married.
Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
Again, I didn't say I didn't say all that. I'm
just simply saying that it's that's all. That's all that
he said. And so I find I find all that fascinating.
But again, I'm sure Aaron hates this because he hates
the attention. All right, let's do some listener questions real quick.
Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
Mary asked, isn't there a snake watcher like for dogs
and kids?
Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
I mean, maybe you have to let someone in your apartment.
We didn't set this up the other time.
Speaker 3 (01:09:04):
Yeah, no, I don't. I don't. I don't think there's Yeah,
I don't.
Speaker 2 (01:09:08):
I really appreciate that, Mary, But yeah, I'm just kind
of banking on the week being gone.
Speaker 3 (01:09:13):
You know, it's not gonna spread. I'm gonna check on
every the day before.
Speaker 2 (01:09:16):
It's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. And also
I have homies out here. If it really comes down
to it, of course, But uh, and Noah asks which
Western conference big versus Guard is more likely to be
the new Kobe versus Duncan for this era, Wimby versus
SGA or Wimby versus Luca.
Speaker 1 (01:09:34):
I mean I would say Wimby versus Luca, but I'm
again I'm a Luca guy. The All right, let's go
to John and then we gotta get out of here.
Speaker 3 (01:09:43):
John ass who do you see flag behind?
Speaker 1 (01:09:46):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
Or who do you see flag being? Like in the future,
I feel like he gets better defensively. We got another pivot.
Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
Listen, Scottie Pippens one of the greatest perimeter defenders of
all time. That's to me too big of an but
he also should be a better offensive player than Pippen.
So like who is who is the the the I
(01:10:15):
don't know. I I don't know what the comp We
don't need to read that last one. I don't know
what the comp is for Flag. I do. I know
that they're gonna hope he can be a you know,
a do it all point forward type. But I think
people throw around the Pippen defensive uh comps to Willy
(01:10:38):
Nilly like the like Jada Jalen Williams for the thunder
he should he might end up. He already has had
a better offensive single playoff game than Pippen had his
whole career. But Jalen Willis will never be Scotty Pippen defensively. Scotty,
I mean Scotty Pippen had a multi year stretch where
he was every year either best, second or third best
(01:11:01):
perimeter defender in the league. Like that's to me, too
big of an ask, All right, reminder everybody like great
subscribe review all of that. We appreciate it. Great job too,
Blue Duck today, Great job to Demon's, a great job
to the volume DraftKings and boost Mobile. Terrible job by
our future AI overlords. Talk to you guys on first
(01:11:21):
things first today and then after the fourth of July.
Right here, see you guys later. What's right,
Welcome in. We'll Drive with Nick Wright episode three five
and this episode as always of What's Right with Nick Right,
as presented by our friends at boost Mobile. This is
our last show until after the fourth of July. I
will leave from here to go do the TV show
and then head out west for family reunion and then
(00:23):
head further west for a vacation with my wife and kids.
So we did a long draft show last night. We
will do a full draft recap show here today, hit
on some other things, potentially get to that Rogers story
that broke after our show on Tuesday, and then I'm
gone after first things first today. So but this is
(00:45):
kind of the right time of year to be gone.
Maybe miss the very beginning of NBA free agency, maybe
miss a potential Lakers trade. But aside from that, we
should be good. Demandsay, good to see you, Howard. All
six eggs for the Snakes still doing okay.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
One hundred percent, still going strong. No mold now that
stuff you mean? He's great?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Okay, I didn't even know mold was a thing. This
is a new anxiety for Demon's Egg's gonna get mold
on them, and also a minor existential crisis of he
is leaving town as well, and he is leaving those
snake eggs alone in his apartment. I I you know,
I I would imagine there were some Google searches of
(01:26):
what happens if like power goes out in an apartment?
Can someone get in?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I understand big bucket of water in there.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
But there you go. And luckily we've got just bring
your apartment keys with you and our friends at Blue
Duck who are in LA if we need to overnight
them to them. If something happens, I'm sure one of
our LA based people will take care of you. I'm
very confident in that. Right now, before we get to
the act, well this is the actual show, but before
(01:55):
we get to the NBA draft, straight to voicemail, brought
to you by our friends at boost Mobile. These guys
want me so every once in a while of the producers,
in a very kind way, set me up to fail.
They expect me to ron Burgundy some of this stuff
and just read what's written, and they want me to
say Wimby stunned and China photo dump. So I guess
(02:19):
that happened. The Pelicans in Washington trade CJ. McCollum for
Jordan Poole that actually kind of actually is in the show,
and Caitlyn Clark slumping maybe however, ruled out with a
left with a groin strain. I think I shouldn't say
strain ruled out with a groin injury. I believe it's
a left groin, which might have saved Wilds from the
(02:43):
reverse take of the year with Wild's kind of soft
launching the Caitlyn Clark maybe she's not good anymore take.
He didn't hard launch it, but soft launched it. Remind
her to everybody out there, like rate, subscribe review one
of the reasons to and again, these are things I
don't totally understand, but it seems like, particularly when we
(03:04):
do these live shows, the more people that click the
like button, it like populates and more up and more
YouTube hit feeds for other people. That's I guess why
the like is important, not because it serves my ego,
but because it could expand our audience. So I don't
really ever ask people to like the podcast, but I
(03:24):
guess that's helpful, So please do that if you could.
And the other reason subscribe is because sometimes we do
out of nowhere two hour live draft shows that if
you're not subscribed. You don't know we're doing all right, Demanse,
Let's get to the draft itself.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, So the draft was last night and you were
obviously live for that.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
There were some crazy moments in there, and one of
the notable ones was the Pelican trade.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
And here's your reaction to it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Did New Orleans just ear Muff's kids? Nor Orlean's just
fucking traded away their next year's first round pick unprotected
to move up from twenty three to thirteen. That might
be the most reckless draft day trade I've seen in
(04:15):
five years. Yeah. So that, I mean, we'll get more
into that in a second, but go ahead.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Another one was Brooklyn using all five picks in Portland,
taking Yang twenty five picks early. What was your single
biggest takeaway from the draft last night?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
My single biggest takeaway was what New Orleans did. And listen,
we will talk Cooper Flag, and we will talk Dylan Harper,
and we will talk Ace Bailey. But I I have
had a night to sleep on it, and I am
more entrenched that Joe Dumar's first draft since taking back
(04:56):
taking the Pelicans, Joe Dumars was not great in Detroit.
He's a great player, but was not a great executive.
And he was there for a long time, and then
he went to the league office for a long time.
And this is gonna be this is where Man TV
Show Today is gonna be a little tricky because we
(05:18):
net Obviously, we all on the show say whatever we
you know, think. However, there is I at times I
feel not because of Brew, but I personally feel a
little awkward because Brew has real relationships with a lot
of people long term, and sometimes I realize, like halfway
(05:42):
through a take, I'm like, am I talking about one
of Bruce's friends like it? And and so I don't
know whether or not Brew has a real relationship with
Joe Dumars, but I would imagine he does. And so
it is that could be, you know, a weird spot
on First Things First Today. But listen, as I always say,
(06:05):
my only obligation is to the truth, and the truth
is it's one of the craziest damn things I've ever
seen the team do. And it's New Orleans. If you
weren't watching New Orleans really like Derek Queen, I, if
you were watching our live draft show, I said, I
wouldn't hate it if New Orleans took Queen at seven
(06:28):
when they had the opportunity, that would have been a
slight overdraft. Instead they go Jeremiah Fears, and so there's
just so much. There's so much here that I find fascinating.
One is Jeremiah Fears of high offensive upside, very questionable defender,
(06:48):
didn't really show efficiency in college. His direct comp is
kind of Jordan Poole, who New Orleans just tray for
a day before the draft. So you trade it for
Jordan Poole, you then draft Jeremiah Fears. The other guy
that they were clearly very interested in is Derek Queen,
(07:12):
a guy I like a lot, but a guy that
I said during the draft show not in athleticism, but
in strengths and weaknesses as a player. Reminds you a
lot of Zion. Where can kind of play a little
point forward is you know, has real questions defensively, Zion
(07:34):
wasn't supposed to but ended up having those. Is not
going to be a great shooter, but and it is
not going to be a real rim protector because he's
not seven feet tall or even really like you know,
a pro Zion is not even approaching seven feet tall,
and there are some work ethic concerns, there are some
(07:56):
why aren't you in better shape concerns, but the talent
is really right there it New Orleans has that guy
in Zion. They take Derek Queen, which again I don't hate,
in a vacuum, and some might say, well, that then
allows you potentially more easily to trade Zion if you
(08:19):
want to replace him with Derek Queen. All that would
make sense if they had simply taken Derreck Queen at seven,
or if they had simply traded made any other type
of trade other than trading away what is potentially, potentially
(08:40):
all things considered, the most valuable pick going into next
year's draft. And the reason I say that is not
because I think New Orleans is the team most likely
to have the worst record in basketball. The reason I
say that is that's not what they traded. So they
went from twenty three to thirteen. So to the cost
(09:05):
to move up those ten spots, they traded away unprotected
twenty twenty six draft pick that will be either New
Orleans or Milwaukee, the better of the two. So New
Orleans has I don't know, a fifteen percent chance to
(09:34):
be the worst team in the league next year, and
Milwaukee has like, here's the question, what is the chance
Yannis gets hurt slash? What is the chance or added
to the chance that Milwaukee trades Giannis? Because whatever is
that five percent? If that happens, Milwaukee's the worst team
(09:59):
in the league. Milwaukee with Dame out potentially the whole year.
If Giannis gets dinged or if they just trade him,
they become the worst team in the league. And the
other teams that are in contention for the worst team
in the league, most notably Charlotte and Brooklyn and maybe Washington,
(10:22):
those teams are in the East Utah as well as
in there. So to give away that draft pick that
might be aj Debanza or you know, or again it
will almost assuredly be a top ten pick and has
(10:45):
a real chance of being a top five pick for
not not for a superstar, not as a package to
get a player like Giannis, but to just move up
and get a guy who, if you had not moved
up and taken him, was likely going to fall out
(11:08):
of the lottery. It's just incomprehensibly bad. And I was
thinking yesterday like what version of this trade would I
have made if I were New Orleans. Would I have
offered this unprotected twenty twenty six better of New Orleans
(11:31):
or Milwaukee straight up for the thirteenth pick, not even
including the twenty third pick. No, I would not have.
Would I have done this trade demonse if it were
the opposite, meaning twenty three thirteen to four twenty three
and the worse of the two New Orleans Milwaukee picks,
(11:56):
I wouldn't have done that either, because it's on the board.
They're both both bad. Like again, I don't I think
Milwaukee should be fine, but they, more than any team
in the league, are a one man show, other than
maybe Denver, but even Denver, if Joker were to go down,
you have other pieces you like it. Would I have
(12:18):
traded twenty three and next year's unprotected number one to
move up to seven, which again wouldn't have made sense
because New Orleans already had seven, But you understand what
I mean. I wouldn't have done that. So I think
(12:39):
this will go down. We have to see, you know,
where these picks land, and we will see it. But
I think this will be like the Hawks trading Luca
for Trey, the tie of move that we reference for
(13:02):
on Draft night that we reference for years and years
and years.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Maybe the Pelicans front office is in love with that
archetype and they're just backup planes. You know, if those
the other two don't pan out, we're shipping them out
of here.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
I don't know, right, So you trade for Pool, your draft,
a guy who maybe one day can be Pool, and
Fears you have Zion.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
And you've already seen what Pool and Zion are kind
of like being in the NBA.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I don't yes, I mean, it's clearly something like that, Demante,
but it if we right now, let me check on DraftKings,
the the odds for team futures. Can we I just
(13:47):
see finals? Okay, here we go conference winner in the West,
New Orleans. There are I mean, that's the West is
so funny. There are nine teams that are twenty five
to one or better, so OKC, Houston, Minnesota, Lakers, Nuggets, Warriors, Spurs, Clippers, Mavericks.
(14:13):
Those nine teams won through nine or twenty five to one.
There are then six teams that are one hundred and
ten to one or worse. The Grizzlies, the Pels, the Kings,
the Suns, the Blazers, the Jazz. The Jazz should be
(14:34):
the worst team in the West next year. After that,
the Kings and Grizzlies want to win. The Suns obviously
want to win, and the Blazers just traded for a
thirty six year old Drew Holiday. Now it doesn't mean
those and New Orleans obviously wants to win. My point
(14:56):
is only one team in the West doesn't want to win.
In Utah, You're not gonna, you know, fall into easy
conference victories. I I just I am gobsmacked at this,
and I maybe it's a nerdy look at uh the
(15:21):
draft to be focused on this trade. I just think
it's one of the most reckless moves I've seen a
teammate in a very, very long time. And it also
does show you this is one of the cool things
about the draft, the ticking clock factor. Like if this
(15:44):
would have been done in right during the course of
regular business, would cooler heads in New Orleans have prevailed
and been like, hey, Joe, what if we offer them
this exact trade, but just say the pick has to
be top ten protected and they say no, and we say, okay,
(16:07):
top five protected, then certainly you could have done top
one protected like they you would have been able to
better massage or get a swap back or something. But
because five minutes, Yeah, you want to miss out on
your player, you gotta go. And the new I mean
(16:31):
a triple plus to the new Hawks front office. What
an opening few days got off some bad salary, added
Chris STAPs came away with an absolute it is I
don't know, a ten percent chance, No, probably higher fifteen
(16:58):
percent chance these had a top three pick. It's unbelievable.
It's really unbelievable. All right, we'll get to the big
the first and the second pick in just a second. Book. First,
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Speaker 1 (18:44):
All right, demonte, let's get to the top pick of
the draft.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
So, as expected, the MAVs took Cooper Flag with the
first pick, so they extended Kyrie and Gafford. The question is,
if Kyrie ends up healthy, do you think that Dallas's
contenders for Dallas ARC.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Do you think they are?
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yes? I do.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
I knew I could tell just from the look in
your face, So go ahead.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, I mean, I was just telling the guys this morning.
The balance of defense and offense on that team also
paired in with the way I know that's your guy,
but the way that Luca was looking in the playoffs
last year, it just kind of seems like Beakle might
have had a grasp on the situation and what was
going on over there.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
And I like that team.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Like if Cooper Flag pans out nicely, I hate that
it worked out for him, and you know he got
that they ended up with the number one pick. But
with that number one pick, that's a that's a squad
right there.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
So so that let's talk about the Nico piece of
this and then we'll get to the team. Because Nico
had a quote Nico said, Fortune favors the bold and
on behalf of MAVs fans everywhere. I wanted to break
a TV. Yeah, it's you do not. You do not
(19:59):
get to Trey Luca hold a press conference saying we
did this for this year because we think we are
better right now to win a championship this year or
next year, and then end up bad enough that you're
in the lottery and fall last backwards into the number
(20:21):
one pick and then be like all part of the plan.
If at that listen, honest to god, if at that
press conference he had said, listen, we are all about championships.
I even though we thought last year's finals appearance was
fool's gold, and we traded for Anthony Davis knowing he's
(20:45):
injured and by the way, he's gonna take some time
to come back this year. This is not about this season,
and we may or may not even be back in
the playoffs this year. We're okay with this because this
is a long term play. And then you end up
with Cooper, then you can say, told you a part
of the plan. Didn't expect number one pick, but we
were going to add an im back player. Fine, they
(21:08):
don't get to be like, we are doing this to
contend right now, you fall into the and and then
be in the play in and be trying to win
the play in, lose, fall into the lottery, get the
number one pick, and be like Bang told you. So
that's first of all. But they are where they are.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Go ahead, well, yeah, Just to be clear, I don't
want to give Nico. I don't want to give him
any credit for this, Like no, the Luca piece of it,
Like I kind of can see he's a little bit
onto something. It was a crazy trade, but with it
work painting out the way it did and then getting
that first pick, I think they have quite the squad
on them right now.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Okay, so that's the real question is do they And
my answer to that question is I think right now
they are more than a touch over rated. And here's
why I listen. I heard uh and again this is
not picking on him. I think other people thought this,
(22:07):
but I heard this from I heard Steven A yesterday
say that they think that he thinks they could be
Oklahoma City's biggest competitor. I disagree. And the reason I
disagree is this, I do not care how good you are,
(22:31):
how what your profile is in the modern NBA. In particular,
rookies that have to be the focal point of a
team's offense do not contribute to winning flatly. They just don't.
Like I understand Magic was great as a rookie, he
(22:51):
was not the focal point of the team's offense. Kareem
was lebron as unbelievable as he was. That Cavs team
missed the playoffs. Michael Jordan as a rookie, I think,
averaged twenty eight points a game. That Bulls team won
(23:12):
thirty eight games. Okay, like asking rookies. Hell, take the
MAVs with Luca Luca's first year he was Cooper. Flag's
not going to be better than Luca year one Luca.
When year two Luki was first Team All NBA, they
(23:32):
won thirty three games. Now, obviously those guys didn't have
an Anthony Davis on that on their team and eventually
Kyrie Irving, but so they they should be better than
those records. But the point that I am making is
as long as Kyrie is out, and I do not
(23:54):
think Kyrie. I think expecting Kyrie to be back before
the alls our break is foolish. I think Kyrie Irving,
given his you know, knee history and injury history and
his size in his age, and you just signed him
to an extension, Rushing him back would be foolish. And
(24:16):
until Kyrie comes back, you are going to be asking
your primary ball handler and your primary creator to be
an eighteen year old. Like I love Flags Upside because
of his age, but he's eighteen. He turns nineteen in December,
(24:38):
and you know, maybe Clay as a bounce back year.
He is not creating. Anthony Davis is awesome. He is
not creating Gafford and PJ. Washington and Derek Lively are
all useful players, they are not creating. You traded away
a guy who could create a bit in Quentin Grimes
(25:00):
for reasons I don't totally understand to bring in Caleb Martin.
So like your secondary main creator is gonna be Max Christie,
the other part of the A D trade until Kyrie
gets back.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
He is. He's just not good at creating shots.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
No, I don't Dinwitt, Am I wrong? I thought Dinwitty
was a free agent. Maybe I'm the I don't so
I think Dinwitty right now is the Uh. Maybe they
bring him back, but he's so he's not on the
roster right now. So they I mean so and Dinwitty is.
I mean, there's a reason that Dinwitti's last few last
(25:46):
contract was for the league minimum, you know what I mean,
Like he he can be a microwave offense, but he is.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
He was about to say, if it's if it's for
the purpose of making it to where Cooper Flag isn't
your main guy, then you know, well, din Winnie's the alternative.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Sure something, And maybe that's something. And free agency hasn't
happened yet, and they obviously will you know, add some
some pieces. They will add some things. I understand that,
but I I do not think it is rational to
expect the MAVs this next year with Kyrie playing. I
(26:26):
don't know. I would say thirty games at best, And
I would take the strong under on that with Anthony Davis.
And you know, if you if you right now as
a MAVs fan, if you were like, hey, eighty is
gonna play sixty five games on the nose, you would
be like take it, like, you know, I'll sign up
for that immediately. And with Cooper Flag being the youngest
(26:50):
kid in this draft class, and you know, having a
lot on his plate. I don't think in twenty twenty
this coming season, the MAVs are contenders. I do think
that if Kyrie comes back from that knee injury and
(27:13):
looks like he did before the knee injury, and Cooper
Flag is the guy that a lot of people think
he can be that in the season after this one,
they can be really good. So I don't. If I
am power ranking the West going into this coming season,
(27:39):
I personally would power rank it thunder Rockets, Lakers with
an asterisk, the asterisk being I'm assuming they are going
to add a major piece in the next ten days. Nuggets,
(28:01):
Minnesota four five, Golden State six, and then Dallas alongside
the Clipper Clippers seven eight. That's where that's where I
think they will be for next year. Now, in two years,
(28:22):
I think that could be different. And that does not,
by the way, take into account much of what the
Spurs can potentially be. And so let's get to the
Spurs here. Demonse.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah, so everybody figured he was going to go number
two to the Spurs, but nobody else but oh Dylan Harper,
Sorry I specific, but they still have.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Harper, Castle and Fox. What is do you think they're
going to trade something.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Yeah, so here listen. It's an interesting triumvirn of guards
because I like them all, but they all not only
have kind of, at least at the moment, a weakness,
but it's all the same weakness, which is, they all
(29:18):
like to do most of their damage inside the three
point arc. And none of them are great perimeter shooters.
Castle and again Castle, these guys are young. Fox isn't
Fox is thirty three percent for his career, Castle last
year twenty eight percent. Dylan Harper at Rutgers was not
(29:40):
a was not great from three himself, and so and
I'm pulling it up right now, or at least I'm
much okay. They switched it to his pro stats. At
Rutgers he was thirty three percent. So those three guys
having you can play a three guard lineup at times
you cannot play a three guard non shooting lineup. I
(30:03):
also think the Spur so Dylan Harper was a no
doubt gotta pick him guy at number two. I also
think the Spurs are really going to ease in to
the Wimby era. They're gonna let Harper, Fox and Castle
(30:27):
compete try different things. And one of those guys is
going to be a key piece in a major trade
like that? Is that I am very confident in now.
I think they would love to pair Harper alongside Wimby
(30:48):
for the next ten years. But if Yiannis were to
come available and the Bucks want Harper, then you trade
the Bucks Harper like if a and if Joannis doesn't
come available, but a different tier type of guy does,
and who would that be? Katie just got traded. There's
(31:14):
the top tier guys who are just not coming available.
Let me pull up my latest King of the Hill
just as a quick, uh kind of a shorthand for
me of the best players in the league. So Yo
Kic's not coming well, I mean, yo, we don't think
yoj coming available. Josh Cronky's like, we don't want to
(31:35):
trade him, but you know, shit happens. So who's a
good example. Okay, here's a great one. Let's say Devin
Booker has a change of heart after another shit year
in Phoenix. It's like, you know what, I can get
(31:56):
my cars shipped to Texas and I I want to
play in big games. I played in the finals as
a kid, and that you know, next level star player,
but not yoh, honest, then you maybe you don't have
to trade Harper in that, but you trade Castle and
(32:18):
Fox like there's different You have now I think three
legitimate assets that other teams would want to varying degrees like.
And now the tricky thing is on the Fox point.
(32:38):
This is am I right about this? Yeah, this is
the last year of his deal. So the other thing
that could happen is that Fox walks after this year.
I would imagine that's not how this plays. I would
imagine that they would try to, you know, pally move
(33:01):
Fox at the deadline if need be, so they get
something back from him. But they have Castle and Harper
on rookie deals. They will see how all of them
play next to Wimby. But the Spurs right now are
in a I think a very good position, but a
unique position because their four most valuable assets or players
(33:26):
are all guys who like to shoot, except for Castle
is not a big shooter, like to shoot threes, and
I'm including Wimby in this, and none of them are
guys who are that good at shooting threes.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
So the say it again, He says, you got to
take Wimby out. Then you said, not good? What do
you mean he's not terrible? I like Winby shooting threes.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Wimby doesn't need to shoot nine threes a game. Shooting
nine a game. I mean, I like Wimby's a Wimby's
shot diet and I don't like that term, but it's
become like a new term. Shot Diet needs to get
needs to reflect a little bit more that he's the
(34:12):
tallest guy on the court by six inches most of
the time. And so I the the spurs you take, Harper,
you figure it out later, but you don't. Those three
guys are not going to be there, you know, forever
(34:33):
what I know? Oh, by the way, like, rate, subscribe, review.
If you're watching on YouTube, click the like button. Please.
If you're watching on YouTube, not subscribe, please subscribe and
subscribe to us on iTunes and Spotify. We have a
live question from someone watching on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Yeah, RULESAI, what about Devin vessel.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Vecell, So listen, I the no all good? I yeah,
I mean he's right now. I think their fifth most
valuable piece, if you will, like he is, Wimby is
their most valuable piece with a bullet huge gap, and
then Dylan Harper is now their second most valuable piece
(35:14):
with a bullet huge gap. And then Castle Fox is
kind of eye of the beholder. I don't think Castle
will ever be as good as Dearn Fox. But dude,
is the fact that Castle is so much younger and
for at least the next three years on such a
great contract, and Fox is a guy you're probably gonna
(35:37):
have to max out, you know, or come close to
it a year from now. Does that make him more
valuable than to that team than to others or you know,
two different teams. And so I think that I think
the Spurs have very interesting choices ahead of them, but
(36:06):
I'm very confident that their long term plan is not
Castle Fox Harper. I also think it's totally fair, and
it's not totally fair. I know I'm right. When they
traded for Fox, they didn't think they were gonna get
the second pick of the draft. When they traded for Fox,
(36:28):
Wmby was still healthy. They were fighting to get to
play in They didn't think, you know, we're our point
guard of the next decade is gonna be taken care
of in this draft. In Dylan Harper, it's just how
it turned out, all right, Let's get to the rest
of the West, demase, So.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
The West is as dangerous as ever. Obviously, Katie just
went to the Rockets. It's gonna be the Lakers first
full season with Luca, and teams like Spurs and the
MAVs could take the leap.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Yeah. Who are the best players? Who are the real
players in the West?
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Yeah, So listen. I did this a bit on I
think there is a it's clearly Oklahoma City at the top,
but I think the next best two teams are the
Rockets and the Lakers. And I the LUCA over correction.
(37:18):
Negativity has gone too far. And I did this on
the TV show yesterday. I just want to reiterate it.
Luca five best players in the league. Okay, Joker is thirty,
he won his title at twenty eight. Giannis is thirty,
he won his title at twenty six. Tatum is twenty seven.
(37:41):
He won his title at twenty six. Shay is twenty six,
turns twenty seven in two weeks. He just won the title.
Luca the youngest of all of them, twenty six, will
be twenty six during the first couple months of next season.
The idea that he is behind schedule or off schedule
is incorrect right now, Shae understandably, his star could not
(38:06):
be shining brighter. I get that, and he deserves it. However,
and we also can't compare Luca and Shae career numbers
because Luca was good instantly and Shae grew into it.
So if we simply just take the last two years
for Shay, which are far and away the best two
(38:29):
years of his career, and compare them to the last
two years for Luca, which includes far and away the
worst year of his career. This past year, the numbers
are identical. Playoffs and regular season identical, except for Luca
beats him in assists considerably and rebounds by a bit,
but the scoring and efficiencies are nearly identical. One guy
(38:52):
made the finals demanse and lost to a team some
people thought was going to turn into a dynasty in Boston.
The other guy made the finals and went seven with
a team people thought was the most unlikely finalist in
modern NBA history. So to add like, I don't think
it's fair to be like, well, you can win with
(39:14):
one guy, you can't win with the other. Now, Shay
is coming off as best year, Lucas coming off his worst.
That's undeniable, but it is there's too big of a
discussion gap amongst the two. So that's one of the
reasons that I am a believer in the Lakers, and
I'm gonna do this in reverse order three two. One
(39:36):
second reason I'm a believer in the Lakers is I
do think they are going to make a substantial move
in the next week. I think they are going to
address some of their roster holes, and I think they
have the assets to do it. And the last reason
(39:57):
I'm a believer in the Lakers is, let me call
it a informed opinion that people that think Lebron is
(40:17):
resigned to the idea that he's not like that making
finals and competing for championships, that that phase of his
career is over, are unabashedly, unequivocally wrong. Now, maybe if
(40:39):
your opinion is whatever he thinks is going on, you
know doesn't matter, you know that phase is over. That's
an opinion and you're allowed to have. But if you
think Lebron is like, Okay, at this point, it's just
about playing with my son, you know, at some point
having a farewell tour. I love the game. You can
(41:00):
debt that right now. And I think these finals and
watching Oklahoma City struggle with Indiana and watching what these
finals looked like. Only Surge emboldened Lebron to feel like
(41:28):
I can get back there. And so if you have
Chip on his shoulder, Luca wants one last dance at
some point deep in the postseason. Lebron and some slight
roster tweaking, that to me makes the Lakers a contender.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
You think Austin Reeves is there next year?
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Probably not, maybe at the beginning, probably not through the year.
I just think Austin Reeves he's your most valuable, tradable asset,
and because of Luca, he's a little redundant. When you
have Anthony Davis there, Austin Reeves is critical because without
(42:12):
Austin Reeves, your only creators the oldest guy in the
league and Lebron. But with Luca there, he becomes. And
I really like Austin. I you know what I mean.
The I was the first person tell you Austin Rives
better than Bradley Beal. Everybody called me crazy, but I
just think sometimes he is right now a luxury and
(42:38):
the Lakers have some necessities. So I would put if
I were stacking it, I should have started. I think
the Nuggets, I should have said included them. I think
they are a real player based off the strength of
Yokich alone, and I think they will, you know, manicure
around the edges, and maybe they were over Michael Malone
(43:01):
and maybe what we saw them do in the playoffs
under Adlman is something sustainable. And then we see Michael
Porter Junior come back healthy and Aaron Gordon come back healthy.
So I'd have them for Lakers three. The Rockets, to
me are they can win the championship. And I say
this with no disrespect du to Oklahoma City at all,
(43:23):
but man a Lakers Rockets Western Conference Finals, which I
think check me on this, producers. I think we got
that once in league history, and it was nineteen eighty six,
(43:44):
a team's second year, when everyone thought we were gonna
get Lakers Celtics in the finals. Again, I know the Lakers.
The Rockets beat the Lakers in the playoffs in nineteen
eighty six. I think it was the conference finals and
(44:05):
the the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
Okay, the hold on the Lakers won the series.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
Though, hold on a second that that's wrong. I'm just
telling you right now.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
The the you asked the producer, I'm.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
Telling you right now. I'm telling you right now that
reads to me. I'm about to be This is a
good lesson for everybody. PA pause the show, but stay
on the air. What they just put in the doc
reads like it was some AI bot wrote it one
thousand percent. It's what it reads like. And I'm here
telling you that AI bot doesn't know what the hell
(44:47):
it's talking about.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
That.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
I'm telling you right now you cannot trust the AI
chat bots when it comes to uh sports history. So
I'm just the I'm gonna do my thing here.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Am I gonna get good here?
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Oh? Wait?
Speaker 3 (45:10):
No, it says uh nineteen City versus Houston.
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Okay, everybody stopped? Does everybody stop for a second?
Speaker 3 (45:18):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (45:20):
The the in nineteen eighty six the NBA Finals, without
a shadow of a doubt, guys, were the eighty six
Celtics maybe the greatest team ever against the chem Olajuan
Ralph Sampson Rockets. That is not up for debate. So
(45:46):
the I my question was was the conference finals Lakers Rockets?
Speaker 3 (45:52):
All?
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Look that up? The Rockets beat the Lakers in the
Conference finals. For one, guys, audience, AI chatbots don't fucking
know sports. I'm telling you right now, ask like when
you're done with the done with the show, ask an
(46:14):
AI chatbot, like very basic things like tell me the
top ten running backs in the NFL right now, and
they're gonna spit at you, Adrian Peterson like. So it's
just maybe they're good for some term papers, but they're
(46:35):
not good with sports. So the the Rockets have played
the Lakers in I the conference finals, I believe that's
the only time. I believe it's nineteen eighty six. I
know they I am looking at it now. I know they
played in nineteen eighty six, but I think that's the
(46:56):
only time. Sorry for the sidebar point, I was trying
to make it with no respect to Oklahoma City. A
Durant Lebron conference finals, which we've never gotten by the way,
we got it, and a Durant Lebron playoff series that
(47:19):
felt like a fair fight, which we've only gotten once ever,
in the twenty twelve NBA Finals, which I know listen
Bron won in five. But that was a great series
until Game five. Like those first four games all were
in the balance in the fourth quarter, and you can
(47:39):
say that wasn't a fair fight because the heat were
veterans and the Thunder were young. A fun fact that
no one believes, but it is true. Twenty the Heat
over the MAVs they lost in twenty eleven. The Heat
(48:02):
were the same size favorite over the MAVs in twenty eleven,
minus won seventy five as the Thunder were over the Heat.
When the Heat won their first title with Lebron and
Wade in twenty twelve, the Thunder were minus won seventy
five favorites going into those finals because the Heat, remember
(48:25):
they had lost the year before, and they had damn
near lost to Boston, and the Thunder had just like
exploded onto the scene and become this seemingly unstoppable force
of nature. Again, this is off top of my head,
but the that Thunder team in the conference finals played
(48:45):
the Spurs, who the Spurs had won demons the final
ten games of the regular season and then were ten
to zero in the playoffs, up two to zero in
the conference finals on a twin any game winning streak
and then the Thunder one four straight and made the
finals like that Thunder team. It was like, holy shitty, yeah,
(49:11):
and so it was really a remarkable thing. But okay, sorry,
we're way off topic. The point I'm trying to make
is I think the Rockets have all the pieces you
need if Durant stays healthy.
Speaker 3 (49:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
I like Shingoon as the fulcrum of the offense. I
like that Durant ads scoring. I think they're gonna get
more from Shephard. I think Udoaka is excellent. I like
all of it. And then there's Oklahoma City that has
(49:47):
everyone coming back and everyone but Crusoe is super young
and should only get better. But there's a lot of
plays to balance there. One hundred and five game season.
Are you satisfied after a championship? You know, does the
(50:12):
Oklahoma City got lucky? All putting quotes that the injury
bug hit them early instead of late, Like, it's not
right to say Oklahoma City, you know, had great injury
luck this year. They you know, key players missed real time,
but they suffered it early in the year instead of
(50:34):
going into the postseason.
Speaker 3 (50:35):
So type of man for Katie with the Rockets.
Speaker 2 (50:40):
You know, the Rockets already being a nice team, them
trying to mitigate his injuries.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
Yeah, yes, and no, I would. I think you've got
to be careful with a guy who's thirty seven. I
don't think that they're going to put him on like
a sixty game plan. And I also think for a
lot of these legends, they want to be eligible for
(51:08):
the awards, and that sixty five game marker is like
they they want KD. I'm sure is I bet KD
is pissed that he was not eligible for All NBA
this year. It's like I played sixty two games, I
was All NBA caliber and so yet you know what
I mean. So that's what I think they'll do, all right,
(51:30):
real quickly, remind you, guys that this is a message
that applies to ninety nine percent of you listening right now,
because that's how many of you can be covered by
fast and reliable service on the Boost Mobile network with
ninety nine percent nationwide coverage. And if you don't think
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(51:53):
you can get iPhone fifteen with dynamic island and a
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(52:16):
really good freaking deal in store offer thirty five dollars.
Device set up fee may apply, requires credit qualification, ID
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G speed not available in all areas. All right, demonte,
Let's quickly get through some of this other stuff before
(52:36):
I got to go.
Speaker 2 (52:37):
So we talked about the Halliburton Achilles injury on Tuesday.
Dame and Tatum had the same injury in the playoffs,
and a handful of other guys like Jontae Morey who
tour his during the regular season. So you're obviously not
a doctor, but what do you think of the uptick
of the Achilles injuries in the NBA?
Speaker 1 (52:54):
So this used to be an old guy injury, It
doesn't seem to be that anymore, Like people suffered Achilles
tears that were old pro athletes or sorry people in
your situation, pal, where it's like guys who just didn't
(53:17):
do yeah time off, didn't do like you know, didn't
stretch or you do everything. But it wasn't young prime.
It wasn't people your age, like when you suffered yours
who also played basketball at he you know what I mean, right,
and had professional trainers and all of that. And so
(53:41):
I have heard a bunch of different theories. I don't
I this is not my theory, and I would credit
the person whose it is, but I heard it secondhand,
and I don't know if this person wanted their name
associated with it. But I think it's a fast and
eating theory, and that theory is the shoes are too good.
(54:07):
The theory being that in the past you slid a
bit when you planted, your shoes gave a little, and
now the grip on the bottom and the tightness in
how they work, that the shoes don't give at all,
(54:30):
and so the pressure puts on your joints and everything else.
I think that's interesting. I heard Doc Rivers talk about
how guys used to just play all the year round
on blacktop and everything, and because of that, their knees went,
(54:51):
but their achilles and everything was fine. Obviously a huge
part of it is, while the season's always been eighty
two games, the amount of movement you have to do,
particularly on defense, and with how spread out the game is,
(55:12):
there's just so much more start stop, that puts pressure
on it. I know some people have questioned if it's
about guys specializing in things. I saw a pretty interesting
negative Twitter video.
Speaker 3 (55:25):
Say it again, the negative step or different.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
Yeah, no, that's exactly what I was gonna say. We
must see the same thing that like this, this, like
net what they called a negative step, like this backward
step to get going is not something that used to
be done. And it's how a bunch of these are happening.
So I don't know. I do know that I truly
(55:55):
believe this needs to be at the forefront of Adam
Silver's agenda for the next eighteen months because you cannot
have the achilles in the NBA become Tommy john in baseball,
where it's just oh yeah, this half dozen guys are
(56:17):
out twelve to eighteen months with an achilles, and particularly
because baseball you have you know, the numbers are just
so you have more players, you have more pitchers, the
numbers are different.
Speaker 2 (56:36):
But god, I don't know if we ever talked about
it on Tuesday, but do you think, like now, if
a player feels like calf tightness, it's like an instant
three months out, Like it's just like.
Speaker 1 (56:45):
Not three months but I I think it's three to four.
What I was told by a long tenured NBA player
was a calf strain you have to simply take a
month off, and even if you feel like you can play,
(57:09):
the only way it heals is if you simply rest
it for a month. And I that seems dramatic. Now.
The other the other piece of this that I would
say is figuring out what leads to calf strains and
(57:32):
how to prevent those. And some of that is preventative,
Like yeah, like I know that, and again I don't know.
What I do know is that most soft tissue injuries,
not all, most are preventable, like hamstrings, groins, quads. Usually
(57:53):
those are. It is guys who regularly have them are
not doing all the things they need to do. I
don't know how calves work. I really don't.
Speaker 2 (58:08):
Man in the NBA now mandatory joga, I don't know
for the guard.
Speaker 1 (58:14):
But it is, but it is. It's stunning that this
is where we're at. And I thought Jay Caspi and
Kang had a really interesting tweet where he was like
the majority of people watching the finals have no idea
if they're watching zone or man de man defense but
they all know what an achilles tear looks like. And
(58:37):
I'm like, damn, that's right, Like we can all diagnose
from TV. Oh wow, look, yeah there was that thing
where you saw it snap up, go back. We're like, yep,
we know what that is. And that is in a Again,
this is not apples to apples obviously, but the same
way we know watching football when a guy the fencing posture,
(59:02):
we're like, oh, that's a concussion, you know what I mean,
Like we just we know it. And so John in
the chat says, more players now than ever wear low
top shoes. Yeah, I don't know, I don't know. I
do know that this should be a top top priority
(59:25):
for the league because the only year, the only I'll
take the NFL, which seemingly is a ratings you know,
not seemingly is a ratings behemoth, unstoppable for us. The
only year of the NFL had real ratings you know,
issues is the wrong word, but dips was the year
(59:46):
all those quarterbacks got hurt. People. There there is a
star and there's no league where the star power matters
more than the NBA. And out you know, the achilles
not a quick one either, Like what has changed is
we have seen guys come back and be as good
(01:00:09):
as they were. What has not changed is it's twelve
to eighteen months. You look at me skeptical about as
good as they were.
Speaker 2 (01:00:18):
Yeah, I was about to say, I think it's actually
been pretty rare. But the guys Katie's like the only
person I think that's torn as Achilles recently that like
came back and was the same or a little bit
better than when here Achilles.
Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
So no, that's fair. But again in the past that
it was old guys, so you'dn't expect him to be better.
The only other like Star that I'm thinking of that
we've seen the full run of other than KD is Clay.
But Clay suffered multiple catastrophicyuries in the same lay, you
know what I mean. So that's a different situation. I
(01:00:53):
do think Tatum will be like old Tatum. I do.
Maybe I'm wrong, But but what doesn't What hasn't changed,
demon'say is oh and now you're back in six months, right,
Like that's not that's not been the case. All right,
Let's go to Joker real quick before we.
Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Go, uh So, Nuggets president Josh Crockey had some interesting
things to say.
Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
So, Yeah, he says, I think that.
Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
There are rules around it that we need to be
very careful of with our injury history. The wrong person
gets injured, and very quickly you're into a scenario that
I never want to contemplate, and that's trading number fifteen.
So he tried to clarify that they do plan on
extending him. But what will be the purpose in saying
something like this.
Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
I think it's a big mistake. I think he made
a big mistake. And I when I say a big mistake,
I don't mean like you can't recover from it. But
I think it is a significant mistake that he needs
to clean up with Joker Joker right, because what he's
talking about. If I'm Joker and I guess off my
(01:02:00):
horse and somebody shows me this clip, I reason, I
think it's totally reasonable for him to be like, hold
on a second, what you're saying there is are you
telling me there is a scenario where I want to
be a nugget and you guys decide you're trading me?
(01:02:24):
Because I didn't think that's the deal we had. I
thought the deal we had was as long as I
want to be here, I will be here and and
so like the and I know Kronky's like it's you know,
it's only a catastrophe whatever. Like if I'm Joker, I'm like,
that's not how this works. Just so you know, the
(01:02:45):
way this works is the only way you guys trade
me is if I come to you and say trade me.
And by the way, I expect if I do that
for you guys to be like please please, mister Joker
or no, like no, no, no, and so uh I
the you can ask the follow up here if you'd like.
Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
On a scale one to ten, how scared your producer
Daniel will be about the Nuggets messing this up somehow?
Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
Well, I I think they've already kind of messed it
up over the last couple of years and not really
letting him defend his title in full. I don't think
they're going to trade Joker, but I do think that
they need to tighten up, Like I just think they
need to tighten up. Argent says, should the Bucks trade
(01:03:34):
be honest for jokers? Straight up? Denver would not do that?
The Bucks would do that, like the I think that
right now.
Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
There are what would they for jokers? Straight up? The
Bucks would would take Joker over you honest.
Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
Uh, yes, because of the contract. I do think Jokers
are slightly better player at this point, and because they
might have to trade Giannis anyways either way, and they
don't have their own pick so they can't tank. I
think there are right now. I think there are three
players that teams would not trade straight up for Giannis, Joker, Shay,
(01:04:20):
and Luca. And it's not to say, by the way,
Shay and Luca are better than Yannis. I don't actually
think they are necessarily. I'm just telling you because of
the age difference, and Shay obviously just won the title
of that stuff, they wouldn't trade him them for for Joker. Oh,
Wimby as well, Thank you, Daniel Wimby as well. Wimby.
(01:04:43):
I didn't think about that because you couldn't trade him
straight up because the salaries. But yeah, Wimby, I don't think.
I don't think san Antonio would trade Wimby for Joker.
I think Jokers like that's an interest. I don't think
(01:05:04):
they would. Maybe they would, but I don't think they would.
All right, let's do Aaron Rodgers real quick for it.
We get to the listener questions.
Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
He's hinting at retirement against that time of year, he said,
I'm pretty sure that this is my last season. That's
why I just did a one year deal. Do you
believe him?
Speaker 1 (01:05:23):
So here's the thing. I do think this is Aaron
rodgers last year. I also do not think Aaron Rodgers
is a credible narrator, and I think the media needs
stop treating him like a credible narrator, even of his
own life, because within five minutes of him saying I'm
pretty sure this is my last season, he also said, paraphrasing,
(01:05:47):
he doesn't like being in the public eye, and when
he's done playing football, he won't be in the public
eye anymore. And the only reason he is in the
public eye is because he's playing football, which is just
an uproarious comment from a guy who, in the last
thirty six months has tried to become the full time
host of Jeopardy when that did not work out, flirted
(01:06:07):
with becoming the vice president of the United States. And
one of the reasons we know about those things is
because they were discussed in the documentary about Aaron Rodgers
produced by Aaron Rodgers. Like Nothing screams whoa, whoa, WHOA?
I hate this intention, like you personally paying a camera
(01:06:29):
crew to follow you around to create a movie about you. Like,
So I just don't. I don't find him to be
a credible narrator of his own events. And also, and
I'm just going to wink at this, do you guys,
(01:06:57):
remember when Aaron Rodd was asked, of course you do,
because he thinks this is the end all, be all
of any issue anyone could possibly have with him. Is
this one comment? Because God knows, he hasn't done anything else.
Wildly aggravating when he was asked if he had gotten
(01:07:21):
the vaccine and he said, yeah, I've been, I've been well,
he didn't say hey, he said I've been immunized. And
then he was like, I didn't lie to you, guys,
I'm not I'm not saying anything I am saying. There
(01:07:44):
was a very similar turn of phrase about at his
introductory press conference about his wedding ring that I found interesting,
that's all. I just found it interesting. And so I
(01:08:04):
just don't find Aaron to be a reliable narrator of
events you care to share. Well, he was asked what
he was wearing and he said, it's a wedding ring
or somebody said, is that a wedding ring? And he
said yes, But I I know, I know what for
(01:08:24):
everyone else that would mean. I also know that it
wouldn't necessarily be a lie.
Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
I'm not married.
Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
Again, I didn't say I didn't say all that. I'm
just simply saying that it's that's all. That's all that
he said. And so I find I find all that fascinating.
But again, I'm sure Aaron hates this because he hates
the attention. All right, let's do some listener questions real quick.
Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
Mary asked, isn't there a snake watcher like for dogs
and kids?
Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
I mean, maybe you have to let someone in your apartment.
We didn't set this up the other time.
Speaker 3 (01:09:04):
Yeah, no, I don't. I don't. I don't think there's Yeah,
I don't.
Speaker 2 (01:09:08):
I really appreciate that, Mary, But yeah, I'm just kind
of banking on the week being gone.
Speaker 3 (01:09:13):
You know, it's not gonna spread. I'm gonna check on
every the day before.
Speaker 2 (01:09:16):
It's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. And also
I have homies out here. If it really comes down
to it, of course, But uh, and Noah asks which
Western conference big versus Guard is more likely to be
the new Kobe versus Duncan for this era, Wimby versus
SGA or Wimby versus Luca.
Speaker 1 (01:09:34):
I mean I would say Wimby versus Luca, but I'm
again I'm a Luca guy. The All right, let's go
to John and then we gotta get out of here.
Speaker 3 (01:09:43):
John ass who do you see flag behind?
Speaker 1 (01:09:46):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
Or who do you see flag being? Like in the future,
I feel like he gets better defensively. We got another pivot.
Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
Listen, Scottie Pippens one of the greatest perimeter defenders of
all time. That's to me too big of an but
he also should be a better offensive player than Pippen.
So like who is who is the the the I
(01:10:15):
don't know. I I don't know what the comp We
don't need to read that last one. I don't know
what the comp is for Flag. I do. I know
that they're gonna hope he can be a you know,
a do it all point forward type. But I think
people throw around the Pippen defensive uh comps to Willy
(01:10:38):
Nilly like the like Jada Jalen Williams for the thunder
he should he might end up. He already has had
a better offensive single playoff game than Pippen had his
whole career. But Jalen Willis will never be Scotty Pippen defensively. Scotty,
I mean Scotty Pippen had a multi year stretch where
he was every year either best, second or third best
(01:11:01):
perimeter defender in the league. Like that's to me, too
big of an ask, All right, reminder everybody like great
subscribe review all of that. We appreciate it. Great job too,
Blue Duck today, Great job to Demon's, a great job
to the volume DraftKings and boost Mobile. Terrible job by
our future AI overlords. Talk to you guys on first
(01:11:21):
things first today and then after the fourth of July.
Right here, see you guys later. What's right,
Host
Nick Wright
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